Malkin has quite a doozy up at memeorandum right now:
On Nov. 4, after Barack Obama clinched the White House, the market closed at 9,625.28.
In mid-morning trading today, the day President Obama signs his massive Generational Theft Act into law and a day before he unveils a massive new mortgage entitlement, the Dow dropped to to 7,606.53.
Now, imagine if President Bush had presided over a 2,000-point stock market tumble in the same time period — during the first few months of his presidency.
Great start, O.
A couple things make things make this post wingnuttier than normal. Put aside the fact that George Bush presided over a market crash from 14,000 to 8000, this is the the same Michelle Malkin who spent the last few months ranting about the Office of the President Elect:
Okay, it’s one thing to take your campaign website, transfer it to a dot-gov domain, and invent an “Office of the President-Elect” out of whole cloth.
But now we’ve got Sen. Obama standing in front of a podium, in front of the world, for his first transitional press conference with an official-looking sign that reads “Office of the President-Elect.” Is that the official seal of the U.S. on the sign? Do they have authority to use it? What other make-believe offices are they going to invent between now and Inauguration Day? I can’t ever recall in my lifetime any mention of such an office. Can you?
Now, apparently, Malkin suddenly believes that the Office of President Elect holds real power, much more so than the actual Presidency, because she wants to credit the market decline from November 4th until now to… Barack Obama.
The simple fact of the matter is that when George Bush took office in 2001, the market was at around 10,500. During his administration, it rose to around 14k at the peak. When he left office, it was at around 8000. I am not making this up, so if you do not trust me, you can check the data for yourself. Slide the graph around and do your own thing. Check any date you want.
In fact, the market has only fallen a couple hundred points from when Obama took office, Malkin knows it, and now she is just flat out making things up and hoping you are stupid enough to not notice. Everyone knew they would attempt to blame the Bush administration’s failings on the Democrats and the Obama administration, and the facts really are stacked against them so they have a tough job, but quite honestly, I thought they would be a little bit better at it than this. The crazy people ranting about black helicopters have more credibility, and at least try to make a coherent argument. The nut of her argument is “If you pretend Obama was President two months and a few weeks before he took office, he is to blame for the market declines during that time period.” Really, it is that stupid.
This is just silly, and they are really just phoning it in.
*** Update ***
It occurred to me that this is quite possibly stupid enough that it can be the centerpiece of the discussion of Meet the Press with David Gregory this weekend.
And while we are at it, as silly as it is to say that the market has dropped several thousand for Obama when he was not even President, I see a lot of harrumphing that everything is the Republican’s fault (and I am at times am guilty of this). That isn’t entirely accurate, either, as many people have noted repeatedly during Obama’s selection of his economic and financial team. There is, to an extent, a broadly bi-partisan base to blame this whole ponzi scheme on. Rubin and Clinton played a role in the deregulation, and let’s not forget who re-appointed Greenspan. And when you read stories about this global meltdown, it makes it even more obvious that it is simplistic to simply blame this mess on one political party. The Republicans should get their fair share of it, and I think they should shoulder much of the blame simply because they were in charge the last eight years and have pushed an agenda of tax cuts and higher spending on top of a platform of widespread deregulation, but a lot of people are guilty for this mess.
More here from Steve Taylor.
The Populist
Wow these assholes are stupid. What does Obama have to do with the markets? HE INHERITED THEM FROM YOUR HERO GW BUSH, YOU FUCKING TARDS!
The Populist
BTW – Michelle, dahlink, your hero Bush was ranked 6th worst president of all time.
Your other hero Ronnie Raygun was 11th. Must be hard for you to accept that FDR, JFK and Teddy Roosevelt (a RINO by most standards) rank higher!
4tehlulz
Obama also destroyed the economy of Japan; after all, it went into the shitter around the same time the Dow did.
/wingtards
jenniebee
The real questions are: where does Dale Gribble blog, and why doesn’t Michelle Malkin ever link to him?
I sense a conspiracy…
The Populist
Obama also destroyed the economy of Japan; after all, it went into the shitter around the same time the Dow did.
Man, he is the worst president ever! /sarcasm
fuddmain
It would be illegal to stuff her in a cannon and fire her into space, correct?
Can Obama work that into the Fariness Doctrine?
Comrade javafascist
Let’s not forget that GWB wasn’t actually president until 9/12/01. Before that, everything that happened was the fault of the Clenis. Intellectual honesty in debate is not compatible with Wingnut version 2008 (or 07, 06, 05, etc…)
Lev
In mid-morning trading today, the day President Obama signs his massive Generational Theft Act into law
I’ve been hearing this argument from wingnuts and it doesn’t compute. Bush signed 1.5 trillion dollars in tax cuts that were tilted toward wealthy boomers and Malkin couldn’t care. Obama passes a relief package that’s half that size and she’s up in arms? I’m not opposed to hearing smart opposition to Obama’s policies, as I tend to think that that makes policies better, but at some point we’re just going to have to realize that the conservative movement is full of idiots.
The Populist
I wonder why Michelle doesn’t dance around in cheerleader outfits anymore. CONSPIRACY!
gnomedad
Actually, Obama is responsible for the entire drop because the market was afraid he would be elected.
/Rush
Sam Wilkinson
What’s the right way to respond here? Is there a right way?
Do I punch right through my monitor, or do I headbutt the wall first? And when does the facepalm get involved?
The Populist
Bush signed 1.5 trillion dollars in tax cuts that were tilted toward wealthy boomers and Malkin couldn’t care.
Lev,
I agree but remember, the middle class doesn’t create jobs – only the rich do!
Remember that mantra and you’ll be better off!!!
Sincerely,
The GOP talking points team.
The Populist
Rush is mad that Apples can’t search PDFs. Must be Obama’s fault for giving the PC a search edge.
/sarcasm
4tehlulz
@The Populist: The entire stock market decline came after Michelle appeared in her cheerleader uniform. Obviously, this is her fault.
Michael D.
