The boiling point
Tipping points: the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable; the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point. (Malcolm Gladwell)
Was the special election for the Massachusetts Senate seat the final straw for Obama supporters and for Obama’s corporate agenda? It sure looks that way. The signs are everywhere: prog blogs are in chaos, big media is finally beginning to notice that Obama is arrogant and out of touch, and even the most far-gone Koolaid drinkers are beginning to sober up. Firedoglake is morphing into a blog that resembles TC back in June of 2008.
Oddly, Krugman is still hanging in there with the Koolaid Krowd. He wants the House to pass the Senate bill right away. WTF?! Just what drug did they feed him at that White House dinner anyway? Or are the bosses at the NYT holding a gun to his head as he writes his columns?
Elsewhere, all around the ‘net, hundreds of Koolaid drinkers are jumping on the wagon every day. Let’s take a brief tour.
At The Nation, William Greider calls the Massachusetts election results a “pie in the President’s face.”
The special election displayed monumental miscalculations by which Obama has governed, both in priorities and political-legislative strategies. It may seem perverse and unfair, but the president’s various actions for reform generated a vaguely poisonous identity. Amid the general suffering, Obama is widely seen as collaborating with two popular villains–the me-first bankers and over-educated policy technocrats of the permanent governing elite. Obama made nice with the bankers and loaded up his administration with Harvard policy wonks who really don’t know the country. These malignant associations gain traction because people see there are grains of truth in observable reality.
Greider still has a way to go–he still adores Obama’s “soaring rhetoric,” and he thinks Obama just followed the advice of his bad advisers and needs to fire them and hire new ones. But it’s a start. Greider is a smart man. He’ll get it eventually.
Drew Westen has been on Obama case for awhile now, but this post is even more emphatic than the past few he has written.
The President’s steadfast refusal to acknowledge that we have a two-party system, his insistence on making destructive concessions to the same party voters he had sent packing twice in a row in the name of “bipartisanship,” and his refusal ever to utter the words “I am a Democrat” and to articulate what that means, are not among his virtues. We have competing ideas in a democracy — and hence competing parties — for a reason. To paper them over and pretend they do not exist, particularly when the ideology of one of the parties has proven so devastating to the lives of everyday Americans, is not a virtue. It is an abdication of responsibility.
I’ve got his book The Political Brain lying around here somewhere. Maybe I’ll read it.
And it sure does look like Obama’s agenda is about to topple over, doesn’t it? Roll call has the startling news that Ben Bernanke’s reappointment is in trouble. It’s subscription only, but D-day has quotes at FDL.
Ben Bernanke’s nomination to serve a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve appears to be in peril. Bernanke is up for a second term at the Fed; his current term expires in 10 days on Jan. 31. A handful of Senators had previously threatened to filibuster the nomination, but this week the number of opposing lawmakers appeared to grow, further dimming his prospects for installment.
“I think it’s worthy of a review,” said Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who is undecided.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) met with Bernanke on Thursday, one day after Democrats voiced concerns during their weekly policy luncheon about the nomination. In a statement after his meeting with the Fed chairman, Reid was coy, saying the two met “to discuss the best ways to strengthen and stabilize our economy.” […]
At Wednesday’s Democratic caucus meeting, according to Senators, liberals spoke out against confirming Bernanke for a second term. Those liberals tried to make the case that the White House needs to put in place fresh economic advisers to focus on “Main Street” issues like unemployment rather than Wall Street concerns. Moderates were more reserved, Senators said, but have similarly withheld their support for Bernanke.
Wow!
At Politico: Dem health care talks collapsing
Health care reform teetered on the brink of collapse Thursday as House and Senate leaders struggled to coalesce around a strategy to rescue the plan, in the face of growing pessimism among lawmakers that the president’s top priority can survive.
The legislative landscape was filled with obstacles: House Democrats won’t pass the Senate bill. Senate Democrats don’t want to start from scratch just to appease the House. And the White House still isn’t telling Congress how to fix the problem.
Also at Politico: White House caught in Democrats’ crossfire
Congressional Democrats — stunned out of silence by Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts — say they’re done swallowing their anger with President Barack Obama and ready to go public with their gripes.
