Sunday Roundup
* Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano vows to meet regularly with Republicans to find ways to work together on national security issues, which of course will cause an immediate halt to attacks on Obama as a terrorist sympathizer.
* Tim Geithner, in an interview with Jake Tapper, challenges Scott Brown’s claim that the stimulus hasn’t created a single job, though “he’s not telling you the truth” might have been a bit stronger than “I don’t think there’s any basis for that judgment.”
* Also: Geithner promises an upswing by spring, and uses an interesting turn of phrase, claiming Obama is offering GOP the “privilege” of helping America dig out of the crisis.
* Censorship! Purge!! Tea Party organizers banned placards of Obama as Hitler or the Joker at convention in order to make the movement look less nutty.
* But: Orly Taitz did manage to hold court, and appeared very welcome there.
* Hillary Clinton defends Obama policies on Iran, says engagement was responsible for revealing that country to the world for what it is.
* Joseph Cao is the only Republican who will be at Obama’s bipartisan Super Bowl party, and David Broder weeps.
* Wow: Sarahcuda’s spokesperson was so panicked about our story reporting her criticism of Rush Limbaugh’s use of “retard” that she hurriedly called Rush to assure him she hadn’t meant to target him directly.
* Cliff Notes version of Sarah Palin’s Tea Party speech yesterday: If we elect more conservatives, God is more likely to step in and solve our problems for us.
* And count me as someone who thinks the controversy over whether the ‘Cuda read from her hand yesterday is pretty silly.
What else is happening?
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I’ll post this jobs chart again – it’s worth it:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/02/a_very_revealing_chart.php?ref=fpblg
Tena — yep — I love that chart.
“* Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano vows to meet regularly with Republicans to find ways to work together on national security issues, which will cause an immediate cessation of efforts to paint Obama as a terrorist sympathizer.”
You might as well give it up, Greg – he’s not going to change.
[and very funny that was, too]
I love it too – how much would it cost to have billboards of the chart in every state?
That pretty much says it all to me – regardless of how hard Obama has gotten hammered on jobs. Employment is so complicated and it seems as though it really shouldn’t be.
” Wow: Sarahcuda’s spokesperson was so panicked about our story reporting her criticism of Rush Limbaugh’s use of “******” that she hurriedly called Rush to assure him she hadn’t meant to target him directly.”
Well that’s revealing. I honestly thought she was the One who would get Rush to back down for once and apologize. Boy was I wrong. Rush is the most powerful person in the GOP and I honestly didn’t think he was. He is = that fat bag of putrid gas is running the Repuglicans. ANd they are Repuglicans.
Although the decline in job losses in the chart portends well for the future, would a current chart of job gains reveal an equally large swing in a positive direction. Not yet I think.
Greg, I agree it’s silly, more interesting is what she was actually saying, divine intervention? We all need to remember her fundamentalist roots.
Have a good Super Bowl Sunday all. I’m working on a rather large pot of chile as my daughter’s geologist buddies are swinging back by after their all nighter in the desert to watch the game. See y’all later.
lmsinca – Ooo, have fun -that sounds like a party.
Well now that we know exactly what she read from her hand, is it still silly?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stefan-sirucek/did-palin-use-crib-notes_b_452458.html
“Although the decline in job losses in the chart portends well for the future, would a current chart of job gains reveal an equally large swing in a positive direction. Not yet I think.”
You want to explain how a slowing of job losses isn’t a positive direction? No one is attempting to say we are adding new jobs right now – so if that is the positive direction you mean, of course not.
But how is slowing losses NOT a positive direction when that is the only positive that is possible right now?
SD Jeff – is that for real?
Remember when Commander CooCoo Bananas passed a note to Condi about needing to be excused?
[rollseyes]
I’m afraid I just am totally befuddled over how you get to job Gains before you slow Losses.
Gee Tena, give me a break, I said the chart portends well for the future. IMO that was a positive statement, was it not?
SD Jeff, the most interesting thing is that she (or somebody else?) had to correct her original crib from “Budget” to “Tax” Cuts. Guess she forgot where she was — not at a B[udgeted]E[nough]A[lready] Party but a T[axed]EA Party. Moomph.
“Gee Tena, give me a break, I said the chart portends well for the future. IMO that was a positive statement, was it not?”
I guess I misread the rest of it but it seemed to me that you were discounting this chart because it doesn’t show gains. If I misread you I apologize.
I post this picture of Sarah, not to dwell on the heavily soiled roadhouse mop that she is sporting on her head; but to point to the unintentionally hilarious first word on the front of her podium.
http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2010-02-07-palinhandsmaller1.jpg
Liam – LOLOLOLOL!
