Born To Luce
Posted on March 8th, 2010 by Gavin M.
Mark Halperin, Time:
How Obama Is Making the Same Mistakes as Bush
- Last week’s charge that Obama is too much like Bush led me to consider the mistakes of the Bush administration. Sure enough, they needed to be rewritten.
‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard. We are aware of all Internet traditions.™
Brad adds: This is classic Halperin political “analysis” in which all of a politician’s troubles are due more to inside baseball bureaucratic fights. The actually reason Obama is in trouble politically is that people are suffering during a recession and his policies have done far too little to help them. At the same time, he’s gone out of his way to kiss bankster ass all while unemployment has continuously hovered around 10%.
To Luce, low tech.
Always. Trust. The. Shorter.™
Unfortunately, the shorter makes little sense. Time to put on the hip waders.
To Luce, low tech.
**Golf clap**
Bush had a failure to integrate policy and politics? Seriously?
No Chief Economic Spokesperson
No President has a chief economic spokesperson.
Failure to Integrate Policy, Politics and Communication
I may have to give him this one.
Tying the Administration’s Fate Too Closely to His Party’s Congressional Leadership
To the extent that he hasn’t taken firm control of the legislative agenda, I have to agree, but…that’s saying that Bush for some reason didn’t have control of his agenda, which is flat-out ludicrous.
Failing to Empower Cabinet Members on Domestic Policy
Utter nonsense: Sebelius and Napolitano have all been on the front burner on issues like the H1N1 virus and other domestic policy issues.
So one (and maybe a half more) out of four and somehow Obama resembles Bush?
Tsk, tsk, Marky Dork!
That’s not what Real America is angry about. Real America is sick and tired of all of the blue ties.
The second was a link to a nearly identical article about Obama, but you get the point.
Mark is so much better at gossipy, unsourced books.
Does that even come close to meaning anything?
Tsk, tsk, Marky Dork!
Remember also that Halperin describes these mistakes as some of Bush’s most egregious blunders too.
Iraq? Katrina? Mere hiccups when compared to Tying the Administration’s Fate Too Closely to His Party’s Congressional Leadership.
No mangoes for me, I’ll you that for sure.
Failure to Integrate Policy, Politics and Communication
Umm, Bush had policies? Me no thinky so; him had no policy, everything was politics, politics was everything.
“Does that even come close to meaning anything?”
No. This has been another installment of short answers to….
No mangoes for me, I’ll you that for sure.
Failure to Integrate Policy, Politics and Communication
Umm, Bush had policies? Me no thinky so; him had no policy, everything was politics, politics was everything.
WP is like Bush. FYWP.
Wait.
It’s another “Rahm Is Always Right” article. Damnit, Obama should have listened to Rahm more, that way we might have fewer of these articles.
Bush had a failure to integrate policy and politics? Seriously?
It’s not for nuthin’ they were known as the Mayberry Machiavellis.
I think what he means is, “From its earliest days, Bush’s White House was Rove and Cheney telling Bush what to say.”
Oh, and let’s not forget that Barry ignored a month’s advance notice that nefarious types intended to use commercial airliners in a terrorist attack and that as a result 3,000 people died (and a whole bunch of other people have created a permanent shortage of Dependz on supermarket shelves).
Sort of PENIS. Gawd, I love newspapers…
OT – from the front page of MSN.com, your Red-Baiting Of The Day:
It’s International Women’s Day
Are its socialist roots still showing?
I mean, GOD FORBID.
Socialist cooties!
So new strategy is:
“People hated Bush in the end, so let’s compare Obama to Bush?”
Ye gods.
Does that even come close to meaning anything?
Yes. Apparently, the White House was bought out by Willy Wonka.
Does that even come close to meaning anything?
Allow me to explain:
From [dramatic timeframe], [political figure] has [successfully/failed to] [serious action] the [adjective] [vague business term] and [another vague business term] to [action verb] [power adjective], [another power adjective] [power concept] [industrial analogy] from the [evoke nerd, fag, or jew] [medieval analogy] in the [place in Washington] to [synecdoche] as he [action verb] [adjective] [power noun] at [power adjective] [vague term for place].
