Jay Bookman

By jasper

February 9, 2009 3:02 PM | Link to this

Where there’s smoke, there’s mirrors. The Dim’s are desperate to distract us from the Spendulous package. How many billions will it cost us now to make larger doors on Air Force One?

By AJC/DNC Management

February 9, 2009 3:06 PM | Link to this

Yeah, it sounds like Bookman has already reached his verdict.

Why bother?

By @@

February 9, 2009 3:13 PM | Link to this

Is jay telling Leahy to………you know?

On another topic:

At the Munich Conference, Biden reiterates Bush’s approach to Iran. It’s a stalemate.

(((Between his economic stimulus package, decisions on how quickly to withdraw from Iraq, a real problem in Afghanistan and tension with the Russians, Obama’s hands are full. A dramatic opening to Iran could cost him support, and he can’t afford to lose any right now.)))

It certainly wouldn’t cost him support among those that voted for him because of his diplomatic approach to Iran.

Whose support would he lose then?

The conservative and unaffiliated voters’ support, that’s who.

Funny how things change when you have to please those people who really matter as opposed to the dreamers who were convenient tools for HOPE and CHANGE.

Poofs!

By AJC/DNC Management

February 9, 2009 3:23 PM | Link to this

{{{{Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C) has further ingratiated himself with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — not — by declaring that Pelosi and Harry Reid “failed” the bipartisanship test on stimulus.

Here’s the kicker: “I truly feel that’s where maybe House leadership and Senate leadership have really failed.”}}}}

Bwahahahahaha, oww!

Stop it!!!!

By CommunistAJC

February 9, 2009 3:25 PM | Link to this

Bookman knows, as well as every Democrat, that if they go after Bush, Hillary, Biden, Edwards and the rest of the Pro-Iraq war voters will have to take the witness stand. They all signed on to the war and they all got the same briefings. NEXT TOPIC.

By Taxpayer

February 9, 2009 3:52 PM | Link to this

I agree, Jay. All one need do is look around to see all that went wrong under Bush and the Republicans. That’s why they are now in their rightful place — the minority. We need to focus on keeping them where they belong and simply point out a given Bush/Republican screwup as needed in order to prove why change is needed in some given policy, bill, etc. For example, point at the screwed up economy and then cut out all the stupid tax cuts and borrowing from communist China, etc., that Bush and the Republicans wrought on us. If they want another tax cut, then let them pay for it by cutting Pentagon waste or going after Corporate and wealthy tax cheats, etc.

By dragonfly

February 9, 2009 3:56 PM | Link to this

Bush is great,. wrong but honest and held to principles,. so we invaded a few countries,. as long as we didnt invade the big 7 thats should be ok. whats the use of being a powerful nation anyways. when Israel or China invades a country, our reaction are usually non-apparent, why should USA be different.

By rcs

February 9, 2009 4:06 PM | Link to this

Taxpayer, Where is the money for the $900 billion spendulous package coming from?

By Curly

February 9, 2009 4:06 PM | Link to this

Yes, We may need a ‘Truth Commission’ but they should investigate more than The Bush Administration. It should also investigate what the economic melt down all the way back to where congress told banks to make loans to people that could not be reasonable expected to pay them back.

By DebbieDoRight

February 9, 2009 4:08 PM | Link to this

I don’t think we should put Bush on trial per se. I do however believe that Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove should be tried for crimes against the constitution. People equate bush with a bumbling do-gooder, it would tarnish America’s image if Bush is put on trial for his decisions that were made while he was President. However, Cheney et al., would be perfect for it.

By RW-(the original)

February 9, 2009 4:10 PM | Link to this

Why of course it’s all Bush’s fault…….what a broken record we have here.

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA’s overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.

{{{{{Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said.}}}}}

{{{{{“The briefer was specifically asked if the methods were tough enough,” said a U.S. official who witnessed the exchange.}}}}}

By the way, why haven’t we heard a peep about Obama’s decision to continue rendition?

By Mr. Snarky

February 9, 2009 4:13 PM | Link to this

It’s a little scary to think about what might pop up if we start flipping over those rocks. I say go for it.

By Whatever

February 9, 2009 4:14 PM | Link to this

Taxpayer, thats an unresearched comment. (i know thats not a word) The economy crisis is a handed down problem from the Clinton administration. The Idea of a cheap american dream gave boost to Clinton’s popularity, without eating the cost of a bad economic downturn as a consequence. With 911 and other problems it’s a wonder how he did it.

By Taxpayer

February 9, 2009 4:15 PM | Link to this

rcs, Where did the 5 trillion in added debt come from that GWB dumped in our lap?

By Mrs. Godzilla

February 9, 2009 4:18 PM | Link to this

First off, there simply is not enough time to investigate all the Bush shennanigans.

I like the most bang for the buck theory…get him on the stuff with the longest possible terms of incarceration.

I’d like to find out how THIS was allowed to happen.

Seriously, I don’t believe we can “turn the page” until we read and understand it.

By getalife

February 9, 2009 4:18 PM | Link to this

Yeah, we don’t need accountability in the country.

That is just for the lower class folks.

By Curly

February 9, 2009 4:20 PM | Link to this

If Obama and the liberal democrats are so great why do He do as Chavez is doing and fix it where Obama is president for life. Look how much could be saved if we did not have to have to pay for another election for the next 40 or so years. They could also make it so that the congress is also for life and look how much more we could save? Obama would also to appoint all of the Supreme Court justices so all the the thing the liberals have been trying to get done for the last 60 years can be done with fear that anyone will oppose them.

By fed up

February 9, 2009 4:21 PM | Link to this

Why do some people answer a ?? posed to them with a ??, does it mean they don’t know/have an answer?

By Taxpayer

February 9, 2009 4:26 PM | Link to this

Whatever,

Please feel free to provide me with links to sites that support your claim that Clinton handed down some economy crisis to Bush.

By AmVet

February 9, 2009 4:27 PM | Link to this

They had plenty of chances to impeach Dumb & Dumber, but the spineless Dems took impeachment off the table.

Why, I’ll never know. Those two a*******wipes were the most serially impeachable men ever to hold high office.

And now Leahy wants to close the barn doors after the cows have already gotten out and wandered off.

Great…

But as Taxpayer said, the frauds and charlatans in the Credibility-free Party are in sunni shiite so deep they may never dig themselves out.

And given this eight year debacle, it is quite possible the Republiconned are going to be in the minority for another forty year stint.

And then the chickenhawk beak gnashing will thankfully die off for good…

By Swami Dave

February 9, 2009 4:36 PM | Link to this

Taxpayer:

While we are busy creating a list of areas where government can save money, go ahead and tack on cuts to the wasteful rathole known as the “Great Society” in which trillions have been and continue to be spent funding programs and services that most Americans should provide for themselves. At the same time that we are tackling waste at the Pentagon, let’s go ahead and address fraude and waste rampant among a number of the other bureaucracies and entities that make up the federal government (USPS, EPA, etc). I do not even have a problem addressing the problems of collecting unpaid taxes (even though the President appears to be struggling to find a Democrat to work in his administration that would not be a laughable hypocrite as “prosecutor of tax cheats”).

As an aside, what is it with all of these liberal Democrats who ballyhoo about the need for increased taxes and partipate in all manner of finger-wagging shame to those who dare to think that what they earned is theirs? Why is it that the very people who call for higher taxes keep getting identified as the ones who don’t even pay the ones that already owe? It would certainly appear as if they hold themselves somehow “not applicable” to the laws that are foisted upon the rest of us. My dictionary is admittedly old, but I think I found that reference right next to: hypocrite.

