For some reason, the GOP allowed the cameras to roll at their retreat during a question time session with President Obama, and he spent the next hour and a half depantsing them. Pretty funny stuff:
Link (the embed killed this site for a while and is now not working)
If Mike Pence really is regarded as one of the deep thinkers for the GOP, I’m beginning to understand why they refused to admit Terri Schiavo was brain-dead.
CK Dexter Haven
They
misunderestimated Obama.Richard Bottoms
It’s what we’ve been waiting for. And Obama managed it with giving them a kiss first, or any lube.
arguingwithsignposts
As an O-bot, it was nice to hear Obama act like Jed Bartlett for a change. GOPers are idiots in general. There is no way they can spin *anything* into a positive at this point.
The Dangerman
It was so bad Fox News either didn’t show it or cut away in progress. I caught the tail end (after someone has been depantsed, that may be the wrong phrase to use) of it on CNN. In basketball parlance, it was “in your face, fuckwits”.
Loneoak
I believe this is why ‘pwnd’ was coined.
JoyceH
This event made a very important point.
It is effective (though dirty) politics to spread disinformation and smears about your political opponent, but it’s fatal to start believing your own smears.
If Obama really were the know-nothing inexperienced empty suit, helpless without his teleprompter, that the GOP has been painting him as, letting this encounter go out live on national television would have been a smart move.
But he’s not. So it wasn’t.
birthmarker
Does anyone know if Obama’s appearance at this event was planned ahead? Or was it planned after the State of the Union speech? I was just wondering if the repubs thought this would be some kind of counterbalance to what I thought was a very successful speech Wednesday night.
MagicPanda
Two events (this + SOTU) is too early to call a trend, but I hope that this signals a more in-your-face approach to lies and distortions.
Much better than the previous approach of sitting there and wobbling like a jello salad.
demkat620
I love this guy. This was the best political performance. Evar.
How does he do this? Again and again, he just makes his opponents self destruct and he makes it look effortless.
drew42
I’m watching it right now, and it is pretty good. Wish he did it earlier in the week (or any week) to get more media time, but I like it.
And I see, as usual, Digby sees it in the worst possible light. God bless the woman, great blogger, but her bleak outlook on everything is annoying at times.
arguingwithsignposts
BTW, Season 6 of West Wing. awesomeness. Our president has to deal with sh*t we have no idea about. At least WW pulled back the curtain. /Obot.
It’s easy for us to armchair quarterback, but we aren’t in that seat. I don’t envy obama that seat.
gopher2b
@arguingwithsignposts:
They will send him some shit bill, he won’t urge anyone to pass it because it’s stupid, they will claim he lied to them, Foxnews will show five second video of him saying he will listen to their “good ideas”, someone will say the crap bill is a good idea, they will claim he lied to them (again), someone will ask Obama why he lied to the Republicans, they will claim victory.
gopher2b
I vote for monarchy.
Violet
Can’t wait to see what the nightly news shows make of it. I’ll be watching them just to see if it gets mentioned.
Those GOPers are idiotic for agreeing to televise this event.
Chyron HR
So the President is Bugs Bunny?
imokaywiththis.jpg
dr. bloor
@JoyceH:
This exactly. They’re even dumber and more grandiose than I imagined.
geg6
I only read the transcript, but he was fucking awesome. As arguingwithsignposts said, it was a pure Jed Bartlett moment. I never saw such a thing IRL. Only in Aaron Sorkin scripts.
birthmarker
drew42-I actually think it was well timed for the weekend bloviating. Probably what the repubs hoped, too.
gwangung
Ah, man. Total classic.
JoyceH
@gopher2b:
Hmm. Obama for three or four decades, to be followed by Malia Obama?
That’s a hard proposal to criticize.
The Main Gauche of Mild Reason
I have an unrelated question for the gamers here (including John), since this video’s been hawked to death today.
Trying to decide on the video game I buy this month (more than that and I’d occupy all my time) and the question is: Dragon Age, or Mass Effect 2?
Paul W.
Pence snark via Terri Shivo… that’s what I call a win.
freelancer
Cole,
I take it your title is from last night’s Daily Show?
Mayken
How fast will some PUMA post that he was mean to the representative from Tennessee (for interrupting her just like he did with most of the male reps!) and is therefore a misogynist bastard?
williamc
I think we already know how this one is gonna go down…
“Mr. President, Karl Rove said in a Washington Post editorial that you were insulting to House Republicans at their retreat by calling their views “untrue”, how do you respond?”
“Mr. President, FOX News believes that you are plagiarizing parts of your speeches from the film “The American President” by a teleprompter implanted in your brain, would you care to comment?”
If the DFH’s are happy about anything, the MSM can always find a way to sh!t on the sunshine parade and make it Good News for Republicans…
MagicPanda
@geg6: Now that you mention it, you’re right. It was like watching a scripted performance. If you saw that on a TV show, you would say to yourself, “no one would be able to just refute that stuff so effortlessly and come up with facts and figures off the top of his head like that…”
Comrade Dread
Yes, Pense is a moron
I can’t believe I actually used to vote for this party.
Just Some Fuckhead
Haha. Good one.
Nellcote
It will be interesting to see which clips make it into heavy rotation.
Ash
@freelancer: I assume the title comes from the actual song, the deep introspective lyrics about looking like fools, with their pants on the ground…
Jay B.
I think this signals the return of David Plouffe as the political tactician in the Administration. Axlerod and Emmanuel have sucked at it.
The romantic in me says the calls for him to show some leadership and articulate some actual liberal values convinced at least a few people in the White House to, you know, be Democrats.
Zam
@MagicPanda: Well if they knew the context of our time they might think it’s real. It really isn’t hard to predict exactly what republicans are gonna say.
Tiparillo
RE: Pence
Matt Yglesias has debunked the Pence deep thinker meme for a while. As Matt says today:
Yglesias: Obama at the House GOP Retreat
MagicPanda
@Zam: True. And thus, the feared message discipline of the Republican party of the early 21st century provided the seeds of its own destruction. –Future history books
freelancer
@Ash:
Wyatt Cenac sang that song in old Negro dialect on TDS last night.
Northern Observer
This is how Obama can be a great president. He can teach Democrats how to sell their ideas. Even centrist fuckwits like Byah and Landriau. Show the political space in America how to sell liberal ideas, liberal policy, liberal government. Love to see some Dems in Congress House or Senate start repeating some of these points and rhetorical techniques.
Sly
@Violet:
They were lining up to get autographs from him afterwards, while Sousa was playing on the loudspeaker. Dunno if they showed that on CNN and whatnot, but it was there on C-SPAN. The masochism of it all was quite sad.
General Winfield Stuck
told you he would recalibrate
different church-lady
OMG, that was so rude of him! He really has NO IDEA how to be presidential!
/GOP-freakout-nontroversy-du-jour
tammanycall
@arguingwithsignposts:
If we’re gonna Supergeek about “West Wing”, remember Bartlet was a timid POTUS until “Let Bartlet Be Bartlet” – the first-season episode where he decided he wasn’t going to waste all of his first term running for a second one.
lamh31
Didn’t take long. GOP realized how Obama schoolded them in this video, and now they released a “scating” talking points bulletin “fact checking” Obama’s “talking points” at the retreat.
Cowards!!!
Allan
The White House needs to burn that to DVD and courier it to every Democratic member of congress with a note:
rob!
While I certainly wouldn’t ascribe racism to every problem the GOP has with Obama, I can’t help but think some of these guys JUST CAN’T BELIEVE a black guy could possibly be this smart.
They keep thinking they can show everyone how stupid he is, and he keeps thumping them. This is why they allowed the cameras–they thought they’d mop the floor with him. A few hours later, they realize he kicked their ass, all by himself–no teleprompters, no Rahm, no Axelrod.
The GOP overestimates Palin, underestimates Obama. I hope they keep it up.
SenyorDave
I wish itcould say it might be the start of something, but if people haven’t figured that the GOP are a bunch of lying sacks of shit, this ain’t going to change their minds.
The Republicans are delusional/lunatic/asshole – take your pick. They don’t believe in basic economics, but they will never be called on it.
You have a half trillion dollar structural deficit? Its so obvious that you need a TAX CUT, because if you were running a business and showing a loss, the first thing you would do would be to cut revenue and freeze expenses.
Obama should have a monthly press conference. Just to refute the bullshit (and bitch-slap Major Garrett).
freelancer
@tammanycall:
Yeah, except Leo’s not punting HCR until after priorites numbering #2-13 are addressed first.
I loved this moment today, but the policy/agenda news coming out of the WH today was a bit depressing.
williamc
I haven’t seen it yet, but I wanted to get it in before someone else got there…
“It’s Just Words, not Action, we want Action!”
/PUMA spoofing…
Ash
@rob!: They really thought that their months of excessive drum beating and feces throwing had an effect on him, that he would quiver in fear in front of the might Republitards without his teleprompter.
arguingwithsignposts
@tammanycall:
supergeeking away: i loved that episode, and hope there’s some fo that going on today in the Obama W.H.
