The root of progressive despair
[Posted by Karl]
What causes the Democrats and the establishment media to hysterically accuse Republicans of being terrorists?
Perhaps it is the crisis in confidence we see from people like Kevin Drum:
Public opinion is everything. Ronald Reagan was successful because public opinion supported him: he wanted to cut taxes and raise defense spending and so did big chunks of the public. He was leading in a direction that they already wanted to go.
***
This is why I blame the broad liberal community for our failures, not just President Obama. My biggest beef with Obama is the same one I had three years ago, namely that he’s never really even tried to move public opinion in a specifically progressive direction. But that hardly even matters unless all the rest of us have laid the groundwork. And we haven’t. Wonks, hacks, activists, all of us. We just haven’t persuaded the public to support our vision of government.
If it makes progressives feel any better, Drum is only half-right. Reagan — and other Republicans — have been unable to get meaningful spending cuts or entitlement reform because public opinion did not support them. There are a zillion polls showing that Democrats and Republicans alike only support cuts to space exploration and foreign aid. Those who routinely rely on MediScare in their campaigns should not need a reminder of this.
The problem for progressives is not that they failed to persuade the public to support big government; it is that they failed to persuade the public to pay for it. The pundit class ( James Fallows, Andrew Sullivan, Ezra Klein, etc.) can pass around their seemingly endless supply of “graphs that all budget discussions should start with” among themselves, but they have yet to figure out how to sell the public dramatically higher taxes, low economic growth, in return for still-unbalanced budgets. Instead, they employ a seemingly endless supply of euphemisms — “balanced approach,” “spending in the tax code,” etc., to avoid speaking their agenda plainly.
The problem for progressives is the end of the Cold War and the global financial panic of 2008. The public has seen the slow demise of totalitarian socialism and is now watching the slow demise of democratic Euro-socialism. Seeing Margaret Thatcher’s comment about running out of other people’s money playing out in the daily news leads public opinon to conclude that entitlements need fundamental changes. The public may not actually want to effect those changes; it will be as hard to wean the public off debt as it is to wean any individual debt addict. But enough of the public is starting to recognize that past progressive over-promising is enough of a problem without signing onto another round of over-promising. This is why the public could not be convinced ObamaCare had merit; they (correctly) did not believe it would reduce the deficit. The public did not need to study the CBO’s alternative fiscal scenario to figure this out; they could look at the history of Democrats and entitlements.
The problem for progressives is that the debt ceiling deal occasioning all of this extremist rhetoric from the left will probably not head off a downgrade of the nation’s credit. A downgrade will be yet another step on the path to hitting the one true debt ceiling. There is likely no amount of messaging — however euphemized — that will convince the public to remake our country in the mode of the failing economies of Europe. And every day carries us closer to the point where the opinion of the public matters less than the opinion of our creditors.
–Karl
It’s been a while but Q1 on first review missed expectations coming in at like 2.4% looking for 2.7%–my recollection, close enough for fiction.
Now after three or four revisions Q1 has ebbed to 0.4% where Q2 slid from 1.6 to 1.3%. Plainly Jan. and Feb. were the best months of this calendar year.
Our confidence in Chinese stats now exceeds that reserved for our own public servants.
gary gulrud (790d43) — 8/2/2011 @ 2:52 am“What causes the Democrats and the establishment media to hysterically accuse Republicans of being terrorists?”
Brain damage, most likely. That explains most leftoid behavior.
Dave Surls (28f866) — 8/2/2011 @ 3:01 am“to avoid speaking their agenda plainly”…
Bill G. (954c9a) — 8/2/2011 @ 3:47 amThe left know they cannot even name their agenda plainly. There is one individual on the Hill wearing the label “Liberal”.
The terminology changes from campaign season to campaign season, but the left never has “liberals” in their slates.
The Left Stream Media facilitates this, with “Extremists” all over the evil Right, but never on the Left.
You’d think we’d learn by this time.
The Left always uses today to prepare the playing field for tomorrow. All they’re doing is furthering the mime of “the Right”/”Tea Party” being kooks and worse.
