Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

White supremacy is terrorism.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Everybody saw this coming.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Republicans in disarray!

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

You are here: Home / Politics / Now I’m nervous

Now I’m nervous

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Politico and Ambinder are both very positive about Obama’s smack-down of Republicans earlier today.

On a more optimistic note, Halperin appears outraged by it.

I adhere to Plouffe’s axiom: if Halperin and Politico say you’re winning, you’re losing.

Update. Obama really is good at this stuff. It doesn’t come across as staged (like it might have with Gore or Kerry) or pissy (like it might with Democrats in Congress). It comes across as patient, sane adult talking to crazy children. Which is exactly what it is.

Update. Chuck Todd hates it, probably a good sign.

Reader Interactions

213Comments

  2. 2.

    Zifnab

    Halperin is a tool, but the Politico isn’t partisan nearly so much as it is tabloid. No small wonder Ambinder loves it. This’ll sell more papers.

  3. 3.

    ronin122

    As squarepeg said, plus don’t forget that at least Bill Kristol hasn’t said it was a good move. I see him as more a source of whether something is good or bad than Politico (plus Halperin is worth two politicos)

  4. 4.

    Max

    Doug – did you watch it? If you did, you would know there is NOTHING to worry about.

    It was absolutely THE best that Obama has ever been.

    The WH suggested it be televised and the GOP foolishly agreed. Doubt they’ll make that mistake again.

    The Frank Lutz comment at the end was FTMFW!

  6. 6.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    yes, but what if they know you adhere to that axiom and then use it against you?

  7. 7.

    Alan

    I’m currently watching a portion of the Q&A and gosh…I didn’t know the GOP had a stimulus bill that would have created twice as many jobs at half the cost of the bill that was passed. Amazing. The GOP is awesome. How could we be so dumb not to have the GOP controlling all branches of government?

  8. 8.

    asiangrrlMN

    I’m watching now, and I would seriously have Prez. Obama’s babies. Smart, geeky guys are so damn hot. I love the way he refuses to get pulled into making a blanket statement that sounds good, but either means nothing or will back him into a corner. He does nuance so well, and the Republicans just can’t handle it. Idiots. (That would be the Republicans).

    Crap! Video is down for site maintenance! Damn you, site maintenance! I hate political smackdown interruptus!

  10. 10.

    You Don't Say

    I love the two photos Halperin used. Obama looks like Il Duce and Luntz looks like a sad hobo clown.

  11. 11.

    Napoleon

    I am ready to add Halperin to the list of Mike Allen, Ron Forenier (sp?) and John Salomon as being a very dishonest right wing shill that has planted themselves in the MSM. Up to the last 2 or 3 days I simply thought he was stupid and out of touch.

  13. 13.

    Ash Can

    Damn, I wish I could watch the video of the Q&A now, but I need to get going. Today was report-card pickup day for all the Chicago Public School students, and I promised Bottle Rocket a trip to the Lego store for getting good grades (he did). But I have something good to look forward to.

  14. 14.

    DougJ

    I am ready to add Halperin to the list of Mike Allen, Ron Forenier (sp?) and John Salomon as being a very dishonest right wing shill that has planted themselves in the MSM.

    He’s much worse than Mike Allen.

  15. 15.

    JenJen

    LMFAO that Luntz is the one part of this historic “Question Time” that Halperin chose to object too. “Am I dumb?” Yes, yes you are, Mark.

    Chuck Todd was the lone Negative Nancy on Twitter during the address and Q&A. Tapper, Ambers and Ed Henry were loving it. Shorter Chuck Todd: “This entire event is meaningless, obviously. Hope we get more of them.”

    @DougJ: I think Halperin + Allen are like a double-whammy. Joe Scarborough loves ’em, for example, and treats anyone who differs with their CW-View as a rube idiot. I kind of dig it, but not for the reasons Halperin, Allen, Scarborough, et al were aiming for.

  17. 17.

    Woodbuster

    My “Most Trusted Voices” (Benen, Ezra, Yglesias) are going Ga-Ga over this appearance, and I am too. I scared the bejeezus out of all three dogs cheering Obama on! That was absolutely the best political teevee I have ever seen, outside Election night last year and Inauguration Day!!

    It would benefit our entire world tremendously if this were to take place once a month, and include the Emocrats in the process. Absolute FTW!!

  20. 20.

    birthmarker

    I read the transcript and it is a work of art. A republican spews a talking point, Obama politely calls him or her a liar. Totally on top of every topic brought up. I will watch video later.

    OT –Ron Sparks, who is running for governor as a dem in Alabama, is pretty much positioning his campaign as running against the republican incumbent Riley, who can’t run again!! Brilliant? I don’t know yet…but very interesting to watch!

  22. 22.

    Pasquinade

    Obama quotes:

    “I don’t think the American people want us to focus on our job security, they want us to focus on their job security,” he said.

    “I would have implemented those ideas had I found a credible economist who agreed with them….”

  24. 24.

    Something Fabulous

    @asiangrrlMN: Ah, thanks for the update. Was just trying to watch and it was so choppy that I gave up. Glad to hear it was not my connection after all, at any rate. (What this assumption says about me, we can perhaps save for a later discussion. Sigh.)

  25. 25.

    Davis X. Machina

    Chuck Todd was the lone Negative Nancy on Twitter during the address and Q&A.

    Maybe lone on Twitter, but the official party line is that every minute not spent on health care is worse than a waste of time.

    Apparently Obama’s moved on from being the Black Jimmy Carter to being America’s Second First Black (following on the First First Black) President.

    (This trajectory would have had him becoming the Black Bill Bradley back around Halloween. Did I miss something?)

  26. 26.

    KDP

    I thought I’d heard that the Republicans had asked for the full video, but likely wasn’t paying attention. I had it on in the background and was cheered by the rational and balanced way in which Obama responded to questions that were intended to back him into a corner.

    I hope his upcoming visit with the Democrats is also taped in full. In fact, I hope the White House insists that all such conversations be recorded and made available to the public to afford maximum transparency of the process.

    Oh, please, Shuster is claiming the president was ‘testy’ in his response to the question about the expansion of the budget. Hmmm, MSNBC Republican strategist, Brad Blakeman, says he thinks televising it was a good thing. Surprised am I.

    Now, Blakeman is back on the blame game. “He promised unemployment would be no more than 8%. The stimulus is one big earmark. It hasn’t even been spent.” Wish they would remind him that it was a PLAN to note spend it all in one shot, but to space it out over time.

  27. 27.

    Napoleon

    @DougJ:

    No doubt, but even though that is true for some reason I never felt it was a willful pushing of a political agenda he believed in but some combination of his own stupidity combined with a hyper bad case of how the MSM typically buys almost any right wing meme without any question and him bending over back wards to seem “balanced”. No more, I think he quite simply has an agenda.

