09
Feb
Open Thread
Apparently some guy is talking about something in a little. I don’t know, but people in the comments seem to think it is more important than the Backyard Brawl, which is currently in progress. I beg to differ. At any rate, here is a place for you to talk about it.
Also, a little bird emailed me this link to the Corner, where they are listing the top #25 conservative movies of all time. #22 is Brazil:
Brazil (1985): Vividly depicting the miserable results of elitist utopian schemes, Terry Gilliam’s Brazil portrays a darkly comic dystopia of malfunctioning high-tech equipment and the dreary living conditions common to all totalitarian regimes. Everything in the society is built to serve government plans rather than people. The film is visually arresting and inventive, with especially evocative use of shots that put the audience in a subservient position, just like the people in the film. Terrorist bombings, national-security scares, universal police surveillance, bureaucratic arrogance, a callous elite, perversion of science, and government use of torture evoke the worst aspects of the modern megastate.
No wonder they love it.
Finally, one of our commenters is adopting a kitty, and it has no name:
A shame to go through life without a name. Please help.
*** Update ***
That didn’t take long. I just got an email informing me that said kitty has already been named and has made herself at home:
Say hello to “Momo.”
joe from Lowell
Hope.
Laura W
Sprout!
(as in Brussels?)
Paddy
He/She/It looks like it has some Siamese, and in that vein I nominate my beloved Ming Lee’s moniker. Plus, when he’s bad you can always call him Ming The Merciless.
fordpowers
aww. I vote for Hope too – looks like it should be her name.
Radon Chong
Brazil!
Stuck
How about Sweetpea.
Micheline
Peaches
Buttercup
If it is a female, Lulu.
javafascist
We’ve spent 8 years being ruled by authoritarian elites who questioned our patriotism at every perceived slight and they think they are the ones oppressed by the state (Brazil? Conservative? FTW!)
God I hate these people.
J.
Is "it" a boy or a girl? These kitty names would probably work for both: Schadenfreude (for a cat, what could be more perfect?), Confucius (the kitten looks very wise), Sagwa (great kids cartoon about a Siamese cat), Pyewacket, or the politically incorrect and cliche but appropriate Oreo.
Please let us know what the kitten adopter decides.
demkat620
@Stuck: Sweetpea was the first thing I thought when I saw her! Great minds think alike.
gex
I don’t know what you should name the cat, but I feel comfortable predicting that one of its nicknames will be "Dammit Kitten!" In the best possible way, of course.
Ned R.
Good lord at them trying to claim Brazil. True story—it’s one of my favorite films of all time but after 9/11 I could never bear to watch it again because I had a sudden realization that it was about to come true. Still haven’t rewatched it to this day, I would be too depressed.
evabaruk
Toad
Otto
Qui-Gon
Fifi
Josh Hueco
Missy?
Sassy?
Steely?
demkat620
@javafascist: They also thought Democrats were oppressing them when the GOP controlled the House, the Senate, and the White House.
demkat620
Hey there is a president on my TV speaking in complete sentences! This is something new.
Is this allowed?
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
Lightning.
Which, in Hebrew, is "Barak."
headpan
Tenderfoot.
The Truffle
How about Squirt?
The Grand Panjandrum
Why I love the Democrats:
If you’re going to bitch slap one of your own, make sure they know you think they’re a bitch.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
"So we don’t face another Katrina."
Oh, Mr. President—don’t you know that to Republicans, that’s a feature, not a bug?
gsp
Fucking more cats. Getting tired of this shit. Put some pictures of your parents’ dogs up. Have some respect for them, they brought you into this world. Fuck Tulch, Tunch, Tush, or whatever the fuckers name is. Dogs, bitches, Dogs.
srv
Gilliam.
Or Tuttle, after the DeNiro character.
TCG
The Silly Putty Brigade from the Red State Strike Force should be happy today.
The Tennessee State GOP has kicked GOP Speaker Williams out of the Party today and is demanding that the media no longer refer to Williams as a Republican.
headpan
Obama just slapped Congress in the face.
Laura W
He looks 10 years older already, stern, resolute.
And really pissed off.
Nice.
Napoleon
AP just proved they are idiots
TenguPhule
Chowmein.
javafascist
@demkat620 – I know, I know, I know. I shouldn’t be surprised but really. The whole premise of Brazil is a man gets unfairly incarcerated, tortured and has his complete life ruined by a state petrified by fear of terrorism. Sigh. I realize we’ve always been at war with Eurasian but sometimes I like to dream these people actually have some sahme and/or sense of self-recognition. The epic fail is on me, I suppose.
South of I-10
For the cute little kitteh that I want to scratch under the chin: Bijou.
FoxinSocks
Awww. How about Cappucino?
Jeff
Is this a girl kitten or a boy kitten. If a girl, I think Nina is a great name for her.
JL
@Napoleon: Repub talking point. Obama is giving her a lesson in econ 101. I like this guy.
demkat620
@Laura W: Oh yeah, I like him like this. Yes please shut up the New Deal Deniers.
I like this alot.
Litlebritifrnt
OMG! Not only is the POTUS speaking in complete sentences and using big words and stuff but he is answering reporters questions in the same manner. We are all doomed, this cannot stand.
BTW the kitten should be called Misty, cause she looks like such a thingy, and my eyes have gone such and I have a Misty and she is precious.
Litlebritifrnt
I am in moderation?
gsp
On a more serious note, you have to check out this post on TMP and the video attached to it. At one point one of the dumbass interviewer in rebuttal to the gloom predictions of two economists says " yeah, you’re right now but…."
You fucking idiot, these guys predicted this something like two years before it happened and you still treat them like they are morons? You have gotten it wrong since day one and now you think you’ve got it right. Too many pinheads in this world.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.c.....st-see.php
javafascist
And the cat should be named 27B-Stroke-6
Litlebritfrnt
Oooooops sorry John I mistyped my handle HA HA my fault. All is forgiven Harumph
mm
Kobe
Litlebritdifrnt
And I did it again! (Sorry listening to POTUS not paying attention).
The last three posts that are in moderation are me, who a) forgot who I was (and yes I am sober) b) was listening to tee vee and not paying attention to typing fingers and c) an idiot. If they ever get out of moderaton I sincerely apologize. (And see just for you guys I spelled that with a z).
Napoleon
@JL:
Is this a record for an answer to one question in a press conference?
headpan
Snap!
Max B.
brazil is one of the greatest films ever made. and to try and claim it as conservative, especially the definition of conservative that the national review uses, is not even rejecting reality; it’s rejecting reality in favor of a totally unrelated fantasy universe, then rejecting that in favor of permanent non-stop masturbation.
Fencedude
WTF? Why is Reuters asking about Iran right now?
JL
Wow, Can you imagine Bush answering the question on Iran. President Bush would say "Iran is bad, next question"
headpan
((eyes glazing over)) ((astonished mumbling, ‘my president can speak, my president can speak, my pres . . .))
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
Whoah. Clear language, coherent sentences… this is nice, so far.
I won’t get into the whole question of howcome Israel is allowed to have hundreds of nukes but no one else in the region is so empowered.
Hoya
This is today’s edition of "The President is Smarter than Your Stupid Question."
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
Bad habits? Mr. President, they’re not bad habits—they’re bad actors.
In short, they’re Republicans.
Laura W
"What went wrong?"
FTW.
There will be no better question all night. I predict this.
(Furthermore, any man past 13 that still goes by "Chip" sucks.)
demkat620
Is it just me or is he looking at Chip Reid like"Jesus, dude come the fuck on!"
Frank
They didn’t see the same Brazil that I saw. Then, again, they don’t see the same world I see.
Rex
Mocha
Adrienne
@Laura W: Laura, I don’t know if pissed is the correct word. Aggravated? Vexed? Perturbed? Perplexed? Agitated?
BTW: The Reuters reporter is a fucking idiot. This is a press conference about THE biggest fucking economic disaster since the Great Depression and this asshole asks about Iran – a country who can barely launch a fucking rocket. WHO THE FUCK CARES IF THEY GET THE BOMB if we no longer have a country for them to try to destroy with it?
AhabTRuler
Her name is Momo. Both for Mo Tucker from the Velvet Underground, and from the flying lemur from Avatar ("Hush Chatty Monkey").
I have made peace with technology and started a photostream
Litlebritdifrnt
BTW - Kitty should be called Misty (just in case I never get out of moderation)
BTW - I am getting all misty just looking at that man stood behind that FIIIIIIIIIINE POTUS stand, giving his first press conf as POTUS, and listening to the reporters say "Mr. President" oh and having a POTUS wot speaks in complete sentences with big words and stuff helps too. "THUD"
Kiddo
Tipper or Stormie, and thanks for all the chuckles I’ve gotten in here!
Hoya
I feel like that his breaking out his professor’s voice.
Josh Hueco
I like how he keeps repeating ‘Do-Nothing’
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
"When I hear that from folks who presided over a doubling of the national debt…"
Oooohhh, that’s gonna leave a mark.
headpan
Shorter Obama: pork my ass.
Laura W
@AhabTRuler: Momo Sprout, then.
She is supremely beauteous.
gil mann
Stimu-puss
some guy named comrade mattski
snowball III
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
He is just killin’, here.
I am gonna need a cig after this press conference.
headpan
Dammit, these kittehs, I wants one
Laura W
@Adrienne: I am an adjective whore like few others, Adrienne, but I’m goin’ with pissed here.
Svensker
It’s nice that he can answer in complete sentences and all but, damn, how long are these answers? I mean, I am missing Antiques Roadshow. Jeez, BHO, cut it short, man.
