Tokyo Rose
So, the Wurlitzer is on full crank and the Villagers are all a-twitter about how the Democrats took the country too far left. Of course, that’s what they would say. They’re THE VILLAGERS. They are paid to keep the status quo nice and comfy for themselves and their friends. I’m going to let the Democrats in on a little secret:
No one on the left pays any attention to them anymore.
Yep. It’s true. The Washington Post and the NYTimes could be spending the money they pay those courtiers on beefing up their international news bureaus. People might actually start reading their papers again.
Frankly, my Dems, we don’t give a damn what David Brooks or David Broder says anymore. We only pay attention to Joe Klein because his stupid musings are so easy to debunk and his name is, well, amenable to juvenile mockery. Paul Krugman *used* to be our goto guy but he’s lost the plot recently and thinks that propping up Obama is more important than actually Change!™ing things.
But people have to still get their news from somewhere. I gave up TV news of all kinds last year. I don’t watch network or cable “news” of any kind. I got sensitized to the propaganda and now, whenever I hear the prepared talking points with just the right psychological spin, I break out in hives and can’t breathe. No, now I’m forced to surf the net both domestically and internationally and sift through the information with the skills of a professional data miner looking for nuggets of truth among the truthiness.
Not everyone has the time to do this. So, verily I say unto you Democrats who are wringing your hands that your message is failing to get out among all of the “Americans are really center right people” and “Obama is a socialist” BS, don’t forget about NPR and the Public Broadcasting System. I used to be a faithful listener and donater to NPR news programming for nigh on 20 years, ever since I was in college. But during the Bush years, the place got so infested with GOP moles and taken over by the “both sides of the story are equal” folks that I don’t listen anymore. Planet Money was pretty good for the first couple of months until their sponsors became the same kinds of companies they were reporting on. My morning and evening commutes are now podcast only hours.
One thing you guys failed to do, (ok, one of the THREE things you failed to do right after 1.)failing to elect the true Democrat and 2.) handing the keys of your party apparatus to a bunch of neo-liberal jerks from Chicago who cut their teeth at Enron) was you failed to control the message. Maybe you can’t restore the fairness doctrine right away, not that you shouldn’t at least try, but you didn’t make use of the tools you have. You have the power of the purse. You could get rid of the “Wealth Management” underwriters. You could have kicked Steve Innskeep type guys to the curb and restored NPR to its former glory of reporting fairly and accurately instead of turning the place into a incubator for Juan Williams and Mara Liason who took their Tokyo Rose acts to Fox News.
In fact, why *didn’t* you do all of those things when you had a chance? Republicans with your numbers would have done it. Sometimes, I have to wonder about your personal safety in a room with sharp objects.
So, if you don’t want to lose your shirts and reputations this fall, and it looks like that’s where you’re headed if you don’t do something quick, you’d better shore up your messaging machine and push left as hard as you can.
Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
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Filed under: Media, morning news | Tagged: Gemocratic messaging, Juan Williams, Mara Liason, NPR, Steve Inskeep |
The Confluence 
I stopped listening to NPR in the 2008 campaign when they were propagating the MSM sneers at Hillary and kissing BO’s butt.
They are just a softer-spoken version of the corporate-Pravda.
Me too, and their reference to “teabaggers” on their website was too much.
One of the host’s got chastised for criticizing BO for something on the air, and a few days later posted an apology/retraction on his blog.
Me too – it just got to be too much – I floated around for a while until I found TC.
can they hear us now……
Well said and comprehensive. I have been telling friends to stop getting “news” from print media or the teebee for at least a year…go to the internets. Gave ’em all kinds of linky goodness…to little avail. Asked them to read Chris Hedges’ “Empire of Illusion”.
Sadly, I think your warning to the DCcrats will fall on ears as deaf as those of my friends (the latter actually are well intentioned libruls).
Sometime during the Clinton presidency I dropped my contributions to NPR and switched to supporting my local non-profits and have never looked back. But I am fortunate to live where community based volunteer radio has a strong presence. But we are struggling…thanks to Air America. AA is basically a full time shill for the Democrat party and not for a liberal agenda. They bought into Obama big time and can’t admit they were wrong. And in the process they can’t shut up about how awful Bill Clinton was/is. They spend more air time beating up on the Clintons than they do criticizing the Republicans!!!!!