  28. 28.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Something Fabulous: Yeah, mine kept doing that, too, until I got the message that the site was down for maintenance. Like you, I, at first made the same assumption.

    @freelancer: I have said it in two other threads, but I cannot get over how deeply stupid Mike Pence is. He offends me personally with his stupidity–and that’s hard to do because there are so many stupid people in the world. Is he the single most stupid person in Congress? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

  29. 29.

    ChrisB

    I guess between this and the State of the Union speech it’s clear that the Republicans won the week.

  31. 31.

    Woodbuster

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Please feel free to use it as you please. Forward all royalty checks to my account in the Caymans!

    And, no, it wasn’t a typo. I stole it fair and square from emopants.

  33. 33.

    kindness

    Oh Please Great Spagetti Monster, can you please get the Senate Democratic Caucus to ask him to speak to them???

    Oh yea, and televise it.

  34. 34.

    aimai

    That chuck todd twitter stream reminds us all of why twitter is so stupid. Its stream of consciousness for people with very little consciousness. As someone said upthread he explained, falsely, that the minority party has no power so there’s no point doing this, and also hoped there’d be more of these. What a fucking idiot. And twitter is just like his spoor so you can track him. Or run the other way.

    aimai

  35. 35.

    rob!

    Was Chuck Todd always this fucking stupid, or did NBC spring for a lobotomy when he got promoted to WH Correspondent?

  36. 36.

    Woodbuster

    @aimai: In all fairness, Our Lord and His Holiness John of Cole has a tendency to tweet stuff that makes me laugh out loud at totally inappropriate moments. In fact, he is why I hooked up.

    However, I do NOT follow Mr. Toad. There are limits.

  37. 37.

    Da Bomb

    For anyone who missed it, it will be repeated again on C-SPAN at 8PM EST, tonight.

    I will be having a beer and watching it with glee.

  39. 39.

    Brick Oven Bill

    Re: “It comes across as patient, sane adult talking to crazy children.”

    On this we agree DougJ. The President is in denial mode after the Scott Brown election and truly does see his political opposition, most recently the Massachusetts electorate, as children, incapable of appreciating him. This is his defense mechanism.

    In his mind, he views his ‘parent’ status to be based upon the schools through which the system put him. But as events play out, and real-world practice cannot be aligned with academic theory, even in the President’s mind, he will become increasingly delusional.

    It is actually kind of dangerous.

  41. 41.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    Chuck Todd: POTUS will win tons o pundit-column plaudits but will policy come out of it?

    Sounds reasonable to me. From what I’ve heard, Obama made the Republicans look like idiots, yet he is probably going to stubbornly insist on reaching out to those same idiots even if it jeopardizes his agenda.

  42. 42.

    Svensker

    I love Jake Tapper’s tweet that it is “ironic” that OBL is crying about climate change when he GOT HIS MONEY FROM OIL! Canyoubelieveit?!?

    Jeez, these guys are so high school.

  43. 43.

    freelancer

    @asiangrrlMN:

    I agree, and this is a great smackdown against wingnut screaming AM radio. He’s calm, Pence asks, “why didn’t you go with the Republican Stimulus plan?”

    Obama lays out his case and says “I’m not an ideologue. If someone brought me a plan that costs half as much and provides twice the benefit, why wouldn’t I go with that plan?! I would, trouble is, I there wasn’t a single economist, conservative or liberal that provided evidence backed up the claims you just made.”

    This is Obama better than he was at SOTU, he is fighting fire with a giant fire extinguisher. GOP overplayed their hand, once again. Hoocoodanode!

  46. 46.

    Tom Hilton

    Read the transcript because the vid wasn’t working, and in print it’s amazing. Nobody can make a pointed comment in a nicer way than Obama. I loved this bit:
    ******************
    OBAMA: Well, the — first of all, Peter and I did work together effectively on a whole host of issues. One of our former colleagues is right now running for governor on the Republican side in Illinois.

    In the Republican primary, of course, they’re running ads of him saying nice things about me.

    (LAUGHTER)

    Poor guy.

    (LAUGHTER)

    ….The problem we have sometimes is a media that responds only to slash- and-burn-style politics. You don’t get a lot of credit if I say, “You know, I think Paul Ryan’s a pretty sincere guy and has a beautiful family.” Nobody’s going to run that in the newspapers, right?

    (LAUGHTER)

    And by the way, in case he’s going to get a Republican challenge, I didn’t mean it.

    (LAUGHTER)

    I don’t want to — don’t want to hurt you, man.

    (LAUGHTER)

  47. 47.

    Martin

    @aimai: They seriously should have named the service ‘Tooter’.

    So, how do we get Obama to do this every week? I might cancel cable if I can get 90 minutes of this to regularly chew on.

  49. 49.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @Davis X. Machina:
    __

    but the official party line is that every minute not spent on health care is worse than a waste of time.

    It’s a shame to see Digby taking such a narrow view. If getting legislation passed is ultimately Congress’ responsibility, finding a way to create an environment in which this country can move on seems to be the President’s. The present political environment is toxic. Obama wielding the bilious pugil stick as so many seem to want isn’t the way to make it happen. Whether you call it “bipartisan” or “being the President of all of us” (Like Svensker said in an earlier post), the way to make it happen is more things like this meeting.

    OT-starting to get covered up in snow here in the NC mountains. As much as 12-14 forecast. I hate snow.

  51. 51.

    Cassidy

    “you’ve given yourselves very little room to operate in a bipartisan fashion.”

    Would be nice if this was a backhanded way of saying strike 2.

  53. 53.

    YellowJournalism

    You have to love the way the man doesn’t take any shit. I would have loved to have seen an angle on the Republicans just to see the looks on their faces when he was calling them out on their scaremongering and partisanship.

    This video just made me feel really good, which is saying a lot because today is in the toilet for me. I have a family member in the hospital with complications from diabetes, my psoriasis are so flared up that even typing this post is painful, and my youngest son’s health issues just seem to keep me on an emotional roller coaster thanks to differences of opinions between doctors and specialists.

  54. 54.

    SpotWeld

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    This is his defense mechanism.

    If acting like a competent adult is a “defense mechanism”…. I’m all for it.

    It’s an incredable improvement over actling like a petulant teenager that we’ve had in the last administration.

    Now … how can we get you to act like an adult B.O.B.?

  58. 58.

    Thunderbird

    @Origuy:
    Dick Lugar’s not up for re-election until 2012. I think I did hear recently that Pence is not going to challenge Bayh for his seat.

  59. 59.

    geg6

    I read the transcript and I am in love with Obama all over again. That was truly a thing of beauty. And if Mark Halperin and Chuck Todd hate it, that just confirms how truly more beautiful it must have been to see rather than just read.

