US POLITICS: AMERICANS, PLEASE WELCOME YOUR NEW PRESIDENT... SCOTT BROWN!

http://babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/kid_eating_sushi.jpg

The Millbank column that is mentioned in the link above hails Emanuel but overlooks his role as a well-connected insider linked to Wall Street and Robert Rubin and thus responsible in part for the selection and failures of Geithner and Summers. But Millbank is a rightish moderate so he'd never acknowledge those items.

That cnn politics blog makes me seethe. 'Republicans are obstructing, democrats need to fix this problem'

does not compute. people are idiots.

I'd say it would be idiotic to expect the Republicans to fix anything.

'Republicans are obstructing, democrats need to fix this problem'

similar to "give us public services/we don't want to pay taxes"

that's pretty much it. the parties just become extensions of national cognitive dissonance.

john: way upthread -- my (then) name was the hebrew and yiddish spellings of "treyf." i'm not Jewish, though, so i may have botched it (i got the spellings from wikipedia and i thought it would be funny).

also, shakey mo 1,000% OTM re Americans and taxes. i'd like to blame Reagan for Americans' cognitive dissonance on the subject, but wanting something for nothing is a universal human trait innit?!?

i'd like to blame Reagan for Americans' cognitive dissonance on the subject, but wanting something for nothing is a universal human trait innit?!?

I dig the whole 'no taxation w/o representation' thing but esentially our revolution stemmed from the fact that we didn't want to pay for the massive debts incurred by Britain in fighting wars on our behalf.

more along those 'Americans are stupid'lines

I dig the whole 'no taxation w/o representation' thing but esentially our revolution stemmed from the fact that we didn't want to pay for the massive debts incurred by Britain in fighting wars on our behalf.

yeah, forgot about that. i always think of Reagan on this matter, though, b/c it seems to me that before he came along politicians at least seemed to give lip service to the notion of "if you want all of these government goodies, you have to pay for them." but maybe i'm over-idealizing things.

Actually we probably would have been OK with all the war tax but Colonists were not represented in Parliament, hence the attitude problem and the true meaning of 'no taxation without representation'. When tea partiers pull that crap, they just sound like petulant teens.

http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/photographs/large/c3241-20.jpg

i wonder what the public's mood would have been if, instead of trying to be conciliatory and build consensus, obama and congressional democrats just methodically slammed through their agenda.

How about "These people can keep their jobs in 2010! Hell, let's get more of them in!"

What makes you think they're not slamming through their agenda already?

um have you noticed how many bills/initiatives have died in the House because of their being blocked in the Senate

(hint: it's a lot)

290-something according to Maddow's count.

alley oop

are people purposely misunderstanding the point Euler's trying to make or am I reading too much into what he wrote

I was saying that it might be that the congressional Dems + Obama (as Daniel wrote) are pushing exactly the agenda they want. We should judge them by what they do, and that means judging them by the laws they pass.

yeah, that's what I thought you meant

fuck this means health care is doomed, doesn't it?

To Vote or Not to Vote? [Victor Davis Hanson]

I hope that the House rejects Obamacare, but I am not convinced entirely it will. The provisions that earned strong disapproval in the polls won't kick in until way after the elections, so blue-dog Democrats might figure that in the short-term a failed and weak president and Democratic Party might hurt them far more than one praised in the delighted media as ascendant again. In other words, many might count on looking strong now, hoping for a third quarter dramatic upsurge in GDP and slight decreases in unemployment, coupled with a vague banner of "we got you health care" (odious details and taxes come later at some unspecified date) — to be the lesser of two evils.

02/24 02:06 PMShare

We should judge them by what they do, and that means judging them by the laws they pass.

this is essentially conflating Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson and whatever other "moderate" jerks are in the caucus with the larger agenda of the congressional Dems + Obama. Which is wrong.

are they serving beer at tomorrow's health-care summit? would liven things up.

They should serve tequila and blow, then.

RORSCHACH TEST:

End of An Era
David Kurtz | February 24, 2010, 4:03PM

Hummer H2

It was always hard for me to buy into the idea that we'd learned our lessons from the dotcom bust or the 2008 financial collapse so long as we were still producing and purchasing the Hummer. There are other emblems of our excess but none quite so blatant. Now it looks like the Hummer will be no more. GM has been unable to find a buyer for the Hummer line and will discontinue production later this year.

VS.

Obama Administration General Motors to Discontinue Hummer Brand [Daniel Foster]

For the record, I hate these things, but there is something unsettling, at multiple levels, about a government-run auto company trying to sell an eminently American SUV to Communist China and then, failing that, deciding to pull the plug entirely:

DETROIT — General Motors says it will discontinue Hummer after its bid to sell the brand to a Chinese company failed.

GM says it was unable to complete the sale of Hummer to heavy equipment maker Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co.

02/24 03:44 PMShare

Good riddance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBqtyvn7OVw

looooool

rep. steve king "double dog-daring" the democrats to use reconciliation to pass HCR is major lolz.

but maybe he's right. maybe there would be NEAR-RIOTS by angry "real" americans protesting HCR.

Maybe some of the especially chubby ones will riot themselves into heart attacks, requiring medical attention.

rockaway stand up

Rachel Maddow played that clip on her show tonight. It was a great episode into why Republicans are stupid and Insurance Companies are evil. Keith Olberman had a long-winded special note about how death panels are life panels and how Sarah Palin deserves to go to hell. Great stuff!

oh come on now

I'm being serious

Olbermann special comment was really good.

i doubt it

No, it really was - I went to Kos and had a look since people who seem not too keen on Olbermann otherwise said it was very moving. They are right.

yeah im not usually a huge olbermann fan but for once his subject warranted his bloviating self-righteousness

anyone watching the summit?

yeah.
For some strange reason, I want Lamar Alexander to burst into flames.

what a dick

agreed. can't focus on it, but alexander's just droning on-and-on. when it came time for him to present specific ideas, he warbled out just six, one of which was substance-free (we will take steps to lower health care costs).

how long does this mini-filibuster get to continue?

has Alexander actually read de Tocqueville? and did McCain smirk because he knows Alexadner didn't?

can Obama filibuster alexander?

he should. i mean, alexander's opening has eaten 30 minutes of this 6 hour conference.

politicians must think this "polished" "nice"-talk, generously dotted with anecdotes and kind remarks, is what people want. i think it's the opposite. i hope obama bypasses all that, and just begins a wonky analysis/response to alexander. pelosi and reid surely won't do that.

can someone point me to a live audio stream of this? I want to listen while I work in the kitchen. Tried several NPR stations, no luck.

check cspan.org?