Afternoon Open Thread
Is there something on your mind? Here’s some stories that have caught my attention.
This is the scandal that will ruin Obama’s presidency for good! Michelle Obama wore shorts! (I know, some people have nothing better to do.)
I’m all for compassion but I don’t understand this decision:
Scotland freed the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds Thursday, allowing him to die at home in Libya despite American protests that mercy should not be shown to the man responsible for the deaths of 270 people.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said Abdel Baset al-Megrahi’s condition had deteriorated from prostate cancer. Al-Megrahi had only served some eight years of a life sentence, but MacAskill said he was bound by Scottish values to release him.
“Our belief dictates that justice be served but mercy be shown,” MacAskill said, ruling that al-Megrahi “be released on compassionate grounds and be allowed to return to Libya to die.”
Quick – define the “nuclear option” in the Senate. If you have a memory longer than a fly you probably said that was the attempt by the Republicans to do away with the filibuster. It has a whole new meaning now.
Fox News’ Mike Emanuel, reporting from the White House this morning, told viewers that Democrats are “considering the nuclear option” to pass health care reform. He was referring to the reconciliation process, subjecting at least part of reform to an up-or-down vote.
It was an odd choice of words, but it’s become increasingly common. Josh Marshall noted yesterday, “Seems like only a few years ago the ‘nuclear option’ was abolishing the filibuster. Now it’s just pushing through a health care bill without Chuck Grassley?”
That’s about the gist of it. On Monday, CNN’s Anderson Cooper called reconciliation the “nuclear option.” CNN’s Kiran Chetry used the identical phrase yesterday morning. Fox News’ Bill Sammon, Dick Morris, and Sean Hannity all described reconciliation as the “nuclear option” earlier this week.
How do you spell hypocrite? B-O-B-B-Y-J-I-N-D-A-L:
The AP reported earlier this month that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s (R-LA) administration is planning to request $300 million dollars from the federal government to develop a high-speed rail between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The trains, which would run at about 79mph, would be part of a larger Gulf Coast rail plan with top speeds of 110mph. Much of the money, however, comes from the Recovery Act, a stimulus measure Jindal not only opposed, but recently called a failure.
In opposing the Recovery Act, Jindal offered the Republican party’s official response to President Obama’s nationwide address last February. Jindal specifically smeared high-speed rail projects as “wasteful spending”:
…
Jindal is trying to have it both ways on the Recovery Act. Though he slams it as a “stimulus that has not stimulated,” Jindal recently went on a 64-parish tour handing out jumbo-sized ceremonial checks filled largely with Recovery Act funds (view a compilation of Jindal’s check giveaways here). Rather than acknowledging the source of the money, Jindal printed his own name on the checks.
Typical politician – trying to have it both ways. I think that is much harder to do with the internet around.
Wow. A mainstream media figure (Joe Klein) calls the Republicans liars, in plain language. I hope it catches on.
Given the heinous dust that’s been raised, it seems likely that end-of-life counseling will be dropped from the health-reform legislation. But that’s a small point, compared with the larger issue that has clouded this summer: How can you sustain a democracy if one of the two major political parties has been overrun by nihilists? And another question: How can you maintain the illusion of journalistic impartiality when one of the political parties has jumped the shark? (See pictures of angry health-care protesters.)
I’m not going to try. I’ve written countless “Democrats in Disarray” stories over the years and been critical of the left on numerous issues in the past. This year, the liberal insistence on a marginally relevant public option has been a tactical mistake that has enabled the right’s “government takeover” disinformation jihad. There have been times when Democrats have run demagogic scare campaigns on issues like Social Security and Medicare. There are more than a few Democrats who believe, in practice, that government should be run for the benefit of government employees’ unions. There are Democrats who are so solicitous of civil liberties that they would undermine legitimate covert intelligence collection. There are others who mistrust the use of military power under almost any circumstances. But these are policy differences, matters of substance. The most liberal members of the Democratic caucus — Senator Russ Feingold in the Senate, Representative Dennis Kucinich in the House, to name two — are honorable public servants who make their arguments based on facts. They don’t retail outright lies. Hyperbole and distortion certainly exist on the left, but they are a minor chord in the Democratic Party.