Keep on keeping on RD. I continue to appreciate this site, though I don’t always agree with your views.
The Dems are dead, and that’s nothing to mourn.
After twelve months of Obama, the country has come to its senses and no amount of “pushing left” is going to make the party any more popular.
I can hardly wait for the 2010 elections. After 08, I never imagined I’d be interested in politics again. Thank you, Senator Brown!
No party is ever dead. Just a year ago they said we Republican were dead. It is the cycle of political life.
If they can’t hold onto Kennedy’s seat, the dems are clearly incapable of doing much of anything. I’m hoping they lose 50-70 seats in the House this fall and head back for minority status. That would be sweet indeed.
LOL, they are not dead, just like the republicans are not dead. People have been saying simiilar things about the losing parties since this game started back in the late 1700s! Some parties do “die”, but more likely morph into something else. and so it goes, and goes and goes…..
Time will tell. It sure seems that the democratic party no longer has any appeal to the voting public. All I want for the next election is a solid majority of Rs in the House. That will save us from the disaster that is the current democratic party.
It would take them no time at all to actually enact policy that benefits people and then we’d be hearing about the death of conservatism again.
How will things be better with Republicans in control?
They won’t. But we need to get rid of the rot in the Democratic party before we can rebuild.
It won’t until they all realize the people are in control who wins and who loses.
It’ll be interesting to see how many voters this year will be unaffiliated/Independent.
If you truly think Republicans are the answer to your dreams, get ready for a big disappointment. What was it about those 8 years of Bush, Cheney, Rove that was so perfect—-tax cuts for the wealthy, unfunded prescription drug benefit for big pharma profits, a war of choice that made us an outlaw nation, Cunningham, DeLay?????
If things were so good under the GOP, how did the Democrats regain power?
has that ever worked that way? Give republicans control and suddenly only good democrats will get elected in the future?
I doubt it, I think we just give republicans more time to screw things up even worse.
I didn’t say it would be easy or “sudden.”
What’s your solution? Support DINO-GOP candidates and hope they take pity on us?
well it is not enabling the right to pull us even more right. My solution is that the congress and senate are a lot like sheep. Give them a better leader to follow.
Congressional Democrats are not sheep, but they think we are.
They are corrupt.
I consider Bush and many in his admin war criminals. Having said that I never felt such an intrusion on my personal life as under this regime. These dems have rewritten the book on spending, back room deals and government take over. Social Security, American’s Disabilities Act, Medicare–all were bipartisan. Even as bad as the Medicare prescription drug bill is, you could watch the entire process on C-span.
The R and D behind the name means nothing to me.
While this is true from the election perspective, I am not wanting any more liberal leaning messaging – I’d like to see some liberal leaning action.
Yeah, me too. I’m sick of “just words.”
I am so disgusted that liberalism has been (temporarily, I hope)
destroyed by this gang of thieves…as I write this I realize it has been dead for a long eight years and the carcass must have been just ripe enough for this nightmare journey to Chicagolandia to seem like a good idea to people who should have known better.
I am so sick of hearing people say Coakley’s loss was a rejection of liberalism. It wasn’t and no one can say todays democrats are liberals. It is all about branding. The Republicans and trying to reinforce their so called conservative brand and the democrats trying to reinforce their progressive brand (what ever that maybe). In reality they are all corporatist who espouse their social and cultural musings but do little to change the status quo. We are becoming Saudi Arabia with a ruling elite and the rest of us with a lesser status and little ability to determine the true direction of our country.
It is wingerism: full of sound and fury signifying nothing and going nowhere.
Going backwards.
I wrote my senators (Stabenow and Levin) and congressman (Peters) today saying I would have voted Brown to send a message. I re iterated the Republicans have no message. I listed no tenable cost savings in health bill given the oligopolic insurance structure and Obama appointing Bush people on financial issues. I reiterated that Bernanke should not be confirmed as he could have done more to contain the financial collapse and did not do so. HE SHOULD NOT BE RECONFIRMED.