Anyone that thinks for an instant that 2013 will not bring huge tax increase? How much less will we be spending in FY2011? How about FY 2012?
You may have missed it in all the flurry of stuff but by “revising” GDP Q1 2011 “down” to 0.4 and with GDP Q2 2011 come at 1.4. The financial MSM has already started telling folks that the recovery has been stopped by the GOP debt “crisis”.
‘Tis how the GOP will end up “owning” the economy. If they’re successful, you get The One until you learn how to say “Hail Obama, Our Father In Washington”.
cedarhill (befb7f) — 8/2/2011 @ 4:40 am“the debt ceiling deal … will probably not head off a downgrade of the nation’s credit.” True. The downgrade is inevitable, and years overdue.
gp (72be5d) — 8/2/2011 @ 4:53 amThe public doesn’t dislike Obamacare because it doesn’t reduce the deficit, they dislike it because they think it will lead to their getting worse and more expensive health care… in return for some amorphous benefit for someone else. They just don’t care about the deficit per se.
That is a microcosm of the overall debate. The reason public opinion didn’t (and doesn’t) support big changes to spending and entitlements is because they’re unwilling to give up short term benefits in return for some vague long term benefit… which would accrue to someone other than themselves.
If conservatives ever want to get traction, they need to both personalize the debate and show the short term benefits of making the changes. They need to argue that job growth will be stimulated by doing X or Y, that home values will start back up if we do X or Y and so on.
Right now, the strident voices of those getting benefits drown out the much lower voices of everybody else… primarily because nobody else sees the benefit of doing so. But if the GOP could convince the 80% who aren’t getting benefit A or B to see that those benefits are costing them money and opportunities, that’s a game changer.
steve (254463) — 8/2/2011 @ 5:22 amit’s just the logical progression of the blame Bush presidency I think
these people need fresh scapegoats
job numbers come out Friday
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 8/2/2011 @ 5:35 amWhat causes the Democrats and the establishment media to hysterically accuse Republicans of being terrorists?
Progressives cannot believe that the hoi polloi won’t buy into how brilliant they are
It borders on the sociopathic just how right they are
Those fancy graphs that show that we need to tax the hell out of people to start don’t convince people with any grasp of logic and reason
So they have to try to destroy the enemy. “By all means necessary.” Their way works. It has to, it’s what they’ve learned through years of conditioning. If it’s not working, it’s because it’s not being done enough and it needs to be done more.
Hawkins (1fc204) — 8/2/2011 @ 5:45 amthey marginalize
ColonelHaiku (38526a) — 8/2/2011 @ 6:24 amthe only people who will say
enough is enough
Morpheus is considered by many authorities to be the most dangerous man alive.
Amphipolis (b120ce) — 8/2/2011 @ 6:39 amThat clown tommie deegan’s comment in the satan sandwich thread perfectly encapsulates the leftist hysteria over this, though Rep Cleaver did a fine job giving an example as well.
JD (822109) — 8/2/2011 @ 6:44 amnothing is moral
ColonelHaiku (38526a) — 8/2/2011 @ 6:47 amabout spending this nation
into bankruptcy
Wait a minute! I thought the Tea Party was racist. Make up you mind liberals.
AZ Bob (aa856e) — 8/2/2011 @ 7:13 amCongratulations to whomever Karl is, for working all night on this post and nailing a top link at Michelle Malkin blog, which will help traffic rise to a normal level for the first time since June when all the hackers infected this site.
Ron Brynaert (3d3df5) — 8/2/2011 @ 7:15 amI think Ron pays more attention to my SiteMeter than I do.
Actually, I know he does.
Patterico (f724ca) — 8/2/2011 @ 7:34 amRonbryn is objectively insane.
JD (d48c3b) — 8/2/2011 @ 7:41 amIn response to the initial question, Dems label Conservatives and TEA Party patriots as terrorists because it’s the slur du jour. “Terrorist” is the worst epithet Dems can think of to use in public without resorting to the obscene.