Zam
@rob!: I wouldn’t even say it’s just that they can’t believe a black man is doing this, there is also a lot of resentment in such a young guy rolling over the machine they have worked on for so long, it wasn’t long ago these guys were holding the idea of a permanent republican majority.
williamc
@tammanycall:
One of my favorite WW episodes! Let Obama be Obama would be a good tag, but his whole presidency already feels like the Matt Santos Administration writ large, it would be too creepy…
jeffreyw
We watched it and I was amazed that the rethugs thought they could read their talking points and Obama would let them slide like he was a news anchor.
Bob L
This sounds a lot like when the House GOP though they could finish Bill Clinton off by showing his recorded responses to Star’s questions on national TV. Ended up showing them as the tools they were and showing off what a good public speaker Clinton is.
Moments like this really to underscore how much the conservatives demonize anyone who doesn’t agree with them that they can’t see someone like Obama as he is and not the strawman of their imaginations.
Comrade Mary
For those of you who have not seen or heard the original Pants on the Ground, I would like to present General Larry Platt.
Special Canadian* bonus cover by Neil Young.
*OK, not really
Allan
One small point to note: the Repugs at least had the good sense to select their younger, more telegenic, less experienced and therefore less slimed with the stink of Washington spokesmodels to send forth with talking points.
It would be nice to see the Democrats actually developing their bench.
gwangung
Good point. The bench for the Dems are nearly as clownish as the Republicans.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
I was genuinely impressed, which is not something I readily admit to. Obama tagged ’em good. He was quick on his feet and sure of himself. Don’t look for the Republicans to repeat this mistake.
Tomlinson
If Obama is really on the ball, he’ll do the same exact thing with the *dems* next week, and then keep doing this every week for the foreseeable future, one week dems, one week republicans, maybe all at once after a while.
Get that televised if you possibly can.
What this democracy needs is more light on who is doing what and WHY. Less fox and more PBS, if we can swing it. Less bullshit.
jeffreyw
Phew! All this commenting has made me hungry.
aimai
Saw a tweet from some woman idiot in the gop house saying she’d “have to check” Obama’s facts and figures. But she got an autograph!
I think that whoever said it way upthread is right: they absolutely believed their own bullshit and were totally unprepared for a lawyer to be able to think and talk on his feet without a teleprompter. They have been totally inside their own echo chamber.
What I’d like to see is an aggressive follow up to this in their own districts. I’d like to see the DNC or third party groups like MoveOn running adds in each congressional district. “President Obama addressed your representative’s questions and asked him/her personally to let go of animosity and work together for our troops/budget/people…call your representative today and ask them what they’ve done to move america forward?” Sure, a large part of the most vocal right wing base, the teabaggers, will always think Obama and the dems are the real terrorists. But I think Obama and his team are right that there are a lot of independents, former republicans, and just plain desperate people out there who really want government to get something done. He’s just thrown the entire mess into the lap of the GOP. But he and the dems have to actually keep pushing on this meme. If they can just flip Snowe and Collins or one more in the Senate we are golden. Oh, and if Landrieu, Lincoln, Bayh, Nelson and Baucus have a brain transplant.
aimai
demo woman
Close the gap between the rhetoric and the reality.
The dems need to run on this line. Personally I love the smack down of my representative.. Tom Price..
Jay B.
@General Winfield Stuck:
Oh sweet fucking Christ. You were saying he was doing everything just fine as it was and that we were the ones with the problem. Why the hell would he need to recalibrate, if that was the case?
Now he’s “using the bully pulpit”, taking the case to the people, punching Republicans instead of hippies and sounding like a fucking actual Democrat — all things a lot of liberals have been hoping he do, for which we were called naive, whiny, pony-wishing political neophytes who didn’t know that there are far fewer progressives than independents and that Obama was actually playing it perfectly despite losing independent support and sucking the will out of the “base” and…
Oh fuck it. What’s the use?
GregB
You know the visuals and the messaging was bad for the GOP when F
alseox News bails out before it is over.What they don’t like, they disappear.
-G
birthmarker
Aimai- good idea.
Violet
@aimai:
That was Virginia Foxx, that braintrust from NC. I can’t believe she boasted of getting his autograph. That’s pretty lame for someone who smacks him down with lies as much as possible.
jenniebee
Let me be a voice in favor of political steel cage matches. There is something deeply attractive at the thought of tossing, say, Mitch McConnel and James Inhofe in a ring and chanting “two men enter, one man leave!”
SiubhanDuinne
That’s funny, John. Cruel, mean and heartless, but funny.
bemused
The GOP allowed the cameras to roll because they really think they are absolutely fabulous.
Maude
If they admit that Schiavo was brain dead, wouldn’t that mean that they’d have to admit the same thing about Bush and Palin?
gogol's wife
@gwangung:
Yes, John Cole’s wit is still intact, undamaged.
someguy
Millions of years from now, humans will ponder whether there was such a thing as a missing link between homo sapiens, from whom humans of 60,000,000 AD are descended, and a common degenerate little hominid species with plastic hair, tendencies toward incest, and a stubborn proclivity toward the stupidest available option in lab tests. Someone will posit that the Republican Party circa the second millennium was it, but will no doubt be shouted down by the few little subhuman hominids in captivity, who will then insist that they were created, and later go on to demand a tax cut…
SiubhanDuinne
@arguingwithsignposts: I own the full series on DVD, and once a year or so I hunker down, turn off the phone, and treat myself to a West Wing marathon. Not every episode is great, and actually aftr Sorkin left they fumbled for a while, but the worst of West Wing is a lot better than the best of most of what’s out there.
Still at the office so +0, but when I get home tonight I’m pouring myself a big one and watching the C-SPAN coverage of My President pwning the Goopers with a smile and a stiletto.
demkat620
I hate to disagree with digby but, voters eat this shit up. The fact that he stood there, took every question they threw at him and did not falter makes him look strong and knowledgable.
She’s too much afraid of the Halperin CW.
There’s accountability and transparency. Do this every week.
slag
Has Bill Frist watched this video? When can we expect his Pence diagnosis?
aliasofwestgate
@SiubhanDuinne:
They always forget that being a diplomat means more than just being a mediator. *grin* That stiletto tends to stay hidden for various reasons, but it was definitely time for Obama to bring it out. Much to the Rethugs’ total dismay.
General Winfield Stuck
@Jay B.: Don’t agree with anything you write in this comment.
You do know this isn’t FDL, Openleft etc…. don’t you? Maybe you would be happier there. I’m not saying go away, cause I like to hippie punch when they get out of line, but you might feel more comfortable with folks who see it your way is all.:)
And I never said and don’t now that he does everything right. Just not near as bad as folks like you seem to think. The pol reality has changed with wingers getting their 41st vote. Now they can be held responsible for their obstruction and can’t blame it on dems having all the votes they need. He has recalibrated to that new era. And my comment was actually not directed at PUMA;s but those fellow Obots who were getting restless. I don’t expect it to make any difference to you, and the truth is I don’t care if it does or doesn’t/
demkat620
@SiubhanDuinne: Talk about a smart show.
Two Cathedrals. Bartlett arguing with god in Latin.
Steve R.
I wouldn’t go that far, except for the part about a lot of desperate people out there, and I wouldn’t load too much weight on what Obama did today. Having said that, he did quite a lot. He heartened his supporters, probably won some skeptics over, and made his case superbly. Perhaps most important, he made it clear that the GOP is an idea-free zone with virtually nothing positive to offer. The Democrats should hammer on that. It was a performance worthy of President Clinton. The GOP will never dare such a thing again and I think all Democrats are suddenly feeling a little better about November. This one is, anyway.
slag
@Jay B.:
Don’t listen to this jackassery. Stay right where you are.
schrodinger's cat
What happened to the site? Did Tunch land on the server?
JenJen
What a delightful occasion upon which to welcome you back, John!
Was that great or what? And little Lukey Russert with his first big scoop (WH requested live TV; afterward GOPers groused), too.
I’m feeling better. In fact, I’d say we’re All Cole Now.
Peter J
Virginia Foxx is going to use the autograph she got from Obama to create a fake document giving ACORN money to build death camps for seniors.
General Winfield Stuck
@slag: Jackassery? Why I’m just shocked at this, shocked I tell you.
Now
My Plastic Unicorn is shocked, you big meanie:-
Bad Horese's Filly
@jeffreyw: Wow, wouldn’t it be nice if MSM, shamed by this, began to challenge all the BS that comes out of DC? /hopeless dreamer
demo woman
Obama’s smack down was great but the outcome depends on the cut and paste the difference news stations use. Has any one watched FOX?
debbie
Obama’s comeback to Pence’s “boutique tax cuts” crack was priceless!
General Winfield Stuck
@debbie: I like the part where Obama said he might NOT agree with giving a billionaire a tax cut, al la Warren Buffet. ate pence’s lunch on that one.
John O
It was f**king beautiful.
There were 178 Republicans v 1 Democrat.
