Typical of this administration

Post #347,132 by jay 9/1/11 8:44:11 AM Reply	Typical of this administration It is actually the Republican's fault for acting in bad faith, but it makes Obama look stupid or weak because it looks like he caved in to the Republicans. It will be interesting to see what they do Thursday. Hopefully they are smart enough to realize they have to schedule it before the NFL season starting game. Giving the speech at the same time is a loosing strategy, no matter if they interrupt the game for coverage or not. Either nobody sees the speech or they anger a lot of people. Luckily the game is late enough that it won't be hard to plan around. Jay
Post #347,134 by mmoffitt 9/1/11 9:08:52 AM Reply	What do you mean it "looks like" he caved? He caved. Isn't that clear? Hasn't it been clear for the past two years?
Post #347,137 by boxley 9/1/11 9:17:03 AM Reply	when you plan an event armed with a shovel and hardhat throwing them down and fleeing usually doesnt have a good outcome. He knew what would happen and did it anyway, either shit thinking or shit advise, either way he loses. Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 55 years. meep
Post #347,138 by jay 9/1/11 9:23:23 AM Reply	Not exactly In this case he didn't exactly cave. Short of invoking special authority, he needs Congress's invitation to speak. The Republicans agreed to the date up front, and then yanked the invitation at the last minute. It's rather like Lucy yanking the ball from Charlie Brown. Lucy is the one acting in bad faith, but it's Charlie Brown that looks the fool. Jay
Post #347,140 by Another Scott 9/1/11 9:51:26 AM Reply	Most people don't care. "I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." - GBS (supposedly). Few people really care about when the speech is given. Boehner's stunt is yet another example of the Republicans playing politics. Obama made his point - there's no benefit to him in drawing it out longer. Maybe he'll throw in a dig about it in the speech, but I doubt it. His trump card is showing he's serious while the Republicans want to play politics. FWIW. Cheers, Scott.
Post #347,148 by Ashton 9/1/11 4:59:16 PM Reply	Concur, it's That simple.
Post #347,150 by hnick 9/1/11 5:56:09 PM Reply	Most people are no longer supporters. He may be serious, but they are getting EVERYTHING they want. He is a consistent loser. Or a total hypocrite. On the positive side, his base is driving the Dramamine stock through the roof.
Post #347,151 by Ashton 9/1/11 6:13:23 PM 9/1/11 6:17:58 PM Reply	There is an aspect of that pov which looms large As the troglodytes (Koch et al et al) go further/deeper into the Making of the Ayn Rand Dystopia.. gaining confidence -thus-far- that they can get IT ALL: There just may happen.. anon.. A Moment in many of these impatient ones, wherein the entire Plan for the 99% Class VS the 1% Class (with All the money, power, fear and cynicism and an attitude of, Fuck-YOU, proles-ALL) leads to a cry of ENOUGH So.. YESSS.. it IS 'very difficult to predict things / especially about the future' cha cha cha But I think that the hubris already so evident, SHALL lead the troglodytes to, inadvertently tip-their-multiple-Hands- -as to the Real Program now being propagandized via countless Greedhead financiers. We'll See. Won't we. Ed: Or, the simplest version: When.. not If.. a significant minority grasp the Fundamental Issue of (Fundamentalists -vs- Normal people concerns): Cui Bono??? Edited by Ashton Sept. 1, 2011, 06:17:57 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #347,152 by Another Scott 9/1/11 6:32:10 PM Reply	They're winning the shouting; They're not getting substance. Was the 2011 budget cut by $100B? http://money.cnn.com...promise/index.htm No. That's just one example. They're not winning on substance. They've had the megaphone. They've had the media carrying their water. They're merely preventing things from getting better. Fundamentally, it's a tactic that shows the weakness of their position. And they're starting to get called on it. I expect the cacaphony from non-deranged Republicans to increase as we get closer to the Conventions, and there to be bloodletting in the Republican party after they lose next year. But we'll see... Considering the state of the economy, two wars that are still dragging on, the loss in wealth by most people, the high unemployment rate, etc., etc., it's amazing that Obama's approval isn't in the single-digits. The fact that it isn't shows that people do support him; they want him to do more, though, somehow... Obama doesn't have to beat George Washington - he only has to outrun the Republican and should have a fairly easy go of it. http://en.wikipedia....o_The_White_House Hang in there. ;-) Cheers, Scott.
Post #347,155 by hnick 9/1/11 7:06:16 PM Reply	And if he wins? How does that help anybody except Wall Street and the bankers? Every body else lives under the republican strictures. He will make the odd progressive feint and fold when the butterfly flaps its wings. And liberals will take the rap for decades. There is no hope here.
Post #347,158 by rcareaga 9/1/11 7:43:44 PM Reply	I think people have an unrealistic idea ...of the distinction between what a US President can do when the oligarchy (and its tame channels of public discourse) backs him wholeheartedly rather than tolerating him grudgingly. And the President cannot address Congress, or even set foot in its precincts, without formal invitation. cordially,
Post #347,193 by mmoffitt 9/2/11 8:49:02 AM Reply	Whomever wins, Wall St and Banksters will come out on top. When the sheep have had enough, they'll fix it violently. Which is the only way to fix it at this point.
