Spintested: 09/10/10

Right-Wing GOP vs. Corporate Democrats vs. Progressive Populism

Friday, September 10, 2010

Democratic voters have mistakenly believed that Obama&Democrats want what they, their supporters, want. The DLC-controlled DemocraticParty gives lip service to all populist issues (like civil rights protections, restoring habeas corpus, ending the wars, PublicHealthcare, Wall Street reform, environmental & energy issues, etc.).

If the Bush years taught us nothing else, it's that anyone can sell anything to Americans, if you're stolid & relentless in your salespitch & tactics. It's not that Bush&R0ve were geniuses & knew something that nobody else knew; Bush&R0ve were just more ruthless (clumsy & careless many political graybeards would say) in doing what politicians & the parties had gone to great lengths to hide from Americans.

Obama didn't get to be the first black president, vanquish the Clinton machine (to get the nomination) & the oldest, most experienced politicians in our nation's history (including the Rove machine) by not having mastered these skills. Nor do Democratic politicians (more incumbents than ever, in office longer) not know how to do it. How do you think Democrats managed to keep impeaching Bush&Cheney off the table & have us still reelecting them, not marching on Washington with torches&pitchforks?

Obama&Democrats know how to do it -- They don't want to do it.

The trick for them has been to keep the many different populist groups believing that they really do support our issues, but they're merely inept, & to get us to keep voting for them despite their failure to deliver on any of our alleged shared objectives.
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Right-Wing GOP vs. Corporate Democrats vs. Progressive Populism

Why isn't Is Defaulting on the National Debt on the Table?

http://www.truth-out.org/is-defaulting-national-debt-table63023”
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Obama Insists He Made "The Right Decisions" on the Economy -- The Struggling Middle Class Begs to Differ

Why isn't Is Defaulting on the National Debt on the Table?

http://www.truth-out.org/is-defaulting-national-debt-table63023
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Hints At Procedural Compromise On Bush Tax Cuts, Says GOP's Holding 'Middle Class Hostage'

You didn't read the article, but that doesn't stop you from offering an opinion on it.

Amazing.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Hints At Procedural Compromise On Bush Tax Cuts, Says GOP's Holding 'Middle Class Hostage'

You know this, how?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Hints At Procedural Compromise On Bush Tax Cuts, Says GOP's Holding 'Middle Class Hostage'

But does he have yours?
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Hints At Procedural Compromise On Bush Tax Cuts, Says GOP's Holding 'Middle Class Hostage'

Why isn't Is Defaulting on the National Debt on the Table?

http://www.truth-out.org/is-defaulting-national-debt-table63023
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Hints At Procedural Compromise On Bush Tax Cuts, Says GOP's Holding 'Middle Class Hostage'

I recently heard a respected tax scholar who is well known for research on tax equity and who is also a Doctor of Theology speak about the fact that a progressive tax structure is actually biblical. Turns out it is arguable that there is much support for a progressive tax structure in the Bible. Needless to say...for some reason there are not alot of conservative christians who have jumped on this bandwagon
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Biblical is retiring all Americans' debt.

Every 7 years. Forgive all debt.

Let's see how fast the comments deluge this thread now to get this off the first page.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Hints At Procedural Compromise On Bush Tax Cuts, Says GOP's Holding 'Middle Class Hostage'

Biblical is retiring all Americans' debt.

Every 7 years. Forgive all debt.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Hints At Procedural Compromise On Bush Tax Cuts, Says GOP's Holding 'Middle Class Hostage'

From Hardball, last week:

MATTHEWS: You know, sometimes, I really support the president in a lot of his views—in fact, all of them almost. But I have to tell you, Michael, if he doesn‘t get rid of that teleprompter, it‘s like an eye test. He‘s just reading words now. It‘s separating him from us. Your thoughts.
You go to a meeting with him, I‘m told. Businessmen are invited to meet them at the White House, he hauls out the damn teleprompter. And he reads it to them. Well, why even bring people into the room, just have the teleprompter. I sense it‘s getting between him and us.
And I thought the speech last night was a terrible, or a great example rather of him using the teleprompter instead of his heart and his mind. He was reading words to us that any president could have written, had written for him and delivered.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38995281/ns/msnbc_tv-hardball_with_chris_matthews/
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

John Cornyn Warns Lisa Murkowski She Could Lose Leadership Role If She Stays In Senate Race

This is no different than when Joe Lieberman ran as an Independent in 2006. Democratic Senators and the Democratic machine publicly supported Lieberman while working behind-the-scenes to help him raise money to beat out the Democratic candidate, Ned Lamont, and Republican Alan Schlesinger.
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White House Expands On Executive Powers Once Criticized By Obama, No Doubt To The Delight Of The Base

And who expects any President to fulfill all of their promises in the first 19 months of their Presidency.
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This is an interesting "non-denial denial".

There are certain behaviors you can observe to see in what direction (or how serious) someone is going in to achieve his stated goals. Obama isn't going in those directions, and is actually working against achieving what he has pledged. In past comments, readily accessible here on HP, I've laid out in detail why I know that to be so.
About Eat The Press
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White House Expands On Executive Powers Once Criticized By Obama, No Doubt To The Delight Of The Base

True on the WindFall Profit Tax Issue:
But there are no WINDFALL PROFITS to deal with since the Summer of '08
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The price of oil has hit and surpassed the $80/barrel threshold Obama set several times since the summer of 2008 - http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2010/2/25/saupload_oil_spot_feb_2_2009_to_present_1.png>

Will Obama Now Fulfill His Windfall Profits Tax Promise?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

White House Expands On Executive Powers Once Criticized By Obama, No Doubt To The Delight Of The Base

