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Occupy congress

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Coming out of the 2010 elections with avictory in taking the House, Republicans were boasting about their inevitable Senate victory in 2012. Now they may need to worry about simply keeping the House (via TPM):

…voters are starting to favor a Democratically-controlled Congress, as disapproval of the legislative body grows.

A Reuters/Ipsos survey released on Wednesday showed a major gap between the two parties, with 48 percent of voters going for Democrats while 40 percent went for Republicans. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed a four point lead for Democrats, and Public Policy Polling showed a six point edge for Dems.

Two mistakes the Republicans made: First they let the extremist minority of their party (i.e. Teabaggers) drag them to the far right way-crazy, resulting in a year filled with seeming political chaos in Congress. What could have come off as principled defiance instead came off as sabotage.

Second, Republicans have gotten absolutely nothing productive done to solve the problems of a stalled economy and high unemployment. Negative, angry rhetoric is great stuff for giving voters an outlet for their angst and a common cause. But the voters wanted more than a big vent-fest…they wanted and expected real improvements. The Republicans failed to deliver. The voters are noticing.

Comments

  1. 1

    Second, Republicans have gotten absolutely nothing productive done to solve the problems of a stalled economy and high unemployment.

    They haven’t gotten anything done period. People don’t like it when congress doesn’t get anything done.

  2. 2

    I wonder if Obama could pull Harry Truman’s 1948 trick this next summer: call the “do-nothing” Congress back in session, right during their campaign season.

  3. 3

    http://www.ravibatra.com/

    Check out this guy…he was on Hartmann this morning and predicts traction for the 99% Movement based on basically no jobs. This is a situation that will draw a sound and solid repsonse from the general electorate. Americans want to work. They want their standard of living back.

  4. 4

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....via=blog_1

    Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 09:12 AM PDT.

    House Republicans won’t vote on jobs, but will vote to punish women

    by Joan McCarter

    As the House prepares to take up the job-creating “Protect Life (Unless it’s a Woman’s) Act”—H.R. 358, aka the “Let Women Die” bill—POLITICO notes that they’re treading where the GOP’s presidential candidates refuse to go, maybe letting the crazy scary people carry their water.

    The relative silence of the Republican candidates is mostly a sign that they’re all committed to anti-abortion positions, not that they don’t care about the issue, anti-abortion groups say.

    But Republicans can’t let social conservatives feel overlooked by the focus on the tea party’s spending concerns—so they’re about to make sure those critical GOP voters know that they haven’t forgotten about their campaign pledge to block federal funding of abortions.[…]

    It’s one of the first Republican primaries in recent history in which there hasn’t been a pro-choice candidate in the race, like a “Rudy Giuliani running,” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “This is basically a pro-life primary, and they’re focusing on other issues.”

    Gotta keep the crazy scary base happy. They only have two moderate women left in the party anyway, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, and they can be counted on to get in line when it matters. They’re happy to let the crazy scary people control their party, and tell hospitals they don’t have to save women’s lives.

    So yes, instead of dealing with the jobs crisis, the House is going to vote today to protect life, unless it’s a woman’s.

    This might be something like what Darryl is talking about.

  5. 5

    they wanted and expected real improvements. The Republicans failed to deliver.

    Oh but they “delivered” Cut, Cap and Balance. What a “job creator” that would have been! Ezra Klein’s take:

    As policy, Cut, Cap and Balance is an effort to take the lessons of the past 10 years and then pass a constitutional amendment preventing us from learning them…

    It takes our problem and makes it worse. More specifically, it takes the United States Constitution and rewrites it to ape California’s budget process. I’m a Californian. The state’s got great weather, waves and food. But you don’t want their budget process. Trust me…

    Ronald Reagan’s entire presidency would’ve been unconstitutional under CC&B. Same for George W. Bush’s. Paul Ryan’s budget wouldn’t pass muster. The only budget that might work for this policy — if you could implement it — would be the proposal produced by the ultra-conservative Republican Study Committee. But that proposal was so extreme and unworkable that a majority of Republicans voted it down.…

    Ultimately, though, the real sin here isn’t that bad policy will pass. It’s that we’re wasting precious time on bad policy that won’t.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/....._blog.html

  6. 6

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....via=blog_1

    Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 11:00 AM PDT.

    Senate Republicans unveil ‘new jobs plan’ identical to all previous GOP ‘jobs plans’

    by Hunter for Daily Kos.

    McCain in an earlier interview. It’s all the same crap.
    With as much fanfare as could be mustered, which as it turns out is not all that much, Senate Republicans (in this instance, John McCain, Rand Paul and Rob Portman) have released their newest “jobs plan”, this one called the “Real American Jobs Act”, which is not to be confused with the American Jobs Act, because this one has the word “Real”. The carefully crafted document is identical to every other Republican “jobs plan” proposed in the last few years:

    [The plan] amounts to a conservative’s dream agenda: targeting labor and environmental regulations, enacting a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, lowering corporate and individual tax rates, encouraging energy production and expanding free trade, according to a draft obtained by POLITICO.

    So, their “jobs plan” is to cut taxes on corporations and the wealthy, gut regulations, drill for more oil and do a Balanced Budget Amendment, which is literally the exact same crap in every other Republican “plan” in existence. The difference is that this time, they’re adding the word “Real”.

    Pressing questions still to be answered: will the jobs plan be presented as a series of slides with appropriate clip-art, as past “plans” have been? If it is on paper, how many pages will it be? Will it be bound together with binder clip, or will the Republicans go all-out and have it laminated onto a Denny’s placemat? Real Americans want to know.

    …like this also.

  7. 7

    @2 If past experience is any indication, Obama won’t do that. He’ll politely ask them to come back in session, and they’ll tell him to fuck off.

  8. 8

    The relative silence of the Republican candidates is mostly a sign that they’re all committed to anti-abortion positions, not that they don’t care about the issue, anti-abortion groups say.

