David Corn

Man, you'd think the presser stunk and so many onoz for the future?

Press Corps Warns White House Of Increased Adversarial Tone If They Aren't Nicer To Press Corps

Hey, folks, have you checked your local listings? Big press conference tonight! You know what that means, right? Big bitching from the White House Press Corps this afternoon! Nobody should be surprised by this.

Print reporters in the White House press corps are seething at perceived slights against them by President Obama and his team. Many print journalists see their role being diminished as Obama and his aides seem to lavish attention on television anchors and reporters and on liberal bloggers, and this is raising the adversarial tone at the daily briefings of Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Got that, Robert Gibbs? You are going to get an increased adversarial tone from the press corps if you don't watch it! Is it because the White House has been obfuscating (on White House visitors), breaking promises (on Don't Ask Don't Tell), struggling to hold the line on major policy (health care, energy), or dodging key issues (TARP transparency)? No! Because you see, those would all be GOOD reasons to get adversarial with the White House. Instead, the adversity is motivated by the same things that have traditionally motivated the White House Press Corps: status and vanity.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/22/press-corps-warns-white-h_n_243135.html

Bill Kristol:

Maybe it was Professor Gates who behaved stupidly, or at least arrogantly. He is, after all, a Harvard professor. I was once a Harvard professor, and my instinct is to side with the Cambridge cops.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/07/obama_attacks_docs_and_cops.html

Obama Comes Out Swinging at Cynical GOP on Health Care, Addresses Race Issues in Prof. Gates Arrest

At a press conference in the East Room of the White House, President Barack Obama came out swinging tonight at Republicans who would aim to make the debate over health-care reform the president's personal Waterloo.

He finished the night with a big bang, when he took a question on a racially charged incident, and responded with ironic humor. In between, he was all wonk.

If the president sought to inspire the viewing public about the need for health insurance reform, he most certainly didn't do that. If he meant to reassure them that he's smart enough to know how to make it work, he may have succeeded. What he seemed to think he was there to do was to answer reporters' complex questions about complicated issues in a way that wouldn't sully negotiations taking place in Congress. And that he did quite well.

http://www.alternet.org/politics/141505/obama_comes_out_swinging_at_cynical_gop_on_health_care%2C_addresses_race_issues_in_prof._gates_arrest/

NYT Shocker: 'Experts Dispute Some Points in Obama Health Care Talk'

By Noel Sheppard
July 23, 2009 - 00:05 ET

Shortly after Barack Obama finished his healthcare press conference Wednesday evening, the New York Times posted an article at its website refuting some of the President's arguments.

Not only that, the Times chastized Obama for "claiming credit for not spending money that, under the policy he inherited from Mr. Bush, would never have been spent in the first place."

Entitled "Experts Dispute Some Points in Obama Health Care Talk," the piece went after the President in a fashion that is sure to make many readers check and re-check that link to make sure this really was a

Times article:

Mr. Obama said doctors, nurses, hospitals, drug companies and AARP had supported efforts to overhaul health care.

While it is true the American Medical Association has endorsed a bill drafted by House Democratic leaders, a half-dozen state medical societies have sharply criticized provisions that would establish a new government-run health insurance plan.

Likewise, Mr. Obama said Medicare could save large amounts of money by creating "an independent group of doctors and medical experts who are empowered to eliminate waste and inefficiency" and hold down the annual increases in payments to health care providers.

Far from supporting this proposal, the American Hospital Association is urging hospital executives to lobby against it.

Checking that link? I don't blame you:

Of the proposed new cost-control agency, Mr. Obama said: “It’s not going to reduce Medicare benefits. What it’s going to do is to change how those benefits are delivered so that they’re more efficient.”

Hospitals say the cuts could indeed cut services in some rural areas and from teaching hospitals, which receive extra payments because of higher costs.

But here was the most shocking part:

The president continued to take credit for deficit reduction by making a claim that has been challenged by many experts.

“If we had done nothing, if you had the same old budget as opposed to the changes we made,” the deficit over the next 10 years would be $2.2 trillion greater, the president said.

In fact, $1.5 trillion of those “savings” are mainly based on an assumption that the United States would have had as many troops in Iraq in 10 years as it did when Mr. Obama took office. But before leaving office, President George W. Bush signed an agreement with Baghdad mandating the withdrawal of all American forces within three years.