Normally I like to take one for the team and get out of the boat…but I’m not in good enough mood to do that today. You’re all on your own.
Ah… Thanks, pedestrian. That clarifies everything.
From [dramatic timeframe], [political figure] has [successfully/failed to] [serious action] the [adjective] [vague business term] and [another vague business term] to [action verb] [power adjective], [another power adjective] [power concept] [industrial analogy] from the [evoke nerd, fag, or jew] [medieval analogy] in the [place in Washington] to [synecdoche] as he [action verb] [adjective] [power noun] at [power adjective] [vague term for place].
OOooh, Political MadLibs!
“Yes. Apparently, the White House was bought out by Willy Wonka.”
FUN!
OOooh, Political MadLibs!
Needs more Potrzebie.
To Luce, low tech.
Heh heh- two can play…
To Luce, what dreck!
“Yes. Apparently, the White House was bought out by Willy Wonka.”
Starring Sarah Palin as Veruca Salt.
[dramatic timeframe] = Yalta conference
[political figure] = Henry Clay
[successfully/failed to] = ummmmmmm, “failed to”
[serious action] = fap
[adjective] = blue
[vague business term] = paradigm
[another vague business term] = rightsizing
[action verb] = leap
[power adjective] = fierce
[power concept] = dynamics
[industrial analogy] = selling widgets
[evoke nerd, fag, or jew] = Dilbert
[medieval analogy] = halberd
[place in Washington] = K Street
[synecdoche] = Lilliputian stature
[action verb] = wrestles
[adjective] = spotted
[power noun] = canapes
[power adjective] = moribund
[vague term for place] = instances
Apparently, the White House was bought out by Willy Wonka.
Now when I think about politics I can spit in six different colors!
To Luce, what dreck!
Too loose, holodeck!
[dramatic timeframe] = Yalta conference
[political figure] = Henry Clay
[successfully/failed to] = ummmmmmm, “failed to”
[serious action] = fap
etc.
New Janus Node!
Too loose, holodeck!
No-Time Tolouse.
Mark Halperin’s problem is that he writes just the way he looks.
But, hey. We know what that crack TIME, Inc. editorial management did for CNN, right?
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Isn’t that funny, sir… I’ve never come across that phrase before – ‘no time to lose’. Forty-two years I’ve been in the regular army and I’ve never heard that phrase.
OOooh, Political MadLibs!
Reminds me of this.
“Passionate plea! Whispered repetition.” Lulz.
Too lose, Lost trek
You lose, ya feck!
Whoa.
No wonder MSN.com’s fretting over the SOCIALIST roots of International Women’s Day – from Wikipedia:
In 1909 [suffragette Evaline] Haverfield took part in the Bill of Rights March. Members of the WSPU, led by Emmeline Pankhurst, attempted to enter the House of Commons. They were blocked by the police and over 100 women were arrested, including Haverfield. Following a WSPU demonstration in 1910 she was arrested for assaulting a police officer after hitting him in the mouth. According to the charges brought against her, she had also said “It was not hard enough. Next time I will bring a revolver.”
“Passionate plea! Whispered repetition.” Lulz.
Murmur of agreement.
Who loosed “los flecks”?
I already have a whole bunch of work to avoid.
Murmur of agreement.
Fart in unison.
Fart in unison.
TOO LOOSE! LOW FLECKS!
Do loos lack sex?
Starring Sarah Palin as Veruca Salt.
I’d think Sarah would be an alternate Glass Elevator — that esplodes after crashing through the ceiling.
Too loose law tricks?
Handbook for Republican politicians: To lose, blow sex.
Fart in unison.
The PUs affect!
Starring Sarah Palin as Veruca Salt.
Falin’ Palin makes Miss Salt look like feckin’ GANDHI.
Tear loose, low trikes?
No wonder MSN.com’s fretting over the SOCIALIST roots of International Women’s Day
It’s reverse psychology; erry1 noes MSM be a libbrul entitty.
Somebody‘s not paying attention to the playbook….
To Luce, mit Speck.
To Luce, mit Speck.
A bit ham-handed, dontcha think?