John Cole
Whenever a journalist asks a stupid question, I am reminded of this story:
Every time he pauses and says “umm, uhh” I imagine he is censoring himself instead of saying “You fucking moron.”
John T
If I had a cat I would name it Yoni. Um, google it.
Adrienne
@Ivan Ivanovich Renko:
Oooooh, tha Obama Ju-Jitsu has struck again. BAM Bitches!
What did Obama’s five fingers say the GOP’s face? SLAP!
Jason
Good thing they don’t have a camera on Chip Reid. "When do I have to stop nodding politely?"
In one year, when he stops getting bogged down in his own sentences, this President is going to rip the press apart. His prepared remarks were excellent. Chuck Todd…
demkat620
@Ivan Ivanovich Renko:
I looooooove how he is throwing this right back at the GOPers. Why wouldn’t you want to do these things?
Bwahahahaha!
AhabTRuler
Um, no.
Napoleon
Chuck Todd, stupidest man on the planet
headpan
The media reality just shifted here. Obama’s taking control of these bitchez.
Dave
Good Lord, the Corner is really full of idiots. How you can tout Brazil, which is the manifestation of Cheney’s wet dream, as a conservative film now is just insane.
Hoya
Complete sentences! Consistent answers! No talking points!
Indylib
What the hell happened to the Chuck Todd of the campaign that seemed to have a brain?
Did it leak out of the back of his head as soon as he was named the White House correspondent?
John Cole
A.) I like Chuck Todd.
B.) Mark Halperin is still alive.
Adrienne
@Laura W: I can dig it. Pissed works! LOL
Shorter, shorter Obama: Fuck off.
Laura W
"Ginned up".
Awesome. Who has the cigarettes?
Hoya
OMG HEINLEIN REFERENCE!
Wonk
Man, he is taking them all to school. I could get used to this.
For the ladies (and anyone else so inclined…) – my new desktop, courtesy of Pundit Kitchen.
It’s the new "Chill the fuck out."
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
At last, its popcorn time!
headpan
To the press: Obama is tired of your fuckin bullshit.
Fencedude
What happened to reports that asked interesting, inciteful questions that aren’t just read off of a script given to them by their boss?
Napoleon
@John Cole:
Actually I like Todd a lot, maybe this isn’t his thing; point taken on Halpern.
gwangung
Well, hot damn. Now THAT’S a guy I want to have a beer with. Or glass of wine. Or anything he DAMN wants, because I’m buying….
John S.
I will join in the chorus of outrage…
Brazil was not a conservative film. Nothing Terry Gilliam has ever done can be labelled as thus. And yes, those folks over at the Corner are batshit insane – in Baron Munchausen proportions.
JGabriel
Momo?
I would have gone with "Snowball", but maybe she’s darker in life than in the photo.
.
Gus
Must. Pet. Adorable. Kitty.
gil mann
The cringe muscles I spent the last eight years developing are already starting to atrophy.
Two or three more press conferences like this, I’m gonna look like I’m wearing a fleshtone scarf.
demkat620
@Napoleon: It s not. Todd is too much a horse race guy.
Obama is just kicking their asses all over the place.
John O
I just sorta like being spoken to like I’m a funcking adult.
This guy is gonna be tough to get in front of, politically. The GOP better deal with it.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
And he answers the fucking questions!
Teh awesome!
JL
How long has this guy been President?
Laura W
@JL: Long enough for Chip Reid to ask him what went so wrong.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
@John O: Most thinking Americans are welcoming that development right now, even as we type.
Republicans, not so much.
JGabriel
gsp:
I’m confused. Is that an exhortation, or a bestial menage a trois fantasy?
.
John O
I think so, too, Ivan.
I’m also having trouble not picturing McCain in the same spot. "Tax cuts!"
Obama is controlling it superbly.
Adrienne
Or, they can just roll over and die. Either way is fine by me!
Fixt.
demkat620
I may just have to unquit smoking. Oh my god, is this good!
edmund dantes
Adam Savage has the perfect motto for the Republicans.
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
It’s always amazing how often they twist things to the exact opposite meaning of what they are supposed to be about. They’re going to claim Brazil? Really?
Edit—You can also trace the exact moment a lot of conservatives fell out of love with Battlestar Galactica to the point where the humans as all undermanned and outgunned units are forced to do if they want to win (just like the US Continental Army) resorted to what we now call terrorist tactics.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
Now THERE was the "You gotta be fuckin’ kiddin’ me" look.
And what kind of fucking name is "Major?"
Didn’t that go out with Catch-22?
Dave
Ah, Major Garrett!! The turd in the punch bowl has arrived!
Bad Horse's Filly
@Wonk: I was trying to be a serious citizen here, listening to a POTUS that doesn’t suck and then you hit me with that great shot. I’ve tucked it away in my folder, along with Obama in the rain and Obama in a black cowboy hat...oh yeah, and TV Guide Magazine had a great cover shot – you’ll have to scan way down to the bottom to the Change is in the Air article.
JL
This is from the live blogging at the NYTimes
Adrienne
And earmarks. You can’t neglect his freakishly disturbing fetish for earmarks.
Hoya
Major Garrett with the Corner Poll Question of the Night.
Shorter Obama: Joe Biden is a lovable fool.
Ed Marshall
Momo is redneck for grandma (or actually great-grandmother as far as I know). Wierd name for a kitten. Well, that part of my family didn’t seem to spell real great. Phonetically, it was pronounced Mah-Maw. Alternatives are Mee-Maw and Mem-Aw.
Jason
A-Rod. For real.
John O
It will be a minor unsung miracle if he gets out of this without any stupid questions…OOPS!
A-roid question!
I love the media, like I love bamboo-shoots shoved up my ass.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
An A-Rod question? SRSLY? Dumb fuck.
Bostondreams
A-Roid? Really? Aren’t there more important issues? A-Roid?
And I say that as a Red Sox fan.
Josh Hueco
A-Rod? WTF? That’s the best the WaPo can do?
EDIT: Oh, good, a Helen Thomas chaser.
Dave
@Hoya:
Joe Biden is the old uncle at family gatherings that everyone loves but occasionally says something embarrassing or nonsensical.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
Sweet Jebus. He can even talk rationally about beisbol!
And leave it to Helen Thomas to ask a pointed, sharp, serious question about a serious issue.
The woman is a treasure.
John O
Christ, he should really do this all the time.
John Cole
Helen Thomas, trying to get Obama to officially state Israel has nukes.
LOL. Crazy old woman.
Stuck
How cool is it to have a presnit who’s an economic policy wonk and can explain it to an idiot like moi’, to where it makes a little sense. Loved the smackdown of dumbass goopers who caused the economic shitstorm we’re in.
JL
Way to go Helen!
Fencedude
@Ed Marshall:
Its also Japanese for "Peach"
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
@Dave: And who can also be depended on to say the shit that everyone’s thinking but no one wants to own up to.
Hoya
Christ, this is awesome. NBC should put this on at 10:00 instead of Leno.
demkat620
@John Cole: I love Helen Thomas. Wish we had had a hundred more of her in the last eight years.
JGabriel
John Cole:
I do the same thing. Absolutely my favorite Obama story so far.
.
Fulcanelli
Our POTUS is talking like an adult to the press and is clearly the smartest guy in the room so I don’t have to hold my breath and wince. Plus a kitteh got a home! There’s hope yet! Skritch em’ for me.
new day rising
"Cutie"
John Cole
Joe Biden has been getting a bad rap. What he said was perfectly reasonable, and perfectly honest, and in a society not filled with idiots like Jake Tapper running the news, no one would have flinched. No one knows if the stimulus package will work for sure. There is a chance that no matter what we do, things will get better. Now his 30% number he pulled out his ass, but what he said was true and honest.
John O
State funeral for Helen. (Obligatory "long time from now" qualifier.)
She won’t stop asking tough, relevant questions.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
No, Mara.
He’s going to have a more Democratic Congress, as GOP assholes are taken down by angry
mobsvoters.gwangung
Me, too, as a Seattle Mariners fan (whose fans’ hate for A-Rod makes the Sox’ emotion look like fond affection).
John O
I’m ready for a pay per view, uncensored, profanity encouraged press conference. Let it all hang out.
Could even help with our economic situation.
Thanks for reminding me, John. That IS one of the smartest thing he’s ever said.
Indylib
Geezafuckingchristmastree, another douchbag how will YOU be more bi-partisan, Mr. President question. How many times are these nimrods going to ask the same damn question with slightly different wording?
D0n Camillo
Maybe they see it as a how to manual?
The Grand Panjandrum
Mara Liasson with a great question. Gives Obama a chance to lay out how the Republicans are the problem and that how he sees bipartisanship.
Laura W
HuffPo? Really?
I could’ve had my hands over my eyes and my sleepy time plugs in my ears, but I don’t recall ever hearing Bush say "Huffington Post" on the teevee.
JL
Smack, Smack, Smack, Smack Can you imagine watching this in a room with GOP reps.
John O
It’s going to be a long 4 years of liking your President.
Sycophant! Dick sucker! Dead ender!
Litlebritdifrnt
My DH just got home and changed the channel so I am now vicariously following this through you guys and Wonkette (which is hilarious BTW). I guess I shall have to catch the entire thing tomorrow on Youtube but so far so good, I do not think that the entire Washington Press Corps knows what to make of a) a presnit that answers questions in complete sentences and big words and stuff b) a presnit who appears to know all thier names and where they are from and c) a presnit who has the uncanny ability to look at them as if to say "are you fucking serious dude" while answering the dumb ass question. I will repeat "THUD"
Bostondreams
I think Obama just said that he should have treated the Republicans like an elementary school classroom and tricked them into doing what he wanted them to do, with them thinking all along that the idea came from them.
