Live-blogging conference call with Democracy Corps
I don’t how many of you care about this, but I thought some of you might so I’m going to live blog along on this conference call in case any of you find it interesting at all. Let me know if you think this is stupid and I’ll stop.
Democracy Corps is a bunch of old Clinton people, but I generally like them.
The focus group was a tough audience, 45% Republicans and then maybe 30% indies. So not friendly…..
Overall the response was positive….
No area where there weren’t shifts in favor of Obama, it was very much about him. No shifts on views of Congress or on views of Congress Republicans. Things that weren’t to do with Obama didn’t change at all….
Biggest shift on Wall Street and bank reform…shifts were extraordinary, a 50 point shift on “does Obama favor you or Wall Street”, 40 points on “does Obama favor you or special interests”. Biggest support for the bank fees. This puts him in a different place relative to the bail-out…dials spiked on “we all hated the bail-out” but also very strong (especially among Dems and indies) on regulatory reform.
35-40 point shift on jobs and on deficit stuff. Didn’t love the discussion of project so far. Weakest reaction was when he took credit for positive action on the economy so far. When he asked for a jobs bill, very strong response. The very strongest response was when talked about ending tax breaks for companies who were outsourcing.
No negative reaction from Republicans on ending DADT!
He showed confidence and hopefulness as opposed to digging into people’s problems, in sum (says Stan Greenberg).
Update. I’m just going to give a summary, because one thing stands out: the anti-Wall Street stuff went over gangbusters.
Update. Just to put in context, the anti-bank stuff produced bigger swings and better dial readings than anything he said in the last health care speech. These people really hate bankstas. I don’t know how typical they are. But, politically, it’s probably time to hammer the bankstas. Hard.
January 27, 2010 10:57 pm
Posted in: Good News For Conservatives
181 Comments
181 Responses
PRA - January 27, 2010 | 11:02 pm · Link
Obama drank Alito’s milkshake. He drank it up!
mcc - January 27, 2010 | 11:04 pm · Link
Any clues yet how widely watched the speech was?
If the polling is representative of mood shifts with the electorate does this mean at all that the speech will make it easier to get some of these things done?
DougJ - January 27, 2010 | 11:06 pm · Link
Any clues yet how widely watched the speech was?
I don’t know yet.
beltane - January 27, 2010 | 11:06 pm · Link
If Obama makes good on his promises to go after Wall Street and the big corporations that are killing our jobs, the Republicans won’t know what hit them. No one has any sympathy for concentrated wealth right now.
beltane - January 27, 2010 | 11:09 pm · Link
Per a diary on GOS, John McCain and Mike Pence have vowed to block any repeal of DADT saying it would adversely affect unit cohesion. Please, oh please let them make asses of themselves fighting this to the bitter end.
freelancer - January 27, 2010 | 11:10 pm · Link
You mean the part among many, where every. single. republican. was. sitting. on. their. hands?!
williamc - January 27, 2010 | 11:11 pm · Link
@beltane:
THIS is the pivot I’ve been waiting for. If the White House would actually put up some fight in the class warfare battle that is being waged out there by the corporations and the Republicans against the rest of us, I think he’d carry the DemFails through the midterms on his back.
People are hating the Banks, and the Republicans didn’t do themselves any favors tonight by sitting on their fat butts and not applauding the “Torch the Banks” applause lines…
JK - January 27, 2010 | 11:14 pm · Link
Campbell Brown just introduced Erik Erikson as part of CNN’s best political team. Shadow President John McCain will be on later tonight with Larry King. CNN is now more worthless than ever.
Lev - January 27, 2010 | 11:14 pm · Link
Nice digs at the filibuster and the Senate in the speech. Seems like he’s laying the groundwork to go after them. If he’s willing to take some chances and risk losing some battles to win the larger war against the filibuster, that would be a better outcome than having kept the filibuster-proof majority.
freelancer - January 27, 2010 | 11:15 pm · Link
@beltane:
You see, Baghdad’s just like any open-air market in Indiana in the summer, except way over there, there are teh gays protecting you and they are in the closet and heavily armed.
Fuck ‘em both.
Violet - January 27, 2010 | 11:16 pm · Link
@williamc:
@freelancer:
Absolutely. I think the Republicans knew they were shooting themselves in their collective feet, too. I really hope to see that footage in upcoming election commercials.
JGabriel - January 27, 2010 | 11:17 pm · Link
@mcc:
It’s probably gonna take a couple days for that number to solidify. One would imagine that online viewership numbers will have to be collected and added to the television numbers.
.
Comrade Luke - January 27, 2010 | 11:17 pm · Link
I still read Digby, but she can’t seem to bring herself to like anything Obama does. It’s frustrating.
Jim, Foolish Literalist - January 27, 2010 | 11:18 pm · Link
DougJ: Any reactions on the shots he took at the (GOP) Senate and the SCOTUS?
flounder - January 27, 2010 | 11:18 pm · Link
I have been telling my Freshman House Representative every day for the past week that the House needs to pass the Senate Bill, get a health care victory, and start nailing Wall Street, Republicans, and bankers with 9 months of finance gotcha votes.
From this focus group response I think I’m on the right track.
Morbo - January 27, 2010 | 11:19 pm · Link
So, DougJ +...6 is it?
DougJ - January 27, 2010 | 11:21 pm · Link
DougJ: Any reactions on the shots he took at the (GOP) Senate and the SCOTUS?
I asked about that. The stuff about foreign companies getting into the process via the SCOTUS response got a positive response. Not as positive as the anti-Wall Street stuff.
slag - January 27, 2010 | 11:22 pm · Link
@JK:
Are you kidding?
beltane - January 27, 2010 | 11:22 pm · Link
@williamc: Here’s a little secret for you: Bernie Sanders didn’t win with the votes of hippies alone. A lot of his support comes from blue-collar voters who love how he sticks it to the rich and powerful, and who have figured out that he’s not coming for their guns. If more Democrats did this (and meant it) the more they’d win over the white working class.
MikeJ - January 27, 2010 | 11:22 pm · Link
The anti-Wall Street stuff pretty is gangbusters. It’s full of criminals and they need to be busted.
DougJ - January 27, 2010 | 11:22 pm · Link
So, DougJ +...6 is it?
I’m pretty sober. It’s not that easy to transcribe stuff on the fly.
JGabriel - January 27, 2010 | 11:22 pm · Link
williamc:
Short term that’s true, but I think the reaction shot that will echo in future documentaries is the one of the Republicans sitting on their hands and reacting stonily to Obama’s call to end DADT. I suspect that’ll end up being one of the classic illustrations of Republican bigotry and homophobia.
.
Robertdsc-iphone - January 27, 2010 | 11:23 pm · Link
Where was this POTUS when Nelson & Lieberman were holding up HCR?
