As Politico says, this has been the toughest week for Obama yet. The Daschle withdrawl (which I’m glad to see) will be discussed endlessly for the next 68 hours or so. And we’ll see another two days of approving coverage of the McCain-Wurzelbacher anti-stimulus jihad.
But Friday morning, there’s going to be a very scary jobs report. Some predict unemployment will hit 8%. A seven figure loss of jobs is not out of the question.
It will be interesting to see what they make of this on Morning Ho. I predict at least a five minute interruption in their analysis of Obama’s supposed comments on Jessica Simpson.
Am I being too optimistic?
Update: My economics guru predicts only 700K job losses, mostly because there’s really only three weeks of firing to be done in January (the first week is vacation). Here’s his full analysis after the break, if anyone is interested.
it’s interesting. GDP growth came in at “only” 5.1% down last quarter (real number was 3.8% because of some weird inventory build-up that added 1.3%, which i still don’t understand why that happened, but it means that 1.3% decline gets pushed to next quarter).
if that’s the case, then it means that employers kept people around for the christmas period making things they just jammed into inventory and so this means they kept people around until post christmas when the firings will occur (jan, feb, or march).
So…., i guess Jan, Feb, or March numbers should be huge, while dec revisions should be small.
Maybe corporate america just didn’t want to fire people in nov and dec because they were nice/lazy, OR, they figured “hey, let’s keep people around, build up some big inventories, then just fire everyone and live off of our inventories in case the economy picks up in 6 months, and if it doesn’t, well, we’re properly sized for a near depression”. I’d implement the latter strategy if I was running a steel company or the like, especially given the current cheap price of energy and commodities, but I might go with the first strategy as what senior business guys think because quite simply they don’t think ahead, were probably on vacation, and so didn’t want to make any tough decisions Q4.
Regardless, I’d say look for big layoff numbers for jan, feb, march. Will probably exceed the 500K losses in December. I’d say look for losses around your number, maybe a touch less, say 700K. The first week of Jan everyone is still on vacation so there’s only 3 weeks of firings to do. If it’s more than 700K then that’s really grim. Projections for the ENTIRE year are about 3m job losses, so if 25% occur in one month that’s huge. If it’s over 800K, or god help us, 1m, I’m heading for the hills.
Retail is going to get absolutely slaughtered. Literally a bloodbath. They don’t fire in December, but they are now.
One modifier – people may have fired in december in order to get all the negative costs into the 2008 calendar so that 2009 will look better.
TenguPhule
Yes. SATSQ.
TenguPhule
I’ll give you 10 to 4 that FOX News(tm) will blame Obama.
Brick Oven Bill
I call on President Obama to direct the IRS to audit all members of Congress. This audit should be done by three IRS agents, who all need to sign their names, with a junior military officer, and two enlisted men as witnesses. If Obama does this, he will win me over. This is within his authority.
Part of me thinks that Obama may still believe the ideals he espoused on the campaign trail.
Bootlegger
If he quickly appoints Dean for HHS the Daschle thing will go away as Wingnut heads explode.
As for the "toughest week yet", its a job full of tough weeks.
Bootlegger
@Brick Oven Bill: Not a bad idea actually, though I’m not sure it is in his power to do this.
DougJ
@BOB
It always looks good when a president sics the IRS on his political rivals.
The Grand Panjandrum
Joe and Mika really should take a deep breath and think through the things they say on teevee. Mika is capable but when she’s riding shotgun with one of the dumbest bastards on teevee (OK, so he’s no Glenn Beck) and he just can’t help himself when he opens his mouth. I often wonder if Morning Joe and O’Reilly share a research staff because both of them seem to have far too many facts wrong.
Incertus
@Bootlegger: That would be a big chunk of awesome if he did that, though the Republicans would no doubt call it a highly partisan pick. Sure, he’s a doctor, but he’s also the guy who helped drag the Dems into the 21st century and handed two of the biggest ass-whippings of all time to the Republican party, so he can’t be a Cabinet member.
Bootlegger
@Incertus: Also a governor, and the state level is where any reforms will be implemented.
Dave
As rough weeks go, there have been worse. But those numbers should temper the GOP self-centered oppo….
Oh, who am I kidding? Those jackasses would ride this country into Hell still braying for more tax cuts for the uber-rich. What’s a million more people out of work?
Punchy
unemployment 10% by March. Please mark this comment.
DougJ
I hope so. The proles aren’t willing to sacrifice so it’s time someone made them sacrifice.
That will teach them to blow all their money at the Applebee’s Salad Bar.
The Grand Panjandrum
@Brick Oven Bill: Aha! Congresswoman Bachman you have given yourself away. Although I will give you credit for moderating your views and only calling for an IRS shakedown of Congress instead of the FBI. Very commendable.
Bootlegger
@DougJ:
Applebees has a salad bar?
(nothing gets by us DJ)
donovong
First of all, anybody who watches Morning Doofus deserves what they get.
Secondly, if Daschle was the best person on the planet to fix healthcare, I could live with him. Who’s next?
Phukitall.
NonyNony
@Brick Oven Bill:
It may be within his power to do it (I don’ t know) but it would never happen. The screams of outrage from the Congress and from the Beltway media about "abuses of power" and "targeting of political enemies" would be deafening. (And yeah, that’s the same Beltway media that cheerled an illegal war based on lies and wiretapping American citizens without warrants and covered up torture and black site prisons for a good long while, and still downplays the criminality of it all. But if you "go after" a political enemy, well, that’s just not done). Notice that not even W tried to do anything like that, and he didn’t seem to have many boundaries that he wasn’t willing to cross.
BombIranForChrist
Meet the Press will host three guests:
Republican Senator
Conservative Pundit
Somewhat Conservative Pundit – aka conservative who likes DC cocktail parties, so he moderates his comments and labels Obama as a "Socialist harpy" instead of the more alarming "Communist fucko".
They will, surprisingly, argue that Obama is a complete failure.
They will then do a short film dedicated to Sarah Palin.
Liberal media at work, boyeeez.
jenniebee
Wait, what did Obama say about Jessica Simpson? That’s what I want to know.
Also, who exactly is Jessica Simpson? Is she the chick on that NutriSystem commercial? Because there’s something about her that really freaks me out.