So Mr. Obama is claiming credit for not spending money that, under the policy he inherited from Mr. Bush, would never have been spent in the first place.

Yikes.

What's gotten into the folks at the Gray Lady?

AP: Obama Lied Last Night About His Health Care Plan

Set down the coffee... The AP just reported that Obama lied during his press conference last night.
Heads are gonna roll.

How did this ever slip by the editors?

Michael Ramirez -Investor's Business Daily

The AP says Obama lied last night about his health care plan on national TV:

President Barack Obama's assertion Wednesday that government will stay out of health care decisions in an overhauled system is hard to square with the proposals coming out of Congress and with his own rhetoric.

Even now, nearly half the costs of health care in the U.S. are paid for by government at all levels. Federal authority would only grow under any proposal in play.

A look at some of Obama's claims in his prime-time news conference:

OBAMA: "We already have rough agreement" on some aspects of what a health care overhaul should involve, and one is: "It will keep government out of health care decisions, giving you the option to keep your insurance if you're happy with it."

THE FACTS: In House legislation, a commission appointed by the government would determine what is and isn't covered by insurance plans offered in a new purchasing pool, including a plan sponsored by the government. The bill also holds out the possibility that, over time, those standards could be imposed on all private insurance plans, not just the ones in the pool.

Indeed, Obama went on to lay out other principles of reform that plainly show the government making key decisions in health care. He said insurance companies would be barred from dropping coverage when someone gets too sick, limits would be set on out-of-pocket expenses, and preventive care such as checkups and mammograms would be covered.

It's true that people would not be forced to give up a private plan and go with a public one. The question is whether all of those private plans would still be in place if the government entered the marketplace in a bigger way.

OBAMA: "I have also pledged that health insurance reform will not add to our deficit over the next decade, and I mean it."

THE FACTS: The president has said repeatedly that he wants "deficit-neutral" health care legislation, meaning that every dollar increase in cost is met with a dollar of new revenue or a dollar of savings. But some things are more neutral than others. White House Budget Director Peter Orszag told reporters this week that the promise does not apply to proposed spending of about $245 billion over the next decade to increase fees for doctors serving Medicare patients...

OBAMA: "You haven't seen me out there blaming the Republicans."

THE FACTS: Obama did so in his opening statement, saying, "I've heard that one Republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise, it's better politics to 'go for the kill.' Another Republican senator said that defeating health reform is about 'breaking' me."
Could someone please help me pick my jaw up off the floor.

Related... Obama attacks docs and cops.

Barry has effectively killed any health care takeover, I mean reform, last night!

TRYING TO TALK AROUND THE FACTS

New York Post ^ | July 23, 2009 | GRACE-MARIE

PRESIDENT Obama seems to believe he can talk his way past the reality of how his sweeping health-reform plan would affect the lives of 300 million Americans.

But alert citizens aren't buying the sales pitch, spelling trouble for enactment of his top legislative priority.

n an effort to generate public support for quick passage of the bills now before Congress, Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius traveled on Monday to a town-hall meeting in Reserve, La. -- but the crowd wound up mocking her. Some in the audience wore "Hands Off My Health Care" T-shirts; the loudest cheers came when questioners criticized the Obama plan. Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) similarly got laughed at during a town-hall meeting in his district when he said that the plan would save $6 billion over 10 years.

[snip] Rhetoric: The president insisted in his news conference last night that "the bill I sign must also slow the growth of health-care costs in the long run."

Reality: Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad asked the man who is the top authority on the subject -- Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf -- if the bills before Congress would "bend the long-term cost curve" in health care.

"No, Mr. Chairman," Elmendorf said, adding, "the legislation significantly expands" health costs.

Strike one.

Rhetoric: Obama said last night his plan "will keep government out of health-care decisions, giving you the option to keep your insurance if you're happy with it."