Works with college kids too. Definitely a professor!
Awesome.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
"There’s some ideological blockage there that needs to be cleared out" = "They’re full of shit."
AWESOME.
Fulcanelli
This isn’t a press conference this is the Fuckin’ Sermon on the Mount, Press Bitchez! Take this back to your corporate overlords!
The Grand Panjandrum
@Litlebritdifrnt: It just ended.
Laura W
@Indylib:
Once CHIP laid out his three-word, three-syllable pearl, what more could they do?
(Hey, do you think Jason L. is live blogging it?)
John O
It’s over.
Good luck GOP.
Martin
Damn, I should never read a thread before posting. I was going to offer up Kung Pow Kitty. I’m allergic to the little buggers…
She was my commencement speaker. I had lunch with her. She’s exceedingly nice and fun to talk to.
Wonk
@Bad Horse’s Filly: re: TV Guide pix – that would make a great avatar.
Hubba, hubba.
Jason
It’s a week too late, y’see. If only he had kicked our asses last week, we wouldn’t have to have our asses kicked tonight.
Studly Pantload
Alpha Dog was at the podium tonight! Day-am!
Indylib
@Litlebritdifrnt:
It was playing on a live feed from MSNBC, I caught it on the front page of HuffPo.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
OMG, did you see Rahm’s face as the President said he was an eternal optimist?
That was the look of a man looking forward to slitting a few Republican throats.
Figuratively, of course.
Punchy
KU crushes MU, beeyotches! ROCK CHALK!! Squak
John O
God knows we elected the right guy.
JGabriel
Ivan Ivanovich Renko:
Figuratively? Does it have to be?
.
Indylib
@Laura W: I don’t know, I’ll have to headback over there and check. I’d love to hear his version of some of the more idiotic questions asked. His Barney Frank dialogue Sunday was ROFFL.
AhabTRuler
@Litlebritdifrnt: As someone pointed out in a previous thread, CSPAN has live streams and is sans chatty monkeys as a bonus. Me likey.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
@JGabriel: If it was literal, a knive to the throat would be way too nice.
A beatdown with big sticks would be so much more satisfying.
Laura W
Someone pass Tweety a smoke. He’s a bit swoony. Again.
Andre
Son, you just got told.
gwangung
But that wouldn’t last long enough.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Is he swoony or is he tingly?
Martin
Knives? Sticks? I thought these people believed in good old-fashioned stoning?
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
@Fulcanelli: Rachel Maddow just referred to the news conference as a sort of "wonky sermon."
Fulcanelli
@Ivan Ivanovich Renko: A nice Passion of the Christ styled ‘scourging’ is more to my liking. Go Old Testament on their asses.
Brick Oven Bill
In favor of stimulus bill, week over week: 45%/42%/37%
Opposing stimulus bill, week over week: 34%/39%/43%
Rasmussen’s Presidential Approval Index is dropping at an approximate rate of 1 point per day.
This is why there is a rush to get this legislation passed. This staged press conference, it will not help. That laughing at Major Garrett’s fair question will be replayed.
A stimulus bill of $100 billion should be authorized, with the balance being made contingent upon metrics beyond ‘save or create 4 million jobs’, which is not a metric, as it cannot be measured. $100 billion is the equivalent of 20 Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carriers.
Adrienne
I prefer to cut them with a rusty pocket knife and spray them with alcohol. But, I guess we could do it your way.
Laura W
@Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse: Well, I was gonna say wet but my inner prude showed up unexpectedly.
TR
We all are.
Minutes before the press conference, Chris Matthews actually asked his guests if they thought Obama would get the tough question about not wearing a jacket in the Oval Office.
I think Matthews’ follow-up question would be "Don’t you hate pants?!"
John O
My take on Tweety is evolving.
I’m just about willing to give him the "calls ‘em as he sees ‘em" trait. I don’t agree with him all the time, but when I do, his TV character has convinced me he’s sincere.
So who can know?
He’s still sorta weird about women, no matter what, but I’ve known a zillion guys like that. They’re not all bad.
"All" in this context meaning, not "universally" bad.
kay
The nitwits on cable look a little chastened.
They (yet again!) misread "The Heartland".
We don’t love House Republicans. No, sir.
John O
scoff
Let’s see how this one polls.
That was the best presser I’ve seen in…8 years!
TR
He was too busy answering the probing questions of Jeff Gannon.
JL
The Republicans have decided to become obstructionists and that is their only game.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
I just made the mistake of tuning CNN. There’s 90 seconds I’ll never get back.
Fulcanelli
@TR: Probing. Heh.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course.
Laura W
@TR: Sheesh, I’ve barely finished laughing at your Matthews’ follow-up question.
Funny stuff.
TR
Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here all week.
Be good to your waitresses, people.
John O
Step. On. Necks.
Foolish, by now, wouldn’t you say, to underestimate where Obama is on the political chessboard?
He’s set the table for a neck-stomping.
And he does it so politely.
Sure hope he doesn’t take any intern BJ offers.
robertdsc
If only the people he had working for him (Summers and Geithner, I’m looking at you) were as strong as he is. He did a really good job today.
Polish the Guillotines
Momo looks almost identical to my Bella. Dammit, Cole, post my Bella already!
kay
@John O:
David Gergen and Jeffrey Toobin have gone rogue.
They’re telling the truth.
Adrienne
Nah, they’re cool as they are. He’s the HNIC, so to speak, so he needs to be the strongest. They are just his deputies.
BUT, Summers is NO shrinking violet and I’ll put him toe to toe against anyone on the other side in a heartbeat. Geithner could be a little less mealy mouthed but he knows his shit.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
@John O:
I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.
By crazy Slaus at Oh Hell Nawl (ohellnawlblog.com)
TR
On the bright side, with that bizarre speaking tic that Wolf Blitzer has, where he constantly repeats words for emphasis and regularly pauses for dramatic shouts, you probably only absorbed 60 seconds of stupidity.
"Up NEXT! Some Republicans in the House—in THE HOUSE!—argue that the stimulus bill might—I repeat, MIGHT —lead to a financial catastrophe! You’re in the SITUATION ROOM! MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUL!"
John O
Obama is one of those super-covert political assassins who have been trained in all the Dark Political Arts, including the all-important and risky "dick on the table" move.
His gift is making his opponents whip theirs out happily.
Sports can be good training, if you’re staying with me.
Krista
I think both Obama and Rahm are optimistic about a lot of Republican bitch-slapping.
And why does that image make me all warm, fuzzy and tingly inside?
Comrade Jake
I’m guessing that if there are any Republicans who watched the presser and then caught Gergen’s analysis, they have summarily crapped their pants.
scarshapedstar
Hai Guiz, everyone run and watch my Christian Bale / Soulja Girl mashup! See Young Jeezy kill George Bush, shawty!!111
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5cFm-4XPMg
John O
Think about it.
He’s a Chicago pol. and aging ex-jock, aging well I might add.
Can everyone take a guess who two of his all-time, throat-loving in the VAMPIRE paradigm favorite athletes might be?
Samuel
That sound you hear is the moderate, even conservative Democrats in the House (who brought the Democrats to majority status in 2006) taking the biggest gulp of "oh shit" you’ve ever heard. The POTUS just tied all of their political fortunes on one big $800 billion roll of the dice.
Obama better hope those wind farms find a way to actually turn a profit or become economically viable before the 2010 midterms (hence, being able to sustain EMPLOYMENT)...
Yowza…..
Josh Hueco
@Comrade Jake:
What did Gergen and Toobin say?
John O
Ben Nelson is publicly crapping in his pants on the Maddow show right now.
I actually feel bad for him.
Tropical Fats
$5 is the equivalent of a delicious footlong sandwich at Subway. Look at me, I’m typing things on the Internet!
Comrade Jake
@Josh Hueco:
Gergen said that Obama is wisely using the bully pulpit to expand his power. He predicts that a few weeks from now, everyone will be recognizing how much of a huge victory this was for Obama, and the Obama will use that to expand his power further.
In other words, he is who we thought he was.
TR
I actually feel bad for him.
Maddow seems to feel bad for him, too.
zoe kentucky from pittsburgh
Brick Bill- Awww. You must be one of the 24% who disapprove of Obama—also known as Bush’s reality-challenged deadenders who are impervious to logic or rational thinking. How is life treating you in your little club of cranky, pissy malcontents?
What I truly love is that Obama thinks in PARAGRAPHS. After years of Bush’s smug chortling and responses that are little more than "yeah, that’s a tough one, next question" it’s truly amazing to watch him and how far and fast he’s come in so little time.
Adrienne
Is it just me or does Sen. Nelson look like a sleepy bulldog?
kay
@Samuel:
Democrats do have a diverse and broad caucus. That’s because Democrats are a national Party.
It’s a "problem" Republicans would love to have.
former capitalist
Sorry to interrupt, but Sen Nelson is on Rachel’s show now. Is there a bigger idiot in Washington? This guy is a complete and utter fraud. Rachel is GIVING HIM HELL.
gbear
@Ned R.:
I had the opposite reaction. I watched it within a week of 9/11 because it seemed to be the only movie that would make sense. I felt a need for some black black humor.
Montysano
@Samuel: Christ on a crutch, Sameul; I understand your ardor to find something, anything to dislike tonight. I know you need some thin sliver of hope. But Jesus man: you’re embarrassing your self. "He better make those wind farms pay in 20 months" is about the dumbest thing I’ve heard…... well, at least today.