TCG
Just what are you accusing Scarborough of anyway?
BDeevDad
@Brick Oven Bill: Do you forget the screams from Republican lawmakers when they searched Congressman Jefferson’s office? No way this happens
sgwhiteinfla
DougJ
Now you know Scar will use the jobs reports to scream for more
TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS
Fwiffo
Obama’s next pick for HHS: Tom Coburn.
Considering that Judd Gregg once voted to eliminate the Commerce department, it would fit.
MikeJ
Not only is this the toughest week yet for Obama, remember that Newsweek has declared Afghanistan Obama’s Vietnam.
Scott H
Daschle has more problems than his taxes. Another fox trying to get in the henhouse. Glad to see him out. Next, I want to see the backside of William Lynn going out the door.
South of I-10
@jenniebee: It was in his discussion with Matt Lauer before the Superbowl. He was commenting about the cover of People magazine and getting cut out of the picture on the cover and replaced by Jessica Simpson.
jibeaux
@Bootlegger:
I believe this to be a reference to the complete and utter cluelessness of David Brooks, Man O’ The People.
Even I know Applebee’s doesn’t have a salad bar, Dave-o, and I seriously hate Applebee’s. Where I grew up it was the "fancy" restaurant.
Adrienne
@Bootlegger: Uhhh, I think that was a dig on the clueless pundit (the name slips my mind) who actually wrote/said something regarding the non-existent Applebees salad bar in order to make a point about Obama’s supposed elitism. We here at BJ had a ball with that one…
@jenniebee: He didn’t say much of anything, but it still managed to crack me up.
They cut it off, but right after, he said (paraphrased) "Yeah, that’s unfortunate."
He also gave a "shout out" to the troops. towards the end of that interview. I bet that made the racist wingnuts’ heads explode!
jenniebee
@NonyNony: Congress could pass a law mandating that the IRS audit members of Congress, staffers, and former members/staffers for 10 years after leaving, but I think any orders from the president targeting the IRS on anybody, especially on another branch of government, would be considered abuse of power.
It would be worth asking the CBO to work up a cost/bene analysis on it, too. If everybody knew an audit was definitely coming, and all the audits were conducted every year, it would almost certainly end up costing the taxpayers far more than it saves. That’s why the IRS doesn’t audit everybody every year.
Notice also that no tax problems have shown up in the accounts of any sitting members of Congress (so far). It’s former members with new lobbying goodies and a member of the federal reserve board with strong ties to the financial industry.
So calling for Obama to direct an audit of Congress’ taxes is asking him to do something that is:
probably illegal,
certainly expensive,
completely off target.
Any wonder then that BOB thinks this is a good idea?
Napoleon
One thing with the two withdrawls coming today is that Obama is doing 5 interviews with the networks today for, I presume, broadcast tonight, which will to some extent crowd out this story.
greynoldsct00
Oh, I think that would be great fun!
demimondian
@Brick Oven Bill: You’re wrong. This would be a gross violation of the Congressional protection while serving.
woody
Probably. Chris Hedges thinks so, anyway. He says "It’s Not Going To Get Better."
Sheldon Wolin seems to have it just about right.
Bootlegger
@jibeaux: A cluelessness that knows no bounds. Since Applebees is one of the fancier restaurants in my neck of the Appalachians the reference was lost on me, though I’ve read Greenwald’s wonderful slams of the pundits who know what all us Murcans are thinkin’.
Perry Como
8%? Heh.
JenJen
Morning Ho!! Hey, that’s pretty good!
Personally, I refer to it as "Morning Poison," and sadly, I tend to gulp it down for at least a few minutes every morning.
jenniebee
OMG has everybody else read the David Brooks column today? Gah! Gaaaahhh! What the Fucking Fuck?
Shorter David Brooks:
In a former life, I was the Comte de Provence. In this life, I’m an apologist for the Comte de Provence lifestyle. La plus ca change…
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
No one could have predicted that the global economy would begin its self-immolation, a full 2 months before the election, at the mere thought of B. Hussein and the Gangsta Caliphate. Who could have known that poor brown people could bring Wall Street to its knees? Only Mitch McConnell and Joe the (not) Plumber can save us now.
Maus
Way too optimistic. Why do people want the bummer of news to get in the way of human interest stories?
HyperIon
but (according to what i read somewhere on the intertubes) Rahm would not be pleased. And we all know that he’s the enforcer, right?
(BTW I have no idea why he wouldn’t like Dean but I suspect it has to do with DLC/party bullshit.)
jibeaux
@Bootlegger:
I think you’re a real Murican ONLY if Applebee’s was the fancy restaurant in your town. Ours also seemed to be the only place that bothered with a liquor license, hell, a beer and wine license, for a long time. Times have changed, that town has gotten all sophisticated-like,. Now you can go to nearly any American-style test-marketed nationwide chain restaurant you want to! I’m talking Chotchki’s AND Flinger’s. Whoo hoo.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@jenniebee: Bobo:
Words completely fail me.
Scott
Okay, the Chris Hedges article seems fairly ridiculous. I’m a pretty reliable pessimist, but the "We’re All Going to DIE, We Must Embrace Our Hobocentric Future" school of doomsaying is silly.
JenJen
@jenniebee: It’s going to take a long, long time for me to recover from reading BoBo’s latest spew. Thanks fer nothin’!!
Also, just to add to your reaction, here’s mine: WHAT IN THE HOLY LIVING YOU HAVE TO GOT TO BE F’N KIDDING ME WTF WTF WTF BOBO? GOOD GAWD STOOOOP GO AWAAAAAY
Gah.
Bootlegger
@jibeaux: We’re getting an Olive Garden. And I suppose I should be fair and reveal that there are some decent Mexican and Chinese places in the area.
headpan
Um, can anyone say "Howard Dean"? Didn’t think so.
I knows there may be some Thom Hartmann haters here-abouts, but I gotta say, when he mentioned that on his program, I was a-poundin the dashboard going "YES!!" b/c I thot he should have been the pick all along (and damned well deserved it).
But, I guess he’s just done too darned much for the Dem party as a whole, helping them win the last 2 elections and such. Never heard so much as a thank you from Obama, teh Pelosis & Reids and the like.
Bootlegger
@jenniebee: Oh my fucking god! The stoopid is burning my eyes! I thought it was a snark at first but realized too late that he was serious.