One might wonder the utility in writing congress people. However they will never be able to say that I did not object to their shenannigans.
they were never liberals, though, only “progressives” which meant nothing was about policy to them, everything was about process.
Unfortunately, the rest of us have to suffer for their blindness.
I’m so sick and tired of the label “progressive,” that it makes me want to scream.
I’m sorry! I did put it in quotes, to highlight the absurdity of it.
Don’t be sorry. I was just agreeing with you.
Glenn Greewald is on fire today.
More Greenwald:
I’ve read and heard all of this talk about the fact that “the base” or “the left” stayed home rather than vote for Coakley, or that her loss represented a “rejection of liberalism”, but I’ve seen nothing saying that women stayed home because of Coakley’s support of the healthcare plan which she had previously denounced because of the Stupak amendment. Once again, women and issues important to women are being ignored.
“…it’s all the Left’s fault for excessively criticizing the Leader.”
aaaagh!
Lanny Davis
Blame the left
(not Obama…)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703837004575013221708478134.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_opinion
Lanny, Lanny, Lanny. You used to be one of those I thought of favorably. Why do you and all of the elite Dems feel you must protect this undemocratic man you have elected? Because he is half AA? Because you are afraid of being a “racist”? Because you want a job?
RUSH LIMBAUGH URGING HILLARY TO MAKE A MOVE AGAINST OBAMA!!!!
HE SAYS TAKE IT !!!!
Hades is a skating rink.
I’m sure he’d love to watch the infighting for 3 years. I daresay Hillary will be taking advice from Limbaugh though.
Yeah. HRC will listen to Limbaugh and ignore WJC, for sure.
wow reading this site is an eye opener. Republican “moles” on NPR? So much for democracy and civil discussion. What all your type can never see past(narcissism makes you tone deaf) is that the world does NOT share your every opinion. And it can’t always be quickly dismissed as “racist” “ignorant” “red neck christians” and whatever other non thinking stereotype you always resort to. If having balanced views on a public funded radio station is too much to handle, build a time machine and go back to a commune in the sixties where you won’t have to “tolerate” “diversity” of opinion. It would be a nicer world if everyone thought JUST LIKE YOU, wouldn’t it….
Hello conservative troll, take your frustration to my blog
http://afrocityblog.wordpress.com/
where it belongs. I am a conservative PUMA. I understand some of the points in your rant, I am not going to stand by and watch you dis’ my sisters. PUMAs were all called racist during 2008, they are the last people play those dirty tricks on others.
Did you eat paint chips as a kid?
Che, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection.
Yes. As a matter of fact it would.
I can see that republicans are much more tolerant of different opinions. You have shown me the light, you and Rush limbaugh.
Well, yeah, it world would have been a better place if it had listened to us. But just so you know we are not against diversity of opinion, I find Juan Williams, the NewHour, Charles Krauthammer and others more of that persuasion ok pundits. But news and opinion are still two different things and good news services are hard to come by. Even BBC has a spin cycle.
Please note that those more conservative pundits are weighed with more liberal resources here and other ports.
When you spend your time criticizing the messenger, maybe you don’t really have anything to say.
Reading threads and comments today, I am amazed at all of the Hillary “supporters” who sound like Rush or Glenn Beck. There is no fucking way that a Hillary supporter can say that Obama is a Socialist or is taking the country too far left.
I have followed Hillary’s career for almost thirty years and she is a true liberal. At the most fundamental level, she believes that the intelligent use of the power of “government” can improve the lives of individual Americans. This philosophy is a total anathema to Rethugs and wing-nuts posing as big fans of Hillary.
I agree Hillary is a true liberal, and also in your definition. Until the “progressives” showed up and badly obscured the point, the role that government can and should play in our lives was the defining difference between conservatives and liberals.
But there are lots of other things about Clinton that are attractive to more conservative-leaning folks, too. That’s part of the reason why she always polled better than Obama against McCain (even up until the day before the 2008 election). So I think they can be Hillary supporters. On the socialism thing, no, Obama’s no socialist, unless they mean a “lemon socialist”, where the government assumes all the risk and the bonus class get all the benefits.
