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You are here: Home / Warren In

Warren In

by John Cole|  September 14, 201012:36 pm| 210 Comments

This post is in: Manic Progressive, OBAMA IS WORSE THAN BUSH HE SOLD US OUT!!

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TPM is reporting that Obama has selected Elizabeth Warren as the interim director to the new consumer protection bureau. This announcement comes pre-shit on by the progressive “base” (you know, the ONES WHO GOT OBAMA ELECTED! After they quit the Hillary campaign.):

“The left” is so god damned fickle. Up next, fifty posts from progressives taking credit for the appointment because “WE MADE NOIZ AND HE LISTENED TO US AND WE MATTER, GOSH DARNIT!

*** Update ***

TPM is now reporting she has not been appointed. Projected spin- this leak was designed to get progressive hopes up only to dash them in the end because RAHMBAMA HATES THE LEFT.

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Previous Post: « So Is This Rich or Not?
Next Post: Duly Noted »

Reader Interactions

210Comments

  1. 1.

    bago

    September 14, 2010 at 12:38 pm

    What else would a tweet be for?

  2. 2.

    Linda Featheringill

    September 14, 2010 at 12:39 pm

    Excellent choice, Obama!

    Question: Will we have to resort to a bunch of interim appointments in order to get anything done? And deal with the ratification nonsense later?

  3. 3.

    beltane

    September 14, 2010 at 12:41 pm

    Sorry about Peter Daou being such a stick in the mud but even Slinkerwink at GOS is jumping for joy. Is there anything that would make that passive-aggressive PUMA happy?

  4. 4.

    El Tiburon

    September 14, 2010 at 12:41 pm

    Does anyone get the feeling that Obama waited this long to get closer to the elections?

    I’m not saying there is anything necessarily wrong with a bit of theatrics and flare – better late than never.

    I just wonder if it is part of his ‘campaign mode’ and what other little treats for his base he may toss out in the next few weeks.

  5. 5.

    valdivia

    September 14, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    No matter what he does, it is always wrong. God I hate this so much. Can these people just go DIAF?

  6. 6.

    John Cole

    September 14, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    @El Tiburon: I dunno- is the office even up and running? The financial bill just passed a few months ago, which is a blink of an eye in DC.

  7. 7.

    Zifnab

    September 14, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    “The left” is so god damned fickle. Up next, fifty posts from progressives taking credit for the appointment because “WE MADE NOIZ AND HE LISTENED TO US AND WE MATTER, GOSH DARNIT!

    She didn’t get selected by accident, if that is what you are implying. I seriously doubt “the left” single handedly beat off Tim Geitner with a bag of hammers and cleared a way to confirmation spot. But do you concede that maybe dozens of petitions and Op-Eds and blog rabble rousings might have maybe put a feather on the scale to keep the spot from getting handed over to a corporate shill as part of some crazy “sell the cow to buy the milk” Obama compromise?

    Maybe? Possibly?

  8. 8.

    WaterGirl

    September 14, 2010 at 12:44 pm

    @El Tiburon: I would have to guess that this has been a done deal since about 45 minutes before Elizabeth Warren notified Harvard that she wouldn’t be able to teach her class this semester.

    If there’s anyone who knows that timing is everything, it’s Barack Obama.

  9. 9.

    cat48

    September 14, 2010 at 12:44 pm

    @El Tiburon:

    Absolutely! I would have! (plus washpo said yesterday; her vetting is not complete yet so that is really the holdup)

  10. 10.

    TR

    September 14, 2010 at 12:44 pm

    The best part of all this — after the Republicans retake both houses of Congress this fall due to liberal apathy, all of these voices will blame Obama.

  11. 11.

    Steve

    September 14, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    I was hoping for a confirmation fight. Elizabeth Warren is about the only person involved with this administration who is unambiguously on the side of the little guy, and that matters. Of course, that plan could have backfired if there were too many squishy Dems like Chris Dodd.

  12. 12.

    Maude

    September 14, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    Heard it on the radio early this morning.
    Now it will be, he only did an interim appointment and he should have picked her on 1/21/09.

  13. 13.

    dmsilev

    September 14, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    So, basically Peter Daou is saying that if he gets a pony, he’ll still complain because it wasn’t the *exact* shade of pink that he wanted.

    dms

  14. 14.

    freelancer

    September 14, 2010 at 12:46 pm

    “Nuh-uh! I’m Spartacus!”
    “Are not! I’m Spartacus!”
    “You’re just saying that cause now it’s cool to be Spartacus, Gary!”
    “Goddamnit, Bob! I’m Spartacus! And if these flaming logs weren’t rolling down the hill towards us…”

    Way to go for Solidarity, fellas.

  15. 15.

    General Stuck

    September 14, 2010 at 12:46 pm

    WE MADE NOIZ AND HE LISTENED TO US AND WE MATTER, GOSH DARNIT!

    Dear gawd. Maybe time for a galt.

    If past history is any predictor, we will also be assaulted on this blog with cries of, yes, but why hasn’t he put Cheney in jail or pulled out Afghanistan. Warren will be forgotten in 24 hours, but might get a few hardass progs to actually go vote. All 178 of them, give or take.

  16. 16.

    fourlegsgood

    September 14, 2010 at 12:46 pm

    Don’t be redonk, all the whiners will start screaming about how she’s only an “interim” appointment.

  17. 17.

    fourlegsgood

    September 14, 2010 at 12:47 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Yes. kaithxbai

  18. 18.

    Steve

    September 14, 2010 at 12:48 pm

    TPM now says there’s no new news, it’s a false alarm.

  19. 19.

    cat48

    September 14, 2010 at 12:49 pm

    @Linda Featheringill:

    Interim & recess appts. Treasury Dept, you know the one the hated Tim runs is allowed to appoint an “Interim Director” for it.
    Now they can start whining abt a “permanent appt.”

  20. 20.

    cleek

    September 14, 2010 at 12:49 pm

    i’m going to admit something: i don’t know who Elizabeth Warren is, what she’s supposed to do, why there’s been any controversy over her, or why i should care.

    as far as i can tell, she’s someone who was going to be appointed anyway but The (Famous Original) Left decided to take a stand on her because they wanted to be disappointed if it didn’t happen.

  21. 21.

    Guster

    September 14, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    From TMP: “Late Update: Maybe not so fast. Fox was one of the outlets originally reporting this and has now retracted that report, saying they may have “misheard” White House spokesperson Bill Burton on board Air Force One. Reuters says Burton simply confirmed that Warren is “obviously in the mix.”

    This means John may need to change his post to ‘Senate refuses to allow Obama to select Elizabeth Warren as interim director of the new consumer protection bureau.’

  22. 22.

    valdivia

    September 14, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    cue outrage that this was reported erroneously and it is the WH fault in 3,2,1….

  23. 23.

    @Dogsdoingthings

    September 14, 2010 at 12:53 pm

    Dogs who last had “a couple days’ worth of cheer” when Richard Nixon resigned, but have been courting death ever since.

  24. 24.

    Midnight Marauder

    September 14, 2010 at 12:54 pm

    @Steve:

    I was hoping for a confirmation fight. Elizabeth Warren is about the only person involved with this administration who is unambiguously on the side of the little guy, and that matters. Of course, that plan could would have backfired if because there were are too many squishy Dems like Chris Dodd.

    Dawn Johnsen and all that.

  25. 25.

    daveNYC

    September 14, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    Up next, fifty posts from progressives taking credit for the appointment because “WE MADE NOIZ AND HE LISTENED TO US AND WE MATTER, GOSH DARNIT!

    And going into the elections this would be a bad thing because…?

    It may be silly, but if it helps boost turnout for the democrats I’ll take it.

  26. 26.

    August J. Pollak

    September 14, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    as far as i can tell, she’s someone who was going to be appointed anyway but The (Famous Original) Left decided to take a stand on her because they wanted to be disappointed if it didn’t happen.

    Yeah, that’s, well, completely wrong but no worries, it doesn’t stop anyone else when it’s strawhippie torchin’ time.

  27. 27.

    stuckinred

    September 14, 2010 at 12:56 pm

    I’m trying a proxy server to overcome this week long blockage of BJ.

  28. 28.

    Violet

    September 14, 2010 at 12:57 pm

    I’m thrilled he’s appointing her. She’s awesome.

  29. 29.

    NonyNony

    September 14, 2010 at 12:59 pm

    @Steve:

    Of course, that plan could have backfired if there were too many squishy Dems like Chris Dodd.

    Given Dodd’s stance towards the financial sector, I wouldn’t exactly call him “squishy”. He’s clearly a man who does what he’s told, and is willing to shit on his own legacy in the Senate on command. I hope his debasement gets him something more than a pat on the head and a Scooby snack from his masters on Wall Street.

    (Not really. I’d rather he have to take a job doing something useful to society for a while and maybe think about what his priorities were for the last few years. But realistically, he’ll probably land on his feet with a cushy lobbying job once the legally mandated cool off period has passed…)

  30. 30.

    August J. Pollak

    September 14, 2010 at 1:00 pm

    What I truly don’t get about all of this, two years down the line, is how the Obama camp really enjoys setting themselves up for this any time via painfully long waffling and leaking. for fuck’s sake, just sack up, nominate someone and be done with it. Three weeks of “will it be Hillary?” Three weeks of “will it be Kagan?” Three weeks of “will it be Warren?” And every time, “internal sources say…” oh those internal sources. And then Alan Simpson shits on half the country and they release a press release 24 hours later stating in no ambiguous terms will he be fired or even disciplined.