Reality The Lewin Group, a respected economics-consulting firm, estimates in a new study for The Heritage Foundation that more than 80 million people would lose the coverage they have today if the Obama plan is implemented.

~~~~~~~~~~

Oh no! Barry has lost his mo-jo with his biggest supporters - the MSM!

lol

Obama, Clinton, McCaskill ORIGINAL 'BIRTHERS'

Scrubbing McCain's NBC Status

govtrack.us ^ | April 10, 2008 | govtrack.us

SRES 511 ATS

110th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. RES. 511

Recognizing that John Sidney McCain, III, is a natural born citizen.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

April 10, 2008

Mrs. MCCASKILL (for herself, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. OBAMA, Mr. COBURN, Mrs. CLINTON, and Mr. WEBB) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

April 24, 2008

Reported by Mr. LEAHY, without amendment

April 30, 2008

Considered and agreed to

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RESOLUTION

Recognizing that John Sidney McCain, III, is a natural born citizen.

Whereas the Constitution of the United States requires that, to be eligible for the Office of the President, a person must be a `natural born Citizen' of the United States;

Whereas the term `natural born Citizen', as that term appears in Article II, Section 1, is not defined in the Constitution of the United States;

Whereas there is no evidence of the intention of the Framers or any Congress to limit the constitutional rights of children born to Americans serving in the military nor to prevent those children from serving as their country's President;

Whereas such limitations would be inconsistent with the purpose and intent of the `natural born Citizen' clause of the Constitution of the United States, as evidenced by the First Congress's own statute defining the term `natural born Citizen';

Whereas the well-being of all citizens of the United States is preserved and enhanced by the men and women who are assigned to serve our country outside of our national borders;

Whereas previous presidential candidates were born outside of the United States of America and were understood to be eligible to be President; and

Whereas John Sidney McCain, III, was born to American citizens on an American military base in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That John Sidney McCain, III, is a `natural born Citizen' under Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution of the United States.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You're right Capt, those birthers are a bunch of wack jobs!

lol

Jon Stewart Eviscerates The 'Birther' Movement (VIDEO)

In a lengthy opening segment, Jon Stewart took on "birthers" last night, mocking their internal leadership and the media figures and politicians who support them. If you don't know by now (which is totally possible as a rational adult who does not engage with the lunatic fringe) "birthers" think that our president is not an American citizen, but instead a citizen of Kenya, who, through a massive government and familial conspiracy, tricked the American people into electing him.

Despite OVERWHELMING evidence that Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen, "birthers" have created a media frenzy of late that has prompted conservative representatives to introduced the so called "birther bill" that would call for presidential candidates to provide their birth certificates before running. There has been some very responsible reporting on the subject, if you can ever call engaging crazy people responsible, by Rick Sanchez, Chris Matthews and others who called these people crazy and showed copies of the president's birth certificate amongst other documents proving he was born in Hawaii.

Still, the subject hasn't really been delved into with the amount of scrutiny it deserves until the "Daily Show" does a segment on it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/23/jon-stewart-eviscerates-t_n_243383.html

A Note to Blue Dog Democrats on Health Care and Pascal's Wager

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/07/dear-mr-blue-dog.html

Confidence in Obama Lifts U.S. Image Around World

23 July 09 In many countries opinions of the United States are now about as positive as they were at the beginning of the decade before George W. Bush took office. Improvements in the U.S. image have been most pronounced in Western Europe, where favorable ratings for both the nation and the American people have soared.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1289/global-attitudes-survey-2009-obama-lifts-america-image

Confidence in Obama Lifts U.S. Image Around World

Ya, no shit. Hugo Chavez loves this guy..

Too bad he's had the opposite effect here at home.

Police union condemns Obama's comments

By Sam Youngman

President Obama's Wednesday night criticism of Cambridge, Mass., police has drawn a rebuke from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).

The criticism comes after Obama said Cambridge police officers acted "stupidly" when they arrested Henry Louis Gates, a friend of the president's, after he broke into his own home. Gates was arrested on disorderly conduct charges, which were then dropped. The president said it highlights ongoing problems with race relations in the U.S.

Jim Pascoe, executive director of the FOP's legislative office, noted that before Obama made the remarks, the president acknowledged that he was only vaguely familiar with what happened.

"That being the case, it's unfortunate that he chose to say anything," Pascoe said. "He wasn't there, and he doesn't know what happened."

Pascoe said it appears that Gates was the "provocateur" because he called Officer James Crowley a racist instead of producing identification as requested.

On Thursday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs sought to walk back the president's comments.

"Let me be clear. He was not calling the officer stupid, OK?" Gibbs told reporters on Air Force One. "He was denoting that ... at a certain point the situation got far out of hand, and I think all sides understand that."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gibbs clarifies -

"Let me be clear. He was not calling the officer stupid, OK?"

"He was calling him a racist for profiling a black man, OK?"

Update: Bill Cosby didn’t care for Obama’s intervention either:

“I’ve heard about five different reports [on the details of the arrest],” Cosby said on Boston’s WZLX. “If I’m the president of the United States, I don’t care how much pressure people want to put on it about race, I’m keeping my mouth shut.”

“I was shocked to hear the president making this kind of statement,” Cosby said referring to the president’s remarks during last night’s press conference.

NEWSFLASH: Pollsters Not Polling Likely Voters, just Adults

Thursday, July 23rd at 8:18AM EDT

The Obamacare plane is losing altitude, has two engines on fire, and is starting a potentially fatal roll to the left.

Polls are turning against President Barack Obama’s health-care plan. The political calendar is, too.

On Monday, the Washington Post/ABC poll reported that 49% of Americans approve of his handling of health care while 44% disapprove. What many people missed is that those who strongly disapprove of the president’s approach on health care now outnumber those who strongly approve by 33% to 25%. That presages further decline. Already, 49% of independents disapprove of the president’s approach, up from 30% in April, a staggering shift in 11 weeks.

Mr. Obama is also slipping on the economy. Those who strongly disapprove now outnumber those who strongly approve of his handling of the economy (35% to 29%), of deficits (38% to 19%), and of unemployment (31% to 26%). On Tuesday, Gallup showed Mr. Obama’s personal approval was 55%, down from more than 60% a few weeks ago and lower than the 56% George W. Bush had at this point in his first term.

What is the most interesting about these polls is that they poll “adults” NOT likely voters.

The only major pollster who is polling LIKELY VOTERS, Rasmussen, has Obamacare spiraling in for the fatal inverted tail spin.

