Don We Now…
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Author Archives: Johnny Roosh
Oprah, You Funny
Oprah Winfrey, whose successful but vapid talk show has afforded her guru status on everything from personal advice, relationships, and book recommendations, insults Sarah Palin for essentially attempting the same thing, only in reverse.
Oprah Winfrey says America may “fall in love” with Sarah Palin as a TV star, but is dismissing the idea that the country would vote for the former Alaska governor in the future.
Asked in an interview with Parade magazine if the thought of Palin’s running for office scares her, Winfrey responded, “It does not scare me because I believe in the intelligence of the American public.”
Stop laughing everyone, I think she was serious.
Me too Oprah, if by “intelligence” you mean figuring out how to vote for opportunistic charlatans that give them something for nothing, vilifying the “haves” and victimizing the “have nots”. This coming from a woman who gives away cars on her show to a frothing herd of rabid groupies.
It’s difficult to imagine what could possibly “scare” anyone now as it relates to Presidential candidates as Her Candidate has certainly raised the bar on how much destruction one president can wage while simultaneously lowering it as it regards approval ratings.
If its okay with you, I’ll go with the fit, happily married, heavily armed hot chick over, well, Oprah, any day, thank you very much.
Like A Boy Scout Troup
They’re prepared.
…for a “liquor-free” Vikings game in the neighborhood.
Value Liquors — which is right next to TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis — tells TMZ they’re preparing for huge business since officials nixed alcohol sales in the college stadium for the matchup with the Chicago Bears.
We’re told the store ordered 50 cases of flasks, and over 4,000 airplane-size bottles of liquor. Hmmm … wonder what fans are gonna do with those?
Peeps at the stadium say flasks and alcohol are strictly prohibited … but fans tend to forget the rules when it’s 20 degrees and snowing.
…and I have a feeling there are a lot of frisk-free places to hide a flask or wee bottle of whiskey.
PS: Don’t ask me what I was doing on the TMZ web site. I wasn’t. I got a verbal tip, Googled it and ended up there.
Congress Passes The Obama Tax Non-Increase Bill
A tax hike is averted, but only for two years – not enough time or certainty to “create” jobs but certainly better than a tax increase.
Majorities of both parties supported the bill. Voting in favor were 139 Democrats and 138 Republicans, while 112 Democrats and 36 Republicans voted against it. Eight lawmakers didn’t vote.
The tax-cut plan extends through 2012 all Bush-era tax reductions on income, capital gains and dividends. It continues expanded unemployment insurance benefits through 2011, cuts payroll taxes by 2 percentage points during 2011 and lets businesses write off 100 percent of capital investments between Sept. 9, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2011.
Classic Pelosi:
“I’m sorry for the price that has to be paid by our children and our grandchildren to the Chinese government to pay for the increase in the deficit that the Republicans insisted upon.”
We’ve recently covered this ground before but Nancy is fooling almost no one. The government creates a deficit by spending money it doesn’t have and in this case money it was never going to have and in either case is not entitled to. Voters made that clear to everyone but Nancy Pelosi.
Some early reactions:
The tax-cut deal, along with larger-than-projected gains in U.S. retail sales, prompted economists to raise their forecasts for gross domestic product and consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the world’s largest economy.
Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, increased his 2011 growth forecast half a percentage point to 3.1 percent. Tom Porcelli, a senior economist at RBC Capital Markets Corp. in New York, raised his by one percentage point, also to 3.1 percent.
Deutsche Bank Securities economists, led by Joseph LaVorgna, said the tax agreement would increase inflation- adjusted growth by 0.7 percentage point, to a 4 percent annual rate for the fourth quarter of next year.
Only after the fact will we find out what earmarks were hidden in the 1900 pages but for now the passage of this bill brings short-term stability for taxpayers, many of which have been planning all year for higher taxes next year.
In light of this, it will be interesting to see if there will be a last minute boost to holiday shopping – I predict that very thing.
Obama’s Plan to Create Jobs
…for attorneys and consultants that is.
As for the rest of you, not so much.
Barack Obama just finished a summit with twenty US CEO’s urging them to get off the sidelines, spend their hoards of cash and start hiring.
President Barack Obama pressed 20 corporate chief executives Wednesday to suggest policies that would spur them to “start investing in job creating enterprises.”
Hey Barry, I got an idea for you if they didn’t come up with it: ask congress to repeal what is left of your shitty health care reform bill.