Somebody’s not paying attention to the playbook….
But it’s OK, he has his Xtian faith to fall back on.
But his constituents will crucify him, right?
“No chief economic spokesperson – Failing to Empower Cabinet Members on Domestic Policy.”
I thought Czars were unconstitutional and evil and Commuslimunist? Now they’re saying Obama should concentrate MORE power in the hands of the Evil Ones?
“Obama, like Bush, has placed too little weight on the side of the Secretaries.”
Depends on the Secretaries. Colin Powell might have been on a tight leash, but Donald Rumsfeld was essentially given a free rein over not only Defense policy but foreign policy and intelligence as well. And of course there was Dick Cheney, the de facto National Security Czar of the previous administration, who wielded the kind of power no vice-president has before. Actually, many would argue Bush placed too much weight on the (wrong) Secretaries.
And best of all, he’s saying he’ll continue to vote against equal rights. There’s a Facebook group*, 1,000,000 gay men and their allies against Roy Ashburn ever having sex again. Or something like that.
*I don’t do Facebook, this is from memory.
“When Bush ran for President, he, like Obama, suggested he would regularly cross his party’s congressional wing when he thought they were dead wrong. And Obama, like Bush, has lashed himself many times over to the political fortunes of the Capitol Hill portion of his party, allowing the agenda and vision of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, majority leader Harry Reid and a covey of mostly liberal committee chairs to define the public image of the Democratic Party and determine what his Administration can accomplish.”
Except once you move from public image into actual policy, Obama turns over policy to conservative Democrats (Baucus) and then kowtows it away to Republicans (Lieberman).
Whereas Bush, for example, turned over any and all foreign policy to people like Cheney and Wolfowitz, who were so far to the right that they were now decrying their own positions from just ten years earlier. Did you ever see Bush turn over Iraq policy to Arlen Specter or even John McCain? Christ, it took him six years to finally fire Rumsfeld’s ass and bring Gates onboard, and that was only after his party suffered its worst electoral loss in a generation.
Somebody’s not paying attention to the playbook….
(H/T Borowitz)
Republican mantra:
“Rules” to loose, low tax.
(H/T Borowitz)
Smoooooooooooth
Starring Sarah Palin as Veruca Salt.
I’d think Sarah would be an alternate Glass Elevator
Vermicious Knid.
Except once you move from public image into actual policy, Obama turns over policy to conservative Democrats (Baucus) and then kowtows it away to Republicans (Lieberman).
More than that. The healthcare bill alone has 150 Republican suggestions, each more substantial than “I don’t think you need a comma there”.
That’s a damn sight more than the Democrats got from Bush and his cronies in eight years.
They can’t quite seem to figure out what to do with Bush II: The Quickening–wingnuts seem to vacillate between pretending his administration never happened, half-hearted attempts to rehabilitate his image, and angry rants about how he was really an evil liberal RINO. Maybe they’ll try to reboot the franchise with Jeb.
Around D-KW’s house:
Footloose Ma Tricks.
Maybe they’ll try to reboot the franchise with Jeb.
Jenna/Not-Jenna 2016!
“Rules” to loose, low tax.
All part of their schemes to dupe the public into making the rich richer – The Moolah Ruse.
All part of their schemes to dupe the public into making the rich richer – The Moolah Ruse.
D’Oh! Curse you, cold unfeeling Wang! I’ve been wracking my brain for a half hour to work out a Moulin Rouge pun and here you come, just waltzing in with one!
“They can’t quite seem to figure out what to do with Bush II: The Quickening–wingnuts seem to vacillate between pretending his administration never happened, half-hearted attempts to rehabilitate his image, and angry rants about how he was really an evil liberal RINO. Maybe they’ll try to reboot the franchise with Jeb.”
No, I think Bush really did ruin the franchise well and truly enough that they don’t want his name anywhere near Washington, DC ever again. They’ve got their party line; “Bush Was A Liberal.” It’s a good line, they’ll run with it, bury him that way and then find a fresh folksy face (someone like Scott Brown or John Thune) who’ll be an exact GWB clone but like GWB himself be packaged in such a way as to seem “new” and exciting.
