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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
 Posted - 02/03/2010 : 22:32:27
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Obama vs. House GOP: Best TV ever
| The ironic, detached style and professorial wonkiness that has sometimes made it hard for Obama to connect on a visceral level since he took office worked perfectly in Baltimore. And what could have been a dangerous event politically, with Republicans riding high in polls and Obama's agenda on its heels, turned into a presidential seminar, instead. He ridiculed a year's worth of Republican talking points on the stimulus: "The notion that I would somehow resist doing something that cost half as much but would produce twice as many jobs -- why would I resist that? I wouldn't ... It doesn't make sense if somebody could tell me, 'You could do this cheaper and get increased results,' that I wouldn't say, 'Great.' The problem is, I couldn't find credible economists who would back up the claims that you just made." When Rep. Mike Pence tried to push him to commit to "across the board tax cuts," Obama pointed out that the stimulus plan did cut taxes for millions of Americans -- but he couldn't resist twisting the knife a bit. "What you may consider across-the-board tax cuts could be, for example, greater tax cuts for people who are making a billion dollars," he said, tying his answer into the Democratic effort to paint Republicans as friends of the rich without blinking. "I may not agree to a tax cut for Warren Buffett. You may be calling for an across-the-board tax cut for the banking industry right now. I may not agree to that." He mocked the GOP for voting in lockstep against the stimulus bill, then trying to take credit for projects it funded: "A lot of you have gone to appear at ribbon cuttings for the same projects that you voted against." Sixty-eight of them, to be exact, according to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. |
Snip
| The whole thing basically went like that: Republican asks obnoxious question rooted in Glenn Beck-ian talking points; Obama swats it away, makes the questioner look silly, and then smiles at the end. It got so bad, in fact, that Fox News cut away from the event before it was over. Democratic operatives around Washington watching it had pretty much the same reaction: "Where the hell has this guy been?" One source said GOP aides probably wished they'd spoken to John McCain "about what happened to him in the presidential debates" before they broadcast the event. "It's quite a show," a White House official said, apparently going for the same deadpan tone the president was. |
This is the Obama I would very much like to see more of. It could be that Obama is finally going on the attack. I hope so. Watch the video. It’s just great…
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2010 : 23:05:26 [Permalink]
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What a remarkable performance. The man is game, after all.
Obama really had to do this, at last. Otherwise, the GOP and their Teabagger stooges win by stopping Obama's programs, even as they themselves remain a no-policy, incoherent force of pure reaction.
The radical right and its Party have been "explaining" reality almost unopposed for a year. But people can understand the simple concept of the GOP having been obstructionists all these months Obama's been in office, if only someone would tell them about it. Now the President has, from his bully pulpit.
Now, things should start to get interesting. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Paulos23
Skeptic Friend
USA
446 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2010 : 23:50:02 [Permalink]
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| Let hope this President sticks around. And I hope enough of the GOP listen to what he was saying, though I know they won't. |
You can go wrong by being too skeptical as readily as by being too trusting. -- Robert A. Heinlein
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. -- Aldous Huxley |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 02/04/2010 : 03:38:03 [Permalink]
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I don't kniow where he's been but it's about time he showed up for work. He does a pretty good job once he puts his mind to it.
"Confusion to our enemies," eh?
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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The Rat
SFN Regular
Canada
1370 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 05:46:51 [Permalink]
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| I heard that Faux News cut away twenty minutes early because they didn't want people watching their idols getting seriously PWN3D! |
Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom.
You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church? - The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder II
Baculum's page: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3947338590 |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 09:04:32 [Permalink]
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Too little and a bit late in the game.
He needs to sustain that kind of response and somehow whip the idiot dem congress into doing some of the same.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 09:09:50 [Permalink]
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| Thanks for the link. I've been wanting to watch that. Only got about halfway this morning. |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 09:47:59 [Permalink]
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I think now a new math must be used. As advocated widely, the filibuster threat must no longer be permitted to allow a corrupt 41-vote minority in the Senate to block any and all legislation, thus determining national policy.