And it was an epic ass-whooping. I watched the whole thing, glued.
Jess
@schrodinger’s cat: tee hee!
lizzy
I made the mistake of leaving the TV on after the Q & A and heard the news conference with the “media” afterwards. Now I know this isn’t exactly what Lynne Sweet’s question was, but I could have sworn I heard her ask Boehner – ‘Obama called you fat. Are you going to tell him his mama wears combat boots?’ I could be wrong…..
Jay B.
@slag:
Thanks! I would have anyway, but its nice to hear. I just find it funny that I’m a “firebagger” when I’m explicitly supporting what the President said today.
I do find the reflexive support of Obama, or rather, the claim that dissent is respected on some theoretical level, so long as it falls within some kind of vague and ill-defined parameters by self-appointed arbiters of “sensible” political thought, to be pretty off-putting around here.
Kobie
And boom goes the dynamite.
eastriver
@Jay B.:
I’m with you, Jay. You’re wasting your breath. General Stuck is… generally… stuck.
(Obama hasn’t shown this kind of fire for months. Some of the motivation is surely the fear that he’s losing some of his base. Not all his base. The Obamanauts will always and forever have his back, no matter what. But many of the rest of us, Obama supporters, not worshipers, will keep hammering and screaming when we feel betrayed. Will he listen to everything? Fuck no. And he shouldn’t. But he’ll hear the noise. And that’s enough to scare Plouffe. Believe me, when Plouffe came onboard a few days ago, and probably a couple of weeks before he was made official, Obama and he had a conversation which can be boiled down to: “You’re losing some base that we’re going to need for 2010.”)
Bad Horse's Filly
Somehow I misspelled my own name and am in moderation because of it. I’m sure I said something brilliant, but I can’t remember what it was. Is this what getting old feels like, John? (ducks and runs).
freelancer
LOL, the top story on Drudge:
[Obama outside in shades]
MORE RULES: Obama to take on College Football
aka
Run Away!
Violet
@demo woman:
No, but watched NBC Nightly News. It was the lead story, but the clips were rather meh. I saw some of the smackdown at the gym today, but if I hadn’t seen that and read about it online I wouldn’t have gotten much of an impression that Obama did anything impressive from the NBC clips and commentary.
That being said, the visuals of Obama going to the Republicans’ meeting and taking their questions says a lot. Shows he’s willing to meet them halfway. That alone does a lot.
rootless_e
@eastriver: I’m totally convinced that the bed-wetting poutocracy is the base of something, but it’s not the base of Obama’s support or of the Democratic party.
JK
Then Larry the Cable Guy is the intellectual heir to William F. Buckley.
BR
Anyone see any of the nightly newscasts to see how they covered it?
mr. whipple
Probably a repost as I’m cooking dinner, but Cspan is showing the replay of Obama kicking ass at 8 EST.
Enjoy!
Ash
Hah, I just realized that Obama chuckled and said “this guy” in reference to Pence about 20 minutes in.
JK
h/t http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/29/obama-goes-to-the-gop-lio_n_442331.html
MikeJ
@Ash: Pity he didn’t say, “that one.”
demkat620
@Violet: Yeah but always happens with stuff he does, it goes viral. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and he said to go look at the views for Obama’s stuff and people spread this stuff word of mouth.
I think the media really doesn’t give people enough credit. I heard Chuck Toddler on Morning Joke this morning say that the SOTU speech played really, really well outside of Washington but the Villagers didn’t like it so it was a failure. Again, voters eat this shit up.
eastriver
@rootless_e:
I’m not talking about the pundits. I’m talking about people like me. Who campaigned for Obama. Gave money. Alot. Etc.
I was never a Kool-aid drinker. But I had high hopes. And those hopes have been throughly deflated over the past 6 months. And there are many, many people like me. The SOTU, and the performance today, are signs of something better. Much fun to watch. And surely conversation shifters. So they almost count as “actions.”
Almost.
slag
@Jay B.:
I think there’s some truth to this statement. But given the examples Cole has shown us, it seems pretty obvious that some of the left has gone out into…well…left field.
That said, I agree that if someone wants to claim that there is an appropriate method of dissent, it is incumbent upon that person–especially!–to model that particular method on a somewhat regular basis.
Violet
@BR:
Yes, see my post above.
@JK:
I thought that was Joe the Plumber.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Jay B.:
Yeah, I agree with this.
I heard a rumor the site was gonna be renamed to “40 moms, Obamacans and John”.
General Winfield Stuck
@Jay B.: @Jay B.:
This is some flowery shit. But shit just the same. You and others have been blaming Obama for every damn thing but the price of tea in China for months. And then claim we who have called your BS tribal hysteria for what it was, you get all pissy about kicking hippies and real progressives, declaring Obama and dems are doomed at the ballot box and we are the evil Obama cultists and you are the purveyors of righteous libtardism. The history revision now that Obama may be cool again is puke funneling more RW style tactics and framing, hopefully the last for a little while.
And you accused me of saying everything Obama does is fine. Never did. But pretty damn good for a first year president.
eastriver
@Jay B.:
Let’s leave the sensible language to our Brave Leader. I’m a wheel that needs to squeak.
demo woman
@freelancer: OMG.. I just clicked on it and went to the SI article and it’s Orrin Hatch who is after a rule change. lol I just love bipartisanship.
ruemara
Ive been reading the transcripts while making the condiments for the week:
Food Porn Break
Artichoke-Fire Roasted Tomato Bruschetta
&
Kiwi Green Chili Salsa,
and I feel like my ass got kicked by how brilliant this whole damn thing was. And for all the teleprompter whiners, this was mostly off the cuff. Waygo O!
eastriver
@General Winfield Stuck:
I might be wrong, Jay, but I think the General just said that you DO look fat in those jeans.
(The General of the Strawmen Army of Northern Virginia, apparently.)
MikeJ
It looks like some on the left have adopted the republican definition of “respecting dissent”, i.e., if we don’t agree with your dissent we don’t respect it.
I’m fully capable of respecting dissent and *still* thinking you’re a moron.
demo woman
@eastriver: All the President needs is a big megaphone.. Maybe we can chip in and buy NBC from GE or comcast or whoever.
Jay B.
@eastriver:
Totally agree on all counts.
Further proof of your thesis:
It’s just bizarre. Clearly this is a change of direction, and equally clearly it just so “happened” at the same time Plouffe came back, and it actually shows a Obama taking a different, more aggressive tact that many Democrats have been pleading for to make a clear, pro-Democratic case, and now that, for whatever reason, it happens, we’re still being marginalized for being unimportant even though Obama is, at least at the moment, responding to a demoralized segment of the party.
aimai
rootless E:
I disagree. Obama and Plouffe are very explicitly reacting to two things simultaneously: the loss of MA, the vocal anger of former supporters, and a sense that the narrative is getting away from the Dems. That’s *their response*–its not some kind of freaky “poutrage” from FDL, or from random online commenters. Stuck is an asshole who wants to argue that all Obama/Dem problems stem from lack of faith from weak willed dems. That’s not the case. Obama and the Dems didn’t use the power they had, couldn’t get their agenda across, and now need to work much harder to climb the hill back to either a useable majority or to swing some republican votes their way. That’s just the terrain of the next few years. I love Obama personally, and support him and the dems regardless of their failings. But those are just the facts: they’ve shown they can’t get anything done without centrist republican help, and they can’t control their own centrists. They know, if Stuck doesn’t, that they are going to have to work frantically hard to keep the seats they ‘ve got, increase seats in the house and senate, and defenestrate the worst elements of the republican party. This has zip to do with democratic voters who were watching and weren’t satisfied–we aren’t the problem. If anything we were the bellwether that they should have been watching and are now responding to.
Obama and his admin made some mistakes. Axelrod came out today and said they had no plan B for what to do if they lost the MA senate seat and they weren’t watching the race closely enough to realize that they were losing it until ten days before the election. Brown did not win that race because of the firebaggers, or JayB, or me. He won that race because independents and weak democrats (not informed, angry democrats, uninformed ones) couldn’t figure out what the problem was in Washington. Obama and Plouffe have realized, thank god, that they are going to have to take the democrats show on the road and fight like hell. That’s all that jayb, me, and lots of other people have been saying. Now they are doing it. And we’re happy.
aimai
General Winfield Stuck
@eastriver: If you don’t shut yer trap, I’m going to post a furry critter pic.
freelancer
@demo woman:
You mean the right-wing online media linked to a story that, in fact, proves the opposite of what they are claiming it says?
My gob. It is smacked.
Of course, this is probably central to their point.
General Winfield Stuck
@aimai:
Gosh aimai, and here I been treating you nice and all. Insults in liew of facts, that’s so not academic.
MobiusKlein
BTW, if you see lots of requests for https://balloon-juice.com/crossdomain.xml in your logs, blame the flash media player on the website.
It’s doing something – the player itself is trying to access the website it’s hosted on, for some reason.
edit – probably what was killing your site.
