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

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?

http://my.barackobama.com/Meeting

The Sunlight Foundation is live-blogging and tweeting the event, and showing who every speakers campaign donors are. Nice.

http://sunlightfoundation.com/live/

very nice. i can't really watch the whole event, but the amount of blustering and anecdotes are maddening. just get to the policy debate. six hours really isn't much time.

i'm too used to academic debate, i guess. i want a rundown of arguments, and a point-by-point response and a reply to crystalize the arguments.

yeah obama seems like he just wants to debate the republicans by himselves and not listen to anyone else

goddam a lot of words per min but not a lot being said.

i haven't seen that. but frankly, that's the debate i want to see. and frankly, that's what i thought pelosi/reid's strategy was (sit back, listen a lot, let obama take the lead).

xp to max

obama keeps having to stop other ppl from talking, and he takes the opportunity to rebut whatever the GOP just said, and then passes it off to more anecdotes from steny hoyer

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704240004575085452585399236.html?mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular

Having won the battle for public opinion on this issue, Republicans are on the rise. They should act like it. Mr. Obama may have a home court advantage, but Republicans have facts, ideas, and most of the American people on their side.

ugh wtf wsj.

facts 'n' ideas 'n' most of the American people

FACT: republicans have facts on their side

nah. the facts have a well-known liberal bias.

obama is so far above the others in this room.

facts? ideas?? lol wsj you almost got me there, good one

Americans intuitively know these things cannot be true, and they have therefore responded to the promise of ObamaCare with tea parties

...and they never let him forget it. xpost

dammit i wish somebody would just directly challenge the whole idea of employer-provided health care. it's such a stupid system, and i don't think it's very popular. all obama or someone needs to say is, "why should health care be tied to your employment?" it's a common-sense question.

Dear Karl Rove:

Thank you for writing to me.

Yours in Basketball,

Latrell Sprewell

methinks Gawker has the right idea about the maximum 'results' of this circus: "Soon, America will have a compromise health care bill that consists of tort reform and a capital gains tax cut."

Obama looks like he's thinking of the chef salad he'd rather eat.

maybe that's because the gop leaders are stupid.

obama is such a professor

is the GOP really letting lamar alexander go as their point man? wtf

(not watching or listening to this btw)

i think they figure lamar is the voice of "sane" "moderate" "bipartisanship" - a reputation that i think rests mainly on his wouldn't-hurt-a-fly demeanor rather than his actual policy positions, which are not far from what sean hannity might propose

You are a shithead, Jon Kyl

http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/glengarry-glen-ross-1992-kevin-spacey-jack-lemmon-pic-4.jpg

Paul Blumenthal:
Twenty-five percent of Sen. Kyl’s personal investment assets are in health care firms, according to his 2008 personal financial disclosure form. These include such companies as Amgen Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, and GlaxoSmithKline.

Paul Blumenthal:
At least four of Kyl’s former staffers have gone through the revolving door to become lobbyists. These include Cynthia E. Berry, whose clients at Powell Goldstein include a host of health care concerns, such as Blue/Cross Blue Shield, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and several hospitals.

this link seriously is all kinds of awesome -

http://sunlightfoundation.com/live/

these live-twerpers are on fucking fire!

that live feed looks like they're rotoscoped O_O

Every news network should have that "contextual content" in the corner of the screen.

NO, WE SHOULD NOT HAVE FAITH IN THE AMERICAN PUBLIC

ffs