Spintested: 10/28/10

Obama: More Aggressive Anti-Foreclosure Efforts Would Help People Who Don't Deserve It

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Are your non-abusive posts disappearing?

There may be a rogue m0d2 in our midst.

Here's the problem (and how some abusive HP commenters are getting to be m0d2s and scrubbing comments they don't like):

The system can be scammed by setting up an account from which to intentionally offend and another to earn higher status by flagging it.

You create 2 or more 'sock' accounts here at HP. In one of the accounts, you post abusive comments, and in another you flag them until the HP system rewards you with a m0d2 status.

Then the trouble starts.

The only way to identify and remove the abusive m0d2 is by reporting it. The internal m0ds can track the URL back to the abuser.

Rogue m0d2s can be eliminated by reporting them. They attack after the internal m0ds have cleared a comment and posted it. When a comment vanishes, act quickly on reporting it. You'll be defending the entire thread, not to mention democracy, the first amendment, freedom, the American way, & all life continuing on the planet. ;-)

What Should I Do If My Posts Are Disappearing?:

KEEP READING
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Signals Shift On Gay Marriage Support

OR ELSE WHAT?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Signals Shift On Gay Marriage Support

Make it a threat.

Or else you'll do WHAT?

You won't vote for him?

You won't vote for Democrats?

You won't complain about it anymore?

You won't make empty predictions which can have the effect of tamping down fervor to pressure politicians?

What will you do?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Signals Shift On Gay Marriage Support

What's the recourse when he doesn't, if he doesn't, if it's 2016, nothing substantive has changed either legislatively or culturally (hom0phob!a still rampant, bullying continues, etc.)?

Will you still be saying about the Democratic Party's candidate, "He's with gays on these issues, and once in office he'll end discriminatory laws & practices, but he can't say or do anything now during the campaign or he risks losing the mushy middle or Republican crossovers who don't support it", as Obama's FISA vote in July 2008 was peddled to the Democratic base?

You do it NOW.

You throw everything you have at a problem NOW. That means Obama signs a stop-loss order, and Congress continues on repealing DADT, as the lawsuits make their way through the judiciary.

Every branch of government, working to end the discrimination of one group of Americans.

If it was something that Obama wanted to do, he'd do it.
About Gay Rights
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

I've had discussions with you before and you always resort to insults when your point isn't strong. And then you deny every having posted an insult.

So I'm done.

=================================

And yet you're still here after telling me you were "done" two minutes ago.

I really REALLY support your being "done".

Go.
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

I've had discussions with you before and you always resort to insults when your point isn't strong. And then you deny every having posted an insult.

So I'm done. Usually insults are amusing. But yours are just defensive

========================================

No, I resort to insults as a RESPONSE to insults.

It's always fascinating to me how those who start a dialogue with an insult get their noses out of joint when they are responded to in kind.

Every single response by you to a comment of mine has been prefaced with an insult, an arrogant attitude challenging my veracity, demands that I do YOUR research for you, and more. When I have ignored the affront, helped you out, it's ALWAYS met with further insults.

I've got your number, dear.

I am not one to use absolutes like "always" or "never" or "every", but with you it's been 'absolutely' every contact we've had.

Like many 'true believers' around here, you seem incapable of discussing the issues without emotional reaction, and that gets the discussions off-topic.

You keep threatening to go, but here you are again. Please feel free to go. As the song goes, "How can I miss you when you won't go away?"
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

Rallying the constituents against Kucinich is not in the story

===========================================

It certainly was part of the story:

==Appearing onstage for his health care speech, the President took time to introduce Kucinich, lauding the congressman's "tireless" work "on behalf of working people." At which point someone in the audience yelled "Vote Yes" -- with the obvious reference being the health care bill. Obama, not missing a beat, asked the audience member to repeat himself. After which he chimed in: "Hear that, Dennis?"

Towards the end of the speech Obama came back to Kucinich once again, saying that he had told the congressman that it had been "such a long time since we've made got on the side of ordinary working folks, where we did something for them, that relieves some of their struggles..."

The print pooler attending the event caught up with Kucinich before the speech and reported the following:

He only smiled when asked if he had spoken to the president about health care on the way here. Asked if he was reconsidering his vote, he said, "I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say." He said he was not commenting on his current position on the bill.==

If your complaint is that there is no banner headline, "OBAMA RALLIED KUCINICH'S CONSTITUENTS AGAINST HIM", you are entirely too young & naive to even be in a political discussion here.
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

I'm an old liberal Democrat whose posts have been scrubbed by DLC-supporters.

I support conservatives' rights to have their voices heard, their posts not scrubbed.

I only wish the Free Republic ran their website the same way for liberal's voices and posts.
About Elections Live
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

What Should I Do If My Posts Are Disappearing?:

If you have a legitimate post scrubbed, go to your welcome page and select the "my activity" tab. Your post will be there. Above it is a color highlighted link ("commented"). Click on it to confirm your post's deletion. If it has been deleted, go back and copy the highlighted link. At the bottom of any page you will find a "contact us" link. Open it and select the link under "Report a technical problem". A menu will open; paste your copied link in the URL box and make your report. The offending deleter will be reviewed and may lose their m0d2 status and their HP account.