@Brick Oven Bill:
When suddenly a new contender appears.
The Thinking Man's Mel Torme
I swear Ft. Myers could f*ck up a cup of coffee given half a chance.
The ticket distribution for the Obama event ended up being a fiasco. All weekend long, as soon as the venue was set, we kept hearing "1500 tickets, 2 per person." Again and again, from all the media outlets. All weekend long and this morning as well.
As I said earlier, I arrived at 5:00AM and, based on a head count someone passed along to me, I was about 500th in line. People started lining up at noon on Sunday. I figured it would be close, but I’d probably come in under the wire. There was some aggravating line cutting, but not enough to make the difference.
By the time tickets started being handed out, I was somewhere in the first half of the line. People kept coming, even when there couldn’t be any chance to get tickets that far back in line.
Come 9:00 sharp, the venue managers announced ticket distribution was starting, and the line started moving. When the first people came out the exits with tickets, a cheer went up. It took a while for my part of the line to get moving, as cops were keeping it single file at a point about 50 feet ahead of me, and they were only letting enough people in to prevent crowding.
After about 10 minutes, we started moving slowly forward. By now, everyone was obsessive about his or her spot in line. The gent immediately behind me and I were estimating the crowd flow by how fast people were walking away with tickets: an average of one every four seconds, or about 15 per minute, for a maximum of 30 tickets per minute. So, we figured tickets should last 45 minutes. At the rate we were moving, it would be close, but we figured the cutoff would be a decent way behind us. Looking good. It was a little weird, though, that every venue staffer we passed kept getting asked about a count so far, and they all pointedly said, "we’re not counting." Hmm. Even only to pass the time, there would be some counting.
After about 20 minutes, the line comes to a halt. There was some fiddling of the barriers at the head of the line, and numerous people with credentials and radios huddling. Someone came on the PA and announced they were out of tickets, and to please head for the exits. There was immediately lots of shouting and pushing. Everyone, even people with tickets, was shocked at how quickly the line got cut off. It looked for a moment that it was going to get ugly, but people started walking away in disgust. The venue closed up immediately and started taking down all the barriers.
Rumors circulated on all the local media websites all day. A few people argued that everyone’s count was off, that a certain person had tickets labeled 900+, but mostly lots of claims about how the actual number of tickets wasn’t 1500.
The NBC affiliate has a story that there were only 250 tickets given out, which seems logical. The White House is saying the venue and local media mislead everyone, that there were 1500 seats, inclusive of media, staff, volunteers, and dignitaries. The venue insists the White House told them "nearly all" the 1500 seats would be available to the public, and they only found out the number was smaller as they were handing out the tickets (brought at the last moment by a Presidential staffer). The local party chairman is being a weasel and saying "some" tickets were reserved for the congressional delegation according to "long standing protocol. What no one is saying is exactly how many f*cking tickets were made available.
It was bad enough that I stood in the dark for hours like a dummy, but some people waiting from 2:00AM onward were shut out. There were children, old people who could barely walk, amputee veterans, and just about all of them got shut out. I just don’t get why they didn’t level with people. If there were only 250 tickets, and that meant waiting in line overnight, fine. The people willing to do that deserve them. I can find no indication that the Elkhart, IN, event was handled this way, so I can only assume it’s the usualy Florida Democratic reverse Midas touch at work.
Yippee.
ChrisB
Well, I’m late to this thread but all I can say is thank God he’s president. And boy did he kick ass at the end.
(Whoever said it up above was right: Mara Liasson’s question a perfect foil for Obama’s conclusion to the press conference.)
El Cid
What I think were the most helpful questions were the ones which went like:
"Bipartisan bipartisanship bipartisan partisan bipartisanship. But bipartisan bipartisanship bipartisanshipism, bipartisan bipartisanship bipartisanshipization?"
Those really helped us with the key issues.
JGabriel
@kay:
I’m not so sure about that. Republicans hate diversity.
.
Brick Oven Bill
$100 billion is like ever family of four having to buy President Obama 50 subway sandwiches. $1 trillion is like every family of four having to buy President Obama 500 subway sandwiches. If you count the government guarantees, every family of four has just bought the federal government 5,000 subway sandwiches.
At last check, PPI was $1.52, so this equals 16,447 cheesy pepperoni pizzas. This is like one pizza per day, each day for 45 years.
This is a lot of pizza.
I take my family our every once and a while and we buy two subway sandwiches. We are trying to watch our expenses.
Litlebritdifrnt
"inhales deeply on a Marlboro red and drinks heavily on a heineken" damn that was good. I am not sure that I can stand the next four years if all the press conferences are this good, I may just have to live in my gerbil cage and smoke good stuff and say "quite" alot. (And just in case noone gets the reference I am talking about this)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....38;index=3
The dems are the Gerbils, the Repubs are the rats.PS) Parental guidance required.
Comrade Kevin
@former capitalist:
That guy is a total tool. What an idiot.
Fencedude
@Brick Oven Bill:
WTF does that have to do with anything?
Are you honestly trying to say that 100 Billion should be enough because, well, its a big damn number?
Seriously?
John O
Yo, B.O.B.!
Alternatives, please. We should start with an easy one: Just let it all work itself out on its own?
But if you agree to anything even close to that, you have to tell us about your own personal financial situation.
Deal?
ChrisB
@TR: You are on a roll tonight.
But I do not feel bad for Ben Nelson. Maddow made him look like a fool and he deserved it.
JL
@The Thinking Man’s Mel Torme: What a mess.
JWW
We inheritated my off to Boston Collage sons cat. His name is Gilmore, after Happy Gilmore. Found in the street with a broken leg, he has turned out to be a spectacular cat. Though his name is Gilmore, he responds to MoMo. Actually he thinks his name is MoMo.
He is a very large guy, with paws as large if not larger than a Maine Coon cat. Not fat, but weighs 17lbs(+).
John O
My sincere apologies, B.O.B.
It should have been an "easy TWO."
Besides doing nothing, "TAX CUTS!"
Josh Hueco
$100 Billion will also buy BOB a lifetime supply of sorely-needed Lamictal and Seroquel.
SGEW
[Soon to be obligatory piss-on-the-parade comment]
I know that it was a press conference on the stimulus package and the economy, but . . . I sure wish someone had asked him about the Justice Department’s position on the use of the state secrets doctrine to outright dismiss cases alleging torture.
Stuck
If you want to understand BoB, and his mission in life, read this from his website, and let it bounce around your brain.
At some point everything will make sense, and then you can catch it on the NY Times bestseller shelf.
And, of course, 100 billion pesos will buy a shitpot full of bottle rockets.
Josh Hueco
@SGEW:
Me too. Disappointed but not surprised.
kay
@Montysano:
Christ on a crutch, Sameul; I understand your ardor to find something, anything to dislike tonight. I know you need some thin sliver of hope. But Jesus man: you’re embarrassing your self. "He better make those wind farms pay in 20 months" is about the dumbest thing I’ve heard…... well, at least today.
It’s just the silliness of conservative spin. Only a conservative would claim that a huge House majority is a "problem" due to it’s geographical-ideological diversity.
Oh, yeah. That’s what political parties worry about. Carrying too many House districts, in too many states.
TR
But then we wouldn’t have had time for the A-Rod question, and that would have been tragic.
The children! For the love of God, THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
John O
CANT’ YOU SEE WE’RE IN LOVE HERE, SWEG???
!!
LOL.
I don’t want any of the actual torturers locked up, as much as I just crave The Man being locked up, so that one doesn’t bug me so much. I think he’s been very clear on that question, and that’s why it wasn’t asked.
John S.
Instead, the press regaled us with tales of steroids in MLB and Joe Biden’s fantasy failure rates.
dmsilev
RedState brings teh stoopid:
Do these people live in the Star Trek Mirror Universe or something?
-dms
SGEW
[I continue. I apologize, but if my day is ruined the least I can do is spread the crushed hope.]
From the NYT:
Greenwald adds:
(emphasis added throughout)
There ya go. Cute cat, btw.
Indylib
@Fencedude:
He must be related to the idiot Repub Senator that stood on the floor of the US Senate last week and preached against the recovery plan by explaining (with pictures to help) how many times a stack of $100 bills worth $800 billion would wrap around the earth and would reach to the moon.
Fucking idiots.
Conservatively Liberal
Ride’em cowboy! I wish someone would draw a political cartoon with these images in it:
Backdrop: Rodeo grounds, packed seats and a wildly cheering crowd.
Background: A tired, wheezing donkey.
Foreground: Obama whooping it up ("YEEEHAWW!), Stetson in hand being waved around while riding a bucking elephant.
I am really enjoying this new guy we have in office. President Obama says ‘they had their chance, we tried their ideas for eight years and they have failed’ and I swear I can hear wingnut heads popping like corn across the country.
He is going to keep driving home the point that they put us in this position and now that they are opposing him they are showing everyone that they are not interested in helping our country, only themselves. He is not going to let up on this and the Rushublicans are falling for it. They believe their own propaganda is the ‘truth’ and they are running with that like their lives depend on it. The Rushublicans are missing the point that their message is so off key, so discordant in its clash with reality, that the audience is booing and heckling them.
Obama is encouraging them to crank it up to 11 and they are obliging him. Maybe they think that the output of the Mighty Wurlitzer will drown out the all of the booing and heckling. Yeah, good luck with that…lol
Brick Oven Bill
Option #1: Do nothing and let bad companies go bankrupt. The system will self-correct after much pain. Pain is a part of life and is occasionally necessary.