    Which ignores the fact that Mittens was a pro-choice governor for 4 years.

  9. 9

    Speaking of ignoring the facts, next time some right winger goes on about how regulations are strangling business point them to this article.

    Is regulation strangling the American entrepreneur? Several Republican presidential candidates say so. The numbers don’t.

    The anti-regulatory fervor was in evidence Tuesday night in the latest GOP debate, but rhetorical flourishes, on that and other issues, masked far more complex realities.

    A look at some of the claims and how they compare with the facts.

    MITT ROMNEY: “All of the Obama regulations, we say no. It costs jobs.”

    RICK PERRY: Regulations “are strangling the American entrepreneurship out there.”

    RICK SANTORUM: “Repeal every regulation the Obama administration put in place.”

    THE FACTS: Labor Department data show that only a tiny percentage of companies that experience large layoffs cite government regulation as the reason. Since Barack Obama took office, just two-tenths of 1 percent of layoffs have been due to government regulation, the data show.
    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireS.....k-14718554

  10. 10

    Republicans captured the House in 2010 by promising jobs. What they delivered was job-killing partisan gridlock and dogged pursuit of even more special privileges for the rich at everyone else’s expense. It should surprise no one if disgruntled voters throw them out on their asses.

  11. 11

    One thing is certain: No Republican is offering real solutions to the problems driving ordinary Americans into the streets to vent their frustrations with the system the one-percenters inflicted on us. Least of all the pizza godfather dude:

    “When it comes to Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain’s proposed 9-9-9 tax plan, there’s one thing all sides agree on: it’s very simple. If you’re a corporation, own a small business or count yourself among the richest Americans, you’ll simply love it. If not, you’d simply pay a lot more in taxes. …

    “Cain recently told CNBC, ‘If the public understands it, they will support it and demand it.’ … But the odds are much higher that, when the public understands it, the vast majority of taxpayers will be horrified to realize they face a huge tax increase. That assessment comes from Bruce Bartlett, a senior official in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, who described the plan as a ‘distributional monstrosity.’

    “‘The poor would pay more while the rich would have their taxes cut, with no guarantee that economic growth will increase and good reason to believe that the budget deficit will increase’ Bartlett recently wrote …. ‘Even allowing for the poorly thought through promises routinely made on the campaign trail, Mr. Cain’s tax plan stands out as exceptionally ill conceived.”

    http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.co.....y-pay-more

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: This is yet another example of why we don’t — and shouldn’t — elect political amateurs to fill high-level public offices. The presidency is not an entry-level job. Neither, for that matter, is being a congressman — as the current House majority is so amply demonstrating. Notwithstanding all the garbage can lid banging about “career politicians,” I want seasoned professionals in these jobs, not some jackass who thinks there’s no difference between running the federal government and making mass-market pizzas.

  12. 12

    We’ve got a world full of problems coming at us. Like this one.

    The UK could exhaust its oil and gas reserves in just 17 years if production continues at its current rate, according to figures released today.
    Oil & Gas UK’s 2011 economic report revealed there could be as little as 14billion barrels of oil and gas left off the UK continental shelf.
    Around 810million barrels were extracted last year – 2.2 million a day – meaning reserves could hypothetically run out in 17 years if no more reserves are found.

    In its twilight years? The North West Hutton oil platform in the North Sea. There are fears the UK’s oil and gas supplies could run out in as little as 17 years
    The most optimistic estimate puts reserves at 24billion barrels, which would last around 30 years at the present rate of production.
    However, the report states that these reserves would require ‘radical’ new technical and commercial innovations to extract.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z1ahHjCCch

    And while the Democrats are better than the Republicans they’re both doing fuck-all about the problems we’re going to face in the future.

  13. 13

    # 12: Yea, and the Saudi researves have already reached their peak production and are on the down-side of the production slope. Right now they are already using more more advanced technologies to extract the remaining oil – kind of like trying to push oil out of a sponge by injecting steam and squeezing it.

    How long the Saudi oil reserves last depends upon the rate the Saudis choose to pump oil. The Saudis have been willing to increase production temproarily for the past couple of decades or so in order to make up for international political problems and to keep the western economies on an even keel. The reason they have been willing to do that is that since the early 1980’s, they realized that eventually the oil would come to an end, and unless they want to try to make money by selling sand, they have to have investments overseas which will generate earnings in future years. As their reserves deplete themselves, they may very well decide not to be as cooperative, and cut oil production back to protect what they need for their own domestic requirements.

    The long shot is that despite what you hear from industry proponants of specific projects – those who want to drill in the Alaska Wildlife Preserves, or extract oil from shale in Canada, or pop more wells closer offshore along the Florida and California coastlines – there is no future in oil as an energy source.

    The worldwide reserves will be largly depleted within the next forty years or so – within our lifetimes, if we live long enough. No more oil for gasoline, asphault, heating, or electrical production. What oil that is left will have to be reserved for items which there is no acceptable substitute – some plastics in medical devices, some lubricants, powering some heavy machinery, etc. The price of those products will skyrocket, reflecting the rarity of the oil used to make them.

    We will need alternative energy sources, principally wind, solar, and possibly tidal power to create electricity to heat our homes and businesses, power automobiles, and for lighting and appliances. Concrete will replace asphalt for road construction.

    We should be getting ready for the new world now. But one Republican Congressman claims that we cannot invest in solar technology, because “we can’t compete with the Chinese”. Republican politicians refuse to consider any alternative but to drill for more oil, no matter how small the output or how high the environmental costs.

  14. 14

    This is why we need a jobs bill.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....07332.html
    EDGEWATER, Colo. — Before the unraveling, Selena Blanco and her family felt secure in their hold on middle class life in this bedroom community just west of Denver. She and her husband both held professional jobs in industries that seemed sheltered from trouble, his in technology, hers in health care. Together they brought home $100,000 a year, enough to allay concerns about paying the bills, let alone having to ask for help.

