The Central Question, What Differentiates Democrats From Republicans

President Obama went to visit with Senate Democrats today in another #questiontime session. I know quite a few people are panning it because it wasn't quite the high drama of his trip to the GOP retreat last year, but I still think he put on another great performance. Several Corporatist Democrats got up and tried to grand stand, most notably Evan Bayh and Blanche Lincoln. I mean really they sounded more like Republicans than many Republicans at times. But President Obama in albeit a polite fashion, pushed back on their self defeating premises. Maybe the best quote of the day was when he was responding to Blanche Lincoln when she tried to label members of her own party as "extremists" and inferred that Democrats shouldn't do anything to upset Wall Street and the banksters.

Well, if the agenda -- if the price of certainty is essentially for us to adopt the exact same proposals that were in place for eight years leading up to the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression -- we don't tinker with health care, let the insurance companies do what they want, we don't put in place any insurance reforms, we don't mess with the banks, let them keep on doing what they're doing now because we don't want to stir up Wall Street -- the result is going to be the same.

I don't know why we would expect a different outcome pursuing the exact same policies that got us into this fix in the first place. Michael Bennet articulated it very well. Part of the reason people are feeling anxious right now, it's not just because of this current crisis -- they've been going through this for 10 years. They've been working and not seeing a raise. Their costs have been going up, their spouses going to the workforce -- they work as hard as they can. They're barely keeping their heads above water. They're trying to figure out how to retire. They're seeing more and more of their costs on health care dumped in their lap. College tuition skyrockets.

They are more and more vulnerable, and they have been for the last decade, treading water. And if our response ends up being, because we don't want to -- we don't want to stir things up here, we're just going to do the same thing that was being done before, then I don't know what differentiates us from the other guys. And I don't know why people would say, boy, we really want to make sure that those Democrats are in Washington fighting for us.

That ladies and gentlemen is what this really all boils down to. When you have Democrats who are trying to mimic Republicans like Lincoln and Bayh et al, all they are really doing is making it easier for voters to vote for ACTUAL Republicans. The truth is when it ocmes to the Democratic Platform its the ConservaDems like Lincoln who are the extremists, running far to the right of what most mainstream Democrats both in office and out, want for the country. It was a moment that those of us on the left who haven't lost our damn mind would be wise to continue to point out and promote. Especially as this year goes on and the ConservaDems continue to be a bigger obstacle for progress than the GOP

Give That Man A Standing Ovation

Megan McCardle is an idiot. The thing about it is pretty much any reasonable person who reads her work on a regular basis would agree with me on that. And yet for some reason she is elevated as some kind of up and coming writer for the right. Now the truth is the right wing really doesn't put that much of a premium on their writers actually making sense. But it still baffles my mind that she even has a job writing for a major publication. I have even seen a few liberal and progressive writers have good things to say about her.

Well Ezra Klein is not having it. This smackdown of her nonsensical screed against health care reform is epic! That is going to leave a mark and it should. I am to the point where it actually offends me that she can be that bad at her job and most people refuse to say so. For that reason Ezra Klein gets major props for speaking truth to power even though they used to be pretty good friends as DougJ pointed out.

Arrrrrrgh, I Give Up!

In my opinion Sarah Palin is the most overhyped politician of our time. Her ineptitude and loose relationship with the truth,however, has been rewarded time and time again since she was named John McCain's nominee for Vice President last summer. It is for that reason that I typically try to avoid giving her too much of my time.

I put up obligatory posts this week on the Vanity Fair hit piece on her and an accompanying GOPolitico story where Steve Schmidt and Bill Kristol aired each other over he VF article.

Now I was going to leave it at that but there was another report from CBSNews about some emails that documented a back and forth between Palin herself and Schmidt. Honestly I couldn't help but at least post the back and forth without the commentary and let it speak for itself.

Enjoy.

First the Peon

"Pls get in front of that ridiculous issue that's cropped up all day today - two reporters, a protestor's sign, and many shout-outs all claiming Todd's involvement in an anti-American political party," Palin wrote. "It's bull, and I don't want to have to keep reacting to it ... Pls have statement given on this so it's put to bed."

Then Schmidt

Schmidt hit "reply to all" less than five minutes after Palin's e-mail was sent. "Ignore it," he wrote. "He was a member of the aip? My understanding is yes. That is part of their platform. Do not engage the protestors. If a reporter asks say it is ridiculous. Todd loves america."

Undeterred Peon

"That's not part of their platform and he was only a 'member' bc independent alaskans too often check that 'Alaska Independent' box on voter registrations thinking it just means non partisan," Palin wrote. "He caught his error when changing our address and checked the right box. I still want it fixed."

Schmidt comes with the haymaker

"Secession," he wrote. "It is their entire reason for existence. A cursory examination of the website shows that the party exists for the purpose of seceding from the union. That is the stated goal on the front page of the web site. Our records indicate that todd was a member for seven years. If this is incorrect then we need to understand the discrepancy. The statement you are suggesting be released would be innaccurate. The innaccuracy would bring greater media attention to this matter and be a distraction. According to your staff there have been no media inquiries into this and you received no questions about it during your interviews. If you are asked about it you should smile and say many alaskans who love their country join the party because it speeks to a tradition of political independence. Todd loves his country

We will not put out a statement and inflame this and create a situation where john has to adress this."

Game Over.

Obviously at that point even Schmidt was done with her. When will the Mainstream Media follow suit?

And Now For The Main Event!

Goodmorning America brings us the match up we have been hoping for. Liz Cheney vs Lawrence O'Donnell. Unfortunately because this was a "polite" setting O'Donnell couldn't unload the clip like I am sure he wanted to so it didn't quite live up to the hype. However make no mistake, this was absolutely an PWNING.



Did you notice that Liz Cheney had no comeback to any of Lawrence O'Donnell's questions? Did you also notice that she totally made up some shit about we only prosecuted people for waterboarding because they did "some additional things" other than waterboarding? I loved how O'Donnell hit back when Liz said 14% of detainees who were released from GITMO "returned to the fight" (which we know isn't true) by pointing out that it was her dad who let them out in the first place. Now if only we could get that same match up somewhere like "Hardball" or "Morning Joe"