  61. 61.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Notorious P.A.T.: Yes, because the guys on this site NEVER talk about how they wanna fuck Palin or anything like that. Right.

    @Origuy: OK, this is true, but every time I hear Pence talk, I am just struck by how truly stupid he is. He’s not playing a game (any more than the rest of them are); he really is that stupid. I don’t know why it surprises me, but it does.

    @freelancer: Yes. And, if he can just get the other Dems to follow his lead (I know, magical pony), then he has a good chance at pushing back at the Republican bullshit.

  63. 63.

    Mark S.

    @rob!:

    Was Chuck Todd always this fucking stupid, or did NBC spring for a lobotomy when he got promoted to WH Correspondent?

    Oh God yes. He was pretty good at pointing and clicking on maps during the election, but he is really an airhead. His conversation with Greenwald on torture is one of the most painfully stupid things I’ve ever read.

  64. 64.

    geg6

    @asiangrrlMN:

    If it helps at all, I’m back into the I’d-do-him-in-a-minute crew after reading that transcript.

    I’m just curious as to how BJ suddenly became a puritan site. Does this mean I can’t talk about my willingness to switch hit should you ever come to Pittsburgh any more?

  66. 66.

    gex

    @aimai: Twitter is a broadly flexible tool for quick massive one-way communications. That some people say stupid things using that medium does not make it stupid, any more than people saying stupid things on the telephone made the telephone stupid. Todd streams stupidity via several other media, it hardly seems fair to blame Twitter.

  67. 67.

    bemused

    @Comrade Scrutinizer:
    The NC mountains are lovely but not much fun to drive through in snow. We were visiting one of our kids (Raleigh) last Oct & we all spent a weekend in Asheville, nice town. We went on the Blue Ridge Pkwy after some snow the day before…the mountains were gorgeous with the frosted trees.

  68. 68.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @geg6:
    __

    I’m just curious as to how BJ suddenly became a puritan site.

    Since myiq1/2u left, I know we don’t talk about bukkake anymore.

  69. 69.

    freelancer

    This freshman wingnut is a bit of an asshole.

    and O’s response is encouraging, but now if he can take this performance today, and quit his people from punting on HCR and dumb shit like 9/11 trials maybe not in NYC, then I’ll feel much, much better.

  70. 70.

    Svensker

    @Comrade Scrutinizer:

    It’s a shame to see Digby taking such a narrow view.

    Gad, the comments over there. Obama’s a monster was one of the nicer ones.

    Of course, we all would have preferred that O not side so much with the corporatists, not drop bombs on people in Pakistan, prosecute torture, etc., etc. But which electable candidate would have done things better than O has? I asked one of my “Obama is a monster” friends this question. The answer: Kucinich.

  72. 72.

    Pangloss

    I just finished reading the entire transcript at WaPo, and it was the best, most honest political dialog I’ve seen or heard in years. Just amazing. It was a talking point massacre.

  73. 73.

    geg6

    @gex:

    The problem with Twitter (and why you will never, ever, ever see me there) is that 90% of the people I know who use it and the same percentage of people whose “twits” I’ve seen are so stupid and vapid that I would be embarrassed to have an account there.

    Hell, given the limitations of the 140 characters, even smart people end up sounding like idiots.

    Of course, YMMV.

  74. 74.

    Cassidy

    Does this mean I can’t talk about my willingness to switch hit…

    I gotta be honest. I sat for several minutes trying to think of something both funny and incredibly sexist, and just couldn’t strike the right balance.

  75. 75.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @asiangrrlMN:
    __

    @Notorious P.A.T.: Yes, because the guys on this site NEVER talk about how they wanna fuck Palin or anything like that. Right.

    See, I may be in the minority, but when I hear “fuck” and “Palin”, I keep looking for the phrase “with a rusty chainsaw”. I mean, ick. Also.

  76. 76.

    Brick Oven Bill

    There is a difference between acting and being SpotWeld.

    The President’s sneer as he addressed global warming ‘skeptics’ was telling. This is a man who is governed by ideology. In his case, one founded in insecurity and academic ideology. He necessarily dismisses opposing arguments as childish, regardless of merit.

    Men like this cry ‘calculator abuse’ when confronted with Mathematics and dismiss those pressing the buttons as children.

    In contrast, the competent adult is governed by reason, founded in our Five Senses, and constructed with the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences.

  78. 78.

    Sly

    I don’t get it… Halperin’s pissed that he “went after” Frank Luntz? If so, fuck him. Luntz is the biggest cancer on the body politic that there is.

  79. 79.

    Tom Hilton

    @Comrade Scrutinizer:

    It’s a shame to see Digby taking such a narrow view. If getting legislation passed is ultimately Congress’ responsibility, finding a way to create an environment in which this country can move on seems to be the President’s. The present political environment is toxic. Obama wielding the bilious pugil stick as so many seem to want isn’t the way to make it happen. Whether you call it “bipartisan” or “being the President of all of us” (Like Svensker said in an earlier post), the way to make it happen is more things like this meeting.

    This.

    As I’ve said before, much of the liberal blogosphere fetishizes ‘toughness’ in a way that exactly parallels the wingnuts’ fetishization of toughness. Talking to Republicans is the equivalent of talking to Ahmadinejad–a display of weakness that endangers America’s security/liberal priorities. And the depressing thing is that very smart people like Digby fall for that inane shit.

    Thank FSM for Balloon Juice.

  80. 80.

    Cassidy

    founded in our Five Senses

    Dude, find a new fad! At least your pizza stream of consciousness threw out the occassional recipe.

  81. 81.

    batgirl

    @Notorious P.A.T.: Because when I think of Chuck Todd, I think of a hard-hitting journalist who informs the public of the deep policy debates and implications going on, not a pundit.

  82. 82.

    Tom Hilton

    @Svensker:

    But which electable candidate would have done things better than O has? I asked one of my “Obama is a monster” friends this question. The answer: Kucinich.

    Just yesterday I asked a Kucinich supporter how outcomes would be any more progressive under a President Kucinich (i.e., how the fuck would he get all his magic pony shit through Congress?). He ended up making a joke of it (“declare himself Supreme Leader”), which I think is telling.

  83. 83.

    Chat Noir

    @geg6:

    The problem with Twitter (and why you will never, ever, ever see me there) is that 90% of the people I know who use it and the same percentage of people whose “twits” I’ve seen are so stupid and vapid that I would be embarrassed to have an account there.

    Same thing with Facebook, IMHO. I don’t have an account but my husband does (he uses his page to practice writing witty bon mots to amuse himself) and most of the stuff the frequent posters post is beyond inane — STFU-worthy because the posts are so insipid. His “friends” that are witty and clever rarely post anything.

