In her words, and here’s Simon Johnson’s take on the form of the appointment. (via)
Reader Interactions
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Tick tock motherfuckers!
Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.
Damn right I heard that as a threat.
There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.
DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.
Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.
These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.
I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.
Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.
There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.
“Alexa, change the president.”
Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”
The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.
If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.
Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.
A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.
The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.
Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.
The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.
You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.
There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.
“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”
Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.
A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.
beltane
This is a slap in the face. Now I’ll have go eat my shit sandwich under a bus.
Comrade Javamanphil
Still waiting for my goddamn unicorn pony.
Michael Goetz
But Warren won’t be used as fodder in a proxy war, therefore Obama is a weak coward. Plus, nobody has explained to me her precise parameters of authority or given to me her job description. I don’t know the answers to these questions, and therefore nobody else in the world knows the answers, least of all Warren herself. I firmly believe that Warren would waltz into this situation without knowing the answers, and wouldn’t even think to ask.
Comrade Mary
I’ve heard that unicorn shit is both tasty and nutritious.
cleek
hooray!
what will this mean for me ?
what benefits will i accrue as a result of this monumental accomplishment ?
Linda Featheringill
Very nice post by Elizabeth Warren. See, some good things come out of Oklahoma!
It had not occurred to me that she might have a voice in several of the economic discussions around the Administration. That could be interesting. Anyone who expects her to sit politely by while they toady to the bankers is likely to be disappointed.
Who knows? She might influence more than credit card fees.
Life is funny, isn’t it?
Michael Goetz
Oh, and anybody who criticizes me for these views is merely punching hippies while pulling away the football.
Anya
mistermix, you gotta warn us when you link to HuffPo. I am boycotting them and their screaming headlines.
Anyway, this is good news. It makes sense that she set-up the agency, she proposed. Of course we will be treated to month and months of unsourced stories about how Rahm and Geithner and oppressing Elizabeth Warren and if that doesn’t work, she’ll be viewed as another sell out.
p.a.
I wonder what the oppo research on her has dug up, and how long it will take to be published by the WSJ and Murcan Spectator? Or railed about in spittle-soaked soliloquies on winger tv and radio? On the other hand, maybe they got nuttin’, since if they did it would probably be out there by now.
beltane
@Michael Goetz: Hey hippie, go back to your Veal Pen and stop being such an O-bot.
Punchy
Warren G. went to jail?
Linda Featheringill
@Michael Goetz:
I saw that on Huffpo and had to laugh.
Apparently God died and left a lot of different people in charge of being omniscient. I didn’t get that particular memo but obviously it was sent out. Look at all the people who are acting like they did get the message.
Bob
It makes no difference what her title is. If everyone is told the President says she is in charge, she will be in charge.
The confirmation process for the executive branch is a joke. A President should be able to set up their cabnet as they see fit without input from another branch of government.
Chat Noir
I first saw Elizabeth Warren years ago when she appeared on Dr. Phil’s show to talk about money issues. Since then, I’ve been a big fan of hers because I like what she’s had to say about managing one’s finances.
I’m happy to see she’s now part of the Obama Administration.
cat48
Ok, Obama acted just like BUSH! He circumvented all the proper channels to get her in this position! It was really a DICK move! I’m really disappointed that no one is impressed with his brashness & creativity! I certainly am. Isn’t this what the progs have been begging him to do? Progs are never satisfied. Sigh…..
valdivia
@cat48:
but but but–my pony!
Uloborus
C’mon, let’s not snark yet. Give the Dirtier-Than-Thou Fucking Hippies a few days. They wanted this, give ’em a chance to be happy with it. We’re not the Right, and I continue to hope that our fringe are just punch shy from the Bush years and not actually disconnected with reality. Also I hope that @cleek: is either being satirical or honestly wondering what the agency will do.
beltane
@cat48: They’ll say Lyndon Johnson would have used his giant cattle prod and bully pulpit to get her confirmed. Sad to say, but there is a subset of progressives who seem to confuse LBJ with Nikita Khrushchev at the UN.
debit
@Anya: I always mouseover the link, just in case. I won’t give Huffpo a single click.
homerhk
Do you think there’ll be an apology or at least some bog standard introsepction by some of the wankers who were crying about this yesterday?
advice to heed for all people in that Warren post, btw:
“It’s time for all of us to pull up our socks and get to work.”
Zandar
But Warren wasn’t given the power to have CEO’s killed.
(President Hillary so would have done that with a solar-powered laser.)
