Oxycontin!

Thanks Julia.

digg

Keep him out there, Goopers!
But Barack – zip it.

Hi Julia!

Dugg, Boo.

Purple pills, purple pills, my little purple pills… (sung to the tune of Purple Rain)

OMG. Knock me over with a feather. Marty Feldstein is making half-sense on Charlie Rose.

On the other hand, it would be an absolute godsend if the Republicans turned to Rushbo for guidance. No better way to ensure their enduring marginality and irrelevance. Scare away every moderate within 3000 miles.

To be fair, Rush got the Oxycontin by accident, he really just wanted something to treat his incontinence. The fact that he got 80,000 tabs simply means he has a really BIG bladder control problem.

Must have taken his smart pills this morning. Half sense qualifies as a stroke of genius for him.

Al Franken said it best, years ago. Rush Limbaugh is a big, fat idiot.

Ya know?

As disgusting as this all is, it’s almost funny the way they’re racing to conciliate the dittoheads in their districts even if it means they’re going to alienate the rest of the country.

So, how’d that work out in the last two elections?

He is their Prophet, ready to lead them to the Promised Land, so for the next 40 years they will be out to pasture.

A bloated, fetid pustule upon the derriere of the body politic.

What’d he say?

As a long time Ohio resident, (moved to Wisconsin in 2000) I always observed Governor and Senator Voinovich was a believer and supporter of small businesses as the focus of job creation. Given this track record I don’t automatically see him as taking a party position against a stimulus proposal that would greatly benefit small businesses. However, I am not optimistic about GOP senate support either.

rush is an obnoxious, bigoted liar. and that’s just his good side.

sadly, that does’t mean obama is doing what needs to be done.

more choices please.

Americans United for Change needs to run ads in Nebraska and North Dakota to get Ben Nelson and Kent Conrad back on the team.

Has anybody told them that the “Promised Land” is actually the Juarez landfill?

Tax cuts will be saved and thus won’t help economy.

I first read that as Marty Feldman. Good trick.

I am very disappointed in Kent Conrad these days. And Tom Daschle.

Well, yeah.

But on the other hand, the more the lunatic fringe on the right drop their drawers in the press, the more the Centrist position will move left.

Honestly, I thought it would be harder, but they’re apparently determined to convince the very popular president that they can’t be reasoned with. Dommage.

“What hump?”

A very funny man, may he RIP.

rush had almost as negative rating as bush, he needed to get himself some free advertisement and we are giving it to him

take a look at the graph on this page

rush is one hated man and we’re feeding the trol

Yep. A master. “It’s Eye-gore.”

Ooops. You read it right. My typing fingers got it wrong.

Ah. Yeah, I pretty much agree with that.

And if we’re just dealing with this as a stimulus package and not as an ideological pissing match, the biggest return on stimulus dollars come from poor people being able to buy food and medical care, so there’s that.

did i miss something? are we still the opposition party? did the Ds not win the presidency, the senate and the house?

Just keep listening to Rush, GOP losers.

they’re apparently determined to convince the very popular president that they can’t be reasoned with.

That should be easy as it has the virtue of being true (and obvious).

met him on a golf course once.

hard to come up with appropriate small talk…….

i will be SOOOOOO glad when this “episode” of How the Thugs Burn is OVER. i’m sick to death of seeing and hearing limpballs all over the place. i AVOID HIM at all costs and now he’s just everywhere.
what a bunch of supreme idiots!

Well, no, I don’t think so. I mean, I see your point, but Rush’s deal has always been going under the radar. I mean, look at Howard Kurtz portraying him as a jolly entertainer.

The more people find out what he’s about – and although he has a big audience for talk radio, most of them have no idea what he really stands for – the more he’s marginalized.

Ok, everybody who listens to Rush, fess up. Seems to me the conservative corporate media are the ones driving this story. I don’t think us trashing him is driving up his Arbitron numbers.

My comment from the previous thread. eCAHN’s reply.

Yeah. That’s why it amazes me that they’re letting this overpaid jackass stampede them into making it obvious.

But on the other hand, the more the lunatic fringe on the right drop their drawers in the press, the more the Centrist position will move left.

for the last 20 years it’s looked like the exact opposite to me.

maybe if the left moved left instead of pushing the right further right, we could open up some political space for a sane not-rightwing center?

or am i just living in bizarro world?

Marty Feldman? He’s dead. Unless this is a very old Charlie Rose the guy’s turned into a necromancer.

OT but This is one reason we need tax reform as part of the Stimulus package: 400 richest Americans’ incomes doubled under Bush
And by tax reform I mean ROLL back all of Bush’s tax cuts for the Uber Rich!

Not me, but I did buy Al Franken’s book about the Big Fat Idiot.

You might have missed my comment on the prior thread

Bipartisanship = fancy word for spineless.

Bipartisanship = Rs and Ds combine to vote against stimulus package.

Bipartisanship = R elected on D ticket.

Was he a good golfer?

I try not to talk about the whole bipartisanship fetish. I tend to use bad language.

