Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

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

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

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

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

You are here: Home / Bring on the meteor

Bring on the meteor

by | 105 Comments

This post is in: 

I don’t want to be part of a civilization that awarded this writer three Pulitzer prizes:

Meanwhile, Mr. President, on a rainy day, rent the movie “Tin Cup.” There is a great scene where Dr. Molly Griswold is trying to help Roy “Tin Cup” McAvoy, the golf pro, rediscover his swing — and himself. She finally tells him: “Roy … don’t try to be cool or smooth or whatever; just be honest and take a risk. And you know what, whatever happens, if you act from the heart, you can’t make a mistake.”

Do you?

Reader Interactions

105Comments

  2. 2.

    West of the Cascades

    Gives a new and fresh meaning to the word “wanker,” he does. Thanks for excerpting so we don’t have to click through.

  3. 3.

    Comrade Mary

    Oh, fucking hell. But it could have been worse: he could have used The Legend of Bagger Vance so that Obama could have played either the hapless golfer or the Magical Negro.

    But if you do want meteors, fire and brimstone, and lots of monsters to kill, there’s this. It’s a tower defense game that’s actually fast and good.

  4. 4.

    TheWorstPersonInTheWorld

    Friedman is often, even usually, an ass.

    But could you please point out exactly, precisely, where this particular column is concerned, he is wrong? Thank you.

    DougJ, has Cole assigned you the role of BJ UberObot, full stop, as a matter of providing drama and as a sop to the low level Obot trolls here? That being the case would explain most of your posts.

  5. 5.

    General Stuck

    Do you?

    The few times I’ve attempted to play golf, all the risks were with the other players in range from one my deranged golf shots.

    Good movie, and where I learned the term “lay up”.

  6. 6.

    Argive

    Obviously, Friedman’s a hack, but the funny part of this paragraph (to me, anyway) is the bit where he says Obama should rent a movie. I’ve always found the process of renting movies to be vaguely irritating, as I am very lazy (yay Netflix Instant). I hope that the White House has a vast underground storage vault of DVD’s so the president doesn’t have to stand in line or wait for that red envelope like the rest of us.

    Also, OT, but pretty cool: Lloyd Blankfein done lawyered up.

  7. 7.

    Dennis SGMM

    Coming soon from a porn-mustachioed pundit:

    Obama should grab an M4 carbine, body armor and parachute into Afghanistan. Not to just hand out turkeys to the troops on Thanksgiving. No, real combat; ambushes, firefights and night ops with his ass on the line. Close combat is a great teacher. As any good Infantryman will tell you, the first rule of close combat is this: Never put your head up when you don’t need to. Do not wait and hope for your opponent to make a mistake. Always assume that out of X number of rounds fired, someone will take a fucking.

  10. 10.

    The Other Chuck

    Is The Mustache incapable of communicating through anything BUT avuncular-sounding aphorisms?

    I swear, the guy will next present his proof of the existence of the Higgs Boson based on the existence of a fucking Pizza Hut in Pakistan.

  11. 11.

    John Casey

    As I recollect the movie, when Roy went with his heart and took a risk, he something like quadruple bogied the last hole of the US Open, and played himself right out of first place. Got real stubborn about it too.

    Tom Friedman is such an ass.

  12. 12.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    If you’re looking for political solutions in golf movies, the obvious source is Caddyshack. Barack Obama in the Rodney Dangerfield role, Mitch McConnell as Judge Smails (“Hey Smails, my dingy’s bigger than your whole boat!”), Eric Cantor as Spaulding (“I’ll bet you fifty bucks the Smails kid picks his nose”), and the blogosphere as Carl the assistant groundskeeper.

    Hey, everybody….

  13. 13.

    some guy

    Also, OT, but pretty cool: Lloyd Blankfein done lawyered up.

    truly, A RED ENVELOPE DAY.

    go mustache, go, the world is truly too big and too flat to fail.

  15. 15.

    Anya

    I thought it was Maureen Dowd. But seriously, how sucky are the New York Time columnists. They have, in one freaking place, Friedman, MoDo, Douthat, Charles Blow and David Brooks. Why would they inflict that level of hackery on America?

  16. 16.