~~~~~

No wonder Clint and Alan keep using Kosic Kid polling data...

Conservative Activist Forwards Racist Pic Showing Obama As Witch Doctor

The election of our first black president has brought with it a strange proliferation of online racism among conservatives.

And we've got the latest example.

On Sunday night, Dr. David McKalip forwarded to fellow members of a Google listserv affiliated with the Tea Party movement the image below. Above it, he wrote: "Funny stuff."

Now, Tea Party activists trafficking in racist imagery are pretty much dog bites man. But McKalip isn't just some random winger. He's a Florida neurosurgeon, who serves as a member of the American Medical Association's House of Delegates.

He's also an energetic conservative opponent of health-care reform. McKalip founded the anti-reform group Doctors For Patient Freedom, as well as what seems to be a now defunct group called Cut Taxes Now. Last month he joined GOP congressmen Tom Price and Phil Gingrey, among others, for a virtual town hall to warn about the coming "government takeover of medicine." And in a recent anti-reform op-ed published in the St. Petersburg Times, McKalip wrote that "Congress wants to create larger, government-funded programs for health care and more bureaucracy that ration care and impose cookbook medicine."

Asked about the email in a brief phone interview with TPMmuckraker, McKalip said he believes that by depicting the president as an African witch doctor, the "artist" who created the image "was expressing concerns that the health-care proposals [made by President Obama] would make the quality of medical care worse in our country." McKalip said he didn't know who created it.

But pressed on what was funny about an image that plays on racist stereotypes about Africans, McKalip declined to say, instead offering to talk about why he opposes Obama's health-care proposals.

"I have a busy day," he said eventually, before ending the call.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/conservative_activist_forwards_racist_pic_showing.php

*****

Now I get it - the birfers think the imaginary long form will list the doctor as "witch"

lol

It's Really

I don't have a problem with people disagreeing. In fact, I firmly believe there should be a healthy opposition party in this country. Doing so requires actual ideas and the coherent formulation of debates on issues. This crap like Republican Senator Jim DeMint is doing must stop. Saying "we have to stop his [Obama's] politics" is fine. I'm okay with that. That's what opposition parties do. But saying the President of the United States is a socialist and that the health care debate is a "real showdown between socialism and freedom," or that the current administration is a Nazi regime while comparing our president to former and current dictators is beyond ridiculous.