I’m going over a student’s thesis right now and his terrible writing is head and shoulders above the Ward 3 Hater.
jibeaux
@Bootlegger:
Well, that’s good. When the economy picks up a bit, try to leverage your Olive Garden into a Maggiano’s, and you’ll be on your way!
An Indian place actually opened up in my hometown on a prominent restaurant strip. I says to meself, I says, that place ain’t gonna make it. And no, it did not. The peeples they are ready for the Golden Corral and maybe the La Tortilla and possibly even Mongolian Fire, but they are not ready for the Namaste.
I am so on the pulse of middle America, I could be David Brooks’ consultant, if I could figure out what in the holy bejebus he was trying to say.
headpan
Because Dean succeeded where he failed.
Tony J
You probably are. Remember, this is the MSM that has responded to seeing the GOP brutally shitcanned by the American electorate twice in a row because of their crazy partisanship and shitty policies, by asking the GOP to come on their shows and opine about whether their refusal to embrace bipartisanship suggests that Obama should be impeached for lying about his awesome messianic skillz.
I was expecting them to be deeply, deeply awful, but the whole "He said he’d end the partisan bickering, but the Republicans are still dicks, and that’s his fault!" meme they’ve latched onto blazes a trail of stoopid so intensely bright that I still have trouble looking at it directly.
Should I invest in green shades?
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@headpan:
Dude……. Howard Dean hollered once……. years ago. He’s tainted. Please get your mind right.
Maus
There is no reason why any of them don’t like Dean, it always sounded like a stupid-media narrative to me.
Bootlegger
@jibeaux: He’s trying to say that the New Bureaucrats (read: Obama Democrats) are taking over the economy and will tell, nay force, the elites to behave according to their own petty jealousies. Or were those his own petty jealousies? Hard to tell eh?
scarshapedstar
Why couldn’t the failed Obama administration protect us from the terrorist shootings in Portland?
HyperIon
@headpan:
Well, then, let’s just throw Dean under the bus (again).
jenniebee
@Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon): Yeah, Dean like totally, like yelled at like a pep rally. Like, nobody who’s cool ever does that unless they’re on the pep squad. Either get the pom-poms and the pleated skirt or sneak smokes under the bleachers, Howard – anything else is just so totally melvin, ya know?
jenniebee
@Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon): I liked the hearkening back to the good old days when nobody minded if you used the company helicopter to aerate your fish ponds. It’s nice to know that my productivity gains at work have helped to fund such a wonderful lifestyle. If only they had helped to fund a better lifestyle for me, too…
jibeaux
@Bootlegger:
eeeyeah, I kinda got that, the vibe just sort of kept getting sideswiped by "wait, is he really defending $1,500 trashcans when people are getting laid off left and right" and then crashing into and ricocheting off of "well, wait, he seems to be making fun of the rich a little bit there" and then caroming wildly around and running headlong into "he’s definitely poking some fun at the uberwealthy while at the same time he definitely seems to prefer them to this other class of people he could’ve just called ‘Obamabobos’ as far as I can tell", glancing sideways off of "wouldn’t David Brooks more than likely qualify as an Obamabobo, anyway? Why the self-loathing?" and then finally limping over the finish line of WTF.
Bootlegger
@jibeaux: I feel ya man. (in a manly sort of way of course)
kay
8%. Hah! It’s 11.2 where I live, and it hasn’t been below 10 for months.
It must be like 2.3 in cable newsland, judging by the silly nattering.
Maybe 8 will focus our ATTENTION.
Davis X. Machina
U6 — a real measure of unemployment— has crossed that line already.
kay
I think 8% was our high/low water mark, here in the Rural Rustbelt, Bush’s second term.
You all are going to have climb on board the misery train, and we were here FIRST.
Wisdom
We’re going to have a guy who can’t even manage to keep multiple crooks out of his own cabinet run our economy and defend our nation in two wars, all while making hugs and kisses to an IBCM capable Iran?
If this were a movie, it would be a bizarre comedy. But in reality, this is just the first episode of disaster series, as more democrat crooks are uncovered and Barack returns for his annual trillion dollar pork & welfare fix.
TenguPhule
All the more reason to talk to them, (lack of)Wisdom.
Pity Bush blew it when they wanted to talk to us after 9/11, eh?
TenguPhule
And yet you still voted for Bush. Loser.
jibeaux
@Bootlegger:
Krista and Laura and I and the other various and sundry Jens (I was a Jen but, damn, there were just too many to really stake your claim to the name on the interwebs, you know) are the non-men of BJ. There are probably others, pls don’t take offense if I left you out.
Josh Hueco
@Wisdom:
I didn’t know they sold Rushtard Talking Point editions of those little magnetic refrigerator poetry sets.
Brick Oven Bill
Back with my new guitar strings. I am excited about these. Upon reflection, and after reading the comments, Obama auditing the Congress would be an abuse of power. It would be the Executive abusing the Legislative. I was wrong. So I retract that call.
I instead call on President Obama to audit ALL Department Head and above level individuals in ALL branches of government, Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary. This would include federal judges. This would be an act of a leader working on behalf of the electorate. This would not be an abuse of power.
Obama should do this very openly, expressing disbelief at the level of problems that came to light in the approval process. His approval ratings would rise above 90%. I would be among those who approve. This action would turn an embarrassment into a big win for everybody.
kay
@Wisdom:
The Senate conservatives just voted down an amendment to add infrastructure spending to the bill. Yesterday, they said their objection was not enough infrastructure spending.
If you want to install Bush’s tax cuts permanently, fine, but let’s not play games about "infrastructure".
Ward 3 Denizen
David Brooks is spot on. We Ward 3er’s are the salt of the Earth. I am so sick of the Georgetown people in their fancy cars and private social clubs. Payback!
@ Wisdom – I am coming to repossess your furniture, computer and Atari game console from your Mom’s basement.
Rick Taylor
Yes. They’re only going to start caring when they start losing their jobs.
Cyrus
@Wisdom:
First of all, I assume you meant "ICBM," not "IBCM." Second of all, you apparently don’t know what it stands for, because even the wingiest of wingnuts aren’t worried about Iran targeting other continents. Get your paranoid ramblings straight.