    But over the last two years, both have lost their jobs. Her unemployment check ran out in the spring, leaving them to subsist on his jobless benefits alone, about $1,500 a month.

    The Blanco’s shattered fortunes have supplied them an unwanted new status, one they share with millions of suburban households in a nation previously accustomed to thinking of suburbia in upwardly mobile terms: They are poor.

    They are officially so according to the federal government’s definition, which sets the poverty line for a family of five at an annual income of $26,023 or less. It is viscerally true when one sees how Blanco, 28, now spends her day. She takes her four-year-old son to a county-operated Headstart program, free preschool for the poor. She forages for clothes at thrift stores. She scrounges for coupons to keep her family fed.

  15. 15

    New NBC/WSJ poll via DKos:

    Regardless of how you usually vote, overall, which party do you trust to do a better job in dealing with the main problems of the nation over the next few years?
    Democrats: 42
    Republicans: 31

  16. 16

    12 – Well that was what Iraq was about.. Then when the Libya opportunity came, the Brits jumped on that and roped the U.S in.

  17. 17

    Righties who think leftwing moneybags like Soros are funding the Occupy movement are dead wrong. Occupiers are getting massive support but it’s coming from small donations by the grassroots. How massive? One group that expected $1,000 to $5,000 in donation actually got $140,000.

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/44892333

    And, as we all know, the rightwing-biased MSM are no longer ignoring the Occupy protests. They can’t, no matter how much they want to, because this story keeps growing.

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/44886190

  18. 18

    @13 We’re now being fed the line that there’s an inexhaustible supply of gas under American soil as long as everyone shuts the hell up and doesn’t raise any questions about the consequences of “fracking”.

    So, after all the piss and vinegar that’s been poured by the energy giants and their political lackeys into denying global climate change, we’ve still got the consequences of post-Peak Oil coming down on us like a buffalo stampede. Before it became passe’ to talk about it, a number of sages hypothesized a mad and disgusting romance with coal until that runs out, too. The storm of propaganda about somehow cooking gasoline out of coal a decade ago and the politicians (including Obama) bloviating about “clean coal” are no doubt intended to prepare us to welcome a little dose of black lung as long as we can still keep our gas buggies for a while.

    As to lubricants and such, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a brief return to large-scale whaling (until all the whales are gone) later in this century. I’m hoping to croak early enough that I’ll miss some of these joyous festivities.

  20. 20

    “…the rightwing-biased MSM are no longer ignoring the Occupy protests. They can’t, no matter how much they want to, because this story keeps growing.”

    Let’s review the right-wing strategies in dealing with the Occupy movement.

    1. Ignore them, and they will go away (they didn’t).

    2. Arrest some of them, the rest will go away (they didn’t).

    3. Make fun of them as unintelligent and disorganized (workes for a few hours, until some protestors spoke to the media and it was clear they were intelligent and organized).

    4. Plant rabble-rousers in their ranks to discredit them (failed when the ones provoking violence were identified as known right-wing activists).

    5. Claim they are lazy elitists who should just get a job (this is a claim still in progress, despite the ludicrousy of claiming on one hand that Obama hasn’t created enough jobs, and on the other hand that protesters could get a job if they just looked for one).

    I wonder what the next stage is going to be?

  21. 21

    Isn’t 9-9-9 the price of a Godfather’s Pizza? And won’t 9-9-9 turn America upside down — i.e. 6-6-6 and all that :)

    Too bad about Herman Cain — the man is probably the most brilliant GOP candidate, certainly someone with a resume of achievements, and a very inspiring kind of speaker. Unfortunately, he has proposed the crappiest economic plan of anyone in recent history.

    Obviously 9-9-9 will result in a lot of lost Republican votes. The 47% that don’t pay income taxes at all will obviously pay a LOT more. Many of the 53% will also pay more. And the top 10% will see their tax rates cut to far less than half of what they currently pay.

    But if the GOP nominates Mitt Romney — as will probably happen — they can put forth a reasonably credible platform next fall. If nominated, expect to see Romney start touting his record as governor of Massachusetts — something he has been running from while trying to get the GOP nomination.

    Frankly, the national economic situation SUCKS — especially the enormous budget deficit — and Obama’s proposals are FAR from ideal. But everything the GOP has proposed will make matters FAR WORSE — either reckless tax cuts for the rich, unfair tax hikes for the poor, or massive cuts in long-standing social welfare programs that do a lot of good for the most disadvantaged in our society.

  23. 23

    @21

    The 47% that don’t pay income taxes at all will obviously pay

    maybe its time for the 47% to start paying their fair share….and $0 is hardly fair….right YLB.

  24. 24

    23 zzzzzZZZZzzzzz… Like the less than 47 percent who are lucky enough to get a payroll check don’t pay FICA and Medicare and when they walk into a store to buy cough medicine for their kids don’t pay sales tax or when they pay their utility bills don’t pay some taxes on that..

    Stupid!

  25. 25

    23. the umpire spews:

    @21

    The 47% that don’t pay income taxes at all will obviously pay

    maybe its time for the 47% to start paying their fair share….and $0 is hardly fair….right YLB.

    10/13/2011 at 5:04 pm

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04.....hardt.html

    Yes, 47% of Households Owe No Taxes. Look Closer.

    By DAVID LEONHARDT Published: April 13, 2010

    Forty-seven percent.

    That’s the portion of American households that owe no income tax for 2009. The number is up from 38 percent in 2007, and it has become a popular talking point on cable television and talk radio. With Tax Day coming on Thursday, 47 percent has become shorthand for the notion that the wealthy face a much higher tax burden than they once did while growing numbers of Americans are effectively on the dole.