As a back-up, consider sending a physical hard copy with screen shots (as emails can be easily deleted before anyone can see them) to:

H.u.f .f .i .n .g .t. o. n Post

560 Broadway

New York, NY 10012
About Elections Live
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

What Should I Do If My Posts Are Disappearing?:

If you have a legitimate post scrubbed, go to your welcome page and select the "my activity" tab. Your post will be there. Above it is a color highlighted link ("commented"). Click on it to confirm your post's deletion. If it has been deleted, go back and copy the highlighted link. At the bottom of any page you will find a "contact us" link. Open it and select the link under "Report a technical problem". A menu will open; paste your copied link in the URL box and make your report. The offending deleter will be reviewed and may lose their m0d2 status and their HP account.

As a back-up, consider sending a physical hard copy with screen shots (as emails can be easily deleted before anyone can see them) to:

Huffington Post

560 Broadway

New York, NY 10012

Thank Hokeysmokes for this information.
About Elections Live
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

Are your non-abusive posts disappearing?

There may be a rogue m0d2 in our midst.

Here's the problem (and how some abusive HP commenters are getting to be m0d2s and scrubbing comments they don't like):

The system can be scammed by setting up an account from which to intentionally offend and another to earn higher status by flagging it.

You create 2 or more 'sock' accounts here at HP. In one of the accounts, you post abusive comments, and in another you flag them until the HP system rewards you with a m0d2 status.

Then the trouble starts.

The only way to identify and remove the abusive m0d2 is by reporting it. The internal m0ds can track the URL back to the abuser.

Rogue m0d2s can be eliminated by reporting them. They attack after the internal m0ds have cleared a comment and posted it. When a comment vanishes, act quickly on reporting it. You'll be defending the entire thread, not to mention democracy, the first amendment, freedom, the American way, & all life continuing on the planet. ;-)

What Should I Do If My Posts Are Disappearing?:

KEEP READING
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

Yes.

As Hokeysmokes suggests:

There may be a rogue Mod2 in our midst. If you have a legitimate post scrubbed, go to your welcome page and select the "my activity" tab. Your post will be there. Above it is a color highlighted link. Click on it to confirm your post's deletion. If it has been deleted, go back and copy the highlighted link. At the bottom of any page you will find a "contact us" link. Open it and select the link under "Report a technical problem". A menu will open; paste your copied link in the URL box and make your report. The offending deleter will be reviewed and may lose their Mod2 status and their profile.
About Elections Live
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

What kind of jobs?

Permanent jobs? Good jobs? White collar jobs? High-paying jobs? Full-time jobs? With benefits? Private sector jobs?

Why don't you tell the People the truth about that?

Why is our Government Paying To Train Foreign Workers & Then Sending our Jobs Overseas?

In the wake of President Obama's promise to keep more hi-tech jobs in the U.S., a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has created a $22 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT, in South Asia. After these tech workers are trained, they will be placed with outsourcing vendors that provide business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent's low labor costs. This is being run by the US agency for international development, an agency whose mission is to help other nations develop into modern and functional economies in the hope that by raising their standards of living we will also raise the possibility of Democracy in their countries - and make them our friends in the process. In many ways over the years USAID has done a good job of this, helping countries to develop their own manufacturing sectors for their own people. But to use the resources of AID to help Sri Lanka, in this case, build IT and call centers for American countries is quite simply insanity.

http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2010/08/why-our-government-sending-our-jobs-overseas
About Elections Live
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

No, I don't "have to" explain anything to you. The answer to your demand is in the post: Democratic Caucus.

You have a nasty little exaggerated sense of entitlement that comes through in all of your comments to my posts. When I've been gracious and done your homework, provided you with the hand-holding, the tutoring, the extra work you've "demanded" (all demands, by the way, that have been off the point, that have little or nothing to do with the subject & point of the post), you complain about something else and go into denial.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

Of course anyone who disagrees with you must be the nefarious enemy. Good grief. I remember Kucinich on Air Force One. If that's your definition of rallying the constituents against Kucinich, it's no wonder I didn't recognize the story.

==========================================

The rally wasn't on Air Force One. The link I provided at your request, while it mentions the mode of transportation, is about THE RALLY.

I don't think you're the "nefarious enemy"; I think you're insincere, only interested in that which reinforces your opinion.

I knew that about you when you bypassed the fact that Obama refused to use his considerable oratorical skills and political capital to deliver the REAL healthcare reform that voters put him and Democrats into power to achieve, demanding instead that I "support the allegation that Obama rallied Kucinich's constituents against him".

Talk about detours to distract!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Inside The Democrats' Post-Election Strategy For Congress

Obama's already broadcast what he & Democrats are going to do if Democrats win, IF DEMOCRATS REMAIN THE MAJORITY -- More caving by Obama & Democrats to Republicans:

==According to excerpts from the Times, aides say that the president's been spending "a lot of time talking about Obama 2.0," brainstorming with administration officials about the best way to revamp the strategies & goals of the WhiteHouse.

