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The BigAss 2nd term thread
A place for politics.
Bunch of stuff happened recently that is pretty interesting politics-wise.
We know have new Secretary of State: John Kerry. Which means there will be a Senate race in Massachusetts. And the last Republican who won a Senate race in MA, doesn't want the job. Scott Brown who won his seat during height of the Tea Party and the probable nadir of the Obama administration, [URL="http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/02/01/170864263/reports-republican-scott-brown-wont-seek-massachusetts-senate-seat"]doesn't want the Job. [/URL] Instead he will join Fox News.
Fox News meanwhile has recognized it needs to make some changes to help support the Republican party better and they have dropped Sarah Palin and Dick Morris who was comically wrong about nearly everything. Fox is still the highest rated news channel,[URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/26/fox-news-ratings-february-oreilly-hannity_n_2768265.html"] but their ratings are down. [/URL] Some have speculated that viewers have tuned them out after they predicted Romney would win and the truth was Obama won by almost 4 percentage points and it was [URL="http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7913306&postcount=9"]wasn't too hard to predict[/URL]. Either way their audience is aging out of the demographic that is the most valuable for advertisers. Talk radio ratings seem to be down as well. Clear Channel has been losing money.
Obama's election has led to what promises to be ongoing fight for control of the Republican Party. [URL="[URL="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-02-28/a-republican-revolt-against-karl-rove"]Karl Rove[/URL] got compared to a Nazi the other day."]The establishment is trying to kick the Tea Party [/URL]overboard and the Tea Party is riled to vote in another two terrible Senate candidates in Republican primaries....which if they hadn't done in the two previous cyles, they might have controlled the Senate.
How bad is it? Karl Rove got called a Nazi the other day by conservatives. Chris Christie who is possibly [URL="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/27/chris-christie-the-gop-s-most-popular-governor-not-welcome-at-cpac.html"]the most popular Republican in the country[/URL] was not invited to a conservative gathering this month and might have trouble going through republican primaries.
The split in the Republican Party was evident during the confirmation voting for Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense. Hagel, a Republican and a Senator from Nebraska actually had other Republicans filibuster him. We have never had a filibuster over a defense secretary ever.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
The cia vote happens next week.
The Obama adminstration is trying to prevent Congress from seeing their I-can-kill-Americans-with-drones memos.
Instead they pulled some BS switcheroo where they showed more Benghazi emails and kept the drone memos secret.
[url]http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/02/white-house-benghazi-drones/62371/[/url]
[QUOTE]The White House is refusing to share fully with Congress the legal opinions that justify targeted killings, while maneuvering to make sure its stance does not do anything to endanger the confirmation of John O. Brennan as C.I.A. director.
Rather than agreeing to some Democratic senators’ demands for full access to the classified legal memos on the targeted killing program, Obama administration officials are negotiating with Republicans to provide more information on the lethal attack last year on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, according to three Congressional staff members.
The strategy is intended to produce a bipartisan majority vote for Mr. Brennan in the Senate Intelligence Committee without giving its members seven additional legal opinions on targeted killing sought by senators and while protecting what the White House views as the confidentiality of the Justice Department’s legal advice to the president. [/QUOTE]
There's something about that just shows ****ed up priorities on both sides and it seems that Obama faces more pressure on this from the left than the right.
Has any of the Republicans on the Intelligence Committee put pressure on Obama over drones?
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=KevinNYC]Chris Christie who is possibly [URL="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/27/chris-christie-the-gop-s-most-popular-governor-not-welcome-at-cpac.html"]the most popular Republican in the country[/URL] was not invited to a conservative gathering this month and might have trouble going through republican primaries.[/QUOTE]
I doubt that. If the Tea Party had united behind one guy early on Romney would have lost. Similarly the Republicans that are mad at Christie for his public appreciation of Obama during the Sandy crisis probably won't have one guy they're unified behind and that could let Christie win while getting 35-40% of republican support. If he gets stopped it will be for something else that happens between now and then.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=Real Men Wear Green]I doubt that. If the Tea Party had united behind one guy early on Romney would have lost. Similarly the Republicans that are mad at Christie for his public appreciation of Obama during the Sandy crisis probably won't have one guy they're unified behind and that could let Christie win while getting 35-40% of republican support. If he gets stopped it will be for something else that happens between now and then.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/chris-christie-approval-rating-hits-record-high-152537599--election.html[/url]
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
Also the administration is arguing that [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/us/politics/administration-to-urge-justices-to-overturn-a-gay-marriage-ban.html"]Prop 8 in California is unconstitutional[/URL] which is probably the strongest official support of gay rights ever in the US.
