Three cheers for Joan Walsh!!!

After hearing him say that he heard the people of Massachusetts and that their new senator should be included in the health care “debate” I think Obama needs to clean his ears out.

Now is the time for the Democrats in congress in both houses to show their independence from the useless people in the White House.

Simply and accurately stated.

Actually, what I heard was that Brown should be included in ‘the process’.
Which is fine. Let 45-49 Senators participate by voting against sidecar reconciliation. The same way the Democrats participated in Bush tax cuts.

Thanks, BT.

I must say I’m surprised that Matthews STFU long enough for Walsh to choke out her disappointment.

Because Matthews would not let Howard Dean say a damned thing without talking over him, interrupting him or distorting what he was trying to say during the earlier segment.

The media has a big chunk of blame in this debacle because it encourages assholishneess by its talking heads like Matthews along with crappy, distorted coverage.

This is worth listening to more than once. How often do you actually hear the truth in the corporate media. Chris Matthews was put in his place.

That’s probably the last time we’ll hear and see Joan Walsh on the corporate media.

We had 8 years of President Dolt and now it seems as if the nation is stuck with President Pander.

Dear Joan,
I’ll have you know, the Emperor’s clothes are just damn GORGEOUS, even IF his ass is hanging out. Thank you very much.

“President Obama simply has not led. …this is garbage that he bowed to the left. This is a corporate bill…the idea he went too far to the left is simply, factually wrong. …Obama cut a deal with Sen.Nelson that hurt states like Mass.”

Great stuff Joan Walsh and thanks for posting this clip BT!

Matthews tried, Rayne, but Joan Walsh just slugged on.

I’ve been taking a little sabbatical from politics lately, but I can’t help feeling more and more that the election 2008 was just a huge, national rickroll.

I’ve stopped listening to Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman podcasts in my car and just listen to stand-up comedians now.

not the first time i wanted to reach thru the screen and throttle that drooling idiot.

she dropped him like a bad habit

Obama should stop seeking concensus and move boldly with the programs the public has been clamoring for. Unfortunately, he is Dorothy, the meek and mild, who cannot offend his detractors. Barry, if you’re not using that vast majority in Congress, do you think we could borrow it?

Amazing, everyone, left, right and center thinks that the Brown election supports THEIR perspective!

I want my President to start getting uppity to the redneck pick-up crowd.

Jobless claims surge in the latest week

Mornin’, BT, pups

Brown certainly doesn’t support my position.

This from the Krugman link:

Progressives are desperately in need of leadership; more specifically, House Democrats need to be told to pass the Senate bill, which isn’t what they wanted but is vastly better than nothing.

Emphasis mine.

Krugman, your patriarchal tendencies are showing. Nitwit.

Hmmm … maybe Obama did learn something the other night. We’ll see how far it goes but it is a start.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-johnson/paul-volcker-prevails_b_430869.html

Doesn’t it support your position that BHO sucks?

The consensus forecast of Wall Street economists was for claims to inch lower to 438,000.

What, these fools have a direct line to the corporations, who tell them how many jobs they’re planning to axe each week?

Here’s a newsflash for the Wall Street economists: it’s gonna get a lot worse, morons.

Yup, you could see it in his pathetic eyes as he gave the truth (Joan Walsh) the bum’s rush, “Oh, me, I better get her off before she imparts anymore of the truth to the hoi polloi.” and then “Oh, me, whose boot will I have to lick for this slip-up, not prepping Walsh properly.”

[I am going to go outside and wait while Barry is "sacking up." As the expression goes, I'll just be counting my money.]

I’m very disappointed with Obama but I didn’t expect a lot from a neoliberal to begin with. My ire is directed primarily at Congress.

Obama plays 11th dimensional chess in a three dimensional world.

In other words, not only does he not show much fight on the ground, but he is as inexperienced as some mentioned way back when.

Money can make nothing into anything these days.

Um, I think thats the way money has always worked.
Morning, Pups.

I was thinkin’ about you last night when I was playing the BBC sessions with Fleetwood Mac. Now that’s some raw blues.

I am not impressed by Joan Walsh’s late criticism of Obama…..

This all or nothing criticism is getting tiring from the likes of Ms. Walsh who lacks any deep analysis. I have been critical of Obama from day one when he started to quickly backtrack on his pledges the night of his election. From the night of Obama’s election to the present day, Obama has not been too great on a number of issues. Just look at Obama’s Cabinet picks. The choice of one’s presidential cabinet is a good meaurement of how one will govern, once in office, as president.

