Olbermann seemed to rant and rave like a small child last night. If he didn’t see this coming, maybe he is nothing more than a yapping head like Faux News has. I never realized how out of touch with reality the media was. No wonder Washington and the Dems don’t get it. If KO was a Rethuglican backer and carried on like he did last night, the blogs would be on fire with people making fun of him.

I think this is just the first measurable proof that the Obama administration and the Democratic party as they have configured it is incapable of governing.

People vote personal gut level character and competence first. They want someone in charge who can do things. First, just anything then look at the ideology.

I agree I should have added the media which is incapable of reporting. Bunch of damned celebrities. All of therm

Political seduction…
Be very careful.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/01/mcgrory_seduced.html?s_campaign=8315

The message last night was simple — even in a place where Dems generally rule (and Kennedy’s seat no less!) — the people of Mass said they still had enough of backroom deals with PhRMA, health insurers, and yes, the unions on health care.

Denying it will not make it any less true.

We progressives, as I have written before, need to step back and demand the people’s rights come first… support the Arizona Health Care Freedom Act! (azhealthcarefreedom.com)

No mandates
No handing over your money and life to Aetna and the IRS… in that order.

Then let them write the bill!

I never realized how out of touch with reality the media was.

They live in their own little bubble protected from the “real” world by limousines, large bank accounts, generous health care and a cadre of sycophants.

We need an opposition party NOT Republican lite! The corporate Dems need to go.No more ‘centrists/moderates’ who are just DINOs.

People vote personal gut level character and competence first.

And strength and conviction a close second. No one words sums up the Obama presidency as “weakness.”

Come on BT Rahm had a hand in this campaign and the Blue Dogs they ran that campaign their way.

Rumsfeld was sacrificed immediately after the 2006 Republican losses. Will Obama follow suit and axe _____?

Rahm hasn’t blamed us yet?

Rahm!

Take back the vote counting from diebold before 2010 otherwise nothing is as it appears.

That horrible squeaking you hear is the closing of sphincters all over DC this morning.

Stunning how O did in one year what it took W 6 years to accomplish.

KO, Tweety, and Rachel on MSNBC all didn’t get it. It was pathetic to watch. I’ve been a Keith fan and Rachel fan, since they started on MSNBC. Both seemed logical in their presentations. Last night? They proved to be nothing more than corporate sock puppets for the Dem Party. I was so disappointed. Here I’ve been praising them all, especially KO and Rachel. No more. They can collect their paycheques and pout till the cows come home. Maybe they should get off their *sses and go talk to regular people once in awhile.

Don’t think diebold machines won this for the Rethuglicans. Obama won it for them. How much change do you have left from all that hope?

More writing on the wall.

You’re overlooking the fact that W was in as dismal shape at this stage of his presidency as is O. He needed Pearl Harbor 2 to kickstart his programs.

Hoping you’re not suggesting Obama consider implementing Pearl Harbor 3!

Diebold only becomes a factor in close elections, which this one wasn’t.

Exactly. It’s as obvious as the nose on their g-damn faces and they still either don’t get it, or pretend not to. What a sad pathetic mess Washington has become. I thought the peak of stupidity and gullibility was when Saint Ronnie the Reagan (Raygun) was President. I was wrong. Obviously, the upperclass 5% rich elite politicians, cannot understand why people are angry at what they’ve done to our nation. Well, let’s give them a hint. With people losing their homes, losing their jobs, and losing their lives due to lack of healthcare, they do not want the rich bailing out the rich. How idiotic are these people? Nevermind, the media is showing me.

W had 90% approval rating after 9/11, which was before his one-year mark. Why do you say he was in dismal shape?

Jonathan Chait couldn’t have it more wrong explaining MA being the result of economic trouble and totally missing the broken promises, change, transparency, end of special interrests etc.

Neither will the next one be close if these idiots don’t get their crap together. If Obama continues to pretend he’s Clinton Part 2, there will be massive congressional losses. Mark my words. People with nothing, have nothing to lose.

It is curious to me that even Massachusetts residents are not talking about state and local factors in this race.

The tension between big city and the rest of the state. Coakley was the equivalent of a downstate Illinois Democrat or southwest Georgia Democrat running in the primary against the Chicago or Atlanta organizations and winning because of their complacency.

That state and local corruption in Massachusetts and Coakley’s inability to deal with it as attorney general was as frustrating to voters as the corruption surrounding the hobbling of the healthcare bill.