D’Oh! Curse you, cold unfeeling Wang!
Revenge is a dish best served after having sex with your mother.
Curse you, cold unfeeling Wang!
Thanks for sharing.
http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/
Entertained, I am. I always preferred coffee to tea anyway.
Changing the subject fromk actor’s medical complaints, here’s a bit of OTness.
Remember that guy in Jojjah who accepted sex from the 12 year old daughter in lieu of payments on the minivan? Bonus: Some say he’s a big time Tea Party Christian conservative who tried to strong-arm donations
We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans.
COMM-YEW-NISM!
…why do you think they talk about “collective will”, EH? EH?
Some say he’s a big time Tea Party Christian conservative
Oh, now THERE’s a surprise, fersure.
Changing the subject fromk actor’s medical complaints
I pay quite a bit of money to prolong sex, thank you very much.
““Yes. Apparently, the White House was bought out by Willy Wonka.”
“Starring Sarah Palin as Veruca Salt.”
And Rush Limbaugh as Augustus Gloop.
Some say he’s a big time Tea Party Christian conservative who tried to strong-arm donations
I guess there will be a mini-van recall in the near future.
Jenna/Not-Jenna 2016!
I’d totally “vote” for Jenna.
Jenna/Not-Jenna 2016!
I’d totally “vote” for Jenna.
Neither of them makes my chad do anything but hang.
“Needs more Potrzebie.”
Not to mention Veeblefester.
Remember that guy in Jojjah who accepted sex from the 12 year old daughter in lieu of payments on the minivan?
Well the car lot was called Shorty’s Used Cars.
Neither of them makes my chad do anything but hang.
That’s a shame.
CoEds with drug problems? Two please.
(and a lil FYWP for good measure)
I’m still trying to wrap my mind around how a parent, never mind TWO parents, can let their pre-teen daughter fuck some 60 year old man for a minivan.
The Mind Wobbles, as Kelly Bundy would say.
OT but…Tintin and his “ilk” can do something!
When it comes to taking on Somali pirates, France is emerging as the most effective naval force.
for instance, by adding new policy heft to the chief of staff’s office.
That’s what America clearly needs. More power in the hands of the not-elected, not-approved-by-Congressional-oversight guy who has the office next to the President.
That should be just the thing to return America to the type of government envisioned by the sainted Framers.
What, after all, is an Emperor without a Grand Vizier.
(And, apparently, posting once every three days is “posting too quickly” so I should slow down. FYWP!)
“Needs more Potrzebie.”
Not to mention Veeblefester.
I got a fever and the only prescription is more Cowznofski
From Marion in Savannah’s link of several hours ago (hey, I’ve been, er, busy today):
Republicans turned off by size of Obama’s package
I have a feeling they’re more concerned that he’s trying to shove it down their throats.
hey, I’ve been, er, busy today
Lots of packaging, I see.
When it comes to taking on Somali pirates, France is emerging as the most effective naval force.
And here I was thinking that the French Navy was nothing more than a bittersweet ditty about the life and love of a young Mahmood Ahmedinijad.
Hat tip to Youtube commenter Neill Grandy
Victoria Jackson makes the argument against guns by owning one.
Who loosed “los flecks”?
Found this one wandering around aimlessly…
Victoria Jackson makes the argument against guns by owning one.
LoLz! Vicky is a bigger person than I am. When I’m mad at someone I shoot at them and at anyone in the background because, well, because I’m mad! And lemme tell you my gun, like rust, never sleeps. It is always up (like actor and his pp pillz! [Zing! *rimshot]). There are time when I’m not even mad, just a little tired, hungry or need a piece of gum and I just shoot shoot shoot! You know how they say cursing can be therapeutic? Well try cursing over a GUNSHOT!
It is always up (like actor and his pp pillz! [Zing! *rimshot]).
I only took one! And that was on a bet! I swear!
Victoria Jackson makes the argument against guns by owning one.
No, the argument is that people who want to buy guns need to pass a basic test to determine if they are sane, can read and understand simple directions, and can operate machinery safely. My guess is that Victoria still hasn’t passed her CA driver’s license written test yet, much less the driving one.