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

White House Expands On Executive Powers Once Criticized By Obama, No Doubt To The Delight Of The Base

"Arianna did not discredit that entire site.... she complained about one entry they involved her...... TRUE or HALF TRUE."
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Between me, Ar!anna, and others, Politifact has been discredited a source for accurate, unbiased assessment. Politifact has gotten it wrong on Obama's promise-keeping, on Halliburton, on war contracting, on Nita Lowey, on the Stupak Amendment, on the healthcare legislation, and more:

PolitiFact's Truth-O-Meter in Need of Tune-Up

PolitiFact Embraces Equivocation, the Truth Gets Squeezed

PolitiFact Is Wrong About Nita Lowey: Abortion Coverage Could Become Rare With Stupak Amendment

PolitiFact gets it wrong on Jones
http://southdekalb.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/ajc-politifact-gets-it-wrong-on-jones/>

You offered Politifact up as an authority to refute my contention that Obama has broken just about every campaign pledge and promise. Even if Politiifact hadn't been discredited due to its errors, what they've said doesn't contradict my contention at all.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

White House Expands On Executive Powers Once Criticized By Obama, No Doubt To The Delight Of The Base

Politifact has been discredited, not just by me but by Ar!anna & others (although I was the first). I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, that you're just ig.no.rant of it, despite it being posted just about everywhere.

Politifact's way of keeping score is 'misleading' (a kind way of saying deceptive). Politifact only recognizes 22 broken promises & cuts Obama much slack.

Politifact has gamed its way of measuring Obama's "promisekeeping"; its categories ('NO ACTION', 'IN THE WORKS', 'STALLED' or 'NOT YET RATED') are misleading. Many a campaign promise or pledge (hundreds of them) has been generously placed in these other categories to languish.

As Politifact claims, "Once we find action is completed, we rate them 'PROMISE KEPT' 'COMPROMISE' or 'PROMISE BROKEN'". By Politifact's own definition, it enables Obama to keep these issues in limbo for 4 years. Hundreds of issues in limbo for 4 years.

Then there are the 'memory hole'-promises that Politifact doesn't even cite:

One of many promises Politifact doesn't even list in its "Promises Broken" category Obama's campaign promise to impose 'Windfall Profits Taxes on the Oil & Gas Industry" - Obama immediately reneged on it once in office, saying, "The prices have now dropped - We'll see about doing that if or when they rise again." Oil hit over $80/barrel (the amount that, had Obama kept his promise, the windfall profits tax would have been triggered) months ago. Politifact has conveniently ignored this issue.
About Eat The Press
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White House Expands On Executive Powers Once Criticized By Obama, No Doubt To The Delight Of The Base

It's the same system of justice inside as outside the borders.

Obama has asserted a right by the executive branch that even Bush and Cheney didn't dare try: A$$assinating American citizens with no due process or oversight by anyone.

And then there's Obama's preventive detention proposal (indefinitely imprison you because he believes you might commit a crime) -
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/05/22/preventive_detention
About Eat The Press
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White House Expands On Executive Powers Once Criticized By Obama, No Doubt To The Delight Of The Base

I have a feeling from what I've read that the CIA and FBI have been using many of these tactics for years just now it's out in the open and legal.
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I don't think you're understanding the situation.

The only thing that the court has made legal is the executive branch's ability to suppress evidence of its criminal behavior.

What the CIA's doing was illegal and continues to be illegal.

What the court has done is help the executive branch (under whose authority the CIA committed the crimes) cover it up.

About Eat The Press
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White House Expands On Executive Powers Once Criticized By Obama, No Doubt To The Delight Of The Base

It's not a matter of a president relinquishing power -- It's a matter of 3 co-equal branches of government checking power grabs by any one branch.

We no longer have a functioning democracy, for more reasons than obstruction by a minority party (Republicans) in Congress.
About Eat The Press
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White House Expands On Executive Powers Once Criticized By Obama, No Doubt To The Delight Of The Base

There's no reason both can't happen simultaneously.

There's no reason both can't happen while the Log Cabin lawsuit is making its way through the courts (it's taken 6 years to get to today's decision in federal court).

One of the many benefits of an executive order ending DADT is that its implementation begins to knock down the fallacies that exist about gay men and women serving in the military. It gets people used to it.

It also refocuses attention where I think it always should have been: The purpose of our military and our true state of preparedness.

How is it that this nation that allegedly stands as a beacon for individual liberty and universal justice can justify separating any competent professional soldiers from service for their sexual orientation in this time of war?

Do you remember this?:

==According to the February 2005 GAO report, seven hundred fifty-seven (about 8 percent) of these separated servicemembers held critical occupations ("voice interceptor," "data processing technician," or "interpreter/translator"), as defined by the services. Also, 322 members (about 3 percent) had some skills in an important foreign language such as Arabic, Farsi, and Korean. Government Accountability Office, February 2005. http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05299.html ==

It makes this criminal:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/afghanistan-whistleblower-claims-us-interpreters-speak-afghan-languages/story?id=11578169
About Eat The Press
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White House Expands On Executive Powers Once Criticized By Obama, No Doubt To The Delight Of The Base

Are you for real?

Your argument is, "It's Obama! He's a good guy. He wouldn't abuse the privilege!"?

Obama's already proven how untrustworthy he is, by breaking just about every campaign pledge and promise.

Aside from the fact that no one could possibly know what Obama's up to (t0rture, murder & rendition continue under the Obama administration), the very fact that Obama is both fighting for more opacity in government and is prosecuting whistleblowers (whereas the Bush administration merely threatened to do it) is a major red flag.

Let's, for argument's sake, say that Obama was a saint among men.

He's not going to be in the White House forever, but this precedent he's fighting for will exist for all future executive branches.
About Eat The Press
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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