Obama Faces Zero Questions on Glaring Issues at Presser
So armed park rangers are threatening senior citizens with arrest if they “recreate” in a national park. And the rollout of ObamaCare is a joke, with perhaps a few thousand people (if that) having enrolled in the entire country, and a Web site that experts say is clunky and unprofessional.
Obama does a press conference and is asked about neither.
Really?
Even I, a hardened cynic about Big Media, am mildly surprised.
Ding. Everything is going according to plan.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 10/8/2013 @ 5:57 pmI think its time to organize some larger protests.
SPQR (768505) — 10/8/2013 @ 5:57 pmAs usual, we get the real news from across the ocean,
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100240464/president-obama-throws-a-tantrum-at-press-conference-compares-his-opponents-to-hostage-takers-and-deadbeats/
narciso (3fec35) — 10/8/2013 @ 5:59 pmDave Weigel says no they can’t ask because there’s a SHUTDOWN and all other national subjects are CLOSED.
Except for Citizens United questions, those are ok.
Also, his Obamacare responses would have all been “road tested” and boring.
Which thank goodness explains all those orange cones.
Sarahw (b0e533) — 10/8/2013 @ 6:01 pmcompares his opponents to hostage-takers and deadbeats
That’s what he said to his mom when she took away his leaky Stretch Armstrong and didn’t even get him a new one.
Sarahw (b0e533) — 10/8/2013 @ 6:10 pmIt is almost as though the questions and questioners were vetted.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 10/8/2013 @ 6:15 pmThe Mooch must be nagging him for another $25 million Thanksgiving break for her and the kids, already.
nk (dbc370) — 10/8/2013 @ 6:15 pmPeople will enroll into Obamacare only when they actually need a doctor. No prohibition against preexisting illness was a great idea.
AZ Bob (c99389) — 10/8/2013 @ 6:18 pmWell, Obama would know about deadbeats. It should be interesting in a week or so when he has to really slash the government so the bond payments can be met.
Although I expect he won’t.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 10/8/2013 @ 6:19 pmGreat, he can go back to Hawaii and shut down all the charter businesses there.
It dawned on me that this isn’t the first time he’s shut down the ocean. He does it every time he rents the imperial beach house.
Steve57 (234b9e) — 10/8/2013 @ 6:22 pmWhat a link, narcisso. Thank God for British media.
Dana (1d2551) — 10/8/2013 @ 6:30 pmAll the questions are pre-screened by Carney, and it’s hard for some of these journo’s to talk-down that far.
askeptic (2bb434) — 10/8/2013 @ 6:43 pmI know the other thread is kind of moribund;
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/10/08/la-times-responds-newsbusters
narciso (3fec35) — 10/8/2013 @ 6:55 pmI just talked to an old friend (dating back to high school) who got married and moved from SoCal to Colorado in the early 80s. He was telling me how terrible Congress is and how Obama is not so bad… I told him that I haven’t been a big fan of Congress for a number of years but that if he didn’t understand how big a sh*theel Obama was and how he was damaging the country, he just wasn’t paying attention. I then turned our conversation to happier topics… Lake Powell houseboat trips and music.
Colonel Haiku (f416ac) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:01 pmHe coulda been a member of the WH press corpse!
Colonel Haiku (f416ac) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:02 pmBut, isn’t the CO River closed?
askeptic (2bb434) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:02 pmPast vacation trips… But yeah… He said if you were out on a houseboat right now you were SOL… every marina closed no fuel, no supplies…
Colonel Haiku (f416ac) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:05 pmMy wife had a hilarious conversation with a friend of hers yeesterday. Her friend was opining to her how this was all the GOP trying to embarrass Obama. Conspiracy theory about the Obamacare websites followed. My wife, knowing she had no insurance, said “speaking of which you know you will have to buy insurance soon or be fined, right?”
Shock. Dismay. Did not realize that penalty would apply to her !
Talk about low information voter.
SPQR (768505) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:17 pmWas Obama reading from a Carney-approved list?