You gotta love the trainwreck that is the Tea Baggers + Sarah Palin.
Tena, accepted, the gains will come later, but IMO the administration did not act in a timely manner to deal with the biggest sector that generates jobs: Small/Medium business. Politically, the timing of job gains will be a big factor in the make-up of congress in 2010 and the presidency in 2012. I think this could be very problematic for the Dems.
By the way, apparently it’s ok for Rush to say retarded retards because he was kidding around
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201002070004
“but IMO the administration did not act in a timely manner to deal with the biggest sector that generates jobs: Small/Medium business.”
think this could be very problematic for the Dems.”
And I think this is nuts. It’s more of the same: Obama mishandled the economic crisis cr@p.
No, he didn’t – he saved every one of our azzezz. And the chart clearly shows the effect of what he’s done, actuator.
Jebus
When Rahm says retarded, it diminishes Quitter Palin’s baby.
When Rush says retarded, it cures Palin’s baby.
See the difference. It is what I like to call: TeaBagger Logic.
OMG this has to be posted again.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/02/palins-cheatsheet.html
All together now congregation. Lift your voices and sing:
In her hand she has the whole world,
In her hand she has the whole world,
She’s got……..
Ah feck it; this is too much like real work.
Lets quit, and go watch Fox.
Silly, Greg? Did you see the actual photos on HuffPo today of the actual notes written on her hand??? You don’t find that worth slammin’ her for after she & her movement criticize Obama for using teleprompters and not taking “tough” questions from Fox News???
“I stand by my belief that none of this matters to the people who support her, and that she remains a very potent, content-free and destructive force in American politics.”
I think Sully truly understands Sarah and her place in our politics. He’s really been one of the best writing on her from the start.
She is dangerous. I wish it wasn’t so and there was a time when it wouldn’t have been. But after 8 years of Commander CooCoo, I don’t think we can afford to not take her at least a tiny bit seriously.
If Palin runs, she will not go the Republican Primaries route. She is too much of a flibbertigibbet to lay all the hard ground work that would be required. If she runs, it will be as the Tea Party nominee, just like Ross Perot did. This is just the second coming of The Perotinistas.
Tena, reducing job losses is great. Putting people back to work is better. Virtually everything the administration did in its first year involved big finance, big corporations, big unions etc. The jobs summit held recently was a good example. The participants were overwhelmingly from the bigs with little small business involvement. Only in the last few weeks has the small business sector been given much attention. It is as if someone finally woke up and figured out where most of the jobs are actually created which they should have known all along. If large numbers of people remain unemployed, it will be problematic for whomever is in charge come election time.
Greg – you bent over too far on the issues of Sarah and her homemade ‘Palm Pilot’ to be fair and you went past the point.
Can you imagine how the Republicans would react if Obama wrote talking points on his hand??
actuator – yeah, raising the ceiling on unemployment benefits hurt small business. Giving tax breaks to them hurt small business.
Trying to get the crushing burden of the cost of health care for employees off their backs hurt small business people.
Small business seems to have as large a catalogue of grievances as the Tea Baggers at times.
And one more time dude: you cannot put people back to work BEFORE you slow job losses to zero and start adding jobs.
damn, I’m retarded mathematically but that logic is clear even to me.
well jw we see how they react to his teleprompter, and as I read elsewhere, she read from her telePALMer.
Okay, 1: The most effective thing Geithner could have said was “he’s full of it.”
2: Didn’t TPM used to count the hours until the apology to Rush? How long did this scraping and bowing take?
3: The “palm pilot” (nice, Tena) is no big deal, except she criticized the hopey-changey law professor for using a teleprompter. But we all know the the Queen Tea is a hypocritter.
The good paying manufacturing jobs are all gone. They are in China, and elsewhere. They are not coming in back. The Supreme court decision on letting big Corporations buy their very own elected puppets, has sealed the deal. Forget about America as an Industrial super power. That was yesterday.
Halliburton has formed an exploratory committee to consider running for Preident in 2012.
President Halliburton. It has a nice ring to it. says Justice Alito.
Tena–I love Sully but I think he is a bit hysterical on her. I watched some of the speech and it was *not* brilliantly delivered at all. she was struggling, misreading her notes, and came across as a vicious harpy. I think she is dangerous but mostly because the media are NOT vetting her. I will say again that the comparison with Bush is not apt because Bush was a patrician member of the upper class who knew the world of politics and worked really hard at one thing: getting elected. He may have been oblivious about governing but he really worked at the electoral thing. Palin has no work ethic and will be very tired of the grueling marathon that is a presidential campaign. As long as it is adoration–what she is getting now–it’s ok. But once the primary knifes of republican oppo research are out, it will be another story. Think Romney does not have it in him? He will be the one putting the knife in.
lfo – I didn’t see it at all so I’ll take your word for it.