Big employers faced with incorporating the first round of health-care changes next month are grappling with how to comply with the long list of new rules.
Many companies are hiring consultants to help sort though the mountain of new mandates, which include extending dependent coverage to children up to age 26, and may eventually result in covering more employees. Some are also considering changes to their plans—including pushing costs to workers.
Might they have instead invested these resources in job creating enterprises or hiring new employees?
Maybe, just maybe had you focused on jobs instead of ramming socialized health care down America’s throat you wouldn’t be in such a pickle. How’s that national unemployment rate going for you Barry? Are you excited about your chances in 2012?
Today the national unemployment rate hovers near where it began the year, just shy of 10 percent.
It’s funny how liberals do everything they can to short circuit capitalism and then ask the capitalists to clean up their mess.
And in the end, those they claim to serve end up paying the price via lost jobs, wages, or both.
Are you even listening to the words coming out of your mouth?
The Minnesota Lame-ber of Commerce is joining the minority and declaring it’s time for a new Vikings football stadium.
Vikings stadium supporters, despite the state’s looming $6.2 billion budget and widespread public opposition, will push hard for a public subsidy package during the 2011 legislation session beginning Jan. 4. [emphasis mine-JR]
Two thoughts:
1) How stupid does that sentence sound given our current economic conditions
2) Let’s wait until after Sunday’s Chicago game to see how much support there is for an outdoor stadium.
…or the Vikings for that matter.
PS: GOP – remember why we sent you
Jamie Lee: You Lie!
I know this is a bit off the radar for SITD but I don’t know of many television commercials more absurd; more ridiculous; more annoying than those yogurt commercials where Jamie Lee Curtis pounces on chipper but apparently constipated passers by all too willing to sample yogurt that’s way too yummy to be formulated to assist you in “cleaning our your accounts payable.”
(…and yes, that’s an arrow pointing to a woman’s crotch)
As if the spots weren’t aggravating enough, it turns out they were bogus. Who can imagine a world where a delicious magical milky pudding that helps you “drop off the kids” and keeps you safe from the common cold…is just a fairy tale?
The U.S. unit of French food giant Danone S.A. agreed to settle state and federal investigations into alleged false advertising about the health benefits of its Activia yogurt and DanActive dairy drinks for $21 million, federal officials announced Wednesday.
The Federal Trade Commission said Dannon, a unit of French food and bottled waters company Danone, will drop claims that its Activia yogurt and dairy products will help prevent colds or alleviate digestive problems. The company wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Well we know it’s not because they were in the bathroom.
Good to know the FTC has the time and resources to care…let alone investigate the claims that Activia helps you “lay down the law.”
I would expect no less than ten additional references to “boweling for dollars” in the comments section. Thank you in advance.
And now, something totally different:
Dayton: It’s Gonna Hurt So Bad
The Governor elect appeared on Bloomberg yesterday and continues to hedge his campaign promises as he realizes how far out of sync they are with the wishes of Minnesotans as expressed so clearly in nearly every Minnesota election contest…save his.
Republican leaders have so far indicated they will be taking a hard line against raising taxes — a key facet of Dayton’s budget plans during the campaign. During the Bloomberg interview, however, Dayton warned that a budget solution without tax increases would have serious consequences.
[insert serious sounding music here]
Indeed. To a liberal, serious consequences mean the devastating possibility that government may have to do more with less…sort of like most of the rest of us.
“I campaigned on a pledge that I would reduce the regressivity of Minnesota’s state and local taxes and ask upper income Minnesotans to pay closer to their appropriate share — the same amount as everybody else,” Dayton said.
This always makes me laugh…or cry depending on the day.
First off, what kind of delusional pinhead labels a tax rate that increases with income regressive? It’s by definition progressive. That’s what the word means you twit.
Then again, who can blame a guy who is so far removed from reality; whose butler’s butler pays his bills from the coffers his great grandpappy filled years ago.
Second, half of us don’t pay taxes at all – many get a “tax credit” even when they pay nothing (save social security) into the system. I know a lot of people that employ others that pay in one quarterly installment what many people pay in taxes all year long. The fact is, upper income Minnesotans pay way more than their share by any measure of the use of services, infrastructure or resources you can muster.
Add in all the additional sales taxes (albeit somewhat by choice), self employment taxes, and alternative minimum taxes, just to name a few that the upper middle class – let alone the wealthy – pay and it is clear that the Pareto principal is alive and well as it regards a minority representing a majority of revenue collected in the form of taxes.
