#OneNation Rally Draws Double Beck-fest Crowd
Thanks to Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars for pointing out the fact that the today’s One Nation Working Together Rally has initial estimates of 175,000-200,000 ACTUAL attendees. This estimate more than doubles the 87,000 attendees of Glenn Beck’s Restoring the Honor Rally or as Belle so aptly called “Whitestock.”
Enthusiasm gap, schmenthusiasm gap. Without the benefit of months and months of advertising and promotion on Fox News Channel (in fact, I’m only aware of Ed Schultz on MSNBC doing any kind of TV promotion), the One Nation Working Together rally in Washington DC has gathered more supporters than Glenn Beck’s much ballyhooed rally, which I will lovingly refer to as “Whitestock”.
Preliminary satellite estimates put the crowd size at 175,000 to 200,000 at about noon EST. By the calculations of Bachman/Beck, et al., that would mean at least 1,000,000, non?
Obama’s Gen44 Speech Has Sully Inspired Again
I knew it wouldn’t be long before he was back.
Obama’s speech to Gen44 tonight knocked my socks off. It’s streaming on CSPAN here. If you’ve forgotten why many of you worked your ass off for this guy, and felt hope for the first time in many years, watch it. He deserves criticism when necessary as this blogazine has not shied from at times. But he remains in my judgment the best option this country still has left – and it’s far too easy for the left and far too dangerous for serious conservatives and independents to abandon him now.
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I do not believe for a second that the GOP of Palin and Boehner and Beck and DeMint represents anything but more debt, more war, more social division and more denial about the deeply serious problems this country faces and the profound dangers that are metastasizing in the world. I have no love for the Democrats but I do fervently believe that this president’s record is far better than many now fashionably claim, that his inheritance was beyond awful, and I am not giving up on this president’s immense task now, and neither, in my judgment, should any of those who voted for him in 2008.Know hope; and fight the cynicism and nihilism that is increasingly the alternative.
Late Night Anthem
It has been one of those days. Work has consumed every bit of my time and I am only now settling down to take care of finishing up an article I am writing on behalf of Vancouver is Awesome for publication in the The Hopscotch News, a print newspaper that will be distributed around Vancouver during the 14th Annual Hopscotch Festival. To help me get in the mood and for your enjoyment I present to you Here Comes a Regular but The Replacements.
UPDATE: Here is the piece I was working on last night, V.I.A.’s Top Ten Places to Have A Beer in Vancouver.
Daily Dose of WTF? Grouspawn FAQ
If you want proof to counter the fear mongering Republican-Tea Party coalition’s claims that American business ingenuity has been destroyed by the Obama administration you need look no further than this excellent offering by Groupon. As Nick Saint with the Sillicon Alley Insider so aptly put it…
Groupon and its CEO, Andrew Mason, are well known for doing and saying things that are a little eccentric to amuse its users and attract attention.Users who unsubscribe from the service get to see a video of Andrew physically abusing the employee responsible for letting you down. In June, the company started sending bizarre, unexplained gifts — including a grand piano — to one user per day. Andrew once let on that he had 20 cats so he could correct the false rumor in an interview on CNBC.But the latest offer from Groupon is a new high on the weirdness scale: Groupon is offering a $60,000 college grant to any child born from parents that met on a Groupon date. Or so Andrew said on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt. The published details are a little vaguer.
If you’re wondering whether this is all a joke, the new site’s FAQ probably won’t reassure you. But it will entertain you, because it is absolutely hilarious.
BREAKING: House Passes 9/11 Healthcare Bill
Good news from the floor of The House.
The House on Wednesday approved legislation to provide billions of dollars for medical treatment to rescue workers and residents of New York City who suffered illnesses from breathing in toxic fumes, dust and smoke at ground zero.
The vote was 268 to 160, with 13 Republicans joining Democrats in support of the bill. Republicans raised concerns about the $7.4 billion cost of the program.
Can We Agree That Dems Do Not Want To Lose In November?
Three categories of arguments, at least three major groupings of valuable members of the Democratic base, not one whom is calling for for Dems to vote for Republicans or stay home in November.
Roughly speaking, there are three different strains of argument or sentiment on the left right now. The first is the Dem base’s lack of enthusiasm. This, obviously, concerns rank and file voters who, from the point of view of the White House, are not sufficiently happy with Obama’s performance. This is what Biden was referring to when he urged Dems to “remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives.”