Michael Goetz
Now that Simon Johnson has affixed his seal of approval on this, let’s see if the SiJohn-bots fall into line, or if he become the latest in a long line of betrayers.
beltane
OT, but former senator and GOP bigwig Al D’Amato has endorsed Andrew Cuomo for governor, stating that Carl Paladino is a lunatic and fraud who is “unfit to be governor.”
Dougj may have been right that the Paladino nomination means the end of the GOP as a viable statewide party in New York.
burnspbesq
@debit:
” I won’t give Huffpo a single click.”
Your lack of consideration for those who rely on HuffPo for comic relief is disheartening.
Corner Stone
Lot of Paladino’s running around this morning. It’s a little early to be doing this much pre-fucking the pony, isn’t it?
cleek
@Uloborus:
what specific benefits i will receive due to this particular person being in this position ? presumably i would not receive these benefits if a different person was appointed.
in other words: why does this matter ?
cat48
@valdivia: I has your pony!
@beltane So agree.
@Uloborus Just a way I deal w/pent-up stress. I’m still trying to get over the fact that I’m an “anticolonial Kenyan” because I agree w/most of Obama’s policies.
Steve
A lot of progressives believe this is a half-measure, not because they automatically believe the worst of Obama, but because TPM portrayed it as a half-measure from the get-go. TPM aspires to be a news site, but sometimes they do a Fox-like job of differentiating news from opinion. They lost credibility in this case because not only didn’t they know the meaning of Warren’s appointment, but they didn’t know that they didn’t know.
beltane
@Corner Stone: Remember that mob war in the ’80s between the Gambino and Genovese families? It was a total kumbaya compared to what’s going on in NY right now.
Cermet
@Comrade Mary: Fool – its their blood that is valuable – just ask the hairy (sic) potter … their shit is just the side dish.
Anya
@debit: I usually do but somehow I got existed and missed it. I really dislike HuffPo and I am particularly sick of Ariana Huffington’s new “Third World America ” meme. But, I lost all respect for her when she invited Newt Gingrich to blog at her site after all of his loathsome comments of late.
Steve
@beltane: Ellis Henican made the point in this morning’s column that when you have Ed Koch and Al D’Amato (of all people) criticizing you for insensitivity, you know you’ve scraped rock bottom.
Corner Stone
@beltane: I was actually using Paladino as a metaphor.
But it’s good to hear the NY GOP has ratfucked itself into this position.
Uloborus
@cleek:
In some ways it doesn’t. ‘Appoint Warren’ has been a big thing, and the major posters’ attitudes here seems to have been ‘She looks good, but if it’s someone else they’ll probably be good too’. This attitude was an argument against those who deemed that Warren was necessary for the job and suggested Obama was insufficiently liberal or too spineless to appoint her, which is a common meme. I really don’t know if you were making those arguments, but others certainly were.
As for what benefits we do get, she has a very strong reputation for being completely no-nonsense, knowledgeable in the field of financial exploitation of the Underclasses, and fanatically zealous in opposing it. So when she constructs the agency the rules and enforcement policies can be expected to actually have teeth.
Probably others could do the job as well or almost as well, but that’s our (yeah, I felt that way too) argument. We’re still happy she’s got the nod.
Culture of Truth
There goes Simon Johnson, throwing all good progressives under the bus.
/snark
dmsilev
@beltane: There’s a fun article in the NY Times this morning about Paladino and how, among other things, he regards the NY Gov office as a mere stepping stone:
dms
valdivia
@Steve:
I agree with your characterization of TPM’s take on this. And they are the only ones who went that route and have not backtracked yet. I have noticed that David Kurtz–who wrote the original post on Warren–is always putting the worst spin on everything. He is like their resident firebragger.
Comrade Mary
@Cermet: One word: bilirubin.
cat48
Chuck Toddler said that Warren will spend most of the day on TV today talking consumer protection for Admin. For once, this might be good news for Dems instead of John McCain.
valdivia
@cat48:
see now I haz my pony! ;)
Anya
@Anya: sorry meant to say excited. The iPhone’s suggested words always kill me. When I think I ignore it, I always end up with the wrong word.
BR
@valdivia:
Indeed. I’ve exchanged many a flame email with David Kurtz over his terrible posts. Josh Marshall is solid, Kurtz not so much.
Comrade Mary
@dmsilev:
That is a thing of beauty. It conjures up a totally disgusting image, but you have to admire the deft allusion.
Meanwhile, it seems that some people from Buffalo are looking forward to dipping their hot wings in a fine mixture of bleu cheese and shit.
Princess
With Goolsbee’s promotion and the appointment of Warren, Obama’s economic team is quietly undegoing some shuffling.
Comrade Mary
Also: if Alan Alda turned to the dark side (and horse fucking), he’d look like Paladino.
valdivia
@BR:
so glad to know I am not the only one!
