January 23, 2008 11:00 AM
Mike's Blog Roundup
Robert Reich's Blog: I remember watching Mr. Reich on 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos' several months ago. George Will scoffed when Reich flatly predicted stated the country was headed for a recession. Here, the former Labor Secretary examines the politics of an economic nightmare
James Fallows: The best thing I didn't see on the Fox News Channel
Mick LaSalle: Barbara Stanwyck for president
Bloggingheads.tv: Will Wilkinson with guest Jonah Goldberg...Jonah talkin' a lot of sh*t out the side of his neck.
Alternate Brain: Pentagon vs White House. You wont be seeing this in any American 'media'...
Consortiumblog: Any Democrat who uses the Reagan pander deserves to catch hell
Holy Fu*king Shit - talk about state-run TV
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,325234,00.html
Get the barf bags warmed up!
Huh. So it seems like the European stock market plunge on Monday and the emergency FOMC cut on Tuesday, was actually caused by one guy... and zOMFG he's French!! [insert GOP France bashing here]
Robert Reich was Secretary of Labor, not the Treasury.
The corporates have shut Dennis Kucinich out of the presidential primaries and now they are trying quiet his message by showing millions of dollars worth of slanderous commercials to try to keep him from being re-elected. Dennis Kucinich is one of the very few politicians that have been fighting against the corporates for the people. He has always protested our involvement in Iraq. He has promoted universal health care. He has championed the constitution. He has tried to bring the criminal Dick Cheney to justice. He is a true American hero.
Please consider donating to his re-election fund. The corporates want him silenced. Don't let this voice of the people to be muted by the corporates. Please help Dennis Kucinich to continue to help America.
I think that they invaded Iraq, not for the oil, but to raise the price of oil. Now of course, the prices are up, they want to steal the oil. Do you think for one minute, that if we had negociated for the sanctions to be lifted, that Saddam wouldn't have sold us the oil? Him selling us the oil would have kept the prices down to $20-30 a barrel. Now, on top of ripping us off at the pump, they want to control Iraqs oil also.
George Will - now there's one pasty old white guy that needs to spend a couple months sleeping under a bridge.
thanx for the alternate brain link. There's alot of marines who agree. I'm not a marine but, I know a few.
"Any Democrat who uses the Reagan pander deserves to catch hell"
Damn fine link. Exactly what I felt when I heard Obama's words. I'm SICK of hearing that bastard's name used in reverent tones. He ruined this country and his legacy has lived on through the last fifteen years.
How ya doin', America?
Secretary of Labor, not Treasury.
You know, people looking at the candidates running for election do not seem to be looking at the policies that the candidates wish to advance if they became President. This seems to be especially true for Republicans. Constantly, I am bombarded by those that criticize the Democratic candidates for proposing economic plans that they do not like. That is fine but at least the Democrats running at least have economic plans to offer the voters! Those plans may not work or may make matters worse for the economy but at least they have a plan that can be altered if needs be. It is difficult to say that for the Republicans though since many of them don't even have an economic plan to work with in the first place. This is especially true for John McCain. He makes many bold statements about what he wants to do and what he proposes to do but does not mention how he intends to do it. All he offers is simple rhetoric and leaves out the substance.
"George Will scoffed when Reich flatly predicted stated the country was headed for a recession."
The problem is, no one ever lost a job by predicting that a recession WOULDN'T happen.
George Will has no credibility as an economist. And yet, he's allowed to pontificate about the economy as if he has a clue. The truth is, George Will isn't an expert on anything but WRITING ABOUT STUFF!
I think the economy tanked earlier than they hoped. It will be hard for the Republicans to convince the majority of Americans that this is all Bill Clinton's fault.
There will be no recovery on the immediate horizon. This will take years to shake out, then we'll just have another little boom and big bust.
In other news, I made it on youtube for a bit I did at an open mic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q72qMphTzYQ
I'm tired of the lie that obama praised reagan's ideas. He correctly cited reagan's transformative power, which democrats have lacked- even Clinton, who if anything, partially appropriated Reagan's ideas, i.e. welfare reform and criminal justice.