He brought out the big guns tonight. It remains to be seen if he can carry them through & get the progress train going again.
inkadu - January 27, 2010 | 11:23 pm · Link
@freelancer: I used to think the custom was to stand for anything that sounded good. You can actually see Republicans stand eventually, after processing what the statement was. In this case, I think Obama started with, “We have to end the tax cuts…”; Republican are constitutionally unable to stand for any sentence that begins thusly.
Violet - January 27, 2010 | 11:23 pm · Link
If I’d had one of those real-time opinion meters, I think it would have been turned to 11 almost the whole time. Nice to see Obama come out swinging.
beltane - January 27, 2010 | 11:24 pm · Link
@slag: CNN’s political team won’t be doing too well in the Olympics, I see.
DougJ - January 27, 2010 | 11:25 pm · Link
Obama should hit the banks as hard as he can. That was just drilled into my head over and over here.
He got bigger movement on that stuff tonight than he did on health care when he did his health care speech this fall.
Amy - January 27, 2010 | 11:25 pm · Link
Obama and his people have to follow-up and keep their feet on the gas. Otherwise, this will fade away.
If they get it, they will have a series of events to reinforce the messaging.
Tomorrow the president is off to Tampa to talk about the funding for high speed rail. Yeeaaahh!
Corner Stone - January 27, 2010 | 11:26 pm · Link
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He fucking teabagged the Senate, in the right sense of the term. And he Dirty Sanchezed them and Arabian Goggled Them and Donkypunched them.
He fucked the Senate in a “not so many words but you guys suck Satan’s balls” kind of way.
freelancer - January 27, 2010 | 11:28 pm · Link
@beltane:
I don’t know, I can see Erick Erickson and Olympic Ski Jumping having quite a pleasant
endingconflagration. For me, at least.mr. whipple - January 27, 2010 | 11:28 pm · Link
Obama is gonna throw the hippies under the supertrain. Sigh.
Scott H - January 27, 2010 | 11:30 pm · Link
i think i passed out in the middle of the last of obama’s speech—the father knows best lecture part—and woke up in the republican response. i thought i’d woken up in hell.
sh+too many
inkadu - January 27, 2010 | 11:31 pm · Link
@DougJ: And he’s splitting the bankers into “big bankers” and “community bankers,” diverting $30 billion into community banks because the big banks don’t give money to main st. This is great news, because people know they need to get money from banks, but hate the big bankers. Now they can loathe helicopter commuters with abandon. (It’s also good policy. I hate how this recession has killed community banking, leaving us all in the hands of government-sponsored crooks.)
williamc - January 27, 2010 | 11:31 pm · Link
@DougJ:
I agree, everyone agrees, will the WH do what seems obvious here and go after the Republicans and the conservaDems on this or let another easy 3-pointer miss the basket?
jenniebee - January 27, 2010 | 11:32 pm · Link
@beltane: You got that right. If this summer turns into a long series of small victories over Wall Street with Republicans trying to slow things down the whole way, we’ll see talking heads in November asking when was the last time we had a President whose party picked up seats in the midterms.
If, however, we end up returning to a 3/5 majority in the Senate, this will be Good News for Republicans.
Notorious P.A.T. - January 27, 2010 | 11:32 pm · Link
So I guess Obama is done favoring the bond market over poor unemployed suckers like me! ! ! ! ! !
flounder - January 27, 2010 | 11:33 pm · Link
Erickson came on TV, lied right away by saying that Obama only talked about creating government jobs, and got taken to task. then he lied again (didn’t see what he lied about) and like 3 different CNN heads ripped into him. Old-school professional liar Mary Matalin had to step in and say something stupid and hateful to stop him from getting torn limb from limb.
Corner Stone - January 27, 2010 | 11:35 pm · Link
@DougJ:
From a freakin master like you, this speaks volumes.
“pretty sober” indeed.
nepat - January 27, 2010 | 11:35 pm · Link
@JK:
No one’s watching.
JK - January 27, 2010 | 11:35 pm · Link
@freelancer:
Curling and goat fucking have a common origin, so I like Erikson’s chances of medaling in curling.
mr. whipple - January 27, 2010 | 11:36 pm · Link
“In an instant poll conducted just after the President’s address to Congress tonight, CBS found that Obama succeeded in selling his proposals to viewers, and boosted his image on jobs.
Eighty-three percent of speech watchers approved of Obama’s proposals, while 70% thought Obama shares the same priorities for the country as they do (up from 57% before the speech).
Fifty-nine percent thought the President has a clear plan for creating jobs. Forty percent thought so before the speech.”
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpoin.....hp?ref=fpa
Dan Robinson - January 27, 2010 | 11:36 pm · Link
I wanted Obama to kick some ass. I wanted him to come right out and say explicitly, “We were sent here to do the business of the people. We were not sent here to do the business of the healthcare insurance companies, the business of the banks, or the business of the other special interests. ‘We the People’ is how the Constitution begins and we need to focus on the business of ‘we the people’. I am humbled every day when I think about the trust the American people have placed in me and all of the people in this room. It pushes me to help me help them. This is the job that we were sent here to do. It is time for all of us in this chamber to remember that every day and to swear to do our best to live up to this task.”
Notorious P.A.T. - January 27, 2010 | 11:38 pm · Link
You’re talking about Democrats.
Notorious P.A.T. - January 27, 2010 | 11:40 pm · Link
You don’t kick ass in a speech. You do it on capitol hill.
Comrade Luke - January 27, 2010 | 11:40 pm · Link
Jon Stewart is talking about ACORN, and making fun of himself for giving them credit for the first “controversy”.
Martin - January 27, 2010 | 11:40 pm · Link
I was chatting with my Republican mom about the banks and she was suggesting that my call for banks to be split up was punitive and asked what size banks ought to be. I suggested that no bank should have more in customer assets than the FDIC can cover. Banks can grow as large as they’re willing to fund the FDIC. That kinda stopped her cold.
Just Some Fuckhead - January 27, 2010 | 11:40 pm · Link
@Comrade Luke:
I enjoy Digby’s perspective more than ever simply because she isn’t engaged in the desperate game of shielding Obama from all evil. At this point, does it matter that one person isn’t cheering as loudly as everyone else? Is there some reason we should act surprised the President gave a great speech, when he always gives a great speech to gushing accolades??
DougJ - January 27, 2010 | 11:41 pm · Link
@Mr. Whipple
Thanks
It creeps me out a little that you go by the name Mr. Whipple. There was a legendary teacher who went by that name in my elementary school.
Delia - January 27, 2010 | 11:41 pm · Link
@inkadu:
If this works it will not be great news for Republicans. Small business people have traditionally been a mainstay of the party. If it’s Obama who saves their asses while the goopers in Congress sit on their hands and Just Say No . . . well, it’s not a pretty picture.
Jason Bylinowski - January 27, 2010 | 11:42 pm · Link
@Dan Robinson: So how did he do, then? I feel like he at least touched on some of these things (I’m just now catching up, though, so I might have not yet gotten to the part where he says “fuck all y’all, I got mine!”).
