A Year Later, Obama Needs to Start Campaigning Again

MADISON, WI --One year ago Tuesday, Barack Obama redefined American electioneering to such an extent that it was possible to believe that the success of his transformational campaign would lead to a transformational presidency.

After all, he had already changed most of what America "knew" about politics.

The freshman senator from Illinois had not only won an election for the presidency of the United States on November 4, 2008.

He had not just rewritten the rules that had for so long made the upper reaches of electroal competition the domain of white men of a certain class.

He had not merely put an end to the Bush-Cheney interregnum that had divided the nation along seemingly insurmountable chasms separating red and blue states.

With his victory on that remarkable presidential election day, he restored a measure of presidential legitimacy to a country that had for the better part of two decades seemed to wander in the wilderness. And with that legitimacy it seemed possible that he might make real the promise of "change."

As he noted the anniversary Tuesday at an event in Madison, Wisconsin, Obama acknowledged as mich, saying, "One year ago, Americans all across this country went to the polls and cast ballots for the future they wanted to see. Election Day was a day of hope and possibility..."

That hope and possibility was grounded in the reality of an electoral mandate of a magnitude not seen in two dcades.

It had been 20 years since a president was elected with a majority of the popular vote and no serious debate about his Electoral College majority. While Democrats delighted in reminding Republicans that George Bush's 2000 "victory" was imposed by a Republican-dominated U.S. Supreme Court and that his 2004 "victory" relied upon a shaky "mandate" of Ohio's disputed result, Republicans noted that (because of the interventions of Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996) Bill Clinton "victories" were attained with less than 50 percent of the vote.

Obama's victory needed no quotation marks.

He won without qualifiers or footnotes.

He won big – bigger than any presidential candidate in 20 years, bigger than any Democratic presidential candidate in more than four decades.

But Obama, always a more cautious man than his campaign suggested, has not governed big.

To be sure, he has faced daunting challenges. As the president explained in Madison, the 2008 victory was "a sobering one because we knew that we faced an array of challenges that would test us as a people. A financial crisis that threatened to plunge our economy into another Great Depression. Record deficits. Two wars. Frayed alliances around the world."

But Obama has met those challenges with a restraint that has unsettled his supporters and emboldened his critics.

Obama's has been a constrained presidency that has erred too frequently on the side of compromise and the pursuit of bipartisan cooperation – even when partners have not been readily available.

The man whose election inspired talk about how he might renew the "First 100 Days" ambition of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "New Deal," or the no-holds-barred legislating of Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" administration, has governed far more mildly than his supporters hoped or – despite all the noise they have made – than his critics feared.

Obama White House maintained the mild approach on the anniversary of his election by "celebrating" with a remarkably low-key event in a town that backed his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination by an overwhelming margin and that backed his campaign for the presidency itself by an even more overwhelming margin.

In keeping with a "playing-it-safe" presidency, Obama played it safe in marking the anniversary of one of the greatest political achievements in American history.

Considering what Obama was up to a year ago, a visit to a middle school in a liberal college and state government town seems an oddly circumspect celebration for a man who one year earlier became the first president since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 to be elected with resounding popular-vote and Electoral College majorities and huge partisan advantages in the House and Senate.

In 2008, Obama and his team sought a mandate.

They refused to settle for 50-plus-one. They wanted it all. Obama's campaign, which began to looked like a winner from the day that the economy tanked in mid-September (and Republican presidential nominee John McCain had his "fundamentally sound" moment), and which looked inevitable after Republican vice-presidential nominee sat down for an extended interview with CBS New anchor Katie Couric, ran full-on until the last vote was cast.

Schedules were shifted, resources were redirected, messages were adjusted with an eye toward winning where no Democrat had won in a generation – or generations.

On November 4, 2008, just about everything worked. Obama won the popular vote – which should matter for something in a democratic republic -- by almost 10 million votes over McCain. He took 28 states and the District of Columbia, as well as one congressional district in Nebraska (where electoral votes are assigned by district) for a 365-173 Electoral College landslide. Ohio, Florida, Indiana, Colorado and Nevada – red states that in the immediately previous presidential elections had gone Republican – were painted a Democratic shade of blue. Virginia, which had not backed a Democrat for president since 1964, voted for Obama. So did another state of the old Confederacy, North Carolina.

The tide of Obama votes washed over into House and Senate contests, building Democratic majorities of the sort that party strategists never dared imagine.

It was a remarkable victory; a historic, transformational win.

And, then… Obama stopped campaigning. In some senses, this is what we ask of presidents. They are supposed to mount a superhuman quest for power and then, when they power is achieved, they are supposed to wear its mantle casually, with a deference to their foes, much talk of bipartisanship and a willingness to compromise proposals and even principles in the hope of seeming magnanimous.

But these are not magnanimous times.

Obama's critics, led by radio personality Rush Limbaugh, declared their desire to see him fail as a president. And Limbaugh's call was taken up by whole media networks and then by the whole of a Republican Party in which senators openly announced their hope that the commander-in-chief would meet his "Waterloo."

A year into his presidency, Obama can point to accomplishments. And, no, we're not talking here about that appropriately controversial Nobel Prize for Peace. In Madison, the president credited his administration with making "meaningful progress toward the goal" of rescuing "our economy from imminent collapse."

Pointing to moves to cit taxes for working families, to save and create jobs and to ease the credit crunch, the president said, "All of this has contributed to the first quarter of economic growth in over a year. The rate of job loss is slowing, though not nearly fast enough yet. The work continues, but we are moving in the right direction, and we will continue to fulfill our obligation to do every responsible thing to pull this economy out of the ditch in which we found it."

The president got no argument from the crowd of supporters, teachers and students who has gathered to hear him speak in a town that was a hotbed of Obamania in 2008.

But Obama did not come to Madison to lead a celebration like the one that brought tens of thousands of cheering supporters into the streets of the city -- and so many others -- after his election was confirmed last November 4.

The choice of Madison -- a city where Obama won some precincts by 20-1 margins, in a county where he won almost 73 percent of the vote and carried every city, village and town, in a state he carried by a 56-42 margin and took 59 of 72 counties – reflected the caution that has characterized Obama's presidency.

There are few "safer" cities for the president. Indeed, if he faces criticism in Madison and surrounding Dane County, it tends to be from the left. The demonstration outside the middle school was not a right-wing "Tea Party" but a "Books Not Bombs" protest that drew critics of the war in Afghanistan.

The Madison visit was planned before the results of the November 3 off-year elections were known. But at a time when Obama aides were wisely worried about contests for governorships in New Jersey and Virginia and a complicated congressional election in New York state, they weren't taking any chances.

However, the caution inherent in Obama's choice of Madison had less to do with the fact that it is a safe city than with the fact that the event he participated in was so very safe.

The president visited a racially- and ethnically-diverse public school that is an educational success story.

It was a tightly-controlled, essentially-closed event with a small, friendly audience and a soft, almost apolitical message.

In other words, Obama was not campaigning on the anniversary of his campaign win.

He was presidenting.

And that's the problem.

Democrats just lost the governorships of two states Obama won because turnout among people of color and young people – core Obama constituencies – dropped dramatically from 2008 to 2009.

There's an enthusiasm gap. And that gap is something that should worry Obama.

There's nothing wrong with making a presidential visit to a middle school. In fact, there is a lot that's right about such a move. As former Madison School Board member Ray Allen said, "This is exactly where he should be. This president inspires young people, especially young people from low-income and minority communities. It's one of his greatest strengths and he should emphasize it."

But after a presidential visit to the school, Obama should have done something else.

He should have made a campaign visit to downtown Madison.

In Madison, a city known for its massive turnouts for Democratic rallies, Obama could have celebrated the one-year anniversary of his election with a great big rally at the state Capitol – where tens of thousands of people have shown up in the past for events featuring Walter Mondale, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and John Kerry. "I was surprised that they didn't do a Capitol rally," said state Rep. Mark Pocan, one of the state's most powerful and politically-savvy Democratic legislators. "If the president had done a noontime rally at the Capitol, the crowd would have been overwhelming – and overwhelmingly friendly. It would have brought back all those positive memories from last year, all the huge crowds cheering Obama on."

Pocan's right.

The president's team should have thrown caution to the wind and organized a great-big, rip-roaring celebration in Madison. And the president should have delivered a stem-winder speech outlining his health-care reform agenda and promising to fight harder than ever for the change his campaign promised. "It would have energized people," said Mary Lang Sollinger, the finance director of the state Democratic Party and a stalwart Obama backer. "I had so many people who wanted to know where they could get tickets, who wanted to see him. There are a lot of people who want to get out and cheer this president on."

Had Obama flipped into campaign mode on his big anniversary day, critics would surely have accused him of being too political.

In fact, Obama has not been political enough.

At this point in his presidency, recognizing both his challenges and his potential, Obama should borrow a page not from Democratic mentors such as Roosevelt and LBJ but from a Republican: Ronald Reagan.

Reagan never had a Republican Congress to work with – Democrats held the House throughout his two terms while control of the Senate shifted – but his was a strong presidency. Why? Because Reagan and his aides understood the power of the bully pulpit.

A visit to a middle school looks and is presidential.

A great big rally in the middle of a supportive town on the anniversary of a great big victory is campaigning.

But campaigning produces powerful images of a popular president being cheering on by supporters who want him to fight rather than compromise.

Reagan would tell Obama that presidents who succeed know that they can never stop campaigning. (And Roosevelt and LBJ would echo the sentiment.)

Obama needs to keep visiting schools. That's what good presidents – and even not so good presidents -- do.

But Obama, the brilliantly successful campaigner of 2008 but the not quite so brilliantly successful president of 2009, should start visiting the bully pulpit. That's where presidents who are serious about governing built the popular support and the political strength to make words like "hope" and "change" into something more than mere slogans.

Comments (195)

1. Obama needs to look carefully at his appointments. Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and his newly re-appointed Bernanke. He wonders why his numbers are dipping? That's a no brainer. 1) His choice of putting neocons in charge of the financial sector oversight. 2) His hands off approach to the public health care situation.

   There isn't any republican surge going on out there. There's a democratic retreat. People wonder why they should go vote and put the dems in charge when they sit on their asses and don't pass any meaningful legislation. W was quite successful at pulling that off. So, either W was smarter than we give him credit, or Obama isn't as smart as we give him credit for, or Obama is a politician looking out for number one and nothing more. I'm afraid the latter is probably the case. So, we can have a do nothing government with a president being so moderate that things will go on as usual. Problem is that things as usual right now are bad.

   Posted by Wolfgang1 at 11/04/2009 @ 07:26am

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   Posted by ligtvizle at 11/04/2009 @ 07:30am

3. So, either W was smarter than we give him credit, or Obama isn't as smart as we give him credit for, or Obama is a politician looking out for number one and nothing more. I'm afraid the latter is probably the case.http://www.mp3sevdam.com..Problem is that things as usual right

   Posted by ligtvizle at 11/04/2009 @ 07:31am

4. Posted by Wolfgang1 at 11/04/2009 @ 07:26am

   Jesus H. Christ, Wolfie. Pull your head out of your ass. Virginia elected its first Republican governor in 12 years (by 20 points!) and NJ (bluest of blue NJ) gave the Republicans a 5 point win.

   And you think it is because President Obama hasn't pushed hard enough for single payer, or because of Summers and Gietner?

   Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 08:00am

5. The truth is, 2008 wasn't a ground swell for radical change. It was a vote against Bush 43.

   I'm sorry if that disappoints you, but sometimes you have to face facts.

   Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 08:04am

6. I'm sure election analysis will come up in somebody else's thread....but one point needs to be made before the "pure conservatives" start their gloat-fest today.....

   Newt Gingrich was proven right and they were proven wrong-

   "The choice in New York is a practical one: We can split the conservative vote and guarantee the election of a Democrat in a Republican seat in a substantial loss of opportunity. Or we can find a way to elect someone who has committed to vote for the Republican leader, has committed to vote against all tax increases, has committed to vote against cap-and-trade, and is a strong ally of the NRA.

   In order to stop President Obama and the Democrats in Congress, I would rather see Christie win in New Jersey, Bob McDonnell win in Virginia, and have the Republican, Dede Scozzafava, win the special election in NY-23 so that election night in 2009 is a devastating defeat for the Democrats. "----Newt Gingrich

   Posted by Mask at 11/04/2009 @ 08:13am

7. Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 08:04am |

   It is, was, and will be "The Economy, Stupid".

   2008 was about the Pugs NOT choosing a different path than W...more of McSame.

   "Virginia elected its first Republican governor in 12 years..."

   And NY23 elected the first Dem since the 19th century, despite the entire TeaParty(tm) apparatus being laser-focused on that race?

   If you couldn't pull off a win there, the cons are deep in the stinky.

   Defeating a lame duck like Corzine or a governor in Virginny during the worst recession in the voters' lifetimes?...no more impressive than Garamendi winning in CA.

   Posted by snowball777 at 11/04/2009 @ 08:17am

8. Posted by Mask at 11/04/2009 @ 08:13am

   Not to mention:

   1. Off-year elections mean low turn-out that is characterized by older, more conservative voters.

   2. There has also been a long standing phenomena among U.S. of wanting to split government, where the executive and legislative branches are led by different parties.