Wisdom
TenguPhule: At least Bush didn’t have half his cabinet fail in their first month. If it were McCain, you people would be fainting daiseys all day.
kay: $2B for clean coal that even the libtards at the daily-koolaid choke on? $280M for DHS furniture? $200M for green-energy leases for military bases? Maybe we can paint our bombers green and our guns pink. I’m sure that will scare the Iranians.
mak
Okay, so if we all send a big Dr. Dean vibe to Obama at exactly 4:00 pm Eastern, maybe he’ll pick up on it like the 100 monkeys thing and totally appoint him and all will be right with the world.
Either that, or if one of you guys has Obama’s email address, please pass the suggestion along.
TenguPhule
TenguPhule
We’d be listening to President Palin explain why Russia can see us through Alaska.
Church Lady
David Brooks is obviously not a true elitist. Any true elitist knows that a "commode on legs" is a chest, usually of French origin, not a toilet. Actually, I’d love to see a toilet on legs, if only to see how it would work. :)
TenguPhule
They’re called chamberpots.
Wisdom
@Cyrus: Iran orbited a satellite, moron. That is harder than an ICBM, because they don’t have to achieve orbit. Iran hadn’t demonstrated long range inter-continental missiles and leapfrogged directly into orbiting a satellite. It took nearly a decade for the US to do that.
We can all be sure with your armchair analysis that Iran is decades away from developing nukes.
Wisdom
@Cyrus: Iran orbited a satellite, moron. That is harder than an ICBM, because they don’t have to achieve orbit. Iran hadn’t demonstrated long range inter-continental missiles and leapfrogged directly into orbiting a satellite. It took nearly a decade for the US to do that.
We can all be sure with your armchair analysis that Iran is decades away from developing nukes.
kay
@Wisdom:
I don’t want to review the talking points. I read the Senate conservative housing proposal last night. You didn’t because you’re slavering over this nonsense.
It’s garbage, and it’s the centerpiece of their plan. They want to have banks offer low interest mortgages to "credit-worthy_ borrowers’ (people who are making their mortgages). They then force Fannie and Freddie to BUY those loans. Yup. You read right. Remove all the risks to banks.
They’re proposing taxpayers guarantee every mortgage in the country. Who do you think lobbied for that?
jenniebee
@Brick Oven Bill:
As much as my lizard brain would love to see this happen, it’s still an abuse of power. Directing the IRS regarding any individual or group of individuals is an abuse of power.
Put it this way, if a President were to choose any person or any group of people and tell the IRS to never audit him/them, you’d probably be able to spot the abuse of power pretty fast. It’s the exact same if he did it in reverse and said to always audit that person or group. This is why people got upset when Bush’s people shifted the IRS’s auditing priorities away from auditing anybody who made over a certain dollar amount and towards people who made less, and that was subtle compared to what you’re suggesting.
On the other hand, if Congress votes to change the IRS’s mission to include automatic mandatory auditing of a certain group, that’s within their prerogative within the bounds that the courts would find to be constitutional. Congress could do it, but I suspect an Equal Protection challenge would be not too far behind (all citizens have the right to equal treatment under the law, so unless having a government job is by itself a reasonable indicator that the person in question is engaged in illegal activity – insert joke here – then it’s a violation of that person’s rights to subject them to law enforcement scrutiny without just cause).
Besides, I go back to it that Daschle, Geitner and what’s her name’s tax problems all date from their work in the private sector. So, you’re missing the mark when you set your target on public servants.
Adrienne
@jibeaux: I’m not offended, but I’m definitely a woman, or a "non-man" as you put it.
Church Lady
A chamberpot is pottery, china or enameled bowl, also having a lid, which was sometimes placed inside a wood cabinet on legs (upperclass), othertimes hidden underneath a bed (lowerclass). The chamberpot itself never had legs.
TenguPhule
Shockingly, this has non-military uses.
Who knew?
Svensker
@TenguPhule:
Gee, you sound just like my husband….
Badumbum.
TenguPhule
Yes, because we all know Iran will magically imagine the equipment and materials necessary for nuclear weapons in the next six months, AMIRITE?
TenguPhule
I aim to please.
dr. bloor
@Brick Oven Bill:
Blanket abuse rather than selective abuse. Got it.
The Krispy Kremes and extra bag of Cheetos you picked up with your guitar strings really sharpened your thinking, BOB.
Svensker
And Wisdom sounds just like my husband’s idiot right wing friend.
Isn’t that right, libtards? (Geez, will ya?)
kay
I can’t find cram-down in the Senate bill. That’s where a bankruptcy judge has authority to rewrite the terms of your tanking mortgage. It’s a good idea. Had broad bipartisan support.
The banking industry lobbyists had time to get to Senate conservatives, apparently. Wave bye bye!
TenguPhule
Redundant.
JosieJ
@Wisdom:
What, you mean Bush? He’s gone.
Oh, wait…
Svensker
@TenguPhule:
Your aim is true.
headpan
Shutchomouf! That would mean Obama FINALLY throws a bone to emaciated progressives (Daschle hearted the Iraq war) and we can’t have that.
kay
That’s some "incentive". Banks make the mortgage, collect the costs, and then turn the debt (and the risk) over to taxpayers! They won’t abuse that!
Can someone tell me why Senate conservatives are handing another huge gift to the banking industry? I was under the assumption banks were in the lending business, not the taxpayer guaranteed windfall business.
KRK
@headpan:
I know a lot of people have a strong love for Dean and feel he’s been slighted (whether Dean agrees or not), but this
is just stupid.
demimondian
@Wisdom: Actually, no, it isn’t. In fact, orbiting a satellite is *easier* than hitting a target with an ICBM — literally, push the satellite up into space, get it going fast enough, and release it (or not); hey presto, orbit.
Sorry that you expect us to not know physics.
Brick Oven Bill
I have a small business, and am clean on my taxes, to my knowledge. I have had to sit there across the table from an IRS lady and explain things. They thought that I owed them a few thousand dollars, but I proved them wrong, and she apologized for taking my time.
My acquaintances through life have been of varying moral authority, but I would judge just about all of them to have a higher level of integrity than the average congressman. Including the acquaintance who spent eleven months in jail for ‘financial irregularities’.
