Discuss.
Update on the debt ceiling debacle: The cloture vote failed in the Senate. Harry Reid has let everyone go until later this afternoon.
So, to recap, the “compromise bill” was about as ugly as it could be, Republicans got just about everything they wanted including all cuts and no revenue increases and a SuperCongress committee (to which no one we know belongs) to make future cuts to things like entitlements and mortgage interest deductions, and it *still* wasn’t good enough.
This is a coup, plain and simple.
Filed under: General | Tagged: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, primary 2008 |
The Confluence 
And it matters who counts the votes more than who casts the votes.
Amen.
And who’s appointed to the Rules committee.
And what the media chooses to report and ignore, as well as how they spin it.
When the 2008 Florida primary was held the media refused to call it a primary and referred to it as a “presidential preference poll.” I have yet to see any major media coverage of caucus fraud.
I’m beginning to think Hillary won after all. As long as she’s at State, the domestic s%& doesn’t really hurt her and the world *loves* her.
Now, she has executive experience. They can’t use that against her anymore.
To what end, RD? The Democrats in the Senate and the House have been co-opted in this monstrously bad deal. They can’t turn on Obama without admitting that they helped him to destroy the national economy and the social safety net. Hillary won’t have a chance of challenging him in ’12.
We’ll be back in the Dark Ages by 2016 no matter who’s elected in ’12. Obama won’t protect the people who matter to us any better than any of the GOP nutjobs will. The war on women and the middle class is half won. Over the next four years of a broken economy and and a government filled with Democrats who act like abused dogs terrified of their Republican masters, we’ll be well on our way to third world status.
Could even Hillary bring us back from that?
In 1964, there was a wave election that reduced the Republicans in Congress down to a number so small that they were incapable of interfering. That’s when Medicare finally got passed with Lyndon Johnson’s advocacy.
There’s a pretty good chance that next year will be another wave election but this time, the incumbents will be thrown out en masse. We don’t know what will replace them but I can pretty much tell you now that Obama will have zero coattails in 2012. No Democrat is going to want to campaign with him. So, where does that leave the party?
Broken or suddenly wiiiiide awake.
At this point, Hillary is probably the ONLY Democratic leader who could turn this around. If there is no Democratic primary, Obama plays defense for the rest of his term. Think about it.
Oh my fantasy– Obama does an LBJ!
Maybe he won’t have any choice in the matter.
Actually, I was told that the DNC has been getting emails from the public asking for them to primary O and draft Hillary for quite a while.
Hillary would not and could not remain on the domestic stage once it was clear the Dem nomination and therefore the WH, would be stolen from her. She went where her gifts can be appreciated .That is , everywhere else but here. She had to leave the domestic stage…because she could neither sell the shit down down..or would be allowed to fight it…like if she remained in the Senate
But I bet it was great in 2010 when she did not have to go to every chicken shit Dem race that needed her campaign rainmaking abilities.( and that would all of them) ..like she has done since she and Bill got into the WH…Hillary was tireless there too…and what did it get her from the SOB’s ( well some said loyal as long as they could )
We have had three cooked Presidential elections in a row…. I don’t think the system will go back to real ones…willingly
And the de facto world leader, Sarkozy, loves working with her; even has a photo of her in his office!
The Australians love her too.
Remember this clip from her visit? I can’t find the one where the news anchors are totally smitten and wonder out loud how we could have been stupid enough to pass her up:
Oh….sigh.
Love that clip … does she even sport a bit of an Australian accent? 🙂
Actually whenever I see footage of her, whether with Foreign Minister colleagues, PMs, Presidents, royalty or “regular” people …or Hamish and Andy, whether with ally or adversary, whether one-to-one or in groups, she always seems to have this almost magical ability to make the people she’s with feel at ease, comfortable, relaxed.
Also, wherever she goes, if at all possible, she always makes it a point to meet with, and thereby direct attention to, women, children, youngsters. There’s no doubt she genuinely cares especially for those groups in society … worldwide.
Sarko the de facto leader? My French husband and I have been puzzling over this for a day.
Sarkozy seems to be at the center of the big decisions with Merkel not far behind. The US president? nowhere in sight.
We’re definitely being cooked here with McConnell looking like the cat who ate the canary and the Dems looking like POW’s. They’ll ram all of these poison pills down the public’s throat, while singing sweetly how it’s for our own good.
When the nomination was stolen from Hillary Clinton, I remember thinking: we’re witnessing a coup, a deliberate upending of the political process. It was just the next stealthy step from the constant harangue against Bill Clinton, the 2000 election steal, the 2004 loosey-goosey ballots in Ohio and now this: a total fraud, another frontman in the WH.
This is going to take more than an election to solve.
The primaries woke me up.
After 35+ years of blindly following the Democratic Party,
working GOTV, petitions, marching…It was all :”The ‘other side’ was bad. The dems. = good.”
By February ’08, it was abundantly clear to me that the media darling, O, was stealing Hillary’s notes and had no original thoughts of his own.