   So, to read much more into it about "radical change", which Obama has never stood for, is a little bit of propaganda. Nothing new for the "conservatives" in this forum.

   Posted by srjenkins at 11/04/2009 @ 08:19am

9. Posted by Mask at 11/04/2009 @ 08:13am |

   That Newt is a toadie, but he knows electoral politics and can remember the lesson of Perot.

   Posted by snowball777 at 11/04/2009 @ 08:20am

10. But after a morning of presidenting, Obama should have done some campaigning.

    *********

    Uh, Earth to John Nichols: He did campaign. He campainged vigorously for John Corazine, who lost in a state with a 2:1 Dem advantage in registration by 5 points.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 08:24am

11. Yes our President should campaign again,then maybe he would become focused again.Perhaps the election in New Jersey will wake him up to the fact that speeches without action are a losing proposition. It is time for our President to take action .I agree that his support has dropped from "his" base. John,speeches have done what so far? We are in a fight for health care that the Administration has seemingly checked out of the debate. We have a Congressional delegation that has not done it's job after months of "debate".They are watering down their own bill while internally being unable to agree to it's content. I think the incompetence of the current Administration with it's mixed messages,leaks,and lack of a cohesive strategy going forward is a disaster in the making.There is no energy among liberals or progressives. They worked hard for Obama. What has been their reward,a bank bailout?The economic team of Wall Streeters certainly looks like the campaign mantra of change doesn't it? Americans are looking for results,not the next round of rhetoric.C'mon John you are better than this.

    Posted by whatozz at 11/04/2009 @ 08:26am

12. The president's team should have thrown caution to the wind and organized a great-big, rip-roaring celebration in Madison...

    Critics would have accused him of being too political.

    *********

    To celebrate what? Critics would have accused him of having lost touch with reality, not of bein political.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 08:26am

13. "The president has been too presidential."

    and the band played on.......

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:28am

14. Jesus H. Christ, Wolfie. Pull your head out of your ass. Virginia elected its first Republican governor in 12 years (by 20 points!) and NJ (bluest of blue NJ) gave the Republicans a 5 point win.

    And you think it is because President Obama hasn't pushed hard enough for single payer, or because of Summers and Gietner [sic]?

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 08:00am

    no, darin, wolfman is exactly right.

    after all, corzine is another gs alum.

    unemployment is a key. and that's why obama will lose in '12.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:31am

15. Reagan never had a Republican Congress to work with – Democrats held the House throughout his two terms while control of the Senate shifted – but his was a strong presidency. Why? Because Reagan and his aides understood the power of the bully pulpit.

    *******

    Wrong! He was powerful because he had overwhelming popular support for his policies: less government intervention, a strong forceful response to the USSR, lower tax rates and a simpler tax structure, contempt for social elites, etc

    Reagan was a conservative chamption. Dukakis was a perfect progressive chamption. Reagan won 49 states!

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 08:31am

16. no "a".

    •••••

    "A year into his presidency, Obama can point to accomplishments.

    •• oh, really?

    And, no, we're not talking here about that appropriately controversial Nobel Prize for Peace.

    •• well, he should get the piece prize.

    The stimulus package that he signed has been criticized from the left and the right, yet Obama argues that it has already done much to stabilize a shaky economy

    •• you mean stabilize goldman sachs.

    – and the latest statistics, especially those suggesting an upturn in manufacturing activity, seem to support the president's case.

    •• inventory correction, nada mas.

    Obama is especially proud of the fact that his administration has provided critical support for education at a tenuous time."

    •• but thousands are phd's are out of work. unemployment can't be solved by hiding america's MASSIVE indebtedness.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:36am

17. And NY23 elected the first Dem since the 19th century, despite the entire TeaParty(tm) apparatus being laser-focused on that race?

    If you couldn't pull off a win there, the cons are deep in the stinky.

    Posted by snowball777 at 11/04/2009 @ 08:17am

    There's an article at RealClearPolitics on the race.

    NY 23 was an anomoly because: 1) No primary, 2) terrible candidate (I'm not expressing an opinion on her positions, this is a dispassionate critique of her execution.) 3) strong third party in NY, but no other state. and two more I forget.

    But if you are so sure that the Conservatives are in deep trouble, I'll bet you that Republicans win NY23 in 2010.

    Care to put you money where you mouth is?

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 08:36am

18. Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 08:31am

    reagan was a fraud.

    and now, we are paying the price.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:37am

19. But if you are so sure that the Conservatives are in deep trouble, I'll bet you that Republicans win NY23 in 2010.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 08:36am

    COKE! PEPSI!

    wake up.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:38am

20. wiki.answers.com/.../Who_is_the_current_chamption _of_the_WWE

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:40am

21. COKE! PEPSI!

    wake up.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:38am

    Dr. Pepper isn't on the ballot.

    Posted by Benchrest at 11/04/2009 @ 08:47am

22. This article reads like a parody; a parody of those GIECO comercials where the NFL announcer basically repeats was the average joe says but more dramatically.

    (average Joe) I was hungry so I got a cheeseburger at McDonalds.

    (Big Booming Voice of NFL Announcer) He asserted his dominence over the lesser creaters by feasting on their flesh!

    (average Joe) uh, yeah, and I put some ketchup on it.

    (Big Booming Voice of NFL Announcer) He put an exclamation mark on his end-zone dance over the world by feasting on plantlife as well!

    (average Joe) Uhm, sure. And then I went to my daughert's elementary school and read a book about a farting dog to her class.

    (Big Booming Voice of NFL Announcer) He held a rousing celebration by surronding himself with adoring fans!

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 08:48am

23. just more fructose, bench.

    america is desperate for some fibre.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:48am

24. reagan was a fraud.

    and now, we are paying the price.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:37am

    .

    .

    .

    .

    .

    .

    .

    .

    .

    .

    ...no, the tradition (of all adminstrations) is to blame the previous administration, not the last-but-three.

    Posted by Mistral at 11/04/2009 @ 08:49am

25. darin,

    you are just another pawn in the coke-pepsi show.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:49am

26. no, mistral, reagan was a fraud.

    doubling national debt, bloating the bureaucracy, deals with fundamentalists and death squads, invasions of little countries for electoral purposes, prolonging america's addiction to oil, GREENSPAN.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:52am

27. Is it just me, or do other people think that Obama owes us a q&a news conference? I'd like to hear him duck questions about where oh where his promises went.

    Posted by kparcell at 11/04/2009 @ 08:55am

28. america is desperate for some fibre.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:48am

    We certainly have been filled full of the wrong kind of roughage....and the country is in need of some form of laxative in a big way. We need to purge ourselves of neocons some how. It's like active cancer cells though. Just when you think you got rid of them, more of the ugly bastards pop their heads up...like durwood the trolling idiot. Even when he's on ignore, I still have to see his drivel from time to time.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 11/04/2009 @ 08:58am

29. Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 08:36am |

    I wouldn't put my money on ANY incumbent, Pug or Dem, before 2012...it's a suckers bet.

    Posted by snowball777 at 11/04/2009 @ 09:00am

30. just more fructose, bench.

    america is desperate for some fibre.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:48am

    Sé que como artista musical que les gusta hablar en parábolas y tratar de hacernos pensar, así que para no hacerme parecer estúpido, ¿qué sugiere usted en relación a los candidatos viables para desafiar a los partidos establecidos?

    Posted by Benchrest at 11/04/2009 @ 09:00am

31. where oh where his promises went.

    Posted by kparcell at 11/04/2009 @ 08:55am

    they went here:

    http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?s[1][id]=WRESBAL

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:01am

32. Posted by srjenkins at 11/04/2009 @ 08:19am

    Fortunately, it appears even "rational thinkers" like DarinTT are going full-bore into the absolute WRONG analysis of yesterday.

    Chris Christie is a moderate Republican, only pays lip service to the social cons and not much of that.

    Bob McDonnell ran as a "mainstream conservative" in Virginia...but even he isn't a pure ideologue (Check out the story on the "Sex Workers Art Show" at William & Mary).

    Doug Hoffman ran on the "pure of the pure" "Tea Party" "Glenn Beck Fan Club" agenda....and lost a seat that had been in Republican hands for decades.

    Corzine was unpopular and Obama couldn't help him.

    Next November will be even more of this, as the historical precedence (Repubs SHOULD pick up 20-25 seats minimm) will no doubt cause the same WRONG reaction in guys like Darin, who'll see it as "2012? Obama finished and a GOP Congress...sure thing"

    Which is fine with me....heheh

    Posted by Mask at 11/04/2009 @ 09:02am

33. jeez, bench, that's a real tough one.

    you can see by the dialogue here that the supposed two-party system has people mesmerized.

    the place to start is with campaign financing; free the congress and white house from the grasp of lobbyists.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:04am

34. darin,

    you are just another pawn in the coke-pepsi show.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 08:49am

    Frosty, I believe that dagwood is a coke/pepsi addict and truly believes that those are the only two options for beverages.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 11/04/2009 @ 09:05am

35. mask,

    all these ramblings are irrelevant.

    if unemployment is still at the current 17%, and it will be, in 2012,

    mr. obama hasn't a chance.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:06am

36. jeez, bench, that's a real tough one.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:04am

    I guess you missed the part about me not wanting to look stupid.

    Thanks alot.

    Posted by Benchrest at 11/04/2009 @ 09:06am

37. what about you, mr. wolfgang?

    have you escaped the pepsicoke electoral cycle?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:07am

38. bench, si puedes escribir en otra idioma y que se entiende,

    no puede ser que seas menso.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:10am

39. Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:06am

    Of course. Never deny that. Bad economy in 2011-2012, Obama loses.

    Oh...and so will Ralph Nader.

    Posted by Mask at 11/04/2009 @ 09:12am

40. the place to start is with campaign financing; free the congress and white house from the grasp of lobbyists.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:04am

    That would be over Happy's dead body. Mr Manipulation and Malfeasance and the rest of his wallstreet brethren wouldn't have any of that.

    Back room deals, lobbyists schmoozing with the lawmakers...paying for hookers and the like and sweet jobs waiting for promises kept are what D.C. is all about. That is what made this nation what it is today....corrupt and a completely rigged game for those with the cash.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 11/04/2009 @ 09:13am

41. THE UNWANTED WARS ARE HAUNTING OBAMA AND THE SAME ALSO AFFECT HIS DOMESTIC POLICIES. THE CRONIES OF BUSH AND ZIONISTS ALSO INFLUENCE HIS POLICIES.HE SEEMS HELPLESS.

    Posted by Dastu11 at 11/04/2009 @ 09:21am

42. what about you, mr. wolfgang?

    have you escaped the pepsicoke electoral cycle?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:07am

    Boys, this isn't about possibilities. Sure, you're free to take you cup to the soda fountain and make any combination of coke/pepsi/sprite/Mr. Pibb/mello yellow/orange crush you choose.

    In Canada, politics is played with a die (one of six will win.) In the US politics is played with a coin, (heads or tails and once in a million flips it lands on it's independent edge like Jesse Ventura)

    That is just the way our structure is set up. I don't deny that there are an infinite number of alternative structures that could be employed. But until you generate the political will among the populace to adopt one of those structures, this is how the competition is played.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 09:25am

43. Political Winds Shifting?

    Perhaps.

    Two Democrats - governors - were ousted.

    Why?

    Taxes, lack of jobs, in short: It's the economy stupid!

    The fiscal side of the picture is done. Those who are looking for some sort of fiscal stimulative posture out of DC? Forget about it. We had three of those (at least) which have been announced, and they have done nothing.

    Now here's the challenge: The American People have had it with the job loss and with the vast and fast deterioration of their personal balance sheets and, more importantly, their cash-flow statements.

    But these problems were two decades in the making with both Democrat and Republican governments. They are to a large degree the consequence of bogus and even fraudulent credit creation - practices that were not intended to help the economy along at all, but rather were designed to siphon off the wealth of ordinary Americans and hand it to a fistful of oligarchs.

    This behavior has not only been tacitly approved by the silence of Washington DC it has been explicitly promoted and advanced by both Washington DC and The Federal Reserve - on both sides of the aisle.

    Indeed, when it comes to Washington DC the government even went to court to block state laws that would have stopped a big part of the mess from happening - and succeeded.

    Worse, the policies of both the Bush and Obama administrations have not addressed the problem nor forced the bad debt created by these policies out of the system - the millstone remains around the economy's neck!

    http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1576- Political-Winds-Shifting.html

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:25am

44. "A Year Later, Obama Needs to Start Campaigning Again"

    no, he needs to STOP campaigning and actually start doing something.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:26am

45. http://www.zerohedge.com/article/take-power-create- credit-away-giant-banks-and-give-it-back-people

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:41am

46. OBAMAGARCHS UNITE:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/absolute- perfection-goldman-loses-money-just-one-trading-day-q3

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:44am

47. In the US politics is played with a coin,

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 09:25am

    with only one side.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:49am

48. Oh...and so will Ralph Nader.

    Posted by Mask at 11/04/2009 @ 09:12am

    so?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:50am

49. NICHOLS: "A year into his presidency, Obama can point to accomplishments....The stimulus package....and the latest statistics, especially those suggesting an upturn in manufacturing activity, seem to support the president's case. Obama is especially proud of the fact that his administration has provided critical support for education at a tenuous time."