I cannot think of a single congressman, judge, or executive branch person who went to jail over taxes. Google [congress “tax scandal”], and [congressman “tax scandal”]. Only Charlie, and I think somebody was out to get him.
Re: “Put it this way, if a President were to choose any person or any group of people and tell the IRS to never audit him/them, you’d probably be able to spot the abuse of power pretty fast.”
I agree, but do not think that the electorate would feel too sorry for our poor public servants. It is a simple audit, like every other taxpayer is forced to go through.
headpan
FUCK.YOU – the entire fucking party should thank him
Comrade Darkness
I have a better idea that dodges the legality. Obama should *call* publically on all members of congress to voluntarily submit to an IRS audit, "to ensure the people of these great united states that those who represent their interests are continuing to be worthy of their trust."
Brick Oven Bill
I take that last statement back. Traficant. But they busted him for using campaign funds for personal use, not on an IRS audit. But false tax returns were one of the charges.
AnneLaurie
Shorter Bobo Brooks: I’ve run my small inherited fortune into a much larger fortune by sucking up to the Robber Barons, and now you "liberals" want me to get a real job! Why you gotta be hatin’ on us pilot fish? Waaaah!
And that wood cabinet was called a ‘commode’, which has become a running joke in modern British humor, such as forinstance Tom Stoppard’s ARCADIA.
That One - Cain
@Brick Oven Bill:
Bleah, what a colossal waste of my tax dollars. How about you tell the press to do their damn job and do some investigative reporting while keeping stuff like tax history by freedom of information act insetad? Let the fuckers do their damn jobs instead of sitting around attending fancy parties and yukking it up with govt people?
Jeez.. I’m cynical that govt investigating itself will work.
cain
4jkb4ia
@MikeJ:
You’re kidding! Paul Rosenberg has now two palpable hits with the Versailles Media.
/paranoia
And I did not put John on any email lists whatever.
That One - Cain
@Church Lady:
When it does have legs, it’s called a "Limbaugh" due to shape and content.
cain
4jkb4ia
@jenniebee:
AKA David Brooks had nothing to write about so he went back to his usual trough of insulting earnest professionals.
(Put John on Pitt sports email list… Hmmm…)
Gus
Unfortunately, and despite Bush’s attempts to destroy it, we still have a Constitution. Rule of law, not rule of approval ratings.
les
@Wisdom:
Woof, thanks for the breath of comic relief. Contemplating the devious bobo was getting too difficult. Simple burning stupidity is a nice break.
Brick Oven Bill
I think it would be legal. There is a reasonable suspicion of general wrongdoing based on the fact that the three best government workers in the whole wide world were found to have tax problems.
If the AG determined differently, put Obama in front of the cameras and have him challenge Congress to pass a law, authorizing the IRS to do a blanket set of audits for public perception purposes.
If it doesn’t pass, then audit the Congressmen who voted against it, using their vote as due cause.
I don’t trust them either Cain. Thus the junior military personnel.
The Populist
To the Republican morons:
You lost. Your agenda is crap. You’ve run out of ideas and if you think this economy is faltering because of Obama, you are dumber than I give you credit for. You run out ideas on your many talk shows with no regards for facts.
Here are the facts:
Fact: YOU spent us into this mess.
Fact: YOU deregulated industries (banks, mortgage brokers) that cluelessly loaned money out to any idiot with a pulse and a job. Then you act surprised when the people can’t pay the loan back.
Fact: If Obama is a socialist, what does that make Bush and Palin? Bush more or less nationalized AIG and Palin taxes oil companies so she can bribe her constituents with handouts.
Fact: While it’s true Geithner and Daschle are morons for not taking care of their taxes quickly, it sure doesn’t seem like the big deal you make it out to be. After all you idiots never once questioned why Tom DeLay was illegally taking PAC money for his nefarious goals, Duke Cunningham was using his power to enrich himself and Jack Abramoff truly was one of you. Seems to me outside of Rangel and Jefferson, the Dems don’t seem to have the problems you keep running into.
Fact: How come Barney Frank has never had to go to public restrooms to meet men? You see, he’s out and proud. Too bad your party has to cowtow to far right asswipes who say being gay is a choice. Hint: It’s not. The most interesting point about Rep. Frank’s sexuality? It’s the right that keeps making an issue of it, not Rep Frank!
Fact: The Fairness Doctrine debate has to stop. If it was something the left so badly wanted, how come they haven’t tried to ram it through congress yet?
Fact: Republicans are fracking cowards. They fear muslims. They fear that some black helicopters will swoop down and take their guns. They fear the black man as President. Funny…after 9/11 who pushed hard to enact the Patriot Act? Hint: Republicans. But alas, my rightie friends will say it was all Clinton’s fault.
Fact: It’s not all Clinton’s fault. Got it? One day your hero Ronald Reagan will be exposed as the fraud he is (yes, gulp, I used to admire Ronnie. Not anymore…the Reagan Revolution is a failure).
Fact: Ron Paul is more of a conservative than any of you dumb asses (yet it doesn’t mean he’s right about everything, Paul fans).
KRK
@headpan:
Yes, how terrible of me to point out your melodrama — "Dr. Dean led the Democrats to electoral victory uphill both ways and never got one word of thanks." That’s just silly.
DougJ
I spend a lot of time with Deaniacs and the “Obama didn’t thank Dean enough” stuff drives me nuts.
It annoys me in general when people want to be thanked for contributing to political victories. I work on campaigns because I want the candidate to win, not to get a pat on the back.
At this point, I just have no interest in any discussion of apologies or thanks or any of that crap.
SGEW
Avast there! Do you have any idea what you sound like, man? I mean, come on! What a give away!
If you’re actually a spoof, you are a fucking genius but your talents are completely wasted doing this. If you are sincere (as I suspect you are), you are one scary motherfucker.
KRK
@SGEW:
I never thought I’d consider BOB a spoof, but there’s no way that this sentence (emphasis added):
is not the work of a spoof.
headpan
Honestly, I can’t fathom what people expected to happen when we started phasing out all the manufacturing jobs beginning when Reagan was in office. Wtf – we stopped making our own stuff and stuff to export? And it went on from there with a dot.com bubble in between. Add a heapin’ helpin’ of deregulation into the mix to encourage businesses to export ALL jobs that absolutely, positively cannot be done in the United States for cheap-ass wages, and creating an environment wherein banks begin to gamble with ordinary people’s money in order to compete, and, well, lah de dah, here we are.