I am at the stage where I’d happily contribute to a George-Soros initiated fund to buy guns and weapon training for any minorities living in open-carry states. What would freak out the Christaliban types more than a gay pride event in which every participant is packing (VPR?)?
which every participant is packing (VPR?)?
HARDly veiled.
Victoria Jackson makes the argument against guns by owning one.
You know, the fact that BigHollywood has Vicky Jackson blogging for them makes “Big” is extreme hyperbole. She was on SNL, in the late 80s early 90s, then fell off the planet for all intents and purposes. Now she’s back reinventing herself on the interwebs? Please. Although, she’s still funny.…. Woops, that’s her bio.
I have a gun. It has never shot anyone. Not even people I’m mad at. It just lies there, like it’s sleeping.
No, no Vicky. It’s the guitar that’s gently weeping, while your love lies there sleeping. Everyone knows that happiness is a warm gun (bang! bang! shoot! shoot!), and that when you feel your finger on the trigger, nobody can do you no harm.
Also, Goldie Hawn called from the ’60’s and wants her dingbat-blond-girl schtick back.
gay pride event in which every participant is packing
You’d never get everyone to have public sex. And what about the L’s, huh? WHAT ABOUT THEM?!!?!?
I am a genuine true blue believer…not in Kaballah…not in Scientology…not in the New Age movement…not in Mormonism…not in Buddism…not in Hinduism…not in Catholicism…not in Protestantism…but in Jesus Christ. I’ve studied all those other religions…and as a cynic, and a free spirit…I personally decided to put my faith in Jesus.
Gosh, Victoria – like every other cynical free spirit out there, you decided to blindly follow a religion which is based on a 2000-year-old middle eastern mystery cult and which happens to be followed (in one form or another) by a vast majority of your fellow Americans. Courage!
and as a cynic, and a free spirit…I personally decided to put my faith in Jesus.
Poe’s law?
What would freak out the Christaliban types more than a gay pride event in which every participant is packing
When the Black Panthers started exercising their rights to openly carry guys in the streets of California, Governor Ronald Reagan signed a law prohibiting open carry. So there is precedent for such a freakout.
guns not guys…what a long day.
exercising their rights to openly carry guys in the streets of California
I believe this is a right for which gays would carry guns in public.
The right to openly carry guys is Constitutionally guaranteed! Alas, it is all too infrequently exercised.
The right to openly carry guys is Constitutionally guaranteed!
It’s right there in the Peramble.
The right to openly carry guys is Constitutionally guaranteed!
Yeah, but just try it with a doll and ya get murderated. Sheesh.
Yeah but you don’t have a right to be carried.
Lookin’ at you Kevin Smith.
I’ve studied all those other religions…and as a cynic, and a free spirit…I personally decided to put my faith in Jesus.
Oh fuck me Alice, it’s the ever-popular “I’m a rebel ’cause I believe in Jesus” schtick! Wheee! I’m a free spirit ’cause I follow the religion MILLIONS OF OTHER PEOPLE follow! Fuckin’ A, let me declare my REBELLIOUS SPIRIT by declaring my dedication to FUZZY KITTENS! boo-ya, I’m a bad bad BOY!
Fuckin’ A, let me declare my REBELLIOUS SPIRIT by declaring my dedication to FUZZY KITTEN STEW! boo-ya, I’m a bad bad BOY!
So easily fiqqst.
Fuckin’ A, let me declare my REBELLIOUS SPIRIT by declaring my dedication to FUZZY KITTEN STEW! boo-ya, I’m a bad bad BOY!
Hands off the pussy.
Fuckin’ A, let me declare my REBELLIOUS SPIRIT by declaring my dedication to FUZZY KITTEN STEW! boo-ya, I’m a bad bad BOY!
So easily fiqqst.
Oh, COME NOW, SIR, that you should so scurrilously (sp?) suggest I would EAT young puss… *ahem* kitties! That I should be so cruel and heartless, like a Republican! HAVE YOU NO SHAME, SENATOR?!?!
.
.
.
.
.
I mean, you have to wait a few years and let ’em get some meat on those bones!
