Barack Obama

[randolph]

Wow, politics seems to be more exciting than sex on the forum these days. Obviously the allusion to Hitler was extreme. It was simply to make a point that extreme rhetoric from anybody (Hitler, Mussolini, Almadajid(sic), Bin Ladin, etc.) is bad. It stirs up the baser instincts and encourages violent acts. Obviously Rush doesn't come close to being a true agitator, he doesn't have the brains or the charisma. He is a bombastic egocentric opportunist that uses pseudo conservative rhetoric to capture a naive audience.

[randolph]

This is from Washington Monthly
While the Country in in free fall we have Republican politics.
A STRUGGLING STIMULUS.... President Obama probably thought this would be easier. He won a sweeping victory in November, and entered office with a huge approval rating. His party enjoys big majorities in both the House and Senate. In the midst of a global economic crisis, the president presented an ambitious stimulus package, which enjoyed support from economists, the business community, state officials, and the public. For a while, the most common criticism of the proposal was that it wasn't big enough, and wasn't prepared to spend enough money.

That was before the White House lost control of the debate.

Watching the reaction from Republicans and most news outlets, I keep thinking of an analogy. There's a nine-alarm fire, and Obama's the fire chief. He wants to send the cavalry, hoping to save lives and contain the fire from spreading out of control, while simultaneously taking fire-prevention steps for the future. Soon, Republicans start wondering if 2% of the tools on the fire-engines are entirely necessary for fighting the fire. Democrats think nine trucks is an excessive number, and maybe if Obama sent seven, it'll make Republicans happier. (Said Sen. Ben Nelson, "I don't know, hundreds of gallons of water sounds like an awful lot.")

Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, and Joe Scarborough try to convince the community that Obama is making a big mistake trying to put out a fire with water, which is just socialism in disguise.

Conservatives want to know why Obama won't just give people a tax cut, so the public can buy fire-extinguishers, axes, and Dalmatians of their own. The Washington Post runs four op-eds from Amity Shlaes, arguing that Fire Chief Roosevelt overreacted during the last nine-alarm fire, and it would have gone out on its own if he'd just left it alone.

And while the fire keeps burning, the Senate wants to figure out how to address the fire in a way that costs less and satisfies the concerns of "centrists."

Senate Democratic leaders conceded yesterday that they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill as currently written and said that to gain bipartisan support, they will seek to cut provisions that would not provide an immediate boost to the economy. [...]

Moderate Republicans are trying to trim the bill by as much as $200 billion, although Democrats working with those GOP senators have not agreed to a specific figure.

It's unclear whether the Senate lacks the votes to pass the stimulus plan, or whether the Senate lacks the votes to overcome a Republican filibuster of the plan. I think it's the latter.
-Steve Benen 11:05 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (15)

[TracyCoxx]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought the US government didn't actually have $900 billion to spend. But then I didn't think they had $850 billion to spend a couple of months ago, so I must be missing something.

[randolph]

I am concerned that Ila will pull this thread unless we get some sex in here, so here goes.

As Melissa noted earlier in PEEK, from a CBS story: "Rush Limbaugh was detained for more than three hours Monday at Palm Beach International Airport after authorities said they found a bottle of Viagra in his possession without a prescription."

He was reportedly returning from the Dominican Republic at the time which, as Terrance Heath notes, leaves a big, gaping hole in the story.

What was Rush doing in the Dominican Republic? Why was he returning from a country known for its thriving sex trade, with a bottle of Viagra that didn't have his name on it?

From a 2001 Wired.com article:

the Dominican Republic is one of the biggest sex tourism destinations in the world, thanks in part to Internet sites that extol the country as a "single man's paradise."

...

Among banner ads for Viagra, members can shuffle through pictures of dull-eyed prostitutes engaged in flagrante delicto with the members/amateur pornographers.

Is it fair to go after Limbaugh for his woes? Of course, just as it's fair game to out gay politicians who support bigoted policy toward gays.