They tried to pull the same thing with Palin, expecting that disaffected Hillary voters would happily vote for any ol’ christian fascist so long as she was a woman. But ya know, this here’s the Republican Party, and any bad idea is worth hangin’ on to an’ tryin’ over an’ over again, expectin’ a different result. All together now, left foot, right, left foot…!!
But, ya know, once they put Bobby Jindal up for high office, they will run out of Republicans of the non-white persuasion, THEN what’ll they do? Give Kay Bailey Hutchison a sex change operation?*
(* really truely nasty snark. i’m so ashamed of myself.)

Starting with the word “bipartisanship.”

julia!

hahahaha!

yeah, we suck at opposition. but do we have to suck at governing too?

Consider that this is the same bunch of assclowns who have kept up the same losing approach for two congressional election cycles without wising up. They’re really the only game they have.

This is a foul-mouthed fem DFH blog, remember?

Remains to be seen whether there are any sane Republicans left in the Senate. It has been glaringly obvious for some time that sanity has departed the rightwing of the House. House leadership is absolutely dedicated to destroying their own party.

Now I’m completely befuddled. Here’s the one on Charlie Rose. I was right to begin with. It’s all your fault for confusing me. *g*

Generally I’d agree with you. The thing is, right now as many people are behind Obama as Bush had behind him when the twin towers were burning, and they keep trying to look above the fray – even the House Republicans who didn’t give him a single vote said they thought he was a nice guy who was trying to be bipartisan – and then Limbaugh drops in and orders them to piss on jobless people and they do.

I can’t help but think that if all those people who started voting last year are paying attention, this will not work out well for them.

Something I heard once about two wrongs…

ROFL

gawd no.

I’ve lived in Ohio for quite a few years now, and remember the Democratic senators Metzenbaum and Glenn with fondness.
Voinovich, not so much. I don’t think he’s done much for the state.

Reinstate Eisenhower’s tax rates (90% on incomes over $250,000). Presto, deficit solved.

Little evidence to the contrary in modern times.

Conservative economist. Yuk.

Yeah, but even before they tried it with Palin, they tried it (against Obama, what are the odds) with Alan Keyes.

I really don’t think they can tell the difference between one not-a-white-man and another, and they’re hoping we can’t either.

suz!

“two wrongs make a the right”?

My personal favorite comes from Grover Norquist:

Bipartisanship = Date rape (Dems are the date)

Did he hook or slice, or some combination of the two? Probably had to stand on his head to see the ball.

Personally, I throw things.

Oh, sure. But their leadership have been reluctantly trying to appear to be grownups since the election, and now they’re being bullied out of it.

Personally, I’m enjoying it. God, if Politico is too embarrassed by you to play along, you’re pretty much tapdancing on your di…

messing up.

rolled up socks help save the tv to play again another day

…the more the lunatic fringe on the right drop their drawers in the press, the more the Centrist position will move left.

And surely Obama had no idea this would happen. When Obama chooses to single out Lush Limpdick, it’s just a knee-jerk slip up on his part.

This Obama character seems to move from one lucky event to the next. I guess it’s better to be lucky than smart, huh?

You know, I’ve heard that.

The thing is, often as not Eudora makes me click extra buttons on my e-mails because I’ve been intemperate, so I try to behave in public.

I thought that was Tom “the bug man” Delay…

If I don’t get a rabbit ears converter box I ain’t gonna have no teebee.

Yeah, and then we were supposed to be complacent and neutered.

Leading us to ask whose elected officials are bending the knee to a drug-addicted sex tourist.

Nerf footballs.

You could be right.

Yeah, just floats with the wind, that man does.

I would not want to play chess with him.

fingers and toes the switch-over is delayed so that you get a converter sd

otherwise, i hear they make great planters

Wow, last time a saw an Eudora email system was on the college computers in the mid 90s.

audience member: “You say your group doesn’t have any quality, well, why don’t you try and give it some?”

Pete Townshend: “No, you don’t understand. If you steer clear of quality, you’ll do alright.”

A Whole Scene Going, BBC 1, Studio 7, BBC Television Centre, London, January 5, 1966

I thought the delay bill didn’t pass.

As I have observed more than once, Obama came up through the Chicago Machine and they play hardball politics. I do not think you want to take him for granted. I may not always agree with him and he is bound to make mistakes, but I would watch my back if I were the Republicans.

Still haven’t got my converter box, but then I gave up cable ten years ago because the kid was getting addicted to TV, and we just bought a combination VCR/DVD burner to convert all our old movies, so it may be some time before we notice.

The only time we’ve watched TV in the last year or so was election night anyway – the only channel we get over the air clearly is Fox, so we got to watch the usual suspects try to be good sports. All win, as far as I’m concerned.

Oh, I heart Eudora. She’s so delicate about intemperate language.

I like Utah Phillips’ idea. Target for a 12 guage.

dayam – guess it proves that the fuckers really don’t care about their constituants. i wudda figured those representing rural communities wudda gone along with the delay.

That is what I heard.

Apparently you have to have a pretty good antenna for the converter to work. In my neck of the woods, that means installing one on the roof, which I’m not that keen on, especially since it’s currently covered with ice.

Yeah, that’s my take. I think he games this stuff, and I think he’s been remarkably successful so far.