Obama was officially opposed to gay marriage very recently.
Also a lot of prominent Republicans came out [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/us/politics/prominent-republicans-sign-brief-in-support-of-gay-marriage.html?hp"]in support of gay marriage.[/URL]
[QUOTE]Dozens of prominent Republicans — including top advisers to former President George W. Bush, four former governors and two members of Congress — have signed a legal brief arguing that gay people have a constitutional right to marry, a position that amounts to a direct challenge to Speaker John A. Boehner and reflects the civil war in the party since the November election.[/QUOTE]
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
Also the conservatives on the Supreme Court are hinting [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/us/politics/conservative-justices-voice-skepticism-on-voting-law.html?_r=0"]at overthrowing the Votings Rights Act of 1965.[/URL]
Rachel Maddow called out Antonia Scalia for "trolling" on this issue.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
Also the sequester that nobody wants seems to be happening.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
Obama is acting different. In his first term he was more right than Bush. As of today...Obama is more progressive.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=longhornfan1234]Obama is acting different. In his first term he was more right than Bush. As of today...Obama is more progressive.[/QUOTE]
In what ways was he to the right of Bush?
Sotomayor vs Alito?
Kagan vs John Roberts?
Hilliary/Kerry vs Powell/Condi?
Eric Holder vs Ashcroft/Gonzales/Mukasey?
Biden vs Cheney?
Gates/Panetta/Hagel vs Rumsfeld/Gates
Hyperbole much? You don't seriously believe that do you? Bush's main goal in the second terms was to privatize social security.
If Obama was so right-wing, what was all the conservative anger about? Was that just racism?
Oh, I get it. You're trying pretend Bush wasn't a conservative, just like all those folks who pretend that Bush wasn't representative of the Republican party. The guy won two terms and [URL="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/29/nation/la-na-bush-20120830"]they still won't have him at the convention.[/URL]
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=KevinNYC]
Oh, I get it. You're trying pretend Bush wasn't a conservative, just like all those folks who pretend that Bush wasn't representative of the Republican party. The guy won two terms and [URL="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/29/nation/la-na-bush-20120830"]they still won't have him at the convention.[/URL][/QUOTE]
W. I understand being ashamed of, but that's just wrong to do to Sr.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
H.W. was called weak and a pansy for not going further once we drove Saddam out of Iraq, for the decade after the first Gulf War. Then his son spent the next decade showing us the wisdom of that decision.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=KevinNYC]The cia vote happens next week.
The Obama adminstration is trying to prevent Congress from seeing their I-can-kill-Americans-with-drones memos.
Instead they pulled some BS switcheroo where they showed more Benghazi emails and kept the drone memos secret.
[url]http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/02/white-house-benghazi-drones/62371/[/url]
There's something about that just shows ****ed up priorities on both sides and it seems that Obama faces more pressure on this from the left than the right.
Has any of the Republicans on the Intelligence Committee put pressure on Obama over drones?[/QUOTE]
It's absolutely hilarious how terribly illegal this is. And some of the cases they site in the white pages as for how it's "constitutional" by mentioning "citizens"....the word Citizen(s) doesn't even appear on that page, and the case may or may not be related to citizen(s) or terrorism. My professor devoted 30 minutes one class explaining how it was illegal regardless of whatever cases they incorrectly cite.
Hopefully the administration catches shit not only for potentially using drones on Americans but also people overseas.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[IMG]http://www.neoabolition.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/barack-drone-bomber-obama.jpg[/IMG]
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=KevinNYC]In what ways was he to the right of Bush?
Sotomayor vs Alito?
Kagan vs John Roberts?
Hilliary/Kerry vs Powell/Condi?
Eric Holder vs Ashcroft/Gonzales/Mukasey?
Biden vs Cheney?
