Al Franken Century / Super Inaug-u-rama Politics Thread

by **jerseyhoya** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 21:50:45

Also, Helen Thomas needs to die or retire or something.

ISRAEL HAS NUKES, yes we know this.

by **TenuredVulture** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 21:51:55

I don't think Obama should keep pronouncing it Pak ah stan.

by **Bakestar** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 21:52:20

What was the answer to the A-Rod question?

I really hope it was something along the lines of a disbelieving stare, a tilted head, several rapid blinks, and a "NEXT!"

by **Woody** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 21:54:16

pacino wrote:side note: why is hannity always squinting:

It's bright outside of Rush's shadow

by **Grotewold** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 21:55:03

When are they gonna ask him about Rihanna

by **pacino** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 21:56:22

i need his view on michael phelps plz

by **jerseyhoya** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 21:57:08

Mr. Commander-in-chief, please wrap this up. 24 starts in 3 minutes.

I need to watch the fake president I hate a lot more than I dislike you.

by **Woody** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 21:59:15

MR. PRESIDENT PLEASE TELL US 25 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT YOU, B'OKAY?

by **TenuredVulture** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 22:08:44

It seems that this C-Span host is really quick to pull the trigger on cranks. And most cranks seem to call in on the independent line.

by **karn** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 22:33:13

Thank you, mister president. Ebay is loading slow tonight. Do you think the single mom of now 14 story is hot button? What about the Bee Gees? Thank you, mister president.

by **karn** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 22:34:58

Thank you, mister president. Any general thoughts on the economy?

by **dajafi** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:58:32

So, it sounds like the Floppy/jeff position on the bailout restructuringwas triumphant over the allentown/Vulture position.

by **Werthless** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 13:18:48

OBEY MY SIGN and RECOVER.

by **allentown** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 14:25:20

dajafi wrote:So, it sounds like the Floppy/jeff position on the bailout restructuringwas triumphant over the allentown/Vulture position.

Yes, a lot of very rich people are smiling very broadly today and the next generation of local yokel taxpaying heroes is responsible for repaying $trillions. The Geithner/conservative position seems to be that government officials are incompetent to tell bankers and other financial types how to effectively run their time-trodden businesses, and that to attempt is socialistic hubris. But these same inept government officials will suddenly become financial super wizards as they trod into the totally virgin territory of trying to value and deal with all these novel bad assets and run a bad bank. Somehow this is capitalism, because government is doing only what business and the free enterprise types don't want to do or can't do, namely take the humoungus losses on tahe smart guys' bad bets and try to scrape back pennies on the $ as a taxpayer recovery. So the financial types will get to stay rich, get richer, and become more powerful and much more wealthy on a relative basis as half of America is transformed into a third-world economy. By the way, the stock market has certainly responded nicely to the plan.

by **allentown** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 14:27:05

Werthless wrote:OBEY MY SIGN and RECOVER.

Yeah, each administration seems to do its predecessor one better in pushing spin over substance. Don't know when I have seen a cabinet secretary in a Dem administration so smothered in flags. I think he might have fit a few more little ones in there if he didn't move around to much as he spoke.

by **FTN** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 14:33:39

whew, im very rich apparently.

by **Phan In Phlorida** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 14:36:25

allentown wrote:
Werthless wrote:OBEY MY SIGN and RECOVER.

Yeah, each administration seems to do its predecessor one better in pushing spin over substance. Don't know when I have seen a cabinet secretary in a Dem administration so smothered in flags. I think he might have fit a few more little ones in there if he didn't move around to much as he spoke.

You know what's missing? Eagles... live eagles, one perching on each side of the podium.

by **allentown** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 14:46:53

Phan In Phlorida wrote:
allentown wrote:
Werthless wrote:OBEY MY SIGN and RECOVER.

Yeah, each administration seems to do its predecessor one better in pushing spin over substance. Don't know when I have seen a cabinet secretary in a Dem administration so smothered in flags. I think he might have fit a few more little ones in there if he didn't move around to much as he spoke.

You know what's missing? Eagles... live eagles, one perching on each side of the podium.

That's the problem with set design, the camera only captures so much. The eagles are up a little higher. For alll the money they're lending us for this package, you would have thought he could sneak at least a tiny communist Chinese flag in there.

by **Werthless** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 14:54:12

Didn't know which thread to put this in, but I figured people here would appreciate it.

http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/2009 ... o-privacy/

Jon Stewart making fun of O'Reilly's hypocrisy. I know he's an easy target, but I thought it was funny enough to post nonetheless.

by **Werthless** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 18:20:09

Change we can believe in.

Here's some good commentary on the issue of state secrets, and the how Obama is continuing the abuses of the Bush administration. Disappointing, as it should be to any supporter of checks and balances and civil liberties. Senator Fiengold criticized the actions.

To underscore just what a complete reversal the Obama DOJ's conduct is, consider what Senate Democrats were saying for the last several years. In early 2008, Sens. Kennedy and Leahy, along with Sen. Arlen Specter, sponsored the State Secrets Protection Act. It had numerous co-sponsors, including Joe Biden. In April, 2008, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill, with all Committee Democrats voting for it, along with Specter. The scheme of restrictions imposed on the privilege by that bill was the consensus view of the pre-2009 Democratic Party.

The primary purpose of that bill is to bar the precise use of the State Secrets privilege which the Obama DOJ yesterday defended: namely, as a tool to force courts to dismiss entire lawsuits from the start without any proceedings being held, rather than as a focused instrument for protecting specific pieces of classified information from disclosure.

That has been the argument of Democrats for quite some time -- as well as civil libertarians such as Russ Feingold and the ACLU, both of whom endorsed that bill: that what was abusive and dangerous about Bush's use of the State Secrets privilege was the preemptive, generalized use of this privilege to force dismissal of entire lawsuits in advance, even where the supposed secret to be concealed was the allegedly criminal activity itself. And that is exactly the usage that the Obama administration is now defending.

It doesn't take much time or energy to understand why that instrument is so pernicious. It enables a Government to break the law -- repeatedly and deliberately -- and then block courts from subjecting its behavior to any judicial accountability, and prevent the public from learning about the lawbreaking, by claiming that its conduct generally is too secret to allow any judicial review.

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Al Franken Century / Super Inaug-u-rama Politics Thread