Yes LL, you are ** ENTIRELY ** alone. Having watched the game, I’m clinging to the theory that Barcelona were deliberately rubbish so they would lull Chelski in to a false sense of security for tomorrow night. Should Chelski prevail tomorrow it will prove one thing: everything I ever thought I knew about the universe is wrong. 😦
You are so lucky you’re the only one who can post pictures, because I’ve got a picture right now of me dancing on Man United’s grave. I will say this again Man United SUCCCCCCCCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In other words, a campaign worker who is also the entirety of Willard’s “diversity panel” and paid extra to pose as part of the audience at each event.
Mark my word…in a few weeks, he will have made so many gaffes and will hurt rather than help Willard and the GOP. Watch them stuff him back on the shelf that he came from…mark my word.
Good deal. I had no idea Mitt was going to make it so easy for our side. Can’t wait until he mentions Iraq having weapons of mass destruction which they got from Castro.
HF, this is beyond farce. A junior senator announces he will make a major foreign policy speech. Does anybody care? What can his opinion possibly matter? He doesn’t have access to one scintilla of the information that the president of the United States has and he presumes to suggest he has the gravitas to address foreign policy. Well, my head is just hurting now from the complete idiocy. Sometimes I think egomania has become endemic in the Republican Party. Is it in the drinks? The GOP caucus water fountain? What’s with these people? Next we will have local county auditors announcing major addresses on economic policy and county waste management directors speaking on national environmental policy. There’s just no end.
Majorly fail? WTH does Rubio know about foreign policy? Is Romney planning on picking him for VP? What a desperate and cynical move that would be. McCain-Palin redux. Four years ago, one of them said of their own party, “The Republican brand is in the trash can. I’ve often observed that if we were a dog food, they would take us off the shelf.” There is shit in the can. Time to take them off the shelf and throw them all out!
you all beat me to it. Yes, he is indeed THE MAN! Ask also the loonies that he keeps running rings around, the terrorists and would-be terrorists that would have to answer from hell, the msm GOP water carriers that he bitch-slaps ( yes, I’m talking about you Ed Henry and Tweety), and all of the men who want to be him (stop stalking him Willard) and all of the women who adore him. woot, woot!
(fans self) I need to go sit somewhere and calm down.
Awwww—-you beat me to it. I was just going to comment that I loved when John Davis said, “You’re the man!” I also loved President Obama’s cute reaction to that comment.
I just saw that and my reaction was “WHAT???????!!!!????? And his great foreign policy knowledge and expertise comes from………????????? Guess we know the VP choice.
No, LH, don’t you know that the preferred GOP technique, ala Palin, is to write the speech on your hands. Then, instead of a teleprompter, you just keep looking at your palm while you address the audience. Very classy.
ASK YOURSELF THIS QUESTION…’WHAT WERE PALIN’S…AAAH…WAITING FOR PUTIN TO CANOE BY HER KITCHEN WINDOW! IT’S THE GULLIBLE,RACIST AND GREED FILLED PUBLIC THAT FOLLOWS THIS KIND OF POLITICAL GAMING MY FRIEND…THEY ARE PLAYING RUBIO BECAUSE THEY WANT SOMEONE WHO SOUNDS CHRISTIAN AND SOMEONE THEY HOPE CAN PULL IN LATINOS! HOWEVER…OUR PBO IS THE DESERVING PRESIDENT IN THE WHITE HOUSE…WE MUST NOT TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED AND …………..VOTE!
Damn, Jay’s good – in more ways than one, ahem – this has to be one of the toughest jobs of all. Especially with some of the inane questions asked. Like about where gas prices are going. Sheesh, do they think Jay has a Ouija Board or what?
is this another one from the party that gave us the quitter half-term governor and chris i’m not a witch?
who is this woman representing if she does not know the first thing about basic policies protecting women given that these policies have been so much in the news the past few days??
Hi all, Keep your eyes on Europe this week. The Dutch government has fallen. Sarkozy is in trouble. Iceland has successfully prosecuted their former PM for allowing their banks to fail. Ireland has a Referendum coming up in 4 weeks that might fail and Ireland could be out of the EU. Tomorrow James Murdoch will testify in the Leveson Inquiry in England and his daddy will get the next 2 days to testify. I watched the head of Sky News testify today that they had broken the law in hacking into e-mail accounts. Never a dull moment over here lately. It’s been a long day and I am heading off to bed.
I’m fascinated by the French election, if Sarkozy loses it would surely have a huge impact on the EU?
Everyone seems to assume now that Francois Hollande will beat him in the second round, but seeing as he’s pushing a 75% tax rate for millionaires, it will be interesting to see what forces emerge to try and save Sarkozy??
The Irish referendum result will be more than a little interesting too – defeat wouldn’t actually mean Ireland leaving the EU, and wouldn’t stop the treaty from passing, but it would be a very large two fingers from the Irish to the EU and its austerity measures.
Well, as far as Sarkozy losing, French markets are already skittish over a Soshulist winning the Elysee Palace. But I think it’s a more or less sure thing that Sarko is on his way out; no incumbent has ever come in second in the first round of voting.
What’s truly frightening is how much support Marine Le Pen received. Basically, the French National Front is like today’s GOP. Will Sarko try to appeal to her voters, or try to capture the center. The extreme Right is on the upswing in Europe, and that never bodes well.
Hi LL, I watched Sarkozy’s speech last night (err, with the help of an interpreter) – seriously depressing stuff, he’s an amoral little creep. He’d already tried to appeal to Le Pen supporters during the campaign, but really scraped the barrel last night in his effort to pick up her support with his anti-immigrant bile.