How anyone could have thought Obama would govern from a liberal or progressive angle after he chose the likes of Rahm Emanuel, Summers, Geithner, Holder, Rice, Blair, Clinton and retained the likes of Petraeus, McChrystal, Mueller and Gates should all have been obvious red flags to the very gullible progressive community whom all too often think establishment Democrats have their “interests at heart,” yet, seemingly only at election time.

People like Joan Walsh make me ill. I don’t find her to be all that enligtening to be honest. There are many other voices out there like Glen Ford, Bruce A. Dixon, Margaret Kimberley, Adolph Reed, Jr., John Pilger, Chris Hedges, and Paul Street whom have been warning the progressive base since day one that Obama was not one of you.

The likes of Joan Walsh and her ilk chose denial over reality regarding the center-right ideology of President Obama.

Listening to Haiti coverage on democracynow. Seems like the aid is going mainly to aid workers. Poignant scene at the airport, where large shipment of water was on the tarmac. Amy asked a worker who was picking it up where he was taking it. American Embassy he said.

So what do the polls suggest?

Amy’s given us the only decent coverage of what’s going on there. The Haitians aren’t gonna be real happy with the US military when all is said and done. Just like every other country in the world.

Left a rebuild link back yonder for you.

Any damn thing anyone wants them to suggest!

WOW! Great catch. Joan is like hot sauce on bland food (i.e. Tweety); it burns, but satisfies nonetheless. More please.

(I hope you’re wrong about Joan’s future in punditry, Bluetoe 2, but I concede I’m sympathetic to your POV after witnessing the DC conventional wisdom Kool-Aid being liberally consumed as the DemocRATS scurry to the right and into the embracing arms of their corporate overlords).

Thanks. I’ll check it out.

So fuck it, let’s di di. Nobody seemed all pissed at us during the Tsunami.

Just how deep can any analysis be during a short interview on tv?
I like Joan and I think it’s going to take more than dissing the few voices who do speak out to affect a change in our government.

To an extent. But it is accentuated these days more than ever.

(Is there a way here to follow only the comments I make and see the responses? Thanks!)

Obama gives good speech but beyond that he’s clueless as a leader. Rahm is running the country ..into the ground.

nope

Progressives are in serious denial if they think that Brown’s victory as an indication that the HCR bill is not progressive enough. I’ve heard Obama, Pelosi, Reid and a few others speaking with great bravado over the past few days, but if Pelosi put the Senate version of the health care bill on the table today, I doubt she would even approach the required votes to pass.

The majority of Dems are expressing their concern with the progressive movement of the left and going forward, they will abandon Obama and his gang of thugs. The day of his golden tongue bamboozling are over. Pelosi’s iron fist influence is over. Reid’s double talking spin cycle is finished and the center left of the Dem Party wll fight to take back control. Moderat Dems in Congress will not fall on the sword for Obama and this bill. Evan Bayh wants to run for President, maybe even as soon as 2012. Nelson, Lincoln and any other vulnerable Dem Senator will not vote for reconciliation now. Can the Dems even get 51 votes in the Senate?

How anyone could have thought Obama would govern from a liberal or progressive angle after he chose the likes of Rahm Emanuel, Summers, Geithner, Holder, Rice, Blair, Clinton and retained the likes of Petraeus, McChrystal, Mueller and Gates should all have been obvious red flags to the very gullible progressive communnity whom too often think establishment Democrats have their interests at heart during election time.

Meh. FDR chose John Nance Garner and Harry Truman to be veeps, and neither of them were particularly progressive. And he picked Joseph P. Kennedy to head up the SEC and Douglas MacArthur to run the Pacific war, and Henry L. Stimson Secretary of War and none of them were progressive either.

I’m not arguing that Obama is a progressive and FDR isn’t, but I don’t think pointing to a bunch of appointments is a good indicator of anything.

In fairness to Matthews, he can’t STFU long enough to let anyone else speak, ever, regardless of their pov.

It’s like Matthews thinks he’s always right, thinks he can twist the efforts of others as they work to achieve their goals (so that they seem not to make sense), and feels the need to constantly belittle others.