The fact is, thousands are getting a free ride – and none of them are “upper income.” You want to talk fairness? For real? Then everybody that makes anything should pay something – anything into the system.
“Republicans don’t think [raising taxes is] such a great idea, but they’re going to find it’s very difficult to cut $6.2 billion — which is about 19 percent of our budget — without drastically affecting especially education, which is almost half of the state expenditure.”
Either way, he said, “it’s going to be very painful, there’s no way around it.”
Indeed, and if Republicans don’t deliver that pain they won’t be delivering on the promises that got them elected either.
Cars Don’t Kill People, People Kill People
…unless it’s your car, you leave the keys in it and you’re from Tennessee. Then you and the criminal are in cahoots whether you like it or not.
A suit was brought against a man who left his keys in his car, which was promptly stolen and then collided with another vehicle causing injuries to three passengers. Initially, the lawsuit was filed against the city of Murfreesboro and its police department– however, that suit was dismissed by the Tennessee Court of Appeals. But the court is allowing the suit against the owners of the vehicle to continue.
It’s a dumb idea to leave your keys in your car. It’s a dumb idea to leave a loaded gun out in the open. If a criminal uses either to commit a crime, are you liable? Some would say in the latter, yes; but in the former?
So if I leave a pile of bricks in my front yard for a landscape project and someone comes by and uses one to smash someone’s head in am I liable for that too? Where does the law draw the line?
Discuss.
TCF Stadium: The New Home of the Vikings
…at least for a week…or two.
U’s stadium being prepared for Monday’s Vikings-Bears game; Metrodome won’t be ready
…nor will the Vikings.
I’m just saying…
Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
Co-President Barack Obama just can’t get a break.
Between the Media, for whom Barry O. was their precious leg-tingling darling…
Leftist TV talking heads such as MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow and the Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel have excoriated Obama for what they see as political perfidy.
…and his liberal peeps, his compromise has put him between a political rock and a hard place.
Given their overwrought reaction to President Obama’s tax deal, you’d think Democrats had no reason to compromise with the opposition. Have they already forgotten last month’s election?
Democrats have lashed out at Obama for “compromising ” with the Republicans on a tax bill. But all in all, agreeing to an extension of current tax rates for an extension of jobless benefits seems like a pretty fair deal.
Yet the reaction has been brutal.
After House Democrats voted Thursday to oppose Obama’s tax deal with the GOP, Virginia Democrat James Moran told the Hill: “This is a lack of leadership on the part of Obama. I don’t know where the f*** Obama is on this or anything else. They’re AWOL.”
…and then he has to come home to this at the end of the day:
I don’t think Barry’s having any fun…failing so spectacularly at presidenting.
Merry Christmas (or whatever it is that you celebrate) Mr. Co-President, and a Happy New Year.
The Weight of it All
By now you have seen the video and national coverage of the Metrodome’s roof collapse. It didn’t take long for the media to speculate that an act of God is his vote for a new Vikings stadium.
The Vikings have been pushing for a new stadium for years without success. So far today, they have been silent on what this collapse means for their stadium wishes, perhaps deciding the best strategy is to let the event speak for itself.
The roof collapse says one thing and one thing only: a foot and a half of snow weighs a lot.
The only thing more ridiculous than a blizzard indicating the Vikings should get a new and presumably taxpayer-subsidized stadium without a roof, for ten games in Minnesota, is the fact that TCF stadium sits idle every Sunday already. Here’s something that really speaks for itself: there is talk of moving the upcoming Chicago game to TCF while the dome undergoes repairs.
TCF stadium is a wonderful facility and should have been designed and built in partnership with the Vikings. The fact that both shared the Metrodome without interference should have been a clue.
Maybe the Vikes and Gophers will get one now.
Two Presidents for the Price of One
As I worked in my office yesterday, over my shoulder the television set to Bloomberg, I heard President Obama step to the press conference podium. Blah blah blah, me me me, etcetera, and then I heard a familiar voice from the eighties and it wasn’t Michael J. Fox or Duran Duran.
With Mr. Obama standing largely silently at his side, Mr. Clinton took over the lectern to lend his backing to the tax compromise the White House reached this week with Republicans.