And despite the predictions that Democrats may relinquish a large degree of legislating power, including perhaps control of the House & even Senate, Obama isn't thinking of the next two years as a period that'll be marked with the same obstructive nature from the GOP.

"It may be that regardless of what happens after this election, [Republicans] feel more responsible, either because they didn't do as well as they anticipated, & so the strategy of just saying no to everything & sitting on the sidelines & throwing bombs didn't work for them," Obama says in the article. "Or they did reasonably well, in which case the American people are going to be looking to them to offer serious proposals & work with me in a serious way."

DickDurbin says Obama's post-election agenda "will have to be limited & focused on the things that are achievable & high priorities for the American people." TomDaschle says Obama has to reach out more: "The keyword is inclusion. He's got to find ways to be inclusive."==

http://www.huf fingtonpost.com/2010/10/13/obama-new-york-times_n_760774.html
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

That's all well and good, but what is Barbara Boxer going to do for us?

What HAS she done for us? Allow me to remind you that during the Bush-Cheney administration, Barbara Boxer (an alleged liberal, who campaigned for Joe Lieberman against Ned Lamont) wrote two murd3r mysteries, because "It was always something I wanted to do if I had the time." She's chair of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee -- What's she achieved?

Do you think that if Republicans take control of Congress next year that the Democratic minority, with greater numbers than the Republican minority has now, will be as effective at thwarting the Republicans as the Republicans have been in thwarting Democrats?

During BushCo, Pat Leahy expanded his Grateful De@d collection and got to act in his favorite comic book hero movie, Batman. He wound up shepherding Roberts' & Alito's names out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and to the floor for confirmation.

I can give you bullet points on how Democrats in Congress have betrayed the People these past 8-30 years all day long.

How about you give us something other than "The other guy's worse".

They're partners in crime; they work together as a team, on the same side, tag relay teams (or like siblings competing for parental approval). 'Good cop/bad cop'. One side (Republicans) makes brazen frontal assaults on the People, & when the People have had enough, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric.

KEEP READING
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

That's all well and good, but what is Barbara Boxer going to do for us?

What HAS she done for us? Allow me to remind you that during the Bush-Cheney administration, Barbara Boxer (an alleged liberal, who campaigned for Joe Lieberman against Ned Lamont) wrote two murder mysteries, because "It was always something I wanted to do if I had the time."

Do you think that if Republicans take control of Congress next year that the Democratic minority, with greater numbers than the Republican minority has now, will be as effective at thwarting the Republicans as the Republicans have been in thwarting Democrats?

During BushCo, Pat Leahy expanded his Grateful Dead collection and got to act in his favorite comic book hero movie, Batman. He wound up shepherding Roberts' & Alito's names out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and to the floor for confirmation.

I can give you bullet points on how Democrats in Congress have betrayed the People these past 8-30 years all day long.

How about you give us something better than "The other guy's worse".

They're partners in crime; they work together as a team, on the same side, tag relay teams (or like siblings competing for parental approval). 'Good cop/bad cop'. One side (Republicans) makes brazen frontal assaults on the People, & when the People have had enough, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric.

KEEP READING
About Elections Live
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

Last week Obama refused to endorse the Democratic candidate for governor in Rhode Island, because Obama "doesn't want to offend" the Independent candidate, Lincoln Chaffee. One effect of that is the suppression of the Democratic turnout in Rhode Island, thus risking Patrick Kennedy's seat going 'R' (Kennedy is leaving the House, not running for reelection).

More progressives in Congress means real populist legislation getting passed into law. Real reform bills, that re-regulate banks & big business. Real stimulus bills, with jobs creation, green clean energy development, and more. But that's not who or what Obama & the DLC-controlled Democrats are about. They're DINOs, working on behalf of corporations' interests, competing with Republicans for those great big corporate donations.
About Elections Live
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

Obama, RahmEmanuel, the DLC, DavidAxelrod, DavidPlouffe, all have worked their butts off to prevent real progressives getting into office. One example right off the bat is BlueDog Blanche Lincoln.

Going against tradition & practice, the WhiteHouse put its full weight & support behind BlancheLincoln over the true progressive candidate in the primary, union-backed Lt. Governor Bill Halter.

Presidents do NOT get involved in primaries. Citizens have little enough of a Constitutionally-guaranteed role within this democracy as it is -- We have the right to vote, but not to have our ballots counted (the founders were nothing if not ironic). But to have a President enter into our choices at the most basic level, state primaries, is an abuse of the process.

While Obama is the first president to do it, it wasn't the first time Obama did it.

Obama made a deal with Arlen Specter and put the full weight and support of the Democratic machine behind Specter during the 2010 primary in Pennsylvania, trying to buy off Joe Sestak (among other alternative candidates Democratic voters in PA might have wanted to vote to have representing them). Consider that: Obama actively went about trying to prevent Democratic voters from choosing their preferred candidate for the US so that a DINO, Republican Arlen Specter, could retain the seat.