If you make a crossdomain.xml (flash security thing) that disallows access, it might fix it. I’d find an example somewhere…
asiangrrlMN
I keep saying it, but I can’t get over how deeply, profoundly stupid Mike Pence is. At a fundamental level. I am now listening to the smackdown (C-SPAN went down earlier), and I wish there was a way I could watch Obama’s response without listening to the Republicans leading questions because they are, for the most part, full of shit.
daryljfontaine
The old gray mare, she ain’t what she used to be
D
gex
Now this is more like it. I thought that the coalition might have been happy there for a moment.
eastriver
@demo woman:
He has a Big Megaphone! The pulpit of bully. If he wants, he can grab himself an hour of prime-time WHENEVER THE HELL HE WANTS IT.
He just needs better cat herders. He can’t do it all himself.
What he did today was invaluable because it was IN PUBLIC. For all to see and appreciate.
Surely this must help to shift the narrative. I sincerely hope that it will. And if the meta narrative shifts to GOP BLOCKING OBAMA’S SENSIBLE PLANS then action is possible.
Time shall tell.
General Winfield Stuck
@aimai:
Now your just making shit up
this is so precious. A lie, but a precious one.
Dan
Just for a moment, imagine if Bush met with Dems in the same way . . . ahh, forget it. They quivered in the face of his lies and stupidity; they’d have never challenged him in any way, anyway.
mr. whipple
I’d agree to some extent, and each has their own viewpoinht of where Obama has fallen short. I think that’s fair and constructive.
But what drew me to this place is some sense of balance, fairness, grace. That not everything Obama does is wrong or inadaquate or just words. It’s a recognition that he inherited the biggest pile of shit that any president in my memory, and that fixing stuff takes time, and that mistakes will be made, and the guy is human.
On certain other ‘progressive’ blogs, it’s nonstop Obama bashing. That’s fine, too, but I’ve deleted them from my daily reading tabs because it’s just become insane, and further, I don’t know what purpose it serves to be nonstop negative and derogatory.
rootless_e
@aimai:
Gallup polls before SOTU show 87% of Democrats “approve” of the President. It’s not that any of us have been arguing that Obama’s presidency has been perfect, it’s that we’ve been arguing that the firebag assault is neither based on any kind of rational analysis nor productive. I don’t see what an alliance with Grover Norquist on a fake scandal does for me or for the Democratic Party and I’m really pissed off that people who do that kind of thing claim to speak for me. Fuck them and their bathtubs.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
What is most striking about the Republicans is that they think bi-partisanship is the Democrats accepting the Republican alternative in total. It isn’t acceptable for Obama and the Democrats to incorporate the Republican proposals, Democrats must accept Republican proposals in place of those proposed by Democrats.
eastriver
@General Winfield Stuck:
Please feel free to zip your pants up at the first available opportunity, General. Your “furry critter” is eye-balling my popcorn.
Ash
Also, I’m not one for violence against women, but since I’ve got a vagina too, I’d have no problem punching Marsha Blackburn in the face.
General Winfield Stuck
LMAOFOTF – yea, it’s all cause of your concern aimai and pig ignorant notions on politics. Cole give this woman a medal. She and JayB and eastriver and Jane are why Obama has seen the light. We should build a statue of thanks somewhere.
Leelee for Obama
@JoyceH: I would settle for that without a single qualm. He was totally awesome and I haven’t enjoyed anything this much in ages!
ecks
To those saying he was standing up for liberal values – not even really true, he was standing up for the type of centrist understanding that gives Tweety wood.
We’re just not used to anybody defending it competently, or demanding on TV that REPUBLICANS actually try it too.
Oh yes, and he wasn’t putting up with them lying at will. Also a massively refreshing novelty.
asiangrrlMN
@mr. whipple: I agree with this. I have my own issues with Obama and how he’s handled certain issues, but the incessant ‘he’s just like Bush’ or ‘he’s worse than Bush’ and all that shit really wore me down. Some on the left have taken to displaying everything Obama and company have done in the worst light possible. Nothing seemed to be good enough. I am pretty far left on the continuum, but when I started following politics closely, I realized that it’s pretty damn hard to get sweeping change done in a blink of an eye in our government.
I love the smackdown as much as the next person, but there has to be more to it than just Obama laying down the board. He can’t do everything. He just cannot.
Who the fuck is this Chaffetz twit? Republicans were not obstructionists? My god. The stoopid, it burns.
Just Some Fuckhead
I like how you rebut the notion of being an asshole by being an asshole, Stuck. You’re not very bright, are ya?
General Winfield Stuck
@Just Some Fuckhead: But you are my bestest Huckleberry fuckhead, always will be.
And we are all assholes here. The truth will set you free.
MobiusKlein
ie, a file named crossdomain.xml at the root of balloonjuice
gt;?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?lt;
gt;cross-domain-policy xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance” xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation=”http://www.adobe.com/xml/schemas/PolicyFile.xsd”lt;
gt;allow-access-from domain=”none” secure=”false”/lt;
gt;site-control permitted-cross-domain-policies=”master-only”/lt;
gt;/cross-domain-policylt;
should keep other flash apps from crawling your page, which may have been causing some problems.
(Also that flash app has other issues too, but that’s beyond a small post in a firefight.)
eastriver
@General Winfield Stuck:
Is it possible for you to have an argument, Stucky, without completely distorting the opposing view? Doesn’t the Strawman Army of Northern Virginia have an intelligence unit?
General Winfield Stuck
I wonder if aimai will use the capital A in her next comment just to show me whas up.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: But..but..but..HE’S THE MESSIAH!! HE CAN DO ANYTHING!!
(I’ll never get tired of how the right called him that. As if that was going to disparage anyone from voting for him.)
I’d stay and have fun with y’all but I’m just checking in before I head to dinner at the ranch.
blackwaterdog
@birthmarker:
It was announced before the STOU, but having cameras during the Q&A was a a last minute demand by the White House. Somehow it turned to be the best thing they’ve done in a long time.
Jay B.
Laughably false. I think he didn’t do nearly enough on health care, his message was muddled, his leadership was lacking and no one on the Hill knew which way the wind was blowing because of it. That said, it’s ALSO Congress’ fault, and probably mostly so. Both things can be true.
I’m not even sure what you are trying to think here, never mind say, but first, I don’t think there’s any question that the Democrats, as it stands, are fucking screwed at the ballot box if they don’t actually pass the agenda they claimed to support. Is that even a controversial statement? Even the Brown election aside, I’d say that was undeniably true. Obama and Reid especially have wasted an entire year looking for “bipartisan” support on health care. That’s a smart move, you think? You think Independents were charmed by it? They’ve abandoned the President and their support of his agenda in droves. He can get them back, but he has to stand for something. They only care about results, not rhetoric.
How is it “history revision” to say that Obama showed today the reasons why many of us supported him in the first place and that it was much needed?
It’s so much bullshit, “RW style tactics and framing” — as if you don’t sound like any generic asshole Bush supporter circa 2003 toward those who dare to question the President. Note, I don’t give a shit about Jane Hamsher. I don’t think of her, never mind obsess the way you do. That’s her problem, not mine.
I’m an ordinary liberal Democrat. Have been all my life. I like Obama on a personal level and have been largely disappointed with him since last spring. I’m happy to see him whip a roomful of Republicans — on the political level, less so the therapeutic — using their own words and agenda against them. It was smart and I think it helps the Democratic agenda. Is that so hard to understand?
rootless_e
For example, here’s emptywheel on the SOTU
That’s not “criticism”, it is characteristic stupidity. Instead of trying to understand what is happening, the FDL crowd repeatedly resorts to the model they have of Obama inside their little heads and then speculates from that about what is going to happen and why in terms of would-be insider drivel.
dmsilev
@John O:
Last night, I was watching Kill Bill, vol 1. Remember that big fight scene near the end, with Uma Thurman vs. some large number of henchmen? The one that ended up with the floor covered with detached henchman limbs? It was like that.
Though the mental image of Mike Pence in a Japanese schoolgirl uniform is going to give me nightmares tonight.
-dms
JK
Just Some Fuckhead, General Winfield Stuck
Speaking of assholes:
Broken Hearts Are For Assholes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x80h_JiOTZs
Yutsano
@dmsilev: There is not enough brain bleach in existence or that can be created that could purge that mental image. Dammit.
ruemara
Brethren, Sistren, Indeterminate, Lend Me Your Ears!
Can we have 1 leetle bitsy thread about a damn good start to the weekend by our charming president of our feckless, annoying, stupid party, without the chest beating?
Most Dems are happy with him, progressives less so. Is it possible progressives are “forcing him to be more aggressive”? Possibly. It could also be that he did it “their” way, by playing it safe and said, “that shit ain’t working, time to do it my way”. End Scene. Either way, it’s a bloody good thing and what you could do to channel this…exuberance is suggest your congress peeps capitalize on it or be finished. Just a thought, now back to your regularly scheduled hectoring of people who mostly share your values.
OOoo look! Blackwaterdog is here! More pics pls!
eastriver
@ruemara:
But… But… The General is so damn punchable.