JD (8935bd) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:19 pmLA Times’ Noel Shepard proves he doesn’t understand science at all; science proceeds through the ideas of those who are not part of the majority in authority, not through the echoing of that crowd’s understanding. “The science is settled” is a profound statement that the speaker does not understand science at any level higher than a parrot repeating what it’s been taught.
htom (412a17) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:20 pmWhere are the houseboats emptying their holding tanks?
htom (412a17) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:22 pmJonah Goldberg made a great point today – calling the systemic flaws of ObamaCare glitches is just wrong. A glitch is when your windshield wipers are working properly, it is not a glitch when the car doesn’t start. It is a failure.
JD (8935bd) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:22 pmQuestion for those who know more-
I thought there was approval for the Immigration gathering today in DC, but I see something about Congressmen getting arrested-
any explanations?
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:26 pmWas there no approval?
Was there approval and the Dem Congresscritters did something extra to get arrested to pull attention away from the unequal treatment of illegals and WWII vets?
I guess his MFM sycophants did not ask him about his refusal to negotiate? I suppose the MFM did not ask him about his bipartisan civility claims while he was likening his opponents to terrorists, kidnappers, hostage takers, and deadbeats? I suppose they did not ask him why Obama 2006 says Obama 2013 is demonstrating his failure of leadership?
JD (8935bd) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:27 pmIt was something extra, MD. They broke off from the main group and blocked one of the streets and refused to disperse to show that they were “willing to do anything”.
nk (dbc370) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:36 pmMD: As near as I can tell, there was a separate protest in areas away from the immigration rally that several Dem Congressmen used to get arrested for TV time.
Those areas remained closed and the DC police actually tweeted to Congressional staff to “not go there,” since the area was closed. It’s on Twitchy.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:37 pmI don’t think it was to draw away attention from the disparity in treatment but, rather, that they suspected they would get no attention from the fawning media which would not want to air the disparity at all in order to protect iBambi, so they threw a tantrum difficult to ignore.
nk (dbc370) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:40 pmMD, the congressmen weren’t arrested on the mall; they were arrested when they deliberately occupied 1st St NW, blocked traffic, and refused to let drivers through. Let nobody ever say John Lewis is a hero. I don’t care what he did in the ’60s, he’s a dick.
Milhouse (3d0df0) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:42 pmI do have to give the Democrats credit for one thing: They have so confused all of their crises to the point that no one knows what the heck is going on.
It’s all a big, cluster rope-a-dope depending on media distraction.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:47 pmThe Mooch must be nagging him for another $25 million Thanksgiving break for her and the kids, already.
Jokes aside, one has to wonder what’s going on behind the scene between him and her. After all, she created a minor diplomatic flap last year when she avoided attending a major state dinner for China’s president based on the flimsy pretext that she had to stick around the homestead because it was the kids’ last week in school. Then — prior to that, and more tellingly — her daughters’ father vacationed with his “body man” in Florida, while she vacationed in Colorado with the kids.
He was telling me how terrible Congress is and how Obama is not so bad…
Talk about low information voter.
Such people remind me of a woman interviewed for an article published this past week on Venezuela’s current president, who’s turning his nation into an even bigger cesspool than what his ultra-liberal predecessor managed to do. The woman admitted that her life had gone downhill under years of socialism, yet she apparently remains emotionally beholden to the late Hugo Chavez and his successor.
Call it “Detroit Syndrome” or a case of “no bigger fool than a liberal fool.”
Mark (58ea35) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:48 pmThank you folks for your comments.
Conclusion, they went out of their way to get arrested, but whether it was just to preen their own feathers, or hijack the narrative to avoid the issue being that the WH allowed an Immigration reform on Tuesday but didn’t allow WWII vets to gather on wed (and perhaps arrest gop Congresscritters on Wednesday???), or yet some other reason, we don’t know.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 10/8/2013 @ 7:54 pmMD:
I can tell you what I saw with my own eyes, edited by Fox News. I was watching Megyn Kelly’s show for the first time. She was interviewing some sort of documentary filmmaker about what he saw on the mall.
Regardless, he was complaining about the immigration rally while the mall was closed. But, Fox also showed an interview with some sort of veteran — recorded by the same documentary guy –complaining about the memorial being closed.
Yet, right behind the complaining veteran were people walking around the WWII memorial.
