Inspire Political Discourse

The GOP and the Economy

Reference: Media Incompetence/Negligence as Chronicled by Media Matters, March 30 - April 5, 2009

Monday, March 30, 2009

• Media promote claims of global cooling despite overwhelming consensus to the contrary
• Fox News invokes Canadian health care bogeyman in talking about Richardson's death

ZERO Cred, and ZERO Numbers in the GOP “Budget” Plan

In response to President Obama’s call to produce their own budget, the GOP did just that, invoking the criticism of media conservatives, as well as hilarity from the Democrats, when it was noted that the GOP budget had not one number in it! That’s right, ZERO NUMBERS in a budget!

You may see this ad put out by the DNC as a little silly……on the other hand, the GOP’s idea of a budget is one hell of a lot sillier. Still laughing here.

Sen. Reid: U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Lied

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts lied.

The Republicans Are Freaking Crazy!

I suppose it would be too much to ask that the Republicans behave like normal human beings. You know, valuing things like TRUTH, empathy, intelligence, etc.. Argh…..they are the absolute WORST I have ever seen them. From the MSM down to the Jeebus freaks on the streets, they are lying, ranting, conniving, and while it may not be politically correct to say it, I truly believe that they would rather see this country completely destroyed than see the Democrats in power. And it isn’t like they don’t understand what their party did to this country. Hell, a complete idiot could see it. Talk about the verge of destruction……

Currently, as always, in their inimitable fashion, they are running around like the proverbial chickens with their heads cut off. But, unlike those chickens, they can not stop whining, lying, squawking. This is apparently a manifestation of their inability to accept the political demise of the GOP, as evidenced by their thorough drubbing at the polls during the last two election cycles.

So anyway, the past few days have simply been the same old, same old in

A case in point could be made of Bill O’Reilly, who is now known as the the GOP’s Stalker of Liberal Bloggers.

wingnut land. Media who steps all over and out of the boundaries of intelligent discourse, and dimwitted followers who….what else but follow, of course.

O’Reilly reacted to a single comment posted by Amanda Terkel to the ThinkProgress.org blog. It happened like this.

When O’Reilly announced that he was scheduled to speak at a fundraiser for the Alexa Foundation, a group that supports rape survivors, Terkel posted the following:

TERKEL: In the past, however, O’Reilly has made controversial comments about an 18-year-old woman, Jennifer Moore, who was raped and murdered, implying that it was partially her fault. O’Reilly called her “moronic,” adding:

OREILLY: “Now Moore, Jennifer Moore, 18, on her way to college. She was 5-foot-2, 105 pounds, wearing a miniskirt and a halter top with a bare midriff. Now, again, there you go. So every predator in the world is gonna pick that up at two in the morning. She’s walking by herself on the West Side Highway, and she gets picked up by a thug. All right. Now she’s out of her mind, drunk.” source

Please note that Terkel’s post in no way criticized the Alexa Foundation, as you watch the video of O’Reilly’s producer going after Terkel.

Terkel’s own account of the ambush by O’Reilly Factor producer, and prime hitman, Jesse Watters.

Watch Olbermann’s interview of Terkel below.

And the end result? ThinkProgress.org is now conducting a campaign to end O’Reilly’s show. Whether it will be successful or not is anyone’s guess, but advertisers are reacting. Join the campaign and help to put an end to this kind of harassment by Republicans on liberals.

Meanwhile, I am bloody sick of thinking about Republicans today. Ciao.

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UPDATE NO. 3 – April 1: O’Reilly lies again, claims Think Progress smeared a rape victim, when in fact, HE smeared a rape victim. Video at TP. From ThinkProgress.org:

Yesterday on The Factor, Bill O’Reilly addressed ThinkProgress in his “Reality Check” portion of the show, “a segment set up to defeat deceit.” And of course, O’Reilly proceeded to peddle deceit, claiming that “far left zealots…attacked a rape victim and her family because they asked me to speak at their fundraiser.” Wrong. We never attacked the Alexa Foundation; we simply highlighted quotes from O’Reilly that were unsympathetic towards a rape victim. O’Reilly has never explained why he implied that women who dress in a certain way or consume too much alcohol should perhaps expect to be raped and murdered. Watch last night’s segment.

UPDATE NO. 2 - March 27: Olbermann names O’Reilly “Worst Person” for his stalking of liberal blogger, Amanda Terkel.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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UPDATE NO. 1 - March 27: UPS announces that it will stop advertising on the O’Reilly show due to his stalking/harassment of liberal blogger, Amanda Terkel. From ThinkProgress.org:

In response to our Stop Supporting The O’Reilly Harassment Machine campaign, UPS told us yesterday that it was investigating whether to continue supporting O’Reilly’s show. “We are sensitive to the type of television programming where our messages and presence are associated and continually review choices to affect future decisions,” spokeswoman Susan Rosenberg told us.