How is it even in question that the republican party was the party of ideas in the 80s, 90s, and even today? They're the ones who have shifted the discourse in conservative directions, and the democrats have moved towards their positions. They've been more effective politicians! This is indisputable. Obama was saying that the left needs their own ideas to change the debate.
Clinton's totally, totally wrong on this one. She's doing what the republicans do: distort. Bill Clinton mis-characterizes Obama's positions.
She's destroying her candidacy. She may win the nomination- but this behavior will totally demoralize people who support Obama- who correctly feel that her lack of integrity amounts to spitting in their faces. I for one will be completely disgusted if she keeps this up, and will devote about 1/100th of the energy and money I would have if she had won an honorable campaign.
Joe O. @ 10:
This may also be true of their Democratic counterparts (as witnessed by Hillary Clinton's popularity), but I don't think the majority of Republican voters care too much about policy. I think they care about image and "winning."
We are taking the fight to the Bush-Democrats:
http://www.actblue.com/page/primariesmatter
Blackwater may have immunity from prosecution in Iraq.
BUT NOT HERE
Keep an eye on those blackwater planes.
http://blackwaterwatch.net
Where do the "Candidates" stand?
WHAT WILL THEY DO?
Continue the absence of accountability and their profiteering?
Is anyone surprised that Bush wanted the money from this 'Stimulus Package' to target the wealthy and big business?
Bud @ 1:
"I don't think about him much anymore." - George Bush on OBL.
I still believe that OBL has been dead since 2000.
I recommend spending as little as possible in the run up to the elections. The fact that droves of GOP-ers are dropping out of reelection races leads me to believe they are getting out of Dodge and handing the big shitpile over to the Democrats so they can point their fingers at them and scream that they did this.
Our job is to make the pain apparent before the big switchoff.
-GSD
Toney Tone @ 13:
I've been either an moderate supporter or an outright fan of pretty much every democratic presidential candidate (I'm talking everyone from Tsongas to Kerry) since the 1988 election. Some had very evident flaws, some would probably not have made for a good president, but I'd still have very little difficulty voting for them in the general election. Yet for some reason, I loathe Hillary Clinton. Why is that?
GSD @ 18:
I think you're on to something there.
marbotty @ 19:
sorry, mods, I'll cut back on the Hillary bashing (twice in one thread is probably overkill)
Scoffing is second only to smirking in Bushworld. NY Times star columnist William Kristol scoffed at the notion that Shiites and Sunnis wouldn't get along once Saddam was gone; scoffed at the idea that we'd occupy Iraq for more than a few months; scoffed at every true and accurate prediction made by progressives. (You can't even say Democrats since the Dems in congress voted in lockstep with the smirker-in-chief. I scoff at Hillary Clinton's run for president.
I think the Alternate Brain article is spot on. I was in the Marine Corps years ago and I have to say (knowing Marines as I do since I was one) that I doubt Colonel Coleman was so "nice" when he first heard Rice's comments. In fact, I bet his first reaction would have been to send a letter like this:
Secretary Rice,
With all do respect, your comments regarding my actions are as worthless as tits on bull. You have never served in any military capacity and have no knowledge of military strategy or tactics. If I wanted to listen to a novice's gripes I would have consulted my child's Kindergarden class. When you arrive at my level of military experience then I will take your criticism under advisement. Until that time though, you can just kiss my ass.
Weaseldog @ 17:
Actually, I think he's been dead since early 2002. He had poor kidneys, and needed dialysis in order to survive. Since he was hiding out in the remote parts of Afghanistan/Pakistan when we invaded Afghanistan, he couldn't get to such equipment, and it would be only a matter of weeks before he'd die.
I remember someone here posting a link to pictures of death announcements from that time.
Blue Buddha @ 24:
http://search.live.com/results.aspx?srch=105&FORM=IE7RE&q=Osama+dies+of+...
Toney Tone @ 13:
The problem was that Obama failed miserably to qualify and present the correct context for his remarks. For such as supposedly brilliant man, Obama only does well in scripted appearances... when left on his own devices he comes off as fairly moronic IMHO.