SHV,
I respectfully disagree. I am a conservative PUMA and so is ElderJ and Roses and Karagush. Obama is too far left and I do not take kindly to you equating any conservatives to news and radio personalities anymore than I would call PUMAs or all Democrats the likes of Chris Matthews or Keith Olbermann.
My comment above about Rush is only because I was listening and he said that Hillary should poise herself for a run against Obama.
Your party has proven that you don’t know how people think. So stop assuming.
I’m not sure left or right really apply to the current clusterf*cktastrophe. The HCR bill is simply something that does not *work*. There’s a few ways to solve that problem–I’m partial to single payer, which likely puts me to the left of you–but selling the whole population to the insurance companies is neither left nor right, it is merely corrupt.
I agree with your analysis. And it is not just hcr—it is the stimulus bill, the bailouts, security issues—0s policies are just an incoherent mess where he thinks he can forge some common ground and basically winds up with a corrupt and unworkable solution for all.
When people say Obama is too far left, what do they mean? I really haven’t seen him do much but sellout policies to special interests and put just about every issue on the back burner. I really can’t say I see anything too far left. And I respect your opinion I just want to know where you and others are coming from when they say too far left.
Too far left how?
Snowe was his point woman on health care reform.
That isn’t left.
Afrocity…No disrespect but seriously, you’ve got to be kidding.
Where can I get one of those cards?
I print them in my basement. Any color preference?
Pink or Red will do.
great post…imo, NPR ‘s shift started after the ’94 elections when the GOP was making nosies of handing over the PBS stations to Rupert Murdoch in return for a few box tops…NPR got the message right quick…actual reporters and the CEO were replaced with GOP hacks etc. They were a leader in the Gore bashing…on and on. They practically invented the concern troll ! lol!
Sometimes, I have to wonder about your personal safety in a room with sharp objects.
Well, that made me snort my tea.
Oh, and “che” – you’re obviously new and I’m in a mellow mood, so I’ll try to keep the derisive laughter down to snickers. Our “type” here on TC aren’t the ones who call people we disagree with r acists or rednecks; you want DKos or DU for that. We’re the type who got called r acists and rednecks and low-information voters bitterly clinging to our guns and Bibles. You might want to update your bookmarks.
For the record, I AM a redneck.
I’m minty-fresh green.
After 8 years of W and 1 of O, I am usually puke green.
This is from the best analysis I read today
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/mass-j20.shtml
I heard Cramer predict that too but I think Wall Street is actually down today.
I’m sure the health care companies are sad they aren’t going to be getting their “free” money from the government.
boo. hoo.
🙂
Great post.
This is so dead-on. I also agree with jjmtacoma @ 12:24, about the need for liberal leaning action. After the way the Democrats have behaved for the past 3 years, the liberal leaning messaging isn’t enough–not if the clothes have no emperor.
just flipped past MSNBC and saw about 20 seconds of Axelrod telling Andrea Mitchell that voters were angry last night as they should be, acting as if Obama is on the same page as the voters. LOL
Seems Obama always agree with whoever seems to have the upper hand. I remember him agreeing with Hillary a lot in the debates.
Gibbs in the press conference today said the anger of the voters is not because the are angry at the failures of the administration, but because the administration has not communicated effecively how wonderful they are.
Oh goody. May we expect more speeches?
“Too far left” is what’s known as a “meme.” It’s the fake story that the Creepy Corporate Cabal is pushing to hide what is actually happening: Putting a Bush-like tool in charge to return power to the Republicans.
Anyone who bothered researching Obama before the elections knew this would happen. That’s why we didn’t vote for Barry.
Every frickin’ chance you get, call people out on the “too far left” bull$#!t. As I said earlier, continuing illegal wars, giving money to banks and Big Pharma, and not doing all you can to save the planet is TOO FAR RIGHT!! And Obama being too far right is why Coakley lost en Mass.
Yes, I do think a blue state is not pissed off because the leaders went too far right. That is a very complicated equation to figure out though. Requires 11 dimensional chess plus advanced calculus.
Obama is a brand. Period. When you stop thinking of him as a president who has a certain set of skills and expertise, leaning left or right and start thinking of him as the new world image of America, it saves alot of heartburn. He’s merely an image, promoted, and fawned over much like the latest Mercedes, 50 inch TV, or pharmaceutical designed to make your life “better”.