It is a very different story among Republicans. To be sure, there are honorable conservatives, trying to do the right thing. There is a legitimate, if wildly improbable, fear that Obama’s plan will start a process that will end with a health-care system entirely controlled by the government. There are conservatives — Senator Lamar Alexander, Representative Mike Pence, among many others — who make their arguments based on facts. But they have been overwhelmed by nihilists and hypocrites more interested in destroying the opposition and gaining power than in the public weal. The philosophically supple party that existed as recently as George H.W. Bush’s presidency has been obliterated. The party’s putative intellectuals — people like the Weekly Standard’s William Kristol — are prosaic tacticians who make precious few substantive arguments but oppose health-care reform mostly because passage would help Barack Obama’s political prospects. In 1993, when the Clintons tried health-care reform, the Republican John Chafee offered a creative (in fact, superior) alternative — which Kristol quashed with his famous “Don’t Help Clinton” fax to the troops. There is no Republican health-care alternative in 2009. The same people who rail against a government takeover of health care tried to enforce a government takeover of Terri Schiavo’s end-of-life decisions. And when Palin floated the “death panel” canard, the number of prominent Republicans who rose up to call her out could be counted on one hand.
As they say, go read the whole thing.
Tags: Open Thread
Tom DeLay wants to see Obama’s gift certificate:
Way to get all birther on us Tom!
The hell of it is that Jindal did get away with it. While the stimulus package was big news, he stood up against it. Now that no one cares he’s going to take the money and help his state while informed people chuckle about how stupid he was. But he was stupid like a fox. I doubt many people who support him will even notice this money, since all most of them care about is saving their Medicare from the government.
Bush War Bad – Obama War Good
ABC’s Charles Gibson to Cindy Sheehan: Thanks for your sacrifice. Now get lost.
Washington Examiner ^ | 8-20-09 | Byron York
In an appearance August 18 on WLS radio in Chicago, ABC News anchor Charles Gibson was asked about anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan’s plans to travel to Martha’s Vineyard next week, where she will protest the Iraq and Afghanistan wars while President Obama is vacationing there. Gibson, whose newscast and network featured Sheehan when she led anti-war protests outside President Bush’s Texas ranch in 2005, answered, “Enough already.” That’s a remarkably different stance from the one Gibson took four years ago. On August 9, 2005, the ABC anchor conducted an extensive on-air interview with Sheehan. “Cindy Sheehan is her name,” Gibson…
It also strikes me that the NO high speed rail is a good bargaining chip for the Administration — with both Mary Landrieu and David Vitter and whoever else is in the LA delegation with issues on health insurance reform.
I think that Delaware liberal has become the blog version of “Survivor.” Or maybe “Lord of the Flies.” In the latest installment, the ever-mysterious-even-to-himself “Donviti” was summarily “disappeared” by someone claiming to be Jason330. In the post and thread announcing the deed, a certain “Del Dem” announced that he, too, was also leaving in disgust, only to return after the thread and post had been mysteriously deleted by an unknown blogger in the dead of a hot August afternoon. Meanwhile an evil and anonymous opportunist named “admin” surfaced to rewrite the past and take authorship for all the posts written by the great-in-his-own-mind “Donviti.”
In other parts of the blogosphere, another “Jason330” wrote to say that he was leaving Delaware Liberal. However, the unusual hyphen in the front of the name and the total lack of profanity in the post made its authorship highly suspect. Regardless, in his absence, the ever-present gumshoe and man of many aliases, RSmitty, carried forth in his quest to find truth, justice, and additional ways to ridicule Mike Protack, the fearless leader of the Delaware Republican party.