Option #2: Use public funds to electrify six transcontinental rail lines for $15 billion.
scarshapedstar
@The Thinking Man’s Mel Torme:
tl;dr
robertdsc
Enough of your flat-Earth bullshit. Really now.
Laura W
@ChrisB:
Thanks for saying that. I would’ve, but I felt all sycophantish.
Calouste
@JGabriel:
It’s the "looking forward" bit that is figurative.
John O
Very good, and much appreciated, B.O.B.
A part of me agrees with you. The difference between you and me is that I don’t want individuals to feel pain, though I don’t mind "us" feeling some.
Get it? If I’m going to piss money out the window, I would prefer health care to killing brown people on the other side of the world.
El Cid
Option #3: Force Americans to grasp onto electrified rail lines so that they may understand that pain is real and is important to learn from.
Option #4: Tie Republicans permanently to highly electrified tracks until such time as their charred remains blow away.
Option #5: Electric Kool-Aid!
Ram111
Squintie?
Squanto?
(names for teh kitteh)
JGabriel
@Conservatively Liberal:
Yeah, I like it when Obama sounds like a blogger.
.
demkat620
@dmsilev: I think their hamster got tired.
Comrade Kevin
@dmsilev: They’re used to George W. Bush spouting slogans and platitudes. They don’t recognize it when someone puts actual thought into answering a question.
Litlebritdifrnt
I followed this entire thing on the net tonight and I just got a sense of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B49N46I39Y
Jupiter the bringer of Jolity, there is nothing you can do to down my high tonight, sorry, not one of your wingnut trolls can even attempt to bring it down, I am high on Holst, and you can all go fuck yourselves. "I vow to thee my Country" works on both sides of the pond. I still vow to my old country but I now vow to my new country. Take me on.
John O
The more I think about it all the more I think this was a seminal political event.
All people need to do is pass this mo-fo along to their friends and family.
The Grand Panjandrum
@SGEW: I read the Greenwald piece earlier and I must say this really is a huge disappointment. Time to start writing letters to the Prez and the Congress.
demkat620
@Brick Oven Bill: WTF are you mumbling?
Mike in NC
Well, that was to be expected, wasn’t it? Look for lots of similar alternate universe wingnut commentary by morning.
I took great pains to avoid The Shrub’s infrequent face-offs with the so-called White House Press Corps, but he always had a weird style of speaking that involved saying something totally banal, then rephrasing it in the next sentence with "in other words" to sound even stupider.
For example, "I’m George Bush and I have shit for brains. In other words, my brains are made of shit."
gbear
@The Grand Panjandrum:
Umm…I’m not so sure she was playing devil’s advocate. I think she was actually asking him about his failure at bi-partisanship due to the fact that no republicans would give him the time of day. Obama hit it out of the park, but I think she was actually trying to bean him with the pitch. NPR hasn’t been an enlightened source for news for many years.
sgwhiteinfla
Just as a general rule can we just outright dismiss the whole "self correcting" notion of the market? There hasn’t been a time in our history where we have had an economic downturn whether mild or severe that the market has "self corrected". Either the Fed changed rates, or the government cut or raised taxes or cut or raised spending, or we printed more money. If you can come up with even ONE time in our nations history where we experienced a recession and we did nothing then you can use the term "self correcting". Otherwise, blow it out your ass.
Ed Marshall
Why?
This is a deflationary circle. Yes, you let this bad boy run it’s course and there is an end there. Ultimately people would start to starve or succumb to disease and the survivors would inherit a diminished workforce that equaled the demand. Before that point there is nothing in the world that says there is a bottom here. Deflation kills jobs which leads to layoffs which leads to decreased consumption which leads to layoffs and there is no magic reason why this ever has to stop.
MazeDancer
@AhabTRuler - While a great combination and interesting name, pet trainers would advise not naming your cat Momo. Because it sounds like "no-no". When pets have a name that sounds like "no", they get confused. Not that cats pay much attention to "No". But No-No and Mo-Mo are going to sound exactly the same to the kitty.
El Cid
Yes, but of course, all that’s preferable to some action which some people might call ‘socialist,’ right? Better to die on one’s stomach eating sh*t out of a gutter than dare encroach our freedom by interfering with the fee mahkit.
Litlebritdifrnt
@MazeDancer:
I am pretty sure that Cubeball (my dog) thinks his name is "NO CUEBALL!" or even "CUEBALL DON’T" or even worse "CUEBALL STOP THAT"
El Cid
These moderation rules are so silly. Apparently if you use the term ‘social*st", it awaits moderation, no?
John O
"Hope" was perfect, but it isn’t our job to name others’ pets.
At least the owner must have veto power.
Martin
He wants electrify the rail lines so that the diesel Amtrak trains, which the GOP won’t fund as is, can ride over them.
Republican option 3 is a wind farm on the moon.
burnspbesq
@Brick Oven Bill:
Bill, you need to upgrade to a better set of delusions.
Conservatively Liberal
Take the "so" off of the beginning and the "m" off of the end of that word and see what remains. ;)
Edit: Make that ‘remove the "t" from the end…’
AhabTRuler
@MazeDancer: For reasons having mostly to do with overexposure to the treacly wisdom of Bil Keane’s Family Circus, I would never remonstrate any being with the phrase "no-no." The phrase for correction is "no," and I would argue that the tone of voice (and a handy squirt-gun) are more important.
gsp
A WashPost reporter asked Obama about A Rod. You have the opportunity to ask the President on his first press conference anything you want and you fucking ask him about his thoughts on a baseball player taking steroids? What the FUCK is wrong with you?
This ain’t a fucking grade 8 journalism class with students asking the principal questions. You are talking to the President. Fucking embarrassing. Who was that knob anyway? Would like to send the idiot an e mail asking him his IQ level.
TheHatOnMyCat
Nice, BOB. You should run a nice little 3rd world country, like Alabama. Where Shelby comes from. His deep understanding of economics is all kitchen-table and dimestore, just like yours.
Alabama, 45th in per capita GDP in the United States.
Shelby, Mister Republican TV mouth today.
45th. Out of 50. He’s your guy.
Litlebritdifrnt
Oh and after this press conference this evening I would like to post this cause, wake up, it is a new WORLD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s1dj9pT0mE
Adrienne
WRONG. I majored in Finance and Economics at a top business school. I can tell you with CERTAINTY, that this is NOT the case. You learn in Intro to Macroeconomics that severe downward shifts in aggregate demand, which lead to job loss and more contracted spending, can quickly lead to a corrective change upward in the equilibrium level of unemployment, also known as the level at which we reach "full employment". If there is no governmental intervention – preferably via spending large enough to fill the gap or come somewhere close to filling the gap – or government intervention is too slow, then that is our collective ass. The number of total jobs will settle at a new and different permanent level that is higher than what we previously were accustomed to.
This is NOT ideological. This is fact – even if they may seem to wingnuts to have a "liberal" bias. Some things are not debatable. Some things are true/false.
burnspbesq
@SGEW:
Y’know, that’s just a position taken by a litigant, in a case that they inherited. The briefs were already on file. I have no doubt that they are secretly hoping that the Ninth Circuit will hand them their asses on a plate. Or if they win, the plaintiffs will request en banc reconsideration and the gubmint will confess error at that point.
Greenwald is right more often than not, but when he is wrong he is spectacularly wrong, and a sanctimonious prig to boot.
Brick Oven Bill
The Money Supply has roughly tripled since the year 2000 and has nearly been doubled in the past few months. This money has been created out of thin air.
People will hoard cash for the next perhaps year, and the government will continue to print money, using the convenient argument of ‘deflation’. And then inflation will begin to kick in and, at this point people will begin to trade money for tangibles.
This is the point where the currency begins to fail. When the currency fails, the social safety net fails, then we have heap big problem. This is World Wide Weimar.
Far better to do nothing and feel the pain now.
BethanyAnne
The John Birch society! tehehe
TheHatOnMyCat
BOB, trying to sign up new members in the Do-Nothing Party.
Brilliant scheme, Bob. Do-Nothing in the face of the biggest economic calamity in our lifetimes.
That shall be your epitaph. I will personally see to it.
Martin
Why don’t you try the beer and kitten in the microwave experiment and see if that fixes the economy? I’m pretty sure it will.
burnspbesq
@SGEW:
I went back and re-read the excerpts from the oral argument that you quoted, and on a second reading I am now convinced that the Government tanked. They want to lose this case, and they want to lose it in a way that creates a precedent for the ages. The ACLU and Greenwald missed the point, because their only frame of reference is the Bush DOJ, which didn’t do principled or subtle.
Adrienne
They are all like that. Most of the red states rank in the bottom of state rankings and rank in the TOP of welfare states. They live off the teat of federal tax dollars paid by those liberal commie blue states and are the FIRST to holler about spending and tax cuts. It never ceases to amaze me that they actually get away with this bullshit.
I saw Gov. Sanford of SC on the tv today talking about how the stimulus bill will put inflationary downward pressure on the value of the dollar and we shouldn’t do it. I wanted to pull my hair out and scream "WELL, HAVING AN ETERNALLY SHITTY ECONOMY WILL DO THE SAME THING ONLY IT WILL NEVER FUCKING END YOU SCATTERBRAINED MORON!! IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT DON’T TAKE THE FUCKING MONEY AND WE’LL MAKE SURE WE PUT IT TO GOOD USE IN MY STATE". Only I changed the channel before I could get it out because I swear I was thisclose to having a blood vessel pop and bleed out. I can’t STAND when people who have no clue what the hell they are talking about try to pass themselves off as an expert. Really, I can’t.
