Bipartisanship and the Media

Eric Boehlert hits another one out of the park (and keep in mind rrp's recent guest post on how much the media shapes our discourse as you read):

Virtually all the news accounts are stressing the same story: If there's little or no bipartisan support for Obama's stimulus package, then it's Obama's fault, and his fault alone. (No surprise, the media narrative echoes the latest GOP talking point, as dutifully pushed by RNC writers like Peggy Noonan.)

A bit ironic, isn't it? While addressing the issue of bipartisanship (i.e. "involving cooperation, agreement, and compromise between two major political parties") the press holds only one party accountable: the Democrats. Apparently, that's how the press now views the issue of bipartisanship -- it's something Democrats must bring to fruition.

...[I]f you search the Nexis database, you'll find relatively few mainstream media references to Republicans as "obstructionists" during the past week. In fact, one of the few references I found came from The New York Times, which assured readers, "Republicans, for their part, do not want to be seen as obstructionists of a popular new president in a time of national distress" [emphasis added]. How perfect is that? Republicans don't want to be seen as obstructions, and the press, dutifully, isn't portraying them that way.
Emphasis original. Read the whole thing here.

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Today in Stupid, Pointless Crap


To Republicans, this is the important thing to note about the stimulus package. How high would a stack of 100 dollar bills be, if it were a trillion dollars high? And if they were laid end to end, how many times would it wrap around the earth?

Can we talk about a waste of taxpayers' time? Can we talk about a waste of taxpayers' money, on his little show 'n tell visual aids?

I'm living in a cuckoo clock. (Partial transcript below)
Senator John Thune (R-SD): I want to put up a chart, Mr. President, that illustrates that very point. Because a lot of people, if you, uh, if you think about a trillion dollars, if you put 'em back to back. If you put a bunch of 100 dollar bills back to back, on top of each other, and you ask somebody around the country "How high would that stack go?" I'm sure you'd get a lot of varying answers, you'd probably have some people say, "Well, it might, you know, it might go 300 yards into the air." Some people might say "Well it might go five miles into the air." But the reality is, if you took 100 dollar bills, Mr. President. Stacked them on top of each other. You would have a stack. That goes six hundred and eighty-nine. Miles. High. Back to back to back, and that's hundred dollar bills. We're not talking about dollar bills, we're talking about hundred...
(The rest when I can find it)

(Energy Dome tip to Steve.)

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...But Not In A Gay Way


Two soldiers in Iraq let off a little steam in this Puttin' on the Hits moment. Dink Flamingo would be so proud. Stay safe, boys!

(Via our pals at Towleroad.)

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Two-Minute Ten-Second Nostalgia Sublime

Arkades' post put me in mind of one of my favorite clips of Kiefer Sutherland of all time, which I've posted before but am pleased to have an excuse to post again:

Transcript:

Voice Off-Camera: Hey, Kiefer. You're a pirate, man.

Kiefer: That would explain everything. [jumps into Christmas tree]
Brilliant.

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Question of the Day

What's your favorite season?

I really love autumn the best, but because we always have such loooooooong ass winters with eight gazillion metric fucktons of lake effect snow (see below), spring is a very close second.

And even with the piles of snow, I still prefer it to our 127% humidity summers. Blech.

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Q: Could I be more sick of snow?

A: No.



ENOUGH ALREADY!

We're supposed to get as much as 18 inches tonight. Wake me when winter's over.

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Bale the Remix

So, yesterday, audio [NSFW] was made public of Christian Bale unleashing the fuckneckery and going holyhella apeshit at a director of photography who inadvertently ruined a scene on the set of James Cameron's next hugely profitable piece of shit, Terminator Salvation. If you haven't heard it, or can't listen to it, here's a rough transcript:

Fuck fuck fucking fuck fuck fucking FUCK FUCK fucking fucky fuck!!! You fucking fuck fucker!!! Who the fuck do you think you are? Do you know who the fuck I am?! Fuck fuck fuck, fuck fuck, to the fuck of the fucking fuck! FUCK! What the fuck?! Fucking fuckity fuck fuck. I am the Mayor of Fuckington and you are a fucking fuck fuckerfuck! Have you ever heard anyone say fuck so much?! I am LORD FUCK, you fucking fucker! And don't fucking forget it!
You know that scene in American Psycho where he's running around like a lunatic with a chainsaw covered in blood? It's pretty much the verbal equivalent of that.