As the television buzzed in the background, I came to realize that Clinton had been talking for a while and yet went on…and on and on and on. I swung around to look at the screen, and President Obama…was gone! I wondered if Clinton has the nuke codes now too?
And then Mr. Clinton went on, for half an hour, answering questions and holding forth on topics from triangulation to Haiti to the mortgage crisis and the nuclear arms treaty with Russia.
…and cigars? No?
Hey Barry, at least your old teleprompter had an off switch.
Barack Obama is the man who swept America off her feet (and to complete the metaphor, slipped her a mickey and violated her as she lay unconscious). A scant two years later, his political capital is so deeply overdrawn that he needs a loan from Bill Clinton to sell his compromise to his own party.
But after Mr. Clinton began taking questions, the current president politely interjected that Michelle Obama was expecting him at one of the many holiday parties that presidents host during December.
“I’ve been keeping the first lady waiting,” Mr. Obama said.
Best not do that with Bill Clinton in the House. You might find him on your spouse.
[happy] Birthday [/happy] Mr. Berg.
Please Quit Calling it a Tax Cut
The Bush tax rates were put in effect in 2001.
…and yet the government and most politicians are calling the current efforts to extend those rates and provisions tax cuts.
The “cuts” happened in 2001. Nine years went by. Anything other than extending these rates is a tax hike. Got it?
It would be different if it had been a few months or a couple years but I think it is fair and reasonable to say that rates in effect for nine years have become the de facto norm. The fact that they had an expiration date doesn’t change that for anyone that actually pays taxes – which is only about 53% of us these days, last I heard.
Senate leaders released an agreement crafted by the White House and Republicans to sustain Bush-era tax rates through 2012, set the estate tax at the lowest rate in 80 years, extend jobless aid and cut payroll taxes by 2 percentage points.
The legislation would add $857 billion to the federal debt over 10 years, government analysts said.
Another semantic error there folks. This legislation will not add anything to the federal debt. Federal spending above current revenue is what will add to the federal debt. Out-of-control spending. Wasteful spending. Spending tagged with the misnomer “investment” or “stimulus.”
No doubt, calculations of the billions that will be added to the federal debt are erroneously, arrogantly based on the premise that the revenue resulting from a future tax hike has already been spent.
Don’t even think about trying to tell us what this is going to “cost” the government. The extension will not “cost” the government anything. More and more Americans are waking up and and telling the federal government that it was not the government’s money in the first place.
A two-year extension of those rates would cost $407.6 billion, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Listen, no one in the next five years, let alone the next two should be considering rasing taxes for anyone.
While short term fiscal and monetary policy that serves to increase liquidity is widely considered a good strategy, lowering taxes is the only proven strategy, in the long run, to stimulate growth. Continuing to flood our system with worthless dollars will not incent employers to hire any more than the last trillion – only lowering expenses and stabilizing the outlook on taxes for the long run will give employers the confidence to hire again. The continued efforts on the part of the fed to further reduce the value of the dollar via “quantitative easing” is politically motivated and will have no effect on unemployment.
You can be sure of one thing. The only reason Barack Obama and his rejected liberal posse are going along with anything resembling what they deem a “tax cut” for taxpayers earning more than $250K is that they have no politically palatable options to do otherwise.
Elections do matter.
Test. Check Check. Test. Me Me Me Me Me Me Me.
This isn’t even news any more…Barack Obama releases a statement lauding the award in absentia of the Nobel Peas Prize to Liu Xiaobo which of course is all about Barack Obama, Narcissist in Chief.
One year ago, I was humbled to receive the Nobel Peace Prize — an award that speaks to our highest aspirations, and that has been claimed by giants of history and courageous advocates who have sacrificed for freedom and justice.
What a day that was for all Americans!!! (!!!)
Tell me, do you remember where you were when you heard the news that President Obama won the Nobel Peas Prize?
Mr. Liu Xiaobo is far more deserving of this award than I was.
Infinitely.
Governor Dayton: “Where’s the $#&@#@% Remote Control?”
A Dayton Governorship is a distant second to an Emmer Governorship as a Minnesotan but for a conservative blogger, a hell of a lot more fun. Four years of job security!
(right Mitch? …Mitch?)
Dayton is (along with his buck-toothed sister the Star Tribune) going to be awesome blogfodder!
Consider this for example:
said his first priority now will be to improve the economy and add jobs.
