Pro Publica produced this image, graphically showing how the Congressional support for SOPA was reversed on Tuesday.
[Click for image for full size]
Political support for SOPA was seriously reduced yesterday by the concerted efforts of citizens, and not by huge political contributions and lobbying. It is a true voter uprising.
Phone calls and e-mail messages poured in to Congressional offices against the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect I.P. Act in the Senate. One by one, prominent backers of the bills dropped off.
First, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a rising Republican star, took to Facebook, one of the vehicles for promoting opposition, to renounce a bill he had co-sponsored. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who leads the G.O.P.’s Senate campaign efforts, used Facebook to urge his colleagues to slow the bill down. Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina and a Tea Party favorite, announced his opposition on Twitter, which was already boiling over with anti-#SOPA and #PIPA fever.
Then trickle turned to flood — adding Senators Mark Kirk of Illinois and Roy Blunt of Missouri, and Representatives Lee Terry of Nebraska and Ben Quayle of Arizona. At least 10 senators and nearly twice that many House members announced their opposition.
Of course, Hollywood has tremendous financial resources so a one-day protest does not guarantee any particular result. We must keep the pressure on going forward.
The base-case scenario is, still, that the debt ceiling will be raised, somehow. But already an enormous amount of damage has been done: the US Congress has demonstrated clearly that it can’t be trusted to govern the country in a responsible manner. And the tail-risk implications for markets are huge. Think of the speed with which the Egyptian government collapsed earlier this year, or the incredible downward velocity of News Corporation right now. When you build up large stocks of mistrust and ill will, nothing can happen for a very long time. But when something does happen, it’s much quicker and much worse than anybody could have anticipated. The markets might not be punishing the US government at the moment. But the mistrust and ill will is there, believe me. And when it appears, it will appear with a vengeance.
Matt Taibbi is back with a new essay in Rolling Stone ripping open the truth about new House Speaker John Boehner.
John Boehner is the ultimate Beltway hack, a man whose unmatched and self-serving skill at political survival has made him, after two decades in Washington, the hairy blue mold on the American congressional sandwich.
But by now, we know how the Obama administration deals with those who would destroy it: it goes straight for the capillaries.
- Paul Krugman, describing President Obama’s reaction to GOP obstruction and Senate “holds.”
Too bad it couldn’t have kept him quiet for a much longer period. By the way, McCain says he can’t remember this ever happening but it happened earlier on the same day. (h/t Wonkette)
Update: Even worse, McCain did it himself in 2002. Not surprising he can’t remember.
Now this exchange is just plain silly. Neither of them come off looking very statesman-like.
They are bickering like children while we get terrible news like this.