Well, this has to be the dumbest economist ever:
Via Matt Y.
The Populist
Rush is mad that nobody told him that Apples actually CAN search PDFs. Gotta blame Obama for embracing the new technology!
/idiocy
The Populist
4tehlulz,
Good point! Now that I think about it, maybe the market wasn’t happy she didn’t show enough skin. But then again…
sarah
blaming the markets on Obama is as fair as blaming the failure of bipartisanship on Obama. ie neither is under his direct control. so the premise is borked no matter how you look at it.
The Populist
The market is dropping because Obama isn’t bipartisan ENOUGH. I mean he meets with us and all but won’t do what we demand from him! Does he not understand that rich people make things happen in this country?
Sincerely,
The GOP talking heads & spin department
The Populist
blaming the markets on Obama is as fair as blaming the failure of bipartisanship on Obama.
But we CAN blame failure to bi-partisanize (is this a word, hehe) on Obama. We GOP’ers wanted him to only give money to our rich friend…errr…constituents. THEY and THEY ALONE create the jobs. Don’t believe the myth that some small time guy with one employee creates any jobs. Noooo, small business creating jobs is a myth you know.
Sincerely,
Rush Limbaugh’s show writer
4tehlulz
@The Populist: My sources
in my colonon the Street tell me that she failed to meetJapanese schoolgirlexpectations, hence the downturn.Punchy
According to Ice Cube, it’s black people ranting about crazy helicopters.
Run, run, run from the ghetto bird.
John S.
No matter the fierceness or aim of the whacks, no substance can ever blunt Paul Bunyan’s axe (aka David Gregory, giant fucking tool).
Lev
Oh, and what about the Iraq War? Fucker’s gonna cost us a trillion before it’s done.
jake 4 that 1
Ah, the privleges of tenure.
The Populist
Day 29 of America’s turn to socialism (cue lame rock music):
So some lib-er-als are saying that the drop in the market is all George Bush’s fault. Seeing the market drop both here and in Japan is proof that Barack H Obama’s move to turn America into a socialist nanny state is destroying our economy. If this Pork barrel stimulus plan is so important, why didn’t Hussein sign the bill into law yesterday? He didn’t because it is not needed. Friends, you see what this man is doing…he’s scaring you. Not that his name isn’t scary enough, we now have to watch while this pork bill gets passed and there just isn’t enough there to help those who make jobs get created in this country…the top 1%.
Don’t let losing your job make you think otherwise. The economy is tanking and your jobs are going away because the people who create jobs in this country are not investing. It’s the whiff of socialism that scares them away. You should worry that corporations have to pay more and deal with more regulation. The problem with George Bush was he didn’t de-regulate ENOUGH!
So when you stand in line to get that unemployment check, remember who put you there. Barack HUSSEIN Obama did!
Sincerely,
Sean Hannity
oh really
Stupid? On the contrary. The Republicans now have the centerpiece for their upcoming impeachment hearings.
The Populist
Oh, and what about the Iraq War? Fucker’s gonna cost us a trillion before it’s done.
But war creates real jobs! We need the military to fight them (can we privatize though?) and we need equipment to fight WITH!
Who cares about debt when you are fighting against Islamo-fascist scumbags who want to force us to pray to some guy named mohammed. The unnecessary debt is being created by welfare types who abuse the system by having 14 kids. THEY are the evil scourge that needs to be addressed. Forget that I once took welfare. You see, when I used it I needed it for 1 month. Those other people are leeches and scum.
Sorry, liberals, America is greater than all of them.
Sincerely,
Joe The Plumber
andy
Malkin knows it, and now she is just flat out making things up and hoping you are stupid enough to not notice.
Well, isn’t one key to success as a writer knowing your target audience?
Stuck
Keep reading that stuff and your brain will mushify. Ever body knows 9-11 caused GWB to grow a Halo and the rest of us to become morans and fuck things up. He tried to fix ’em, but the NYT’s and MoveOn.org thwarted the divine efforts, and George Soros and Acorn manipulated truth and time to the pint up was down. We have nobody to blame but smear itself, and are now stuck with the Obama recession and runaway Hope.
Palin/JoeTP, ’12
Rush for Dept. of Spiritual Guidance.
gbear
Don’t go so overboard, you hater you.
Blasting her into a stable earth orbit would be more than adequate. She could do something valuable like cleaning up satellite debris
The Populist
Stupid? On the contrary. The Republicans now have the centerpiece for their upcoming impeachment hearings.
This whole thread is proof how predictable GOP talking points are!
The Populist
Blasting her into a stable earth orbit would be more than adequate. She could do something valuable like cleaning up satellite debris
Don’t throw her away that quickly. The hot air she generates could easily heat a city’s worth of homes if we can just learn to harness it.
The easy part is getting her to spew the hot air. The hard part is where to hook up the collector unit.
The Populist
Hi Michelle! We know you pop in here from time to time. Just make sure to credit the proper writer when using our talking points, mmmkay?
Michael D.
The Populist: Do you realize that, in a span of 34 comments,
1415 of them are yours?Not complaining. Just saying Dude, slow down before you blow a gasket.
TenguPhule
And you’re only a couple posts too late. DougJ beat you to it, Michael D.
The Populist
The Populist: Do you realize that, in a span of 34 comments, 14 15 of them are yours?
Make that 16 Michael. I dislike rightie pundits and I LOVE making fun of them!!!
Brick Oven Bill
In the summer, when the results of the election were not predictable, the DJIA was at 13,000.
If you look at the data, a betting man would have seen Obama to become inevitable right around the First of October, 2008.
The DJIA then was around 11,000. Thusm the markets dropped 2000 points as the results of the election became came into view, and have dropped another 1,500 points as the election became locked up from October to November.
Another 2,000 points have been lost since the markets have been able to observe the officeholder. The way I see it, that is 5,500 points down.
Napoleon
@The Populist:
And 2 places BELOW Herbert Hoover.
The Populist
Another 2,000 points have been lost since the markets have been able to observe the officeholder. The way I see it, that is 5,500 points down.