All I can conclude is that the NPS opened the memorials on the mall during the protest. I can’t know because Kelly never asked the obvious question.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 10/8/2013 @ 8:19 pmObama says Jay Carney decides who gets called on at each press conference. I’d like to know whether Carney talks to the reporters before deciding who to call on. After all, he has to make sure they agree to stay on script.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 10/8/2013 @ 8:22 pmNo emptying of tanks, htom. I imagine its the same situation at every nat’l park w/houseboats. Democrats are polluting our pristine waterways!!!
Colonel Haiku (101cd9) — 10/8/2013 @ 8:22 pmWhat DRJ said.
JD (8935bd) — 10/8/2013 @ 8:28 pmSo we can take it that Jay Carney does not decide who gets called on. The obvious question, then, is who’s the decider?
htom (412a17) — 10/8/2013 @ 8:46 pmTeh White House Press Corpse…
Colonel Haiku (101cd9) — 10/8/2013 @ 8:51 pmNo one asked Obama about his prior no vote on raising the debt ceiling either. Obama is the Lane Kiffin of presidents – always attaining positions above which he is qualified in terms of intellect or experience.
In other news, Pelosi thanked Obama for “enabling” the immigrant rally to continue and for protecting the veterans ability to see memorials.
Ratbeach (f5aad4) — 10/8/2013 @ 8:51 pmThis cartoon pretty much sums up my sense of what the US is all about in 2013.
Ugh and peeuw.
Mark (58ea35) — 10/8/2013 @ 9:06 pmIn Mark’s cartoon, there’s also a “Gay Mafia” bike behind that sign.
All jokes aside, though, I actually basically completely agree with Mark’s cartoon. (Take that, Hemingway).
Leviticus (6a67b8) — 10/8/2013 @ 9:11 pmThe MFM is at least as in over its head as President Ladies Tee.
Dirty Old Man (4bf1c0) — 10/8/2013 @ 9:13 pmMark Knoller was there and sorta gave it a shot.
http://twitchy.com/2013/10/08/state-of-the-media-mark-knoller-is-only-wh-press-corps-journo-to-confront-obama-with-hard-question/
elissa (8d66d6) — 10/8/2013 @ 9:14 pmas long as they don’t send the National Park Service gestapo we have a fighting chance
happyfeet (8ce051) — 10/8/2013 @ 9:23 pmWhen we make the media useless, president pretend will crumble.
mg (31009b) — 10/8/2013 @ 9:28 pmNational Soros Radio’s been working overtime carrying water for food stamp through this whole silly shutdown episode
NPR’s Mara Liasson said Obama’s comments during the news conference “moved the needle a little bit.”
hey park rangers stop bogarting the lemon penis it’s Mara’s turn
happyfeet (8ce051) — 10/8/2013 @ 9:47 pmSince the MFM praetorian guard isn’t going to raise the question, it’s time for the GOP to stop being shy and point that out. His rank hypocrisy is mind bending. When did Senator Obama Candidate Obama stop knowing that raising the debt ceiling showed a lack of leadership on the part of the President, and was irresponsible and unpatriotic.
When did President Obama arrive at the opposite conclusion?
He says we will be a deadbeat nation. Point out we will be if he keeps running up the Bank of China credit card every time we raise the limit.
You probably need to poll test the message but Obama talks to the American people in what he thinks is kitchen table talk. He does it so badly, though. How does the GOP can’t keep letting him get away with it.
They can’t outflank this guy? He attempts to explain how raising the debt ceiling is like paying down your car loan.
How hard would be be to explain that apparently Prom Queen (I’d poll test this before I used; I wouldn’t use this exact language) represents all that’s wrong with Wasthington. If you’re paying down your car loan, you don’t need a higher borrowing limit from your bank.
But you do if you also want to buy a boat behind that truck, which is why Obama wants a higher debt limit from the Bank of China.
I expect this stupidity from Obama. So I’m more disappointed with the GOP these days. They act like someday someone in the MFM is going to ask the right question. Or they’ll help Boehner get his message out. They need to start running adds against Obmacare and the debt ceiling.
It’s not hard to do. President Mean Girl has already said everything you need to make the case against both of them.