Only less sadistic, more megadouchy.

Anyway, Maude bless the internetz. The epic rant has already been remixed—and I don't need to tell you that it's making me JIZZ! IN! MY PANTS! for having ingenuously captured the precise nastiness in Bale's tirade and set it to a banging beat:


Good luck bouncing back from that one, Bale. Maybe next time you'll be nicer to the peons who help make your multimillion dollar career possible, eh?

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Random YouTubery: Post-Oral Surgery Bluez

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Daily Kitteh

Cuteness! And not a moment too soon...

Every time I walk up the stairs, Sophie has to runrunrunrunrun ahead of me, then flop onto her back on the landing:



"You cannot resist the power of KITTEH BELLEH!"

And I can't, either. Every time I've got to kneel down and snorgle her rotten for ages. Then when I get up, she rolls over on her side and stares at me plaintively, or, worse, stares into space dejectedly.



"Why you gots to leave?"

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is she kidding me with this stuff? It really is a miracle I manage to get anything done. Because, let's face it, Matilda and Olivia aren't exactly slouches in the Cute Department themselves.

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Obstructionist Wankers

As I was saying:

Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked Democrats from adding $25 billion for highways, mass transit, and water projects to President Barack Obama's economic recovery program.

Already unhappy over the size of the measure, Republicans insisted additional infrastructure projects be paid for with cuts elsewhere in the bill. (Link)
Infrastructure schminfrastructure. Levees and bridges can suck it!

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And...

...Daschle withdraws.

Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle on Tuesday withdrew his nomination to oversee the Health and Human Services Department, citing controversies over his taxes and his ties to the health care industry — and telling NBC News that a New York Times editorial also played a role.

His withdrawal came just a few hours after another Obama nominee, Nancy Killefer, said she was withdrawing her nomination. Both had controversies with taxes and cited distractions over that as reasons for withdrawing.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters the two realized "that you can't set an example of responsibility but accept a different standard of who serves."
Hmm. Does that mean we're meant to understand that the administration didn't recognize that ethical inconsistency, given that the two weren't publicly asked to step down? Weird framing, Gibbs.

Great start to healthcare reform. Wheeeeeeeeeee!

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In Defense of Partisanship

Digby:

This flawed [two-party] system hums along most of the time fairly well, but in times of crisis it depends upon the good will of the minority to stop using its built in extraordinary powers to obstruct and join with the majority to solve the problem, whether its war or depression or, conceivably, environmental catastrophe. Unfortunately, we are dealing with a rump, regional minority party today which does not believe in compromise under any circumstances.

…Republicans believe that until Democrats sign on to their ideology, openly and without any deviation, they must stop them, no matter what the consequences. When they are in the majority, they dominate without apology and when they are in the minority, they throw themselves into the machinery to obstruct anything that isn't part of their agenda. They are perfectly willing to destroy the country.
I don't think Obama gets this. In fact, I think he actively disagrees with it. And it has always been one of my biggest problems with him: "Obama positions himself as transcending the ugliness of partisanship, but I like knowing that Edwards and Clinton hate the goddamned Republicans as much as I do. I love it when Edwards gets into his zone and talks about corporate greed with fury at the anti-American fatcats seething so clearly just below the surface. I love it when Clinton talks about the GOP through gritted teeth and hides a snarl behind a smile when the name Bush passes her lips. I trust that. And I trust it because I can't imagine anyone who believes the things I do isn't that. fucking. angry. at the Republicans at this point."