One good example was the 1950’s American housewife who when angry at her Scots/Irish husband called him a “dirty Jap.” Given the nation’s recent war experience, it was the worst slur she could come up with in the heat of the moment to fling at him.
But, different times require more current slurs. One particularly obnoxious troll here has recently started throwing “teahadis” around at political opponents. So, don’t overreact to name callers, angry jerks say stupid things. It’s all just sticks-n-stones stuff, the sloppy emotional inadequacies of spiteful pipsqueaks on display.
The real problem for Democrats in general and Barack Obama in particular, is that the more they speak out in public or on TV the more Americans see them for what they are: angry, ineffectual, pompous, and unfit to lead our nation.
ropelight (463353) — 8/2/2011 @ 7:43 amOr pretending to be.
Patterico (f724ca) — 8/2/2011 @ 7:50 amWhat sane person would intentionally pretend to be insane?
JD (b98cae) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:07 ammurderers
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:14 amInsurance agents
Real Estate Agents
Any director in Hollywood
drama Teachers
Lunch Ladys….
EricPWJohnson (d84fb0) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:17 amGiven their behavior, the Dems model of government is based on Disney’s Pirates of the Caribean attraction. The image they try to project to the proletariat is that of Camelot.
PE (0609ab) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:26 am1 Samuel 21:14-16, Psalms 34:1
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:33 am_______________________________________
The problem for progressives
The problem for a variety of them is they got to stop BSing around with how they label themselves. If they’re so happy, confident and proud of their mindset and biases, then they should use “liberal” and “liberalism” — if not “leftist” and “leftism” — freely and frequently. They can even add “ultra-liberal” (Hey, isn’t that Barack Obama sitting in Jeremiah Wright’s church?!) while they’re at it. So enough with this “progressive” nonsense.
Mark (411533) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:43 amDespair?
Because R’s are over-represented in Congress, hopefully 2012 will see a positive adjustment that more closely reflects the public mood.
Spartacvs (f4e8c9) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:52 amStill think it’s a bad deal. The Super Committee take power away form the House, which is the only place the Tea Party has any power.No ahrd choices have yet been made, rather put off again.The deficit will grow.
But we have an epitaph for the Obama Adimistration-
“Don’t call my bluff, Eric.”
Obama has led such a charmed life that he really believed he defecated crushed fruit, that every word crossing his lips was a pearl, and that he could never be denied. And why wouldn’t he? Since he got to the Illinois state senate, the wheels have been greased at every step without a bit of effort on his part. Probably before that; being law review editor withotu publishing anything is unheard of.
Reminds me of the scene in “The Wire” where Mayor Royce wins a fixed card game to raise campaign cash. Possibly coming from Chicago Obama, having been the lucky guy in exactly such a game, believed the fixed game was reality.
Bugg (9e308e) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:58 amThe real reason socialists are in despair is they’ve finally run out of other people’s money.
Gregory of Yardale (07425b) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:03 amBugg, the obvious solution would be for the GOP.to stuff the super committe with teabaggers.
Spartacvs (029dd1) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:07 amYou angling for a spot, Spvrt?
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:12 amSo it looks like someone sobered up, huh? How classy to move from the oh-so-clever “Teajadi” to the even more wise and accepting “teabagger” terminology. Sparticvs is one smart fellow!
Seriously, this “sparticvs” person is clearly someone who was banned her previously. He leads with his spleen.
All he needs to do is write to Patterico, apologize for the asshattery that got him banned, and then maybe he can contribute intelligently.
As it stands, it’s all about fighting. Safely. Electronically.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:18 ami’ve read about their vision of government…
“Coming out of the Ice” by Victor Herman
thanks, but i’d rather be a “tea party terrorist” than a zek.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:24 amI love how only certain polls matter to leftists like sparty. How is Teh One’s job approval rating looking? How about jobs numbers? Downward revision on economic not-growth?
Still not honest enough to state all of the names you have commented under?
JD (822109) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:26 amhaha, lefties have been shaming the right for years, for being inordinately afraid of *terrists* …yet that’s the meme they agree to hype.
