I confess: I didn’t watch “PBO’s Greatest State of the Union Speech Ever (New and improved! Now with more optimism!)” When the former president who you detest has to tell you to “lighten up, you’re scaring folks”, well, how good could it get? Let’s recap: The economic situation is grim, the Treasury Secretary you’ve hired is making it grimmer and somehow, you’ve got to start moving people towards accepting cuts to the only social safety net that’s left, Social Security:
To preserve our long-term fiscal health, we must also address the growing costs in Medicare and Social Security. Comprehensive health care reform is the best way to strengthen Medicare for years to come. And we must also begin a conversation on how to do the same for Social Security, while creating tax-free universal savings accounts for all Americans.
I’m sorry I missed it but can anyone tell me *why* we have to have a conversation about Social Security? As for tax free universal savings accounts, fine, make my (severely depleted) 401k tax free. Or any savings vehicle. There’s no reason to get rid of social security to get that.
I’m very leary of any promises of future deferrment because, after all, it’s in the future. It is the ultimate promise that is not meant to be fulfilled. If he said, “I’m going to relieve you of your tax obligations due to early withdrawal from your 401k starting tomorrow”, I’d be totally onboard with that. My bank just called the other night with an offer of a nice CD. At this rate, the money would be better off there and with no tax penalty, I’m there! But to defer tax free savings until I retire? Well, let’s just call me a skeptic. I saw what happened to the retired UAW workers and promises about their healthcare. We have to ask for the benefits up front from now on, like more vacation time and higher wages.
So, that’s the extent of what I know about his best speech that Jon “The Groper” Favreau wrote. It’s a little hard for me to take anything he writes seriously or with any sincerity. “My good opinion once lost, is lost forever.” Or maybe I’ll read the rest of the transcript later so I won’t get dizzy watching his head flip between teleprompters. Or I could maybe catch up on the Secretary of State’s visit to Asia. I see that she’s back and the NYTimes just had to catch her doing a Unity Kiss with Obama to show that she is still onboard while she outshines him in her job. Yeah, yeah. The propaganda is too obvious now. Whatever happened to subtlety and nuance? Today’s psychological warfare is so crass and uncouth.
I like this picture better for some reason I can't quite put my finger on...
OR, I could dream of upcoming spring and unattainable vacation houses in Barbados. Or maybe I could just dream of the end of winter.
Filed under: Economy Tagged: | Barbados, deferred benefits, Hillary Clinton, Jon Favreau's insincere speech, Obama first State of the Union, Social Security
Good morning, Riverdaughter.
No substantive responses in blogosphere 1.0 yet on the “tax free private accounts.” The applause was very muted for that though. Another interesting part when when he said “American does not torture.” But of course we still kidnap people and send them to other countries to be tortured.
Hillary was the bright spot of the evening.
RD, I see from your line “My good opinion…” that you are also a Pride and Prejudice fan. It’s my all-time favorite book.
Yep, I need to replace the old copy that I have. It’s been read to death.
Yes, I love it too and quote from it frequently. And the mini-series with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth is magnificent. And it’s finally out looking spectacular in blu-ray. (The previous DVD releases were dreadful. They finally went back to the original negative to make the new transfer.)
Well, except for Jennifer Ehle being totally miscast as Elizabeth. I think its popularity is all about drooling over Colin Firth.
I prefer the 1980 BBC version myself. Or the 2005 movie.
I’m actually indifferent to Firth in general. But he fit Darcy perfectly. And I think Ehle is just about perfect.
Oh, and I loathe the 2005 movie.
Oh sister of ye I loved the 1980 version too – in fact that’s how I was introduced to P&P – my dad was watching it on Masterpiece Theater and I was sucked right in. Then I started reading the book, most of which went over my head, but I didn’t care – loved it anyway.
When I watched the 1996 version, I was initially hostile to Firth because he was not at all my idea of Darcy. His performance won me right over though.
I liked Ehle as Elizabeth, though actually the Elizabeth in my head is a little different from both versions, but I feel Ehle got across the aspect of Elizabeth where she zings people but is playful and engaging, perhaps better than the 1980 actress who I recall as downright sedate.
After seeing the trailer for the Kneightly version, decided to take a pass on the 2005 movie.
Oh yes! One of my favorite quotes is “I have not the pleasure of understanding you.”
I have been waiting years for just the right opportunity to use that in real life. It is the 18th c. version of ‘WTF?’
“I have not the pleasure of understanding you.”
Forgot about that one. I’ll try to use it before the end of the week!
Here’s another line I’d like to use.
Channel surfing, I caught a few minutes of a Cary Grant 40′s comedy. Snappy dialogue, etc. He has just managed to be somewhat offensive to the pretty girl. Then they are properly introduced. “A Pleasure to meet you.”, he says.
“The pleasure is all yours, I’m sure.”, she says. Great line!
What? You mean you don’t quote from “Animal House and Caddy Shack”? I hear that’s where truly “erudite” folks get their quotes from.
Check out this picture. The cabinet members look confused or bored.
http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/stimulated-yet/
I didn’t watch any of it, so I can’t tell what you he said. but just to address your quote, I don’t mind if they address “the growing costs in Medicare” particularly if that means reducing waste. My mother receives both Medicare and Social Security. She suffered a stroke last Father’s Day and is still on a ventilator in a nursing home; so I open her mail when she gets any.
Last week she got a letter from Medicare saying that she would be receiving a survey in the mail shortly, please take a minute to fill it out blah, blah, blah. Now why send a letter to say you’re sending a letter. Why not just send the survey. I couldn’t help but think that they wasted hundreds of thousands in postage and paper. That’s just a small example.
