"A black sheriff?!": The Official Topic of Obama and New Era American Politics

[siamesedreamer]

According to a quick scan of Google results, one well-known Special Olympian, Loretta Claiborne, reportedly bowled a high of 178 in 1995. Rachel Register of Virginia bowled a 212 in 2006. Team Kentucky's top bowler, Keith Cotrell,  boasts a 150 average.

Tim Shriver also noted on GMA this morning that a Detroit Special Olympian has bowled three perfect games.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0309/Obamas_129.html

[Cheebs]

According to a quick scan of Google results, one well-known Special Olympian, Loretta Claiborne, reportedly bowled a high of 178 in 1995. Rachel Register of Virginia bowled a 212 in 2006. Team Kentucky's top bowler, Keith Cotrell,  boasts a 150 average.

Tim Shriver also noted on GMA this morning that a Detroit Special Olympian has bowled three perfect games.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0309/Obamas_129.html

who cares

[Phoenix Dark]

All the work we did, wasted on Leno. Maybe he does have too much on his hands/mind 

[Cheebs]

wtf pd, what does making a bad joke have to do with doing too much at once?

This is just the start of his media blitz. He is on Air America today doing a interview for them and then on ABC sunday night, then a prime time press conference on tuesday.

[Phoenix Dark]

Why are you being such a slacky, we both are political minds. You have to see this is an atom bomb of a problem. Palin is ready to pounce oh god  :'(

[siamesedreamer]

New CBO deficit numbers:

FY09 $1.8T
FY10 $1.4T (double previous estimate)

Tax cuts for 95% of Americans!!!

[Cheebs]

Call me when he actually breaks his promise and taxes the lower income brackets. Because yesterday he was still bringing up the line, he wouldn't do that if he was told he'd have to go against that soon.

[siamesedreamer]

The Administration's long-awaited plan to save America's banks is being delayed again, government sources tell Time. Fears of an AIG-like backlash among potential private investors, and the difficulty of creating a model to price toxic assets on the banks' balance sheets, have both contributed to the delay, the sources say.

The slip is embarrassing for Treasury officials who have been assuring the media and the markets that the plan was coming, first in mid-February, and as recently as March 14 when Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told Bloomberg TV he would release details soon. A senior Treasury department official says the plan isn't slipping, but other government officials say it is and could be unveiled anywhere from next week to early April.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1886729,00.html

Yet, he's got time to fill out his basketball bracket and go on Jay Leno. And here I thought this was the greatest financial crisis in the history of the solar system. Catastrophe, etc. 

[Human Snorenado]

I don't know what's cuter- PD pretending to freak out over the distinguished mentally-challenged fellow thing or sd suddenly remembering that he isn't supposed to like budget deficits.

[TakingBackSunday]

I don't know what's cuter- PD pretending to freak out over the distinguished mentally-challenged fellow thing or sd suddenly remembering that he isn't supposed to like budget deficits.

I know, right? 

SD, are you honestly bitching about him filling out a bracket?  Fucking seriously?

[siamesedreamer]

Dude, I've always hated deficits. Second reason why I didn't vote for McCain.

[Eric P]

Yet, he's got time to fill out his basketball bracket

he picked almost all number one seeds, so it's not like he thought about it

[Fragamemnon]

Yet, he's got time to fill out his basketball bracket and go on Jay Leno. And here I thought this was the greatest financial crisis in the history of the solar system. Catastrophe, etc. 

The problem isn't that Obama's too busy dicking around, it's that Summers and Geithner are stubbornly trying to find a way to repackage Paulson's shitty plan of buying toxic assets from big banks at inflated values in a way that they can get past public scrutiny, and each new permutation of their idea runs into the same problems.

Those two shitburgers need the boot.

[Flannel Boy]

Is this an issue? Are those that decry "political correctness" feigning outrage?

[Barry Egan]

Are those that decry "political correctness" feigning outrage?

duh. 

[Human Snorenado]

Dude, I've always hated deficits. Second reason why I didn't vote for McCain.

I'm about 99.44% sure that you voted for W. in 2004, so I find your insistence that you "always" hated deficits kind of laughable.  If it's that important to you that you're having a cow about it during a severe, severe recession where the govt. actually NEEDS to run deficits then I would suggest that you go sit in the mooncalf section with FoC and Beardo.

[Phoenix Dark]

I don't know what's cuter- PD pretending to freak out over the distinguished mentally-challenged fellow thing or sd suddenly remembering that he isn't supposed to like budget deficits.

