Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
There is a new defense in town:
Steeler Defense Renamed ‘Mid-Level White-Collar Curtain’ To More Accurately Reflect Contemporary Pittsburgh
TAMPA BAY, FL—Just days before the Super Bowl, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ public relations department announced that the team’s vaunted “Steel Curtain” defense would be renamed to more accurately reflect their city’s current vocational demographics.
Did I mention the Steelers won the Super Bowl? Again. Six.
Looking around the blogosphere, the growing consensus among liberal blogs (too lazy to link, just go to memeorandum and hunt for angsty titles) is that Obama is losing control of the debate. I am not so sure if I would say that, yet, although we are seeing the polling numbers for the stimulus bill plummeting. This makes perfect sense, because even I am not sure the stimulus bill is a good bill or worth it.
There is a reason for this, and that is something Tim has touched on several times, and I have mentioned over and over. No one is selling it. The Democrats are simply AWOL. All I see on my tv are Republicans talking about wasteful spending, as if they have any credibility on that topic. I would pay to see Barney Frank matched up against a Republican opposed to the stimulus bill, because every Democrat has an easy retort- “If you have so many good economic ideas, how come you never passed any of them along to the last President?”
It isn’t so much that Obama is losing control in the debate. The Democrats just aren’t participating, and this isn’t so much a debate as a Republican monologue. We all know, given our “liberal” media, how that is going to play out in the long run.
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BTW- The next time anyone in Congress opposes any infrastructure stimulus spending, whether it be on roads, bridges, whatever, the very first thing I would do is go through every single Iraq appropriations bill, target line by line the spending appropriations for rebuilding Iraq, and then look at the roll call vote. I bet all sorts of fun could be had pointing out “fiscal conservatives” who repeatedly voted to build infrastructure in Iraq, without so much as blinking, who are now getting the vapors about a couple billion being spent domestically on similar projects. America First, the saying was, right? The Democrats do have interns, don’t they?
Just a thought- why do the Republicans even bother trying to win elections. They get everything they want when they lose, so why bother trying to win? Nothing but Republicans or GOP talking points on my tv until I turned the DVD player on five minutes ago (Season one of News Radio is much better).
I have had enough of this. Here:
No cable news tonight. Think I will watch a movie or play Mass Effect.
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Exhibit A in the argument that conservatives get whatever they want even when losing: Craig Crawford appears to be seriously arguing that NEWT FUCKING GINGRICH should head Health and Human Services. In bizzaro world, that makes complete sense, as it meets the only criteria that matter to the villagers:
As much as it would infuriate liberals, picking Gingrich would be a hyper-bipartisan move.
It pisses off liberals and would be “bi-partisan,” the only criteria that matter. What’s not to like?
I am seriously buying a generator, a goat, and a plot of land in the mountains for when the shit goes down. These people are killing us.
Why won’t Democrats defend their own damn bill? Even if the Dems have some intricate strategy they still lose when Republicans run all over then in the media space. If public relations is such an important part of saving the effing country from complete economic collapse then it makes no goddamn sense to let Republicans set the terms by which the public discusses the bill.
Don’t just wring your stupid hands when Republicans dominate the cable shows. You have the big mic now. Use it.
I have been reading the Daily Howler for years now. Some times I agreed with him, some times I did not, most of the time I misspelled his name. Over the years, though, I never really understood his constant outrage over the treatment Al Gore got in 2000. If you have read him for a while, as I have, you will notice it always comes up sooner or later, and I never understood it and sometimes made jokes about it in the comments section here and elsewhere.
Until now. The past few weeks, DougJ’s frequent posts about the WaPo chat rooms and other encounters with the chattering classes have been really eye-opening. His most recent post, in which Ruth Marcus creates a false equivalency to the eight year crime spree we just endured with some woman not paying a couple hundred in taxes really just sums up how twisted the conventional wisdom is in DC.