If the sentiment isn’t quite heads-must-roll, it’s getting there.
Hill Democrats are demanding that Obama’s brain trust — especially senior adviser David Axelrod and chief of staff Rahm Emanuel — shelve their grand legislative ambitions to focus on the economic issues that will determine the fates of shaky Democratic majorities in both houses.
And they want the White House to step up — quickly — to help shape the party’s message and steer it through the wreckage of health care reform.
Double wow!
And get this: even NOW is waking up!!!!!
As Democrats weigh options for health reform following a major setback in the Massachusetts election, the nation’s leading womens’ rights group blasted the legislation as “beyond outrageous.”
The National Organization for Women (NOW) harbors deep concerns with the Senate health legislation, and exclaims that “women will be better off with no bill whatsoever.”
“The Senate bill contains such fierce anti-abortion language, and there are other problems from the point of view of women,” NOW’s President Terry O’Neill told Raw Story in an interview.
O’Neill said NOW “will not support candidates in 2010 if they vote for it.”
Triple Wow!!!!
Will Scott Brown be the savior of the Democratic Party? It’s too early to tell yet, but it does look like we’ve reached a tipping point. Please post your own “tipping point” links in the comments.
HAVE A FABULOUS FRIDAY!!!!!!!
Filed under: Barack Obama, Blogosphere, broken promises, Politics, populism | Tagged: Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, boiling point, Dailykos, David Sirota, Drew Westen, Firedoglake, Koolaid drinkers, Malcolm Gladwell, Paul Krugman, Politico, Scott Brown, The Tipping Point, William Greider |
The Confluence 
Robert Reich: Why Obama is (Finally) taking on Wall Street
BB
they forget, action never follows the crap that flows out of BO’s mouth. Since the damage he is whining about is mostly his creation… he is claiming to be getting ready to close the barn doors after he personally made sure the horses were out.
obots will be cheering from the rafters for this kick-az action, I’m sure.
I could not agree more. He is still giving campaign speeches. He just hasn’t noticed that people don’t give a hoot if there’s no follow-through. He still hasn’t figured out that no amount of promises convinces the unemployed that they have jobs, those without access to health car that they do have access, or the struggling that they are economically secure.
Did you see Wednesday’s late night interview with George Stephanopolous where George said to him that the campaign is over with and now he needs to start talking about what he is actually doing!! It was quite good.
I know. I only posted it to show that Robert Reich is getting more and more disgusted.
I really meant Robert Reich should probably hold back some of those cheers for when it actually happens as opposed to just being talked about in the hopey changey land BO lives in (where speeches make world peace and puppies and kittens play nice together).
Sure it does, it’s generally just the opposite of what he said.
I believe he is so disconnected that he either thinks no one is paying attention, or his “people” are lying to him about what’s really going on and they trust he’ll never figure it out.
what a farce. I will believe this when he fights the banks an. This is just.. words.
Look at Geithner on PBS yesterday
Judy Woodruff asks Geithner point blank:
“So in essence, are you saying, big banks need to be broken up?”
And, Geithner says NO!!
Obama is “taking on” Wall Street because he thinks it’s politically necessary.
But bad-mouthing — even proposing legislation about — banks and bankers doesn’t make jobs.
And tangible results are what people want to see.
Yes, and the longer he keeps giving us “just words” the angrier the electorate will get.
bb, he hasn’t clued in to that. He’s doing a town hall on TV right now, and it sounds like one of his lamer campaign speeches. The Obots there look shell-shocked and bored.
He actually claimed that his was teh most transparent administration EVAH because we know who’s on the WH guest list. That’s how delusional he is.
From Drew Westen’s article regarding transparency:
Westen should have pointed out that the deals cut by Obama were actually done in private. It is when they became known to the public that they turned people’s stomachs.
{{groan!!}}
He’s transparent all right — everyone can see right through him now.
Made me hungry.
Me to. I just put some water on to boil so I could make egg salad for lunch.
Speaking of boiling, I liked Zuckerman’s line, “He’s trying to boil the ocean”. That’s it exactly.
LOL! I’m eating a fried egg sandwich right now.
I made egg salad too.
is it Obama’s brain trust – or rather brain rust?
