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Ted Cruz

7 (6.5%)

Rick Santorum

16 (14.8%)

Michelle Bachmann

13 (12%)

Chris Christie

23 (21.3%)

Rand Paul

49 (45.4%)

Total Members Voted: 107

[Leafsnail]

Having a paralyzed government wouldn't be so bad if you didn't need consensus just to keep the country running.

[Owlbread]

In some respects, those who deeply, deeply distrust governments would prefer a system like this where everything is built upon consensus and power is spread around, but I'm sure even they would disagree with the current situation.

[Descan]

I would prefer a Canada without a prime minister, or a voted-for prime minister, or a prime minister who is just that, a "first among equals" prime minister, over what we have now and the monster to the south.

As it is, our prime minister isn't voted for. Rather, we vote for our "district rep", who adds a number to the tally of party members in the federal government. Whoever has the most tally gets the government, with the second-most being the official opposition, and the majority has a "party leader" who becomes prime minister.

So if you have a specific person you don't want leading the government, but you like the rep in your district from that specific persons party, you're stuck. :I

Edit: Even then, I prefer what we got than what you guys got. Seriously. Get it together, you're embarrassing us and Mexico.

[LordSlowpoke]

Turns out I know really little of how the government of Mexico is operating. Or how Mexico is currently faring, actually.

This is an American politics thread and I'm stretching the definition because. Can anyone tell me of what Mexico is doing? Thanks.

[freeformschooler]

Turns out I know really little of how the government of Mexico is operating. Or how Mexico is currently faring, actually.

This is an American politics thread and I'm stretching the definition because. Can anyone tell me of what Mexico is doing? Thanks.

They're "really mad" at canada and their teachers are protesting something-or-other?

[misko27]

Mexico is a country whose primary problem is rule of law. There are still very powerful drug cartels, some of which are known for staggering violence, engaged in a War with the government that is winning, slowly. Their newish President has called to refocus on Economic Issues, but seems to stay true to the old strategy in the fights of taking out the heads. Recently several drug cartels have become rudderless, and some have started splitting. Economically they remain hobbled by corruption, at many levels. The Teacher's Union is highly corrupt and preventing reform, and are protesting in massive numbers at a new overhaul to rate teachers. They have shutdown numerous schools and cities, and have been occupying city blocks.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

So here's the video of what I mentioned yesterday about Rios claiming Matthew Shepard's murder was a fraud by the liberal media.

[lue]

Seeing this article:

Rios maintained that the letter proves that “it is a dangerous time to be a Christian conservative” in America.

Whaddya know, she got something right . (Only kidding of course. It's only guaranteed dangerous to be crazy, at least nationally. cf. Tea Party)

Hm. I get the feeling I might enjoy looking at RWW of my own accord in the future.

Should be noted, this is not a Constitutional rule.  This is the infamous "filibuster", a procedure allowed by the Senate since the Constitution empowers each chamber on how to make it's own rules of debate.  It's become a de facto rule since 2007, when the Republican party vowed the filibuster absolute every bill that they don't agree with, and in some cases even the ones they do.

There are actually a variety of filibuster rules that congress CAN decide to follow - the particular filibuster allowed by their current rules is a different beast from the one most people imagine, and I've honestly got no idea why the Senate inflicted it on itself since it basically is just "a super-majority support or don't care about this bill" rule.

Interesting. I've known about the changes to the filibuster, but I wasn't aware of multiple ready-to-use kinds of filibuster. I guess I'll have to look into it more .

[FearfulJesuit]

Reality TV show star at Values Voter Summit pulls a Godwin.

OK, that's not exactly important. But it's, er, illuminating.

Michelle Bachmann being...Michelle Bachmann.

[lue]

Reality TV show star at Values Voter Summit pulls a Godwin.

OK, that's not exactly important. But it's, er, illuminating.

Especially funny when you consider that the NSDAP is considered a far-right group, and that if the left-wing Socialists and Communists could agree to form a coalition, the Nazi party would not have been the majority in the reichstag, and thus could have saved the day! (Look at the percentages for each party.) Not that the Nazis couldn't have done something to get their way anyway, but there was the potential to hamper their progress.

So, uh, thanks for bringing that up, my fellow right-wing Republicans .

(Seriously though, Godwin's Law invocation is a sure sign you're desperate for support.)

[misko27]

To sum it all up in one sentence: As Business leaders look on and the House dissolves into confusion and Chaos, the Senate attempts to hash out a deal while Obama guides it somewhat.

• A argument in the House, involving staffers and representatives and occurring over House Democrat's Procedural attempts to bring a clean CR to the floor, broke out into acrimony, possibly involving someone laying a hand on someone.
• Obama's rejection of the House Republican plan has left the House doing nothing.
• Obama rejected a Senate Maine Republican's plan to re-open the Government and extend the debt ceiling, because it forced a delay of a Medical Device tax related to it, and added a ID requirement.
• McConnell and Reid are now the guys coming up with a plan.

[lue]

• A argument in the House, involving staffers and representatives and occurring over House Democrat's Procedural attempts to bring a clean CR to the floor, broke out into acrimony, possibly involving someone laying a hand on someone.
  

(emboldment mine) Are you saying CSPAN might soon become as entertaining as British Parliament?

In all seriousness, it's good to hear some progress is happening. And I'm not too surprised said progress is coming from the upper house, whilst the lower house gets chaotic.

And of course, I still support the discharge petition. You go, House Dems!

[RedKing]

To sum it all up in one sentence: As Business leaders look on and the House dissolves into confusion and Chaos, the Senate attempts to hash out a deal while Obama guides it somewhat.

• A argument in the House, involving staffers and representatives and occurring over House Democrat's Procedural attempts to bring a clean CR to the floor, broke out into acrimony, possibly involving someone laying a hand on someone.

Hell yeah. Congress needs to go the full Korea. (South Korea and Taiwan are both known for their heated legislative sessions which have more than once degenerated into full-on grand melees.)

• Obama's rejection of the House Republican plan has left the House doing nothing.
• Obama rejected a Senate Maine Republican's plan to re-open the Government and extend the debt ceiling, because it forced a delay of a Medical Device tax related to it, and added a ID requirement.
• McConnell and Reid are now the guys coming up with a plan.

I'm getting this unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach that they're not actually going to be able to pull this off before we default. 

[Max White]

You're running out of time USA. This is already pretty bad for business confidence, not to mention precedent for when you need to raise the debt limit next time.

So when is the next election? Also do you have elections for reps, sen and president at the same time?

[Baffler]

In a way. Elections are staggered IIRC so not every representative or senator is up for election in the same round of elections. I think a round of legislative elections coincides with the presidential election but I'm not sure.