Clay Davis Memorial POLITICS THREAD

by **Stay_Disappointed** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 16:11:14

drsmooth wrote:
Warszawa wrote:they need to get this filibuster business out of the congress asap.

not so paradoxically, you practically need a 2/3 party majority - maybe greater - to get rid of the blasted thing

otherwise idiots like lieberman - practically a creation of the oversimplification of filibuster rules - who are first to complain, and complain most bitterly (and hypocritically) about the decline of civility among senators will venally block change to the rule.

Oh. I thought maybe Obama might be able to sign some sort of executive order to eliminate it citing its in the best interest of the country. I mean Bush tried a few crazy things himself and people kind of went along with it. While he's at it Obama could also sign in the Line Order Veto, Balanced Budget Amendment, and Single Payer. Maybe what I'm advocating is Emperor Obama.

by **pacino** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 16:13:12

the balanced budget amendment is why PA government shuts down all the time. it's a terrible thing

by **dajafi** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 14:17:16

Taking a break from his attempt to fuse pop culture fanboyism with finger-wagging religiosity, Douthat nicely captures Obama's MO:

Obama baffles observers, I suspect, because he’s an ideologue and a pragmatist all at once. He’s a doctrinaire liberal who’s always willing to cut a deal and grab for half the loaf. He has the policy preferences of a progressive blogger, but the governing style of a seasoned Beltway wheeler-dealer.
...
In hindsight, the most prescient sentence penned during the presidential campaign belongs to Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker. “Perhaps the greatest misconception about Barack Obama,” he wrote in July 2008, “is that he is some sort of anti-establishment revolutionary. Rather, every stage of his political career has been marked by an eagerness to accommodate himself to existing institutions rather than tear them down or replace them.”

Both right and left have had trouble processing Obama’s institutionalism. Conservatives have exaggerated his liberal instincts into radicalism, ignoring the fact that a president who takes advice from Lawrence Summers and Robert Gates probably isn’t a closet Marxist-Leninist. The left has been frustrated, again and again, by the gulf between Obama’s professed principles and the compromises that he’s willing to accept, and some liberals have become convinced that he isn’t one of them at all.

They’re wrong. Absent political constraints, Obama would probably side with the liberal line on almost every issue. It’s just that he’s more acutely conscious of the limits of his powers and less willing to start fights that he might lose than many supporters would prefer. In this regard, he most resembles Ronald Reagan and Edward Kennedy. Both were highly ideological politicians who trained themselves to work within the system. Both preferred cutting deals to walking away from the negotiating table.

I think he overstates Obama's "core liberalism"--if that were correct, he'd start engaging on issues with much farther left positions than has been the case--and misses a big piece of the institutionalism, which is deference to Congress. (This is the ironic element of the right-wing bleaters about tyranny: at least when it comes to domestic policymaking, Obama might be the most institutionally deferential president we've had since Ford or even Eisenhower.) But he nails the essential pragmatism. I have the feeling that Obama's first year might look much better from the perspective of 20-30 years down the road than it did in real time--much like Reagan's, I think.

by **jerseyhoya** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 23:23:48

Going to America: A Ponzi scheme that works

I guess this is from last week's Economist. Really enjoyed the article. Not overly political, but I didn't feel like finding that articles thread.

by **dajafi** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:03:49

Joe Klein channels jeff2sf

(Note: I'm about 90 percent in agreement with this piece)

by **jerseyhoya** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 04:03:52

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iddquwGpXM0&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Utterly fantastic ad

He has no shot at winning and I'm not sure what it means, but still amazing

I'd buy whoever his media consultant is a drink

by **drsmooth** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 10:11:14

jerseyhoya wrote:Utterly fantastic ad

He has no shot at winning and I'm not sure what it means, but still amazing

I'd buy whoever his media consultant is a drink

Utterly fantastic?

Your praise is too over the top to be cynical and too effusive to be sincere (you're smarter than that)

A little dab of hair gel & the guy is truly Bob Forehead

by **jerseyhoya** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 10:15:11

I think it was a sweet ad, what can I say?

I also said finding the Fugitive on TV was like winning the lottery last night, to give my scale of praise post midnight last night.

by **drsmooth** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 10:36:55

jerseyhoya wrote:I think it was a sweet ad, what can I say?

I also said finding the Fugitive on TV was like winning the lottery last night, to give my scale of praise post midnight last night.

True - I did not properly calibrate based on your post time :-D

still say you'd have to break that ad down for me, with supporting examples, to justify "utterly fantastic" - even if you were, shall we say, unusually susceptible to its charms?

(not something you probably want to bother with on NYE)

by **jerseyhoya** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 16:41:45

I think it's a neat idea for an ad. I think they execute it well. I like the way the handle the transition from JFK to the candidate. He's running in an unwinnable race, but an ad like this gets him national attention from the right wing blogosphere, maybe some $$, plus makes good usage of old footage. He's running for JFK's old Senate seat. I dunno, I just liked it.

by **TenuredVulture** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 19:15:30

I guess I really shouldn't talk, but I really wonder about the mental health of someone who gets all worked up on political blogs.

by **pacino** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 19:49:17

Limbaugh's dead, according to TMZ. This guy was despicable and I can't find any sympathy for him, sorry. I do wonder how long the memorial will be...4 weeks? 4 months? In some circles it'll rival Michael Jackson and Ronald Reagan, no doubt.

by **TenuredVulture** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 19:53:25

Google says he's still alive.

by **pacino** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 19:58:30

I guess we'll see.

by **WilliamC** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 20:04:21

Not quite dead yet.

Get well soon big guy!

by **jerseyhoya** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 03:16:29

WilliamC wrote:Not quite dead yet.

Get well soon big guy!

Hope he getting better and is busy sharpening the knives for 2010.

by **drsmooth** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 13:41:45

jerseyhoya wrote:
WilliamC wrote:Not quite dead yet.

Get well soon big guy!

Hope he getting better and is busy sharpening the knives for 2010.

only knives the guy has are used almost exclusively with forks

by **Bakestar** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 13:44:45

drsmooth wrote:
jerseyhoya wrote:
WilliamC wrote:Not quite dead yet.

Get well soon big guy!

Hope he getting better and is busy sharpening the knives for 2010.

only knives the guy has are used almost exclusively with forks

Always struck me as more of a trough eater.

by **pacino** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 13:55:19

jerseyhoya wrote:
WilliamC wrote:Not quite dead yet.

Get well soon big guy!

Hope he getting better and is busy sharpening the knives for 2010.

yes, let's hope he'll be back in no time to propagate distortions, character assassinate, and cheerlead the march to even more war.

by **jerseyhoya** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 14:09:22

Archived

Clay Davis Memorial POLITICS THREAD