I agree she has no work ethic, but neither does Commander CooCoo.
I agree Bush had a political background and I have to say he at least had the legacy degrees; and she got nuttin. And before he was prez, Bush was coherent. Wrong, but coherent – go back and look at the video – I don’t know what happened to him after he became prez – heavy duty meds is all I can think for his stumbling, stupid, belligerent public performances.
She just punches all the right buttons for some people. I hope you’re right and it’s still a very small group.
Sorry Greg but, the hand job is all over the lefty blogs. This will not go unreported by the main stream media for long. Just wait until Jon Stewart and the rest of the late night boys get a hold of this particularly since she mocked Obama’s use of a teleprompter. It’s really hilarious! At least we now know how she got through those 5 colleges!
“The good paying manufacturing jobs are all gone.”
We’ll make more.
This is America and we can do it.
We can make a green economy here and Obama is trying to get the ball rolling.
lfo, I read Sully last night and he freaked me out. Closing with: Know fear. Gulp. I think he’s been brilliant on Palin, but and I hope you’re right, but God, her pull is enormous. Even when she struggles, and especially because she’s “picked on”, she brings out that root-for-the-underdog strain. She is a potent, evil combination.
My biggest fear is that Obama won’t be able to GOTV like he did in ‘08. I have no doubt most people will want him re-elected. But will they get their butts to the polls? We know the baggers will.
“Palin has no work ethic and will be very tired of the grueling marathon that is a presidential campaign. As long as it is adoration–what she is getting now–it’s ok. But once the primary knifes of republican oppo research are out, it will be another story. Think Romney does not have it in him? He will be the one putting the knife in.”
lfo, that’s very well said. As dumb and clueless as she is, I think someone will be able to convince her of how ugly things will get. But I wonder how much she wants to run anyway. It’s hard work and doesn’t pay nearly as well as her current gig.
Prediction: IF hell freezes over and she actually is the republican nominee, she will refuse to debate Obama and make some excuse about God not liking the liberal media and position flexible.
And of course, lfo, Bush had Rove. And it was Rove who put Bush in the governor’s mansion here and then in the WH. That was purely Rove. I think he did it for his own amusement – he saw the thing as a political pygmalion.
Sarah has no Rove.
Tena, sigh, after this I give up. Unemployment benefits did not create jobs. Tax breaks for small business are a recent proposal. As to the impact of HCR on small business does anyone difinitively know? How about individual tax increases (most small business owners are Sub S if incorporated, LLCs, partnerships, SPs who report income on a 1040) when the Bush cuts expire? This is more complex than it seems on the surface which makes deciding to hire new workers more difficult for employers.
“But will they get their butts to the polls? We know the baggers will.”
Just remember how these elections go. Everything gets so ugly and magnified. Palin being the nominee would be our biggest gift. Exit polls showed Palin was as big a reason as anything that McCain lost. Democratic fundraising goes up when she opens her mouth. Voters fear her incompetence. They would turn out more to vote her down than to vote for Obama.
Just went back to Sully. Still Cassandra.
Tena and Kathleen–Sully also thought back in the day that she would win the election fro McCain, just when she was picked. He thought she would take all the women with her. She did neither. He is right that the reptilian conservative pull she has is strong but her pull is NOT enourmous. Only The Village and the 27% who thought Bush was a great president support her. Know how many peopl ewere there last night? 600. That is it. Only 600 people. That does nto spell invicible political force to me. I am not underestimating her but I think making her out to be some sort of political contender like no otehr is silly, and Sully is letting his fear rule him. Again, you guys think Romney is not going to compete for the nomination with all his got? Knowing how she is now that she has been on the scene for a few years running against her will be a very different animal. Also–she really, really turns off people who are not hard core republicans. The vast majority of americans do NOT want her to run and do NOT think she is qualified.
total spell fail guys so sorry, typing too fast and not checking carefully. My kingdom for an edit button?
Unemployment benefits did create and save jobs by giving disposable income to millions of Americans who lost their jobs. That helps small businesses.
# Tena | February 7th, 2010 at 11:35 am
“The good paying manufacturing jobs are all gone.”
We’ll make more.
This is America and we can do it.
We can make a green economy here and Obama is trying to get the ball rolling.
………….
Dream on.
China, and India are already going full steam ahead on those technologies, while our leaders talk and talk and talk, and promise and promise.
The same Robber Barons who shipped out all the good manufacturing jobs, so they could import them instead, and not have to pay a working wage, or stop polluting, will also opt to do the same thing with Green technology.
The Supreme Court just gave them The Green Light.