KEEP READING
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

Most Democratic voters have no idea what the DLC is or who is in it.

Obama isn't a centrist; he's a neoliberal ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism ). As the president, he heads the national DemocraticParty, i.e., he's the defacto head of the DLC. He's a DINO. Obama & Democrats are NOT doing what Democratic voters put Obama & Democrats into power to achieve on their behalf, i.e., undo 30+ years of Republican programming.
About Elections Live
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

To begin with, it's "you're", not "your", and I'm no DLC-Democrat.

I AM an old liberal FDR Democrat.

Let's get some definitions on the table.

I'm against privatization of government, and for regulated capitalism (like Naomi Klein, I'm for a mixed economy). I'm for social safety nets; those we have, those we've had, and others which we would have had had it not been for the Reagan "revolution", and which would have come in handy during tough times like this, and which might have prevented this meltdown from happening at all. I'm for clean & green sustainable energy and SMART building, & massive public works projects for the 'Common Good', public healthcare and, most of all, I'm for education. Free to all, all the way, baby!

I am one of the 70% of liberals that make up the Democratic votership.

The DLC (pro-corporate, anti-populist, the Republican wing of the Democratic Party), through no acclaimation of the People or Democratic voters, controls the Democratic Party. The DLC, DINOs, are ideologically the moderate Republicans of the 1950s & 1960s. It's a t00l of the corporations, just like Republicans.

KEEP READING
About Elections Live
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

The TeaParty was one of the vehicles by which Obama & DLC-Democrats got a corporate welfare program disguised as healthcare reform past the People & into the law of the land.
About Elections Live
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

While DickArmey, Fox & the Koch brothers helped create the TeaParty, Obama & RahmEmanuel helped elevate it and make it strong (along with Blue Dogs). The TeaParty is an effective nemesis for Obama: A paper tiger.

If Obama & DLC-Democrats had believed the TeaParty to be a threat, had they wanted to put the TeaParty down, the time to do it was last year during the healthcare debate when the TeaParty was coming to prominence. When Democratic members of Congress were cancelling Town Halls because of the escalating threats of violence by gvn-toting teabaggers, disrupting Americans' long-honored traditions of peaceful debate in the public square.

Instead of taking to the bully pulpit, announcing increased security on government properties hosting these events, Obama disappeared from the healthcare debate (to cut secret deals with Big Insurance, PhRma, hospitals, the AMA, etc., and then l!e about it) as the TeaParty grew & bullied at Town Halls.

Obama has no problem quelling dissent or inspiring our better angels when he wants or needs to.

What Obama did instead during the same TownHall time period: Unleashed federal security forces to Pittsburgh to break up peaceful protests of the G20 meeting (using the new weaponry on dissenters who the 'Establishment Elites' really fear) & stem the unrest that actually threatens the 'elites', i.e., the American people taking back their government -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2009/sep/25/sonic-cannon-g20-pittsburgh
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

Democratic voters have mistakenly believed that Obama & Democrats want what they want. The DLC-controlled DemocraticParty gives lip service to all populist issues (like CivilRights protections, restoring HabeasCorpus, ending the wars, PublicHealthcare, WallStreetReform, environmental & energy issues, etc.).

If the Bush years taught us anything, it's that anyone can sell anything to Americans, if you're stolid & relentless in your sales pitch & tactics. It's not that Bush & R0ve were geniuses & knew something that nobody else knew; Bush & R0ve were just more ruthless 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 US 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's been to keep the many different populist groups believing that they really do support our issues, but they're merely inept. And to get us to keep voting for them despite their failure to deliver on any of our alleged shared objectives.
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

Yes, I'm sure you don't have any recollection of that.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/15/obama-brings-dennis-kucin_n_499313.html
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

We never had 60 votes in the senate. Lieberman is not a dem, and made a large deal about being the one senator who could tank health care. His bluster dimmed, however, when it became apparent that Baucus and Lincoln were way ahead of him on that score.

====================================================

Obama never pressured JoeLieberman, BenNelson or BlancheLincoln, or any Blue Dog. That's by their own admission. ( http://www.huf fingtonpost.com/2009/12/21/lieberman-obama-never-pre_n_399355.html

http://fdl action.firedoglake.com/2010/02/22/public-option-dramatically-more-popular-than-senate-bill-so-obama-pushes-senate-bill-without-public-option/ )

If Obama really wanted BlueDogs' votes or JoeLieberman's vote on legislation like real healthcare reform, he would have done to Lieberman & the BlueDogs what he did to DennisKucinich (the last hold-out on the ProgressiveCaucus, all of whom had pledged to vote for a healthcare bill only if it had a public option, and who all caved). Obama flew to Cleveland and rallied Kucinich's constituents against him and he got Kucinich's vote.