    Mustang Bobby

    I hate it when pundits go all Dr. Phil on people they don’t know. It’s both creepy and patronizing.

    But it makes for great mockery, so there is something to be said for it.

  18. 18.

    Dennis SGMM

    Me and golf are strangers. Back in the day one of my fellow machinists, a good friend, was an avid golfer. “Let’s go out to the range and hit a few,” he would say. “Let’s go down to El Monte, it’s only three holes. I know that you’ll become a golfer the first time you try it.”

    We smoked a couple of joints on the way and another in the parking lot of the course. Then we hit a couple of buckets on the driving range and my friend assured me that I was ready to take on the short and easy course.

    The first hole had a water hazard, replete with live pink flamingos, close to the tee. I went first, hit the ball a mighty whack with some club or other and the ball caught one of the flamingos square in the chest while it was still on the rise. The poor bird dropped dead without so much as a squawk. After careful deliberation, and another joint, we returned our golf cart and got the hell out of there.

  19. 19.

    norbizness

    Mr. President, I suggest renting a Betamax copy of the Kevin Costner movie No Way Out, because that’s what reading one of my shit columns feels like.

  21. 21.

    Jenny

    As long as we’re going off-topic, Obama is such republican:

    All Detroit Public Schools students will receive free breakfast, lunch and snacks in an effort to remove the stigma of being from a low-income family.

    The option will be offered to more states in successive years, and will be available to all states beginning School Year 2014-15.

    Primary/Impeach him, now!

  22. 22.

    Ira-NY

    This line was pretty good.

    Many Americans can see that most of these G.O.P. candidates are closer to professional wrestlers than politicians — with their fake body slams and anti-Obama bluster.

  23. 23.

    Sam Houston

    @LTL-FTC:

    where is Matt Taibbi when you need him?

    Right now I bet he’s in NY talking to AG Schneiderman.

    Oh my, this is interesting: Shake-Up in Mortgage Investigation

    The Iowa attorney general’s office: “Effective immediately, the New York attorney general’s office has been removed from the executive committee of the robosigning multistate [settlement]”

    Will they write on his report card, “Doesn’t play well with others?”

  25. 25.

    The Spy Who Loved Me

    I didn’t know there was a Pulitzer Prize for twaddle. Learn something new every day.

  26. 26.

    Spaghetti Lee

    I’m assuming the risk Friedman thinks Obama should take is something along the lines of “Resign, appoint Michael Bloomberg president, and sell Social Security’s assets to Hu Jintao”. Am I wrong?

  27. 27.

    Dennis SGMM

    @The Spy Who Loved Me:
    The Mustache received those Pulitzers for reducing the complexities of a global economy to boned wisdom for weak teeth with a hearty sprinkling of aphorisms from mythical taxi drivers. That he is, was, and ever shall be full of shit in no way hinders his career as a columnist and almost guarantees another Pulitzer. Those prizes ain’t what they used to be.

  28. 28.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The moustasche sucks. On this. Suck on it, you hacktackular asshole.

    His retirement from “journalism” cannot come a nanosecond too soon.

  29. 29.

    fleeting expletive

    ‘m baking a pumpkin pie, because I have craved pie for months, even if it is August. And also watching Casablanca onTCM. Also am sorta baked and drunky-wunky.

    Ah, life is good, esta noche.

  30. 30.

    Jennifer

    I’ve chronicled quite a bit of Friedman’s nonsense over at my joint. Like the time he claimed there was an old saying in the Middle East that “a camel is a horse that was designed by a committee.” And other things too dumbassed for me to have permanently committed to memory.

    I think it’s a national scandal that he doesn’t have his own entry on Dickipedia.

  32. 32.

    Kane

    But I would not assume that Republicans won’t come up with more serious candidates when it counts, or that some of these candidates won’t move to the center. I would definitely assume that they’ll do better.

    Care to put some serious money on that, Mr Friedman?

  33. 33.

    Amir Khalid

    @Dennis SGMM:
    A certain kind of columnist needs to be full of shit, otherwise he has no material for his column. And as you say, Tom Friedman is the preeminent example of that kind. So, you see, he does deserve his Pulitzer Prizes.

  34. 34.

    fleeting expletive

    I have always loved Casablanca, but never more when a little buzzed. A difficult customer, that Rick.