    As a couple of pundits have penned, Magic's biggest accomplishments, which is oh-so-critical to his remaining support, is....wait for it.....wait........He's STILL NOT BUSH!

    As for "upturn in manufacturing activity", it was easy to predict....as my gain in the S&P 500 fund shows.....based on the depreciating Dollar which boosts export competitiveness. If "Obama is especially proud" of that upturn, then, it shouldn't be much of a stretch that he's equally proud that the Dollar has lost almost 20% in trade-weighted value....well done, Mr. President!

    On his "critical support for education", did anyone notice any Legacy Media's pointing out that of the jobs saved/created from the $200 BILLION, almost half are in education....yeah, the teachers' unions got their money's worth, just as Wall St. did!

    Changey and Hopey....have it your way!

    Posted by Happy at 11/04/2009 @ 09:51am

50. Obama doesn't need to campaign for the public. He needs to get the Democratic officeholders in line and start getting meaningful healthcare legislation passed as he, and so many of his hangers-on (e.g. Al Franken) promised they would do. There hasn't been any of the vaunted "change we can believe in" yet. I voted for and got just another Chicago politician, albeit a smooth talking one.

    Posted by jsens at 11/04/2009 @ 09:57am

51. mask, all these ramblings are irrelevant. if unemployment is still at the current 17%, and it will be, in 2012, mr. obama hasn't a chance. Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:06am | +++

    Unemployment will be 20% (although not by govt figures), and you're right, that will be the end of the Obama admin.

    But let's hope it doesn't mean another Republican president. They're the party that got us in this mess. It's the party that doesn't care if Americans have jobs.

    Posted by Citizen54 at 11/04/2009 @ 09:59am

52. 'But Obama, the brilliantly successful campaigner of 2008 but the not quite so brilliantly successful president of 2009, should start visiting the bully pulpit. That's where presidents who are serious about governing built the popular support and the political strength to make words like "hope" and "change" into something more than mere slogans.'

    Brilliantly successful = big liar; don't call that "brilliant" - ever.

    Obama already been doing more campaigning than Bush & Clinton

    Nobody is buying Obama's bully pulpit anymore - are you kidding?

    This article is just nonsense.

    Throw the incumbents out - new mantra for 2010 and 2012.

    Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 10:11am

53. Had NY-23's vote not been split, Owens would not have won. That is hardly an indictment on running as a conservative. That race was a bungle from the beginning. As it stands, the Dems picked up another Congressman from a district that will fire him in a heartbeat if he tends too liberal.

    Basically, another guy Pelosi ultimately has little use for.

    The Corzine defeat simply cannot be dismissed so easily. The Democrats spent 5 times what Christie spent in this election. Brought in Obama to stump for him and make "robo-calls" LINKING a Corzine win to the continued progress of Obama's agenda.

    And don't forget Daggett chiseling off some votes, making this a Perot-style three way race. In blue New Jersey.

    At the very least, this demonstrates that Obama no longer has coat tails. His appearances on behalf of Corzine were ineffective.

    Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/04/2009 @ 10:16am

54. Had NY-23's vote not been split, Owens would not have won. That is hardly an indictment on running as a conservative. That race was a bungle from the beginning. As it stands, the Dems picked up another Congressman from a district that will fire him in a heartbeat if he tends too liberal.

    Basically, another guy Pelosi ultimately has little use for.

    The Corzine defeat simply cannot be dismissed so easily. The Democrats spent 5 times what Christie spent in this election. Brought in Obama to stump for him and make "robo-calls" LINKING a Corzine win to the continued progress of Obama's agenda.

    And don't forget Daggett chiseling off some votes, making this a Perot-style three way race. In blue New Jersey.

    At the very least, this demonstrates that Obama no longer has coat tails. His appearances on behalf of Corzine were ineffective.

    Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/04/2009 @ 10:16am

55. THE UNWANTED WARS ARE HAUNTING OBAMA AND THE SAME ALSO AFFECT HIS DOMESTIC POLICIES. THE CRONIES OF BUSH AND ZIONISTS ALSO INFLUENCE HIS POLICIES.HE SEEMS HELPLESS.

    Posted by Dastu11 at 11/04/2009 @ 09:21am

    News flash: the boat seized off Cyprus loaded with weapons for militias in Lebanon has also been found to contain vowels believed to be for the use of people in the former Yugoslavia, large wooden crosses for Saudi Arabia and a Gucci handbag containing lower case letters destined for Dastu11 (location unknown).

    Posted by Mistral at 11/04/2009 @ 10:20am

56. At the very least, this demonstrates that Obama no longer has coat tails. His appearances on behalf of Corzine were ineffective.

    Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/04/2009 @ 10:16am | ignore this person | warn this person

    Agreed - as time goes on, a liability - thanks, but no thanks - as to stumping for the candidate.

    Fundraisers for The Party - political pay to play - another story.

    Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 10:24am

57. Indeed, it should be sobering when one considers that Owens was the one Democrat Obama did not campaign for.

    I think Biden went up an made an appearance. Drew a crowd of about 150-200 people. Unimpressive.

    The two guys Obama did invest his time and name to lost. One of them by 20 points in a state Obama won last year by 6 points.

    Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/04/2009 @ 10:31am

58. Indeed, it should be sobering when one considers that Owens was the one Democrat Obama did not campaign for.

    I think Biden went up an made an appearance. Drew a crowd of about 150-200 people. Unimpressive.

    The two guys Obama did invest his time and name to lost. One of them by 20 points in a state Obama won last year by 6 points.

    Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/04/2009 @ 10:31am

59. The two guys Obama did invest his time and name to lost. One of them by 20 points in a state Obama won last year by 6 points.

    Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/04/2009 @ 10:31am | ignore this person | warn this person

    A resounding vote of No-Confidence.

    Biden totally irrelevant.

    Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 10:36am

60. The two guys Obama did invest his time and name to lost. One of them by 20 points in a state Obama won last year by 6 points.

    Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/04/2009 @ 10:31am | ignore this person | warn this person

    Was interesting to hear some of the exit polling....

    1) Lack of interest of young vote

    2) Apparent decline in black vote for Obama endorsed candidate

    Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 10:41am

61. Many conservatives here and elsewhere tried to explain the 08 election was not a paradigm shift towards liberalism as so many here keep claiming.

    It was about a moment in history when all the stars lined up for Obama (and I don't mean Hollywood).

    War fatigue

    Economy entering recession

    desire for change

    the opportunity for voters to make history

    a so-so Republican candidate.

    So Obama got record youth vote turnout, record turnout from African Americans-for him, not for Democratic politicians, and not so much for progressive/leftist change in America.

    What we can speculate on is how passionate is Obama about other Democrats and their future. My guess is not as much as they would like.

    BTW, the healthcare bill is effectively dead. Pelosi says she doesn't have enough Dem votes to pass because of the abortion funding. Reid can't get the CBO to even come up with an analysis, which means it's probably worse then they thought. So, Reid doesn't have his votes either. It's going to be a long Nov-Jan for Democrats and Obama-even longer for the left who seeks single payer. 2010 just got a

    Posted by antisocialist at 11/04/2009 @ 10:43am

62. Obama won the election with a mandate. Popular vote an Electoral vote.

    And now one year later he has failed miserably to live up to that mandate. His soaring rhetoric and the promise of change that was the hallmark of his campaign now rings hollow, painful and pointless.

    The Independents that were swayed by the promise of a better America are now abandoning him in droves and running towards their conservative roots.

    Personally, I can no longer stand to watch him or hear him speak. I feel betrayed in the worse possible way. I expected to be dissapointed from the beginning because I realized that he was never really invested in serving the left.

    But I did make the mistake of taking him at his word, and decided to give it a year.

    To dare to Hope is to invite an even deeper hopelessness.

    Sometimes I don't listen to my rational side and listen to my heart instead. I should have listened to myself when I stated that, "The only difference between a Republican and a Democrat is that a Democrat will give you a reach around".

    I'm thinking I'm not the only one that will never vote for a Democrat again. It's straight Green Party or PSL from now on.

    Funny how the independents are running to their conservative roots and lefties are running to their socialist roots.

    Obama now has the dubious ability to not only draw a huge room, but to empty it aswell...

    Posted by chaoszen at 11/04/2009 @ 10:44am

63. New Jersey

    Obama sent his top pollster to take command of the race. Obama visited multiple times, including the day before the election. Obama is featured in most of Corzine's advertising. The Democratic Governors Association and DNC all pumped in a ton of money. Corzine ran on helping Obama at the state level.

    Virginia

    The Democratic Governors Association spent $4 million to get Creigh Deeds elected. The Democratic National Committee spent $6 millino to get Deeds elected. Obama campaigned for Deeds multiple times. Organizing for America sent a mail piece to 300,000 "surge voters", or voters who voted for the first time in 2008, urging them to vote for Deeds. Organizing for America set up phone banks for Creigh Deeds.

    Already , "the state owned media "is telling us none of this matters and this was no rebuke of Barack Obama.

    Don't believe it. The facts speak for themselves. This just a preview of 2010!

    Posted by BigPasture at 11/04/2009 @ 10:46am

64. Sometimes I don't listen to my rational side and listen to my heart instead. I should have listened to myself when I stated that, "The only difference between a Republican and a Democrat is that a Democrat will give you a reach around".

    Posted by chaoszen at 11/04/2009 @ 10:44am | ignore this person | warn this person

    Precisely what David Axelrod's astroturf wanted you to do. These assholes won awards in "marketing" for the Obama campaign!

    This is where we are at.

    Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 10:53am

65. Obama does not need to start campaigning "again" but doing what he was elected to do and promised he would. He has not so far. He needs to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and deliver the universal health care, plus inject more money to help the middle class, and not (only) the bankers. Instead, he appointed Geitner and co, listens to the generals, etc. So, a disappointment so far. Better than Bush or McCain (that is easy) but that is NOT enough. He needs only to implement a democratic platform and will get all the electoral votes and wins.

    Posted by dragan at 11/04/2009 @ 11:00am

66. >>>Reagan never had a Republican Congress to work with – Democrats held the House throughout his two terms while control of the Senate shifted – but his was a strong presidency. Why? Because Reagan and his aides understood the power of the bully pulpit. <<<

    Well, you hit the head of the nail on this one, JOHN NICHOLS! This statement reminds me of a lecture in college 27 years ago by a Reagan adviser.

    IT'S THE BULLYPULPIT, STUPID!

    Posted by Metteyya at 11/04/2009 @ 11:06am

67. "A Year Later, Obama Needs to Start Campaigning Again"

    no, he needs to STOP campaigning and actually start doing something.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:26am

    Bingo.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 11/04/2009 @ 11:20am

68. TO MISTRAL FROM INDIA.[NOW YOU KNOW MY LOCATION] EVERY COUNTRY HAS THE RIGHT TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE AGGRESSORS.THE LEBANESE GOVERNMENT HAS NO POWER TO COUNTER ISRAELI ATTACK.SO THE BRAVE HIZBULLAH FIGHTERS TOOK THE RESPONSIBILITY AND THEY PROVED THEY COULD DEFEAT ISRAEL.ISRAEL IS ATTACKING AND KILLING THOUSANDS WITH U S WEAPONS.HIZBULLAH CAN'T FIGHT BACK WITH FLOWERS.THEY NEED WEAPONS AND THEY ARE COLLECTING IT. ONE MORE THING, I AM NOT A RACIST AND NOT AGAINST JEWS.I HAVE SOME ISRAELI FRIENDS. I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT KEEPING SILENCE AGAINST A CRIME IS ALSO A CRIME. PEACE TO THE WORLD. WWW.GILAD.CO.UK

    Posted by Dastu11 at 11/04/2009 @ 11:29am

69. Posted by Dastu11 at 11/04/2009 @ 11:29am

    Is your caps lock stuck? Or do you just believe that screaming you point gives it more credibilty? In fact is does just the opposite.

    I never even read posts that are entirely in CAPS.

    Posted by chaoszen at 11/04/2009 @ 11:35am

70. The truth is, 2008 wasn't a ground swell for radical change. It was a vote against Bush 43.

    I'm sorry if that disappoints you, but sometimes you have to face facts.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 08:04am

    I both disagree with you and agree with you. PART of the response in 2008 was a complete repudiation of George W Bush and everything he and the neocons had put us through for eight years: two wars, a broken economy, etc. etc.

    However, Part of the election was a groundswell for radical change, which is why both the far right and far left are upset with Obama. One side sees him as doing too little, the other as doing too much. He is governing from the middle (like those of us who actually paid attention to his campaign knew he would). He was NOT a radical leftie as the right tried to paint him to be and as the left desperately hoped he would be.

    I agree with Nichols in the sense that Obama must use the bully pulpit as effectively as Reagan did (see, I can say something nice about that man), if he wants any agenda to be passed. I've said that since last November. The Republicans have decided to becomes asses (as in donkeys) and be stubborn at every level against any sort of bipartisanship. While this may help with their base, it hurts the country.