He is trying to have his cake (pander to the right wing with the Raygun wink wink...) and eat it too (have his supporters excuse it as a misunderstanding). I think the idiot thought he could pull it through. He is sounding way too conciliatory when we haven't even begun to fight the war. And at this point we need a fighter, not a surrender monkey... politically speaking.
The whole meme of "ideas" is moot, everyone has ideas. Carter had ideas, and much more in the ball park IMHO, than that senile piece of shit. All it would have taken for Obama was to say how Reagan did indeed bring change, but unfortunately was the wrong change and direction. But that would mean that Obama could not have used his words to pander to the right... so it is easier to leave them open, and then claim how he was "misunderstood."
Blue Buddha @ 24:
The main gripe I have is that Bush can come out and say how we are not going to catch Osama during his 8 years in office. And the right wing media is OK with it. As in "Oh, OK... that's cool"
So please tell me Georgie Bush, what exactly have you done in those 6+ yrs of war. A war which is now longer, and pretty much costlier that WWII for the American tax payer. We were able to help bring some nice can of ass whooping on the nazis, and we won over the Japanese empire in much less time. So after almost $1 trillion, all we have to show is a deposed syphilic tin can dictator, and we can't even catch a 6'4'' bearded asshole with bad kidneys.
I guess that Bush wanted to run the government like a business, but it is funny how this right wing media doesn't even want to bring a performance review on this asshole to even the slightest of considerations on their part.
This jackass has been a life long failure, and he has never had to answer for any of his fuckups. It was funny when it was somebody else's oil company, it has been down right scary for the better part of this decade however....
Fallows is consistenty sharp and witty. Good other stuff, too.
I realized yesterday that when Obama says he appreciates St. Ronnie's "transcending" political skills he actually admires how Reagan fooled millions of Reagan Democrats. (Quote was something about getting Dems to vote against their best interests. That's not a necessarily good thing, imho--but it may his game plan for '08....)
Neither Hillary or Obama will be getting my Independent vote. Obama revering Reagan made my blood boil and Bill ( a tired old man ) trying to get a third term outside the Constitution has done it for me.
Tyler Durden @ 26:
No, his context WAS correct, it's the editing of audio that is what is killing campaigns! Listen to any news or radio show! They take a sentence and bash someone for it, not bothering to hear the whole speech!
I am with Toney Tone I am like MANY democrats out there, anyone but Clinton. This is not a Monarchy! Hilary seemed to believe that she deserved to be the next nominee for prez, and now that the race is closer then she thought she is sicking the bi dog on Obama. I understand he is her husband, but he is also the former POTUSA and he is ruining his legacy. Personally I am for Edwards, but to see the Clintons divide the Democratic party like this is absolutely appalling. She is alienating so many dems that if she gets the nomination she will lose by more then 10%. We HAVE to get a dem in the White House, that is the most important thing. To do that we have to get independents to vote for our candidate and Obama and Edwards are the only two who can bring Independents over.
Obama must be a Lewis Black fan. He was just repeating Black's bit when, talking about the government he says, "Now, the Democrats are the party of no ideas, and the Republicans are the party of BAD ideas. So, one guy stands up in the senate and shouts, 'I've got a really bad idea!'. Then, another guy stands up and shouts, 'And I can make it sh*ttier!'" ;-)
Tyler Durden @ 26:
While I appreciate you reading his mind and determining that his motive was to pander, you still fail to concede that his words have been distorted and mis-represented. The clinton's fraudulent representation of his words had nothing to do with his lack of consideration about 'context.' The only reason he fell short here was to say something too outside of the box for the reactionary clinton forces to keep their distorting hands off of.
Idiot? Moronic? What? you've watched him speak and participate in the debates- and you would use those words to describe him?
I'm sorry, but Mick LaSalle is the worst...movie reviewer...ever. Sometimes I wonder if the Chronicle keeps him around so they have a feel for readership numbers. At least 25% of people who read his reviews are compelled to write in and complain that he is some kind of idiot.
Blue Lensman @ 6:
It's only a matter of time, methinks.
miss marple @ 30:
Pish tosh miss marple. You couldn't possible have written that without your tongue firmly in your cheek or your head up you b...
