He probably meant, why haven’t your dogs ‘eaten’ your homework? I wonder if that one would work for marking as effectively as it does for the actual homework completion?
Aha! Now I get it – you’re watching Scandal! First dogs then horrible women presidents – I thought I was losing my mind! I watched four episodes in a row the other night. I just have one more left to go.
Way OT: It is the Christmas season, so please tell me “Why can’t I find Angel ornaments?” Searched high & low last year after Christmas and have continued the search this season. None to be found… Looks like I’m going to have to get busy making some — I need 100 for my family Christmas party.
Alycee…have you tried church bookstores? Many Catholic and Episcopal churches have book/giftshops and they might be a source for angel ornaments. Or…..if there is a catalog or online source you might try that. I thought of churches, because I just hung up the little angel I bought at a church giftshop in Rome. I wouldn’t be surprised but that you could find such source online somewhere.
Tien Le have no fear. Al Gordiano has been advocating for Kerry to be SOS since 2008. So we know that he’s referring to Kerry. So I guess Kerry has told him privately that he is PBO’s choice.
Even still, I should have read it more carefully and not posted it. But thanks, Hopefruit. I don’t think Al is revealing anything private in that post.
What does he mean by, “there needs to be a new direction at Foggy Bottom”? Does Al think that Kerry will be better at State than Hillary was? 🙄 spare me. It would be more of the same. Hillary and Kerry are legacy. There is nothing new or dynamic about either. They are inheritors. They inherit their positions. They are traditional and cookie cutter. Al should go take a chill pill and sit on his thumbs.
‘ After a contentious closed-door vote, the Senate intelligence committee approved a long-awaited report Thursday concluding that harsh interrogation measures used by the CIA did not produce significant intelligence breakthroughs, officials said.
~
The report is the most detailed independent examination to date of the agency’s efforts to “break” dozens of detainees through physical and psychological duress, a period of CIA history that has become a source of renewed controversy because of torture scenes in a forthcoming Hollywood film, “Zero Dark Thirty.”
Officials familiar with the report said it makes a detailed case that subjecting prisoners to “enhanced” interrogation techniques did not help the CIA find Osama bin Laden and often were counterproductive in the broader campaign against al-Qaeda.’
Wouldn’t it be something if John Kerry were to get State and turn out to be an awesome SOS and work really well with PBO and make the GOP look like a bunch of SOBs?
I don’t think Kerry sidelined anything. I believe that PBO, Kerry and Rice know what they are doing and are on board with all the decisions. Obviously Rice is meeting with PBO at 3:30PM tomorrow for a reason. It’s not to play a game of cards over some beer.
Listen, his silence while Susan Rice was attacked by his pal McCain was stunning!!!
Even if he is now the choice to be SoS, I still won’t forgive the silence as Susan Rice was wrongly pummelled by people he could have asked to stop and worse still, while they actively advocated on his behalf for the job!!!
Sometimes it just pays to do the honorable thing and speak up!!! A memo released after the fact does little to assuage the bad blood many people I know now have for John Kerry!!!
Tell the many people you know to get over it.!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why is everyone jumping all over John Kerry, there was alot of Democratic Senators who didn’t have anything to say. I can’t think of to many that stood up for Amb. Rice. Even Hillary were mighty silent.
I won’t be doing that!!!
They have every right as do I to feel exactly how we feel about Kerry!!!
He was the one being bandied around as the more “superior” candidate to Susan Rice’s “not bright”!!!
He should have spoken up on her behalf especially since he deemed her smart enough to be his foreign policy adviser when he ran for president in 2004!!!
This is not some random chick as far as Kerry is concerned!!! This is a woman he knew well and knew could do the job too!!!
But his own blind ambition trumped his humanity and decency in this instant!!! Not a good or honorable moment for John Kerry!!!
And if you’ve read any of my posts today, you’ll find that Hillary’s lack of support for Dr. Rice has been more than addressed!!!
Hillary Clinton gets zero respect from me!!!