It still doesn’t mean it’s all Obama’s fault. How can it be when this economic mess is all Bush’s making?
Seriously…it boggles the mind that people would even THINK that Obama is the reason. I pulled all my money out during the summer when I saw some bad omens in the charts. Maybe others decided it was smart to get out unless they wanted to lose more?
John Cole
Shorter Brick Oven Bill- “You think Malkin is crazy? I’ll show you crazy! Watch this!”
Stuck
For the past 30 years we’ve had about nothing but wingnut deregulation and trickle down economics. What ever small fraction that isn’t their fault that is lost, it is recovered by the laws of Horseshoes and Hand Grenades., and Government Work.
Michael D.
@TenguPhule: Oops!
Svensker
@Lev:
That doesn’t COUNT because it made us safer. And more macho. And more patriotic and cool, also.
(How exactly it made us safer, I still haven’t been able to figure out, but no Iraqis have come over to NJ and blown me up yet, so maybe that’s it…)
Zifnab
@Brick Oven Bill: The CDO mess wouldn’t have collapsed if only we’d elected John McCain! Quick, someone inform him of this good news.
@The Populist: But it does, Populist. Just like how Bush getting elected caused Enron to fail and Clinton getting elected caused Al Qaeda to truck bomb the World Trade Center. And when Regan got elected, the Soviet Union immediately collapsed. November 4th is the fulcrum by which Americans move the world, don’t you see?!
Zifnab
@John Cole: Take comfort in the fact that, if not for Obama, the Steelers would have never won the Superbowl.
Michael D.
@Brick Oven Bill: It didn’t have ANYTHING do with failing banks, etc. It was Obama.
TenguPhule
Shorter BOB: Malkin you slut! I’ll take you on with my raging nipples of WING-WANG!!!
Zifnab
What’s a "Thusm"?
AnotherBruce
These people have to lie to themselves. If they really had to face up to the magnitude of failure that they have unleashed upon the world, half of them would commit suicide. So instead of emotional depression, they opt for full out crazy.
4tehlulz
Brick Oven Bill seems to have a credibility problem; nothing that posing in a cheerleader uniform won’t fix though.
BDeevDad
@Brick Oven Bill: I guess the unemployment was Obama’s fault as well?
Chi-city
We have to get used to the new dichotomy here. The Repubs are fighting for their political relevance…..Instead of making shit up and pissing and moaning, I think it would have been more interesting had the Repubs had actually rolled up their sleeves and gone to work helping the country. How would that have come off? Repubs engage with President and actually put country first.
TenguPhule
But then they’d no longer be Republicans. They’d be Democrats.
EMPY
How about oct 1 – oct 10? 10,831 – 8451
Who get’s credit for that one?
Ash Can
Malkin’s bad enough, but, believe it or not, Michele Bachmann makes her sound like a stateswoman. (Yes, it’s a GOS link, but the post features both transcript excerpts and audio.)
(Those with a low tolerance for politicians making crazy shit up on the fly might not want to click on that link.)
Dave
@Brick Oven Bill:
Wow, BOB. That is awfully astute. It’s also gotten colder since October 1. Can I chalk up the drop to winter while I’m at it?
Brick Oven Bill
I do not attribute the drop to the President. We are witnessing a bubble rupture bigger than his office. But I do believe that Barack is getting set up as the fall guy. A case for the 5,500 number can be made, when the time is right.
Part of me thinks that it is the money behind the Clintons. The timing is curious.
PeakVT
If you look at the data, a betting man would have seen Obama to become inevitable right around the First of October, 2008.
It’s good to see you admit the blame for the recession rests entirely on Bush, since it started in December 2007, well before any notions of inevitability started to circulate.
PS: Since when has the market been well-correlated with reality? It never should have been that high in the first place.
Tymannosourus
Brick Oven Bill and the GOP are in full-throttle post-hoc fallacy mode. Keep trying to conveniently structure your timeline so that it somehow links Obama to an economic tailspin… the argument really seems to be working.
Tonal Crow
As usual, outrageous lies make great rhetoric, and Malkin’s one of the biggest liars out there.
Tonal Crow
Oh, and does this mean Malkin finally has assigned Bush responsibility for 9/11? Or is that still Clinton’s fault?
The Moar You Know
@The Populist: I pulled most of mine in November of 2007 once I saw the cliff through the windshield. I pulled the rest in August of 2008 once it became clear that someone had cut the brakes.
I don’t know what to do now that it’s looking like someone, while I wasn’t paying attention, tied a full tanker load of gasoline to the vehicle.
Maybe I should have spent it all on OxyContin and hookers, like Rush.
cleek
don’t tell her about this
5-Sep-01 10,033.27
21-Sep-01 8,235.81
Stuck
Wherever the bottom is, that is when it will stop and traders will cease their fear driven temper tantrum that the govment is not giving them more easy money to gamble with, since they have already burned thru their own. At that point, and only after that point, the hope born of greed (not always bad) will kick in and the market will start to climb. Hopefully, this time, with some adult supervision so the Romper Room doesn’t spiral out of control, and bankrupt the rest of us.
Brick Oven Bill
A ‘Thusm’ is a semi-formal term used when engaging a southern belle in rhetoric.
The Moar You Know
@Ash Can: Decent diary, by their standards. That’s not saying much.
Sadly, I have a lethal allergy to the Orange Gulag, and more to the point, the fucktarded commenters that infest that site. Goddamn, that is the last place in the world to go for witty and smart commentary.
maya
The office of, The Pres-i-dent Elect?
Does sound like something out of Gilbert and Sullivan. No wonder Japan’s economy is in the tank.
Mikado Obamo has a nice ring to it, doncha think?
Also, I was wondering if Rushbo will refuse his portion of the stimulus package he so disapproves of?
(Now my brain’s tuning to a Buddy Holly classic…..)