Hillary will be the next potus. Do you hear me. Hillary, not Bill. There both loving this and a huge chunk of America loves and trusts Hillary and rightfully so. They're the antidote for a poison that's dragged America into the gutter. Obama, bless him, couldn't be less up to the job at present. His time will come if he watches and listens for the next eight years to see how it's done.
Go team!
doggedly @ 36:
How do you defend their distortions of Obama's comments on Reagan? Is this what we can expect out the Clinton white house? Reminds me of Bush and Co.....They seem to administer the same poison as the GOP. THis episode is certainly poisonous.
Nobody Asked Me, But...: Special "WTF?" Edition
whipsmart @ 37:
How do you defend their distortions of Obama's comments on Reagan? Is this what we can expect out the Clinton white house? Reminds me of Bush and Co.....They seem to administer the same poison as the GOP. THis episode is certainly poisonous.
What distortions?
And I'd be happy to answer that if you'd be happy to answer Obama's distortions of Clinton's "fariy tale" comment with respect to playing the race card.
Obama's words were not taken out of context. He spoke, positively, of Reagan and is a smart enough politician (some might even say, sly politician) to know he was being taped. He had ample...AMPLE...opportunity to say "I disagree with his policies, but..." or some such conditional lead-in, but he glowed, hell, he practically ORGASMED in praise of Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich, and dissed the figurehead of the Democratic party, the last sitting President.
Obama picked this fight. The Clintons are notorious for putting their opponents away.
Now...you were going to defend the race card issue, right?
actor212 @ 39:
What distortions?
And I'd be happy to answer that if you'd be happy to answer Obama's distortions of Clinton's "fariy tale" comment with respect to playing the race card.
Obama's words were not taken out of context. He spoke, positively, of Reagan and is a smart enough politician (some might even say, sly politician) to know he was being taped. He had ample...AMPLE...opportunity to say "I disagree with his policies, but..." or some such conditional lead-in, but he glowed, hell, he practically ORGASMED in praise of Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich, and dissed the figurehead of the Democratic party, the last sitting President.
Obama picked this fight. The Clintons are notorious for putting their opponents away.
Now...you were going to defend the race card issue, right?
excuse me....defend the race card? Do I know you- have we talked before- that you're so knowledgeable about my views that you can assume I'm going to play the so-called 'race card'?
Are you seriously asking what distortions? Clinton's ads clearly suggest that obama was favorably comparing reagan's positions to clinton's! They claimed that Obama was praising Reagan's ideas- though Obama was stating that reagan and the republicans had ideas that reshaped politics- a lot more than Clinton? Do you disagree with Obama? He Said nothing about the quality of his ideas! I admire clinton's defender's ability to read Obama's mind- to shift the focus from what he actually said (which is clearly unobjectionable) to what they think (actually what they know) he meant by what he did not say.
toneyrone @ 40:
excuse me....defend the race card? Do I know you- have we talked before- that you're so knowledgeable about my views that you can assume I'm going to play the so-called 'race card'?
Are you seriously asking what distortions? Clinton's ads clearly suggest that obama was favorably comparing reagan's positions to clinton's! They claimed that Obama was praising Reagan's ideas- though Obama was stating that reagan and the republicans had ideas that reshaped politics- a lot more than Clinton? Do you disagree with Obama? He Said nothing about the quality of his ideas! I admire clinton's defender's ability to read Obama's mind- to shift the focus from what he actually said (which is clearly unobjectionable) to what they think (actually what they know) he meant by what he did not say.
As to 'what distortions'- I find it hard to believe that you were serious about that question. here's what I found after 3 second google search. That type of rigor may repel you.
"Quoting Obama selectively, Clinton's campaign used those words against him in a radio ad before pulling it yesterday under heavy criticism. "Aren't those the ideas that got us into the economic mess we're in today?" the narrator said. "Ideas like special tax breaks for Wall Street. Running up a $9 trillion debt. Refusing to raise the minimum wage or deal with the housing crisis. Are those the ideas Barack Obama's talking about?""
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