‘ca.ei
Waste in Medicare? Medicare has an administrative cost of 3% compared to private insurance which runs at about 25%. The best way to reduce the cost of Medicare is to allow all Americans to enroll, end Medicare Advantage and focus on quality care not doing anything and everything to extend life.
My point that it was wasteful, still stands; the fact that private insurance is more wasteful is a specious comparison.
As to doing “anything and everything” to extend life, what does that mean? I have a parent on a ventilator and I refuse to sign a DNR. Yeah I want everything done to extend her life, isn’t that the point of advancement in medicine? If that isn’t the point then why do research?
Well, if your mother is at all coherent then I would consider that normal health care. But in this country we keep people alive who have zero chance of ever attaining any quality of life again, and it’s extremely costly.
I don’t think telling older people a survey is coming is wasteful. It’s pretty standard in research among the elderly population to a)let them no to be on the look out for a survey that the Government would like returned, to b) not just chuck it when it comes, and to c) not scare the heck out of them when a survey comes that answering it will effect their benefits in some way. It’s pretty standard, cheap stuff you are talking about.
If they’re going to chuck it, they’re going to chuck it. ( I plan to chuck it when it comes and I haven’t even seen it yet. ) How cheap can it be when it was replicated hundreds of thousands of times? If the senior is lucid enough to understand the questions, why would it think their benefits would be impacted?
I’m just saying we can’t dismiss out of hand everything the opposition says without looking at the realities. Perhaps Medicare’s administrative costs could be further reduced to 1% by cutting out b.s. letters.
As for my mother, who knows how coherent she is; they can’t talk when they’re on the vent because of the tracheotomy. We know that she hears, sees and reacts to touch (feels). She’s being weaned her off the vent, but it’s a process. That’s why she was moved from the hospital to the nursing home. I’m hopeful that by the summer, she’ll come home. But who knows? Nothing is a given.
From all accounts even the wingers thought Jindal’s response was teh suck but the Kool-aid blogs are going wankfestivus over it.
I didn’t watch it
I heard a click of Jindal’s volcano reference his fake guffaw and knew he was a loser right then.
No offense, but volcanoes are sort of important to monitor, esp. that big thing brewing up in Yellowstone…
It was just a stupid remark, aimed to try to impress stupid people. But it came off as so out of touch…ridiculous!
I’m beginning to think Limbaugh should deliver the GOP rebuttals…at least he has a pulse sometimes and he huffs and puffs his way through his show every day…
That’s CLIP of course…
I watched it online. It was a disaster. Jindal was trying to sound so upbeat that his “speech” came off sounding like he was reading Dr. Seuss. If this is the guy the Repubs are going to be pushing in 2012… well, let’s just say they might as well give up now.
If I had even an ounce of faith that he knew what he was talking about, I would listen. Bush ReDux is what we got here. He, like Bush, doesn’t have a clue about how the economy works. He wants to meddle in $h*t that he hasn’t the capacity to understand.
He reminds me of the new idiot boss who comes in, doesn’t take stock of the situation, doesn’t acknowledge the strengths – just starts f-ing with everything. Sending out memo after memo of changes.
It is just plain stupid.
Stupid and scary. A competent leader would have had her work cut out for her. We always needed someone who could hit the ground running. But instead we get Bush v2.0 and version 1 sucked us into this mess. I have no faith that version 2 is going to get us out. If anything it appears he’s going to screw things up even more.
..just starts f-ing with everything.
——————–
Been there, seen that.
Then they fire a few people to make a point about who’s in charge.
Then they give a speech.
good analogy, Ginger. I have one of those new idiot bosses in my office right now — doesn’t understand how things work, doesn’t have the humility or patience to ask (or to observe and find out) but keeps coming up with stupid, useless shit that is supposed to “improve” operations.
Yeah, that’s Obama exactly.
You missed nothing. Just another campaign speech with few specifics offered but enough empty rhetoric to induce the Dems to rise often to their feet, clapping and smiling like the robots they are.
The same “we are a great country, we can do better”, yak yak yak.
Today the pundits are over the moon. You could almost hear the strains of “Mr. Wonderful” playing in the background. The public heard just another speech that could have been delivered at any pep rally being held in a high school gym just prior to the big game.
As for Jindal: a disaster! If this is the best the other side has to offer, they needn’t bother with a candidate in 2012. Awful!!!
I can not watch Obama give a speech. I almost feel embarrassed for him. He just seems like someone in over his head, who is told what to say, who was told by Bill Clinton not to be so over dramatic and end-of-the-worldly, and then comes out and says what his advisers tell him to.
‘like someone in over his head” that’s our Flim-Flam Pres. – overexposed and underdeveloped.
Why is it Bill Clinton telling him what to say????
Josh Marshall is still completely silent on the coming attack on social security.
Nice music. Thought it was Nick Drake.
My husband had the speech on, but I didn’t watch all of it. I did notice once that when the camera focused on Hillary, Tim Geitner looked very anxious. I couldn’t help but think that it didn’t help to have him sitting there looking worried (it wasn’t very confidence inspiring).
At this point, I really want Obama, his administration and the Democratic leadership to be successful. I just don’t have much confidence that they’re making the right choices to fix the economy, and fear they may make it worse.
I read on yahoo finance this morning that the savings rate is going up, so unless people are truly confident that the economy will recover and that they won’t end up losing their jobs, I fear the lack of spending will contribute to the overall slow down. I don’t know if Obama’s speech was enough to ease the fears that are causing people to tighten their purse strings.