Moreover, DeMint's behavior has nothing to do at all with opposition politics. It's a derangement with the fact his party is no longer in power. Calling the president a socialist or a Nazi is not an alternative plan to stop his policies. A numberless budget is not an alternative to the president's. A four page bullet point health care outline is not an alternative plan. Quit with the Freedom Fighting talk and formulate an actual alternative plan and move this country forward. Or just give up cause what you're doing now is not politics nor sane.

Really what the Republican Party is now doing isn't even legitimate opposition. They're going around saying the president is not a citizen, has a fake birth certificate and is a socialist Nazi that wants to destroy America. That's not an opposition party. That's a cult.

http://www.thefoldblog.com/2009/07/its-really-over.html

Birther Bombshell!!

Looks like the "Birthers" were right after all.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/23/756881/-Birther-Bombshell!!

Grassley: GOP will take ‘blame’ if we don’t pass health care.

Many conservatives are viewing the health care debate as a personal political battle against Obama, claiming health care reform could be the president’s “Waterloo” and advising that GOP members of Congress “resist the temptation” to work with Democrats and instead “go for the kill.” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is offering the opposite advice. “If we don’t do something on health-care reform,” Grassley said, “the voters are more apt to blame Republicans than Democrats.” Grassley also expressed his disagreement with the Republican Party of Iowa, which called health care reform an “experiment Iowa cannot afford.” “I would suggest there have been some Republicans who haven’t been looking at the polls,” Grassley said in a weekly conference call with Iowa reporters, in which he announced he would continue to seek a bipartisan bill:

He referred to a poll showing voters would assign blame 30 percent to the health industry, 22 to Republicans, 11 percent to Democrats and only 4 percent to Obama.

“So it seems to me that we have a responsibility to the Republican Party not to be seen as destroying or at least not talking about things that people believe are wrong with the present health-care system,” Grassley said.

Yesterday, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) announced he was taking himself out of bipartisan group of Finance Committee members drafting the health care bill. Left in the group are Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Mike Enzi (R-WY), and Grassley.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/23/grassley-gop-will-take-blame/

Grassley: GOP will take ‘blame’ if we don’t pass health care.

Sooooooo what!

Looks like the Kosic Kids are in panic mode as the birther movement goes mainstream.

Fun to watch!

US Has Lost Moral High Ground on Treatment of Prisoners

The US military has, understandably and correctly, condemned the coerced video of a US soldier taken hostage by Taliban in Afghanistan.

But I fear that the argument that the public humiliation of prisoners is against international law won't take the US very far after 8 years of Bush-Cheney.

http://www.juancole.com/2009/07/us-has-lost-moral-high-ground-on.html

Why Is The Media Still Listening To Republicans ?

What was the last thing the Republicans got right?

Certainly not anything that would get them elected!

Immigration? ha!

The environment? Shudder!

Regulation of Wall St excesses? It is to laugh.

Equal Rights? Well.....ask your gay and Hispanic friends.

Emergency response, like to, say, Hurricanes and stuff? Yeah, right.

Foreign Policy? Emphatically no.

Running two wars? No they screwed that up good....too.

Not torturing people? They couldn't even get that right.

The economy, as in not crashing it and harming a huge swath of regular people who trusted them? ....er, no.

And certainly not on Health Care, the costs of which have spiraled out of control under their reign.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/23/756854/-Why-Is-The-Media-Still-Listening-To-Republicans-

Michelle Obama named in illegal “patient dumping” scheme

NewsReal ^ | July 23, 2009 | Kathy Shaidle

Just minutes after President Obama’s disastrous prime-time press conference touting his “health care” plan, FOX News host Sean Hannity aired a special segment about a so-called “patient-dumping” scandal in Obama’s hometown, Chicago.

And the scandal may very well involve First Lady Michelle Obama herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nice!

What was the last thing the Republicans got right?

That Barry would ruin the economy~~~

100% right on!

Last thing Republicans got right was Teddy Roosevelt. Not a damn thing since then. Nada, niente, gornicht, lo klum.

Dude, it's not healthy to be such a hater!