    These people launch trial balloons like it’s the opening of a car dealership.

  31. 31.

    General Stuck

    September 14, 2010 at 1:00 pm

    @stuckinred: I am no longer blocked. I didn’t do anything but suddenly could connect and noticeably faster.

  32. 32.

    stuckinred

    September 14, 2010 at 1:02 pm

    @General Stuck: Dang! This “Ultra Surf” seems to work but the russkies are proly on me like white on rice!

  33. 33.

    Scott P.

    September 14, 2010 at 1:03 pm

    Turns out the Warren announcement was a Fox plant; the White House didn’t say anything about the appointment.

  34. 34.

    Cat Lady

    September 14, 2010 at 1:03 pm

    @stuckinred:

    I’ve been blocked out too from home – I can only read teh google cache of the front page in text only format, but no comments. Nothing has worked. I’m on a different wireless network today, but I’m only at this location once a week or so, so if you have a workaround, lay it on me bro. I’m in full withdrawal, but have to admit I’ve gotten a lot more done around the house.

  35. 35.

    General Stuck

    September 14, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    @Cat Lady: Here ya go Cat Lady, the proxy server I was using before I no longer needed it. Has some limits on commenting, but is much better than fumbling with google cache like I did as well for awhile.

  36. 36.

    El Cid

    September 14, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    Actually, I think it would be somewhat reasonable to be happy about an appointment of Elizabeth Warren for some comparatively short amount of time, and then seeing what actually happens if she should end up in that position.

    In the end, isn’t that what counts?

  37. 37.

    Maude

    September 14, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    @El Cid:
    For cripe’s sake, you are making sense. Stop that!

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 14, 2010 at 1:12 pm

    @Steve:

    Elizabeth Warren is about the only person involved with this administration who is unambiguously on the side of the little guy,

    Poor Hilda Solis, she gets less respect than Rodney.

    As for Daou and “the Left” he thinks he represents, remember the PUMA wail “Are we really that small a sliver of the party?” Yes, Peter, you are. On the issues, I always described myself as 60/40 Obama/Clinton, my chief objection being her “I can be as tough as McCain” foreign policy. As the nomination slipped away, her campaign became, frankly, embarrassing to watch. All that to say I will never understand the emotional investment the post-PUMA neo-purist “left” has in longtime center-leftist HRC. At least the Naderite/Down the Drain With Dennis caucus is consistent.

  39. 39.

    Resident Firebagger

    September 14, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    So Peter Daou comprises The Left now? Who the fuck is Peter Daou?

    David Dayen at FDL just wrote last night how great this move is, should it actually happen. But I guess acknowledging that someone on the Left is happy about Obama would get in the way of Cole’s whole manic progressive meme, which he seems very proud of.

    http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/09/13/white-house-considering-interim-cfpb-director-appointment-for-elizabeth-warren/

    Added link.

  40. 40.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    @stuckinred: A man of your advanced age could probably use more fiber. Just sayin’.

  41. 41.

    mb

    September 14, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    #30 “What I truly don’t get about all of this, two years down the line, is how the Obama camp really enjoys setting themselves up for this any time via painfully long waffling and leaking.”

    I’ve become convinced that the administration is paralyzed by fear to do anything that doesn’t bear the stamp of approval of the center-right.

    Absolve Alan Simpson of his dumfuckery? No brainer, the center-right loves Simpson — he’s got that crunchy, delicious common sense. But actual action that results in moving the ball? What if the republicans criticize us? What if Ben Nelson doesn’t like it? Oh Noes!!!

    I’m about fucking sick of ’em. If we lose the house, when Issa subpoenas Obama’s underwear drawer, I’m going to have just a touch of schadenfreude.

  42. 42.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    @Resident Firebagger:

    But I guess acknowledging that would get in the way of Cole’s whole manic progressive meme, which he seems very proud of

    It’s one of his standard troll post moves. Like dance moves, he only knows a couple and they all suck.

  43. 43.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:18 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hilda Solis hasn’t exactly kicked anyone in the balls either.

  44. 44.

    Turgidson

    September 14, 2010 at 1:19 pm

    False alarm.

    No pony for us.

  45. 45.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    Ya know, I’ve been wondering where The Ghost of Elizabeth Warren(tm) has been hiding recently.

  46. 46.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:21 pm

    @Turgidson: If you got that pony, what EXACT shade of pink/pinkish/purple would’ve made you happy?
    I want fuchsia. Nothing more. Nothing less.

  47. 47.

    NR

    September 14, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    @mb: Yep. This is exactly how we ended up with the craptastic health care bill. Obama started in the center-right and only ever negotiated with people to the right of that position.

  48. 48.

    General Stuck

    September 14, 2010 at 1:23 pm

    @Turgidson:

    No pony for us.

    “No Pony” Drat, and once again you get the donkey’s ass.

  49. 49.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 14, 2010 at 1:24 pm

    @Corner Stone: Is Elizabeth Warren going to kick Ben Nelson in the balls? Would Hillary? Kucinich? Mario Cuomo or the ghost of Bobby Kennedy? I’d pay to see it, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.

    I realize pointing out that Congress has some role in determining policy is the weakest and whiniest of O-Bot cop-outs, buy that’s just the way I am

  50. 50.

    General Stuck

    September 14, 2010 at 1:24 pm

    @NR: LOL, like clockwork. You don’t disappoint.

  51. 51.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:24 pm

    I love the update:

    TPM is now reporting she has not been appointed. Projected spin- this leak was designed to get progressive hopes up only to dash them in the end because RAHMBAMA HATES THE LEFT.

    Just can’t help yourself I guess.

  52. 52.

    Allison W.

    September 14, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    @Steve:

    Elizabeth Warren is about the only person involved with this administration who is unambiguously on the side of the little guy, and that matters.

    No she’s not. Geithner and Summers are not the entire administration. Obama appointed a lot of people who care about the little guy. Just because they haven’t made the left’s most favored list doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

  53. 53.

    LanceThruster

    September 14, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    Why hasn’t this woman’s name been mentioned? She was one of the first to sound the alarm, and yet it seems there is no reward for being right. If nothing else, her name should be put out there so people can read up on how those warning of the disaster were hobbled at every turn by the old guard.

    from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/interviews/born.html

    As head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC], Brooksley Born became alarmed by the lack of oversight of the secretive, multitrillion-dollar over-the-counter derivatives market. Her attempts to regulate derivatives ran into fierce resistance from then-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and then-Deputy Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who prevailed upon Congress to stop Born and limit future regulation. This is the edited transcript of an interview conducted on Aug. 28, 2009.

  54. 54.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Just pointing out that Hilda Solis as Sec labor hasn’t exactly burned anybody’s bridges or landed a triple lutz combo or anything.
    You can go whine off into the void with the rest of your nonsense.

  55. 55.

    mantis

    September 14, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    @August J. Pollak:

    Or maybe people in the press just speculate and spread rumors with abandon? You know, like how Fox just today “misheard” Bill Burton saying Warren would be appointed, when the pool report says nothing of the kind, and went ahead and reported it? Maybe a lot of those “trial balloons” and “waffling” that you speak of are just bullshit manufactured by a press that finds it much easier to gossip than to do any real investigation and reporting?

    @valdivia:

    cue outrage that this was reported erroneously and it is the WH fault in 3,2,1….

    If you cue it, they will come. It took Pollak all of nine minutes.

  56. 56.

    NR

    September 14, 2010 at 1:27 pm

    @General Stuck: Oh right, I forgot. I’m supposed to be excited about the right-wing, corporatist HCR bill that passed. Rah-rah, go team.

  57. 57.

    General Stuck

    September 14, 2010 at 1:27 pm

    @LanceThruster: Was it Frontline I saw her on? And I agree she should be considered as well.

  58. 58.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:29 pm

    @mantis: This is another of those conundrums for me. I have heard “with abandon” and “without abandon” roughly equally. I’m sure the speaker means the same thing in each usage.

  59. 59.

    numbskull

    September 14, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    So, to summarize John Cole:

    You’re whining in advance of some other people possibly whining in advance of a decision, that as it turns out, hasn’t actually been made?

    Cole, really, get out and meet some people. Do something constructive. Convince one person today to vote, maybe even vote for a Democrat.

  60. 60.

    mantis

    September 14, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    @NR:

    This is exactly how we ended up with the craptastic health care bill.

    Yeah, we could have had jackshit, which is preferable to any true progressive, you know.

  61. 61.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 14, 2010 at 1:33 pm

    @numbskull: Huh. I thought he was just making fun of Peter Daou for being a bitter, whiny, self-important, poutraged twit, and doing it because mocking pompous, whiny twits is kinda fun.

  62. 62.

    Midnight Marauder

    September 14, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    @NonyNony:

    Given Dodd’s stance towards the financial sector, I wouldn’t exactly call him “squishy”. He’s clearly a man who does what he’s told, and is willing to shit on his own legacy in the Senate on command. I hope his debasement gets him something more than a pat on the head and a Scooby snack from his masters on Wall Street.

    Oh, Chris Dodd is just getting started, bitches!