Gates/Panetta/Hagel vs Rumsfeld/Gates
Hyperbole much? You don't seriously believe that do you? Bush's main goal in the second terms was to privatize social security.
If Obama was so right-wing, what was all the conservative anger about? Was that just racism?
Oh, I get it. You're trying pretend Bush wasn't a conservative, just like all those folks who pretend that Bush wasn't representative of the Republican party. The guy won two terms and [URL="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/29/nation/la-na-bush-20120830"]they still won't have him at the convention.[/URL][/QUOTE]
Libs are constantly denying Obama is really a republican(Obama's first term) :facepalm
Obama signed two extensions of the Patriot Act, signed NDAA into law (allows for indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without charges), assassinated an American citizen (Bush didn't even do this), kept Guantanamo open (after promising to close it in his first year), kept Monsanto people high up in the FDA (Christine Escobar), still raids legal medical marijuana facilities (after saying he would stop this practice), tripled the number of troops in Afghanistan (morphed it from an anti-terror campaign to a nation building campaign), kept Bush's guy running the federal reserve , extended the Bush tax cuts, opposed any effort to re-institute Glass-Steagall , mandated all citizens make a purchase from a for-profit company (rehashed REPUB. idea from the early 90s), send more illegal immigrants back to Mexico than Bush, kill lists, pharma deal, Affordable Care act was a 90s repub idea. Also...he doesn't give a fvck about the environment.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=longhornfan1234]Libs are constantly denying Obama is really a republican(Obama's first term) :facepalm
Obama signed two extensions of the Patriot Act, signed NDAA into law (allows for indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without charges), assassinated an American citizen (Bush didn't even do this), kept Guantanamo open (after promising to close it in his first year), kept Monsanto people high up in the FDA (Christine Escobar), still raids legal medical marijuana facilities (after saying he would stop this practice), tripled the number of troops in Afghanistan (morphed it from an anti-terror campaign to a nation building campaign), kept Bush's guy running the federal reserve , extended the Bush tax cuts, opposed any effort to re-institute Glass-Steagall , mandated all citizens make a purchase from a for-profit company (rehashed REPUB. idea from the early 90s), send more illegal immigrants back to Mexico than Bush, kill lists, pharma deal, Affordable Care act was a 90s repub idea. Also...he doesn't give a fvck about the environment.[/QUOTE]
So....If he was a republican, why did you dislike him?
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=Is He Ill]So....If he was a republican, why did you dislike him?[/QUOTE]
I'm not a fan of big government republicans. :biggums:
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=longhornfan1234]Libs are constantly denying Obama is really a republican(Obama's first term) :facepalm
Obama signed two extensions of the Patriot Act, signed NDAA into law (allows for indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without charges), assassinated an American citizen (Bush didn't even do this), kept Guantanamo open (after promising to close it in his first year), kept Monsanto people high up in the FDA (Christine Escobar), still raids legal medical marijuana facilities (after saying he would stop this practice), tripled the number of troops in Afghanistan (morphed it from an anti-terror campaign to a nation building campaign), kept Bush's guy running the federal reserve , extended the Bush tax cuts, opposed any effort to re-institute Glass-Steagall , mandated all citizens make a purchase from a for-profit company (rehashed REPUB. idea from the early 90s), send more illegal immigrants back to Mexico than Bush, kill lists, pharma deal, Affordable Care act was a 90s repub idea. Also...he doesn't give a fvck about the environment.[/QUOTE]
yep. but his party has blue on instead of red so we're getting change LOL
If you are truly a liberal to the core, there is no way you can endorse this man...
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
like really really conservative dudes see bush as a liberal, really really liberal dudes consider obama conservative
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=longhornfan1234]Libs are constantly denying Obama is really a republican(Obama's first term) :facepalm [/QUOTE]Longhorn, given how spectacularly wrong you have proven yourself here over and over again, you truly have no right to facepalm anyone. And you know that.
Even if one were to concede every point above, it still wouldn't move him to right of Bush. It's also a cherry picked list. And leaves out tons of things he did do. If you had said Obama was an Eisenhower style of Republican, you'd be closer to understanding him. Now let's look at your laundry list.[QUOTE]assassinated an American citizen[/QUOTE]I think this qualifies him [URL="http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/cbs-poll-broad-bipartisan-support-for-drone-program"]as a centrist.[/URL] Let's face it no one is shedding a tear over the death of the father, the son yes.