Steve57 (234b9e) — 10/8/2013 @ 10:00 pmThe GOP isn’t in a good place on the shutdown. But neither are the Dems or the Preezy. These numbers are really better than the GOP deserves because while they have the better case they’re just not making it.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/07/cnn-shutdown-poll-plenty-of-blame-to-go-around/
Obama has OFA to do his ad blitz. And Sebelius has arm twisted the companies she regulates to spend $1B selling Obamacare, the program the GOP is fighting Obama over.
What’s the GOP been doing to move the polls in their favor? The GOP has hired two new people to do media outreach to the black press.
http://nationalreview.com/corner/360696/rnc-makes-two-hires-outreach-black-media-katrina-trinko
Oh, yeah, that will move those numbers. The GOP still thinks a hostile media will get their message out.
Steve57 (234b9e) — 10/8/2013 @ 10:13 pmComment by DRJ (a83b8b) — 10/8/2013 @ 8:22 pm
Truth IS stranger than fiction….
My comment about Carney vetting the questions beforehand was pure snark….now confirmed by Obumble.
Best of hands and all that.
askeptic (2bb434) — 10/8/2013 @ 11:14 pmSomething in the news about another Head Start program place being closed – without notifying the parents. It’s taking them a couple of days to “realize” things should be closed.
Sammy Finkelman (056225) — 10/9/2013 @ 3:33 am46. Comment by Steve57 (234b9e) — 10/8/2013 @ 10:00 pm
They need to start running adds against Obamacare and the debt ceiling.
They don’t [articularly need to start running ads against Obamacare – of they had a good plan to replace it, it would be nice maybe too run ads about that – and they need to run ads explaining why it is absolutely necessary to raise the debt limit – if it is not raised, you get a shutdown to beat all shutdowns. The public right now does nort understand that the debt limit is not, and cannot be, a method of controlling debt. It can only be a method of forcing or attempting to force changes in law, and that only because it is playing chicken.
It could be helpful to explain that in the Democats are contriving to make the consequences of not raising the debt limit much worse.
Also that the budget process doesn’t work.
Sammy Finkelman (056225) — 10/9/2013 @ 3:41 am* They don’t particularly need to start running ads against Obamacare – if they had a good plan to replace it, it would be nice maybe to run ads about that.
None of their proposals, I think, would help anybody now about to lose their health insurance, or ahve it greatly change..
Maybe they could try a law extending all insurance policies , and provider contracts, 6 months, or making it very easy to do so.
Sammy Finkelman (056225) — 10/9/2013 @ 3:43 amComment by Steve57 (234b9e) — 10/8/2013 @ 10:00 pm
When did President Obama arrive at the opposite conclusion?
January 20, 2009 at the latest.
Sammy Finkelman (056225) — 10/9/2013 @ 3:45 amAnd going to a Ford plant, that didn’t take the bailout, is facepalm worthy.
narciso (3fec35) — 10/9/2013 @ 3:59 amI heard an interview of Brit Hume by Hewitt. Hume said that the press conference was one of the most pathetic things in journalism he had ever seen.
And that he had never seen the kind of vindictive direct attacks made by a president before like Obama routinely does.
And that the Dems hated Nixon more “on a personal basis” than repubs dislike for Obama.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 10/9/2013 @ 4:26 amIt is starting to look like Boehner might have to quietly threaten the impeachment option to get Obama to negotiate.
vor2 (37e26e) — 10/9/2013 @ 4:50 amObama brought Doris Goodwin and several other historians to meetings early in the admin to lay groundwork for his “legacy” in the history books.
Sadly, his concerns about that may be the only thing that will get him to act like a leader. The idea of being the bookend of two asterisks surrounding George Bush may be more than he can bear….
Comment by vor2 (37e26e) — 10/9/2013 @ 4:50 am
It is starting to look like Boehner might have to quietly threaten the impeachment option to get Obama to negotiate.
If he has enough votes for impeachment – at least for actual removal – then he has enough votes in the Senate to override a veto. (You only need a majority in the House to create an impeachment case in the Senate, but you need a reason.)
Getting 2/3 in the Senate should be more difficult than getting 2/3 in the House, so if you’ve got the votes in the Senate, you surely have in the House, and votes to override a veto, or a series of vetoes, are surely easier to get than votes to remove the president.
