Rep. Eric Massa is rather wound up on the Ed Show.
Archives for 2009
You’ve Had a Few Days Off
Now back to debating HCR. This is about the best summation I’ve seen of why the public option is in fact necessary, and not having one would be catastrophic.
I’d actually really like to see what Ezra and Cohn and others have to say in response to this.
You Keep Using That Word Accountability
John Cole and ED Kain cannot get their head around my call for Napolitano to be fired. It may be a cultural hangover from my British youth but in my view, when government reveals itself as incompetent in tracing potential terrorists, even when basically handed them on a plate, someone needs to take the fall. That person need not be directly personally responsible for the mistake, but since the error that could have led to the preventable deaths of scores of people comes under Napolitano’s broad responsibility, she should go.
One of the federal government’s core responsibilities is public order.
That isn’t accountability, that is meaningless symbolism and scapegoating. And it doesn’t sound British to me, it sounds like something out of Shogun. Should she just disembowel herself on the Capitol steps so she no longer has to live with the shame?
And what would her quitting accomplish? As we have no idea if she even is at fault, since Sullivan is calling for her head PRIOR to the review, we might be forcing out a competent executive in a time of turmoil for either an unknown entity or, more likely with the way the Republicans are jamming up appointments, no one at all. That would make us all safer, wouldn’t it?
Look, I understand the desire for accountability, but accountability means that someone is responsible for the things they have done. For some reason or another, we have swung from the Bush doctrine of no accountability no matter how bad you have screwed up to pre-emptive firings. Rahm might have done something ten years ago, let’s call for his resignation and then investigate. Napolitano may or may not have made a mistake, let’s fire her then find out. I’m hard pressed to figure out which approach to leadership and accountability is dumber and worse for the nation.
And I would like to add that the public is behaving quite admirably. I haven’t seen any panicking or craziness on the part of the American people. The gibberish and silliness has been left to certain political leaders and the cable news channels. Most Americans are just pissed off flying became a bigger pain in the ass.
You Keep Using That Word AccountabilityPost + Comments (250)
The Most Versatile State in the Union
Romney-bot Kevin Madden on CNN:
MADDEN: President Obama right now has suffered very greatly in the last few months because of the fight over health care, and he has very little political capital right now. So Republicans feel it is in vogue to criticize this president.
And then lastly, you have to also remember the fact that the president being on vacation in Hawaii, it’s much different than being in Texas. Hawaii to many Americans seems like a foreign place. And I think those images, the optics, hurt President Obama very badly.
Hawaii is an enigma wrapped up inside a riddle. Just a couple weeks ago, when an Alaskan named Sarah Palin visited, Hawaii was as American as meth labs and teen pregnancy. Now, when Obama visits the state in which he was born, Hawaii is all “foreign” and “exotic.”
You Can Go Your Own Way
Greg Sargent documents the WH pushback against the Republicans and Joementum, and makes an interesting point:
The White House is pushing back hard on Joe Lieberman and select Republicans, who are seizing on the thwarted terror plot to renew calls for Guantanamo to be kept open, saying in no uncertain terms that the facility will still be closed because it remains a “national security imperative” to do so.
***But a senior administration official emails that plans to close the facility haven’t changed — and that the administration is sticking to its scheme of releasing some detainees and trying or indefinitely holding others.
***Again, what’s striking here is how alone the White House is in making this argument. Congressional Dems have balked at providing key funding necessary to facilitate the tranfser of some detainees to rural Illinois.
What’s more, with Republicans using the thwarted plot to amplify their critique of Obama’s broader counter-terrorism efforts, Dems are refusing to step forward and defend the administration’s general approach. Nor are they making the case that the official made above: That even with the thwarted plot, closing Gitmo isn’t a threat to our security.
More of the same. Once again the WH is going it alone, with their “allies” nowhere to be found or, as is the case with Feinstein, working against them. About the only thing missing from this narrative from the rest of the year is the left flank vocally attacking him for not caring about civil liberties enough. I’m sure that will be coming shortly, as well as new ActBlue accounts and fundraising letters.
And meanwhile, lost in the whole process, is that the WH is cleaning up yet another mess not of their creation. This is yet another one of George and Dick’s Augean stables.
What This Person Said
I have no idea who wrote this, but I highly recommend it.
No One Could Have Predicted…
Me, 9:45 am this morning:
Newt Gingrich, 5 minutes ago:
Not to break my arm patting myself on the back with my predictive prowess, because this just wasn’t very hard to see coming. When you are dealing with the current GOP, you simply have to think of the most shamelessly cynical thing they could do or say, and realize that they will in fact do just that. They are completely unhindered by reality and show no allegiance to facts or recent history. They will say or do anything, they know they will not be held accountable by the media or their own party, and that the Democrats don’t have the balls to hit them head on. And when folks like Grayson do, our beltway betters get the vapors.
This is just the reality we have to deal with- one party is filled with shameless hypocritical liars who will do or say anything, they are aided by a lazy and corrupt media, and the other party must spend all their time reacting to yesterday’s bullshit charges while new ones are launched their way today. It is what it is.