Improve the economy? That’s like improving the weather? How does a governor improve the economy? The “economy” is a symptom, a result. Okay, so it’s a nit, but nonetheless an apropos observation of a nit wit. Let the befuddlement begin.
…and here comes his buck-toothed sister:
Those actions complete a stunning resurrection for Dayton, a one-term U.S. senator, who now will become the first Democratic governor in Minnesota in two decades.
A stunning…less than half percent…resurrection? …certainly not the high praise it was intended to be considering the status one must occupy from which to be resurrected, yes?
Methinks had the election been held one or two days later we’d be celebrating Governor Emmer, which is to say Mark Dayton is a beneficiary of chance.
…back to the Strib:
He said he would work with the business sector, which largely opposed his candidacy, to improve the state’s economy and job opportunities.
Nice gesture but that’s okay, Mark. We didn’t need you then and we don’t need you now. I’m sure we can wait four years – in the mean time, if you could just sort of stay out of the way, that’d be best.
Make sure you have a comfy couch and a big screen TV in the mansion (sorry if it’s smaller than the one you grew up in) so you can be comfortable in your sweats while the legislature conducts the business of the state.
But be prepared!
They might need you to sign something, cut a ribbon, or make an appearance from time to time (no talking please – just smile) – so keep one shirt and one suit coat pressed at all times!
Night-night now little Marky. Take your meds and go to sleep. We’ll wake you when we need you.
With All Due Respect Mr. President
I thought this was amusing and I hope we’re on the same page. I wanted to take a moment to step out of the box and socialize this theme and seek synergies even though this post probably isn’t mission-critical so we’re not going to expend a lot of our bandwidth on it.
You say, “I love my job.”
You really mean, “I need my job.”
You Better Be Sick
It might amaze you that even in this flaccid employment market, some workers choose to gamble their job.
Rick Raymond parked his black Kia SUV behind a row of trees and peered out at his target. It was 4 a.m. on a recent morning, and Raymond—a seasoned private detective who has worked roughly 300 cases, from thieves to philandering spouses—was closing in on a different sort of prey.
Playing hooky without getting caught—as immortalized in the cat-and-mouse skirmish between Ferris Bueller and Principal Rooney in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off—used to be an adolescent rite of passage. Now it has given rise to a thriving industry, with stern legal precedent to back it up.
…and that industry, the surveillance they conduct and the terminations that are a result are backed by legal precedent – you sue you lose.
But what do you think?
Orono Resident Wants to Go Green and the City Says “Nyet!”
Jay Nygard wants to erect a small wind turbine in an unobtrusive spot on his own property.
Nygard admits he poured a concrete pad for the turbine after the city rejected his application for a building permit. But he and his attorney claim the city is overstepping its authority and discouraging a homeowner and entrepreneur from helping the environment.
“Here I’m trying to go green and they’re trying to throw me in jail,” Nygard said.
Here’s the interesting part:
…even though Orono doesn’t explicitly ban wind generators in Nygard’s neighborhood, the city has broad authority to limit what people build on their property.”We’re not going to discourage people from doing green things,” White said. “It’s just when and where.”
…city zoning ordinances typically prohibit everything that is not explicitly allowed…
Discuss.
Assault with a Deadly Weapon
A known criminal steals a car, drives erratically, law enforcement gives chase. One minute later three innocents are dead.
One minute after a Minnesota State Patrol trooper began to chase an erratic driver early Sunday, the suspect’s car slammed into two others in north Minneapolis, killing a mother and her two young children.
Two thoughts come to mind in light of this tragedy. First, are police chases and the risks they pose to the public worth it? I’ll pass on that for now (but feel free to run with it in the comments section).
Second, can law enforcement equate a criminal failing to stop with the same individual pulling a gun in a robbery?
In fact, if someone, anyone, were to brandish a handgun and start waving it around in a public place would law enforcement be faulted if deadly force were employed to neutralize the situation with due warning?
What’s the difference? Both are wielding deadly weapons and threatening the public.
How many times have you heard a police chase, sometimes for the most minor of offenses, result in the injury or death of bystanders?
Innocent bystanders account for one-third of those who are killed in high-speed police chases, a USA TODAY review has found. The deaths have several communities around the USA wrestling with whether to restrict pursuits only to suspects in violent crimes.About 360 people are killed each year in police chases, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
So here’s where I’m going with this: if a perpetrator runs, why aren’t the good guys given the authority to stop the chase by putting a bullet through the back of the f*cker’s head? (I recognize by the way that in this particular case, there was not enough time for anyone to alter the outcome)
Discuss.