Notorious P.A.T. - January 27, 2010 | 11:42 pm · Link
Amen, brother.
JK - January 27, 2010 | 11:42 pm · Link
@slag: @nepat:
Campbell Brown could not have sounded more pleased when she introduced Erik Erikson. Maybe she’s all psyched to get a primer on goat fucking.
If CNN keeps adding more and more pundits to their studio set, their collective weight will knock the Earth out of its normal orbit.
mr. whipple - January 27, 2010 | 11:43 pm · Link
@DougJ:
And maybe I’m him.
Notorious P.A.T. - January 27, 2010 | 11:49 pm · Link
@Comrade Luke:
Colbert is ripping O’Keefe and FoxNews apart.
JK - January 27, 2010 | 11:51 pm · Link
McCain seen mouthing ‘blame it on Bush’ when Obama outlines the problems he inherited
h/t http://thinkprogress.org/2010/.....sotu-obama
Max - January 27, 2010 | 11:53 pm · Link
From Politico
Funny. This.
Jason Bylinowski - January 27, 2010 | 11:53 pm · Link
Hey DougJ, just wanted to polish up an apple, shout out and say keep doing what you’re doing, because it’s great. The long-running WaPo chat stuff, this conference call stuff….this shit is invaluable and also has the added benefit of being hilarious. If there was a futures market for humans (and I believed in futures markets) I would put my money on you in a second.
But again, can anybody let me know in a nutshell what consequences any of this might have for HCR?
I’m lucky, and I know it: my wife just got a good job, and we just got coverage for our whole fucking family for….well, it ain’t free, but it’s finally affordable, and it’s good coverage. But we just came out of a nearly six year stint of being completely without any coverage at all (and we were lucky to not have any major mishaps with two small children), and suffice to say, just because I got mine doesn’t mean that I suddenly forgot how important it is. I think it’s great that this anti-banker stuff is polling well. I hate the big banks as much as anybody else. But I think HCR is still a very important issue and I sincerely hope that it doesn’t get forgotten by Congress.
+4 Vikingfjord vodka
slag - January 27, 2010 | 11:53 pm · Link
@beltane: I don’t know. Maybe the next Olympics will include a shark-jumping event.
MikeJ - January 27, 2010 | 11:55 pm · Link
Behold the power of DougJ!
Still two hours away here in the hinterlands.
Ash Can - January 27, 2010 | 11:55 pm · Link
@Robertdsc-iphone:
Actually, I think this touches on a very important point. I really do think that Obama made a good-faith effort to work with the legislature and everyone else in DC, treating them like peers and equals. A lot of people (including me) would say that he put too much time and effort into it. Far too many of them, even to his patient taste, reacted basically by saying, “We know better than you do, punk.” So the presidential/constitutional law professor hammer came right the hell down tonight.
I’m thinking that in Obama’s organized, methodical mind, he gave the DC circus one year to sort its collective sorry ass out. Needless to say, it didn’t. Now, this is just my guess, but I have the feeling that tonight’s speech marked the end of “I’m in my learning curve and let’s all find our way together,” and the beginning of “All right, bitches, rehearsal’s over; it’s time to get shit done.” I have a feeling that political scientists and historians will be using this speech in the future as a demarcation line between “Obama I” and “Obama II.”
DougJ - January 27, 2010 | 11:56 pm · Link
@Jason
Thank you for your kind words. After the beating I’ve taken here recently, they are more than welcome.
But again, can anybody let me know in a nutshell what consequences any of this might have for HCR?
That’s the big question. I don’t think it’s clear at all. It wasn’t a focal point here at all.
slag - January 27, 2010 | 11:57 pm · Link
@Comrade Luke: Did he mention the doctored voice-over?
Martin - January 27, 2010 | 11:57 pm · Link
@Max: Nice to see self-awareness still survives in those with an R after their name.
camchuck - January 27, 2010 | 11:58 pm · Link
Bobblespeak Translation: http://moonshinepatriot.blogsp.....arack.html
Hilarious. (via PBS)
slag - January 27, 2010 | 11:58 pm · Link
@DougJ: I haven’t noticed any beatings (aside from the well-deserved one in the Jon Stewart thread), but I think you’re doing a swell job, DougJ. FWIW.
mclaren - January 27, 2010 | 11:58 pm · Link
What’s the point of reporting crap like this? Obama spewed some pretty words and some Republicans liked ‘em. So what?
Obama talked like this during the campaign in 2008. He hasn’t yet followed through. Obama needs to follow through. Otherwise the pretty talk means nothing.
Jim, Foolish Literalist - January 27, 2010 | 11:59 pm · Link
I have a man crush on Sherrod Brown (on TRMS). “Massachusetts was one election in one state… once we pass this bill, people will it doesn’t bring the sky down….
DougJ - January 28, 2010 | 12:01 am · Link
Obama spewed some pretty words and some Republicans liked ‘em.
You know, spewing pretty words and picking up some support from them that you wouldn’t otherwise have…that’s a big part of politics. You may not like that fact, I know I don’t like the fact, but it’s true.
Martin - January 28, 2010 | 12:01 am · Link
I think Obama was plowing the road. If he can stand up and show that a call to action is what wins approval (we’ll know within a week), then he can tell the House to get off the pot and pass the damn thing and then the Senate to fix it, and he can show them he can bring the voters home in November.
DougJ - January 28, 2010 | 12:01 am · Link
@slag
Thanks.
mai naem - January 28, 2010 | 12:01 am · Link
Don’t mean to sound like a wet blanket but I will wait and see what Obama and co. actually do vs. what they say. Somehow, his Sec. of Treasury doesn’t really like doing anything that would hurt his banker BFFs. And $100 billion over 10 yrs literally pocket change for these pigs. Amazing how this WH goes to bat in the senate for Bernanke but somehow couldn’t find the gumption to go for health care insurance reform. And no its not HCR its health insurance reform.
slag - January 28, 2010 | 12:02 am · Link
@mclaren: The point is that he needs Congress to work with him on follow-through. Congress goes where the popularity is (sometimes). In order for Obama to use Congress to get stuff done, one of the tools he needs is popularity.
BDeevDad - January 28, 2010 | 12:02 am · Link
Surprise, surprise. President McCain is giving his opinion on Larry King. Must turn off CNN.
Comrade Luke - January 28, 2010 | 12:03 am · Link
@Jason Bylinowski: Is that good vodka? I’m a Grey Goose guy myself.
Comrade Luke - January 28, 2010 | 12:04 am · Link
@slag: He mentioned “edits”.
General Winfield Stuck - January 28, 2010 | 12:06 am · Link
@Ash Can:
Part of it has no doubt being learning curve. But the more important part is building credibility with the public that he gave it the old college try, before going hardball.
If he had come out of the gate telling the wingnuts to DIAF after spending his entire campaign promising to change the tone and working with wingnuts and all the bipartisan nonsense, he would have rightly been labeled a liar.
