Good morning, pups. Today we have Dowd, Cohen, Friedman, Kristof and Bruni. It’s a busy day today, so let’s get started. MoDo, in “Tempest in a Tea Party,” has a question: How do you follow the leader when there is none to be found? Mr. Cohen, who’s in Chipping Norton, England also has a question in “All ‘Chippy’ Between Friends:” A lucrative satellite TV station for a favorable press? British democracy does its worst. The Moustache of Wisdom has had an attack of nostalgia. In “Bring Back Poppy” he gurgles that George H.W. Bush, who may be our most underrated president, believed in the kind of balanced conservatism that is lacking in today’s politics. Shit. As long as we’re at it, let’s bring back Richard Milhouse Effing Nixon, who was to the left of the entire miserable crop of inside-the-beltway bastards we have today. It’s Sunday, so Mr. Kristof seeks to convince us there are “Evangelicals Without Blowhards.” He insists some televangelists have given evangelical Christians a bad reputation among progressives, but there’s another strain of evangelicals, extraordinary for their generosity and compassion. All I can say is that they’re very thin on the ground down here in the middle of the Bible belt. We’re overrun with Talibangelicals, however… Mr. Bruni addresses “Taxes, and a Dangerous Purity,” and says to Grover Norquist, Washington is an indiscriminate glutton, and extra taxes are like excess calories, sure to bloat the Beast. As far as I’m concerned if anything is going to be drowned in a bathtub it should be Grover Norquist.

Here they are.

The coffee and tea are ready, the cold drinks are in the fridge, and I’ve got chocolate croissants and a variety of fresh fruit. (The Ranier cherries are out of this world.) If you haven’t finished with the columnist by lunch I’ve also got some vichyssoise and a yummy tomato-cucumber soup with basil. If you find the garlic too strong (it was a bit assertive for my taste) just use less. Grover Norquist and Paul Krugman on the same panel? That might be fun… Have a great day.

Good morning Elliot and Marion,
A small correction in Newsmakers. Iowa is the Hawkeye State, Ohio is the Buckeye State. Not a big deal to me but you may hear from some of the Hawkeyes with the slight.
We live next door in Illinois.

Heh. I grew up in Ohio, and I blew right by that. Have to admit I don’t read every word of the broadcast summaries.

Hot here again today. I’m going to get out on my bike for a good ride while it’s still relatively cool. Happy Sunday, everyone!

Good morning msmolly,
Have a great ride before the heat builds for the day.

So to save the economy, we have to kill it first. I can’t wait. Wonder when jobs can come to the forefront? After we go into austerity mode and wonder why profit driven companies don’t want to hire people because there is no demand?

Wonder when jobs can come to the forefront?

Apparently about 3½ weeks after hell freezes over.

Thanks, I will! It is lovely, clear and sunny, and the dewpoint is at least reasonable this morning. Should be decent for a ride.

You want to read something that will make your head explode. Read this from the NY times this morning:

Mr. Obama’s situation has parallels with the mid-1990s, when President Bill Clinton shifted to the center after Republicans took Congress and battled them on deficit reduction and a welfare overhaul. Many Democrats were angered by his concessions, by a sense of being left out of negotiations and by a fear of alienating Democratic voters. Mr. Clinton was re-elected in 1996.

But Mr. Obama is likely to face the voters with a weaker economy and higher unemployment than during Mr. Clinton’s era. Still, his advisers express confidence that voters will reward Mr. Obama either for winning a bipartisan deal, if that were to happen, or for at least having a more balanced approach that does not remake Medicare and Medicaid and asks for more revenue from the wealthy. And they suggest another potential parallel with the Clinton years of divided government: that Republicans risk a voter backlash with their uncompromising stands.

“Democrats created Social Security and Medicare, and we have fought for decades against Republican attempts to end these programs,” said Dan Pfeiffer, Mr. Obama’s communications director. “And President Obama believes that now is the time for Democrats to be the ones to step up and save Social Security and Medicare.”

Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster, said polling data showed that at this point in his term, Mr. Obama, compared with past Democratic presidents, was doing as well or better with Democratic voters. “Whatever qualms or questions they may have about this policy or that policy, at the end of the day the one thing they’re absolutely certain of — they’re going to hate these Republican candidates,” Mr. Mellman said. “So I’m not honestly all that worried about a solid or enthusiastic base.”Mr. Obama’s situation has parallels with the mid-1990s, when President Bill Clinton shifted to the center after Republicans took Congress and battled them on deficit reduction and a welfare overhaul. Many Democrats were angered by his concessions, by a sense of being left out of negotiations and by a fear of alienating Democratic voters. Mr. Clinton was re-elected in 1996.