    Neither one of those ideas is true. They rely on a cleverly selective reading of the facts. So does the 47 percent number.

    Of course the emperor max-minidick is completely full of shit.

    It would be completely out of character if he wasn’t!

  27. 27

    Nice catch Rujax! David Leonhardt is one of the best writers on econ issues working.

    Goes right over the pinhead of the asshat troll of course.

  28. 28

    From that David Leonhardt article:

    Even if the discussion is restricted to federal taxes (for which the statistics are better), a vast majority of households end up paying federal taxes. Congressional Budget Office data suggests that, at most, about 10 percent of all households pay no net federal taxes. The number 10 is obviously a lot smaller than 47.

    The reason is that poor families generally pay more in payroll taxes than they receive through benefits like the Earned Income Tax Credit. It’s not just poor families for whom the payroll tax is a big deal, either. About three-quarters of all American households pay more in payroll taxes, which go toward Medicare and Social Security, than in income taxes.

  29. 29

    @13 Saudi oilfields have unique characteristics that add up to high quality oil and the world’s lowest production costs.

    You don’t see “nodding donkeys” (the familiar oilfield pump) in Saudi fields. They extract oil by injecting seawater into the ground to force the oil up the wells. From there it’s piped to separators that remove the water.

    At Ghawar, the world’s biggest oilfield, the liquid that comes up originally was almost pure oil, but now is about 80% water and 20% oil, which shows how much the field has aged after 60 years of production.

    There is no replacement for Ghawar’s 5 million bpd of production, which amounts to 6.25% of global production. No other oilfield comes close to Ghawar’s reserves or production capacity. Only a handful exceed 1 million bpd.

  31. 31

    @21 “Obviously 9-9-9 will result in a lot of lost Republican votes.”

    Are you kidding, Richard? You’re overestimating the intelligence of voters. In our state, 2/3rds of the voters voted against a tax on 2% of the people. There are a lot of low-information voters out there, and many of them believe any crap the GOP noise machine spews.

  32. 32

    @23 Well if you think that’s unfair then what’s stopping you from being one of the 47%? After you’ve lived on their income for a while maybe you’ll be entitled to bitch about them not paying income taxes. (They still have to pay payroll, sales, property, and excise taxes like everyone else.) Until then, stfu.

  33. 33

    @23
    Something like 70 percent of them make less than 20K a year. Go ahead and tax them, policing and collecting their fair share will probably cost more than you bring in.

  34. 34

    Ezra Klein

    Journolist. Yeah right… his take!

  35. 35

    certainly someone with a resume of achievements

    Wow candid commentary on Herman Cain. More than the community organizer in da whitey house!

    Herman was po! And that’s what rings true about him with people of all races. Guess you can’t call the Tea Party Racists when they love Herman Cain!

    Wait.. some leftist pinhead will create a reason!

  36. 36

    the rightwing-biased MSM are no longer ignoring the Occupy protests.

    Funniest lie of the day. The MSM is left wing. 85% or more each election for DUMMOCRAPTS.

    Great try Cass Sunstein malleable Homer Simpson Idiot!

  37. 37

    @36

    “Funniest lie of the day. The MSM is left wing.”

    Well, the claim that the main-stream media is left-wing is a lie, but I’m not at all convinced that it’s funny.

    “85% or more each election…”

    A clue for the Puddy: while most folks in the left wing are Democrats, not all Democrats are left-wing. Indeed, had you been paying any attention lately, you might just notice that most progressives think that the guy in the White House sits quite a bit to their right on the political spectrum.

    Same ole’ Puddy. Spouting disconnected facts the meaning of which he simply doesn’t understand.

  38. 38

    To the extent that the media reports facts then yes, it has a left wing bias.

    The right wing demands reinforcement of right wing myths from the media like you see from Faux News, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page, right wing stink tanks and other right wing propaganda outlets.

    Never reality – that’s for liberal/left leaning people.

  39. 39

    @38

    “The right wing demands reinforcement of right wing myths”

    It’s not just that. The right-wing keeps moving further and further to the right. Evidence that people aren’t following them isn’t evidence that those people are biased.

    It’s rather like claiming that Alan Greenspan was a liberal. The only way to truly make that claim is to redefine the meaning of the word “liberal”.

    By the way, are Puddy and “the ump” the only thing that’s left of any kind of right-wing voice around here? I confess that work has kept me from paying much attention.

  40. 40

    @36 “The MSM is left wing. 85% or more each election for DUMMOCRAPTS.”

    As you said, “the funniest lie of the day.”

  41. 41

    @39 “By the way, are Puddy and “the ump” the only thing that’s left of any kind of right-wing voice around here?”

    Oh no, we have some new RW trolls stinking up this place with their offal.

  42. 42

    @ 25

    “Yes, 47% of Households Owe No Taxes. Look Closer.”

    Honestly, I have no idea why the right wingers aren’t touting this as a success story for right-wing policies. That’s what they want, isn’t it? People not paying any taxes?

  43. 43

    @24 and 25

    well since neither of you pays a federal income tax, I am not surprised that you are unfamiliar with it. maybe if you two lovebirds actually went out got a job, you would know this.

    maybe you should talk to Richard Pope, I just quoted his percentages.

  44. 44

    Same ole’ Don Joe. Never a link to back up his horse manure!

    Hmmm Where to start Don Joe…

    Here’s a link! The Factual University Study

    Here’s a link! Then the Book with facts

    Here’s a link! But wait the historical facts!

    Here’s a link!

    Here’s a link!

    Here’s a link! – Only 15% are Conservative!

    Here’s a link!

    DUMMOCRAPTS received $1,020,816, from 1,160 employees of NBC, CBS, and ABC in 2008 – 86.32%

    Republican received $142,863 193 employees donations in 2008 – 13.68%

    So where are the books on the right-wing media bias?