I agree with BTD that it's time for "bold, persistent experimentation." (Like I just said earlier, I'm not the first progressive to suggest that Theodore ain't the Roosevelt Obama needs to emulate right now.) What is the point of bipartisanship with a party which seeks to fix things by destroying them? What is the wisdom of bipartisanship with a party which cannot distinguish, or will not, between a qualified strategist and a campaign prop? Bipartisanship with the Republicans, right now, it not merely galling, but also foolish.

The only people who are going to whine about sour grapes for rejecting the input of a party that brought the country to its knees in eight years are a bunch of dirty obstructionists for whom politics is nothing but a game, who treat voting records like scorecards and sneer at people who passionately care, admonishing them to get a life because they cannot contemplate an existence in which their policies really matter, beyond a balance sheet. There's no reason to care what these people think. None. They are anathema to everything this country needs right now.

A majority of voters has been smart enough to recognize that. I wish our president would get on board.

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Sanctity of Marriage

If there's one thing I always say America is missing, it's a reality show about arranged marriages:

CBS is treading into potentially controversial reality TV territory again.

…The show introduces four adults in the 25-45 age range who are eager to get married but have been unsuccessful in their search for a mate. Their friends and family select a spouse for them, and the newly paired couple exchange marital vows. The series follows their marriages.

The rest of the details for the project, whose early working title is "Arranged Marriage," are being kept under wraps.
Some of you may recall the charming Fox series "Married by America," in which viewers' votes determined the pairings, but worry not: "Arranged Marriage" is no imitator and "differs from the earlier show in key ways," like not giving strangers a vote—and its use of gratuitous and unapologetic cultural appropriation to justify this exploitative fuckneckery!
CBS' "Marriage" presents itself as a documentary series about finding true love, a show that extends the Eastern tradition of an arranged marriage (where friends and family select the mate) into the West.

Another difference is that on "Married," despite the pundit outcry, nobody on the show actually ended up getting hitched. On CBS, couples will really tie the knot.
Oh, goody. And will there be dowries? Gee, I hope there are dowries!

*headdesk*

Thank Maude most of the country still doesn't let Teh Gayz marry, to preserve the sanctity of the fine institution of American marriage.

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And the Hits Keep Coming

Obama's new commerce nominee, Republican Senator Judd Gregg, voted to abolish to Commerce Department in 1995:

President Obama's new candidate to run the Commerce Department voted in favor of abolishing the agency as a member of the Budget Committee and on the Senate floor in 1995.

…Gregg also fought President Bill Clinton's efforts to increase funding for the Commerce Department to administer the 2000 census. Indeed, Gregg's commitment to basic functions of the department has been questioned at times.

"He was generally pretty harsh on them and not really interested in their programs, especially the commerce side of things," said a Democratic appropriations aide.

…It is not unprecedented for a lawmaker who supported abolishing a Cabinet department to take its helm. In 2001, the recently defeated Sen. Spencer Abraham, R﷓Mich., was confirmed to run the Energy Department even though he had once cosponsored legislation to eliminate it.
And that worked out just great, now, didn't it?

In a possible harbinger of Things to Come (That Are Eerily Reminiscent of Precisely the Fox-in-the-Henhouse Situation That Existed in the Bush Administration's Energy Department), David Sirota assesses the Gregg nomination with a post titled: "Radical Free Trader to Head Government's Trade Enforcement Apparatus." Superb.

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Joe the Varied Tradesman

Joe the War Correspondent, nee Joe the Plumber, is now putting on yet another hat: Joe the Political Consultant!

Fresh off his stint as a war correspondent in Gaza, Joe the Plumber is now doing political strategy with Republicans.

When GOP congressional aides gather Tuesday morning for a meeting of the Conservative Working Group, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher – more commonly known as Joe the Plumber — will be their featured guest.
I guess having failed to connect to "Joe Sixpack" during the election, the GOP figures maybe he'll vote for them if they put him in charge of the party.