Oh well, let’s get back to solving problems insted of mocking the hypocrites who appear to have so many of their own!

Honestly, I do not support an end to our taxcuts largely because I would contend that if government was more effective with what they have and quit wasting the money they already get on things that are outside of their constitutional charter, they would not have a budget problem. Frankly, I expect that we would find that they already collect more than enough to meet their constitutionally-mandated obligations.

As such, I suggest that we eliminate waste and unconstititutional spending before trying to confiscate more from America’s productive class. After we fix the problem (too much spending), then might be a time to discuss increased revenues. Since we have numerous times seen the results of tax increases that were promised to be combined with spending cuts only to have government raise the revenue and forget to make their own cuts, the onus is on the government to carry out -its- actions first. Frankly, America’s taxpayers have been the more dependable party in this relationship; government and the entitlement class that wastes our tax dollars have and continue to be the groups who cannot hold to their obligations or support the consequences of their own decisions.

However do not be dissuaded, if yourself or other liberals wish to unilaterally increase your tax payments to whatever perceived level that you deem “acceptable” and “fair”, I give you my blessing to act as you choose with your own money.

….and I will preemptively thank you for returning the favor.

-Swami Dave

By @@

February 9, 2009 4:46 PM | Link to this

(((By the way, why haven’t we heard a peep about Obama’s decision to continue rendition?)))

I’ve been wondering the same thing. As far as the War on Terror (or whatever He’s callin’ it these days) maybe Obama has learned to differentiate between a useful tool and useless tools, the latter being those he used to get himself elected.

By Taxpayer

February 9, 2009 4:48 PM | Link to this

So, Swami. Feel free to elaborate. Tell me all about how the Republican party and Bush addressed all these problems that you have identified while they had complete control over Congress and the White House. Tell me all about how they reduced spending on prescription drug programs. Tell me all about how they worked on Medicare or Social Security. What did they accomplish. Tell me all about the 1.3 trillion dollar tax cut that Bush pushed through for the rich. Tell me all about where they spent the 5 trillion dollars that Bush and the Republicans added to the national debt. Go ahead.

By Hillbilly Deluxe

February 9, 2009 4:53 PM | Link to this

My Dad worked for over thirty years with a man who was a WWII POW. I believe he has passed on now so I can’t ask him but I wonder if he would consider these things as torture. Compared to what he said the Germans did to him it’s not. And he was just an NCO not a high ranking officer.

By rcs

February 9, 2009 4:54 PM | Link to this

{{{ And given this eight year debacle, it is quite possible the Republiconned are going to be in the minority for another forty year stint. }}}

AMVet, Up to January 28th, I would agree with your assessment. Then along comes Pelosi and her stimulus bill which opens the door for a Republican comeback. Wether or not they make a comeback, time will tell. But why did she lay out a golden opportunity?

By fed up

February 9, 2009 4:55 PM | Link to this

I think swami dave did tell how the republican party and bush addressed all these problems….in his first paragraph that reads: “in which trillions have been and continue to be spent funding programs and services that most Americans should provide for themselves.”….. I think the “have been” part of it should answer the ?? posted at 4:48 p.m.

By Frederick Douglass

February 9, 2009 5:04 PM | Link to this

rcs @ 4:09, where is the money for the unwarranted war in Iraq coming from? Another question, how has the Iraq war contributed to our current fiscal situation?

By rcs

February 9, 2009 5:11 PM | Link to this

Frederick Douglass, It came from the same place Obama/Pelosi/Reid are getting it from which is my point. Don’t blame Bush for borrowing the money when that’s exactly what the current administration is doing.

In regards to Iraq, the democrats could have cut all funding for the war when they took control of congress in January 2007. If you believe the war has gotten us into this current situation then stop funding it.

By Frederick Douglass

February 9, 2009 5:20 PM | Link to this

Thanks rcs for the illumination. I get it now, at the very basic level, everything Bush did was acceptable, anything Obama, Pelosi, and Reid does is evil and vile. Great analogy, now I can explain it to my grand kids so even they’ll understand.

By Taxpayer

February 9, 2009 5:23 PM | Link to this

I think Swami Dave did nothing to explain what the Bush administration and the Republican Party did to reduce deficit spending or reduce the debt while they were in complete control. In fact, while they were in complete control of Congress and the White House, they increased the deficit and the national debt. Jay even put it the thread below so everyone could see it for themselves. How did they do this, you might ask. Well, they cut taxes, increased spending on select areas (while butchering things that even remotely resembled regulation and oversight, what, who Made Off with the Peanut Butter.), and borrowed money from countries like China, Iran, and Venezuela to name a few. Anyone care to argue the facts that Jay presented with facts.

By AmVet

February 9, 2009 5:30 PM | Link to this

This is a strange new world rcs.

As anyone over the age of thirty knows, the bungling, misguided, tax and spend Democrats have mastered stealing defeat from the jaws of victory for quite some time now. Until recently.

Yet, it appears that the two parties have utterly reversed roles.

So, the snake bit, self-emasculated, steal and spend GOP is going to get hammered by the American people, no matter which way they turn.

And in my worthless opinion, rightfully so.

Look at the current numbers which indicate that most Americans think the GOP is not doing enough to work with Obama on this “stimulus package”. (And though not informed enough to have a valid assessment on this matter, it would seem to me it is a spendaholic’s dream come true, so I’m not ready to fault them yet.)

So even IF and when they do the right things occasionally now, most people still don’t trust them at all.

A sane, viable and trustworthy GOP is desperately needed in this country right now, but I really fear it is going to be many years before we see one.

Frickin’ neo-cons.

Swami.

Where do you propose these spending cuts come from?

I have advocated two areas where cuts would help significantly but they are the twin golden calves of American governance and could never be touched — the military budget (which is the same size as the rest of this planet’s combined!) and corporate welfare.

Ergo, we’re screwed.

By fed up

February 9, 2009 5:32 PM | Link to this

I don’t think swami dave was trying to put all the blame on either party….maybe I’m wrong. Unlike some on here that want to blame everything on Bush and the repubs or some that want to blame everything on the dems. I think it collectively goes to politicians as a whole and exactly what swami dave said about Washington using our tax money for what the constitution says they are to use it for instead of all the bs they’ve been using it for.

By AJC/DNC Management

February 9, 2009 5:44 PM | Link to this

{{{{But when we say we’ve lost 3.6 million jobs since this recession began - nearly 600,000 in the past month alone; when we say that this area has lost jobs faster than anywhere else in America, with an unemployment rate over 15 percent; when we talk about layoffs at companies like Monaco Coach, Keystone RV, and Pilgrim International - companies that have sustained this community for years - we’re talking about Ed Neufeldt and people like him all across this country.-baraKKK Oblahmi}}}}

Uh duh, little barry-

{{{{I took some heat for an earlier blog about global warming and its possible impact on the RV industry. I was accused of all sorts of things by phone, e-mail and in blog replies. I was accused of being anti-environment, of having my head in the sand, and of being a “global warming denier.” One guy in France promised to never read RV Trade Digest again. Well it appears as though my instincts were correct. In an article out of Madrid, Spain, an agency has identified another primary source of global warming — tourists.