I got you initially

[Human Snorenado]

I don't know what's cuter- PD pretending to freak out over the distinguished mentally-challenged fellow thing or sd suddenly remembering that he isn't supposed to like budget deficits.

I got you initially

Only because my default state re: you is to WANT to yell at you.

[Eric P]

http://store.barackobama.com/Runway_To_Change_s/1034.htm

ha ha ha ha

omfg.

[Cheebs]

I read that Bush took a week long vacation at his ranch already at this point in his first term, how come republicans were ok with that but Obama can't dick around in LA for 2 days?

[Human Snorenado]

I read that Bush took a week long vacation at his ranch already at this point in his first term, how come republicans were ok with that but Obama can't dick around in LA for 2 days?

Honestly, at this point in his first term not much was going on.  While I think they're being obnoxious tards for whining about it, you're being an absurd cheerleading fanboy for trying to compare the two.

[Cheebs]

I read that Bush took a week long vacation at his ranch already at this point in his first term, how come republicans were ok with that but Obama can't dick around in LA for 2 days?

Honestly, at this point in his first term not much was going on.  While I think they're being obnoxious tards for whining about it, you're being an absurd cheerleading fanboy for trying to compare the two.

He has gotten a shitload done in 60 days and is about to pass a massive budget, its not like Obama isn't working at breakneck speed here.

[siamesedreamer]

I'm about 99.44% sure that you voted for W. in 2004, so I find your insistence that you "always" hated deficits kind of laughable.

Touche...

But, W's deficits were at most 3% of GDP. Not acceptable, but not horrible. I've always maintained he should have had some kind of trigger mechanism with the tax cuts that would have prevented the deficits from getting as big as they did - especially after 9/11. And don't even get me started on the Medicare PDB. Obama is like Bush on winstrall though. He's gonna make him look like the ultimate fiscal conservative in a couple years. If I could go back to 2004, then I would similarly vote 3rd party. That's a mistake I'll never make again.

[Human Snorenado]

I read that Bush took a week long vacation at his ranch already at this point in his first term, how come republicans were ok with that but Obama can't dick around in LA for 2 days?

Honestly, at this point in his first term not much was going on.  While I think they're being obnoxious tards for whining about it, you're being an absurd cheerleading fanboy for trying to compare the two.

He has gotten a shitload done in 60 days and is about to pass a massive budget, its not like Obama isn't working at breakneck speed here.

Jesus, are you really that DENSE?  I'm not talking about that.  I'm saying that it's DISINGENUOUS to compare taking a week long vacation during your first term when there's not a MAJOR, 2G2D RECESSION going on to Obama going west for a couple of days.  Trust me, I like making Republicans look bad as much as anyone, but you're just reaching here.

[Brehvolution]

It's fitting that Fox news is running with the SO thing seeing that there viewers are only 1 or 2 IQ points away from being eligible to compete in the special olympics.

[Human Snorenado]

I'm about 99.44% sure that you voted for W. in 2004, so I find your insistence that you "always" hated deficits kind of laughable.

Touche...

But, W's deficits were at most 3% of GDP. Not acceptable, but not horrible. I've always maintained he should have had some kind of trigger mechanism with the tax cuts that would have prevented the deficits from getting as big as they did - especially after 9/11. And don't even get me started on the Medicare PDB. Obama is like Bush on winstrall though. He's gonna make him look like the ultimate fiscal conservative in a couple years. If I could go back to 2004, then I would similarly vote 3rd party. That's a mistake I'll never make again.

Again, you're smarter than this... or I had hoped you were.  W's books were cooked by not including the cost of the wars- that just magically showed up in the "debt" column at the end of the year to make the budgets look relatively sane. 

And I still fail to see what the big fuckin' deal of running hefty deficits during a severe recession is.  Then again, I likewise failed to see what was so terrible about the surpluses we were supposed to have at the beginning of the decade that necessitated the dumbest tax cut in history.  If deficits are so terrible, wouldn't it be prudent to build up a nice kitty during good times in case we needed it during the bad times?  But no!  Taxes are always evil and must always be cut.  Do you see why it's hard for me to take you guys seriously?

[siamesedreamer]

It's fitting that Fox news is running with the SO thing seeing that there viewers are only 1 or 2 IQ points away from being eligable to compete in the special olympics.