Where was that mentality with JoeLieberman, BlancheLincoln, the other BlueDogs and even OlympiaSnowe? If the president of the UnitedStates had used the bully pulpit against them, a lot of progressives would have respected that and said, "You tried your best". But Obama didn't try. He cut a deal, months earlier, cutting the will of the People off at the knees. The public is powerless in backroom deals.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

We never had 60 votes in the senate. Lieberman is not a dem, and made a large deal about being the one senator who could tank health care.

=======================================================

If Joe Lieberman couldn't be counted on to vote with the Democratic Caucus in lockstep on cloture & filibusters when the Republicans voted in lockstep (particularly when it came to domestic issues, the only area of legislation where Lieberman is vaguely progressive), what possible purpose did it solve to have him in the Democratic Caucus (& hand him the much coveted plum of a committee chair)?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/us/politics/07cong.html?_r=3&ref=politics&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

http://thinkprogress.org/lieberman-not-progressive/

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/8/17349/2244

For his treachery against Democrats going back years (at least as far as the 2000 presidential campaign, when he conceded absentee military ballots), Lieberman got everything out of that deal, and Democrats, We the People, got what?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

We never had 60 votes in the senate.

========================================

Filibuster-proof Senate. 60. In the Democratic Caucus. They could all be Independents, but if there are 60 of them caucusing in the Democratic Caucus, it's a lock.

'Party government' runs the US Congress, has since the late 1790s, and the Democratic Party has controlled both Houses of Congress (with a supermajority in the Senate) and the White House since 2008.

If you do not get behind what the leader of your political party tells you to do, you're going to find your life really cold and lonely for the duration of your term in office. And come reelection time, you will NOT have the party organization behind you either at a state or national level -- That is certain de@th for your time in office, not to mention your overall career in politics.

There are all kinds of other 'carrots and sticks' you use to keep your party (& those caucusing with you) together, and if Obama really wanted to, it would have happened. There is nothing that Democrats in Congress are doing that Obama hasn't signed off on, much less ordered.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

If Obama really wanted BlueDogs' votes or JoeLieberman's vote on legislation like real healthcare reform, he would have done to Lieberman & the BlueDogs what he did to DennisKucinich (the last hold-out on the ProgressiveCaucus, all of whom had pledged to vote for a healthcare bill only if it had a public option, and who all caved). Obama flew to Cleveland and rallied Kucinich's constituents against him and he got Kucinich's vote.

Where was that mentality with JoeLieberman, BlancheLincoln, the other BlueDogs and even OlympiaSnowe? If the president of the UnitedStates had used the bully pulpit against them, a lot of progressives would have respected that and said, "You tried your best". But Obama didn't try. He cut a deal, months earlier, cutting the will of the People off at the knees. The public is powerless in backroom deals.
About Elections Live
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

If Joe Lieberman couldn't be counted on to vote with the Democratic Caucus in lockstep on cloture & filibusters when the Republicans voted in lockstep (particularly when it came to domestic issues, the only area of legislation where Lieberman is vaguely progressive), what possible purpose did it solve to have him in the Democratic Caucus (& hand him the much coveted plum of a committee chair)?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/us/politics/07cong.html?_r =3&ref=politics&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

http://thinkprogress.org/lieberman-not-progressive/

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/8/17349/2244

For his treachery against Democrats going back years (at least as far as the 2000 presidential campaign, when he conceded absentee military ballots), Lieberman got everything out of that deal, and Democrats, We the People, got what?
About Elections Live
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

Filibuster-proof Senate. 60. In the Democratic Caucus. They could all be Independents, but if there are 60 of them caucusing in the Democratic Caucus, it's a lock.

'Party government' runs the US Congress, has since the late 1790s, and the Democratic Party has controlled both Houses of Congress (with a supermajority in the Senate) and the White House since 2008.

If you do not get behind what the leader of your political party tells you to do, you're going to find your life really cold and lonely for the duration of your term in office. And come reelection time, you will NOT have the party organization behind you either at a state or national level -- That is certain de@th for your time in office, not to mention your overall career in politics.

There are all kinds of other 'carrots and sticks' you use to keep your party (& those caucusing with you) together, and if Obama really wanted to, it would have happened. There is nothing that Democrats in Congress are doing that Obama hasn't signed off on, much less ordered.
About Elections Live
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

The rightwing attacking Obama and their refusal to work in "a bipartisan manner" should have pushed Obama to play hardball and move populist legislation through Congress quickly and decisively. To undo the Bush-Cheney abuses, especially with the tentative hold on a filibuster-proof majority Democrats were given in the 2008 election.

Instead, he let Republicans dictate the pace and shape a debate that was already done and voted on and won by Democrats in 2008.

If Republicans are so bad (and I think they are), why is Obama blocking all investigations and prosecutions into the Bush-Cheney administration? Perhaps if Bill Clinton hadn't done the same thing for the Reagan-Bush administration, we wouldn't have been saddled with Bush-Cheney at all.

When Obama came into power, the GOP wasn't on the ropes; it was down for the count. And Obama issued them a pardon. He expresses absolutely no remorse or plan to do anything differently.