He can’t help himself, I suppose…

Read, cut and paste, I guess. Why? Are you writing a book?

Not very encouraging, but about what I expect.

So you dismiss these polls as having no merit?

Mornin’ All,

a month ago, Walsh was telling us she supported passing HCR and tripped the light fantastic around the matter of Choice in doing so – her ire is of the ‘fool me twice’ variety – not a good sign for WH/Leadership

Now, now, they’ll get it together. Maybe. Seeing everything as a security problem doesn’t help. Unlike the old days where the civilian groups on the ground told the military what they needed where, the military now wants to do it all on their own. Great recipe for a clusterfuck.

wow, you have it all figured out

No. What you see is what you get.

Welcome.

It took Joan Walsh this long to understand that the Obama administration is not good enough for her.

It’s not that the Obama administration lacks leadership, either.

The Obama administration is the latest representation of the American Military-Corporate State of which Obama adheres to and believes. In the long-run, this election of Scott Brown will not alter the pro-corporate or military agenda of the Obama administration.

The Obama administration is not going to significanlty alter their style just because of this election. It will simply regroup and change some rhetoric. Other than that, the Military-Corporate State of the American Empire as configured under the Obama administration will continue.

No, just with so many comments, it’s hard to keep track of one’s own and the replies. I can locate my own comments at other sites and wondered how to do that here, if it’s possible.

Did not realize Walsh was one of the ship borne rats. Thanks for the heads up. Yup, NEVER had any reason — hope, ugh, yeah, a hair’s breadth — to believe the new product campaign that was Obama would be anything more than that.

And what civilian groups should be running the show down there?

Thanks. Was searching for a way, but now that is settled.

Use the search function to search your name on the page.

Hi ya. BTW, new puppy is getting along just fine accept for the potty training, what with four days of constant rain. He did go outside to pee during a hail storm yesterday though.

control f on your screen name

Isn’t it fabulous that we finally have one commenter who has? *g*

That’s right…

Democrats begin discussing smaller health bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_health_care_overhaul;_ylt=AnbbPzcWFHQab4xGfaF5xMhv24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTM3ZmliNGxhBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMTIxL3VzX2hlYWx0aF9jYXJlX292ZXJoYXVsBGNjb2RlA3JhbmRvbQRjcG9zAzEEcG9zAzEEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNvYmFtYWFsbGllc24-

What doc’s are there should be directing the medical stuff. According to a spokesman from one of the hospitals the only thing they’ve gotten is troops for security where no security problem exists.

(Ctrl+F) then type in your name and it will search for your comments and all who reply to them.

simply hit Control F – type in your name and keep clicking on ‘next’ through the thread

Who is speaking against interest thats who is probably telling the truth.

With a Democratic majority, but not a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, you can put up specific parts of complex legislation and get Senators to declare for or against. That’s why separating out the regulatory part of health care reform makes sense. You get recorded votes of who is going to filibuster restrictions on the denial of pre-existing conditions, or on eliminating anti-trust for insurance companies. Now will feckless Harry manage the votes this way? Probably not. He is essentially a lame duck now.

But it would be good for Bay Staters to see Brown vote for/against each provision in healthcare reform one-by-one. And people are clear now that voting against cloture is voting against the bill; so that dodge doesn’t work anymore.

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: 2,488 and rising

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

new puppy ? when did that happen ? are there pics somewhere ? and are you and yours staying dry ?

inquiring minds want to know :D

Joan,may I say.touche!

The likes of Joan Walsh and her ilk chose denial over reality regarding the center-right ideology of President Obama.

Agreed. Now BHO has nowhere to hide. He either “cowboys up” or he goes down in flames. And more lofty or psuedo-angry rhetoric is not “cowboy up.”

You should run for President.

I think the Senate needs the leadership Harry has given in at every opportunity I don’t think Obama can pass healthcare now with Brown in and Harry as Leader. Harry has already given up every thing already.

Learn somethin’ new every day. Awful early, though, doesn’t bode well for the rest of the day. *g*

Brought a stray chocolate lab home last Friday night. No pics up yet. Trying to figure out what he was named before, last night I went through the entire alphabet. Alfie, Bruno, Cassius, Donnie?..etc. He just looked at me like I’m nuts. Smart dog, huh?
Mostly staying dry. Fortunately, we’ve got good drainage up here.

