Why does Peggy Noonan always sound like she just took Ambien?

Obama’s not struggling because he’s insufficiently centrist. He’s struggling because he’s insufficiently partisan.

I think that needs to be repeated. Now if we could just get it repeated in the MSM…

The MSM has these clowns on because they are clowns and because they just might help push the country further to the right. It is actually kind of funny. The media have them on because they have a certain legitimacy. They have a certain legitimacy because the media have them on.

Exactly BT

Secretly?

That’s a pretty good secret.

Obama’s not struggling because he’s insufficiently centrist. He’s struggling because he’s insufficiently partisan.

Perhaps that is part of it. But, for the most part, anyone trying to meaningfully address this thorniest of issues is going to spend political capital – lots of it.

This was never going to be easy. Worse, the economy and an oppostion party that has jumped the shark have only made it much more difficult.

As to whether Obama being more partisan up to this point in this epic struggle would have been more or less helpful in achieving robust health care insurance reform, is less than clear to me. It could be argued round or flat.

Sorry to go OT so early in the thread, but I’m headed to the airport in a few minutes and wanted to make sure people saw that Charlie Crist has named the interim replacement for Mel Martinez: Charlie’s own former chief of staff. What a joke!

The Chair of the Florida Dems, Karen Thurman, wasted no time:

“Charlie Crist once again put his own political ambition above doing what is right for Florida,” Thurman said in a statement. “Floridians are sick of the Republican culture of corruption and the Tallahassee back room dealings that clearly led Crist to pick LeMieux, whose only qualification is being Charlie Crist’s crony.”

Charlie is keeping the field as clear as possible for his own run for the seat next year.

More propaganda and indoctrination from the corporate media. Keep repeating the lie enough and it is eventually perceived as “fact.” The corporate media and their rich celebrity shills are traitors and deserving of a traitors fate.

This was never going to be easy. Worse, the economy and an oppostion party that has jumped the shark have only made it much more difficult.

But that’s my point. The GOP should be ignored, marginalized, not a factor in the debate at all. They’re toxic. Crafting a “bipartisan” bill in the Senate was a fool’s errand.

They have them on because the right wing needs propagandists! After 30 + years of propaganda large swaths of the American public now believe the lies and deceptions.

And here I thought that John Bush needed a job.

How does one “ignore” a corrupt and compromised corporate media that is nothing more than a megaphone for Republican memes and deceptions? We may ignore both the Republicans and the corporate media but for many the media is where they get their “information.”

Obama’s not struggling because he’s insufficiently centrist. He’s struggling because he’s insufficiently partisan.

bingo, no to get that message to the obama team cuz they don’t know that’s the problem

I’m talking about turning the process over to people like Max Baucus and the Gang of 6. That’s where all the delay occurred, and that’s why we didn’t get a bill done before the break.

Fail.

This is off topic but a must see. Another bogus health reform survey from a Congressional repub. After you get to the site, scroll down on the right and click on “share your thoughts on Health Care Reform” and read the full survey. Last question is a gem.

http://calvert.house.gov/

My goal for 2010 is to get this guy voted out of office. We almost made it last year. I’m personna non gratta so I didn’t receive the email but my husband is still under the radar and he received it. Naturally I let him know what I thought of it.

BT! I thought you knew! Nooners and Joe Scar were on a Telephone Psychic Hot Line seance after Teddy died so they asked him special about all the things he wouldn’t say while he was alive cuz he knew the liberals wouldn’t agree with him so he had to wait until he was dead to say them.

Insufficiently partisan is not the problem, IMO. Obama is insufficiently leading the country in the direction most of us want to go.

I don’t think that’s true, anymore. The trad media have been failing for quite some time. The drop in the intelligence quotient requirement is an indicator of this trend.

BT, No, the sufficiency of Obama’s partisanship has to be considered in a political universe much greater than the Senate Republicans.

Nooners and Scar are both just dropping more dribbles…They have no clue about what they speak..never do !! To stupid to dig to find out the facts…

OT x 2. Allen Stanford makes a fashion statement.

What’s a mere $8 billion.

Anyone remember “NNTN”? SCTV’s news? The first couple years of SNL’s “Weekend Update”?
Isn’t it odd that they were able to predict the state of journalism and television’s marriage of convenience, so very long ago?

I have a great idea for a contest, BT. I’ve checked and there is no cocktail that I can find called a Nooner or Nooners. Let’s create one!

My first attempt, probably lame since I don’t drink:
1 part bitters
1 part rye
1 part Irish Mist
with essence of dolphin pee sprinkled on top.