Hell, look how hysterical the young masters of the universe at NBC and ABC and Politico are.

Constituents?? Who are they? Don’t you mean lobbyists?

i wish stirling would post this one over here. maybe too blunt for fdl. anyway it just takes a sec to go to the agonist to read it: Unity Goes Obama for the Repbulican Party, Progressives Cheer Getting Screwed

a quote doesn’t do it justice (it’s a must read). but here are two bits to tempt:

Obama isn’t a Democrat giving things up to get Republican votes, he’s a conservative mugging liberals for a conservative agenda that includes:

1. War in Afghanistan
2. Paulson’s version of TARP where taxpayers buy all bad assets.
3. Slash social security and Medicare
4. Tax Cuts
5. No Comprehensive Health Care, but huge subsidies for Health Insurance companies instead.

Taken as a whole, Obama is offering small concessions to the left, in return for trillions of dollars that are coming directly out of the pockets and veins, of ordinary people.

That’s what Obama is offering: the chance for liberal groups to sell out for 2 billion here, a million there, a minor concession here. In return, Obama gets all the big things. All of them. It isn’t the Republicans who are stopping this – their votes are irrelevant. It is the Unity Ponies and the Blue Dogs who are the problem. But the Liberal Blogosphere, wants to hunt the rabbit of bashing Republicans. Now bashing Republicans is fun and easy. They say the stupidest things, they break their word, they break the law, they undercut their own principles. Remember how the Republicans screamed that even thinking that Bush might fail was treason? Well there’s Rush “cheerleader for failure.”

Until the left wakes up and realizes that their brand is on the line, and that Obama needs to move well to the left on major issues, both for the pragmatic reason of liberal policies work, and right wing policies don’t – and for the political reason that liberals are going to supply his votes, things are not going to get much better, and long term they will be much worse. Because after Obama is finished doing the Unity thing all over your Social Security, and has sucked up all the losses of the elites, they won’t have a use for him, and all the Wall Street money will slush back over to the Republicans, who will win an election. And then the real damage starts.

I’m in Queens. We haven’t had anything you could call reception since the WTC went down.

s’OK. If it isn’t available on the internets, we can usually wait until morning.

here’s that link to the converter box coupon place

OT: Been out of the loop the last few days, and wanted to get caught up on the Thugojevich impeachment. Find only one mention on the FDL frontpage about it three screens back with 28 comments, meaning it wasn’t up long.

This seems odd to me. One of the most covered topics in recent weeks, and the dramatic finale hardly gets covered. The Liberal Mighty Quinn is now Gov. Too bad we don’t have Sen. Jan Schakowsky right now. Well, at least we had Roland Burris in there to vote on all these important votes the last couple of weeks.

He says all that bipartisan stuff and I think he really believes it, but the man who ran a nearly flawless presidential campaign just does not flub this like that.

Their actual constituents are the handful of corporate swine who own 90 percent of the TV stations in the country. Another factor is the revenue from auctioning off the peoples’ airwaves.

I think the cable companies were primed for a lot of new business and I wouldn’t doubt their bagmen lobbyists were stuffing wallets very persuasive.

ratfood gave me the link, but better to have them here too. thanks.

See, I can understand where he’s coming from, but I’m not sure I agree.

I do agree that Obama is to the right of where a lot of people assumed he was.

I also think he genuinely wants to do what works, and that he’s trying to find a way to make that palatable to The Center (which, I have to admit, I think he sees to the right of where it really is).

I also think he’s not someone who likes being played, and the likelihood is that all these reindeer games on the right side of the hill are going to reach the end of his patience relatively quickly.

And then he can say he tried. Which, if that’s important to him, cool. But clearly these folks aren’t interested in comity, and I’ve never seen anything from him that suggests that he’s interested in being jerked around.

So let him try. And then let him get good and pissed.

Thanks. I’ve also heard they’re out of money to redeem the coupons.

Obama had a relatively small campaign staff. Now he’s head of an enormous bureaucracy. Lot’s harder to make it engage in constructive endeavor.

Dude doesn’t mince words, does he? Bookmarked to read in the morning. Thanks.

No, I think he’s sincere in wanting to find a compromise. I just think that his default assumption is that the people he’s dealing with on the other side of the aisle mean well.

So he’ll learn. And hopefully, so will they.

So let him try. And then let him get good and pissed.

it’s not about what obama’s political strategy is. it’s about what our political strategy is.

are we going to act like we’re still in the opposition and let the Rs control the agenda – because that’s what they are doing now – or are we going to try to influence the agenda ourselves?

Seems about right to me.

If he did not already plan this out (paint them into a corner as obvious partisan obstructionists), he will not be gamed again. Goopers may want to watch their kneecaps as Obama is from Chicago after all.

Yes, I agree. When exhausted, my sarcasm gets the best of me. Working on it…

On second thought, didn’t wait.

I agree that I am not sure how well he will actually govern, though he has done fairly well so far. That, however, is something very different from the current kabuki in congress which is pure politics and Obama has shown that he is a master at that game and still has some of those people with him.

I’d prefer to be more confrontational myself.