Maybe I need to check over things because all I have seen is the attack on John Kerry. There went weeks when no one heard a word from Hillary when McCain and Graham were running their mouth. What’s is so good about this blog is we can disagree to disagree.
“He was the one being bandied around as the more “superior” candidate to Susan Rice’s “not bright”!!!”
And it’s not Kerry’s fault that his name was being “bandied” any more than it’s Susan Rice’s fault that she was called “not bright.” I admire Ambassador Rice and I’m sure she’ll not be out of a (very high level) job any time in the next four years. I think Kerry would do a good job, too. It’s not Kerry’s doing that he’s being discussed as the Great White savior. People are only responsible for what they do, not for what’s said about them. After four years of nonstop slander of the President, I’d think we’d understand that by now.
The only important factor is what the President wants. I trust him to be the best judge of that.
Why are people jumping all over the president saying he did a lot of trash talk but couldn’t back it up!
Susan Rice has small children could she be away from home that much as SOS? Who knows, but I think she and her made this discission together.
You’re spinning amazement like it’s not going to happen. Short of a miracle, good ole Legacy will be SOS and he will work well with the team because that is PBO’s number 1 criteria. Legacy and PBO get on fine. That’s not the reason the Poopers sabotaged Rice. They did it out of pettiness, racism and the desire for Legacy’s senate seat. I like Kerry as much as i like any other democrat but I think he’s more of the same and fresh blood would have been nice– Al G. sounds like a Kerry kool-aid drinker. If he can look at good ole Legacy and his long history of Washington insider-ness and say that Kerry at State will be different and a change from Hillary, then he’s more delusional than I thought. It’s one rich old white person with deeply entrenched political ties, replacing another rich old white person with deeply entrenched political ties.
I wasn’t spinning anything. I was just saying that it would be sweet schadenfreude if Kerry were to surprise and be like a hundred times better than the very low expectations we both have of him. I’m not a Kerry fan by any stretch of the imagination. Think he’s a neocon blowhard, but people surprise sometimes. Hillary was WAY better than I thought she would be.
i hope they didn’t have homework–isn’t tomorrow the last day of school before vacation? the family was scheduled to arrive in hawaii on monday (yipee!!), but i don’t know what the current plan is.
That would be nice – given that the President just finished a grueling campaign, dealing with Super Storm Sandy in the middle of it, and running the world for four years. He deserves a break, far more than any fool in Congress.
He doesn’t have the ability to lay out a budget plan as a counteroffer to the president because he doesn’t have a clue how the budget works, and neither does his staff. He’s a fraud and a buffoon. He can’t even figure out how to cave in. He’s just paralyzed. We’re going over the cliff because he can’t even come close to pulling his shit together to make an offer that Obama would accept and that would also be acceptable to his caucus.
While I don’t agree that the poster boy would win Kerry’s seat, I also think it’s time to find someone, who is fresh and attuned to the present day geopolitics reality, for SoS. I don’t see Kerry fitting that role.
I’m in full agreement with both of you…just want to be surprised when someone over-performs like Hillary did. It was brought to my attention that if Kerry gets the nod then Elizabeth Warren would become the Senior Senator from MA.
Now Petraeus’ expectations of fresh pineapple slices at bedside nightly comes into focus———-the very teeny tiniest tip of the iceberg. The Pentagon operates 234 golf courses??? And much much more. Unbelievable. Trim the defense budget indeed.
Time to trim the military: $500 million for marching bands. Generals with 4-star personal chefs. Private golf courses. http://t.co/lNxgTFR3
Barney Frank had about five minutes on this subject on Ed’s show tonight. It was well reasoned and sensible. He said there is no reason we need to keep defending Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, etc. from the Soviet Union. He thinks we should close all, or nearly all of our bases in Europe. There is no practical reason for them now. If you read the Salon article, I’d say the main reason for those bases is for officers’ travel spots. I know we have closed a fair number in Germany. The base where my son was stationed from 1988-2000 is closed, that one I know about. I’m curious to know how many bases we still have in Europe, particularly Germany and Italy.