Svensker
@Ash Can:
It’s just depressing. All the people who listened to that show (who are already pretty crazy anyway, I’d guess) are going to believe the complete crap coming out of the congresswoman’s mouth — afterall, she IS a congresswoman. They not only fucked the country totally, now they have the GALL to turn around and try to point the finger at somebody else?
It’s time to either get the revolution going, or bail to the island.
Stuck
@Brick Oven Bill:
Or "Thus" with a wandering m
Zifnab
@cleek: That’s different. That was 9/11. Obama hasn’t been hit with a terrorist attack.
If Obama had presided over a terrorist attack within the last month, the Republicans would be rallying around him and lauding him as a hero. All the economic worries would be water under the bridge and totally forgiven.
Zifnab
@Svensker:
LOST!
Zuzu's Petals
I think anyone with access to MM’s comments board should post this:
What Obama has really "presided" over:
Dow average, January 20, 2009 – $7,949
Dow average, February 17, 2009 (3:32 pm ET) – $7,663
Tonal Crow
@Zifnab:
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
cleek
true. the market, Obama, and the rest of us have all been hit with an emergency of a very different kind; but like 9/11, one which Bush also failed to prevent.
4tehlulz
I lol’d.
Tonal Crow
So, what’re the odds on the first congressional GOPer to call for Obama’s impeachment? And when?
I say Bachmann, and before 6/1/09.
Michelle Malkin's Brain
I’m on holiday, what do you expect?
gnomedad
Fixed. This is why we will never seek Peak Wingnut — it’s recursive.
Zuzu's Petals
@The Populist:
Oh Populist, haven’t you realized that BOB is only capable of mind-boggling comments?
A few other things that were going on at the beginning of October:
Michelle Malkin's Brain
I’m permanently on holday.
Tsulagi
Look for the Wingnut Crazy Average to continue to soar. It’s a bull market.
burnspbesq
@Sam Wilkinson:
Whatever makes the pain stop. Be creative. Think outside the box.
Tymannosourus
@Zifnab:
Please share your Salvia, dude.
SpotWeld
Is it time to start shouting "It’s the Economy, Stupid!"
DougJ
You’re blaming Bush for the Clinton recession?
itsbenj
‘nah!’ at the bit at the end there. calling Clinton out for this shit is just a plain old cop-out. this has nothing, at all, to do with Bill Clinton. yes, some bad deregulation happened under Clinton, but there were still other layers of regulatory practice which Bush and his ilk abolished – for the specific purpose of looting the public coffer to any and whatever degree possible.
there’s still this assumption at work that the GOP is similar to the Dems in that they "want what’s best for the country". and this is simply, demonstrably false. between Iraq and the gutting of any and all regulation to tamp business’ power and influence down, Bush and his ilk have essentially stolen well over a trillion dollars from America, and given it largely to themselves, the companies they own and run, and sketchy motherf#@kers who’s personal interests often run counter to those of the country.
no, Bill Clinton was a public servant, and he brought us from massive debt and a recession, to massive surpluses and good times, with more than enough resiliency to withstand an inevitable economic contraction. there is really no valid comparison between his administration and Bush’s in this sense. Clinton was trying to help, and largely succeeded, with a few gaping holes here and there. Bush was never trying to help, he was trying to transfer wealth to his buddies and his dad’s buddies, and there was no other outcome, at any point, that he really gave a shit about.
stop giving him praise he doesn’t deserve, and stop taking cheap shots at Bill Clinton under who’s supervision none, and I mean NONE of this would have ever happened.
Tonal Crow
@Tsulagi
Do you know where I can buy calls on it?
Ash Can
@The Moar You Know: There’s definitely a reason I post here and not there. Heck, I’m not even registered there. But there’s also a reason I lurk there every day, and it’s that, among all the assorted flotsam, there’s stuff that’s actually informative and entertaining. I guess the trick is to ignore the urge to dump buckets of water over all the people with flaming hair, or even better, avoid the comment sections altogether.
Tymannosourus
I’m sorry, "itsbenj," but without punctuation and capitalization, I really just can’t read that whole thing.
Zifnab
@Tymannosourus: I’m just glad I don’t have to type with a straight face.
ricky
It wasn’t any better with them.
Brian J
Isn’t there also the issue of the stock market being in even worse shape than some people realize because the overall economy, as at least as far as GDP is concerned, has grown? In other words, isn’t it only bigger–or rather, wasn’t it only bigger–in nominal terms, not in real terms? I think I remember some respected economics blogger making this point in the fall, but I am not sure if and who made it.
Besides that, can we stop pretending that the stock market has any direct effects on the real economy? Of course, it’s related over time, and it’s forward-looking and all that, but it’s not like blood flow throughout a body.
ricky
What a disservice to both Hoover and Bush.
Hoover was reading a group of Florida children a book when the attack on the financial district he inherited from Calvin Coolidge took place just a few months into his administrtation. He got a raw deal, but as you can see, he is moving up. Only Grant is climbing faster. Bush has nowhere to go but up as well.
Punchy
More like this: A guy has terminal cancer, gunna die in 6 months. At the 5.5 month mark, guy gets a new doctor. BOB blames new doc for killing patient in only a half-month, claiming old doc was able to keep him alive for 50+ years. New doc clearly negligent.
zzyzx
@Ash Can: so if we had passed tax cuts last year instead of trying to bail out the banks, it turns out that we’d have a negative unemployment rate. ‘You and I would be talking about the problem of not having enough workers to fill the jobs."
Also if we had just cut capital gains tax, Target and Best Buy would be reporting record profits.
Ah, tax cuts, is there any problem that they can’t fix?
Also, did you know that there is going to be a national rationing board for health care? It’s all in the stimulus bill.
It was great listening to the host and the rep each egging the other one on to greater and greater insanity.
J Royce
I don’t blame the Republicans entirely, I also blame the traitor Dems who enabled the Con.
Actually, I DO blame the Conservative movement for all of it, every fucking lost/stolen/bribed-away dime of it. You may wish to pretend this wasn’t a stillborn dictatorship powered by a fascist ideology, but I’m through with make-believe.