    Dodd: Congress Could Defund Consumer Bureau Over Warren Interim Appointment

    Outgoing Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) warned Tuesday that an interim appointment of Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau “jeopardizes the existence” of the nascent agency.
    __
    The White House is considering naming Warren interim head, as the law establishing the CFPB allows, in order to get her into place immediately and head off a Senate filibuster of her nomination. Once she’s in place, Obama could nominate her for the permanent position.
    __
    “I’m not enthusiastic about that and I think it’ll be met with a lot of opposition,” Dodd told reporters after coming off the Senate floor.
    __
    Dodd said that an interim appointment would deprive the director of the legitimacy that comes with Senate confirmation. He added that such an appointment could create a backlash that would lead Congress to defund the bureau.
    __
    “This is a big job, an important job, and it needs to be — you’ve got to build the support for that institutionally or the next Congress – and none of us know what the outcome’s going to be politically — you could gut this before it even gets off the ground. If you don’t have someone running it early on, it jeopardizes the existence of the consumer protection bureau,” he said. Asked how Congress would gut it, he said: “Money. Take away the money. That’s how you always do it.”

    I hope all the bad things in life happen to you and nobody else but you, Chris Dodd. I wish you ill, Chris Dodd! I WISH YOU ILL!

  63. 63.

    mantis

    September 14, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    This is another of those conundrums for me. I have heard “with abandon” and “without abandon” roughly equally. I’m sure the speaker means the same thing in each usage.

    I’m sure you’re right that the speaker means the same thing, but “without abandon” is incorrect, if one is meaning to denote recklessness. “With abandon” indicates that one is abandoning restraint, pride, etc., while “without abandon” would indicate a reserved posture, I suppose.

  64. 64.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 14, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    @Midnight Marauder: Jesus Christ, Dodd has gone fucking nuts. I actually sent that hump 50 bucks to retire his campaign debt (just as a gesture but I’d still like it back)

  65. 65.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    If there’s anyone who knows that timing is everything, it’s Barack Obama.

    That’s because, as we all obviously know, he plays the long game.

  66. 66.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 14, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    @General Stuck: OMG STuck your stabbing elizabethwarRean inthe back! WTF there can be onl7one nomin8d hasta b warren nomroe sellouts !!1`1

  67. 67.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    @Resident Firebagger:

    David Dayen at FDL just wrote last night how great this move is, should it actually happen.

    And let’s see how the peanut gallery in the comments section responded;

    Don’t bet on it, but if it does come to pass my position is too damn little too damn late.

    Oh get real. Warren has as much chance as Dawn Johnson.

    Actually it coming from American Banker probably means its true as it is the banks who control the Obama administration. I could very easily see how Obama puts her in temporarily for the purpose of exciting the base only to then go and can her after the election is over…saying that she’s too polarizing to be permanently confirmed with the new Congress

    BHO=empty suit
    Obama Says No to Installing Solar Panels on the White HouseEdited on Mon Sep-13-10 04:53 PM by Nathanael
    To the disappointment of environmental activists, the Obama administration has declined to put solar panels on the White House roof

    David, the real question should be “how many and which positions has Geithner already filled with his cronies at CFPB while Act 1 of this Kabuki has been playing out?”
    The answer to that may well determine if the good Professor Warren will ultimately be confirmed, and more important how effective she may be.

    So there’s your response, a mix of “too little, too late” and “its just a cheap trick to get us to vote for them” (I’m sorry, wasn’t that what they were asking for, a reason to vote for them?) with a spoonful of “They’ll just hamstring her anyway” and a dash of “He’s still a corporatist sellout because he won’t put solar panels on the White House roof!”

    But I guess acknowledging that you can never please these people flies in the face of your constant pleading to “please give you my pony and I swear I’ll stop complaining and vote for you”

    What’s that Lucy/Football analogy again?

  68. 68.

    NR

    September 14, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    @mantis: Jackshit is what we got. Progressives were blackmailed into supporting the bill because of the Medicaid expansion and the subsidies (this is what people here would point to when they were jumping up and down shrieking “If you don’t support this bill, you want people to DIE!”). Well, now it turns out that the Medicaid expansion isn’t going to be worth the paper it’s printed on because the states have no money to fund it, and the subsidies still won’t make the private insurance that we’ve forced everyone to buy affordable.

    This bill was a sad excuse for reform. And because it passed, we won’t get another chance for at least a generation.

  69. 69.

    ny nick

    September 14, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    Thank god for small victories. My guess is that this signals something more important. Geithner didn’t like Warren for this spot, he wanted his understudy to get the job. Hopey knows there’s little he can do to actually fix the economy between now and the midterms but what he can do is find someone to throw under the bus for the mess this administration has made of economic policy. Giethner and Bernanke will do nicely.

  70. 70.

    Allison W.

    September 14, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    @Midnight Marauder:

    doesn’t sound so different from what Republicans are threatening to do if they gain the majority. defund HCR, shut down the government, investigations. He’s not entirely wrong.

  71. 71.

    Marc

    September 14, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    i think that they’re trying to figure out whether Warren can get confirmed, or whether they should just say “the devil with congress” and make her the interim agency head for life.

    The comments here provide plentiful examples of the professional left attitude, however, which is instead that Obama is on some obsessive mission to disappoint them instead.

    Whatever gets your through the night…

  72. 72.

    Allison W.

    September 14, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    @ny nick:

    Please stop lying about Geithner’s relationship with Warren.

  73. 73.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    @Midnight Marauder: I wish someone had the resources to track the next 5 years. Track Dodd and everyone he is related to and find out where they work, who pays their paycheck and how they got their job.

  74. 74.

    numbskull

    September 14, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Well, on a very narrowly-defined level, sure. :)

  75. 75.

    Midnight Marauder

    September 14, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    @NR:

    This bill was a sad excuse for reform. And because it passed, we won’t get another chance for at least a generation.

    Easily one of the dumbest, most illogical comments ever written on this subject.

  76. 76.

    Allison W.

    September 14, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    @NR:

    Progressives were blackmailed into supporting the bill

    You don’t see why some of you aren’t taken seriously?

  77. 77.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: Jeebus. Did The Ghost of Matoko Chan(tm) take over your shit?

  78. 78.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 14, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    @ny nick:

    Hopey knows there’s little he can do to actually fix the economy between now and the midterms but what he can do is find someone to throw under the bus for the mess this administration has made of economic policy.

    Wow. Throw in “veal pen” or “shit sandwich” and I think you’ve got some kind of Firebagger Bingo Card there.

  79. 79.

    Paris

    September 14, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    Lucy with the football certainly is busy today – first maybe no vote on Bush tax cuts, now maybe Warren, maybe not! Fooled you hippies again.

  80. 80.

    John S.

    September 14, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    @Zifnab:

    I seriously doubt “the left” single handedly beat off Tim Geitner with a bag of hammers and cleared a way to confirmation spot.

    I don’t care much for Tim Geithner, but he has been one of her SUPPORTERS. The one person who has been shitting all over Warren is Chris Dodd.

  81. 81.

    brendancalling

    September 14, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    heh. i’m so old i remember when there was so little daylight between policies offered by the clinton and obama campaigns, it was largely about personalities.

    now HRC is longtime center-leftist, and obama is…?

  82. 82.

    mantis

    September 14, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    @NR:

    Jackshit is what we got.

    Well, if you start your comment out with obvious bullshit, what point is there in reading more?

  83. 83.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 1:43 pm

    @NR:

    And because it passed, we won’t get another chance for at least a generation.

    And it failing would have allowed us to revisit it, with a better bill, when? next year?

    Maybe we should’ve not tackled the issue at all, but then you’d be bitching we weren’t trying it. Wake up, whether it passed or not, we weren’t getting another chance for a generation.

    No pleasing you people. Not worth trying.

  84. 84.

    Allison W.

    September 14, 2010 at 1:43 pm

    This bill was a sad excuse for reform. And because it passed, we won’t get another chance for at least a generation.

    Jigga what? did you think that if it DIDN’T pass that Obama could just get a better one next year? The foundation has been laid, now you work to make it better.

    oy!

  85. 85.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    September 14, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    This announcement comes pre-shit on by the progressive “base” (you know, the ONES WHO GOT OBAMA ELECTED! After they quit the Hillary campaign.)

    I’m waiting to see what Digby Downer has to say.

    Digby Downer: [after being hugged by a happy Obama supporter] Oh, hi, O-bot. It must really be fun supporting Obama, even though it’s hard to tell the difference between his policies and George Bush’s.

    Obama supporter: [depressed, the Obama supporter walks off]

    Democrats: What, where’s he going? What’s wrong?

    Digby Downer: He probably realized that nothing has changed…that the war in Afghanistan is the new war in Iraq, the economy would be doing just as bad under McCain as it is under Obama and that Republicans are going to win back the House, Senate and Presidency by 2012 because Democrats were stupid and didn’t vote for Hillary.

    Wah Waaaaaaah

  86. 86.

    NR

    September 14, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    @Midnight Marauder: Bullshit. As far as Obama and the rest of the Democratic leadership is concerned, HCR is over and done with. They certainly aren’t going to bring it up again. If they did, they would be admitting that the bill they passed was pitifully inadequate.

    This bill is all we’re getting for at least a generation. Better get used to it.

  87. 87.

    srv

    September 14, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    John, you really are living in fantasy land if you think Warren is going to get this job. But I guess whatever gives you an opp to punch hippies.

  88. 88.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:45 pm

    @Marc:

    The comments here provide plentiful examples of the professional left attitude, however, which is instead that Obama is on some obsessive mission to disappoint them instead.