“Holidaymakers may be ruining their favorite destinations through pollution and greenhouse gases, making the tourism industry one of the world’s worst polluters, experts say,” the article noted.}}}}

The bright ideas of your junk science goon squad do far more damage that you are apparently too stupid to understand.

dimwit

By Chad Harris

February 9, 2009 6:03 PM | Link to this

This is the worst and most childishly naive blog written by Jay Bookman in his life. Jay needs help understanding what he reads in TPM Muck and needs to read better sources and get help understanding what’s going on currently.

Basically, it’s the same airheaded (in this particular case with these particular statements) meme that Glenn Greenwald has taken apart in dissecting the Main Stream Media for years at Salon and in his excellent books. It reveals the result of helping to run a newspaper that has foresaken all of its US and foreign reporting to sporadic, errattic, ectopic wireservice or NYT articles, in part the reslut of the pandemic fiscal crisis that NYT wrote about this morning covering the tough times at well, NYT.

Jay wrote:

“Questions about the US attorney case, for example, are being answered by criminal and internal DOJ investigations”

No, in fact these questions are not being answered by any current investigation. For years OPR has been regarded as a complete joke and it should be rolled into the IG’s office and the IG’s office should be revamped. Any investigations done by them currently are worthless and they accomplish nothing. What OPR and the IG’s office came up with was that while considerable illegal activity took place, they had no power to enforce any consequences against the participants since they had left DOJ. The most they could have done was to get individual state bars to take action, and they have never done so in the history of the US. In point of fact, DOJ fought to get a provision in the Patriot Act that would immunize all US Attorneys from any adverse bar action. Leahy got this provision jerked out of the Patriot Act the day before it was distributed for voting (actually it was distributed in the wee hours of a Friday morning—all 400+ pages of it, so it would not be read). Welcome to America.

And what Jay doesn’t seem to grasp is that Mukasey appointed Nora R. Dannehy as a “special prosecutor” not as a Special Counsel with the panoply of tools she would then have per the Special Counsel statute. Think Fitz going after Libby.

Jay then goes on to say (this could have been written by Paris Hilton):

“The warrantless wiretapping stuff is probably too sensitive to ongoing anti-terror work to be hashed out in public. “

The warentless wiretapping stuff was the wiretapping in the US of every phone and email communication. If there was a reason to wiretap a communication, applications could have been made to the FISA Court which turned down precisely 5(five) applications for a warrant in 20 literal years. Someone should make Jay Bookman read Jim Bamford’s The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America

Bamford isn’t just any writer. He’s an attorney who ran major sections at CIA, and then he became a Producer for ABC Nightline and began writing books.

Say what?

In fact it is being hashed out in pubic in that ACLU and EFF have an ongoing case that the Bush government unsuccessfully tried to kill in the Ninth Circuit which was remanded back to Vaugn Walker’s District Court and is now ongoing. The Bush administration tried to kill it using the State Secrets defense and they were rebuffed by the 9th Circuit narrowly.

The Obama administration disappointed all civil liberties and constitutional legal experts this morning when it did however continue to use State Secrets in another case—the torture of Binyam Mohamed, the British subject tortured at the hands of the United States at Gitmo, including having his genitals carved selectively with a scalpel. That kind of torture surgery clearly one ups waterboarding.

The oral argument in that case in SanFrancisco this morning at Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Room One, was a crucial test as to whether the Obama administration was willing to continue to continue the Bush policy of coverup of torture, wiretapping and other crimes by the assertion of the state secrets privilege.

I wonder if Mr. Bookman is aware that Obama is continuing to try to conceal these issues.

I wonder if Mr. Bookman thinks that information obtained by putting a #11 blade on a scrotum or a penis is reliable information. We have a lot of “history” already to show that information we got that way was 100% wrong.

This position taken today by Obama’s DOJsters also makes him a liar when he has said as recently as a few days ago and throughout the primary and the general that he opposed torture. Mr. Bookman also forgets that Cheney said explicitly last week that every torture technique was individually ordered and approved from the White House.

The torture memos came directly from John Yoo in the OLC.

For Mr. Bookman’s information, the 3 people who now control the Office of Legal Counsel aren’t up and running because it is a few days before Dawn Johnsen gets confirmed as the Haed of OLC, but all 3 of them blogged extensively against torture and wiretapping and constitutional destruction by Bush Chene for several years at Slate and later at Balkinization, Jack Balkin the Yale constitutional law Professor’s blog.

The fradulent runup and current failure in execution of the war can’t be left to historians. I wonder how Mr. Bookman would feel when his kids are old enough if they are in Bagdad right now. Because when Obama leaves after 8 years, we will still have a considerable presence there. Further check out the video of Tom Ricks, the WaPo’s Pentagon reporter who did the same thing for years for the WSJ. It’s pretty grim and analzyes the current situation including the surge as a total political failure. Ricks notes what a lot of people don’t know— that Crocker and Patraeus absolutely thought going into Iraq was a dumb idea. And it was and is.

By getalife

February 9, 2009 6:04 PM | Link to this

The stimulus vote 61-36.

The bill moves forward for a vote tomorrow and will pass.

By TN Gelding

February 9, 2009 6:10 PM | Link to this

AJC/DNC Management

February 9, 2009 3:23 PM

Isn’t it refreshing that someone in Congress has the guts to stand up and speak their mind?

I wrote before and after the election that Pelosi and Reid needed to be replaced.

The investigation into Bush/Cheney would take too long, but I wouldn’t object. People need to be held accountable and the message needs to be sent that no one is above the law.

By Chad Harris

February 9, 2009 6:39 PM | Link to this

The current investigation of the illegal hijacking of DOJ (US Attorney Scandal)and prosecutions which is not a special counsel investigation, is being conducted part time by an acting US Attorney in Ct., Nora Dannehy. She has nowhere near the statuatory power that a Special Counsel would have (as Fitz did in the Libby case).

She is a part time investigator because she still has all her US Attorney duties in Ct. Further, given her past record, it is impossible for Dannehey to be completely impartial.

There is a web site called www.muckety.com that specializes in the past ties/connections an individual in the political/legal spotlight has and it shows that Nora Dannehy has several conflicts of interest.

Most importantly, she has not been appointed as a Special Counsel with Independence from DOJ as she should have been. She was under Mukasy’s thumb when she was appointed back in the fall, and now she is under Eric Holder’s.

The point of an investigation as important as the US Attorney hijacking is that it should be an independent one. When Comey appointed Fitzy to investigate Libby—he was given that kind of independence. Why is it important? Not only can Holder tell her what to do for political reasons, but during Libby’s appeal which he lost Libby’s attorneys made the definition of Fitz’s status as an Independent Counsel their major appellate issue througout every one of their briefs. The D.C. Circuit (18/21) who are loyal Bushie Federalist martinets weren’t buying. Libby’s conviction was affirmed only to have Chimpy commute his sentence.

By getalife

February 9, 2009 6:44 PM | Link to this

Obama fails his first test on civil liberties and accountability — resoundingly and disgracefully

It is official, they are above the law.

By Chad Harris

February 9, 2009 6:49 PM | Link to this

Fitz wasn’t an Independent Counsel since that act expired years ago—I should have called him a Special Counsel and his status and tools as special counsel were at the heart of Libby’s appeal. Libby lost but W the Chimp let him off the hook.

By Thinkwell

February 9, 2009 7:06 PM | Link to this

Well, bookman, what would you call it?