It will slow the rate of recovery, but I am actually glad American savings are going up. It’s about time. They will not get us out of this by simply pressuring average Americans to buy more cheap crap. They will actually have to solve some of the underlining income in our system to get results. More short-term pain but better long-term results.
It wasn’t. But the only thing they’re all saying that I believe is true is that the American people understand that we’ll have to get ourselves out of this on our own.
People are saving because they have come to the realization that the days of living on credit are gone. If your rainy day hasn’t come yet, it may be only because the winds haven’t blown the storm clouds over your house yet. so people are preparing by putting away funds so they have the wherewithal to get through for however long they can with what they’ve managed to amass before the clouds break.
Just to be clear, I think this country should have a higher savings rate. I’m just recognizing that fear and lack of confidence can drag the economy down.
We’re cutting back on our expenses in anticipation of lean times ahead.
Sorry, I disagree that Bobby Jindal was a disaster, he was ridiculed for saying “God bless you and God bless America” at the end of his short speech, and if you read the ending of Obama’s speech, he says the exact samething, not only that, have you seen yet another msnbc clip where we hear either Keith Oberman or Cackle saying Oh God when Jindal walks out and then laughter in their studio, tell me media folks are truthful and i will kiss your ass
They are using what Obama says as a strategy and template for success? So now we have the GOP copying the Democrat who is copying the GOP…….I can’t wait for the next layer of insanity.
I only lasted about 5 minutes in Jindal’s response. It was awful. His sounded like a kindergarten teacher talking to 4 year olds. He tried to use an Obama tactic of talking about his roots as a child of immigrants, blah, blah etc. I had to turn him off.
He reminded me of Mr. Rodgers. I think he was going for the Reagan, “aw shucks” factor with the personal stories. He was boring, and I didn’t finish.
It seems like all the blogs are focused on how bad Jidal was and no one is talking about what Obama said. Jindal isn’t the one running things. I didn’t bother watching him. What for?
With the typical Obama speech people get all moist while he’s talking and then five minutes afterwards they can’t remember what he said.
sam, I hear that Obama plans to tax savings and investments. He is going the route of Jimmy Carter and thinks that will pay his deficit. Well that and cutting defense spending. He is adding defense spending to the deficit and by cutting it and other non-pork programs, he will claim to have met his promise to cut the deficit.
Obama is going to pull this country down IMO. No one with any sense believes Obama is in charge. I wonder who is pulling his strings?
Frankly, I’d feel safer if I knew someone was directing him. But it seems he wants to be out there on his own.
Charlie McCarthy tried going solo but quickly found out he needed Edgar Bergen.
that’s a good one, lol
Defense spending is some of the biggest pork we have in this country. Frankly, I’d like to see us less armed to the teeth.
Especially when our priorities seem to be high-tech gadgets that may or may not work, but which funnel big bucks to political contributors. Yet when we do have guys on the ground, they never seem to get needed equipment like body armor, and have to pay for their own hospital food.
Whatever would we do if we couldn’t bl;ow up the world 5 times over? We wouldn’t be safe(eyes rolling).
BB, most of the comments I hear about Obama speech is a ‘yawn’. So Obama gave another speech, yada yada.
Well these people had better wake up, because if Obama manages to “reform” social security while some idiots still believe we can come back from this collapse, we are going to be in some very serious trouble. The government is already preparing for riots and crackdown. We need to preserve what’s left of the safety net somehow.
“Gov’t is already preparing for riots”. I hadn’t heard about this, do you have a link?
Dakinikat wrote that they have been doing helicopter sorties over New Orleans in preparation for food riots. That’s one source. Also, there was the news reports this week about Gt. Britain preparing for riots.
I have plenty of links, but not enough time to dig up all of them now. I’ve posted about the combat troops that are now garrisoned on U.S. soil at Northcom–see below and link to Military Times. Recently Defense Sec. Gates released his plan to reorganize the army by subsuming National Guard troops under Federal control and taking control of the Guard from governors. This was approved by congress a couple of years ago. Gates plans to have 20,000 combat troops garrisoned around the U.S. by 2011. The Army and National Guard have been running practice crowd control maneuvers around the country. The latest was in Iowa just last week. As Dakinikat about the maneuvers involving blackhawk helicopters in NO a couple of weeks ago.
Some links here:
New Orleans activities
Another report
Zbignew Brezinski was on Morning Joe last week talking about how there could be riots when the depression gets really bad. I saw the video, so you might find it on the show site.
Sorry I can’t do more right now. I have to get to work.
“riots when the depression gets really bad” Funny, I don’t remember the riots of the Great Depression. Are you sure it’s food people will be rioting about, Brezinski? Couldn’t be that the people have realized that the last remnants of democracy have been snatched away.
purplefinn, have you ever heard of the “Bonus Army” of WWI vets that marched on Washington in the early 30′s over promised compensation? There was practically a battle on the Mall and people were killed in the govt’s response. you can read the wiki here..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army
Thanks, Gary.
Very interesting account. Especially the different responses to two similar marches by President Hoover, Gen. MacArthur, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Brez sounds like Alinsky-style hopeful thinking.
BTW have you seen the protests in the UK about the semi-privatization of the Post Office. I never saw so many pissed off middle aged and older working class men. Gordon Brown will be having second thoughts…
Hmmmmmmm Wasn’t Jindal bragging that La. was more recession proof than lots of the states?
But 92% of CNN respondents loved it!! (snaaaark)
Joanie, “We know that she hears, sees and reacts to touch (feels). She’s being weaned her off the vent, but it’s a process.” that’s coherence with a chance of restoring some quality of life.
1% administrative cost is not possible or even optimal. I think you are looking at small potatoes, and as I say, what you describe is completely common in research.