    That’s what the FP said, not sure about the comments reflecting that too much.

  89. 89.

    mantis

    September 14, 2010 at 1:45 pm

    @brendancalling:

    now HRC is longtime center-leftist, and obama is…?

    The second coming of Richard Nixon. Or a Kenyan anti-colonialist marxist nazi muslim. Depending on which side of the crazy you are on.

  90. 90.

    Sentient Puddle

    September 14, 2010 at 1:45 pm

    @Nick: This comment catches my eye:

    Oh get real. Warren has as much chance as Dawn Johnson.

    This, and they’re complaining that Obama isn’t good enough? Jesus Christ, what morons.

  91. 91.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 1:45 pm

    @NR:

    Jackshit is what we got

    NR, my cousin is a diabetic. She’s 22 and she just graduated college and cannot find a job that offers her health benefits. Because of this bill, she can stay on her parents plan for another four years.

    Look her in the eye and tell her we got jackshit asshole.

    This is why this country is hopelessly conservative. Because even the left can’t see the forest for the trees, even they have the attitude “It didn’t personally please me, so fuck everyone it helped”

  92. 92.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:46 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Firebaggers!! They’re EVERYWHERE!!

  93. 93.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 14, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    @August J. Pollak: Have you considered that Elizabeth Warren might want to drive a hard bargain before stepping into a new post at a new agency whose staffing, scope, authority, etc., all have to be haggled out? And, hence, that _she_ might have some effect on the timing?

  94. 94.

    Paula

    September 14, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    200 posts!! 200 posts!!

  95. 95.

    NR

    September 14, 2010 at 1:48 pm

    @Allison W.: Nice try. But I remember what was said around here during the last stages of the HCR debate. If anyone so much as hinted that the bill did more harm than good and that they might not support it, they were called a monster who wanted tens of thousands of people to die.

  96. 96.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:48 pm

    @John S.: Link please on Geithner.

  97. 97.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 14, 2010 at 1:49 pm

    @brendancalling:

    now HRC is longtime center-leftist,

    Um, yeah

    and obama is…?

    if you read my comment, you’ll see I said that there was little difference between Clinton and Obama on the issues. What you call “personalities” I call “competence”. The Clinton campaign fell apart, and I thought and still think she would’ve lost to McCain. YMMV.

  98. 98.

    Midnight Marauder

    September 14, 2010 at 1:51 pm

    @Allison W.:

    doesn’t sound so different from what Republicans are threatening to do if they gain the majority. defund HCR, shut down the government, investigations. He’s not entirely wrong.

    The issue isn’t that he’s wrong or that he’s echoing the strategy of the Republican Party. The issue is that Democratic Senator Chris Dodd is the point man for killing Elizabeth Warren’s prospects for running the CFBP, and he’s been getting increasingly hostile to the realistic possibility she will get the job. Not only that, but his rationale continues to shift on a weekly basis of why she is unqualified for the position. Notice how he framed the issue back on July 27th:

    Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd cast more doubts this afternoon about whether Elizabeth Warren could garner enough votes to head the newly created consumer financial protection bureau, one day after White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called her “very confirmable.”
    __
    “I don’t know, that’s the question, how does he know that?” Dodd said in response to a question from TPMDC on his way in to the Democrats’ weekly policy lunch.
    __
    “She’s qualified, no question about that. The question is whether she’s confirmable,” Dodd added. “The issue is [if] you can’t confirm somebody, if you go six or seven months without someone in that job, you’ve got a problem.”
    __
    […]
    __
    Dodd’s chief concern, he said, is swiftness. If the agency isn’t set up quickly with credible leadership, it will be vulnerable to GOP attacks.
    __
    “You’ve heard the Republicans talking about repealing this bill,” Dodd said. “One of the first efforts they’d need would be to repeal this agency. If it’s not set up and running, the case against it becomes easier. So you want an established entity, as quickly as you can, with credible leadership. And if you don’t have that then you leave it vulnerable to the attacks. They will try to get rid of this agency, I promise you, when I’m gone. So having someone there that’s established this, getting it moving in the right direction, is very, very important, or you could lose it.”

    And check out how disingenuous he was just a week before that on July 19th:

    Dodd said it was conceivable Warren could win the 60 votes necessary — meaning one Republican would have to cross the aisle if all 59 Democrats voted together — but cautioned she wasn’t the only qualified candidate for the position.
    __
    “The question is, can we get someone who is confirmable? She may be, but that’s not the only potential nominee — there are many fine nominees,” he said.
    __
    Dodd explained he wasn’t aware of the source of the rumors about confirmability, though.
    __
    “I don’t know, I’m just telling you what I’m picking up,” he said.

    Yeah, I’m sure you aren’t aware of the source of the rumors since you only have been the one spearheading the campaign.

    Asshole.

  99. 99.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 1:52 pm

    @NR:

    If anyone so much as hinted that the bill did more harm than good and that they might not support it, they were called a monster who wanted tens of thousands of people to die.

    Because if you think it does more harm than good, you’re either wildly misinformed or were a monster who would rather thousands died then be forced to compromise.

  100. 100.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:52 pm

    @Sentient Puddle:

    This, and they’re complaining that Obama isn’t good enough? Jesus Christ, what morons.

    Honestly I can’t tell how your comment here makes any sense at all.
    Where is Johnsen now? And Warren?

  101. 101.

    Allison W.

    September 14, 2010 at 1:52 pm

    @NR:

    Well I wasn’t one of those people, so my comment still stands.

  102. 102.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 14, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: I still like the way that people on the self-avowed left moan and snarl and spit and run everything down as insufficient and tainted and an outrage to all right-thinking people and what’s the point of going on like this? And then wonder why no one seems to be that interested in trying to please them.

  103. 103.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    @Midnight Marauder: Dodd is gone soon. Why does anyone care what he says?

  104. 104.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 1:55 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Honestly I can’t tell how your comment here makes any sense at all.
    Where is Johnsen now? And Warren?

    Johnsen was filibustered in the SENATE, TWICE.

  105. 105.

    NR

    September 14, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    @Allison W.: Just because you personally weren’t saying these things doesn’t mean no one was. Just look two comments up from yours, for fuck’s sake.

  106. 106.

    BlizzardOfOz

    September 14, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    Don’t worry Mr. Cole … most of us firebaggers know perfectly well by now that Obama’s base is actually “ex” George Bush supporters like yourself.

  107. 107.

    taylormattd

    September 14, 2010 at 1:57 pm

    @Resident Firebagger: Oh god.

    What, you want cookie because you only shit on Obama 99/100 times instead of 100/100 times?

  108. 108.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 14, 2010 at 1:58 pm

    @Corner Stone: everywhere? nah, a “small sliver of the party”, a slightly larger part of the blogosphere, they’re just loud enough and filled with such deluded self-righteousness that they’re fun to point and laugh at
    actually, I think I might remember NY Nick from MyDD, back when a handful of PUMAs were going to save the Clinton campaign by going on strike (I think is how they put it), and no longer posting on GOS. PUMAs and Firebaggers are different, I think. The “Hopey” thing definitely smells like PUMA scat.

  109. 109.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 2:00 pm

    @Nick: I could be wrong but the first nomination was not acted on, and the second was withdrawn.
    Is that filibustered in the SENATE, TWICE ?

  110. 110.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 2:00 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    I still like the way that people on the self-avowed left moan and snarl and spit and run everything down as insufficient and tainted and an outrage to all right-thinking people and what’s the point of going on like this? And then wonder why no one seems to be that interested in trying to please them.

    The professional left are the Alex Forrests of the political world; self-destructive and unfocused with no grasp on reality whose only desire to be noticed and paid attention to.

  111. 111.

    lacp

    September 14, 2010 at 2:01 pm

    This is great – you’re fighting like rabid dogs over an event that hasn’t actually happened! And you’re nominally playing for the same team? Truly awesome. Damn.

  112. 112.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 2:01 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: PUMAs!! EVERYWHERE!!

  113. 113.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 2:02 pm

    @lacp: It’s a troll post by Cole. Whaddya want?

  114. 114.

    Cat

    September 14, 2010 at 2:02 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    I still like the way that people on the self-avowed right moan and snarl and spit and run everything down as insufficient and tainted and an outrage to all right-thinking people and what’s the point of going on like this? And then wonder why centrists and republicans seems to be very interested in trying to please them.

    fyp.

  115. 115.

    rikyrah

    September 14, 2010 at 2:03 pm

    Want it to happen. don’t care if interim or not.

  116. 116.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 2:04 pm

    @BlizzardOfOz: You forgot the word “rabid”. As in “Rabid George Bush supporters like you”.

  117. 117.

    rikyrah

    September 14, 2010 at 2:06 pm

    Dodd is a ruining whatever reputation he had.

  118. 118.

    Maude

    September 14, 2010 at 2:06 pm

    @Allison W.:
    No matter what Obama does, it isn’t good enough.
    If Hillary had won, everything would be wonderful.
    This attitude can’t be budged.

  119. 119.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 2:06 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    I could be wrong but the first nomination was not acted on, and the second was withdrawn.
    Is that filibustered in the SENATE, TWICE ?

    First nomination passed Judiciary and was filibustered on the floor…second nomination, she withdrew after Scott Brown announced his opposition to her nomination. She later said she believed even if she was confirmed, the fight would have left a partisan stain that would have complicated her ability to do the job.