The second group on the left constitutes high-profile commentators, such as Rachel Maddow and Glenn Greenwald, who are mounting a detailed, substantive policy critique of the Obama administration on issues that are important to them. These folks see their role as advocates for a particular policy agenda, and they don’t hesitate to whack the White House when it commits what they see as grave policy missteps. For them to hold their fire because the White House wants them to would be an unthinkable betrayal of the role they’ve carved out for themselves. This is the “professional left” Robert Gibbs sneeringly alluded to — even though Obama himself has said he craves such criticism.
The third group constitutes operatives like Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake, some labor operatives, and groups like MoveOn. These folks are making a largely political argument. They are not merely griping because the White House failed to be as left wing as they would have liked on the public option or the big banks. They are making the case that fighting harder for liberal priorities — even if that battle is hopeless in some cases — is better politics for Democrats overall, because it might leave Dems with an energized base heading into the midterms.
Just sayin’.
Daily Dose of WTF?
Imagine a kick to your groin at 22 mph with 1,100 lbs. of force. Yep that is what this is. Ouch
Time To Come To Your Senses
As I said in the comment debate I had earlier with Kyle over this post, agreeing with Peter Daou about the President’s failings does not equal sitting on my hands come November. Apparently Digby feels the same.
My feeling aren’t hurt by Obama finger wagging about the base being ungrateful. I just think it’s a rather silly, unproductive way to deal with a demoralized base and I doubt that it will fly as a strategy for laying blame after the election. I am from the Stephen Colbert “Keep Fear Alive” school which says that this crop of looney tunes Republicans are the most radical throwbacks we’ve ever seen and that it’s important to keep them away from the reins of power. That’s as good a reason for voting as I can imagine, so I’m not sure what more it takes. I’m sorry that we can’t all be ecstatically singing along to a Will.I.Am video this time, but these just aren’t inspirational good times. Right now it’s about stopping something very ugly and bad rather than feeling all gooey and good. And that’s an important part of politics too. It isn’t all Oprah and hugging strangers in crowds.
So, for the record: please vote. No matter how disappointed you are or how rotten you feel about your present circumstances, empowering these crazies is a huge, huge mistake. The Democrats, sadly, will not learn the right lessons if a bunch of neanderthals take over and history shows that in times of great stress and transition, very bad things can happen when you let these people take the reins.
Also: what Atrios said although the substance ship has probably sailed for November.
The Writing on the Wall is Left Handed
Image Courtesy of Suzanna's Sketchbook
A week ago I chose to mark my return to this blog by taking exception to a trend that seemed to be emanating from leading voices in the Progressive movement. In this case I was referring to Glenn Greenwald and Jane Hamsher calling out the President for his antagonistic comments directed at his base during a Connecticut fundraiser. I have to admit now that in that post I was just getting my feet wet again and had not paid extremely close attention to all of the issues leading up to this moment. Issues that taken in full context explain the resentment and dissatisfaction.
Today another leading Progressive voice and one I also greatly respect and have paid close attention to going back to my early days of blogging, Peter Daou (formerly of The Daou Report), did the hard work in laying out the case for this Liberal revolt against the President.
FM
Paul Krugman made the bold (for a main stream media journalist) move of clearly stating the obvious in his most recent NY Times Op-Ed today.
What can be done about mass unemployment? All the wise heads agree: there are no quick or easy answers. There is work to be done, but workers aren’t ready to do it — they’re in the wrong places, or they have the wrong skills. Our problems are “structural,” and will take many years to solve.
But don’t bother asking for evidence that justifies this bleak view. There isn’t any. On the contrary, all the facts suggest that high unemployment in America is the result of inadequate demand — full stop.
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So what you need to know is that there is no evidence whatsoever to back these claims. We aren’t suffering from a shortage of needed skills; we’re suffering from a lack of policy resolve. As I said, structural unemployment isn’t a real problem, it’s an excuse — a reason not to act on America’s problems at a time when action is desperately needed.
I think the reason why this is such a revelation to those people who do not actually run a business or have a PhD. in Economics is the machinations of our economy are FM.
What is FM? Well, in the immortal words of one of my former District Sales Managers FM is Fucking Magic. It might as well be a hamster on a treadmill grinding away in the background because most people have not a clue why businesses are still laying people off or why unemployment remains high.
But I can tell you. It’s plain and simple and Krugman is absolutely right. Demand IS down, in the basement as a matter of fact and remains there. The only reason company’s are making profits quarter over quarter is that they have been able to cut back on fixed cost (read people) without actually negatively impacting the delivery of their products and services. This could not be were the demand there.
The question I have now is why are so many people afraid of allowing the Government to create that demand? It’s not FM.