    Obama must be a strong leader. He has proven that he has patience (when the rest of the country doesn't have any). He has proven that he is intelligent and thinks about ALL the issues facing him (which can sometimes clutter up issues tremendously).

    I believe he is being the tortoise in the race between the hare and the tortoise. He will win the race due to the blunders of his competitors. But in this day and age, where everything moves fast, the tortoise might just go extinct.

    Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/04/2009 @ 11:40am

71. On his "critical support for education", did anyone notice any Legacy Media's pointing out that of the jobs saved/created from the $200 BILLION, almost half are in education....yeah, the teachers' unions got their money's worth, just as Wall St. did!

    Changey and Hopey....have it your way!

    Posted by Happy at 11/04/2009 @ 09:51am

    Happy, you would PREFER fewer teachers during a baby boom that started a few years ago?

    I like the idea of keeping teachers working so we don't see 40 kids in a classroom. I once had thirty kids in a classroom in Texas back in the 70's and it was awful...and I was a good student.

    So, if I understand your position correctly, good that Wall Street got the bailout (since you're doing so well in the markets) and bad that teachers got to keep their jobs.

    OK. You've made your point, Rushboy.

    Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/04/2009 @ 11:52am

72. Here's and analogy:

    Think of politics as the ocean. There are semi-predictable ebbs and flows. Now some people want the ocean permanently higher (will improve property values in Tennesee) some want the ocean permanently lower (improve property values in Florida).

    Ultimately, these wants are nothing grander than rational self-interest. But, the ocean doesn't particularily care what you want: it is publled by the forces of the earth and the moon and the sun.

    Obama represents a rouge wave (small tidal wave caused by an earthquake). Surely the people in Tennesee who predicited this wave was a sign that the ocean wanted to be permanently higher, are wrong.

    A year after the rouge wave hit, it has dissapated and everyting is back to normal. 10,000 years from now the ocean will certainly be higher, or lower, whatever. But there'll be no noticable change in our lifetimes.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 11:55am

73. Was interesting to hear some of the exit polling....

    1) Lack of interest of young vote

    2) Apparent decline in black vote for Obama endorsed candidate

    Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 10:41am

    Interesting exit polling there...get it from Faux News?

    The Republicans won 2 of the ten Congressional/Gubernatorial races yesterday. Dems won 8. Ooooooo...a Republican sweep!

    And the exit polling I heard was that about 60-70% of the people in both NJ and VA said that Obama had nothing to do with their vote one way or the other; it's the economy, stupid!

    Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/04/2009 @ 11:57am

74. Oops, rogue.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 11:57am

75. Unemployment will be 20% (although not by govt figures), and you're right, that will be the end of the Obama admin.

    But let's hope it doesn't mean another Republican president. They're the party that got us in this mess. It's the party that doesn't care if Americans have jobs.

    Posted by Citizen54 at 11/04/2009 @ 09:59am

    that's not true.

    nixon said, "yay, money is endless!"

    jimmy carter got the dereg ball a-rollin'

    reagan, ew

    bush uno waddle in reagan's ew

    clinton let the "markets" derive the derivativization of the rubber bucky

    bush dos' follies distracted the eyes of the world from the milking of the fiat that was going on,

    an mr. obama's now got an equities bubble he can call his own!

    COKE! PEPSI!

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 11:59am

76. Mandate? The "racist-in-chief" himself, and all his cronies obviously misread the supposed "mandate" they thought they had. I thought conservatism was dead? Isn't that what the left was sayin g a few mon ths ago? Wrong,wrong,wrong! Your boy is in trouble, self-imposed trouble, and I love it! In 2010, we're gonna kick these evil marxists/racists out of the white house and congress! Hahahahahahahahaha

    Posted by barry25 at 11/04/2009 @ 12:08pm

77. A year after the rouge wave hit, it has dissapated and everyting is back to normal. 10,000 years from now the ocean will certainly be higher, or lower, whatever. But there'll be no noticable change in our lifetimes.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 11:55am

    If this is "normal" then god help us all because we won't be here 10,000 years from now and the rats will be on the next evolutionary path to the stars.

    And I have to ask, darin, if none of this means much to you in the long run and it's all about ebbing and flowing, why the vitriol from you directed towards anything Democratic in nature? If none of it matters to you, why bother?

    Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/04/2009 @ 12:12pm

78. To my fellow conservatives here at the Nation.

    Can you smell what's in the "air" this morning?

    FEAR

    The left is in a terrible state of fear this morning. Since November 4, 2008 they have been swaggering with confidence that a new wave of radical leftist change was coming to the US.

    First they get Obama talking big but not really changing much (except bankrupting the US), but no major social engineering.

    Now, after talk of a permanent conservative minority or even the disappearance of conservatives and their disappointment with Obama, their world is not looking quite so Marxist red this morning.

    And for the leftist bloggers, should have be in fear today.

    The healthcare plan now appears almost dead.

    Pelosi can't get enough Dems to support the House Bill and Reid has to postpone the Senate Bill because he also can't get enough Dems to support it.

    Republicans aren't the blockage, this is a self destruct by Democrats. Conservatives and all Americans who love the constituion just need to let them self implode.

    Posted by antisocialist at 11/04/2009 @ 12:22pm

79. Stephen_Carver1, thanks for the eveness of your comment, and frosty, your making me laugh. Regan ewwww!

    Posted by Denise29 at 11/04/2009 @ 12:27pm

80. Opps, Reagan, Ewwww.

    Posted by Denise29 at 11/04/2009 @ 12:28pm

81. Oh please Anti, scared? Ha, to your scared!

    Posted by Denise29 at 11/04/2009 @ 12:30pm

82. If you want to see REAL fun, ask our Right-wing friends...

    why did a "pure conservative, no RINO" like Doug Hoffman lose....while more moderate Republicans like Chris Christie win?

    More back-flips and twists than the acrobats at Ringling Brothers....guarenteed.

    Posted by Mask at 11/04/2009 @ 12:31pm

83. Yesterday morning there were 256 Democrats in the 111th US Congress. Today there are 258.

    Posted by !immutable at 11/04/2009 @ 12:32pm

84. "First they get Obama talking big but not really changing much (except bankrupting the US), but no major social engineering."----Posted by antisocialist at 11/04/2009 @ 12:22pm

    Does this not contradict like SIX MONTHS of Larry's posts?!??!?!?

    Posted by Mask at 11/04/2009 @ 12:32pm

85. Hes not the only one playing a role in our bankrupt society,( no pun intended) don't forget where it all started, can you say Reagan Ewwww? Then right on down the line to Bush Ewwwww?

    Posted by Denise29 at 11/04/2009 @ 12:39pm

86. Re: "Obama is especially proud of the fact that his administration has provided critical support for education at a tenuous time."

    USA students are falling behind the rest of the world in academic performance, even with all the high tech equipment, government incentives for schools and accountability programs for teachers.

    Scientific evidence concludes that our students failure of academic performance could also result of toxic exposure from the poor environmental health of our nation's school.

    The EPA has determined that half of our 55 million students and teachers spend a large portion of their day in buildings that have environmental dangers that can damage their health and academic abilities.

    I was seriously injured by toxins while teaching. It cost me my career, my retirement, and almost my life. I've become an advocate for healthier schools, healthy children, and environmental responsibility. See my story on my website and useful links and resources. www.nancyswan.com

    Posted by NSwan at 11/04/2009 @ 12:42pm

87. Republicans Democrats

    Posted by antisocialist at 11/04/2009 @ 12:22pm

    PEPSI$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 12:43pm

88. Yesterday morning there were 256 Democrats in the 111th US Congress. Today there are 258.

    Posted by !immutable at 11/04/2009 @ 12:32pm

    COKE$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 12:44pm

89. Interesting exit polling there...get it from Faux News?

    Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/04/2009 @ 11:57am

    Nope. MSNBC - Maddow - last night.

    Our MSNBC exit poll shows today‘s electorate is very, very different from the one that gave President Obama a surprise victory in Virginia a year ago. For one thing, they‘re older. The percentage of senior citizens jumped to 18 percent up from only 11 percent last year.

    In contrast, voters under 30, a key Obama constituency, dropped by more than half - 10 percent this year compared to 22 percent back in 2008. All of that seems to have worked to McDonnell‘s advantage. He did better among older voters while Democrat Creigh Deeds held a slight advantage among the younger voters.

    And while black voters were an important part of President Obama‘s coalition, they made a much smaller percentage of the electorate today. Only 16 percent of Virginia voters were African-American, down sharply from 20 percent in 2008.

    So while many are looking for national trends, today‘s election in Virginia was a state election decided by a traditional Virginia electorate, very different from the one we saw last year.

    MADDOW: Melissa Rehberger, monitoring the exit poll data, thanks for your report. I really appreciate it.

    REHBERGER: Thank you.

    Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 12:50pm

90. Yesterday morning there were 256 Democrats in the 111th US Congress. Today there are 258.

    Posted by !immutable at 11/04/2009 @ 12:32pm

    Yet Pelosi can't get 218 of them to vote for the healthcare bill. what does that say?

    Posted by antisocialist at 11/04/2009 @ 12:50pm

91. Does this not contradict like SIX MONTHS of Larry's posts?!??!?!?

    Posted by Mask at 11/04/2009 @ 12:32pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    I though Larry was pleased with Obama's status quo?

    Hmmmm........

    The smell of blood over loyalty to CIC.

    Wouldn't want to share a foxhole with Larry.

    Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 12:53pm

92. Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 12:44pm

    Hey Frosty, you ever read Einstein's "Why Socialism?" essay in the Monthly Review. 1949!

    Pepsi Coke isn't anything new. But to me, there is a very big difference between the two.

    Posted by !immutable at 11/04/2009 @ 1:15pm

93. Wouldn't want to share a foxhole with Larry.

    Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 12:53pm

    I believe I'd rather be shot by the enemy than to share a foxhole with him having to listen to his unending right wing fanatical ramblings.

    You bring up a good point too OneVote. When W was at the helm, he was nothing but praise for the CIC, but now that a commie democrat is president, the CIC is nothing but a figurehead of a communist sympathizer party.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 11/04/2009 @ 1:16pm

94. you can see by the dialogue here that the supposed two-party system has people mesmerized.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 09:04am

    1- Your not mesmerized?

    2- The coke pepsi repetition is intended to wake up the mesmerized?

    3- And/or is intended to ______?

    4- How's it working out?

    Posted by winyahn at 11/04/2009 @ 1:17pm

95. Can you smell what's in the "air" this morning?

    FEAR

    Posted by antisocialist at 11/04/2009 @ 12:22pm

    THAT SMELL'S YOU

    Posted by winyahn at 11/04/2009 @ 1:21pm

96. Seems to me that incumbents generally should worry - people are angry and in a mood to kick the bums out, whoever they are.

    Posted by mikecope at 11/04/2009 @ 1:24pm

97. I've gotten a taste for Diet Sprite lately. Does that make me Coke or Pepsi?

    And being from Texas, Dr. Pepper was always my favorite.

    And NeHi Grape...that's always good, followed closely by NeHi Orange.

    Big Red. Ah, being a boy from the south who loved bubble gum flavored sodas.

    Nowadays I drink mostly water. Sometimes a cop of coffee in the AM.

    As for you, Larry - you think I'm scared? Why don't you come up here to the big L.A. and see how scared I am of your big conservative sweep (of two governorships). Oh...I see...you're hiding down in that bastion of free speech known as Orange County, California. Ooooooooo, I am SO scared of the white people in Orange County...on the boring side of the Manson/Nixon line.

    Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/04/2009 @ 1:25pm

98. I believe I'd rather be shot by the enemy than to share a foxhole with him having to listen to his unending right wing fanatical ramblings.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 11/04/2009 @ 1:16pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    Lol.....your brothers in arms would have taken care of the problem for you.

    Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 1:27pm

99. "A Year Later, Obama Needs to Start Campaigning Again" No that is the problem!

    What is really funny is he never stopped campaigning even when he won office, and now he is reaping the cost of his rabid campaign against morality, demonization of the right, his war against any media opposing him, and his utter failure to govern responsibly!

    Posted by BigPasture at 11/04/2009 @ 1:30pm

100. With Obama slipping in polls and many voters unhappy with the Democratic-run Congress, "it's been increasingly clear over the last few months that Democrats were likely to have a tough midterm next year," said Charlie Cook, who handicaps races nationwide for his nonpartisan Cook Political Report. "What we've seen tonight doesn't dispute that assumption."

     "The congressional election in New York was so bizarre it doesn't resemble any race we've seen and isn't likely to look like any of the 510 House, Senate or gubernatorial races next year," Cook said.

     http://tinyurl.com/yz36978

     Posted by antisocialist at 11/04/2009 @ 1:30pm

101. Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 12:53pm

     Seems to want it BOTH ways-

     Both "Obama is a radical Marxist destroying our country and the Constitution"

     and "Obama is just big talk...changing nothing!"

     Posted by Mask at 11/04/2009 @ 1:35pm

102. Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 12:50pm

     My bad. Thanks for the info.

     Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/04/2009 @ 1:41pm

103. You bring up a good point too OneVote. When W was at the helm, he was nothing but praise for the CIC, but now that a commie democrat is president, the CIC is nothing but a figurehead of a communist sympathizer party.

     Posted by Wolfgang1 at 11/04/2009 @ 1:16pm

     Still can't read? You need reading help.

     I've repeatedly stated that I have overall praise for Obama's conduct as CIC. My problems are primarily with his domestic policies.

     I didn't say the Dems are a communist sympathizer party. They are just socialists who believe in the European social democracy model

     Posted by antisocialist at 11/04/2009 @ 1:47pm

104. Both "Obama is a radical Marxist destroying our country and the Constitution"

     and "Obama is just big talk...changing nothing!"

     Posted by Mask at 11/04/2009 @ 1:35pm | ignore this person | warn this person

     And as you have stated previously - the man is an obvious "partisan authoritarian."

     By any definitional standard, this is not a patriot.

     If Obama gave him everything he wanted, he would still cheer Obama's political demise.

     This is really reprehensible.

     Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 1:50pm

105. My bad. Thanks for the info.

     Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/04/2009 @ 1:41pm | ignore this person | warn this person

     No sweat Steve. Always appropriate to ask!

     Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 1:51pm

106. What is really funny is he never stopped campaigning even when he won office, and now he is reaping the cost of his rabid campaign against morality, demonization of the right, his war against any media opposing him, and his utter failure to govern responsibly!

     Posted by BigPasture at 11/04/2009 @ 1:30pm | ignore this person | warn this person

     BP - could you clarify this rather conclusory statement?

     Don't confuse anti-incumbency with love for your party. You've got a long way to go on "party reformation." You might do your party a favor and drop out for starters.

     Posted by OneVote at 11/04/2009 @ 1:59pm

107. Posted by Mask at 11/04/2009 @ 12:32pm

     Mask, you are once again twisting my words around. Let me explain.

     1. As a conservative, I am completely within my rights to pathologically lie about any topic, so long as it forwards my conservative agenda. So, I'll make statements like:

     "The healthcare plan now appears almost dead."

     It doesn't matter whether there is any truth to what I say. What matters is perception. When you have no steak, you still have to find some sizzle.

     Besides, I'd rather talk about the world as I would like it to be. I think about Eisenhower and Reagan, both strong men with attractive profiles that appeal to my sense of the masculine. It is a melding of the G.I. and the character actor, with generous allotment of chest hair. Men that can hold on to you and make you feel safe. I bet Obama doesn't even have chest hair.

     2. Sizzle is all about emotions. Everything good is conservative. It's better when it is old, white, male, Judeo-Christian and large. Like William Taft - which in addition to chest hair is one of the last Presidents with facial hair. QED.

     Liberals, communists, socialists, are all words that just mean people I do not agree with. Everything bad comes from them. I don't think it is necessary to point out the antonyms for conservative qualities - just think of dirty hippies living in teepees with long hair. Live underground man!

     The Indians all had long hair, too and I am in full support of giving all liberals the Indian treatment. I know you know what I mean.

     But the best emotion is fear. I favor talking about Islamic fundamentalists when it comes to justify my support of dictators, militia groups, and others supporting the cause of liberty. We all know the Founding Fathers said the tree of liberty needs to be watered with blood, lots of it.

     And what better source of blood than adherents of Islam? They are wicked but repentent, and I've always believe penance should involve some blood and some minor whipping. Remember, it's not torture when its penance sanctioned by the Bible.

     Jacobians, anarchists or communists were all scary - but they are mostly atheistic. I like my enemies to have a G-d, so I can think of their religion more akin to devil worship. Did you know that Allah, sounds remarkably like Satan when whispered backwards in Jesus's original Aramaic?

     Speaking of scary, what could be more scary than people that disagree with me? Call them liberal, communist, or socialist. They are all out to get me or going to let the boogeymen get me. I feel surely someone is going to get me, which is why I focus on the fear. That's what I understand.

     3. Another tactic is the mountain out of a gopher hill technique. Since I have been running around the tunnels of my survivalist outpost like the gopher in the Caddyshack movie for the last few decades, I tend to think that things like the entrances to my caves are huge and whatever political root or decomposing vegetable I've latched on to - special elections, ACORN, that kind of thing - I then pretend that this signals some kind of broad grass roots for support for my herbivore utopian worldview.

     I believe I can speak for Middle America when I say that we like our survivalist gopher caves, and since I'm a firm believer in market systems, I would like to see the supply of competing caves in Afghanistan reduced to rubble with some high explosive. Get them before they get me, I always say.

     4. My way of thinking has been proven to be correct by both the Bible and The Constitution. I enrolled in a rigorous course in theology offered in the back of a Rolling Stone magazine someone had left behind in the toilet back when I was fighting the communists in South Asia in the sixties, and I realized after careful reading that Americans are actually the chosen people, and they are spiritually Jewish. Israel is, of course, spiritually Jewish. So, Israel and America are actually the same country. An attack on Israel is essentially an attack on America, and the Constitution clearly states that the President has the power to look after the common defense. QED. It is so easy, why do these liberals not understand?

     It also all ties back into bringing about the Second Coming. Hell hath no fury like atomic weapons scorned, I say. I bet a nice nuclear war would be just the thing to bring on the Rapture, and in fact, I've been doing some scholarship on the books of Revelation and Daniel that indicate that a taxicab driver in Iran may in fact be the antichrist. If we shoot nuclear weapons at Iran, I am sure we'll see the end times in my lifetime. If it be God's will...

     I'd give you references to my scholarship, but I am waiting on a response from my publisher, which I am happy to say just last week told me that sales for my book, "How Would Jesus Design Cluster Bombs?" has sold at least a dozen copies. With the proceeds from that book and a second, special collection from my parishioners, I hope to donate some of the cost of one clusterbomb to the United States. I think of it is as extension of my personal charitable work.

     5. Obama is a socialist - that is, someone not killing Muslims and destroying their caves at a rate to suit me. Technically, this is not a lie since I've defined socialist as people I do not like.

     I know that Obama has not changed anything. But, I do not see any problem of talking about the deficit he created because everything is someone else's fault. George Bush, while not a true conservative, liked to kill Muslims. You've got to say that for him. I heard he had some Muslims strapped in for some competitive trap and skeet shooting, when the Vice President shot a Christian in the face. You have to love that man's enthusiasm.

     With Bush, I can't blame it on Congress like I did during the Reagan years. So, I blame Obama. Or maybe it was Canada. It certainly wasn't a conservative because everyone knows that the true conservatives never get elected and spend their time delivering infotainment.

     6. All of these strategies are improved by hyperbolic, apocalyptic prognostications about the eminent death of the Democratic party as I work on the purification of my favored party, the Republicans. With the party whittled down to the same people that buy my books, I feel sure that we will be able to capture an elected position to the school board and start giving kids a true education.

     Posted by antis0cialist at 11/04/2009 @ 2:17pm

108. And I have to ask, darin, if none of this means much to you in the long run and it's all about ebbing and flowing, why the vitriol from you directed towards anything Democratic in nature? If none of it matters to you, why bother?

     Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/04/2009 @ 12:12pm

     In the long run, human endevors are guided by reason. Sometimes, reason is inconclusive. Two people could reasonably disagree whether one should get the flu shot or not. Reason does not always produce the intended result.

     The Black Book of Communism (I'm not saying Democrats are Communists) details how well intentioned people caused the deaths of over 100 million people in the twentieth century.

     Clearly, people make mistakes in logic that cuase tangible harm to real individuals. That is why I oppose Democrat policies. Say that through some miricle the Democrats managed to impose a single payer health care model on the US. Things would be fine, at first. But over decades, the quality of care would go down. Progress in the prevention and curing of disease would slow to a stop. The best and brightest minds would forgo medicine or would practice medicine in other countries. America would experience the "brain drain" that has afflicted Canada these past several decades.

     Liberty and freedom would erode. The quality of life in the US would go down.

     Eventually, a black market in healthcare would pop up. The single payer model would be repealed.

     I'm just trying to save us the trouble.

     Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 2:23pm

109. Posted by antis0cialist at 11/04/2009 @ 2:17pm

     Nice.

     I almost didn't notice that

     antis "o" cialist

     and the

     antis zero cialist

     This is one of the more clever attempts at fraud.

     Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 2:26pm

110. He is governing from the middle (like those of us who actually paid attention to his campaign knew he would)....

     Obama must be a strong leader......He has proven that he is intelligent and thinks about ALL the issues facing him.....

     I believe he is being the tortoise in the race between the hare and the tortoise....

     Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/04/2009 @ 11:40am

     Wow, another gem......Obama would be so proud of you! Another 5-star Devotee!

     Let's see, since the smarty pants that you are "paid attention to his campaign" and say that he's "governing from the middle" just as you "knew he would", why isn't the "middle" loving Dear Leader even more, today? The "middle" IS the Independents, the Blue Dog Dems, and the moderate Repubs, isn't it?

     Magic "must be a strong leader"? You mean he isn't? How can that be? He rammed $800 Billion through to his favored groups, he single-handedly went on a global Apology Tour, stood up to Iranian demonstrators, told the Poles & Hondurans to go fuck themselves,....how can there be any question he's just, oh so "strong"?

     An "intelligent" President who "thinks about ALL the issues facing him", is the kind that convict an entire police department while at the same exact time, said that he didn't have all of the facts. Man, your threshold of `intelligence' is just what I thought!

     I also love the "hare and the tortoise" analogy, except he isn't the tortoise, he's the hare who is running the opposite way of where the race is laid out! And, as you know, Time is the Conservative tortoise's friend, the longer the Magic bunny runs, the closer to the moon he gets where Jerry Brown, awaits!

     Posted by Happy at 11/04/2009 @ 2:38pm

111. I can translate Nichols article here in one sentence. Obama needs to make more bullshit speeches filled with lies and false hope so he can snow the people again.

     Too Late. The magic is gone. Pelosi actually thinks she won last night. What she isn't saying is that she already counted the votes of the two seats gained in NY and CA. before the election.

     All indicators point to a very bad day for democrats on election day 2010. They've lost the independents. I know because I'm one.

     Posted by gunslinger1 at 11/04/2009 @ 2:46pm

112. Well at least one person has performed more poorly on the election-as-Rorschach-test analayis than Nichols.

     According to Daily Kos, the plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face message the voters sent to Obama by electing Republican governors in VA and NJ is that Obama needs to do a better job following the directives of Daily Kos.

     Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 2:51pm

113. hey, larry...

     how'd you get such a long post through?

     Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 2:54pm

114. Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 2:54pm

     Not Larry, but someone else. Very good job.

     How did they?

     Posted by !immutable at 11/04/2009 @ 2:58pm

115. When a young single mother w/a baby in her arms stopped Obama in the middle of his campaign "trail" and shot him questions point blank (who could refuse on camera that scenario?) his response to her very direct questions about health reform and specifically about single payer was "... you will have to make me do it... Yes, I say to Obama: We will make you do it..." In spite of your defusal to follow on your promises delivered with the intent to win votes. WE will make you do things against your wishes to please those that WE defited in this last election. If you continue to betray our trust, WE will leave you alone to dodge the bullets... which will probably end your political carreer and the chance for a true democratic rule. Then... America may loose all illusions of representation among two parties that never represented anyone else than their own interests and those of the special interests they are committed to protect and to serve. I personally hope you will turn around soon enough and realize you don't bite the hand that fed you. That's the "WE" which is your only hope. Maybe this simplistic, naive (mind you... not ignorant) will be clear enough to motivate some of the simple, direct changes that will place people before profits (like caring for the seeds if you want the crop to exist... instead of harvesting before they sprout).

     Posted by Gustav at 11/04/2009 @ 3:10pm

116. Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 2:54pm

     Not Larry, but someone else. Very good job.

     How did they?

     Posted by !immutable at 11/04/2009 @ 2:58pm

     makes me suspicious that it's someone with editing power at the Nation.

     Posted by antisocialist at 11/04/2009 @ 3:15pm

117. Obama needs to target those core constituencies through magazines, TV, radio and Mrs. O. But he won't do it. He never does what I tell him to do.

     Posted by swanny58 at 11/04/2009 @ 3:24pm

118. Obama needs to target those core constituencies through magazines, TV, radio and Mrs. O. But he won't do it. He never does what I tell him to do.

     Posted by swanny58 at 11/04/2009 @ 3:25pm

119. Getting back to my Kos post. Kos's "analysis" is that the same number of Reps voted but Dems stayed home.

     Conveniently overlooked is that 63% of Indepenteds voted Rep this time. Kind of the reversal from last time.

     How does that square with Kos's advice to be more liberal?

     Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 3:29pm

120. TO MISTRAL FROM INDIA.[NOW YOU KNOW MY LOCATION] EVERY COUNTRY HAS THE RIGHT TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE AGGRESSORS.THE LEBANESE GOVERNMENT HAS NO POWER TO COUNTER ISRAELI ATTACK.SO THE BRAVE HIZBULLAH FIGHTERS TOOK THE RESPONSIBILITY AND THEY PROVED THEY COULD DEFEAT ISRAEL.ISRAEL IS ATTACKING AND KILLING THOUSANDS WITH U S WEAPONS.HIZBULLAH CAN'T FIGHT BACK WITH FLOWERS.THEY NEED WEAPONS AND THEY ARE COLLECTING IT. ONE MORE THING, I AM NOT A RACIST AND NOT AGAINST JEWS.I HAVE SOME ISRAELI FRIENDS. I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT KEEPING SILENCE AGAINST A CRIME IS ALSO A CRIME. PEACE TO THE WORLD. WWW.GILAD.CO.UK

     Posted by Dastu11 at 11/04/2009 @ 11:29am

     india, eh? going to give up that chunk of china north of assam in exchange for peace?

     i'm sorry, i can't seem to find any uppercase letters. somebody has stolen not only many square kilometres of mountainous chinese land, but also all the uppercase letters on this blog.

     Posted by Mistral at 11/04/2009 @ 3:33pm

121. Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/04/2009 @ 3:29pm

     It doesn't. Exit polls showed that a fair number of those voting Republican still had a favorable rating for Obama, who is not a liberal.

     COKE???????

     Posted by !immutable at 11/04/2009 @ 3:36pm

122. "Obama needs to start campaigning again"? LOL! What planet do you childish lib's live on? Obama, the Racist-in-chief, has not stopped campaigning since he stepped into power! Know why: because when you're a childish, narcissistic, cradle-to-grave, community organizer who's NEVER RUN ANYTHING and has absolutely NO EXECUTIVE EXPERIENCE, can't/won't even make a decision on Afghanistan, then all you can do is CAMPAIGN because running your mouth with jibberish stuffed full of kool-aid platitudes is the only talent you (Obama) have! All he's done is give speeches since he took office. All he's done is campaign, campaign, campaign, since he took office! He's a joke, a real Man-Child, still wet behind the ears!!! A true embarrassment to us all!

     Posted by barry25 at 11/04/2009 @ 3:54pm

123. It doesn't. Exit polls showed that a fair number of those voting Republican still had a favorable rating for Obama, who is not a liberal.

     Posted by !immutable at 11/04/2009 @ 3:36pm

     Yes, we're in a weird place right now. High personal approval ratings, still, yet low approval ratings for the policies he is trying to push.

     http://tinyurl.com/kwqzrs

     For example, the latest Rasmussen poll has support for Obama/Pelosicare at about 42% among voters. About 54% do not support this plan.

     And yet we continue on as if the will of the citizenry is not to be considered...

     Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/04/2009 @ 4:54pm

124. It doesn't. Exit polls showed that a fair number of those voting Republican still had a favorable rating for Obama, who is not a liberal.

     Posted by !immutable at 11/04/2009 @ 3:36pm

     Yes, we're in a weird place right now. High personal approval ratings, still, yet low approval ratings for the policies he is trying to push.

     http://tinyurl.com/kwqzrs

     For example, the latest Rasmussen poll has support for Obama/Pelosicare at about 42% among voters. About 54% do not support this plan.

     And yet we continue on as if the will of the citizenry is not to be considered...

     Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/04/2009 @ 4:54pm

125. Hahahahahahahahaha

     Posted by barry25 at 11/04/2009 @ 12:08pm

     Barry, thank you once again for stopping by. You represent your team well in all its finest attributes. Keep up the good work.

     To all, all I can say is... ...they'll be bitching on this very blog about last night's winners being RINO's, and, I'm sure, in record time.

     Posted by schnellerheinz at 11/04/2009 @ 4:57pm

126. hey, larry...

     how'd you get such a long post through?

     Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 2:54pm | ignore this person | warn this person Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 2:54pm

     Not Larry, but someone else. Very good job.

     How did they?

     Posted by !immutable at 11/04/2009 @ 2:58pm | ignore this person | warn this person

     I shall create the title "Blogmaster".

     SJCHERMAK is green with envy.

     Posted by schnellerheinz at 11/04/2009 @ 5:00pm

127. Barry 15-You must have gotten a half hour computer pass again.How is the "Rush" show been treating you. Why don't you go and get your GED and then you might have enough sense to calm down a bit. It was a wake up call for us liberals. What do we have to fear? Conservatives didn't care how we felt for the last 8 years why would they think or care now. No, we now have to re-double our efforts with ball bats to the Administration and their cronies in Congress. If you want to play like Republicans,go join them. If you want to turn your back on the middle class you will pay a price. If you want people to get behind your efforts spend your time supporting your constituents not Goldman Sachs Alumnus. You want to energize your "young" base,carry out your campaign pledges. When it is all said and done it is action not words that rule the day. Mr. President it is your time to make a stand for the American people. Be a leader on health care not a follower. Stand up for working people. Let the conservatives actually have something to talk about. Be the agent for the party of change. You have to get out of your lawn chair. You are a sitting duck after year 1, it is up to you to take the bull by the horns and to throw on the conservatives feet.

     Posted by whatozz at 11/04/2009 @ 5:00pm

128. Why thank you!I noticed that some brainiac wrote that Obama is not a liberal. That's true, he's a marxist! He appoints people to high positions of power that fawn over the likes of MAO, Castro, Karl Marx, Saul Linsky, etc. THIS IS PROVEN FACT, it's all on video for any doubter to see!!!! So yes, Obama is FAR left of liberal, and he'll be a 1 term occupier (he's beneath being called President) of the Presidency! He's like a book I've already read. He embodies the LOSER philosophy of marxism that is propagated daily on our college campuses to future cradle-to-grave liberal whiners! Everything he say's and truly stands for has been propagated in almost every political, among others, course I've ever taken. Most all my fellow classmates from back in the day, that agree with that twisted thinking, are pretty much losers, serial blamers, and incapable taking personal responsibility for themselves and the situations they've put themselves in. This is also apparent in the proven fact that conservatives are happier than liberals! Liberals are jealous failures, for the most part, who refuse to look in the mirror and find the real cause of all thier problems! The best thing all of us can do for our fellow man, is to not be a burden on him!!!!! I.E. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!

     Posted by barry25 at 11/04/2009 @ 5:12pm

129. Oh, by the way, why aren't "they" referring to Global Warming anymore, instead moving to the term, "Climate Change"? Cause the globe ain't warming FOOLS! The big lie is starting to be exposed! 20 years of cooling on the way! Lying, anti-capitalist, power-at-any-cost, evil scum!!!!!!

     Posted by barry25 at 11/04/2009 @ 5:23pm

130. Yea, what whatozz says!!!

     Posted by Denise29 at 11/04/2009 @ 5:26pm

131. I love how you children, when faced with facts that you cannot deny, resort to personal attacks. It's kinda cute

     Posted by barry25 at 11/04/2009 @ 5:46pm

132. If you want people to get behind your efforts spend your time supporting your constituents not Goldman Sachs Alumnus.

     Posted by whatozz at 11/04/2009 @ 5:00pm | ignore this person | warn this person

     Your comment is so stupid that even huff post disagrees with you!

     Goldman Sachs employees gave just shy of a million dollars to the Obama campaign, ranking second in contributions. Citigroup and JPMorgan ranked sixth and seventh. Goldman Sachs gave Obama four times more than they gave McCain.

     This is one big fat ugly chicken that is coming home to roost.

     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-ostertag/goldman-sachs-obama-money

     Posted by BigPasture at 11/04/2009 @ 6:35pm

133. Yea, what whatozz says!!!

     Posted by Denise29 at 11/04/2009 @ 5:26pm | ignore this person | warn this person

     More ignorance buying into whatozz lie!

     Posted by BigPasture at 11/04/2009 @ 6:44pm

134. Posted by Happy at 11/04/2009 @ 2:38pm

     I'd bet my intelligence threshold against yours any day, Hap.

     What you don't see is that Obama is trying to lead from the center. If he wasn't, why does he keep reaching out to Republicans who keep slapping him down? If he were the liberal commie you and Rush think he is, why doesn't he just rule with the Democratic majority and just throw stuff down our throats? I mean, it worked for Bush and it's exactly what all the liberal lefties WANT him to do, so why doesn't he do it?

     Evidently, you would prefer a full grown Depression over Obama's stimulus program, because that's EXACTLY what you would have gotten if the stimulus hadn't passed....ask ANY economist about that. (And no, Rush is NOT an economist.)

     I am not Happy with everything Obama has done. However, I know he loves his country (I don't question his nationality) and is trying to do the right thing (I don't question his patriotism), which includes (as loathe as I am to say it) reaching out to moderates and Republicans, even as the Republicans become more and more right of center and eliminate moderates from your own party.

     The Republicans remind me of the Nazis (not for the horrible things they did), but because party purity has become more important than doing what's right for the country. Democrats are diverse in our opinions, sometimes to our own regret, but you guys are forcing (as in NY 23) ideological purity over pragmatism and I have to ask, is that EVER good for a nation? Maybe someday, the far right wing will win back the WH, like you had it under Bush II. I hope to god that I am dead before then, because that will truly be the end of free thinking in America.

     Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/04/2009 @ 6:51pm

135. I hope to god that I am dead before then, because that will truly be the end of free thinking in America.

     Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/04/2009 @ 6:51pm | ignore this person | warn this person

     Since God desires that none might perish, but turn from their sin and repent of their evil, I regret we can't enjoin you in desiring that your wish be granted! Have a long healthy life instead!

     Posted by BigPasture at 11/04/2009 @ 7:09pm

136. IF HE'D COME TO THE STATE CAPITOL, they wouldn't have been able to protect him from seeing the "Out of Afghanistan" signs. Can't have that, Presidents who run "dumb wars" have to live in a bubble.

     (The State Capitol Police these days have more respect for the 1st Amendment than their City of Madison counterparts.)

     Posted by Ben_Masel at 11/04/2009 @ 7:12pm

137. Ya but Stephen_Carver1, what about the children? I wouldn't wish a bush2 on them or their children if we still have a planet earth by then.

     Posted by Denise29 at 11/04/2009 @ 7:22pm

138. GREAT PIECE, Mr. Nichols. Thank you. And GET BUSY, Mr. President.

     Posted by DejaVu at 11/04/2009 @ 7:27pm

139. Isn't campaigning nothing else than propaganda these days? There doesn't seem to be any requirement to follow through on any of the issues being committed to. How about not compromising so much and testing the support of his own party and establishing clearly who is truly following the party's agenda and who are just in for the making of their personal political advancement. There is no way to make changes in favor of advancing the quality of life of the working class without causing stress on one or other segment of the population. Pleasing everybody is not going to bring about change... just stall it. Selling hope is cheap and effective. It depletes the outrage necessary to demand change.

     Posted by Gustav at 11/04/2009 @ 7:29pm

140. Reading the folderol coughed up by guttersnipes like Barry and BigPasture only confirms my long-standing belief that no nation on earth hatches and nourishes idiots like the US of Eden. What's scary is douchebags like these will not think twice if ever asked to neutralize their fellow citizens by the swine who fill their minds with the provincial hogwash they spew here. Just wrap fascism in Old Glory and you'll see conservatives storm trooping all over 'liberal' faces. Hell, does anyone truly doubt many Republicans (especially the cornfed peasants in the south) would get a sick sense of satisfaction if their president was knocked off?

     The inhumanity, the littleness of spirit, the narrow fanatacism, the monumental ignorance, and the crushing incomprehension rife in America are very frightening and lead me to believe this Republic's best days are indeed long gone, for this too is confirmed every time I visit sites like this or turn on the idiot box...

     Posted by chimichenga at 11/04/2009 @ 9:10pm

141. Posted by chimichenga at 11/04/2009 @ 9:10pm | ignore this person | warn this person

     We thought you had died! You still haven't matured any, but at least we know you survive!

     Posted by BigPasture at 11/04/2009 @ 9:55pm

142. What you don't see is that Obama is trying to lead from the center. If he wasn't, why does he keep reaching out to Republicans who keep slapping him down?

     Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/04/2009 @ 6:51pm

     Someday, when books are written about the failed presidency of the post-racial, post-partisan Magic man, they will surely point to the Crisis that was leveraged to the hilt into $787 Billion of political payoff.

     The man-child was elected because of the economy and his skin color. No one expected him to do much about his skin color, but everyone expected him to tackle the economy. In his own Inaugural speech, he told the world it was really, really in bad shape. He had high approval ratings then, much higher than the 53% of the votes.

     The table was set for Magic to show what his vision of true bi-partisanship & Washington-NOT-as-usual ought to be. The urgent Stimulous Bill was the perfect vehicle. Economists right and left, liberals and conservatives, basically all agreed except as to how to portion out the pie.

     The Repubs tried for proportionate share of decision making (~46% of the stimulous to be directed by the GOP in the form of tax cuts) which would have been solid proof of Bi-Partisanship....no, no, no, said The Messiah, "I won"....there goes his Presidency and he now owns the Economy and the vastly greater UNemployment that he told the nation, won't exceed 8% IF he got his Pork.

     That Pork Bill, set off the right-wing media personalities and you know the rest of the story.

     Magic is just flat out avereage, quite possibly stupid, but not his fault. He was placed on an Affirmative Action fast track from the day he applied for college.