    Too bad Don Joe just got smack with facts! And the HA arschloch and the DOPEY Rabbit have no facts either.

  46. 46

    43 – zzzz ZZZZZ ZZZZ zzzz

    If you get a paycheck, you pay taxes to the federal government. The facts state clearly that only 10 percent of households pay no federal taxes

    Even working poor who get eitc pay more in federal taxes than they get in benefits..

    Now look at the 10 percent. They’re paying state and local taxes at every turn for something. Someone always is passing their tax bill down the line. Like a landlord never makes his tenants pay his property taxes?

    Keep living in an mean-spirited idiot fantasy world if it makes you happy.

  47. 47

    you might just notice that most progressives think that the guy in the White House sits quite a bit to their right on the political spectrum.

    That’s only because you “progressives” are in left field Solar asteroid belt and Barack ObamAA+ is only in left field at Mars. Y’all are in left field waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out dere!

  48. 48

    If you get a paycheck, you pay taxes to the federal government.

    And what do you get arschloch? Guvmint handout? Been posting all day again!

    Wait for it it…

    1) Pffffffft
    2) Yawn
    3) Snore
    4) zzzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzz
    5) Bszzzzzst

    Like a landlord never makes his tenants pay his property taxes?

    What a useless canard! Was worthless when you first brought that argument in 2008!

  49. 49

    @43 “maybe if you two lovebirds actually went out got a job”

    How come you left me out of this? I don’t have a job and don’t want a job. I’m the laziest poster on this blog. I contribute nothing of value to the economy. All I do is play Wall Street’s zero-sum game and take the FREE MONEY Wall Street doles out to me. I quit the working class and joined the owning class and now I’m an unproductive bloodsucker like all the other capitalists.

  50. 50

    Hey arschloch,

    Left wing companies don’t pass their bills down the line?

    Barack ObamAA+’s pal Jeffrey Immelt did what with GE? It’s been all over this blog ya moron about his job cuts here sent overseas and how GE paid almost no taxes.

    How about Google using tax dodges? I documented them here three times arschloch.

    How about that Mac you use? Not manufactured here! All dem jobs gone!

  51. 51

    @47 As you said @48:

    “1) Pffffffft
    2) Yawn
    3) Snore
    4) zzzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzz
    5) Bszzzzzst”

    I could write a response, but I’m lazy, and it’s easier to steal yours.

  52. 52

    “My parents are really right-wingers,” Immelt is heard telling a group of GE managers during Stahl’s piece. “My dad watches, like, five or six hours of Fox News every day. So I called home and said, ‘Hey, just to give you a heads-up… I’m going to be with the president and he’s asked me to lead this jobs council.’ And my mother said, ‘Well, you said no, of course, didn’t you?

    http://www.mediabistro.com/tvn.....-10_b91915

  53. 53

    @50 Whooooooooooooooooooo sent all the U.S. manufacturing jobs overseas between 2001 and 2008? And gave companies tax breaks to do it? Why do Republicans (heart) Chinese slave labor and hate AMERICAN workers?

  56. 56

    I saw great clip on the tee-vee last night, CNN had clips of Cain, Romney, Cantor and a couple other righties walking back their statements about the OWS’ers. Too much fun.

    Btw, it’s going to be Romney V. Obama come 2012 and seeing how as governor Romney got universal healthcare passed was pro-choice & pro gay marriage it seems to me that Romney’s the liberal in the race.

  57. 57

    @55 Whoever he is, whatever he is, he bores the fucking hell out of me. Of course, stupid, hate-filled psychotics tend to do that to me.

  58. 58

    @56 When I hear somebody who believes that the earth is 6,000 years old, who hates science, and who believes that God speaks to him, and they have the nerve to call out Romney’s LDS faith as a cult, I start feeling inspired to slap a fool around a bit to see if I can maybe knock some fucking sense into him.

    I’m getting sick of this shit.

  59. 59

    50. Puddybud, who read how Mr DISGUSTING “I live off the net” all day spews:

    Hey arschloch,

    Left wing companies don’t pass their bills down the line?

    Barack ObamAA+’s pal Jeffrey Immelt did what with GE? It’s been all over this blog ya moron about his job cuts here sent overseas and how GE paid almost no taxes.

    How about Google using tax dodges? I documented them here three times arschloch.

    How about that Mac you use? Not manufactured here! All dem jobs gone!

    10/13/2011 at 10:01 pm

    What a whore…a shill…a liar, a prevaricator. A traitor…an Uncle Tom and Quisling of the worst kind.

  60. 60

    @ 44

    “Hmmm Where to start Don Joe”

    How ’bout actually reading the sources you’ve cited? I know. That’s hard. It requires effort, and comprehension has never been your strong point. But:

    “Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress, but even so, there is a quantifiable and significant bias in that nearly all of them lean to the left,” said co‑author Jeffrey Milyo, University of Missouri economist and public policy scholar. [emphasis added]

    And:

    Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS’ “Evening News,” The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal. [emphasis added]

    So, the baseline for comparison is “members of Congress” during some period of time before December of 2005 (the date on the news article), and the most “liberal media outlet” would be the news pages of the Wall Street Journal!

    All of that might look “liberal” to you, but you stand somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun. For those of us who actually consider ourselves to be “liberal” the “news pages of the Wall Street Journal” ain’t “liberal” by any stretch of the word.

    And, once again, we see Puddy’s inability to connect the facts he cites to a conclusion he wants to reach–arguments that are, at best, inchoate.

    Puddy will, of course, respond to this by calling me names and trying to impugn my intelligence. The one thing you will not see from Puddy is a coherent argument. He’s incapable of producing one.

  61. 61

    @ 59

    “What a whore…a shill…a liar, a prevaricator.”