Silly? You mean like Obama and his teleprompter? THE WOMAN READ FROM HER HAND.
During the VP debate, she should have written on her hand:
Don’t call him O’Biden!
“This is more complex than it seems on the surface which makes deciding to hire new workers more difficult for employers.”
Fine.
But for all your sighing at me, you still haven’t explained how reversing the trend of job loss isn’t the positive it is on the way to turning it into job gains?
But we’ve exhausted it and I’m repeated myself, so I’ll let it go.
But I’m always very suspicious of people who want to turn good news into bad news.
Tena–She has Randy Scheunemman who is a neocon extraordinaire and who has been ‘grooming’ her in foreign policy. But the vast majority of the people who value stability and the status quo–read wall street types–will not back her. This woman is already talking about going to war with Iran.
Kathleen–2012 is a loooong way away. Worrying about GOTV today is really worrying about intangibles. People projecting from mid terms to general elections are taking 2 different sets of voters. By 2012 the economy will be elsewhere and Obama will be running on his record and most republicans will be running on what? running for office? Both Romney (a millionaire) and Palin will have NO Job to point to in terms of accomplishments. I trust Pouffle will be crafting a strategy for 2012 starting out this year. And he will be on top of the GOTV.
Liam = “Dream on.”
I do – every day. I don’t care what you think is going on – China and India are not running things at this juncture and both of them need the US far more than we need them.
Don’t kid yourself that we are some helpless broken giant cause we aren’t.
And I believe in this country and the people in this country, Liam. We aren’t quitters, except for Palin, and she’s from some other dimension.
Don’t ever sink into the place where everything looks hopeless – perception is reality.
This is America and we can create new economic realities right here. We did it when Clinton was in office.
The stimulus included tax cuts for small business and the infrastructure projects provided additional support to small business. The bank rescue was supposed to loosen credit for small business but instead the robber barons took the money to pay bonuses. In response to this as well as the many other instances of malfeasance by the banks, the President proposed new financial regulations.
What always frustrates me, though, more than the complete ignorance of all of the job creation mechanisms built into the stimulus, is the blind insistence that the President should have done more after passing the stimulus. Like he should have proposed a new bill every day or micromanaged the efforts to save us from the disaster the previous administration left behind.
LFO, if you take away my worry, what else will I have?
Was Pouffle a typo? Because that’s pretty funny.
“. But the vast majority of the people who value stability and the status quo–read wall street types–will not back her. This woman is already talking about going to war with Iran.”
I said as much below and that’s the big difference between her and Ross Perot. He had chops = he built a multi-billion dollar company and he had the ear of those kinds of people. Sarah Palin never will have them.
The efforts of this administration brought as back from the abyss but the disaster was 8 years in its creation.
“The efforts of this administration brought as back from the abyss but the disaster was 8 years in its creation.”
You and I are completely on the same page.
Nick | February 7th, 2010 at 11:43 am
Silly? You mean like Obama and his teleprompter? THE WOMAN READ FROM HER HAND.
——————-
Not to put too much of a fine point on it….but THE WOMAN READ FROM HER HAND TO ANSWER THE QUESTION OF WHAT HER PRIORITIES WOULD BE IF SHE WAS POTUS!
Should one be able to expect that she could MEMORIZE the answer to that? Is that really expecting too much?
sue – pretty frakking amazing, no?
Remember when she was asked what the Veep does? When she was, you know, running for the position?
Tena,
Yeah, totally amazing.
I’d love to see Tina Fey come back to do a skit of these speech.
I wonder how long till her camp starts claiming the photos are doctored.
She is an embarassment. I never thought I’d be more embarassed than I was at GWB. She eclipses him in spades.
sue – I know – it’s really scary that they keep coming up with worse candidates than the preceding candidates that everyone thought was as bad as it could get.
Tena and Sue — And yet they circle the wagons and reflexively defend her. My cousins are right wingers, and they’re intelligent, but they really, really LIKE her. What is up with that?
Kathleen, I hear ya! I work with some educated, intelligent people who just love Saint Sarah. I can’t figure it out. I also can’t wait to hear what they have to say about the palm-prompter.
“What is up with that?”
The only answer I have for that, Kathleen, is that they know she drives us crazy. That’s about 90% of her appeal, I think.
One thing that drives the ratwing is resentment at the popular culture for either ignoring them or portraying them as they are – the religious right has been hung up on that for years. This whole thing is really a very shallow culture war about who gets on primetime – and it’s not the right unless they fill a space as a bigot – like Archie Bunker. They are forever grieved by the fact that popular culture favors us depraved liberals and would rather watch Will and Grace than the 700 Club. I know that sounds silly but I honestly believe it is that silly.
So they love her for being out there in our faces. That’s why they put her there.