It is also curious to me that the analysis tends to focus on Obama and Coakley. Where were Tim Kaine and Robert Menendez when this began to fall apart? Did they assume it was a slam-dunk just like Virginia and New Jersey governors races? What did the Massachusetts Democratic Party do? Why did the Boston Democratic leadership sit on their hands?

That’s a problem between thinking and knowing.

Where to begin??? Rahm, absolutely. Geithner, it’s self-evident. Summers, a no brainer. Bernanke, he’s deserving. Axelrod, better suited for Chicago.

Tim Kaine has to go.

That does not mean we don’t investigate I want no Diebold machines counting votes!

Who whats he done?

Meant immediately BEFORE he took the towers down.

Before 9/11 Bush was at or under 50% – which is what made the tax cut for the rich cave-in by the Dems – no filibuster – so frustrating.

That is certainly a good start.

Re Olberman: I had to swicth away.

First. Time. Ever.

Rachel: huge disappointment, so bad that when she was jousting with Tweety, I had to actually agree with the Tweet as at least he got 1 or 2 points home amidst his usual rants.

Rachel and KO, sorry, but they looked clueless and (dare I use a teabag phrase) “out of touch”

There, I said it, now allow me a silent corner to cry a little bit.

When you hear Marrow or Tweety or Olberman criticizing Israel for the genocide being carried out in plain sight, then maybe they deserve some trust. Until then they’re just the other side of the same coin.

Why would Diebold become a factor in close elections only? That sounds like all the bull that comes out of the mouths of political hacks. If you can cheat in counting the votes, you can cheat big or cheat small. It seems obvious that there is no limits in how much a political party will cheat. Look at Wall Street. They will cheat in the trillions. You don’t think the Dems or Repugs would cheat to the max?

He nails him. The male Sarah Palin.

In retrospect, that vote is an extremely telling data point, right?

If Obama is serious he will investigate Diebold.

A close friend of mine has been telling me for over a year, “He’s weak, Buzz.” I would get all cerebral and go into all the political and philosophical reasons for Obama’s disappointing behavior, but my friend would always respond with, “You’re over-thinking this, man, he’s just weak.”

Drew Weston meant the same thing, I think, when he wrote that Obama was wired to avoid conflict. But that’s the essence of weakness, isn’t it?

Americans sense weakness in a politician, more than disloyalty or even hypocrisy. They may still “like” the person, but they don’t “respect” the person — and will not follow him.

If my friend — and Weston — are correct, we’ll see more of the same. More rhetoric not followed by action. More capitulation.

I called my friend this morning and said, “You were right all along. We brought a wimp to a street fight and we’re getting our ass kicked.”

And there really is a Santa Claus

Diebold is pretty much out of the voting machine business. ES&S is now the big vendor, with paper ballots and scanners being the main choice of many districts.

I laughed at this one:

But really, with all that’s at stake, the White House political office left this to Coakley, unsupervised?

Is this a defense of the concept of the Veal Pen?

O is more than weak. He’s also mendacious, to pick only one of many negatives.

I have already been gradually becoming disillusioned with all of them. Their response to the earthquake has been a downer also. Really disgraceful but that’s for another thread.

Personally I think they are under considerable pressure from GE and the corporates. I will see Rachel, even the twit Matthews start on something important then by the next broadcast pull back.

You don’t think the Dems or Repugs would cheat to the max?

They are all one party and there is no more need to cheat as they write the damn rules. They give us two bought and paid for choices every presidential election and they care not a whit which one “wins”.

Names change, but tactics remain the same.

Olberman, Maddow, & Schultz on MSNBC get paid for their ratings and the ad dollars they generate. They probably are liberal/progressive, but they live off of the divisiveness every bit as much as Fox News. Schultz’ “Psycho Talk”, Maddows’s smarmy insistence on ridiculing “teabaggers”, and Olberman’s “special comments” are all meant to reel in the ratings.

Progressives need to educate the Tea Party rank & file. There is common ground especially in the despair we both share about Wall Street oligarchy.

We have to insist, (boycott or letter writing) that Olberman et al. stop the derision. We have to call out progressives, like Joan Walsh of Salon or Jane Hamsher of FDL, for going on these programs until they stop amping up the BS.

If Obama is serious

Hah!