You know it's that kind of anger that drives up health care cost for the rest of us!!

Just sayin...

Let's just hit the highlights, shall we?

The Republicans squandered the good will of the world after 9/11 and ended up turning the world against us. They let Bin Laden escape from Tora Bora. They invaded Iraq for no reason, costing trillions of dollars on a mistake. They increased terrorism by invading Iraq and bringing Al Qaeda there. They increased it further by implementing an official policy of torture.

The Republicans left people to die in the aftermath of Katrina.

The Republicans repealed regulations that had held Wall St and the banks in check and encouraged an atmosphere of raw greed that led to the economic collapse.

As I say, those are just the highlights, as we all vividly remember ...except the media and "Moderate Democrats apparently...how badly the Republicans screwed EVERYTHING up through bad and incompetent governing, horrible policy decisions, and just plain stupidity born of ideology and insufferable arrogance.

Multiple investigations, in nearly every area they touched, are under way.

Can you, or anyone name something, anything the Republicans got right?

And yet who are the media and the "Moderate Dems" listening to on virtually every issue that the Republicans just spent eight years screwing up and elevating to crisis level through incompetence and stupidity?

You guessed it, Those Very Same Republicans.

The Republicans that have the lowest public approval rating of any political party since the whigs. The Republicans that have been turned out of office in the biggest combined political defeat over two elections since.....Watergate. The Republicans that the American People have rejected resoundingly at every opportunity.

And yet they are STILL framing the debate and dominating the airwaves...and being allowed to stall Health Care Reform in order to kill it, as is their stated aim...with the exact same strategy the used to screw up EVERYTHING they touched.

Lies and Fear.

And the media and "Moderate Democrats" are STILL listening to them, still catering to them, still giving them power. Even though the have been proven empirically wrong on EVERYTHING.

Can someone please tell me why?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/23/756854/-Why-Is-The-Media-Still-Listening-To-Republicans-

"In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican."

H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

"A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants."

Alben W. Barkley, U.S Vice President (1949-1953)

"I came from a disadvantaged home. They were Republicans."

Paul Tsongas, campaigning in New Hampshire

Update: Lowest rated press conference yet

Seems Barry took the blue pill!

"Opportunity for all means making taxes fair. I'm not out to soak the rich. But I do believe the rich should pay their fair share. For twelve years, the Republicans have raised taxes on the middle class. It's time to give the middle class tax relief."

Bill Clinton (1946 - ), Announcement Speech, October 3, 1991

"We must uphold the promise of Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, and Clinton and never allow the President and his Republican friends to threaten Social Security by putting it on the Wall Street trading block."

John Kerry (1943 - ), Speech at Democratic Convention, May 31, 2002

"The two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a big fat white guy who is threatened by change."

Seth MacFarlane, The Family Guy

"I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends... that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them."

Adlai E. Stevenson Jr. (1900 - 1965), Speech during 1952 Presidential Campaign

"When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative."

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968)

Crazy Wingnut Healthcare Attacks Exposed

[...]

No matter how the Republicans, Blue Dogs and the establishment media try to come at this thing, they're only really left with arguments that are easily shot down, arguments that inadvertently endorse the most positive aspects of healthcare reform, or arguments that are just insane. And that's mainly because the money being pumped into the effort to kill healthcare reform doesn't come along with a mandate for veracity or sanity in order for the checks to be cut. The private healthcare industry is buying whatever scares people. Whatever confounds the facts. Whatever kills healthcare reform and the public option by a thousand cuts. Whatever works.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/crazy-wingnut-healthcare_b_243075.html

*****

When is the last time any reasoned or substantial opposition came from the GOP? They have defined themselves as the party of knee-jerk nut-jobs.

Between the kooky birthers and the "say anything" corporate shills - who can take anything from the GOP seriously?

WOWSER!

Even Crusader Bunnypants KNEW Libby AND Cheney were lying? What a neat little device to try to innoculate the POTUS from the crime, eh?

********

If the presidential staff were polled, the result would be 100 to 1 against a pardon, Bush joked. Then he turned to Sharp. “What’s the bottom line here? Did this guy lie or not?”