Feingold and Boxer both came out against Bernanke this morning.
Contrary to Dakinikat, I think Bernanke’s going down is a good thing. Apart from his presiding over this mess, he would, among other things, rather see double-digit unemployment than mid-single-figure inflation. I think those are the wrong priorities for a Fed Chairman.
We’re in full agreement about Geithner, though. The smartest move Obama could make right now would be to fire him.
If Bernanke goes down, maybe Geither will follow. Summers is the one we really need to bring down.
I want the whole cabal gone.
Geez,when did it come to this? When did our choices become double digit unemployment or double digit inflation(with no inflation in wages whatsoever)?
Meanwhile has Nero mentioned any plan whatsoever to address jobs or is he just planning on continuing with his fiddling?
Come now — Nero fiddles, BigZero golfs.
As far as jobs, I think he’s assured Geithner & Bernanke that if he is forced to parachute them, they can land safely in the arms of Goldman Sachs. And Rahm will be mayor of Chitown.
Summers is waiting for Bernanke to go down so he can take Fed seat. But Summers is the most unsuitable guy for Fed or any govt position for that matter. Maybe during Clinton’s time, he was good, or at least a junior. Now he became a monster.
Bernanke going down may answer your question about Krugman. I think the truth of the matter is that Bernanke is the easiest target and because he is an original Bush appointment he has the least claim to any inner circle loyalty. I question whether Larry Summers could be confirmed.
Debt ceiling to be raised to $14.3 trillion by March
Geithner needs to go. Sheila Bair or Elizabeth Warren should replace him. The questions about Bernanke are intense, surprisingly strong. Financial types saying if he survives the weekend, he probably makes it through confirmation. But there’s a lot of noise, even people pushing for Krugman of all people. Can’t believe Obama was still talking healthcare in Ohio today.
We definitely need a woman in charge.
Haven’t there been studies showing that women manage money better?
Over at the Great Orange Cheeto, it’s mutiny time! One of the most fanatical Kool-Aid slurpers and Obama cultists to ever hit the intartubz has posted a diary savaging Obama and the Dems and calling b.s. on the whole Obottian thing…(no linky but the author is icebergslim–yes, you read that right, icebergslim, Cultist Extraordinaire). The really amazing part is that the comments are running at about 10 to 1 anti-Obama to pro-cultist, and the cultists are sounding like scared, vicious babies flailing their little teeth. It reads more like a posting at Talk Left or the Confluence, for heaven’s sake.
Now you can see the delicious spectacle of Obots calling other Obots Republicans, ratfu**ers, racists, losers, and so on. There were even some admitting they wished they’d voted HRC.
No fears, I won’t be going back to that cesspool because the Obots merit no forgiveness and no mercy…but the schadenfreude was sweet indeed.
No kidding! Been wallowing in Shadenfreude for weeks now in B0botland… And that admission of wanting to have voted for Hillary is now in the papers too
Piranhas attacking each other.
Cockroaches
Ew!
StompstompstompCRUNCH.
Y’all reminded me of this song:
I first heard this song from–who else?–Dr. Demento.
I expected the title to embed, but it didn’t–it’s “The Cockroach Stomp” by Jack Blanchard and Misty Morgan [the “Tennessee Bird Walk” duo]. Inoffensive, unless you’re REALLY strict about non-violence. 🙂
The title didn’t embed as I expected–the title is “The Cockroach Stomp” by Jack Blanchard and Misty Morgan [the “Tennessee Bird Walk” duo].
OK, Spammy is being even weirder and harder to figure out than usual today. 😛
I hear Bob Johnson turned on him yesterday. The number of people saying No. We. Can’t. is astounding. If Obama keeps this up he’s going to make Herbert Hoover look like a popular guy.
No way! Now that is unbelieveable.
Believe it or not, Icebergslim has been posting anti-Obama diaries for awhile now.
Let me know when she posts a frikkin apology to the bitter knitters.
Don’t hold your breath….
I had never been to Kos, had to google icebergslim to get there. I didn’t know which diary you were referring to, so I chose one with 1500 or so responses. Frankly I didn’t read down too far, but as far as I saw they sounded pretty rational (and anti-Obama).