But I hope – I HOPE – when it comes down to making a real decision on this woman that patriotism overcomes ideology.
At some point the “elites” of the right wing will be forced to faced reality. At this point they can have their fun with making us crazy – there’s no downside from a political perspective. But they can’t actually let this woman into a position of real power. Even they must know this.
Tena, you’re right. Media needs to ignore her, challenge her or bust her, and the rest of us have to chuckle at the mention of her name. “I guess,” was how my father used to call BS on people.
this might be politically incorrect, and a little rough, but if white America for whatever reason votes for Sarah Palin (or any other teabagger candidate) in 2012, then they deserve what they get! The reason I say “white America” is because if a significant portion of African Americans (or other ethnic minorities,that are aware of the blatant bigotry displayed by these teabaggers) voted for Sarah Palin and her lot, I’ll eat my hat. Hell, I would say that even the smarter GOP’ers
wouldn’t vote for her! But I can actually imagine that a real majority of “angry middle-classed” white America would!
So I say fine, do it ya fools. Ya deserve it. If people are dumb enough to buy the S*&t that Sarah Palin is selling, then fine, and listening to some of the “conservatives” in this country they are buying it, I think they deserve her and her stupidity, and the ridicule of the world that will ensue.
I country deserves better than Sarah “palm reader” Palin
Here’s the thing, when kerry lost and Gore lost some people mentioned low turnout of African Americans, young people, etc. In the case of Obama’s election, the turnout was better.
No matter what, white people are the majority. No candidate can win with only minority votes…there is just not enough of us…period. The winning candidate can have all the minority vote possible, but they also needs a good portion of the majority to win comfortably.
All I’m saying is a Sarah Palin win can be placed squarely on the hands of the majority (white) population. If she wins, it’s because the majority of white voters voted for palin and against Obama (or voted for a 3rd party). I am a minority, and the people I speak to daily are Obama voters through and through, and baring some catastrophic occurences, they will vote for Obama come 2012. Can the same be said for the majority of white Americans? Right now the CW says no.
I know it far in advance, but I’m saying is don’t blame us for a Palin/GOP win this time!
Kathleen–HHIS, Yes that was a typo!
“All I’m saying is a Sarah Palin win can be placed squarely on the hands of the majority (white) population.”
I don’t think you need to worry one little iota over anyone not getting that one, lamh31.
Seriously.
Oh yeah,
This “displaced” New Orleanians just wanted to say :
WHO DAT!!!! GEAUX SAINT!!!
“This “displaced” New Orleanians just wanted to say :
WHO DAT!!!! GEAUX SAINT!!!”
I’m wit you on geaux Saints!
I’m so sorry you are among the displaced. So damn sorry.
O and most importantly – thank you for telling me that our coalition is holding.
I have worried over that one – and the Progressive and youth vote are still subject to disaffection.
Thank god the main part of the coalition is intact. I think most White Democrats agree with me – Palin horrifies them,too.
This is what she said about the Big Invisible Sky Father and America (just cause I think it’s worth it – how do they follow what she’s saying?):
“This was the third part of her answer, verbatim: “I think, kind of tougher to, um, put our arms around, but allowing America’s spirit to rise again by not being afraid to kind of go back to some of our roots as a God fearing nation where we’re not afraid to say, especially in times of potential trouble in the future here, where we’re not afraid to say, you know, we don’t have all the answers as fallible men and women so it would be wise of us to start seeking some divine intervention again in this country, so that we can be safe and secure and prosperous again. To have people involved in government who aren’t afraid to go that route, not so afraid of the political correctness that you know — they have to be afraid of what the media said about them if they were to proclaim their alliance on our creator.”
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_02/022286.php
Wait,
I’m cofused. I thought Obama was signalling that HCR was gonna be on the backburner.
then why am I receiving emails like this from OFA:
“Pass Health Reform Now.”
“An alarming new study shows that health care costs increased last year at the fastest rate in more than a half century.
Health care spending rose to an estimated $2.5 trillion in 2009, or $8,047 per person — and is now projected to nearly double by 2019. If we don’t act, this growing burden will mean more lost jobs, more families pushed into bankruptcy, and more crushing debt for our nation.
The conclusion is clear: This isn’t a problem we can kick down the road for another decade — or even another year. We need to pass health reform now.
We’re incredibly close. But too many in Washington are now saying that we should delay or give up on reform entirely. So we need to make it crystal clear that Americans understand the stakes for our economy and our lives, and that we want action.
Can you write a letter to the editor of your local paper right now?
In just five minutes of your time, you can tell thousands of readers about this new report on spiraling costs, and why abandoning reform is just not an option.
