I almost always miss Jane when she’s on TV which is kinda odd b/c she’s getting on more and more. But i put on Rachel and there she was. Good job,.

Still wondering why people think Chuck’s so smart.

I love the picture Yglesis used

From the last thread, I see that Friedman says:
the best leaders learn from their crashes, adjust, persist and succeed.

Fucking profound. How do you say “no shit, man”? He gets paid to write this shit. Jeez.

If we ignore the GWOT it’s not there. Quick fix to a non problem.

Re: Chuck Todd. He got crreamed here during the campaign but i thought he was better than most. As dfor last night… his question was dumb as dog shit and just assumed soemthing that isn’t true. waste of a pick. is he gonna be a regular? obama wasted his time on Todd. and FOX news again? “Isn’t the fact that the French don’t want to do a stimulus like yours proof positive that you are a crazed marxist?”

Chuckie asked a bonehead question. And of course it should have been… how are the well off being asked to sacrifice as the poor and middle classes obviously are as their retirements evaporate, their jobs disappear, the houses lose value, and so forth.

Yeah right Chuck… ask those who have already taken it in the chin to turn their other cheek and take another one.

A precondition for any more money to be forked over to the private banksters by the public taxpayers should be the complete end of lobbying of Congress by the banking and financial sector. Make lobbying Congress illegal for the banksters and for Chrissake, get the former Goldman banksters out of the Treasury Department.

Anyone who doesn’t see lobbying and influence peddling as the root cause of our political and financial system, doesn’t want to see it.

It is our money – and it is our country. Make one demand. No more lobbying by the banksters, under threat of criminal sanctions if the prohibition is violated.

Otherwise, nothing changes, banksters win, country doomed.

Remember why the McCain/Feingold bill was said to be so important at the time, and what might occur if that bill failed and we didn’t separate money from politics?

Well, here we are.

boneheaded. dumb-as-doghsit. we were both on it at the same minute. I was certianly surprised to learn that Obama hasn’t asked for sacrifice. Besides, say he hadn’t. So what?

IRT Chuck Todd’s ridiculous question: I saw him on MSNBC saying that people are emailing him suggestions on what to ask. He said the vast majority were personal problems they were having and what could Obama’s adm. do to help (ie I lost my job etc.). He said he was trying to come up with a question that encompassed all those questions. Sounds to me like he regarded all those emailers as a bunch of watb and decided they just need to buck up.

Thanks for giving us the Jane clip, BT. I didn’t get a chance to catch it live.

This group (blue poodles from Attaturk’s post, I love it!) of “moderate” Dems in the Senate really have me mad. Can you imagine the blowback if 16 “moderate” Rethugs had announced they were going to oppose Bush in March, 2001?

epu’d

I have to say Obi definitely sees Wall Street as one of his important constituencies, and the appearance is that he feels that Wall Street’s well being is key to the nation’s well being and so he wants to FIX their mess.

Conceptually we DO need a working banking and “finance” sector, but the crucial issue, which Obi skirts is; what does that look like, how does it work, what is its main function and how is it structured and controlled?

The capitalists free marketeers demanded and got a completely “unfettered free market” finance sector which also happens to include the banking and credit function within it that serves Main Street. These functions also became arenas for huge profit, leverage, and use of their new power to be “creative” in finance in banking without control or regulation. The public got screwed and their gov did nothing, perhaps acted like an enabler to “finance”.

The 900 pound gorilla here is if Obi will strip away the nonsense, the gaming, the abuse and “downsize” his finance constituency to one that serves the needs of the people, more then themselves – the wealthy. I don’t think he wants to do that, certainly as much and as thoroughly as it needs to be done. He seems to believe that they can get with the program, be come chaste, less greedy and more “on the NATION’s team as opposed to their own teams. I think this is naive and it won’t happen. He may be held hostage because they may be more powerful than he is. Frightening but could it be true?

Democratic government is a creation which is to serve the people not the “special interests” – remember that phrase? What we have seen is that the rightwing sees government as serving the poor by taking away from the rich and they want its power reduced and controlled and reigned it and they want their freedom to play in the unfettered market. They got it and they screwed the pooch. They also cleverly bought the media, control the message, brainwashed and numbed the people, bought the congress critters and used the revolving doors of government and business to make sure their agenda was adhered to. It was. And as long as the status quo remains – control of media, private contributions to pols, revolving doors, absence of regulation, undemocratic and non progressive tax regimens nothing will change.

We do need change and it appears that Obi talked the talk but is not walking the walk or is delusional and thinks he can get there by dancing with the devil. His choice for counselors and advisers indicate his belief in this approach. Let the wizened wolves guard the henhouse.

I don’t think so.

MoJoe has Rick Pitino on. Hoping for a Coach K like quote. Didn’t happen.

Re: Double standard for Obama at BC and Condiat BC…….

BC is a Jesuit school and they are generally speaking more tolerant of other views. I went to jesuit schools and that’s part of the whole deal….. critical thinking requires acquianting oneself to diverse points of view. I doubt BC would give Obama shit. As I’ve commented before, i was raised catholic and I’m trying… I’m really trying.. to get back to it. But shit like this makes it hard. every time something like this happens people either 1)get pissed b/c they’re pro-choice and/or 2) get pissed because they’re pro-free speech (I realize it’s a private school and they can let anybody they want speak, so it’s not a free-speech issue, just sayin’ it should be the policy of a university to permit, indeed encourage, free-speech.)

I don’t like coach K.