I just read this: According to a poll published by Ipsos, a French market research company, 18% of National Front voters will vote for Hollande in the second round, while 60% will opt for Sarkozy.
How on earth, then, can they be so certain Hollande will beat Sarkozy? He only led him by about 1% after the first round, the Socialist candidate only got around 10%, Le Pen got around 18%.
Europeans are scared shitless right now. Their long post-war boom is threatening to collapse, and all that their leaders put forth is austerity and more austerity. So, they turn to the Right in times like these, because the Right is “strong”. It’ll be interesting to see the opinion polling that comes out over the next couple of weeks to see how the race shapes up. Don’t forget, besides Melenchon, Hollande also gets the Green vote. So he’ll probably still win, if not by as much as predicted.
I can say this about our fellow citizens: I think more of them are coming around to see that the only thing that will keep us prosperous is a revamping of our economy, and the only party that has any idea how to do that is the Democratic Party. People here don’t want austerity, especially now that the economy is picking up.
That’s the complete mystery to me, LL, why any one would turn to the right after what has happened the global economy. It was the right’s philosophy that created the collapse.
Ultimately it was down to de-regulation, the love-child of Reagan and Thatcher. Ireland, for example, was the European poster child for the catastrophe that is unbridled de-regulation, bankers, property developers, etc allowed bring a country to its knees while so-called regulators turned a blind eye – all in the interest of leaving business free to carry us all on their chariots to liberty and prosperity. ‘God’ help us all.
And Bain Boy Willard is America’s poster child for the very same business creed.
Why are these people even still contenders? Even with the assistance of the MSM, it’s still a mystery to me why they’re not run out of town by the people.
I hope Europe comes out whole and okay when all the possibilities have been exhausted.
sometimes it appears as though the whole world is in turmoil and at some point all this will require President Obama to sort out the mess – PBO can get a break.
Wow, overseasgranny , you’d never know it, by reading the papers here.
In today’s news they were talking up French candidate ( right winger) Marine La pen, and the Murdoch scandal has fallen from sight. If it weren’t for the internet, I would never get the whole story.
yes, the MSM here is ignoring everything in Europe for now until they can figure out a way to tell you why this turmoil is President Obama’s Europe Problem” . wait, they will look out for this line.
AP : Republicans, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney, are proposing to overhaul Medicare by converting it into a system that mainly relies on private health insurance plans to cover future retirees. Beneficiaries would get a fixed payment from the government, with low-income seniors in poor health receiving more.
This is a nice way of saying that the Repubs want to use Paul Ryan’s plan to privitize Medicare for those seniors under 65, and issue coupons for healthcare. MSM is spinning away for old Mittens. We have to let our friends and neighbors know what’s really going on.
Oh yikes, have they disappeared Hachikō?? There are only so many more of these WordPress ‘tweaks’ I can take before breaking my monitor with my forehead. Heading to WordPress Support forum now to check it out. PS Hugs to Tucker!
What in holy hell is Sen. Marco Rubio doing making a got-damn foreign policy speech? Really, did Vice President Biden make a speech around this time four years ago or something? Shouldn’t Mitt Romney be the one making it? I understand that he would be the one who would be the Commander in Chief, not Rubio. Just, WOW!!!!
The speech is likely planned, to introduce Rubio to the national stage. He will either be his VP pick or a prominent surrogate for Mitt. Marc’s speech will be full of lies, and hopefully the media will call him out on it.
right to the core of the issue. That is my question too anotherslyfox. Romney can’t make a foreign policy speech so he had so send someone else out to make it for him. Makes him look weak.
The speech is Rubio’s job application. If he looks like a fool (cf. Booby Jindal) he’ll be out of the running. What they hope for is something like the famous speeches given by Clinton & Obama at Democratic conventions. Speeches that made both of them nationally famous. I can’t think of a comparable speech given by a repug — wait…yes..Goldwater gave a barn burner of a speech in 1964 but it made him infamous rather than just famous.
“If he looks like a fool (cf. Booby Jindal) he’ll be out of the running”
You are right about that veryslowwriter. I get the logic behind it but I just can’t help to think that it is a bad strategy because PO is so strong on foreign policy. So because PO had so many successes, the first person to “take it” to PO on this issue should have been Romney. Not a surrogate.
A bunch of random Democrats from the Senate (especially the junior Senators without education or experience in the various policy areas) should just start making major policy speeches, to signify how ridiculous it is that Rubio is making this speech. At lease President Obama actually graduated with a degree in Political Science, plus, he’s brilliant. As a junior Senator, it really wasn’t too far a stretch to listen to him speak on topics that he had obviously thought long and hard about – especially since he was the one actually running for President! But this Rubio character? Makes no sense.
Bob Schieffer (CBS) Face The Nation and David Gregory (NBC) Meet The Press havie been trying to get Mitt Romney to appear on their Sunday Shows for some time now. So far Mitt has declined. I just find it fascinating that someone who wants to be the leader of the free world is so uncomfortable being interviewed by anyone other than a Fox host.
Joe Biden-Bill Nelson Everglades photo-op has a campaign quality to it.
With a politically threatened Sen. Bill Nelson at his side, Vice President Joe Biden mugged before the television cameras Monday to tout the Democrats’ successes in helping to restore the endangered Everglades.
Biden and Nelson’s speeches were short on new initiatives and focused more on the successes of President Obama’s administration in accelerating and spending more for Everglades restoration projects.