Ok, I’m not going to beat this to death but in my lightweight experience no body knows what the hell is going on a half a click away from where they are. There are people dying left and right and it’s a motherfucker for the people trying to help. There are news reports about cluster fucks and news reports about miracles. The French are pissin and moanin. We here are predisposed to be critical of the military so let her rip. We have people writing that the “war criminals” are in charge that he Clintons have no business being there and are just whoring the situation. So what else is new?

What real Progressive President would support a mandate that force people to buy Health Insurance without a public option? No real progressive president would have done this.

Someone in the MSM needs to ask Robert Gibbs and David Axelrod, in what state and city did Obama tell the people who made phone calls for him. Knock on doors for him, stood in the rain and snow for him, that hey guys when I get to Washington D.C. I am going to support a Health Care Bill that will force you to buy Health Insurance from private companies without a government option.

This needs to be first question that Robert Gibbs, David Axelrod have to answer, before they start with their B.S.

Robert Gibbs, David Axelrod, Obama, and Rahm must think that all progressives are stupid.

It is completely Insane for a Democratic President to sell out to Insurance Companies and Big Pharma.

How many people love health insurance companies? Not Many

The big problem we progressives have is that no democratic congress person stood up to this madness.

We Progressives must send some real progressives to Washington in 2010.

The fools on CNN and Fox call the Senate HCR bill Progressive? What?

These fools on CNN and Fox also call Obama a Progressive.

(((unnamed puppie)))

A niece has had 2 chocolate labs, successively. Both have been a hoot and a half. Great dogs, but a handful.

I totally disagree with you that appointments mean nothing and are not “good indicators.” I argue that appointments now perhaps more than ever are very good indicators of a president’s belief system and by extension how one will make decisions. Appointments mean much more now than it did in the days of FDR. Delegating authority to cabinet members is quite significant, and to assume that FDR somehow was anti-military is not true. Truman continued the prowar policies of FDR, and by extension created the present National Securuity State and its ideology.

Vice-Presidents since Carter have exercised even a more energetic role in presidential administration’s. Dick Cheney’s influence as VP is well known. The picks by George W. Bush from their pro-business agenda to views on war and peace played out in the first term.

The Bush years are a fine indicator of how a president will indeed govern. That Obama has retained most of the Bush National Security apparatus is a fine indicator of continuity over change. That the Bush administration judicial was very consistent with the ideology of the Federalist Society which opposes the Miranda Ruling and subsequent rights of defendants cannot be lost on the trials of “terror suspects.” That John Ashcroft and John Yoo-both members of the Federalist Society worked in the Bush administration and helped draft the present laws regarding detainees. That Bush appointed two Federalist Society members to the Supreme Court is another example of how this Federalist Society ideology will play out in the long run.

Happy for you and doggy – pls post FB pics when you can. relieved for you and yours on the rain

I don’t know why I can’t make any decision that turns out to be easy. Ha. He’s so damned cute and is great company for my big old hound dog. But, we need to figure out a way to keep them from eating the couch. The mister keeps joking that we need to replace it with a cement park bench. Yeah, we have fun around here.

Jeebuz Xmas I wish Tweetie would shut his fucking pie hole.

New post up top…

Thanks, twolf. You da bomb.

Yup.

First media course correction: Tweetie go the fuck away. No one wants to hear your incessant yammering or watch your incessant drooling…

Obama has never been a fighter. He’s a concessionist.

Three more years of compromise are ahead of us. Get used to it.

He will try to compromise Social Security. He will try to compromise Medicare.

He’s not on our side and he’s not going to wake up tomorrow and take notice of our concerns. Get ready for three more years of hell.

Give them something else to chew upon. Lil Bit’s surgery went well but they couldn’t replace the lens so her vision will be better but not optimal.

I know it’s like ASS HOLES.Brown was elected by the far left and the far right.Obama and the Democrats have been working 3/5 to the right of center and putting on a show for the center left.Have to take care of the insurance profits.The Public Option or Medicare anyone could buy into would be For The People.

‘Hardball’ & Dumbed-Down US Politics
By Robert Parry
January 19, 2010
ConsortiumNews.com

This past week, grappling with the twin top stories of Haiti’s earthquake tragedy and the Massachusetts Senate race, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews personified the strange mix of puffed-up self-importance and total lack of self-awareness that has come to define America’s media punditocracy.

