January 2010
45 posts
A letter to the New York Times →
To the Editor:
President Obama’s State of the Union address had a high point when he pledged that anyone with a “better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know.”
Thank you, Mr. President. The answer is the reform supported by 65 percent of the public and even 59 percent of...
Krugman provides your sad trombone sound
Paul Krugman
After Massachusetts, Democrats were looking for leadership; they didn’t get it. Ten days later, nobody is sure what Obama intends to do, and his aides are giving conflicting readings. It’s as if Obama checked out.
Look, Obama is a terrific speaker and a very smart guy. He really showed up the Republicans in the now-famous give-and-take. But we knew that. What’s now in question...
Finger Pointers Club
Our current problems are not the product of the recovery program that’s only just now getting under way, as some would have you believe; they are the inheritance of decades of tax and tax, and spend and spend. […] The only alternative being offered to this economic program is a return to the policies that gave us a trillion-dollar debt, runaway inflation, runaway interest rates and...
Obama's Q and A
Christopher Hayes:
This Q&A really should be a regular thing. I’d like to see him have to answer tough questions from progressive caucus members as well.
That’s a wonderful idea.
Obama Among The Republicans
OBAMA: “I mean, we’ve got to be careful about what we say about each other sometimes because it boxes us in in ways that makes it difficult for us to work together because our constituents start believing us. They don’t know sometimes this is just politics, what you guys, you know, or folks on my side do sometimes. So just a tone of civility instead of slash-and-burn would be...
Scott Roeder Found Guilty of First Degree Murder -... →
chuckmore:
Amen.
“A tremendous and underappreciated advantage for Obama, in my view, is that he is...”
– Annotated State of the Union text - James Fallows
Ben Bailout Bernanke re-confirmed by Senate, 70-30
jasencomstock:
Seven fewer votes than his cloture vote.
Voting to end debate but voting against the confirmation:
Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) Al Franken (D-Minn.) Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) Kaufman (Del.) Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.)
“We are citizens. We must not put ourselves in the position of looking at the...”
– Howard Zinn (via azspot)
“In the real world, after all, the vast majority of federal spending goes to...”
– Matthew Yglesias
“That’s just not how it works. If people want the government to not do some of the stuff it does, or do it to a lesser extent, that’s fine. There are programs that I believe should be cut or ended. But we shouldn’t imagine that that amounts to “the government” tightening its...
Oh you wacky Brooklyn libertarians!
The rise of the Tea Party movement:
An online video game, designed recently by libertarians in Brooklyn, called “2011: Obama’s Coup Fails” imagines a scenario in which the Democrats lose seventeen of nineteen seats in the Senate and a hundred and seventy-eight in the House during the midterm elections, prompting the President to dissolve the Constitution and implement an emergency North American...
The State of the Union speech Obama would give in...
Steven Pearlstein:
No institution, however, has deteriorated more than the one in which I stand now, the U.S. Congress, which has transformed itself into a hyper-partisan swamp that fails to live up even to its most basic constitutional duties — making timely appropriations, confirming nominees for top positions and declaring when we are at war. You have saddled the country with a...
Some Dens will vote for cloture on Bernanke, but...
Double Standard for Bernanke
When it comes to progressive priorities in the Senate, there’s one standard: 60 votes are needed. But for Ben Bernanke, there’s a second standard: 50 will be just fine, thank you.
Why this principle wouldn’t obtain for issues like, say, health care reform?… your most cynical guess is probably the right one.
Bowers:
This is a good example...
“A spending freeze? That’s the brilliant response of the Obama team to their...”
– Paul Krugman (via azspot) (via robot-heart-politics)
Responding to last week's 'Free Speech' ruling
Jonathan Alter:
The best option is Sen. Dick Durbin’s ingenious campaign-reform bill. The idea, which already works well in New York City and other localities, is to set up a public-financing system that rewards candidates who attract small donors. House candidates, for example, who raise at least $50,000 in donations of $100 or less would be eligible for $900,000 in public money. The...
Too Dumb to Thrive
Joe Klein:
Absolutely amazing poll results from CNN today about the $787 stimulus package: nearly three out of four Americans think the money has been wasted. On second thought, they may be right: it’s been wasted on them. Indeed, the largest single item in the package—$288 billion—is tax relief for 95% of the American public. This money is that magical $60 to $80 per month...