Zifnab
@Brian J:
The stock market helps manage business debt and values that debt over time. Corporate growth is tied in many ways to stock value, as it lets them build capital cheaply in good times (need a quick $20 million for a new whosawhatsit? Sell some stock) and recover from loses without going to a bank for a loan in bad times.
The market has a direct effect on the economy, but its not a perfect reflection of the economy. Certainly there are a large number of privately held businesses (particularly small businesses) that could explode with success or totally collapse without Wall Street giving a wiggle.
John Cole
Really, Clouseau? They are setting him up for the blame? What was your first hint? Couldn’t have been Malkin doing just that in the very post I am discussing?
Ash Can
@zzyzx: I don’t know how people like her are able to dress themselves in the morning, or get to and from work without getting run over.
gnomedad
Improved.
Tymannosourus
Goddamnit.
I clicked on the Malkin link and I decided to read through the comment section at meme for the first time. I think I just got brain-raped.
They say not to shower right away, don’t they?
zzyzx
Fortunately NRO knows the real issue at stake here!
Economy collapsing? Never mind that. I don’t like how Obama decorated his office! Let’s read some tea leaves.
Brian J
@Zinfab:
I think you said what I wanted to say, but in a slightly different way. I didn’t mean to indicate it had no effect on the real economy; that was a poor choice of words. As you claimed, it’s not a perfect reflection of what’s going on, particularly over short periods of time, but a lot of people seem to think it is. (See Kudlow, Larry, for instance.)
Stuck
@John Cole:
There are, as we speak, a small army of wingnut faithful pawing through the bill to find examples of wasteful porkulous socialist spending on people. Un-rich American peoples, that are stealing money that belongs to them. but is not going to worthy and stimulating causes like tax breaks for American rich peoples to buy up foreclosed property from slacker American un-rich peoples. And not to mention money wasted that could buy a few more bombs for the brown peoples of Iran.
Atanarjuat
Brick Oven Bill makes a reasonable observation, and most of you pile on fast and furious. Yeah, way to have a constructive debate, lefties.
I begin to wonder if this blog should be renamed "Obama Juice," as that’s what most of you lockstep liberals seem to chug-a-lug with wild abandon. Your Chosen Leader can do no wrong; his decisions must be defended at all costs and his critics are just a bunch of poopy-headed meanies. Maybe someday some of you will realize that this "Us vs. Them" mentality is not helping this country in the slightest, but only accelerating the swirl down the drain.
You’ve heard that old saying, "lead, follow, or get out of the way." Leftists have chosen to do none of those, but instead remain firmly engaged in a partisan game of "we won, you lost!" You America Last dead-enders couldn’t be more spiteful if you tried.
-Country First.
Chuck Butcher
I followed the link to Sully the other day who linked to Cptn Ed and read the article about Porkulus and then, for some reason, read the comments. Jumpin jayzus on a jumpin jack, Ed is a case of malfunctioning brain cells but his commenters are seriously deranged. This is the mumbling hate brigade you saw on TV at Palin rallies in the country in Ohio.
JC once proposed that Ed was a good guy, if I read my blog and found myself appealing to a bunch anything like that I’d stop in a heartbreat and go into therapy – or something…
Tymannosourus
@Atanarjuat:
Noticing that one thing comes after the other, and then citing the latter as the cause is, as I said above, a post-hoc fallacy that only becomes more ridiculous when you consider the 8 years that preceded it.
The "piling on" is–I will grant you–a product of the slant here, in terms of sheer numbers of commentors, but I don’t think anyone has been overly disrespectful…
But since we know where B.O.B. is getting his arguments from, I think we all are prepared to call his observations and arguments baseless and ludicrous…
JL
@zzyzx: According to the London Times
Bootlegger
@Atanarjuat: Geewhiz Attanut, you’re right. Calling people names is just awful. I’m sure glad you showed up to provide us a good example of what a reasonable argument without insults looks like.
Asshole.
Zuzu's Petals
@Atanarjuat:
Aw heck, I’d pretty well decided BOB wasn’t a spoof.
jenniebee
You know what is an even closer correlation to our economic decline than the Presidential election timeline? The final season of ER. The market no likee.
BSG is doing its part to cushion the collapse, but it just isn’t enough to reverse the awesome economic slumpiness of ER not being renewed, especially when combined with the toxic effect of BBB tranches of mortgage backed securities.
Jeebus, you’d think the details on the market slump were beyond Econ 101, or that finding beginner-level information on it was more difficult than googling Financial Crisis for Beginners. I wouldn’t mind it, really, people like BoB and Atanarjuat, but I’m a little tired of getting the government they deserve.
Michelle's Brain
I’m on holiday.
Stuck
Great, we now have spoof/trolls tag teaming and supporting each others work. Extra surreal by the possibility they are actually the same person. It’s not safe to go out I tell ya!
Mike in NC
Sweet Jesus, what planet have you been living on for the past 8 years? "Morons First!"
Tonal Crow
@Atanarjuat: As El Rushbo has opined, "Elections have consequences". And the consequences are that we (who won) get to determine the policy, and you (whom the American people rejected) get to sit on the sidelines. You might help by suggesting constructive policy alternatives, or you can continue your march to complete irrelevance by accusing us of being "America Last dead-enders". Your choice.
John S.
It’s unconscionable that an American president would rather look up to a fellow American than a British prime minister.
gbear
It’s OK. He’s playing Sgt. Pepper on the oval office boombox.
Tonal Crow
@John S.:
Not only that, but nowhere — I repeat, nowhere! — does the Constitution give the President the authority to determine how the White House is decorated. I dare you, libtards, to find anything in the Constitution that says otherwise.
Farley
Does "Obama Juice" have healing powers?
Because we could hobble towards it, kneel before it, place our lips to it and suck. Or blow. Whatever.
kay
I have stocks, well, I have a mutual fund, and this isn’t how I look at it.