And for crying out loud, default was the only leverage the R’s had. Of course it was going to be in play during negotiations. Don’t these children understand anything?
jeanne (5a5d33) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:28 amSparty’s own behavior stands in direct opposition to his stated position that they are not in despair. This is not how people who are confident act, this frenzy of idiocy from the schoolteacher and other trolls.
JD (2da347) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:28 amJeanne, read up on previous debt limit increases under both Rep & Dem presidents. The vote has never been close and no party in Congress has EVER used the debt ceiling vote as an opportunity to take the economy hostage, before now.
Spartacvs (029dd1) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:41 amSenate just swallowed the Satan Sandwich with more than 60 Senators taking a big bite, 74 yeas to 26 nays.
ropelight (463353) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:43 amHmm. “Hostage.” More hate speech from the Truth and Justice league. But then, his record speaks for itself.
Like a broken record.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:50 amYeah, Ropelight. Why can’t everyone in government be as wise and well-informed as sparticvs?
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:53 amSpartacvs, its always been a partisan issue. Looking at Reid’s record – he never voted against a debt ceiling increase as a majority member and he never voted for an increase as a minority member.
Grow up.
SPQR (26be8b) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:54 am______________________________________________
Sparty’s own behavior stands in direct opposition to his stated position
When you say that I immediately think along the lines of this…
A liberal like Kristoff at least appears to be honest enough to look in the mirror and admit the hard truth. I don’t get that sense of self-awareness from many, if not pretty much all, of the “progressives” who post here.
Mark (411533) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:58 amNext, please tell me whether you approve or disapprove of the way each of the following has handled the negotiations over the debt ceiling in Washington over the past few days.
Pretty vague question. The passage of the debt ceiling makes this totally irrelevant by Nov. 2012. However I do think the Dems will make substantial gains next year but not because of this.
Gerald A (9d78e8) — 8/2/2011 @ 10:19 amThe vote has never been close and no party in Congress has EVER used the debt ceiling vote as an opportunity to take the economy hostage, before now.
Who took the economy hostage?
Gerald A (9d78e8) — 8/2/2011 @ 10:22 amI think Jonah Goldberg has a point here, folks:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/273444/hell-you-people-jonah-goldberg#
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 8/2/2011 @ 10:28 amIt was a dark and stormy night….
The dems have a big, big problem to overcome with their narrative concerning the current economy and our economic future. They’ve been yapping about invisible “recovery summers” and “improved economic indicators” for 2 years. Problem is, voters have eyes to see all around them. Nobody sees an improvement or even a glimmer of an improvement. It’s hard to overstate the gloom that’s out there and the party in the White House and the president will be blamed in 2012. That’s just the way it is, and the Dems clearly know it. It’s not just the jobs, either, but also, finally, a dawning realization about the nation’s opressing indebtedness.
Following is a longish good excerpt from a ChicagoBoyz thread about the psychological toll on America. Dr. Keith Ablow, a psychiatrist, on the corrosive effects of massive debt.:
With the U.S. debt now approaching $14.5 trillion, Americans are watching their elected officials debating whether the debt ceiling should be raised to allow the country to borrow even more money.
Very little has been written about the psychological effects of the American population living under a mountain of debt, but those effects are very substantial. Chief among them is a sense of being disempowered and anxiety-ridden—both individually and collectively—and, therefore, unable to assert our values here at home, let alone abroad.
This is the case because being in debt, and watching that debt grow, without a credible, concrete plan to retire that debt, makes millions of Americans of all ages feel like they are living in the last stages of a bankrupt culture. A free economy is a miracle, and when it is manipulated through fictitious bailouts and stimulus packages and taking of loans that can’t be repaid, the American people sense that the story we have been writing—of individual liberty and free markets and human rights—can’t be real, certainly not for the long haul. It makes them feel as though they are sleepwalking through times that are actually borrowed time.
