Wednesday, January 20, 2010

This Place Left Blank With Ambivalence

We don't give Megan enough credit, sometimes. It takes a lot skill to provide your own illustration of cognitive dissonance in a post only three paragraphs long. Behold:

The holds on the presidents nominees have gotten entirely out of hand, and are beginning to seem more like spite than anything else.
Maybe out of spite, eh? Well, that gives her some breathing room to say this:
Republicans are obstructive because until now, the administration hasn't had any interest in them. Olympia Snowe, yes, because she has the magic power to make bills "bipartisan".
So the people blocking TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADVISORS out of spite are also the sames ones blocking everything Obama says because he hasn't "engaged" them. Olympia Snow does not seem to count as her not having completely gone insane makes her not really a Republican.
But progressive myth-making aside, with 60 votes in the Senate, no one has tried very hard to do anything that would make bills a win for both Democrats and Republicans.
Assumes facts not in evidence (ie, Republicans would be happy with ANY bill.)
As a result, however, what's left for the Republicans is voting no on everything, because there's rarely much advantage to voting yes--they get no credit if it passes, but they get to share the blame if it fails.
Conspicuously absent from the reasoning here is any sense of whether or not the bill would help anyone.
Now, on the other hand, Republican votes become more attractive--the president is going to want to pass more things that get a lot of Republican votes, i.e. are quite popular. So I expect the number of holds will go down--perhaps more will be initiated strategically, but the president is now going to have bargaining chips to buy them off. Or so I mote.
1) That is, as frequently occurs, not English.

2) No they won't

14 comments:

Clever Pseudonym said...

"Or so I mote."

What does that mean? Is it a typo or just a word Megan pulled out of her ass? Hard to tell with her.

Susan of Texas said...

Yet another botched quote, I think. Maybe she's trying to say "so mote it be."

It would kill her dead to google anything.

bulbul said...

whether or not the bill would help anyone
Bill? Help? Anyone? What a fantastic concept! Next you'll tell me politics can actually improve people's lives!

CP,
my first thought was the Middle English mōte = "must, may". Apparently that's not it. So then the only optinos we have are OED's mote, v.2 = To pick motes, to find fault and mote, v.3 = To drive, or ride in, a motor car.

Susan of Texas said...

Also, astonishingly stupid post. Yeah, the Party of No is just panting to work with the Democrats.

More tea baggers or their clones will be elected, and they'll cut taxes and eliminate social services and "entitlements."

Meanwhile, the economic problems haven't gone away or been fixed and so will get worse.

NutellaonToast said...

She's used it before. I think it means either hope or say or something. I forget. I looked it up. It's more of her pretentious bullshit.

bulbul said...

NoT is right, she used it at least 8 times, 7 times as "or so I mote", once as "From which I mote". A commenter by the name Rob Lyman used the former version once. I found also a few more occurrences in writing signed by Jane Galt and in anonymous articles in The Economist.
Obviously it means "assume, expect, believe" or something along those lines, but as for the etymology, I got nothing. Susan's guess is pretty good, though.

BillCinSD said...

Also, wasn't the whole Baucus August about Dems trying to find common ground with Republicans?

bulbul said...

Nothing in COAE, nothing in BNC.

Lurking Canadian said...

Bipartisanship (n.):
1) If Republicans are in power, means Democrats must go along with whatever the winning party asks for, else they are obstructing the democratic process and ignoring the will of the people.
2) If Democrats are in power, means Democrats must give up the platform on which they campaigned and do what the losing party wants, else they are arrogant and ignoring the will of the people.

Or so I mote, anyway.

Andrew said...

Susan's suggestion is the right one. "So mote [must] it be" is the Wiccan version of "Amen".

Way back in May 2002, Jane Galt uses "mote" to mean "believe"; this is followed in the next post with "Quel surprise". So basically she hates Google.

Oh, and she links approvingly to Daily Pundit.

bulbul said...

Andrew,
no doubt Susan is correct in identifying the most likely source, but I am still perplexed as to how "must" suddenly became "believe" in mcardlespeak.

And LC,
oh boy. Do I sense a catchphrase being born?

Andrew said...

Here's my guess:

"So mote it be" (Wiccan "Amen", "So be it")
-->
"(So) I mote it be"
(confused with "I wish" by Wiccans, because of its use in spells)
-->
"So I mote it be"
(confused with "hope, expect" by Megan)
-->
"Or so I mote"

Andrew said...

"From which I mote that progressives took the worst body blow" (MM, Nov 2009)

Also, in committee-speak, "mote" seems to be very occasionally used to mean "move" (in a clumsy back-formation from "motion", "moving a motion").

Mr. Wonderful said...

"So then the only optinos we have "

Slow down, bulbul. We're not going to be able to confirm optinos until the LHC is fully operational--I think around September.