New Jersey Governor Chris Christie did his best to suppress Democratic turnout by scheduling the U.S. Senate special election on a fricking Wednesday, and it seems to have worked fairly well. But Cory Booker will still be joining the U.S. Senate when they reconvene next week, and the Democratic advantage will go back to 55-45. My childhood county of Mercer gave Booker 66% of the vote, so you know how my people roll. Right now, Booker is winning 56%-43%, and that’s as close as the Republicans are likely to ever get to defeating him.
Meanwhile, 83 senators voted for cloture and 81 senators voted to pass the bill tonight that will reopen the government and permanently do away with the threat of default from the debt ceiling. The House is voting now, and they will pass it as well. The wingnuts didn’t just lose; they had their toy taken away.
Going forward, the Republicans can either agree to a budget or they can shut down the government again. The president didn’t wait for the House to vote to do a little dance in the end zone and say that he hopes that the goddamn Republicans learned their lesson. A long time ago, Senator Obama said that he will “give people the benefit of the doubt, try to hear their point of view, [but] if I perceive that they are trying to take advantage of that then I will crush them.” He also said that he is best as a counterpuncher, and if you come at him he “will knock you out.”
He’s not perfect, by any means. But, so far, he has pretty much kept his word.
This one was easy.