Fifteen Minutes Could Save You Fifteen Percent or More
I have to believe that many Republicans and possibly even some fiscally-conservative Democrats are quietly hoping to themselves that the gubernatorial recount might actually drag on so long as to allow current governor Tim Pawlenty to preside over a Republican Legislature…if for even fifteen minutes.
It’s not without risks…
A lawsuit from Tom Emmer offers one obvious benefit. It likely would keep GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty in office beyond his appointed term, giving the party more power when the state’s Legislature convenes next month under Republican control for the first time in decades. But some worry that it also risks damaging the party’s image if the lawsuit appears to be nothing more than a stalling maneuver to keep Dayton out.
Several influential Republicans are warning that unless new information emerges to question the integrity of the election, Emmer should concede soon to avoid hurting the party. It’s not an easy decision, especially in a polarized political environment where both sides had legal teams in place even before the election to prepare for a contested outcome.
…but imagine what could be accomplished.
And even if Emmer doesn’t prevail, that’s not really the point as long as you care about the integrity of the electoral process.
“This egregious disregard for election laws calls into question the integrity of one vote per person,” Emmer said, “and is, I believe, an assault on the very principles of the American voting system, diluting every legally cast vote. Again, that’s when you have more ballots, than supposedly you have people that voted in the election.”
So I will come right out and say it, I’m all for expediency in the electoral process but let’s take all due care, and maybe a smidgen of undue care to make sure that the final tally reflects each and every voter’s sentiment.
In the end, even Democrats know full well that in the likely event that Mark Dayton becomes the bona fide winner, the Republican legislature is going to bounce Dayton around like a volleyball, which is to say for lemonade-loving conservatives this is something of a win/win scenario.
Paul Krugman Picks Up Where The Republicans Left Off
I wrote on this earlier this week but Paul Krugman does a great job of beating a dead horse, to make sure he’s dead.
About that [federal workers’] pay freeze: the president likes to talk about “teachable moments.” Well, in this case he seems eager to teach Americans something false.
…freezing federal pay is cynical deficit-reduction theater. It’s a (literally) cheap trick that only sounds impressive to people who don’t know anything about budget realities.
Ironically, Krugman beats the president about the head and shoulders for a surprising reason:
Anyway, slashing federal spending at a time when the economy is depressed is exactly the wrong thing to do. Just ask Federal Reserve officials, who have lately been more or less pleading for some help in their efforts to promote faster job growth.
Krugman confuses a bloated federal payroll with the kind of federal spending that purportedly, by liberals at least, boosts the economy, requiring a supsension of disbelief that the American people have no tolerance for, the elections being exhibit A.
Krugman goes on to incredulously assert that the extension of the Bush tax cuts is a “break” for the wealthiest versus a tax hike. He ignores the fact that those cuts were very good for the economy and the equally pertinent fact that a tax hike for anyone in this fragile economy is a ridiculous notion to anyone that would benefit by our economy creating more jobs.
But then he goes on to redeem himself by exposing Obama’s dundering miscues:
he apparently intended the pay freeze announcement as a peace gesture to Republicans the day before a bipartisan summit. At that meeting, Mr. Obama, who has faced two years of complete scorched-earth opposition, declared that he had failed to reach out sufficiently to his implacable enemies. He did not, as far as anyone knows, wear a sign on his back saying “Kick me,” although he might as well have.
There were no comparable gestures from the other side. Instead, Senate Republicans declared that none of the rest of the legislation on the table — legislation that includes such things as a strategic arms treaty that’s vital to national security — would be acted on until the tax-cut issue was resolved, presumably on their terms.
It’s hard to escape the impression that Republicans have taken Mr. Obama’s measure — that they’re calling his bluff in the belief that he can be counted on to fold. And it’s also hard to escape the impression that they’re right.
The real question is what Mr. Obama and his inner circle are thinking. Do they really believe, after all this time, that gestures of appeasement to the G.O.P. will elicit a good-faith response?
Mr. Obama almost seems as if he’s trying, systematically, to disappoint his once-fervent supporters, to convince the people who put him where he is that they made an embarrassing mistake.
I think they already know that Paul.
What Color is the Delusion in Your World?
Mr. Obama has described himself, at times, as essentially a Blue Dog Democrat
At times? What times?