He’s no Bill Clinton and isn’t capable of triangulating. And quite franking, I don’t think he cares. He enjoying play POTUS. And unfortunately all of us are at risk.
But there are lots of other things about Clinton that are attractive to more conservative-leaning folks, too.
************
I guess standing on the sidelines and watching the Rethugs attack her for more than twenty-five years, gives me a different perspective. I guarantee that if Hillary had won the Dem nomination, the vicious poison from the Rethugs would have made the current attacks against Obama look pitiful. For the right-wing, “Hillary” is like scratching fingernails on a black board.
no tso anymore. sure they would have attacked her but they also have respect for her. Had she gotten the nomination she would have won against McCain by even bigger numbers. That is what the exit polls said and I believe it. The story that Hillary is too divisive and Joe sixpack won’t vote for her is sexist bullshit. So I hope that is not where you are going with this.
Repubs I know and were supportive of HRC in the primaries came to admire her courage, liked her strength, respected that she stayed with her marriage, remembered the prosperity and budget surplus of WJC—-and they liked her pro-choice mantra: abortion, safe, legal, rare.
Hillary’s performance in the primaries changed alot of peoples views on her. Their was a tremendous amount of admiration for her from the right. The fighting spirit she displayed and her ability to communicate with working class people raised her appeal even to people who were fundamental opposed to most of her positions. She appealed to people the way FDR appealed to people.
I think the Obot view is that liberal positions are things it is okay to hold in the abstract, but one must never ever actually fight for, because you might lose. That is somewhat different from Obama’s view, where you must never ever fight for liberal positions out of fear they might not lose.
As for the Dems in congress, Lambert has compared them to the Washington Generals, but I don’t think that is quite correct. The Dems in Congress want to win elections, they just don’t know what for. Which is something of a handicap.
I’ve been getting (elsewhere) the common Obot cry of “the Clintons were no better!”
But what Bill Clinton tried (and mostly failed) to do was to find common ground between the Blue Dogs and the rest of the Dems.That’s very different than Obama’s attempt to find common ground between the Blue Dogs and the GOP.
Assuming that were true (it’s not) that’s a piss-poor defense of Mr. One-derful.
Obama was supposed to be a once in a lifetime “game-changer” who led a “movement” that was going to change politics forever. He was the reincarnation of Abe Lincoln, he was the fulfillment of MLK’s dream.
Its sort of like when the obots can’t justify yet another campaign broken promise (aka “lie”) and say things like “well, bush was just as bad or worse”. nice endorsements from his supporters 🙂
he was Zombie Reagan
The authors of Game Change were on Cspan a few days ago. They said that Bill wanted to challenge the caucus results; hire lawyers and really fight it. But Hillary’s staff was against it. They said they interviewed people that were “close to the cmapaign” and no one felt Bill was right. I found this hard to believe unless they were all moles.
They also said that among the candidates they found that the perception and the reality of BO was narrower than any other candidate. They felt all the others were distracted with trying to keep other things in check. What about the legal team working behind the scene to keep his records closed?
I am sick of these people.
and we now know some of her staff were traitors. They weren’t looking out for her interest, they were looking out for their own.
I sensed a change in the tone of mr. axel-rove this morning. My guess is that they are now going to try and morph this WH into one akin to Bill Clinton’s 2nd term (only, they are only on their 2nd year). Not so sure they are going to be succesful…President Clinton instinctively knows how to reach people, make people feel like their issues are important, that THEY are important, regardless of whether he thinks they are or not. He can charm his enemies, Obama seems to annoy even his allies.
They talk the talk, but they don’t walk the walk.
They CAN’T walk the walk–not like Big Dawg.
they don’t even talk the talk properly — they telegraph that they will talk the talk in the next Greatest Speech Evah but all Obama does is create strawman arguments out of the opposition on the left and right and then talk about bipartisanship/unity for the sake of itself.
Obama is still crawling and will be for another couple years. The best thing he could do for himself and everyone else is admit he is way over his head and quit.