Republicans were invited, but none went or shared the stage with Nelson, Biden and Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings.
I was going to post that the Miami Herald is a Republican rag and by the tone of that article you can tell that they were not only mighty pizzed that VP Biden and Nelson were in Florida, but also that they did an excellent job and were well received!!!
Newser) – The Romney campaign says that labeling its candidate “weird” amounts to a veiled attack on Mormonism. But in an excerpt from Alex Pareene’s new e-book at Salon, Pareene holds that Mitt Romney is, in fact, just plain bizarre, like “a brilliantly designed politician android with an operating system still clearly in beta.” The former governor is “simultaneously dorkily earnest and ingratiatingly insincere,” and his social interactions leave Pareene scratching his head—and considering that his e-book is titled The Rude Guide to Mitt, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Pareene doesn’t hold back when cataloging them.
For instance, there’s the fact that he wanted his grandkids to call him “Ike” after Dwight Eisenhower. Then there’s what the New Yorker calls his “one-upmanship.” When a voter mentioned a daughter at Michigan State, Romney noted that “my brother’s on the board of Michigan State.” Another said she was from Illinois, prompting Romney to remind her that he’d won the straw poll there.
Willard is weird, and everyone knows it, especially the media who have been following him around but still spin for him. I so agree with “all video of him attempting to interact with normal humans is cringe-inducing…” Weird that he goes around trying to guess peoples’ ethnicity——and says “congratulations” when he shakes peoples’ hands for no apparent reasons. He’s one strange duck. http://www.salon.com/2012/04/23/rich_weird_romney/singleton/
Book: GOP freshman class turned into ‘a monster’ for Boehner, other House leaders
—————————————
The freshman resistance caused feuds among Boehner and his lieutenants that led some to fear a mutiny, heightened several showdowns with President Obama and eventually led to fissures among the rookies, pitting those who seldom trusted the leaders against those who reflexively did, according to “Do Not Ask What Good We Do,” an account of the freshman class’s impact by Robert Draper.
The infighting reached such a point in the fall that some newcomers requested that the weekly freshman meetings be disbanded because they had turned into shouting matches, with freshmen loudly criticizing the leaders.
Mitt Romney must think Hispanics are stupid. Hispanics will not forget all the things Mitt Romney said, they will not forget Romney’s buddy Kris Kobach, the one who put together the Arizona immigration bill. Now Mitt is trying to distance himself from Kobach. Sorry Mitt you are tied to Kobach, just like you are tied to all the radical severely Conservative things you said you support.
Do you mean Ike and Mamie, as Weird Willard instructed his grandkids to address them? Only the oldest obeyed for a few years. The rest thought it was just too weird.
The dates and venues have been announced for the 2012 Presidential debates between President Obama and the eventual GOP nominee. The date for the Vice Presidential debate has also been announced.
Ticketing for the 2012 general election debates is controlled by the Commission on Presidential Debates and tickets will be extremely limited. The majority of tickets are distributed to university students and faculty through a lottery system with the remaining tickets going to friends and families of the campaigns and the media.
October 3, 2012 Air Time TBD
Location: University of Denver in Denver, Colorado
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Obama and the GOP Presidential nominee
October 11, 2012
Vice Presidential Air Time TBD
Location: Centre College in Danville, Kentucky
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: Vice President Biden and the GOP Vice Presidential nominee
October 16, 2012 Air Time TBD
Location: Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Obama and the GOP Presidential nominee
October 22, 2012 Air Time TBD
Location: Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Obama and the GOP Presidential nominee
Wow – I’m going to have to put out an announcement to all friends and family in October that I’ll be unavailable! I won’t miss Romney being smacked down for anything!
ose Strasser on Apr 23, 2012 at 4:05 pm
It seems that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) might have been overreaching when he promised to create 250,000 new jobs in his first term. While Walker has spent the last twelve months slashing state budgets and busting unions, Wisconsinites have been dealing with the consequences. New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Walker’s state saw the largest decrease in jobs over the last year, dropping nearly a full percentage point:
Over the year, nonfarm employment increased in 45 states and the District of Columbia, decreased in 4 states, and was unchanged in Alabama. The largest over-the-year percentage increase occurred in North Dakota (+6.5 percent). The largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment occurred in Wisconsin (-0.9 percent).
Walker, meanwhile, told Newsmax this week that, “We ultimately saw a net increase in jobs this year.” That is incorrect, unless by ‘we’ he means a group other than Wisconsinites.
This just adds more evidence to an already existing trend: states with the most drastic budget cuts are seeing the most job losses. Budget slashing at the state level is stalling growth and reducing GDP.
Romney Spokesman Under Fire For Tweets Also Edits His Own Wikipedia Page |
Last week, we noted that Mitt Romney’s new foreign policy spokesman Richard Grenell had a colorful life on Twitter, often dispensing biting comments about political opponents, and women in particular. Grennell has since scrubbed much of his online presence, deleting over 800 tweets and taking down his person website. Now, Buzz Feed’s Andrew Kaczynski points out (on Twitter) that Grenell edits his own Wikipedia page.
The edit page shows that most of the edits have to basic biographical information, such as his job history. But the editing suggest someone concerned about their public perception online, and thus someone who should probably have known better than, or saw nothing wrong with, making derogatory comments about MSNBC host Rachel Maddow’s femininity, for example.
Here’s a bit more on Grenell from Steve Benen. His tweets have definitely raised eyebrows and caused a stir. But now it seems some on the right are having issues with his with his sexual orientation. You can’t make this stuff up.