Today UPS announced it will stop advertising on O’Reilly’s show. Here is the statement UPS emailed out just moments ago:

Thank you for sending an e-mail expressing concern about UPS advertising during the Bill O’Reilly show on FOX News. We do consider such comments as we review ad placement decisions which involve a variety of news, entertainment and sports programming. At this time, we have no plans to continue advertising during this show.

Reuters/India image.

I haven’t been posting or dropping, and I apologize profusely! :)

My very fav laptop broke down, and went to the repair shop, but I did finally manage to get my old laptop running well enough to do some things, so I am now back to posting, dropping and responding to comments. Just an FYI in case you wondered….

ABC News Vs. Sarah Palin-the-Not-a-Fiscal-Conservative

Sarah Palin continually amazes me. You would think, as a long time political operative, she would understand that responding to well-deserved bad press will only draw more attention to it. And yet......Palin still does so, this time, she took on ABC News, or more specifically, Jake Tapper at ABC News.

Tapper is a conservative who can be counted upon to point out conservative and liberal faults, and thus is that exceedingly rare reporter, the one who struggles to report in an unbiased manner.

Last Thursday, Tapper invoked a hissy fit from Palin when he posted the following article on his blog, Political Punch(bolding is mine):

Palin's Back to Lovin' Her Some Earmarks

March 12, 2009 9:55 PM

Not only are earmarks a bipartisan affliction, but the double-talk and hypocrisy surrounding them are as well.

After spending sigificant time and airspace bashing the earmark process as the running mate of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin requested an unspecified number of earmarks in the omnibus spending bill, Jonathan Stein and David Corn report at Mother Jones.

One hundred earmarks worth $144 million are headed for Alaska, Taxpayers for Common Sense says. That works out to $209.71 per state resident -- more money, per capita, than any other state.

"We have drastically, drastically reduced our earmark request since I came into office," Palin told ABC News' Charles Gibson last year after he pointed out that Alaska received $231 per person in earmarks in 2008.

"The abuse of earmarks, it's un-American, it's undemocratic, and it's not going to be accepted in a McCain-Palin administration," she said. "Earmark abuse will stop."

Palin went on to call it "an embarrassment that abuse of the . . . earmark process has been accepted in Congress. And that's what John McCain has fought. And that's what I joined him in fighting."

Palin then made the egregious error of contacting ABC News to complain, and in return, she got this from Tapper(bolding is mine):

Alarmed, I asked McAllister how Palin was "literally" injured. Was she okay? Was she infirm?
"I didn't say physically injured," he wrote back. "Certainly her reputation was injured by the erroneous reporting."
Ah.
In any case, the point is, Gov. Palin as a vice presidential candidate claimed that she "championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending of Congress."
And yet, she has asked for and is still asking for -- and receiving -- tens of millions of dollars in earmarks -- pork barrel spending that does not go through the normal appropriations process.
Including, you might be interested to know, moneys for alcohol bootlegging interdiction and North Pacific fisheries programs.
Her former running mate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., requests no earmarks.
That's a fiscally conservative position.
We've never hesitated to point out political mixed messages, on earmarks or other subjects, whether they come from Democrats such as President Obama (read HERE or watch HERE) or Republicans such as Gov. Palin.
We will continue to do so.
Have a great weekend, everybody.

Be sure to read the entirety of Tapper's response which details the letter received from lt. gov Bill McAllister---very amusing.

And just think, had she not responded, it would not have required a public response by Tapper, nor would it have landed on The Huffington Post, or many, many liberal blogs, including this one.

A comment posted on Huffpost:

What is so offensive about the process is the abject hypocrisy of those who piously claim no association with or opposition to earmarks but seek and/or take the money anyway.
You paying attention Sarah? You've got our attention, unfortunately, and in return we're keeping score. Sound like a good deal?

Brilliant move, Palin.

Finally, Palin on earmarks in September 2008:

PS....note to Jake --- DAMN IT! Now Palin is going to start ranting again about "bloggers sitting in their parent's basement in their pajamas". Just sayin'......

Image courtesy of The Huffington Post.
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Frank Rich: "How the Almighty Has Fallen.." Quotation

“How the almighty has fallen: organized religion is in a dead heat with banks and financial institutions on the confidence scale.”

Source: The New York Times

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COMPLETE VIDEO, Uncensored and Unedited: Jon Stewart Interview With Jim Cramer

Jon Stewart responds to the video posted here, re an interview with Jim Cramer, aired on Comedy Central last night.

Jon Stewart, forthwith to be known as the guy we turn to for the real news. It may be a comedy show, but as Jon Stewart spoke for everyone who has been affected by the takedown of Wall Street, it turned out to be a first class moment of real journalism. Well done, Mr. Stewart.