So he should only be removed if he’s really totally rotten and malevolent, in a way you would not expect his vice president to be.
There may be some other ways to start facing disgrace. You’re not after all, actually talkingof remiving him.
Now if he deliberately does not pay the debt when due, there might be some grounds for beginning a case, and that might enough too bring him around.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 5:41 amComment by MD in Philly (f9371b) — 10/9/2013 @ 4:26 am
And that the Dems hated Nixon more “on a personal basis” than repubs dislike for Obama.
That’s right. This is not personal. Obama goes out of his way to avoid such a thing.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 5:42 amSammy… Obama goes out of his way to vilify anyone who holds different views and who refuses to acknowledge his self-perceived greatness. It’s very much “personal”.
Colonel Haiku (86ce72) — 10/9/2013 @ 6:19 amHe always says his opponents have a point – they just disagree – he will listen to anything reasonable.
And whenever he names someone he makes “excuses” for them, and says he hopes and expects them to go along.
He says people are extreme or going along with something extreme, but does not accuse them of being evil for that reason.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 7:00 amObama doesn’t accurately state his opponents’ arguments. Instead, he sets up strawman arguments and debunks them. That’s the opposite of good faith and being reasonable. It’s bad faith.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 10/9/2013 @ 7:17 amLet’s look:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-president-obamas-oct-8-news-conference-on-the-shutdown-and-debt-limit/2013/10/08/866088c0-3038-11e3-8906-3daa2bcde110_print.html
There is alot about how he’s reasonable. And he does make excuses for them – it’s a tough vote..they don’t get politically rewarded a lot for being seen as negotiating with him.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 7:22 amFinkelman Flak Attack, so clutter the skies a carrier pigeon cannot pass, we need storm petrels to carry a line, perhaps two, between commands.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 10/9/2013 @ 7:39 amSammy,
Obama claims he wants to talk about shrinking the deficit but it has ballooned on his watch. Do his words match his actions?
What Republican entitlement reforms and tax code changes has Obama adopted, as he claims?
Obama claims he will talk about any issue while refusing to negotiate with Republicans. Does that make sense to you?
The most charitable thing I can say is that Obama flip-flopped on the debt limit. Maybe that makes him principled in your world. It certainly doesn’t in mine.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 10/9/2013 @ 7:44 amSure it is. Congress just doesn’t borrow the money, and then it isn’t available for the President to spend, no matter how many laws tell him to spend it. Force majeure.
Milhouse (3d0df0) — 10/9/2013 @ 7:45 amThis completely ignores the Republican willingness – and desire – to pass bills exempting anything and everything Democrats complain about from the shutdown. Obama, of course, knows about that.
It turns out that the reporters don’t completely
fall down on the job. He does get asked a question precisely about that
Here’s how he deals with it:
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 7:46 amSammy #65,
I can’t tell if you are quoting someone or stating your own opinion but there seems to be a disconnect between what you see and reality. Obama and the Democrats aren’t talking about anything. They are refusing to negotiate.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 10/9/2013 @ 7:48 amSome really intersting things in this press conference could be missed because Im posting so much of it.
But none of it is actually personal attacks. He always says he understands they have political difficulties.
He says he doesn’t say he’s always right and it’s his way or the highway, but that’s kind of false.
He’s redefining what is no compromising.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 7:50 amActually, DRJ, the interesting part is here:
Um. This President has done precisely that, over and over again, with laws that he wanted passed. When there was a part of the law (again, that he wanted passed) that were inconvenient, well, boy howdy, it doesn’t get implemented.
I think whenever the President says “implement” in reference to a law, I will refer him to Inigo Montoya.
As for Sammy, well…I suspect he believes he is being fair, not a tool.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 10/9/2013 @ 7:53 amThat is interesting, Simon. I also agree Sammy wants to be fair but that doesn’t make him logical. I do wish he would edit his comments to make pithy points, rather than spam the comments.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:00 amMy concern with the concept of fairness is that it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. In our current society, the media covers up and obscures problems on the Left (think looking through Mr. Magoo glasses), while problems on the Right are put under an electron microscope.