Obama's not the Democrat that you think he is. He's not any kind of Democrat; he's a DINO. And if you didn't like the Republican Party of the last 35 years, the party of Reagan (forget just the past 8), you're going to hate where Obama and the DLC are taking the 'new & improved' Democratic Party from which they hope "to govern for 100 years".
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

Why aren't Obama & Democrats playing hardball with Republicans? Why are Democrats watering down any legislation, making it Republican-like to get Republicans on board who aren't interested in getting on board, only to pass it through reconciliation)?

Why is Obama and the Congress of the United States empowering Republicans, letting Bush & Cheney go uninvestigated and unprosecuted?

And why, just 15 days after getting into the White House, did Obama & Rahm Emanuel go after Rush Limbaugh & Sarah Palin, two people with no official connection to the Republican Party, instead of the ACTUAL GOP? Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Canter, Karl R0ve, George W, H.W., Jeb Bush, Cheney, ANYBODY who is actually IN the Republican Party as the problem.

Inquiring minds want to know.
About Elections Live
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Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

What do you think Obama is going to do after the November 2 elections if Republicans take control of one or both Houses of Congress?

Do you think he'll veto the legislation they pass (through reconciliation & every other means they can manage)? Do you think Obama will take to the bully pulpit, urge Americans to bury Republicans in email, phone calls, snail mail, & urge Democrats to block Republicans every way possible?

Or do you think that Obama's going to be making deal after deal with them, spinning what he can as somehow "Good for the People and Democrats", and/or, "I'm president of all the People, & the People in their infinite wisdom put Republicans in the majority, so I must honor their wishes & work with Republicans, & not try to obstruct their will"?

And if Democrats keep control of Congress? Do you think Obama's going to continue trying to work in a "bipartisan manner" with Republicans, keep flip-flopping on his campaign promises, & say that the election was a referendum on his trying "change the tone in Washington", and voters want him to do more of the same?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

If Republicans are such scvm (and I believe they are) and "so dangerous", why isn't Obama investigating and prosecuting them? Why isn't Obama investigating and prosecuting the greatest heist on the People in all history?

Why are Obama and Democrats continuing the war crimes of Bush & Cheney, and blocking investigations and prosecutions into their crimes?

How does a Democratic president, on the heels of the most criminal and corrupt administration in the nation's history, not replace Bush-era US attorneys? Presidents may fire US attorneys, and they do so routinely at the beginning of a new administration. It is unusual to fire US attorneys in mid-term (as Bush did) except in cases of gross misconduct (which wasn’t the case during the Bush administration). This is what Obama's US attorneys do instead of returning the democracy to the American people -- Instead we get Bush-style obscenity prosecutions:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_691667.html

We need a real Democrat in the Oval Office, and real Democrats in Congress, instead of these DINOs. With fire in their bellies to go after those who obstruct the People's business (Republicans), and not fire in their bellies to go after the Democratic Party's base.

We have Obama and Democrats to thank for the resurrection of Republicans. The GOP & Bush were down for the count after the 2008, and Obama gave them all pardon.

How do Obama's 'most ardent supporters' explain all that to themselves?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

Instead of a campaign by the White House and the MSM for months about witchcraft and Ginni Thomas and "We're not as bad as the other guys", I'd have liked to see the media focus on what the candidates (particularly the Democrats) intend to do if they retain power and if they don't.

Obama & the Democratic leadership told the Times two weeks ago that they're going to do more caving to the Republicans, look for more "inclusion" and bipartisanship. That means that they're moving the Democratic Party even farther to the right-of-r ight-of-ce nter. That's what Obama and Democrats are taking from the election, no matter what the results.

Why won't Obama face legitimate questions from journalists on the left and answer seering questions?

Why won't any Democrats face legitimate questions from journalists on the left?

I'd like to see Obama and other Democrats in office face a panel with Amy Goodman, Laura Flanders, Matt Taibbi, Ezra Klein, Jeremy Scahill, Thom Hartmann, Glen Greenwald, Jane Hamsher, and a few others.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

I've been buying into the "lesser of two ev!ls (DLC Democrats)"-argument since the DLC took over the DemocraticParty in the late 1980s.

I have watched the DLC take the DemocraticParty farther to the right each election cycle, promising change & reform, blaming the lack of it on voters for not electing enough Democrats liberals progressives, all the while the party leaders are bankrolling pro-corporate DINOs over true liberals & cooperating with Republicans in Congress.

Never are the party leaders using the bully pulpit of their offices to educate or inform the American people as to the great traditions of liberal Democracy & how the People have prospered under liberal Democrats.

Currently, this DINO of a president has continued just about all of the Bush-Cheney policies & gone Bush-Cheney one better in several areas. Civil rights abuses that Bush & Cheney could only fantasize about, never dare try, Obama's doing.

How does any Democratic voter defend Obama after he asserts he has the right to k!ll any American citizen without due process or oversight? And 'preventive detention'? And Obama's claims of 'state secrets' to deny courts even look at his a$$a$$ination program?

How does any Democratic voter defend Obama & DLC-Democrats making a corporate welfare program disguised as healthcare reform into the law of the land, that doesn't do what Democrats were put into power to get for the People, i.e., affordable quality medical treatment (and never will)?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

I'm not.