In segment no. 1, Cramer talks about Santelli, as well as his own mistakes. Uncensored, and unedited.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Interview Outtake Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

In segment no. 2, Stewart shows Cramer some video clips from his days as a hedge fund manager, a video which we posted here. Uncensored, and unedited.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Interview Outtake Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

In segment no. 3, Cramer defends his position as a commentator on an entertainment show. Huh. And here I, sadly deluded apparently, thought that "Mad Money" was intended to be taken seriously, used as a tool in the quest for financial solvency. Stewart says "These guys at these companies were on a Sherman's march through their companies, financed by our 401ks, and all the incentives of these companies were for short-term profit and they burned the fucking house down with our money, and walked away rich as hell. And you guys knew that was going on."

Jon Stewart, you rock. Unedited, and uncensored.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Interview Outtake Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

By the way, as Stewart himself said in video no. 3, Henry Paulson is the guy who wrote the rule that allowed people to over-leverage.

The video which started the brawl between Stewart and Cramer/CNBC, can be viewed here.

Host of MSNBC's "Mad Money", Jim Cramer, Admits to Manipulating the Market, Other Illegal Activity

You may be aware of the ongoing kerfluffle between Cramer and Jon Stewart, If not, I plan to catch you up later.

Suffice it to say that I am thinking that Mr. Cramer is now wishing he had simply ignored Stewart rather than acting like a big d.ick about the whole thing. Joe Scarborough might be wishing the same thing.

The video is an interview Cramer did with TheStreet.com in 2006, and in it, Cramer admits to illegal activity as a hedge fund manager. The video is fascinating but I dug around and found more info. Links below the video. Enjoy.

From HUFFPOST:

In it, the host of Mad Money says he regularly manipulated the market when he ran his hedge fund. He calls it "a fun game, and it's a lucrative game." He suggests all hedge fund managers do the same. "No one else in the world would ever admit that, but I could care. I am not going to say it on TV," he quips in the video.

He also calls Wall Street Journal reporters "bozos" and says behaving illegally is okay because the SEC doesn't understand it anyway.

Here are some gems:
-On manipulating the market: "A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund, and I was positioned short, meaning I needed it down, I would create a level of activity before hand that could drive the futures,"

Jim Cramer is a Complicated Man
Jim Cramer Uses CNBC to Manipulate Stocks
A Scandal Unfolds, and the Media Mob Scampers
WATCH: In Shocking '06 Interview, Jim Cramer Admits To Market Manipulation, Touts Illegal Activity

Site News: Discontinuing Daily News Summary

Due to time constraints in my personal life, I have to discontinue the daily news. I could continue doing it, but because I can't commit to getting the news up daily, I decided that it's better simply to discontinue it. I hate doing this, because I truly enjoy searching for and posting the poli news, but I have no real choice as I don't want to do it on a haphazard basis.

I plan to continue blogging here, albeit not necessarily on a daily basis, so please keep reading, and visiting and commenting --- I appreciate all of you!
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VIDEO:President Obama's Speech on Earmarks

To read the transcript, click here.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Full Text Transcript of President Obama's Speech on Earmarks - March 11, 2009

To view the video, click here.

Full transcript of President Obama's speech on earmarks:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good morning. I ran for President pledging to change the way business is done in Washington and build a government that works for the people by opening it up to the people. And that means restoring responsibility and transparency and accountability to actions that the government takes. And working with the Congress over my first 50 days in office, we've made important progress toward that end.

VIDEO: Jon Stewart Decimates Rick Santelli and CNBC

Rick Santelli, the CNBC reporter who became famous for ranting on air about Obama's mortgage plan, and called homeowners who would benefit from the program "losers", was scheduled to appear on Stewart's show on Friday last.

Santelli bailed out, and Stewart proceeded to decimate Santelli and CNBC for 8+ minutes. Oh, my. Completely hilarious, and seriously BRUTAL--- the best of Jon Stewart, and a must watch!

At one point during the thorough dunning of CNBC Stewart says: 

"If I had only followed CNBC's advice, I'd have a million dollars today. Provided I started with a 100 million dollars."

And from Jason Linkins:

last night, Jon Stewart basically said, "I'll see your canceling on me and RAISE you a thorough evisceration of the faux-populist bilge you've been pumping and a complete blasting of your network's credibility."

Stewart aped Santelli's newsgrabbing shouty-faced blubber from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, coyly admitting, "I have to say, I find cheap populism very arousing." And then, for eight minutes, Stewart at his arch best (with the help of the crackerjack Daily Show research team) went on an absolute tear and burned CNBC right down to the doorframes.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

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Obama Reverses Bush Policy and Announces Overhaul of How Federal Contracts Are Awarded

:: Fulfilling another campaign promise, Obama announced the reform of government contracting procedures, and signed an executive memorandum to begin the process. From the AP:

Obama joined lawmakers to announce an executive memorandum that commits his administration to a new set of marching orders for awarding contracts. Obama said "the days of giving defense contractors a blank check are over" and said changes could save up to $40 billion a year.