(sigh)
Okay, truce.
(half-heartedly blowing on sad little party horn)
Wheeeee.
dmsilev
@Yutsano: I find that pain is easier to stand if it’s spread around.
Sweet dreams…
-dms
gwangung
I thought his hookers were supposed to be discrete about things like that…
Jay B.
Could I point out that “approval” and “enthusiasm” are two separate things and that right now, the Republicans are “enthusiastic” to vote whereas the Democrats are not? You know, if you want to cite polls.
My deep thought is that it would be a good thing if Democrats got Democrats enthusiastic to vote for them.
I wonder how they can do that?
General Winfield Stuck
@Jay B.:
Was wondering when you would pull out the Bush/like card. Classy. You and aimai can rewrite history all you want and continue to falsely take credit for the natural progression of Obama and the learning curve of every first year president. I don’t really care. And we will rinse repeat with the next issue and you will again falsely claim credit when Obama stumbles along learning as he goes before getting it right. This movie has already rerun many times and will many more before it’s over. And so will this minor flame war. Think long dude.
And dems are going to lose seats, and if they don’t bite the bullet and pass HCR they will feel the extra pain at the ballot box in Nov. And your angst will give you grey hairs, but so be it. Better you than me. Obama ain’t doin so bad
rootless_e
@Jay B.: I just guess I’m unclear on how “fuck Rahm” and “Obama is fool” are the themes that are going to get us there.
Just Some Fuckhead
All of this obsession with Jane Hamsher reminds me of the obsession rightwingers had for Jane Fonda.
Must be a Jane thing.
ruemara
@eastriver:
It’s good karma for sending joelieberman yiddish insults on twitter.
um, not that I personally do that.
eastriver
@Jay B.:
WORDS < ACTIONS
General Winfield Stuck
@eastriver: My idiot stick weeps for you.
Gravenstone
If you children would care to take a break from the fratricide, MSNBC is showing the question session, with interjections of commentary from Tweety, KO and Rachel. It’ll give you a chance to re-savor the smackdown and find new targets for ire (depending on your personal takes re. the commentators). Meanwhile, you might give the rest of us a respite from your interminable infighting.
eastriver
@ruemara:
my favorite:
Gai kaken oifen yam! – Get lost (Lit: Go shit in the ocean!)
eastriver
@General Winfield Stuck:
If your idiot stick keeps weeping, I would suggest lots of penicillin.
General Winfield Stuck
@Jay B.: And I want to apologize for suggesting you should consider leaving here. That was out of bounds by me and am sorry I posted it. :-)
Jay B.
@rootless_e:
Well, your way of railing against liberals who want a more aggressive show of support for things we all believe in as Democrats is a better way of doing it. Maybe you could call them idiots too.
I’d say, that regardless of poor Rahm’s feelings, people would enthusiastically support the Democrats and Obama if they pass health care, for starters and get around to passing a robust jobs bill AND unemployment gets below 8% soon.
Let’s see who’s right.
Ash Can
@Ash:
@MikeJ:
He probably wanted to say “Now, Dickless over here…”
Mike in NC
Obama took every GOP strawman, doused it with gasoline, and struck a match to it. BZ.
slag
@ruemara: I agree that the chestbeating is counterproductive.
One of the things that Obama modeled here is how to talk to people we disagree with. When Pence stood up and asked his idiotic question, Obama didn’t respond, “Are you really that stupid?”. Most of us would have loved it if he did. But there’s a reason he didn’t, and I think we all know what that reason is. He wasn’t trying to convince Mike Pence of anything (could you imagine?). He was demonstrating to the audience that his methods of thinking were better. That he was better.
People claim that Obama’s a genius, but they don’t seem to want to follow his example very often. Is that because they don’t really believe that or because they don’t want to be geniuses themselves? I haven’t decided.
Svensker
@Gravenstone:
I will join you in a wish for peace on this point. Bickering is very irritating.
But I am going to go LIE down (NOT lay down, no object) on the couch now and watch something completely mindless, like HGTV. With my blankie cuz my head hurts and it’s cold.
Speaking o’which, whatever happened to the View From Your Couch, John Cole?
And Another Thing...
@asiangrrlMN: Chaffetz is a freshman rep from Provo, Utah – one of the most conservative places in America. And Kitty Dukakis, yes, that Kitty Dukakis, is his mother. Up to now, his main claim to fame is opposing the new body scanners that TSA wants to use. The only good news is that the guy he beat was about 10 times worse than he is.
Am watching the SPAN rebroadcast of Obama. Man, the GOP really hates the “no ideas, no solutions” moniker and being called the “party of no.” This is good stuff.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Svensker:
I think it was replaced with “The View From Your Bone Crushing Fall”.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@schrodinger’s cat:
John tried uploading a picture of Tunch and overloaded the server.
batgirl
This is what I don’t get and it is crystal clear that Democrats don’t either. We had an election. Elections matter. They have consequences. The people liked the Democrats ideas better. That means that the Republicans don’t get to direct the conversation. That means that they don’t get as big a say as Democrats.
Aaghh, I’m listening to the Republican bullshit on the CSPAN replay. We’re victims. You are bullying us. We can’t put our ideas forward. Pelosi is strong-arming us. Bullshit! Obama is kicking their asses.
MikeJ
@slag:
And he knew that his audience wasn’t even in the room. I know we hate the concept of talking to republicans, but the salt of the earth voters, you know, morons, they eat that shit up.
A different West Wing episode that today reminded me of was the government shut down. Bartlett made it appear that he cared what republicans thought, republicans shat on him, and the public was able to recognize who the bad guys were.
rootless_e
@Jay B.: Well, your way of railing against liberals who want a more aggressive show of support for things we all believe in as Democrats is a better way of doing it. Maybe you could call them idiots too.
I’d say, that regardless of poor Rahm’s feelings, people would enthusiastically support the Democrats and Obama if they pass health care, for starters and get around to passing a robust jobs bill AND unemployment gets below 8% soon.
It has nothing to do with Rahm’s feelings and everything to do with the feelings of people who read the stuff that appears on “progressive” blogs. A message of constant panic, fear, defeat, misery, and contempt for the administration and the Democratic Party is a message that makes me angry.
Svensker
@Just Some Fuckhead:
LOL. Ouch.
Liberty60
I am late to the party, but am watching it now;
It reminds me of nothing so much as the Prime Minister’s Question and Answers period in the British House of Commons.
I have long felt that having something like that would be a good improvement here; regardless of who the parties are, having the Pres and Congress having to think on their feet, outside of the scripted talking points is a good thing; one never knows who will end looking the idiot.
demo woman
@eastriver: I have read and reread your comments and have tried to find some type of deep thinking but can’t. What are you smoking? Is John sharing his drugs with you? Admittedly you are entertaining but the President can’t just spread fairy dust and make every thing better.
SiubhanDuinne
@demkat620 #76
Oh yes, that’s classic. But the English is pretty powerful stuff too:
“YOU FECKLESS THUG!!”
Liberty60
And oh yeah and within the first 10 minutes he already pwned Mike Pence, reminding him of how they all went to ribbon cuttings for projects they voted against.
Damn, this is the guy I voted for.
Tsulagi
Pretty much.
May have been a case of the really deep thinkers like Pence believing their retards in arms like Malkin and Commander EE that Obama can’t talk unless it’s from a prepared speech on a teleprompter. Those two have long got themselves off referring to Obama as the TOTUS, Teleprompter of the US. Talk about cooked intelligence in more ways than one.
So no doubt the collective brain trust of the House GOP thought they were laying a really brilliant trap. And these are the guys who believe they’re grand strategerist thinkers in the GSAVE and national security.
eastriver
@demo woman:
A) No deep thinking going on. Sorry to make you read and re-read.
B) I’m not asking for magic. Just leadership that results in action that results in change. I’m not asking much. Certainly not magic.
C) All I strive for is to be entertaining.
D) I don’t smoke or drink. (Isn’t that sad?)
gwangung
That suggests to me that rephrasing the concerns would work better. I think Obama had a demonstration of that this afternoon.
Mayken
@Ash: I’ll be in line behind you. What a tool!
General Winfield Stuck
Yes. And belies the cries from hinterleft land, such as aimae, who was just a few threads ago telling us there was no center and no point in trying to be bipartisan, at least making an effort to. And Obama since day one has been rejecting stock wingnut solutions carried over from Bush, mindless tax cuts and the like, but has still made the effort for the reasons you state Mike. Today he just met with them all in the same room and on teevee and did what he has been doing all along. Setting boundaries but willing to listen.
I will stop now and not punch no more hippies lest they swing again in this thread. And will offer them some tea and a nice soft pillow to lay their heads on. Let peace reign once again.
Ash
@And Another Thing…:
Utah confuses the fuck out of me. It’s one of the most socially conservative places in the developed world, yet politically, they’re all kind of centrist/not crazy. Do not compute.
area man
@Liberty60:
Well put. Regular, unscripted Q&A sessions between the exec and congress would also have the highly salutary effect of cutting out the oh-so-helpful interpretation from our dimwitted, meme obsessed punditocracy.