Same old same old:
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/01/voters-be-damned-obama-plows-ahead-with-radical-agenda-will-nationalize-student-loan-industry/
Now that I have the advantage of hindsight, I think student loans are one of the worst things we ever came up with for higher education. We should be looking at how to keep the cost of higher education reasonable and affordable. Figuring out how to saddle our youth with 100,000 debts seems to be dumber than dumb no matter how cheap the interest is. Student loans were non-existent in my college days and I had no idea how lucky I was. The only thing i would support is micro lending to help a college student start a business to pay for college. Otherwise put our energy into getting to free tuition.
Well, the problem is the cost of college is so high now that without them no one would be able to go to college without them. When I was in school there was a much lower cap on the amounts one could borrow, so while I graduated with debt it wasn’t that bad. Even state schools are really expensive for an average family (here, anyway).
Secondary schooling increases caused by loans and grants are why I am not keen on the panacea that subsidies are the answer for health care. All throwing money at the problem did for secondary education was increase cost.
Journalism used to be a working class job, but the days of working your way up from copy boy are long gone. No one just attends junior college, starts writing for the local paper while in the Army and works his way up to columnist for a major daily, in the manner of Mike Royko. Nowadays you have to be the product of a fancy J-school to get in on the ground floor. That takes parents with money or a crushing debt load. The former means you’re sheltered, the latter means you’re indentured.
Hardening class barriers, I think, explains the shift in the media’s perspective as much as anything else.
What I’d like to clear out of NPR and all media are any propaganda operators for one gang (i.e., party) or another. I’m fine with liberal and conservative people in the media. But I would like to see some integrity and truth telling. Dig down, get to real issues, read between the lines of the pols, and explain things. None of this obvious talking points and lying crap that we see on MSNBC and FOXNEWS. Jeebus they both make me sick. It’s not that CNN is better, but they’re so inept they don’t even rise to the other two. 🙂 NPR used to be good and nice and dry and just the facts ma’am, but they’ve fallen into the creepy tank lately.
Na ga happen.
The media serve the people who pay them. Who owns the media?
Poo. OK, then let’s line them up. Time for a revolution.
Hmm, revolutionary talk coming from someone who says “poo” maybe isn’t really that intimidating. 🙂
No shit?
it’s more effective than saying everyone in DC gets wee weed up in August
OMG, u guys are killing me.
DT,
To be taken seriously you’ll have to double down…poo poo!
🙂
NPR is only for Obama these days, so wherever BO goes they follow, even if that’s to center right. And they’ve never really had time for the working class, not their demo, so that works out for them too. Self satisfied elitists who think they are liberal, just like BO. Bit harsh, but on politics that’s where they are imo.
journalism is a dead language. print media will be gone within a few years, you can’t control online media, the public can’t discern between a blog written by a 15 year old in his parent’s basement and an editorial in the wash post anymore.
Which says more about the quality of thought at the WaPo than anything else.
The worst post RD ever wrote is better than anything ever written by MoDo or Frank Rich.
President Clinton instinctively knows how to reach people, make people feel like their issues are important, that THEY are important,
***********
Having met him a few times, years ago, he has an amazing ability to do that; I have never experienced the same “ability” before or since.
ABC news – George S. interviewed Obama for broadcast tonight .
Story commenting on the interview: “President Obama warned Democrats in Congress today not to “jam” a health care reform bill through now that they’ve lost their commanding majority in the Senate, and said they must wait for newly elected Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown to be sworn into office.”
To those who said they thought the WH wanted to lose the MA senate seat – is this proof?
Now he’s setting himself up as an antagonist to Congress?
Hey! It’s getting way too crowded here under the bus!
I personally don’t think he cared one way or another.
It isn’t like he has shown an unwillingness to work with Republicans before now. What’s one more?
I actually feel for the LGBT community because I get the impression that they will get tossed under the bus at the soonest opportunity if it means getting Brown’s vote.
I was thinking maybe Barney Frank, but that’s just me he has been being bullied to strip out the teeth of Wall Street reform by OBambi pols….
but, but, but—-I thought 0 deperately wanted that bill on his desk like, yesterday last summer? before those tea partier townhalls even?
Wait, didn’t he just say pretty much the opposite, that Congress should find the elements everyone ‘coalesced’ around (which is no elements, actually) and pass something?