JAHILL10
@beltane: No fair packing so much snark into that little space. I almost ruined my keyboard with full-on coffee snort.
Face
Rabbits everywhere rejoice.
Amir_Khalid
@Anya: As I recall, the Huffington Post did have some decent journalistic standards when it first started. But over the years, it has succumbed to peddling drama, conflict and scandal — which are to news what salt, fat and sugar are to junk food.
As for the lady herself, she has become the Zsa Zsa Gabor of America’s political discourse.
kay
I’m really pleased. I want her to go forth immediately, and start talking.
Earl
Happy.
That is all.
Culture of Truth
With Goolsbee’s promotion and the appointment of Warren, Obama’s economic team is quietly undegoing some shuffling
Yes, but first he laid the legislative ground work for real progress. Interesting.
dmsilev
@Comrade Mary: Exactly. You will note, of course, that the author carefully avoided specifying *where* on the horse Paladino is tightly grasping…
dms
WaterGirl
@kay: Stop by the Rose Garden at 1:30 eastern time today. After her official introduction by the president, I imagine that is exactly what she will do.
JAHILL10
@Culture of Truth: It’s almost like he has a long term plan for turning the economy around and leveling the consumer playing field. Whodathunkit?
I haz a happy.
Omnes Omnibus
IIRC Harry Hopkins was not confirmed by the Senate in any of his positions during FDR administration with the exception of Secretary of Commerce in 1937. Despite this, he was involved in everything and people who dealt with him knew he had the ear and confidence of the president.
kay
@WaterGirl:
I think she’s really persuasive, although (admittedly) I’m a fan, so may not have the pulse of the nation, or anything.
They’re going to paint her as a radical, but she’s really not. Hers are old, good traditional ideas about good faith and fair practice. My hope is she can stir some memory within people, and they’ll realize how far the playing field has tilted toward moneyed interests, and why it doesn’t have to be like that, and hasn’t always been like that.
eemom
@kay:
yes, please. I know it’s a lot to ask, but let us have a sane, smart woman dominate the air waves, just fer fucking once.
Culture of Truth
Warren needs an electric cattle prod, like Tootsie.
Martin
Well, this is the ultimate firebagger litmus test. Half of GOS is already incensed that she’s a sell out based on her statement on the WH blog. The same people that wanted her in charge of this agency and called Obama a corporate tool for not finding a way to appoint her even if she couldn’t be confirmed are now pissed that Obama has appointed her to be in charge of this agency.
I think Firebaggers live by a simple rule: They’re only happy when they get more than they can have. These people must wake up pissed every day that it’s not tomorrow.
nevsky42
@Punchy:
Actually, I heard that both Warren G. and Nate Dogg were being considered for positions in the agency, due to their regulation experience…
WaterGirl
@kay: I think anyone (except bankers) who ever heard her talk about TARP must be a fan, as I am. She is radical only in the best sense – she is not afraid to speak truth to power. I am completely jazzed about this appointment.
I also think that all the “supporters” who worried about this not being a serious position have been insulting Elizabeth Warren, not supporting her.
Edit: should also have said that I agree with everything you wrote!
Corner Stone
@nevsky42: I can’t think of anyone I would rather have in my Cabinet or administration than Nate Dogg.
MSM, Tea Party, GOP obstructionism got you down?
Call on Nate Dogg to get it smooth. Feelin better in no time.
Linda Featheringill
@dmsilev:
At #36.
I went to the Paladino website at http://paladinoforthepeople.com/ and found it amusing.
Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.
cat48
So, this is a “thumb in the eye” to Wall St says one of the banksters and the Chamber basically said it was a slap in the face & the method of appt was illegal!; per Reuters.
4tehlulz
@Corner Stone: I personally would like to have Snoop Dogg as Secretary of Agriculture.
Dr. Dre as Secretary of Health and Human Services also would be acceptable.
geg6
@beltane:
Holy crap. That really does seem to be a “put a knife in it” kinda moment when even D’Amato thinks the Don, errr…I mean, Paladino is too batshit for even him.
Steve
@cat48: I sure hope the business lobby does not throw us in that briar patch.
Martin
@Steve: As a general rule, when anyone that doesn’t have voting rights is pissed about something the government does, my first instinct is to think it’s probably a good move.
eemom
@beltane:
OMFG. He’s still around? Don’t these people ever DIE?
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl:
Yes, either she is the person for the job in which case she would not have accepted the position if she would not be able to do the job, or she is not and it does not matter what position she is given.