I was surprised that they seemed to know that MSM kept BO’s pretense up and that they knew he was a fraud.
From what I have always heard about Kos, they must have done a 180, but when?
I believe it is, but yesterday and today have been alarming… and if Obama doesn’t have the capacity to adjust and it appears to me he dose not; we will have another three three years without a functioning executive, one many believe scamed them to get elected?
Even more scary to me is what happens after that 3 years of being rudderless happens. I’m not looking forward to a rightward course correction again. The republic already is struggling after 8 years under the administration of the last guy the Republicans put in charge(twice no less).
Maybe Obama should appoint Bill Clinton to replace Rahm and Bill and Hillary can take over running things while Obama makes pretty speeches.
He better do something to stop the hemorrhaging. He better find someone who doesn’t believe that government is supposed to take a hands off approach and think that this is all part of some cycle that will self correct given enough time.
…or golf.
That is the best suggestion I have heard in a while! Or he could go with the pretty talk and show up and vote “present” for the next three years.
The Age of Genuflection to the One is over.
Thank goodness!
bb, I always said he would destroy the party and the brand, but I am truly not enjoying seeing it happening. The I told you so’s are gratifying to some extent, but I’d rather I’d been wrong.
But I wasn’t. We weren’t. And the only hope for the party I once knew and loved is for the cancer to be burned out. So….. burn baby burn, I say.
I feel the same way. I’m tired of saying I told you so. I want to see some action.
Greider still has a way to go–he still adores Obama’s “soaring rhetoric,”
He’s the rhetorical president.
Bwwwwaaaahahahaha. Good one!
🙂
Do away with the middleman, elect Jon Favreau his soaring speechwriter as president! Jon Favreau has read Faulkner and knows how to “inspire” the masses.
Axelrove gets some credit, too. The “words, just words” speech was recycled from his Deval Patrick (Hope+Change(TM) –the first). He put 0bama in a room and taped his anti-war speech after it was fashionable to oppose it. Many people cite that as the reason they voted for him–“He voted against the war” and look puzzled when informed that the man wasn’t even in the Senate then.
No question how 0bama would have voted had he been the Senator from New York (ground zero). And he would have shown up!
Too bad the Senate bored him (rockstar author of two books about himself), and he had to move up. Had he stayed and worked hard and learned what there was to learn, he might have been a decent president. Nothing in his past suggests that, but many things are possible!
But worst, he deprived us of having a historical candidate who did apply herself in the Senate and who cares more about the people than her celebrity image or a big house. Someone who could have done the job well.
Am I the only one who believes that Hillary should leave the Obama Admin and run again in 2012?
The earlier she leaves, the better. She should give it some serious thoughts. She doesn’t owe Obama nothing IMHO.
No, you’re not the only one. But I don’t think Hillary will do that. She wouldn’t get any support from the Party anyway.
Yes, I just read Greider’s Pie in the President’s Face article and he really let the Dems and Obama have it …. and the criticism was more than overdue.
But despite his acknowledgment that ” Obama’s most disturbing quality is that he evidently intended this from the start” he can’t help himself and feels he has to still believe and throws some more glorification at Obama:
” But we know he is a brilliant politician, astute in his political vision. The great politicians, when faced with new circumstances, revise themselves. We will see if Obama can. ”
Mr. Greider, please, we don’t know he is a brilliant politician, in fact we never ever thought so at all because we just couldn’t see it because there was no greatness there to be seen…. right from the very start. And so Obama didn’t disappoint me at all now when this has become obvious to even the most ardent Obamafans. And please, of course he can’t revise himself. He can’t be cause he has zero political visions. None.
So here you are Mr. Greider, still drinking the Obama kool aid when you should have known better after working as a political journalist for more than thirty-five years. But maybe that is the very problem: You are still waiting for the sign of your village people who are not ready to give up on him. Let’s face it, they never will.
And btw. Mr. Greider, Bet you were never that patient with Bill Clinton who truly is a brilliant politician with astute political visions. Obama should wish he could be that smart.
I think this is more about the sharks smelling blood. Sensing weakness, the ability of the administration to intimidate lessens.
Could be.
Either way, it’s a tipping point.