Az Health Care Bill says:

“1. The right to spend your own money to seek out and receive health care services that are otherwise legal.
2. The right to choose NOT to participate in any health care system, of any type.”

and IS NOT PROGRESSIVE – IT PROTECTS THE INSURANCE COMPANY CONTROL & RIP-OFF.

The first “right” exists in just about any system. The second can be read as being as meaningless – but the subtext is “I will not pay for single payer”.

As to your corporate sellout send them a message points – I buy all of them. Indeed as a Voting Dem since Truman (albeit I was in grade school and it was a home room poll), not voting – I could not vote for a Republican so this is as far as my protest could go – was very hard for me.

Beginning Feb 3 with Brown’s swearing in, I will have near 3 years of a GOP Senator – a high price to pay – but a message about the corporate sellout that the Senate bill is had to be sent.

And Congressman Steny Hoyer can go to hell with his idea of just passing the Senate bill in the House.

Yeah, pass the Senate Bill in the House. They have no choice.

But don’t do it until AFTER the Senate, using the reconciliation process, passes as a stand alone bill a series of amendments similar to the “conference” deals that were all but complete before the Ma election.

That’s the least they can do. If they have any sense they will add whatever else can be done under the reconciliation process, like the PO, and win back a bunch of liberals in the process.

Hopefully they can save the national exchanges.

“Reconciliation Fixes” First. Or blow the mutha up…

Its up to Obama to prove he is serious weakness will only invite more cheating and losses.

Mornin’, BT, pups

Past time to identify and run candidates from the left. This election is over, squabbling about it is a waste of time. We know what we have to do and we’re burnin’ daylight.

Obama can create his own bloodless Pearl Harbor 3 by announcing a full commitment to the investigation of war crimes by the previous administration.

The American people simply need to reassure him that his wife and daughters will be well taken care of after his demise.

You want to waste your time on voting machine conspiracies, be my guest. I’ve got better things to do.

Taibbi and Kuttner said on Bill Moyers a couple of weeks ago that no one in DC “fears” Obama. Another sign of weakness.

I think an investigation would be good for us a few Diebold heads would make me happy and less nervous about november.

Thanks for the link. that thing is brilliant.

He hasn’t given anybody any reason to fear him except those of us on the left.

Does your district use Diebold machines?

Machiavelli be feared or loved Obama needs to choose which to keep power now not making a choice well we can’t save him.
If he listens to us we have ideas.

With adversity there an advantage.Now the talking heads for the Democrats have (to Hi of an IQ) to know whats happen.Jealous and Greed.Speeks with forked tongue.Place value on apperance not substance.Sneaky and Secretive.Never admit doing wrong.More right than rightious.Hi IQ with low Intelligents.Walking on others to elevate there station in life.We the simple people will defeat you.

Less patience now.

I’ve been a Keith fan and Rachel fan, since they started on MSNBC. … Last night? They proved to be nothing more than corporate sock puppets for the Dem Party.

Neither wanted to drive the last nail into the coffin of progressive hope. I can forgive them that.

Obama is not Clinton Part 2. Obama is not likely to move to the center (though he should). Nor is Obama a ‘real progressive.’ Obama has exposed himself not as a ‘pragmatist’ but a cynical, opportunistic politician who has no problem lying to, extorting, strong-arming and protecting various constituencies and interest groups if will ensure securing and consolidating power for his political cadre. That’s the ‘Chicago Way.’

Americans don’t want to have our country run by thugs and slick con men. Nor do they want ideologues, on the right or left. Independent Americans do not want to see the private sector bailed out when the laws of the free-market have determined they should fail. But they do not want to see the private sector destroyed by those who decry all profit and all capitalism as ‘eeeeeevil.’ The private sector CREATES JOBS. The private sector PROVIDES OPPORTUNITY & INNOVATION.

Looks like the WH and Dems are preparing their hard pivot to a populist message by touting the ‘bank tax.’ Yet every intelligent, independent with a basic knowledge of economics knows that this ‘fee’ will be passed on to consumers, and hard-working taxpayers will NEVER see one dime of the money confiscated by the WH and the Dems.

The populist revolt in this country is not directed at the private sector…it is squarely fixed…like a ‘laser beam’ on DC and the one-party hold that Dems have in cities and states across the US and especially in DC.

Right, there’s plenty of other conspiracies to latch onto.

Seattle I vote by mail good question though.

