By GottaLaff

Lawrence Summers, Director of the White House National Economic Council, was on CNN’s State of the Union today. He explained how we inherited a terrible situation, have “a long way to go”, and reminded Candy Crowley that the president has had to get around the roadblocks the Rushpublics have consistently put up.

He went on to say the “trend has turned”, despite what we got stuck with. He laid out what the Obama administration has planned:

In order to try to bring the unemployment rate down, Summers said the administration is taking five steps: (1) continuing to implement the approximately $800 billion stimulus package passed soon after President Obama took office, (2) implementing new measures including tax credits intended to encourage businesses to hire the unemployed, (3) additional support to protect workers in state and local government like teachers and firemen, (4) providing incentives for small businesses to expand, and (5) providing incentives to create “the new energy economy” that includes a focus on energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy.

He said number four was “critical”.

He also said Congress needs to act on these provisions so that we can build a foundation for the future.

However (Yes, the H Word is back):

Asked why the administration did not seem to be pointing to any new proposals intended to battle unemployment, Summers suggested that some of the White House’s economic agenda was being held hostage by Republicans in Congress.

Gee, ya think?

Sidebar: Candy Crowley started the segment by emphasizing Obama’s dip in the polls over the last year, failing to put it into proper context. As my Twitter pal Degringolade said, “Worst. Easter Candy. Ever.”

By GottaLaff

CORRECTION: I misunderstood my source. She was on a one-to-one call with someone, NOT the conference call.

There was some question about the reference to the Heritage Foundation’s involvement, and this explains it. They were not mentioned, from what I’ve learned, on the conference call. They were mentioned as advisers on the private call that I refer to below.

Original post:

Earlier today, I posted this:

Ooo, watch out D.C., the Tea Tantrumers are a-comin’ for ya!

(Click on image to enlarge)

By GottaLaff

Ooo, watch out D.C., the Tea Tantrumers are a-comin’ for ya!

(Click on image to enlarge)

Don’t these people have better things to do than wear funny hats, carry misspelled signs, and schlep to D.C.?

By GottaLaff

Here is a statement from Glowy McFauxTan that clearly demonstrates how very bipartisan and open to civil discussion the GOP is:

Statement by Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) on the Proposed Feb. 25 Health Care Summit

Washington, Feb 13 – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today issued the following statement regarding the health care summit being planned by congressional Democrats and the White House for February 25:

“A productive bipartisan discussion should begin with a clean sheet of paper. We now know that instead of starting the ‘bipartisan’ health care ‘summit’ on Feb. 25 with a clean sheet of paper, the president and his party intend to arrive with a new bill written behind closed doors exclusively by Democrats — a backroom deal that will transform one-sixth of our nation’s economy and affect every family and small business in America. They will then engage a largely handpicked audience in a televised ‘dialogue’ according to a script they have largely pre-determined. They will do this as a precursor to embarking on a legislative course that Democratic congressional aides acknowledge has also been pre-determined — a partisan course that relies on parliamentary tricks to circumvent the will of the American people and engineer a pre-determined outcome. It doesn’t sound much like bipartisanship to me.“

NOTE: House Republicans’ alternative solutions to make health care more affordable and accessible can be found at HealthCare.GOP.gov.

Here is a link to their so-called solutions.

Where do I start?

For one thing, The Boehner seems to forget that those very same “tricks” were used ad nauseam by Boy Georgie. And that it’s because of the stubborn obstructionist tactics by his own party that the Dems might, and should, resort to circumventing the endless, and unprecedented, number of filibusters.

Oh, and BoehnHead? When it comes to “pre-determined scripts”, you might want to 1) Look in the mirror (with sunglasses on, lest your artificial coloring blind you), 2) Check out this post on ReadHand McCribNotes’ insistence on pre-screened questions, and 3) Walk down Memory Lane long enough to recall that BushCo pre-determined everything from hand-picked audiences to fraudulent wars against sovereign countries.

But using the word “Democratic”, instead of “Democrat”, is duly noted.

H/t: _ccm, Coopster04

By GottaLaff

I don’t know what’s more astounding disturbing: Bachmann’s plan or her reliance on and admiration of Glenn Beck and his chalkboard.

Here’s what she said, in part, at the right-wing Constitutional Coalition’s annual conference in St. Louis:

Is the country too big to fail? No, the country can fail. We can, we’re not invincible. And we’re so close now to being at that point because the thing is, as Glenn Beck said last night, it is true. The $107 trillion that he put on the board. We’re $14 trillion in debt, but that doesn’t include the unfunded massive liabilities. That’s $107 trillion, and that’s for Social Security and Medicare and all the rest. You add up all those unfunded net liabilities, and all the traps that could go wrong we’re on the hook for, and what it means is what we have to do is a reorganization of all of that, Social Security and all. We have to do it simply because we can’t let the contract remain as they are because the older people are going to lose. So, what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system, that don’t have any other options, we have to keep faith with them. But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off. And wean everybody off because we have to take those unfunded net liabilities off our bank sheet, we can’t do it. So we just have to be straight with people. So basically, whoever our nominee is, is going to have to have a Glenn Beck chalkboard and explain to everybody this is the way it is.

