reflecting pool

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden talk with Chief of Staff Bill Daley, left, and Senior Advisor David Plouffe in the Oval Office, April 7, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

john king’s credibility? (if he ever had any). bye bye

At a time when even some Republicans are conceding that Michele Bachmann is bat-shit crazy, King says this:

Yep, “You have taken what I would describe as a reasonable position……”

It gets worse…..

Let’s have a look at that exchange again:

Bachmann: We need to have the fight on Obamacare … I think it is a crime against democracy because Speaker Pelosi and President Obama failed to even tell the members of the House and Senate, much less the American people, that if a member casts a vote for the Obamacare bill they would also be voting to spend $105 billion…..it is my opinion that that money should be given back because it was passed fraudulently, no one knew that money was there…..

King: As you know, a lot of Democrats dispute your numbers on the healthcare bill, but I want to save that one for another day….

****

No, no John, it’s not that Democrats dispute her numbers, it’s that every single independent observer has concluded that she was talking complete and utter shit about this “bombshell, hidden $105 billion”. eg:

Washington Post (Fact Checker) …. Bachmann’s main points have been that “this money was broken up, hidden in various parts of the bill” – something akin to a “slush fund” – and that it was done “secretly, unbeknownst to members of Congress.”

This is bordering on ridiculous.

…The Obama administration insisted that the health care bill be “paid for” through various revenue raisers and cost cuts in order to not increase the deficit. In the end, CBO declared that the health care bill would reduce the deficit over the next decade.

… it is disingenuous of Bachmann to talk only about the costs without noting that, in theory, all of this spending is fully funded.

There is a further problem with Bachman’s charge of “hidden” spending … the administration has not tried to hide this money at all; instead, it has trumpeted each dollar spent in a press release.

As for the claim that “this money was broken up, hidden in various parts of the bill,” we think she means that there were different sections in the legislation, depending on the issue. This is common practice for virtually all major bills, and it is not unusual or nefarious at all….

The Pinocchio Test: There is no “bombshell” except Bachmann’s bombast.

She is correct that Congress already has appropriated some spending in future years, but her claim that this money was “hidden” does not have credibility. The money for these programs was clearly described and analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office before the legislation was voted into law…..

Four Pinocchios:

****

With Beck’s imminent departure from Fox, you have to wonder if King is looking to fill the gap. He was already a joke, but after suggesting that the racist nutjob that is Bachmann had taken a “reasonable position” on anything … and failing to challenge her on her debunked lies about that ‘fraudulent’ $105 billion …. oh dear, oh dear.

“enough”

President Obama speaks in the Brady Briefing Room April 7, following a meeting with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on the budget impasse

Frank Schaeffer: The other day my two-year-old granddaughter vomited on me. I love her, didn’t mind and cleaned up. I don’t love the Tea Party and the Republicans who are presently puking on America. I won’t forgive them. But I will help clean up: in 2012.

As a former Republican disgusted with the modern day version of a once actual political party now devolved into a far right religious right/loony right rabble all I can say is the Republicans have crossed a historical line from which there is no return. Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin are not a cause but just another symptom of the political equivalent of Mad Cow disease.

The ideologues of the right who are willing to shut down the government, risk the fragile economy – in a time of war no less (“patriots?”) – and who have hidden behind their racist “birther” code for the fact that they won’t accept a black president… et al are puking on the rest of us.

Enough!

…Following the election of our first black president, the “politics” of the Evangelical, Roman Catholic, and Mormon Far Right was not the politics of a loyal opposition, but rather the instigation of revolution, which was first and best expressed by Rush Limbaugh when even before President Obama took office he said, “I hope Obama fails.”

…And now it is these extremists that have shown that they are willing to destroy our economy even risking a government shut down.

These are the people who also say president Obama isn’t a real American, code for “not like us” – in other words a black man.

Let’s call it as it is: ignorant, race-based religious-infused know-nothing politics and reaction are what the Republican Party is about these days. My granddaughter had an excuse for vomiting: She was two, ill and doing her best. And she soon got better. The Republicans won’t get well. Their illness is terminal.

The only question now is: will they take us all with them?

Full article here

Thank you Ladyhawke

budget update

The White House as seen at night in Washington, April 7. President Barack Obama is meeting with both House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, regarding the budget and possible government shutdown.

Update:

bill the beautiful!

‘military child of the year’

Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. William Troy, Director of the Army Staff and Gen. Joseph Dunford, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, watch first lady Michelle Obama walk onstage to address the Operation Homefront “2011 Military Child of the Year” award ceremony in Arlington, Va., April 7. Operation Homefront, a national nonprofit organization that assists military families, will honor five outstanding military children – one from each Service – Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.

Info here

hola colombia

President Obama and President Juan Manuel Santos speak to the press after meeting in the Oval Office. April 7

Do you think his mind might have been elsewhere?!

‘dirty air dems’

********** Sign the petition here **********

Here’s the list of “Dirty Air Dems,” who voted to block, delay or limit the Clean Air Act’s climate rules:

Sens. Baucus (D-MT), Begich (D-AK), Hagan (D-NC), Levin (D-MI), Brown (D-OH), Casey (D-PA), Conrad (D-ND), Johnson (D-SD), Klobuchar (D-MN), Pryor (D-AR), Stabenow (D-MI), Landrieu (D-LA), Manchin (D-WV), McCaskill (D-MO), Nelson (D-NE), Rockefeller (D-WV), Webb (D-VA)

********** Sign the petition here **********

“I am extremely disappointed that you sided with big polluters, and I will not forget this vote against the Clean Air Act and my health. I hope you will reverse this astonishing position, and oppose all future efforts to undermine clean air protections.”

*** Thank you for letting us know about the petition Dorothy ***

here we go again….

Think Progress: This morning, Fox News hosted Rep. Allen West to talk about the budget cuts that the Tea Party wants. In order to frame the discussion as supporting West’s position, which is anti-compromise, the right-wing network cited a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll that it claimed showed that most Americans do not want the Republicans to compromise. Host Martha MacCallum claimed the poll showed that “56 percent of Americans say that [Republicans] should stick to their positions.” Watch it:

The problem with the poll that Fox cited is that it doesn’t say anything like what they claim it does. In fact, it appears that they actually switched the numbers around. The poll in question does find that 56 percent of respondents do not want to see the GOP compromise, but the question was directed to self-identified Republicans — meaning that Fox essentially took the number for Republicans and claimed that it represented all Americans:

But hey, it’s hardly the first time Fox reversed poll results to fit its agenda – here

‘then shut it down’

Ezra Klein

Life imitating art imitating life …. Boehner, Ryan & Co upped their demands too, for fear there’d be an agreement.