  120. 120.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 2:12 pm

    @Nick: So there were two votes on her and she was filibustered TWICE.
    Ok, thanks mr. reporter man for your accuracy.

  121. 121.

    Midnight Marauder

    September 14, 2010 at 2:14 pm

    @NR:

    Bullshit. As far as Obama and the rest of the Democratic leadership is concerned, HCR is over and done with. They certainly aren’t going to bring it up again. If they did, they would be admitting that the bill they passed was pitifully inadequate.

    Yeah, you are so right. I guess that’s why the HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has been on the warpath against insurance companies lying about the cause of their premium rate increases, right? I guess that’s why the Obama Administration went after the health insurance companies when they were trying to keep children with pre-existing conditions from getting the coverage they were legally entitled to, right? I guess that’s why people like Sen. Ron Wyden out of Oregon is using a provision he helped write into the legislation that allows states to set up their own health care systems as long as they meet minimal requirements established by the Department of Health and Human Services, right?

    And admiting that the bill is “pitifully inadequate”?! Because the entire Democratic leadership came out and said “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” after the Affordable Care Act passed? Or rather, did they keep reiterating that this is only the beginning, accurately invoking the histories of similar historic pieces of legislation like Social Security and Medicare? Yeah, it definitely was the last one, since I distinctly remember President Obama making comments like this all fucking year:

    Now, this debate got pretty contentious at times last year. I think you remember. (Laughter.) And just when you were looking for accurate information about what this reform would mean for you, there were a lot of opponents of health care reform generally that sought to deny you that information. And they ran some pretty nasty rumors in hopes that it would scare folks. I know that’s hard to imagine in politics — (laughter) — but that’s what happened.
    __
    And we had seen it before. In the 1930s, when more than half of our seniors couldn’t support themselves and millions saw their savings vanish, there were a number of opponents who argued that Social Security was going to be socialism. In 1965, plenty of folks warned that Medicare was going to lead to a government takeover of the health care system. Same argument that was made earlier this year and last year. We found out that those warnings had no anchor in reality, and neither do the hysterical claims about this law.

    And speaking of hysterical warnings, this idiocy right here:

    This bill is all we’re getting for at least a generation. Better get used to it.

    is just all-galaxy moronic. Pop quiz: How many times did Social Security get passed? Once. The rest of the changes to the program have come through amendments and such since 1939.

    But that’s the only Social Security bill we got for a generation, right?

    Fucking idiot.

  122. 122.

    Turgidson

    September 14, 2010 at 2:15 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    I dunno, I’d have to see a swatch.

  123. 123.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    So there were two votes on her and she was filibustered TWICE.

    A filibuster doesn’t require a vote, it requires filing of, or the threat to file, cloture, which is opposition to unanimous consent to put something to a majority vote.

  124. 124.

    Jackie

    September 14, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    So Fox Fucking News breaks a story everyone ,in a mad frenzy to not be late to the scoop, reports it as fact not rumor(overheard someone on a plane) and now the narrative is Obama is jerking libs around? You ARE being jerked around and, just like the duped teabaggers, are turned around 180 degrees and firing your musket at people who should be your allies.

  125. 125.

    Midnight Marauder

    September 14, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Dodd is gone soon. Why does anyone care what he says?

    Because he’s not gone yet.

  126. 126.

    Sentient Puddle

    September 14, 2010 at 2:19 pm

    @Corner Stone: Obama sucks for not appointing people who are awesome, and it doesn’t matter if he appoints awesome people because they’ll get blocked.

    Point being that if you took these whiners at their word and constructed some sort of Venn diagram that shows where they’d be satisfied, you’d end up with an empty set.

  127. 127.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 14, 2010 at 2:21 pm

    @Cat: Well, that’s true, flaming righties do succeed in moving politicians their way, and whatever passes for flaming lefties in this country never does. And it’s not fair. A lefty version of the Tea Party would be excoriated and mocked by the media and politicians of both parties.

    I guess it’s a legacy of the 1960s, where you get things like the Chicago convention; the official, “respectable” Democratic party doesn’t like the looks of the people to their left and tries to reassure the public that they don’t listen to them. Ergo, “hippie-punching.” The problem for would-be hippies is that there aren’t really that many of them to begin with, and when they look numerous they’re treated as a threat to stare down rather than a force to bring on board.

    My sense is that grassroots righties try to take over institutional politics — running for school board, getting loud at public hearings, etc. — but grassroots lefties haven’t done that nearly as much. But whatever the underlying issue is, you can’t fix it by threatening to disengage. If you’re a hippie and you want to stop getting punched, you need to join. Instead we get this self-reinforcing sense that the way to bolster your hippie cred is to remain an outsider and countercultural, to be surly and hard to please and never really satisfied.

  128. 128.

    mantis

    September 14, 2010 at 2:22 pm

    @Sentient Puddle:

    Point being that if you took these whiners at their word and constructed some sort of Venn diagram that shows where they’d be satisfied, you’d end up with an empty set.

    I think “Empty Set” is a good name for the firebaggers/”professional left”.

  129. 129.

    Mnemosyne

    September 14, 2010 at 2:27 pm

    @lacp:

    This is great – you’re fighting like rabid dogs over an event that hasn’t actually happened! And you’re nominally playing for the same team? Truly awesome. Damn.

    Welcome to the Democratic Party. Fuck Solidarity is our motto.

  130. 130.

    eemom

    September 14, 2010 at 2:30 pm

    This announcement comes pre-shit on by the progressive “base”

    Tee hee. Maybe they should start requiring such imprimaturs for EVERYTHING Obama does, like in campaign ads: “I’m Jane Hamsher, and I shat on this middle-class tax cut.”

  131. 131.

    wengler

    September 14, 2010 at 2:32 pm

    This is a lovely circular firing squad. I assume the appointment of Ms. Warren would be a good thing, but what do I have to do to get some fuckers thrown in jail?

    Department of Justice, do your fucking job! The financial industry is built on a mountain of fraud and so far the “stress testing” has only been for the little people that all the shit falls onto to save our financial gods’ fat asses.

  132. 132.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 2:34 pm

    @Sentient Puddle: Sooo…”Nothing can be done!”

  133. 133.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 2:35 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    The problem for would-be hippies is that there aren’t really that many of them to begin with

    I think this is key, they live in a bubble. I’m mildly entertained by watching those on GOS scratching heir heads trying to figure out why Jack Conway is seven points behind Rand Paul in Kentucky.

  134. 134.

    burnspbesq

    September 14, 2010 at 2:38 pm

    @Maude:

    “Now it will be, he only did an interim appointment and he should have picked her on 1/21/09.”

    Yup. And if you remind them that there was no such position on 1/20/09′ the likely response is “So what?”

  135. 135.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 2:38 pm

    @mantis: Firebaggers! Evah ree wheah!!

  136. 136.

    kd bart

    September 14, 2010 at 2:40 pm

    Can we start referring to them as Randy Marsh Democrats? As in Stan Marsh’s Dad from South Park. If you recall the South Park episode after the 2008 election, Randy Marsh was excited that Obama was elected and celebrated all night. He kept going on and on about how things were going to different and better and how Obama will magically make it better immediately. When he sobered up in the morning and realized that he had to still go to work and that his life was really no different from the day before and things hadn’t magically changed overnight, in a sense he didn’t get his pony, he started ranting against Obama and blaming him for everything.

  137. 137.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 2:40 pm

    @Midnight Marauder:

    Because he’s not gone yet.

    True. But the Indy Colts perfect season is!!
    Thass right! Can I get an “Amen”?

  138. 138.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    @Corner Stone: Sooo…”Nothing can be done!”

    you keep repeating that like it’s some sort of joke and yet you can’t come up with ways that work.

    Yes Corner, NOTHING CAN BE DONE. In politics, all things are NOT possible.

  139. 139.

    eemom

    September 14, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    And if you remind them that there was no such position on 1/20/09’ the likely response is “So what?”

    No, it’s “Strawman! Strawman! Brrrraaaaaawk!”

  140. 140.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 2:43 pm

    @Maude:

    Now it will be, he only did an interim appointment and he should have picked her on 1/21/09.

    Uh huh and if George Washington wasn’t really part of a secret British plot, he would’ve ran for President in 1770.

  141. 141.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 2:45 pm

    @wengler:

    what do I have to do to get some fuckers thrown in jail?

    Well, first what they did would have to actually be a crime, and the biggest problem we had is that much of what they did…wasn’t technically a crime, though it should be.

  142. 142.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 2:45 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    running for school board, getting loud at public hearings, etc.—but grassroots lefties haven’t done that nearly as much

    Man, do I have some anecdota for you. Had a straight hippie on our local school board in a very wingnut ISD.
    Lots of hilarity ensued. Especially when she asked them to follow their own rules.
    She was ridiculed, derided, and eventually forced out. After several confrontations with authoriteh.
    Good damn times man. Good.

    Point being, hippies in my wingnut woods do bust their asses to “show the fuck up”.

  143. 143.

    Oscar Leroy

    September 14, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    Who cares what Peter Daou thinks? Every single solitary leftist website I’ve seen the past month is dying for Warren to be nominated and thinks it will motivate voters.

    “Up next, fifty posts from progressives taking credit for the appointment ”

    So what? What reason other than shoring up his base could Obama have to make this appointment?

