Presidential Politics

Plenty of news sites/links note that Trump is (supply YOUR birther label word here).

Supposed quote

Quote

“The reason I have a little doubt — just a little — is because he grew up and nobody knew him,” the Donald added.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/obama-finally-accepts-his-transparency-award-behind-closed-doors/2011/03/31/AFRplO9B_blog.html

Absurd, is the word.

Quote

Brian said she isn’t as concerned about the privacy of the meeting because a White House videographer filmed the exchange — but members of the White House press corps has panned the distribution of White House-produced video news releases, arguing they are no substitute for unfiltered, independent press access to the president.

That's another one that bugs me. Politicians are always getting better at their brand, and Obama's run the slickest marketing yet. Having media go through an administration-run source feels like it's on the path to those words we only see in foreign news, "state-run media." Your corporate donors should be buying the media, not you!

And for all that marketing his ratings suck.

DPBD!

What next for the birthers? "It's a fake!" obviously...

This is an interesting article; http://blogs.forbes.com/danielfreedman/2011/04/12/romney-to-trump-obama-doesnt-need-a-birth-certificate/

Edit; WTF? http://bltwy.msnbc.msn.com/politics/donald-trumps-new-obama-conspiracy-theory-1686763.story



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2011 06:27PM by tliet.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/mitt-romney-haunted-by-past-of-trying-to-help-unin%2C20097/

http://www.theonion.com/articles/trump-unable-to-produce-certificate-proving-hes-no,20250/

Sometimes the onion really does say it best.

DPBD!

Why am I not surprised?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/bronstein/detail?entry_id=87978&tsp=1

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White House officials have banished one of the best political reporters in the country from the approved pool of journalists covering presidential visits to the Bay Area for using now-standard multimedia tools to gather the news.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=87504

Quote

The progressive group protested what they called the inhumane treatment of Pvt. Bradley Manning in the Wikileaks case. Their protest song - which included lyrics: "We paid our dues..where's our change?" - was sung in its entirety for Obama, who thanked them at the end of the a capella performance.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2011 04:13AM by El Jeffe.

You know what gets me about shit like this? Not only is it proposed practically in the same breath as cuts in funding for services to the needy (this Texas thing is a small version of the Ryan plan nationally), but it's sold as "an investment" that will pay off in the future. COMPLICATING that shit-ness is that as far as I've seen, not one voice from any side has brought up what amazingly profitable investments said services for the needy are. WIC ensures babies get pre-natal care and grow up w/o as many environmentally caused illnesses or developmental disorders (that saves us all money, AND provides better potential workers for those Captains of Industry); education keeps kids from growing up illiterate and is directly and causally related to higher employment rates (more tax revenues and fewer "leech" costs); Head Start creates a "return that would make hedge fund managers jealous" (having trouble linking to the original PDF, so here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/03/13/1582568/even-today-head-start-is-the-right.html).

Anyone want to set me right on that Texas plan?

ddt

Fiscal Austerity is only for poor people, ddt. Didn't you know that?

I thought this was hilarious; Palin defends 4 billion in subsidies to the oil industry. "It's only a drop in the bucket." Sure, but it's 1200 times more than the 90 million that NPR is/was getting and had the right wing echo chamber's undies in a twist for weeks.

Actually, what worries me most is that a supposedly educated public figure in the States can talk like this:

"Here’s where we need to go there nationally, what I did as Governor of Alaska, which is obviously an energy-producing state."

I don't know if Omni Graffle is even capable of drawing a parse of that... though that does give me an idea for some fun graphic pranks.

ddt

Why are they getting any subsidies at all?

Why is that so hard to understand Tony? Of course these hard working oil men need to be subsidised. There's hardly any money in that market left these days. You know, with solar power and everything.

Well, to be fair, many of those subsidies are for alternative energy research. Some of these behemoth-like oil companies have small, start-up like ventures in things like solar, etc., run at distance from the main management and corporate economy. I think those should remain.

But yeah, the great mass of subsidies are due to, basically, lobbyists. They influence congresscritters simply through access (and hiring ex-congresscritters) that "the people" can't match. And lobbyists and their staffers actually WRITE parts of bills that go into law! I cannot understand why that is legal.

ddt

Like in the fifties we had to subsidize American oil so that we wouldn't be dependent on foreign sources. That worked out well.

Just read this article from 1990 about the then 28 y/o Barack Obama who'd just been elected president of the Harvard Law Review, first black one of course...

Good find!

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Yet some of Obama's peers question the motives of this second-year law student. They find it puzzling that despite Obama's openly progressive views on social issues, he has also won support from staunch conservatives. Ironically, he has come under the most criticism from fellow black students for being too conciliatory toward conservatives and not choosing more blacks to other top positions on the law review.

I've noticed an uptick in public debate about what "black" is lately.

Good find!

Quote

Yet some of Obama's peers question the motives of this second-year law student. They find it puzzling that despite Obama's openly progressive views on social issues, he has also won support from staunch conservatives. Ironically, he has come under the most criticism from fellow black students for being too conciliatory toward conservatives and not choosing more blacks to other top positions on the law review.