Stay tuned for the next episode of “How the Blog Turns” where we’ll find out:
Has Jason been abducted by Amish aliens?
Is Del Dem going to become a media critic for North Korea?
Is “Admin” really Donadminivitibigballs?
Is Pandora really sweet all the time?
The first rule of the new Delaware Liberal is, do not talk about the elephant in the room.
Unless it is a Republican elephant.
Actually I expect the elephant in the room is hung over and emotionally exhausted and will be telling us about its adventures later.
I meant “collectively” exhausted, not to single anyone out. Back to the first rule now.
I have one, standing, but very brief question about DL that can be asked in three, short letters (and one punctuation): W T F?
oh…and what A1 said @ 2:40PM.
I know what we can do for fun, let’s all go to a town hall meeting and stick flowers in the teabaggers’ gun barrels.
You all have no patience. All will be revealed. The truth will shock you. Nothing will ever be the same.
pictures of those evil right wingers protesting
http://www.zombietime.com/hall_of_shame/
I’ll certainly be truly shocked, since I’m not observant enough to have seen any of the change
You all have no patience. All will be revealed. You will not be shocked. You will forget about it the day after we tell you.
Yes, we will forget about it the day after you tell us. And those aren’t the droids we’re looking for.
You mean you’ll tell us, then you will have to round us up and…
I’ve been out of the loop for a few days! So can someone tell my why Jason was fired? Will he be taking over Down With Absolute?
DL folks are great but Jason was the heart and soul. He knew how to push the political buttons to spark the debates.
You all have no patience. All will be revealed. You will not be shocked. You will forget about it the day after we tell you.
Who are you and what am I doing here?
I’m telling you right now, if this was a stunt…I’m giving your email addresses to someone’s router.
If Jason is gone, who will kick the dead horse called Mike Castle?
If DV is gone, who will swear and write obscurely descriptive posts using excessive profanity and bravado?
The answer is Jason and DV. Stay tuned.
Stay tuned.
I’m already sizing up the hate I think I will be feeling at the end of this. Can’t even log on tonight. Grrrr… 👿
NHS must be in pretty bad financial shape if the Scots have to release a terrorist murderer to keep from paying for his cancer treatment.
Prediction, because I am now up to my eye balls in pure cynicism over this (I’m being bitchy because the liklihood of me logging on tonight is slim, more likely none – BOOO):
This is a “reorganization” in contributor-name, only. “DelawareLiberal Unmasked” (the spineless dick’s site) was really one (or all) of you all. That was you having fun, after deciding that the hangup over anon handles was being far too distracting over purpose. At least DV, DD, and J330 will come back with their actual names, hence “DV”, “DD”, and “J330” all “quit” or “got fired.” In their place are (insert real names, three times).
The next theory is that DV has left to join the Protack Posse and will be commenting on many blogs in the near future. J330 will either be challenging Castle, or has actually mended his anymosity and JOINED his campaign for Senate.
Oh, I can dream up a lot of conspiracy theories, especially when I have to probably wait until tomorrow to find out.
…or best theory yet…
Burris owns this blog.
@GRex — no idea if they are in bad shape, but American prison systems by the dozens are working on ways to release elderly and sick offenders who were sentenced to long or life terms. Why? So they don’t have to pay for their health care. Of course those funds come out of taxpayer pockets one way or another….
I got it – we can fund the death panels with the death tax! It will be an endless revenue stream.
UNSTOPABLE: No that is not the story that will cause liberals or progressives to jump the Obama/Rahm Emanuel ship. Its the fact that Obama and Rahm met secretly with Big Pharma vowing not to reduce the price of drugs for their support of his “public option” or co-ops, or whatever else they come up to difuse, confuse the american people.
