And let’s not forget Dixie. Look away, Dixieland.

Good morning, pups. It’s Dowd and Friedman today. MoDo, in “Striking it Poor,” says with the dollar diminished and financial institutions in the doghouse, panning for gold nuggets suddenly seems a safer bet than an ephemeral derivative. I think we’re supposed to feel sorry for her because she says her savings and salary are shrinking… The Moustache of Wisdom says “Show Us the Ball.” His position is that a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions is actually a carbon tax. So let’s stop hiding the ball and have a strategy, message and messenger that tell it like it is.

Here they are.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got bagels and cream cheese this morning. The temperature here in my back yard didn’t get down to freezing, but the wind chill is 33° now, so the weather isn’t all that different from what it appears to be in Ohio and New York City right now. I thought I had left all that behind… Have a great day.

Thanks for the bagels and the much needed hot chocolate, Marion, brrrsky – it’s in the 30s here — Where’s Spring, I ask you, where is Spring?

Waccamaw, I hope that barefoot is healing…

Washington Journal
7:00-7:30 Question/Newspaper Articles/Phones

7:30-8:15 DANIELLE PLETKA
American Enterprise Institute
VP for Foreign & Defense Studies aei.org

Topic: Guest gives her perspective on President Obama’s trip to Europe and Turkey.

8:15-8:55 WENDY SHERMAN
Fmr. Special Advisor to
President Clinton, 1997-2001
The Albright Group
Principal
thealbrightgroupllc.com

Topic: Guest gives her perspective on President Obama’s trip to Europe and Turkey.

9:00-9:30 MARVIN ODUM
Shell Oil
President
shell.us

Topic: Guest will discuss how public policy and the economy are impacting the U.S. oil and gas industry.

9:30 StudentCam – Desai – “SBNN: Financial Crisis”

9:35-10:00 MATT KELLEY
USA Today
Investigative Reporter
http://www.usatoday.com

Special C-SPAN webpage on Stevens trial:www.c-span.org/stevenstrial

Topic: A federal judge dismissed the corruption conviction of former Sen. Ted Stevens yesterday and opened a criminal investigation into prosecutors who he charged mishandled the case.

Polarization defined as “My radical views are perceived as radical views and I don’t like it”

Who has been the most polarizing editor of recent times? William Buckley? Marty Peretz?
Andrew Rosenthal? No, that honor belongs to Fred Hiatt.

Fixed it.

We *are*, darlin’; just as hard and fast as we can. *G*

And don’t even listen to Laura or Sean….we have a Socialist Prs. who is ending America, her values, and going to be giving it all away to those “other people”. How can one person do so much in such a short time? ;)

Aren’t you a dear for remembering! Feels a lot better, thanks, and looks to be doing OK…as well as I can tell… playing contortionist as it rests on the bathroom sink.

You’re just the person I wanted to talk to about WJ – are you watching right now?

Good morning. WJ is summarizing Blankfein speech. If you want to watch the whole thing, he’s up on cspan2. I watched some of it yesterday until I couldn’t take it anymore. Characterized it as Blankfein pretending to be an adult.

I wish I was in Dixie……

Wait. I am. And it blows.

The Czech Republic didn’t seem to be enthused about being protected by U.S. nukes. Much more interested in reduction of nukes. How could that be?

DANIELLE PLETKA sees threats to the U.S. everywhere, and the military is the only solution. Yawn.

Amity Shales was on with Hannity last night making stuff up.

that’s not ‘polarization’ that’s ’shunning’ or ’snubbing’.
polarization is when you are pulled toward a certain direction.

standing there and pushing away someone else is the opposite force.

leave it to ‘the beavers’ to once again use a catch-phrase that is the opposite of the meaning they intended.

instead of ironic, i am going to start using igopic for these asshats–combination of what they do—-’irony’ and ‘myopic’.

Amity ShLAes.

I’m so excited! I got an e-mail from my senator, Bill “Lost in Space’ Nelson.

I’d like to let you know I’m now using a few new “high-tech” tools to keep folks informed about what’s happening – and, what I’m up to when traveling around Florida.

First, I’m on Twitter. And, as I visit communities around the state next week, I’ll be sending out updates. If you want, you can go to Twitter and sign up to follow me.

Also, I’m posting speeches and such on YouTube. I’ve set up a YouTube channel so you can see videos in just one place.

I can’t wait for the speeches to go up. had trouble sleeping lately.

They do that so well…scary.

c’mon. you’re busting me on spelling? I didn’t even realize she was a woman before. Let me come along slowly on this, OK? Never heard the name Amity before. Have seen the takedowns. Jeez. Dies Ms. Shlaes not venture beyond FOX?

But thanks for the correction. Appreciate it.

If you want a good laugh, read the comments posted to Gerson’s column. I don’t know how Gerson can look in the mirror.

I did it because some one important (specifics are lost in space) wrote something praising her about 6 months ago, and consistenly referred to her as Amity Shales. Didn’t want you to embarrass yourself at some point in the future like that guy did. *g*

Among other things, pols apparently see these “new fangled” inventions as an easy form of propaganda…too bad they don’t spend the time on getting something positive accomplished rather than twittering, ‘berrying and whatever else they do with their thumbs. :-(

All twit and no action.

Bush threw a better pitch than Biden the other day. But he did that windmill thing before he threw it. Doofus.