    Not one of the main quotes from the movie, but I think pretty dadgum good.

  35. 35.

    Jim C.

    Shitty movie and shitty metaphor and shitty writing can sometimes make it a bit hard to see a very valid point buried beneath all the manure.

    Obama IS risk averse and isn’t exactly the leftist he’s portrayed as being in the media. He is, as others like Ezra Klein have pointed out, something of a 90s style center-right Republican. (Republicans before they went COMPLETELY off the deep end.)

    I support him and he’s light years better than any alternative out there, but he does have a tendency to lead from behind a lot of the time and isn’t exactly the type to really seriously push the political center to the left. I donated funds for him last election, campaigned for him here in red state Idaho, both in the Democratic primary and (futilely) in the general election, but he does sometimes seem to lack a bit of stones.

    Yes, I’m well aware of the arguments that he could just know the political inclinations of the Ben Nelsons and the Joe Liebermans of the world better than us armchair quarterbacks, but from this humble, uninformed opinion he can come across as a bit of a wimp at times compared to his immediate predecessor in terms of aggressively going after the things he wants.

    See Greenwald.

    http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/08/18/obama_v_bush

  36. 36.

    Stillwater

    @Jenny: You know Jenny, it was other departments which bore the lions share of the effort here. Obama was just a bit player.

    NO LOVE!

  37. 37.

    fleeting expletive

    Jenifer, I agree….Howcome everyone regards him as just a joke? I mean, “” Friedman Units”? He’s “santorum” already, w/o any sex tags, I guess. How does his Newspaper not know that he’s a fucking joke? What audience does he command that his publishers need for him to be there in order to getthem? Freidman brings in whom, exactly?

  38. 38.

    The Dangerman

    Does he have to blow all of the Pulitzer Committee members or just a majority of them?

  39. 39.

    Joel

    It took all of “Meanwhile, Mr. President…” for me to figure out that was Tom Friedman. They should have a game show based on this concept.

  40. 40.

    fleeting expletive

    Jim C, I would ask to to define “risk averse” in Obama’s term:: health care, Dont ask dont tell, Bin Laden? . Were those risk averse moves? Please explain.

  41. 41.

    kalyarn

    He’s not Jimmy Carter. He’s Tiger Woods

    “Obama…I am more prone to be inquisitive. To promote discussion. I wanna find out what your thinking was. I wanna find out what your feelings are.

    And did you learn anything?”

  43. 43.

    Jenny

    Quotations from Chairman Mustache

    What liberals fail to recognize is that regime change in Iraq is not some distraction from the war on Al Qaeda. That is a bogus argument.

    January 22, 2003

    Many liberals oppose this war because they can’t believe that someone as radically conservative as George W. Bush could be mounting such a radically liberal war.

    October 30, 2003

    This is not Vietnam.

    September 21, 2003

  44. 44.

    joeyess

    My comment to Friedman is awaiting moderation. Doubt it will make the cut so here it is:

    Ahhh, the Moustache of Understanding strikes again. Friedman, you sir are a concern troll of the highest order. Do they have a Pulizter Prize for that distinction? I’m interested in your ties to the No Labels nonsense and what, if any, influence it has on your daily musings. Now, I don’t begrudge a man that is married to wealth. Good for you as a matter of fact. I just question the sincerity of an individual when said individual is hip deep in plutocratic politics while at the same time trying to pass out advice to a president by sounding like an everyday working stiff. Stop with the posturing and come clean with your readers. It’s embarrassing. By the way…. how long should the President watch Tin Cup so that we can be sure that the message sinks in? Would a Friedman Unit do the trick or should we try for two?

  45. 45.

    Violet

    @Jim C.:

    he can come across as a bit of a wimp at times compared to his immediate predecessor in terms of aggressively going after the things he wants.

    Well, Lord knows I’d much rather have a President wearing a manly codpiece in front of a Mission Accomplished banner because he aggressively wants to pretend his war is over than have a President in who cooly goes to the White House Correspondents Nerd Prom while ordering and overseeing the raid to take out Bin Laden. Because codpieces and flight suits are just so much less wimpy than actually taking out the guy who behind the 9/11 attacks.