    John, don’t make up reasons to get ticked off. You’ll live longer.

  144. 144.

    singfoom

    September 14, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    As a semi-firebagger, I think this is silly. I’d like to see Elizabeth Warren appointed. I was disappointed by HCR, but in the end it was better than getting nothing. It’s a precedent that hopefully can be built upon and improved over time.

    I wanted my pony and over the last 6 months I’ve realized that I’ll never get my pony, even though that pony is the rule of law being applied evenly regardless of the stature of the criminal. Perhaps someday far from the actual crimes I’m speaking of, it will be investigated.

    Fine. We got some kind of HCR bill and from my work in insurance, it should help. I found the financial regulation bill lacking, but again, I see it as the stepping stone to some more stringent regulations (I’m looking at you Glass-Steagal) being put in place in the future.

    So other firebaggers, accept the current reality and stop shitting on everything this administration does. Please? You can hold the idea of being disappointed by the specific policies while supprting the administration in general, I promise.

    The alternative is crazybaggers taking control and fucking up this country even more.

  145. 145.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    @Nick: Shhh…the adults are talking. Go sit in the corner of your mommies rich house and have the nanny check your diapy.

  146. 146.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    September 14, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    I don’t understand why they’re rushing President Obama so much to make this appointment. After all, the roughly 500,000 homeowners who have lost their homes to foreclosure since the Financial Reform bill was signed certainly think that there’s no urgency to having a consumer advocate at Treasury. Also too, he’s only been in office for a few months, I forget exactly how many.

  147. 147.

    Allison W.

    September 14, 2010 at 2:50 pm

    @NR:

    I am not responsible for other people’s comments. When you make claims that progressives were blackmailed, you are not to be taken seriously. Any one in the party who agrees with you and your rhetoric should not be taken seriously.

  148. 148.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 2:50 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Shhh…the adults are talking. Go sit in the corner of your mommies rich house and have the nanny check your diapy.

    Aww, it’s so cute when babies try to imitate adults. You want a scooter pie sweetie?

  149. 149.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 14, 2010 at 2:51 pm

    @Corner Stone: Excellent. Except for the “getting forced out” part. But that’s definitely something that has to happen on a HUGE scale for the grassroots left to match the _actual_ power of the grassroots right. I don’t think the grassroots left will ever match the _symbolic_ power of the right, mostly because the media likes to prove it’s not biased against the right by keeping up fucking the conservative chicken and either punching the hippies or just plain ignoring them.

  150. 150.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 2:54 pm

    @Oscar Leroy:

    So what? What reason other than shoring up his base could Obama have to make this appointment?

    If he’s doing it to shore up his “base” it’s a stupid reason, because the number of voters who will suddenly decide to vote because of her nomination are small to none. Everyone’s either already turning out, or will find another reason not to.

    He should appoint her because she’s a good choice, but it’s going to have little effect on electoral politics, that was John’s point.

  151. 151.

    Oscar Leroy

    September 14, 2010 at 2:54 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Hmm, that’s a good point. I hadn’t thought of that. It would be nice.

  152. 152.

    Allison W.

    September 14, 2010 at 2:56 pm

    @wengler:

    you do know that the real crime is that most of what they did was legal?

  153. 153.

    Oscar Leroy

    September 14, 2010 at 2:57 pm

    @Nick:

    I couldn’t disagree more, except for the part about her being a good choice.

  154. 154.

    Oscar Leroy

    September 14, 2010 at 3:00 pm

    Obama sucks for not appointing people who are awesome, and it doesn’t matter if he appoints awesome people because they’ll get blocked.

    Recess appointments? Just throwing that out there.

  155. 155.

    Midnight Marauder

    September 14, 2010 at 3:00 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    True. But the Indy Colts perfect season is!!
    Thass right! Can I get an “Amen”?

    AMEN!

    Face, Indianapolis. Face.

  156. 156.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 3:02 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: Forced out is relative I guess. The next election she had 3 hard core “conservative” opponent for her seat. So she switched and went after one of the existing conservative nutbags.
    They both lost to a 3rd party newcomer but it was glorious.

    She was, and is, awesome.

  157. 157.

    Allison W.

    September 14, 2010 at 3:02 pm

    @lacp:

    This is great – you’re fighting like rabid dogs over an event that hasn’t actually happened! And you’re nominally playing for the same team? Truly awesome. Damn.

    that’s how we roll up in here….and pretty much all over the lib blogosphere.

    sad.

  158. 158.

    Oscar Leroy

    September 14, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    No, it’s “Strawman! Strawman!

    Heck, the entire opening post was a straw man attack. So is every charge against most people who are upset with Obama.

  159. 159.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    @Oscar Leroy: You really think there are thousands of voters sitting around going “If he appoints Warren, I’ll vote and I’ll start approving of him again?”
    I’d be surprised if there are thousands of voters who know who she is at all.

  160. 160.

    Oscar Leroy

    September 14, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    @Allison W.:

    People talking about politics. . . on a politics talk site? Now I’ve seen everything!

  161. 161.

    Bruce (formerly Steve S.)

    September 14, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    This announcement comes pre-shit on by the progressive “base”

    Atrios called it “good news”, David Dayen at FDL offered “unqualified praise,” Kos said “Yes. This.” How long did it take you to find the Daou tweet, and is now the spokesperson for all of us?

  162. 162.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 3:06 pm

    @Nick: Nick, in case it has not been made clear here recently, let me reiterate.
    You are a liar. Every thing you type here is a lie. You do not work in the media, you are not the child of a wealthy family, you do not have a 22 yr old diabetic cousin who needs HCR.
    You are a shill who relentlessly pushes a message that nothing can be done, no fight will be successful, standing up for liberal/left values is hopeless.
    You are a punk bitch lying paid shill. Punto.

  163. 163.

    Linda Featheringill

    September 14, 2010 at 3:08 pm

    @cleek:

    I don’t know who Elizabeth Warren is . . .

    You would like her, cleek. Trust me [us].

  164. 164.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    @Bruce (formerly Steve S.):

    Atrios called it “good news”, David Dayen at FDL offered “unqualified praise,” Kos said “Yes. This.” How long did it take you to find the Daou tweet, and is now the spokesperson for all of us?

    Daou’s tweet is from last week was retweeted by John at that time.

    The diaries of all those said people are chock full of what I mentioned above. The point is the same people you mentioned have gotten all excited before (like when the WH refused to compromise on the Consumer Protection Agency, or forced Jim Bunning’s hand on Unemployment) only to go back to the “HE SOLD US OUT” mentality a week later.

    Like Daou said, everyone will praise Obama for a few days if he appoints Warren and then find some other reason to call him the biggest sellout ever within a week and the end result is…it will do nothing to close the enthusiasm gap.

  165. 165.

    Glenndacious Greenwaldian (formerly tim)

    September 14, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    ahhhhhh…an epic length flame war in which I played no part and as a result have no hurt fee fees.

    a pleasant but unusual feeling.

    Tis true though, that this seems one of JC’s classic troll posts

  166. 166.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    @Corner Stone: Hush child, serious conversation going on here.

  167. 167.

    cleek

    September 14, 2010 at 3:18 pm

    @Linda Featheringill:
    sweet!
    i’m all for liking people.

    so i hope she wins, or gets appointed, or whatever it is she’s supposed to do.

  168. 168.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 3:20 pm

    @Nick: You are hilarious dog. Not only are you a straight paid shill liar but you’re pretty clueless.
    You do know the owner of this blog recently posted about which one of his pets ate tinfoil, and he’d be waiting to see which one shit it out?
    Whoever is paying you to post around the blogosphere is getting hosed.

    IOW, you are a liar who has never held a job in the media.

  169. 169.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    September 14, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    @Uncle Clarence Thomas:

    I don’t understand why they’re rushing President Obama so much to make this appointment. After all, the roughly 500,000 homeowners who have lost their homes to foreclosure since the Financial Reform bill was signed certainly think that there’s no urgency to having a consumer advocate at Treasury. Also too, he’s only been in office for a few months, I forget exactly how many.

    First of all, they didn’t own their home, they were paying a mortgage on a house that they could barely afford in the best of times, and through a payment plan, they hoped to own one day. But they didn’t own it when they lost it. Reality just caught up to them.

    I’ve rented for over 15 years because I couldn’t comfortably afford a house – just like those 500,000 schmucks who couldn’t afford the house they hoped to own someday, but decided to buy anyway.

    I’m of the mind that if you can’t afford to pay cash for a new car, then you should buy a used car that you can pay cash for. And if you can’t afford to buy a house properly (large down payment, 15-year mortgage) then you should rent.

  170. 170.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    @cleek: I think she’s supposed to capture the flag.
    Or maybe she’s a beast at paint ball. I can’t tell anymore.

  171. 171.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 3:24 pm

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:

    First of all, they didn’t own their home, they were paying a mortgage on a house that they could barely afford in the best of times, and through a payment plan, they hoped to own one day. But they didn’t own it when they lost it.

    You do know you just described everyone, right?
    I mean, I bought a house at 1:1 but it ain’t fucking mine for the next 10 years.
    Fucking douchebag.

  172. 172.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 3:24 pm

    @Corner Stone: Whatever helps you sleep at night and keeps the boogeymen away.

  173. 173.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    @Nick: Ha! You are of the mentality that needs a boogeyman. Oh no! Someone is stopping what is the right path! Boogeyman!
    No matter what X you fit in there, you’re selling the story of an intractable boogeyman.
    You’re a liar and a paid shill.