  84. 84.

    Brick Oven Bill

    As Plato teaches us that Mathematics are thought, eternal, and in another realm of existence, I am limited in my ability to make them go away Cassidy.

  85. 85.

    asiangrrlMN

    @geg6: Heh. Thanks for the laugh. I needed it. However, I am duly chastened. Not another impure word will pour out from these fingertips! (And if you believe that…proverbial bridge, Brooklyn).

    @Comrade Scrutinizer: Yeah, that’s me, too, but many on this site disagree with that.

    @Svensker: I agree with you. I am not an Obot, and I have many issues with the way Obama has done things, but I cannot think of any candidate on either side who, in this world, could have done a better job.

  87. 87.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    Fortunately, Cenk Uygur was on Ratigan’s show a few minutes ago, restoring the balance of the universe, telling us what an asshat Obama was by turning his back on the progressives that elected him, blah, blah, blah. He got out about 5 sentences, and Ratigan hustled him off.

  88. 88.

    Paula

    I find it hard to believe that Hullabaloo’s comments were once a reasonable respite from, say, FDL or DKos. Digby et al encouraged a certain tone over there that led to the nurturing of some freshman-undergrad level ranting. Now it seems that the knee-jerk, substance-light “criticism” of Democrats is infecting the bloggers’ work as well.

    Like, seriously, how immature are you to write that a president talking to his main opposition is somehow puke-worthy? Are you afraid you’ll get conserva-cooties?

  89. 89.

    Malron

    Halperin’s take:

    Obama singles out word shaman Frank Luntz at Republican town-meeting-style joust.

    “Word shaman?” Really???

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    @bOb #76

    How did you get that from this?

    I know there have been questions about whether we can afford such changes in a tough economy. I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change. But here’s the thing — even if you doubt the evidence, providing incentives for energy-efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future -– because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy. And America must be that nation.

    Please note: the question is rhetorical, about which one of the Seven Dwarfs should instruct you.

  91. 91.

    Violet

    @Da Bomb:

    For anyone who missed it, it will be repeated again on C-SPAN at 8PM EST, tonight.

    Which C-Span channel? It’s not showing up on my schedule

  92. 92.

    SpotWeld

    @Brick Oven Bill: B.O.B. please stop brandishing “Plato” and “math” as some sort of talismans to ward off reality.

    Your cargo cult understanding of the world is boring. Either come up with a more original ficition or just blog your silly fanfics to your own blog.

  93. 93.

    slag

    @asiangrrlMN: Don’t quit, asiangrrlmn! Start a smart, geeky guy fan club. I would love to join it! (Of course, like Groucho Marx, I’d never want to belong to a club that would have someone like me as a member, so, you’d have to reject my application.)

  94. 94.

    Cat

    @Woodbuster:

    It would benefit our entire world tremendously if this were to take place once a month

    Europe has had “Question Time” for the last 5 decades. It seems American democracy is behind the times.

  95. 95.

    Davis X. Machina

    @asiangrrlMN:

    I cannot think of any candidate on either side who, in this world, could have done a better job.

    Probably a third of the human race simply doesn’t hear, notice, believe in or use saving clauses like ‘in this world’, and that’s part of the problem. A lot of angry talking-past-each-other as a consequence.

  97. 97.

    Xenos

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Men like this cry ‘calculator abuse’ when confronted with Mathematics and dismiss those pressing the buttons as children.
    In contrast, the competent adult is governed by reason, founded in our Five Senses, and constructed with the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences.

    Put down the Beck, Bob, and walk away slowly.

    As if Beck knew anything of the seven liberal arts, aside from the most elementary “Rhetoric for Dummies”. This is just twaddle meant to sound profound and meaningful, some sort of quintessence of brilliance somehow rooted in the ancients and not improved on since.

    Reason and the liberal arts are not a thing to bow down to, and then raise in talismanic fashion and wield in an argument by assertion. They are a conversation that has been going on for three thousand years, and you have not been keeping up. Give it a few years of study, at least as much effort as you put into your engineering degree, and then you will be in a position to say something interesting.

  99. 99.

    Alan

    Obama should do this sort of thing all the time. But since this kind of dialogue doesn’t work at agitating the populace for or against the loved or hated Party we’ll probably not see this sort of thing very often. Tomorrow conservatives will again tune in the Rush, Hannity, Beck, Levin, etc. and they’ll again go back to spewing the same BS that has us in this political mess. Nothing will have changed–Obama is destroying the country, using the Bolshevik playbook, acting like a Nazi, etc.

  100. 100.

    Bostondreams

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    And Plato also had a viceral hatred of democracy and a low opinion of the intelligence of the masses. So you will forgive me if I take your constant citing of him as less than valid.

  102. 102.

    ericblair

    @Sly: I don’t get it… Halperin’s pissed that he “went after” Frank Luntz? If so, fuck him. Luntz is the biggest cancer on the body politic that there is.

    I’m glad to see Obama training some fire on these jerks and the conservative water-carriers on the Supreme Court. These dicks have been playing politics for years and then hiding behind the skirts of the media and the courts to avoid any retaliation. You want to throw political rocks, you get political rocks back.

  103. 103.

    Brick Oven Bill

    The sneer was from the State of the Union Address trollhatten. Facial expressions are tough to tame with a teleprompter.

    Now I will to go to town and watch Glenn Beck. You all have a nice day.

  106. 106.

    SpotWeld

    @Xenos: “talismanic ” I like that… maybe we can expand it to a lexicon entry.

    It’s like “Drill, Baby Drill” and “death panels” as if words, disconnected from reality with the appearance of connection to more powerful concepts can have power in themselves. With a “See also” connecting to Magical Thinking

  107. 107.

    Bostondreams

    @Xenos:

    Reason and the liberal arts are not a thing to bow down to, and then raise in talismanic fashion and wield in an argument by assertion.

    Two words: French Revolution. A revolution founded on the ‘reason’ that BoB loves so much. THAT turned out well.

  108. 108.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Paula:

    I find it hard to believe that Hullabaloo’s comments were once a reasonable respite from, say, FDL or DKos.

    When was that? It’s been the Slough Of Despond for well on two years at least. The comments are so relentlessly bleak it’s laughable. (And that’s just to the tristero posts on nutrition!)

  109. 109.

    eric k

    Of course Todd hates this.

    The last thing TV news people want is for us to see stuff like this. We can’t see the two parties discussing their proposals and then decide for ourselves what to think. People like Chuck Todd are supposed to tell us what each party meant:-)

    Obama should offer to do this once a month, replace the Sunday morning talk shows for an hour and half. I can’t imagine the GOP would be stupid enough to do this again though.

    McCain had proposed something like this in the campaign. If god forbid he had won the Dems should have jumped at the chance. Could you imagine him trying to discuss policy details with people like Barney Frank?