You can also help by posting this note on Facebook, letting your friends know about the new costs study and asking them to join you in writing a letter to a local paper.
President Obama and many allies in Congress are working hard to finish the job — but we can’t rest until it’s done. Your note will help break through the Washington spin and show members of Congress and the media what local voters really believe. Click here to get started:
http://my.barackobama.com/FinishTheJob
It’s clear that we’re in the fight of our lives to pass real reform. But after a century of trying, the finish line is finally in sight. As President Obama reminded us all in his State of the Union address, we’re fighting for our families and our country — and we don’t quit.
Thanks for making it possible,
Mitch
Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America”
And there was no fundraising solicitation either…so this was not a fundraisign email.
lamh -somebody is contradicting somebody and I don’t think it’s Obsma contradicting himself.
Did you guys hear what Palin’s right palm had written in it?
– Capital of Cleveland? Trick Question!
– Jesus
– Ronald Reagan
– See other palm
The crossed out word on her hand is “corpsman.”
Wait. What? C’mon. No!
It was a joke. {Wink}
I know it said budget. Wait!
Stop!!! Nooooooooo….
BG–LOL.
Now let me get this straight. This is a grown adult. She was the governor of a state and ran for Vice President. And she is writing notes on her hand. So why is it silly to think this is a big deal? My middle-school daughter would be suspended for doing this.
OMFG–NR is defending the note in her hand as a non elitist thing.
“Unlike the guy who needs a three thousand dollar teleprompter to get out of bed in the morning, Palin speaks from concise notes like everybody else. And, like other busy moms, she sometimes writes notes on her hand.”
That’s meant to be National Review.
silly? give me a break. it’s pathetic. what is this
seventh grade, with crib notes for the quiz?
she obviously knew the questions ahead of time and need
to cheat to make sure she could answer them.
indeed the noise machine is counting on reactions like
yours, while she busy lies about just about everything.
dumb? mean?
you betcha.
My wife is a busy mom and doesn’t write notes on her hand. Besides, if she didn’t write it on her hand, she was going to forget “tax cuts” and “energy”?
sheesh lfo, now I’ve gotta h/t Spruiell’s h/t.
Can’t get away w/ nothin here.
Listening to the speech right now (bufffering heavily, be back in april).
Mainstream journos will not cover this, trust me. The GOP has already set the rules and the mainstream must follow them or pay the price. And one of those rules is Hands Off Palin. Yes, they are allowed to cover her Facebook rantings, but they are not allowed to do more than that. You hear them grumbling like drama queens about Obama’s lack of pressers, but they actually don’t WANT to cover Palin, in the sense of asking her questions or questioning her abilities. The GOP makes it too, too uncomfortable for an honest, hardworking journo to notice. And calling out hypocrisy is editorializing. It’s okay to do it to Democrats, because they don’t have a media game, but the GOP media machine is brutal.
Journos and their editors have seen what has happened to Couric. Trust me, they don’t want that. Noting that she wrote talking points on her hand will open them up to harsh criticism and accusations of condescension, as laid out by the rightwing media machine this weekend. So expect the mainstream to studiously ignore this.
This is not because they are rightwing hacks. It is because the rightwing will make *them* the story, and they and their editors and publishers will have to deal with the fallout. For years. Their rightwing sources will dry up. There is NO upside for them, on an individual level, to notice Palin cribbing her notes.
I respect those that want to take the high road on silly Republican Sarah Palin’s CHEAT SHEET. And had Palin showed any decency in the last year it wouldn’t be worth mentioning.
But Steve Benen brings up two pertinent reasons why “this is at least mildly interesting”:
In an update, Benen concludes that Republican Sarah Palin “knew what question to expect, and was afraid she might forget her own vision for the near future. How sad.”
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_02/022287.php
Avatar toppled from the top spot at the box office this week.
Several cast members said to be feeling blue.
An exclusive source has provided me with the information as to what Sarah Palin had written in the palm of her other hand. It was:
Wash me, after using the toilet!
well played Liam. That was funny.
Liam, the Henny Youngman of the Plum Line.
I hate to say it but I’m pretty sure I know how this is going to play for Palin with the 20 percenters. And the Nat’l Review hacks have that just right.
“She wrote some notes on her hand! That’s just what I’d do if I was nervous and had a big speech!”
And there you have it: the people in this country who don’t know very much about politics or governance, or even how the gov’t works, who want to see someone EXACTLY LIKE THEM in the WH.
BG–at least it is the 20% that cannot elect a president on their own, the rest of the country is *very* skittish of someone like that. Bush got elected because he was folsky but he *seemed* competent she does not even pass that test.
If you folks recall, after she was given the VP slot, it came out that she had said, when she engaged in debates in Alaska, that she never understood the need for preparing for them. She felt that she could just wing it.
