David Broder: The Village Wants Bipartisanship
David Broder, appearing on Andrea Mitchell's MSNBC program this morning, wants the public to know that "bipartisanship" is all the rage inside the Beltway these days -- as indeed it has been for as long as we can remember. What does "bipartisanship" mean? It means believing right-wing nonsense and treating it as credible:
Mitchell: I've read a lot, and talked to a lot of people, and heard a lot of debate about the stimulus package, and reasonable people on both sides -- conservatives, liberals, Democrats, Republicans, economists -- aren't really sure what's gonna work and how it's gonna work. What are the risks here in taking it all on? I mean, Alice Rivlin, who created the Congressional Budget Office, has written, importantly, that she would separate out what is job-creating, what is stimulus, and look at the bigger-ticket items down the road. Um, how do they know? How does the president know what he's getting into here?
Broder: Ah, nobody knows, because this is uncharted territory. There are plenty of smart people who purport to understand the dynamics of the economy, but as we know, the first effort at stimulus did not achieve the expected results. So this is a gamble. It's a big gamble for the country, it's much better off if it includes the best thinking that's available in both parties, not just one party.
Um, sir, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE FIRST STIMULUS WAS? It was a 100% tax rebate along the lines of the sum total of the thinking of one party. In fact, the "best thinking" of those people now is to weight the stimulus down with - wait for it - tax cuts, which would cost three times as much as the current plan because they want the tax cuts to be permanent, which is an even worse stimulus (There's also the point that the Republicans would push more people onto the Alternative Minimum Tax and actually RAISE taxes for the middle class while dropping them for the rich, but that's normal and besides the point I'm trying to make).
So, according to Broder, because a 100% tax rebate didn't work, we have to come up with a "bipartisan" approach that includes the ideas of those who prefer what amounts to a... 100% tax rebate.
This is idiocy, and suggests one of two things: either most of the Beltway is trying to protect the assets of the rich, or they actually don't know the meaning of the word "stimulus." And we are seeing this kind of confusion all over the media. If it's the latter, that's at least partially the fault of the Administration, who isn't doing the best job of explaining why exactly we need fiscal spending to make up the shortfall caused by plummeting consumer spending and private investment.
I can't wait for Broder to start pontificating, as he always does, about how he listens regularly to "ordinary taxpayers." Uh-huh. Sure.
Broder's just repeating the right-wing talking-point du jour, a skill he's perfected over the years. It's vintage Villagespeak: "bipartisanship" means "pretending we're neutral while advancing right-wing tropes."
After all, why shouldn't we incorporate the wisdom inherent in the right-wing geniuses who made this mess? When it comes to the Republican Party, the "best thinking available" -- that is, the thinking enforced by party poobahs and pundits -- can be found from the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Grover Norquist.
Maybe David Broder can remind us again exactly why we should listen to them.
When was the last time either one of these warhorses broke a major story?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
These wrong all day long Media fucks like Mrs. Greenpuss should be archived from the last eight years before anyone takes them seriously again.
This is Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee playing reporter on the Tee-Vee.
David Neiwert calls this exactly right, especially the definition of "Bipartisanship" being pretending to be neutral while deluding everyone that the Righties have been correct on anything in the last 8 years. And counting.
"Yes, friends, the former bowler couldn't hit a pin, so let's call the whole bowling match off."
Regardless of the party, what we have here is a Corp-tocracy in which the laws themselves have been crafted to place big businesses above people, the government and media have been taken over by this bunch, and together they form the public interface of this all-powerful entity.
The first 350 billion, now supposedly untraceable, didn't make it past the starting gate before being sucked into the vast greed-pit of the banks and Wall Street. Now "nobody knows where it went." Wonder why it didn't work? Really?
That's funny, I know where my bank transfers all went.
Since her hubby did such a bang up job as head of The Fed, I find it strange that she would be discussing what will or will not work. I'd put her grasp of economic policy on a par with her hubby's - tenuous at best. And of course, don't interview a real economist like Paul Krugman - no, don't do that! Interview another, never-right-about anything, reichwing gasbag like David Broder
If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're gonna get selfish, ignorant leaders.
George Carlin
It's like they say, "Hey let's find the person who knows the littlest about this subject and is always wrong and bring him in for an expert opinion." I mean, is there anything more depressing about this country than our completely useless media. And these people take themselves so seriously, like they are doing a great service to this country or something by letting all these jackasses march in front of the camera and just say stupid shit.
could imagine how much better off this country would be if the media wasn't so fucking servile. If they actually called bullshit every now and again.
Sorry, not in their interest.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
has been married, for the past 12 years, to ALAN GREENSPAN, former chairman of the Federal Reserve.
So her husband's ass is twisting in the wind right now, over the financial meltdown -- and all he had to say was "oops, sorry."