  110. 110.

    Malron

    I’m watching the MSNBC feed right now, Mike Pence is asking the first question and I have no idea what it is?

  113. 113.

    aimai

    Xenos,
    I thought BOB’s “seven liberal arts” were some version of “five deadly acts” or “three forbidden moves” or “seven deadly sins…” You know, something taught in a forbidden monastery to high level adepts. I’m pretty sure that’s what Beck means. It goes along with mormonism.

    aimai

  115. 115.

    geg6

    @Malron:

    Word. How the hell did Luntz become a “word shaman,” whatever the hell that is?

    He’s a fucking pollster. I might cut him a break for some version of “numbers shaman,” or “statistical shaman,” but words? Um, no.

  116. 116.

    Zach

    @Cat: “The only thing up for debate is the cause.”

    Not really. If global warming isn’t happening because of increased greenhouse gas concentration, the real mystery is, “what’s countering the greenhouse effect?”

    Q if anyone knows: What was the magnitude of the change in the greenhouse effect caused by banning CFCs and repairing the ozone hole? What about capping NOx/SOx emissions? Both actions result in global warming to some extent, right?

  117. 117.

    DougJ

    I find it hard to believe that Hullabaloo’s comments were once a reasonable respite from, say, FDL or DKos. Digby et al encouraged a certain tone over there that led to the nurturing of some freshman-undergrad level ranting. Now it seems that the knee-jerk, substance-light “criticism” of Democrats is infecting the bloggers’ work as well.

    I think Digby works more as a cultural critic. And that was great for 2001–2009. But it doesn’t work right now, not as well, not when it is to the exclusion of everything else. Somerby has the same problem (though he’s also bonkers).

  119. 119.

    Justin

    Dougj, I sometimes question your reading comprehension skills.

    I don’t think Halperin is outraged. And I don’t see how Chuck Todd hates it when he tweeted that Obama should do these more often.

  120. 120.

    Malron

    As I’m watching Q&A, something just occurred to me: the Republicans must have really believed the president wouldn’t be able to speak without a teleprompter.

  123. 123.

    Lisa K.

    @Justin:

    And I don’t see how Chuck Todd hates it when he tweeted that Obama should do these more often.

    Because Chuck Todd doesn’t really KNOW what he thinks, usually.

  124. 124.

    Jay B.

    @Tom Hilton:

    This is where you and Digby are both wrong.

    Digby’s wrong because she thinks it’s “Kabuki” because Obama was “reaching out” to Republicans — something, admittedly, he’s done way too often in the past to exactly no results. But that wasn’t the case here.

    And you’re wrong because you think this was Obama having a constructive dialog, which shows just how wrong liberals who want a more direct approach are.

    On the contrary, I think this is exactly what many liberals have been asking for from the start. Confront the fucking Republicans. Don’t give them quarter. Don’t let them define the narrative. Use facts against their rhetoric.

    Hell, those of us who have disagreed with the bulk of the commentary on Balloon Juice over the health care debate have been screaming that the President has failed to make the case — and we were mocked for believing in the “bully pulpit” and all that bullshit.

    Well, here he was using the bully pulpit to not only counter the Republicans at their own meeting — but to broadcast it to the rest of the country. And it was highly successful! What the fuck do you know?

    Instead of doing what he had been doing — backroom negotiations, a muddled public message, little affirmative declarations of actual intent, letting the process play out — he decided to articulate the agenda, point out the failings of the Republican Party and raize their bullshit rationale for opposing him. At long last, I might add. Something many of us have been hoping he’d do since before the teabagging boomlet stole the oxygen.

    He’s masterful when he does this. He should do it more often.

    Also, now that Rahm wants to back off on health care, how is this not dictating the terms to Congress? I thought the President wouldn’t and couldn’t do that. It’s up to legislators to legislate? Again, that’s what I’ve learned here on Balloon Juice.

  125. 125.

    slag

    BTW, I got my first google news alert linking to an Erick the Red post for CNN today. I foolishly clicked on it and saw his smarmy face staring back at me. Disturbing. Scanning through the post made me quickly realize how low CNN has sunk by including him anywhere in their ranks. CNN: Still Hurting America.

  127. 127.

    DougJ

    DougJ—do you think Ariana H. falls into that category too?

    I don’t like Ariana at all. I do like Digby.

    Ariana is a professional self-promoter. Digby is a witty and insightful writer who has fallen into a rut.

  128. 128.

    Cat

    @Zach:

    What was the magnitude of the change in the greenhouse effect caused by banning CFCs and repairing the ozone hole? What about capping NOx/SOx emissions? Both actions result in global warming to some extent, right?

    Or maybe the hole was always there and CFC’s made it bigger, maybe the hole cycles from open to shut and CFC’s accelerate it. Historical data? Don’t have any do we? And we don’t have a spare couple of earths to see if are actions are reproducible.

    Our understand changes yearly as to whats going on, other then its getting hotter, its premature to say its solely man caused.

    We can try to rewind everything back and if that fixes it great, but its not a same as knowing scientifically we caused it.

  129. 129.

    Redshirt

    That’s the funny thing: Often, we think the Repugs are being cynical or intentionally trying to mess stuff up. But what about the possibility that a lot of them are just plain dumb?

  130. 130.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    See, I may be in the minority, but when I hear “fuck” and “Palin”, I keep looking for the phrase “with a rusty chainsaw”. I mean, ick. Also.

    I suppose that saying “I would like to have consensual sex with Sarah Palin” (which I have never, ever done, not on this site or anywhere) is a horrible, horrible thing. . . but saying you would like to ram a rusty pitchfork into someone’s bodily cavity is A-Okay!

    Obama wielding the bilious pugil stick as so many seem to want isn’t the way to make it happen. Whether you call it “bipartisan” or “being the President of all of us”, the way to make it happen is more things like this meeting.

    How’s that working out so far? Enjoying that health care reform that got passed? Liking our 6% unemployment from that stimulus that wasn’t watered down are you?

  131. 131.

    Malron

    Oh snap. The “bolshevik” sound bite just made the ABC Evening News. I just heard it on the local TV affiliate’s news report.

  132. 132.

    Svensker

    @Jay B.:

    Instead of doing what he had been doing—backroom negotiations, a muddled public message, little affirmative declarations of actual intent, letting the process play out—he decided to articulate the agenda, point out the failings of the Republican Party and raize their bullshit rationale for opposing him. At long last, I might add.

    Yes, a thousand times, yes.

  133. 133.

    DougJ

    I don’t think Halperin is outraged. And I don’t see how Chuck Todd hates it when he tweeted that Obama should do these more often.

    As a long-time Halperin reader, I interpret what I linked to as how he expresses outrage.