That was their purpose during the Cold War. Barney Frank is questioning what their purpose is now. He is right to question their purpose now. Right now I think their main purpose is to stimulate local economies.
We were so scared of East Germany, if you remember. They seemed invincible…..their athletes were big winners in the Olympics, they had this supposedly highly trained army. After the wall came down, we found out they were basically a paper tiger. Their technology was pathetic, and their money went to training Olympic athletes. The Pentagon is still operating as if the Cold war were going on. Barney Frank…..and from what I read, Chuck Hagel….know this has to change. Frank believes many of our fiscal problems could be relieved by closing European bases, and generally deflating the defense budget. The Republican senators hate to hear any talk of lowering the defense budget, but that is where BIG savings could come. Some of that money perhaps should go to security at various embassies!!!
There are a lot of things on base for the military who live there, including housing, food establishments, fitness centers, clubs, chapels, day care centers, schooling, exchanges, golf courses, even some public/private junque food partnerships like McDonalds and the like. There are perks to being a flag or general officer, including having staffs. Ceremonies requiring marching bands (since the earliest days of our republic) are an important part of military culture (pomp and circumstance) and a way to participate in civilian activities, so there is goodwill for the military among the American people and to inspire patriotism. A lot of times, free concerts are given in communities, which are very much appreciated by those communities – I’m sure many of us have been to some. Military band members, often recruited for their talent, go on to musical careers in civilian life (I know a few). Military chefs are trained by the military, and when they leave the military, they have marketable skills. I’m not saying the budgets can’t be trimmed, but being in the military is a lifestyle – the bases are often their homes and they’re a lot safer staying put. Another reason to have lots of stuff available on base is because our taxpayer dollars train, maintain, and pay the military, and there is need to “protect” those investments. Plus, there are always nice high fences and gates and guards, so none of the younger military in boot camp can hop over them and go into town to hoist a few. (Can you tell I used to be a Navy public affairs officer? Ha!)
Why pineapple slices? Was he using them for…ah, never mind. I have a dirty mind but seriously what if no pineapple was available? Would he send a military convoy to Hawaii to get some? As for the golf courses, sell them, use that money to shore up Medicare and Social Security and provide health care to people that need it. Personal chefs, marching bands have to go too. Waste of money.
Something non-political – it’s meteor showers tonight and the skies over the DC area are clear and bright. I lay outside for about 30 minutes, as bundled up as I could be and lying on a summer lounge chair. I saw at least 6 good falling stars and a few I wasn’t sure of, they happened so quickly. Go out within the next 2 hours or so, the weather people say, and there should be more of the same. I just love falling stars.
It’s meteor showers tonight;
And the skies over DC are clear n bright;
Catch a falling star and put in your pocket, never let it fade away;
Catch a falling star and put in your pocket, save it for a rainy day.
But for its penultimate paragraph, because I cannot stand it when lesser beings “tell” President Obama how to actually be President, this sounds like a reasonable piece on why Chuck Hagel should be nominated as Secretary of Defense:
PBO will make the best choice 4 SoS. Don’t have unnecessary angst. IMHO, I have no idea! Just a guess that Kerry got bruised right along w/ Susan. Don’t be surprised if choice is someone else entirely. Someone who’s been under the radar thus far.
Yep. And, in the short term, with stuff getting really hot in Syria (thus, Iran) and Benghazi long from resolved, will not surprise me in the least if SOS Clinton stays on for the foreseeable future.
Jacquelineoboomer didnt realize you posted the same article right above me sorry. Great minds think alike…..? I just fleshed out another angle of whats going on, PBO is gonna nominate Hagel and didnt have the space for both Rice/Hagel Conformations with R’s b/c PBO is about to send the ultimate middle finger to PM Netenyahu for f****ing w/ him during the elections and the Israeli lobby even though Rosy (current head of AIPAC) helped elevate PBO through Chicago politics. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/13/the-hagel-haters.html
Understood, Jacqueline. As I’ve been trying to convey, in carefully limited posts over the past few months, the situation has steadily moved to the moment when Assad is totally cornered. That’s now the case. Moreover, the distribution and types of forces are meant to protect as many people as possible should he select the option to use chemical weapons. Plus, the larger distribution of forces are to deal with Iran, definitively, should they attempt to engage. Yes, it is gravely serious and yet another reason we can be very grateful PBO is President.