[QUOTE]Obama signed two extensions of the Patriot Act,[/QUOTE]Yes he did. He also had [URL="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/179/revise-the-patriot-act-to-increase-oversight-on-go/"]the Justice Department enact several reforms[/URL] from a bill sponsored by Pat Leahy and Rand Paul that never got to a vote. So policy has changed, but the law has not. Politifact rates this a compromise.[QUOTE]signed NDAA into law (allows for indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without charges)[/QUOTE] I've dealt with this stupidity before. The NDAA does a lot of things. The main thing it does is lets us pay for our military. There would be a shitstorm if this thing didn't go through. It also passed with veto proof majorities of 93% in the Senate and 86% in the house. If you read your Constitution, the president is not a king. The controversial provisions were not put by Democrats and opposed by Obama before and [URL="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=98513&st=&st1=#axzz1iE5qy7a3"]after the bill's passage.[/URL] So your argument boils down to he lost a political battle.
Which is the same thing you can say about Guantanamo. Again he's not a king. He couldn't even get his own party to support him on this and Congress shoved the following language into another spending bill[QUOTE]Sec. 1032. Prohibition on the use of funds for the transfer or release of individuals detained at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.....
Sec. 1034. Prohibition on the use of funds to modify or construct facilities in the United States to house detainees transferred from United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.[/QUOTE]You can find a balanced view of Obama's similarities to and difference [URL="http://www.propublica.org/special/chart-bush-and-obama-a-counterterrorism-comparison"]with Bush on counterterrorism here.[/URL][QUOTE]kept Monsanto people high up in the FDA (Christine Escobar), still raids legal medical marijuana facilities (after saying he would stop this practice), tripled the number of troops in Afghanistan (morphed it from an anti-terror campaign to a nation building campaign), kept Bush's guy running the federal reserve , extended the Bush tax cuts, opposed any effort to re-institute Glass-Steagall , mandated all citizens make a purchase from a for-profit company (rehashed REPUB. idea from the early 90s), send more illegal immigrants back to Mexico than Bush, kill lists, pharma deal, Affordable Care act was a 90s repub idea. Also...he doesn't give a fvck about the environment.[/QUOTE]
You got the Monsanto thing backwards, Escobar is a critic of Monsanto, not the person in the FDA
He didn't say he would stop the medical marijuana raids, just not go after small timers who were operating legally (i.e. non-profit in CA. They were still required to follow state law, [URL="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/97203/Obama-medical-marijuana-crackdown#"]which a lot of these operations were not.[/URL]
You got the Aghanistan thing wrong. He refocused on counterrorism in Afghanistan (and used it as base to go after Al Qaeda in the Pakistani tribal areas.) Anyhow he campaigned on that, it wasn't a surprise. He did get rolled by the generals on the timetable.
You may want to look at the current tax rates, especially the top marginal rate.
Bush's guy running the Federal Reserve [URL="http://www.businessinsider.com/bernanke-versus-corker-fed-testimony-2013-2"]just told Congress[/URL] that [URL="http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/bernanke-joins-the-hippies-677508/"]he agrees with Paul Krugman.[/URL] :lol
As for Glass Steagal, Obama has had Geithner on his team, but also pushed for Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Finance Protection Board....this is the type of thing I'm thinking of when I say you are cherry picking.
Also if he didn't care about the enviroment, what was all that screming from the right about green jobs and cap and trade?[URL="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-10-21/politics/35499522_1_mercury-emissions-greenhouse-gas-emissions-michael-brune"]Also[/URL][QUOTE]t he day after the November 2010 elections made clear President Obama’s greenhouse-gas legislation was doomed, he vowed to keep trying to curb emissions linked to global warming. There’s more than one way of “skinning the cat,” he told reporters.