“…During “Hardball” programs of recent days, Matthews has veered from pontificating about how the killer earthquake in Haiti might finally cause its people to get “serious” about their politics to explaining how Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley deserves to lose, in part, because she called ex-Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling “a Yankees fan.”….Not only did Matthews’s remarks about Haitian politics reflect a profound ignorance about that country and its history, but he seemed blissfully clueless about his own role as a purveyor of political trivia over substance in his dozen years as a TV talk-show host in the United States, as demonstrated in his poll-and-gaffe-obsessed coverage of the important Massachusetts Senate race….Indeed, Matthews may be the archetype of what’s wrong with the U.S. news media, a devotee of conventional wisdom who splashes in the shallowest baby pool of American politics while pretending to be the big boy who’s diving into the deep end….When the United States most needed courageous journalism in 2003, Matthews hailed the U.S. invasion of Iraq, declaring “we’re all neocons now” and praising the manliness of President George W. Bush’s flight-suited arrival on the USS Abraham Lincoln to celebrate “mission accomplished….”

Read the entire story @:
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/011910.html

Center right my dying rear end. Center right did not put Obama in the White House with a majority in both chambers down the street. The problem with Obama is that he has forgotten who elected him. He has also forgotten why he was elected. When the public option was on the table 61% of the American people supported health care reform. Since he sold out to Ben Nelson et al, the numbers have been falling. As we all know 60 votes are not required to pass a bill, just to stop a filibuster. I would defy the right to filibuster, on CNN. However, that would require balls. Maybe he can borrow Hillary’s, Bernie Sander’s or Anthony Weiner’s.

You go Joan!!!!

So who is Joan walsh and why should we listen to her? We know she’s in the top of the elite – scoring – according to forbes, close to half a mil in salary last year. Aside from that she’s just an opinionater – no resume to speak of – no experience in politics, no particular scholarship – nothing but a few free lance article before heading Salon – which, let’s face it, is a celebrity oriented white elitist rag (except for the estimable Glenn Greenwald). So here we are with a glorified Sarah Palin, with no particular expertise, lecturing Obama on leadership! Meanwhile, under her guidance, Salon continues “significant net losses and negative cash flows from operations…” So while She’s a failure at HER job, she’s quick to point out failures in others…

which doesn’t stop – for a moment, the lemmings from flowing to her side…

This year under Walsh’s brillian leadership:

“Net revenues decreased 48% to $1.0 million for the three months ended June 30, 2009 from $1.9 million for the three months ended June 30, 2008.

Advertising revenues decreased 56% …”

And MOST important – and unrelated to the advertisement bloodletting for online publicantions, the below indicates exactly the quality and effectiveness of Walsh’s leadership:

“Salon Premium subscription revenues decreased to $0.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2009 from $0.28 million for the three months ended June 30, 2008, or 30%. Salon expects this trend to continue as the number of paid subscriptions has declined from approximately 23,500 as of March 31, 2009 to approximately 21,700 as of June 30, 2009.”

IOW, Joan can talk about leadership – she just fails at it when it’s on her shoulders…

Yet progressives look to her…
why?

Thanks for the numbers.

Click ‘shift’ and f3. Type in your user name then click ‘highlight all’. You’ll see your user name highlighted when you comment or when others reply to your comments.

That would Command+F for those with the folks with the slightly more prettified browser. At least that’s true when using Safari or Firefox.

The Haitians aren’t gonna be real happy with the US military when all is said and done.

Are you suggesting that after all the US military has done to screw over Haiti in the past two centuries, gee, only now are they going to be mad at us?

They have lots of other things to chew, including the fire wood that’s stacked next to the fireplace. Just the new guy. It’s funny how they’re so different. Cracks me up.
Even if it’s not the best, it’s still good news for L’il Bit. I’m glad for all of you.

Goldman Sachs profit soars, pay increases
Bank posts $4.79 billion 4Q profit; 2009 bonuses, pay up 47 percent

Robert Gibbs, David Axelrod, Obama, and Rahm must think that all progressives are stupid.

Maybe they’ve been over to Orange too many times.

Ha

http://firedoglake.com/2010/01/21/literally-rearranging-deck-chairs/

see my comment #21

What is paralyzing Obama is the mutual exclusivity in politics between likability and effectiveness. His major weapon throughout his life, besides his intellect, has been his likability.