Yeah, but just try it with a doll and ya get
murderatedharrassed by people asking to borrow her.Or so I have heard.
Huh. Did I kill the thread? Sorry. Didn’t mean to.
Huh. Did I kill the thread? Sorry. Didn’t mean to.
Nah, ya just stunned it for a few. I recognize the symptoms seeing as, well, um, never mind.
Huh. Did I kill the thread? Sorry. Didn’t mean to.
This is an awkward hour- a lot of us easterners and midwesterners are in the middle of our commutes at this time.
Rock on, you crazy Pacific rim elitist!
it’s the ever-popular “I’m a rebel ’cause I believe in Jesus” schtick! Wheee! I’m a free spirit ’cause I follow the religion MILLIONS OF OTHER PEOPLE follow!
But what about all those polls showing how people would never vote for a Christian, huh? And also don’t forget how they were so horribly persecuted by Nero or Trajan or somebody, and how evolution makes Jesus sad but yet they still teach it just because people just love Darwin so damn much.
Did I kill the thread?
Nah, it’s just pinin’ for the fjords. Lovely plumage, eh?
Needs more Potrzebie.
I don’t think MadLibs were actually connected to MAD Magazine (different authors and publisher).
That said, we can always use more Potrzebie.
Of interest:
Scientists prefer not to be judged on their popularity, for obvious reasons.
I only use local organic (currently Asian pear and ginger) conserves for rimming. One time someone wanted to use Smucker’s and was laughed out of the room.
FLOOR WAX!!
The advantages of human cloning: more Moon Bloodgoods than you can shake a stick at.
The disadvantages: THE WALLS, MILO… THE WALLS ARE CRAWLING WITH GIANT FANGED JONAH GOLDBERGS
So is my poop. Have a plateful!
You know what else is a highly beneficial ingredient for plant life?
HITLERmanure, that’s what!To Luce, low tech.
Don’t crush that dwarf…
Hmm, now why could that be?
Aw that aint nuttin. South Dakota did it first and better calling for astrological theories as well. And “thermological”, whatever the fuck that is, too. And also.
Last week’s charge that Obama is too much like Bush
Au contraire. Obama should be a little more like Bush i.e. he should be giving the finger to Republicans and pushing health care reform (the original plan, not the watered down version) and finance regulation through.
Did Bush care about the opposition? Ever?
Obama’s tried the bipartisan approach. Hasn’t worked.
the advantages and disadvantages of scientific theories
Advantages: based on actual research, experimentation, reason and logic
Disadvantages: hard to understand, implications lead to having to make difficult decisions, and they make the baby Jesus cry
Teach the controversy!
Halperin’s more astute than you guys give him credit for. I don’t understand why Obama won’t listen to Rahm more either. We have to make the fact that unless we’re willing to make a few concessions to Republicans about issues like national security, and unless we can finally bring ourselves to swallow our pride and work with the big investment banks more effectively, we could easily be looking at President Palin in a few years.
Au contraire. Obama should be a little more like Bush i.e. he should be giving the finger to Republicans and pushing health care reform (the original plan, not the watered down version) and finance regulation through.
Oh, yeah. One of the ways that I wish Obama was like Bush, but isn’t, is that he’s lacking the “I’m the deciderer” instinct. Yet another way that Republicans and Democrats differ – Democrats tentatively go halfway towards their preferred goals; Republicans do what they want, whenever they want, and popularity be damned.
My god, if we could somehow graft the Republican “belligerent asshole” gene onto a progressive Democrat, there’s no telling what we could accomplish!
Shut the fuck up, Esther.
George Packer gives a preview of his “Obama’s Lost Year,” coming out in the next New Yorker. Note Barney Frank’s comparison of Obama and Reagan.
I don’t understand the impulse of people to try to claim that Rahm and Obama have failed in their first months in the White House. Has anybody noticed we control both houses of Congress and the White House? We’ve orchestrated a super-successful electoral coup and I don’t call that a failure. Sometimes I really don’t understand what progressives want and, pardon my French, sometimes I agree with Rahmbo vis a vis the “retards” comment.
Tell me of your home world. Esther.