Dude doesn’t mince words, does he?

nope. once (years ago when stirling and ian were blogging with matt stoller at bopnews) stirling told me i was an ass and that i wasn’t to comment on this threads until i learned to read. took me about 3 years before i dared to venture a comment again on one of his threads (although i continued to comment on the others).

still haven’t learned to read any better. but don’t tell him that, ‘kay?

LOL! when i first say your comment i read it to mean that you would prefer to be more confrontational than stirling and i started to panic. *g*

though he has done fairly well so far

Evidence?

Sorry SD, I just read that on the link there. My brother has been asking me about it too.

Yeah, I think so too. And I think the attempts from right wing, er, “centrist” journalists and wingers to roll him are going to backfire. He’s already established his warmfuzzy bonafides. Anything he does past this point is a response.

say saw

can’t type either.

Well, maybe sometimes :)

But I try to do it at my own place…

Depending on the extent of my vet bill in a couple weeks I’ll spring for the box. Don’t know if I could stand missing Cold Case on Sunday nights.

yikes! thanks for the warning *g*

A Repub business associate, who I usually don’t talk politics with because he’s Lushbo dildohead, yesterday starts whining about the stimulus plan not having enough for “sustainable jobs” and “infrastructure.” I nearly blurt out, “About time dumbass. We Liberals have been pushing for this this exact stuff forever,” but keep my mouth shut and let him make the case for a Liberal economic policy. Freaky.

Nearly got whiplash from this conversation. The dude woulda never said anything even remotely close to this two weeks ago. If we have traditional Repub voters making the case for more Liberal policy, I’m thinking we’re going in a really good direction. That pendulum is really picking up steam now.

This is a massive political shift happening in an extremely short period of time. And it’s not an accident.

Time to turn the Liberal screws a little tighter.

Give me a break. I am well to the left of him and do not agree with him on a lot of issues, but has has not done bad for 2 weeks in office. He has closed Gitmo, signed the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and has made significant moves on several other promises. What is your evidence to the contrary?

Among other things, Obama’s rapid ascent reflects more time spent campaigning than governing. Without question, he is an excellent campaigner. We have no way of knowing if he can govern. Time will tell.

Well, he hasn’t turned Coke™ into Pepsi™, and he hasn’t found my fuckin’ car keys.
Yet.

From bonkers at 117

Time to turn the Liberal screws a little tighter.

Was it you that was talking about the rachet and its only turning in one direction a while back?

Agreed. Don’t know how he will do over the longer term, just think he hit the ground running to put in motion a lot of campaign promises (like rolling back all of Bush’s midnight executive orders). Hell, it took Clinton months to get going.

Well, he hasn’t turned Coke™ into Pepsi™

Well, he’s not Joan Crawford, yet.

Personally, I hope he never does the first, but I hear he is working on the second. 8-)

Righty-Tighty or Lefty-Loosey

Whew. I hope he hurries.

Guess I am loose as a goose. 8-)

dude, you should wash out your mind with soap.

Pepsi, indeed. Droolage.

He hasn’t closed Gitmo, in case you didn’t notice.

Ledbetter, as I heard on NPR, so maybe not accurate, only allows 2 years compensation. Hardly fair.

His economic team is straight out of what got us into this mess to begin with. That’s my major evidence.

His Afghan policy is nuts. (Ealier threads if you want elucidation.)

His Iraq policy leaves so many caveats, it’ll be a dozen F.U.s before we find out what he really intends.

Need I go on?

“It’s time for something completely different,” Steele said following his victory.

Time for something completely different? Hey, Steele, intercourse the penguin, huh?

I don’t like a lot of his assumptions either.

I think, though, that one of his assumptions has been that the range of ideologies came from people of good will meaning well.

I don’t get the impression he likes being jerked around. I suspect that the usual suspects can’t count on him being agreeable about being played when he wants to get things done.

If they’re the ones who piss him off, bless them. Hope they enjoy it.

By me, I’d love to see him move further left to where I am, and while I’m ready to fight for that, it would make me happy if they screw this up so bad that I don’t have to.

Curse of the irredeemable, I’m afraid.
My bad.

I’m out. Wishing a splendid weekend to all.

so you would prefer john mccain as president? or do you just want rush to lead us?

And Dr. Dick, it’s 10 full days, not even 2 weeks yet.
Yeah, he should get off his lazy ass.

A while back somebody made an analogy of a rachet that only turned right. I said we needed to find the little lever that switched it to turn left. I think we’ve found the lever but it’s a little rusty and needs a little squirt of WD-40.

shudder.

No kidding, if I need something to pour on pancakes, I’ll let you know, but until then hands off my diet coke.

something completely different

He’s been watching too many Monty Python episodes.

Some fans were critical because Springsteen has been a longtime supporter of worker’s rights, and Wal-Mart has faced criticism for its labor practices. Springsteen’s team didn’t vet the issue as closely as it should have, and that he “dropped the ball on it,” he told the Times for a story to be published in Sunday editions and previewed on its Web site.

Springsteen went on to say: “It was a mistake. Our batting average is usually very good, but we missed that one. Fans will call you on that stuff, as it should be.”