My mom’s vent settings have been lowered to the point that she’s doing more breathing than the machine. But she shares a room with another elderly female who’s on the top setting and I found out from her family has a collapsed lung. She doesn’t seem to respond to anything.
When I talk to my mom, she inclines her head towards me, when you touch her feet she moves them, I think she recognizes me, but I can’t be sure. The other lady, nothing. Her son comes everyday but she does nothing. Her son is hopeful, her daughter, not so much. But what do you say to that family? I don’t know her medical history but the liklihood is she’ll die eventually while still on the vent. But should she be taken off prematurely to hasten her demise to save cost?
As to your last point, just because it’s common doesn’t mean its not wasteful. It just happens to meet your comfort level of waste and not mine
You know, the one thing I hope people keep in mind with social security is the disability and survivor benefit insurance aspects of the program. Individual accounts can’t replace those benefits.
Unfortunately, I had a friend pass away at the very young age of 35, and the payments her young children received were necessary to help her husband afford adequate childcare on one salary. I also am close to someone who was diagnosed with MS in her early forties and is no longer able to work.
There is no way individual accounts could fully replace the safety net features of the current program. I don’t even know if they’ve addressed these issues so far in their call for the privatization of social security, or if they’ve purposely chosen not to bring those aspects of the program up.
exactly. I have a bipolar friend who’s been on SSI for most of her adult life. I met her on the job thirty years ago when she was a young woman. But the episodes of mania kept her from holding down a job for any extended period. Without SSI and section 8, she’s be a crazy, homeless woman in the street.
Ahhhhhhh you mean the “Reagan Mental Health Plan” only new and improved with less compassion. Obie loves him some Reagan. I wouldn’t \expect him to give two farthings of thought to those that aren’t capable of caring for themselves. Hey, but on the upside YOU, the rugged individualist, will now be able to care for any relatives you have that need care and recieve UI provided that you worked long enough to qualify.
I think they are trying to show how much worse the alternative is.
Unfortunately, I agree in that way. There is no viable alternative out there. Repubs will never be an alternative for me. They are by definition, the party that represents the banks and corporations, instead of the people. The problem is that there is almost no politician who I believe has my interests, or those of the “regular” people in the country, at heart. (There are a few possibilities, like Ed Sanders of Vermont, but they all sold out to Obama.)
I even feel betrayed by Hillary, though I understand that she made the best choice, given the circumstances. But I hate that we are missing her voice completely on domestic issues.
her voice would have been drowned out and she knew it. If she didn’t toe the Obama line she would have been subjected to more of what she endured in the primaries. There’s only so much a person can take.
At least this way she gets some credit if there are any foreign policy successes.
Hillary was our last chance — ever — for a leader with intelligence, integrity, commitment to ideas and a real grasp of how to get done what needs to be done.
Face it. We are now owned by the bankers and the huge corporations. Ironically — no: tragically — we are picking up the tab for their ownershp.
staunchwoman, on February 25th, 2009 at 11:38 am Said:
Hillary was our last chance — ever — for a leader with intelligence, integrity, commitment to ideas and a real grasp of how to get done what needs to be done….
totally Agree….I think that’s why she ran so hard . Just about anyone else would have thrown in the towel when it became obvious the DNC was simply buying delegates off…as well as intimidating them with mob tactics…..but she was our last chance, and knew it
Jindal is an example of what is so lacking in the Repub Party. A lack of ideas, vision, solutions. They got us into this mess and their only way of retribution is to attack the Dems and flex their flabby muscles by appearing as if they uphold all that is sacred while they raided the treasury and stripped the constitution.
The Repub brand is dead for at least another 20 years. Especially if they continue to spout “family values” and religious doctrine as a way of winning voters. The public at large just ain’t buying. Jindal, Palin, Huckabee, Romney, or even Haley Barbour who is now considered a shadow possibility, are not going to do it for them. The Repub brand is going to have to go into hiding for awhile and emerge with some new vision for this country. This is going to take time. The legacy of Bush and what the mess he has left us is much to difficult to overcome at present.
So get used to Obama for the next 8 years. Painful to contemplate but a reality. The GOP in their present form is on life support.
In the meantime, the Dems will continue to dominate because the opposition and the names they float at present are just too much out of step.
calm down now!!!…he’s only been prez for a month….. typically presidential honeymoons are 6 months long and I already hear plenty of grumbling on the streets.
The Republicans will have made a comeback in time for 12 …they always do. They had a hand in the election of this fraud….. they sat on their hands and allowed him to ascend unscathed for a reason. I think that next year at this time things will be very different because of 2010 elections.
OT ~ we are being bombarded here in VA with pseudo campaign ads…. congratulatory stuff re: our 2 dem senators on passing the pork bill… and strangely enough very negative ads re: our new congressman periello from the incumbent he defeated…WTF??? its the age of 24-7-365 campaigning
I completely agree that the Republicans are, in part, responsible for the (s)election of Obama. Don’t think Obama doesn’t have some big favors to pay back to the GOP — and don’t think he isn’t working on paying them back right now.
Not Obama himself, of course — he’s clueless, doesn’t understand what the fuck is going on. He really thinks it’s about HIM. But Obama’s owners and Bush’s owners are the same people.
Don’t think they’re not.
Did Sarah Palin campaign on “family values” or a religious doctrine?
Fuck no, she didn’t. Despite the fact that people — so called “progressives” — kept insisting that she did, in the same way that they demonized everything she said or did — and lied about it.
If there were a definiton of a true compassionate conservative in the dictionary, her picture would be there.
hear here. She went back to the state and upped the amount being spent on Head Start and health care for kids. What a novel concept! Actually taking care of the children that you are so insistent be born into the world. It’s a darn shame that people like Bush decimated “compassionate conservatism.”