FlipYrWhig
@Omnes Omnibus: I can’t believe that Obama apparatchik Elizabeth Warren would throw lefty firebrand Elizabeth Warren under the bus like that! Another preemptive compromise with the status quo. Sigh. (Fap fap fap…)
Omnes Omnibus
@FlipYrWhig: Exactly.
Earl Butz
Nice. Another nanny-state commie in charge of our broken economy.
At the rate Dems are “fixing” the economy, we should all be huddled around oil drum ovens, reading by flashlight, by the time the next election rolls around.
Corner Stone
zzzzz…FIRE..bags..baggers..snortgrumblezzzzz…
Cat Lady
I’m happy about this because she’s clearly right for the job. It’s her wheelhouse. Perhaps we’re seeing Obama start to switch out his economic team now that there’s some indication that the market has stabilized and FinReg has passed, for a team that is now going to need to start reconstructing the guardrails with no Republican input. If you’re committed to staying under the bus, you’re going to miss the passing landscape.
/O-bot
blackwaterdog
Very somber mood all around the left blogosphere this morning. This was not the plan. The sell-out president was suppose to punch the hippies again. Now it’s a race to find some form of plan B. So far, the best alternative is: She will have no power, she is just a figurehead.
FlipYrWhig
@blackwaterdog: There’s something broken-souled in West Blogistan. Way too many people who don’t know how to take “yes” for an answer. And I definitely include David Kurtz in that number.
slag
Yes! Go Warren! Good to re-inject some likability into the Administration after losing Jones and Romer. Austan Goolsbee is pretty likable, but he was already there.
cat48
@blackwaterdog:
I would tell them to “pull up our socks…..work to be done!”
Really enjoy your diaries….really only reason I remember to visit Kos.
Brachiator
@Martin:
Good point. I think the expectation of these people was that Obama would nationalize the banks, reduce credit card interest rates to zero, and have Warren preside over show trials of financial industry executives.
Jean
@blackwaterdog: I think it’s great news. Btw, I love your diaries at Kos; I read every one. Thank you.
WaterGirl
@Martin:
Now that’s a line that should be in rotation at the top of the blog!
Corner Stone
@slag:
Who?
Corner Stone
@Brachiator:
Instead of what, actually? Your hyperbole leaves out what has actually happened, in real life. Not some mythical horde of firebagger timelines.
WereBear
@Culture of Truth: Love it.
blackwaterdog
@cat48:
Thank you so much. :)
blackwaterdog
@WaterGirl:
Agreed. It’s a keeper.
FlipYrWhig
@Martin:
Quoted for truth. And, um, FTW, as the young people say.
Midnight Marauder
@FlipYrWhig:
I think it’s a case, rather, that these people are incapable of adopting a perspective that allows them to see moments like this as small victories on the way to larger conquests, as opposed to a slap in the face sellout throwing them under the bus because it’s not exactly in the terms they demanded. There just seems to be a sizeable contingent on the Left who are so far gone and obtuse now that they can’t see how anything is a “victory” unless it involves the very public humiliation of the Republican Party or a Blue Dog.
Midnight Marauder
@blackwaterdog:
Always nice to see you around here. Your diaries at the GOS are American Treasures.
Martin
@Brachiator: I don’t think they cared about actually fixing the economy. Sure, in the big poofy sense they did, but not in the practical ‘the following things will actually work’ sense.
I think they saw Obama as the protagonist in some kind of revenge/exploitation film, who was supposed to go out there and right all the political wrongs of the world which in turn would naturally and magically lead to better policy.
They don’t seem to actually care if Warren is leading the agency, they just want the head-pat and affirmation that Obama cares enough to ram her down the GOPs throat in confirmation. Validation of their feelings is clearly all that matters.
blackwaterdog
@Jean:
And thank you too. :)
Gravenstone
@valdivia:
Dunno if that’s intentional, or merely a mistype, but it’s genius either way.
blackwaterdog
@Midnight Marauder:
Thanks. I should really post more here. Much nicer.
Corner Stone
@Martin: Are you calling him Shaft?
What? I’m talkin bout Shaft!
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
@Corner Stone:
Sometimes I wonder about these folks, pouring over the GOS diarists and FDL commenters for things that will piss them off.
mr. whipple
@Midnight Marauder:
Agreed.
GOS lurker
Wanted to chime in and say I’m not a registered user at GOS, but I enjoy your diaries, too, BWD. I daresay there are many lurkers like me who do.
I’m sorry about how the crap-louder crowd is always pissing on your diaries, but at the same time I’m entertained at how they get their panties all in a bunch over diaries that are positive. I particularly enjoyed how the recent one blatantly exposed the hypocrisy of one nyceve over the “jumping the tip jar” thing.
ruemara
@eemom:
Evil never dies. It just sinks into a mansized safe full of shredded money and snowflake baby blood.