  174. 174.

    Bruce (formerly Steve S.)

    September 14, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    @Nick:

    Hey look, I found a picture of you and John.

  175. 175.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 3:34 pm

    @Bruce (formerly Steve S.): That’s all you got? weak.

    Once again, like the saying goes, once someone resorts to personal attacks, it means you’ve won the argument.

  176. 176.

    Cat

    September 14, 2010 at 3:36 pm

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:

    just like those 500,000 schmucks who couldn’t afford the house they hoped to own someday, but decided to buy anyway.

    if you can’t afford to buy a house properly (large down payment, 15-year mortgage) then you should rent.

    WTF. When did they appoint you the deciderer of the ‘right’ way to buy things?

    AND even if they did get a 15 year mortgage is the ‘right’ way to live to have 2 years of life expenses saved up so when you get laid off and can’t find a job for 60 weeks you don’t lose the house you “couldn’t” afford because you weren’t prescient enough to realize you were going to lose your job in 2009 and not be able to find another one?

  177. 177.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 3:37 pm

    @Corner Stone: Oh stop whining, you’re embarrassing yourself.

  178. 178.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 3:38 pm

    @Nick: If the D’s had followed your stellar advice in 06 or 08, to focus on some 3rd party boogeyman (the media), I’m sure they would’ve been elected to majorities in Congress and won the WH.
    But yet, somehow, nothing can be done to push the D message until we focus on some removed 3rd party. Not the message the R’s are selling, but someone who is unaccountable to the public. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
    It’s always about a distraction for you Nick. That is what you are paid to sell.

  179. 179.

    Nick

    September 14, 2010 at 3:45 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    If the D’s had followed your stellar advice in 06 or 08, to focus on some 3rd party boogeyman (the media), I’m sure they would’ve been elected to majorities in Congress and won the WH.

    I’m sure of it too. I’m glad you agree.

    But yet, somehow, nothing can be done to push the D message until we focus on some removed 3rd party. Not the message the R’s are selling, but someone who is unaccountable to the public. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

    And yet you haven’t come up with a single idea, not one, because you don’t have one, so you mock me for coming up wit one. You’re either too much of moron to realize the message the R’s are selling is the same message the media is selling, or you don’t actually want a solution at all, you want to pretend there’s one that doesn’t exist so it will never be used and you can keep acting like the childish jerk you are. The media IS the Republican Party, admitting that would mean realizing we have to take them on and there should actually be a solution, it would ruin your constant trolling.

    You people don’t want solution, you just want to bitch and other people who actually have solutions make you mad.

  180. 180.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    @Nick: Actually I just want you to move on to the Quran thread and tell everyone hoe bad this is going to play in Peoria.
    Nick, you are a liar and paid shill thread jacker.

  181. 181.

    NR

    September 14, 2010 at 3:53 pm

    Or rather, did they keep reiterating that this is only the beginning, accurately invoking the histories of similar historic pieces of legislation like Social Security and Medicare? Yeah, it definitely was the last one, since I distinctly remember President Obama making comments like this all fucking year:

    Nothing in that comment you posted backs up your contention that Obama sees this bill as “only the beginning.” Do you really think that just because he happened to mention Social Security and Medicare, that means he was admitting that the HCR bill was hugely flawed and needs to be fixed? Fucking idiot, yourself.

  182. 182.

    Bruce (formerly Steve S.)

    September 14, 2010 at 3:54 pm

    @Nick:

    it means you’ve won the argument

    Ah yes, your “argument” that “everyone” will “call [Obama] the biggest sellout ever within a week.” Quite an “argument” you’ve got there. Must be awfully lonely, you against “everyone.”

  183. 183.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 3:55 pm

    @Nick: Your solution is to “fight the media”.
    That’s like saying we should organize opposition to rain clouds.
    Stop lying you lying fucking liar.
    Anyone who suggests we focus on an amorphous 3rd party like “the media” instead of actual specific Republicans and Republican proposals is worthless.

  184. 184.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    September 14, 2010 at 3:58 pm

    @J.A.F. Rusty Trombone:

    > just like those 500,000 schmucks who couldn’t afford
    > the house they hoped to own someday, but decided
    > to buy anyway.

    RT, I don’t understand how these schmucks forced their banks to lend them so much money.

  185. 185.

    NR

    September 14, 2010 at 4:00 pm

    @Allison W.:

    I am not responsible for other people’s comments. When you make claims that progressives were blackmailed, you are not to be taken seriously. Any one in the party who agrees with you and your rhetoric should not be taken seriously.

    I didn’t say you were responsible for other people’s comments. I’m saying that those comments were made. And progressives were blackmailed into supporting Obama’s corporatist health care bill. Any time a progressive dared to speak up and say “Hey, this bill is a piece of shit,” a chorus of people here (and at many other places) jumped up and shouted “Medicaid expansion! Subsidies! If you don’t support this bill, you want tens of thousands of people to die!”

    Well, now it turns out that the states have no money for the Medicaid expansion and the subsidies are not going to make the now-mandatory private health insurance affordable for millions of Americans. And thanks to this bill, there will be no more reform of the health care system for at least a generation. Heckuva job, guys.

  186. 186.

    Mnemosyne

    September 14, 2010 at 4:04 pm

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:

    I’m of the mind that if you can’t afford to pay cash for a new car, then you should buy a used car that you can pay cash for. And if you can’t afford to buy a house properly (large down payment, 15-year mortgage) then you should rent.

    I realize that all of us in the lefty blogosphere are pissed off at Obama policies that put paying the bank over the homeowners, but one of my friends is a HUGE Obama supporter and she is PISSED at the thought that homeowners might get government assistance.

    I know this is Atrios’ hobbyhorse, but I don’t think he understands how most people really feel about a homeowner bailout. On the ground, people hate it more than the bank bailout.

  187. 187.

    NR

    September 14, 2010 at 4:05 pm

    @Midnight Marauder: By the way, dumbass, here’s the speech Obama made when he signed the health care bill:

    And while the Senate still has a last round of improvements to make on this historic legislation — and these are improvements I’m confident they will make swiftly — (applause) — the bill I’m signing will set in motion reforms that generations of Americans have fought for, and marched for, and hungered to see.

    He says the Senate needs to make a “last round” of improvements (referring to the reconciliation “sidecar” and nothing else) and that this piece of shit corporatist bill is what generations of Americans have been fighting, marching, and hungering for. Nowhere does he say that this bill is just a beginning and needs to be improved.

    Obama is done with HCR. He got the bill he wanted and he is not going to revisit it. The rest of the Democratic leadership feels the same way. Sure, there are some isolated progressive Democrats calling for improvements, but these are the same progressive Democrats that the party leadership routinely shits all over (and you guys happily joined in shitting all over them back during the HCR debate), so that won’t amount to anything. HCR is dead for at least a generation. You’d better learn to love this bill, because it’s all you’re getting.

  188. 188.

    Mnemosyne

    September 14, 2010 at 4:08 pm

    @NR:

    Do you really think that just because he happened to mention Social Security and Medicare, that means he was admitting that the HCR bill was hugely flawed and needs to be fixed?

    Since he mentioned the last two huge government programs that needed a huge amount of tinkering before they took their present form, yes, I think that’s exactly what he was admitting.

    I know you wanted a shirt-tearing mea culpa with Obama crying about the horrendous inadequacies of the bill, but you know what? The guy I work with whose son was about to age out of being covered by his insurance is very happy with Obama right now, because his son can’t find a job that includes insurance. There are thousands of people like that. So, yes, if you insist that the bill did no good whatsoever for anyone, either you’re misinformed about the provisions of the bill or you’re just pouting because you didn’t get your way.

  189. 189.

    burnspbesq

    September 14, 2010 at 4:12 pm

    @Corner Stone

    @Nick

    Get a room.

  190. 190.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 14, 2010 at 4:14 pm

    @NR: I guess you have taught us a deep and abiding lesson. Nothing is good enough; so if you can’t have everything, bitch and whine. Taking an improvement over the status quo and then working to improve it further is what sellouts do. Thank you for your wisdom.

  191. 191.

    burnspbesq

    September 14, 2010 at 4:17 pm

    @NR:

    “Well, now it turns out that the states have no money for the Medicaid expansion and the subsidies are not going to make the now-mandatory private health insurance affordable for millions of Americans.”

    If you are suggesting that that was the plan all along, then you are just bat-guano crazy. Shit happens, and this particular pile of it is compliments of the Republican Party.

  192. 192.

    eemom

    September 14, 2010 at 4:20 pm

    Can somebody bookmark this thread to save us the trouble of going through it all again when Obama actually does appoint Warren?

    That way the appointment can come pre-flame-warred as well as pre-shit-upon. tee hee.

  193. 193.

    Midnight Marauder

    September 14, 2010 at 4:32 pm

    @NR:

    Obama is done with HCR. He got the bill he wanted and he is not going to revisit it. The rest of the Democratic leadership feels the same way. Sure, there are some isolated progressive Democrats calling for improvements, but these are the same progressive Democrats that the party leadership routinely shits all over (and you guys happily joined in shitting all over them back during the HCR debate), so that won’t amount to anything.

    You are clearly one of the dumbest people on the internet.

    HCR is dead for at least a generation. You’d better learn to love this bill, because it’s all you’re getting.