Limbaugh inveighs against medical marijuana users regularly, making him a WORLD CLASS HYPOCRITE.

But I like Terrance's alliterative aspersions:

These are not nice questions, which is why most people won't ask them. But Rush is not a nice guy. And when a pundit whose party pokes its noses into people's private affairs as a matter of policy is caught pocketing pills to pump up his penis, on his way back from a country plenteous with prostitutes...

Well pardon me if I'm compelled to prod and ponder why this public personality required a prescription for his penis in that place, and where he put it while he was there.

Humm, I doubt he could shut up long enough to get the Viagra to work.

[TracyCoxx]

LOL that is a good one

Sure it's ok to drudge this stuff up on him. We're all human, and that's just funny anyway.

[GRH]

Originally Posted by TracyCoxx

Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought the US government didn't actually have $900 billion to spend. But then I didn't think they had $850 billion to spend a couple of months ago, so I must be missing something.

Some people conveniently forget positions from past administrations that spent trillions on bogus foreign wars all the while cutting taxes for the upper 1% of populace. America has not only outsourced many of its jobs overseas, but has now outsourced (over MANY years) our future economic prosperity to too much leverage-- a position which sunk the current economy to begin with, only in the hands of banks/businesses/consumers as opposed to government.

That said, I AM being critical of W's administration, but as an independent, I'm HIGHLY skeptical of the scale of the current government spending. I've been sick at home for a few days, and I don't know what it says for my state of mind/boredom, but I've been watching C-Span many hours a day. And I must say, my personal opinions have been largely resonating with Republican politicians who are skeptical and opposed to such tremendous amounts of government spending.

[randolph]

That said, I AM being critical of W's administration, but as an independent, I'm HIGHLY skeptical of the scale of the current government spending. I've been sick at home for a few days, and I don't know what it says for my state of mind/boredom, but I've been watching C-Span many hours a day. And I must say, my personal opinions have been largely resonating with Republican politicians who are skeptical and opposed to such tremendous amounts of government spending.

It remains to be seen whether we can spend our way out of this debacle. Since the government can create (print) money, this might reduce the future tax load on our children. However, printing money often results in inflation. Oh Oh My, Obama has his work cut out for him and the Republicans will make it even more difficult.

[TracyCoxx]

Originally Posted by randolph

It remains to be seen whether we can spend our way out of this debacle. Since the government can create (print) money, this might reduce the future tax load on our children. However, printing money often results in inflation. Oh Oh My, Obama has his work cut out for him and the Republicans will make it even more difficult.

Huh?? Between this package and the bail out package as well as our usual budget overruns, we will be borrowing 2.5 trillion dollars this coming year. You can't just magically print it. Maybe that's why democrats are falling for this BS. They think Obama will just pull the money out of his ass. He'll probably lower taxes on the lower income. Maybe even mid-income. But he'll be raising taxes on the rich for sure. You know... the ol tax the people who actually make this economy work, and let the rest leech off it ploy. But everyone who needs a loan (and their children, and their children's children) will be facing tougher times ahead when interest rates go up to pay off this gargantuan debt.

[randolph]

Originally Posted by TracyCoxx

Huh?? Between this package and the bail out package as well as our usual budget overruns, we will be borrowing 2.5 trillion dollars this coming year. You can't just magically print it. Maybe that's why democrats are falling for this BS. They think Obama will just pull the money out of his ass. He'll probably lower taxes on the lower income. Maybe even mid-income. But he'll be raising taxes on the rich for sure. You know... the ol tax the people who actually make this economy work, and let the rest leech off it ploy. But everyone who needs a loan (and their children, and their children's children) will be facing tougher times ahead when interest rates go up to pay off this gargantuan debt.

Yes the debt is very scary! However, we had four trillion in debt after WWII and managed to get over, it somehow. We also managed to get over the huge Reagen debt while Clinton was President. It seems our financial system is a gigantic Ponzi scheme, we need to keep pouring money into one end to make it work.