And, oh yeah, the "ownership society" n’ stuff. That worked out real good for all concerned. For all their rabid protectionism of what belongs to THEM, I really wonder how much the wingers "own" these days.
SGEW
@KRK:
You make an excellent point. But I think it might just be irony.
headpan
KRK, again, FUCK YOU – stop being such a dick b/c I like Dean and would *like* to see his good works acknowledged. Am I losing sleep over it? NO — so get over yourself and lay off me as I have a right to my opinions and to think it would be nice for some party leadership to show some appreciation for all Dean has done is NOT stupid.
I guess the concept of loyalty to someone you campaigned your ass off for is lost on someone like you. PLEASE no cynicism lectures – I have plenty right here at home.
ThymeZone
BOB is a spoof and probably written by DougJ.
But anyway, since most regulars here already know that ….
At my work place, every new hire is subjected to a complete background check including the FBI fingerprint and record search, the whole magilla.
When a problem is found, the new employee leaves and the org goes on to the next applicant. But nobody screams that the employer is somehow fucked up because it found a problem with an applicant.
In politics, when this happens, they scream at the employer.
How does this make sense exactly?
Looking at the Daschle example, there is a process in place, and whether you agree with the outcome or not, the process worked and another applicant will be found. So the process worked. What’s the big fucking deal?
Wile E. Quixote
@
wisdomdumbfuckAnd why are we in those two wars? Well let’s see, we’re in Iraq because we got told by the Republicans that they had WMD and because the Republicans all believed that they were BFF with Osama Bin Laden. Except, whoops, they didn’t have any WMD or any connection with OBL but now we’re bogged down in a quagmire that makes Vietnam look positively brilliant. We’re in Afghanistan because the Bush administration failed to close the deal at Tora Bora and kill or capture Osama Bin Laden.
But of course two unnecessary wars aren’t enough for chickenshit wingnuts such as yourself (Have you ever been in the military? If not why?). Nope, let’s gin up an ICBM (It’s ICBM which stands for "InterContinental Ballistic Missile and not "IBCM" which stands for, what, person too fucking stupid to know how to spell "ICBM".) threat from Iran so we can go to war with them too.
Oh, and why are conservatives such as yourself such whiny, chickenshit little queers? Let’s assume that Iran gets an ICBM or two, with nukes to boot. Big Fucking Deal. This is an easy problem to deal with in international diplomacy. You simply get on the phone to Ahmadinejad and say "Look Mahmoud, here’s how it works. If you launch your ICBMs at us, or our allies we call up one, just one, of our many Trident submarines and 30 minutes later your country goes away" (and the US Navy guarantees that if you don’t get the first D-5 missile in 30 minutes or less the next one is free!). We’ve done this before, it’s called Mutually Assured Destruction, and it worked with the Soviet Union so it ought to work equally well with Iran, a nation which is nowhere near the threat that the Soviet Union was.
Why are you fucking Republican pussies always so goddamned afraid? Jesus, you’re constantly whining about how those horrible brown people are going to kill us all but compared to the threats we’ve already faced down, such as Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union radical Islam’s shit is weak. Yes, we should be vigilant and keep our powder dry, but you assholes have completely lost it and are hiding under the bed and pissing and shitting yourselves in fear. I mean from looking at you bitches you’d never guess that America was once known as the "land of the brave", especially since so few of you bother to join the military.
Oh, and as far as "democrat crooks" being uncovered goes I hardly think that anyone who is a member of the the same political party as Larry "Wide Stance" Craig, David "Diaper" Vitter, Mark "I like hot young boys" Foley and Randy "Inmate Number 94405-198" Cunningham has any business calling out "democrat crooks". Especially when that political party is now seeking advice from a meathead like Joe the Plumber, a guy so dumb that he joined the Air Force to become a plumber (where I come from we call people like that REMFs).
headpan
& btw, Dean is a symbol of the progressive movement – I don’t know what you were up to 4 years ago, but you could NOT have been a part of the netroots movement back then or you would just know that and understand the role it played in Dems getting back in power, weak as they may be. That model helped Obama win.
KRK
@headpan:
Of course you’re entitled to your opinion. But you didn’t state an opinion, e.g., "Dean hasn’t been thanked enough"; you said he never got one word of thanks, and that is both stupid and untrue. It’s also counterproductive if your goal is getting more acknowledgment of Dean’s work, since it leads folks to just tune you out, see DougJ at #111.
Brian J
I really, really hope that there’s a nice montage of each Republican who makes an impassioned speech about being against fiscal stimulus contrasted with the hundreds of thousands of jobs we’re losing each month the next time the election ads return in full swing. If they are so proud to stand against something, they should be ready to accept the consequences of their actions.
SGEW
Are you familiar with the ObWi banning legacy? It’s the same person, afaict.
If DougJ’s doin’ it, he’s pulling a long con.
SGEW
@Wile E. Quixote:
Go Cheney yourself, asshole.
Brick Oven Bill
Because of the periodic projection in this forum, and 18 US 2385, allow me to clarify that the ‘junior military personnel’ refers to witnesses for the audit team, previously mentioned. Junior military personnel are typically honest. The odds of three IRS agents, and three junior military personnel being ‘touchable’ are remote. I said this:
"This audit should be done by three IRS agents, who all need to sign their names, with a junior military officer, and two enlisted men as witnesses."
goblue72
Wile E. deserves a gold medal. Maybe he can have one of Michael Phelps.
ThymeZone
All the more reason to think it’s him. DougJ would spoof his mother for the sheer fun of it. He has more handles than a Fuller Brush salesman’s sample case.
anticontrarian
@ wile e. quixote
hear fucking hear. how these guys got to be the ‘daddy’ party while trembling like wussies and shrieking like housewives is beyond me.
SGEW
Now it’s citing the 1940 "Oh Noes! Sedition!" Smith Act at me.
Tell me . . . do you have any theories about the Federal Reserve we should know about? How about the Income Tax – is it "Constitutional"? What do you think about the J.F.K assassination, the Moon Landing, or, for that matter, the events of September the 11th, 2001?