Americans don’t want to have our country run by thugs and slick con men.

Rahm is far from slick.

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

US KIA Irak: 4,373

US KIA Afghanistan: 965

Iraki and Afghan casualties; estimates vary to over 1.5M

US MBS 2010: 2,356 and rising

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

I quit MSNBC if I ever hear Rachel or anyone claiming Israeli folks are carrying out a genocide when the “plain sight facts” are that this is nonsense – its words used by just a terrorist claiming justification – similar to the murderer claiming he should be free because he had a tough childhood (and the Pal situation is indeed tough – but one they can improve by a simple acceptance of a Jewish Israel).

Taba was on offer – a better deal than others ever got (see Greeks and Turks) and the Pal turned it down in their greed and desire to end the Jewish state of Israel. Getting back to Taba should be the goal – not throwing out EU left nonsense left over from their non-objection to the Nazi ovens.

Sorry we need price controls on drugs Americans pay more than Commies for the same drugs even though we make the drugs.
The healthcare savings on that idea alone could help save Obama’s rather flawed bill. The Private Sector thinks we are rubes lets change that.

I would have to agree with the ‘hard-wired to avoid conflict’ assessment, that’s why he chose the thug Rahm Emmanuel. Obama wants to stay above it all…but we are not a constitutional monarchy and Reid and Pelosi are not our PMs.

Rahm is the thug, Obama is the con man.

Neither are slick

I listen to Joe Scarborough blame the left for this defeat. How can the left be to blame when Obama has never listened to them? 41 beats 59 only in the US Senate.
Prosecute Cheney.
Remove Lieberman from his Chair.
Put though health care with a public option in reconciliation.
Regulate & investigate the Banks 7 Wall Street Firms.
Enact meaningful environmental protections.

Support the people who supported you instead of Joe Lieberman & Olympia Snow & things will be alright,

Dems still have a 9 vote majority.

Get to work!

Yep, there are 435 progressive picks who have to be made. If they are not filed already, they need to be filed.

It’s a shame that the Texas filing deadline has already passed; any progressive candidates will have to be write-ins for the primary or write-ins for the general. Look at the names in the Texas delegation and you will see why that is a serious oversight on our part. Or are we going to blame Democrats for our inactivity.

But I guess it’s too much fun playing voodoo with Rahm to worry our heads about. We can spout our fantasies of third parties and moral principles about voting for the lesser of two evils. We just can’t bother ourselves to organize those third parties or find good candidates so that there will be someone to vote for. Or we can wait for the revolution of the working class while complaining about NASCAR and how dumb voters are.

Good lord what a bunch of wining malcontents wake up in the morning for FDL. Speaking of out of touch, who among you is just now figuring out that corporate media serves, first and foremost, the interests of corporate media? And if you looked to MSNBC to somehow be your beacon of light in the darkness, it’s your own damn fault for running up on reef. The independent voters of MA knew that, at least. I don’t like their collective choice, but I can’t begrudge them NOT voting for a candidate who so obviously took them for granted. Further, to expect a national media source to have focused overly much attention on that race would have been to continue in the fantasy that there were actually 60 votes in the Senate, all lined up to do the king’s bidding. It was a pipe dream. It was always a pipe dream.

Look at this MA Senate race and its result as the gift that it is. In MA, the DNC has two years to pull their collective heads out of their asses and give the people a real candidate; maybe start listening to Howard Dean again…dumbasses! On the national scene, progressives can assert the fact that 60 votes was always a facade and lip service to it created a huge, gilded turd of a health bill that wasn’t good for anyone except the Medical industry it was originally intended to reform. NOT getting that bill is a good thing.

On a negative note, Mr. Obama is seen to have lost more of that strange plasma referred to as “political capital.” Well, in my mind, this was already lost with the backroom deals with Pharma, with the kow-towing to Baccus, Leiberman, Nelson…etc. Yes, his position is weaker today, but not because of what happened yesterday. His position is weaker because he’s making the classic blunder of forgetting where he came from. Maybe I’m naive. Maybe Barrack Obama was always a creation of the Emanuel type interests he now serves, but I contend that he was elected by a wave of progressive minded individuals and if he doesn’t start serving those interests then the debacle in MA is only the start of some wholly unpredictable sheet to follow. At least that should make for some good hair rending viewing on MSNBC.