  47. 47.

    joeyess

    @Kane:

    But I would not assume that Republicans won’t come up with more serious candidates when it counts, or that some of these candidates won’t move to the center. I would definitely assume that they’ll do better.

    Care to put some serious money on that, Mr Friedman?

    I subscribe to Hunter over at the GOS on this topic. He nailed the fantasy that the GOP would be able to nominate a non-crazy, wild-eyed douchenozzle. I quote:

    So who could the conservative establishment put up that wouldn’t be perceived as either a crackpot or a joke, and who could make it through their own primaries? Nobody they might want is dumb enough to enter the race, because they know they would be bludgeoned for any past position they have ever had that showed even a bit of nuance. Believe in science? Believe in the people electing their senators directly? Believe healthcare for citizens is actually a problem that government should attempt to solve? Have you ever in your life been quoted as saying that a slight increase in taxes corporations pay would not, in fact, be an economic apocalypse? Well, that’s great—now get out. Because the base, having been fed exclusively red meat from their “conservative elites” for years now (as an electoral strategy, mind you) isn’t going to have any of that nonsense.
    [ ]
    Now you’re going to expect that same base to tolerate someone “serious,” someone whose own history of government action might have traces of heretical nuance, or “Ivy league” intellectualism, or even—shudder—the begrudging admission of uncomfortable scientific facts, after your decade-long policy of publicly belittling and excommunicating any candidate who expressed any of those things? Yeah, good luck with that.

    Yep.

  48. 48.

    Elizabelle

    Trying to remember when Friedman crossed the line from prescient to parody for me.

    ‘Cause I used to like a bit of what he wrote.

    PS: Note that none of us seem to have clicked on to Bobo’s latest, “The Rugged Altruists”, which appeared yesterday. Before the Great Eastern Quake of 2011.

    Nothing was going to get me to click that link, much as I enjoy reading the readers’ comments from smarter folks who attempt to school (or correct the misstatements of) David Brooks.

  49. 49.

    AT

    “And you know what, whatever happens, if you act from the heart, you can’t make a mistake”

    “My heart tells me not to slow down” – Captain of the Titanic

    “My heart tells me hydrogen is the gas to use” – Designer of the hindenburg

    “My heart tells me to trust you” – investors to Bernie Maddoff

    This game is fun!

  51. 51.

    AT

    “my heart tells me we can ignore this warning about Bin Laden” – White House prior to 9/11

  53. 53.

    joeyess

    @norbizness:

    Mr. President, I suggest renting a Betamax Laser Disc copy of the Kevin Costner movie No Way Out, because that’s what reading one of my shit columns feels like.

    Laser Disc seems more like Friedman’s speed. I would hazard a guess that he collects them much in the same way that Harvey Pekar collects records. Laser Disc player no longer works, but Friedman just can’t let go of his library.

  54. 54.

    Elizabelle

    I read Friedman’s column.

    Strip away the stuff about Tiger Woods and the last paragraph, and it’s actually pretty good.

    Although Friedman is naive here:

    Obama surprised everyone by broaching the idea during the debt negotiations of a “Grand Bargain” — roughly $3 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade and $1 trillion in tax increases — as a signal to the markets that we’re getting our fiscal house in order. It was absolutely the right idea — as long as it is coupled with investments in infrastructure, education and research [well, duh] — but House Speaker John Boehner could not deliver his Tea Party-led G.O.P. caucus.

    and unrealistic here:

    We need a Grand Bargain — where each side gives something on spending, taxes and new investments — and we’re on our way out of this.

    Because the Republican leadership will not consider tax increases (despite overwhelming support by Americans for them, as part of a balanced package) and they’re using the deficit (be skeered, be skeered) to go after Social Security and Medicare. The U.S. already has less of a safety net than our European neighbors. Obama and Democrats should not give away 40% to get 3%.

  56. 56.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    @Dennis SGMM:

    The first hole had a water hazard, replete with live pink flamingos, close to the tee. I went first, hit the ball a mighty whack with some club or other and the ball caught one of the flamingos square in the chest while it was still on the rise. The poor bird dropped dead without so much as a squawk. After careful deliberation, and another joint, we returned our golf cart and got the hell out of there.