So the President is going to save Medicare and Social Security by starting their destruction and fulfil every Republicans wet dream. He is also going to assure that the Republicans retain control of the House and make very possible that they take over the Senate. What a pompous, narsistic bastard this guy is. He wants to be relected to finish the job. If he were truly concerned about the country, he do the honorable think and not seek relection. He need to channel LBJ, the last Democratic President who actually tried to do Democratic things. He would have gone down as one of the great American Presidents if he had managed to avoid the Vietnam mess.

Enjoy your ride. I was out watering the garden at 7:00 when it was only 79°. Yesterday at about 5 PM it was 100° in the shade here, and I was too much of a coward to calculate the heat index. Right now our temp is 88, humidity is 85%, and according to the heat index calculator that comes out as a 110° heat index.

I’m blaming the appalling heat and humidity on all the hot air being spewed out of DC. Add the Sunday Morning Gasbags and you’ve got misery…

In case anyone wants to read the whole article, here’s a linky.

Never paste from a story without posting the link please!

I was just over at Huffington Post and was reading about how they think they’ve found a winning way for the Democrats to run with this debt crisis. I just don’t get it. How can you win saying, “I gave into the extremists and let them have their way. I cut entitlements and let people get hurt. I’m a Democrat and I work on behalf of the little people.”

How can you say that? The only way it works is if you believe in the lesser of two evils and forget that both options are evil. Both options only serve corporate interests.

The nonsense we are working through this weekend is going to make us a slave to rating agencies. Now going forward anytime they make an offhanded comment about our rating, the Congress will jump. Our country has become slaves outright to corporate interests.

While I don’t agree with some of what the Zeitgeist movement talks about, I had that playing in the background yesterday listening to the part about economic hitmen and it definitely sounded a lot like where we are headed.

So scary.

Start at about this point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EewGMBOB4Gg&feature=player_profilepage#t=2425s

I just don’t get it. How can you win saying, “I gave into the extremists and let them have their way. I cut entitlements and let people get hurt. I’m a Democrat and I work on behalf of the little people.”

They are wedded to the failing Emanuel strategy of “peeling off” Republican voters by behaving like Republicans, despite zero evidence that such a strategy has ever worked or will ever work. One definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the DNC/DLC Democrats: behaving like Republicans because they are convinced that one of these days they’ll get the pony. The cynical part of me believes that they are intentionally trying to bring down Obama because fund raising for them was so great when Bush was in the White House.

Morning pups. Obama has done more than destroy the Democratic party. He is destroying the belief that government can do anything at all to help ordinary people, or to put it more academically, to purchase collectively what most of us cannot afford to purchase individually. If the only role of government is to protect property rights and invade other countries, a lot of people are not going to waste time voting. There is going to be a huge fall-off in the vote next year as a result of his policy to ‘capture the center’. He can’t capture enough of that center to win if the base has no reason to turn out, and that will certainly include his black base.

As someone said the other day, it’s always darkest before things go completely black.

The right wing base pressures the Republicans and the Republicans respond. The liberal base blogs and the Democrats are unresponsive. Until the liberal base is willing to put boots in the streets they’ll continue to be treated like chumps by the Vichycrats.

Obama’s political strategy in a nutshell: to out-rightwing the Republicans. He is objectively the most right wing president in history, far beyond Ronald Reagan and even George W. Bush. Those presidents carried out their regressive programs through their own party and conservative base (which included some Democrats). At the end of their turns, there was hope that a Democratic restoration could reverse the damage. Obama, with connivance from the Democratic party leadership, has moved the entire Democratic party to an extreme far right ideological stance on all fronts. Thanks to Obama, there is now no realistic chance to reverse the nation’s right wing turn through the use of the electoral process.

I believe that’s part of the plan. Maybe not a formal scheme or anything but there are a great many elites who believe that things like voting, the best medical care and education should be privileges for the people who can afford it and the rest of us should just shut up and do as we’re told. We should get just enough education to be useful laborers and just enough medical care so we can be useful laborers for thirty years or so. It’s all about the greed.

Obama moves “Right over the economic cliff”.

Good Morning, Elliot and Other Pups
That Kitty at the top doesn’t look like he’s dreaming. He seems pretty wide awake. Gorgeous, though.
I didn’t watch any politics yesterday. Seems whatever was going on is still on going.
Wish they’d all act a little more maturely and try to keep their constiuents in mind. Why do they do polls anyway, if no one really cares what we think or want?

Listen to Jessie Jackson’s “Keep Hope Alive” to get an idea of what the black community thinks of Obama. They’ve had it with the Wall Street Mascot.

http://www.620kpoj.com/main.html

Morning to you and all….what a mess. Wondered what I would learn when I woke up….Looks like McConnell is the new McC…to be seen all the time.