Why the h3ll do you keep saddling us with worthless DLCers, no better than Republicans for the American people?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Elections 2010 LIVE Updates

Where the h3ll is their 'fire-in-the-belly' for ordinary Americans?

Where has it been and do we still not see any??

Do you think that if Republicans take control of Congress next year that the Democratic minority, with greater numbers than the Republican minority has now, will be as effective at thwarting the Republicans as the Republicans have been in thwarting Democrats?

If you say yes, I say, "Where were they during the 8 years of Bush?"

Eight years when Barbara Boxer (an alleged liberal, who campaigned for Joe Lieberman against Ned Lamont) wrote two murder mysteries, because "It was always something I wanted to do if I had the time."

Eight years when Pat Leahy expanded his Grateful Dead collection and got to act in his favorite comic book hero movie, Batman.

Every last Democrat in Congress and the White House are going to do just fine personally, financially, when they're out of office. They will lobby, go on to sit on corporate boards and earn mega-millions.

How about you? How are you going to pay the increased deductibles and co-pays on your health care? How are you going to pay for what your insurance company isn't covering? And when your bank pays your property taxes so that it can turn around and charge you fees, if you can't pay those fees, where are you going to live when your home goes into foreclosure due to their lien?

Just askin'.
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Olbermann: If The Tea Party Wins, America Loses (VIDEO)

You know what, Keith?

Instead of a campaign by the White House and the MSM for months about witchcraft and Ginni Thomas and "We're not as bad as the other guys", I'd have liked to see the media focus on what the candidates (particularly the Democrats) intend to do if they retain power and if they don't.

Obama & the Democratic leadership told the Times two weeks ago that they're going to do more caving to the Republicans, look for more "inclusion" and bipartisanship. That means that they're moving the Democratic Party even farther to the right-of-right-of-center. That's what Obama and Democrats are taking from the election, no matter what the results.

Why won't Obama face legitimate questions from journalists on the left and answer seering questions?

Why won't any Democrats face legitimate questions from journalists on the left?

I'd like to see Obama and other Democrats in office face a panel with Amy Goodman, Laura Flanders, Matt Taibbi, Ezra Klein, Jeremy Scahill, Thom Hartmann, Glen Greenwald, Jane Hamsher, and a few others.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama On 'Daily Show': Stewart Presses President To Defend 'Timid' Policies, Hiring Of Old D.C. Hands (VIDEO)

Why won't Obama face legitimate questions from journalists on the left and answer seering questions?

Why won't any Democrats face legitimate questions from journalists on the left?

I'd like to see Obama and other Democrats in office face a panel with Amy Goodman, Laura Flanders, Matt Taibbi, Ezra Klein, Jeremy Scahill, Thom Hartmann, Glen Greenwald, Jane Hamsher, and a few others.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama On 'Daily Show': Stewart Presses President To Defend 'Timid' Policies, Hiring Of Old D.C. Hands (VIDEO)

Your fear tactics about higher co-pays and bank fees is utterly false.

===================================================

It's called 'tax farming'.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/22/tax-farming-private-collectors-rome_n_772178.html#comments

And with regard to healthcare becoming more affordable? Not with this healthcare scheme.

Google isn't just my friend; it's my significant other.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama On 'Daily Show': Stewart Presses President To Defend 'Timid' Policies, Hiring Of Old D.C. Hands (VIDEO)

If Republicans are such scvm (and I believe they are) and "so dangerous", why isn't Obama investigating and prosecuting them? Why isn't Obama investigating and prosecuting the greatest heist on the People in all history?

Why are Obama and Democrats continuing the war crimes of Bush & Cheney, and blocking investigations and prosecutions into their crimes?

How does a Democratic president, on the heels of the most criminal and corrupt administration in the nation's history, not replace Bush-era US attorneys? Presidents may fire US attorneys, and they do so routinely at the beginning of a new administration. It is unusual to fire US attorneys in mid-term (as Bush did) except in cases of gross misconduct (which wasn’t the case during the Bush administration). This is what Obama's US attorneys do instead of returning the democracy to the American people -- Instead we get Bush-style obscenity prosecutions:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_691667.html

We need a real Democrat in the Oval Office, and real Democrats in Congress, instead of these DINOs. With fire in their bellies to go after those who obstruct the People's business (Republicans), and not fire in their bellies to go after the Democratic Party's base.

We have Obama and Democrats to thank for the resurrection of Republicans. The GOP & Bush were down for the count after the 2008, and Obama gave them all pardon.

How do Obama's 'most ardent supporters' explain all that to themselves?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama's Interview With Progressive Bloggers (FULL TRANSCRIPT)

Thanks. I swear, they're no different than Bushies. They'll get it when he's out of office, when it's too late.