I’m glad Brown won in Mass if he’s the new Hopey Changey rock star, because IMV the hang over from the Obama detox the emerging awareness of the deception and exploitation soon will turn to a belief in the unfairness of their victimization (401k balances, unemployment) and will be very difficult for them to accept and hard to channel. And like it or not, and I don’t Senator Brown can maybe do that.
So lets assume this is not getting better and we all know once the reputation is ruined (and even europe starts to take note now) it is hard to revive it….do you think he will be hanging in there for another 3 years?
I am not a psychologist but he does not strike me as a person who will want to be the prez if it does not include the glamour.
So, how could he get out of it? Can you resign or would he need to move to another job (judge on American Idol)? Well, I guess I am hoping for change…
I suggest he open a golf club, with Tiger, in Hawaii.
Good idea! I can see that totally – he is already spending his time on the course and it is faaar away for clingy, angry voters!
I bet M-helle would not have let him get away so lightly as Tiger’s wife when she went after him with the clubs. Scary thought having M-helle following you with golf clubs!
MO can open a boutique in Paris. She’ll be much happier away from Mr Ego, I bet.
OT – I have a question…
It seems we have more traffic and new/more posters. As a result I am having trouble keeping up with comments added to a thread. On the upper left under Recent Comments 10 of the most recent comments are shown. Is there a way to expand it to 20 or 25?
Every once in a while I do a little work and when I return I feel that TC world has passed me by and I just hate that.
Thanks in advance.
We could dispose of nesting. Then you could check the active threads for anything new past a certain time.
But SOMEBODY likes nesting and thinks we’ll grow to love it eventually.
BTW – comments in old threads close automatically after two days. It keeps trolls from crapping on the carpets.
I love nesting. I vote to retain it. Thanks for the response.
I guess I can’t ever take a break if I want to keep up. Therefore, I need to add a clause to my Health Care Power of Attorney that I want to always be tied to my chair in front of my computer with my hands taped to the keyboard and TC up on the monitor. Will they cremate a computer?
We can ask Katiebird. She’s the tech genious.
This is going to sound odd but I’m actually afraid for the guy because I truly think he has no clue and I truly think the anger being hasn’t reached its crescendo.
I’m trying to think what he does about jobs when all he has left is the tiniest amount of political capital and he can not seem to move past trying to seek the oppostion’s approval.
I’m not the least bit afraid for this jerk. I want him impeached and thrown in prison. It’s probably wishing for too much, but a girl can dream.
OT, too, but did you see Jon Stewart’s take on Olbermann/Brown?
http://www.hulu.com/watch/122282/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-thu-jan-21-2010?c=Comedy#s-p1-so-i0
Maybe he should ask Soros what to do next.
or the Oracle of Delphi?
See as the Oracle of Delphi was an order woman I don’t see the President listening. (From Wikipedia).
He prefers to listen to the Oracle of Omaha (Buffet).
Buffet ripped him on his bank plan yesterday.
Bloomberg absolutely lost his shit today over the bank plan.
Mwahaha.
Reuters:
It’s actually a nice thought but he still fails to get it.
Even using the premise this is a group effort, it still requires leadership and he can not keep abdicating that to whoever he decides should be leader for the week. The people elected him(wrongly imo). He needs to step up to the plate and say this is what I want, this is how we achieve it and I’m sorry for those of you who don’t like it but you run for President next time because this is my watch and the people elected me to fix things.
Exactly. “get this done,” he says. Get what done? It has collapsed because no one knows what it is, and the chaos in Congress looks terrible to people.
“He needs to step up to the plate and say this is what I want, this is how we achieve it and I’m sorry for those of you who don’t like it but you run for President next time because this is my watch and the people elected me to fix things.”
I don’t think he can do this because he doesn’t the experience, the wisdom, the plain common sense, or the grit and determination. All the things that make Hillary so valuable.
“doesn’t have” all those qualities, that is
Gosh hc is hard and that Israel-Palestine thing is hard—presidentin is hard.
He really said “health insurance reform”. Jon Boy’s slipping.
The right is getting very good at reaching people online, and they’re targeting older voters too. This link has some surprising insights.
