This — via Max Blumenthal — really made me laugh
(h/t freelancer)
by DougJ| 15 Comments
This post is in: Good News For Conservatives
by DougJ| 63 Comments
This post is in: Good News For Conservatives, We Are All Mayans Now
It was obvious how things would go as soon as the first Republican speaker, Senator Lamar Alexander, delivered his remarks. He was presumably chosen because he’s folksy and likable and could make his party’s position sound reasonable. But right off the bat he delivered a whopper, asserting that under the Democratic plan, “for millions of Americans, premiums will go up.”
[….]What really struck me about the meeting, however, was the inability of Republicans to explain how they propose dealing with the issue that, rightly, is at the emotional center of much health care debate: the plight of Americans who suffer from pre-existing medical conditions. In other advanced countries, everyone gets essential care whatever their medical history. But in America, a bout of cancer, an inherited genetic disorder, or even, in some states, having been a victim of domestic violence can make you uninsurable, and thus make adequate health care unaffordable.
So what did we learn from the summit? What I took away was the arrogance that the success of things like the death-panel smear has obviously engendered in Republican politicians. At this point they obviously believe that they can blandly make utterly misleading assertions, saying things that can be easily refuted, and pay no price. And they may well be right.
Bobo:
The Republican leaders, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, were smart enough to stand back and let Senator Lamar Alexander lead the way, which he did genially and intelligently. While Alexander was speaking, Reid and Pelosi wouldn’t even deign to look at him.
Once you got to the other members, about two-thirds of the statements were smart and well-informed. This was not a repeat of the Baltimore summit, in which Obama dominated the room. This time, Obama was very good, but so were many others, like Mike Enzi, Jim Cooper, George Miller and Tom Coburn. If you thought Republicans were a bunch of naysayers who don’t know or care about health care, then this was not the event for you. They more than held their own.
I have yet to meet an academic over 50 who doesn’t think that Bobo Brooks is a thoughtful, reasonable conservative with lots of sensible ideas. My parents both feel this way, though they will no longer admit it to me.
History will not judge this era kindly.
by DougJ| 58 Comments
This post is in: General Stupidity, Good News For Conservatives, We Are All Mayans Now
Apparently, Bill Frist and Mark Halperin are on Charlie Rose discussing today’s summit right now. (The good news is that Ezra Klein is on too.) I’d watch but I have no desire to take my own life this evening.
There are a lot of people out there who believe that our sorry state of affairs is caused by Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and, if they’re really deluded, they’ll add “and on the left, Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann”. I know plenty of people who say things like this.
The truth is, it’s more the fault of Charlie Rose and Tom Friedman and David Brooks. Glenn Beck didn’t get us into Iraq.
by DougJ| 36 Comments
This post is in: Politics, Good News For Conservatives
Josh Marshall has a smart post about how many people were paying attention to today’s HCR summit:
[O]ver the years I’ve gotten a pretty good feel for how different kinds of political events bump traffic on TPM. And there was a much bigger bump than I would have expected for an event like this.
We had our second-highest traffic day today in the time that I’ve been here. The first highest was the State of the Union in January.
I don’t know what this means, but I think that today was significant. It may have been Kabuki theater, but isn’t all politics?
by Tim F| 27 Comments
This post is in: Music
Every cowboy sings a sad, sad song.
by Dennis G.| 31 Comments
This post is in: Media, Open Threads, General Stupidity, Good News For Conservatives, Mainstream Media's McCain Mancrush
For all the talk that these HCR negotiations needed to be on C-Span it was odd that when it happened the event was only on C-Span 3, which is not even offered as an option by many teevee delivery systems. The cable news shows were basically hacktacular in their coverage. CNN decided to only show Republicans and MSNBC was just as bad. The “liberal” network broke into the summit every few minutes for commercials or to let folks hear spin from proven corruptionists like Armstrong Williams.
Thank the FSM that I have broadband.
There was decent coverage online, but the teevee coverage was amazingly bad. The only aspect they seem to be able to cover is that John McCain still thinks that he is President.
OTOH, is you do get a chance to watch the full event online (or whenever C-Span decides to actually broadcast it on their real network) I thought it was an amazing event (this highlight reel from the GOS is a good sample of why). It is just too bad that most folks will never sit through it.
So it goes.
Cheers
dengre
and yes, this is an Open Thread…
This post is in: Cooking, Open Threads
Take it away, Bad Horse’s Filly:
I’d bet everyone’s mom has some version of this that she served – especially if you grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. This was a weekly staple of my childhood. Of course we had to eat it off the bone, we were so deprived back then.
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So I offer a menu that tastes great, is easy to put together and for me, has a lot of nostalgia.
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On the board tonight:
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Oven Fried Chicken
Broccoli
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Sliced Pears
Recipes and shopping list at the link.
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And from BHF’s co-blogger Jeffrey W, a photo of a guy bird who’d have settled for KFC…