Only 24 hours till 3.14….dang it, I have to google that every time. I hate myself. I hate math. I hate slanted journalism. I get it: Wooten’s Right, and Bookman’s Left. That’ll fool everyone and our newspaper will live forever. Now you 2 get this: you’re finished. Your careers are over. Maybe you two knuckleheads can write a book about me, and make some money. Oh, do. Write a book about me. Make it a movie. Do it. If you’ll be kind enough to accept that and my apologies for being objective, but after all, Journalism is not the Monster. ‘

I’m a teacher. As students you two couldn’t flesh out a story if the assignment was a buns of steel video. B- for both of you, but you fail my class. You need an A+ to get into my newspaper. I’ll write you a brave recommendation, though.

It’s a good bet pi got played in the lottery today, wouldn’t you say?

By DB, Gwinnettian

February 9, 2009 7:08 PM | Link to this

Actually, Jay, I don’t think anyone’s calling for an investigation into “everything Bush.” Just the illegal stuff.

By getalife

February 9, 2009 7:18 PM | Link to this

I guess Obama is above the law too now

Geez.

By RW-(the original)

February 9, 2009 7:19 PM | Link to this

{{{{Just the illegal stuff.}}}}}

ragger,

Should you ever be accused of some wrongdoing I hope you get the due process that the Constitution affords you rather than what you would have for others. Perhaps you’d like to strap President Bush in a wheel chair and push him down a long flight of stairs just so you could enjoy the ensuing screams.

By the way, that’s the same reason Saddam fed people into the shredders feet first.

By Chad Harris

February 9, 2009 7:21 PM | Link to this

A lot of people seem to be spending all their waking hours (the thugs as usual flinging epithets with a lot of heat and no light) trying to assign blame for the economic crisis. One person who seems to be catheterized to the Bookman blog called “Andy” never has any substantive points but rambles on and on as to how Obama is toast after less than 3 weeks or all the problems he’s inherited covered well in David Sanger’s new book The Inheritance.

There is also the laugable meem that the conservatives have found conservativism as if that means anything. In the wake of this economic bill, Georgia’s own Johnny Issacson has come up with a totally stupid $15,000 tax credit for affluent people who will be flipping their homes. It does nothing for the Housing Crisis, and won’t help any Americans in mortgage trouble. It’s a boquet to his real estate homies from Issacson.

The blame for the econmic near depression likes clearly at the feet of the Thug Deregulators, and also of many of the current players in the Obama administration, and they are outlined here:

Christopher Hayes The Nation “Never Say You’re Sorry”

Funny how of the 23 or so remaining Rethuglican Governors not one of them is with the Rethuglicans in the Senate as to the economic package including Silent Buddha Sonny Purdue. Call ‘em and ask ‘em if you don’t believe me.

Rethuglican Governors All of Whom Who Hate the Thuglicans’ bills in the Senate (Sonny has nothign to say):

Robert R. “Bob” Riley Alabama (334) 242-7100 Sarah Palin Alaska (907) 465-3500 Jan Brewer Arizona (602) 542-4331 Arnold Schwarzenegger California (916) 445-2841 M. Jodi Rell Connecticut (800) 406-1527 Charles J. “Charlie” Crist, Jr. Florida (850) 488-2272 George E. “Sonny” Perdue III Georgia (404) 656-1776 Linda Lingle Hawaii (808) 586-0034 C.L. “Butch” Otter Idaho (208) 334-2100 Mitchell E. “Mitch” Daniels Indiana (317) 232-4567 Bobby Jindal Louisiana (225) 342-0991 Timothy J. Pawlenty Minnesota (651) 296-3391 Haley Reeves Barbour Mississippi (601) 359-3150 David E. Heineman Nebraska (402) 471-2244 James A. Gibbons Nevada (775) 684-5670 John Henry Hoeven III North Dakota (701) 328-2200 Donald Carcieri Rhode Island (401) 222-2080 Marshall C. “Mark” Sanford, Jr. South Carolina (803) 734-2100 Marion Michael “Mike” Rounds South Dakota (605) 773-3212 James Richard “Rick” Perry Texas (512) 463-2000 Jon Huntsman, Jr. Utah (801) 538-1000 James H. “Jim” Douglas” Vermont (802) 828-3333

By AJC/DNC Management

February 9, 2009 7:34 PM | Link to this

{{{{By Chad Harris February 9, 2009 7:21 PM One person who seems to be catheterized to the Bookman blog called “Andy” never has any substantive points but rambles on}}}}

I ramble on?