Therefore, I'm not surprised that she lobs softballs to Broder. And of course she offers no disclaimer that she is intimately tied to this crisis. Let it pass for "news." Sheesh.
Broder has degrees in Business and in Political Science. He damn well knows what a stimulus is -- so he's being intentionally disingenous. That is, he's a lying fuck bent on misleading the public. God I'm sick of these shallow bastards.
These 'media experts' should be peeling potatoes in a soup kitchen. You know, doing something useful.
Lunatics.
trying to protect the rich! They all go to the same cocktail parties. Mrs Andrea Greenspan and Mr. David Broder would be EXCLUDED from the guest list otherwise and they know which side their bread is buttered on. Don't posit silly theories.
On the other hand I doubt if either knows or has recent knowledge of any "stimulus".
Mrs. Greenspan probably thinks "stimulus" means grabbing old Allen's viagara presricption. Yeech, I can't believe I said that.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
The Villagers can forcefully shove it where the sun don't shine. I swear to god that I have flunked stoner freshman for more logical and better informed arguments.
"Something got screwed up in terms of your priorities if you think it's more important to get rid of the dividend tax than it is to take care of 11 million kids."
[David Broder]
"Finally, I told them I'd drop out of the management program if they'd give me an entry-level job in the newsroom for union wages, about fifty dollars a week."
[Andrea Mitchell]
Study the symptoms not the virus...
The elites are on the verge of a collective bedwetting.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
BUT, everybody on here ignored Groundhog Day!!! Obama didn't!!
http://blog.indecision2008.com/2009/02/02/gro...
for which they've been striving since Reagan. i.e.
the destruction of the middle class. No matter what they say
it amounts to "stay the course!"
The middle class is almost gone.
And that is quickly becoming a reality. Bought milk today. For a jug at our local store it went up 14 cents. Milk is now worth over $5/gallon. Milk!! Farmers throw it out on a regular basis when they are over their quotas because they get penalized. And we are paying over $5 a gallon!!!! Incredible.
..at Walmart. But you are correct and perhaps you just might have hit upon the real subject of this thread. Obama's Porkus Maximus Stimulus plan will result in the devaluation of the dollar as the government prints money faster and faster to try and keep up. Such devaluation will be evident in the prices of foods first. Has anybody seen what the M3 figure is for the last two years? Does anybody know who has the real M3 figures?
This is not a political game we are playing here. Get it wrong and we all will pay dearly. Get it right and we will still pay dearly, but just might survive with enough food to eat and a roof over our heads. It's just that serious.
ex animo
davidfarrar
I'd pay $5 before I would go to Wal Mart.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
Well, my life has gone to total shit from the economy, but I just got milk for $2/gallon at the store. Too bad it'll probably be the last gallon of milk I will ever be able to afford.
keep on keepin on cause me thinks its gonna get a whole lot worse. A year ago, I thought that my job would be around for years to come. It kinda seems like the tone about the economy has gotten a whole lot more desperate and panicky lately.
I wish I could, but come the end of Feb, I'll be on the street, with no job, living out of a car, and with only a couple hundred dollars to live on. I've run out of options.
that suck's. I'm sorry to hear that. The only reason I didn't end up in that bad of shape is because of my family. I hope things get better for you.
they want the complete disenfranchisement of the poor-
and the neuveaux miserables; formerly known as "the middle class."
Either help the masses in this economy, or help the rich. BOTH parties are choosing the rich
Why the bank bailouts are doomed
http://finance.sympatico.msn.ca/Investing/Jon...
Because after these economic wizards are through battling over ideology, and the dust settles, you'll be the richest person in America. At least, you'll have food.
on dried beans and rice. Together they make a great protein.
They're having rice (and wheat) riots in parts of Asia and Africa, because such cereals are a staple of their diet, and the prices have been spiraling.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
enough to make a person ill. The middle class is what made this country such a great place. In the area that I live in central Indiana, growing up you couldn't throw a rock without hitting someone who worked for GM or Chrysler. It was a great childhood. Everyone went on vacations in the summer, people kept up their houses, the community was strong, all that. Now, ever since NAFTA this area is rundown and full of drug addicts and alcoholics. Sidewalks are full of weeds, houses abandoned and condemned, it's sad to see. The worst part about it is that the people behind all of this were already rich, they just wanted to be richer. Families have been destroyed all for the sake of their greed.
the saddest thing I have read all day...the destruction of once healthy, happy, middle America.
I remember those days and I am trying not to cry but I am.
Nothing can repair that neighborhood to the way it was.
My family lived in a community like that. Now it is all parking lots with no cars, mega schools with no learning and no one goes on vacation.
what any of us want for our children, but as long as they are standing on our throats, nothing will change.