The role of the press is to be adversarial, not a cheerleader.
So with that in mind, fairness is a myth. It’s very, very similar to the arguments the Left makes about affirmative action and power structures, when you think about it.
As always, nice to see your reasoned and thoughtful commentary.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:03 amI read it over. The thing here that could be a Supreme Court case over is issuing debt over thd debt limit, citing the 14th amendment. That’s not what any Republican in Congress has proposed.
That, in fact, would be invalid debt. He’s picking the most legally questionable way of dealing with reaching the debt limit as the prime alternative to consider.
A lawyer arguing a case does that kind of thing. A serious executive holding public office should not. And all he is, is a lawyer arguing a (specious) case.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:04 amComment by DRJ (a83b8b) — 10/9/2013 @ 7:44 am
Obama claims he wants to talk about shrinking the deficit but it has ballooned on his watch. Do his words match his actions?
He’s quite willing to talk about anything, but not make any significant concessions, although he talk about concessions in theory, and probably has certain prepared “concessions” in mind.
He has indeed proposed debt reduction, but one thing he wants is “tax reform” that is not revenue neutral, and the Republicans want to rule that off the table at the start. He characterizes that as not willing to consider closing corprorate loopholes. (A loophole closing , I suppose, does not need any countervailing tax reduction)
What Republican entitlement reforms and tax code changes has Obama adopted, as he claims?
Oh, he has toyed with raising the retirement age or the age for Medicare and other things that adversely affect individuals – even if they are not really Republican proposals.
I don’t know where he claims he has adopted anything.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:10 amDRJ: Obama claims he will talk about any issue while refusing to negotiate with Republicans. Does that make sense to you?
He says he won’t negotiate under a deadline.
So he was asked, at the end, isn’t there still a deadline?
He had, I think, a little trouble with that.
I don’t think a Supreme Court Jjustice would be impressed by that kind of answer in oral argument.
But then, this is a jury case!
Who’s breaking any equipment?
And if he means not damaging the credit of the United States, wouldn’t the McClintock bill would do that?
I suppose you could say:
Government shutdown = walking off the job.
Not raising the debt limit = breaking the equipment, burning down the plant.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:14 amDRJ:
The most charitable thing I can say is that Obama flip-flopped on the debt limit.
He definitely has, except that he never was serious in the first place, and now seems to have put that into the memory hole.
Maybe that makes him principled in your world. It certainly doesn’t in mine.
When did I ever say he was principle, or honest about public issues? I just said he’s not personal, or tries to avoid encouraging personal hatred of Republicans, and that’s very important to him. Even in election campaigns he limits it, and especially wants to avoid characterizing peole as evil..
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:17 amMore from Obama:
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:20 am77. “He says he won’t negotiate under a deadline.”
The Most Transparent Administration Evah has finally met their contract.
Unvarnished transparent horsesh*t is their output of late. Even if their supporters refuse to attend, their critics can no longer avoid the obvious.
Our enemy is on the march.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:21 amObama says, that in the past, they were only pretending to negotiate over the debt limit, but really that was a budget negotiation, and they just stuck in it.
People posture about the debt ceiling frequently.
Does he include himself, when he was a Senator, in that category?
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:23 amComment by gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:21 am
has finally met their contract.
Do you mean to say “met their match” They haven’t. It just keeps going, for now.
Unvarnished transparent horsesh*t is their output of late. Even if their supporters refuse to attend, their critics can no longer avoid the obvious.
That he’s speaking Unvarnished transparent horsesh*t?
Maybe.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:25 amI mean maybe people who oppose him politically realize that. The people dealing with him, surely do.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:26 amSammy #76: “I don’t know where he claims to adopt anything.”
Your comment #61 quotes Obama claiming that he adopted Republican entitlement reform and tax code changes in his proposed budgets. Do you read your own comments, let alone think about them in any serious way? It looks like you are copy and paste whatever you happen to read that might be related.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:31 amI’m sorry, Sammy. You drive me crazy but I know it’s not intentional. I won’t interrupt you again.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:33 amWow, Sammy:
You might want to ask Jack Ryan about that, just for starters. The man is all about personalizing and polarizing his opponents (my, where is that phrase from?).
More:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/insulterinchief.html
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/281286/obama-s-target-list-victor-davis-hanson
More interesting quotes here:
http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2012/09/18/the_25_most_obnoxious_quotes_from_barack_obama/page/full
You can be fair, Sammy, but this is not a very pleasant man. He is indeed personal, and insulting, toward people who do not agree with him.
Now I need to go eat my waffle.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:36 amWhat Simon sez… heh!
If calling opponents “kidnappers, hostage takers” and worse isn’t personal, Sammy, what the Hell is!?!?
Colonel Haiku (a8bbc8) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:40 amHeck, Colonel, I don’t like Republicans calling Cruz names. What the heck is wrong with our society?
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:44 amIt occurs to me that Sammy may not realize how devious, snide and sarcastic Obama’s statements are. I often miss sarcasm online and there are others who miss it in real life. Maybe that’s the case here.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:49 am86. Denial is a river in Egypt.
“They are like one who looks at their reflection in a mirror, and then turning away, forgets what they saw.”
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:51 am89. Certainly, Sammy is unsoiled by the devious manipulations of cunning.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:53 amAn expert, Ted Nugent is not.
hubnub (29b511) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:56 amL’ enfant terrible will have his cake, and will eat it too.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:58 amWhat I think some people don’t realise about the debt limit is that it’s not just a cap that Congress has put on the president’s borrowing power, which would make it just another law, ranking equal with all those laws that demand spending of all kinds. Rather, the president has no power to borrow money at all. Ever. Even expenditures that are constitutionally required, such as the salaries of Congress, the president, and Article III judges, or that are absolutely necessary such as servicing the debt and paying the troops, if there’s no money in the till and Congress hasn’t borrowed any, then those expenditures just can’t be made. The president can’t spend money that doesn’t exist, and can’t borrow anything on the credit of the USA, any more than you or I can.
It’s Congress that has the power to borrow money. And really Congress is supposed literally to borrow it and then give it to the president to spend. Except that in modern times Congress has delegated the actual borrowing to the president, authorizing him to borrow in its name up to a certain limit. Beyond that Congress hasn’t authorized him to act in its name, so he’s stuck. Borrowing beyond the limit wouldn’t be breaking a law, it would be a legal nullity. And since it would tend to call into question the validity of the USA’s actual debt (because one bond looks much like another), it would probably break the 14th amendment. It would certainly be an offense worthy of impeachment.
Milhouse (3d0df0) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:01 amWho said he was? Who mentioned him in the first place?
Milhouse (3d0df0) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:03 am92. Google is your friend.
The ‘contractors’ have reset all passwords, hoping to stem a tide, undoubtedly, of uncoordinated fixes.
If one has ever updated a website via ftp one is aware that fixes can overwrite each other when performed roughly simultaneously.
The Panic Button is sat upon.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:04 am87. Comment by Colonel Haiku (a8bbc8) — 10/9/2013 @ 8:40 am
If calling opponents “kidnappers, hostage takers” and worse isn’t personal, Sammy, what the Hell is!?!?
It’s a metaphor! Nobody could take that literally.
The worst thing he calls them is “irresponsible”
He even says:
Then he says it funny (or hard to understand) Not evil, funny. He’s puzzled by them:
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:15 amSammy,
Many people have been murdered, maimed, and traumatized by actual terrorism. And actual terrorist acts ruin the lives of the victims’ survivors.
As a result, it is downright evil of President Obama and his aides and allies in Congress and the media to imply that Obama’s political opponents are terrorists, arsonists, hostage takers, and kidnappers simply because there is a budget disagreement.
The irony is that Obama refuses to call actual terrorists, terrorists.
Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:21 am94. Comment by Milhouse (3d0df0) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:01 am
A lot of the news media is getting this wrong. TIME Magazine did. I did see one publication that got this right.
The president can’t spend money that doesn’t exist, and can’t borrow anything on the credit of the USA, any more than you or I can.
It’s not a difficult question, although the presdident wants to treat that as the only possible to evade the debt ceiling, and one of questionable, but not absolutely absent, legality.