and,
It is no different than the feeling one would have living in a house which is over-leveraged and might well be repossessed. Until you had dealt with your financial reality and either downsized or took steps to generate more income you’d feel a sense of impending doom. You might well feel low self-esteem. And you’d feel like a fraud. How do look at your children, after all, and keep your head high when they are enjoying the house you know is built on financial fiction that can’t be sustained.
and,
Americans are living in that house. It’s called our country. And, luckily, we can turn this mindset around. I have seen people buoyed in their mood, spirit and sense of destiny when they bite the bullet and resolve to live within their means. Truth—including economic truth—really does heal people, even whole cultures. If the debt ceiling is not raised, or a truly bullet-proof, inviolable plan is fashioned to retire our debt, then we will be restored.
“Over the past two years I have had more patients visiting me with depression and panic disorder stemming from economic problems and unemployment than ever before (in my nearly 20 years of practice).
Commenter Michael Kelley notes: “If you look at the statistics on how rapidly American households have been paying down debt since the collapse of the real estate bubble, you might be led to believe that there are more Americans who “get it” now than there have been in a long time. One should never discount the healthy growth patterns that are fostered and induced by the boom bust cycle. I actually think we’re in a healing stage as a nation and an economy and that people will be shocked at resurgence we’re going to experience over the next few years.”
Another commenter, Rivers replies, “I agree, a lot of people are learning and healing from this. But not the government itself!”
http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/23588.html
elissa (29c534) — 8/2/2011 @ 10:32 amEverybody read Simon’s link.
Wow. I will never be a good writer. If that’s how clever you have to be, I am hopeless to even try to compete. So I’ll just be a dumb commenter with the rest of you boneheads.
It does feel like the left is very desperate and angry about what just happened. The right is disappointed, but we’re used to this blooming ballooning debt. We know we have to perform in 2012 and win elections to do much about it. The left isn’t so much disappointed as they are furious and in death throws.
Dustin (b7410e) — 8/2/2011 @ 10:42 am#1
Last Friday morning all the morning news shows mentioned the prelim GDP numbers but then it seemed to disappear as a story.
Disappeared so far that Tom Brokaw on Monday AM’s Morning Joe said Q1 growth was 1.9% – evidently he missed the revision – and never said anything about Q2. He referenced the number in a negative context – bad economy – so why did he use the old number? It seemed at the time like he was trying to soften the blow on Obama (as everyone knows, right or wrong the President gets the credit, and blame, for the economy).
East Bay Jay (2fd7f7) — 8/2/2011 @ 11:04 amI notice that Consumer Spending in July contracted from the June levels.
The public has seen the handwriting on the wall, and it is consolidating its resources, paying down debt, and only buying what it absolutely has to have to survive today.
Only government still is in an expansionary mode – Bernanke must have those presses running double-time, 24/7.
When the Obama Inflation Bomb hits, it’s going to hurt – Big Time!
When you have pols like Orin Hatch worried about reelection in a State that he seemingly is conjoined at the hip with, you know that next year is going to be no walk in the park.
AD-RtR/OS! (cf2da4) — 8/2/2011 @ 11:33 amMorons such as spartaturd only refer to polls and data which support their memes, which is why they never refer to current information. Obama cannot run on his record, they have to keep attacking Bush.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 8/2/2011 @ 12:11 pm“The fact that we’re here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. Leadership means ‘The buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”
–then-Senator Barack Obama, 2006.
Now he says he was wrong when he said this and voted against the ceiling raise. What a flip-flopping, lying, spineless hypocrite. (Oh, I almost forgot – terrorist wanting to take the US economy hostage!)
Vince (b0bef9) — 8/2/2011 @ 2:34 pmWere we compared to the oslo white supremacist terrorist?
Pointing out islamic extremism means your racist obviously /Sarcasm off
DohBiden (d54602) — 8/2/2011 @ 2:35 pmSparticles has nothing but respect for those that stand by their principles.
Icy Texan (e3eab9) — 8/2/2011 @ 3:06 pmThe TEA Party emerged from the debt ceiling debate twice as strong and three times as dedicated as it was following passage of ObamaCare. We’re ready, we know what has to be done, and we’re willing to take out the trash.