    No. Puddy’s really a special form of idiot who can’t draw coherent connections between known facts. Remember that Puddy once argued that the folks who trade on the NYMEX are “liberals,” because, well, the “NY” in “NYMEX” stands for “New York”.

    Puddy is that rare breed of creature that is so stupid, he remains quite ignorant of just how stupid he is.

  62. 62

    and they have the nerve to call out Romney’s LDS faith as a cult

    And where did I do that Stupid Solution Steve?

  63. 63

    @59

    Such a loser. Prove where any of that is a lie! I posted links moron. You post gas from your ASS!

  64. 64

    Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress

    But they are way left of the public. Care to hijack just a sentence to try a make your point? Of course all the other posts are skipped over because Don Joe can’t use them.

  65. 65

    Oh, Puddy’s means of convincing himself that people he doesn’t like are democrats is some of the more amusing stuff to hit the comment threads here. My personal favorite: the people buying and selling commodities on the New York Mercantile Exchange are democrats. Why? Because the NYMEX is in New York.

    Seems those were your words Don Joe, not mine.

    So now who is that “”rare breed of stupid”. Again another libtardo projecting himself onto others.

    Don Joe and Lib UnScientist fit that category!

    Good day!

  66. 66

    most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal.

    Now who claimed the WSJ is conservative? Well all we see on HA are arguments from leftist pinheads about the WSJ being owned by Rupert Murdoch so it’s your buds who claim they are conservative Don Joe.

    Man, complain about someone not connecting the dots and even when there are only two on the page somehow Don Joe can’t figger it out!

    He’s a laugh a nanosecond when Don Joe arrives!

  67. 67

    I deliver seven links and he extracts two sentences from over thousands that point against his position to make his insipid, inane, and useless point. Another EPIC FAIL eh Don Joe? Yes!

    Where are the media is right wing studies Don Joe?

    PROOF?

    FACTS?

    I’ll even accept some great innuendo since you failed on PROOF and FACTS!

  68. 68

    Every time rujax appears it’s either a Kooks link, a TPM link or some moronic commentary with no link.

    See the pattern? That’s all the dumb cinder block has in his “arsenal”!

  69. 69

    Hey dumb brick rujax,

    Right on Drudge Report

    IRS Auditing How Google Shifted Profits Offshore to Avoid Taxes

    You are such a moron!

    Leftist Google! Barack ObamAA+ darling

    Sucks to be rujax!

  70. 70

    OK, I’ll take a crack at that imbecile’s “argument”

    From P-dud’s first link:

    With scores in the mid-70s, CBS’ “Evening News” and The New York Times looked similar to Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., who has an ADA score of 74.

    Most of the outlets were less liberal than Lieberman but more liberal than former Sen. John Breaux, D-La. Those media outlets included the Drudge Report, ABC’s “World News Tonight,” NBC’s “Nightly News,” USA Today, NBC’s “Today Show,” Time magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, NPR’s “Morning Edition,” CBS’ “Early Show” and The Washington Post.

    Joe Lieberman. BWHAHAHAAHA!

    From his second link:

    And in further analysis sure to enrage critics of conservative media, Groseclose determines that Drudge, on a conservative to liberal scale of 0-100, with 50 being centrist, actually leans a bit left of center with a score of 60.4. The reason: Drudge mostly links to the sites of the mainstream media, with just a few written by Matt Drudge himself. “Since these links come from a broad mix of media outlets, and since the news in general is left-leaning, it should not be surprising that the slant quotient of the Drudge Report leans left,” he writes.

    Very, very circular logic, anyone?

    His third link goes to a site that is selling these books:

    Whitewash: What the Media Won’t Tell You About Hillary Clinton, but Conservatives Will
    — by L. Brent Bozell III

    Weapons of Mass Distortion: The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media
    — by L. Brent Bozell III

    Pattern of Deception: The Media’s Role in the Clinton Presidency
    — by Tim Graham

    As well as T-shirts emblazoned with “DON’T BELIEVE THE LIBERAL MEDIA”, with Uncle Sam pointing at YOU!

    The fourth link is to a Bernard Goldberg book. Need I say more?

    The fifth link is to another book purporting to document liberal media bias by a guy heading an organization, the Center for Media and Public affairs that has this written about it in Wikipedia:

    Some critics, such as Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) and the Columbia Journalism Review, have criticized Lichter and the CMPA for holding a conservative bias of their own or for being funded by conservative foundations.

    The next link is to the Wikipedia page of the American Society of News Editors, and is without mention of their political leanings, and the last to an academic, Jim Kuypers, who purports to analyze media framing and finding evidence of both:

    What Kuypers found was that the news media echoed the president’s themes and the framing of those themes immediately following 9/11. But just eight weeks later, the press had changed its manner of reporting, was actually framing Bush as an enemy of civil liberties, and was actively helping critics of the president.

    That latter phenomenon might better be described as “telling the truth”, but I have a hard time seeing the media as paragons of civil liberties bravely standing up to warrantless wiretapping, or debunking the Orwellian term “Enhanced Interrogation”.

    P-dud is once again, relentlessly full of shit.

  71. 71

    Meanwhile, over in the House, controlled by the Teahaddists fellow travelers of P-dud, did this yesterday (from kos):

    The House bookended hosting a joint session addressed by the President of South Korea with the passage of the “Protect Life by Letting Women Die Act” and the “EPA Regulatory Whiner’s Relief Act.” That’s… uh… that’s it. That’s unbelievable in light of what’s really happening in this country, but that’s actually what they did, regardless. And as the Huffington Post points out, it also means the House followed up its “Protect Life Act” with a bill the EPA says may kill 20,000 people. And if that’s not enough, well, there’s the matter of today’s post’s headline.

    So, by further narrowing women’s autonomy over their own bodies, and enabling toxic, lethal air pollution, and doing NOTHING about jobs or the economy, the Party of Life ™ played to type yet again.

    Wankers.