    Todd said that the thing would make no difference and something else negative when I last checked in. Maybe he’s tweeted something more positive in the mean time.

  135. 135.

    Eric S.

    Uhhg! I hate my work PC. When the site was down for maintenance my audio worked. Now that its up my audio isn’t. Of course, I guess I’m supposed to be “working” anyway.

  137. 137.

    Montysano

    I just listened to the whole thing while at work, and it’s a thing of beauty. And sweet jabbering Jeebus…. Mike Pence is a world class dick.

    But Obama does something here that Dubya and the GOP did not/would not have the stones to do: stand up, face the opposition, and live or die on facts instead of demagoguery.

    And BTW, BOB: no teleprompter in sight.

  138. 138.

    rootless_e

    @Tom Hilton:

    As I’ve said before, much of the liberal blogosphere fetishizes ‘toughness’ in a way that exactly parallels the wingnuts’ fetishization of toughness.

    Absolutely. The psychopathology of people who constantly fantasize about “fuck Rahm with a rusty chainsaw” and lament how Democrats “suck republican cock” is truly sad.

  139. 139.

    gwangung

    Or maybe the hole was always there and CFC’s made it bigger, maybe the hole cycles from open to shut and CFC’s accelerate it. Historical data? Don’t have any do we?

    Incorrect.

  140. 140.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    @batgirl:

    Because when I think of Chuck Todd, I think of a hard-hitting journalist who informs the public of the deep policy debates and implications going on, not a pundit.

    You are absolutely right: Chuck Todd isn’t much of a reporter. But that doesn’t mean he can’t have a good point. And he did have one. Yeah, Obama mopped up the floor with those people, but so what if it doesn’t lead to some kind of policy success?

    How many American voters are going to watch a political round table on C-Span?

  143. 143.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    I’m with asiangrrlMN – smart is very sexy.

    I believe women who say that, because soooooo many people are completely honest and up-front about their personal flaws. No woman would say she likes A when she really likes B, especially if B is shallow and superficial.

  144. 144.

    Violet

    @Max:

    It probably won’t be on the schedule, as it’s pretty ad-hoc.

    Yeah, it looks like that. I found a mention of it in the WaPo blog and the C-Span Twitter feed. But they don’t specify. I guess I’ll just set it to record and try to tune in on time to make sure I’m in the right place.

  145. 145.

    Chad N Freude

    @Nellcote:

    It’s impossible to imagine Bush standing up before the dems and defending his policies.

    I can imagine it:

    “Heckuva question Barney. Heh-heh. Y’see.”

  147. 147.

    jcricket

    If only other Democratic spokespersons were as good at this kind of verbal jousting as Obama. Instead we get backstabbers like Landrieu, or mealy-mouthed Harry Reid up there.

    When Nancy Pelosi’s the only person in Congress with cajones, you know we’re in trouble.

    Look – the facts are on our side, public opinion is on our side (at the issue level), but we suck at getting our ideas across, and don’t have the institutional noise machine to help us. And when we run into resistance, we tend to fold/run away.

    A little fortitude (Al Franken’s demonstrated this) and Republicans respond by amping up the silliness, making themselves look foolish, and then backing down.

    If we learn to play this game, we will eventually get our way (largely speaking).

  148. 148.

    catclub

    pangloss @ 72
    “it was talking point massacre.”

    Well, yes and no. ON that occasion, to these BJ viewers,
    yes.

    However, will ANY of these talking points not be promptly resurrected the next time any of these GOP reps are speaking to the press? I don’t think so. So… and no.

    They will keep saying the stimulus did no good, that Obama
    predicted the stimulus would keep unemployment below 8.5%
    and it failed.

    They will keep saying that the Democratic caucus is shutting out all their brilliant ideas because of partisan vindictiveness.

    They will keep saying that Obama’s budgets will triple the national debt (timeframe never included).

    So, enjoy it but don’t plan on it changing much.

  149. 149.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    The psychopathology of people who constantly fantasize about “fuck Rahm with a rusty chainsaw” is truly sad.

    Well, I sure don’t want to inflict physical harm on the guy, but how many of us approve of the job he has done? His brilliant tactic of doing nothing while Congress sorts out health care reform isn’t working out so great from where I sit.

  151. 151.

    catclub

    jcricket @147

    the reason Obama is good at it is because he is president,
    so he is given time to explain why the GOP talking points are wrong.

    No other spokesman will be given that kind of time or respect. Any spokesman on the pundit shows will have the opposite guy shouting over him in 15 seconds.

  152. 152.

    Nellcote

    @Malron:

    “Word shaman?” Really???

    He’s quite good in his evil gooper bs way. Think “death taxes” for estates tax or “death panel” for I don’t know what. He focus groups those bumpersticker phrases that stick. Not saying he’s not lying evil scum, just that he’s fairly effective. And “shaman” is a bit of a stretch.

  153. 153.

    Origuy

    @Thunderbird: That’s right, it was Bayh that’s up this year. Almost as hard to beat, due to the family name. I grew up in Indiana; I don’t know how we got Birch Bayh and Vance Hartke at the same time.

  155. 155.

    Ash

    @Malron:

    As I’m watching Q&A, something just occurred to me: the Republicans must have really believed the president wouldn’t be able to speak without a teleprompter.

    That’s 100% true. These asshats literally believe that he can’t function without a teleprompter, like it’s his fucking baby blanket.

  156. 156.

    Elie

    @Notorious P.A.T.:

    I know that I have liked superficial shallow pretty boys from time to time –but this is a temporary flash – the real heat for me is the dude with the stuff between his ears and a real personality. There is no comparison at all — none.
    I wont say that every smart guy does it for me, but if I were to weigh the relative impact of a number of attributes from good looking to athletic, kind, fun, smart, etc., smart would consistently appear in the guys that I was attracted to consistently..

    Just me though

  157. 157.

    catclub

    DougJ @ 133
    Todd is more right than we would like – even if for the wrong reasons. It would take about 50 of these for even some
    of those GOP talking points to actually die.

  158. 158.

    Common Sense

    @Malron:

    As I’m watching Q&A, something just occurred to me: the Republicans must have really believed the president wouldn’t be able to speak without a teleprompter.

    Well, they really believed that the only reason women were voting Dem was Hillary. and that the only reason blacks did so was Obama. So presto! they pulled Palin and Steele out of their bag o’ tricks to pander to superficial differences. Worked out well, dont’cha think?

  159. 159.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    On the contrary, I think this is exactly what many liberals have been asking for from the start. Confront the Republicans. Don’t give them quarter.

    Absolutely. Except confront them in Congress, where it matters most. No more of this “let’s put our entire country in neutral while Olympia Snowe decides what she thinks of health care reform.”