Since then, Obama has used his executive powers — including his authority under the 1970 Clean Air Act — to press the most sweeping attack on air pollution in U.S. history. He has imposed the first carbon-dioxide limits on new power plants, tightened fuel-efficiency rules as part of the auto bailout and steered billions of federal dollars to clean-energy projects. Obama’s standards for new vehicles, said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, rank as “the biggest move to get us off our oil dependence by any president ever.” The rules, which took effect this year, will require the U.S. auto fleet to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.[/QUOTE]
I have to say I think my absolute favorite is to pretend that Republicans would have pushed for the Affordable Care Act....yes they may have come up with it in the 1990's but only as a way to prevent the Democrats from passing their plan.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
Gotta give him props for being honest. [URL="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/mitt-romney-it-kills-me-not-to-be-president-88332.html#ixzz2MVD2uKYa"]Romney said it kills him[/URL] that he is not president.
[QUOTE]Both Romneys said he would be more effective at navigating the current political moment.
“I’ll look at what’s happening right now, I wish I were there,” Mitt Romney said. “It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done. The president is the leader of the nation. The president brings people together, does the deals, does the trades, knocks the heads together; the president leads. And – and I don’t see that kind of – of leadership happening right now”
.....
Ann Romney said her husband, had he won, would have solved the sequester by now.
“I totally believe at this moment, if Mitt were there in the office, that we would not be facing sequestration right now,” she said.
[/QUOTE]
I think the quote by Ann Romney is interesting. Basically saying that the Republicans would have avoid sequestration if the president was a Republican. Seems to reinforce the view that the current Congressional Republicans put political success over solving the problems of the country. This basically confirms what was exposed in Robert Draper's [URL="http://www.amazon.com/Not-Ask-What-Good-Representatives/dp/1451642083/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362335770&sr=1-1"]book about the House[/URL] where he exposed a private strategy meeting among republican Leadership on the day of Obama's innauguration. The strategy was essentially to oppose everything Obama would try to do and turn him into a failed one-term president.
[QUOTE]...revelations about a private dinner of House Republicans on inauguration day in 2009 in which they plotted a campaign of obstruction against newly installed president Barack Obama.
During a lengthy discussion, the senior GOP members worked out a plan to repeatedly block Obama over the coming four years to try to ensure he would not be re-elected....
Attending the dinner were House members Eric Cantor, Jeb Hensarling, Pete Hoekstra, Dan Lungren, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan and Pete Sessions. From the Senate were Tom Coburn, Bob Corker, Jim DeMint, John Ensign and Jon Kyl. Others present were former House Speaker and future – and failed – presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and the Republican strategist Frank Luntz, who organised the dinner and sent out the invitations..... "We've gotta challenge them on every single bill and challenge them on every single campaign."
The Republicans have done that, bringing Washington to a near standstill several times during Obama's first term over debt and other issues....They would also ....demonstrate united and unyielding opposition to the president's economic policies, ....[/QUOTE]
Frontline not only confirmed that the meeting happened as Draper said, but got Frank Luntz and Newt Gingrich to go on the record and discuss the meeting on camera.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=KevinNYC]Gotta give him props for being honest. [URL="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/mitt-romney-it-kills-me-not-to-be-president-88332.html#ixzz2MVD2uKYa"]Romney said it kills him[/URL] that he is not president.
I think the quote by Ann Romney is interesting. Basically saying that the Republicans would have avoid sequestration if the president was a Republican. Seems to reinforce the view that the current Congressional Republicans put political success over solving the problems of the country. This basically confirms what was exposed in Robert Draper's [URL="http://www.amazon.com/Not-Ask-What-Good-Representatives/dp/1451642083/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362335770&sr=1-1"]book about the House[/URL] where he exposed a private strategy meeting among republican Leadership on the day of Obama's innauguration. The strategy was essentially to oppose everything Obama would try to do and turn him into a failed one-term president.
Frontline not only confirmed that the meeting happened as Draper said, but got Frank Luntz and Newt Gingrich to go on the record and discuss the meeting on camera.[/QUOTE]
That quote just makes Romney sound naive. Here is a good Ezra Klein video about why its stupid.
[url]http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45755883/ns/msnbc-the_last_word/vp/50913650#51013261[/url]
And here is a good rundown by Klein on how Republicans have been stalling on sequester talks.
[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/02/this-is-why-obama-cant-make-a-deal-with-republicans/[/url]
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=Jailblazers7]That quote just makes Romney sound naive. Here is a good Ezra Klein video about why its stupid.