And, as Rachel Maddow noted, this rather does put the whole ‘can’t speak without a telemprompter!eleventy!” to bed.
I really enjoyed this media event and would like the RNC to know I support their efforts in offering televised access to our gummint in action!
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
Jay B.: “I do find the reflexive support of Obama …”
As I stated in the other thread where you repeat this (yet again), fuck you. Fuck you very much. With a rusty, barnacle encrusted anchor. Then go for a swim. At the very least may I suggest a long walk off a short pier?
eastriver:
Fixed.
I know. :)
inkadu
@area man: Who let Chris Matthews back on TV?
eastriver
@DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):
Doug, you’re giving comedy a shot. How horizon-stretching of you.
Keep it up. Gold star. Pat on the head.
And what’s this? An emoticon? Ah, typable irony. How last-fucking-decade of you.
Just Some Fuckhead
I think the Brawl in Baltimore was instructive. I had no idea how centrist Obama is and how many Republican ideas he has incorporated into his policies. THIS is clearly what America wanted when they put the largest Democratic majorities in the House and Senate since practically forevah! I’m also sick of the false equivalency with “the left” every time he gently admonishes Republicans for being treasonous snakes bent on the destruction of America.
I still say he doesn’t get it. If he’s trying to appear reasonable so a crazy Republican doesn’t up and shoot him, yeah, I can dig that. If, OTOH, he thinks America is crying out for a Republican reacharound, I think we’re doomed next election.
Set phasers to kill, Obots.
Carrie
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Spit Take!
Sorry, but that was fucking hilarious.
And Another Thing...
@Ash: Sadly, No. The state is run by the Republican party, and the R party is run by the very, very, hard right. They are crazy. John Huntsman – a rational R – would rather be in China than dealing with the wacko Legislature. These are the guys who were p1ssed at the Secret Service because they weren’t going to be allowed to carry concealed weapons in to a Cheney speech. James Okeefe of pimp & Landrieu’s office was the scheduled key note speaker at the Salt Lake County GOP Lincoln dinner. and on and on…
eastriver
@DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):
Hang on, Dougie. I just realized you called me a Hillary supporter. Where did that come from? Before it ended up in your ass, I mean. (Because that’s obviously where you pulled it from.)
slag
@MikeJ:
Hey–I eat that shit up. Not because I think it will get us anywhere with rightwingers. But rather because I see the current Republican Party as a symptom of a non-trivial level of cultural vacuity in America. And anytime someone can raise the level of our discourse–even momentarily–it keeps me from feeling like I’m sinking into a bullshit abyss from which I will never escape again. Essentially, how I felt during the entire Bush Administration. So, yes, I happily eat that shit up.
I will also add that this is the same reason why I find the incessant internecine foodfight so discouraging. And that includes every side (including myself sometimes).
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@eastriver: “Ah, typable irony. How last-fucking-decade of you.”
I did that just for you. Seriously. I noticed awhile ago that you get excited by little things like that. It’s like watching a lab rat press a button for their reward.
Really, it’s that cute!
@eastriver:
Boy are you running slow today…lol!
Jay B.
@DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):
Yeah, not reflexive at all. How off could I be?
Do you try and self-refute your own attempts at making a point or is it just a unconscious gift?
area man
@inkadu:
Does Chris Matthews exist anywhere but television? I think if I saw him in (so called) real life I would reflexively reach for the remote.
Which is somewhat unfair as I’m still of two minds about him. I’m watching MSNBC’s recap and Matthews was rather explicit about how Marcia Blackburn was full of it with her ‘we gotta healthcare bill, too!” nonsense. Then I see his promo on MSNBC where he says being a journalist and asking touqh questions gets him off. How does he get that giant orange head through the door?
In any case, I’m enjoying this media event and would like Fox News to know that I would consider becoming a viewer if they would offer up more of the same! Why did they cut away? I’m sure some Republican stalwart would have rhetorically TKO’d the prez soon if they had just hung in there.
eastriver
@DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):
You did it just for me? Like a b-day prezzie? “Seriously”?
I’m touched, Douglas. (I’ll wash later.)
I’m not biting at that lol bait, you scamp! (much finger wagging)
gnomedad
@MikeJ:
I just remembered that Jed Bartlet was (also) a Nobel Prize winner. Who’da thunk it?
Montysano
Today had nothing to do with bipartisanship. Today was about forcing the GOP out into the sunlight, about making them own their actions. It was, at long last, about trying to make them pay a political price for their lunacy and obstructionism. Will it work? Who knows? I’ve now watched it twice, but do the masses give a shit?
eastriver
@Jay B.:
ker-SMACK
Mayken
@inkadu: Right there with you. Why is this man on my tv? But then again, don’t they still give air time to Pat Buchanan? What do you have to say/do to get MSNBC to pull you off the air?
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
Wow, the rubber/glue bit? Good one!
You dismiss people who disagree with you (on Obama) as his mindless supporters, in turn we dismiss everyone who says stupid shit like that as deranged detractors.
See how that works? It’s pretty easy once you think about it.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Mayken:
Ask Donahue.
Nellcote
@inkadu:
Tweety just compared rightwing goopers to the Khymer Rouge!
slag
@gnomedad: You know…I totally forgot about that. People keep comparing Obama to that second WW President–what’s his name? But I stopped watching West Wing after season three and know nothing about that guy. However, the similarities btwn Obama and Bartlet were striking to everyone before he took office and continue to this day. And now, the Nobel…how could I forget?
And seriously, the first part of season 1 was eerily similar to Obama’s first year. Down to the first (controversial) Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. That dude never got enough screen time, IMHO. He was a great character.
Mayken
@Just Some Fuckhead: Ah, yeah, I forgot. ;-)
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@eastriver:
“I’m touched, Douglas.”
I would rather you keep that ‘self-help’ stuff to yourself.
” (I’ll wash later.)”
Good. I would recommend doing so, especially if you are going to be handling food.
Mayken
@slag: Matt Santos (the second President) was actually based on Obama. Josh Lyman is based on Rahm.
Also, yeah, when you have a character played by Edward James Olmos you really need to use him more!
eastriver
@DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):
Naw, you lost it, Mr. L.
The “self-help” line is missing bite, and the “handling food” is both not hitting and not referenced.
Thanks for playing!
Nellcote
@Mayken:
Prez. Obama got Sotomeyer to the Supreme Court. spooky!
Liberty60
@slag:
Episodes like tonight show that Obama is a far better President, a far better servant of the people espousing moderate positions than most DNC politicians would be as a true blue liberal.
Yes, I have a photo of him on my bedside table with hearts around it. So what?
inkadu
@area man (et al): I’ve spent perhaps 90 minutes watching Chris Matthews in the past ten years, and here’s what I’ve come up with:
He doesn’t bring anything to the table but a cliquish sensibility of who is in and who is out. He doesn’t really care about policy or politics. He merely works on the levels of personality and popularity. As such, I really have no use for him. He’s turned politics into People magazine.
I was just surprised that after his embarrasing post-SOTU performance they might pull him from special episodes for the week. Guess not.
Lisa
LOL. “Pants on the ground” is the best post title ever. So apt too.
General Winfield Stuck
@Liberty60:
LOL
FTW!
AxelFoley
@General Winfield Stuck:
I’m glad you “stuck” around, General. I thought you were leaving this place the other day.
General Winfield Stuck
@AxelFoley: Guess I’m a little like Cole with his galting FAIl.- and gracias :)
Lab Partner
This little GOPer fiasco kinda reminded me of the prison cafeteria scene in “Watchmen”. Would have been perfect had Obama said,
But hey, like I said, it “kinda reminded me”
Martin
@Gravenstone:
I’m going to throw a huge tip to MSNBC for doing this. I’m watching it now. They took an event, that was expected to be unnewsworthy, and decided to elevate it to basically the equivalent to the SOTU. They could have left the commentary out, they certainly could tone it down a touch, but they’re putting the event in primetime as real news.
From many perspectives, this is one of Obama’s best days in 2 years. If he can do this regularly, and the media treats it seriously, we all win. I’d like to see a similar thing with Senate republicans and then with both House and Senate democrats in the same room. Now, Obama’s not going to wipe the floor with the Senate GOP because you know sure as fuck that they will come a LOT better prepared than this crew did, and I imagine an event like this with both the House and Senate GOP would be fairly contentious as well, but this is the kind of governance we deserve. I’m serious, I would tune into this every week.
Ron
@Tomlinson:
There’s no way the GOP is going to let a repeat of today happen again.
TuiMel
Watching Obama listen to the prattling Marsha Blackburn made me think he would prefer to drive a nail into his forehead than have to listen to her for more than 15 seconds (or maybe that was just me who felt that way).
I also thought that his surface graciousness and smiles were meant to be appear as spoonfuls of sugar to help all the medicine go down. I’m sure they felt more like shivs to those who were on the receiving end.