    This approaches Hunter Thompson’s turf… especially the last two lines…

    Nice…

  57. 57.

    joeyess

    @AT:

    “My heart tells me that the cartoons that you’re currently looking at are authentic artist renderings of Saddam Hussein’s mobile chemical weapons labs.” – Colin Powell.

  58. 58.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Note that none of us seem to have clicked on to Bobo’s latest, “The Rugged Altruists”, which appeared yesterday.

    The very title made me gag a little. I can smell the Primal Scent from here, and let me just say it don’t smell good.

  59. 59.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Mark S.:

    You might prefer this crew

    So, so much fail. But this George Eff Will blurb caught my eye:

    America’s Caesar: Why Chris Christie isn’t running for president.

    Chris Christie = Caesar? Uh, in what context?

  63. 63.

    magurakurin

    yeah, risk adverse Obama.

    He sent a black ops team into a nuclear-armed, sovereign nation to stage a raid in a town which is Pakistan’s equivalent of West Point to capture/assasinate, arguably, the most wanted criminal on the Earth. What a pussy.

    but yeah, obama sux, bully pulpit, tar sands, after Bachman comes Us…

  64. 64.

    MattR

    @Yutsano: I don’t think Chris Christie has seen a Caesar salad in quite some time.

    (And now I feel cheap for making a fat joke)

  67. 67.

    RossinDetroit

    I don’t like golf, generally hate sports movies and usually ignore Costner but Tin Cup was pretty good.
    I do not know why. Sometimes a simple story, 3 or 4 decent actors and solid directing is all you need.

  68. 68.

    Warren Terra

    You have to admire the man’s courage. Imagine waking up every morning, looking in the bathroom mirror, and realizing that, yes, you’re Tom Friedman – and having the strength to go on. The man’s a hero.

  69. 69.

    Triassic Sands

    Bring on the meteor

    Believe me, if I could move to another planet (preferably one without Republicans), I’d do it. But I’m not willing to cash in the only life I have because the planet I had the misfortune to be born on is populated by people so stupid that Thomas Friedman is considered worthy of any kind of award for excellence. Friedman clearly thinks he’s the smartest man alive, but I haven’t bothered to read anything he’s written (with the possible exception of short quoted passages) in many years.

    So, for now, hold off on the ELE (Extinction Level Event). However, check back with me the day after the 2012 general election. I may have changed my mind, but it won’t be because Friedman is still writing his insipid crap.

  70. 70.

    ppcli

    @AT: Don’t forget:

    “I know in my heart that invading Russia before winter will be a slam dunk.” — Napoleon

    “My heart tells me that Heaven’s Gate will be an artistic and commercial triumph”. — Micheal Cimino

  72. 72.

    Joseph Nobles

    @John Casey: But that’s the point. Yeah, Obama could draft a Medicare-for-all bill and endorse Grijalva’s People’s Budget and keep sending it back to Congress over and over and over!

    And then he will lose the 2012 election in a landslide.

    But, wow, will we ever remember that magnificently thrilling stance forever!

    We don’t want liberal and progressive legislation. We want liberal and progressive feel-good moments. Legislative success would mean finding a new issue to find our feel-good moments.

  73. 73.

    September 19th

    @Joseph Nobles: The correct term is “emopants liberal”. The truth is that these people don’t deserve Tom Friedman. He is, in fact, more serious than they are.

  75. 75.

    niknik

    My heart tells me the rich are paying far too much in taxes and the poor have way too much to eat…

  76. 76.

    hildebrand

    My heart tells me that Obama would probably like to reenact the scene in the Untouchables when Capone circles the table with the baseball bat – with the entire table filled with columnists.

  77. 77.

    Josie

    I long for a spate of columns preaching about what asses Cantor, Boehner, McConnell, etc. are and what they should do to redeem themselves. That might be a start towards realistic punditry.

  78. 78.

    arguingwithsignposts

    “My heart tells me executing this Jesus guy will get rid of his meddlesome religious tendencies” – Pontius Pilate.

    As to Friedman, man is paid to send wise vibes to the types of people who attend events like Davos and the Aspen Ideas Summit – you know – producers.

    You moochers wouldn’t understand the pureness of his thought.

  80. 80.

    Hill Dweller

    Mark Knoller’s hit piece blaming Obama for the debt/deficit on Monday was far worse than this typical nonsense from Friedman.