If you look at all the polls on who the voters think is being obstinate asshole partisans, they all say congress and mostly wingers in congress. Obama gets high marks for his efforts to be inclusive, and I for one never thought Obama personally had any real hopes that many wingnuts would act in good faith. Though I think he was likely surprised at their total lack of it from every single republican on major issues.
Jim, Foolish Literalist - January 28, 2010 | 12:09 am · Link
@BDeevDad:
Is there a Ouiji board? A crystal ball? how are we reaching beyond the Veil?
Ash Can - January 28, 2010 | 12:09 am · Link
@DougJ: Beating? WTF? You’re doing great work here. Why would anyone give you a beating? That’s bullshit.
Count me among the many DougJ fans.
Comrade Luke - January 28, 2010 | 12:10 am · Link
McCain is saying it’s all “Blame it on Bush”.
As if it’s not his fault.
Jim, Foolish Literalist - January 28, 2010 | 12:11 am · Link
@Ash Can:
Yeah, me too. I even saw your point about TDSWJS, even if I don’t agree.
slag - January 28, 2010 | 12:11 am · Link
@DougJ: And I don’t mean that in a kiss-ass way. I almost wrote something very similar to what Jason said, but I didn’t because I was lazy and figured you already knew. My bad.
And, seriously, you were asking for it in the Jon Stewart thread. Calling him “smug”? We liberals wear that moniker as a badge of honor.
DougJ - January 28, 2010 | 12:15 am · Link
And, seriously, you were asking for it in the Jon Stewart thread. Calling him “smug”?
The ACORN stuff really, really pissed me off. People think of ACORN as black, inner-city and then laugh along when a privileged white punk goes in and makes fun of them with the crudest pimp-and-ho stereotype you can imagine. The media goes along and points “black people, pimps and hos, ha ha” and the organization is practically destroyed. Stewart should be ashamed for going along with it.
I don’t know why this is so raw for me, but it is.
General Winfield Stuck - January 28, 2010 | 12:15 am · Link
@DougJ: I tease you Dougj, but it’s cause I like you. Don’t have your degree of interest in pundit figures, but others do, and I do some. You work hard here and more than hold your own with producing threads of interest, most of the time for me. I are a DougJ fan, yes siree !:-)
jenniebee - January 28, 2010 | 12:16 am · Link
Regarding Wall Street: Bobo whined about class warfare today and Matt Taibbi tore. him. up.
And zomg Tweety just went on Rachel Maddow and noticed how much he didn’t notice the way that Obama – in case you weren’t previously aware of this – is not white and isn’t it a big deal that that isn’t a big deal anymore? Maybe he can “outsmart” someone about that and “nail him” in a way that is “unique in his business of television talk.”
Ash Can - January 28, 2010 | 12:16 am · Link
@General Winfield Stuck: Great points.
Ash - January 28, 2010 | 12:16 am · Link
@DougJ: It’s alright DougJ, I agreed with you on (most) of that.
slag - January 28, 2010 | 12:17 am · Link
@Comrade Luke: Hmmm…I’ll have to check it out. Colbert and Stewart are the only two people left in America who can make me watch the (internet) teevee anymore. Even Obama’s on ice for a while. I’m fickle and mean.
Jim, Foolish Literalist - January 28, 2010 | 12:17 am · Link
@jenniebee:
Holy God, he repeated that drivel? He spewed it out between the SOTU and the response. I expected him to attempt a clarification.
inkadu - January 28, 2010 | 12:17 am · Link
@Delia: It’s been a long standing puzzle how small business owners are Republicans. The “free market” absolutely screws over small businesses; especially when it comes to small-pool insurance. I mean, understand being annoyed by regulations, but Democrats must make a better environment for small businesses.
Ailuridae - January 28, 2010 | 12:20 am · Link
@inkadu:
I suppose big banks and small banks is the best way to relay information to voters. But one of the points of the move your money movement is that there are larger banks that are behaving very responsibly keeping all their loans on their books and never securitizing them
slag - January 28, 2010 | 12:20 am · Link
@DougJ: And strangely, I don’t disagree with that at all. I thought that segment was a cheap shot. And deserved much criticism. But Stewart is right more often than he is wrong. And that’s a rarity, IMHO.
Also, I agreed with Stewart on the Crossfire thing. Maybe there were worse/better shows to go after at the time, but I gotta give the guy credit for seizing the moment. It’s all crap. He just dealt with the crap that was in front of him at the time. Personally, I wish he would have set a trend.
Violet - January 28, 2010 | 12:21 am · Link
You da man, DougJ! I thought your “Jon Stewart is a douchebag” thread last night was inspired. Way to keep everyone occupied and arguing amongst themselves while John Cole was hopped up on morphine. Nicely done.
BTW, I love your WaPo chat stuff. Cracks me right up every time.
@Ash Can:
I really hope you’re right. If this was the start of Obama II, it was a kickass way to begin.
inkadu - January 28, 2010 | 12:21 am · Link
@PRA: I don’t really understand Alito’s response. Obama says the SC decision “opens the floodgates for corporations and special interests.” Alito begins to eat spinach at that point, and I just don’t understand how he could. Is he so disconnected from reality that he doesn’t know corporations get involved in elections? I mean, this is obviously what their judgment did. You can defend it by saying “that’s what the constitution says, damn the consequences,” but to mumble, “its not true.”? Frightening.
Ash - January 28, 2010 | 12:21 am · Link
President McCain is on LKL looking like an even more smarmy asshole than normal.
Notorious P.A.T. - January 28, 2010 | 12:21 am · Link
@DougJ:
I totally agree.
Jim, Foolish Literalist - January 28, 2010 | 12:22 am · Link
@inkadu: I can’t remember the figure, but what officially constitutes a “small business” is not, I think, what most people imagine. It’s at least 100 employees or fewer, and I think it might be higher. Googled it, but the SBA only offers PDFs and I don’t want to open one. I’m lazy.
jenniebee - January 28, 2010 | 12:24 am · Link
@DougJ: You taking a beating? Dude, go back a few threads to Michael D’s “young bucks and does” comment if you want to see a righteous beating of a (former) top poster. Thank goodness you came along, you were a big part of restoring BJ after his tenure here.
PS - how is UR? Do they still go traying there these days?
inkadu - January 28, 2010 | 12:24 am · Link
@Ailuridae: I really know very little about banking; but I’m guessing that the more small banks and fewer big banks we have, the better off we will be politically (diffuse lobbying) and economically (nobody being too big to fail, more competition, etc). But great for big banks running as responsible banks; hope their CEO’s are able to survive when other banks that are making huge amounts of money by being irresponsible.
Martin - January 28, 2010 | 12:26 am · Link
@inkadu: Ah, but corporations aren’t involved in politics to him. Corporations are beholden to shareholders who are just little people like you and me, and those little people have proxies that hold corporations accountable for every little thing they do. See, there’s a big perfect checks and balances system at work here, with no need for the government to fuck everything up.