The “electoral” process as a means of transformational change has become irrelevant and nothing more than a fool’s game.

1995 the house and senate was healed by Republicans and democrat president.Today we have a Republican house senate democrat and a democrat president that puts off till tuesday what could have been done in 2009.Democrats 2009-2010 with majorities in the house senate and president bail out wall street and tells us the working class tread water or drown,save the health insurance and big pharma profits by killing the Public Opption Health Care nonprofit.A president that healed himself hostage so he could give the fininacial elites and working upper middle class a tax cut.A president that cut the funding of Social Security.A president that putting cuts in Social Security and Medicare on the chooping block.a president that for a job zar choose the head of general electric who’s moveing jobs and money to other nations for slave wages and Tax evasion.A president that adding to clintons USA job killing NAFTA.

Where is the Tea Party? During the health care debate they were storming Washington and holding rallies all over the place. Fox was non stop covering these “rallies”. They are on the verge of a tremendous victory and nada. Nothing on Fox News, no Freedom Works rallies. What happened?

As suspected it was a complete FRAUD. As long as they serve corporate interests, the Koch Bros at al were providing the money to bus them and to support the rallies. Now that they are doing things that could hurt corporate interests nothing. When will the news media catch on and start looking into this. Where is 60 minutes?

60 minutes became corrporate lobbiest in the late 1970′s. The USA media have became paid lobbiest.

That goes against the narrative that we have in Washington right now. At present it is either: “We need to cut 4 bazillion/trillion dollars or the world is going to come to an end tomorrow!!!” or “We need to cut 4 trillion dollars because the rating agencies are going to downgrade us, so all the old people can participate in “shared sacrifice” while the millionaires lounge on their yachts or in their McMansions.”

No alternative voices are allowed. Sorry. Hell, even look at sites like Huffington Post or Daily Kos, where is the voice of descent saying that this is all a big lie and all we need to do is raise the debt ceiling?

Sounds like the deal is $3 Trillion in cuts done in two stages. No revenues. Catfood commission will consider only cuts and tax reforms. Translation any tax increases will go to reducing the tax rates and lock in the Bush tax cuts. What are the Republicans giving up. They will allow the defense budget to be a part of any trigger. A COMPLETE cave by Obama.

The Democrats get NOTHING. Ryan’s budget had the defense cut and exempted Medicare for those over 55. In this plan no exemption for those over 55. This plan will turn out to be to the right of the Ryan plan. Anyone still plan to vote for the TRAITOR-IN-CHIEF? Imagine what he’ll do with a Republican House and Senate. Less damage will be done with a Republican President and the Democrats in opposition.

Sounds like the deal is $3 Trillion in cuts done in two stages. No revenues. Catfood commission will consider only cuts and tax reforms. Translation any tax increases will go to reducing the tax rates and lock in the Bush tax cuts. What are the Republicans giving up. They will allow the defense budget to be a part of any trigger. A COMPLETE cave by Obama.

The Democrats get NOTHING. Ryan’s budget had the defense cuts and exempted Medicare for those over 55. In this plan no exemption for those over 55. This plan will turn out to be to the right of the Ryan plan. Anyone still plan to vote for the TRAITOR-IN-CHIEF? Imagine what he’ll do with a Republican House and Senate. Less damage will be done with a Republican President and the Democrats in opposition.

That is the same as I am getting.

immediate spending cuts of $1 trillion
creation of a special committee to recommend additional savings of up to $1.8 t panel acts before the Thanksgiving congressional recess in late November and Congress would have to approve its recommendations by late December
or
government departments and programs, including defense and Medicare, would face automatic across-the-board cuts/

No more than 4 percent of Medicare would be subject to cuts, and beneficiaries would be unaffected as reductions would apply to providers.

Social Security would be untouched

vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution

wouldn’t include increased net revenue

So the progressive amd moderate Dems that said don’t touch SSMM ever do what?

And the Obama Dems that said don’t touch SSMM without revenue increases do what?

Do Dems have the backbone to stand up to Obama?

huffpo is becoming redstate lite. Read there critically like the ‘daily caller’ or drudge.

Once again CBS Sunday Morning had a welcome commentary, this once from, of all people, Ben Stein, who said, among other things, that of course we have to raise revenue.

As soon as Huffingtonpost was bought out by AOL, I figured it probably couldn’t be trusted.

I recall Clinton veto’s of welfare reform until he could get at least minimal protections for the poor. I do not recall Obama showing a backbone to date.

Take a break from recognizing the f job that’s going down on the American taxpayer, and check this video out. No, it is not mine. I just found it fascinating. It’s about the discovery of pyramids on the moon. You’d think the media would pick up this story, but I guess it would mess with the religious nut’s minds too much.

http://americanbunker.wordpress.com/