[url]http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45755883/ns/msnbc-the_last_word/vp/50913650#51013261[/url][/QUOTE]
Good Ezra Klein clip. I reference that idea that the president is not a king upthread. I particularly liked when he called out this tweet by a reporter[QUOTE]Ron Fournier @ron_fournier
Can handle Bin laden, not Boehner? [/QUOTE]
As Klein rightly points out, we handled Bin Laden by sending Navy Seals to kill him. Is that what this reporter is suggesting he should do to John Boehner? The reporter later [URL="http://gawker.com/5987972/national-journal-writer-wants-to-know-why-the-president-doesnt-just-murder-john-boehner"]doubled down after being called out on this stupidity[/URL] by saying that Bin Laden didn't compromise just like Boehner.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[URL="http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/print/"]Giant article on Medical Costs [/URL]in Time magazine that is getting a lot of attention. One of the themes of the article is that how Medicare buys the same services, far more cheaply than private insurance....that is hospitals are ripping off people with private insurance.
[QUOTE]I got the idea for this article when I was visiting Rice University last year. As I was leaving the campus, which is just outside the central business district of Houston, I noticed a group of glass skyscrapers about a mile away lighting up the evening sky. The scene looked like Dubai. I was looking at the Texas Medical Center, a nearly 1,300-acre, 280-building complex of hospitals and related medical facilities, of which MD Anderson is the lead brand name. Medicine had obviously become a huge business. In fact, of Houston’s top 10 employers, five are hospitals, including MD Anderson with 19,000 employees; three, led by ExxonMobil with 14,000 employees, are energy companies. How did that happen, I wondered. Where’s all that money coming from? And where is it going? I have spent the past seven months trying to find out by analyzing a variety of bills from hospitals like MD Anderson, doctors, drug companies and every other player in the American health care ecosystem.
When you look behind the bills that Sean Recchi and other patients receive, you see nothing rational — no rhyme or reason — about the costs they faced in a marketplace they enter through no choice of their own. The only constant is the sticker shock for the patients who are asked to pay.
Yet those who work in the health care industry and those who argue over health care policy seem inured to the shock. When we debate health care policy, we seem to jump right to the issue of who should pay the bills, blowing past what should be the first question: Why exactly are the bills so high?[/QUOTE]
Some examples of inflated bills
Gauze Pads
Charge for each of four boxes of sterile gauze pads, as itemized in a $348,000 bill following a patient’s diagnosis of lung cancer
Test Strips
Patient was charged $18 each for Accu-chek diabetes test strips. Amazon sells boxes of 50 for about $27, or 55
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=KevinNYC]Good Ezra Klein clip. I reference that idea that the president is not a king upthread. I particularly liked when he called out this tweet by a reporter
As Klein rightly points out, we handled Bin Laden by sending Navy Seals to kill him. Is that what this reporter is suggesting he should do to John Boehner? The reporter later [URL="http://gawker.com/5987972/national-journal-writer-wants-to-know-why-the-president-doesnt-just-murder-john-boehner"]doubled down after being called out on this stupidity[/URL] by saying that Bin Laden didn't compromise just like Boehner.[/QUOTE]
That's actually a great idea that that reporter seems to suggest...have Obama send out a Navy Seals team and off Boenher, then watch the GOP opposition crumble and all of them fall in line:applause:
Obama should then announce it in a press confrence and give mad props to that reporter for the awesome idea:rockon:
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
The CIA nomination passed the Senate Intelligence Commitee 12-3.
I guess he'll be confirmed easily.
Also I liked this headline on Google News
Jurors in New York "cannibal cop" trial get some comic relief
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
It seems they did give the info on the drone program to the Senators that asked for it and those Senators voted for Brennan
[url]http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-udall-collins-statement-on-committee-access-to-targeted-killing-documents[/url]
And
From M[URL="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/03/obama-admin-says-it-can-use-lethal-force-against-americans-us-soil"]other Jones[/URL]
[URL="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/609809-holder-response-to-rand-paul.html"]The attorney general reserves the right[/URL] "in extraordinary circumstances" to authorize lethal force, such as a drone strike, against a US citizen, on US Soil without a trial.