The trick of "reconciliation" isn't even required. If 3/5 of the Senate (the ridiculous and infamous 60-vote supermajority) can't vote "cloture" to end debate, let's do it the old, traditional way: Keep the Senate in session 24/7 and force the obstructionists to speak all that time, rather than just allow a filibuster to be a simple procedural move (Wiki):| Today, the minority just advises the majority leader that the filibuster is on. All debate on the bill is stopped until either cloture is voted by three-fifths (now 60 votes) of the Senate. Some modern Senate critics have called for a return to the old dramatic endurance contest but that would inconvenience all senators who would have to stay in session 24/7 until the filibuster is broken. |
Put your best bills forward, then let the obstructionist bastards filibuster and be damned.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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astropin
SFN Regular
USA
970 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 12:19:12 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Kil
This is the Obama I would very much like to see more of. It could be that Obama is finally going on the attack. I hope so. Watch the video. It’s just great…
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I watched it live....it was GREAT! |
I would rather face a cold reality than delude myself with comforting fantasies.
You are free to believe what you want to believe and I am free to ridicule you for it.
Atheism:
The result of an unbiased and rational search for the truth.
Infinitus est numerus stultorum |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 14:56:17 [Permalink]
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That was great Kil, thanks for posting the link.
Somebody commented lately of how great it is these days to be talking about healthcare and NOT, as a couple years ago, whether water-boarding is torture or not. |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2010 : 01:08:42 [Permalink]
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| I still have a few minutes to watch on it. My first impression is, to answer Kil's question, is this is where Obama always has been. Talking to Republicans, trying to show how extreme right wing he is, instead of listening to the people of the U.S. and helping to get them what they need. |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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On fire for Christ
SFN Regular
Norway
1273 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2010 : 01:43:56 [Permalink]
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Talking to republicans is oen of the things he needs to be doing (BTW they are also American people). Why preach to the choir?
Also I don't think he spends 100% of his time doing this, he probably sets aside other time for "listening" and "helping". |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2010 : 05:53:37 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by On fire for Christ
Why preach to the choir?
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I said listen, not preach. I said listen, not tell them they're fucking retarded. |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2010 : 09:24:00 [Permalink]
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Gorgo
My first impression is, to answer Kil's question, is this is where Obama always has been. |
We must have watched a different video. If you were not impressed by Obama's hammering on Republican talking points, and showing how counter productive their methods are, I can't help you. He made them look like fools. Is that where he has always been?
I understand that you have major grievances with the direction of this administration. But that doesn't make him a Republican. The least you could do is acknowledge that he is fighting back, at least with words and right to their faces. He hasn't done that before now...
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2010 : 09:43:46 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Kil
I understand that you have major grievances with the direction of this administration. But that doesn't make him a Republican. The least you could do is acknowledge that he is fighting back, at least with words and right to their faces. He hasn't done that before now...
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Well, no, he's not a Republican of the 21st century. As he said, he's a Republican of the 20th Century. The program he's pushing now, according to him, is what the Republicans came up with when Clinton was trying to avoid doing anything about health care.
He's a thug that is asking other thugs to play nice. "Hey! Stop it! I'm a right-wing thug, too! Be nice.! We can work together!" |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2010 : 10:42:36 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Gorgo
Originally posted by Kil
I understand that you have major grievances with the direction of this administration. But that doesn't make him a Republican. The least you could do is acknowledge that he is fighting back, at least with words and right to their faces. He hasn't done that before now...
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Well, no, he's not a Republican of the 21st century. As he said, he's a Republican of the 20th Century. The program he's pushing now, according to him, is what the Republicans came up with when Clinton was trying to avoid doing anything about health care.
He's a thug that is asking other thugs to play nice. "Hey! Stop it! I'm a right-wing thug, too! Be nice.! We can work together!"
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What would it take for a President to please you? And how successful do you think that president would be, given the difficulties of getting anything through congress?
No matter what your wants, desires and expectations are, there is reality to deal with.
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Where has this Obama been?