Bwahahahahahahaha, oww!

~~~~~

By the way, less than a few days after baraKKK paraded hack after hack, felon after felon, sleezeball after sleezeball, in front of the Senate for confirmation, is not a good time to broach the subject of investigations, Bookman.

Have you no sense of timing?

By Bud Wiser

February 9, 2009 7:36 PM | Link to this

Yeah, an investigation into “all things Bush” would be the ideal way to divert the media eye from the public on this ridiculous spending disaster. Oh these people are so smart, they’ve already got their guilty ballots punched anyway - maybe ACORN can round up the jury, and bring in a judge from the 9th in SFO..

And Lady Chadderly, you just have to make it shorter, especially because your liberal friends have the attention span of a flash bulb. As for me, I simply skip your nonsense over, because it is for the most part as idiotic as the one who posts it.

Rage against the light.

By Thinkwell

February 9, 2009 7:36 PM | Link to this

Well, bookman, what would you call it?

Only 24 hours till 3.14….dang it, I have to google that every time. I hate myself. I hate math. I hate slanted journalism. I get it: Wooten’s Right, and Bookman’s Left. That’ll fool everyone and our newspaper will live forever. Now you 2 get this: you’re finished. Your careers are over. Maybe you two knuckleheads can write a book about me, and make some money. Oh, do. Write a book about me. Make it a movie. Do it. If you’ll be kind enough to accept that and my apologies for being objective, but after all, Journalism is not the Monster.

I’m a teacher. As students you two couldn’t flesh out a story if the assignment was a buns of steel video. B- for both of you, but you fail my class. You need an A+ to get into my newspaper. I’ll write you a brave recommendation, though.

It’s a good bet pi got played in the lottery today.

By @@

February 9, 2009 7:40 PM | Link to this

Getalife:

(((Obama fails his first test on civil liberties and accountability — resoundingly and disgracefully)))

Thanks! You’re on the ball….

which reminds me, I was just reading an article that said smoking pot increases your risk for testicular cancer.

Take care. (ISH)

By AJC/DNC Management

February 9, 2009 7:42 PM | Link to this

Uh oh, even AP/Oblahma notices the moronic hypocrisy-

{{{{President Barack Obama had it both ways Monday when he promoted his stimulus plan in Indiana. He bragged about getting Congress to produce a package with no pork, yet boasted it will do good things for a Hoosier highway and a downtown overpass, just the kind of local projects lawmakers lard into big spending bills.}}}}

It’s nothing but pork, in fact you can refer to it as Mister Pork, what sort of idiot would believe it has no “earmarks?”

Oh yeah, you democrats would, hahahahahaha, oww!

By BDAtlanta

February 9, 2009 7:50 PM | Link to this

I hope Big O rips out every tax cut the Republicans have put in the stimulus plan.

What is the deal with GOP and tax cuts? Don’t they like money to fix pot holes? Money to educate kids? Money to pay the police who protect their precious “stuff”? Money to pay the firemen and the librarians?

How about having tax dollars that go to the FDA to inspect our food? Thjey don’t like that either?

Every tax cut takes money away from these services we need to keep our society going. Pay yer damn taxes and quit looking for a break dittoheads.

By TN Gelding

February 9, 2009 7:51 PM | Link to this

AJC/DNC Management

February 9, 2009 7:42 PM

Whatever you want to call it, it’s better than wasting it in Iraq.

The $800 billion will generate at least $140 billion in federal revenue.

By RW-(the original)

February 9, 2009 7:55 PM | Link to this

BDa,

Obama doesn’t have the power to rip anything out of a bill. He can sign it or veto it.

By @@

February 9, 2009 7:57 PM | Link to this

Reuters — ((Private investors say they are waiting for the details of an Obama administration plan, to be unveiled on Tuesday, that is expected to include buying troubled assets from banks. But they worry about how the assets would be priced and what guarantees they would get against potential losses.

A further concern for investors is likely to be the government’s track record on how it handled the first round of the $700 billion rescue for the industry, when it imposed restrictions on such things as dividends and compensation on banks that received taxpayer money.))

Best laid plans and all that crap.

By BDAtlanta

February 9, 2009 8:04 PM | Link to this

RW, If he tells the Democrats to rip them out, they will rip them out.

By RW-(the original)

February 9, 2009 8:08 PM | Link to this

BDa,

Then why haven’t they?

The reason is because it’s the tax cuts that Obama wants. Perhaps you should study more and opine from the seat of your pants less.

By Midori

February 9, 2009 8:09 PM | Link to this

Wow!!

A rare phenomena!!

An intelligent wordsmith giving a press conference on tv right now!!

After 8 years of the exact opposite, I don’t know how to take this!!

By getalife

February 9, 2009 8:11 PM | Link to this

@@,

That is propaganda to keep it illegal.

Do you believe everything you read?

By getalife

February 9, 2009 8:18 PM | Link to this

The President will win the first battle.

The second battle, the Tarp crap sandwich ,is the banks blackmailing government to get rid of their toxic gambling losses to start lending again.

Wall Street never loses in more ways than one.

By Chad Harris

February 9, 2009 8:24 PM | Link to this

GetaLife—

Keep readin’ Glen—his 3 books are excellent and he sees through the superifciality of much of the MSM as you know.

It was very disappointing to see Obama’s DOJ assert State Secrets in San Fran at the Ninth Circuit today particularly when his top 3 people at OLC have been some of the brightest and most prolific writers in law reviews railing agsinst it used to shield torture and warantless wiretapping.

If you haven’t been, you also might want to follow Wired’s Deep Blog “Threat Analysis” at www.wired.com and www.eff.org as well as www.balkinization.com .

By @@

February 9, 2009 8:26 PM | Link to this

Getalife:

(((Do you believe everything you read?)))

Hardly!

I have nothing to worry about since I don’t have testicles.

I was just concerned with your health is all.

Par-d’oh-n, Homer.

By AJC/DNC Management

February 9, 2009 8:36 PM | Link to this

If this POS delays the start of 24 then there is no way I’m voting for his sorry as-s in 2012.

Liar.

By getalife

February 9, 2009 8:36 PM | Link to this

Thanks Chad,

I will add that to my list.

@@,

My testicles are fine.

Thanks for asking.

The President said the party is over on borrowing money so the spending should decrease.

Wonder where he will get the money for the wars?

By BDAtlanta

February 9, 2009 8:38 PM | Link to this

Midori, I was thinking the same thing. It used to be such a joke when W didn’t have a speech to read from.

I always wanted to cover my kids ears so he wouldn’t think that was normal.

”..is our children learning?”

By rcs

February 9, 2009 8:41 PM | Link to this

He’s doing fairly well considering this is the first time in his political career that he’s answered unscripted, unrehearsed questions.

By Swami Dave

February 9, 2009 8:41 PM | Link to this

Taxpayer:

In response to your “tell me how Republicans…”

Tell me all about how they reduced spending on prescription drug programs.

-They did not. They passed an expanded prescription drug entitlement that added more liability onto the American taxpayers. Instead of limiting our future liability for entitlements, they expanded them (in an example of what was then termed “moderate bipartisanship”). It was a mistake.

Tell me all about how they worked on Medicare or Social Security. What did they accomplish.

-A floated plan to end the ponzi scheme nature of Social Security and transition it for younger workers to a vehicle for investment and ownership was largely demonized on arrival (for the most part, by liberals). In the end, nothing happened and Social Security / Medicare continues as the “third-rail” of American politics on which any leader who steps forward to address the problem with anything except continuing (or expanding) the liability of the US taxpayers to fund an ever-growing entitlement is savagely attacked by politicans and political interest groups.

Tell me all about the 1.3 trillion dollar tax cut that Bush pushed through for the rich.

-There was no such thing as a “tax cut for the rich” and that is simply a liberal lie that I would expect better from you. Taxes were cut for all Americans who pay income taxes. The “rich” did and still do pay the lions share of income taxes and it is therefore logical that most of any tax relief would go to those taxpayers who pay most of the income taxes. All taxpayers got tax relief and, proportional to the percentage paid, taxpayers benefited equitably.

Tell me all about where they spent the 5 trillion dollars that Bush and the Republicans added to the national debt.

-The entitlement sectors of our government were there before Bush & the Republican Congress and, in many ways, they extended it farther in direct violation to the principles on which many of them were elected. Mistakes were made and many of them lost their seats due to them.