[QUOTE]As members of this administration have previously indicated, the US government has not carried out drone strikes in the United States and has no intention of doing so. As a policy matter moreover, we reject the use of military force where well-established law enforcement authorities in this country provide the best means for incapacitating a terrorist threat. We have a long history of using the criminal justice system to incapacitate individuals located in our country who pose a threat to the United States and its interests abroad. Hundreds of individuals have been arrested and convicted of terrorism-related offenses in our federal courts.
The question you have posed is therefore entirely hypothetical, unlikely to occur, and one we hope no president will ever have to confront. It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States. For example, the president could conceivably have no choice but to authorize the military to use such force if necessary to protect the homeland in the circumstances like a catastrophic attack like the ones suffered on December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001.[/QUOTE]
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[URL="http://tv.msnbc.com/shows/the-last-word/"]Funny clip of Bill O'Reilly losing his mind.[/URL] Start at 1:50
Apparently Bill thinks if he shouts loud enough his own ignorance about Obama's policies will go away.
He gets so angry that he won't admit that Medicare is a "specific" government program.
[URL="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45755883/ns/msnbc-the_last_word/vp/51060425#51060425"]Another good clip[/URL] from Lawrence O'Donnell is this one where he shows a bunch of clips from Fox Business Network the day after Obama's election blaming a one day drop in the Dow on Obama. He also shows clips of the "Romney rally" from October last year. He contrasts that with clips from today when the Dow hit a new high and suddenly no one mentions Obama at all.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=The Macho Man]I don't know much about Rand Paul but I think I'm predisposed to hating him because his name is Rand.[/QUOTE]
You've done good Macho Man. I'm going to overlook your willingness to fund a Michael Bay movie.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=KevinNYC]Even if one were to concede every point above, it still wouldn't move him to right of Bush. It's also a cherry picked list. And leaves out tons of things he did do. If you had said Obama was an Eisenhower style of Republican, you'd be closer to understanding him. Now let's look at your laundry list.I think this qualifies him [URL="http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/cbs-poll-broad-bipartisan-support-for-drone-program"]as a centrist.[/URL] Let's face it no one is shedding a tear over the death of the father, the son yes.[/QUOTE]
Since when does public opinion have anything to do with whether or not a certain action is legitimate and where exactly such action would place one on the left/right dichotomy?
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=The Macho Man]If you don't like Bad Boys 2 there's something wrong with you.
My friend is all over Paul's nuts. Give me reasons to dislike him besides his stupid name so I can talk shit to my friend and not sound like an idiot.[/QUOTE]
The "Friends of Hamas story" was pretty funny
[url]http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/02/14/_friends_of_hamas_the_scary_sounding_pro_hagel_group_that_doesn_t_actually.html[/url]
[url]http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/friends-hamas-rumor-started-article-1.1268284[/url]
Conservatives who wanted to stop the Chuck Hagel confirmation started pushing this rumor that Hagel had spoken to or accepted money from "Friends of Hamas." They demanded the White House respond to this rumor, instead the White House just hung up on them.
Two problems with the rumor.
1. Friends of Hamas doesn't exist
2. The whole thing started as a joke that the conservative didn't understand
[url]http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/friends-hamas-rumor-started-article-1.1268284[/url]
He's also named after psychopathic troll who wrote these long turgid books where nobody acts like a human being. And the troll who was a scathing critic of "the Welfare State" got Social Security and Medicare payments [URL="http://boingboing.net/2011/01/28/ayn-rand-took-govern.html"]under her married name.[/URL] One of her earliest attempts at fiction was inspired by a child murderer [URL="http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/romancing-the-stone-cold.html"]who she seemed admire very, very much[/URL]. She wrote of t[URL="http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/romancing-the-stone-cold.html"]he character she based on the child murderer[/URL] that he [QUOTE]is born with a wonderful, free, light consciousness -- [resulting from] the absolute lack of social instinct or herd feeling. He does not understand, because he has no organ for understanding, the necessity, meaning, or importance of other people ... Other peo[URL="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlas_shrugged_part_i/"]p[/URL]le do not exist for him and he does not understand why they should."[/QUOTE]
You can read about [URL="http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/psychology/child_abduction/6.html?sect=19"]his truly horrific crime here[/URL].