That was probably just an excuse, because she is not able to retain what she has studied. That was made very clear by the McCain campaign guy, who revealed that they could never get her to stop refereeing to Joe as O’Biden, and that is why they had her ask him if she could call him Joe. Even then, she still referred to him once during the debate as O’Biden.
She really is just a sieve brained flibbertigibbet.
Recall that she claimed, during the debate, that she had been listening to Joe’s speeches in the Senate from when she was in grade school, and yet she never was able to learn that his name is Biden.
Like I said along time ago: Sarah is just a Paris Hilton for Right Wing celebrity worshipers. Both of them are famous just for being famous, and they both make out like bandits, performing their nothingness roles. More power to both of them. As long as there are so many idiots with money to be fleeced, then it might as well be Sarah and Paris taking it from them, as any one else, because those fools and their money will be soon parted anyhow.
Hope everyone is doing well, I’m busy with my move but looks like a good time to be busy what with Republicans/Palin calling Obama a threat to the nation, denigrating the FBI and CIA, and media thinking that their nonsense talking points equate to real plans for policy.
That they can even get away with this is just an example of how epic a failure our “news” outlets are doing. Lord help us this November, I’m gonna be hitting the streets to make sure we don’t totally get pushed down into the gutter by the leeches fastened into the country via the GOP’s cynicism.
I have this feeling that the White House may be gearing up to pick a series of fights with Senate Republicans, wherein they basically try to beat them over the head with an olive branch. That could also explain why they seem a little reluctant to really ramrod healthcare reform (HCR) at the moment.
If HCR passed tomorrow that would obviously suck all the oxygen out of the room for a least a month, perhaps at a moment when they’d like to be (for example) showcasing Republican obstructionism to jobs-related and financial industry reform legislation first. So in that context it might actually make the most sense to come back around and hit HCR hard after they get some other stuff rolling. And it will likely take a few weeks to write a reconciliation bill to amend the Senate HCR bill anyway, so it’s not like they actually could push the button on that tomorrow even if that were the only thing on their to-do list.
Of course I could just be reading too much into this and giving them way too much credit for having a plan. But that would provide a framework wherein several things I’ve read recently start to make more sense than they seem to by themselves.
” Tim Geithner, in an interview with Jake Tapper, challenges Scott Brown’s claim that the stimulus hasn’t created a single job, though “he’s not telling you the truth” might have been a bit stronger than “I don’t think there’s any basis for that judgment.”
——————————————————–
This is what happens when you leave it to wonks to write your headlines and bumper stickers. Republicans use qualified marketing and PR people to write theirs.
BG & lfo:
Exactly.
But don’t short-sell in a long, volatile market, it’s probably considerably more than 20%.
Ms. Palin is riding a wave that is not nearly as doofussly non-nuanced as characterized by Benen & Yglesias, et.al. (after all, those guys are merely the obverse to the roster at NR).
She also explicitly stated principles not personalities; and emphasizes a movement and emphatically de-emphasizes herself as it’s vanguard. That could be strategical–seen it before on both sides.
I don’t think she will run.
BTW: If you want to see someone who could use a teleprompter, hand-notes, wireless earbuds, and a jumbo-tron watch any address by the Honorable Kirsten E. Gillibrand, the junior Senator from my great Empire State.
My fav though was my former Mayor (Boston), known as Mumbles by friend and foe alike.
God knows, I would love to see President Obama go to the mat for something. I am beginning to fee that he is not capable of being fighter.
He is supposed to be a student of Lincolnm and yet he does not appear to be aware that the Republicans are waging a civil war.
When is he going to fire some people like Tim Kaine, head of DNC,who’s picture should be on all the milk cartons?
Lincoln had to keep firing useless generals until he got to Grant and Sherman.
One thing this White House is sorely lacking is a political attack dog.
Cheney and Spiro Agnew used to play those roles. Biden can not do so. He told us all about how he learned early on that every one has some good in them, so he never goes after them.
Well the Republicans are on the march, and they have already retaken Virgina, and captured New Jersey, and Mass. Time for Obama to find his Grant, before he is too late. Some how I don’t think he will.
I am becoming more convinced by the day, that he is an Urbane Cowboy:
All Chat, and No Battle.
Tao9
Did you get hit with a lot of snow in Boston?
CalD, what you said. I agree this may be the strategy.
PaulW–good to see you here. Yes this week and the very irresponsible acts of the media are very very depressing
Re: Manufacturing in America
Video explaining what happened to America’s manufaturing base by Thom Hartmann during an interview with David Shuster on Countdown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tuo1iG6eF-M
[thank crooksandliars.com for the transcript]
zip, cold & sunshine: NY & New England.