It would be great if the current administration and Congressional leaders would start taking those steps to lower spending and getting our financial status in order. Spending what will amount to $1.2T on this “stimulus” package (that isn’t) in creation of a number of MORE entitlements that will cost trillions going forward and lead to FURTHER deficit spending that will lead to higher debts is simply doing more of what got us into this mess in the first place.

Hope this helps.

-Swami Dave

By AJC/DNC Management

February 9, 2009 8:43 PM | Link to this

Even as baraKKK whines, begs and lies about his ACORN pork giveaway, CNN tries to pin it on the Repugs-

{{{{GOP trio helps stimulus bill clear key hurdle}}}}

Collins, Snowe and Spectre, “Republicans.”

Bwahahahahahahahaha, yeah right, oww!

By Chad Harris

February 9, 2009 8:49 PM | Link to this

Meanwhile, back in reality:

The Destructive Center

“What do you call someone who eliminates hundreds of thousands of American jobs, deprives millions of adequate health care and nutrition, undermines schools, but offers a $15,000 bonus to affluent people who flip their houses?

A proud centrist. For that is what the senators who ended up calling the tune on the stimulus bill just accomplished.”

I’m trying to remember the year Johnny Issacson won the Nobel in Economics when all the gang from Stockholm flew in to put kets in the Big Chicken parking lot.

It is tragic that we couldn’t have continued Chim;py in the WH and then there would have been

a) no job loss b) no pending depression c) no housing crisis d) no banking crisis

GD that Obama for having caused all of the above since 1/20.

GD that Obama for having created the disaster in Iraq.

GD that Obama for having lost control in North Korea, Iran, and particularly Pakistan.

Man if he has done this much damage to the country since Jan. 20, just look at the damage he’ll do after eight years because sure as hell Romney, Jindal, and Alaska putz aren’t getting anywhere near the oval.

And then there will be 8 years of Michelle.

And when Sasha and Malia reach age 35, there will be Sasha and Malia.

32 years of the Obama Presidency and look how many things Obama has caused to go South since January 20.

If only we could get Chimpy the Bush back, man we’d have our “conservative mojo” groovin’.

Let’s all get on the phone to 15,000 tax credit for affluent house flippers Issackson and Sugar Slave Chambliss and te’ll em we want an amendment to create a 3rd term for Chimpy.

By AJC/DNC Management

February 9, 2009 8:49 PM | Link to this

uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,

By getalife

February 9, 2009 8:57 PM | Link to this

Sam Stein from the Huffington Post?.

That is a first but Sam is a pretty good reporter.

By AJC/DNC Management

February 9, 2009 8:58 PM | Link to this

I haven’t been paying much attention but did he really just say that we will reduce our nuclear arsenal so that we have the “standing” to tell Russia to reduce theirs?

Is that not a third grade thought?

60 years of successful detente, now we got the genius democrats with their bright ideas, why, so that we can all live happily ever after?

OMG, we are so skrewed.

By RW-(the original)

February 9, 2009 9:00 PM | Link to this

Geez! I thought Clinton could drone on endlessly.

Maybe if this dunce had a few answers he could actually answer a question without rambling for twenty minutes on each one.

By Chad Harris

February 9, 2009 9:03 PM | Link to this

No and if he you had been paying attention you would have had your usual zero level of comprehension. Your party doesn’t have any mojo and essentially it is dead. Deal with it in some way other than catheterizing yourself here looking like the putz in Alaska.

By fed up

February 9, 2009 9:03 PM | Link to this

DITTO, DITTO, DITTO to BudWiser’s 7:36 p.m. post, 2nd paragraph.

By getalife

February 9, 2009 9:09 PM | Link to this

RW,

He trained him.

By Mrs.Godzilla

February 9, 2009 9:10 PM | Link to this

Damn he’s good!

I’m proud of Obama, but I’m also proud of me. I voted for him.

Let’s give the “idealological” blockage some liberal Milk of Magnesia.

We’ll cure what ails ya’.

Old base bluster in 3….2…..1

By Mrs.Godzilla

February 9, 2009 9:13 PM | Link to this

Sister Mary Jessica is rolling over in her grave over my spelling.

By Chad Harris

February 9, 2009 9:17 PM | Link to this

Bush on for 5 seconds was so stupid and inarticulate he was an embarassment to this country and has put respect for this country at an all time historic low.

It will be built back to the level where it should be during the next 8 years of Obama leaving all you winhgnuts with nothing left to do but pi$$ and moan via keyboard/mouse.

By TN Gelding

February 9, 2009 9:21 PM | Link to this

Mrs.Godzilla

February 9, 2009 9:10 PM

He already looks 5 years older.

Wouldn’t it be great if the media would back off and let our presidents live a more normal life? I would have liked for him to have said good night to the TV audience and continue the news conference. I also wish he had been more polite to Helen Thomas.

By Midori

February 9, 2009 9:23 PM | Link to this

Chad,

I caught this yesterday. Pretty interesting discussion

By Mrs.Godzilla

February 9, 2009 9:31 PM | Link to this

TN GELDING

I’d like to see the replay of Helen’s question, I thought she struggled with it. I thought he covered smoothly.

By Mrs.Godzilla

February 9, 2009 9:37 PM | Link to this

It’s being reported that Hannity is already offering to buy the beer.

By Swami Dave

February 9, 2009 9:37 PM | Link to this

Mrs. Godzilla:

For the benefit of the American people, I wish you (and the President) the best of luck.

That said, his actions are continuations of the failed policies that have diminished growth and expanded government (and its deficits) for decades. With history as any reasonable guide, the “stimulus” (so called) will make the economic doldrums worse in the short-term and lead to round two of 1970s style stagflation in the longer-term.

For average Americans, this administration will be a debacle and evidence to millions of Americans that elections have consequences.

In preparation, I’m going to go ahead and get my “Don’t blame me - I didn’t vote for -THAT- one!” bumper sticker. (smile)

Have a good evening MsG

-Swami Dave

By tcoach

February 9, 2009 9:46 PM | Link to this

mrs.g, replay won’t help.

just be one of those meaningless things for people to nit-pick and defend back and forth.

Those woho like Pres. Obama will see him helping an ancient woman and cover her flub.

Those who are on the other side of the coin will see it as rude an not respecting elders.

i say give him a who cares but don’t think he was being rude, just tryung to hurry up what was kinda dragging along.

By Taxpayer

February 9, 2009 9:47 PM | Link to this

Swami,

First, you should study a little more about the Bush tax cuts and who received the most benefit. Articles such as this might help you. Also, if you do a little digging, you’ll find that the wealthiest received the biggest tax cuts. The fact that the wealthiest received the biggest tax cuts combined with the poorest receiving nothing in conjunction with Bush’s cuts to programs intended to help the poor, sick, disabled, etc., along with the fact that he borrowed the money for we the people to pay back with interest along with the wealthiest taking advantage of their ability to set up off shore tax avoidance accounts, etc., boils down to a tax cut for the wealthy at the expense of others. I would provide a bunch of links in one post for you but that has caused my posts to get dropped in the past. I can provide plenty of articles with data to make my case if you choose not to believe me. Just give me the word.

The Bush tax cuts are responsible for part of that massive 5 trillion dollar debt. Another part of it went to fund the Iraq war and yet another part went to pay interest on debt while another part went to the prescription drug benefit and yet another part to a massive agriculture bill. Why. Because there were not enough revenues to cover all the expenditures. So, Bush borrowed money to make up the differences. Clinton recognized that you have to collect enough in revenues to cover expenditures just to break even and not add more to the national debt. Republicans have never been able to come to grips with that fact until now, in the middle of the worst recession we have had since the depression and at a time when we actually need government to step in and create jobs until private businesses can get their acts together and create jobs.

Bush even took us to war without asking a single American to help pay for it. If a war on terrorism is so important to our well-being then why didn’t he ask people to make a little monetary sacrifice rather than simply borrowing more money to pay for it. Some of those bills could have been paid as we went. Now, we have to pay back the principal and interest. The interest alone on our national debt is somewhere around 300 to 400 billion. Two years worth of interest payments would have funded TARP. All this and I have just barely scratched the surface of the harm that Bush and the Republicans have wrought on us.

I hope that helps you, Swami.

By Chad Harris

February 9, 2009 9:51 PM | Link to this

I don’t think he slighted Ms. Thomas and I doubt she did. I thought he gave pretty good answers. If he could have put Paul Krugman in Summers’ place he would have a better chance of recovering this country from the Bush economic clu$sterfook.