Meanwhile the real progressives are pulling out ALL the stops. Physicans for National Health care are going on a “traveling tour” to speak the truth about the for profit health care system. Plans for a mass march on DC to get rid of the everything these Senators (corporate whores) are attempting to do, and force them back to the drawing board. We will never submit to any plan that keeps drugs from being purchased in volume, to cut costs! Air America is telling the real truth about how Obama and Rahm did a dirty deal that is just as bad as Cheney and the enery companies. Stay tuned…it aint about Michele’s friggin shorts, its about the fact that Obama delivered a Cheney on us.
The answer is Jason and DV. Stay tuned.
So, just another spat and nothing comes from it?
My theory is Jason has been hired by Delaware Grapevine. He’s now Celia’s bitch.
I am waiting to hear that the pure at heart are victorious, and the wicked are punished. Any chance of that?
I love coming to this blog. Some days I get Delaware political opinion and news. Some days I get “As the World Turns.”
No posts last night? I actually have to go to delawareonline for my fix? Y’all are wrecking me!
😉
It was all a dream. It never happened. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for. You can go about your business.
Some good contributions there 12monkeys. Now get back to work.
what liberal media???
NBC Online Store Offers 29 Pro-Obama Items
NBC Online Store Offers 29 Pro-Obama Items By Tim Graham Created 2009-08-21 10:54 Maxim Lott at Foxnews.com [1] reported Monday that NBC Universal isn’t just showing its love for Obama on the news airwaves: If you’re a fan of all things Obama, NBC Universal’s online store [2] has no fewer than 29 options for your buying pleasure — from a shirt with the president’s picture proclaiming “YES WE DID”…to both of his books…to a special inauguration DVD…to a refrigerator magnet of the first couple. And don’t forget the Barack Obama Action Figure — yours for $15, plus tax. You can…
Pres Obama says ” I am my brothers keeper” when pitching Obamacare to the religious communitty…
but why does his brother live in a tin shack without plumbing or electricity?
Amazing anoni. You’ve detected a leftwards lean to NBC to go along with the extreme-right lean of Fox. Next you’ll discover that the New York Times has a leftwards lean to go along with the extreme-right lean of the New York Post.
Are you threatened by the existence of partisan voices on both sides of the media?
x,
apparently you failed to notice where you are commenting… in DL land there is no liberal bias to the media… according to the group think of DL all main stream media has a conservative bias.
“We are God’s partners in matters of life and death,” Obama went on to say, according to Moline’s real-time stream. The president concluded by wishing the rabbis a “Shanah Tovah (Happy Jewish New Year).”
but I thought “God talk” by Politicians was evil and a violation of church/state seperation…
alos, does this mean Obama has put God on the Death Panel?
anoni, his half brother lives in Kenya, that’s why. That’s not considered poor in Kenya.
anoni,
That’s great that he’s FINALLY citing God. Everyone will now see that he is a God fearing man that does everything that God tells him when he’s deep in prayer and maybe, just maybe he’ll wage jihad and invade Afghanistan or Iraqiranistanbul-istan while he’s at it and have full, full support of the Republican party.
While he’s talking to God when he’s on vacation, he might return early to talk about the fact that God and his inner spirit told him that the federal government must intervene in the decision making of a husband who’s wife is on life support because THAT is the right thing to do…
Hmmmm, I guess none of that really happened in the past… None of it… It was just a dream… part of the bush-matrix…
Hmmm… God indeed is on the death panel…
CNN called it a shack in a Nairobi slum.
Wrong. Unlike you, I actually read this site. No one ever said “all main stram media has a conservative bias”. But I could educate you about the rightwing bias in the AP (Rob Fournier, Nedra Pickler, etc), the Washington Post (can’t sum this up in a single sentence), CNN (Wolf Blitzer and Lou Dobbs), ABC (Road to 9/11), and the News Journal (fawning coverage of Castle and SCCOR). Not to mention CNBC, which is extremely pro-corporate, anti-regulation. None of these organizations leans for political reasons, however – it is all about protecting their bottom line, which means protecting their corporate profits and corporate advertisers.
NBC turned left because they were getting killed in market share – Keith Olbermann single-handedly made MSNBC competitive again. NBC capitalized on their new audience by adding Maddow and Ed Schultz, while Chris Matthews followed the direction of the wind and started drifting towards a moderately leftwing lean. But Fox News still draws more viewers than MSNBC, and their news coverage is so out of whack with reality it’s beyond mere “bias”, crossing into outright deception. So, yeah, NBC leans left and I’m cool with that. It’s nice to have an island of sanity here and there amidst the corporate media news machine.
Yet for some reason MSNBC feels the need to balance out 3 hours of lefties with 3 hours of Joe Scarborough. There is plenty of proof that the media is not liberal – why else would they spend so much time talking about whether there are “death panels” proposed?
x meet UI
x,
Great analogy…
UI,
The media is liberal when it doesn’t suit their purpose. By and large, people aren’t agreeing with them so it’s everyone elses fault that Obama is so popular… He wouldn’t have won without the media etc…
A neighbor of mine said that it reminded him of JFK and what happened during his presidency. Same hate, same jargon… I’m just hoping he doesn’t end up like JFK…
Another thing no one here argued. Of course, I know for a fact several of us, particularly Donviti, don’t much like it when Obama talks about God – and Donviti has been very critical of Obama on a number of issues. Just because we voted for and supported Obama doesn’t mean that he isn’t left wing enough to please all of us. But no one said “God talk” was “evil” (obvious contradiction there to anyone with half a brain). Speaking (for myself only) as a strong Obama supporter and a believer in God as well as church/state separation, there is a huge difference between talking about God and establishing/promoting religious law. Ordering schools to set aside prayer time is an establishment of religious law. Placing religious scripture in a courtroom is promoting religious law. Allowing aggressive missionary chaplains to pressure our soldiers to worship Jesus Christ is promoting religious law. Requiring people to say a Pledge of Allegiance including “Under God” – establishing religious law.
Talking about God? That’s exactly what the first amendment is protecting.
shortstuff,
I hear ya. I think “liberal media bias” was probably the smartest things the Republicans ever did. It scares the media into bending over backwards to prove they’re not biased, and the Republicans play their typical Calvinball tactics with them. It also allows Republicans to tell their followers that reality isn’t real, it’s just the media bias talking.
Fox News ^ | 08/20/2009 | James Rosen
President Obama has opposed any expanded oil drilling off American shores largely on environmental grounds, turning a deaf ear to conservative cries of “Drill, Baby, Drill.” But now Obama may start hearing cries of “foul” after the U.S. Export-Import Bank promised Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned oil company, $2 billion in loan guarantees to help finance lucrative drilling off the shores of Rio De Janeiro. Some see a contradiction in an executive branch agency, independent but with board members appointed by the president, facilitating abroad the very kind of energy exploration Obama opposes domestically.
Why would that be????
As reported at Bloomberg.com, George Soros purchased an $811 million stake in Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR), (better known as Petrobras) in Q2. The Brazilian oil company is now the largest holding in his fund, amounting to 22 percent of the total $3.68 billion of stocks and American depositary receipts held by Soros Fund Management LLC. Of course, crude oil has taken a dive in the last month, helping to push Petrobras down 28 percent since his purchase and costing Soros $235 million. I guess we would all like to be in a position to lose nearly a quarter billion dollars and still be “OK”. Then again, if Soros holds tight, he could end up doing well.
While the timing for Soros may not be perfect for this trade, a number of other people are also betting on Petrobras. As quoted by Ricardo Kobayashi from UBS Pactual SA: “Petrobras has something that other oil companies don’t have: oil – lots of it and they’re going to find more. If you can buy now and hang on, if you have the staying power, it’s great.”
UI and I are in complete agreement and nothing we said conflicts. But feel free to pretend otherwise – I don’t imagine you’re here to engage in genuine debate.