I know my MIL (in her 70s) is on facebook now so she can see the pix her nephews & cousins etc post.
NOW…just wow, way too little too late. Of course this is the MOST opportune time for them, and everyone else looking for donations, voters, supporters, etc. to come on down and say “oh we were never for this health care bill to begin with”….yeah, right. Bite me.
NOW in 2008 under Kim Gandy is different than the current NOW–Terry O’Neill is in charge now, and she won against Gandy’s pick, and there were Hillary supporters involved in getting her elected. when O’Neill took over she was pushing for single payer. Then when it came time for the House to vote on Obamacare, she momentarily supported it while opposing the abortion language (I don’t know why she made this terrible error, but she did). But, as soon as the bill passed with Stupak, NOW came out against the bill and has been against it ever since.
“momentarily supported it”
Yeah, right. They can bite me.
I said “momentarily supported” to simply reflect the timeline of events. I found it very suspicious at the time when NOW supported it and said so in the liveblogging of the House bill. I think NOW is actually making amends for that with their current stance and trying to do something right–I’m not going to work against that.
I’ve been conflicted over whether to send them money or not. They’re inundating me with requests. I’m just not sure if I can trust them yet. Do you think they’ve kicked the kool aid habit?
I’m not willing to go that far yet–am not donating to any of these Democratic – affiliated organizations until they’ve shown that they can keep their word.
NOW needs to walk over some broken glass by standing up strongly when it MATTERS before I’ll ever donate or listen again. They’ll need to do it consistently, for quite awhile.
Yeah, unequivocally strong statement AFTER the HCR tanked, and the wave of public opinion is against it. Funny how their previous statement opposing, when it actually mattered, was so tepid.
I expect advocacy groups to ADVOCATE, not equivocate.
Thanks everyone, for confirming my instincts.
I am finished with NOW and the MS crowd. They don’t care about women. What a sell out job they did on us during the 2008 election! I don’t know what their point is now, maybe gay rights maybe just a women’s axillary to the real men’s Democrat party. Whatever they are not relevant to me and they will never get another dime of my money. What does it take to get off their mailing/call list? They need to solicit younger women and if they can’t make themselves relevant to them they need to die.
Okay, this cracked me up. I surfed over to see what the other side was saying, and I must admit that the guys at Ace of Spades are indeed witty, despite their politics.
AP has this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100121/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_middle_east
But Ace rewrote it for him:
How stupid do the John Kerry’s of the world feel now, who swore “Experience? We don’t need no stinkin’ experience! The dude went to Kindergarten in Indonesia! Top THAT!”
When I read that I, was roflmao. If ever there was an admission of inexperience, unpreparedness, clueless—-that was it. He actually thought his presence could bring them together and resolve the mother of all gordian knots!
This proves he’s more ineffective than Carter, who was actually able to accomplish the Camp David accords.
My dear husband was getting my latest rant where I pointed out that BO is at least as ineffective as Carter but the advantage with Carter was that he had a heart and passion where BO doesn’t even have that.
Remember what Kerry Said:
“In an interview with Massachusetts’ SouthCoastToday (watch it HERE), Obama-backing Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., says among other reasons he’s supporting Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, is his belief that “it would be such an affirmation of who we say we are as a people. if we could elect an African-American president, young leader, who is obviously visionary about the ability to inspire people.”
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/kerry-obama-cou.html
hey, that reminds me of W who blamed Clinton for his own failures, because “he raised the expectations too high”
“Obama says he might not have raised his expectations so high.”
As usual, it’s all about him.
does that package come with their own health care plan in place?
Yes, but no abortion rights for the men any more. Have to keep it zipped or else.
We have the Roberts supreme court to thank for that.
I wish we had Miers instead of Alito … I wonder if she would have dissented.
Thanks for the link, myiq!
Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com
BTW I do not think that Scott Brown will save the country but I do think that MA voters did.
With this crew and leader in the WH, NO!, we haven’t reached the tipping point. If no light-bulbs goes off over their heads soon, the WH will go over the precipice with the dems come mid-terms.
There were many excellent posts today, my pick was this one by John F. Harris:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31843.html
Great roundup, bb. You really are a news hound!