Tea Party Derangement Syndrome
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past six months it is clear that the ‘Tea Party’ supported candidates are garnering significant support from the frustrated Republican right as well as the media. While it has yet to be seen exactly how many actual voters will support these people come November they have successfully managed to shift the public debate surrounding this election to an argument about how Government is bad, taxes are worse and cutting both will somehow fix the predicament we find ourselves in.
The problem with this argument is that, well, it is simply untrue. No one has been able to forward a reasonable explanation (that did not originate on Reagan Administration letterhead) as to how cutting taxes and shrinking Government will have anything other than the already proven disatrous impact it has wreaked on our nation, her citizens and it’s economy. Unfortunately GOP propaganda is good (how could it not be with FoxNews at it’s center) and as a result this argument has been able to move right past the thinking part of people’s brains into the “dammit I’m mad” portion and thus far carry the day.
Unbearable Whiteness of Being
A provocative analysis of the Republican Pledge to America.
Overall, the photos show a sea of Whiteness. As Erin says, whether it’s an unintentional oversight or a calculated choice, the resulting message is that America’s citizens, the hard-working, patriotic folks who matter and to whom the party is making pledges, are White. Given the current racialized tone of much of our political debate (especially regarding Hispanic immigrants and Muslims, a racialized group often conflated with “Arabs”), it’s a portrait of America that is likely to speak to, and soothe, the fears of some groups more than others.
Shabazz or Shazbot?
In the spirit of transparency Kevin Drum has decided to answer Andrew Breitbart’s moonbat crazy accusations against the POTUS.
Now, as Breitbart might or might not know, Malcolm X was also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. So it’s not as odd as it might seem for there to be more than one African American in the country by that name. And the guy in the White House logs is Malik H. Shabazz, not Malik Zulu Shabazz, the nutcase who heads up the NBPP. And he was there as part of a group tour of the White House along with 310 other people.
But no matter. We want answers! Maybe the middle initial is a feint. Maybe Shabazz broke off from the group and surreptitiously headed over to the Oval Office for a secret meeting. Maybe he and Obama cut a deal to…..do something. That part isn’t clear, since the case had already been dropped by then. But something! Maybe plans for a vast wave of white voter intimidation in the midterm elections that Obama promised would get winked at by the authorities. Or a promise that a billion dollars worth of stimulus money would somehow find its way to the party’s coffers. Something!
This is what we have to look forward to if Republicans win control of the House in November. I’m sure Darrell Issa has an investigation of the NBPP already teed up and raring to go. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Sure it does! If you’re not sure, be sure to check out the comments to the Breitbart post.
Sully’s Childish Righty Side Revealed
In typical sniping form, Andrew Sullivan has framed a snipped from an interview with a NYC improv comic as the reason “Why Americas Hate Government.”
In a wonderful profile of an improv comedy performer in New York City, this excerpt struck me:
When I ask him what he’s doing for money, he starts telling me about his new job as a driver for Van Leeuwen’s Artisanal Ice Cream trucks, which doesn’t start till the weather warms up, but which he’s already excited about because it meant he got to spend yesterday at the Department of Consumer Affairs learning about all the forms one has to fill out to get certified to handle food in New York. “I like the bureaucracy of it because I don’t have that in my life at all,” he says, sounding like an excited child. “You have to do this up here and then you have to wait six days and then you have to go downtown and check with somebody at an office and then you have to wait for something in the mail and then bring that and do other things that other people have sent you and then you have to get them in triplicate and make sure you have a proper proof of ID, and proof of address, which can be a number of different things …”
All that to sell ice cream.
I’m sorry but I take offense at such a childish, shallow snipe.
You’re damn right ALL THAT JUST TO SELL ICE CREAM. Would he prefer to simply let anyone off the street drive an ice cream truck and sell ice cream to the children of New York City. Would he prefer that one of these guys do it? How else would he suggest we vette the goods being sold to our children? Is an ID and background check that big of a deal when you actually think about the consequences were it not done?
Please, this right wing idea that g0vernment and bureaucracy is always bad is simply bogus on it’s face and needs to be called out at every turn. Other wise I wish you good luck living in a world where sex offenders sell cheap Chinese imported ice cream to our kids.
When You’re Right, You’re Right
And in this case Bill Maher is right.
New Rule: The next rich person who publicly complains about being vilified by the Obama administration must be publicly vilified by the Obama administration. It’s so hard for one person to tell another person what constitutes being “rich”, or what tax rate is “too much.” But I’ve done some math that indicates that, considering the hole this country is in, if you are earning more than a million dollars a year and are complaining about a 3.6% tax increase, then you are by definition a greedy asshole.
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