The Left is even helping us, they’re making themselves ridiculous in the eyes of the American people, their malignant bitterness and knee-jerk name calling only shames them, it also defines more and more fair-minded and independently thinking voters as new converts to the TEA Party. The open expression of leftist hate is the TEA Party’s most effective recruitment tool, so let them spew, they undermine their own integrity while they advance the Freedom Revolution.
For that, they deserve our thanks, so, thank you Joe Biden, and thank you to all the other low-brow yelping leftist nincompoops, keep up the good work!
ropelight (463353) — 8/2/2011 @ 6:55 pm“What a flip-flopping, lying, spineless hypocrite.”
You don’t have to type all that. Just note that he’s a Dem.
Means the same thing, and it saves precious keystrokes.
Dave Surls (28f866) — 8/2/2011 @ 6:58 pmThe dems have a big, big problem to overcome with their narrative concerning the current economy and our economic future.
It sounds like they and the media are fixing to say the argument over the debt ceiling is the reason the economy’s not so hot. Did anybody see ABC news tonight? They got that theme inserted in a story on the lousy economy.
Gerald A (9d78e8) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:07 pmIowa advertisement running today.
And in a sense, it is also the root of progressive despair.
No doubt the screaming about the Tea Party is just the warm up act. It’s going to be a hell of an election.
Dustin (b7410e) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:10 pmbtw, note the damn corn shucking shot. Damn primary politics. It’s hilariously predictable.
Dustin (b7410e) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:11 pmHere’s a note from the wilds of AfPak, on how the Taliban treat their own kids – and the Dems dare compare American Conservatives/TEA Party advocates, to these monsters:
The Texan Who Would Be King is not a feel good blog. It’s just war:
“I hear pretty abhorrent tales about how the Pashtun Taliban sympathizers treat their children as well. For instance, a few kilometers north of us sits another COP where an injured child was dropped off at the front gate by his father, who then left. The young man presented with a skull fracture and exposed brain matter. He was still conscious and able to speak to an interpreter, but was fading fast. The terp asked him what happened. The boy said that his father had ordered him to go out to the road, count American convoys and mark the times they came past. The boy refused, and his father took to beating the child in the head with a hammer. After the bludgeoning, the father put the kid on his motorcycle, drove him to the COP that he was gathering intelligence against and left him there. The kid died before the medevac bird touched down.”
AD-RtR/OS! (cf2da4) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:37 pmhttp://www.michaelyon-online.com/the-texan-who-would-be-king.htm
Palin knocks the ball out of the park as she mocks Obama and Biden in Hannity interview:
“If we were really domestic terrorists, shoot, President Obama would be wanting to pal around with us wouldn’t he? I mean he didn’t have a problem with paling around with Bill Ayers back in the day when he kicked off his political career in Bill Ayers apartment, and shaking hands with Chavez and saying he doesn’t need any preconditions with meeting dictators or wanting to read US Miranda rights to alleged suspected foreign terrorists. No if we were real domestic terrorists I think President Obama wouldn’t have a problem with us.”
ropelight (463353) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:52 pmThat is amazing, Ropelight.
Wow. How can a conservative not love Gov Palin? I mean… presidential politics aside for a second, she’s really awesome when she takes the gloves off.
How would Obama react to this in a debate? He never had a real challenge like that? Never. He freaks out when reporters ask follow up questions. Mccain was practically donating money to him during their debates.
Dustin (b7410e) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:55 pmI can love her more than pickles if you put presidential politics aside
so let’s put presidential policies aside why don’t we
chop chop
Mr. Perry’s hair is in the green room and he says we promised we’d have cherry lime-aid
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 8/2/2011 @ 8:59 pmIt’s a trend!
Nude pics shot reflected in a mirror. sent to woman not his wife. lawmaker. democrat. resigns.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/new_jersey_lawmaker_resigns_after_SqPBfuZxYcd2ol5Tr40suN
elissa (3a6529) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:03 pmComment by Dustin — 8/2/2011 @ 8:55 pm
Sarah Palin?