Re the Politico article on health care: It appears that the idjits in Congress still don’t get it. They still think that in order to force the insurance companies to accept clients with pre-existing conditions that mandates are necessary. Nonsense! What people are primarily objecting to is being forced to buy worthless, expensive policies from the people who got us into this situation to begin with. Apparently, some of these congresscritters still don’t understand the message from the Scott Brown election.
Saw somewhere that the Senate is courting Olympia Snowe again. Do you think they want her to be #60 so they can keep on truckin’ healthcare? Let’s see if she has a price.
Forgive?
Maybe after about 200 years of really changed behavior.
Criminal Media has to be “punished” and “disciplined” as any other serial criminal must be.
Let the Media Bankruptcies begin!
In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority or all news media in the U.S.
“By 1992, less than 30.
In 2004, six huge corps–Time Warner, Disney (ABC), Murdoch’s News Corp. , Bertelsmann of German, Viacom (formerly CBS), and General Electric (NBC).
In both their news reporting and their editorials, they promote “free trade” agreements, privatization, and other policies that have led to the current crisis.”
(except from p. 51 “Hoodwinked: An Economic Hit Man Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded–and What We Need to Do to Remake Them”)
Dear Progressives, Did you really think the media was falling all over itself for
someone who would rock the boat? Did you ever question why it was selling Bush II in the previous two elections? Of course, he was so bad that the tide would turn, and more than likely the Dem who “won” the nomination would be elected. Couldn’t have someone with a record of being for the people in there, could they? McCain/Palin might have rocked the boat and split up the conglomerate.
Now guess who benefits from the Supreme’s latest decision? Who gets most of the ad money that sells our politicians ( guessing google doesn’t count–the Obama campaign bought them outright)?
By “for the people” I meant Hillary Clinton. I have no doubt that McCain/Palin in the General Election scared the powers-that-be.
Yes agree. The Progressives..they are quite myopic, even when they are angry.
“We have the Roberts supreme court to thank for that.”
And the Democrats who confirmed Alito and Roberts. Yeah, scare us with SCOTUS some more!
Wonk the Vote,
When did O”Neil support the bill with the Stupak language? I’ve been getting mail from them constantly since before the house bill was passed and N.O.W.’s position has always against it. Did she support it before the Stupak-Pitts amendment was added? I believe she agreed to support a bill that retained the status quo with regard federal funding for elective abortion, but was quite clear from the beginning that the Stupak-Pitts amendment was not the status quo.
Terry O’Neil is much better than Kim Gandy and is doing a good job at challenging the sexism and misogyny w/in the democratic ranks. O’Neil has been very out spoken and has made clear that N.O.W. will not support any candidate who votes for either version of these bills.
I have joined N.O.W. since Gandy is gone. I think that O’Neil is willing to fight misogyny on the left as well as on the right, and this is something that Gandy refused to do. Gandy, The Feminist Majority, and the people at Ms. magazine were always to afraid to break with the democratic party, even though they only provided lip service to women’s rights, particularly abortion.
So when does Hillary quit on policy, as the rumors have said, and challenge the Ass-O for the nomination??
I don’t think it’s gonna happen. Her only shot is 2016 if Obama loses in 2012. She’s not gonna leave SOS to run against Obama even though I’d really wish she would. The media would paint her as a backstabber and traitor if she challenge him and won the nomination. We’re just going to have to rightfully show Obama the door in 2012 and get some solid Democrats to challenge Republicans in 2014 and 2016.
[…] The President’s steadfast refusal to acknowledge that we have a two-party system, his insistence on making destructive concessions to the same party voters he had sent packing twice in a row in the name of “bipartisanship,” and his refusal ever to utter the words “I am a Democrat” and to articulate what that means, are not among his virtues. We have competing ideas in a democracy — and hence competing parties — for a reason. To paper them over and pretend they do not exist, particularly when the ideology of one of the parties has proven so devastating to the lives of everyday Americans, is not a virtue. It is an abdication of responsibility….https://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/friday-afternoon-news-and-views-have-we-finally-reached-a-tipping-point Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)December 7, 2008Wednesday, November 4, 2009February 7, 2009Friday Afternoon News and Views: Have We Finally Reached A Tipping Point? […]