Wish he’d commit to dedicating some of the income from the sales to…. i dunno….. something good. Because his batting average is very good. I love Bruce from waaaaay back and don’t think this should detract from all the god stuff he’s done, but his explanation is kinda lame. Then again, he deserves some credit for at least admitting he was wrong. looking forward to halftime – for once.

Namaste, ratfood

I would recommend that you only use water soluble lubricants on your “ratchet.” Definitely try to steer clear of WD-40.

the range of ideologies came from people of good will meaning well.

Summers? Geithner? Are those a range of ideologies or people of good will, meaning well? Or are they Wall St tools?

nite ratfood

i like that.

Julia, For a good laugh concerning converter boxes I recommend this.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/3660…..-cable-psa

His economic team is pretty much what he promised during the campaign as is his Afghan policy (and I do not really agree with either). As to Iraq and Gitmo, he has made direct moves on both fronts, but you can hardly expect him to have completed either in two weeks. Remains to see how these things will work out in the long run, but he has accomplished more than most presidents in such a short time.

As I said, I do not agree with him on many issues (I would flat out nationalize the banks and jack up the tax rates to 50%+ on upper incomes for one), but he has started out better than I expected. The man is a very moderate centrist and not a leftist (though slightly to the left of Clinton on some issues).

u 2.

Oh Please Please!

Was it you that was talking about the rachet and its only turning in one direction a while back?

sorry for the slow reply. yep that was me. here’s the linky:

The ratchet effect

The American political system, since at least 1968, has been operating like a ratchet, and both parties — Republicans and Democrats — play crucial, mutually reinforcing roles in its operation.

The electoral ratchet permits movement only in the rightward direction. The Republican role is fairly clear; the Republicans apply the torque that rotates the thing rightward.

The Democrats’ role is a little less obvious. The Democrats are the pawl. They don’t resist the rightward movement — they let it happen — but whenever the rightward force slackens momentarily, for whatever reason, the Democrats click into place and keep the machine from rotating back to the left.

Here’s how it works. In every election year, the Democrats come and tell us that the country has moved to the right, and so the Democratic Party has to move right too in the name of realism and electability. Gotta keep these right-wing madmen out of the White House, no matter what it takes.

(Actually, they don’t say they’re going to move to the right; they say they’re going to move to the center. But of course it amounts to the same thing, if you’re supposed to be left of center. It’s the same direction of movement.)

So now the Democrats have moved to the “center.” But of course this has the effect of shifting the “center” farther to the right.

Now, as a consequence, the Republicans suddenly don’t seem so crazy anymore — they’re closer to the center, through no effort of their own, because the center has shifted closer to them. So they can move even further right, and still end up no farther from the “center” than they were four years ago.

In fact, the Democrats’ rightward shift not only enables the Republicans to move farther right themselves; it actually compels them to do so, if they want to maintain their identity as the angry-white-guy party par excellence.

Ditto. I fully intend to push for more progressive policies and initiatives, but I think he deserves credit for the things he has done and some of the things he has said publicly (supporting unions for instance) that no president has said in quite a while.

So you think that because I think we have a jerk as prez that I would have preferred the alternative???? There is a principle in logic that puts that in the graveyard but I don’t know what it is, as logic is not my field.

Do you think that kowtowing to “our” candidate and refusing to recognize his shortcomings is going to get us going in the right direction?

My comfort zone and his are different, I think, and his view of the world is to the right/establishment of mine.

That said, the standard-bearers of the ideology I think he’d prefer to move forward with are making such spectacular jackasses of themselves that they’re going to end up moving him to the left just to show them they can’t behave this way without consequences.

So while there’s stuff I’m really not happy about, I feel as if maybe what I need to do is eat popcorn for a few weeks and see how much stuff I get because the other side are idiots.

Night, rf.

and slightly to the right on others.

I swear, my brain has gotten whiplash this past year.

These two guys bother me more than anybody else. They’re free market fanatics, Friedmanites. Wanting to give the remaining $350B to the banks had to have come from Summers.

wow, i was not accusing you of treason.

i was honestly inquiring since you seem to be very anti-obama.

ding!

So give him a couple of F.U.s. I’ve seen enough to form conclusions.

surely that’s not in question?

suz, … i wanted to ask you about ES since i haven’t seen him here since before the ice storm and am now getting worried. hope he is safe and well.

last i heard, es still had no power. i hope he has lots of wood to stay warm.

Never thought you were accusing me of treason. In fact, I am astounded that you should even mention it. Where does that come from? And what is your question? I think I’ve been fairly clear, and concise, about why I think Obama is a jerk. What did you not understand?

I’m off to bed. Take care all.

Rush loves to inflate his significance. He certainly has high ratings amongst radio programs (3 hr spots) but his CUME (cumulative listenership) is only about 3.5-4% of the Total Radio Audience. He likes to say that he’s got 20 million listeners…but what he does is take his daily listenership and multiply it by 7 (since he’s on 7 days a week). That’s absurd. Most of those are repeat listeners…so his actual listenership is on the order of 2-3 million.