Comrade Jake
I’m personally kind of sick of Greenwald’s hysterics. I’m going to be happy to assume that in this case, there’s a lot we simply don’t know. His schtick is kind of wearing on me at this point.
zoe kentucky from pittsburgh
Wow. That RedState quote is silly even for RedState. It’s worth repeating because it’s just so…bizarre.
Just wow. Seriously. Wow. Does their kool-aid have extra strength LSD in it today? Did they follow it up with a percocet-xanax-valium chaser? Does it occur to them if they they can’t understand Obama that they have clearlt failed the "smarter than a 5th grader" test?
I think it’s sorta funny that saying he’s just like Bush is supposed to be The Biggest Insult Eveh. Heh. Too bad they’ve never encountered the concept of irony.
4jkb4ia
Pitt! (Currently a lock according to Bubble Watch)
Ed Marshall
You don’t know what the fuck you are talking about, BOB. I wish you did, some inflation would really, really, be welcome right now. There is a mean but orderly way of dealing with that. We aren’t Zimbabwe. That’s not the problem and your homespun, pretending you understand what’s going on, bullshit is wrong. This isn’t balancing your checkbook, it’s macroeconomics and it’s complicated and scary as hell and what you think you have to contribute isn’t helpful.
4jkb4ia
@gsp:
There were additional questions where I have to agree with Paul that actual plumbers could do a better job. OTOH Mara Liasson asked one of my questions.
John O
I take Glenn in embarrassing small doses, given how much I agree with where he is coming from.
You have to consider the Overton Window when you read G.
And in that respect, Glenn is pretty hard to argue with.
TenguPhule
Because that $3 trillion in wealth that just vanished was only in their imagination.
Inflation will come, but not from money supply. At this point we will be lucky to break even.
When oil gets scarce and food costs rise again, then inflation will be alive and well.
TenguPhule
Blue Dogs need to be neutered.
Rome Again
That’s right, if we do nothing, Jesus will be forced to come fly down from Heaven and take us all to our mansions waiting in the sky, if we were good boys and girls wielding the sword of Republican justice!
/wingnut
Jesus is not coming to save anyone.
Betsy
What’s funny is how sparse the straws the die-hards are grasping at are. They’ve got almost no reputable experts on economics or finance on their side. As Obama said, he’s been working with both liberal and (moderately) conservative economists. And yet they still can’t let go, because that would mean admitting they were wrong and the free market does not cure all ills. Which is why they’re hallucinating about sandwiches and bombers and dollar bills around the equator – they’ve got nothing else to offer except "Hey this is a real lotta money y’all!"
Adrienne
A currency will only fail when investors have other options since currency valuations are RELATIVE. That was particularly true when we were subject to the gold standard when people could scrap the dollar and horde gold instead. That’s not the case today. Right now, we are in a WORLDWIDE slow down. There ARE no other "safer" places for people to put their money. Further, all the economies with currencies that are even large to compete with the U.S. are either 1. Highly dependent on the U.S. themselves or 2. Unstable due to dictatorship, communism, etc. or 3. Some combination of the first two. Therefore, all this hoopla about the currency failing is crap.
Also, yes there is a lot of money floating around right now. That’s GOOD when we are facing a deflationary spiral. Without that money, that spiral would only accelerate. Now, once we begin to get ourselves out of the downward spiral, the government will contract the money supply and/or raise interest rates. This is economics 101 dude.
Brick Oven Bill
Here is my plan to fix the economy:
1. Institute immediate 10% tariffs, rising at 5% per year for five years, to return to historical levels of 35%. Use these funds to fund Item #6.
2. Blanket-permit nuclear power plants and forget about windmills, which are a very inefficient way to produce power.
3. Give Joe the Plumber $10 million and free reign as Corruption Czar.
4. Deport all illegal immigrants so the jobs and money stay here. We no longer have a labor shortage.
5. Develop our oil shale assets, which represent 400 years of petroleum independence.
6. In the short term, spend some public money to electrify the major rail lines.
7. Abolish the Federal Reserve and kick the United Nations out of the country. Give Joe the Plumber a baseball bat and have him evict anyone who resists.
The kitten in the microwave plan is a new one to me and does not sound promising Martin.
TenguPhule
Fixed.
Please remember to use poisoned bait when you fish for trolls.
For BOB, it’s double cyanide.
Rome Again
Harry Reid needs to have an arm wrestling challenge from a senator(D) someone who has the balls to speak up when bad shit happens. Who though?
Tattoosydney
@Fencedude:
Even better, it’s a Portuguese term for derision, mockery or (so I am informed) persiflage.
Cat Lady
@Adrienne:
This is why these morons like Sanford and Shelby keep getting elected, because their constituents are kept uneducated, underpaid and underemployed – too tired and stupid to figure this basic fact out for themselves.
John O
Adrienne, you’re clearly very smart, all night, and probably usually.
The problem is that you are terribly underestimating the gross [sic] domestic product of stupid in the good ol’ USofA.
That’s why I’m kinda with IOZ. It’s only a matter of time-frame.
Stuck
@burnspbesq:
And how many times now has something like this happened. Someone hears a rumor, or part of a conversation and goes off for the fainting couch. Only to learn that Obama has not changed a lick from what he’s been saying all along.
He couldn’t very well go into an on going case with classified info in the mix, and say we don’t support the State Secret clause, so have at it. There is a way to do these things without leading with the chin and giving the Malkin’s and Morrisey’s of the world a big fat bone to chew on.
Having said that, keeping vigilance on what the government is doing is a must, but with some sense of getting the complete story straight first.
4jkb4ia
The Mara Liasson question was not completely idiotic like the Chip Reid question. It was more about how he will get creative legislation through when a stimulus would seem to be a very simple thing.
TheHatOnMyCat
@Rome Again:
Jim Webb?
Josh
To be fair, Brazil was written by the anti-communist Tom Stoppard; so the claim could be intelligible for some of the more libertarian-leaning types of "conservative": Robert Heinlein, the later Goldwater, Arlo Guthrie. Not for supporters of the Bush regime, however.
TenguPhule
1. Institute a stupidity tax on Americans. All Republicans automatically get taxed at 90%.
2. All Nuclear plants will be closed. Giant hamster wheels powered by conservatives running and windmills using Rightwing pundits hotair will replace them.
3. Joe the Plumber will be fed to a great white shark on PPV. A fundraiser will be held to throw Carl Rove in afterwards.
4. All White Supremist Groups will be enslaved and used for deep vein coal mining.
5. Oil Shale will become the mandated food source for Conservatives.
6. Wall street will be electrified. Fundraisers for throwing Bank Executives on the lines will pay for unemployment benefits.
7. BOB will be fired out of a giant cannon into Zimbabawe. Then Broder, then every other stupid editorial writer who got it wrong for the last 20 years, even if we have to dig up their corpses first.
John O
For some reason I feel compelled to remind that our beloved and wise host voted for Bush twice.
:-)
Adrienne
@TenguPhule: My bad. When I originally typed the sentence, "the number of total jobs" was "full employment level" and I forgot to do the switch…
@John O: Huh? I think I missed something. What did IOZ say?
The Moar You Know
@MazeDancer: Cats can’t hear the word "no". I’ve got one sitting on half my keyboard right now that is living proof.
TheHatOnMyCat
@TenguPhule:
TenguPhule for President!
(well, in 2016)
BethanyAnne
Back to tariffs! Whee, I’ve been waiting for this one. What do you plan to do about the WTO, Bill?
Oh, nvm, you want to kick out the brown folk, and fire the UN. LOL, no wonder you linked to the Birchers. Sorry, BOB, we live in an interconnected world. I know it’s big and complex and scary, and we don’t have as much power there as you want, but it’s ok. Honestly, we never did. Hey, what’s that?! A black helicopter?
ducks
TheHatOnMyCat
I’m watching the video of tonight’s press conference.
All I can say is, this guy is fucking awesome.
burnspbesq
@Stuck:
I believe we are in full agreement. If I have misread what the new DOJ is up to in this case, I will be mightily pissed at them.
Rome Again
@TheHatOnMyCat:
Well, he’s been hanging out in the back of the pack, so I can’t say. Does he have what it takes? Who else? Gimme someone I can feel compelled to believe would be great at applying the vice grip on these loudmouthed fools.
burnspbesq
@BethanyAnne:
The Burning Question: Is BOB descended from Smoot, or Hawley?
zoe kentucky from pittsburgh
BrickBrainBill—I hope that you live in Massachusetts or Connecticut or Canada so that you can marry your true love, Joe the Plumber. Or maybe you are Joe the Plumber? You certainly share the half-assed, painfully flawed ideas espoused by him. The way that you describe all of the silly ways that Joe the Plumber could be put to work makes me think that you/Joe is looking for a job.
It’s highly doubtful that you’ve read anything about the economy or our current crisis that wasn’t written by a perpetually clueless right-wing partisan hack who is allergic to facts. (Redundant, I know.) Also, what the hell does the UN have to do with any of this?
For the record, Joe the Plumber is neither a plumber or actually named Joe. Just sayin’.
John O
I’m sorry, A.
I meant to mean more or less IOZ’s world view, as in, framing him my way, plague would be OK, being small-d democratic and Darwinian and all, and the whole deal would be good with about 3 billion less people.
Adding that Ma Nature will work this out whether we mitigate the impact or not.
burnspbesq
@TenguPhule:
Why do you hate the people of Zimbabwe? Haven’t they suffered enough from 28 years of Mugabe?