It just occurred to me that in the 8 years that G-Dub was POTUS there was only one SOTU response that was worth spit, and that was Jim Webb’s.
After he made his barn-burner, the Democrats basically put Webb on a rendition flight to nowhere.
Meh, I don’t think Webb cares much for the spotlight and he has hoof in mouth disease like Biden. Webb did manage to get his GI Bill through even with Bush as Pres.
I saw Webb’s response. While he is not the most motivating speaker in the world I liked what he had to say.
And Kathleen Sebelius was the perfect cure for insomnia if I remember.
I’m still asleep after that snoozer
The Repub brand is dead for at least another 20 years
Don’t count on it. In 2004 the GOP was talking about a “permanent Republican majority”
FDR gave us the New Deal and won WWII and the GOP was back in 20 years (1932-1952)
Obama ain’t no FDR
Obama *is* continuing the permanent Republican majority. There is no need to wait 20 years. It’s already here.
you betcha. you’re spot-on about that, bb.
right-on
I couldn’t watch! I always turn my eyes away if I see the Selected One’s face!
But I always hear his praises! What really brought me down this morning was hearing a co-worker, a previously staunch Republican, talking about how inspiring and sincere he was! So depressing! What am I missing?
You aren’t missing anything. It’s group think. People want to be “in,” so if they hear “inspiring” from all sides, they start to repeat it too–hence, the effectiveness of propaganda. Repeat the lie often enough and it becomes the truth. We have some kind of mutant gene or something and are immune to it. If it talks like a lying bore, it’s a lying bore, fancy vocabulary (written by someone else) or not.
Pat Johnson, after reading your comment about the republicans , …[personal insult removed] this massive spendulous maybe bought the next election, afterall, it was a pay for play spendulous, [rude comment removed]
Sipping the Kool Aid? Why would you assume that? My comment is based more on the people who are being thrown out there as the opposition and I firmly believe that none of them have the ability, stature, or vision to overcome the Obama machine. You have to stand for more than “family values” and religious intolerance to win an election.
I dislike Obama as much as anyone else commenting on this blog but reality must be faced head on. It is going to take the GOP years to recover from Bush and find another brand to stand behind that is not steeped in religious goop and false patriotism. The failure to lead and an absence of principles is evident on both sides.
If you listen to talk radio, they’re busy trying to resurrect Reagan as God; forgetting that most of the young people were kids during his presidency and those of us who weren’t kids, don’t remember the 80s as being all that great. That’s when the assault on the middle class started. Reagan got the ball rolling by firing the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) . Anybody remember that?
Yup, I do. And took away benefits for mental disabilities, putting institutionalized people on the streets, and who can forget ketchup counts as a vegetable (actually, if it’s tomato it’s a fruit) in school kids’ lunches.
oohhhhmggod!
I said I wouldn’t watch. Turned on the tube at 9:40 et and he was stiiiillllllll talllllkinnnnnggg…..
What a silly pile of bullshit.
Nancy…wtf were you doing?
And are they seriously going to run Jindal in 2012?
NFW!
May I just say that I don’t really give a rat’s ass about these people’s childhoods? Spare me the stories.
Not helpful under the circumstances.
And the gratuitous first lady camera moment… please
I feel a mental health mandatory media blackout coming on.
We are absolutely screwed.
‘”mental health mandatory media blackout” Bartender, I’ll have one of those.
I am so embarassed by these people. ALL of them.
So undignified and ridiculous they make me cringe.
*hillary tears*
did you see him kiss J. Jackson, Jr. as he walked out? I couldn’t help but thinking J.J Jr. might find a horse’s head in his bed this morning.
bwahahaa!
Keep the mitts off of SS!!!!!!
Also, have you seen this, John Ziegler media malpractice guy is a sexist pig. God you can’t trust a fuckin sole out there!
Wow, thanks for that video, taggles. I’d thought better of him from seeing his trailer previously, but have more insight now.
Obama may not be another FDR but the GOP is lacking in their potential candidates as well. I think it is going to take a brand new slate of faces to have any impact over the next 10 years at least. Marching out the same faces spouting the same old rhetoric while offering few reasons to turn out the electorate is something they need to consider.
Hugging Rick Warren and pushing “family values” themes at us is not a winnable solution any longer. The soul and bedrock of each party has been co opted by special interests but it is going to take a lot more than shouting down the opposition to win back the disaffected.
SOD
wtf did he say about healthcare “reform” (wtf is that anyway?)
did you watch?
carolflowery,
Please keep in mind that The Confluence is a liberal blog, but no one here is drinking koolaid–certainly not Pat. And we do not allow personal insults of other commenters.
you tell her, B.B. whenever I come to a thread, I always scroll through to look for Pat’s comments. She’s fair and honest and ALWAYS civil.
Hugging Rick Warren and pushing “family values” themes at us is not a winnable solution any longer.
Tell that to Obama. I’m guessing that the GOP strategy is to lay low for a little while and then offer to help people out of the fire and back into the frying pan.
The Repubs in Congress are letting Rush, Hannity, Mark Levin and even Joe Scarborough, who by the way sounds decidedly more right wing on the radio than on t.v., carry the water. They’re still afraid of BHO’s “high” poll numbers. They’re waiting for a signal that the honeymoon’s over; then its bombs away.
I envision a secret chamber where Tom Daschle sits and stamps “euthanize” on the tax returns of every citizen over 50. Have I lost it completely?
Mean, but screamingly funny!