AD-RtR/OS! (cf2da4) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:05 pmNever heard of her!
Can she vote “Present”?
You would think they wouldn’t behave in exactly the same way, sigh.
ian cormac (81c5c2) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:06 pmOh, did I mention this part? That it was a sting? Hmmm.
He claimed she asked for the photos for herself and he complied. But the woman was actually working with “an avowed political enemy” to distribute the photos, he added.
elissa (3a6529) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:07 pmElissa, he tries that stupid ‘counseling’ crap again.
Like it’s possible to counsel a man out of his innate desires. What they really need is a life that satisfies them. A happy marriage, dare I say a church, and devotion to one’s children.
Not some sex therapist.
Yeah, that easy! Anyway, I’m not in a gambling mood with our country, but if I were, I think Palin would beat Obama once the debates and campaigns were run. It would be ugly, it would be tough, and it would not result in an experienced enough leader running this country, but Obama would have his number called many times.
My hope is that Perry can do that too.
Dustin (b7410e) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:10 pmhere are the pictures sorta censored up but still kinda gruesome
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:10 pmwe need someone with coattails like a penguin
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:10 pmelissa, that’s quite a damn hmmm indeed.
Seems like an obvious ploy actually. Weiner had a security clearance. Every one of these idiots should realize that sex is the first trick a spy agency or political opponent will use. Idiots.
Dustin (b7410e) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:11 pmoh. don’t click the link below on that youtube it’s some sort of sketch install thing
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:12 pmYou would have thought the whole Bret Favre experience, if not Weiner would have served as a warning.
ian cormac (81c5c2) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:18 pm“Oh, did I mention this part? That it was a sting? Hmmm.”
elissa – Prolly not a great idea for people to make their own “personal” sex videos either. I wonder if Ron’s have been hacked yet.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:19 pmian – Did Bret own that schlong or was he hacked?
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:20 pmWhatever you may think of them I doubt Mr. Romney or Mr. Huntsman would ever email pictures of their privates to strangers. Probably not Mr. Christie, either. But that would be awkward to bring up in fundraising letters I suppose.
elissa (3a6529) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:21 pmSpartacvs likes getting teabagged.
DohBiden (d54602) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:22 pm“Mccain was practically donating money to him during their debates.”
LOL.
That one cracked me up.
Dave Surls (28f866) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:24 pm“Probably not Mr. Christie, either.”
Obstructed view I’m thinking.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:26 pmhah cause of he’s so fat
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:31 pm“Prolly not a great idea for people to make their own “personal” sex videos either.”
I’d show mine, but who wants to watch a video of an old guy dreaming?
😉
Dave Surls (28f866) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:41 pm@ ropelight,
I think Palin is at her best when giving smart commentary, independently and unfettered by an obligation to a party.
However, I think if she decided to run for the nomination, it would inhibit this unhesitating bite and delivery when speaking her mind. Obviously, things would then be very different.
This is yet another reason why I hope she doesn’t run. She is terrific at this.
Dana (4eca6e) — 8/2/2011 @ 9:47 pmOMG Dave.
😯
DohBiden (d54602) — 8/2/2011 @ 10:15 pmDave – At least you can remember what to dream about.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 8/2/2011 @ 10:32 pmSmart commentary?
uhm, could you point where SP has ever been guilty of this? anywhere, anytime, any subject.
Spartacvs (2d9449) — 8/3/2011 @ 8:06 amHush, moron. The adults are talking.
JD (85b089) — 8/3/2011 @ 8:36 amThe name Spartacvs is actually an acronym:
Socialist policies are retarded; tax achievement, cheer voracious spending
His nickname, Sparticles, is perhaps more to the point:
Icy Texan (e3eab9) — 8/3/2011 @ 9:40 amA sparticle is a hypothetical elementary particle.
The discussion being held among those on the Right (from Republican to Conservative) is how likely it is that a majority of the American people will support entitlement reform. Karl at Patterico puts one side of the case.
I think he’s wrong.