Stuck
@burnspbesq:
Well, if we’re wrong, I will eat the crow pie I deserve, then saddle up with SGEW and the rest of the pitchfork crew.
The Moar You Know
@TenguPhule: I will pay $1000 to see
JoeSamuel Worzelbacher thePlumberunlicensed fly-by-night contractor fed to a Great White Shark on Pay-Per-View. I’m totally serious. I’ve got the money and I would consider it a patriotic duty, as well as a profound pleasure.Brick Oven Bill
I would drop out of the WTO BethanyAnne. The reason that I ‘linked to the Birchers’ is because this is the site that came up when I tried to find the St. Louis Fed’s chart of what has happened to the money supply over the past year.
I would encourage this forum, for example, to take a greater interest in the money supply. The money supply is of critical importance. As you note, we are not all-powerful. Which means that when you double the money supply, you reduce the value of the dollar, sooner or later.
The value of labor in the world market place is $3/day, by the way. I personally do not wish to see those wages here.
JGabriel
@John O:
He’s come a long way, baby! Even if that does sound like a Virginia Slims ad.
.
TheHatOnMyCat
Well, with Republican leadership, I’m sure we can achieve that level here in the US.
$3/day certainly sounds like the GOP’s idea of a sound Minimum Wage.
Ninerdave
Malkin headline at the top of Memeorandum.
Savior holds first fear-mongering press conference
It would be funny if this country weren’t so fucked.
(ok, it’s still pretty funny)
John O
You bet, JG!
That’s why he tortures the GOP so.
And why I torture my GOP pals with John so often.
Brick Oven Bill
Re: Smoot Hawley
Smoot Hawley may have hurt the US in the 1930s because the US was the world’s biggest exporter at the time. In contrast, England was an importer in the 1930s, and their economy only contracted 5% during the entire Great Depression, as the trade wars forced domestic English production.
Today, America is the world’s biggest importer.
TenguPhule
With all the shit they’ve got, raining pundit surprise couldn’t make it worse.
TenguPhule
And yet BOB still doesn’t see the problem.
JGabriel
Really? 312 Comments and no new thread?
I think we need a new thread here, guys.
.
Fern
@burnspbesq:
Hmm. That is a much more cheerful interpretation than anything else I’ve heard today. Hope you’re right.
Zam
@Brick Oven Bill: So Obama is gonna buy us sandwiches? Fucking right!
ChrisB
@gbear:
That’s what made Obama’s response so beautiful. And you’re right that NPR lost its fastball years ago.
TheHatOnMyCat
@Ninerdave:
Enjoy it Dave. We are watching the further marginalization of the GOP and the right. That Malkin thing is ugly, and an insult to the intelligence of any reasonable person.
Let those folks do their thing. They are arranging the deck chairs on the GOP Andrea Doria. Like the Italian liner, their fortunes will soon rest in Davy Jones’ locker.
Adrienne
But we are still one of the world’s largest exporters as well. Idiot. We are currently third behind Germany and China.
You really are a special brand of stupid. You should start your own circus of dumb – and star in all the acts.
gbear
@Stuck:
This year may be a great year to invest in fainting couches. Sounds like it could be a growth industry in these troubled times.
@Ninerdave:
As a headline, it’s really funny. I won’t wreck my enjoyment by reading her post.
Rome Again
I wish this would happen soon. I can’t deal with this crap.
Oddly enough though, I went to the doctor today and had my blood pressure checked and it was really low. I’m not sure how I’m able to meter 110/58 in this political environment. I am currently thinking that if a Republican were to walk up to me and spout off some bullshit, he may not walk away from the event.
Polish the Guillotines
At first I though BOB was a troll, then I thought he was just crazy. Now, I absolutely must have a t-shirt with the slogan "Electrify Major Rail Lines."
BOB, you are a misunderstood genius.
TheHatOnMyCat
Wow, that is really good hon. I have to take pills to keep mine that low.
Rome Again
Perhaps I could be a calming influence. ;)
Tattoosydney
I have been involved in occasional discussions on here as to whether Australia has the same level of right wing nut jobs as the US. My answer has generally been that, while we have our fair share, ours are nowhere near as stupid or offensive as yours.
I was wrong.
handy
@Zam:
Yeah but if my hookers and blow and free gay abortions aren’t included in the stimulus, I’ll personally feel very cheated.
The Other Steve
I only caught 5 minutes of the press conference. Something about economics and then this exchange…
WHAT
THE
FUCK!?
Rome Again
where he saw himself buying up all the books of matches and lighters he could find?
Ninerdave
@TheHatOnMyCat:
Oh I do, after I sputter a few expletives such as "Are you fucking insane?"
Polish the Guillotines
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Conservatively Liberal
No shit. I would launch them over Canada and into Alaska, they deserve it, though I would first get Canada’s permission to use their airspace because they might misinterpret it as an act of war. You don’t go pissing off people who drink beer and run around with hockey sticks. ;)
I think Crematory Bill is a Ron Paul supporter. It has got to the point that I completely ignore his posts unless someone else points out something notably inane (rather than the usual inanity we have come to expect from this sad sack).
RedState is pretty entertaining, especially if you define ‘entertaining’ as watching monkeys throw shit up into the air in hopes of getting it to stick to the walls but instead it just keeps raining back down on them. I do have to admit the puzzled looks on their faces is pretty cute though. They pause and look around once in a while to wonder why the shit is still falling back down on them, then they redouble their efforts only to stop, pause and wonder once again. Industrious little buggers!
About Maddow: Tonight my wife made me laugh when she said that while Tweety may call his show "HardBall", Rachel has "LezBalls" and her LezBalls put his HardBall to shame.
I agree. She doesn’t pull a punch when she has a serious question. She put poor Sen. Nelson on the spot but good tonight in calling him out to justify his cuts in the stimulus package. Ouch.
Rome Again
Is he on record anywhere talking about this BEFORE the fires started? Otherwise, I don’t believe it.
Ecks
@AhabTRuler: Her name is momo also now for MO, which beat KA tonight in basketball. Beyatches!
(sorry, just got a little carried away. Talk among yourselves)
TenguPhule
Considering that Australia has the most venomous creatures in the world, most of the most hostile maneaters and their environment is going to hell from all the imported pests, it’s more like Satan’s Public John.
Ninerdave
@The Other Steve:
Yeah same response here. You can ask the new President at his first press conference ANYTHING. Oh I dunno, the economy, Iraq, Iran, Health Care, etc. I mean thousands of relevant topics and you ask about A-Rod and Steroids. Something he has no control over and is not relevant to ANY of the challenges facing the country.
Our lazy, sensationalistic media in full effect.
If I ran his news department I’d fire his ass.
Ed Drone
What we have now learned is that B.O.B. is among the "some of the people all of the time" Lincoln spoke of.
And Joe the Dumber is another.
Ed
Polish the Guillotines
@Ninerdave: And yet Obama still managed to get off a fairly thoughtful answer. It takes a lot of class not to make a fool look like a fool.
handy
@Rome Again:
It’s as if he’s actually bragging, isn’t it?
JenJen
Just some brief thoughts I had after watching the presser…
The press really needs to work on its game. After eight years of Bush, they’re downright lazy. They have no idea how to handle an intellectual president servin’ up 12-minute professorial answers. I can’t imagine a single one of them making it to the end of an answer in order to ask a follow-up.
I have a feeling once they get up to the rigor of covering this new presidency, they might actually come to enjoy the back and forth with Obama (and gawd knows, our media must be constantly entertained). I thought it was pretty awesome, and honestly, inspiring. I have a feeling most Americans will be impressed with his presidentin’ tonight. Excellent, well-executed use of the power of the office.
I also appreciated that he did not throw out a nickname, not one! No "Stretch, whatcha’ got?" or "Hey, there, Newly-Wed Guy! You’re up!" Thank you thank you THANK YOU. New President = Good.
Now, everyone in this thread can get back to the poop-flinging.
futzinfarb
OK, I have long had the ambition to own one of those cats that has an extra toe (or two). I have the PERFECT (purrfect?) name for it (noone, and I mean noone, had better scoop me on this): Oedipus. (Or would it be Oedipuss? Um, no, that seems to imply more about overall size. Of course, if he were also a bit on the Tunchesque end of the spectrum…lots of layers to that name!) I suspect, sooner or later, there ‘d be a vet or a literature professor, who’d want to counsel me about his procreative relationships, but it’d still be worth it. In the mean time, my house has been home to a steady stream of needy normal toed felines and canines.
Polish the Guillotines
@futzinfarb:
Ninerdave’s got a polydactyl. Foo. He can open a beer can.
Conservatively Liberal
One final laugh at the vote in the Senate: Cornyn the Barbarian, the great Rushublican anti-pork warrior, was a no-show for the vote. Prior commitments and all that, ya kno.
Ted Kennedy shows up and Cornyn the Barbarian is busy. Bwhahahahaha! You can’t make this shit up.
Tattoosydney
@handy:
It’s very much like he’s bragging…
Given that this is widely being reported as our worst ever natural disaster, and emotions are running high, I suspect that Alleged-Pastor Maroon is in for a rough couple of days (which will of course confirm him in his view that we are all a bunch of godless heathens who deserve to DIAF).
Rome Again
Watching the Obama presser now.
I love that he never stops saying he inherited this crisis and the current debt. Don’t you Republicans ever forget it. Bush’s policies created this shit, not Obama.
pattonbt
@Ninerdave:
I think that headline shows one thing…...fear.