Midori thanks a lot for the link. Often Glenn tries to link his media appearnces or links to streams on his site at www.slaon.com/opinion/greenwald

Jay Rosen has a blog called Press Think

By Mrs.Godzilla

February 9, 2009 10:03 PM | Link to this

Swami Dave

As wrongheaded as I think you are policy wise, you state well your point of view and I respect you for it.

I think we’d be lucky if all we faced was “economic doldrums worse in the short-term and lead to round two of 1970s style stagflation in the longer-term”.

Sleep well. We’ll solve the world’s problems again tomorrow.

By Chad Harris

February 9, 2009 10:07 PM | Link to this

I don’t type accurately when I type fast. It should have been Glenn Greenwald

Very well expressed Taxpayer. That philosophy as you know better than I began with Raegan and continued unfettered up through the present. It was pushed by every Rethug in the Senate, and particularly by Phil Graham. There were some guilty Dems as well.

Some of the complicit Dems who subscribed who are now in the Obama administration are mentioned in this article:

Never Say You’re Sorry

“But in 1998 powerful voices close to the Clinton administration—Robert Rubin, Larry Summers and Alan Greenspan—argued that the derivatives market was just fine. They had allies among the Wall Street banks who were making money hand over fist in the unregulated, over-the-counter market.

Then there was Phil Gramm, the mastermind behind the 2000 Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which definitively kept derivatives unregulated. Attached to a massive omnibus bill during the lame-duck Congress in December 2000, while the nation’s attention was captivated by Bush v. Gore, the CFMA passed overwhelmingly in both houses and was signed into law by President Clinton. But Gramm wasn’t sneaking anything past the White House, which had hammered out the details in lengthy negotiations with the senator. And one of the men charged with shepherding the bill through Congress was none other than the Treasury’s under secretary for domestic finance, Gary Gensler.”

By Greg Mendel

February 9, 2009 10:22 PM | Link to this

“For average Americans, this administration will be a debacle and evidence to millions of Americans that elections have consequences.” — Swami

Millions of Americans — average or not — finally realized in 2008 that elections do have consequences. A little late, I’d say.

If the current administration becomes a debacle, it will be because the previous administration exceeded Grant, Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover in its incompetence and legacy of garbage.

You and others whine that our economic failures began before Bush II. But you never explain how your insight discouraged him from destroying the budget, economy and nation.

Oh, I forgot. You were against Bush before you were really against him. Setting aside your 8-year interlude of worship.

By Swami Dave

February 9, 2009 10:23 PM | Link to this

taxpayer:

respectfully, i am pretty familiar with president bush’s tax cuts. the wealthiest americans received the biggest chunk of tax cuts because they pay the largest chunk of income taxes. implementing tax cuts that ignore this simple reality and circumventing it by giving larger tax cuts to americans disproportionately to the amount of income taxes that they pay is essentially using the tax code to steal the wealth and earnings of america’s producers. likewise, giving a “tax cut” to someone who pays no income taxes is not a “tax cut”; it is a welfare payment funded on the backs of their fellow americans.

unfortunately, (as has historically been the case) government cut taxes but did not have the resolve to cut spending especially in the areas that are outside of their limited constitutional charter. so there is no confusion, that would be much of the new deal / great society style social spending foisting onto america’s taxpayers the consequences for behaviors and decisions of others. frankly, if america did not waste so much funding poor behavior, there would be billions (and actually trillions) more available to cover the costs for those who truly need help and cannot provide for themselves. our current model offers no motivation for the “able” to provide for themselves and actually serves to demotivate many who already are.

with regard to the links and information that you mention - i too have fallen victim to problems connecting links to this blog. if you would like to send me your information, i would be happy to look at it. if you are “net-savvy” as i expect, i can assure you that you will have no trouble finding a way to contact me. i reserve the right to control what i receive, but (as most on this board have to acknowledge) i am not shy to engage in good debate and usually carry it out with a smile on my face.

ms. godzilla:

yes, i would agree that we hold some strong differences in policy. personally, i enjoy the debates so long as we stay focused on ideas / policies / philosophies with a little irreverent humor thrown in for spice. as i said, i do hope that i am wrong (as that would be best for america and her citizens as a whole), but unless history proves to be an inaccurate guide, which it usually does not, my outlook is fairly certain.

i wish you and yours a good night’s sleep as well.

-Swami Dave

By Chicago croupier

February 9, 2009 10:24 PM | Link to this

Tonight Mr. Bojangles danced a lot in worn out shoes.

By Swami Dave

February 9, 2009 10:43 PM | Link to this

greg:

with due respect, where i agreed with george w bush, i supported his policies / actions. where i disagreed, i opposed them with equal vigor. there were things that he did which i strongly supported. there were others (like today’s multi-mentioned prescription drug entitlement) which i opposed.

it is called intellectual honesty and i intend to extend the same courtsey to president obama. in this case (the “stimulus”), it represents legislation that continues and expands some of the worst economic policies of the past few decades.

-Swami Dave

By @@

February 9, 2009 10:52 PM | Link to this

I mean really, did Obama’s answer to the A-Rod (sp?) question require THAT many “uh”zzzzzzzzzzzz????

By Chad Harris

February 9, 2009 11:07 PM | Link to this

All of you people who are weighing whether this administration will become a fisco or debacle should (but most of you won’t) take a step back (or stay in delusion land).

Unless you’re completely delusional (the base and the Bookman wingnuts) Obama inherited a list of problems a mile long and miles high. Even McCain tried to campaign distanced with Bush and Bush and McCain only appeared together in the entire campaign after the Bush soft shoe at the White House for a few seconds.

How many of you would take a complicated job where the business was a great opportunity for you but it was left in a mess and expect that people would say you ran it into the ground after 48 hours which is what the wingnuts here were doing before, on Jan. 20, and after.

You’re bumed because for whatever the panoply of reasons McCain and his comical choice lost. We get that. But you haven’t won every personal contest in your life from grade school until now. That doesn’t mean that the person who beat you sucked.

It was also comical that whatever the Conjference does, that items that were singled for ridicule totaled about 1% of the bill. And this from the party that took earmarks to unprecedented levels.

And boy Pence from Indiana sure got it right. LOL those tax cuts have gotten the economy into splendid shape. When Bush walked out of the White House those 3,600,0000 jobs lost are just media hype. The economy was in unprecedented health until Jan. 20 than Bada Bing the bottom fell out at 12:01PM on January 20. Great thinking—incisive and accurate as hell.

By Taxpayer

February 9, 2009 11:08 PM | Link to this

swami,

thanks for the response. I suspect we may simply differ in some basic philosophies while we may have common ground in other areas. Based on your responses, I suspect we would reach agreement that government cannot and should not be relied on any more than “necessary”. However, our definitions of “necessary” surely differ. I believe that we need government involvement in things such as defense, Interstate commerce, judicial, EPA, FDA, FAA, Social Security, etc., whereas you may not. Further, I need look no farther than issues such as salmonella, toxic dumping by big businesses, roads aligning at state lines, etc., for justification. Then, there is the issue of who pays and how much. First, we need to instill a good work ethic in all able bodied Americans because no able bodied person should either expect or receive a “free ride” off the backs of others. Then, we have to accept that not everyone will always be able to work and that civilized people do not throw their ill, unfortunate, injured, etc., to the wolves. Instead, we should work toward cost effective and morally acceptable approaches to take care of our own, i.e., we the people. With people working, our economy can function as it should and the harder working and more innovative can achieve and acquire more if they so choose. However, I also believe that those that acquire more need to return more to society. First of all, you cannot take it with you. Second, a properly functioning economy needs money to flow. The absolute worst scenario for our economy is for money to accumulate into stagnant hands. Third, wealthier people typically use more shared resources in order to acquire their wealth so they should pay more for them. They use the roads more to get products made and delivered. Even keeping their wealth safe costs more. Poorer working people simply cannot afford to pay as much of their income yet these wealthy need the poorer people to purchase their products and services in order to achieve that wealth to begin with so the wealthy need to view the poorer as their very lifeblood. I think people such as Warren Buffett do indeed see things that very way. Unfortunately, Republican politicians like to abuse their Reagan-era policies of trickle down economics with the hope that it will be sufficient to keep a loyal base of followers even though they cannot offer any solid proof that further tax cuts are even economically possible given the facts that we have an enormous debt to be paid and spending commitments that no one has properly addressed and a dwindling number of persons willing to loan us any more money. Of course, this is just touching on the whole story but,