    And it’s a little disingenuous for Obama to say “if you had any good ideas, I’d listen to them” when he has already listened to bad ideas they’ve had, like when we just had to have poorly-targeted tax cuts in the stimulus plan.

  160. 160.

    Elie

    @Ash:

    Where on earth do they get that impression from? Honestly? Is it that they cant believe someone, much less a black man, could speak extemporaneously without notes or some sort of prompting? That his brain wouldnt work fast enough? Didnt they watch him in many impromptu situations over the last two years? Their worlds must be so narrow!

  161. 161.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    @Jay B.:

    But at least his year long post-partisan strategy has paid dividends.

    Where? Please tell me. I need some good news here.

    Unless you are being sarcastic, in which case “duh” is me.

  162. 162.

    rootless_e

    @Notorious P.A.T.: It’s not a question of whether on approves of Rahm (although I am not entirely convinced that many of his critics are in a position to know exactly what he does on a day to day basis), but it’s weird for supposed liberal/progressives to so enthusiastically embrace such weird language to describe people who are supposedly their allies.

    When Maureen Dowd referred to Edwards as “Breck girl” and to “Obambi” and when Tweety got all excited about Bushes uniform and crotch, the “framing” of Republicans as tough, macho, he-men, and Democrats as weak effeminate girls or even, gasp, gay, makes sense – that’s the story they are trying to sell. But when supposed “liberals” use even more violent versions of the same language in the same way, there is a contradiction between the language and the claimed message. If you read many of the liberal progressive blogs, the underlying message is “Republicans are rough tough he-men who fuck, and Democrats are weak, girls/fags who get fucked.” That’s a weird message.

  163. 163.

    Nellcote

    @catclub:

    the reason Obama is good at it is because he is president,

    The reson Obama is president is because he is good at it.

  165. 165.

    Mike E

    @slag:
    CNN suuuuucks. Spend that time watching Fux News, it’ll be more enlightening. Better yet, paint the letters C, N and N on a brick and smash yourself in the face when you get the urge to tune in.

  166. 166.

    Elie

    @rootless_e:

    THIS. Absolutely.

    Somehow, the left-progressive “firebaggers” just seem unable to understand your point exactly, though they keep doing it and asking why its so offensive or why it actually damages US, the so called good guys that they say they want to succeed…

  168. 168.

    Bill Arnold

    So, enjoy it but don’t plan on it changing much.

    The game shifts when the news media (*) don’t let blatant untruths and misrepresentations slide. Obama fought back today with plenty of sound-bite-ready material.

    As Malron suggested, it’s as if they really didn’t believe Obama could do this well without a teleprompter. Maybe we’ll see theories that he was being fed talking points from home base via some wireless connection.

    (* that doesn’t usually count Fox; would be nice if they surprised us.)

  169. 169.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    Is it that they cant believe someone, much less a black man, could speak extemporaneously without notes or some sort of prompting?

    Yeah, that’s probably a big part of it.

  174. 174.

    JenJen

    @DougJ:

    Todd said that the thing would make no difference and something else negative when I last checked in. Maybe he’s tweeted something more positive in the mean time.

    Nope.

  175. 175.

    DougJ

    Let’s not devolve into a what women want/what men want thing here, people. Leave that for Conor Friedersdorf.

  177. 177.

    Jay B.

    @Notorious P.A.T.:

    Yeah, think of it as “duh”. The thought was he’d be an asshole enforcer, a bad cop to Mr. Smooth — turns out, he’s just an asshole to a large swatch of people who most fervently supported his boss while helping him waste an entire fucking year courting Republicans and the darling “independent” voters who, to reward this strategy, abandoned Obama in droves.

  179. 179.

    maus

    It’s a trick

    get an axe.

    Update. Chuck Todd hates it, probably a good sign.

    OTOH yes, absolutely.

  180. 180.

    jcricket

    @catclub: Respectfully, I disagree with about 1/2 of what you’ve said. Yes, the pundit he-said/she-said format makes it a lot harder than when the President is present.

    But a lot of Dems are good at this kind of sound-bite ready verbal jousting (Barney Frank, Franken, Pelosi, hmm, I sense a trend) – and we even have a few firebrands (Grayson).

    But we fail to deploy them, and we have too many wishy-washy folks running their mouths all the time. A lot of this is the “wired for conservatism/Republican rule” crap Josh Marshal points out – which gets old-timey conservadems more air time than the new folks (Franken, Grayson) – but we can work to correct that.

    If we care.

    Look, what I’m saying is we can’t replicate the GOP noise machine. We also can’t become crazy, spittle-flecked, over-the-top lying weasels (nor should we). But we can’t rely on this “our ideas are all so good everyone should just get it” crap anymore.

    The President occasionally gets it, and I wish he would get it more. But the party seems to think that in-fighting and running to the right is the solution. We don’t need to run to anywhere other than where we are right now. Just stand our ground, deploy the weapons we have (the people I mentioned) and get some sh*t done.

  182. 182.

    nepat

    @Lisa K.:

    I’m glad to hear someone else say that. I can’t stand the woman.

    Stopped visiting that creepy site a while back when it occurred to me that every time a page finished loading Arianna got a little bit richer.

  183. 183.

    freelancer

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    this.

    Too many women in my dating pool consider intelligence in a man more of a threat than a boon to their relationship. I try so hard when I speak to avoid the semblance of being condescending, but nine times out of ten, when talking amongst a group of people, the girls are staring at me like a dog that’s just been shown a card trick. The one who gets it, and responds positively is inevitably unavailable.

    They seem to all go for decent looking simple-minded men who will agree with them about everything and fit their nonspecific checklist of superficial things that they think makes for a good husband like the ones they see on Bravo or ABC sitcoms.

    ETA – Sorry DougJ, venting.
    /Freidersdork

  185. 185.

    DonkeyKong

    My C-SPAN feed cut out just as Obama raised his arms and bellowed at the Republican Caucus “CAN YOOOUUUUU DIG IT!”

  186. 186.

    slag

    @WaterGirl: Indeed. Looks don’t hurt. But brains are an absolute requirement. As is funny.

    @freelancer: You swim in the wrong pool. Your experience is completely opposite of mine. There may be some regional differences that account for this as well.

  189. 189.

    Anne Laurie

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    “Let’s not devolve into a what women want/what men want thing here, people… “
    Can we leave it to Chunky David Brooks?

    Ross Doubt-that will assure you, at length, that women who want “that” are dirty slutty erection-killers (cf ‘chunky reese witherspoon’). In the final paragraph, he’ll lament that too many men have yet to discover that embracing American Jesus Values(tm) will protect them from the horrors of their irresistable hormonal urges and the vile enticements of us filthy erection-killing sluts.

    Then he will call for comity, and an end to smutty jests by purile bloggers.

  190. 190.