Grenell causes a stir
—————————-
A leading anti-gay figure in the Republican Party attacked Governor Mitt Romney for hiring an openly gay spokesman, sending a shot from the GOP’s socially-conservative base across the nominee’s bow.
Bryan Fischer, the director of issue analysis for the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association, is probably the most straightforwardly anti-gay Republican to appear regularly in the party’s mainstream. Presidential candidates including Rick Santorum have appeared on his radio show, and he spoke at the Values Voter Summit in Washington in October.
He responded yesterday to Romney’s decision to hire an openly-gay — “out & loud gay,” in Fischer’s terms — foreign policy spokesman, Richard Grenell by calling it a “message to the pro-family community” of “drop dead.”
This is an old article (Dec 2011) but it reminds us of just how secretive and dishonest Willard is. Yet the NY Times thinks it’s PBO who needs to be vetted:
HEADLINE: Romney staff spent nearly $100,000 to hide records
// (Reuters) – Mitt Romney spent nearly $100,000 in state funds to replace computers in his office at the end of his term as governor of Massachusetts in 2007 as part of an unprecedented effort to keep his records secret, Reuters has learned. The move during the final weeks of Romney’s administration was legal but unusual for a departing governor, Massachusetts officials say.
The effort to purge the records was made a few months before Romney launched an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He is again competing for the party’s nomination, this time to challenge Barack Obama for the presidency in 2012. //
theo67 had a very good suggestion above namely: we should “demand” that a number of Junior Democratic Senators should come out and make a foreign policy speech right after rubio and that the MSM must give it the same air time as the crap from rubio.
the gop thinks we racial minorities are stupid enough to support someone who does not support our agenda but physically looks like us – thomas any one?
Thomas, Elder, Watts, Carroll, West, Scott, Swann, Blackwell, Steele and Cain……they keep trying, hoping to strike out. It just never pans out for them, does it?
Obama White House.gov
The Obama Diary 
first
GRATS auni!!!
Congrats on #1 auni.
Cool!
Can I haz ‘im? Sisterwife, Michelle?
LMAO!
;-D
Darlin’ — get in line. ;-]
How long is it? 😉
😀
Second. Where Man United will probably finish 😥
No Chips. They won’t finish second, they’ll finish DEAD LAST. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Be afraid, giraffe-face:
Chels vs. the team of hyperactive little gnomes.
And am I the only one who wished that this Sunday’s El Classico could’ve gone on until both teams died en masse from exhaustion?
Yes LL, you are ** ENTIRELY ** alone. Having watched the game, I’m clinging to the theory that Barcelona were deliberately rubbish so they would lull Chelski in to a false sense of security for tomorrow night. Should Chelski prevail tomorrow it will prove one thing: everything I ever thought I knew about the universe is wrong. 😦
Chelsea – Bayern in the CL final!
Waah…waah…waah….Call the waambulance. Man United SUCCCCCCKS.
Gooooooooo BLUE! #Chelsea
You are so lucky you’re the only one who can post pictures, because I’ve got a picture right now of me dancing on Man United’s grave. I will say this again Man United SUCCCCCCCCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BWAHAHAHAHA Take this Chips
This is for you Chips. HA!
ok – this made me HOWL. And I don’t even care since neither my WC2006BF, nor WC2010BF play on either team. 😀
hahahahayippppppppeeeeewowowowowo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is it just me or is there the same exact black woman with long hair at every Romney event?
In other words, a campaign worker who is also the entirety of Willard’s “diversity panel” and paid extra to pose as part of the audience at each event.
Precisely.
WTF?!?!? Does this guy want follow in Palin’s footsteps?
Oh brother.
Mark my word…in a few weeks, he will have made so many gaffes and will hurt rather than help Willard and the GOP. Watch them stuff him back on the shelf that he came from…mark my word.
I wonder if he will be taking questions from the press after his foreign policy speech.
Twerp.
So is this guy his Veep now?
Huh? Why ?
Good deal. I had no idea Mitt was going to make it so easy for our side. Can’t wait until he mentions Iraq having weapons of mass destruction which they got from Castro.
HF, this is beyond farce. A junior senator announces he will make a major foreign policy speech. Does anybody care? What can his opinion possibly matter? He doesn’t have access to one scintilla of the information that the president of the United States has and he presumes to suggest he has the gravitas to address foreign policy. Well, my head is just hurting now from the complete idiocy. Sometimes I think egomania has become endemic in the Republican Party. Is it in the drinks? The GOP caucus water fountain? What’s with these people? Next we will have local county auditors announcing major addresses on economic policy and county waste management directors speaking on national environmental policy. There’s just no end.
Majorly fail? WTH does Rubio know about foreign policy? Is Romney planning on picking him for VP? What a desperate and cynical move that would be. McCain-Palin redux. Four years ago, one of them said of their own party, “The Republican brand is in the trash can. I’ve often observed that if we were a dog food, they would take us off the shelf.” There is shit in the can. Time to take them off the shelf and throw them all out!
You’re dam right he’s the man and he’s going to kick that lying phony flip flopper’s a**.
you all beat me to it. Yes, he is indeed THE MAN! Ask also the loonies that he keeps running rings around, the terrorists and would-be terrorists that would have to answer from hell, the msm GOP water carriers that he bitch-slaps ( yes, I’m talking about you Ed Henry and Tweety), and all of the men who want to be him (stop stalking him Willard) and all of the women who adore him. woot, woot!
(fans self) I need to go sit somewhere and calm down.