At some point a tipping point is reached and people are ready to accept ideas that their parents would have dismissed. Like married gays. Today, if you oppose gay marriage, you are read out of “respectable” society. Gays evolved from perverts … to fun friends interested in antiques … to civil rights icons, all within my lifetime.
So it is with entitlements. Several streams of thought are meeting and forming a river. The general public is now involved in the discussion of big thoughts: how can we keep the developed world from going broke. The concern is not just American; the economies of most of the European states are collapsing under a econo-political burden that is crashing. Too much has been promised to too many and the inexorable laws of demographics have overtaken the promises. There are just not enough Greek, Spanish, British or Italian young to pay the benefits of their aging countrymen. They’re farther into the rapids that we are and their canoe is tipping.
But here in the US, while the elderly count on their social security payments, the young don’t believe these programs will be there for them. I have not taken a scientific poll but if my children are anything near typical, theses thirty-somethings believe in social security just as much as they believe in the tooth fairy. If they don’t believe they’ll get benefits at the rate the Feds are spending the country into insolvency, it’s entirely possible that we can see a fundamental restructuring both Social Security and Medicare if it’s presented the right way.
I personally think that Paul Ryan’s proposal can be sold to people under 40 because these people think they are going to get cheated of their promised benefits if fundamental reforms are not made. The median age in the US is 37, 20% of us are under 14 and only 13% are over 65. Ryan’s proposal protects those who are 55 and older. His reforms give hope to people like my children that some social safety net will exist for them as they approach retirement.
Perhaps Ryan’s proposal was scrapped due to cowardice on the part of establishment Republicans whose role in life has been to accommodate Democrats. Perhaps there was not enough time to explain it to the American people before the debt battle reached its peak. For whatever reason, it would be crime to allow it to languish.
Do it for MY children.
Moneyrunner (8f100c) — 8/3/2011 @ 7:43 pmCommenter Michael Kelley notes: “If you look at the statistics on how rapidly American households have been paying down debt since the collapse of the real estate bubble, you might be led to believe that there are more Americans who “get it” now than there have been in a long time.
I wish this was the case with a cousin of mine. His wife has been pushing him to put a payment down a cabin in the Colorado mountains, apparently because what a couple still deeply in debt and trying to save for a regular house needs to do is purchase a mountain lovenest (if I thought they were prepping it as a SHTF refuge, it would be one thing, but I know neither of them is that far-sighted).
His wife is really sweet, but she’s been spoiled by Daddy and thinks she’s entitled to champagne when they’re living on a beer budget. The irony is that his dad (my uncle) married a woman with the same clueless attitude toward money.
In the meantime, I’m less than a year away from being completely debt-free for the first time since high school, and I’m shaking my head at them.
Another Chris (c983db) — 8/3/2011 @ 8:01 pmMoneyrunner,
Only 1/3 of younger people think Soc Sec will be there for them; they support it anyway.
BTW, my piece is not arguing that people will never support entitlement reform. My piece is stating that they do not support it now. I’m cynical enough to believe they won’t support it until the system is on the verge of collapse, but would love to be proven wrong, and support efforts in that direction.
Karl (37b303) — 8/3/2011 @ 8:03 pmI wonder who could be responsible for sowing the seed of doubt?
Spartacvs (2d9449) — 8/3/2011 @ 8:06 pmIt was those nasty SocSec Trustees who released the secret that they paid out more in benefits last year than they received in FICA.
AD-RtR/OS! (3b92f0) — 8/3/2011 @ 8:09 pmI wonder who could be responsible for sowing the seed of doubt?
Reality and an ability to do basic math.
Another Chris (c983db) — 8/3/2011 @ 8:16 pmAD – Those Medicare Trustees also released a report showing the plan would be insolvent by 2020 or 2021 that Obama has been trying his best to keep quiet because the law requires him to come up with a plan to make it solvent again.
So far, just like living within the government’s means, no plan from Obama.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 8/3/2011 @ 8:22 pmHere you go. Glad to help.
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 8/3/2011 @ 11:43 pm