Obama is a smart guy who was seasoned in the crucible of a presidential campaign that pitted him against a very smart and seasoned woman candidate. His own smarts and that kind of experience makes him formidable in a debate with other politicians. It does not shock me that no Republican member of the house could not hold his / her own with him. They were overmatched on both substance and on form (the office of POTUS has some serious stature). I am surprised that Boehner and company agreed to televise a forum for which there was so much downside in it for them. I guess they felt it worth the risk – sort of like nominating Sarah Palin for VP. As such it will probably feel like a win for their supporters and sow horror in the hearts of opponents. I can only hope that Obama’s performance today persuades the multitudes in the middle and gives heart to people like me (I feel heartened FWIW) who felt he was not doing enough to drive and hold the public narrative. This week has felt good. I hope it continues.
inkadu
@Martin: If Obama continued events like these, televised, they would get worse. Republicans would double down on the idiocy and begin to lose deference until even Obama would have to tell them to STFU.
I am not so heartened by this event; even though it is an epic smackdown, it shows both that Obama wants (and perhaps legislatively NEEDS) to bring Republicans on board for some proposals and that Republicans probably really do believe their shit, and believe it with a religious fervor. Obama joked with them about politics and how it isn’t reality, but most of the GOP congresscritters didn’t get it. The crucible of the modern GOP has burnt the sense of reality right out of them.
I did briefly think about Obama pointing fingers at both sides for overpoliticization… and I thought there might be some merit to it; but, really, I can’t think of any significant Republican politician who has offered leadership or ideas on anything, much less health care reform, so lets respect them as people. Deluded, stupid people who love their families and should not be allowed anywhere near the levers of power.
Also: I think I may have heard an implicit threat by Obama to take the gloves off. But it’s just in my dreams. I have this revenge fantasy going on, you know like in Death Wish, where a powerful, but peaceful, dude bears the slings and arrows until some punks kill his family. Then it’s forty-five minutes of running out of bubble gum.
Sigh.
valdivia
@General Winfield Stuck:
I am glad you are still here too Stuck. Really enjoy your comments.
SiubhanDuinne
Re: West Wing. One of the great performances is John Goodman as Speaker of the House turned President (over a harrowing summer break) Glen Allen Walker. I’m working from memory here but I think his character first appears in *25*.
“Breathe regular.” Just great stuff.
inkadu
@TuiMel: OMFG. Marsha Blackburn made me want to drive a nail into my own forehead. Her voice drips with condescension and a righteousness that assures you there is no point to answering her because she’s not going to listen to anything you have to say. I did rather enjoy the pained expressions that crossed Obama’s face. I could see that he had to wind himself down a few times and remind himself that the goal here was to begin a dialogue and not scold the feces-smearing children.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@eastriver:
Well isn’t that special! I like how you humbly decide what is good or not (in your little world) and then take time out of your busy life to let complete strangers (who really couldn’t care less) know what you think. You are too cute! Really. Watching you work is kind of like watching a squirrel bury black walnut hulls for winter.
They ain’t much for nutrition but the bowel movement sure will be memorable.
ChrisB
Late to the thread so I may have missed an earlier comment but did anyone watching on C-Span see any African-American or other minority other than Obama, Reggie Love, and one of the photographers? I didn’t.
JAHILL10
@ Lab Partner
You are the Person! Made me laugh out loud.
Perfect reading of that situation!
Obama was wicked smart and showed them who needs the teleprompter.
WereBear
@eastriver: I’m jumping this thread to say that was awesome.
Jess
@Lab Partner:
Exactly. I laughed when he said “hey, I’m having fun!”
WereBear
@Ash Can: “It’s true, your Honor. This man has no dick.”
/Ghostbusters/BillMurray
Martin
@inkadu: Obama doesn’t need to win over the GOP. He needs to win over the voters. You’re buying the GOP playbook. Stop doing that, please.
Martin
@General Winfield Stuck: Never had a doubt. Let’s see if the rest of the Dems figure it out.
Dee Loralei
<—is ashamed to admit the Marsha Blackburn is my own congresscritter. God, I LOATHE that woman.
Her only saving grace? She’s not Michele Bachman, Steve King, Mike Pence or Virginia Foxx.
……so, I’ve got that going for me…….
ETA: Caddyshack, Bill Murray ( I mean if we’re quoting movies now
nepat
@aimai:
Wrong. And I correct this assessment wherever I see it – and I typically see it deployed opportunistically to prop up some other opinion. The MA senate race is the new political Rorsach.
Brown won the race because the candidate he was running against did not campaign. She had a 15% lead in the polls in December when, I think, Obama was still worthless and the left was still complaining about him. There was a difference of 110,000 votes between them in the end, and the outcome would have been completely different if Martha Coakley and her team had taken the race seriously. That race could have – and should have – been won. But it was not lost for the reason you give.
nepat
@Jay B.:
That’s not support, I’m afraid. Where I come from that’s a fair weather fan. Your “support” will endure all the way through to the next time he pisses you off. At which point, you will once again regale anyone who will listen about how disappointed you are, how much money you gave, how many miles you trod barefoot across gravel shards to give position papers to shut-ins, how Obama just doesn’t get it, and how you’re going to withhold your vote, and how he’s a sell-out and if he would only listen to people like you, etc. There will be much emoting and discussion of your personal feelings.
This moment may come next week or in a month but it will come, and that is exactly how you will react. And, then, when he does something again to engender your “support,” you will opportunistically claim that it’s because he “heard the base.”
The architecture of this position is simple: there are people who are frequently wrong but none of them are ever you.
Wile E. Quixote
@GregB:
Either that or they claim that it was done by Democrats. I wonder if Fox News will start airing the clip of Mike Pence looking stupid with a banner underneath that says “Mike Pence, D Indiana”.
Wile E. Quixote
@freelancer:
You know that might not be such a bad idea. Seriously, if President Obama could find a way of pinning the blame for the intergalactic goat-roping dick-dance that is the BCS on the Republican party it would probably peel away as much support as would his singlehandedly catching Osama bin Laden after defeating him in hand to hand combat.
auntieeminaz
@eastriver: But isn’t this why we supported him? He really is the smartest guy in the room.
Elie
@General Winfield Stuck:
General – Doncha think they just wanna start some stuff..
Everybody is just a little too happy today, and that just hast to STOP
Yeah, whatevah — y’all poor lefties are just being driven, DRIVEN out of B-J…no opportunity to comment, slings and arrows everywhere, no one listens, no one understands…we just be tewible Obots, against the forces of left wing justice and the American way…
Elie
I just came back and the print size on B-J is all different (very small). I have also been unable to edit anything for days now…
Hmmm…anyone else having problems
inkadu
@Elie: I’m not having any problems with B-J and am puzzled as to what could be causing those problems for you. Are you having problems on any other websites? At the risk of insulting your web skills, you can increase the size of text by hitting Ctrl +. You should also make sure you’re not running any script blockers — if you are you’ll see a little Options bar on the bottom right (if you’re running Firefox).
Can’t imagine what else it might be.
Elie
I went away for a few hours, had dinner and Jay B and a few are still yammering on, trying to magnify a few bitter drops of “we are so disappointed” out of a really nice day that we are not allowed to enjoy or savor because in the past Obama was not perfect and in the future he may not be perfect, so while we can acknowledge some success, as one of you stated, “Almost”, don’t get too confident cause he is just going to “fail” again, just watch…we see pain and sorrow ahead, just you wait and see..
Y’all are just pains. Every family has ’em and we will just have to endure your pouts and moody alienation, your Camille Act 3 dramas of always being abandoned, ignored and mistreated…Princesses and the pea…everything is just tewible, howible and I can feel the pea no matter how many mattresses and dont say I am whinny cause I am not whinny I am telling the TRUTH..
Yeah, whatevah..Here, have some warm milk and cookies…
Elie
@inkadu:
Thanks so much inkadu. Really. No insult taken and I may not be the best internet and computer geek around. I am by no means perfect in any way. I am just me. Opinions and all..
Wile E. Quixote
@Lab Partner:
Wow, now I’m seeing that in my mind’s eye, and he’s saying it right after he melts Mike Pence’s face by throwing boiling hot grease on it.
arguingwithsignposts
@Wile E. Quixote:
Win.
“intergalactic goat-roping dick-dance.” hehe
OriGuy
@ChrisB:
Aren’t you forgetting John Boehner, the first Orange-American in Congress?
Seriously, there hasn’t been a black Republican in the House since J. C. Watts of Oklahoma in 2003. (Yes, I had to look it up.)
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@eastriver:
Getting back to nutpicking…
An eastriver quote from a poll by FireDogLake over at polldaddy.com:
How about an eastriver comment regarding a post John wrote during the primary asking if there was a way to show how much was donated to Obama via this blog:
How about this comment of eastriver’s from Captain’s Quarters:
I remember you well eastriver, you were one of those Hillary supporters that went around claiming that they weren’t Hillary supporters. Now you are an Obama basher who goes around telling everyone that you are a supporter!
SSDD.