I figure it’s more likely that people notice a dip, stop looking, then credit the President standing at the podium for any upturn. Do millions of us do this exhaustive analysis?
This breathless minute-by-minute drumbeat from Republicans that Obama has FAILED EVERY SINGLE DAY just registers as noise. What are they going to say when he really screws up? Can the volume get any higher?
Christ. Remember how long it took for people to notice the Bush pattern of failure?
5 years. Drip, drip, drip. Day in, day out. Water wears down stone faster.
The Populist
These people have to lie to themselves. If they really had to face up to the magnitude of failure that they have unleashed upon the world, half of them would commit suicide. So instead of emotional depression, they opt for full out crazy.
They don’t see crazy. They see the left as the impediment to THEIR view of free markets, government management and how to interpret the Constitution. They care not one wit about the people they serve unless they are contributors to the bottom line.
They don’t see failure. They see a market correction. In their view they’d repeat the same mistakes Hoover made over and over by arguing that it’s the way of things. Bubbles come and go, blah blah blah.
I was listening to Nancy Skinner today (the Talk show gal) and she had on a Republican woman talking about personal responsibility being the reason why she is against all this. Skinner told her that this thinking was incorrect and she’s right.
If you blame people for buying a home and failing to make the payments, you also have to blame the deregulation of the mortgage brokers which did MORE damage than demanding Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae give loans to low income folks. Once you opened the bottle and deregulated all kinds of silly exotic mortgages were being offered to people who had no idea how it worked.
If you took a loan, you were told "wait a year and refi for a better rate!". Sorry, but if things were regulated, these idiot brokers couldn’t tell people that kind of nonsense. We’d also see less of these Casey Serin-type speculators who had no business buying homes able to get credit. Speculation came from the lowering of barriers, not giving loans to low income people.
Word to the facts.
The Populist
Great, we now have spoof/trolls tag teaming and supporting each others work. Extra surreal by the possibility they are actually the same person. It’s not safe to go out I tell ya!
Michelle is to blame. She breeds ’em.
The Populist
This breathless minute-by-minute drumbeat from Republicans that Obama has FAILED EVERY SINGLE DAY just registers as noise. What are they going to say when he really screws up? Can the volume get any higher?
To most Americans they sound like elitist whiners. They also lose the war of words if and when Obama does make an error. This isn’t Bill Clinton where infidelity, Whitewater and such gave cover to the sniping.
The Populist
Oh Populist, haven’t you realized that BOB is only capable of mind-boggling comments?
Zuzu, I am a bit of a sadist so I like engaging the bizarros. As for Lehman…weren’t they Bush’s best buds?
Atanarjuat
@Tonal Crow:
Anytime a conservative makes ANY observation of the liberal spending boondoggle that Obama signed into law today, a snarky "shorter" rewrite is sure to follow from some oh-so-clever liberal. The observation could be couched in the most civil, non-inflammatory tones, and the snark and crushing pile-on will still occur.
I point this out, and of course I’m a HYPOCRITE for using the same rules of non-civility that most other liberals on this blog employ regularly.
The real problem here is that I, BOB, and other conservatives flatly refuse to imbibe the copious gallons of Obama Juice that you leftists treat as an Elixir from the Gods. But please keep telling me how I’m not setting a proper example by simply emulating the BJ style (this is in response to Bootlegger).
Anyway, the bigger issue for me is simply this: why so angry, lefties?
As most of you gleefully like to remind everyone else, you won, your opponents lost. Today, the misnamed "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" (aka The Porkulus Act) was signed into law by President Barack Obama. But strangely enough, I don’t see any joy or contentment on this blog or any other liberal-leaning blogs on the Web.
Instead, all I’ve seen are countless examples of what I call "sore winners." Most of you rant endlessly about evil Republicans and how much you’d like to see conservatives humiliated and punished for daring to stand against the radical left agenda of Obama. And all this talk about wanting to see a "principled" opposition party is decidedly insincere. Liberals don’t want a principled opposition — they want NO opposition, which is why you’re attempting to smear those loyal Americans in Congress who’ve stood firm against the Porkulus Act as "obstructionists."
It just never ends with you miserable beggars, doesn’t it? If there were no Republicans at all, you’d be forced to invent an opposition just to demonize them as well.
-Country First.
media browski
Brick O’billy,
Um, Nate Siver, you may have heard the name, predicted the outcome of the election in the summer.
I called it in May.
The Populist
Oh and to the righties blaming poor people for the crash…anybody can apply for a loan but who was approving the worst of the worst? Not all were poor people. Many were upper and regular middle class taking these loans out.
Sorry righties, find a better talking point. YOUR deregulation caused this.
MikeJ
What color is the sky on Atanarjuat’s planet that he thinks Obama is a "radical leftist"?
Just Some Fuckhead
A personal sense of shame would do wonders for Malkin’s outlook.
The Populist
The real problem here is that I, BOB, and other conservatives flatly refuse to imbibe the copious gallons of Obama Juice that you leftists treat as an Elixir from the Gods. But please keep telling me how I’m not setting a proper example by simply emulating the BJ style (this is in response to Bootlegger).
Hahaha, I am not a leftie. Many folks here aren’t "lefties" but that’s okay. Who spent us into this mess dude? Certainly NOT Obama.
You people don’t care to debate facts. You only want to call somebody a lefty and cry country first. If you wanted country first, maybe your beloved party should have WORKED with Obama the way the left constantly gave Bush what he wanted.
Yep, even though it made many people mad, the left worked with Bush more than these fools will.
So what about your GOP governors? Many are rooting for this spending plan. Why aren’t they being cast out with bricks and stone?
You wanna debate? Be honest and DEBATE the points instead of crying about how "mean" and hostile the liberals and independents are to your POV. Remember when it was the RIGHT calling anybody who questioned Bush’s intentions a "traitor."
Yep…I am still conservative when it comes to many things but I will NEVER support the crew that purports to be conservative. If this bill stinks, why didn’t the right work harder to make it a truly bi-partisan effort?