And that was with the “old diary style” method of self-reported listenership. This likely inflated the big names and stations as the diarists may never have gotten the call letter or names of the broadcaster or station that they were occasionally listening to. The new PPM device actually suggests that this is a real bias…when people record what station they are listening to, which is then analyzed as to frequency it turns out that major stations and programmers had a 30-50% drop. Other stations gained…but the ranking still stayed the same. Nonetheless, the differences b/w stations was much tighter.

Furthermore some very funny effects showed up when the data from Rush’s show was examined by a group called Coleman Perspectives .

http://groups.google.co.il/gro…..d7a8be0d1e

For example, they found that within 6 minutes of his show starting some 40% of the listeners tuned out. And more people listened to the ads on his show than listened to the shows content. In other words many people were simply scanning the station, waited for the ad to end, realized that they were listening to Limbaugh and ditched. Most of the content listeners loved Rush at his most bombastic and virulent. Even they left the show when he complimented or supported…anyone (Bush, the Republicans, anyone).

And even of those that tuned in during the mid-part of the show about 30-40% turned away after 5 minutes. These are apparently people who are “voyeurs”~ just checking out the train-wreck or destruction of the Hindenberg – and then moving on when their curiosity is sated. Probably a lot of people are checking in to see what he’s doing that’s so controversial, to see if the song “Obama The Magic Negro” is as repulsive as it sounds, etc.

So it appears that Limbaugh actually has a hard-core of supporters, but a huge number of his so-called listeners can’t stomach him for more than about 5 minutes. They’d rather listen to advertisements than Limbaugh personally.

nite, dr…

they’re not really my FUs to give, but I am waiting to see what happens in the next few weeks – everything I’ve read suggests that he doesn’t like being played, and right now, they’re trying to play him. I’ve seen some serious hardball come out of that in the past.

For the time being, although I suspect some of our conclusions are similar, I’m kind of spoiling for a fight between him and them, and they may just be stupid enough to give it to me.

i guess i don’t understand what your solution is – i’m not saying don’t criticize but to be honest, i’ve not heard anytihng from you about him that is positive.

that’s really interesting.

So he’s pretty much the wingnut welfare king of all history.

Summers? Geithner? Are those a range of ideologies or people of good will, meaning well? Or are they Wall St tools?

tools. crooks.

didn’t know that summers had a fan club but over at tpm the word is: The Larry Summers Fan Club is Losing Members Fast

Guess you haven’t read the dozens of posts about what more productive policies might be.

And is there some rule that sez I must be positive about Obama?

everything I’ve read suggests that he doesn’t like being played

Evidence?

The folks here who scolded Obama supporters always looked to it as a duty, because we were not all in the tank for Dennis. Or something.

Obama, over and over, with every breath, told us that he was a ‘reach-across-the-aisle’ type, a centrist. That he wanted to build consensus, and make it work.

Doubt the value of doing so all you like, but Obama is NOT John Fucking McCain. Yep, we settled. And yes, we all knew we would have to drive our centrist pick to better impulses, if elected.

What is the problem? Are we not lashing ourselves enough for the unforgivable sin of voting Democratic?

i’m sorry i pissed you off – i was wondering what your alternate is since you don’t want obama.

Heh. Summers fan club? Seems as unlikely as the 22% who still think W walks on water.

Not McCain. Is that your standard?

suz – thank you for the news on ES. after last month i’ve re-evaluated my thinking on ice storms. fingers and toes crossed for everyone affected.

ratfood – goodnight

plutocratic irresponsiblity upstairs

Isn’t it a Greatest Hits album? I’d assume that any real Springsteen fan would find it redundant, if not a bit out of context. For me Springsteen songs are pretty album specific and would sound chunky on a Hits album. Maybe the hope is that a few folks that shop in Walmart would pick this up, and then get the back catalog. I don’t think that this “exclusive” will get any long-term Bruce fans to buy it, Walmart or not.

I would suggest that “fans” boycott the album, and then go down to the local CD shop that’s still small ( a few still exist, but hard to locate) and buy the one CD that you don’t have.

Are u implying that because there is no alternative, we may not criticize Obama?

I think he’s genuinely to the right of where I am, and I think that he has a centrist, establishment view of what the right thing is to do.

That said, when someone crosses him in public, there’s a remarkable lack of kumbaya.

Since the right seems to be determined to treat him like a hydrant right now, I’m hoping it’s going to get his back up.

Martinis all around. Bitters, anyone?

no, i’m trying to understand why you are so anti-obama.

No. It is, apparently, your standard.
Voting Green or whatever you or others did – I am certain it was an informed vote. Assuming that those of us who voted with the Democrat were not so informed, well, you read here. You know that is not the case.

We know the challenge, and we know how hard it will be.

Off to climb into my tree.

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

and what the solution is. what your alternative is.

Twasn’t me, and by the way, you should leave Ted Haggard out of this. Kicking a man while he’s down on his knees. Have some compassion.

answering only for myself – don’t want the financial crisis to be permitted to make a bad recession worse. i don’t want people suffering needlessly. i don’t want people dying from lack of health insurance. i don’t want stupid immoral wars.

that is all. it is so not about obama.