Bobfr looks like were thinking the same thing re chemical weapons, people also forget this monster “training” exercise that was done right before the election that was overshadowed.
also re: someone under the radar for SOS only other possible person (which will never happen for obvious reasons) especially if Hagel is DOD would be Hunstman who was Amb to Indonesia,China, and trade rep in Raegan/Bush 41/Obama admins
I’ve thought of several individuals, other than Ambassador Rice, whom PBO might consider (Huntsman is not even in the top 20, btw ). I’ve never mentioned any because I don’t play that game out of respect for him.
As I noted earlier today, we have ZERO evidence that Ambassador Rice was his #1 choice. Just because she visited with some Senators is hardly ample reason to think she was.
But, what is clear is that she was the victim of a vile racist attack and that is indeed now fact. That we will never forget and it’s unlikely PBO will, either.
What is also clear is that the bashing of Senator Kerry, SOS Clinton and others that has happened, even at TOD, is ugly and unjustified by any objective measure. Some comments made me wonder if it was time to dash to the kitchen and grab the tin foil roll.
I agree with you sentiment wholeheartedly also re: “That we will never forget and it’s unlikely PBO will, either” my honest first thought when news broke earlier this afternoon was PBO is gonna punish R’s over this first w/ the budget sequester. WAPO reports that Rice contacted PBO aides Wed night before she called today. He did 4 local TV hits today and then met w/ Boehner at 5 and I dont want to even began to imagine how pissed he would have been after sleeping on the news for 24 hrs.
Your insight and measured words are satisfying to hear. Calm and reason are called for at this time, not baseless accusations and uninformed speculation.
Thanks for the sanity, Bob. It’s time for all of us to calm down and trust that the president will do the right thing. Vile racism seems to be SOP for the current crop of Republicans in both houses of Congress. It’s what will doom them in the end. The country has evolved. They have not. And we will not forget.
Bob – How thoughtful of you to go the extra mile and spell that out for me … to “repay” you for this thoughtfulness, in advance, earlier tonight I used #TrustBarack in one of my replies here, because – like ol’ inspirational you – I certainly and definitely trust President Obama.
You are such a generous and kind spirit, Jacqueline. Treasure getting to know you here and have the opportunity to work together to support our President!
Bless you Mrs. Susan Rice, you will be just fine. Where one door is close, God will open another one bigger and better. McCain, Graham, Ayotte will get their payback one way or another. Some call it karma.
Nothing won’t be done to those weasels McCain, Graham, Ayotte or Collins, or any other. You have Democratic Senators who know the harmful way the Republicans have used the filibusters and they don’t want to support a change. So don’t look for anything to be done to those lousy weasels.
So now the Republicans in Michigan have passed very restrictive anti-abortion legislation, an emergency manager bill that was overturned in the Nov.6 election, and a bill that makes it all but impossible to recall them. When they passed the RTW legislation, they voted on it hours after it was introduced. No one had time to read it and Snyder signed it right away. No public hearings, no debate. They had staffers sit in the empty seats in the chamber so people couldn’t even come in to hear it. When thousands went to Lansing to protest, Dick DeVoss rented the Capitol steps so protesters couldn’t speak there. One Republican who voted for the RTW law tried to argue that the paramedics union, the one her husband belongs to, should be exempt. (She wasn’t successful). I’m not going to go full-Godwin out loud, but in my heart that’s what I’m thinking. I feel as though I’m living through a coup. We’ve won the national election and I sure am glad about that, but it means nothing here. I am going to make myself believe that this is a last dying gasp of a party that will be shut out of power for many years. But the damage they do in the meantime is enormous.