    I really think Mnemosyne handled the response to this historically ignorant inanity quite succinctly:

    Do you really think that just because he happened to mention Social Security and Medicare, that means he was admitting that the HCR bill was hugely flawed and needs to be fixed?

    Since he mentioned the last two huge government programs that needed a huge amount of tinkering before they took their present form, yes, I think that’s exactly what he was admitting.

    Just a rare level of idiocy we are seeing today from NR. Really, it’s the kind of thing you will tell your grandkids about one day.

  194. 194.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 4:37 pm

    @eemom: Sure. Cole already pre-fucked the pony. We might as well keep it for posterity.

  195. 195.

    Midnight Marauder

    September 14, 2010 at 4:43 pm

    @NR:

    He says the Senate needs to make a “last round” of improvements (referring to the reconciliation “sidecar” and nothing else) and that this piece of shit corporatist bill is what generations of Americans have been fighting, marching, and hungering for. Nowhere does he say that this bill is just a beginning and needs to be improved.

    Here’s where you really demonstrate what an obtuse imbecile you are. You base your contention on a speech from the signing ceremony in March, and then proceed to ignore the evolution and content of President Obama’s remarks from June, only a couple months out from the signing of the bill and the shit really hitting the fan.

    And let’s examine your statement that the President is “done” with the Affordable Care Act. Perhaps we should take a look the speech you linked to?

    It will take four years to implement fully many of these reforms, because we need to implement them responsibly. We need to get this right. But a host of desperately needed reforms will take effect right away. (Applause.)

    Well, I’ll be damned if that doesn’t sound like President Obama saying he’s going to be on top of this issue for the next four year, with the explicit implication that implementing the Affordable Care Act–and making sure that it functions properly–will be a focus of his for years to come.

    I would really love to see how you would have reacted when Social Security was first rolled out and it excluded most women and minorities, while its employment definitions reflected categories that were almost exclusively for white males.

    I bet you would have been pissed about that, right? NO WAY Social Security transforms into the essential, vibrant piece of the American fabric it is today with that kind of auspicious beginning, right?

  196. 196.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    September 14, 2010 at 4:58 pm

    @J.A.F. Rusty Trombone:

    > I’m of the mind that if you can’t afford to pay cash for
    > a new car, then you should buy a used car that you can
    > pay cash for. And if you can’t afford to buy a house
    > properly (large down payment, 15-year mortgage)
    > then you should rent.

    Also too, I don’t understand why, if you can’t afford the medical care that would allow you to live, you can’t choose the alternative:

    “
    The progressive vision was on full display yesterday during a vigil led by Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) that halted, for now, the foreclosure of a cancer victim’s home. For months, Bonita, California resident Luz Maria Villanueva had been facing impending foreclosure on her home by Union Bank. Villanueva’s situation was especially dire due to the fact that her son has a kidney disease as well as cancer. As medical bills began to pile up, Villanueva had to choose between the life of her son and her home, and she chose her son.

    As Union Bank began to close in on Villanueva’s home, Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), who represents the woman and her son in Congress, took note of her situation. Comparing the struggle of families trying to keep their homes to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s which landed him in a Mississippi jail for two months, Filner announced that he’d be holding a community vigil on the steps of Villanueva’s house on the day a local sheriff was scheduled to come foreclose on her. He warned that doing so “may result” in his arrest, but that was willing to risk it to help her save her home.
    “

  197. 197.

    NR

    September 14, 2010 at 5:06 pm

    @Midnight Marauder:

    Here’s where you really demonstrate what an obtuse imbecile you are. You base your contention on a speech from the signing ceremony in March, and then proceed to ignore the evolution and content of President Obama’s remarks from June, only a couple months out from the signing of the bill and the shit really hitting the fan.

    You mean the remarks from June in which he didn’t say anything even close to what you’re claiming he said? The remarks from June where he talked about the health care bill and was singing its praises without saying anything about how it needs to be improved? The remarks from June where he didn’t even talk about how Social Security and Medicare were improved after passage, but rather just simply mentioned those programs in passing? Those remarks?

    Good god, you are a complete fucking idiot.

  198. 198.

    Allison W.

    September 14, 2010 at 5:11 pm

    @NR:

    Any time a progressive dared to speak up and say “Hey, this bill is a piece of shit,” a chorus of people here (and at many other places) jumped up and shouted “Medicaid expansion! Subsidies! If you don’t support this bill, you want tens of thousands of people to die!”

    In other words, when those people came across shrill and generic critique of the bill they put you in your place instead of joining in the ‘Obama’s out to get progressives’ pity party?

    Sorry love, I have no sympathy for you. You guys give as good as you get so suck it up.

  199. 199.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 14, 2010 at 5:14 pm

    @NR: Context, boyo. Throughout the debate, people arguing for passage of the bill used Social Security, Medicare, and Civil Rights legislation as examples of laws that were imperfect when originally passed and then improved and amended over the years. Aw, fuck it, why am I bothering to argue with you?

  200. 200.

    Paula

    September 14, 2010 at 5:16 pm

    @Paula:

    haha, number 200, bitches!!

  201. 201.

    mantis

    September 14, 2010 at 5:45 pm

    And progressives were blackmailed into supporting Obama’s corporatist health care bill. Any time a progressive dared to speak up and say “Hey, this bill is a piece of shit,” a chorus of people here (and at many other places) jumped up and shouted “Medicaid expansion! Subsidies! If you don’t support this bill, you want tens of thousands of people to die!”

    Right. “Progressives” were “blackmailed,” insofar as blackmail means that people who disagreed with them posted comments on blogs. Call the cops on these blackmailers!

    Such delicate little flowers, these self-professed progressives (who ironically and steadfastly oppose any progress that isn’t 100% pure magical pony).

  202. 202.

    Corner Stone

    September 14, 2010 at 6:07 pm

    @mantis: Pony fuckers!! EVERYWHERE!!

  203. 203.

    BTD

    September 14, 2010 at 6:09 pm

    Hilarious thread.

    Since I don’t care if Warren is appointed or not, I get to laugh.

    In fact, I wish Obama traded the Warren appointment for his tax cut plan, if he could. That actually matters imo.

  204. 204.

    LanceThruster

    September 14, 2010 at 6:17 pm

    @General Stuck: Yes. I believe it was called “The Warning”.

    She was right at every turn, stymied by everyone from Greenspan, other regulators, those on Capitol Hill, the old boy network, and the usual crooks and liars.

    Even when they dodged the first near meltdown bullet by the other banks ponying up to cover losses, instead of backing her and her previously independent regulator position, they moved to relieve her of any power by requiring approval from outside her office for actions and subpoenas.

    I believe you can see most of it online. It will boil your blood. One guy alone of the economic team of experts tearfully admits he wishes he hadn’t sided with the old guard but that she just wasn’t part of their clique so it would have been a career killer to swim against the tide.

    The same dolts who brought this on were rewarded by further advancement.

    [last lines from “Bridge on the River Kwai”]

    Major Clipton: Madness! Madness!

  205. 205.

    wengler

    September 14, 2010 at 7:46 pm

    @Nick @Allison W.

    No, fraud is still illegal. Bond rating agencies getting paid off to rate a piece of shit as the safest possible investment is illegal. I get that the trouble is proving it but that is why juries are there to decide.

    Seriously, you gonna prosecute the teenager on the corner dealing crack and not even bother with even fucking trying to bring down the people that fucked over the economy? Even rich fuckers need an economy that works. And Americans are willing to kill other people over damn near anything. That’s a pretty big chance for the oligarchs to be taking.

  206. 206.

    Jbird

    September 14, 2010 at 8:00 pm

    Ah, I see. As someone to the left of Obama on consumer protection, I’m mad at . . . someone(?), and I voted for . . . Hillary Clinton(!). Oh, and, um, Warren’s nomination hasn’t actually been announced yet, which in turn is causing me to . . . look, I can’t keep track of what you’re saying I believe and say and do.

    It’s these damn memory implants messing with me again. Thanks for straightening me out but I’m going to have to get back to you.

  207. 207.

    Dr. Psycho

    September 14, 2010 at 8:06 pm

    To be fair, the Left Base is waaaaay saner than the Right Base (aka Wingnuts).

    You can call that damning with faint praise if you like….

  208. 208.

    Jbird

    September 14, 2010 at 8:13 pm

    On a serious note, John, this post comes across as sort of insane. I realize dealing with Experian can drive people to this, but we’re talking Maureen-Dowd-talking-about-sweaters weird here. You repost a tweet from some guy (should I know who this guy is?) and then expand it into a psychic hyperbolic prediction of what the left is about to do in shrieking capital letters.

    Then it turns out the whole point of the post is undermined so you add an update, also a paranoid fantasy about what the left is about to do, also in capital letters. You don’t have somebody’s Twitter to post and “translate” for that one, so you just make it up out of whole cloth.

    I like reading this site but I’ll never understand why y’all can’t get over a primary fight your blog had with Firedoglake, dot com, the Internet blog (and that’s what I’m guessing happened from all the lingo that was invented here). The issues here are on the table for a reason other than blogfights.

  209. 209.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 14, 2010 at 9:16 pm

    @Jbird: on an even more serious note: Lighten up, Francis.

  210. 210.

    gerry

    September 14, 2010 at 9:45 pm

    Dear Mr. Cole,
    Please get a grip on yourself.
    Thanks.

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