Plus a real thug would have told the GOP no vote on war funding until after we get a deal on healthcare a real thug would have told Joe Lieberman no vote on Israel aid until we get healthcare. I swear if I hear another Center Dem say political realities and give up without even making the GOP filibuster I’ll scream!

Your friend and you seem to miss the main point. 0bama is weak because he is an empty suit. He doesn’t really care about anything but himself and his grin and his kewlness and his “being the president”. He has no principles or core. His weakness stems from this….he doesn’t really care about anything!

I say the IDF are terrorists and that the Israeli government sponsors terrorists. I’ll also say that the Israeli government is actively involved in the elimination of Palestinians, or genocide, if you prefer.

No, it’s about helping someone who has never run for US Senate get help from the experts. It amazed me how much the WH, DSCC and basically all of DC basically said that they gave whatever help they were asked for as if that was an excuse. If you’re running for elective office and don’t have experience, you’d look to leadership to give you advise as you wouldn’t know when to ask for advice in the first place. That doesn’t have to with the veal pen, but rather in helping a political campaign be effective. I’m a huge critic of the veal pen, but I don’t see how advice on campaign procedures and monitoring of it by the pros is related to the veal pen.

Well said.

The Dems and Obama would have been able to get EVERYTHING they wanted if they had not been so arrogant and overreaching. The GOP was ready to become Dem-lite. But they could not resist the ‘I won’ mind set and their lust for power to place 1/6th of our economy under their control was simply too tempting. Hubris. Greed. These are deadly sins.

Reid and Pelosi are not our PMs.

They are a bunch of Spineless twerps who give up everytime to the GOP without a fight and come November if we Dems lose they will be replaced.

Thank you for the count we need it.1969 thru.1971.SEMPER FIDELIS

Seconded where’s Leen and BlueButterfly?

River Rat, 67-70.

Mornin’ All,

“I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part . . .”

There were no exit polls set up – so we will never know the “why”

Rahm and his corporate masters will say move right – and Obama will nod in agreement.

But my own contacts – I live in Mass – say it was a reaction to the corporate sellout.

arrogant and overreaching

Sure pushing Bush’s bank bailout they will fight for the rich but if you haven’t noticed Obama hasn’t fought to hard for the People losing their jobs and homes.
National Healthcare like France and Japan has is cheaper and the people there live longer than Americans. On the plus side Hispanics live longer than real Americans even without healthcare no healthcare means we take over that much sooner.

Fire Kaine or make him irrelevant to the success or failure of a campaign. Seems Kaine was parked at DNC for future races and not for developing the DNC. As big a DNC blunder as Don Fowler–even though Don Fowler kept the South Carolina Democratic Party together from the early 1960s through the Governorship of Richard Riley.

And it seems that with the departure of Howard Dean that state parties are falling into internal disarray again.

In this vein, Bill Press on Air America this morning had some Dem. party operative soft pedal or basically deny the message sent to Obama by voters, instead fiddling on about the bad campaign conducted by Coakley. I was so sick I turned it off.

You understand better than I.Thank your we need your voice.

Your friend and you seem to miss the main point. 0bama is weak because he is an empty suit.

My friend would agree. He would simply add that the reason isn’t important. What’s important is knowing that he won’t ever show up for the fight.

New post up top…

Blinders are underrated. So are high school crushes.

Word.

I would suspect that your contacts in Massachusetts are not randomly selected.

I’m not sure exit polls would have told us anything.

It must be nice to be so psychic about what Rahm and Obama will do. The Sally Quinn Beltway Forcefield around the Beltway makes it seem like a black hole to me. No information going in or out.

And I’m damn sure that reduction of analysis to “one key thing” will tell us nothing.

You are an ideological purist and your agenda will never win popular support. Obama courted you, wooed you and charmed you because he needed the passion and organization of your base…but the independent voters put Obama over the top.

Voters who want to see effective compromise, fiscal restraint and steady progress towards economic recovery. American across the country have had to figure out new, scaled back and disciplined ways, both big and small, to make their own lives work better and they wanted their elected leaders to do the same. Instead we got bailouts for GM and AIG, and a failed ‘stimulus’ bill that simply poured taxpayer money into the coffers of Dem states and funneled payoffs to favored constituencies. We got a complicated expansion of government that seeks to created another expensive entitlement program, while taking over 1/6th of our private sector when all we wanted was to see the healthcare plans we now enjoy cost a bit less and insure that pre-existing conditions would not be cause for a cancellation or bankruptcy.