     Posted by Happy at 11/04/2009 @ 10:11pm

143. He was placed on an Affirmative Action fast track from the day he applied for college.

     Posted by Happy at 11/04/2009 @ 10:11pm

     "from the day he applied for college"

     Was he really admitted to his undergrad studies as the result of the application of an affirmative action program?

     I didn't know that.

     Posted by schnellerheinz at 11/04/2009 @ 10:18pm

144. But, to still make Harvard Law Review...

     ...a lot of folks would like to be THAT stupid.

     Or, is that an AA gig too?

     Posted by schnellerheinz at 11/04/2009 @ 10:23pm

145. When has Obama every stopped campaigning? What the election showed last night was that people are tired of Obama and the Democrats arrogance and elitism, and even more tired of their failed policies. 9.8% UNEMPLOYMENT and still shooting up! Trillion upon trillions of dollars of corrupt spending, debt, and printed money. Government takeovers of everything! The Democrats called the old and handicapped who dared to dissent against their plan to takeover health care as UNAMERICAN and EVIL MONGERS so its doubtful they will get the message. Those of us opposed to their radical left wing attempt to destroy our economy and takeover the country can only hope they stay on the attack with their lunatic policies and infurate the "bitter, gun toting, bible thumping , racisit middle class working folks even more!

     Posted by valwayne at 11/04/2009 @ 10:37pm

146. Posted by chimichenga at 11/04/2009 @ 9:10pm |

     Thanks for the word of the day, Chimi...'folderol'.

     Can you blame us for hoping (and changing) that all this braying is merely their death knell?

     Posted by snowball777 at 11/04/2009 @ 10:47pm

147. But, to still make Harvard Law Review...

     ...a lot of folks would like to be THAT stupid.

     Or, is that an AA gig too?

     Posted by schnellerheinz at 11/04/2009 @ 10:23pm | ignore this person | warn this person

     Funny no one can find a paper with his name on it, yet he still unlike the hundreds who did have one became Pres. of the Harvard Law review, curious?!

     Posted by BigPasture at 11/04/2009 @ 10:51pm

148. Posted by antisOcialist at 11/04/2009 @ 2:17pm

     that hit the spot!

     RRGHLMAO (rolling 'round gopher hill...)

     Posted by winyahn at 11/04/2009 @ 11:03pm

149. Was he really admitted to his undergrad studies as the result of the application of an affirmative action program?

     I didn't know that.

     Posted by schnellerheinz at 11/04/2009 @ 10:18pm

     Circumstantially, "really"!

     BHO admits to having benefited from AA.....his academic records were sealed so tight, no scores of any kind has ever been released, no writings of any kind (as Big P. noted), no scholarly/professorial writings....Add it all up....my intelligence threshold rates him a fraud!

     IF his scores were at least `average', in the fat part of the Bell Curve for Ivy-Leaguers, which would already be far above average college students, why wouldn't a relative unknown first-term Senator allow be known, or leak to friendly media?

     Magic's being on the Law Review is (likely) part of the whole white-guilt trip or a underhanded joke played on him. My HS Senior Class President was a black guy, not even a football player and certainly not that smart by a long shot....this was in the early `70s....we voted for him to be `cool' and anti-establishment.....blacks weren't any more than ~15% of my HS!

     My older son's Homecoming King in one year, was a gay....sort of the same deal.

     Don't kid yourself that elections lead to the most qualified.....look at the wafer-thin resume of your Messiah compared to McCain!

     Another thing, Magic's hanging on to a bunch of Loser advisers, is utterly stupid! Latest: Valerie Jarrett's "speaking truth to power"?.....Geeze louis!

     Posted by Happy at 11/04/2009 @ 11:26pm

150. dum as a box of rocks, them niggrahs....

     Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 11:37pm

151. Rasmussen's final poll in New Jersey, showed a 46-43 Christie win.

     What was the actual vote result? Christi @ 49% and Corzine @ 45%! Both gained some at the expense of 3rd-Party Daggett but note the winning margins' consistency.

     For those (that's MASK) who pans Rasmussen's polling!

     Posted by Happy at 11/04/2009 @ 11:45pm

152. dum as a box of rocks, them niggrahs....

     Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 11:37pm

     Lots of them are....that's why they love the Dems....but Malcome X, was not!

     On the other hand, you Libs think lots of white males are "dum as a box of rocks", since overwhelmingly, they vote Repub.....just not quite as dumb as the "niggrahs" who vote 90%+ for Dems while the white males, only vote ~60% for Repubs.

     Posted by Happy at 11/04/2009 @ 11:50pm

153. happy,

     i am far more conservative than you.

     Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 11:53pm

154. coke! pepsi!

     "Main cause of Republican trouble seen as depression; absent this, even with issue of Prohibition and troublesome claims of ineptness, only normal off year election losses would be expected. Results of the election will probably be used to forecast Democratic presidential victory in 1932; if it really "ain't goin' rain no mo," this may be the case, but things may change if economic conditions improve "as they almost surely will"; Democrats must also tend to "lack of any one outstanding candidate on whom various factions of the party can agree" and to lack of other issues or constructive program to campaign on. Republicans have been in power so long they have grown "careless and fat"; also, "without desiring to pun, it may be said that too many nuts are loose within it." Results of election may in fact put "a good fright" into the Republican party and make it "train down and do a little fighting with its broad back to the well-known wall."

     http://newsfrom1930.blogspot.com/

     Posted by frosty zoom at 11/04/2009 @ 11:59pm

155. You know one of the saddest truths about American Insecurity? Homo Americanus' denial of the fact that only 1 out of 5 people on this planet is white, while only 1 in 3 is Christian. Americans make up less than 5% of humanity, making the Anglo-Saxon a minority - outnumbered more every day. Being a Republican only makes the sting of the shrinking, non-white world more vivid. What is more, is there anyone more boring than your typical Heartland American? I mean think of all those globular anthropoids with their queer clothes waving flags and singing along to one of Toby Keith's odes to idiocy when not pounding Budweiser from a can, being mesmerized by NASCAR or stuffing their snouts with corn syrup.

     Posted by chimichenga at 11/05/2009 @ 12:45am

156. Don't kid yourself that elections lead to the most qualified.....look at the wafer-thin resume of your Messiah compared to McCain!

     Posted by Happy at 11/04/2009

     McCain's resume wasn't the problem as much as that he sprang from the same loins as GW Bush.

     Palin's resume and frequent public stupidity contributed to their failure though.

     Posted by koroviev at 11/05/2009 @ 01:13am

157. I mean think of all those globular anthropoids with their queer clothes waving flags and singing along to one of Toby Keith's odes to idiocy when not pounding Budweiser from a can, being mesmerized by NASCAR or stuffing their snouts with corn syrup.

     Posted by chimichenga at 11/05/2009 @ 12:45am

     Ah, the classic move of the liberal.

     You ever stop to consider your side's "rednecks"? You do have them, you know. But nobody is allowed to make jokes about them or criticize them in the manner you just did "heartland Americans".

     Because their necks aren't red and they don't live in small towns or the country. But they are the opposite side of the same coin. You can find a pretty good example on Youtube about many of them standing in line in Detroit eagerly awaiting their "Obama money"...without the slightest clue who is actually providing them that money through work and taxes.

     Yet you hold up people with a better understanding of civics, and a stronger streak of self-reliance, for ridicule.

     Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/05/2009 @ 07:12am

158. I mean think of all those globular anthropoids with their queer clothes waving flags and singing along to one of Toby Keith's odes to idiocy when not pounding Budweiser from a can, being mesmerized by NASCAR or stuffing their snouts with corn syrup.

     Posted by chimichenga at 11/05/2009 @ 12:45am

     Ah, the classic move of the liberal.

     You ever stop to consider your side's "rednecks"? You do have them, you know. But nobody is allowed to make jokes about them or criticize them in the manner you just did "heartland Americans".

     Because their necks aren't red and they don't live in small towns or the country. But they are the opposite side of the same coin. You can find a pretty good example on Youtube about many of them standing in line in Detroit eagerly awaiting their "Obama money"...without the slightest clue who is actually providing them that money through work and taxes.

     Yet you hold up people with a better understanding of civics, and a stronger streak of self-reliance, for ridicule.

     Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/05/2009 @ 07:12am

159. For those (that's MASK) who pans Rasmussen's polling!----Posted by Happy at 11/04/2009 @ 11:45pm

     Actually, Scott has a rather neat trick, HAPP. One I'm sure you'd never notice, but many others do.

     In addition to his "Strongly Approve vs. Disaprove" disengenuousness (No other pollster does this)....he has a little gimmick he does at election time...

     he's honest.

     Atleast in the final days. Uptil about mid-October 2008, Rasmussen was citing poll after poll FAVORABLE to John McCain. Difficult, mostly "McCain up by 10% in Mississippi" or "McCain has solid lead in Arizona"...while downplaying the polls in Virginia and North Carolina for example.

     Then, just as it gets down to the wire, he flips. Starts reporting the REAL polling....Obama wins...and Scott says "See? See? Rasmussen got it right...so keep using me for refrerencing to other matters."

     Then, he goes back to the same Right-slanted polling that he does the rest of the year.

     BTW, as always, ever notice that Rasmussen is almost always the ONLY poll that your friends Rush, Sean, or Drudge use? Ever....ever....EVER curious as to why that is????

     Posted by Mask at 11/05/2009 @ 07:28am

160. Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/05/2009 @ 07:12am

     You DO know that the largest recepients of Federal tax dollars, outside of the District of Columbia....

     are Southern and/or "Red" states?

     States Receiving Most in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid:

     1. D.C. ($6.17) 2. North Dakota ($2.03) 3. New Mexico ($1.89) 4. Mississippi ($1.84) 5. Alaska ($1.82) 6. West Virginia ($1.74) 7. Montana ($1.64) 8. Alabama ($1.61) 9. South Dakota ($1.59) 10. Arkansas ($1.53)

     Posted by Mask at 11/05/2009 @ 07:30am

161. MASK,

     You know I honestly missed you, right? In all honesty I agree with more of what you say than you might imagine...

     Posted by chimichenga at 11/05/2009 @ 08:19am

162. Before this round of election analysis the most ridiculous case of indefensible posturing I'd seen was the phrase:

     "Shut up!" she explained.

     But the happy talk eminating from some of the Dem pundits makes me embarrassed for them.

     E. J. Dionne says this election was a REBUKE to conservaties and a WARNING to Dems.

     In NY 23, a discrict that comprises about 700,000 citizens, a conservative third party candidate came within a few points of beating the Dem. The withdrawn Rep candidate, who didn't win a primary even endorsed the Dem candidate, and here votes were more than the differece.

     And Dionne believes this 700,000 person district is a national rebuke of conservatives.

     But in Virgina (pop 7.8 million) the rep won by 20 points! And in bluest of blue states New Jersey (pop 8.7 million) the Rep won by 5 points.

     And Dionne believes an average 10 point margin of victory among these 16.5 million people is a simple warning.

     And this completely ignores the result in Maine (pop 1.3 milion) that can't be described as anything than a conservative victory.

     People, denying reality isn't a rational long-term strategy.

     Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/05/2009 @ 08:25am

163. Posted by chimichenga at 11/05/2009 @ 08:19am

     Chimi, you may find this hard to believe...but I missed you too.

     Doesn't mean I'm not going to rake you over the coals though. Would miss Rio and Happy too...but wouldn't cut them no slack if they popped back in after a few months.

     You can handle it though. BTW, I'm guessing you're back in Medellin?

     Posted by Mask at 11/05/2009 @ 08:42am

164. Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/05/2009 @ 08:25am

     Basic fact that Darin won't talk about-

     Moderate and mainstream Repubs won (Christie/McDonnell).....

     Beck-head "Tea Party" Repub lost (Hoffman)

     Embracing your nutty base is not a rational long-term strategy either...but the GOP may have no choice.

     Posted by Mask at 11/05/2009 @ 08:44am

165. Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/05/2009 @ 08:25am |

     Some points:

     - The votes for ScuzzyFavaBean were a virtual middle finger to the TeaParty(tm) 'movement'

     - Chris Christie is not Doug 'The Human Vegetable' Hoffman...hardly a 'conservative' victory

     - Virginia...a traditionally red state, no?

     - Maine: a SOCIAL con victory (you underestimate how many Dems are socially conservative)

     - The warning shot has crossed TWO bows...incumbents beware

     Posted by snowball777 at 11/05/2009 @ 08:45am

166. Problem is that Scazzafava wasn't going to beat Owens anyway. She wouldn't have gotten anywhere near the votes Hoffman ended up getting. The lesson there is that they should've went conservative from the get go rather than handpick a "Republican" that was so liberal even The Daily Kos was endorsing her over the Democrat a few weeks ago.

     Scazzafava was just another in a long line of unimpressive, uninspiring RINOs that had Republicans staying away from the polls in droves during the last election.

     Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/05/2009 @ 09:05am

167. Problem is that Scazzafava wasn't going to beat Owens anyway. She wouldn't have gotten anywhere near the votes Hoffman ended up getting. The lesson there is that they should've went conservative from the get go rather than handpick a "Republican" that was so liberal even The Daily Kos was endorsing her over the Democrat a few weeks ago.