    Maybe we could give the Republicans, P-dud included, the libertarian paradise of Alabama, and we could enjoy the PNW without them?

  72. 72

    @ 64

    “But [the mainstream media] are way left of the public.”

    The study you cited used the phrase, “lean left”. “Lean left” does not even come close to “way left”. Indeed, in most ontologies, “lean left” would generally still remain well within the “moderate” category.

    Which, by the way, is the fundamental problem with your entire contention that the mainstream media are liberal. It requires narrowing down the range of “moderate” to such a point that it barely exists at all.

    Indeed, had you tracked down the original study, you would have discovered that all of the mainstream media outlets were scored somewhere between the average score for Democrats and the average score for Republicans.

    “Now who claimed the WSJ is conservative?”

    Not me. I only said that the news pages of the WSJ don’t fall into the “liberal” category. Not by a long shot. Again, there’s this third category that your entire argument ignores.

    “I deliver seven links…”

    As if delivering a deluge of links constitutes a coherent argument. You went for quantity, while completely ignoring quality. Indeed, one of the links refers to a book written by one of the coauthors of the study referred to in the first link.

    The other links generally suffer from the same problem I pointed out before; namely that “Democrat” isn’t a very good proxy for “liberal”. There is such a thing as a “blue dog” Democrat. They tend to be significantly more conservative than generally liberal Democrats.

    Indeed, the most controversial feature of the most controversial legislation that has crossed Pres. Obama’s desk, the individual mandate, is an idea originally cooked up by the Heritage Foundation! Whatever that is, it’s not liberal.

    One can certainly go out and find several web sites that would “refute” the “facts” that you’ve cited, but I’ll limit myself to just two. Both of them, in one way or another, address the Groseclose/Milyo study.

    First, here’s a critique of the Groseclose/Milyo study. In that post, Brendan Nyhan, who bills himself as a political scientist and media critic, points out the problems with using citation analysis to determine media bias. There’s also a comment on that blog post that refers to a study done by the Pew Research Center. Both the post and that comment severely undercut the conclusions of the Groseclose/Milyo study.

    Second, here’s a more recent paper that refers to the Groseclose/Milyo study, yet reaches a very different conclusion:

    Because of its novelty, prominence, and stark conclusions, the original Groseclose-Milyo paper has been subject to several critiques.

    First, as Brendan Nyhan (2005) argues, the “think-tank bridge” between media outlets and congressmen is unlikely to be straightforward, since the media and congressmen often cite think tanks for very different reasons.

    Second, the Groseclose-Milyo findings appear to be quite sensitive to influential observations, as well as the exact years studied. For example, John Gasper (forthcoming) shows that the liberal bias essentially disappears if we exclude the citations of a single group – the National Taxpayers Union – from the analysis.

    Third, although Groseclose and Milyo can directly compare media outlets with politicians, they can only compare media outlets to voters by assumption. They assume that once specific biases of the US electoral system are taken into account, the ideological position of the average American is the same as the ideological position of the median member of the US Congress as revealed by his or her roll call voting record.

    Rather than use Congress as the baseline for measuring bias, Puglisi and Snyder looked at voting records and media/think tank endorsements for state-level ballot initiatives and referendums. This is a far more direct measurement of the political spectrum of American voters.

    Their conclusion:

    We find that, on average, newspapers are located almost exactly at the median voter in their home states. In California, where we have the most data, newspapers are probably slightly to the right of the median voter. We find no evidence that the US press exhibits a liberal bias. [emphasis added]

    To summarize, there are significant problems with any effort to define what “liberal” means, and the most compelling evidence of these problems is none other than the fact that Groseclose/Milyo scored the news pages of the Wall Street Journal as the most liberal media outlet of them all. Moreover, regardless of those problems, it would seem that any conclusion that the mainstream media has a “liberal” bias has to exclude “moderate” as a viable range within the political spectrum.

    Quality, Puddy. It trumps quantity every time.

  73. 73

    “And where did I do that Stupid Solution Steve?”

    Since the loon was never mentioned in my post, nor the one I was repying to, I can only conclude that somebody here has a guilt trip they’re not dealing with. We already know that Adventists see the Catholic Church as a cult or some such shit. Does anybody really believe that Mormons fair any better?

    It’s too bad the Dominionists and Reconstructionists will never see the day that they take over America and impose the Christo-fascist theocracy they so desire. I was kind of looking forward to the day extremists right-wing Christians turned on each other, devouring each other’s babies.

  74. 74

    # 70, etc. The problem with arguing with Puddy is (a) he obviously doesn’t critically read the sources he cites, they usually don’t support the conclusions he reaches or are from obviously suspect sources; (b) he throws out those links, like a red herring, to distract us while he moves on to another topic; (c) his whole purpose is to disrupt the discussion here, not to engage in meaningful dialouge.

    After a few attempts to track down his sources and consider his arguments, I realized it was a waste of time. After his refusal to repudiate Beck’s comments comparing the Sweedish teenage camp shooting victims to Nazi Youth, I have no more use for him.

    Occassionally I get suckered into responding to his rants, but I’m trying hard to give him the amount of attention he so richly deserves: none.

  76. 76

    @ 74

    “The problem with arguing with Puddy is…”

    That depends entirely on what your goal is. If your goal is to try to persuade Puddy that his arguments (such as they are) suck, you’ll never get there. In this respect, Puddy’s more stubborn than a mule. Theories vary as to why, but the stubbornness is a well-documented fact.

    If, on the other hand, your goal is to push Puddy into a patently idiotic corner, then there are plenty of possibilities for engagement. As evidence of this, I’ll merely note the success I had getting Puddy to argue that Alan Greenspan was a liberal.

    If you want to change Puddy’s mind, forget it. If you want to make Puddy look stupid, it’s almost child’s play. Puddy does most of the work for you.