We've got to fix the public education system.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama On 'Daily Show': Stewart Presses President To Defend 'Timid' Policies, Hiring Of Old D.C. Hands (VIDEO)

We saw how an elevated Tea Party served Obama & helped him bury real healthcare reform, a public option, through the summer & fall of 2009. Obama disappeared from the public debate, which was especially onerous during the town halls when teabaggers came into prominence & disrupted any real discussion. Obama cut secret deals with Big Insurance, PhRma, hospitals, the AMA, etc., & lied about it.

Elevating the TeaParty to prominence enabled Obama's watered down legislation, making it Republican-like & thus he could deliver to the corporations, move the DemocraticParty even farther to the right in order to attract moderate Republican politicians & their supporters into the Democratic Party.

Expect more of that after November 2nd, when Obama will put more NAFTA-like free trade deals through.

But we can't discuss that and other issues important in this election now, because it's all about witchcraft and Ginny Thomas.

Now if you don't believe that Obama, Emanuel, the DLC, elevated the TeaParty, that it serves their interests, that's fine. But why are you chronically here hurling snark? You're looking like a person obsessed, and it's bordering on harassment. You could easily ignore my posts, but you don't. Instead of trying to look clever (insulting others, no matter how tongue-in-cheek, never makes you look good), why don't you try to articulate what's confusing you, what you don't understand? Or else, move on.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama On 'Daily Show': Stewart Presses President To Defend 'Timid' Policies, Hiring Of Old D.C. Hands (VIDEO)

No matter what the outcome of this election, Obama will spin it as a mandate for continuing a pro-corporate, anti-populist agenda. The TeaParty is an effective nemesis for him, but in fact, they're toothless.

There are only 600 registered nationally, & what they actually are is the Republican base. There are only a handful of them even running, & even if they all won (O'Donnell's 20 points behind in the polls), they'd move to the left as ScottBrown has done ("Sarah Palin, who?") or remain fringe. But in any case they'd be controlled by Republican leadership in the Congress. They're really not a "growing movement" any more than Republicanism is growing -- They're the Republican Party. They're not any more conservative than the party's been for 30 years.

The Democratic Party is utilizing the same fear tactics that Bush-Cheney utilized before elections. Only now it's fear of teabaggers scaling the walls of our democracy with knives between their teeth to behead us, instead of Al Qaeda.

Once the election is over, what Obama & the DLC-Democrats are going to do after November 2nd are things we'd be discussing (and objecting to) now, pre-election, if we had the chance -- More NAFTA-like treaties outsourcing Americans' jobs.

Do you want that?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama On 'Daily Show': Stewart Presses President To Defend 'Timid' Policies, Hiring Of Old D.C. Hands (VIDEO)

It's called the real world, where Obama & politicians operate.

The Koch brothers get a lot of press for their role in the Tea Party's rise, but the truth is that they got a lot of help from Obama, RahmEmanuel & the DLC machine.

Obama came into the WhiteHouse with Republicans not just on the ropes, but on the mat & down for the count. Obama issued a pardon & let them rise again.

After just one month in the White House, instead of going after Republicans & how their failed policies have brought us to the brink of destruction, instead of hammering BushCheneyGOP for our economic woes & wars of choice, Obama & RahmEmanuel went gunning for SarahPalin & RushLimbaugh, two people with no role in the RepublicanParty.

Obama & Emanuel never mentioned MitchMcConnell, JohnBoehner, EricCanter, KarlR0ve, GeorgeW, H.W., JebBush, Cheney, NOBODY who is actually IN the RepublicanParty as the problem. They still don't.

The TeaParty serves them in several ways. If they could choose any Republican to run against in 2012, it would be Palin, and elevating the TeaParty makes that more of a possibility.

It also lets Democrats keep a legislative agenda to the right of center. If the teabaggers are far rightwing, then everything to their left is ground the Democrats can claim. And that's a lot of corporate-money ground.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama's Interview With Progressive Bloggers (FULL TRANSCRIPT)

I wish all of the Dems would give me concrete reasons to stop feeling that way.

==========================================================

Why would they when they know they don't have to -- You'll keep voting for them anyway.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama's Interview With Progressive Bloggers (FULL TRANSCRIPT)

If nothing else from the BushCheney administration was learned, it was how to overwhelm Congress's natural pace & tendencies to achieve your legislative goals. And it wasn't by working in a "bipartisan manner", giving everybody a say and all the time in the world to say it. Without strict timelines and the White House standing over the process with a taser, knocking heads together, asserting authority and insisting on party loyalty, the legislative process meanders into narcosis.

That was DickCheney's purpose in the BushAdministration. That was his contribution, what he'd learned from his time in Congress. It worked in concert with what the FederalistSociety brought to the RepublicanParty: The legal loopholes in the Constitution that the Executive branch could exploit. But that's another story for another day.

Obama & the DLC-Democrats learned the Bush-Cheney lesson. Obama's call for working in a bipartisan manner with Republicans on legislation was the last thing any responsible president who was serious about turning the nation around after the 8 year assault by Bush-Cheney would do. You certainly wouldn't do it with a tenuous hold on a 60-vote majority, with two of the 60 on de@th's door (Kennedy & Byrd).
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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