How old is Tom Daschle? Has it occurred to him that he might be disabled or bedridden one day? I expect not.
But when that day arrives, I hope his nurses are PUMA.
Isn’t the first proposed change to get rid of all the nurses?
Hahahaha! Good one, perries!
I am not a Jindal fan, to put it mildly. If I had to choose between him and that ass, BO, I’d go third party without a moment of hesitation.
At the same time, I find it… interesting… that given the fauxrage over r@cism in Obotia, weirdness is starting to emerge about Jindal. They’re so happy — they have someone new to HAAAATE and the Sarah Palin hate was dying down. What’s a BO supporter to do without someone to HAAAATE? Enter Jindal. One post on DU last night called him the “slum dog Republican.”
It is a home point that hate is the defining quality of the vocal BO supporters.
That huge vile, slavering hating is the main reason I think I will never again consider myself a dem. It edges out, but only slightly, the corruption, lack of principle applied to practice (in other words, dem principles were treated as merely voter/sucker bait) and cowardice I saw this year. Also, that crazy hating – it’s kind of a warning to me. I really dislike BO because of how he acts and what he does, and because of his followers, but going to those depths of hate – no good can come of that.
Well, just ruminating.
if i have to choose between him and obama next time I’m asking the canadians for refugee status.
Are you kidding me? That (“slum dog Republican”) is nasty as heck and yes, r*cist. Disgusting.
MYIQ r u here??
bwahahaaa wtkk radio boston michael graham is ripping Chuckles a new one holy sh*t!!!!!!
all those r@cist accusations..the show host is raging.
alice, on February 25th, 2009 at 10:00 am Said:
I am not a Jindal fan, to put it mildly. If I had to choose between him and that ass, BO, I’d go third party without a moment of hesitation.
At the same time, I find it… interesting… that given the fauxrage over r@cism in Obotia, weirdness is starting to emerge about Jindal. They’re so happy — they have someone new to HAAAATE and the Sarah Palin hate was dying down. What’s a BO supporter to do without someone to HAAAATE? Enter Jindal. One post on DU last night called him the “slum dog Republican.”
Reply
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Alice, Obama’s people will take Jindal down, they already have the watchdogs down in Louisana today, I guarantee you on that…..nobody is supposed to question the presidenta, didnt you know that>?????
hey carol f!
go to the previous post (Mysterious Econ..) and check out Pat’s post at 8:31..
don’t worry, pat won’t feed you soup!
LOL! I love that picture of Hillary in fuschia. She looks great in bright colors–not many people could pull those off. She can’t help but pull focus from the Borer in Chief.
Some reactions to last night while I was out & about:
Cramer Rails Against Stimulus, Mortgage Plan, Geithner
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/02/cnbcs_cramer_rails_against_obama.html
He makes some good points. Remember who Cramer pointedly and without hesitation recommended as the best candidate for President? Hint: the last name did not start with an “O.”
Oh, & : 92% of CNN respondents have positive reaction to speech. That’s exactly why I stopped watching CNN a year ago. Blech–as you said, their propaganda isn’t even creative anymore.
Way to slide in a pertinent quote from Pride & Prejudice, RD. Nice!
I just got on, haven’t watched the speech, haven’t yet read last night’s topics, but I see the market is already reacting to the non-SOTU sotu.
myiq
http://www.michaelgraham.com/post/2009/02/25/The-American-Left-Says-No-Irish-Need-Apply.aspx
They deleted my comment that mentioned Chukie’s fear of bare chested women.
ha ha ha catarina – this is hilarious! How classic.
Even AP-lovin’ Obama couldn’t resist an actual “fact check” to counter all the lies. NOW they realize his words ring hollow?! Where have they been—that was obvious to me the first time I heard him speak.
FACT CHECK: Obama’s words on home aid ring hollow
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama knows Americans are unhappy that the government could rescue people who bought mansions beyond their means.
But his assurance Tuesday night that only the deserving will get help rang hollow.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090225/D96IFSC80.html
Now that’s the change I have been waiting for!
I finally figured out the connection between Reagan and Obama. Reagan’s Teflon was attached to him. He could deflect and shrug. Obama’s Teflon is made up of his groupies. They come in to WORM, cry “Leave Bawaaack aloone!” and attack the opposition.
Apparently what I said was judged incorrectly. To be more succinct: I do not like Obama. I did not vote for him nor do I think he is the answer to all our ills, regardless of the press.
That being said, my point is that I do not see anyone, repeat anyone, from the other side who has what it takes to defeat him in 2012 at this point. I am not about climb onboard anyone’s future candidacy simply because I dislike Obama. But my less than enthusiastic view of those candidates does not mean for a minute that I am an Obama supporter.
They can pitch Palin, Huckabee, Romney, Jindal or whoever they wish by me as a possibility and I remain unconvinced that any of those names are going to stem the tide. That was my point and my point only.
I prefer to remain and independent thinker and be allowed to gauge the candidates on my own. As far as I am concerned, sitting here today, those names do not cut it for me. The GOP brought this on themselves with their actions of the last 8 years. They must live with it.
Pat, we need a hero.
And there is no hero on the horizon.
catarina; I prefer competence. We had that in HRC but she was tossed to the side. Now we must live with incompetence and a slate of possible candidates from the other side who could use a little of that same competent infusion that she lived and breathed. So far, a big fat nothing.
And the poll numbers get qualified
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/spinning-the-polls/
This headline made me laugh: “FACT CHECK: Obama glosses over complex realities.”
http://my.earthlink.net/article/pol?guid=20090224/49a38ce0_3ca6_15526200902241178465234
Headline of my dreams: “FACT CHECK: Obama flat out lies.”