Why can’t he ever say anything in a straightforward manner?
The complaint is not that he is to far left or right, it is a judgment by the electorate, a disgust, at the inept corruption of the Obama Administration as a result of his deeds and lack of ability. He has the Chicago thugs sitting in the WH undercutting Party politician poloicy with back room deals crushing under the bus if they don’t worship at the altar of O, think Dorgan Pharma. Half of Goldman Sachs at the Treasury possibly the main corporation whose high risk antics greatly contributed to the economic crisis and are still doing so. Not to mention buying Senators votes, union votes, minority voters and all in plain site and on our own China owned dime. And he still has the unprecedented gall to lecture the rest of us about his unprecedented wonderfulness and scold our shortcomings.
He will keep the Party fringe 35 percent maybe of the base as Bush did but he won’t be reelected. And we are screwed, as we knew we would be if he was elected.
No ones coming back, their not going to get back on their feet, Obama is a lame duck.
Harry Reid just said no senate vote to take place before Brown is sworn in. I’m beginning to think dems are going to use Scott Brown as an excuse to kill the bill.
good! it should have died already. they need to start from scratch and craft one with citizens rather than insurance companies in mind.
I read on corrente that Weiner was on tv yesterday saying scrap Obamacare altogether and tack a Medicare expansion onto the jobs bill. If DC had a clue, that’s what they would do.
There’s no way to fund that without a massive increase in payroll taxes. I guarantee you that hardworking Americans don’t want that and they would punish any politician foolish enough to support it.
So how did we fund the Wall Street bailout?
Borrowed money, basically, in the form of treasury bills. Unless you re-write the funding mechanism for Medicare, there’s no way to expand coverage without taking more out in the form of payroll taxes.
I propose we auction off Chicago to the highest bidder and use that to fund medicare expansion.
Who in their right minds would want Chicago? 😛
we could always close gitmo and shut down the wars.
Jangles,
That’s just crazy talk!
🙂
There are hardworking Americans across the political spectrum. I’m sure most right wingers would oppose a Medicare expansion, but I think moderates and disaffected Democrats would support it, and even a few conservatives too.
Let the right-wingers tell their elderly parents that they are supporting commy socialism by accepting Medicare in the first place.
I think a viable, robust, and uncorrupted public option would sale through the next time. Good policy will start with a seat at the table.
Honestly, I’m not so sure they would at this point. Once you blow credibility as badly as Obama and congress have done, you have to do something to restore that trust before the populace is willing to give you the keys to more spending.
It pains me to say it, because if they had lobbied for an Medicare expansion, even a gradual, phased-in one, from the beginning, they could have done it easily. But they BLEW it. I think that HCR is dead as a doornail for now, other than doing things that are truly budget-neutral. They could impose limits on insurance companies, pre-existing condition bans, price-controls, etc.
But there is no way in hell that the majority of the general populace is going to trust them to handle an entitlement expansion. Not now. That’s just the political reality.
Question: How can we even consider an expansion in Medicare when it already has $40 Trillion in unfunded mandates?
Well, the payroll tax increase would be more than offset by not having to pay insurance premiums. There was a lot of support for those few fly-by moments when the Democrats started talking a Medicare buy-in, but of course they dumped that right quick. SO I think you’re right.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/82695.html
Why public support for health care overhaul faltered
good summary
sure there is Emily, you take what is being spent now and you move that money from payments to insurance companies to payments to medicare funding.
Medicare for all would be less expensive for everyone, people and corporations alike. Expanding medicare is the first step to real HCR, to expanded entrepreneurship, to jobs coming back to the country and to less cost to everyone for their Health care.
I’d totally be willing to have another 2-3% taken out of a check if it gave access to Medicare at 55.
There is a way to fund it. Seniors right now get Part A – Hospital Insurance. That is all we get (for free) for our life time contributions – in my case over $50,000 paid in. It is 80/20 coverage with $1,035 a year deductible. I am 65. The younger clients can pay a little bit for Part A or just increase the deductible for under 65.
Part B – Medical Insurance. Right now seniors pay $110.00 a month if they made less than $85,000 in 2008. If you made more you pay more for this 80/20 coverage. The deductible is $135 a year. So for younger people just increase the monthly Part B amount that you pay to the federal government or increase the deductible.