Awwww—-you beat me to it. I was just going to comment that I loved when John Davis said, “You’re the man!” I also loved President Obama’s cute reaction to that comment.
That stood out for me after watching the ceremony. They respect their CIC
Hi, loved the speech, love PBO, love FLOTUS, love VPB, love TOD! Reminds us of a love-in, eh? 😉
And Rubio is making a “foreign policy” speech WHY??? What are his credentials for this, and who wants it???
By GOP standards he is more than qualified! I bet he says he can see Communist Cuba from his front porch!
LOL!!
I just saw that and my reaction was “WHAT???????!!!!????? And his great foreign policy knowledge and expertise comes from………????????? Guess we know the VP choice.
Marco Rubio has criticized President Obama for using a teleprompter. I certainly hope he will be committing his “foreign policy” speech to memory.
No, LH, don’t you know that the preferred GOP technique, ala Palin, is to write the speech on your hands. Then, instead of a teleprompter, you just keep looking at your palm while you address the audience. Very classy.
ASK YOURSELF THIS QUESTION…’WHAT WERE PALIN’S…AAAH…WAITING FOR PUTIN TO CANOE BY HER KITCHEN WINDOW! IT’S THE GULLIBLE,RACIST AND GREED FILLED PUBLIC THAT FOLLOWS THIS KIND OF POLITICAL GAMING MY FRIEND…THEY ARE PLAYING RUBIO BECAUSE THEY WANT SOMEONE WHO SOUNDS CHRISTIAN AND SOMEONE THEY HOPE CAN PULL IN LATINOS! HOWEVER…OUR PBO IS THE DESERVING PRESIDENT IN THE WHITE HOUSE…WE MUST NOT TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED AND …………..VOTE!
Damn, Jay’s good – in more ways than one, ahem – this has to be one of the toughest jobs of all. Especially with some of the inane questions asked. Like about where gas prices are going. Sheesh, do they think Jay has a Ouija Board or what?
Sarah Steelman, Missouri GOP Senate Candidate, ‘Not Sure’ What Violence Against Women Act Is
Oh the inhumanity.
She is also the one who had no clue what the Federal Minimum Wage is…….
And….to make is worse….she is the former Missouri State Treasurer…….
This is too incredulous. Tweeted.
She’s blonde and pretty so let’s vote for her! Oh gawd. Seriously, GOP? Seriously?!?
where do they get these people??
is this another one from the party that gave us the quitter half-term governor and chris i’m not a witch?
who is this woman representing if she does not know the first thing about basic policies protecting women given that these policies have been so much in the news the past few days??
I guess you really have to be A WOMAN to know what that is, eh? I guess long hair doesn’t get it anymore.
Hi all, Keep your eyes on Europe this week. The Dutch government has fallen. Sarkozy is in trouble. Iceland has successfully prosecuted their former PM for allowing their banks to fail. Ireland has a Referendum coming up in 4 weeks that might fail and Ireland could be out of the EU. Tomorrow James Murdoch will testify in the Leveson Inquiry in England and his daddy will get the next 2 days to testify. I watched the head of Sky News testify today that they had broken the law in hacking into e-mail accounts. Never a dull moment over here lately. It’s been a long day and I am heading off to bed.
Holy shipoopi.
Ah yeah Overseasgranny, lively times in Europe.
I’m fascinated by the French election, if Sarkozy loses it would surely have a huge impact on the EU?
Everyone seems to assume now that Francois Hollande will beat him in the second round, but seeing as he’s pushing a 75% tax rate for millionaires, it will be interesting to see what forces emerge to try and save Sarkozy??
The Irish referendum result will be more than a little interesting too – defeat wouldn’t actually mean Ireland leaving the EU, and wouldn’t stop the treaty from passing, but it would be a very large two fingers from the Irish to the EU and its austerity measures.
Interesting times.
Well, as far as Sarkozy losing, French markets are already skittish over a Soshulist winning the Elysee Palace. But I think it’s a more or less sure thing that Sarko is on his way out; no incumbent has ever come in second in the first round of voting.
What’s truly frightening is how much support Marine Le Pen received. Basically, the French National Front is like today’s GOP. Will Sarko try to appeal to her voters, or try to capture the center. The extreme Right is on the upswing in Europe, and that never bodes well.
Hi LL, I watched Sarkozy’s speech last night (err, with the help of an interpreter) – seriously depressing stuff, he’s an amoral little creep. He’d already tried to appeal to Le Pen supporters during the campaign, but really scraped the barrel last night in his effort to pick up her support with his anti-immigrant bile.
I just read this: According to a poll published by Ipsos, a French market research company, 18% of National Front voters will vote for Hollande in the second round, while 60% will opt for Sarkozy.
How on earth, then, can they be so certain Hollande will beat Sarkozy? He only led him by about 1% after the first round, the Socialist candidate only got around 10%, Le Pen got around 18%.
I fear this is far from over??
Europeans are scared shitless right now. Their long post-war boom is threatening to collapse, and all that their leaders put forth is austerity and more austerity. So, they turn to the Right in times like these, because the Right is “strong”. It’ll be interesting to see the opinion polling that comes out over the next couple of weeks to see how the race shapes up. Don’t forget, besides Melenchon, Hollande also gets the Green vote. So he’ll probably still win, if not by as much as predicted.
I can say this about our fellow citizens: I think more of them are coming around to see that the only thing that will keep us prosperous is a revamping of our economy, and the only party that has any idea how to do that is the Democratic Party. People here don’t want austerity, especially now that the economy is picking up.