I know many of you keep saying we should just ignore the talking heads and the chattering classes, and we should just tune them out, but that is ridiculous. We can’t. They control the debate, and their silliness, their inconsequential bullshit, and their tit for tat false equivalencies are really destroying this nation. I got a phone call last night from someone, and the gist of the conversation was “Well, so much for hope and change. That didn’t take long. How about Obama’s performance officer not paying her taxes, either?” This wasn’t an uneducated, uninformed person- this is someone who follows the new, which is precisely the problem.
Don’t get me wrong- I think it is insane these three candidates were not vetted better, but what is driving me truly and utterly to the brink of madness is the notion that the sins of these people is somehow on par with the real sins of the past eight years. The “shoe on the other foot” comment from Marcus almost made me spit up. Of course I got that phone call last night, and the reason I did was because HE IS INFORMED, at least by the standards of the day. He reads the newspapers and watched the nightly news shows on the cable networks. When you are getting your information from folks like Ruth Marcus, what could possibly go wrong?
The problem is who is informing us with what. Our media is simply failing us. Why have they not asked the Republicans how tax cuts are going to provide jobs? Why are they not laughing openly when the Republicans bring up capital gains tax cuts as part of a stimulus package. Why are they not asking the Republicans to explain how infrastructure spending is not stimulus? Why are they pretending this woman’s minor tax oversight is on par with outing a CIA agent or letting tens of thousands of people soak for a week in New Orleans. Why are they gleefully reporting about Joe the Plumber giving economic advice to the House republicans while their colleagues are writing about the Republicans being unified in opposition to the stimulus and putting two and two together and realizing that the opposition to the stimulus from Republicans is based on the deep thoughts of a drug addled radio host and a guy who installs toilets?
You can call me naive all you want, and I know I have a habit of falling for BS talking points, but I guess it is finally clear to me- it really is all just a game to these people. We’re all Bob Somerby now.
Another lively Q&A with Villager Ruth Marcus today:
New York: I could care less about Daschle, who is a sleazy lobbyist in all but title, but this Killefer woman’s withdrawal over a $500 tax lien demonstrates conclusively how dishonest and worthless our Washington opinion makers are. Where was the outrage when Bush took millions from the crooks of Enron? When the FDA was turned into a criminal enterprise, and FEMA into a dumping ground for incompetent hacks? When Cheney conspired in secrecy with corporate crooks to design this disastrous energy policy? When Bush lied us into war? How about a president with a criminal felony conviction, by the way! This is our Ground Hog Press: our guardians of public morality fall asleep for eight years, and awaken when a Democrat is inaugurated. What person over six years old sees the logic in dwelling on minor technical departures from high standards, and saying nothing about leaders who immerse themselves in dishonesty and sleeze as a matter of policy?
Ruth Marcus: Sorry, I think you’re forgetting a huge amount of important reporting and critical commentary about the Bush administration over the last eight years. It feels different when the shoe is on the Demoratic foot but, really, not like there’s been a silent, complaisant press.
[….]
Get real, Ruth: The only political leaders you folks in the media ever want to see pay a price for wrongdoing are those who get caught in titillating sex scandals (Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer) or other fun and tawdry episodes that are easy and entertaining to report (Rod Blagojevich, Duke Cunningham). You firmly believe (and write!) that actual abuse of power and the commission of true felonies should be ignored and forgotten when committed by the Serious and Powerful leaders of the royal court you apparently think you serve.
Ruth Marcus: Sorry, but that’s ridiculous. Personally, I hope I never have to cover another sex scandal in my life. But “royal court”?–what, we just serve Bush & Co. in your view and then switch to Obama? I just don’t think that every bad action is the proper subject for criminal prosecution.
Despite what at least one of our commenters thinks, it’s important to push back against these shitheads. I’m glad to see some readers doing that here.
Picture Tom DeLay, somewhere in Texas, tuning in to CNN FOX in between meeting with his lawyers. DeLay’s party could rewrite the Constitution with the kind of majority that Democrats just won, and the left bench is still getting rolled. He still has that indictment to worry about and nobody calls other than NewsMax, but for all that it’s hard to imagine that Delay does not watch and laugh.
Republicans Walking All Over Dems Increasingly Looks Like A Consensual ActPost + Comments (69)