[siamesedreamer]

And I still fail to see what the big fuckin' deal of running hefty deficits during a severe recession is.

Come on now. There's an obvious difference between running deficits during a recession and running an average deficit of over $870B for the next 10 years.

(That's actually probably much higher with the $1.6T extra they're projecting now. Divide that by 10, add it to the $870B previously projected, and its ~$1.03T per year.)

We're probably a lot closer on this than you give me credit for.

[Brehvolution]

Oh no, I'm as imperfect as Obama.

/cuts wrist

[ToxicAdam]

A great quip after that Special Olympics gaffe would have been to say, "Joe Biden told me to say that".

[Human Snorenado]

A great quip after that Special Olympics gaffe would have been to say, "Joe Biden told me to say that".

I think that one of the great unintended pluses of the Obama presidency, no matter how long it lasts, will be the Biden Gaffe File.

[ToxicAdam]

Johnny Mac is getting all mavericky again ...

McCain speaks up for Geithner

Tim Geithner, the embattled US Treasury secretary, should be given a chance to succeed, says John McCain, the former presidential candidate, who is the first prominent Republican to speak up in Mr Geithner’s defence amid growing calls for his resignation.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr McCain said that the “perfect storm” over AIG “has been as explosive in a short period of time as anything I have seen”.


Mr McCain, who was one of the few Republican senators to vote in favour of Mr Geithner’s nomination after revelations of tax arrears, was speaking at the end of a week in which the Republican Party has targeted Mr Geithner amid mounting public anger over Wall Street bonuses.

“Everyone acknowledges he needs help,” said Mr McCain, in reference to the Obama administration’s difficulty in recruiting nominees to the Treasury department, where Mr Geithner remains the only official to have been confirmed.

Mr McCain also distanced himself from Republican “righteous indignation” over Mr Obama’s budget tactics. Many of Mr McCain’s colleagues fear Mr Obama will use the congressional “reconciliation” process, which enables the majority to circumvent an opposition filibuster, to smuggle through healthcare reforms and energy cap and trade in the budget.

Mr McCain said that a congressional short-cut could be employed by the administration that had been devised by Republicans and used by George W. Bush to push through tax cuts. “Republicans invented this,” he said. “I don’t like it but there are chickens coming home to roost.”

[Eric P]

your right wing crazy for the day

[youtube=560,345]jqALdkTArqs[/youtube]

[Eric P]

HEAR MY COMPOSITE SELF FOR THE PHARAOH ZEUS!

[Phoenix Dark]

http://www.newshounds.us/2009/03/20/megyn_kelly_melts_down_over_acorn.php
(skip the write-up and watch the video at the bottom)

jesus fucking christ

[Brehvolution]

It's too bad a chick that hot  is made so ugly by her brain.

[Robo]

Our first distinguished black fellow - he with game!  (Thank you Satan!) ...SHNEERSH, distinguished black fellow game!  But I is honest!

 

[Eel O'Brian]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3031317

glass houses, stones, etc

[Van Cruncheon]

mmmm, nappy-headed hos

[Eel O'Brian]

i laughed at the special olympics joke, btw

and the nappy-headed hos joke

it is my policy to laugh at and mock everyone i do not see in my bathroom mirror when i occasionally shave

what america needs is more cruel humor

[Phoenix Dark]

Agreed, just not from the president of the United States

spoiler (click to show/hide)

although I definitely lol'd, and would give Obama a high five

[close]

[Eel O'Brian]

i liked that you could hear people in the audience murmuring after the laffs

"HAHAHAHAHAHA....uhiamisupposedtolaughatthisidontknow...."

that made me laugh even harder

[Cheebs]

Obama told a off-color joke, it actually makes me like him a bit more. Humanizes him a bit. Perfect pc-type politicians are boring. Probably why I have always been a fan of Biden for years now, he is NEVER PC.

Probably why I loved it when earlier this week Biden sarcastically told someone "fuck you!" when they called him Mr. Vice-President instead of just Joe.

[Phoenix Dark]

Obama struggles with jokes lol. I bet he has a long history of this stuff

Wright: what's that dirt on your forehead?
Ayers: it's Ash Wednesday...
Obama: lol sort of like a Holocaust remembrance type thing?
Ayers: ....
Wright: god damn..

[TakingBackSunday]

most precious and unique people?  lol

[Cheebs]

I have read before that Obama in private is pretty off-color in how he talks. He swears constantly apparently.