Halperin’s totally right — what Obama needs to do is to be just a little more bipartisan (by which I mean “a lot more”). Letting the Republicans control the legislative agenda, continuing Bush’s wars, signing USAPATRIOT Act extension and avoiding any actual regulation of financial institutions is a good start, but why not try getting rid of the death tax and privatizing social security? I’m sure if he did that, then the Republicans would like him and be his friend. I hope he goes that way, because otherwise, the next president could be Mitt Romney!
What do you mean by “we,” retard?
The actually [sic] reason Obama is in trouble politically is that people are suffering during a recession and his policies have done far too little to help them.
I think this is true *only* in one sense–namely, that Obama’s policies haven’t helped them because THE PRESIDENT REALLY DOESN’T HAVE THAT MUCH INFLUENCE OVER THE ECONOMY. No, not Obama, and not even Bush. It’d be easy if there were this dial in the Oval Office labeled “Economy” that went from “Massive Boom” to “Shitty.” Heck, I’d even take a box labeled “In Case of Emergency, Break Glass” that contained a firehose of money that could be used to quench an economy in flames. Doesn’t work that way. There’s only so much a Prez, free market or otherwise, can do to fix the cycle.
But most people don’t buy that–on some gut level, I don’t either–and vote their pocketbook. Obama more or less has to hope that the economy turns around by 2012.
My god, if we could somehow graft the Republican “belligerent asshole” gene onto a progressive Democrat, there’s no telling what we could accomplish!
Probably something that looks and sounds a lot like Alan Grayson.
THE PRESIDENT REALLY DOESN’T HAVE THAT MUCH INFLUENCE OVER THE ECONOMY
I agree with this one million percent but I’d add that the POTUS CAN do damage to the economy even if s/he can’t always do much good. This is why I don’t get people who can’t be happy that we control Congress and the White House and accept slow progress. Just a few months ago that was the default answer from S,N posters when anybody criticized Obama from the left and I don’t see what has changed now. We still should count ourselves lucky to have a smart, cultured, likable, gifted orator in the White House and we need to support him all out or run the risk of a Palin/Jindal ticket next time around coming into the W.H. When people criticize Obama they need to remember what happened with Nader and ask themselves “Do I really want President Mooseolini?”
gene onto a progressive Democrat, there’s no telling what we could accomplish
I don’t understand how much more “progressive” you think you’re going to get than Obama. He’s a black, Urdu poetry reading Harvard professor for God’s sake. What do you want, a dictatorship of the Weather Underground? How did we get so spoiled? I’d put Obama’s progressive bona fides up against anybody’s who would ever be electable.
Esther wins the thread.
Esther, I’ve asked you before, now I’m going to say it again: SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Sorry, Substance, didn’t mean to step on your cues.
It’s okay. I did laugh pretty good at that last one.
Just a few months ago that was the default answer from S,N posters when anybody criticized Obama from the left
Oops, there’s a slip.
фук
Oh rats.
Now THAT’S funny.
Double rats.
Works in the RSS feed.
фук
Is that the Little Tommy Tables of wordpress?
фук
Is that the Little Tommy Tables of wordpress?
I think it’s Urdu.
???
فوك
More for the RSS feed. What the heck.
д
There we go. Unicode.
ϝ☋©К
Little Tommy Tables
Bobby, too, for the unimpaired.
Obama does not suffer from a failure to communicate. He heads a right-wing, big business administration whose policies and performance are rapidly dispelling the popular illusions that accompanied his runaway election victory only 16 months ago.
Working people have seen the bailout of Wall Street and the continuing slide in jobs and living standards. They understand that when the administration speaks of cutting health care costs, it will be the elderly and the lower-paid who will pay the price. They have heard Obama praise the firing of public school teachers in Rhode Island, while not a banker or speculator has been held accountable for the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/pers-m09.shtml
Good show, Brigadier. Would you like a jelly baby?
That language is going to alienate the vital center, you little minx.
Oh no! Sadly’s got a case of the trots.