That’s the complete mystery to me, LL, why any one would turn to the right after what has happened the global economy. It was the right’s philosophy that created the collapse.
Ultimately it was down to de-regulation, the love-child of Reagan and Thatcher. Ireland, for example, was the European poster child for the catastrophe that is unbridled de-regulation, bankers, property developers, etc allowed bring a country to its knees while so-called regulators turned a blind eye – all in the interest of leaving business free to carry us all on their chariots to liberty and prosperity. ‘God’ help us all.
And Bain Boy Willard is America’s poster child for the very same business creed.
Why are these people even still contenders? Even with the assistance of the MSM, it’s still a mystery to me why they’re not run out of town by the people.
As Merlin said in “Excalibur”: “It is the doom of men that they forget.”
Well, this answers my question as to whether Sarko will swing right or to the center: France election: Sarkozy seeks key far-right votes.
Conservatives never learn from history. If you feed fascists, they only grow stronger, and you can never control them, no matter what you may think.
I hope Europe comes out whole and okay when all the possibilities have been exhausted.
sometimes it appears as though the whole world is in turmoil and at some point all this will require President Obama to sort out the mess – PBO can get a break.
correction: PBO can’t get a break!
Wow, overseasgranny , you’d never know it, by reading the papers here.
In today’s news they were talking up French candidate ( right winger) Marine La pen, and the Murdoch scandal has fallen from sight. If it weren’t for the internet, I would never get the whole story.
yes, the MSM here is ignoring everything in Europe for now until they can figure out a way to tell you why this turmoil is President Obama’s Europe Problem” . wait, they will look out for this line.
AP : Republicans, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney, are proposing to overhaul Medicare by converting it into a system that mainly relies on private health insurance plans to cover future retirees. Beneficiaries would get a fixed payment from the government, with low-income seniors in poor health receiving more.
This is a nice way of saying that the Repubs want to use Paul Ryan’s plan to privitize Medicare for those seniors under 65, and issue coupons for healthcare. MSM is spinning away for old Mittens. We have to let our friends and neighbors know what’s really going on.
Chips, what happened to the share buttons? I used to be able to tweet or FB your posts. Share tools have disappeared for me.
Oh yikes, have they disappeared Hachikō?? There are only so many more of these WordPress ‘tweaks’ I can take before breaking my monitor with my forehead. Heading to WordPress Support forum now to check it out. PS Hugs to Tucker!
Thanks, Chip! Tuck says hugs back! 😀
Wuff!!
Better quality:
Thanks, Chipster! Much better for me to hear!
You are very, very, very, very welcome Cha 😉
What in holy hell is Sen. Marco Rubio doing making a got-damn foreign policy speech? Really, did Vice President Biden make a speech around this time four years ago or something? Shouldn’t Mitt Romney be the one making it? I understand that he would be the one who would be the Commander in Chief, not Rubio. Just, WOW!!!!
The speech is likely planned, to introduce Rubio to the national stage. He will either be his VP pick or a prominent surrogate for Mitt. Marc’s speech will be full of lies, and hopefully the media will call him out on it.
“hopefully the media will call him out on it.”
Keep dreaming.
Right..we need to find other ways for rubio to get called out on his LIES. The Tools that Progressives can use..like, thank the Universe for TWITTER!
MSM will not call rubio out on his lies, they are already shilling for mitt the entitled liar.
point out the lies will have to be done by us using alternate media platforms and also by shaming the MSM
“Shouldn’t Mitt Romney be the one making it”?
right to the core of the issue. That is my question too anotherslyfox. Romney can’t make a foreign policy speech so he had so send someone else out to make it for him. Makes him look weak.
The speech is Rubio’s job application. If he looks like a fool (cf. Booby Jindal) he’ll be out of the running. What they hope for is something like the famous speeches given by Clinton & Obama at Democratic conventions. Speeches that made both of them nationally famous. I can’t think of a comparable speech given by a repug — wait…yes..Goldwater gave a barn burner of a speech in 1964 but it made him infamous rather than just famous.
“If he looks like a fool (cf. Booby Jindal) he’ll be out of the running”
You are right about that veryslowwriter. I get the logic behind it but I just can’t help to think that it is a bad strategy because PO is so strong on foreign policy. So because PO had so many successes, the first person to “take it” to PO on this issue should have been Romney. Not a surrogate.
Welcome to TOD.
A bunch of random Democrats from the Senate (especially the junior Senators without education or experience in the various policy areas) should just start making major policy speeches, to signify how ridiculous it is that Rubio is making this speech. At lease President Obama actually graduated with a degree in Political Science, plus, he’s brilliant. As a junior Senator, it really wasn’t too far a stretch to listen to him speak on topics that he had obviously thought long and hard about – especially since he was the one actually running for President! But this Rubio character? Makes no sense.
I like that idea!
#PRESSON
Bob Schieffer (CBS) Face The Nation and David Gregory (NBC) Meet The Press havie been trying to get Mitt Romney to appear on their Sunday Shows for some time now. So far Mitt has declined. I just find it fascinating that someone who wants to be the leader of the free world is so uncomfortable being interviewed by anyone other than a Fox host.
Even Fox Host, like Brett Baer and Hannity, he gaffes!
Joe Biden-Bill Nelson Everglades photo-op has a campaign quality to it.
With a politically threatened Sen. Bill Nelson at his side, Vice President Joe Biden mugged before the television cameras Monday to tout the Democrats’ successes in helping to restore the endangered Everglades.