His major conceit was and still is that, as President, he can finesse the contradiction — by changing the way politics in Washington are done: reconcile likebility and effectiveness by avoiding conflict.

But, as many here have pointed out, in politics, what that leads to inevitably is, first, likability without effectiveness (the stage we’re in now), and, second, to ineffectiveness AND unlikability (where he is surely headed).

So far, he is still choosing likability — hoping that Sarah Palin will save his ass. Good luck with that.

Oh she will be back on very soon. Hell, probably today.

The democratic establishment shills need to pretend now and then that they are not as corporate owned as the democrats they serve. This Brown election was perfect cover for them to pretend to be tough talking, hard hitting, journalists and independent pundits.

Even super-shill Ezra’s recent article has the same tone. Its meaningless Kabuki. Joan serves the democratic establishment and anyone who has seen many of her appearances on these shows has seen her shilling in action. You can bet your arse she will be back. The democratic establishment doesnt discard their shills so quickly, and the shills get back in line long before the democratic establishment would even consider it.

Glen Greenwald is fantastic who is lauded by liberals, progressives, leftists, radicals and libertarians.

With or without Salon.com, Greenwald is a voice who will be heard for as long as he chooses.

I have no personal gripe with Ms. Walsh nor do I want to bash her private life, which is none of my business to be honest.

I just don’t find Ms. Walsh’s ana;ysis to be all that new, enlightening or sincere. I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to say the things Walsh said to Matthews and I can name ten people off the top of my head, including Greenwald (Jeremy Scahill, Naomi Klein, William Greider, etc.) who have not been impressed with Obama since day one and the start of his administration, henceforth, to today.

Yea, and notice where they go when the split Haiti.

I have nothing against capitalism but ‘cronie capitalism’ has GOT TO GO!

Goldman Sachs was allowed to BECOME a bank during the financial crisis. Goldman Sachs contributed HEAVILY to Obama. Hmmmm

Do we all have trouble connecting the dots…?

Independents, moderates, progressives and fiscal conservatives as well as ANY fair-minded American can see that the Washington/Wall Street nexxus has never been stronger than under the Obama administration.

We are watching, in real time, brazen bribery, extortion and a protection worthy of any Sopranos episode. The “Chicago Way’ comes to DC.

I thought we were to see an end to “Culture of Corruption” and usher in a ‘new way of doing buisness in Washington’…

The Tea Party protesters will put this country back on a path of accountability & responsibility.

I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to say the things Walsh said to Matthews

With all due respect, I don’t think you fully understand Joan’s place in the MSMosphere. Lots of folks are swayed by her who would not be swayed by the other folks you mention — who are all great by the way.

Joan is special. While I rarely agree with her fully, I find her very compelling. Just me.

Dems Lose Massachusetts: Obama Needs a Major Course Correction
January 21, 2010
By Kevin Zeese

First Step – Re-make the White House to get on the right side of corporate elites vs. the people
Second – Make challenging corporate power the 2010 election year issue

“….The Democrats are on the wrong side of a battle between big business elites and voters. If they stay on the side of the elites Massachusetts will not be the final defeat they suffer….President Obama needs a rapid and major first-year course correction. He needs to learn from the Massachusetts senate race and two gubernatorial defeats in New Jersey and Virginia last year. The lessons: stop taking progressive voters for granted and make challenging corporate cronyism a top priority….Obama campaigned in all three states; the results three Democratic defeats. The magic has worn off Obama’s elegant eloquence. People are seeing his policies are not “change” but a continuation of corporate domination.”

Read the entire article @ http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23682

I always look to Walsh when I want to know what white, upper middle-class, middle-age, suburban women are thinking. That sense of fair play for venal politicians when people out of her class and out of her view are suffering is a sociological phenomenon that is sobering to observe. And she has supported Obama with a sense of fair play that he did not deserve.

At least up until now.

The fact that she’s reached the end of her patience with Obama is further evidence that he’d better wake up.

“The Tea Party protesters will put this country back on a path of accountability & responsibility”

Palin Bachmann 2012!!!

Okie dokie….

Every has a right to their opinion……How many viewers does Harball get per night, anyway?

I take Jeremy Schaill, Glenn Greenwald and Naomi Klein far more serious than Joan Walsh. But that’s just me. I bet Naomi Klein is quoted and debated by scholars and activists a lot more than Joan Walsh.