Stirred and shaken

Well Obama campaigned as a moderate, his life experience is that of a community organizer, which means compromise and bringing 2 sides together. He stated right from the begining that he wanted a BIPARTISAN bill. The fact that the rethugs are only out to destroy the Obama presidency is something that he simply overlooked. His world view is that of 2 sides agreeing. The fact is that he has had very little experience in how to work congress. This is one reason why he has stumbled to badly on health care. He is out to get health care. The rethugs want to destroy Obama and the dems at any/all costs. Then you have the real rulers of the US-corporate america-who want what they have to continue. The fleecing of america continues apace. The New American Century which encompasses Big Energy, Big Arms, Big Media, Big Business and Big Jesus along with our favorites the neo cons all desire the preservation of the current social order because it allows them to operate as an oligarchy.
Will Obama and some of the dems win? Odds are against as more dems are bought out by Big Business with the aid of both Big Media and Big Jesus. Even the Catholic bishops are starting to speak out against a health ins bill that does not now and never did exist. What is left of the dems are quickly falling out as the aforementioned groups continue to act without any coherent plan by either Obama or the dems to refute the story line put out by The New American Century. And if the rethugs do win on this-we already know that mr and mrs avg american, ie the sheeple, are easily led by almost any rethug demagog and might actually be able to get a majority in at least 1 house of congress in 2010. That is what the rethugs and their backers are pinning their hopes on, a reprise of the Clinton health care debacle and the subsequent victory of the rethugs in congress. With the massive hubris of the current dem congress, along with their apparent apathy in a leadership role, the rethugs, along with the group The New American Century just might pull it off. But only if Obama continues to think and act as if the american electorate are intelligent enough to follow his arguements. The truth, as much as it might hurt, is this. The majority of adult americans appear to be both ignorant and proud of their ignorance. This fact makes them sheeple who are easily led and only understand short sound bites, repeated endlessly. A fact which the rethugs understand and have milked for many years. After all, no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the american people.

Exactly. Remember, MSNBC is considered “the liberal network” because Two! Whole! Hours! of its programming out of twenty-four aren’t given over to overt or covert right-wing shills.

This is why I call the US traditional media “the GOP/Media Complex”. And as Robert Parry points out, the conservative movement worked very, very hard and spent tens of billions to make this happen, even as movement liberals of the 1970s, 1980s and even 1990s pooh-poohed the idea of investing in media.

The media is the key. We’re making progress with the internet, but we still can’t quite compete with TV. Ultimately I’d like to see a TV network owned by liberals, in the meantime, I wonder if they could produce a daily video podcast here at the lake, or maybe even a Hulu channel.

To think that most Americans are getting their information from the internet just isn’t true, as much as we might like to believe it. The corporate media, both broadcast and print, have the megaphone that most Americans hear and that megaphone is controlled by corporate, conservative Republican interests. Until their is a robust broadcast medium, radio and television, on the left little will change. Far too many Americans will buy into the lies and deception of the propaganda machine of the GOP/media complex.

I am right there with you. This dirtbag is (I am sorry to say) the “representative” for the district I live in. Major-league Asshole.

Major hurdles were overcome during Clinton’s watch to consolidate media. commercial went out the window for all intents and porpoises and public radio was co-opted and de-funded during the Bushler regime.

@timr: I hope that’s the Repukes’ plan for, if it is, they fail, no matter what Obama does.

Bluetoe2 @ 28: There’s no content there that would appeal to anyone with an ounce of cerebral matter.

Many Americans wear their ignorance as a badge of honor which they think is revealed wisdom. Of course the Republicans, conservatives and the corporate media encourage it. They play them for infantile marionettes.

It’s not that they are too stupid to dig to find out the facts. It’s that facts are not relevant to Republic talking heads. They are simply following the Limpy Limbaugh model of continually reciting dogma only.

Both are on some heavily spiked joe.

Isn’t it Three! Whole! Hours!??

I know, I know, still not a big deal, but IMO Rachel, KO, and the Ed Show are pretty decent and not overtly or covertly conservative.

And the jury is still out on Tweety – probably always will be.

Oh, forgot to comment to BT that I thought this was a great post.

In fact, I thought I recall some polling somewhere that backed this concept up. What’s strange though, if there is data proving this, then you know the pros in Washington are aware of the data, and yet still carry on and insist on this centrist crap.

Doesn’t that alone send a very powerful message?

Remember when he got arrested for having a prostitutes head in his lap? I can’t believe he’s still here. Real Estate empire with lots of back room deals. But, we live in a pretty conservative area of So. Cal. I had Obama signs in my yard last year and some guy down the street yelled “n****r lover” everytime he drove by, 3 or 4 times a day.