This is a lesson that all thinking people in this country need to learn. There are many levels of government in this country and three branches of the Federal government – and that’s all by design. It distributes power. Many people think that the saying that the US President is the most powerful man/person in the world is actually true – and it just isn’t. It’s by design that his power is limited. Otherwise, he’d be a dictator or a king. So, I’m not sure why people only focus on, and vote in, presidential election years.
The GOP figured this out several decades ago, and they started embedding their right wing ideologists into all levels of government – federal, local, state. They got their idiot judges into judicial positions all over the place – case in point, the idiot who said women who don’t fight back weren’t really raped and that their bodies should be able to shut down a rape. They took over the governing bodies who set up the text book curriculum in this country. They took over the radio stations and created TV news outlets, so they could control the messaging. And they did this slowly, over decades. They go after the Presidency every four years, but they also have think tanks, lobbyists, media messaging to influence the way people think in the mid-terms and local elections, too. They’re on the school boards – which is where Sarah Palin made her start. They’re everywhere. And they operate under the radar, because everyone else is only looking at the top seat of the Presidency, thinking that all the power resides there. There’s a reason why the middle class is suffering, and corporations have the loopholes they have, and the infrastructure spending hasn’t happened in 50 years, and the ranks of the poor are widening. It’s because the people making those things happen aren’t after the Presidency. Remember, Grover Norquist said that they just need a president with working digits to sign the legislation they come up with. They really believe that.
Eugene Robinson- ummm ah yeah and ah umm yeah that’s right and I think that while umm ahh umm the president could have nominated Susan Rice and ahh umm ahh he would have had a Posse around Her so ahh ummm yeah why didn’t he and ummm ah the President should have ummm ahh ahh.
Why in the World does he get on MSNBC so much?
His articles are terrific, his Punditry not so much.
President Obama said in an interview with ABC News that the federal government has better things to do than prosecute marijuana users in the two states where it has been legalized by November ballot initiatives.
“We’ve got bigger fish to fry,” Obama told ABC’s Barbara Walters in an interview set to air Friday. “It would not make sense for us to see a top priority as going after recreational users in states that have determined that it’s legal.”
Colorado and Washington State both voted to legalization pot for recreational use in November — putting their state laws at odds with the federal government’s narcotics law and stated desire to stomp out drug trafficking and usage.
Obama White House.gov
The Obama Diary 
ignoring homework pays off?
Congrats maryl1 on #1 🙂
Congrats on first, Mary! Best not to make this a habit, if you’re ignoring the homework… 😉
Who’s the pretty lady beside the president?
FLOTUS.
Homework?? Where were your dogs, Maryl1???
I’m supposed to be grading papers and getting ready for tomorrow 😉 Cruising TOD instead!
He probably meant, why haven’t your dogs ‘eaten’ your homework? I wonder if that one would work for marking as effectively as it does for the actual homework completion?
Heehee good one. I finally got it ( thanks vcprez)
Why is that horrible woman now president? Ugh. 🙄
OMG, I sent a tweet to Guillermo Diaz (Huck) and he tweeted back. {{{{SIGH}}}}
That’s great! It took me a minute to figure out who Huckster was. Why did they do you know what to the president?
Things are getting complicated. In a good way!!
You really need to catch up.
Aha! Now I get it – you’re watching Scandal! First dogs then horrible women presidents – I thought I was losing my mind! I watched four episodes in a row the other night. I just have one more left to go.
congrats maryl1 and thanks Chipsticks for new post my browser was starting to yell at me out loud and threatened to go all “bath salts” on me!
Nice to see you again on the top, Maryl. 😆
Hi y’all, what are you doing to twitter. It is unbelievably slow tonight.
Pleas no scandal spoilers for those of us on the west coast!
When did the old guy become friends with Olivia
Why is Huck doing it with some ugly weird chick?
You really need to catch up.
Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel
He made you out of clay
Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel
With dreidel I will play
SECOND VERSE SAME AS THE FIRST!