Well, I thought I’d been fairly explicit about that in past comments. But here’s a taste:
1. His economics team belongs in jail not in charge, because they set the stage for the debacle we are now living with.
2. The problem in Afghanistan is the occupation, and he wants to increase the occupation.
3. And promises he’s made have a time horizon attached. There is no reason to trust him to live up to his qualified promises.
Would you like further explication?

the election was in november. criticism now has nothing to do with the choices people made then – that was about choosing a president. this is about the policies we support.

p.s. since when you know how ecahn voted?

Clear Channel, CBS and a bunch of other networks gave Limbaugh 3-hour daily slots on over 600 radio stations nationwide, plus Armed Forces radio. Carrottop would have had a huge audience with that sort of air-time and coverage. So yeah, much of what makes Rush “huge” is corporate welfare. He gets access while other “voices” don’t. He’s not the only “game in town” but often he’s the only alternative to modern rock and rap. He’s often the only “talk radio” on at that time.

That doesn’t deny that there are a good chunk of people that he “speaks for” and gives them the “talking points” that they need to justify their hate. But that doesn’t mean that he actually represents more than a sliver of the population.

so what is your solution?

good night sd. good night sd’s tigers.

suz – i’m confused. are you asking what better policies or something else?

OMG. Have you not read anything on FDL? I find it completely ridiculous that you should call on me to repeat what I and others have typed ad nauseam here.

And besides, nothing I or any other reasonable person thinks will occur under Obama, so what’s the point?

i guess i’m trying to find out what can be done besides bitching about it.

Purely out of curiosity, but are you willing to share who you supported in the Dem primary, assuming you supported a Dem?

night, man.

that sounds harsh and was not intended to be.

i am really confused. is why i am asking.

you guys were so lucky. i didn’t get a primary. sniff.

Oh, and Suzanne, I take from your feistiness, that you are now well. At least I hope so.

actually, i probably should not ask questions in between runs to the bathroom. am still sick.

I thought that ECahn was fairly explicit about not voting for Obama back then, and throughout the campaign. I actually don’t recall either of you saying much good about Obama.

Can’t specifically recall who you guys supported (maybe Nader), but there was a lot of support for a guy that was advising Wall Street Financial Houses on how to lobby Congress, who supported the bankruptcy bill, and who actually voted for the Iraq War Authorization.

Edwards. Voted for Obama in primary in NYS. Don’t know what that’s relevant, but there it is.

The power for change, imo, lies with Congress. Obama went to Congress, Congress didn’t go to Obama. During the primaries I said many times that I’d vote for whoever the Dem nominee was but that my focus was on getting progressive folks elected to Congress. I still think that. I’ve got a 36 year Rethug incumbent for my district and I still email the shit out of him. Maybe, just maybe, he’ll agree with me once in a while but those two chambers are where shit gets done, or fucked up as the case may be. Yes, I want Obama to take particular issues to Congress and do what it takes to get Congress to act. Now, whether or not I agree with all of his ideas is another thing. After all this verbage my point is change lives or dies in the halls of Congress.

So sorry. Let’s postpone this to a healthier day.

(((Suzanne)))

I do not know how anyone voted except me.
Point is, we did know what we were doing, much to the chagrin of purists. We are adults. We chose. We were free to do so, and we did.

Complaining now about what we knew to be true then (and we knew damned well), when we selected our candidate, and then selected our President…
We knew what we were getting, despite all that has been suggested. We knew very well.

We chose a centrist. Some of us were willing to settle, some because we knew the alternative, some for other reasons, I imagine.

Like we didn’t know what we were getting…
Like we were all shocked by the middle path…

You’re the change!!! I’m the change!!!!! WE’RE the change!!!!!!

same as during the bush years – self education, making the case for better choices, organizing, stuff like that…

what am i missing? why should any of that stop now?

i mean, i would understand if i thought the choices being made were not mind blowingly dangerous. but i do.

yeah. and as we’re being reminded -it had been a while and I started to forget – just having a D after your name doesn’t necessarily cut it either. The thought of a handful of Blue Dogs being the make-or-break people is unsettling to me. Got an e-mail from Bill “Lost in Space” Nelson. He thinks the stimulus is swell. never heard from him about EFCA. I assume he’s on board.

can I go really o/t? or do i need to save that? it’s personal, not remotely political. save it?

…and as we’re being reminded -it had been a while and I started to forget – just having a D after your name doesn’t necessarily cut it either. The thought of a handful of Blue Dogs being the make-or-break people is unsettling to me.

Damned straight. And we always knew it would be exactly like that. We all know the BlueDogs from way back.

I would tend to agree with you.

The problem is, until something dramatic happens to challenge the conventional wisdom, we’re pretty much stuck with the status quo.

Luckily, these people seem to be determined to go up against the really popular, clearly not particularly left-wing, president, to the point where they’re willing to say out loud that they’d rather see people on the street than have him get any political advantage from fixing the situation.

I don’t think that’s going to fly.

i guess we always did know. maybe i was in denial. i always thought enough of them would vote the right way on the “real important stuff” so not to worry. i don’t assume that anymore.