BR - January 28, 2010 | 12:27 am · Link
@DougJ:
Agreed, Stewart’s failure on ACORN pissed me off too. Maybe I have too high of a bar for him, but he set it himself.
DougJ - January 28, 2010 | 12:28 am · Link
PS – how is UR? Do they still go traying there these days?
Not as much snow as there used to be, especially this year.
Jason Bylinowski - January 28, 2010 | 12:28 am · Link
@Comrade Luke: It’s not bad at all, Vikingfjord. Grey Goose is alright, but it’s always been just a status symbol more than an actual improvement in taste.
Some highly recommended reading on the origin of Grey Goose, if you get into that sort of thing:
http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/.....res/10816/
I drink vodka straight up in a shot glass, with some v8 on the side, so I like the bite. Smooth is great in a screwdriver, but that’s not the way I drink it.
The best kept secret in the world, I might even mean that literally, is a Polish potato vodka called Luksusowa. You can buy it by the 1.5 liter for less than 25 bucks, and it is straight up the best vodka I’ve ever had. it’s oily, freezes extraordinarily well, and it’s not bad with tonic. I get Vikingfjord when I get my liquor on a particular side of town, only because they don’t carry Luksusova.
mcd410x - January 28, 2010 | 12:29 am · Link
Remember Enron (ask why, asshole)? Everything was going to change after that. All the bankers and traders were going to get it under control. And what they did was double down like the assholes they are.
It’s time to set them straight.
jenniebee - January 28, 2010 | 12:30 am · Link
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: He didn’t say it as douchily as he did the first time, but yes, he reiterated it without acknowledging or even seeming to be aware of how badly what he said before sounded.
A decorated lite colonel who’s being kicked from the AF for being gay is on Maddow now. The guy’s a dish, she’s going to be flooded with offers of dates to be passed on to him.
inkadu - January 28, 2010 | 12:30 am · Link
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Until one of us is willing to open up a PDF and wait for Adobe to load all of its plugins and ask us to update its software, the definition of a small business will remain occult knowledge. But let’s agree that Adobe isn’t a small business.
Nellcote - January 28, 2010 | 12:30 am · Link
John King is on CNN using twitter twats as polling data. A new low!
Ash Can - January 28, 2010 | 12:30 am · Link
@Violet: I hope I’m right too. A poli sci degree is like an econ degree—one of those and a buck and a quarter will get you a dandy cup of coffee. But there are times when, right or wrong, something rings a bell and makes me sit up and take notice, and this is one.
Ailuridae - January 28, 2010 | 12:31 am · Link
@DougJ:
It bothered me too. I think it bothered a lot of people. I think its disappointing that it took Stewart and Colbert until O’Keefe was caught in the midst of a felony involving an elected official before they mentioned anything about O’Keefe being a rat fucker.
Given that you think you are taking a beating around here let me mention that I appreciate the work you do here. Not enough to not cringe every time you refer to your part of Western NY as “Upstate” (I learned at a young age that ‘Western NY’ had its eastern border at Exit 34A and is not part of Upstate NY) but I appreciate your work none the less.
Ailuridae - January 28, 2010 | 12:33 am · Link
@inkadu:
A lot of it is the perception, especially in construction and the ilk that the Democratic Party pays its bills off trial lawyers and workmen’s compensation claims.
slag - January 28, 2010 | 12:34 am · Link
@Jason Bylinowski: Congrats on the healthcare by the way! That’s a big deal. I was uninsured for a while, and it made me skittish. Wouldn’t do some of the things I liked—rollerblading, skiing, etc—because of it. Funny the ways in which being uninsured can make you less healthy. Good for you for getting out from under the cloud!
Jason Bylinowski - January 28, 2010 | 12:34 am · Link
@jenniebee: I agree with you on DougJ, he’s been great and only getting better in my opinion, even though I disagreed with his rant on Jon Stewart. But I was sad when Michael D left. I don’t think it’s crazy to see the value in what the right has to say at all, even though if you examine the aforementioned thread about welfare, you’ll see that I didn’t agree with his conclusions either.
Civility is all.
Having said that, though, I think it’s time Barry dropped the bi-partisanship thing and put up his dukes. I’m not stupid.
Ash - January 28, 2010 | 12:34 am · Link
@Nellcote: Especially with the fact that Twitter users lean right. We all know that those are the types that only need 140 characters for their thoughts.
DougJ - January 28, 2010 | 12:34 am · Link
Not enough to not cringe every time you refer to your part of Western NY as “Upstate”
It’s interesting—everyone around here refers to this area as “Western NY” geographically, but part of “Upstate NY” politically.
Thanks.
mcd410x - January 28, 2010 | 12:35 am · Link
And, more importantly, how about them Grizzlies! One.game out of fourth in the West!
Ash Can - January 28, 2010 | 12:35 am · Link
@jenniebee: Oh, man, I remember traying on Mount Royal when I was at McGill. It’s a wonder we didn’t all fucking kill ourselves. And yes, of course there was alcohol involved. Good times.
Ailuridae - January 28, 2010 | 12:36 am · Link
@mai naem:
Sigh, this is tiresome. How are the Bernanke and HCR situations analogous? Before you start typing, they are not analogous from a process point at all.
Now if 40 members of the Democratic caucus agreed to filibuster Bernanke and then ObamaRahma started threatening chairmanships that would be analogous. And interesting.
Martin - January 28, 2010 | 12:38 am · Link
@Jason Bylinowski: I don’t think Obama is seeking bipartisanship the way that most people are thinking. Tonight’s speech was more of a ‘You’re going to step up now because I get to give at least 2 more of these speeches and I’ll call your fucking asses out in public’ kind of bipartisanship.
I like it.
Jason Bylinowski - January 28, 2010 | 12:40 am · Link
@slag: Yeah, thanks for that. It is a very big deal. I had healthcare my whole life until marriage; my wife literally never had it a day in her life until this month. Needless to say, even though she’s been the lucky one, I am the one who feels more fortunate because I had some terrible health problems when I was younger, while she is seemingly interminably healthy. (I’ve literally never seen her sick with anything other than morning sickness, in ten years.) But I’m still tickled as hell that she gets to be the one to bring in the benefits; it has really made the whole transition special to us, as she was never very enthused about looking for work because she figured she wouldn’t be able to land anything good in this economic climate.
Ailuridae - January 28, 2010 | 12:41 am · Link
@inkadu:
Movement conservatism, particularly as relates to the Supreme Court has never been about overturning Roe v Wade and its never been about originalism or the ilk. Its always been an unapologetically anti-Democratic (big and small D) power grab.
Obama put that out there in none too many words and Alito, like the underdeveloped child he is, responded as any eight year old caught doing something wrong would – by denying that’s what he did something wrong.
DougJ - January 28, 2010 | 12:43 am · Link
Movement conservatism, particularly as relates to the Supreme Court has never been about overturning Roe v Wade and its never been about originalism or the ilk. Its always been an unapologetically anti-Democratic (big and small D) power grab.
Yes, that is right.
slag - January 28, 2010 | 12:43 am · Link
@Jason Bylinowski: Doubly good for you, then! Both of you getting boosts in confidence. Awesome!
williamc - January 28, 2010 | 12:48 am · Link
@DougJ:
DougJ, it should have teed you off; Jon Stewart left the reservation when he went after ACORN last year, and I think he’s such a sacred cow to center-left types that prolly no one has called him on it to his face yet and I’m one of those folks that would call him the most trusted newsman in America (mostly because I’ve watched the show almost every night since Craig Stillborn hosted and Stewart is usually 99% where I am) and don’t forget, his show has become a comedy talent scout team.
I remember watching the ACORN segment in real-time on the Show after only barely hearing about ACORN outside of FOX news and my heart sinking, because I knew (and the audience did too if I remember correctly) that he was going down a bad road with this stuff. And tonight, he still didn’t own up to being out of bounds with it, he plastered over it with “ACORN claims the tapes were doctored, and an internal investigation confirmed it” or somesuchortheother, but that didn’t make it right. As someone who works for a non-profit that has a similar mission to ACORN, you try to help all people, you don’t call the cops when crazy white people come in dressed as pimps and ho’s, you talk to them, you call co-workers in to “ohmigod you guys, you got to come see these crazy people”, you go along with whatever they are asking you, but you don’t turn it into a big deal because really crazy people will come back and shoot you if you call them out on their crazy.
Jim, Foolish Literalist - January 28, 2010 | 12:48 am · Link
Some interesting stuff (gossip) from the TPM reporter in the chamber:
One thing Obama got right was getting Salazar out of the Senate. He was one of the Liebermanest Liebercrats in the Senate, and that’s one less vote for Bayh/Lincoln bipartisanship than we would have had to deal with.
Martin - January 28, 2010 | 12:51 am · Link
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Too bad Holy Joe couldn’t have been made Ambassador to Boratistan. Oh, how each morning would be a little sweeter with him out of the spotlight.
Mouse Tolliver - January 28, 2010 | 12:53 am · Link
@JK:
Her husband, a Fox News analyst, was the deputy press secretary for George W. Bush. Erik the son of Erik is her type. It’s like half of CNN’s talking heads are married to the people that created the hell we’re living in now.
slag - January 28, 2010 | 12:54 am · Link
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I liked how JMM called Lieberman and Nelson sitting together an “axis of weasels”. Made me laugh.
jenniebee - January 28, 2010 | 12:55 am · Link
@DougJ: I was only there one year, but I miss it every winter since then. I remember it was brighter at midnight than at noon, from the light from the streetlamps bouncing around between the snow on the ground and the snow in the clouds.
More on O’Queef’s stunt, they were trying to shut down Landrieu’s staff’s phones to test whether the staff would be concerned enough about constituents not being able to get through. One imagines the scandal it would have been if a staffer had exclaimed “thank goodness – I thought that phone would never stop ringing, I’ve needed a bathroom break for the last 45 minutes. How long do you think it’ll be before they’re up? I could use coffee and a sandwich, too.”
McArdle: “If Senate staffs were privatized it would encourage new innovations and efficiencies, like taking calls from constituents while on the can.”
Malkin: “What kind of countertops are in Landrieu’s break room?”
Limbaugh: “Here’s the thing people: thanks to the Oxycontin, I have not taken a shit in years.”
Erick Son of Erick: “Landrieu’s staffers would be more dedicated to her constituents if the staff wet their pants over terrorism like the rest of us.”
Martin - January 28, 2010 | 12:55 am · Link
I have to say I’m almost giddy looking forward to asking my black coworker if she forgot Obama was black tonight. We’ve had some great laughs watching the nation cope with Obama.
DougJ - January 28, 2010 | 12:57 am · Link
As someone who works for a non-profit that has a similar mission to ACORN, you try to help all people, you don’t call the cops when crazy white people come in dressed as pimps and ho’s, you talk to them, you call co-workers in to “ohmigod you guys, you got to come see these crazy people”, you go along with whatever they are asking you, but you don’t turn it into a big deal because really crazy people will come back and shoot you if you call them out on their crazy.
Yes, that’s what I figured. And that’s part of why it pissed me off so much.
You know, some nonprofit sets out to help people and a lot of the people they help and who work there are black so the whole thing gets mocked by the media as “pimps and hos”.
I’m just repeating myself. It’s just wrong, it’s wrong to cheat a trying man, you know.
mcd410x - January 28, 2010 | 12:58 am · Link
@williamc: It was bad, but I’m going to write it off as a bad day on Stewart’s part. Not many of us are in the position when we have a crap day it’s seen by millions.
300,000 tops.
williamc - January 28, 2010 | 12:59 am · Link
@Martin:
Do we have an Ambassador to Israel yet? If not, I know a certain jowly Connecticut Senator who is a pain in the ass that needs a one-way trip to Jerusalem (where maybe he can finally find a soul).
@Mouse Tolliver
Its worse than that: I saw Morning Mika on Colbert from last night earlier today and it struck me, all these people (Luke Russert, Jonah Goldberg, Mika, Campbell, etc) are boobs who don’t know what they are talking about policy-wise, usually spewing the conservative line on whatever the issue is, never giving a thought to the poor or hard-working, and all the while usually in the job because of nepotism/networking and not through the hard-work or intelligence that they claim to value.
The Republic of Stupidity - January 28, 2010 | 1:00 am · Link
@DougJ:
As someone born in the area (the Finger lakes), I’ve always thought of it as ‘Upstate’. Western New York begins the Other side of Rochester, over towards Brockport, and runs to Buffalo…
Or so I’ve always believed… until now…
DougJ - January 28, 2010 | 1:00 am · Link
McArdle: “If Senate staffs were privatized it would encourage new innovations and efficiencies, like taking calls from constituents while on the can.”
You know, for a minute, I thought she’d actually said that.
Nellcote - January 28, 2010 | 1:03 am · Link
@jenniebee:
I know, embarrassing right? But in this one area I think
Tweety is sincerely trying to work through something that he just doesn’t have the vocabulary for. And in typical Tweety fashion he doesn’t seem to have a filter for what he does say.
DougJ - January 28, 2010 | 1:07 am · Link
But in this one area I think Tweety is sincerely trying to work through something that he just doesn’t have the vocabulary for.
I agree. I give Tweety credit for trying here.
slag - January 28, 2010 | 1:07 am · Link
@DougJ:
Keep repeating yourself. It is wrong. And that kind of earnestness is one of the things we like about you.
williamc - January 28, 2010 | 1:08 am · Link
@DougJ:
Well DougJ, its all about class warfare.
If you make low-info white people think that the only poor people are people of color, then fuck the poor, those darkies can go pound sand before I pay more taxes, and besides, you shouldn’t feed strays, THEY BREED!
What’s funny is, most of our business is mortgage modifications now, and most of the people that come see us ARE black people. Boring middle class black people who speak really good English, have nice homes in the suburbs, good jobs, and together families. The really poor people that we help are WT, and they are generally really embarrassed, salt-of-the-earth types and for some reason are generally shocked that 1) People who live and work in a big city aren’t all colored folks (really) and 2) We are a mixed race staff and all the “blacks” on staff are really caring about their problems…you wouldn’t believe what people will write on evaluation forms…
Steeplejack - January 28, 2010 | 1:09 am · Link
@mcd410x:
For what it’s worth, on his show tonight Jon Stewart included himself among the people who jumped all over the ACORN thing and now have egg on their faces because of the New Orleans fiasco. It wasn’t a full apology, but he did appear to acknowledge the point.
Will add this here, since this seems like a semi-open thread: I am bummed because I had to work a late shift tonight and must go back for an opening shift in the morning. So I have missed all the primo SOTU blogging and commenting, and I can’t go into my usual night-owl mode and play catch-up.
DougJ - January 28, 2010 | 1:13 am · Link
What’s funny is, most of our business is mortgage modifications now, and most of the people that come see us ARE black people. Boring middle class black people who speak really good English, have nice homes in the suburbs, good jobs, and together families. The really poor people that we help are WT, and they are generally really embarrassed, salt-of-the-earth types and for some reason are generally shocked that 1) People who live and work in a big city aren’t all colored folks (really) and 2) We are a mixed race staff and all the “blacks” on staff are really caring about their problems…you wouldn’t believe what people will write on evaluation forms…
Which makes it all the more fucked up when a group similar to yours is mocked as pimps and hos.
Notorious P.A.T. - January 28, 2010 | 1:14 am · Link
G’night all.
williamc - January 28, 2010 | 1:14 am · Link
@Nellcote:
I might get caught in moderation for this, but I don’t think Matthews was being racist, I just think that he is genuinely surprised that Obama is being attacked on all sides and hasn’t broken down and had what the Boondocks would call “A Nigga Moment”. Its just what he expects from Black dudes, even one that he has wet dreams about sometime.
I’ll get upset when he calls the President a Jigaboo, but not before…
jenniebee - January 28, 2010 | 1:15 am · Link
@DougJ: he’s trying, but it’s like a guy who’s really trying to understand feminism and does so by talking non-stop about menstruation. He’s trying. I get it. Now please, Tweety, STFU.
darryl - January 28, 2010 | 1:26 am · Link
I think most of my ninth graders would come up with a more dignified comment than this. In fact, I would expect them to, and anybody who said something like this would be considered socially retarded and more than a little deficient.
Wile E. Quixote - January 28, 2010 | 1:27 am · Link
@Violet:
Hear hear! Yesterday’s WaPo chat pwnage was great stuff, and how about the “Brick Oven Bill is at Davos” thread? I mean I thought you were at the top of your game with It’s only a paper, Moon but you’ve exceeded even that.
williamc - January 28, 2010 | 1:28 am · Link
@DougJ:
I’ve developed a tough skin to it all now. I’m a big boy, I left the corporate world of big bucks to do this work (H!tler’s work if you were to ask the teabag brigades), and trust me, non-profits in the inner-cities pay you nothing.
By the by, this is also why I was so against the Senate bill, it does not consider non-profits in any of the health insurance reforms, and without the House getting a reconciliation bill with it, non-profits get none of the subsidies or tax breaks for providing their employee’s healthcare, and most don’t have enough employees to qualify for a large group rate (and indeed in some states like here in GA, there are laws prohibiting us from joining with other nonprofits to take advantage of large group rates). Health care is our biggest expenditure yearly, by far, and it has already driven a lot of our sister organizations out of business the past few years.
With that, good night folks!
jenniebee - January 28, 2010 | 1:34 am · Link
Too bad DougJ that you don’t like Stewart because he’s on fire tonight.
darryl - January 28, 2010 | 1:35 am · Link
Cobb: Have you been drinking, McClane?
McClane: No! not since this morning!
General Winfield Stuck - January 28, 2010 | 1:36 am · Link
OT
Since Cole is under the weather currently, there has been an appalling lack of furry critter pics
Late Night Charlie
darryl - January 28, 2010 | 1:38 am · Link
darryl + uh….several….+...uh…too many….+....uh….some more after that…uh….
Yutsano - January 28, 2010 | 1:39 am · Link
@General Winfield Stuck: PUPPEH!! Though why y’all keep dissing on Ben is beyond my understanding. That is one dignified ol’ hound dog.
General Winfield Stuck - January 28, 2010 | 1:41 am · Link
@Yutsano: I for one, don’t diss on Ben, I think he is quite the handsome gentleman pooch.
Martin - January 28, 2010 | 1:42 am · Link
@The Republic of Stupidity: Upstate is anything north of the Bronx in the offseason, and anything north of Manhattan after spring training starts.
FTFY
Yutsano - January 28, 2010 | 1:45 am · Link
@General Winfield Stuck: He is certainly that. I recognize that lack can denote at least one as opposed to a complete absence, I’m just trying to insure Ben get his props.
Martin - January 28, 2010 | 1:57 am · Link
Oh, fuck you Ben.
Comrade Luke - January 28, 2010 | 1:58 am · Link
NY Times headline: Obama to Party: Don’t ‘Run for the Hills’
Republicans get a free pass.
Again.
Sly - January 28, 2010 | 1:59 am · Link
I’ll go as far to say that any place that refers to soda as “pop” is in Western NY, regardless of its actual geographic position in the state. Every other region will still be referred to as The City, The Island, or Upstate.
rootless_e - January 28, 2010 | 2:04 am · Link
I’d like to know what the “base” is the base of.
The Populist - January 28, 2010 | 2:09 am · Link
I’ve been telling anybody who will listen that we should NOT be giving tax breaks to any company that calls itself AMERICAN tax breaks for outsourcing.
It’s the same point I am now making to schlubs on the right who think this SCOTUS decision now allows foreigners to buy our elections. Yep, they want to close their eyes and scream “FREE SPEECH” but last I checked the constitution DOES SAY: WE THE PEOPLE. No matter how the right spins it, a corporation is NOT a person. I know the LAW says they are an individual but sorry, they aren’t people.
All this b.s. to win elections. The sheeple on the right really need to wake the fuck up.
The Populist - January 28, 2010 | 2:12 am · Link
@Martin:
Let Ben kiss the right’s ass. It’s now time for them to get off their hands or fuck themselves. Obama BETTER follow through…if the right won’t play ball, cut them all off and use the bully pulpit to explain WHY these idiots are working AGAINST average Americans.