Post #347,239 by rcareaga 9/2/11 10:33:59 PM Reply	When the sheep have had enough... The sheep aren't going to move to "fix" things violently (and it will certainly be violent, and messy, and will not be regarded by any sane survivor of the cataclysm as "fixed" in the sense of an improvement over the status quo ante) until they have been fitted with brown shirts and instructed by their oligarchic overlords. I trust that we can agree on this much: our present plight is a distant consequence of the fall of the USSR. The existence of a major power pledged, however imperfectly, to an ideal of social justice served as a counterweight to the expression of our plutocrats' direst impulses. When that moral impediment was removed, the darkest tendencies of our predatory empire were unleashed. cordially,
Post #347,283 by Ashton 9/3/11 4:15:46 PM Reply	My fav-Aunt, a schoolteacher of tykes, was leaning towards "communism" in the '30s--as were so many people with brains, who merely had to look around: at what Robber Barons had precipitated upon everyone. (Of course, in those early years it wasn't at all evident whether the excesses of the fledgling replacements for the Tsars were ... merely inept?) or had become massive hypocrites [as here, in '30s Murica. Or now, in '11s Murica.] So I see your point of the putative VS the actuality: after-all, few (anywhere) had sources of authentic information across the entire USSR, then and they naturally mistrusted the purveyors of the same-old vulture-capitalist swill still offered as ... the Only alternative to godless-'isms'. Now.. had Putin shed his leprous-spots and (say) aimed the ex-USSR in a 'socialist' direction similar to the Scandinavian countries? And also made authentic progress at creating a less WInner-take-All melange?? Why then.. the current troglodytes might indeed have Cause to Fear that the most disgusting aspects of their game: finally is in jeopardy of being found-out. Now {ugghh} back to the standard disingenuous 'world' of the Greedheads everywhere. Ahhh the seduction of Infinite Power: little wonder that people are mesmerized by replays of the "Iron Mike" detonation (first real thermonuclear explosion: which was way beyond calc. yield because they forgot Something in those equations. Elugalap island was entirely vaporized.) --> The one producing that eerie, "spotted" hemisphere of plasma which lingered for the longest time.. (I always read that startling film clip to mean): Are you SURE you want to Go--->HERE??? Little boys fancy that, They want one of Those, Too. That's what will kill us/the species; the details will be pedestrian, as always.
Post #347,434 by mmoffitt 9/7/11 9:11:15 AM Reply	At last, common ground. I could not agree more with your closing paragraph. And in my post, the use of the word "fix" was not meant to convey that I thought things would be better. "Fix" in the context of which I used it meant an ouster of the oligarchs. Ten years ago or so, I was visting NC and ran into a physician friend who, in his later years, had become quite the Right Winger. We argued for a while and then I said to him, "Look, Bert. You've got a choice. You can start sharing a little of what you have now or you can refuse. But if you refuse, those people you won't share with now will some day come to you and take all that you have." Losing the Soviet Union as a counter-balance certainly did not serve us well. But, people do not revolt until they are hungry. And this country is the breadbasket of the world. That fact coupled with the fact that except for a time 150 years ago when we were killing ourselves for a handful of years, we've never really suffered any sort of invasion or violence on our own turf that left us in shambles. So, we are not comfortable with even the hypothetical that we might suffer some discomfort. Revolution causes discomfort in the extreme and we are loathe to consider it. But, if we get hungry enough...well, who knows? Food is getting expensive - protein cost will go up at least another 10% in the coming year. Is that enough? Perhaps not. But it looks increasingly like we have a "never to be employed again" class that is growing. If it reaches critical mass and there isn't enough food, well, maybe this old Socialist will live long enough to see the revolution after all.
Post #347,482 by Another Scott 9/7/11 8:58:06 PM Reply	"People are close to revolt." http://www.theatlant...to-revolt/244651/ Yesterday I quoted a long-time Congressional staffer -- one involuntarily retired by the mid-term results in 2010 -- who ratified previous comments about the Republican-led nihilism of the Congress and the disgusted reaction it was evoking in the rest of the country. A university librarian in the Midwest responds: [...] It may not take high food prices and hunger... Cheers, Scott.
Post #347,506 by mmoffitt 9/8/11 11:11:54 AM Reply	Don't discount hunger in America. 1 in 7 of us is receiving food stamps already. :0(
Post #347,448 by mhuber 9/7/11 10:42:21 AM Reply	There are ALWAYS checks and balances The ones that are inside the system tend to be much prettier. --------------------------------------- Badass! (and delicious)
Post #347,159 by boxley 9/1/11 7:44:02 PM Reply	most people will care if the new date impacts 8:30pm Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 55 years. meep
Post #347,160 by Another Scott 9/1/11 7:49:17 PM Reply	Not to worry. http://www.reuters.c...N1E78020H20110901 Not to worry, the White House says. Obama's address will be finished before the game begins. "I can assure you that, for all you football fans, that he will be completed before kickoff," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Thursday. Carney noted that Obama, an avid sports fan himself, would also be able to tune in. "It means that he'll have the opportunity to watch the game like millions of other Americans," he said. IOW, the Republican response will be competing with the football game. Obama wins again!!! ;-) Cheers, Scott. (Who doesn't care about football and thinks it is a stupid sport. But that's just me.)

Welcome to IWETHEY!