Tao9
That is a good break to get. Have a good evening.
My snowblower asked this morning if he could mow the lawn in May, he’s bored.
U2, Liam, take good care.
All, I have been given a heads up that Obama is going to say something important re health care in his CBS interview in a few minutes.
stay tuned. I’ll have a post on it.
Greg,
Just when I thought I was out, you pulled me back in; I will stay logged on.
This better be good. He better not just tell me to take my daily vitamins, and get plenty of sleep.
Corrected:
“The efforts of this administration brought as back from the abyss but the disaster was
8[30] years in its creation.”Again, the problems we have now go back to right wing policies that go back at least 30 years.
That includes right wing
freepredatory trade policies signed by Corporate-Dem President Clinton.We’re still flirting with “the abyss” and Obama’s right wing economics team hasn’t done enough to reverse course.
Republican Ben Bernanke was re-appointed by Obama, the same Republican that was in charge when the economic collapse happened.
Geithner and Summers come from Corporate America, not main-street America. Their indifference to working Americans while they’ve been serving Corporate interests has been appalling.
Obama took over the Presidency and immediately protected predatory Banksters from righteous “pitchforks” while he FAILED to recognize how serious the economic situation was DESPITE repeated warnings by prescient lefty economists (Krugman, Baker, Stiglitz, and Reich).
Instead of listening to those that foresaw the collapse, Obama is listening to those that CAUSED the collapse.
And because of Obama’s rejection of superior, muscular ‘lefty’ economic policies, the Dems are looking at a weak economic recovery and bleak 2010 election prospects.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tuo1iG6eF-M
why is he being interviewed at 5 pm? hmmm.
so it’s 5 now did the interview already happen? Isn’t CBS in super bowl hyper mode?
Here is the news from Obama: A summit with GOP on health care!
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/obama-hosting-republicans-for-summit-on-how-to-move-forward-on-health-care/
I just watched the interview on CBS with Ms.Couric.
The President announced that he is going to call in the Republicans and Democrats and ask them to put all their health care proposals on the table. He is willing to work with both sides to include what meets his criteria of covering all the currently uninsured, because of pre-conditions, and what will contain the costs.
I am just providing a condensed synopsis from memory, as I did not have Sarah Palin’s palms available to jot down some notes.
My first thoughts on his proposal are;
He just revealed that the Democrats can not get it done, and this is a reset.
He picked this time to tell a large national audience, because he is hoping that will put pressure on the Republicans to cooperate with him on this new approach.
Will it work. I think that Republicans will make all the right noises and then slow walk it to death for the rest of the year.
I do not see them helping to pass a bill this election year.
Liam,
Also a Blue-Dog whistle?
I watched his DNC address, the gentleman possesses some skills. I was shaking my head on policy, and a bundle of stretches, but was carried through by the energy (plus no buffering…I claim an MSM streaming hi-jinks conspiracy!!!).
Helloo00o? Oh. Colts +9.
Tao9
I think he is showing that he can be pushed around very easily, and I think that the folks in China, Iran, N. Korea, etc are taking notes.
You realize that Drew has to win, or New Orleans will not recover. I heard that on the CBN, from Pat Robertson’s son. He said that Drew believes that his trade to the Saints was all part of God’s plan to restore The Crescent City. Of course Pat had previously said that God intentionally destroyed New Orleans, so I can not figure out why he then arranged an NFL transaction to restore the place.
I am guessing, Saints 34 Colts 31, because I am convinced that God is a Jazz Deity, and loves to improvise and riff. How else can we explain The Platypus and Brangelina.
Tena,
And before he was prez, Bush was coherent. Wrong, but coherent – go back and look at the video – I don’t know what happened to him after he became prez – heavy duty meds is all I can think for his stumbling, stupid, belligerent public performances.
I must respectfully disagree with you on that one. I was a resident of Texas – I could not ever call myself a Texan – when Rove was grooming W to be governor, the run for governor, and the first five of his six years as governor. The man was NEVER coherent. Don’t you remember his “SUBLIMINABAL” gaff when running for POTUS? The man never was too bright.
In comparison to Palin, however, W looks as if he is a Cambridge Don, a veritable Stephen Hawking. W was and is incurious. He grew up in a world of wealth and privilege has always had people to think for him. Palin is plain stupid. On top of that she is arrogant and vain. There is a vast qualitative difference to being intellectually lazy and being intellectually incapable. Palin is the latter.
..”will cause an immediate halt to attacks on Obama as a terrorist sympathizer.”
Which attacks probably encourage Al Qaeda to proceed with even small attacks because they know the recriminations will weaken the President and erode faith in our system of government.