[Eel O'Brian]

he's a giant fucking hypocrite, though

[Cheebs]

I dunno about the blowjobs. Based on his autobiography he was no Bill Clinton in his younger days. He didn't seem to have any luck with women in college and was pretty much a loner who stayed in his apartment reading books and smoking weed. I got the impression from his biography that Michelle was his real first serious gal pal, unlike Bill Clinton's autobiography where I lost track of all the girlfriends he talked about lol.

[Human Snorenado]

pr- you're forgetting about distinguished mentally-challenged fellow strength

Also, lol @ Palin getting outraged about a joke and turning down money for special ed kids from the stimulus.  Can't make this shit up.

[Phoenix Dark]

They're too special for government money

[siamesedreamer]

Krugman rips the administration's bank plan from limb to limb, drops it in a vat of acid, and then shits on the remains:

The Geithner plan has now been leaked in detail. It’s exactly the plan that was widely analyzed — and found wanting — a couple of weeks ago. The zombie ideas have won.

The Obama administration is now completely wedded to the idea that there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the financial system — that what we’re facing is the equivalent of a run on an essentially sound bank. As Tim Duy put it, there are no bad assets, only misunderstood assets. And if we get investors to understand that toxic waste is really, truly worth much more than anyone is willing to pay for it, all our problems will be solved.

To this end the plan proposes to create funds in which private investors put in a small amount of their own money, and in return get large, non-recourse loans from the taxpayer, with which to buy bad — I mean misunderstood — assets. This is supposed to lead to fair prices because the funds will engage in competitive bidding.

But it’s immediately obvious, if you think about it, that these funds will have skewed incentives. In effect, Treasury will be creating — deliberately! — the functional equivalent of Texas S&Ls in the 1980s: financial operations with very little capital but lots of government-guaranteed liabilities. For the private investors, this is an open invitation to play heads I win, tails the taxpayers lose. So sure, these investors will be ready to pay high prices for toxic waste. After all, the stuff might be worth something; and if it isn’t, that’s someone else’s problem.

Or to put it another way, Treasury has decided that what we have is nothing but a confidence problem, which it proposes to cure by creating massive moral hazard.

This plan will produce big gains for banks that didn’t actually need any help; it will, however, do little to reassure the public about banks that are seriously undercapitalized. And I fear that when the plan fails, as it almost surely will, the administration will have shot its bolt: it won’t be able to come back to Congress for a plan that might actually work.

What an awful mess.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/despair-over-financial-policy/?scp=1&sq=The%20Geithner%20plan%20has%20now%20been%20leaked%20in%20detail.&st=cse

[Human Snorenado]

Not that I don't agree with Krugman, Stiglitz, etc but I have to ask you sd- if tomorrow Obama fired Geithner and Summers and hired Krugman and Stiglitz, would you back their more activist plan?  Would you decry the "interference of the govt. in the private sector"?  Somehow I think you would.

What boggles my mind is that this is the type of plan a Republican administration would have come up with.  Sigh.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Summers and Geithner need to GTFO.  I'm tired of their uselessness.

Krugman and Stiglitz would be awesome replacements or at least Stiglitz anyway.

[Human Snorenado]

I HAVE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHERFUCKIN' RUBINITES IN MY MOTHERFUCKING GOVT!

[siamesedreamer]

sd- if tomorrow Obama fired Geithner and Summers and hired Krugman and Stiglitz, would you back their more activist plan?

Not sure who Stiglitz is, but I think Krugman knows what he's talking about. Same with Roubini.

And same with Lindsey Graham and Richard Shelby. 

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I'm a fan of Stiglitz's work.  He was pretty critical of Summers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stiglitz

[Human Snorenado]

Here's an article by Stiglitz on a bank plan that would work:  http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090323/stiglitz

Plus he was fired by the World Bank for criticizing it's policies, so you know he's good!

[TakingBackSunday]

God, Gaborn couldn't be more fucking annoying than he is in the political threads.

[Cheebs]

The problem with summers/geithner is that there isn't a serious academic to balance them out.  geithner needed a second with some serious chops. 

Isn't he basically running the whole department by himself though? All the deputy's and the like Obama wants are being held up by the Republicans in the senate. Is any of Obama's lower level treasury guys from a different school of thought than summers/geithner? If so that would help a great deal.

[siamesedreamer]

Isn't he basically running the whole department by himself though? All the deputy's and the like Obama wants are being held up by the Republicans in the senate.

Link?