Obama's presidential memo changes government contracting procedures. It directs Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, to work with Cabinet and agency officials to draft new contracting rules by the end of September. Those new rules, White House aides say, will make it more difficult for contractors to bilk taxpayers and make some half-trillion dollars in federal contracts each year more accessible to independent contractors.

AP photo.
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Craig Fugate Nominated as FEMA Director

:: Fugate is a Republican who has been in charge of Florida's disaster management since 2001, when he was first appointed by Jeb Bush, and remained in his position when Charlie Crist became the governor. According to Janet Napolitano, Fugate is one of the most experienced emergency managers in the country. From HUFFPOST:

In a statement issued by the White House, Obama said he plans to nominate Fugate who will help the administration "improve our preparedness, response and recovery efforts."

Fugate has been praised for helping guide Florida through several devastating hurricanes in the past decade. He was criticized in 2005 for not distributing enough ice, water and other supplies immediately after Hurricane Wilma. Fugate had warned residents before the storm that they should have enough supplies for three days after it passed, but many did not and that overstressed the system.

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David Plouffe Takes Aim at the New Leader of the GOP

:: David Plouffe provides some perspective for the party of "NO!" on their choice of Rush Limbaugh-aka-the-sphereazoid-sleazy-manhood-cruncher-former?-druggie-I-hope-Obama-fails-right-wing-radio-show-lunatic, as their new leader.

Aren't you people (Republicans) embarrassed? For gawd's sake, the GOP has become a party ruled by 6-year-olds! From The Washington Post:

The 2008 election sent many messages. At the top: Americans wanted to turn the page on the politics of division and partisan pettiness, and they wanted a government -- and country -- that would put the middle class first.

Watching the Republicans operate this past month, it would appear that they missed that unmistakable signal.

Instead, Rush Limbaugh has become their leader.

Limbaugh, of course, told his radio listeners that he's rooting for President Obama to fail -- and hoping the president's ideas for bolstering our economy fail with him. For many Americans, hungry for leadership and cooperation, this sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard. When Limbaugh reiterated the sentiment this weekend, hundreds of Republican conservatives cheered him on. But instead of rebuking the radio personality or charting their own course, Republican leaders in Washington are paralyzed with fear of crossing their leader. Less than 24 hours after committing the unforgivable sin of criticizing Limbaugh, RNC Chairman Michael Steele felt compelled to publicly apologize. He was not the first and will certainly not be the last.

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Former Countrywide Execs Profit From Their Failures

:: The losers formerly known as the president of Countrywide Financial, Stanford L. Kurland, and his lackeys, form a company to profit from the misery that they helped to create, making millions from the home mortgage crisis. From the New York Times:

CALABASAS, Calif. — Fairly or not, Countrywide Financial and its top executives would be on most lists of those who share blame for the nation’s economic crisis. After all, the banking behemoth made risky loans to tens of thousands of Americans, helping set off a chain of events that has the economy staggering.

Stanford L. Kurland, Countrywide’s former president, and his team have been buying up delinquent home mortgages that the government took over from other failed banks, sometimes for pennies on the dollar. They get a piece of what they can collect.

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Michael Steele: No Steel in His Manhood

One of a number of prominent conservatives attempting to distance themselves from the new Republican leader(I am referring to the defacto leader, Limbaugh, not Steele), Joe Scarborough on Steele's apology to Rush Limbaugh:

"I'm afraid that Rush put Michael Steele's manhood in a lockbox"

And Jason Linkins on The Huffington Post:

RNC Chair Michael Steele, who's made all of the wrong kinds of news this week after he offered Rush Limbaugh a stooping apology for comments he made on CNN's D.L. Hughley Breaks the News, was the subject of a series of acid-tipped disses on this morning's Morning Joe, after canceling his planned appearance. Led by an unabashedly sharp-tongued Joe Scarborough, Steele was viciously mocked at seemingly every lull in the conversation, as the hosts speculated over whether or not Rush Limbaugh had given Steele a "permission slip" to come on the air.

Conservative opinions:
:: David Frum on Rush Limbaugh: The Republican Party's very own Jesse Jackson
:: Rush and Oprah
Video Source: County Fair
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Wednesday, March 4, 2009 on Media Matters

• Times' Dowd used falsehood to advance McCain accusation that Obama broke promise on earmarks
• NY Times article missing reference to Graham's statement that "nationalizing the banks" should be considered
• Wash. Times ignored McConnell's $51 million contribution to omnibus bill he decried as part of "spending binge"
• Fox's Henneberg falsely claimed Democrats in White House "want government-run health-care programs"