Hey, there’s a hat tip to The Confluence today as the white rabbits ramble
A Giant White Rabbit in Britain Reminds Us How “Logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead”…
http://insightanalytical.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/a-giant-white-rabbit-in-britain-reminds-us-how-logic-and-proportion-have-fallen-sloppy-dead/
It’s time for white rabbits, as Obama in Wonderland continues on his merry way…
Until I see the same reaction from the liberal press and blogs, I cannot take the right wing commentators seriously. Their one and only job is to deflect their own support of Bush and his disastrous administration from the policies of the Dems.
In the meantime, it’s the same old, same old rhetoric. The right hates the left, the left hates the right.
When objectivity returns to the discourse I may begin to pay attention.
me too. I don’t listen anymore to any of it. It’s like I know what they’re going to say before they say it. Is there anyone in the media or the Congress or the administration with an original thought? Don’t all speak at once.
We have been dumbing down the presidency ever since Clinton. The sophomoric behavior we saw demonstrated by Obama in the campaign just continues, both in actions and speeches. However, our lives are in great danger — especially if he continues to mess around with our social and health insurance. I just have no faith in him. I hope some of the people behind him can actually develop sensible policies that don’t end up hurting us.
myiq
I hope you’re awake and listening to the right’s response to the infamous “White Ethnics” remarks.
PS your friend’s name has been changed to “Loo-mos”
Chuckles ain’t no friend of mind – I can’t stand bigots
Graham is still at it.
Loo-mos will be famous.
Ann Coulter will pick up this story…
Ddn’t Chuckie accuse PUMAs of racism as well? I do know he turned o us, but forget the specifics as I didn’t read his blog.
yes, edge.
CL loves to bash PUMAs, and TC.
He has had all sorts of kind words for us.
Last I checked Obama was hugging Rick Warren.
Since Palin has been dragged into the discussion, Palin isn’t exactly following the Republican party line. It’s why the party establishment does not like her and threw her overboard very soon after McCain picked her as his running mate. Her support is almost entirely grass-roots. The Republican party obviously prefers Jindal; they’ve been pushing him for months now. It really started at full blast when McCain was looking for his VP. Jindal was pushed hard for that by the party. Palin’s support does not rely on the Republican party brand.
DYB, I mostly agree. Though I think last night was a big test for Jindal, and he did not pass.
Yes, I’m sure they let Jindal do the rebuttal as a way of giving him exposure. And it sounds like he fell on his face. That may be a good thing in the long run. Or perhaps it just showed the party what he needs to work on before they roll him out for the primaries: new and improved Jindal.
You’re absolutely right that Sarah Palin is far from the GOP party line. However, some on the left won’t see it because it doesn’t fit their own narrow outlook. Lumping a competent governor, with tons of rank and file grassroots support, together with culture vulture money grubbers like Haley Barbour is adequate proof of that.
Bad cops go to prison:
I hate dirty cops
DYB: It still does not alter my own personal view. Obama is a jerk, I cannot say that often enough to satisfy. But the other side is offering more of the same in my opinion, Rick Warren and all.
Pat, I don’t doubt that you do not like Obama. But he’s the one propping up Warren and all Warren stands for right now. Republicans have nothing to do with Warren at the moment.
OBAMA HAS HAD freaking 2 and half years on our tv’s, speeches, speeches, speeches, Jindal gets a ten minute freaking response, and it’s oh what a weakling, he did outstanding under this “ultra liberal media” country we live in. If he does indeed ever get a chance to debate with Prezidenta Obama it will be quite different. Meanwhile, We dont know how this stimulus package is goin down in history, do we? Words, so far, just words. But I will promise you one thing, Obama will continue to solve all of our woes, with what? OUR MONEY, he and his cronies know no other path. At least I have never heard it from any of them.
Jeesh, I feel like I am being castigated for not jumping onboard the Palin express!
That’s not my intent. But you do bring up Palin a lot, sometimes out of left field, and sometimes attribute things to Palin that she never said and did. Disputing things is not castigating you or anyone else for not jumping on the Palin express. It’s just about, well, fairness.
My opinion is also based on seeing her being “exorcised” by a voodoo priest from Africa a few years ago. That stuff is just plain scary. And she ran as the second place candidate in 2008 but as the top of the ticket I have many reservations. Take it any way you want, but she is repeatedly brought up in discussions here for reasons that differ from mine. Some prefer to see her as the next big deal. I do not.
Palin is a big deal, Pat, at least for the moment. When she is slimed on the basis of class and gender, it’s more than reasonable for us to take exception. Do we want to become that which we despise? Definitely not. As for Palin’s political agenda (which very few of us would endorse), that’s fair game, assuming it is presented accurately and honestly.
Link to that exorcism please! A statement like that needs a bit of proof.
Palin’s support does not rely on the Republican party brand.
The Democrats won in 2006 and 2008 because they weren’t GOPers, not because they had better ideas.
Hammer, nail, bang!
And by 2008 the GOP had no real stomache for their own party ticket. Many preferred to stay home.
I kept thinking of how Hillary tried to warn us last year about the economy, and Obama sneered that she was merely trying to distract us from Iraq and her support of it. Not one word on Iraq, supposedly his strong point. He’s an effen a**hole liar. I can’t get past his so-called charm, and thinking about the snake-handler. Who’s his snake-handler?
This and the lock box keep popping in my mind a lot lately.
Seems Wall St. wasn’t impressed with the Big Event last night:
Wall St. drops after data, banks fall
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks added to losses on Wednesday after data showed the pace of existing home sales unexpectedly fell in January, while bank shares slid on continuing worries over the fate of the sector.