You wouldn’t need a Supreme Court ruling to tell you that. The 14th Amendment doesn’t give the president any authority to borrow.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:26 amThere are, however, other ways to deal with reaching the debt ceiling.
In fact, the Treasury has been using some standard gimmicks now 4 and half months.
And there’s more.
What Obama is not talking about is prioritizing payments, (except maybe Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will claim, after all, that there may be some authority to prioritize payments, at least to favor foreign creditors.)
Obama claims not paying any bill is the same thing as not paying principle and interest on the publicly traded debt. Which is not true. That’s already happened anyway with the shutdown.
He has a modified way of describing that. He claims the creditworthiness or trustwirthiness could still be affected. But, really, it’s not similar the way a mortgage, a car note and a student loan are similar. This is more like being slow on a payment for shoes, or the electric or phone company (if they don’t report it to a credit bureau) or a payroll. Publicly traded debt is a thing onto itself.
Obama never mentions the McClintock bill, which directs the Secretary of the Treasury to always pay the debt first, and gives him authority to choose whatever else to pay or not pay. He could even not pay just for things only the Republicans like.
Obama dismisses the trillon dollar coin by trying to lump it in together with other things.
Premium bonds (high interest, low face value) don’t get a mention at all.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:36 amYou wouldn’t need a Supreme Court ruling to tell you that. The 14th Amendment doesn’t give the president any authority to borrow.
Obviously, being the Constitutional Scholar that he is, he does need to be slapped down by the Nine Robed Wonders on occasion.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:42 amMore than that. He’s not just claiming that not paying current bills is defaulting on the debt (which is a plausible position), he and his supporters are claiming that all payments and expenditures mandated by any law (including the ACA) are debts of the USA, which must be either paid or defaulted on. And that’s just too absurd for anyone to actually believe.
Milhouse (3d0df0) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:43 amIt’s Congress that has the power to borrow money. And really Congress is supposed literally to borrow it and then give it to the president to spend.
Well, in the same sense as Congress can “collect” taxes.
It used to be that every issue of debt was authorized by a bill in Congress.
Borrowing beyond the limit wouldn’t be breaking a law, it would be a legal nullity.
Which Obama perfectly understands. But he’s holding this out, or somebody is, as the number one alternative, and at the press conference he tried to imply that the trillion dollar coin has the same problems – that all strategies have the same defect. (to do that, he’s actually got to minimize the problems with the so called 14th amendment solution.)
Bonds could be issued, but they wouldn’t be legal obligations of the United States unless and until Congress made them so.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:44 amSF: “You wouldn’t need a Supreme Court ruling to tell you that. The 14th Amendment doesn’t give the president any authority to borrow.”
Comment by askeptic (b8ab92) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:42 am
Obviously, being the Constitutional Scholar that he is, he does need to be slapped down by the Nine Robed Wonders on occasion.
But in this case actually he knows. He’s pretending something that’s black letter law is questionable, but only to put forth this idea as the number one strategy for reaching the debt ceiling, in order to link it togetehr with all others.
For that reason he makes it merely questionable.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:52 amWhat else could he do?
There is prioritizing, and if the law does not cirrently allow the Secretary of the Treasury to do anything when he sees a default coming, the House has passed a bill that would give that authority.
And there is the possible issue of low face value, but extremely high interest bonds (currently not allowed by Treasury regulations, but the preident can change them.) Ths would have the effect of appearing to increase the annual deficit.
And there is the trillion dollar coin. (the possible objection to that it might be bad monetary policy, and it puts control of monetary policy in the hands of the Secretary of the Treasury)
And undoubtably he knows of other ways to deal with this.
He’s just pretending.
Pretending, among other things, that October 17 is a drop dead date.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 10/9/2013 @ 9:53 amI question the accuracy of the 10/17 date.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 10/9/2013 @ 11:26 amThe fact that the Treasury hasn’t reported any movement of the National Debt for weeks/months leads me to believe that they have already exceeded their statutory limitation, and they need the cover of an increase to paper over this transgression.
askeptic, many in the industry believe that the Treasury department has illegally exceeded the ceiling. It is part of why the markets are so jittery about the debt ceiling but unconcerned about the faux shutdown.
SPQR (95c543) — 10/9/2013 @ 12:01 pm