You probably at least knew she was a she, though. I do appreciate the correction. I don’t understand how she can say GDP didn’t improve. Don’t know of she says that in her book, but she said it on Hannity last night.

“if” not “of”. The i and o keys are next to one another and don’t have letters any more on my keyboard. I’m not a touch typist. I’m a pecker. So I need letters on my keys.

I have the misfortune to have a long unfortunate history with Ms. Shlaes. Some 20 years ago she was a speaker at a dinner I attended arguing there was no discrimination against women in business. Spit.

Rangers beat Les Canadiens!!!!! Let’s Go Rangers!!! OK. No more sports from me.

Obama oughta take the day off. hang out with the kids. have an early date night with the wife. he must be exhaustiated.

It was such a joy to see that Teddy was able to make the pitch-in.

not a problem for him. his image doesn’t show up in a mirror.

God. She’s even loonier than I thought. So anti-discrimination laws were not needed, I take it? And women deserved less pay for the same work? Jeez, if she said that today I’d tell her “hey hon, iron my shirt.”

Really.

Hey Mack! Did you see Morning Joe this am? Joe, Mika, Mike, and Willie were touting Gerson’s column like he was Moses bringing truth down from the mountain. And Harold Ford (is he really a Democrat?) didn’t have the stones to call the braintrust out on the divisiveness claim. Just look at the prez’s numbers. He’s made some small inroads into the Repub base in terms of popularity and public confidence. Couldn’t somebody have pointed out that Gerson is hardly the voice of post-partisanship? That he wrote speeches for the worst president this country has ever had? I never knew Moses, but I’m pretty sure Gerson ain’t him.

Look, the fact is that it was Obama who claimed that he somehow had the magic political skills to help heal the partisan divide, right? That was supposed to be his unique contribution to our politics, something only he, unlike the other candidates, could achieve. If he has failed to do so, it is most definitely his failure to deliver on his own promise. The Republicans are being simply what the Republicans have always been — what they were, pretty much exactly, when Obama made his campaign promise. Yet that was the promise he chose to make.

And isn’t there something wrong in any case about blaming the Republicans only for the current partisan divide inspired by Obama? If 88% of Democrats now approve of Obama, why is that not at least as mindlessly partisan as the 73% of Republicans who don’t approve of Obama? Isn’t it all the more so since so much of what Obama has done is NOT progressive, suggesting that it is only the worst kind of unthinking partisanship that would inspire so much loyalty?

Really, the accusation that it is only the Republicans who are being partisan here exactly mimics the bizarre claim during Bush’s tenure. He and his people would more or less assert that he was being bipartisan, of course, but those damn Democrats wouldn’t get on board with his policies, so they were to blame for all the vile partisanship.

Really, for once in your life, try to put the shoe on the other foot. Try to see the beam in your own eye.

So anti-discrimination laws were not needed, I take it? And women deserved less pay for the same work?

I think she’s projecting, because she actually gets paid for the crap she peddles, and knows it’s crap.

Frankly…didn’t you read this.

“The polarization problem seems to be on one-side of the aisle, and it isn’t the Party that starts with a “D”. Plus, Obama is far more popular with Independents, than say…any Republican. And even better Mikey, let’s look at those popularity ratings among the only growing voting bloc, the young. Obama’s favorability with voters ages 18-29, 81 percent; Democrats, 59 percent; Republicans, 9 percent — Nine!”

One expects partisan support for a President within his own party. If it declines to…say about 60% as it did with Bush…that’s a big issue. But the Independents seem to be as “mindless” in their support as the Democrats. And you fail to see that registration numbers are WAY down for the GOP everywhere but the Appalachian states. So low support amongst a decreasing number of Republicans actually means that “former Republicans” are probably leaning in support of the President.

And actually Frank…you ignore the fact that Democrats DID get on board with Bush’s policies…until about the time he started pushing to put Social Security into the stockmarket into accounts managed by Lehman Brothers, Chase, BankAmerica, Merrill Lynch. and Wachovia. How many times did the Democrats actually filibuster anything in the first six years of Bush? How many times did Bush have to veto a bill because some Republicans jumped the aisle? That only occurred late in Bush’s second term with SCHIP.
The Democrats voting entirely against any Democratically pushed proposal didn’t happen in the first months of Bush’s becoming President.

So I think that there is more than a little “historical revisionism” here.

And Bush also made the claim throughout his campaigns that he would be bipartisan. At least he suggested that he was going to use half the Clinton $4 trillion surplus to “fund SSI” while giving only 25% back in tax cuts (the rest to be spent away on “special programs” rather than to reduce the deficit). Don’t believe me? Go read the Bush-Gore 2000 debates…along with all the bulldada about not using the military for “nation building”.

Even in the second campaign…but immediately changed that when he won by a sliver and claimed that “I have a mandate” to eviscerate SSI, Medicare, to cut taxes even further, and to reduce social spending.

do the repuglitards have any fucking clue that we can SEE THE GUY BEHIND THE CURTAIN ???

the Wizard of Oz couldn’t fool Dorthy, and we ain’t Dorthy

and the repuglitards ain’t exactly “wizards” either

Sorry, knucklehead, saying that he would pursue non-partisan support and then doing so, then being let down by the “We’ll just say no!” Republicans doesn’t mean that he doesn’t measure up, it means THEY don’t. But thanks for playing.