    Cat Lady

    The way Obama called out talking points v. arguments was completely compelling, and that’s my takeaway from this amazing event. The media lives by talking points and in one fell occasion, Obama has broken the code for all to see who are willing to give it a look. Events like this take time to seep into the narrative, and maybe Obama just decided that since he appears to be the only one able to command the media time, he took the ball and ran as only he is able to. I know his progressive critics wish he’d been doing this all along, but as an O-bot, I trust his sense of timing.

  193. 193.

    Mark S.

    @DougJ:

    I like Digby a lot as well, and don’t think she’s in a rut, but she has been in total concern troll mode today.

  195. 195.

    Jay B.

    @Cat Lady:

    I know his progressive critics wish he’d been doing this all along, but as an O-bot, I trust his sense of timing.

    He wanted to become unpopular and suspect first before being the forceful advocate for change and progress he said he’d be?

  196. 196.

    tammanycall

    A commenter on another website said that Fox News cut the feed in the middle of the Q & A & didn’t provide a real reason why they cut away. Can anyone else confirm this? (I’m playing catch up on clip watching now.)

  197. 197.

    slag

    @DougJ: Fair enough. While the issue arose out of an unnecessarily hostile response to a comment, I suppose there will be no changing of minds either way.

  198. 198.

    Alan

    @tammanycall:

    Broadcasting it probably cut into preparation for the current segment they played at the top of this hour comparing Obama to Jimmy Carter. They report, you decide.

    And BTW, in response to a post above, I like ‘chunky reese witherspoon’. She won my heart in the movie “Freeway.” :)

  200. 200.

    Wile E. Quixote

    @Malron:

    Halperin’s take:

    Obama singles out word shaman Frank Luntz at Republican town-meeting-style joust.

    “Word shaman?” Really???

    Yeah, I’ve never really thought of Frank Luntz as a “word shaman”. I’ve always thought of him as more of a “shit golem”

  201. 201.

    Wile E. Quixote

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Now I will to go to town and watch Glenn Beck. You all have a nice day.

    Way to go BOB. Set an example for us all by bravely living the life of a closeted homosexual submissive with a hard on for daddy figures and men in uniform.

  203. 203.

    Cat Lady

    @Jay B.:

    Well, that’s your framing and obviously you’re entitled to it. He’s just one guy – yes, he’s the president, but you know, there are a lot of other powerful actors here and abroad that he’s being mindful of. He’s not just a politician that has nothing better to do than sit around all day thinking about ways to stick it to the Republicans for the benefit of making you feel better. He’s chosen this time to pick up the gauntlet. I accept that and I’ll support it. The way it’s received now in the media is notable because he’s forbeared from showing his feisty side until now. So, now he’s pissed. You may think it took too long for your liking, but so what.

  204. 204.

    HumboldtBlue

    Yeah, I’ve never really thought of Frank Luntz as a “word shaman”. I’ve always thought of him as more of a “shit golem”

    That’s full of fucking win.

    There seem to be an awful lot of smart guys here who never got laid. Being both supremely intelligent and ridiculously handsome I can’t say I’ve had the same troubles.

  205. 205.

    Jay B.

    @Cat Lady:

    He’s not just a politician that has nothing better to do than sit around all day thinking about ways to stick it to the Republicans for the benefit of making you feel better.

    Yeah, that’s it. It’s all about me. Of course, it seems that thinking of ways of sticking it to the Republicans was exactly why he was elected in a landslide and Democrats won in 2006 and 2008. To fix what Republicans destroyed. It’s rather amazing to me that it took him a year of getting abused by idiots to figure out that maybe the Republicans weren’t going to buy into his postpartisan ideals.

    I don’t know why reflexive supporters of Obama are willing to ascribe a long-range plan to even his obvious failures (like, for instance, letting Republicans set the terms of the debate on health care reform despite their complete and transparent unwillingness to do anything but obstruct it) and think that he’s somehow knew it would work out this way all along. He’s responding, finally and correctly, to a problem he should have seen all along. Hopefully he will continue to do so in the future, if he wants to see his agenda actually enacted and not ripped to shreds.

  206. 206.

    Hob

    @freelancer: OK, you’re just venting, but I wonder what Notorious P.A.T. thought he was doing. There aren’t a lot of things dumber/creepier than a guy who, when he hears a woman say “I like X” where X is something positive, responds by saying in effect “Bullshit, women don’t like X, they just all say that.” Which is frankly what your rant sounds like too. What the fuck. Life ain’t fair, I’m sure you’ve met a lot of shallow people, we all have. Don’t take it out on the ones who are coming down on the side of non-shallowness.

  207. 207.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    @HumboldtBlue: “There seem to be an awful lot of smart guys here who never got laid. Being both supremely intelligent and ridiculously handsome I can’t say I’ve had the same troubles.”

    Same here. I have to admit that when I was single it was quite a burden to bear but I saddled up, mounted and rode like my life depended on it. ;)

  209. 209.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    @Jay B.: “It’s rather amazing to me that it took him a year of getting abused by idiots to figure out that maybe the Republicans weren’t going to buy into his postpartisan ideals.”

    Surely it couldn’t be that the optics of him assuming office and then immediately dismissing the Republican members of congress as obstructionists that he will never work with unless they did what he wanted would have given the Repubs all of the ammo they needed to attack him from day one, could it? His doing something that would please you would probably alienate more people than it was worth.

    Wankers on the left want a warrior president, someone like Bush but from the left. Never mind that if he did something like this, feeding these wankers (or as some of the wankers refer to it, his “base”) the red meat they crave would make him appear totally partisan, against anything they are for and give them all of the ammo they need to attack him.

    Noooo, if he don’t jump when you say jump then he is a failure.

    I don’t know why reflexive supporters of Obama …

    Shorter JayB: wankwankwankwankwankwank…

    Fuck you. Very much.

  210. 210.

    Cat Lady

    @Jay B.:

    I’m not a reflexive supporter of anything, or if I am I’m as much as a reflexive supporter as you are a reflexive critic. I see a really smart hard working guy acting in good faith to really think through things for the better good. I support that effort, and I think every progressive should too. The alternative is unthinkable. He didn’t get elected by running around sticking it to the Republicans. He got elected because he was calm, thoughtful and attractive in the midst of a financial crisis while John McCain was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. He’s doing what he’s always done, and you’re just projecting.

  211. 211.

    Brien Jackson

    @Tom Hilton:

    Right on cue:

    I think his performance was quite good. But I also think that his appearance there, as if he’d been summoned to explain himself, looks like weakness, especailly in a week in which he already gave a major address. The optics look very dicey to me.

  212. 212.

    Beej

    How the hell does anybody tell anything from that mish-mash that Chuck Todd posted? Can’t he at least be coherent?

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