Biden and Nelson’s speeches were short on new initiatives and focused more on the successes of President Obama’s administration in accelerating and spending more for Everglades restoration projects.
Republicans were invited, but none went or shared the stage with Nelson, Biden and Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/04/joe-biden-bill-nelson-everglades-photo-op-has-a-campaign-quality-to-it.html
a commenter on that post asked “How is Senator Nelson politically threatened when he is posting a double digit lead against any of his challengers”?
Riiight?
I was going to post that the Miami Herald is a Republican rag and by the tone of that article you can tell that they were not only mighty pizzed that VP Biden and Nelson were in Florida, but also that they did an excellent job and were well received!!!
Tell Miami Herald that I said GO TO HELL!
“SEVERELY CONSERVATIVE” RUN AMUCK
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Concern in G.O.P. Over State Focus on Social Issues
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/21/us/politics/republicans-concerned-over-state-focus-on-social-issues.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
IKE! HA!!!! Rather them call him DICK…..for obvious reasons.
Romney Is Even Weirder Than You Thought
At least, according to Alex Pareene, who goes on to list all the reasons why
By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff
Posted Apr 23, 2012 1:03 PM CDT | Updated Apr 23, 2012 1:53 PM CDT
Newser) – The Romney campaign says that labeling its candidate “weird” amounts to a veiled attack on Mormonism. But in an excerpt from Alex Pareene’s new e-book at Salon, Pareene holds that Mitt Romney is, in fact, just plain bizarre, like “a brilliantly designed politician android with an operating system still clearly in beta.” The former governor is “simultaneously dorkily earnest and ingratiatingly insincere,” and his social interactions leave Pareene scratching his head—and considering that his e-book is titled The Rude Guide to Mitt, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Pareene doesn’t hold back when cataloging them.
For instance, there’s the fact that he wanted his grandkids to call him “Ike” after Dwight Eisenhower. Then there’s what the New Yorker calls his “one-upmanship.” When a voter mentioned a daughter at Michigan State, Romney noted that “my brother’s on the board of Michigan State.” Another said she was from Illinois, prompting Romney to remind her that he’d won the straw poll there.
http://www.newser.com/story/144590/romney-is-even-weirder-than-you-thought.html
Willard is weird, and everyone knows it, especially the media who have been following him around but still spin for him. I so agree with “all video of him attempting to interact with normal humans is cringe-inducing…” Weird that he goes around trying to guess peoples’ ethnicity——and says “congratulations” when he shakes peoples’ hands for no apparent reasons. He’s one strange duck.
http://www.salon.com/2012/04/23/rich_weird_romney/singleton/
Willard’s A Whiner, too..so he has that going against him.
seriously hilarious with that Heisman pose. he’s so cute and that guy was right, he is the man!!! 😆
Hello party peeps, it’s been a while. 😉
Hey Lisa! 🙂
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY EXTREME AND RADICAL AGENDA
Book: GOP freshman class turned into ‘a monster’ for Boehner, other House leaders
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The freshman resistance caused feuds among Boehner and his lieutenants that led some to fear a mutiny, heightened several showdowns with President Obama and eventually led to fissures among the rookies, pitting those who seldom trusted the leaders against those who reflexively did, according to “Do Not Ask What Good We Do,” an account of the freshman class’s impact by Robert Draper.
The infighting reached such a point in the fall that some newcomers requested that the weekly freshman meetings be disbanded because they had turned into shouting matches, with freshmen loudly criticizing the leaders.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/book-gop-freshman-class-turned-into-a-monster-for-boehner-other-house-leaders/2012/04/22/gIQAV15PaT_story.html
Mitt Romney must think Hispanics are stupid. Hispanics will not forget all the things Mitt Romney said, they will not forget Romney’s buddy Kris Kobach, the one who put together the Arizona immigration bill. Now Mitt is trying to distance himself from Kobach. Sorry Mitt you are tied to Kobach, just like you are tied to all the radical severely Conservative things you said you support.
Here we go again..some “mystery donor” associated with Romney.
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2012/04/23/11352180-romney-backers-tied-to-mysterious-400k-donation
Hey, from Mitt’s point of view that’s too small to warrant attention. How could anyone make a fuss out of a mere $400K??
HA! You’re right – as far as Willard and Miss Ann are concerned, $400K is what the tooth fairly leaves under their kids pillows!
Do you mean Ike and Mamie, as Weird Willard instructed his grandkids to address them? Only the oldest obeyed for a few years. The rest thought it was just too weird.
I can hardly wait.
2012 Presidential Debate Schedule
The dates and venues have been announced for the 2012 Presidential debates between President Obama and the eventual GOP nominee. The date for the Vice Presidential debate has also been announced.
Ticketing for the 2012 general election debates is controlled by the Commission on Presidential Debates and tickets will be extremely limited. The majority of tickets are distributed to university students and faculty through a lottery system with the remaining tickets going to friends and families of the campaigns and the media.
October 3, 2012 Air Time TBD
Location: University of Denver in Denver, Colorado
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Obama and the GOP Presidential nominee
October 11, 2012
Vice Presidential Air Time TBD
Location: Centre College in Danville, Kentucky
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: Vice President Biden and the GOP Vice Presidential nominee
October 16, 2012 Air Time TBD
Location: Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Obama and the GOP Presidential nominee
October 22, 2012 Air Time TBD
Location: Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Obama and the GOP Presidential nominee
http://www.2012presidentialelectionnews.com/2012-debate-schedule/2012-presidential-debate-schedule/
Are they always this close together?