that’s enough for now. After all, I’m not getting paid to write a book.

By RW-(the original)

February 9, 2009 11:21 PM | Link to this

@@,

The WaPo has to be so proud of their reporter that he threw out the A-Roid question /sarc, but Obama not only uhed and umed he also flubbed the answer big time.

He said that since MLB has taken this seriously our kids know there are no shortcuts, but MLB hasn’t done a thing to justify that answer. Since the Roid era records still stand the message is exactly the opposite of what PresBO said.

By dogs against management

February 9, 2009 11:41 PM | Link to this

Rambling welcher? We’re getting closer.

By Chad Harris

February 9, 2009 11:46 PM | Link to this

Sure was a change from 8 years of pre-screened press conferences where all the questions had to be submitted before they were asked of Chimpy.

Obama has a brain and he took the questions on the fly. Soon there will be side by side comparisons of a goofy chimpy and a professional articulate Ob ama.

And talk about the uh uh’s Bush was the King of them. Too bad we couldn’t have had the stream of consciousness from Snowbilly punctuated with “but also’s” as the moron segged from off the wall thoguht to off the wall thought.

How’s the view of Russia from Alaska tonight?

By Chad Harris

February 10, 2009 12:23 AM | Link to this

I agree with RW on the MLB approach to drugs thus far. You’re absolutely right. It’s been pathetic. I wouldn’t get hung up on a couple uh uhs—because when it comes to public speaking, I doubt any of us or most people could have flawless answers to questions without any punctuation, particularly when you’re trying to bully pulpit a country that’s getting more and more alarmed and shell shocked by the economy and realizing there just aren’t going to be anything like quick and certain fixes.

Obama was giving a stock political answer to the A-Rod question. It’s pretty hard to know exactly what A-Rod was given. It’s not as if there’s an Rx and a record of it. Who knows what was mixed up and delivered to A-Rod. These athletes were charged a good bit for what was portrayed to them as possibly anabolic steroids, and probably in some cases mixed with or supplemented with HCG.

But they didn’t know what they were taking or was being injected, and in most cases it wasn’t even delivered by MDs—it was passed on by trainers.

It’s hard to know (for me) what went on in the cases of Roger Clements or Barry Bonds. Most if not all of the lab tests in the Bonds case were tossed out the other day because there was no link at all except heresay to the results. They could have been lab results on any of the population of Quests tests or whoever the lab was that did Bond’s tests. I can’t believe DOJ tried to get that past a federal judge with a straight face.

By Frederick Douglass

February 10, 2009 1:13 AM | Link to this

Chad Harris @ 11:07, your points are valid and varied, but we both know what the Obama haters base their vitriol on, I need not elaborate. This has got to be the worst turn of events in most of these peoples lives, to have one of their own, a fair haired boy fall flat on his face, and then have to swallow the prospect of “one of those people” tidying up the mess he made.

By AJC/DNC Management

February 10, 2009 5:22 AM | Link to this

{{{{Pity poor Joe Biden. His “there’s still a 30 percent chance we’re going to get it wrong” quote is put straight to President Barack Obama during the White House press conference just now and his boss seemed to want to say: “Vice-President Who?”

As reporters started giggling, Obama came close to conceding that Biden was indeed a joke. “You know, I don’t remember exactly what Joe was referring to, not surprisingly.”-UKTimes}}}}

And Biden is the one with the brains, remember?

Bwahahahahahahahaha, oww!

Stop it!!!!!

By AJC/DNC Management

February 10, 2009 5:32 AM | Link to this

{{{{Four Iraqi prisoners have been transferred from the U.S. terrorism detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Iraqi custody. Iraqi security officials said the men were arrested in Afghanistan, but they did not give a time frame for their arrests or release. They said one Iraqi citizen remained at Guantanamo and was seeking refugee status in the United States.-Urinal/Jihad}}}}

baraKKK sent them to Abu Ghraib!

Bwahahahahahahahaha, oww!

Stop it!!!!

By Bud Wiser

February 10, 2009 6:38 AM | Link to this

This country’e economy is headed for a CATASTROPHE. Ohhhhhhh, the SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING!!. Ohhhhhhhhhhh!

But wait! It is I, the Chosen One! I can save you! I can save me! I can save us all!

Just support me when I send my troops to your banks and other financial institutions to confiscate all of the wealth and I will redistribute it to all of you lazy shiftless, but happy, neer-do-wells that supported me in my time of need against The Great White B!tch, and secured the presidency.

Only I, the Chosen One, can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it is I, the Chosen One, who has the only plan in this entire pitiful wreck of a nation, a nation that needs to be released from its freedoms and pursuits of happiness, a nation that needs I, the Chosen One, to transform this once proud nation into the First United American Socialist Republic!

Support Me, the Chosen One, and become one of my minions! I will care for you, see that you are fed, clothed, housed, and are given cash, PLUS and endless stream of all of the finest rap musicians I can find online! MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, they are my Friends! Become a Friend of the Chosen One! Support me! Adore me! Love me!

By Andy the Welcher

February 10, 2009 6:39 AM | Link to this

WOW!!!!

“Don’t blame Bush for borrowing the money when that’s exactly what the current administration is doing.”

That’s putting the cart before the horse, or in Andy’s case the Welch before the bet…

3 weeks in and we’re hearing this crap.

Newsflash: We’re 3 weeks into the “current administration” and ALL that’s happened is simply a continuation of what W started, no money has been released or spent. The only thing that has happened is some debate on HOW to spend it. You people are dense.

I see Andy upstairs decrying “goon science”, hmmpphhhff… that’s rich, a flat earther disparaging science, something he doesn’t even believe in… There’s a museum in KY for people like Andy and it shows people mingling with Dinosaurs, Andy will be in good company there.

I’ll bed Biden wouldn’t Welch.

ew

By Andy the Welcher

February 10, 2009 6:47 AM | Link to this

Snicker…

MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice… Someone is showing thier age… Do you go outside and yell at kids to get off your lawn much?…

This explains a lot. And this person was just recently decrying how they couldn’t be buttonholed as a Republican. Gosh look at most EVERY post made by this individual and it’s pretty clear that they are as Republican as it gets.

By Andy the Welcher

February 10, 2009 6:54 AM | Link to this

“Unless you’re completely delusional (the base and the Bookman wingnuts) Obama inherited a list of problems a mile long and miles high. Even McCain tried to campaign distanced with Bush and Bush and McCain only appeared together in the entire campaign after the Bush soft shoe at the White House for a few seconds.”

Chad, let me correct you. That “mile long” list is all Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton’s fault.

I’m glad we got that straight.

Oh, remember not to bet with Andy because he Welches.

ew

By AJC/DNC Management

February 10, 2009 7:12 AM | Link to this

This isn’t really a “new” entry into the annals of democrat criminal history, we all knew Filthy Mouth Murtha was an unindicted felon already, but it is still sweet-

{{{{The FBI raided the offices of a defense lobbying firm with close ties to Democratic Rep. John Murtha (Penn.), sources tell ABC News.}}}}

Bwahahahaahahahaha, oww!

Stop it!!!

By Andy the Welcher

February 10, 2009 7:22 AM | Link to this

I don’t think Murtha is a Welcher.

ew