    The Republicans wasted no time using that Knoller piece. It almost seemed coordinated, but there is no way a “journalist” such as Knoller would engage in that sort of behavior…

  82. 82.

    Argive

    “My heart tells me that my presidency will fail if South Vietnam falls to communism.”

    -Lyndon Johnson

  85. 85.

    Donut

    Do you?

    Hell, no.

    But, broken clock style, the Mustache is correct about this:

    Yet rather than flesh out his Grand Bargain in detail and take it on the road — and let every American everywhere understand and hear every day that he had a plan but the Republicans wouldn’t rise to it — Obama dropped it. Did he ever try to explain the specifics of his Grand Bargain and why it was the only way to go? No.

    The president really needs to start selling his policy preferences to voters. Kinda one of those really important things, and he’s not been doing well at it, lately. IMHO.

  86. 86.

    Jamey: Bike Commuter of the Gods

    I agree, Doug: I do not want to be part of a civilization that’s awarded the ‘Stache three Pyoo-litzers. Let’s award him a fourth.

  87. 87.

    Svensker

    @fleeting expletive:

    Obama read one of his books. It’s on some list that Sully’s crew have up, and I remember seeing a pic of him getting on AF1 with it in his hand. That really depressed me.

  88. 88.

    Tonybrown74

    And to think that all this time, my mother was telling me that what you see on television and in cinema is not real life.

  90. 90.

    Mnemosyne

    @Donut:

    “Yet rather than flesh out his Grand Bargain in detail and take it on the road …”

    Obama actually did take his plan on the road, to universal mockery by Republicans and the media.

    Friedman is asking why Obama hasn’t done something that Obama has already done. Why the media gets away with this over and over and over again, I have no idea, but it drives me absolutely fucking nuts that no one ever calls them on it. This is about the eleventy-thousandth time that a pundit demanded to know why Obama hasn’t done something that the president did two weeks ago.

  93. 93.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    if you act from the heart, you can’t make a mistake.”

    This quoting a movie or GW Bush?

  94. 94.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Mnemosyne:

    Friedman is asking why Obama hasn’t done something that Obama has already done. Why the media gets away with this over and over and over again, I have no idea, but it drives me absolutely fucking nuts that no one ever calls them on it. This is about the eleventy-thousandth time that a pundit demanded to know why Obama hasn’t done something that the president did two weeks ago.

    Blog commenters do the same thing, no less relentlessly. I think the idea is that if Obama (or whoever) had done it correctly, they’d already know about it and like it, but because they neither know about it nor like it, Obama must’ve fucked it up royal. That way the problem isn’t yours, for not knowing what’s going on, it’s his, for allowing you to remain ignorant.

  95. 95.

    ThresherK

    “Rent ‘Tin Cup'”?

    Heady advice from a man who can’t be bothered to look at proles’ cable TV. Doesn’t the Versus channel (Tour de France and NHL) run this movie, like, a dozen times a week?

  96. 96.

    Donut

    @Mnemosyne:

    Nice try – but the bus tour was well after the deal to avoid default was said and done.

    Where was the sales effort leading up to the deal? There wasn’t really any such effort.

  98. 98.

    Jenny

    @Heliopause: As is KThug:

    Barack Obama seems to be trying harder to make sure he hears all sides. On the night of April 27, for instance, the president invited to the White House some of his administration’s sharpest critics on the economy, including New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz.

    That’s mighty big of Obama, considering Krugman worked in the Reagan White House, helping Ronnie implement trick-down-reaganomics.

    From 1982 to 1983, [Krugman] spent a year working at the Reagan White House as a staff member of the Council of Economic Advisers.

  101. 101.

    Tehanu

    @kth:

    Shorter mustache: be the ball.

    We need a “like” button as well as a “reply” button on this site. Like like like like like!

  102. 102.

    Lit3Bolt

    Don’t you people know who you’re mocking?! That’s THOMAS FUCKING FRIEDMAN. That man has forgotten more imaginary taxi cab driver conversations, broken more metaphors, and gotten more insights from billboards than you ever will in your entire life! You all should be kissing the ground where his mustache hairs have gently fallen, blessing the soil with his solipsistic and sybaritic musings.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks