Spintested: 12/17/10

Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

Friday, December 17, 2010

"The Democrats in Congress had a chance to nip this in the bud BEFORE the mid-terms...and they punted."
==========================================================

That's not accurate.

The short version is that it the White House blocked it, just as the White House blocked a public option throughout the healthcare debate and then in the closing days.

Let's look at the logic and plan for why there was nothing done before the mid-terms: Because the plan was to let Bush's tax cuts expire. If there were to be middle class tax cuts during the Obama administration, it would be separate from Bush's legislation. Even the language that Obama and David Axelrod used almost a month to the day after the midterm elections was out of the GOP talking points ("letting the tax cuts expire will raise taxes") -- That was verboten before the elections and denounced by Democrats whenever Republicans said it. Then within 3 days of Obama and Axelrod saying it (December 3rd), it spread like wildfire throughout the Democratic talking heads on cable and then the media talking heads quickly joined in.

I don't know how anybody can have witnessed the past 2 years, and seen how the Progressive Caucus has folded on every issue and pledge (Obama wouldn't even allow Kucinich to be the one lone hold-out on the healthcare bill) and believe that Democrats aren't marching in lock-step to the White House's orders. There is nothing that's going on in either chamber of Congress that Obama isn't on board with, much less hasn't ordered.

When your party controls both Houses of Congress and the White House, the president (as the head of the party) works with the congressional leadership on how to get through the party's agenda. And with the Democratic Party, they get to use their acting skills, too. The Progressive Caucus has to convince the base it's really fighting for its issues, when what's really uppermost on their agenda is serving their real bosses (transnational corporations).
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Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

I'm one of 'the left'.

I take your point, though.

You need to remember that teabaggers didn't just spring forth on their own initiative. Nor is the Tea Party any real separate and distinct party from the GOP. There are only about 600 registered members to the separate independent Tea Party. All of the others are just the loud noisy base of the Republican party that always could be counted on to call Congress whenever GOP handlers rang the bell.

Not only did the Koch brothers and Dick Armey organize the Republican base into the Tea Party, Obama and Rahm Emanuel pitched in to help.

The Democratic base doesn't have anybody doing that for them. That's why we are a rag-tag unfocused group.
About Eat The Press
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And So Begins The Comeback Narrative

In TWO DAYS!

I got whiplash watching the cable shows.
About Eat The Press
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

And So Begins The Comeback Narrative

"In 2 year's if the Bush tax cut's are rescinded for upper class over $250,000"

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

Why do you think that's going to happen?

You can read my comment page for the rebuttal to everything else you wrote.
About Eat The Press
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And So Begins The Comeback Narrative

Here's a blast from the past - Candidate Obama's own words:

"I don't think we're going to see significant changes in the political culture in Washington until the American people rise up and insist on it"

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

Here's a blast from the past - Candidate Obama's own words:

"I don't think we're going to see significant changes in the political culture in Washington until the American people rise up and insist on it"
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

And So Begins The Comeback Narrative

Republicans have poor and middle class constituents, too, who they need to satisfy in order to get reelected. Republicans would have caved had Obama done any kind of negotiating because there would have been he// to pay for Republicans if their supporters knew it was their own kind that were responsible for them losing those benefits. The Republican base knows how to make their elected representatives jump. Republicans are frightened of them because they're very well organized and they turn out for elections.

By the way, anyone who doesn't know about OFA and how when Obama got into the White House he deactivated it, sidelining the support machinery (13 million activists) that got him into office with the greatest number of votes any candidate has ever gotten in the history of the nation, read in today's WaPo an op-ed by Obama's chief blogger. At the same time Obama deactivated OFA, Obama demanded all progressive outside groups cease their efforts to pass Democratic legislation. He wanted 100 percent control of the message through the White House.

And then Obama did nothing but cave and capitulate. He didn't pressure any Blue Dogs or Republicans on healthcare reform, not on a public option, on nothing.

And, Obama dithered in the two years leading up to the 2010 midterm elections while the GOP wiped out the singlemost effective Democratic voter registration group - Democratic Outside Groups, Voter Reg Drives Fall Flat.

This is an absolutely wretched deal, but standard for Obama. He's got a long record of negotiating lousy deals on ordinary citizens' behalf. If Obama was in private practice & 'Lawyer Obama' had negotiated a deal like this for a client, he'd be sued, successfully, for malpractice.
About Eat The Press
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

And So Begins The Comeback Narrative

Obama isn't negotiating. He hasn't negotiated. Not on this tax cuts deal, not on anything else.

It's not 'compromise' when only one side is doing the conceding, and that's what has been true of every deal that Obama has made on the People's behalf. He gives ground without getting anything in return.

Do you remember when Obama said this?:

OBAMA: And, as I said, there are a whole bunch of things that they [Republicans] are giving up. I mean, the truth of the matter is, from the Republican perspective, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the college tuition tax credit, the Child Tax Credit -- all those things that are so important for so many families across the country -- those are things they really opposed. And so temporarily, they are willing to go along with that, presumably because they think they can beat me on that over the course of the next two years.

Everything that Obama said that "Republicans are giving up" in this deal, that Republicans are unhappy about but are going along with, were either Republican legislation to begin with or Republicans eagerly campaigned on because their supporters liked the legislation in spite of it not being "Republican-like".

Republicans hear from their poor & middle class constituents when they cut government services for the People, like Medicare. Republicans cave when Democrats hold their feet to the fire. [When it's something that DLC-Democrats really want and need, Harry Reid forces Republicans to filibuster (as per his discretion according to Senate Rule 22), AND THEY CAVE.]

Look at what John Boehner said not two months ago!:

'U.S. House Republican Leader John Boehner said he would vote for middle-class tax cuts sought by the Democratic Obama administration even if it means eliminating reductions for wealthier Americans'.

KEEP READING
About Eat The Press
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

Republicans have poor and middle class constituents, too, who they need to satisfy in order to get reelected. Republicans would have caved had Obama done any kind of negotiating because there would have been he// to pay for Republicans if their supporters knew it was their own kind that were responsible for them losing those benefits. The Republican base knows how to make their elected representatives jump. Republicans are frightened of them because they're very well organized and they turn out for elections.

By the way, anyone who doesn't know about OFA and how when Obama got into the White House he deactivated it, sidelining the support machinery (13 million activists) that got him into office with the greatest number of votes any candidate has ever gotten in the history of the nation, read in today's WaPo an op-ed by Obama's chief blogger. At the same time Obama deactivated OFA, Obama demanded all progressive outside groups cease their efforts to pass Democratic legislation. He wanted 100 percent control of the message through the White House.

And then Obama did nothing but cave and capitulate. He didn't pressure any Blue Dogs or Republicans on healthcare reform, not on a public option, on nothing.

And, Obama dithered in the two years leading up to the 2010 midterm elections while the GOP wiped out the singlemost effective Democratic voter registration group - Democratic Outside Groups, Voter Reg Drives Fall Flat.

This is an absolutely wretched deal, but standard for Obama. He's got a long record of negotiating lousy deals on ordinary citizens' behalf. If Obama was in private practice & 'Lawyer Obama' had negotiated a deal like this for a client, he'd be sued, successfully, for malpractice.
About Eat The Press
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

The real question, and what Obama is trying to force Americans to swallow is this:

Was this deal, as Obama claims, the best deal We The People could hope to have gotten?

Not on your life.

If We The People are Obama's client, he's a bad negotiator. If the rich and transnational corporations are Obama's client, then he's masterful. He manages to consistently get amazing deals for them, on their behalf.

It's not 'compromise' when only one side is doing the conceding, and that's what has been true of every deal that Obama has made on the People's behalf.

Do you remember when Obama said this?:

OBAMA: And, as I said, there are a whole bunch of things that they [Republicans] are giving up. I mean, the truth of the matter is, from the Republican perspective, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the college tuition tax credit, the Child Tax Credit -- all those things that are so important for so many families across the country -- those are things they really opposed. And so temporarily, they are willing to go along with that, presumably because they think they can beat me on that over the course of the next two years.

Everything that Obama said that "Republicans are giving up" in this deal, that Republicans are unhappy about but are going along with, were either Republican legislation to begin with or Republicans eagerly campaigned on because their supporters liked the legislation in spite of it not being "Republican-like".

Republicans hear from their poor & middle class constituents when they cut government services for the People, like Medicare. Republicans cave when Democrats hold their feet to the fire. [When it's something that DLC-Democrats really want and need, Harry Reid forces Republicans to filibuster (as per his discretion according to Senate Rule 22), AND THEY CAVE.]

Look at what John Boehner said not two months ago!:

'U.S. House Republican Leader John Boehner said he would vote for middle-class tax cuts sought by the Democratic Obama administration even if it means eliminating reductions for wealthier Americans'.

KEEP READING
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

And So Begins The Comeback Narrative

"Personally, I am very liberal, BUT I am also, VERY realistic about what CAN be accomplished. Unlike YOU...I live in reality...and am not a ideologue. I'm practical."

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

No, you're one of those people who stands for nothing and falls for anything.

We could forget about values and positions altogether, rename the Democratic Party, hang a '~~DEMOCRATIC~~ REPUBLICAN PARTY' sign on the door of the DNC, and all members of Congress would be Democrats? But do you think that's going to do anything about our core differences on issues?

I assume that as a liberal, you're pro-choice. Are you willing to bear the child of your r@p!st when those 'new' Democrats insist that ab0rt!0n be outlawed? When do you finally fight, for anything that you purport to believe in and want?

I suspect you don't fight because we haven't come to anything of 'yours' yet. You're perfectly ok with compromising away other Democrats' issues because they don't impact you. But I'm sure that when we get to one of your issues that Obama trades away, we'll see the hellfire come out. You'd better hope there's someone left to give a d@mn.

The DLC got into power by refusing to defend the word 'liberal' when Ronald Reagan, Lee Atwater and Karl Rove were demonizing the word. Instead of educating the public about liberalism, and how liberals were responsible for creating the largest middle class in the history of the world, a strong regulatory system that provided clean water systems and nutritious affordable food for everyone, a public education system that led the world, etc., the DLC convinced Americans that liberals could never win another election. The DLC attributed to ideology what is more accurately explained by lousy campaigns outgvnned by election dirty tricks & fraud.

What we are dealing with is a corporate takeover of the US government. And Obama is a DINO - A Democrat-In-Name-Only. He's not a "centrist" as has been sold to us from his entry onto the national stage -- "Privately, Obama describes himself as a Blue Dog Democrat."

Blue Dog Democrat = REPUBLICAN

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, changing its name to 'bee' isn't going to get you any honey.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

"Personally, I am very liberal, BUT I am also, VERY realistic about what CAN be accomplished. Unlike YOU...I live in reality...and am not a ideologue. I'm practical."

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

No, you're one of those people who stands for nothing and falls for anything.

We could forget about values and positions altogether, rename the Democratic Party, hang a '~~DEMOCRATIC~~ REPUBLICAN PARTY' sign on the door of the DNC, and all members of Congress would be Democrats? But do you think that's going to do anything about our core differences on issues?

I assume that as a liberal, you're pro-choice. Are you willing to bear the child of your r@p!st when those 'new' Democrats insist that ab0rt!0n be outlawed? When do you finally fight, for anything that you purport to believe in and want?

I suspect you don't fight because we haven't come to anything of 'yours' yet. You're perfectly ok with compromising away other Democrats' issues because they don't impact you. But I'm sure that when we get to one of your issues that Obama trades away, we'll see the hellfire come out. You'd better hope there's someone left to give a d@mn.

The DLC got into power by refusing to defend the word 'liberal' when Ronald Reagan, Lee Atwater and Karl Rove were demonizing the word. Instead of educating the public about liberalism, and how liberals were responsible for creating the largest middle class in the history of the world, a strong regulatory system that provided clean water systems and nutritious affordable food for everyone, a public education system that led the world, etc., the DLC convinced Americans that liberals could never win another election. The DLC attributed to ideology what is more accurately explained by lousy campaigns outgvnned by election dirty tricks & fraud.

What we are dealing with is a corporate takeover of the US government. And Obama is a DINO - A Democrat-In-Name-Only. He's not a "centrist" as has been sold to us from his entry onto the national stage -- "Privately, Obama describes himself as a Blue Dog Democrat."

Blue Dog Democrat = REPUBLICAN

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, changing its name to 'bee' isn't going to get you any honey.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

David Cay Johnston on Democracy Now!:

"The bottom roughly 45 million families in America or households in America—and there are a little over 100 million households—they’re going to actually see their taxes go up. Republicans got an extraordinarily good deal, that raises, I think, basic questions about the negotiating skills of the President."

About Eat The Press
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

"President Obama says that this is the best deal he can get and better than he is likely to get in the coming Congress. I believe that this whole debacle was entirely avoidable and should be laid squarely at his feet."

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

Alan Grayson - "Obama's Deal Is Really 'Obama's Surrender to GOP":

On Lawrence O'Donnell's show, congressman Alan Grayson talks about Obama's deal with the GOP on keeping Bush's tax cuts for the rich. "You can always reach an agreement when you give up"

Also, "This deadline that we've been talking about iis an artificial deadline. We change taxes retroactively all the time. The president can direct the IRS to keep withholding rates exactly where they are so that nobody is hit by higher rates on January 1st."

See the clip.

By the way, there is still plenty of time before 12/31 to break up this bill and pass tax cuts for the middle class alone (if that is so desired -- I'm in the middle class and I'm willing to forego a tax cut in order to bring down the deficit, which will have a much greater benefit on our economy overall and to me and all others in the poor and middle classes). Legislation can get done in ONE day, if politicians want it to happen.

If it doesn't pass, if Republicans want to pass this massive giftbag after they take control over the House next month, let them. Obama can veto it. If Republicans override it, it's on the Republicans' heads, and let them run on it in 2012.

But let's remember that Republicans, with the smallest minority than any other in Congress in something like 116 years, were able to block everything the Democrats tried to do these last 4 years.

Is anybody seriously suggesting that Democrats aren't capable of doing the same thing?

Or are Democratic voters going to finally figure out that Democrats in Congress and the White House don't want what their constituents want?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

Then you better stop blindly following Obama and demand that he work in Democratic voters' best interests instead of caving to Republicans.

You and Obama's most ardent supporters who keep his numbers up hold the key.

If you don't want to see Republicans take over the White House, it's in your hands.
About Eat The Press
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

Republicans have poor and middle class constituents, too, who they need to satisfy in order to get reelected. Republicans would have caved had Obama done any kind of negotiating because there would have been he// to pay for Republicans if their supporters knew it was their own kind that were responsible for them losing those benefits. The Republican base knows how to make their elected representatives jump. Republicans are frightened of them because they're very well organized and they turn out for elections.

This is an absolutely wretched deal, but standard for Obama. He's got a long record of negotiating lousy deals on ordinary citizens' behalf. If Obama was in private practice & 'Lawyer Obama' had negotiated a deal like this for a client, he'd be sued, successfully, for malpractice.
About Eat The Press
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

The real question, and what Obama is trying to force Americans to swallow is this:

Was this deal, as Obama claims, the best deal We The People could hope to have gotten?

Not on your life.

If We The People are Obama's client, he's a bad negotiator.

If the rich and transnational corporations are Obama's client, then he's masterful. He manages to consistently get amazing deals for them, on their behalf.

Do you remember when Obama said this?:

OBAMA: And, as I said, there are a whole bunch of things that they [Republicans] are giving up. I mean, the truth of the matter is, from the Republican perspective, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the college tuition tax credit, the Child Tax Credit -- all those things that are so important for so many families across the country -- those are things they really opposed. And so temporarily, they are willing to go along with that, presumably because they think they can beat me on that over the course of the next two years.

Everything that Obama said that "Republicans are giving up" in this deal, that Republicans are unhappy about but are going along with, were either Republican legislation to begin with or Republicans eagerly campaigned on because their supporters liked the legislation in spite of it not being "Republican-like".

Republicans hear from their poor & middle class constituents when they cut government services for the People, like Medicare. Republicans cave when Democrats hold their feet to the fire. [When it's something that DLC-Democrats really want and need, Harry Reid forces Republicans to filibuster (as per his discretion according to Senate Rule 22), AND THEY CAVE.]

Look at what John Boehner said not two months ago!:

'U.S. House Republican Leader John Boehner said he would vote for middle-class tax cuts sought by the Democratic Obama administration even if it means eliminating reductions for wealthier Americans'.

KEEP READING
About Eat The Press
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

Unemployment rose to 9.8% two weeks ago. There have been 3 million home foreclosures so far in this meltdown with another 11 million in the pipeline. 11 MILLION. That's 15 million families about to lose their homes. With these foreclosures come another wave of job losses, more business downturns which will lead to another round of both home and commercial real estate foreclosures.

Like all other deals that Obama has 'negotiated', he just completed another NAFTA-like trade deal, this time with S. Korea. This is bad for the American people -- More Americans' job will be moving overseas.

99ers (millions of unemployed) aren't covered in this deal.

Of the 6 million people currently receiving unemployment benefits, Obama's deal covers only 2 million, & many of them will get crumbs from his deal -- In spite of the 13-month extension, benefits will be cut off for many of those in the coming months when they reach 99-weeks. And only 25 states out of 53 states/territories in/of the US have 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, so that's even fewer still.

This is an absolutely wretched deal, but standard for Obama, who has a long record of negotiating lousy deals on ordinary citizens' behalf. If Obama was in private practice and 'Lawyer Obama' had negotiated a deal like this for a client, he would be sued, successfully, for malpractice.

The purpose of this deal is so that political operatives can say on websites like this one, "Obama helped the unemployed", and most won't know the actual facts of how Obama sold out the American people. Again.

The more we see of Obama in action, the more 'deals' he makes, the more people realize what a fraud Obama is, and a continuation of the cruel policies of Bush-Cheney. We need another FDR.
About Eat The Press
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

Obama's presidency = A continuation of the cruel & avaricious policies of Bush-Cheney
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

And So Begins The Comeback Narrative

Obama's presidency = A continuation of the cruel & avaricious policies of Bush-Cheney
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Compromise Leaves Ardent Obama Supporters Disillusioned

Friday, December 17, 2010
Why is Obama leaving the grass roots on the sidelines?
By Sam Graham-Felsen

[...]

Obama entered the White House with more than a landslide victory over Sen. John McCain. He brought with him a vast network of supporters, instantly reachable through an unprecedented e-mail list of 13 million people. These supporters were not just left-wing activists but a broad coalition that included the young, African Americans, independents and even Republicans - and they were ready to be mobilized.

[...]

It's not just the 13 million on the Obama campaign's email list being held down, but Obama and the DLC-controlled Democratic Party told groups usually identified as Democratic supporters to stand down and not run campaigns to get populist legislation like a public option through because the White House wanted top-down control over all activities to get whatever legislation it wanted to get passed into law.

I think the best comparison for what Obama did when he deactivated the email list and had Democratic activists stand down is to Bush attacking and invading and occupying Iraq, and then firing the Iraqi army and disbanding the Baath Party. It left millions of Iraqis without any income, the nation in rubble and ruin without electricity, water, government services, no functioning infrastructure or rule of law.

Although Rumsfeld and Bush denied it, I think he did it to create an atmosphere of chaos in order to push Iraqis into becoming insurgents, which would provide the neocons with an excuse for remaining in Iraq and occupying it for years and decades.

What possible reason could Obama have for neutralizing the activist wing of the Democratic Party, and then blame not getting real Democratic legislation passed on not being able to move Blue Dogs and Republicans to support it when Obama never even tried?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

And So Begins The Comeback Narrative

Friday, December 17, 2010
Why is Obama leaving the grass roots on the sidelines?
By Sam Graham-Felsen

[...]

Obama entered the White House with more than a landslide victory over Sen. John McCain. He brought with him a vast network of supporters, instantly reachable through an unprecedented e-mail list of 13 million people. These supporters were not just left-wing activists but a broad coalition that included the young, African Americans, independents and even Republicans - and they were ready to be mobilized.

[...]

It's not just the 13 million on the Obama campaign's email list being held down, but Obama and the DLC-controlled Democratic Party told groups usually identified as Democratic supporters to stand down and not run campaigns to get populist legislation like a public option through because the White House wanted top-down control over all activities to get whatever legislation it wanted to get passed into law.

I think the best comparison for what Obama did when he deactivated the email list and had Democratic activists stand down is to Bush attacking and invading and occupying Iraq, and then firing the Iraqi army and disbanding the Baath Party. It left millions of Iraqis without any income, the nation in rubble and ruin without electricity, water, government services, no functioning infrastructure or rule of law.

Although Rumsfeld and Bush denied it, I think he did it to create an atmosphere of chaos in order to push Iraqis into becoming insurgents, which would provide the neocons with an excuse for remaining in Iraq and occupying it for years and decades.

What possible reason could Obama have for neutralizing the activists wing of the Democratic Party, and then blame not getting real Democratic legislation passed on not being able to move Blue Dogs and Republicans to support it when Obama never even tried?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

And So Begins The Comeback Narrative

Unemployment rose to 9.8% two weeks ago. There have been 3 million home foreclosures so far in this meltdown with another 11 million in the pipeline. 11 MILLION. That's 15 million families about to lose their homes. With these foreclosures come another wave of job losses, more business downturns which will lead to another round of both home and commercial real estate foreclosures.

Like all other deals that Obama has 'negotiated', he just completed another NAFTA-like trade deal, this time with S. Korea. This is bad for the American people -- More Americans' job will be moving overseas.

99ers (millions of unemployed) aren't covered in this deal.

Of the 6 million people currently receiving unemployment benefits, Obama's deal covers only 2 million, & many of them will get crumbs from his deal -- In spite of the 13-month extension, benefits will be cut off for many of those in the coming months when they reach 99-weeks. And only 25 states out of 53 states/territories in/of the US have 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, so that's even fewer still.

This is an absolutely wretched deal, but standard for Obama, who has a long record of negotiating lousy deals on ordinary citizens' behalf. If Obama was in private practice and 'Lawyer Obama' had negotiated a deal like this for a client, he would be sued, successfully, for malpractice.

The purpose of this deal is so that political operatives can say on websites like this one, "Obama helped the unemployed", and most won't know the actual facts of how Obama sold out the American people. Again.

The more we see of Obama in action, the more 'deals' he makes, the more people realize what a fraud Obama is, and a continuation of the cruel policies of Bush-Cheney. We need another FDR, and all we're getting are words reframing Obama's deals with the GOP to lead us to believe we're really getting great deals..
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

And So Begins The Comeback Narrative

Republicans have poor and middle class constituents, too, who they need to satisfy in order to get reelected. Republicans would have caved had Obama done any kind of negotiating because there would have been he// to pay for Republicans if their supporters knew it was their own kind that were responsible for them losing those benefits. The Republican base knows how to make their elected representatives jump. Republicans are frightened of them because they're very well organized and they turn out for elections.

This is an absolutely wretched deal, but standard for Obama. He's got a long record of negotiating lousy deals on ordinary citizens' behalf. If Obama was in private practice & 'Lawyer Obama' had negotiated a deal like this for a client, he'd be sued, successfully, for malpractice.
About Eat The Press
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

And So Begins The Comeback Narrative

The real question, and what Obama is trying to force Americans to swallow is this:

Was this deal, as Obama claims, the best deal We The People could hope to have gotten?

Not on your life.

If We The People are Obama's client, he's a bad negotiator.

If the rich and transnational corporations are Obama's client, then he's masterful. He manages to consistently get amazing deals for them, on their behalf.

Do you remember when Obama said this?:

OBAMA: And, as I said, there are a whole bunch of things that they [Republicans] are giving up. I mean, the truth of the matter is, from the Republican perspective, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the college tuition tax credit, the Child Tax Credit -- all those things that are so important for so many families across the country -- those are things they really opposed. And so temporarily, they are willing to go along with that, presumably because they think they can beat me on that over the course of the next two years.

Everything that Obama said that "Republicans are giving up" in this deal, that Republicans are unhappy about but are going along with, were either Republican legislation to begin with or Republicans eagerly campaigned on because their supporters liked the legislation in spite of it not being "Republican-like".

Republicans hear from their poor & middle class constituents when they cut government services for the People, like Medicare. Republicans cave when Democrats hold their feet to the fire. [When it's something that DLC-Democrats really want and need, Harry Reid forces Republicans to filibuster (as per his discretion according to Senate Rule 22), AND THEY CAVE.]

Look at what John Boehner said not two months ago!:

'U.S. House Republican Leader John Boehner said he would vote for middle-class tax cuts sought by the Democratic Obama administration even if it means eliminating reductions for wealthier Americans'.

KEEP READING
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

And So Begins The Comeback Narrative

Look what US Taxpayers funded & What Obama's Covering Up --

CIA gave waterboarders $5M legal shield:

When the CIA decided to waterboard suspected terror detainees in overseas prisons, the agency turned to a pair of contractors. The men designed the CIA's interrogation program and also personally took part in the waterboarding sessions.

But to do the job, the CIA had to promise to cover at least $5 million in legal fees for them in case there was trouble down the road, former U.S. officials said.

Turns out the contractors needed that secret agreement as taxpayers pay to defend the men in a federal investigation over an interrogation tactic the United States now says is torture. The deal is even more generous than the protections the agency typically provides its own officers, giving the two men access to more money to finance their defenses.

It has long been known that psychologists Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen created the CIA's interrogation program. But former U.S. intelligence officials said Mitchell and Jessen also repeatedly subjected terror suspects inside CIA-run secret prisons to waterboarding, a simulated drowning tactic.

The revelation of the contractors' involvement is the first known confirmation of any individuals who conducted waterboarding at the so-called black sites, underscoring just how much the agency relied on outside help in its most sensitive interrogations.

Normally, CIA officers buy insurance to cover possible legal bills. It costs about $300 a year for $1 million in coverage. Today, the CIA pays the premiums for most officers, but at the height of the war on terrorism, officers had to pay half.

The Mitchell and Jessen arrangement, known as an "indemnity promise," was structured differently. Unlike CIA officers, whose identities are classified, Mitchell and Jessen were public citizens who received some of the earliest scrutiny by reporters and lawmakers. The two wanted more protection.

The agency agreed to pay the legal bills for the psychologists' firm, Mitchell, Jessen & Associates, directly from CIA accounts, according to several interviews with the former officials, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why Is Obama Leaving The Grass Roots On The Sidelines?

OFA "being active" isn't the issue.

You had difficulty in school, didn't you? ADD? This isn't the first time you've had problems grasping the point or following an argument. Your hostile response to my argument that shows the problem with what's led you to trust in Obama is another indicator.

As you show us all, Obama's 'most ardent supporters' are the problem at hand, and the obstacle to getting Obama and DLC-Democrats to deliver on their campaign promises and work in all of our best interests instead of the GOP's and the corporations'.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

CNN Teaming With Tea Party For Republican Presidential Debate

i guess you haven't been listening to Thom Hartmann lately

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

Not in the last couple of days. What have I missed? Has he interviewed Obama or the 2012 candidates for the presidency and Congress?

I guess that you don't actually listen to/read Ezra Klein, and don't know what I'm referring to.

It's not that Ezra arrives at different conclusions than I want him to: Ezra fails to get or take relevant facts into consideration when he forms his opinions, so, GIGO.

With regard to his appearance on Lawrence O'Donnell's show, he disagreed with Alan Grayson's argument stating that Grayson was wrong based solely on his trusting Larry Summers' assertions to him. Grayson's argument was based on documents the administration gave to him and all members of Congress. If I have to judge which of the two is accurate, I'm going with Grayson because the White House is not going to put a I!e in with the few facts of the framework for this deal on paper to members of Congress (particularly to members of the president's own party). To Ezra Klein, basically a stenographer whom the White House is winding up to go sell this deal to the public, yes, Larry Summers will have no trouble 'misspeaking'.

When you go back and look at Ezra Klein's reports and appearances throughout the healthcare debate, you would have thought that he would have learned his lesson about trusting this administration and what they told him in private.
About CNN
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CNN Teaming With Tea Party For Republican Presidential Debate

Are liberals/progressives ever going to get it together so that non-mainstream media journalists from the left can get a shot at grilling Obama and holding presidential debates?

I'd like to see candidates, and Obama, facing a panel that includes these journalists: Amy Goodman, Laura Flanders, Matt Taibbi, Jeremy Scahill, Rachel Maddow, Thom Hartmann, Glen Greenwald, Jane Hamsher, and a few others. I used to have Ezra Klein on this list, but after last week's Lawrence O'Donnell show where it was clear that he's been getting played by the Obama administration (Larry Summers has been taking advantage of Klein's youth and trusting nature); he's useless for getting to the truth.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why Is Obama Leaving The Grass Roots On The Sidelines?

As do I. From OFA, from Jen O'Malley Dillon, from Tim Kaine, et al, and when you follow the issues closely alongside the communications from the White House, the Democratic Party, the Obama campaign, you pick-up some of the gimmicky of it. Obama has a habit and pattern of doing the bare minimum possible, like sending OFA email at the last possible moment, just so that supporters can say, "Look at what he did!" 'Plausible deniability' might be the slogan for Obama's career in office.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why Is Obama Leaving The Grass Roots On The Sidelines?

Now you just got that today, correct?

The vote is tomorrow.

You're supposed to call Vondelette, and then Vondelette is supposed to call her senators. Tick tock, time is running out. You don't start a campaign like this the day before the vote is to be taken. On Friday this close to Ch!stmas, when Vondelette is probably on her way to an office holiday party. Or perhaps you are.

Obama has a habit and pattern of doing the bare minimum possible, like sending OFA email at the last possible moment, just so that he (and you) can say, "Look at what he did!" 'Plausible deniability' might be the slogan for his career in office.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why Is Obama Leaving The Grass Roots On The Sidelines?

"not as liberal as he was being painted"?

Obama's not any kind of a liberal or progressive.

Obama is a DINO - A Democrat-In-Name-Only. Publicly he was sold as a centrist, but the political operatives' whisper campaign was that he was a progressive who had to vote as he did on the FISA bill in July 2008 to fooI the Independents into believing he was a centrist.

Last week in the NYT -- "Privately, Obama describes himself as a Blue Dog Democrat."

Blue Dog Democrat = REPUBLICAN

The proof is in the pudding. His actions. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, changing its name to 'bee' isn't going to get you any honey. There's nothing centrist about Obama. He spins the legislation he's gotten passed as centrist, but it's not. All you have to do is read it. It's thoroughly pro-corporate Republican.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why Is Obama Leaving The Grass Roots On The Sidelines?

Democratic voters did not put Obama and Democrats into power to get them insurance.

Obama and Democrats were put into the majority to get affordable quality medical treatment for all.

Having insurance does not mean being able to get treatment, and certainly not affordable treatment.

Politicians rely on confusing and fooling constituents through wordplay.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why Is Obama Leaving The Grass Roots On The Sidelines?

but I just got an email from OFA today linking me to a call center so I can call on DADT repeal.

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

You didn't actually click on it, did you?

Go do it and tell me what happens.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Are The Long-Term Unemployed Saved Or Screwed?

Keep in mind three very important facts:

#1 - Many people who have been foreclosed on or who are about to be foreclosed on have lost their jobs, making it impossible for them to make mortgage payments. When they were employed, they could make the mortgage, and that leads to the next really important consideration...

#2 - Those people who you are blaming are no different than those who were bailed out with TARP monies for having taken a risk. In the past decade, since Gramm Bliley Leach overturned Glass Steagle, the People, who have been losing economic ground for decades and have no knowledge or expertise in stock trading turned to the one investment venue left to them -- Real estate. Home buying. First time buyers were encouraged to purchase, and way above their means, because "real estate prices are rising faster than inflation", and "if you don't buy now, you'll be priced out of the market and will never be able to afford to purchase in your lifetime", and, "As the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, and as the price of homes has been rising so fast, you'll be able to refinance your home in 2-5 years when that balloon payment is due, or you'll have gotten a COL raise in your wages, so this loan won't pose any problems for you".

The government not only made this possible, the government WANTED this to happen. Why? Because with the People being robbed blind by Bush-Cheney (wars not paid for, Social Security & Medicare and all social programs being set up for gutting due to Bush's tax cuts for the rich which require borrowing from China and Saudi Arabia and Japan), to keep them thinking that they're also getting a piece of the action, they saw their homes appreciating in value and were able to take money out of them through refinancing (for keeping up with rising living costs, or remodeling, etc.). Those people who you are blaming actually greased the economy for everyone else. You included.

#3 - You somehow think that you're immune if these homes are foreclosed on. You're going down, too. We all are if what's in the pipeline happens. It's like a trickle-down, only not really -- it'll be a BLOWOUT. Go to that link.
About Careers
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Why Is Obama Leaving The Grass Roots On The Sidelines?

Sam Graham-Felsen isn't talking about the OFA begging for money from those on the list.

During the health-care battle, rather than rallying the grass roots behind a public option - a provision Obama repeatedly supported and a clear majority of Americans backed - supporters were told to voice generalized support for "reform." In an e-mail from OFA, I was asked to call my senator, Chuck Schumer, a clear champion of the health-care plan that included a public option. Why not ask people to target centrist Democrats who were blocking reform, such as Max Baucus? It may have been counterproductive for me, a Brooklynite, to call a Montana senator's office, but at the very least I could have been asked to call OFA members in Montana and urge them to pressure Baucus.

About Bush Tax Cuts
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Why Is Obama Leaving The Grass Roots On The Sidelines?

Rich text (bold, italics, hyperlinks, underline, strikethru, blockquote) and increased word count comes with the pundit badge.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why Is Obama Leaving The Grass Roots On The Sidelines?

Friday, December 17, 2010
Why is Obama leaving the grass roots on the sidelines?
By Sam Graham-Felsen

But there's a larger problem looming.

Obama needs twice as much grass-roots support in the next election - and he's not going to get it by sidelining his supporters. If he continues to play politics as usual, Obama risks alienating not just the left but anyone who believed in the promise of bringing change to Washington.

Obama needs this list in 2012 - and he needs its members to dig much deeper than in the last election. The CitizensUnited ruling has allowed campaigns to become an unprecedented corporate cash free-for-all - and Obama will likely need to raise far more than $500 million from the grass roots to be competitive.

While Obama's political team intensely focuses on independents, the grassroots list seems like an afterthought. Every time Obama chooses to compromise behind closed doors, & keeps OFA quiet, he might win over a few independents. But he's also conveying a message that the grassroots doesn't really matter, that the bottom-up ethos of his candidacy doesn't apply to his presidency.

On Thursday, Obama and WhiteHouse staff met with a group of OFA volunteers who presented survey data and anecdotes on the state of the grass-roots base since the midterm elections. This is a positive sign, but the White House should move beyond gestures. Obama needs a senior adviser whose job is to be a liaison to the movement that elected him. This person needs to be in the room in senior-level strategy meetings, asking: How is this going to impact the list? What message will this send to the grass roots?

"sidelining his supporters"???

This young, misguided young man, still doesn't understand that Obama isn't the 'leftist' that the 13 million on the email list are or think Obama is. Obama wants those 13 million sidelined. Look at the pro-corporate legislation Obama's been able to get through when the 13 million and the traditional Democratic-supporting groups are sidelined: Healthcare legislation that doesn't deliver affordable, quality medical treatment to everyone, but is in actuality a cataclysmic money sink, a massive transfer of wealth from citizens to private insurance companies with no cost controls or treatment guarantees; and finance reform that wouldn't have prevented the economic meltdown and won't prevent it happening again; and extending Bush's tax cuts and added gifts like estate tax relief.

Obama's going to do just fine getting donations after the CU decision from the corporations that he's gotten windfalls for.

The 13 million 'leftist independents' on the list, however, aren't going to have any money to donate to anyone.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why Is Obama Leaving The Grass Roots On The Sidelines?

Friday, December 17, 2010
Why is Obama leaving the grass roots on the sidelines?
By Sam Graham-Felsen

I worked as Obama's chief blogger during his presidential campaign, and my primary focus was telling the stories of these supporters, many of whom had never been engaged in politics or were reengaging after years of disillusionment. There was a common thread in my conversations with the hundreds of people who gave time, sweat and small donations - that amounted to $500 million - to Obama's campaign.

They were inspired by Obama's promise to upend Washington by governing from the bottom up. "The change we need doesn't come from Washington," Obama told them. "It comes to Washington."
Yet at seemingly every turn, Obama has chosen to play an inside game. Instead of actively engaging supporters in major legislative battles, Obama has told them to sit tight as he makes compromises behind closed doors.

During the battle over tax cuts, Obama's grass-roots network, Organizing for America, was silent. An OFA spokesman said that the network would engage supporters when the time is "ripe." But many people feel the time is ripe now - that tax cuts for millionaires in the midst of cuts in basic services and a spiraling deficit are unacceptable - and they don't understand why Obama won't let them fight.

During the health-care battle, rather than rallying the grass roots behind a public option - a provision Obama repeatedly supported and a clear majority of Americans backed - supporters were told to voice generalized support for "reform." In an e-mail from OFA, I was asked to call my senator, Chuck Schumer, a clear champion of the health-care plan that included a public option. Why not ask people to target centrist Democrats who were blocking reform, such as Max Baucus? It may have been counterproductive for me, a Brooklynite, to call a Montana senator's office, but at the very least I could have been asked to call OFA members in Montana and urge them to pressure Baucus.

If the White House wants to keep its grass-roots supporters at bay during major legislative fights, that's its choice.

This young man's mistake (and the mistake of all of Obama's 'most ardent supporters') is being loyal to a man who they thought held the same values and wanted the same goals that they wanted, instead of keeping a healthy distance and skepticism of a career politician, maintaining their power over him and issues by pulling out all the stops to get the policies they thought Obama stood for.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why Is Obama Leaving The Grass Roots On The Sidelines?

Friday, December 17, 2010
Why is Obama leaving the grass roots on the sidelines?
By Sam Graham-Felsen

Obama entered the White House with more than a landslide victory over Sen. John McCain. He brought with him a vast network of supporters, instantly reachable through an unprecedented e-mail list of 13 million people. These supporters were not just left-wing activists but a broad coalition that included the young, African Americans, independents and even Republicans - and they were ready to be mobilized.

It's not just the 13 million on the Obama campaign's email list being held down, but Obama and the DLC-controlled Democratic Party told groups usually identified as Democratic supporters to stand down, as the White House wanted top-down control over all activities to get Democratic legislation passed.

The best comparison of what Obama did is to when Bush attacked, invaded and occupied Iraq and then fired the Iraqi army and disbanded the Baath Party. It left millions of Iraqis without any income, the nation in rubble and ruin without electricity, water, government services, no functioning structure or operating laws. Bush did it to create an atmosphere of chaos and push Iraqis into becoming insurgents, which would be Bush's excuse for remaining in and occupying Iraq for years and decades.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Are The Long-Term Unemployed Saved Or Screwed?

THERE ARE NO JOBS.

Unemployment rose to 9.8% two weeks ago. There have been 3 million home foreclosures so far in this meltdown with another 11 million in the pipeline. 11 MILLION. That's 15 million families about to lose their homes. With these foreclosures come another wave of job losses, more business downturns which will lead to another round of both home and commercial real estate foreclosures.

Like all other deals that Obama has 'negotiated', this latest one (another NAFTA-like trade deal, this time with S. Korea) is bad for the American people -- More Americans' job will be moving overseas.

99ers (millions of unemployed) aren't covered in this deal.

Of the 6 million people currently receiving unemployment benefits, Obama's deal covers only 2 million, & many of them will get crumbs from his deal -- In spite of the 13-month extension, benefits will be cut off for many of those in the coming months when they reach 99-weeks. And only 25 states out of 53 states/territories in/of the US have 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, so that's even fewer still.

This is an absolutely wretched deal, but standard for Obama, who has a long record of negotiating lousy deals on ordinary citizens' behalf. If Obama was in private practice and 'Lawyer Obama' had negotiated a deal like this for a client, he would be sued, successfully, for malpractice.

The purpose of this deal is so that political operatives can say on websites like this one, "Obama helped the unemployed", and most won't know the actual facts of how Obama sold out the American people. Again.

The more we see of Obama in action, the more 'deals' he makes, the more people realize what a fraud Obama is, and a continuation of the cruel policies of Bush-Cheney. We need another FDR.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Package Passed By Congress: See The Bill's Highlights

No, it shortchanges the Social Security trust fund. Makes it 'lighter'. So now we have DLC-Democrats picking up where Bush and Grover Nordquist left off when they bankrupted the nation in order to end the New Deal programs that have kept millions of people out of poverty and from living in the streets for 75 years.

If you have parents and grandparents on social security, you're going to have to find some money to help subsidize them, or move in with them to keep them from starving and living on a sidewalk.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Package Passed By Congress: See The Bill's Highlights

Saudi Arabia and Iran, too.

Yes, the US Treasury has been selling our debt, and refuses to tell us who owns us -- That's been legal (keeping it secret) since the 1970s.

P.S. The Saudis then turn around and finance groups like Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Hamas, etc. Hillary says so in a cable that W!k!leaks published.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Cut Package Passed By Congress: See The Bill's Highlights

What do you do for a living?

Even if that were true (that CEOs work more hours in a day than others barely scraping by), did you know there are people who work two jobs equaling more than 80 hours a week, without benefits, and still are at poverty levels? Also true: Two full-time income families at poverty levels.
There are still 24 hours in a day.

Here is Forbes's list of CEO compensation for 2010.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

House Passes Tax Deal 277-148, Sending Bill To President

With your statement that you will still vote for Obama in 2012, you guarantee that he and Democrats will sell you out many times over before then.

For others reading this, frustrated over how to reach voters like KewlJoJo, you can't until you deal with his lack of self-esteem. And that appears to be a national problem. It's an interesting paradox in that our foreign and military policies are 'muscular', tough talk, but it's covering a poor self-image, fear, and a general distrust of others. We'll take crumbs from our elected public servants, and we'll believe we're not entitled to that which we've paid for many times over into the system, and then we have to turn around and rob other nations of their resources. And it's not for us, but for the investor class.

The nation as a whole needs to see a headshrinker.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

House Passes Tax Deal 277-148, Sending Bill To President

99ers (millions of unemployed) aren't covered.

Of the 6 million people receiving unemployment benefits, Obama's deal covers only 2 million, & many of them will get crumbs from his deal -- In spite of the 13-month extension, benefits will be cut off for many of those in the coming months when they reach 99-weeks. And only 25 states out of 53 states/territories in/of the US have 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, so that's even fewer still.

This is an absolutely wretched deal, but standard for Obama, who has a long record of negotiating lousy deals on ordinary citizens' behalf. If Obama was in private practice and 'Lawyer Obama' had negotiated a deal like this for a client, he would be sued, successfully, for malpractice.

The purpose of this deal is so that political operatives can say on websites like this one, "Obama helped the unemployed", and most won't know the actual facts of how Obama sold out the American people. Again.

The more we see of Obama in action, the more 'deals' he makes, the more people realize what a fraud Obama is, and a continuation of the cruel policies of Bush-Cheney.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

David Wu: 2 For 1 Deal On Tax Cuts And Jobless Aid Goes Against Core Democratic Values

THERE ARE NO JOBS.

Unemployment is rising. Like all other deals that Obama has 'negotiated', this latest one (another NAFTA-like trade deal, this time with S. Korea) is bad for the American people -- More Americans' job will be moving overseas.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

House Passes Tax Deal 277-148, Sending Bill To President

Bush happened because of the pardoning of Nixon. The Nixon pardon happened because of Cheney & Rumsfeld. These are not just disconnected events. These people have been up to mischief for a long while. They never got over Watergate & their fall from grace. They never believed they did anything wrong.

Running from these facts isn't going to make the Nixon-Reagan-Bush-Cheney-GOP-Conservatives behave, or go away. Waiting them out, until they d!e, isn't going to end it -- They've raised & trained an army of 'true believers' to carry on after they're gone.

Investigations and trials go a long way in dealing with that. It's not their minds you want to change, but the millions of Americans who never knew the facts. They broke the law, and we enforce the law so that people KNOW the laws and live by them. If People don't agree with the laws, if they don't like the laws, they can change the laws. But the People have to have a direct experience and understanding of the laws before they can change them. And that's how you get an informed, healthy and active democracy. With a knowledgeable electorate.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

House Passes Tax Deal 277-148, Sending Bill To President

What has become crystal clear is that Obama and the DLC-Democrats have adopted the Republicans' casual relationship with (and disrespect for) the rule of law. Preserving the rule of law underpins how the US has been the most successful, longest running democracy in world history.

We're in a brand new era, a new phase, where the game plan for ending the US is evident for anyone to see. And it begins and ends with the rule of law. By refusing to investigate and prosecute Bush, by "looking forward, not back", Obama has broken the covenant that the American people have with their government.

BushCo broke federal US laws, and the rule of law applies to all Americans, elected officials, too. Elected officials especially.

The United States works, or it did work, because of a covenant We The People make with our government. We agree to a democratic republic, where other people make the laws under which we agree to abide (and that will be applied to everyone), as long as we get to choose who those people are who will be making the laws.

It is under those conditions that we consent to be governed.

When we no longer trust in the process, when we no longer trust that the selection process by which our elected representatives is fair and accurate, or that the laws don't apply equally to all, then all bets are off.

And no government can stand once that happens.

For a president of the United States not to equally apply the law to all people, presidents, too, means that the grand experiment is over.

Not prosecuting BushCo is destroying the country. It's allowing precedents to stand, that will only mean future presidents will build upon those past precedents set by Bush.

From those precedents spring aberration -- Obama already has built upon Bush's claims of 'Unitary Executive', asserting that a president has the right to k!ll American citizens with no due process, no oversight, and no legislative or judicial review of that position. Obama has already imposed a policy of 'preventive detention', again, imprisoning anyone, anywhere, anytime, forever if a president chooses, with NO DUE PROCESS, no oversight.

How any Democrat defends that is beyond my understanding.

KEEP READING
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

House Passes Tax Deal 277-148, Sending Bill To President

What we're dealing with is a corporate takeover of both parties.

Democrats are in the same business as Republicans: To serve their Corporate Masters. Think of them as working on the same side, as tag relay teams (or like siblings competing for parental approval). 'Good cop/bad cop'. One side (Republicans) makes brazen frontal assaults on the People, and when the People have had enough, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric.

Once in power, Democrats consolidate Republicans' gains from previous years, and continue on with Republican policies but renamed, with new advertising campaigns. They throw the People a few bones, but once Democrats leave office, we learn that those bones really weren't what We, the People thought they were.

Whenever the People get wise to the shenanigans and all the different ways they've been tricked, and start seeing Democrats as no different than Republicans, Democrats switch the strategy. They invent new reasons for failing to achieve the People's business.

Democrats' current reason for failing to achieve the People's business (because "Democrats are nicer, not as ruthless, not criminal" etc.) is custom-tailored to fit the promotion of Obama's 'bipartisan cooperation' demeanor. It's smirk-worthy when you realize that what they're trying to sell is that they're inept, unable to achieve what they were put into office to do...And their ineptitude, like that's somehow "a good thing".

Obama's 'job', as he sees it, is to deliver to the top 2%. No amount of begging, imploring, wishing, pleading with Obama is going to move him off of that, as we've already seen with his plummeting job approval numbers.

KEEP READING
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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