Sounds corny as hell but you’re right. The real work started 6 Jan. Folks want to send their ideas to the WH, that’s fine. Soon as they click Send turn right around and say the same thing to their Senators and Reps. That communication may do nothing more than become a number on some weekly staff report but it’s on that report for a reason. And sometimes ya get lucky.

Here Her Newt… Why I voted for Democrats straight down the ticket!!

I’m actually a little green myself – I spent the last three days home sick from work – so I’m going to bed.

A beg, though, if I may – can we please, please, please let the primaries go? It was awful, genuinely awful, and it’s over, and now it’s about what We The People who voted for him want Our President to do. We may differ on tactics, and we may stick at different things, but if we didn’t have the same basic principles and hopes we wouldn’t be here.

erm. Kumbaya, y’all. peace out.

here here…dam…

Edwards employer and major contributor to his campaign.

Hedge fund Fortress Investment Group

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/…..fer=canada

hope you feel better soon julia – g’nite

Namaste, Julia

Me too. Said that an hour ago, didn’t I? I lied.

Yep. And this shock at the state of the collective Dem position, at Obama’s positions, is not so much disingenuous as it is guffawing. No one who was actually looking should be the least bit surprised.

I find it completely ridiculous that you should call on me to repeat what I and others have typed ad nauseam here.

Please know I’m not trying to stir anything up, and actually find this discussion healthy, but that’s just how I’ve felt since I first started supporting Obama around the time he declared.

I actually got tired of making the same arguments over and over, and providing link upon link about, at that time at least, why we could elect a melanin-enhanced person as Prez. I felt very lonely around here for a long time (until Edwards dropped out) and even started drifting away since it seemed I was either being scrolled by most, or people weren’t taking the time to try and understand the arguments, many of which were correct.

I agree with much of your policy criticism of the O-man, but his political skills, namely getting elected against all odds, and his focus on organizing make me feel he is legit in his Liberalism (there are many, many good things in his record in this regard…I’ve provided countless “evidence” here showing this). The focus on getting people organized and excited overcomes and political gamesmanship for me.

For instance, this group grew out of Obama’s campaign:
http://www.couragecampaign.org…..ourageArmy

They’re working on marriage equality, and it was started by people who were trained in “Camp Obama,” and they’re being advised by official Obama organizers, yet at the same time they’re completely independent and are working in essence against Obama’s own stance about this issue.

To me, this is how we get out of the Constitutional Crisis we’re in as groups sprout up all over on a variety of issues, and many of the skills needed to makes this movements actually succeed come from community organizing, which Obama has given huge booster shot.

Just my opinion. Please know I value your input, especially on the economic issues, and I’m just trying to further the debate. Rock on.

DIGG is Up and Opened Pups!

nite julia
great, great thread

i don’t know why the primaries keep being brought up. would be very happy to leave them behind – actually hated them.

hope you are feeling better soon. thanks for the discussion. much appreciated.

And this shock at the state of the collective Dem position, at Obama’s positions, is not so much disingenuous as it is guffawing. No one who was actually looking should be the least bit surprised.

thanks for the laugh.

i don’t remember those threads. although i do remember being called a troll for pointing out obama’s focus on tax cuts. and that i was talking gibberish for saying neither clinton nor obama were progressive.

lol. what a hoot.

When Obama went all quiet on FISA, and then into the tank, was that not an indication of what was to come? You had to see that, and my guess is that you even saw it coming (but that is speculation).

When Obama shockingly told us that he favored extending, and actually ‘enhancing’ the federal dollars to religious organizations for community outreach, was no one watching?

oops wrong thread.. that Digg is for late late night….

Yes…but the sum result will be instigating vigilantes throughout the country…Rush really is a fascist and there are plenty of brownshirts to be inspired and persuaded to do their duty…there are too many guns out there.

Why does all this matter when the Democrats can pass any legislation they want? Then they can claim all the glory or blame that follows.

The weak seem to continue to make fun of a person. Have you ever heard the whole “sticks and stones” bit as a child. Calling people names and trying to degrade them on appearances is childish and ultimately ineffective. Attack people for their ideas with sound logic. Beat them with their own ideals. If you can’t outsmart someone you have to little respect for what kind of pathetic insignificant person does that make you. This is why these Hannitys and Rushs of the world invite people on their shows because they want to hear the other and prove that their logic doesn’t match up to their own. They do it rather well. If you listen to the commercial Rush came back with I would like to see a response to that.

All people, especially liberals how detest Rush, call his show and calmly reason with him and use facts to explain he is wrong. Encourage your senators and congressmen and Obama who have opposing views of him to be on his show to discuss the issues. He leaves open invitations but you must take the step. Grow a pair if you think you have the facts and trust your intelligence or else whine like you currently are.

Read a book on the richest people throughout America and you will see those who inherited great deals of wealth usually lost the money and fell off the high lists. The people who invested and put money to work, took chances made it big and also employed millions of people. The entrepreneurs are the richest people out their. If your want to knock down the richest people in America then you are also knocking down the hardest working people. The people who worked and invested in their 401k diligently in order to have a comfortable retirement. The richest people got that way with their investments whether it be Gates with his own company, or the Waltons, or the richest man in America who supported Obama, Warren Buffet. Think down the line and what your ideas all affect before saying rash things