Seniors who did not work for 10 years and did not pay into medicare plan can still buy into it by paying higher monthly premiums.
Most seniors buy a private insurance medigap policy to cover the deductibles and 20% exposure anyway. Younger people can do the same. Insurance companies should be busy developing new products to cover the gaps instead of working against medicare for all.
Meanwhile – I am still working so medicare contributions are still deducted from my paycheck. So every quarter in advance I send medicare a check for three months premiums and then that second hit comes from my paycheck. It see the payroll deduction as my contribution to someone else not yet on medicare.
It actually comes from Obama
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Politics/president-obama-scott-brown-massachusetts-victory/story?id=9611222
Yes, Mr. President, MA voted for Brown because they are mad at Bush!
It has nothing to do with the fact that you campaigned for President to fix Bush’s mess and have proceeded to make the mess 100x worse.
The Blame Bush crap is getting really old. People are sick to death of that crutch and excuse.
and it dosen’t work he is gone.
I had thought that Bush 2 would go down as the worst President of all time, but Barry really is trying hard for that title.
His arrogance seems to make it impossible for him to see that we’re smarter than he thinks.
omg—even Scott Brown is about The One! Get truckin Baby Barack; get yourself a pickup.
During the primaries Obama avoided blaming any of the epic mess on Republicans, it was all Clinton’s fault, of course. Then it was all hopey dopey bipartisanship, still not admitting to the obstructionism.
Now’s a little late to try to whip up support for this sudden new narrative, Barack. Dems, they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
WOW!
Is Obama relieved that the Dems lost one seat in the senate? He sounds like that to me.
At least now nobody can blame the Dems that they do nothing because with such a huge loss (one seat !!!) they will not be able to get anything done anymore. What a relief the Dems must feel. At least they don’t have the Supermajority in the senate anymore. They couldn’t handle all that power and the WH couldn’t handle it either. They don’t want it.
And please, Dems should wait for Brown to get sworn in ? CorporationObama, you are so transparent.
No way will Obama be Prez in four years.
Here’s a great headline from The Voice
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/01/scott_brown_win.php
Scott Brown Wins Mass. Race, Giving GOP 41-59 Majority in the Senate
ROFL!
OMG, are they writing fir The Onion?
new thread up top and please help us welcome Wonk the Vote to the Front page!!!
Oh you poor crybaby progressives! You claim there isn’t an easy way to get your information in a nice packaged form
like people of different ideologies. Au contraire! You do! Check out this link:
http://www.democracynow.org/
You’re welcome, in advance.
I’m not a crybaby progressive, I’m a laughing liberal.
We don’t want our information packaged.
Barack Obama is no Bill Clinton. Check this out:
http://www.breitbart.tv/flashback-how-did-bill-clinton-respond-to-voter-revolt-of-1994/
LOL! “Gemocratic”
RD!
I’ve never subscribed to commercial teevee. I’m so out of it. I know Tweety and Olbermann through teh blogs. I tend to take the ADHD approach to finding info on the webz. Usually come up with an eclectic mix of more or less pertinent musings – all of it talking head stuff. Fine. I have my own principles and desires and feel so cynical at this point – don’t think I could by swayed by any one of the propaganda outlets. I’m a sensitive person and imagine I’d be even more off my rocker by now if I tuned in to the airwaves on a daily basis. I get most of my news from the Google assortment machine and public radio, teevee.
It would be a cake walk for the Dems if they’d just state some principles and stick with them. Good gawd. It’s too simple. Why do people want to complexify everything? Money. Hard, cold cash. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
I really don’t understand why they’re going down with the ship like this. They don’t even need to fix healthcare. They could focus on something else. Just cut Obama loose and do something. Play back at the Republicans. Develop an agenda. Stick to it. It’s not that hard. Yeah, they’re corrupt, but haven’t they got any survival instincts? Can’t they see The Village hasn’t got a clue?
Like I’ve told my right-wing pals, at the very least Dems have to do something for the working folks, or they couldn’t call themselves Dems. Guess that’s no longer the case. Brave new world.