The idea that “people don’t agree with the media” is a ridiculous generalization. Which media? On what issue? I will agree with you on one thing – if the media had committed themselves to destroying Obama the way they destroyed Howard Dean and John Kerry, then it would have been pretty tough for Obama to win. Luckily for Obama, the media instead continued their long-held grudge against the Clintons. But Obama was drawing massive, passionate crowds outdoing every other candidate from day 1 – He had everything he needed to win long before the media figured out which way the wind was blowing. And the media gravitates to the winner, not vice versa. It’s all about the bottom line.
As for the media, we can agree some are right (FOX, WSJ, CNBC, WaPo (My God, how does George Will still have a job?))and some are left (MSNBC). Most of the rest are not pro-right or pro-left, they’re pro-conflict, because that’s what makes for juicier stories. When Republicans were in power, the conflict came from the left, so that’s the side they tried to push. Now the Democrats are in power, so the right is getting more air time than it deserves. The bulk of the MSM is not biased — just sloppy and entertainment, not informationally, based.
Thanks for expanding on my point x. I’m with you…
x
yes, you and UI had the same responce to “liberal media”, you both proceded to list “right wing bias” in the MSM, thanks for proving my point about the DL
I’m going to have to say I’d agree on US Ex-Im, although there are a number of details being left out. For starters, the amount of oil is friggin’ huge (8 to 12 billion barrels) – much, much more than will ever be found in US coastal waters inside of the current 150 mile restriction. Secondly, the US export import bank is as independent as the Federal Reserve – it is not part of the executive branch, although the executive branch appoints its board. Thirdly, it’s disingenuous for conservatives to criticize Obama on this, considering the record of US Ex-Im under Bush is enough to make you vomit (including massive fraud).
But I need to see the US Ex-Im’s report on the environmental impact of this project (which they are now required to do on all projects as of February 2009) before I make a final judgement.
The talk about Soros is of couse pure hysteria. You’ll find a lot of conservative billionaires hold plenty of stock in Petrobras, too.
If your point was that we are more informed than you are which media outlets have rightwing bias and which outlets have leftwing bias, then good, we do. And if you think that NBC selling Obama merchandise somehow disproves our point, then you don’t understand what we’re saying in the first place.
can I apply for an NEA grant?
http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp314/pauly_cy/Obama_in_Urine.jpg
this meeting was broadcastg on C-span right?
mor hopey changey lies from the One.
President Barack Obama on Thursday managed to undo some of the damage he did recently with immigrants’ rights advocates — who were angered when Obama said in Mexico that immigration reform would have to wait until after health care and energy bills passed Congress. Obama dropped in on a White House meeting with more than 100 immigration reform backers — and the message, according to some who were there, was that Obama would push for immigration reform even as the health-care debate continues to unfold.
“I think he’s more forward-leaning,” said Angela Kelley, an immigration reform expert with the liberal Center for American Progress think tank. “The takeaway from Mexico was that this is just kicking the can down the road. The takeaway from today is they’re rolling up their sleeves and leaning heavy into the issue.”…
“He’s doing this and health care. He didn’t give an inkling that he’s going to back away from immigration reform. I think he’s ready to do the heavy lifting,” said Kelley. The session was officially hosted by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano…
The meeting included advocacy groups, religious organizations, unions, employers and law enforcement. United Farm Workers Union President Arturo Rodriguez said participants delivered blunt messages to Napolitano that she needed to adjust her public message….
Participants said both Obama and Napolitano both brought up controversial arrangements under which local police partner with the federal government to enforce immigration laws. Critics have accused some local officials of using such deals to harass immigrants and, in some cases, U.S. citizens. Obama and Napolitano said local officials must be held “accountable” for their actions under the program, known as 287(g), attendees said.
The media was not allowed into the meeting, but Napolitano later issued a written statement emphasizing her commitment to reform.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com …