Open Thread: Plotting Obama's (and America's) Failure

Failure is the key to longevity in public office. (0.00 / 0)

Success is terminal.  It leaves one with the question of what to do next -- i.e. a moment of choice, which is anathema to the conservative mind.

What we need to do is stop trying to placate the congenitally insecure.  When we credit their fears, we just make them worse.  

Think of bears hiding under a toddler's bed.  Telling him to just pull the covers up over his head does not help.

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by: hannah @ Thu Nov 18, 2010 at 06:00:11 AM CST

Kyl's Brand of Obstructionism (0.00 / 0)

Kyl is parroting the GOP line about waiting for the "new Congress" to ratify this treaty. Now Kyl knows that all of the work leading up to ratification has been done by the existing Congress. And by work, I mean the many hours of research, sub-committee and committee hearings with expert testimony.

So what Kyl suggests is that either the "new Congress" ratify this treaty with an ignorant vote OR that the process, of the last year or so, start all over again.

Anyone venture to guess which it will be?

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Nov 18, 2010 at 06:41:37 AM CST

asshat n/t (0.00 / 0)

Annie 2012!

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Nov 18, 2010 at 07:04:55 AM CST

unbelievable (4.00 / 3)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11...
What Mr. Kyl did not mention is that there have already been countless briefings and 21 Senate hearings on the treaty - sufficient for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the country's top military leaders, six former secretaries of state (from both parties), five former secretaries of defense (from both parties) and seven former nuclear weapons commanders to endorse it

bolding mine

Annie 2012!

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Nov 18, 2010 at 07:24:43 AM CST

Until there's some sort of public (0.00 / 0)

condemnation for these types of antics, the GOP will continue the scorched earth strategies.  Rather than punished at the polls for the obstruction and obfuscation, the party of no reaped unmerited electoral gains.  

The president (and Dems) is loathe to fight fire with fire, but he's going to have two choices.  Adopt the Clinton triangulation strategy or follow Truman's strategy of calling their bluff and labeling them the Do Nothing Congress.

I'm putting the odds at 4 - 1 that we're in for a geometrically painful two years.  

 

"Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world." A. Einstein

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by: StraffordDem @ Thu Nov 18, 2010 at 08:15:26 AM CST

[ Parent ]

The Post reported (4.00 / 3)

... last week, I think, that the GOP would try to use foreign policy to disrupt the president. His defeat is their number one goal, after all.

It's a curious tactic for a party that once called people traitors for opposing the war.

I guess they oppose negotiated peace.

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by: JimC @ Thu Nov 18, 2010 at 08:58:44 AM CST

In fairness, treaties take 2/3 (0.00 / 0)

Where are we picking up some 9 Republicans?

--
@DougLindner

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Thu Nov 18, 2010 at 09:26:09 AM CST

Republicans need to be shamed. If that's possible. n/t (4.00 / 1)

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by: hannah @ Thu Nov 18, 2010 at 10:10:20 AM CST

[ Parent ]

really Hannah? (0.00 / 0)

fuggedaboudit


Annie 2012!

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Nov 18, 2010 at 12:33:07 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Get Ready to Defend Fox (4.00 / 1)

Because we would be next.

At a Senate committee hearing about television retransmission consent on Wednesday, Mr. Rockefeller spoke broadly about the ways he believes television is ailing, and in doing so, he singled out the "endless barking" of cable news.

He said: "There's a little bug inside of me which wants to get the F.C.C. to say to Fox and to MSNBC, 'Out. Off. End. Goodbye.' It would be a big favor to political discourse; to our ability to do our work here in Congress; and to the American people, to be able to talk with each other and have some faith in their government and, more importantly, in their future."

I support the notion that follows. But it makes me a little bit uncomfortable that he's using the news as his lever.

Beyond the news media, Mr. Rockefeller also questioned why consumers have to buy bundles of channels, rather than ordering the channels they want and nothing else.

In other news, Roger Ailes has apologized. But not to NPR -- to the Anti-Defamation League. Fair enough, I suppose ... but shouldn't NPR get a letter too?

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by: JimC @ Thu Nov 18, 2010 at 17:47:16 PM CST

We have a frightening Photoshop Gap with RedHampshire (4.00 / 1)

http://www.redhampshire.com/go...

Action must be taken to rectify this. They're winning.

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@DougLindner

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Fri Nov 19, 2010 at 00:59:21 AM CST

Traffic is what counts (4.00 / 1)

I love Re Hampshire!

Who decided your lovely state looks like a lowercase d? (And that is some nice Photoshop work, I must admit, but I hope they don't do that a lot.)

Red Mass Group has a similar problem. "Blue Mass Group" is a pun on Blue Man Group, which has taken up what appears to be permanent (and welcome, highly recommended) residence in Boston. Blue Man Group has three members, which parallels BMG's three editors.

Red Mass Group makes no sense as a name, and last I checked (I aint linking), its logo looked like red tide washing over the state. Or something worse than that, but one BMG poster dubbed it red tide, and that works for me.

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by: JimC @ Fri Nov 19, 2010 at 05:33:43 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Red Hampshire, as a name, makes sense only because: (0.00 / 0)

They want it to be the right-wing answer to Blue Hampshire.

But I don't think that's a secret.

--
@DougLindner

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Fri Nov 19, 2010 at 11:04:23 AM CST

[ Parent ]

At least Blue (4.00 / 1)

rhymes with New.

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by: JimC @ Fri Nov 19, 2010 at 11:37:47 AM CST

[ Parent ]