I would not say the “exposure” on Hardball which Walsh gets is all that significant, either.

John Pilger–won the Sydney Peace Prize in 2009!!! I would also say that is very, very significant. Again, Walsh said nothing PROFOUND or NEW with Chris Matthews.

Jane Hamsher has been saying the things Walsh uttered, in low tones to Matthews, for a far longer time.

I am impressed by yeah, Jane Hamsher. Not so much with Ms. Walsh. Sorry.

Joan says that Obama won’t fight for his supporters. Yet, according to the most recent national Job Approval – Democrats only – on Pollster, Obama comes in at 81.1 percent – which leaves the question begging: who is Obama’s supporters – and are they not – or are they happy with him. My bet says Walsh and her likes were never true Obama supporters – and probably held their nose to vote for him – he is, after all, a self-identifed war monger and ran on that – as well as a self-proclaimed free-market capitalist – and ran on that. Obama was anti-gay marriage – and ran on that. Obama was a real Christian – and ran on that. Obama was pro-business – and ran on that – even as he tweaked corporate America. Notice how health care stocks are soaring as it looks like “Obamacare” will fail – which is strange because Walsh and those like her told us that Obamacare was an Insurance industry bill? who to believe Walsh or the market?

Bottom line: Obama supporters are fine. Fake Obama supporters – who didn’t understand this candidate, are upset that they got a centrist instead of Ralph nader…

Walsh could’ve voted nader – he was on the ballot…

I take Jeremy Schaill, Glenn Greenwald and Naomi Klein far more serious than Joan Walsh. But that’s just me. I bet Naomi Klein is quoted and debated by scholars and activists a lot more than Joan Walsh.

And she deserves to be – she’s done the leg work…

I love naomi Klein…

While correct, that the Democrats have most assuredly NOT listened to the “far left wing base” and thus that is the reason for MA and the fail of the health insurance company support bill, that is the “lesson” the Democrats are “learning” from the MA is the “conventional wisdom”, ie, GOP “wisdom”, that the Dems were too far left, that they made a mistake in trying to be too progressive.

Thus, as per Obama’s FAIL on this, they (Obama, Pelosi, Reid) are simply going to try and pass whatever the GOP finds acceptable, which means even MORE corporate-friendly and people-hurting than the senate FAIL.

Healthcare reform, in the hands of hapless and clueless Democraps is lost. Again. They simply do not know how to do anything and they do not WANT to do anything.

I am impressed by yeah, Jane Hamsher. Not so much with Ms. Walsh. Sorry.

I am impressed by both. Luckily, we don’t have to choose.

Folks like myself who were elated when Obama was elected, but became disenchanted early on, needed voices like Walsh’s who pushed us to be patient — for fairness and balance. Hey, she could have been right, and we could have been wrong. Turns out, this time, we were more right than she was — so far.

I think if you ask GG what he thinks of JW, you’d get the same answer.

Obama is an ever-in-debt member of the country’s Ruling Elite. He may look populist, he may wag his finger at “the Big Shots who don’t get it” without realizing HE is one of them, but deep down, he will never bite the hands of those who invited him into the power elite club of the U.S.

Obama has forever crossed the threshold of credibility in any populist oratory he may offer,forever. He doesn’t get that either.

The man blew it. Big Time. Too Smart By Half Was He.

The last time Dean was on he did it too. That’s when I started shutting the TEEVEE off when he comes on. I’m seriously considering keeping it off altogether as it’s just lies and garbage

I am sure Joan Walsh is a nice person….I don’t doubt that….That said, I just don’t find her analysis to be enligtening, fresh, or profound…..What she says is not that hard for anyone to figure out, either. Stating the obvious is not that difficult….Again, you have a right to your opinion, and if Joan Walsh suits your intellectual needs, and it works for ya, great. I am not here trying to tell ya how to think or that you should not find Walsh’s analysis to be prescient, if it works for ya. I just don’t find her analysis to be all that and a box of Cheerios.

Indeed. This morning on NPR I was listening to the Obama push now for bank regulation to correct too big to fail and their criminal greed/conduct. All I could think of when the points were made about banning “propriatory trading” was: There is NO way that whatever he proposes was not first OK’d by Goldman-Sachs and other bankers. They first ensured there will be loopholes big enough to pass a Too Big to Fail bank through and then they provided Barry with their “blessing”. There is NO way Barry puts forth anything that wasn’t vetted first by Goldman-Sachs, Geithner, Bernanke, and other insiders to make sure that it wouldn’t really change anything.