The lawyer, who had followed the case very closely, replied affirmatively. Bush indicated that he had already come to that conclusion too. “O.K., that’s it,” Bush said.

http://thinkprogress.org/

H.L. Mencken said:"the common man is a fool"

"When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative."

Hey, didn't Bill Ayers say this just before blowing up a police station?

"Massachusetts police acted stupidly"

Barrack Hussien Obama (2009)

hahah

"Damn, Ukrainian women are hot"

Joe Biden (2009)

‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt"

Joe Biden (2009)

New Jersey Democrats Vie for Chicago's Title as Most Corrupt in Nation; Up the Ante with New Low-- Human Organ Trafficking

—Ace

Two mayors (Hoboken and Secaucus) arrested, plus the former mayor of Bayonne, plus 27 others, for money laundering and corruption. All but a couple are, of course, Democrats.

The media would like to bury this, as usual, but the Jersey Democrats have announced they won't be ignored -- and tossed in the illegal trafficking of a human liver just to make the MSM's job more difficult.

But I think they're up to it. JWF notes the MSM is already highlighting the one Republican arrested, while failing to note everyone else is a Democrat.

PS, one of the arrested guys stood for a picture with current governor Corzine. Awesome.

By the way, the arrests come thanks to a two-year investigation launched by the front-running Republican candidate for governor, Chris Christie.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Damn Kalpal, those Democrats are sure doing good things for the less fortunate heh?

Kowpow!

Smart, Post Racial President Trips Over His Own Mouth In "Racial" Case UPDATE: Gibbs Denies Obama Called Cops Stupid
—DrewM.
Given how awful his performance was last night on health care (even the gang on MSNBC weren't feeling the thrill) maybe Obama decide it was better to say anything, no matter how stupid, to make sure people had something else to talk about today.

Mission Accomplished!

John Boehner Continues Ultimate Republican Hypocrisy

[...]

So, let me get this straight. Boehner and the hypocrites in the Republican Party are frustrated that Democrats are having to clean up the mess they created with the economy. They are all for allowing the bankers and Corporate America, the very folks whose greed and irresponsibilty crashed the economy pick it clean once again.

However, when it is time for stockholders to have a say in how much the Executives who crashed the economy get paid for crashing the economy, this particularly disgusting brand of hypocrites is against it. When it comes time to give millions of Americans a raise so they can contribute to the economy, these Republican greed-meisters are all against it. As if crashing our economy was not bad enough, Republican hypocrites like Boehner insist on adding insult to injury.

Listening to this narrow-minded, greedy bunch of hypocrites trying to score points on they economy that they themselves crashed is like listening to Pinnochio complain about liars.

http://www.hillbillyreport.org/diary/336/john-boehner-continues-ultimate-republican-hypocrisy

Lou Dobbs Demands to See Proof of Obama Conception

WASHINGTON DC -- CNN cable news pundit and radio host, Lou Dobbs, has joined the growing chorus of voices concerned about the legitimacy of the Obama presidency, based on lingering questions regarding the President's birth certificate and status as a natural-born U.S. citizen. "There are questions here, folks," said Dobbs on his nightly CNN program. "Questions that could be easily resolved if only the president would produce a copy of his birth certificate, a copy other than the one he already released." Not content with the document already certified by the State of Hawaii, or the notice of birth in published in the local papers, Dobbs speculated that this issue would remain relevant, until it was adequately dealt with to his satisfaction. Saying, "we need some real solid proof other than these 'documents.' A photo or footage of some kind, clearly depicting Obama's alleged parents engaging in some kind of unprotected intercourse or sexual congress while holding up an American newspaper with a date corresponding to his birth in August of 1961 would go a long way towards dispelling these rumors, but unfortunately the White House has been less than forthcoming on this matter."

Dobbs' demand for proof of the Obama conception picked up steam on the Hill, when several Republican Reps. co-sponsored a bill that would require all future presidential candidates to provide, "detailed video or photographic documentation of their mothers and fathers having sex." "This bill is about clearing up any potential doubts there may be in the future," said Rep. John Campbell (R-CA). A grainy or badly blurred copy will not do either, "As Americans we demand nothing less from our leaders than a clear, unaltered, unedited shot of the moment when their fathers' erect penis ejaculated sperm into their mothers' vagina on God-given American soil," Campbell stated, before qualifying his comment by declaring, "As far as I know, that is how U.S. children are made."