The Populist
What color is the sky on Atanarjuat’s planet that he thinks Obama is a "radical leftist"?
He hates left leaning people. Anybody who questions his point of view is radical, socialist, etc. It’s the M.O.
They think they have all the answers but it’s nothing but hostility and unnecessary hatred of people’s opinions. He wonders why the left is so hostile? Look at the last 8 years and tell me they were good?
He can’t so he heaps vitriol on the left and those with differing viewpoints like me.
RememberNovember
I think each side has selective memory retention. Name me one Act that Bush signed that didn’t contain pork of some sort- or a corporate handout to his cronies via sundown tax-cuts.Or Clinton, or GWHB, or Reagan…it’s axiomatic and a straw man argument. Hay is for horses and hay rides. In this get-it now it’s old five minutes ago society, it’s hard to actually engage in serious discourse because the cut and pasters are already googling for a retort rather than think it over, weigh evidence, find corroboration and form a response. We live in a knee-jerk reflexive bubble and it is sad that we have become an ADHD society.
TenguPhule
Irony of the Day.
burnspbesq
@Atanarjuat:
You’re not stupid, or silly, or deranged. I would never say any of those things.
However, you are irrelevant.
FourtyTwo
Atanarjuat@107 –
There you go again…
We have a reservoir of spite that you wouldn’t believe.
Ash Can
High heat in 3, 2,…
I know. Ain’t this site the berries?
Farley
@Atanarjuat: You don’t see any joy or contentment over the stimulus bill passing?
This is not a happy time. We are very concerned about the human effects of the acts that the president and his minions you and your kind helped to vote in, that you all still seem to think is pretty terrific (hint: rhymes with "Lorge Tush").
Even though no one in my family lost their job or lost their house, I am concerned about the millions of Americans that I don’t even know who have "benefitted" but Bush and Co’s misdeeds and lack of concern for all but the top 1%. Of course, if the situation were reversed, I am sure you would be thrilled at a Republican president’s victory amidst great suffering. It is how you are wired.
And why are we so angry? See above, but also you and your kind’s absolute disavowal, manipulation and decapitation of the truth of why we are in this mess. Before the week is out, you will be blaming Obama for 9/11. This is not a ridiculous claim given those messes for which you are already blaming him.
So, really, what are you Republicans so angry about? You got exactly WHAT you wanted from the PEOPLE you wanted for the last eight years. And now you will falsely blame the fruits of this labor on someone you didn’t want. You stomp, steal the other kid’s ball when the group doesn’t want to bend the rules to favor you, and cry all the way home. You lie on your blogs, you defend monsters, and threaten to kill genuine civil servants at your rallies.
I am still not convinced that you are not spoof, though.
Signed,
America first, because when someone types "country first", I am not sure to which country they refer, given the substance – or lack thereof- of their comments
Tonal Crow
@Atanarjuat: If a conservative were to make a substantive, wacko-free point about the stimulus package, I’d be happy to discuss it. Instead, you guys come here and talk "porkulus", cite nonexistent mouse-preservation grants, and accuse us of unpatriotism. The fact is that many of movement conservatives’ policy prescriptions have been tried, and have badly failed. But instead of questioning and reworking their ideology, movement conservatives have doubled down on it. And instead of using rational argument to support it, they have resorted almost entirely to lying about objective facts, industrial-grade spinning, and imputations of unpatriotism. As such, they deserve all the mockery we can give them…and more.
— Loving America.
The Populist
As most of you gleefully like to remind everyone else, you won, your opponents lost.
Wasn’t it Rush who told the left to stop whining and win an election? Well they won an election and took back both houses of congress. Funny, who’s whining now?
big woo
@Atanarjuat:
Unfortunately, we have a
nihilist cultRepublican party that wants to bring this country to its knees.I seem to recall a time when not being one of "Us" meant you were objectively siding with terrorists. One would think you would be more sympathetic to this concept.
The Populist
This is not a happy time. It is because we are very concerned about the human effects of the acts that the president and his minions you and your kind helped to vote in, that you all still seem to think is pretty terrific (hint: rhymes with "Lorge Tush").
If he care about the country as he says, he’d accept this spending bill. Funny how Clinton left them a budget surplus and they blew it. So much for being "conservatives."
To ignore this mess would be irresponsible.
Did anybody see the lame excuse for a protest in Denver by Malkin and her malcontents? She claims "hundreds" showed up. Gee, that has to be scaring folks!
So it’s okay when Malkin protests and gets in the way, but God forbid when somebody on the left wants to protest.
Joshua Norton
It wasn’t so important that we won, it was much more important that YOU LOST.
Suck. On. That.
And get used to it
The Populist
I seem to recall a time when not being one of "Us" meant you were objectively siding with terrorists. One would think you would be more sympathetic to this concept.
His tone screams contempt. These people want to cry about being part of the solution yet they aren’t. It’s either their way or the highway.
Zifnab
@Atanarjuat:
That line is from Idiocracy, isn’t it?
Conservatively Liberal
Comes across better using the original language it was composed in.
Shiva
I’m genuinely scared by how intensely some people, like Michelle Malkin, want Obama to fail. Many Americans are really hurting right now. This includes children, and yes, precious pets. It’s hard for me to relate to someone who wants more suffering, at least until the 2010 elections, because they want so passionately to blame Obama.
Litlebritdifrnt
@zzyzx:
Considering that Obama’s father is technically British (see every birfer site evah) I can really see how this would be a slap in the face to the British who overwhelmingly supported him in the election and there was literally dancing in the streets in the UK when he was elected. I think that Churchill’s bust will find a nice new home and the British people will continue to support Barack as the best thing since sliced bread (or meat and tatty pies).
D-Chance.
So Obamamerica is now sending an additional 17,000 boys off to die in Afghanistan. So much for "end the war" and "bring our children home". And what’s with the drones raining death down upon Pakistani citizens… since when did the US declare war on a third nation?