Who would be against campaign finance reform that requires the corporations to disclose their involvement in commercials (We are Exxon and we approve this ad) or demand they disclose political donations to the shareholders.
Who would be against repealing DADT?
Who the hell would be against re-regulation of financial institutions?
rootless_e - January 28, 2010 | 2:15 am · Link
check out CNNs fair and balanced reaction article
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/PO.....SOTU.reax/
1)tea party
2) sen rocky
3) scott brown
4) mccain
5) harkin
6) hatch
7) burr
8) mconnell
9) voinovich
10)whitehouse
Wow!
The Populist - January 28, 2010 | 2:18 am · Link
@williamc:
What cracks me up is how these poor white trash jerkwads revel in their idiocy as much as any person from a ghetto who talks using street slang. Trash is trash no matter what color they are. If you aren’t interested in bettering yourself and you must point at black folks (example) for your “problems” look in the mirror a little deeper.
These dipshits all want to drag us down to their level and I will die before I ever turn into a dittoheaded, science hating idiot who votes against my self interest. For me, my self interest is helping all Americans succeed. SUCCESS is good. Success is better for this country AS A WHOLE.
If a dummy in a red state wants to revel in being trailer trash, that’s fine as it’s your choice, but don’t bring the rest of us down because of some misplaced hatred that sprouts from jealousy.
Yutsano - January 28, 2010 | 2:25 am · Link
@rootless_e: Only one response to that:
http://www.hjo3.net/orly/gal1/orly_owl.jpg
Angry Space Cadet - January 28, 2010 | 2:33 am · Link
@williamc: You know maybe Stewart does want to be on the reservation with you and be another knee jerk liberal? He reacted to a story that was raging through the media the way most people with actual human feelings would. He’s not an investigative journalist, he has to rely on others to do the heavy lifting and to expect him to reject the whole ACORN scandal out of hand because its sources were on the right is not remotely fair. His segment on tonight’s show was fair enough.
Anne Laurie - January 28, 2010 | 2:45 am · Link
@williamc:
Sadly, this kinda reminds me of everything the “American conservatives” have done politically for the last 40 years or so. I guess Lee Harvey Oswald was more of an inspiration to the Republicans than we appreciated at the time.
Right Wing Extreme - January 28, 2010 | 2:57 am · Link
Hey I have an idea, we can continue to scapegoat the
jewsbankers. Later we can round them up and resettle them into ghettos. Then when it is time to seize there assets and property we can just send them to the camps for a nice shower. Come on you guys. your precious messiah is totally following the Hitler model. Scaryhamletta - January 28, 2010 | 3:01 am · Link
@The Populist: Is your handle ironic, or Alanis Morrissette “ironic”?
@Right Wing Extreme: Please be quiet. The grownups are talking.
Martin - January 28, 2010 | 3:03 am · Link
@Right Wing Extreme:
You’re right. It was totally the fault of the stupid niggers who were scamming the government for free crack houses.
Can we get better trolls plz?
The Republic of Stupidity - January 28, 2010 | 3:03 am · Link
@Martin:
That’s closer to what I’ve always thought… and Upstate, NYC was always thought of as another COUNTRY... or should be…
Brick Oven Bill - January 28, 2010 | 3:03 am · Link
Obama named Tim Geithner to be his Secretary of the Treasury. Geithner then named Mark Patterson, a lobbyist from Goldman Sachs, to be his Chief of Staff.
NY Times: Geithner’s best man at his wedding was his dad.
Mrs. Geithner is the former Ms. Caroline Sonnenfeld, a research associate at Common Cause, a lobbying group. I watched these two during the inauguration. They did not talk to each other. Mr. Geithner was pacing around with a cell-phone, looking uncomfortable.
The price of Goldman Sachs’ stock has tripled in the last year.
Goldman surely has access to the records of Columbia University.
Angry Space Cadet - January 28, 2010 | 3:04 am · Link
@Right Wing Extreme:
You are what you say you are, I’ll give you that.
The Republic of Stupidity - January 28, 2010 | 3:04 am · Link
@hamletta:
Isn’t it cute when the little play make-believe?
Time to put little Adolph to bed…
MelodyMaker - January 28, 2010 | 3:05 am · Link
@Yutsano:
intentional shit link?
Karen - January 28, 2010 | 3:06 am · Link
@Right Wing Extreme
I hope you’re not Jewish because if you are you make all Jews look bad. I’m Jewish and don’t consider Obama to be Hitler.
Hope you’re not and just a concern troll for Jews. If that’s not the case then you’ll understand this sentence.
Geh in drerd. Geh cocken offen yom!
MelodyMaker - January 28, 2010 | 3:18 am · Link
I think DougJ is cool. You’re welcome.
Zuzu's Petals - January 28, 2010 | 4:12 am · Link
Wow, guy in a uniform appearing prominently in the GOP response.
Someone alert the Freepers, quick.
arguingwithsignposts - January 28, 2010 | 5:04 am · Link
DougJ, no offense, but it’s a focus group, not a poll. Unscientific and all that. I’m sure you know that, but it bears repeating.
And Tweety needs to lose his job for that racist sh*t he said earlier. He’s apparently been getting a lot of negative feedback, but so what. Him, Pat Buchanan and Morning Joke can all DIAF.
Karen - January 28, 2010 | 5:37 am · Link
What does that mean?
Anne Laurie - January 28, 2010 | 5:52 am · Link
@Karen: Die In A Fire. This is why we have the Lexicon!
WereBear - January 28, 2010 | 7:49 am · Link
It’s really kind of funny; the vibe I get from the President.
He’s a nice guy.
I’m not saying it in any kind of derogatory way. That’s why I feel he has compassion and that he meant what he said about his goals in the SOTU.
But he’s not going to play the heavy. He might even be the heavy, but that is not how he works and it is not how he wants to be perceived.
It is not easy at all to pay out the rope so they can hang themselves, but I think the R’s have, in fact, hung themselves. In a corner.
And the fact that they have no effect on attacking him, and he scolds them instead…
It’s really a masterful psyche hit. Which the R’s richly deserve.
I hope it all works out the same way he hopes.
ksmiami - January 28, 2010 | 2:19 pm · Link
I know I am a bit late here, but let me say one thing wrt the SCOTUS decision – just wait until Soros, Buffet and Peter Lewis (Billionaire founder of Progressive, pro-legalization Democrat), plus the French spend boatloads in our next elections against the repukes
I will laugh at their tears…boo hoo
Wile E. Quixote - January 28, 2010 | 2:57 pm · Link
@Right Wing Extreme:
Damn. He’s onto us. We can only hope that he doesn’t find out that right after we wipe out the bankers that we’re going to take out all of the Republicans. It won’t be hard to round up the Republicans, most of them are cowards and draft-dodgers and all of them are stupid. We’ll just tell them that the buses that are taking them to the camps are reallly going to a Tea Party rally and they’ll be standing in line and giving us money to take them away.