Obama has NO credibility…until he FIRES Geithner (that means he does not “resign”, he is FIRED), takes back his intention to renominate Bernanke, FIRES Rahm (again, NOT allow to “resign”…FIRES). Only then might I begin to maybe listen to his mealymouthed words with a slight measure of trust.

wanna know who obama reminds me of?

ME!

my handle anyway.

Breaking:Supreme Court rules 5-4 to ease restrictions on spending by corporations and unions in political campaigns.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/21/us/AP-US-Supreme-Court-Campaign-Finance.html

I knew that was coming. There was really no point in taking it to the SCROTUS, the litigants could have simply assumed and agreed that the ruling would be 5-4. Anything that is horrible to the country and great for greed, corruption, and corporations (same thing really) is GOING to be a 5-4 ruling in favor.

Not sure what you are trying to say. I happen to like Joan Walsh. So I guess in part I am defending her. But I think a lot of us began to have qualms about Obama even before the election because it became obvious he was using words for emotional impact and not to convey information. But we gulped and told ourselves that is just for t he campaign. Then we began to see the people he was choosing for the Cabinet and White House Staff. Gulped again and said give him a chance.

Then we got hung up with “He’s like FDR. He wants us to push him to do the right thing.”

He lost me with his undoing of the principles of individual accountability for war crimes established at Nuremberg.

I imagine he has lost others at various points. And there are still those who hope to at least modify the damage his agenda is doing.

It is my view that rather than dividing ourselves along the lines of who when we need to at the least respect those other progressives.

For EricD if he’s still around. Control-F doesn’t work on a Mac (at least not on my Mac using Firefox). But there is a search function in most browsers that will find text on a page and you can search on your own handle.

No, his supporters are not fine. One of the reasons that we are replacing the Liberal Lion with another Republican Lemming is that progressives and liberals stayed home the other night. Those are the people who are talking to Obama. The others are talking to themselves. Some of us on the left are beginning to get the impression that this administration thinks of us as idiot children who need to be hidden in the basement until we are needed. Obama needed us in 2008. He doesn’t seem to think he needs us anymore. Clowns like Lanny Davis, in defense of this president, and who needed the left to help defend Clinton’s philandering butt are now telling the left to sit down and shut up. No democrat gets elected without us, we are base. It is unlikely that the people who Obama is sucking up with on the right will re-elect him. He blows us off at his own political risk. Polls are all well and good, but they don’t necessarily reflect the full picture.

He has already blown you off.

I’m glad Joan was able to say what Dean didn’t. That the progressives did not care if Coakley was for the public option because it was already dead. I was yelling at the TV when Dean was on saying this exact point. I was happy to see Joan Walsh slide it in.

When I read the headline, I thought the White House leadership was coming up short on Chris Matthews’s program.

This is why I like Joan Walsh so much. Straight to the point.

Goldman Sachs profit soars, pay increases
Bank posts $4.79 billion 4Q profit; 2009 bonuses, pay up 47 percent

And why couldn’t there have been a nice “excess” tax waiting for these fools right along with their paychecks?

This is something that could have been passed on Jan. 21, 2009, looking “forward” to 2009 and 2010 income & bonuses.

Something like, “the marginal tax rate for income over $5 million shall be 60%, for over $10 million shall be 70%” and so on.

Tell me, now, who is going to lobby against that and/or vote against it?

Like with the banking if you take it as valid that the top 50 banks should be taxed because of what happened, then there’s no reason to give a pass to Rahm’s Fannie Mae unless this has to do with hiding the skeletons in Rahm’s closet. You can’t very well make the argument that all the top banks must be punished equally and then go about granting exemptions as that shoot your own argument, particularly when those you are exempting are the biggest drain on the taxpayers who are allegedly the underlying motivation for the tax. I want to tear my hair out when there’s this tax meant to punish but the worst offenders either get off entirely scot-free with an exemption or are lumped in with others who didn’t take a dime of FDIC, TARP, AIG backdoor bailouts (the credit default swaps at 100% par paid by the taxpayer) or anything else.

Obama turned his back on us.

http://www.light-to-dark.com/Freedom_of_Choice.html