I call Poe’s Law. Q.E.D.
headpan
KRK, YOUR comments are unproductive, and juvenile (calling people "stupid). I have never come on here to pick apart other people’s comments, even the trolls. That said, one response is merited, no more
What were you doing 4 years ago? I was an active part of the netroots movement. I helped them raise money and recognition. These are some of the same people Nancy Pelosi forced the House to denounce. Again, this is the model that helped bring victory to the Dems. Just because we progressives step aside and let Obama reap some of the benefits (which is fine with us, btw) doesn’t mean that all that isn’t true and should just be forgotten. To me, blasting people who’ve helped you but you don’t want to deal with anymore because you just wanna cruise along with this election thing, with your top down and the sun shining, is rather counterproductive in itself (before you start whining again, I’m talking about you, not Obama)
The Populist
Wile E:
Don’t forget to add that Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, that analyst in the Pentagon (Dusty Street or whatever his name was) and many questions surrounding Reps Doolittle and Pombo. We can also add Sen. Stevens to the list as well as countless Republican governors and state reps.
Sarah Palin is always a mess when it comes to shady crap.
Then we have the moralists like Newtie "I did it with my intern while my wife was in the hospital THEN I divorced her!" Gingrich and Dan Burton.
To the right, riddle me this: If the Dems are crooks (and some are) then how come these righties can’t find crap on them? In a world where the silliest stuff becomes public knowledge, I want to know why the right can’t get the dirt? We know they can.
As for the President. I agree, who started these wars? Afghanistan was necessary unfortunately while Iraq was deadly wrong. If Bush wanted revenge on Saddam I can imagine surrounding the country for many months with the thought we can invade at any time would have pushed the paper tiger out of power without a shot fired or an American soldier or Iraqi child dying.
Yep, the right wants to play these games, I’ll play. I can keep bringing the facts nonstop because I am just tired of being nice to schmucks who vote against their economic self interests. Tax cuts only help the rich. If these fools think a tax cut of $200 makes the right the better bet to vote for, then they deserve the pain they will undoubtedly endure over the lean years ahead.
Brick Oven Bill
I do, as a matter of fact, have a theory about the Federal Reserve SGEW. The other stuff, I have no theories on. I find it suspicious that M3 stopped being counted in the Spring of 2006, shortly before Paulson came over from Goldman Sachs, and the beginning of the bailouts. They said it was too expensive to collect the data.
This does not make sense to me. I’m open to ideas as to why they stopped collecting that information then.
The Populist
Oh yes, forgot about good ol’ Scooter. He carried Cheney’s water and got nothing but a felony record to show for it.
He never got pardoned (Kudos to Bush) and should never be. He outted a CIA covert agent. Say whatever you want and parrot Rushie all you can but the fact remains…she worked in offices that were fronts for the CIA. Exposing her could have lead (if it didn’t and we aren’t told) put many, many at risk.
These traitors did this for political payback. The payback against her husband who basically proved the lead up to war with Iraq was a crock. If the right want to defend these jerks and say that Plame wasn’t actually an agent fine, but you are defending treason PERIOD.
But I wouldn’t expect anything less from a Republican. They care only for their party and for winning elections so their benefactors can reap the rewards at the expense of Americans (including Joe Six Pack, the clueless GOP supporter!).
Keith
It just blows me away how much of Bush’ tenure was basically recession. He came in around the time of the dotcom crash, then 9/11 happened, which wound up being a double-dip recession. Then the recovery happened, but it was a "jobless recovery". We NEVER saw big gains in job #s (150k range IIRC), and then on his way out, there’s an absolutely MASSIVE recession that will carry over well into another president’s term.
I’ll grant that many extraneous events occured, so pinning all on That (Other) Guy isn’t fair, but as a general sentiment, it’s really been 8 years of a crappy economy (discounting massive corporate profits that don’t do me a whole hell of a lot of good – VERY stagnant salary for years now, and relatively soft hiring for as long as I can remember)
Phoenician in a time of Romans
Maybe we can paint our bombers green and our guns pink. I’m sure that will scare the Iranians.
Ah, the old wingnut mantra – "If only we threaten and frighten Iran enough, they’ll give up pursuing the only weapon that might deter us"…
binzerator
Ok. Thanks for winning. Thanks for making it happen. We’d all be SOL without you, really. Anyone else’s contributions of money and time over the years working for progressive causes or candidates pale in comparison. All of it would of have been tragically wasted if you hadn’t come through. Without you, none of it would have any meaning.
We are all indebted to you even if we don’t know it, and everyone on this blog would see just how much they owe to you if only they would open their eyes to the light.
I can only fervently hope one day everyone on this blog will give you your rightful due, your just and well-earned recognition.
Finally, as a gesture of personal gratitude I will give you one half of my share of the entire internets for your own use. You may keep it or dispose of it as you wish.
Now then. You got your recognition.
So shut the fuck up.
binzerator
@Keith:
I think they let that whole housing bubble go on inflating for the purpose of hiding just how crappy the economy really was, and by extension just how crappy conservative ideas of ‘supply side’ economics really were. One fraud masked another.
That One - Cain
@DougJ:
The thought is that when you see someone who worked hard, and went against popular thinking and then pull it off, you’d think that for the risk taking he took he would be rewarded in some fashion instead of a silent exit to parts unknown. I think that bugs a lot of us. If we don’t agitate, he’s going to be forgotten. Hell he wasn’t even in line for the DNC job without grass roots support.
I might be disapointed that he’s not getting a good position in the Obama administration, but I do hope he does move on to something successful. he desrves it.
cain
Laura W
@JenJen:
Oh JenJen…I will make you the same offer I made another person here: I will give you a ride to my Cable Cutters Anonymous Meeting*, but I can not sponsor you for I, too, am a chronic relapser.
I flip over to it "just to see" (see what???) and when I come to, I am screaming: "SHUT UP, MIKA!!", and then I mute it or go to CNN. And before I know it, I am back over there, in some sort of black out, again screaming: "STFU, JOE BLOW!"
1) I am powerless over Morning Ho, my cable cutting tendencies have become unmanageable.
Cunning, baffling and powerful, that poison of ours.
*Self-harming through cable teevee "news"
demimondian
@That One – Cain: Everything you said is true.