  77. 77

    In all of Lib UnScientists rant… he skipped over the salient points and hijacks a small little piece to satisfy his argument.

    80+% of MSM vote DUMMOCRAPTIC. Now why did Lib UnScientist skip over this?

    He ain’t got no answer dat’s why!

  78. 78

    “Now who claimed the WSJ is conservative?”

    Not me.

    Did I say you Don Joe? Nope you DOPE, it’s your fellow HA travelers whom you so contritely give a pass too!

  79. 79

    There is such a thing as a “blue dog” Democrat. They tend to be significantly more conservative than generally liberal Democrats.

    But they voted for Nancy Pelosi… so that in itself tells you where their “true” temperament lies!

  80. 80

    After his refusal to repudiate Beck’s comments comparing the Sweedish teenage camp shooting victims to Nazi Youth, I have no more use for him.

    UP YOURS ASSHOLE! I already answered it CASS SUNSTEIN MALLEABLE HOMER SIMPSON IDIOT. Find it.

    You choose to skip over my posts so you missed it. In the beginning I liked Steve. So I dug up my post on Mark Foley because he claimed I never spoke about Foley. He publicly apologized. Then he invented his Stupid Solution and patented STOOOOPID on this blog. rujax and the HA arschloch drank it in cases. So much for being the stoooooooooopid idiot of HA!

    You on the other hand are one sick libtardo moron rhp6033. You choose to skip over my posts. Well you skipped over my response. You NEVER EVER repudiate leftist commentary but are the FIRST to require my repudiation on just about any subject you disagree with. Second is correctnotbright! You wanna see it again? Ask the crazed HA databaze arschloch for the comment cuz I will NOT repeat it. I bet he has it handy with his POWERFUL search engine, that has failed him time and again!

    You are such an IDIOT rhp6033. A real missing link! Sucks to be you!

    Good BYE!

  81. 81

    Also when confronted by his own words #65 Don Joe runs for dem thar hills.

    Wait for it… He’ll comment now as he’s put on the spot.

  82. 82

    Stupid Solution Steve@73,

    Revisit post #58 and tell me when have you NOT used those as attacks against Puddy.

    Yeah crickets chirping!

  83. 83

    To summarize these moronic rants of the leftists above… 80+% of MSM vote DUMMOCRAPTIC and 86% of them contributed to the DUMMOCRAPTIC cause in 2008. Yet they can’t provide studies to refute these voting numbers or contributions or their daily newscast diatribes!

    That’s a nuff said Suckas.

    ROTFLRHMBBAO!

  84. 84

    83. Puddybud, who read how Mr DISGUSTING “I live off the net” all day spews:

    To summarize these moronic rants of the leftists above… 80+% of MSM vote DUMMOCRAPTIC and 86% of them contributed to the DUMMOCRAPTIC cause in 2008. Yet they can’t provide studies to refute these voting numbers or contributions!

    That’s a nuff said Suckas.

    ROTFLRHMBBAO!

    10/14/2011 at 6:35 pm

    What a miserable fucking hypocrite this cretin is…a mongrel Koch whore. A shill and a Quisling Uncle Tom.

    Get lost asshole.

  85. 85

    @ 77

    “He ain’t got no answer dat’s why!”

    He didn’t have to. I’ve already pointed out that “Democrat” isn’t a very good proxy for “liberal”. It’s a point that you haven’t addressed with any form of coherent argument whatsoever.

    @ 78

    “Did I say you Don Joe?”

    You asked a question. I gave a perfectly legitimate answer.

    “it’s your fellow HA travelers whom you so contritely give a pass too!”

    First, based on the number of comments posted here, Puddy, the category of “fellow HA travelers” includes you. Indeed, you would be one of HA’s leading “travelers”.

    Second, people are, generally, entitled to their own opinions. I don’t argue with everyone with whom I disagree. I tend to only argue with those whose opinions are not well grounded in facts. Among that list, you are, by far, the leading candidate.

    @ 79

    “But [the blue dog Democrats] voted for Nancy Pelosi…”

    So? The actual voting is a formality that takes place only after each caucus has chosen their respective leaders amongst themselves. When was the last time voting for Speaker of the House did not follow strict party lines?

    No one is saying that blue dog Democrats aren’t Democrats. We’re saying that they aren’t all that liberal. You can see that in their voting records–voting records you need to ignore in order to keep alive even the faintest hopes of legitimately claiming that Democrats are some kind of proxy for “liberal”.

    The funniest thing about all of this is that, in Puddy’s world, those of us who are liberal don’t get to define what “liberal” means. That fact, alone, renders Puddy’s entire argument completely worthless.

  86. 86

    “He publicly apologized.”

    I’ll talk you one time, you SOB. I did apologize to you. And you apologized for not one fucking ugly thing you ever said. Absolutely fucking nothing. And then you decided that it was time to start calling me your stupid fucking names again. But that shit don’t fucking bother me. You’re too goddamned stupid to bother me. But when you spewed your hate in the name of Christina Taylor Greene, you crossed a fucking line. Fuck you and your goddamned link. Everybody here saw it.

    You can go to fucking hell. If you don’t like it, get off your self-loathing black ass and do something about it.

  87. 87

    @ 83

    “To summarize these moronic rants of the leftists above…”

    Bad summary. Puddy ignores the two links I posted in this comment, one of which is another academic paper that concluded:

    We find that, on average, newspapers are located almost exactly at the median voter in their home states. In California, where we have the most data, newspapers are probably slightly to the right of the median voter. We find no evidence that the US press exhibits a liberal bias. [emphasis added]

    Funny how Puddy claims that we’ve ignored the data he’s linked, even though I’ve addressed that data twice now, yet Puddy complete ignores the data I’ve posted.

    But, that’s Puddy. Still can’t string together a coherent argument even if the lives of his children depended on it.

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