Time to Grow a Pair
Kevin Drum:
This really is a defining moment for both Obama and the Democratic Party more broadly. So far both have failed miserably: the party is in a state of meltdown, surrendering completely to a resurgent Republican narrative, refusing to fight for anything it believes in, and caving in to a truly toxic combination of electoral fear and narrow interest group parochialism. For his part,...
Poll: Americans Lukewarm on Health Care Reform... →
savingpaper:
Get it? They’re skeptical!
Except when they find out what the fuck is actually in it!
Obamacare. Obamacare. Obamacare. Obamacare. Obamacare.
Obamacare.
“According to Obama, in his speech today, he won’t stop fighting for us....”
– Eschaton
“Sixty-one percent (61%) of U.S. voters say Congress should drop health care...”
– Rasmussen
There’s your failure right there. Reform opponents won the framing battle: health care reform is seen as expensive — and expense is (rightly) called reckless, given how things are — as opposed to the only way to behave if long-term fiscal responsibility is ever to be...
“I love a party that acts like coeds in a slasher movie. Scott Brown is in the...”
– TBogg on the Democrats
Dude, you're losing your Krugrman →
Paul Krugman: Obama Wasn’t The One We’ve Been Waiting For
Health care reform — which is crucial for millions of Americans — hangs in the balance. Progressives are desperately in need of leadership; more specifically, House Democrats need to be told to pass the Senate bill, which isn’t what they wanted but is vastly better than nothing. And what we get from the great progressive hope, the man...
“Liberal outrage seems to really heat up about 36 hours after it might have been...”
– hotdogsladies (via soupsoup)
Slamming the Overton Window On Your Own Head
John Cole:
I’m walking down the street with my Obama/Biden button on, when up ahead of me on the right, I see a large protest. They are carrying signs, and yelling and ranting about Obama.
“Kill the bill! Obamacare sucks!” “That’s not change you can believe in!” “Obama’s Adopting Bush’s Terror policies! But He’s Still Weak on Terror!” “No taxes on healthcare!” “Just words.”
I pay no...
“President Barack Obama, conversely, will get a terrible week or two of press but...”
– Matthew Yglesias: Winners and Losers in the Browniverse
“Republicans need to start listening to their constituents and propose...”
– Bryan Dowd and Roger Feldman | Progressive Fix
“If you look just at the NCAA basketball tournament last year, the 64 teams,...”
– The U.S. Secretary of Education talks basketball development
There’s a basketball focus here, but mainly I endorse any scrutiny the NCAA gets for being an exploitative sham.
And DUH! Reid: It Was A Waste Of Time Dealing With... →
jasencomstock:
“As I look back it was a waste of time dealing with [Snowe],” Reid is quoted as saying in a forthcoming New York Times Magazine piece, “because she had no intention of ever working anything out.”
In one sense, yes, duh. But it another sense, the simple act of making good faith efforts to include the minority only to have them rebuff you at every turn should provide you with more...
“Unless something is done to reverse environmental deterioration, say many...”
– LIFE - January 30, 1970
Plus ca change of the day.
Text 82013 To Donate $5 To The "Throw Pat...
(via brianvan)
Hope and Karzai
Percentage of Afghans who believe their country is going in the “right direction”: 70
Percentage of Americans who believe their country is going in the “right direction”: 36.6
The “right” stuff | FP Passport
“I think one main thing would be to — just himself to use the word terrorism more...”
– Rep. Peter King (R-Long Island) in response to George Stephanopoulos asking him earlier today what Obama’s main priority should be when it comes to fighting terrorism. This is your modern Republican party ladies and gentlemen.
(via cajunboy)
In a related story, my recommendation for what...
Republicans see litigation as last line of defense...
The Hill
“Since Democrats cut Republicans out of the healthcare negotiations in Congress, maybe the only way to have any input into the health bill is through litigation,” Bossie [David Bossie, president of Citizens United] added.
Bossie estimates that fighting the Democratic healthcare bill all the way to the Supreme Court would cost at least $2 million.
I can still snicker even if it’s...
“America the society is in fine shape! America the polity most certainly is not....”
– James Fallows’ article How America Can Rise Again, inspired by his return to the States after some time in China, is worth your while.