And you want to double down on overreach. Absurd.

“Looks like the WH and Dems are preparing their hard pivot to a populist message by touting the ‘bank tax.’ Yet every intelligent, independent with a basic knowledge of economics knows that this ‘fee’ will be passed on to consumers, and hard-working taxpayers will NEVER see one dime of the money confiscated by the WH and the Dems.”

It’s a bad bill in so many ways. It exempts the guilty while going after the innocent and with those that were guilty who are on there, they get treated just like everyone else. If this is about the banking industry’s alleged collective misconduct, then you go after all the banks instead of just the top 50 – like where I live we had our local bank flipped by the FDIC, so why are they given a pass while some bank who didn’t take a dime of TARP or FDIC money gets stuck with the bill? If this is about the largest banks being the guilty ones, how can places like Rahm’s Fannie Mae get exempted – is that the payoff to keep Rahm’s skeletons buried? The same also goes for exempting GM and Chrysler who cost half the TARP money that was lost – if losing taxpayer money was is the reason for this, exempting the most guilty to stick the bill to those who didn’t do anything wrong defeats the whole purpose.

If this bill was a serious bill, they know who received what from the FDIC, TARP, etc and they can come up with a fee based on that. Writing Rahm’s Fannie Mae a blank check (the Obama admin said they’d guarantee any amount, which could be hundreds of billions more than what has already been spent) and giving them TARP but then saying they’re not responsible for the bank fee isn’t something that smacks of good policy. The same also goes for making others pay for AIG and Goldman Sachs where we are told the other 48 large banks are just as responsible as they are simply because of their size, which is silly. I’m not opposed to going after those who lost TARP and FDIC taxpayer money, but don’t demagogue the issue while putting out policy which doesn’t do that.

I have to agree with this. And the minute Obama set up the White House with Rahm Emanuel and the other Clintonites in the Rubin mold, we should have known what the message transmitted was. Many of us used some denial believing Obama to be a man of substance and character because of his fancy, lofty speeches, and his externally marked contrast to the cowboy character who exited the white house.But as they say you can’t fool the people all of the time and voters are brash enough to make a statement.

Are you clueless? The GOP doesn’t have a dog in this fight. They are not in negotiations with Congress of the WH. The Dems can’t unite themselves and chose to freeze out the GOP. Frankly the GOP is on the right side of this debate now. Most Americans would prefer to do nothing or start over AFTER we get Americans BACK TO WORK!

That says it all..

Kaine has been made irrelevant with the excuses given by DC as to why Coakley lost. DC’s excuse has been their own irrelevance.

Of course it is not a serious bill but populist pap for the masses. A sleight of hand to deflct the anger that is now focused squarely on DC and in statehouses across the country. Greedy, eeevil corporations are all the WH and Congress have left to demonize but the voters see through all of this as you have so clearly pointed out.

I find it outrageous that MSM has not confronted Obama with the very first backroom deal he struck with insurance and pharma. The interviews were basically powderpuffed from the get go. He was never hammered with hard hitting questions in those face to face interviews in the white house salon.
Instead they re-ran frames of him swatting a fly.

“Obama is not Clinton Part 2. Obama is not likely to move to the center (though he should). Nor is Obama a ‘real progressive.’ Obama has exposed himself not as a ‘pragmatist’ but a cynical, opportunistic politician who has no problem lying to, extorting, strong-arming and protecting various constituencies and interest groups if will ensure securing and consolidating power for his political cadre. That’s the ‘Chicago Way.’”

Isn’t this the truth to the last detail.

It’s easy to be irrelevant in losses. Progressive Democrats need to make sure that he is irrelevant to whether it is a win or a loss — which means making sure that there is a win even when he sits out and then rubbing his face in it.

Obama once described himself as a ‘blank slate.” As my mama told me: “When people tell you who they are….believe them.”

..

You don’t say.

As has been said before, brevity IS the soul of wit

On a negative note, Mr. Obama is seen to have lost more of that strange plasma referred to as “political capital.” Well, in my mind, this was already lost with the backroom deals with Pharma, with the kow-towing to Baccus, Leiberman, Nelson…etc. Yes, his position is weaker today, but not because of what happened yesterday. His position is weaker because he’s making the classic blunder of forgetting where he came from. Maybe I’m naive. Maybe Barrack Obama was always a creation of the Emanuel type interests he now serves, but I contend that he was elected by a wave of progressive minded individuals and if he doesn’t start serving those interests then the debacle in MA is only the start of some wholly unpredictable sheet to follow. At least that should make for some good hair rending viewing on MSNBC.