WaterGirl
@cat48:
@Midnight Marauder:
@mr. whipple:
@Jean:
I never go to dailykos anymore, but it looks like I need to start reading blackwater dog. You, collectively, are personally responsible. :-)
TooManyJens
If you really don’t want to accidentally click on a HuffPo link (and I don’t either; I’m always annoyed when I end up there), you can just put the whole domain in your ad-blocker.
NobodySpecial
I’m not gonna go overboard on the fireworks just yet. Barney Frank has indicated that she didn’t want the full five-year term as director, she just wanted to set it up. That’s all well and good, but that means we’re still waiting to see who ends up running it.
bago
Booting this org ASAP and deferring the confirmation fight seems to be an optimal decision. Unless you prioritize a confirmation fight over Consumer Protection.
TooManyJens
@NobodySpecial: Sure, but OTOH she’ll have a say in who ends up running it.
I’m going to call the White House comment line and thank them for finding a way to get around the obstructionist Senate Republicans and get the job done with the right person to do it. Positive reinforcement: it works, bitchez.
FlipYrWhig
@Martin:
Definitely. Because frankly it seems to me that the whole “netroots” group has–with cause!–teabag envy, in that there are a lot of smart, passionate lefties who never get listened to and never get into the media, and it seems like a similarly-sized pack of right-wing dumbasses saying stupid shit gets treated as important news. So the netroots has adopted this attitude that they always get ignored, and they read every news development for signs that they’re about to be ignored yet again. They’re not really rallying for action, they’re rallying for attention. It’s like the difference between wanting more _visibility_ for members of minority groups–for example, gay characters on TV shows–and slogging through policy-making that affects the lives of gay people. Those are coordinated efforts, to be sure, but they’re not the same thing.
Paula
Re firebagging:
Well, questioning the effectiveness of any one person within the vast workings of the federal gov’t should be common sense for anyone observing politics, but the Troo Progressives ™ were/are the ones who consistently deploy the POV that “if only so-and-so were elected/nominated, we’d have true progressive change”. Their loudest harangue of late involved Warren.
If they want to express dissatisfaction now, at the very least they deserve mockery for being inconsistent, but mostly for indulging in naive and idiotic fantasies of what constitutes effective political action.
Corner Stone
@FlipYrWhig: Visibility is what it’s all about.
Anyone who does not get that has seriously flawed analysis.
FlipYrWhig
@Corner Stone: Well, obviously you need _both_ visibility (the outside game) and praxis (the inside game). It’s easy to get so hung up on visibility that you stop thinking about what you’ll do once you get it. And understandable concern for visibility can go off the rails and become a caricature of “identity politics,” like when a bunch of people got all mad that the “professional left,” which had to mean “everyone who ever reads a blog,” was insulted–kind of like the way Bill Donohue scrutinizes the world for morsels of anti-Catholic bigotry about which he can then fulminate.
Corner Stone
@FlipYrWhig: Considering your specific example of homosexuals, why do you think current generations view gay marriage and equality as a norm?
It’s certainly not due to legislation. It’s because they’ve seen it, lived with it in their lives. Their Uncle, their neighbor, the TV show they watched for 10 years.
The Hate Crime legislation punished anti behavior but visibility promoted pro attitudes.
Paula
Ah, there it is … some mofos in the press corps just charged her appointment as unconstitutional.
She’s bypassing the confirmation process because of YOU, fuckos.
Corner Stone
@bago:
Some people are sceptical on the reach/impact of this agency, and have different priorities as a result.
FlipYrWhig
@Corner Stone: We’re actually agreeing, I think. You need to link visibility to policy outcomes; visibility for visibility’s sake might make celebrities but it doesn’t really make social change.
Corner Stone
@FlipYrWhig: No! Nooooo!!
Dams yiz! Dams yiz ta hell!
The Raven
The FDL editors are cautiously optimistic. Marci Wheeler. David Dayen. I’m a little less so, but Warren is a smart, competent person and may make it work, even despite Larry “math is hard for girls” Summer and Timothy “never met a banker I didn’t like” Geithner.
piratedan
it’s funny, you keep hearing that she is anti-business or anti-Wall Street. Based on hearing her speak and stating her positions, business has nothing to fear from her if they’re aren’t profiting from taking advantage of the consumer. So it seems that most of the players in the banking and financial services sectors are screwing people over on a regular basis based on the squeals of pain emanating from that direction as if they’re Gollum and someone just placed a rope of Lorien around their collective ankles.