The "Where American Babies Come From Act" has gained support from Fox News and Talk Radio, including rising star Glenn Beck, who suggested setting up an independent "people's commission" of "patriots and citizens" to verify and bear witness to any sex act that could potentially produce an American president. "This is dangerous people" intoned Beck. "Mark my words, as we speak illegal immigrants and ACORN operatives are impregnating American women on foreign soil and planting forged documents ahead of time, so that in forty or fifty years they can get one of these 'children' elected president and complete their final goal of destroying liberty in America."

Proof of birth and conception may not go far enough for some, including former Presidential candidate Alan Keyes, who warned of a looming "constitutional, philosophical, and existential crisis" unless the "usurper" Obama could provide some proof of his actual existence. "My perception of the figure called 'Obama' does not necessarily correlate to an objective reality," said Keyes. "Obama's existence cannot be known unless identified through thoughts, memories, and feelings, all of which are subjective, and so it is not unreasonable to question the reality of his very being." It is likely that these questions about Obama's citizenship and alleged existence will continue until such a time as when The White House can prove something is not to someone who has experienced a reality of something that is

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-menaker/lou-dobbs-demands-to-see_b_243733.html

"I have an existential map. It has 'You are here' written all over it."

Steven Wright

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) released this statement:

Slowly but surely the Republicans are revealing their true strategy on health care: partisans gamesmanship comes before getting something done. If Republicans believe doing nothing will ingratiate themselves with the American people, they have not learned a single lesson from the last two elections. Their do nothing approach is why health care costs have skyrocketed, and it’s why Republicans are in such a bad place today. This strategy is bad politics, but it is also a deeply troubling way to govern.

Black Caucus blasts Blue Dogs

The Congressional Black Caucus is blasting away at Blue Dog Democrats and other fiscal conservatives in their own party for making "spurious" claims about the high cost of the House health reform plan, POLITICO has learned.

The issue isn't about race, aides tell me. It's about the CBC, which represents some of the most progressive members in the House, expressing concern they are being taken for granted while party conservatives dominate ongoing negotiations.

The 42-member caucus, whose support is crucial for the passage of any plan, is worried that intense talks going on between the Dogs, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and House leaders will undermine efforts to provide quality coverage to the poor and working class.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0709/Black_Caucus_blasts_Blue_Dogs.html

Leader Of GOP Health Care “Solutions Group” Says GOP Won’t Offer Health Care Bill

National Dems think they’ve caught a prominent Republican in another major health care gaffe, and they say they’re planning on banging away at it all day today.

The gaffe in question: GOP Rep. Roy Blunt has now said Republicans won’t offer a health care bill of their own, breaking a previous promise. Worse, it turns out Blunt is chair of something called the “House GOP Health Care Solutions Group.”

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/leader-of-gop-health-care-solutions-group-says-gop-wont-offer-health-care-bill/

*****

So the real GOP healthcare plan is to just say no?

Maybe it will work for them.

Gordon Liddy Struggles Embarrassingly To Defend Birther Conspiracy (VIDEO)

Watergate conspirator and conservative radio host G. Gordon Liddy went on Hardball Thursday afternoon to address the inexplicably still-debated question over whether or not President Barack Obama was born in the United States.

The exchange was, at times, excruciating to watch as a largely catatonic Liddy struggled to explain the slew of evidence that points to Obama's U.S. citizenship. At one point, Matthews showed Liddy a certificate of live birth, which he noted was sufficient enough documentation to get a passport issued by the State Department.

"Let me see it, if you would. It's interesting that it's redacted," Liddy said, pointing to a sequence of numbers in the upper right hand corner.

Matthews then produced a copy that wasn't redacted. "What do you think now?" he asked.

There wasn't much to think about. Liddy went through the normal litany of "birther" conspiracy points, including a "sworn statement" from Obama's step-grandmother that she saw him born in Mombasa, Kenya. But for the one-time Nixon hand and current hawker of Rosland Capital gold coins, it was a painful segment at best, with Matthews sitting back and letting Liddy trip all over himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA6oa0HkfuE

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/23/gordon-liddy-struggles-em_n_243982.html