Well described.

Remember Me?? A few weeks ago I told you that I am “who” you are fighting , and that I intended to win. Welllll, I have just won a battle, not yet the war, and I still intend to win.
What we are saying and screaming out to you is “JUST SAY NO TO SOCIALISM”.

Obama to be a man of substance and character because of his fancy, lofty speeches,
my momma always said, ” BEWARE OF THE SILVER TONGUED DEVIL”

I don’t remember you. Are you a teabagger?

Don’t you know it is bad manners to say “I told you so?”

LOL Pyhrric Victory victory. Imaginary enemy.

Just what socialism are you speaking of? If you want to defeat it go someplace where it exists.

Interesting that “kumari” uses the name of a fictional fundamentalist Muslim country from West Wing as his nom de blog doncha think?

I think lambasting KO and other left-leaning talking heads and pubs (won’t defend Ed and Rachel here, but will defend the Nation Mag) is wrong and unfounded. Just because someone who’s clearly on your side doesn’t say what you think word for word shouldn’t make them your new target, otherwise you won’t have any friends left. Yes, Keith has a large contract with an MSM company, but if you really listen, he always subtly echos what most people here think. Is he supposed to sound like Fox and say “take that Obama; I’m glad there’s a neocon in Ted Kennedy’s seat?” That’s maybe for unattached people to say, and Keith needs to fight another day and reach A LOT of people. Please don’t forget his great oratory against Bush/Cheney and against this same health bill we are fighting here. We should be very glad to have Jane and others as his guests, so don’t ruin it for everyone else! Cheers.

or in Israel!

FDL message boards sometimes really do sound like FOX news message boards. The number of times I’ve seen/heard people from the right say that Obama is an empty suit………..but you know what, maybe they were right all along. I think we needed a fighter like McCain. or someone more establishment like Hillary.

I think people are regretting their choice now. McCain and Palin would have really enacted a progressive agenda.

But i think we all know what the real answer is, we need to elect Dennis Kucinich as president.

Why dump on the Obama administration? It’s the Conservative (Blue Dog) Congressional Dems who have blocked a lot of good things.

If you want big change you need a Congress to vote it in. Go organize and get your candidates elected.

Last night we lost a senate seat and any chance of getting some big legislation through Congress. The healthcare reform bill might be salvaged, but just barely.

If Liberals/Progressives think they can push around senators they’re mistaken and we’re all going to pay the price. If you want senators to vote your way you have to elect YOUR candidates.

Until you get the Congress you want you need to find ways to get as much of your agenda passed as you can with the Congress you’ve got.

You don’t go to legislate with the Congress you want. You legislate with the Congress you’ve got. — Donald Rumsfeld (bastardized)

Ditto!

After all, that’s been the plan for a while now. Losing the senate seat just doesn’t help for the future legislation that Repugs will oppose.

If you really want to be ruled by fear you should elect a Republican. Oh wait, you just did. Enjoy the filibusters.

Do you think the drug reimportatin bill will be easier or harder to get done with one less Dem in the Senate? oooooh, I see.

Seems to me he’s been fighting while his so-called friends walked away on election day.

We need to do 15 things at once. We need healthcare reform for the long-run and we need JOBS always and we need financial industry reform (for obvious reasons) and we need and we need…

To prioritize is to deny the importance of the others. To put off HCR is to avoid it entirely — the Republican plan to study it to death.

Your snarky humor is appreciated. List all the alternatives and praise them highly and leave it to the reader to realize how all the recent talk is just criticizing anybody and everybody with no exception.

The Republicans won this fight. They’ve shown the people, er the gov’t doesn’t work.

BTW, people who think the banks should be hit harder will be disappointed if Brown vetoes the bank tax. How’s that workin’ for ya?

But, their win is our loss. How are we going to pass drug reimportation, EFCA or CO2 controls with fewer senators?

“blunder” = being DNC chair after the 1994 disaster and as Bill Clinton was re-elected in 1996 (the first Democrat to achieve that since FDR)

interesting definition by TarheelDem