Honestly, I'm hard-pressed to think of anything that indicates a party in greater disarray, totally devoid of ideas and anything resembling seriousness and competency, than the GOP turning to Joe the Fucking Random Douchebag as a political consultant. Nothing could inspire more confidence in their ability to lead than their patent inability to distinguish between a qualified strategist and a campaign prop.

I'll give my pal Steve the final (hilarious) word on this one:
One can only assume that the Conservative Working Group was dazzled by Wurzelbacher work as a pseudo-war correspondent for a right-wing website. He did, after all, insist that journalists shouldn't be allowed to cover a war, in part because reporters "make a big deal" over events on the ground. Wurzelbacher added, "I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting."

Why wouldn't Republican staffers want to seek guidance on economic policy from a visionary of this stature?
Welcome to your nadir, GOP.

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And Gregg Makes Three

Republican Senator Judd Gregg (NH) has reportedly accepted the nomination to Commerce Secretary in the Obama administration, following Bill Richardson's withdrawal due to a federal investigation into an alleged pay-for-play deal in New Mexico.

Gregg is a fiscal conservative well-liked by Big Business who:

spoke sharply against Mr. Obama's candidacy. He called the Democratic nominee's spending proposals "the Obama spend-o-rama." Then he attacked the principles of the party at a rally in New Hampshire, saying: "We don’t need any more Democrats as president of the United States. We had enough when we had Bill Clinton."
So you can see why Obama wants to put this guy in charge of the Commerce Department.

For those of you keeping score at home, that brings the total number of Republicans in Obama's cabinet to three, the first two being Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Steve Benen points out that the last time a president put three members of the rival party in his cabinet was more than a century ago when Theodore Roosevelt did it. I don't imagine I'm the first progressive to suggest that ain't the Roosevelt Obama needs to emulate right now.

And there's one more nifty bit of news to report: The backroom deal on which Gregg's acceptance of the nomination was contingent includes New Hampshire's Democratic governor promising to appoint a Republican to Gregg's vacated seat. Of course. Because why would a Democratic administration want to get only a fiscal conservative critic out of this deal when they can also get a Senate appointment that would never be made otherwise, guaranteed to be a vote that won't help them on pretty much any policy?

Yglesias sniffs: "Surely Gregg's desire to replace himself with somebody who will often oppose his new boss's agenda is evidence of his deep commitment to the administration, the cabinet, and the agency he appears poised to head."

I would laugh if the entirety of my consciousness weren't utterly consumed with wondering "WTF, Obama?"

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Daschle

I know I should write a big post about Tom Daschle and his tax problem, but I'm honestly too wevved by it all to be able to muster the energy.

I feel the same way I felt about Geithner's similar problem: I didn't like the "honest mistake" game when the Bushies played it, and I don't like it now.

And now that Geithner's been confirmed despite his "unintentional oversight," it's set a precedent in which there's no way to not confirm Daschle on this basis, except that his "unintentional oversight" has a higher monetary value. And if he's not confirmed, or withdraws, just because the number's bigger, all that says is that "unintentional oversights" that sorta look like ethical lapses are fine, as long as you don't get too greedy. Great.

Which is to say nothing of the message communicated by confirming two wealthy, straight, white men who "unintentionally oversighted" paying some of their taxes.

(And yes, I do know people genuinely miss paying taxes by accident on occasion. But most of we average dodos who make such mistakes don't generally raise red flags about it ourselves and then still not pay it and then look into it more deeply only when we're about to be scrutinized for a cabinet position, blah blah blah...)

Wev. The whole thing makes me grumpy.

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Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Pigeon Street

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Daily Kitteh

I can't believe I almost forgot the Daily Kitteh!



How dare you!

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Question of the Day

What breach of netiquette drives you most berserk?

I'm not even going to answer this question myself, because that's sort of like Achilles holding up a picture of his tendon with an arrow pointing to it labeled "Aim Here."

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