I would just make a bet with him: That you watch [URL="http://www.atlasshruggedmovie.com/"]part one and part two of the movie based on her most famous book[/URL] (there's at least one more part still to be filmed) together and for [URL="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlas_shrugged_part_i/"]every minute that is entertaining[/URL] you pay him a dollar and[URL="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlas_shrugged_part_ii/"] for every minute that is not entertaining [/URL]he pays you a dollar.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=reppy]Since when does public opinion have anything to do with whether or not a certain action is legitimate and where exactly such action would place one on the left/right dichotomy?[/QUOTE]
Your first point is irrelevant because we are not discussing legitimacy, but yes public opinion does have something to do being left right or center.
If something is in the mainstream it by definition is in the center. That is mutable and something that is in center can move to the margins or something on the margins can move to the mainstream.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
American cleric is a nice touch.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=The Macho Man]Rand Paul is filibustering some shit. Is it just me or is filibustering the most childish shit. There's gotta be a better way of doing shit.
Ending every sentence with the word "shit".
I don't know much about Rand Paul but I think I'm predisposed to hating him because his name is Rand.[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://oi46.tinypic.com/fxh6q.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BEuaN7vCIAALFy3.jpg:large[/IMG]
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=KevinNYC]Your first point is irrelevant because we are not discussing legitimacy, but yes public opinion does have something to do being left right or center.
If something is in the mainstream it by definition is in the center. That is mutable and something that is in center can move to the margins or something on the margins can move to the mainstream.[/QUOTE]
So how do you determine if it's left or right then? Apparently if everyone agrees on it, it's a center position . . but if they don't? How do you decide then? Is it whether or not it has more support or not on the left or right?
Were the policies of Hugo Chavez centrist? In his own country? He seemed to enjoy a lot of public support.
I don't think that mainstream support of a policy means that it is a "centrist" position.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[QUOTE=reppy]So how do you determine if it's left or right then? Apparently if everyone agrees on it, it's a center position . . but if they don't? How do you decide then? Is it whether or not it has more support or not on the left or right?
Were the policies of Hugo Chavez centrist? In his own country? He seemed to enjoy a lot of public support.
I don't think that mainstream support of a policy means that it is a "centrist" position.[/QUOTE]
I don't think it has to be everyone who agrees on it to be centrist position.
You do bring up good points though and part of the problem is left-right doesn't really capture all the dimensions of politics. Nazis and Communists believe in the murder of their political enemies while Republicans and Democrats generally do not. So how do you rate them? by their acceptance of political murder or their support of nationalism? or their support of social programs.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
Also Jeb Bush has started to run for President.
So far it seems we have Rubio, Bush, Biden and Clinton all making like they are going to go for it.
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/world/middleeast/bin-laden-son-in-law-is-being-held-in-a-new-york-jail.html?_r=0"]Bin Laden's Son in Law is in a jail in NYC.[/URL]
Brennan just got confirmed. The vote was 63-34.
Holder clarified his earlier statement to Rand Paul.
[QUOTE]"Senator Paul has raised questions about the president's authority to use leghal force within the United States, which John Brennan and the Attorney General have both answered," Carney said. "Today, Sen. Paul raised an additional question and the Attorney General has answered it."
According to Carney, Paul asked, "Does the president have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?"
In his response, also read by Carney, Holder replied succinctly: "The answer to that question is no."[/QUOTE]
Economic news seems stronger recently.
"4-Week Average Of Jobless Claims Drops To 5-Year Low"
"Household wealth in the U.S. climbed in the fourth quarter to the highest level in five years, propelled by a gain in home prices that is helping repair family finances."
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEFB0ozhcUU]Charlie Filibusters.[/url]
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
First debates are happening in committees on gun laws.
Straw purchases (buying guns for people who aren't allowed to own guns) got out fairly easily. Can't find if it's the only thing they voted on today or not. But it was a party-line one.
But seriously? That shit wasn't illegal before?(except for buying guns for minors) And people wonder why Murrica has gun violence.:facepalm
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Re: The BigAss 2nd term thread
Why are drones so disagreeable now? They're more versatile than long range missiles, and it's a hell of a lot better then sending in ground troops. Civilians getting killed is unfortunate, but that's not exactly a new issue.