Many dems and independents are mightily PO’d at the Obama administration and the Dem establishment for selling out to finance (bailouts), insurance (crippled healthcare “reform”) and real estate (attempt to reflate housing), as well as tepid support for workers. That hardly means that these people are looking forward to another GOP regime that would hurt them even more. They want to throw the bums out and replace them with progressives, after making a huge mistake with Obama — although many progressive saw though the veneer from the get-go.

“He’s struggling because he’s insufficiently partisan.”

I’ll join the chorus…good to see somebody saying writing it out loud.

They are refering to the “real america” The unreal america that the majority of us live in are pulling for the extinction of the insane.

Even the local rag (at one time, one of the better “small-town” papers in the country) has turned into something less than birdcage liner, constantly spewing right-wing crap from its pages. No wonder it’s hard to get the word out on Calvert…

Are you aware of any organizing that is being done to eject this asshole in 2010? I am beyond sick of him. He (and his BFF in the next district over, Jerry Lewis) need to go away.

What? Mika heavily spikes Joe? I thought she just ironed his shirts for him…

Peterr is upstairs with New Orleans.

Whoever runs against him, campaign like hell for the guy or gal. That’s what I’ll be doing. Agreed on the paper and Jerry, what a joke. It’s difficult sometimes to live in the midst of these people and I use the term loosely.
Most of the youngsters can’t wait to get out of dodge and I don’t really blame them.

Exactly !

Oh, Peggy & Joe know that what they are saying is bullshit. They, and their ilk, don’t discuss the world as it is, but rather the world as they would like it to be. If they can create a narrative that takes off, then great if not then at least they managed to avoid discussing anything that could be backed up by facts.

Never forget Peggy’s “hot mic” moment after the announcement of Sarah Palin for McCain’s VP. On air she praised Palin and the wisdom of the McCain campaign, but off air (and seconds later) she scoffed and called the choice “cynical” and declared the race “over”. Chuck Todd was right by her side.

In “opinion” pieces such as these, not even the opinions are real.

let’s face it; those yelling and screaming and those encouraging, pandering and manipulating want to nullify the last election. oh democracy and majority rules when they win; but when they lose, they want to bring down this administration.

they have loudly and clearly broadcast their intentions: “want you to fail.” bringing down obama will be good for us politically.” unfortunately, the ones being truly scared are the spineless democrats who are afraid for their next primary and campaign donations.

I haven’t seen Dennis Miller since he became a Stepford comedian so I don’t know if he still does his riffs using references to things a lot of people don’t know. If he does, the people that watch Fox must think he’s speaking another language.

With someone like Scarborough on the air pushing the GOP line, it’s almost as if the RNC has another outlet for the permanent campaign.

Because she took lessons from the late Bill Buckley…It’s that upper class low-energy “please keep the plebs away from me” drawl.
“Top drawer” and all that, don’t you know.

as if Rahm Emmanuel would be open to that message. He is a corporatist through and through.

It just frustrates the heck out of me that we’re not able to get a public option passed through. If only the people would realize that this bill is just going to help people get coverage, and provide competition for the insurance companies (which would lower prices for everyone). I thought Repubs believed in market competition.

I was so pumped when Obama took office, as I was sure that with 58 seats in the Senate (no Franken or Specter yet), and a huge House majority, passing this bill would be a cinch. I never ever thought that any Dems would refuse to support it, so I was shocked when Landrieu and Feinstein first came out against it. And just this ONE time, can’t they just pass it with 51 votes? PLEASE??? I guess 60 is the new 51 for everything now. :(

Wondering what they would come up with gave running room to the House and the Senate HELP committees. Baucus may not be to your taste, but he hasn’t ruined anything.

What jobs would people have if all the major banks failed? What international banks would do business with us if our banks and AIG didn’t pay off on debts? A lot was loaned and some was invested in banks. How much has been GIVEN to stimulate the economy?

Just because the press says the banks were bailed out, as if they were just handed money, doesn’t mean you have to repeat it.

It’s a big economy and lots of dough had to be thrown out the door, but that doesn’t mean there was favoritism of any kind. It just takes a lot to make this economy stand up off the floor and begin running.

BTW, did ya hear about the criminals they caught in Florida by offering them ’stimulus’ checks? Yep. Apparently it still doesn’t pay to be a criminal and stupid at the same time.

As for Obama ’struggling’ because he’s not partisan…I don’t see him struggling. Hasn’t he gotten just about everything passed? He might not be doing things as fast as Superman, but then Superman is just a fiction.