I’m not going to dignify Brigadier’s transparent purity trolling with a response, but I do want to remind everyone that we knew who we were voting for when we elected Obama and Rahm. We knew we weren’t getting the virgin Connie Swail. We need to live in the real political world,and here in the real world we control the White House and both houses of Congress so the criticism, which is only going to hurt our chances of continuing the progressive agenda, needs to stop.
From brigadier’s link:
That ain’t nuthin. Trashman was an agent of the Sixth International.
Whale Chowder at 2:21
Hmm, now why could that be?
I hope they’re just being feces-ish, but perhaps they’re just into logical phallus-sees?
It will not be until the Seventh International of a Seventh International that true social change will be effected.
At least if Incremental Ester has anything to say about it.
Totally off-topic, I’m putting together a sort of one-off humor ‘zine to exist in hard copies, simply for the sheer hell of doing it. So far I have one page of humor and a cover.
So if anybody among you Sadlies considers himself or herself to be brilliantly funny, which I know at least one or two of you do, and Pam Geller, write anything from a sentence to a couple of paragraphs and leave it as a comment on this post:http://themedandvariations.blogspot.com/2010/03/lozenge-magazine.html and I’ll consider it. Don’t be offended if I hate everything and don’t use it. But all authors will be credited if I use something. And I’m totally connected. You’ll end up writing for some famous show.
What kind of stuff am I looking for? I want to crap myself convulsively when I read it. I want to laugh with such force a vessel explodes in my brain and I end up a quadriplegic. It can be on absolutely any topic. A joke, an epigram, a short story, a gag of any kind.
Masters of this blog, you, too. This is the only website that gets actual LOLs out of me. Okay, back to your regularly scheduled savagery.
By the way, Esther? Don’t bother.
Sounds like a plan Spengler. I may just contribute to that if I have time this spring break.
OT – from the front page of MSN.com, your Red-Baiting Of The Day:
It’s International Women’s Day
Are its socialist roots still showing?
Isn’t that more old-lady baiting instead? The old maid, she’s at the salon all day, getting her roots done.
Fuck.
We need a new socialist revolution. Not a violent revolution; those things bloody backfire. A velvet revolution. Social democracy. Government for the people, not just for the narcissists and sociopaths and “social dominators”. Fuck them.
FYWP. Central to my point is that “roots showing” sounds like what happens to old ladies. Like the women’s movement itself. An old dame. Oh, and we need a socialist velvet revolution. FYWP Very Much Up The Sphincter.
Thank you.
in this thread:
gavin makes a non-committal somewhat pro-obama post, without actually saying that he likes obama. this leaves open the possibility that he is ABOVE obama, without actually saying anything. wow, so efficient. let’s all be cool like gavin.
let’s all be cool like gavin.
Why, when we can be assholes like you?
Put more simply, Obama’s a pussy, much like every Democrat since Johnson maybe.
I had a dream last night that Reagan was running for President again in 2012, against Hillary. Just thought I’d mention that.
According to the charges brought against her, she had also said “It was not hard enough.
Evidently [suffragette Evaline] Haverfield was DKW’s mother.
Is assholism the new cool?
فوك,
sick bastard…. this is all you deserve :
ъ᷅∊ъự~
fywp, i meant:
ъ᷅&∊ъự~
arrrrrrhhhhhh…
ж᷅∊ъự~
and dont cross me again….
!$%&$^*&&^*&@$#(_(_+$+)*$^#$#!#&*)+)(}_(#*_(_($&^%&^&$^#!#@&$&^(**^%^%$^%*&%&^%*&%*&%&^@!$#^%$^$^$^$^%$^$^$^$&^$ & your mother too!! Twice. With a rusty chain saw. Also.
Actually I think “Damien Omentu” is either Gavin or someone who is a bit obsessed with Gavin. Or Jonathan Scott-Taylor.
this leaves open the possibility that he is ABOVE obama
That is HOT…
without actually saying anything.
… yet still gentlemanly.
Evidently [suffragette Evaline] Haverfield was DKW’s mother
Well I ain’t that old.
What an interesting story too, two husbands and a lesbian life partner, activist for women’s rights and Serbians; and a stint as Commandant in Chief of the Women’s Reserve Ambulance.
What kind of stuff am I looking for?
What’s the redundancy scheme?