Their belief is that an unregulated (aka "free") market will solve all of society's problems. As if somehow corporations' goals and society's goals are completely simpatico.
When we all know that corporations are amoral creatures that, much like a virus, will do anything to grow as quickly as possible.
All you have to do is examine Walmart to realize that what's good for Walmart isn't good for the local economies they set up shop in.
And it's not as though this "new, global economy" has changed the nature of corporations. Here are some quotes from Andrew Jackson:
"Unless you become more watchful in your states and check the spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that...the control over your dearest interests has passed into the hands of these corporations."
“Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves.” (to a delegation of bankers - 1832)
They bought their own extinction for a grubby $200 GOP tax cut. Fools!
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
By voting for this bill. As simple as that.
Horse face v Needle nose
Arch-villains from Super Captain Cool-Man
I'll let you decide which is which.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
What a difference being in the minority can make!
For some of the best laughs, this episode has it all!
Unlike Broder, who's missing just about everything...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
instead of doing my homework, I'm watching it.
Eh...I watched it first time it came out, and turned it off half-way through after one too many limp light-sabre jokes.
I never seen a show try so hard to be edgy and fail totally.
That 70's Show take-off of Star Wars was funnier.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Broder did nothing to prevent the Bush catastrophe. He and his beltway boys should just shut up. They have lost the right to open their yaps.
I think Obama reaching out is a good thing.
The GOP are being obstructionists. That's ok.
Let them.
Because when push comes to shove, Obama can say " I tried"
And that will cost them(GOP) even more votes in 2010.
Obama is a smart man. He didn't get where he is by being stupid.
As far as the wars are concerned. I'd like to see them both closed.Finished. Done with.
But the larger priority is our economy.
Yes, if we were to close both wars, we would save billions of dollars.
Hundreds of Billions. So, I'm all for getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
I wish it were that easy.
But getting back to the point of bipartisanship.
I say reach out. Give them the opportunity to do something right.
At least make an effort. So, when they keep playing the same old partisan politics, they screw themselves.
I'm still not going to judge Obama yet. These things take time.
If he blows it,well, we'll have the opportunity to replace him.
I just hope his replacement isn't a GOPer.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
.
Bipartisanship holds three meanings...
From Dictionary.com:
For Republicans:
For Democrats:
It all depends on what "bipartisanship means at any given moment, NO?
.
Starve the WAR Beast...
... Feed Americans.
You'll recall bipartisanship under Bush was relegated to Democrats approving whatever crazy, stupid ideas that passed through his empty head. Anything else was treason. According to GOP failures, it's the minority party's obligation to support the majority.
Well, the Dems won. They have in Bush's words "some political capital to spend." Shut up Republicans, and agree.
I just another in a long line of highly paid media whores or should I have said prostitutes!
You cannot trust the things these people say for they were bought by the corporations years ago.
Forget about what these people in the so called media have to say.
You have to understand their opinion has been purchased at a very high price to the American people!
It is time we give these prostitutes all the respect they deserve! NONE!!!
but he's the loudest
During most of the 8 years of the Bush administration, the emphasis was giving tax cuts to the rich, using the trickle down approach. So, I found it quite ironic that "trickle-up" economics was used by the Republicans to stimulate the economy. However much of the Keynesian multiplier effect occurs in the country of manufacture. So, to the extent the tax cut was spent on imported goods (oil), the Keynesian benefit was muted.
This aspect is why the solutions of the past aren't going to yield the same benefits this time around. Already, foreign countries are challenging the "buy America" components of the current stimulus, saying that it violates trade treaties. In that case, if trade agreements mean that we can't spend U.S. treasury money in the U.S., then these trade agreements have relinquished too much of our sovereignty to the new world order.
I don't see these Republicans being any use in crafting a solution to the economic problems. They're a little too stuck in their ideology.
The bailout is really a quite simple sting. It goes like this: Journalist and politicians (who are actually grifters) make a pitch, pretending to be responsible professionals. They claim ad-nasueam that giving rich people like themselves more money than they lose making bad investments will save the marks from destitution. These grifters agree democratically (in the name of the marks) to use the marks money to redeem the grifter's useless debt for much more than it's worth. They also use the marks' money to insure their good investments should they go south. Next, they leave the marks to pick up the tab on the taxes. Finally, the marks are privileged to pour billions more into the grifters' pockets for reconstruction black rat holes like the ones that were so profitable in Iraq. For this largess, the marks get exactly nothing except empty wallets. This type of sting is called kelptocracy.
I don't call giving the Republicans everything they want creating a partisan Congress. I honestly feel Obama has sincerely shown his willingness to listen and ultimately do what is best for the Nation. The Repubs on the other hand are displaying that they want this new administration to fail. They all say just hollow words to hear themselves talk . . . . and kid-like say my fingers were crossed!
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