Yes. It is usually close together.
1. First Presidential Debate:
Date: September 26 –
2. Vice Presidential Debate
Date: October 2nd –
3. Second Presidential Debate
Date: October 7 –
4. Third Presidential Debate
Date: October 15
Then there were 2 unofficial town hall style debates as requested by John McCain
Forums:
August 16, 2008: Video: Saddleback Civil Forum with Rick Warren at Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, California
September 11, 2008: Video: 9/11 Forum on public and national service from Columbia University, New York
2008 Debate schedule as an fyi.
Wow – I’m going to have to put out an announcement to all friends and family in October that I’ll be unavailable! I won’t miss Romney being smacked down for anything!
Bring. It. On!!
Reminded me of Della Reese with that one, Chips.
I’m in tears here anotherslyfox, she is my HERO!!!!! 😆
About these debates. President Obama will mop up the floor with Romney and Romney will be the mop!
Hey, Walker! You suck!
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/04/23/469365/wisconsin-job-losses-2011/
ose Strasser on Apr 23, 2012 at 4:05 pm
It seems that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) might have been overreaching when he promised to create 250,000 new jobs in his first term. While Walker has spent the last twelve months slashing state budgets and busting unions, Wisconsinites have been dealing with the consequences. New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Walker’s state saw the largest decrease in jobs over the last year, dropping nearly a full percentage point:
Over the year, nonfarm employment increased in 45 states and the District of Columbia, decreased in 4 states, and was unchanged in Alabama. The largest over-the-year percentage increase occurred in North Dakota (+6.5 percent). The largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment occurred in Wisconsin (-0.9 percent).
Walker, meanwhile, told Newsmax this week that, “We ultimately saw a net increase in jobs this year.” That is incorrect, unless by ‘we’ he means a group other than Wisconsinites.
This just adds more evidence to an already existing trend: states with the most drastic budget cuts are seeing the most job losses. Budget slashing at the state level is stalling growth and reducing GDP.
Romney Spokesman Under Fire For Tweets Also Edits His Own Wikipedia Page |
Last week, we noted that Mitt Romney’s new foreign policy spokesman Richard Grenell had a colorful life on Twitter, often dispensing biting comments about political opponents, and women in particular. Grennell has since scrubbed much of his online presence, deleting over 800 tweets and taking down his person website. Now, Buzz Feed’s Andrew Kaczynski points out (on Twitter) that Grenell edits his own Wikipedia page.
The edit page shows that most of the edits have to basic biographical information, such as his job history. But the editing suggest someone concerned about their public perception online, and thus someone who should probably have known better than, or saw nothing wrong with, making derogatory comments about MSNBC host Rachel Maddow’s femininity, for example.
Here’s a bit more on Grenell from Steve Benen. His tweets have definitely raised eyebrows and caused a stir. But now it seems some on the right are having issues with his with his sexual orientation. You can’t make this stuff up.
Grenell causes a stir
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A leading anti-gay figure in the Republican Party attacked Governor Mitt Romney for hiring an openly gay spokesman, sending a shot from the GOP’s socially-conservative base across the nominee’s bow.
Bryan Fischer, the director of issue analysis for the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association, is probably the most straightforwardly anti-gay Republican to appear regularly in the party’s mainstream. Presidential candidates including Rick Santorum have appeared on his radio show, and he spoke at the Values Voter Summit in Washington in October.
He responded yesterday to Romney’s decision to hire an openly-gay — “out & loud gay,” in Fischer’s terms — foreign policy spokesman, Richard Grenell by calling it a “message to the pro-family community” of “drop dead.”
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http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/23/11357049-grenell-causes-a-stir?lite
This is an old article (Dec 2011) but it reminds us of just how secretive and dishonest Willard is. Yet the NY Times thinks it’s PBO who needs to be vetted:
HEADLINE: Romney staff spent nearly $100,000 to hide records
// (Reuters) – Mitt Romney spent nearly $100,000 in state funds to replace computers in his office at the end of his term as governor of Massachusetts in 2007 as part of an unprecedented effort to keep his records secret, Reuters has learned. The move during the final weeks of Romney’s administration was legal but unusual for a departing governor, Massachusetts officials say.
The effort to purge the records was made a few months before Romney launched an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He is again competing for the party’s nomination, this time to challenge Barack Obama for the presidency in 2012. //
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/06/us-usa-campaign-romney-computers-idUSTRE7B500X20111206
theo67 had a very good suggestion above namely: we should “demand” that a number of Junior Democratic Senators should come out and make a foreign policy speech right after rubio and that the MSM must give it the same air time as the crap from rubio.
the gop thinks we racial minorities are stupid enough to support someone who does not support our agenda but physically looks like us – thomas any one?
Thomas, Elder, Watts, Carroll, West, Scott, Swann, Blackwell, Steele and Cain……they keep trying, hoping to strike out. It just never pans out for them, does it?
Zingo! You’re on it fox. I thuoght I was the only one onto those ut’s and didn’t want to bring that ambergris to this site. Bravo. 🙂
Hannity: “This Idea That Americans Are Going To Bed Hungry” Is Not True — “You Can Survive Off” Rice And Beans
I hate this guy.
There is a special spot in hell for men like these.
I don’t think so fox. Even satan wouldn’t have this ass hole. 😦
when was the last time this fool walked among people who can barely put a meal on their table even after putting in a long day’s work
New post everyone:
http://theobamadiary.com/2012/04/23/memory-has-become-a-sacred-duty-of-all-people-of-goodwill/