One last eastriver comment that is taken from a poll that they started over at ask500people.com:
The poll question? Glad you asked!
“Most likely reason Barack Obama doesn’t want to release his birth certificate”
Your poll choices are:
He wasn’t actually born in the United States.
His mother left his father’s name off of the birth certificate.
He just doesn’t want to.
Other.
What a
firebreathingfirebagging Obama supporter!General Winfield Stuck
@DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal): LOL. nice work!!
Uriel
I have to say, the 180 in tone around here since last Friday- hell, last Tuesday- is pretty striking. Not complaining mind you. Just find it interesting how quickly things have moved from “the republic is doomed!” to “Here Comes the Sun.” It’s almost as though the people who were showing their lack of political acumen and authority figure issues by having the naivete to suggest maybe patience was in order might have had a point or something.
Almost as interesting noting how last Monday there were several people running around shielding their ascii heads from the collapsing sky because using the relatively ubiquitous term “spending freeze” was a signal that Obama was gleefully adopting teabagger rhetoric and was essentially declaring his intention to switch parties. Yet today, in this thread apparently, throwing around stuff like “obama worshipers,” “kool aid drinkers,” “Dear Leader,” “obots,” and the obligatory Rahm bashing is just, you know, talking about stuff. Nothing to do with validating right wing memes. No sir. Not at all.
Not saying it signifies anything mind you- like possibly a lack of self-awareness, a tendency to knee jerk criticism or even hypocrisy- because that would be wrong. Just saying it’s interesting.
Man that David Plouffe is good. Kinda makes you wonder what Obama was really planning when he accepted the invitation to this several weeks ago- probably just curling up into a ball and crying.
Glad Pouffe stepped in and decided to put the hammer down. It’s almost like he’s a- I dunnno, what a good word meaning “One who is anticipated as, regarded as, or professes to be a savior or liberator?”
nogo postal
for those that missed it..highlights and comments from Maddow..KO and tweety here
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@General Winfield Stuck:
When I see lunatic raving I like to do what I can to help the mentally deranged. Sometimes it’s as easy as holding up a mirror. ;)
Anne Laurie
@And Another Thing…:
YOU LIE, as our Repub back-benchers would say. Kitty was married to Chaffetz’s daddy before she wised up. She did have a son with him, Rep. Chaffetz’s biological half-brother, but Mike Dukakis adopted young John when he married Kitty. I remember this because during the 1988 campaign, some newspodperson asked Dukakis a stock question about his kids, and he replied “The girls take after their mother, but I think John’s more like me”. Which the Republicans tried to turn into some huge scandal because, as far as I could translate from Lee Atwater’s dogwhistle, the filthy little Greek was trying to claim a clean-limbed young Aryan for his alien tribe. Whenever people are shocked that Dubya is so coarse and low-minded as compared with the patrician G.H.W.B., those of us who were watching politics in the 1980s remember that no, the kid was just a chip off the old block.
mak
What she said (aimai @116).
This, to me, was the takeaway of the whole endeavor. I was (am?) one of those who has grown gradually, increasingly exasperated, to the point of rage, with Mr. President’s inveterate complaisance, to the further point of being unable and/or willing to watch the SOTU (but DVR’d it just in case it was a keeper).
Was, and still may be, among the ‘talk is cheap’ crowd, but I took great heart in what the President did in the lion’s den today, (and what I’ve heard of the SOTU), and am hoping that he’s in the midst of a re-boot. And I’d like to think that the Plouffe re-entry is the cause, but am wary that it couldn’t be that easy.
Of course, Rahm deciding to spend more time with his family would be an even more hopeful sign, but I’ll take what I can get.
...now I try to be amused
@inkadu:
You mean this?
“But understand, if we can’t break free from partisan gridlock, if we can’t move past a politics of “no,” if resistance supplants constructive debate, I still have to meet my responsibilities as President. I’ve got to act for the greater good –- because that, too, is a commitment that I have made. And that’s — that, too, is what the American people sent me to Washington to do.”
One can only hope.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@Uriel:
I think Obama is just being Obama in that he does not move on something until he sets things up. Rope-a-dope in some cases, if you may. If he would have come right out of the gate on day one rocking the established order in Washington and in the financial centers as the crazy left wanted I think he would have blown it completely. Instead, he just kept things going and let his first year or so develop, or mature, as they say. Let people get a good view of everything he is up against, including taking lumps from the right and left on ‘mistakes’ that he made.
He let the crazies get all hot, lathered and foamy at the mouth by not getting flustered, not ‘losing it’. It works very well as I use the very same technique to pull the chains of morans all of the time. Nothing gets people more pissed off than when you appear unassailable and unresponsive to their various barbs and attacks. Just let it roll off your back, saving your ammo for the appropriate time to strike.
We have a president who thinks before acting and that is just fine with me because that is what I voted for. He let the opposition box themselves in with their constituents and then he stands back and points that very fact out to them. He let them have the run of the news shows, babbling their nonsense for everyone to hear, and in one meeting he slapped down every bit of the shit that they have said so often that they have started believing it themselves.
Don’t worry though, the Chicken Littles will be back soon enough. You can bet on it.
Paula
Late to the party, I guess.
This thing took 2 + hours to watch because my roommates and I were cackling so loudly at the pwnage we had to keep rewinding the DVR — from Pence’s preening idiocy to the uber-dry implied snark of watching Obama trying to find not-too-insulting language to respond to Republican “policies”.
Well, that, and cringing at Obama’s “pissed off/disappointed but trying to hold it back” face. The one where he presses his mouth closed and clenches his neck at the same time. Between that and his measured, halting cadence, my roommate was reminded of her dad and said that just listening to the whole thing made her feel like she’d done something wrong.
In any case, I wouldn’t ever want to be responsible to this guy. Don’t know how Sasha and Malia can live with it.
John O
@dmsilev:
Boy, early to bed, early to rise for me this morning.
Anyway, I thought, I wonder what the smart folks at BJ are saying about what I thought was an extraordinary moment, and I scroll through a Bickerson’s episode.
Love the KB movies, so yeah, I didn’t think it went that far, but I sent the video to a lot of GOP pals and dared them to watch the whole thing. “Tell me who the adult was in the room.”
I’ve thought Obama gets it all along, that everyone got a little too comfy during the Bush years with a view of Executive power that Obama simply doesn’t share, to his credit, and I’ve been saying forever you don’t cut your teeth in Chicago politics and basketball without knowing how to throw down, and we just saw it.
And none of us knows if the timing was right, but on the heels of the SOU it was pretty damned effective.
Back to our regular (?) programming: Blamestorming 2009!
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
I was watching the interview Tweety did with Pence and I had to laugh when Tweety asked him if he would like to do another meeting like this with Obama, maybe even several more times, and Pence said “No”. It’s clear that Pence knew that they had their asses kicked and then politely handed to them. He was in no hurry to open his mouth to accept another round of televised Presidential ass kicking of the Republican party. Especially because he knew damned well that if he said yes on air that Obama would take him up on it immediately and there is no way that they could prepare for another presidential beating in short order.
They now know that they went into this blindly, totally unprepared and disorganized, each member grandstanding for the camera with little thought to putting up an organized front because they have nothing to organize around except for the word ‘NO’. It’s as if they were expecting the president to fall flat on his ass all by himself while waiting for his responses to their superior talking points, all the while shaking their heads disapprovingly. They brought bubble gum to a gun fight, Obama brought a howitzer and plenty of ammo. It wasn’t even a contest, they know it and Pence is in no hurry to inflict any more damage on the party. They need some time to regroup and to try and come up with something to knock Obama down.
If the democratic pols were more aggressive I would think that they would smell the blood in the water and head in for the kill, denying the Repubs the time to recoup, but that isn’t going to happen.
bob h
Frank Luntz was at the front table, I noticed. Presumably he will be advising the Republicans how to spin this embarrassment.
The President’s articulate intelligence will be depicted as “arrogance”, etc. and the RNC will get a big bill from Luntz.
Boston Yankee
Watching the Republican retreat performance was depressing. Think, the fate of the US is in the hands of these morons. Brought home the truth that even if at times I disagree with Obama, the alternative of giving the car keys to these dimwits is not even on the table.
mandarama
@Dee Loralei:
Hey, you’re my neighbor! I’m stuck with MarshaMarshaMarsha! too. Watching Obama face her down has made my whole week.
Ana Gama
@DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):
I’d suggest that Obama not wait for an invitation, but instead, issue his own. He’s got them cornered, and now needs to exploit it. They really couldn’t refuse to meet with the POTUS, could they?
And Another Thing...
@Anne Laurie: I beg your pardon, but that is not a lie, it’s a mistake. I misread Chaffetz’s bio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Chaffetz
And your response is a bit over the top. Get in fights much?
Rob
Obama was really impressive today – at his absolute best. I was amazed at how eloquently he handled the questions, the quality of his content, including a mastery of statistics, on the topics, and the tone and persuasiveness of his delivery was perfect.
Rob
Newmericans.com
Sasha
Heh. He taught a course on telling them you know.