That’s not what Doug is complaining about — he is complaining about people thinking that Howard Dean is owed "thanks" by the party and by Barack Obama. That’s nonsense. It would be moral for them to feel gratitude towards Dr. Dean, but…seriously…if you want gratitude in DC? Buy a dog and feed it dinner.
binzerator
@Keith:
For the GOP this was a feature not a bug. This is exactly what their economic policies were supposed to do.
FDR used government to transfer wealth to the middle class. His economic policies largely created the middle class in this country. Republicans also have sought to use government to transfer wealth, but to the wealthy.
And they succeeded very well at it, as your words attest.
The kind of government the goopers really want is a very old one, one that predates democracy. The privileged rule the peasants. A few percent who have almost everything rule over the 95% who have very little or nothing. Serfdom, aristocracy, third-world disparities of wealth.
Republicans really are antithetical to democracy. Because you don’t get democracy when you get the kind of massively lopsided society of elite haves vs. commoner havenots that is the end game of their policies.
HyperIon
@Wisdom: aka WhizDumb
The Populist
I think they let that whole housing bubble go on inflating for the purpose of hiding just how crappy the economy really was, and by extension just how crappy conservative ideas of ‘supply side’ economics really were. One fraud masked another.
Not only that but this enabled them to take advantage of the easy money that the poor and middle class would plow into property, tchochkes, big screens, etc. While they were exporting jobs overseas to reap bigger profits, the masses kept the buying and selling of the one asset of value, their homes.
Now we see how much this was a ponzi scheme. We sit fat and happy while the GOP deregulates, strikes down environment laws and sells the public on the idea that libs are all about taking their hard earned cash.
In the meantime, I see rich fellas who were worth maybe 100 mil see their worth drop to barely over 2 mil. The super rich only got richer because they moved their money around, they don’t spend on all that much and they certainly won’t reinvest one dime into this country. This idea that we give them fat tax cuts so they can A) enjoy the fruits of infrastructure for virtually nothing and B) get more cuts in capital gains and other key taxes all the while pretending to trickle it down to the middle class is ludicrous. Citizenship has it’s costs in my book. They got rich BECAUSE of our democratic principles and regulated laissez-faire system. Problem is they want it all and don’t like the masses telling them they can’t have everything. Bush and Cheney were evidence of this. They despised the fact that Congress would DARE question their motives on no-bid contracts, war without reason and endlessly chopping rules down to nothing so the powers that be can exploit the land at no risk.
Teddy Roosevelt had it right. So did Eisenhower. They were the last of the reasonable GOP. Barry Goldwater woke up later in his life (unless the party jumped so far right it passed him right by) and saw what was going on. It’s time to tell the GOP that they LOST. If Rushie and Ins-Hannity can’t take that, they can go mumble and ramble to their audiences of tin foil hat wearing goons. In the end, the right way of doing things will be back in place and even the right wing radio loving morons will benefit from it.
Time to say adios to the Reagan Revolution. We can have a robust free market with regulations that keep the playing field level for all while creating opportunities and keeping our resources from being exhausted and destroyed.
The Populist
We’re going to have a guy who can’t even manage to keep multiple crooks out of his own cabinet run our economy and defend our nation in two wars, all while making hugs and kisses to an IBCM capable Iran?
If this were a movie, it would be a bizarre comedy. But in reality, this is just the first episode of disaster series, as more democrat crooks are uncovered and Barack returns for his annual trillion dollar pork & welfare fix.
Do you mean Bush and his GOP cronies, Wisdom? Sure sounds like you nailed the last 8 years.
TheHatOnMyCat
This is not a "tough week for Obama." I saw him on tv today saying "I screwed this up, I’m responsible, we will do better." I think Obama gains in the long run from this stumble and the way he handled it.
So in two weeks, he does something GW Bush couldn’t do in eight years, namely, learn from a mistake and move on gracefully, without sending the liars out to spin and blow smoke up our asses.
But what’s really important today is the healthcare issue. When the blogs get over the tv fascination with the Daschle appointment, as if there was only one guy in the world who could manage the process of getting serious healthcare reform, maybe they can talk about where we are and where we are going with this issue. There will be no longterm economic health for this country without healthcare reform. Daschle would have been a powerful figure in that effort, now we need to find his replacement and start getting that job done.
Whenever we get done playing word games with the spoofs and the trolls, we can move on to talking about that?
Mike in NC
Isn’t Rush Limbaugh an IBCM: incontinent bloated c***sucking moron?
kay
@TheHatOnMyCat:
"I screwed up" is refreshing.
I don’t know who should lead healthcare.
Who do you like? I’d hire a nurse. A stern, no-nonsense nurse.
Jim Treacher
Literally? Well, crime-scene cleaners need to eat too.
Hunter Gathers
It’s good to know that a bunch of rich, white, redneck assholes could give a shit if I loose my job. All they want is thier own personal tax cut. Do you have any idea how expensive dominatrix prostitutes that dress you up in diapers and treat you like an infant are? Ask David Vitter. Eric Cantor’s wife evidently needs more money (the bonus she got from the TARP wasn’t enough). Mitch McConnell’s wife is out of a job now that Dubya’s out of office. She needs money too. We must all sacrifice so upper class whites can afford thier extravigant lifestyles. So what if you and your children starve. Maybe we should just pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. Oh, wait. I DON’T HAVE ANY BOOTS TO STRAP! Maybe I’ll get lucky, and I’ll still have a job next week. At least these pigfuckers still have Hell to look forward to.
Cain
@demimondian:
Ha, good point.
I can concede that if Dean wanted something from the DC folks he’d have to play the game like everyone else. If he wanted something I’m sure he would have gotten it…
cain
Seanly
I’ll be set for our jobless future as I am on my second run through Fallout 3. My 133t garbage can and metal box rummaging wasteland skilz will help me sooner than I thought. And my depression-era grandmother is still alive so I can get dementia-laced pointers from her.
iluvsummr
@Mike in NC: I think you all mean ICBM (i.e., Rush Limbaugh is an Incontinent C***sucking Bloated Moron). Either way, good description.
cosanostradamus
.
Barack did OK on the Today Show. He’s going to crack down on the FDA. It’s the Repukelickin’s who came up short this week. All America heard was a bunch of weenies whining. F**k ’em.
.