And even more important, when do the "war crimes of Obarambo" discussions begin among the denizens of the left?
headpan
Holy crap. I just got done talking to my friend on the phone about watching Inside the Meltdown and repubes and I said, well, it’s all gonna be Obama’s fault anyway. She’s like really? That’s what they’re saying? I says, yeah, really.
TenguPhule
Because there’s a giant mess left behind by your treasonous superiors and they and you haven’t been lined up against a wall for it.
TenguPhule
If we can arrange for 100% of them to be replaced by GOP staffers, nobody will mind the loss.
TenguPhule
10 minutes after G Bush is hanged by the neck till dead and not a second earlier.
Nellcote
Re: replacing Churchill’s boobs
Have you heard the rumour that they’re replacing Laura Bush’s "Sun King" rug in the oval office?
John Cole
@D-Chance.: Seriously, did you pay any attention to anything other than Sarah Palin’s ass the entire election?
If Obama increasing the troop strength surprises you after two years of him SAYING HE WOULD INCREASE TROOP STRENGTH IN AFGHANISTAN, you are dumber than I even thought you were, which was pretty stupid.
TenguPhule
No. SATSQ.
Svensker
Oh, sure, we could. You’re just not worth a full-on spite attack.
But I enjoy Attaboy’s posts. Trying to figure out if he’s serious, seriously deranged, or a spoof, affords me hours of enjoyment and helps wile away the hours while I’m getting abortions, helping terrorists, or sodomizing innocent young Christians — sometimes simultaneously!
Wile E. Quixote
Shut the fuck up D-Chance. You didn’t give a shit when your lord and master George W. Bush was bombing the shit out of Iraq and letting Osama Bin Laden get away at Tora Bora, you spent the last eight years on your knees sucking off Bush/Cheney and the rest of the chickenshit, chickenhawk Republican right. But now that your daddy isn’t in office any more you’re all of a sudden concerned about Muslims. You worthless little chickenshit bastard, you sat on your fat, useless, lazy Republican ass while American troops were getting killed and maimed in Iraq, a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11, but now that we’re going after the Taliban, you know, the guys who were helping Bin Laden and Al Qaeda you’re all of a sudden concerned. You’re just another Republican who hates America and constitutes a domestic threat to the Constitution of the United States and who should be dealt with accordingly.
AhabTRuler
You too!! All this time *weeps* I thought I *sniffles* was the only one who *shudders* understood what is was really like. *sobs* No more hiding my shame.
Edit: Oh, the *new* things that one *learns* on *accident!*
headpan
The People First
JWW
Am I okay to post?
ThymeZoneThePlumber
I think it’s a delicate shade of spoofass.
Zifnab
@John Cole:
Could you blame him if he did? That was about the highlight of the GOP season.
Zifnab
@D-Chance.:
Holy shit. 17k dead soldiers? We were in Iraq for 5 years and Bush only managed to kill 4k. And that was with no armored vehicles, age old body armor, and Donald Rumsfeld at the head of the Pentagon.
What crazy shit is Obama planning? He’s not bringing Rumsfeld back is he? Maybe replacing Gates with Douglas Feith. That might do it.
big woo
Not to defend D-Chance or anything, but it was probably pretty dark in there.
Stuck
This is the magic of the MUP. Takes wingnut talking points, applies common sense, and reveals the hypocrisy. A serious wingnut would praise Obama for keeping the fires burning at the Front, the front created by a genuine Casus Beli that he has always supported. And in the process illuminates the right for what it really is– A gathering of churlish peckerwoods/D Chance et al.
Brian J
You can blame the people who took on debt they couldn’t afford because of their ignorance or greed or irresponsibility and you’d be right in a lot of cases, but as with almost anything, it takes two to tango. It’s beyond ludicrous to claim that financial institutions were forced into giving people these loans, and since they weren’t being held at gun point to issue credit, they hold an equally large, if not bigger share, of the blame. After all, shouldn’t they have known better?
Mongo
LOL. I love this blog.
Reading @Atanarjuat is like watching the coyote strap a rocket on his back. You just wait for ‘beep, beep’
And you know, no matter how badly he got creamed last time; he’s going to get up & do it all again….
Zifnab
@Brian J:
Deregulation woulda worked fine if it weren’t for you freak’n kids and yer soft core porn and yer rap music. Now quit your whine’n and git off mah lawn!
Mary
Do you guys remember Minnesota Mike? I’m convinced Attanut is Minnesota Mike. He’s a spoofer and a damned good one at that.
gnomedad
@Mongo:
Ah, that brings back memories.
Jim Treacher
Nawwww.
The Populist
So Obamamerica is now sending an additional 17,000 boys off to die in Afghanistan. So much for "end the war" and "bring our children home". And what’s with the drones raining death down upon Pakistani citizens… since when did the US declare war on a third nation?
Hey Stoofus (Stoopid + Doofus = STOOFUS!),
If your hero had run this war correctly and concentrated on the fucks that coordinated the attacks on us and their hosts, remember them?, the TALIBAN it’s pretty certain the war would be winding down and MAYBE Afghanistan would be a better place.
Nope, you fucks magically decided that Iraq was some kind of threat and had to go their next. Idiots.
Mike G
Funny how these asswipes had a massive boner for Chimp’s $1.35 trillion tax cuts (43% of which went to the top 1% earners) in response to the comparatively minor economic troubles of 2001.
Not to mention the trillions blown in Iraq to replace Saddam with a pro-Iranian government, blow the fuck out of everything, kill 4000+ Americans and hundreds of thousands of locals, provide massive looting opportunities for crony corporations and make the world hate us. Real productive stewardship.
Yet $800-odd billion spread widely around the economy in response to an epic financial system meltdown is ‘Generational Theft’. These people are stupid beyond belief, and must be chronically lacking in self-awareness not to have their heads implode from their contradictions and hypocrisy.
Neo
Has Jack Cafferty lost his mind or is this just a contrarian view of the world ?
How long can he last at CNN writing stuff like this ?
Media Browski
@Atanarjuat:
Fixed.
Country first indeed.