He was uh-ing and stuttering and dems from Teddy to Richardson were selling the lame “great orator” myth. ( Go back and watch those early debates. O was a terrible speaker. He took forever to say nothing)
So, as I saw the cheating and the lies coming from my own side, my eyes opened wide, and I tore off the rose tinted glasses.
Yes primaries do matter.
From that point, I became a more informed voter.
Civics class taught that one of the requirements of a Democracy is an informed public.
Generally, tho, the bulk of US population can’t name the Vice Pres. name so we are not a very well informed public.
Remember, we do get the leaders we deserve.
Hillary needs to stay out of national politics. As SOS she has found that, globally, she really can rock the place,and make huge strides without all the petty crap.
She is above all that sniping now.
I think about the accumulated knowledge and personal connections that woman has and am awed. You just know she has a fabulous memory and top notch skills in critical thinking.
Add Bill into that and just…WOW
US doesn’t deserve Hillary as President.
(Applause!)
If the Republicans in Congress succeed in slashing the State Department budget as much as they want to, Hillary might not be able to afford to even go overseas.
Remember this, “How Obama Got Elected”, from 2008?
That was funny. The chick at the end cracked me up. ” I think I’m not as informed as I thought I was.” Ya think????
Sad, but true.
I can’t wait to see what she accomplishes with the HRC foundation for the global welfare of women and children she’ll be sure to start.
I’ve always felt that she and WJC are such forces of good in this sad, old world.
Personally I hope the GOP continues to block a deal; given the deal that is on the table that should be the Democrat’s job, but if they won’t do it, I’m glad someone is.
One good coup deserves another, I guess.
Democrats lose both times.
Hmm… remember that private meeting at Diane’s house?
Yep, I still think it went like this:
O: how would you like the VP slot?
H: um, I’d rather have state.
O: i was kinda saving that for Biden
H: yeah, but Biden didn’t just whup your ass.
Hmm… remember that private meeting at Diane’s house?
I was thinking it would be
H: I’ll let you have the first four, then clean up the mess in the next four…
This is a coup, plain and simple.
It’s Bambi’s Mission Accomplished moment.
Absolutely! He should toss on a flight suit.
Yes, indeed. It’s a coup by radicals — and Obama is Neville Chamberlaiin.
“The lowest level of domestic spending since the Eisenhower administration.”
Lovely.
Oh, this is hilarious.
Jonathan Alter saying the forces of compromise won. The compromise being that there was a debt ceiling increase and no tax increases?
Apparently, Obama has actually been allowing Alter to blow him.
The “new coalition” of “Democrats” has collapsed. The old one is not going back to the table. The Democratic party is as corrupt as the GOP. This “deal” is nonsense. The debt ceiling has always been raised without any cuts to spending. Spending and taxation have always been dealt with as a seperate matter. Obama has given in to the demands of the right wing once again, or perhaps is one of them.
Obama is and has been owned by the GOP Lock, stock and barrel….:-(
From the beginning and so we have had 11 years of GOP rule… and this is where its brought us
DNC: 202-863-8000
for “contributions” 877-336-7200
The entire debt ceiling “crisis” was a mummer’s farce (to borrow from George RR Martin) and the fix was in at least since that golf game between Obama and the Majority Leader. The rest was theater, to distract attention from Obama and the Democratic leadership selling out all Democratic principles. And this was not something Obama was forced to do-it was what he always wanted to do.
But not just any old golf game. I’m sure they played 11-dimensional golf. 😉
Yep pure theatre.
[…] wonder what Michael Moore thinks? The feminists for Hillary are outraged. This is a coup, plain and […]
We are well on our way to privatization, deregulations, and a firm control of both the fundies and the corporations.
Those of a certain age will suffer the most followed by low income families and the sick. The middle class will soon follow this trajectory when they lose well paying jobs and will only be able to find one paying at a much lower rate of pay.
Unions are on the chopping block. Education is being eviscerated. Healthcare cost will continue to soar in order to meet the bottom line and increase bonuses paid out paper shufflers with the power to approve or deny.
Infrastrucure across the nation will begin to resemble inner city Detroit and fast rail service plans will all but disappear. Clean air and water along with the food supply will be put at further risk since oversight by the FDA and EPA will be gone.
Poverty will rise at a staggering rate as those “jobs” become scarce since most companies will be unable to meet payroll due to a lack of buying power on the part of an already suffering public.
Does it get anymore dire than these predictions? Most of our savings will be eaten up just by trying to maintain and pay local taxes which are sure to rise since the federal government will no longer be able to provide relief due to Draconian measures.
And all for what? An election in 2012 that will more than likely bring on another nutjob ignoramus with little sense of history or empathy for serving the common good.
Elections due count and the one in 2008 offered up the most ineffective Democrat to ever be elected in decades.
Unfreakenbelievable. I’ll just continue to “pray my way” out of this mess since this is what has been suggested by another wingnut in Texas who may or may not challenge President Indifferent and who may possibly win.
Could even Hillary bring us back from that?
YES!!!!!! 🙂
US doesn’t deserve Hillary as President.
we deserve the best and that is Hillary!!!!! 🙂
“There’s a pretty good chance that next year will be another wave election but this time, the incumbents will be thrown out en masse. We don’t know what will replace them”
TEA Party candidates will replace them. You can disagree with the TEA Party veiws all you want but you have to give them credit for getting involved in primaries and asserting their will upon the GOP.