The tone was set early by disappointment President Barack Obama shed little new light about how his administration would stabilize the economy in a major speech before Congress.
The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI:^DJI – News) fell 141.46 points, or 1.92 percent, to 7,209.48. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (^SPX – News) lost 15.88 points, or 2.05 percent, to 757.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index (Nasdaq:^IXIC – News) was down 28.26 points, or 1.96 percent, at 1,413.57.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Wall-St-falls-as-Obama-speech-rb-14464125.html
Wow, he didn’t even get the sucker’s bounce.
Ouch!
Wall St. is apparently not among the 92% of Americans who cheered Barry’s message last night. (Who the hell conducts these things, anyway?) Perhaps Wall St. could be brought before HUAC and given a good thrashing.
Remember that 85 percent of all the security activity is the result of
institutions.
Pat, I know what you mean. As of today, a Palin run would be a painful rehash of misogyny. She would have to up her game, and so would the others. Right now I don’t see it, but who knows how things will look in a year. My fantasy is that Obama will tire of this, go off to Europe, and Hill will run in 2012. Yeh, like I said, it’s a fantasy.
Does it have to be a fantasy. I’ve been sort of counting on it.
alice — Someone called Jindal “Slum Dog Republican” for realz? And we are the r@cists? LMAO I’m sick of the morons running with Obama — he doesn’t know that Karl Benz invented the automobile but I’m being picky pointing that out. Yeah, right — if it was one slip up when he was speaking off the cuff, I might be being picky — but this was a prepared speech — that means whoever wrote it didn’t effing know who invented the car & when Obama reviewed it HE didn’t know either. Just like the US troops “liberating” Auschwitz, just like the people in Afghanistan speaking Arabic, just like there are 57 states in the US — I’m the one with the problem for expecting the President of the United State of America to know a little of this country’s history.
Sorry for forgetting to close the italics.
Wait, who said “Slum Dog Republican???”
DYB — breaking my no-nesting rule just for you this one time — alice reported upthread that a poster on DU called Jindal “Slum Dog Republican.”
Aw, come on, nesting becomes you, angie!
It’s not only that his ignorance is showing, it also shows sloppy workmanship on behalf of the speech writer(s) and the President. No attention to detail or pride in their work. I guess as long as the average Omerican doesn’t catch their mistakes, it doesn’t matter. (sigh)
New thread up
My opinion is also based on seeing her being “exorcised” by a voodoo priest from Africa a few years ago
The Christian (not Voodoo) preacher in question was on a tour visiting American churches to raise money for his ministry. Palin thought he was just going to be praying for God to bless her candidacy but he went off the rails and she stood there politely until he was finished.
Jindal actually wrote and witnessed a exorcisim by a catholic priest and published a writing on it in oxford review… it’s a hoot, you should go read it
Thanks. That makes a modicum of good sense.
Right. And poor Obama had no knowledge of Rev. Wright’s extreme views. Or that Fr. Phleger was such a bleating @ss. So much for excuses.
Yes myiq2xu is exactly right.
Besides, I don’t think there is a reasonable “knowledge” comparison between a one time visiting preacher who blessed Palin while on his tour of American churches and Obama’s decades long relationship with Wright and knowledge of Phleger.
I read early on in the primary that Wall Street was backing Obama because
it thought that having a non-standard seemingly progressive candidate
would make it easier to win over the American people when the caca hit
the fan, and the Titans of Wall St. needed our tax monies to continue to
live the way in which they have become accustomed.
They still are giving his speech a big thumb down … market is tanking today.
I didn’t watch the PEBOs speech, but the headline of my city’s daily rag read “Obama says ‘We will emerge stronger than before’”
This left me limp! How uninspiring! & now with these remarks about reforming SS … I’m dreading reading the speech even more than before.
Jindal looked silly & I’m wondering how many people have won the nomination for POTUS after giving the response to the state of the union address?
here’s an article about Michelle Obama’s clothes
http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/michelle_obama_fashion/2009/02/23/184613.html
Total hypocrites. I am not a huge fan of Palin but I thought it was ridiculous how the Left made a huge deal over her clothing budget yet place Michelle Obama on a pedestal and love that she is such a fashionista without even blinking an eye that she is accepting thousands of dollars in free clothes and jewelry.
I have to also admit that I did not watch Teleprompter Jesus last night and after a quick skim of the headlines this morning, didn’t care to ever watch the Messiah or read The Groper’s words. I caught a few snippets on the radio last night on my way back home and it sounded so manufactured. It’s like he doesn’t even believe the words coming out of his mouth. And considering what he has done in the last 30 days, I don’t believe anything Obama says about standing up for the average American rather than the banks and the crooked Obots on Wall Street who paid for his seat in the White House.
Cure cancer? Hey, that’s MY job! His job is to fix the economy.
If that’s the choice then I sure hope Cynthia McKinney runs again.
sure ~ they are already starting to parade their handpicked future primaries winner! sheesh we certainly wouldn’t want a girl with cooties that close again…..
Will Afrocity be there?
errr… wasn’t NIXON the first to promise that???? yay another prez to compare dear Leader to!
I wish he would pull a Johnson and not seek a 2nd term….especially since he began campaigning for 2012 oh sometime around last year.
(yes MyIQ ~ I did type pull a Johnson)
Don’t worry he’s still going to allow you to do the actual work involved. He’s just planning on taking credit for it. Kinda like the bills he put his name on in the IL Senate so that they could “make them a US Senator.” You know, same ol’ same ol’
Right there with ya. If it is Jindal or Obama then I’m going with a third party.
Another vote for the third-party option!