     Scazzafava was just another in a long line of unimpressive, uninspiring RINOs that had Republicans staying away from the polls in droves during the last election.

     Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/05/2009 @ 09:05am

168. In 2010, we're gonna kick these evil marxists/racists out of the white house and congress! Hahahahahahahahaha Posted by barry25 at 11/04/2009 @ 12:08pm | ignore this person | warn this person

     out of the white house? how will that be accomplished, since pres elections won't be held until 2012?

     whattadumbmotherfuckeryouare.

     Posted by emile duBois at 11/05/2009 @ 09:13am

169. I'm guessing you're back in Medellin?

     Posted by Mask at 11/05/2009 @ 08:42am

     Brown bagging American trinkets to his fellow Colombians.

     Posted by Benchrest at 11/05/2009 @ 09:26am

170. Posted by Citizen_Carrier at 11/05/2009 @ 09:05am

     How is it "She wasn't going to win anyway"...in a district that has gone Republican for decades?!??!??

     Going to notice some contradictions in the right-wing spin on NY 23rd.

     Their PRE-election spin was that "Hoffman surging...see? REAL conservatism can win."

     Their POST-election spin will be "NY 23rd is liberal and anti-Republican...so neither Hoffman nor Scozzafava could have possibly won!"

     Posted by Mask at 11/05/2009 @ 09:51am

171. Brown bagging American trinkets to his fellow Colombians. Posted by Benchrest at 11/05/2009 @ 09:26am | ignore this person | warn this person

     hey, it's a living.

     Posted by emile duBois at 11/05/2009 @ 09:54am

172. hey, it's a living.

     Posted by emile duBois at 11/05/2009 @ 09:54am

     Yes sir, I guess it is.

     I'd like to put him and barry in a room and lock the door.

     Posted by Benchrest at 11/05/2009 @ 09:57am

173. A bit of unusual news this morning in the Chronicle:

     7 Hardin County officials switch party....from Dems to Repubs! Hardin Co. is Beaumont-Port Arthur, on the border of TX and LA.

     Could this be meaningful?

     I report, you decide.....gotta run, to Lowe's!

     Posted by Happy at 11/05/2009 @ 10:12am

174. When is Obama NOT campaigning? He should try governing for awhile. And he should govern as far to the left as he promised he would and in so doing , seal his fate to being a one term President.

     Posted by abell12ct at 11/05/2009 @ 10:12am

175. Oh, man, this is exciting stuff (I've got stocks in both).....gotta share before I run, from the WSJ:

     NOVEMBER 5, 2009, 10:20 A.M. ET

     Iraq Awards West Qurna-1 Oil Field to Exxon, Shell

     By GINA CHON

     BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi Oil Ministry said Thursday it awarded a consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC the right to develop the West Qurna-1 field in southern Iraq, representing the first American-led team gaining access to Iraq's oil patch....

     Posted by Happy at 11/05/2009 @ 10:15am

176. Posted by Happy at 11/05/2009 @ 10:12am

     Holy crap....you mean the Democrats might not win in Texas in 2010 and 2012?!??!?!!?!!!

     Posted by Mask at 11/05/2009 @ 10:53am

177. I couldn't agree more, I for one am disappointed that President Obama has not come out fighting after his attempt at getting the Republican party to cooperate on righting America. I keep waiting and waiting for Candidate Obama to appear as Commander in Chief.

     Posted by RJ. Agen at 11/05/2009 @ 11:18am

178. Posted by antis0cialist at 11/04/2009 @ 2:17pm

     OK. Check out the variation in the name. Darrin caught it earlier.

     The '0' in the middle.

     One of the most hilarious and cogent parodies of the dear reverend. I don't care for internet shorthand, but I was truly rolling on the floor...

     And everyone is wondering how such a long post got through. Someone broke the letter limit barrier!

     I'll tell you...

     Someone has hacked this website. (Mask?)

     And they now have everyone's real name and address.

     Guess Larry will soon change his moniker again.

     Posted by ficheye at 11/05/2009 @ 11:28am

179. Someone has hacked this website. (Mask?)

     And they now have everyone's real name and address.

     Guess Larry will soon change his moniker again.

     Posted by ficheye at 11/05/2009 @ 11:28am

     Or as has sometimes been charged, Mask actually works for the Nation.

     Posted by antisocialist at 11/05/2009 @ 11:37am

180. Or as has sometimes been charged, Mask actually works for the Nation. Posted by antisocialist at 11/05/2009 @ 11:37am

     It's possible. The long post will be an enduring mystery, and that would possibly explain it.

     It was clever without being totally abusive.

     You had to chuckle a little at the 'caddy shack' bit, no?

     Posted by ficheye at 11/05/2009 @ 11:41am

181. BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi Oil Ministry said Thursday it awarded a consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC the right to develop the West Qurna-1 field in southern Iraq, representing the first American-led team gaining access to Iraq's oil patch....

     Posted by Happy at 11/05/2009 @ 10:15am

     And we've spent how much on Iraq? 3 Trillion?

     Pretty bad investment.

     Check out Niall Ferguson on Charlie Rose from November 3, 2009 - fast forward to Minute 19:00 and watch.

     Default on social security and medicare obligations - "a virtual certainty"

     Devaluation of dollar underway and continuing.

     Price/Earings Ratio of Exxon at 18, and BP at 20 - suppose this has anything to do with dollar devaluation??

     Oh what a wonderful world.

     Posted by OneVote at 11/05/2009 @ 11:55am

182. Beck-head "Tea Party" Repub lost (Hoffman)

     Embracing your nutty base is not a rational long-term strategy either...but the GOP may have no choice.

     Posted by Mask at 11/05/2009 @ 08:44am

     I wonder what would have happened if the woman who dropped out also had her name removed from the ballot. My guess is Hoffman would have won...as it stands the majority of voters voted someone other thsn the winner...Clintonesque..NO?

     Either way a no name came close, a no name who works for the Catholic church.. ...THAT is the lesson to both sides, RINOs and the LEFTY LOONS who currently run the govt.

     Posted by YourJomamma at 11/05/2009 @ 12:11pm

183. Or as has sometimes been charged, Mask actually works for the Nation.----Posted by antisocialist at 11/05/2009 @ 11:37am

     Larry, you have any proof for either an accusation that I "hacked your nick"....

     or a belief that I'm on the Nation staff (especially given some of the things Katrina vanden Heuvel has said about me)???

     Posted by Mask at 11/05/2009 @ 12:20pm

184. Posted by YourJomamma at 11/05/2009 @ 12:11pm

     Spin it anyway you can, Maasch. The district had been a solid GOP district for years...and people were WELL aware of Scozzafava dropping out AND endorsing her rival.

     Now...you MIGHT claim that Scozzafava gave Owens the election by pulling her supporters over to him. Problem is, that means there were a LOT of "RINOs" in the district.

     And them plus Democrats...was the majority. Not "Tea Partyers" or Glenn Beck fans or "pure conservatives".

     Posted by Mask at 11/05/2009 @ 12:22pm

185. Posted by antis0cialist at 11/04/2009 @ 2:17pm

     G-d is watching you Larry.

     Maybe??

     Posted by OneVote at 11/05/2009 @ 12:47pm

186. You had to chuckle a little at the 'caddy shack' bit, no?

     Posted by ficheye at 11/05/2009 @ 11:41am

     Actually, after a few lines, I realized it was not my posting and I ignored the rest of it.

     Posted by antisocialist at 11/05/2009 @ 12:49pm

187. Posted by antis0cialist at 11/04/2009 @ 2:17pm

     G-d is watching you Larry.

     Maybe??

     Posted by OneVote at 11/05/2009 @ 12:47pm

     I'm trusting that He is.

     Posted by antisocialist at 11/05/2009 @ 12:49pm

188. "But Obama, the brilliantly successful campaigner of 2008 but the not quite so brilliantly successful president of 2009, should start visiting the bully pulpit. That's where presidents who are serious about governing built the popular support and the political strength to make words like "hope" and "change" into something more than mere slogans."

     really, nichols? one year in and such a biting judgement?

     but yes, he needs to take it to the streets and communicate. if his first term looks like a four year long campaign rally, and such convinces the american people that there are no quick fix miracles that will do anything more than make things worse, that rome was not built in a day, and that long term, sustainable prosperity requires sacrifice, hard work, responsible decision making, and filtering out of IDEOLOGICAL CLAPTRAP...

     sounds good to me. do what has to be done.

     Posted by ibbleblibble at 11/05/2009 @ 12:55pm

189. Funny no one can find a paper with his name on it, yet he still unlike the hundreds who did have one became Pres. of the Harvard Law review, curious?! Posted by BigPasture at 11/04/2009 @ 10:51pm

     Posted by Happy at 11/04/2009 @ 11:26pm | ignore this person | warn this person

     Oh, I see... "circumstantial" type stuff.

     But what is it, about the fact that, maybe the guy just did well academically, that FROSTS YOUR ASS?

     I'm NOT arguing his policies, for or against; I'm not arguing his effectiveness as a POTUS thus far. Just his school days, when he was, according to you guys, AA'd into everything.

     There's something more to it than that. I mean, I wish I had done that well academically; could have been more than a tradesman, perhaps.

     But I don't begrudge those who do. Or who can.

     Posted by schnellerheinz at 11/05/2009 @ 12:58pm

190. Obama needs to be pushed not by his weak comparison with FDR, but MLK.

     Obama's crucial decisions on Afghanistan --- and ‘Beyond Afghanistan' --- on EMPIRE.

     All the media talk is about the crucial decision that Obama faces in Afghanistan. Whether to give in to the generals, and allow the war to expand.

     But while the intense speculation regarding Obama's decision about expanding the Afghanistan War, the designed-to-be-expanded ‘Global War on Terrorism', into a likely AfPak war is on everyone's front-burner, Obama has a multiplicity of other policy decisions.

     Has any leader ever had such a problem in dealing with critical domestic issues that mean so much to him, and yet had such risks to his plans and hopes caused by a foreign war he would rather not have to speak about?

     Like Obama, Rev. Martin Luther King was confronted with a similar monumental decision about whether to speak-out against the imperialist war ‘abroad', that was grinding up the working-class sons of both black and white Americans, or to continue focusing on his most heart-felt problem ‘at home' of inequality and racism.

     For more than a year, Rev. King kept his focus on the racial battle at home, and would not be detoured by addressing the combination of multiple issues that would inevitably spring from taking-on the crimes of imperialist foreign war, domestic racism, and the ‘class-warfare' that linked these crimes of Empire.

     Finally, on April 4th, 1967, and at the Riverside Church, Dr. King decided that it was "A Time to Break Silence" not only about Vietnam, but Beyond Vietnam, and to speak the truth about the nature of Empire and the class-war that Empire always uses to maintain its unfair, unjust, and un-democratic control.

     Alan MacDonald

     Posted by amacd at 11/05/2009 @ 1:43pm

191. Posted by antisocialist at 11/05/2009 @ 12:49pm

     If your post was meant to be funny, I will say your sense of humor is actually pretty good. If not, well, you post too much.

     Posted by !immutable at 11/05/2009 @ 4:11pm

192. The best thing all of us can do for our fellow man, is to not be a burden on him!!!!! I.E. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!

     Posted by barry25 at 11/04/2009 @ 5:12pm

     So, all of us children are wondering, Barry...

     Just what method will you use? I don't think you have the nerve to jump.

     Posted by ficheye at 11/05/2009 @ 5:36pm

193. Holy crap....you mean the Democrats might not win in Texas in 2010 and 2012?!??!?!!?!!!

     Posted by Mask at 11/05/2009 @ 10:53am

     I thought over the 7 Dems switching party at this time....and I think it will be a trend. Normally, it would be hard to imagine, 7 elected officials abandoning the party that holds ALL levers of power....for your side, there maybe a lot of "Holy craps" next year.

     Just remember, party switchers generally switch to the winning side.....like Spectre or Zell Miller.

     Posted by Happy at 11/05/2009 @ 5:50pm

194. And we've spent how much on Iraq? 3 Trillion?

     Pretty bad investment.

     ....Devaluation of dollar underway and continuing.

     Price/Earings Ratio of Exxon at 18, and BP at 20 - suppose this has anything to do with dollar devaluation??

     Oh what a wonderful world.

     Posted by OneVote at 11/05/2009 @ 11:55am

     "bad", I suppose from your POV, we should just clear out of Iraq and let the Chinese, Russians and Europeans stake out all the oil ventures in Iraq....be it a more realistic 1 or (your hyper-exaggerated) 3 Trillion of sunk costs!

     Big Oil's seemingly high P/E is rational...I won't go into it much...but you know the average crude price of the trailing 12 months is lower than current and projected prices. Still, I've taken some money off the table this past 2~3 months. Gotta eat and pay tuitions!

     The "world" that affects me daily, is rather "wonderful". The only thing that could've made it even better, is chasing down the RE deals in Orlando & Vegas. I am now, 0 for 3!

     Posted by Happy at 11/05/2009 @ 5:58pm

195. Posted by ficheye at 11/05/2009 @ 5:36pm |

     He's clearly chosen self-administered rabies.

     Posted by snowball777 at 11/06/2009 @ 09:59am