I can understand 1/10th of the Red State quote if you find Obama’s continuous use of um’s and uh’s frustrating (I dont, but my mom does and she is way in the tank for O).
Its like noticing for the first time someone in your office has an annoying verbal tick – laugh, breathing, etc. – something you hadnt really noticed before but now that youve noticed it, you hear it every freaking second and it just grates and you cant help noticing it and everything else gets lost because of it.
As for content and message – Win, Win, Win! Methinks 90% of the US is going to look at that presser and go, Thank Fucking God that man is our president! That other 10% is thinking, how do you beat that? I know – Tax Cuts!
Doomed they are.
TheHatOnMyCat
Don’t know if this has been discussed here, but …
this seems to explain a lot about last September.
We knew there was something odd about the way the Feds were acting. Now we know.
We are in interesting times, fasten your kevlar jockstraps and put on your helmets.
Rome Again
Roubini: Anglo-Saxons are Losers
Conservatively Liberal
I have mentioned in the past that regular pot smokers become habituated to the THC after some time; e.g. they smoke themselves straight. While this is a good thing in most respects sometimes you wish you could just get royally baked. Just roached out of your mind. Well I have found the solution! RedState. Yes, that dump. I’ve noticed that when am over there reading while they are in vapors about something (or many things, as they are now), I can’t keep reading there for long because my brain starts to get fuzzy, it feels like my mind is shorting out and my eyes haze over. I always head back here (or somewhere else sane) and clear my head up for a few before heading back to RedState for another ‘hit’ off the crack(pot) pipe.
The best part is that you don’t have to imbibe anything in advance for this effect. Just head right over there and take a toke for yourself and see.
Polish the Guillotines
@TheHatOnMyCat: Holy flurkin’ schmidt. That’s downright apocalyptic.
The degree of our screwedness is staggering. If what Kanjorski said was true, and the GOP is still dicking around looking for shreds of political advantage, then I say do what my handle says. And use ‘em.
JenJen
@TheHatOnMyCat: That explains the panic, it certainly does. Might also provide insight into why McCain was reportedly getting frustrated during debate prep, contemplated suspending his campaign, and then followed through the following Wednesday.
I wonder what he thought was coming…? And I wonder why Obama, surely thoroughly briefed on the 18th, never seemed to let on what he knew, and didn’t seem to give into a sense of OMG WTF that had to have been swirling around him?
The Inauguration speech, and tonight’s presser, were somber. I really do hope it’s beginning to sink in a little more with people, the gravity of all of this. Watching tonight, I feel at least good that we chose the right person.
Ecks
@Punchy:
I see you’re having a republicanesque relation with the facts tonight… final score 62-60, MU wins. Beeyotch :)
Brick Oven Bill
Rome Again; Roubini is over-rated. He is referring to the financial model though, and is correct. Here is a Democratic Congressman describing an interesting few hours. This fix did not heal the financial system, of course. It only served to further sell out the currency.
TheHatOnMyCat
More on the Kanjorski story.
I was headed to bed a while ago until I read this, now I can’t sleep.
I can’t process this, and I can’t really drink.
Discuss.
Brick Oven Bill
Keep talking like that TheHatOnMyCat, and they will start thinking Fight Club.
Rome Again
Hot toddy and sit in a quiet room? ;)
Ash Can
@TheHatOnMyCat: I just saw that myself. Um…it-shay?
I’m honestly hoping it’s tinfoil-hat debunkable, because this is just plain too fucking scary. However, Rep. Kanjorski makes it sound hideously legit. And if it is legit, it throws the entire TARP/stimulus debate into a whole new light, to say the least. I also think the timing of him coming forth with this information is no accident.
PS: If the admin has any other such tidbits to persuade hesitant congresscritters to get their asses moving on the stimulus, I don’t think I want to hear what they are.
Tax Analyst
Well, it’s too late and there are too many comments (354 at last count) to start reading them. The cat has already been named. I was gonna suggest "Audaskitty", which is sorta how Popeye woulda said "audacity", and would probably cause her new owner to throw their jaw out of whack or have their tongue fly right on out of their mouth just trying to say it several times a day.
Anyway, I need to go home and get some sleep. This Tax Season is driving me freaking nuts.
TheHatOnMyCat
Hot sake and hot company?
Rome Again
Right now? I can be there in 15 mins. Yes?
Rome Again
I get the feeling you weren’t serious hon. Let me know via email if you were. Otherwise, I’m assuming it was a joke.
TheHatOnMyCat
Alas, must sleep. The looney bin opens at 7 am tomorrow.
I’m still working there unless they are having layoffs in the morning.
TheHatOnMyCat
A suggestion for the very near future?
Rome Again
Wednesday? Gotcha!
Good night.
bfno
TheHatOnMyCat
Yes please.
Tax Analyst
Jesus, I think I’m in the middle of a private conversation. Excuse me while I blush and close the bedroom door. I guess that quarter on the counter is for me, so if you want me, I’ll be at the movies.
AnneLaurie
Funny, that’s just what the Media Village Idiots are saying about Obama’s speech. "Sure, global economic meltdown, six million jobs, people starving. Why won’t Barack tell us what he thinks of A-Rod’s Hall of Fame chances in light of today’s really important news?!?"
Tattoosydney
@Tax Analyst:
Shhh. They haven’t noticed that the rest of us are here…
bago
BOO!
Tattoosydney
@bago:
Aaaaaaah!
headpan
Anyone notice he talked about nuclear non-proliferation, but INCLUDING the US in the equation?? And he has softened his Iran attitude. I could hear wingnut heads popping all over the neighborhood. But, for myself, that made me feel very, very good. The tough talk was just that, part of the bigger plan to get elected.
You know, this fucking roller coaster is turning me into an alkie. Drinking cuz I’m depressed, drinking cuz I’m celebrating – back & forth. Last night, though, I was celebratin that press conference.
headpan
Tom Brokaw comparing Obama to JFK (only better) on Ho Show. But can he sustain it, of course, Brokaw asks.
Yes, Tom, I think he can. Your guys basically got creamed last night. And it was a delight to watch, indeed! And, I’m sorry pitiful little media whores, but more to come for you and NO SOUP FOR YOU, either!
headpan
headpan: always and as ever, late to the fuckin party
EPU’d, as it were
SGEW
[embarrassingly delayed responses on a dead open thread follows]
burnspbesq:
Weak tea, indeed.
Firstly: Wouldn’t this mean that they should follow Bush’s legal theories in all cases, hoping that they "lose . . . in a way that creates a precedent for the ages"? What about the legal rationale for, oh, say, torture, Art. II Executive power, etc. (paraphrasing Greenwald, again). Preposterous.
Secondly: If you’re right, the DOJ lawyers are fucking shitheads and are risking everything. Because if they win here (i.e., get the case dismissed), the sweeping nature of the doctrine is bound into law by precedent. Oops!
Thirdly: A lawyer who purposely "tanks" a case is violating ethical and professional responsibilities, not to mention violating the law. This isn’t political ju-jitsu or congressional wrangling. The law doesn’t work this way, and I bloody well expect President Obama to be aware of that.
Stuck:
You must not have read anything I’ve written for the last year and a half if you’re putting me in the "fainting couch" brigade. No biggie. Other than that:
Firstly: This is not a "rumour," it’s a god damned legal argument in open court. Here’s the brief (pdf via ObWi).
Secondly: This is a categorical change from what Obama has said "all along." See, e.g., Obama’s campaign website where he lists the use of the "state secrets" privilege to dismiss civil cases as a "Problem" to be addressed by his administration. ("Problem" number 2 "Secrecy Dominates Government Actions" under "Plan to Change Washington") (link via Glenn, natch)
SGEW
And if you want someone’s take who isn’t Glenn Greenwald, here’s Hilzoy:
(emphasis in original)
ksmiami
Post press conference:
(Ext. Night – dark alley in D.C.)
Obama: [inhales a drag, flicks cigarette on lifeless Republican body at his feet.
Jonah Goldberg: [looks aghast at Obama]
Obama: [Glaring] "You wanna mess with me Dough boy?"
Jonah Goldberg: [runs the other way]
Obama: [Steps over the body and out of the dark alley like nothing happened.]
I always knew – Barack Obama is one badass mutherfuker – it will be a very long 8 years for the repukes
Stuck
I was not necessarily referring to you, but rather the gathering shitstorm throughout the liberal netroots. And I also said I was not criticizing you for protesting this alleged statement by a single DOJ lawyer in an existing Bush era case. So calm down a bit, K.
I am saying that it is absurd to read into such a statement alone, if true, that Obama plans on continuing the State Secrets clause like Bush has for illegal rendition practices, especially given EVERYTHING he has said and done thus far (did you not read the update I provided to the ABC story providing the Holder DOJ response).. And that there needs to be more info and time for this to shake out. Further that the State Secret clause has always existed and will not go away under Obama, though hopefully it’s abuse will be. There are circumstances where it is necessary IMO, and I suspect Obama is treading lightly about how to preserve it’s appropriate use and extract it from the ongoing legal cases left by Bush, without making a mistake of letting other unrelated intelligence secrets from also being exposed.
And food for thought. This lawsuit is not the only venue for learning the details of Bushes illegal rendition program. Everything I’ve heard lately points to Obama finding the right way to investigate and inform the public on what it’s government did under Bush/Cheney crime inc.
And finally, I also said if I’m wrong, though I doubt it, I will join you and others in a righteous shitstorm if Obama plans to continue to use it to cover up abuse he conducts. Peace.
SGEW
[all yr last wrds iz belong to us?]
@Stuck:
New thread on this issue is here.
Also:
Sorry. Really!