I don’t see any scenario where the Democrats come out ahead. I don’t think the damage that Obama has done to the party can be overstated.
The Tea Party is run by maniacs and cheered on by some very confused people. When the cuts start digging deep and the kids’ schools drop their language department (true story, it happened at my cousin’s school in Pennsylvania) and your local taxes go up and you can’t find a state worker to help you do anything, or when you do find them, they’re miserable, you can thank the tea party. In fact we’ll all thank the tea party. Personally. The tea party people will not be able to go anywhere without someone wanting to give them a good piece of their minds.
BTW, I’m unemployed through no fault of my own or my other colleagues in the R&D industry who are suffering through Pharmageddon. This bill does less than nothing to put us back to work. Zero. Zip. Nada. When I was working, I paid enough in taxes to support a family of four. Yes, it’s a shock to see that on the W-2 but I didn’t mind paying it because I knew what it meant to the rest of the country. (NJ property taxes are a different animal since the we don’t need to fund the state this way when there are som many alternatives that dont penalize homeowners).
But in any case, if you have a job, be thankful and STFU. If you don’t, and you’re not independently wealthy, I would seriously consider therapy. Poor, working class and middle class people who vote Republican are probably the most misinformed, gullible, tribal people on the planet.
That doesn’t excuse Democrats for their idiocy in foisting Obama on us but seriously, dude, it’s the Republicans that are making it hard for the middle class. Don’t kid yourself. This is a Republican bill. It was totally unnecessary. It’s going to hurt a weak economy in disastrous ways for just about everyone but the rich. I wouldn’t crow about how successful the tea party is. You should be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.
And we don’t know what tomorrow will bring but Obama has lost the support of just about everyone in the party. There will be some kind of eveluation of his future after this. Count on it.
Let’s just concede that Social Security is an “entitlement” program. That means that all the contributions paid since its inception were actually a euphemistically named income tax on earnings up to $90,000 annually. Now, calculate the true tax rate on every bracket and I’m sure we’ll see that the lowest earners have been paying, by far, the highest tax rate for the greater part of the last century.
The graph that illustrates that deserves to go viral!
Speaking of coups, do you know about the one in 1933 called the “Businessman’s Plot”? A group of Wall Street bankers and corporate leaders, including Prescott Bush and many other well known Americans, decided US interests would be better served with a fascist form of government similar to Hitler and Mussolini. The man they approached to lead a veteran’s march on Washington to take control of the government was a highly decorated general named Smeadley Butler who made that infamous comment about war being a racket. Butler informed the Congress, crushing the plot. Congress held investigations and found the story to be true, and then quietly filed it away. None of the big names were even indicted, let alone tried for treason as they ought to have been. History is full of stories like this and the last three elections, but we live in an anti-intellectual culture, where consumption trumps reflection, and irrational exuberant piety is applauded as genuine American patriotism. It’s pretty gross. Add to that corporate control of the media, especially the raunchy model of 24/7 faux selling news agendas Murdock introduced as fair and balanced reporting. Throw in the notion that one of the few industries that create products these days is PR, Marketing and Advertising who are briliant brand builders, well versed in the art of creating alluring deceptions that promise hope. We are being sold and duped 24/7 and we sit glued in front of our media hoping to catch a kernal of truth we can build a story that makes sense out of what’s going on.
I thought the Bush-Gore election was definitely a coup. I don’t understand why people didn’t take to the streets then. I participated in my caucus and was horrified to see what the O people in my precinct were doing. We sued for the seat they stole and were able to recover it but under many threats from some of the top trial attorneys in the city. Clearly they and the bankers were financing his rise. Still can’t figure out who the kingmakers/puppeteers are though. Clearly GWB, another empty suit, was also their pick. I don’t buy that it’s Soros. I do believe the Koch boys have funded the Tea Party movement and the tea party are pushing their agenda, which is privatize, deregulate, and monetize everything we need to exist.
I don’t get how so few greedy and corrupt people can hold an entire nation hostage. On her radio show this morning Diane Rehm asked why people aren’t rising up and marching on DC. It’s a good question. People on both sides of this debate are furious and hurting, and we are all hoping and praying something good will come out of this. I guess religion really is the opiate of the people.
Riverdaughter, this is my first time to post, but I read and appreciate you and your perspective. Found your blog during the primaries and its the only one I read faithfully. I too was downsized and still have not found paid employment for three years. But am giving time to a non-profit, taking all my disparate experiences and pulling them together to create programs for kids.
What a mess we’re in! I don’t think Hillary would run against O. But I do think someone needs to be drafted and the party ought to be pressured to offer a Dem choice in the primary. But having said that, it won’t matter as the parties aren’t creating the agenda that’s driving the country. They are simply vehicles to contain populace sentiments and direct our energies in divisive ways that make sure we don’t unite and act in all our best interests.
Thanks for commenting, Jed. I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been downsized as well. I hope your work at the non-profit leads to something you enjoy and get paid for. It’s rough out there. You are in good company.