Yeah, that sacrifice theme is everywhere. The poor schmucks who listen to country radio are being brainwashed with this song that really makes my blood boil. The premise is that the “singer” has gone to a bar to pick up a buddy who has fallen off the wagon. Here is their exchange, with the drunk friend speaking first:

Sarah’s old car’s about to fall apart
And the washer quit last week
We had to put momma in the nursing home
And the baby’s cutting teeth
I didn’t get much work this week
And I got bills to pay
I said I know this ain’t what you wanna hear
But it’s what I’m gonna say

Sounds like life to me it ain’t no fantasy
It’s just a common case of everyday reality
Man I know it’s tough but you gotta suck it up
To hear you talk you’re caught up in some tragedy
It sounds like life to me

So, the poor folks are being told that even though their hours are getting cut back at work, the products they buy are falling apart and their is no social structure to help them financially when they have to take care of an aging parent, they should just “suck it up” and deal with it. [Because the smart, rich people really need their $10 million bonuses or they will feel undervalued, I guess.]

The bluedogs got a taste of their own importance in the stimulus bill fight. They got catered to and they loved it. They are against the budget reconciliation process (is that what it is? the thingy the goes around the filibuster) for important legislation because if that’s used they won’t get catered to. Never cater to your bluedog pet. Nothing good comes of it.

An enjoyable comment from the “chuck is dumb as dog shit” post:

steve duncan Says:
March 25th, 2009 at 7:33 am
I’ll make a sacrifice. Bring me Chuck Todd and an altar. Two-for-one special good through March 31st, I’ll throw in Ed Henry.

NYT:

This was Mr. Obama as more enervating than energizing,

“Enervating.” My word for the day. Good one NYT. I now have to use it 3 times today.

whoppie, the Chip Reid is up next on CSPAN

was there a R response? i had read somewhere Jindal was going to do something. did i read that? was just scanning HuffPo, didn’t really read it. That can’t be true. He suckes so bad last time…… Was he just on some post-presser TV analysis? they don’t do opp-party responses for pressers do they?

didn’t he ask a useless question? what did he ask? lemme go look at the transcript.

Report back, please…….I’ve had about as much of WJ as I can take for one year.

I saw something where he was “speaking” at a Gooper fund raiser somewhere.

read it. didn;’t see chip’s question. gotta look again.

useless, useless

Got it.

OK, Chip Reid?

Q: Thank you, Mr. President. At both of your town hall meetings in California last week, you said, quote, I didn’t run for president to pass on our problems to the next generation.

But under your budget, the debt will increase $7 trillion over the next 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office says $9.3 trillion. And today on Capitol Hill, some Republicans called your budget, with all the spending on health care, education and environment, the most irresponsible budget in American history.

OBAMA: Yes.

“Yes”?? I asume he meant yes, the R’s said that. Not yes that it’s the most irresponsible budget in history. Fair assumption?

http://swampland.blogs.time.co…..ever-mind/

I don’t know what happened to joe klein’s brain but there has definitely been an injection of something approaching “sane”.

(Hope this isn’t a repeat of one of BT’s links; haven’t had a chance to read them all yet.)

Jane was excellent last night on Rachel Maddow’s show. My fear is…..because Jane is so influential it might be she and a few other liberals who end up in the end getting President Obama impeached over the crap George Bush did and didn’t do. I’m sure the conservadems and the neocons in the House & Senate would be fine with that.

Bah hahahahahahahaha!

epu’d from me to you:

SanderO @ 36 (show text)

Go join a Tea Bagging Club! They’d love to have you on board, SanderO. From what I can tell they don’t have many participants which could be because of their own delusions and rational Americans don’t want to be a part of it!

Just so you know, I think they’re using “Red Rose” tea bags.

Is that “Bah hahahahahahahaha!” good or “Bah hahahahahahahaha!” bad? *G*

Good. ;-)

Okay, going to work with the rest of the schmucks of America.

politico has a brief something on the subject but, sorry, I refuse to link to that piece of trash blog.

I refuse to link to that piece of trash blog

Thank you.

Chuck Todd is in waaaay over his number crunching head.

To ask “Where’s the request for sacrifice?” when, (as POTUS rightfully pointed out) people across the country are going to 32 hour work weeks just to keep co-workers employed shows an amazing lack of awareness of the world the 99% of the country that aren’t on the professional cocktail weenie circuit inside the beltway is going through.

He doesn’t “see” sacrifice, because his world is ‘go to White House, NBC headquarters, cocktail party’ … lather, rinse, repeat.

If everyone I came in contact with each day had a 6 or 7 figure salary, excellent health care, nice car (and/or driver), and tips on the best party that night, I probably wouldn’t “see” sacrifice, either.

Mornin’, pups.

Is it campaign season yet? The ConservaDems just gave us more targets. Yum yum.

Non Sequitur

The culture shock post was an interesting take on modern political culture, especially for the conservatives. Here is this video about the banks these days, absolutely hysterical…
http://www.governmentalityblog…..r-you.html

Bayh’s nonresponse.

In response to beerfart @ 13:

I know what you mean. I am thinking of writing a diary, or two, covering in some depth: what is a Catholic university? abortion and birth control, the fundamentalist dismantling of good Pope John’s Vatican Council II led by JPII and the current Pope. At the very least, there is sufficient and well thought out material out there to support progressive Catholic positions that needs to be publicized.

I don’t know if people are all that interested, though, although it seems to me that these issues deserve more serious treatment than that which they normally get.

There are just too many liberal/progressive Catholics out there to allow the Church to be defined by the far right.

Evan Bayh: Screw the little guy, let them lose their homes, more government megabucks for financial institutions!