Yes, she wants to repeal Medicare and Social Security. That would be a disaster for seniors and for the economy.

Oh and I guess she missed the part where George Bush tried to do that and failed.

Here’s one more tasty morsel:

At his speech on Friday, Glenn Beck proclaimed that Bachmann was the only person he trusted in Congress.

Barbie McLipSchmutz better watch out, she’s got stiff competition. No pun.

By GottaLaff

Some fancy God plannin’:

“No, it’s God’s plan.”

– Sarah Palin when asked if she was nervous being picked as the GOP running mate, as recounted on 60 Minutes by McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt.

Why is it always “God’s plan” when a conservative runs for office?

1. Can’t they ever decide things for themselves?

2. Why hasn’t God given me a plan yet? Is my god A.D.D.? Or just really disorganized? Maybe I should make a practical offering to her, perhaps something in an iPhone or Blackberry?

3. Why does God only make plans for conservatives, award-winning actors, and athletes? What kind of deity discriminates like that?

4. What if you don’t believe in god, are a very spontaneous person who never plans anything, yet get elected anyway? Or win an Oscar? Or a World Series? Whose plan was that? Apparently, it couldn’t possibly be the impulsive winner’s.

5. Wasn’t Sarah the Veeper John Sidney McCain’s plan? Or did he just close his eyes and throw a dart?

By GottaLaff

The Plum Line is reporting on a new Democratic game plan, and it’s one that comes with risks:

Dems in charge of winning Senate seats say they hope to put Republicans on the spot in 2010 by demanding that they say whether they support a full repeal of health care reform, presuming it has passed by then.

The move represents a gamble on the part of Dems. They are hoping that if and when the now-unpopular proposal passes, the electorate will warm to it, giving Dems an opening to box Republicans in by asking: Do you support a full rollback of the legislation, taking reform gains away from voters, or do you support leaving reforms you opposed in place?

Go here for more.

Greg is not sold on the idea that Americans will support the version of health care reform that passes, if, indeed, it does pass.

Maybe it is a gamble, but I have personally warmed to the idea of sticking it to Rushpublics whenever possible. They’ve been obstructing their big elephantine butts off during the Democratic health care “debate”. So if there is positive reaction to the final legislation (again, if that happens), then the GOP will have publicly dug themselves into a hole… again.

By GottaLaff

Tim Rutten has an op-ed in today’s L.A. Times about the Anti-Defamation League’s scrutiny and condemnation of you-know-who:

For the first time in living memory, the ADL is sounding the alarm about a mainstream media personality: Fox News’ Glenn Beck, who also hosts a popular radio show.

Now, we all know that ClusterFox has a whole array of hosts who many of us find offensive. Why single out Blech?

“Beck and his guests have made a habit of demonizing President Obama and promoting conspiracy theories about his administration. … Beck has even gone so far as to make comparisons between Hitler and Obama.”

For someone who says he isn’t a Hitler fan, Blech has a funny way of showing it. You see, he has his own radical Plan, with a Capital P (I posted about that a few days ago here):

As Beck wrote on his website, “I know that the bipartisan corruption in Washington that has brought us to this brink and it will not be defeated easily. It will require unconventional thinking and a radical plan to restore our nation to the maximum freedoms we were supposed to have been protecting. … All of the above will culminate in The Plan, a book that will provide specific policies, principles and, most importantly, action steps that each of us can take to play a role in this Refounding.”

All that and he’s hawking a book, too. Guess which of the two is his Priority… with a capital P? My guess is it’s the same Priority as Fox’s. But about that incitement thing….

It’s hard to imagine any contemporary cable system dropping Fox News simply because Beck is an offensively dangerous demagogue — not with his ratings at least. His new foray into politics, though, presents Rupert Murdoch’s network with a profound challenge. Is it willing to become the platform for an extremist political campaign, or will it draw a line as even the authoritarian Catholic Church of the 1940s did? CNN recently parted ways with its resident ranter, Lou Dobbs — who now confirms he’s weighing a presidential bid.

Does Fox see a similar problem with Beck — and, if not, why?

For these bottom feeders it’s all about the bottom line, and to get there, they continue to strive for the bottom. Consequences be damned.

Much more here. I skipped a lot.