Happy Hanukkah everyone!
Way OT: It is the Christmas season, so please tell me “Why can’t I find Angel ornaments?” Searched high & low last year after Christmas and have continued the search this season. None to be found… Looks like I’m going to have to get busy making some — I need 100 for my family Christmas party.
Alycee…have you tried church bookstores? Many Catholic and Episcopal churches have book/giftshops and they might be a source for angel ornaments. Or…..if there is a catalog or online source you might try that. I thought of churches, because I just hung up the little angel I bought at a church giftshop in Rome. I wouldn’t be surprised but that you could find such source online somewhere.
PLEASE: No Scandal Spoilers. Pretty please?
Especially for those of us who plan to become hermits during their Xmas staycations and catch up on TV.
And definitely step off twitter. The cast comes on and tells us westerners to beat it and then tweets like crazy.
Deleted at Tien Le’s request
Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t have posted that.
Who is Al referring to? Kerry?
Not fair Tien!!! You have to tell us everything now!!!
Wha????? Is he talking about the new SoS?!
I shouldn’t have posted it, so I’ll shut up now.
Tien Le have no fear. Al Gordiano has been advocating for Kerry to be SOS since 2008. So we know that he’s referring to Kerry. So I guess Kerry has told him privately that he is PBO’s choice.
Even still, I should have read it more carefully and not posted it. But thanks, Hopefruit. I don’t think Al is revealing anything private in that post.
Chips, can you delete this, please?
What does he mean by, “there needs to be a new direction at Foggy Bottom”? Does Al think that Kerry will be better at State than Hillary was? 🙄 spare me. It would be more of the same. Hillary and Kerry are legacy. There is nothing new or dynamic about either. They are inheritors. They inherit their positions. They are traditional and cookie cutter. Al should go take a chill pill and sit on his thumbs.
No worries Tien Le, deleted it for you.
THANK YOU!!!!!!
So, for the first time I put one of my roasts in a roasting bag.
OH.MY.GOD!
I’ve never had such a juicy pork roast. Delish.
LL it’s time for you to open your new Chef business right here on TOD! I’ll happily attend one of your cooking classes. 🙂 🙂
I love cooking. I owe that to my mother. Yes, she cooked because someone had to, but she was/is good at it, and it was an expression of love.
Son in law did our Thanksgiving turkey in a bag and it was the most juiciest, most delish ever.
I’ve always wondered about those bags – can’t imagine how they work and don’t melt…
I’ll take that “executive summary,” any day!
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/12/13/15891434-chicago-welcomes-home-our-veterans?lite A welcome home
‘ After a contentious closed-door vote, the Senate intelligence committee approved a long-awaited report Thursday concluding that harsh interrogation measures used by the CIA did not produce significant intelligence breakthroughs, officials said.
~
The report is the most detailed independent examination to date of the agency’s efforts to “break” dozens of detainees through physical and psychological duress, a period of CIA history that has become a source of renewed controversy because of torture scenes in a forthcoming Hollywood film, “Zero Dark Thirty.”
Officials familiar with the report said it makes a detailed case that subjecting prisoners to “enhanced” interrogation techniques did not help the CIA find Osama bin Laden and often were counterproductive in the broader campaign against al-Qaeda.’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/report-finds-harsh-cia-interrogations-ineffective/2012/12/13/a9da510a-455b-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_story.html
Wouldn’t it be something if John Kerry were to get State and turn out to be an awesome SOS and work really well with PBO and make the GOP look like a bunch of SOBs?
After sidelining the super smart black woman, maybe!!!
I don’t think Kerry sidelined anything. I believe that PBO, Kerry and Rice know what they are doing and are on board with all the decisions. Obviously Rice is meeting with PBO at 3:30PM tomorrow for a reason. It’s not to play a game of cards over some beer.
Listen, his silence while Susan Rice was attacked by his pal McCain was stunning!!!
Even if he is now the choice to be SoS, I still won’t forgive the silence as Susan Rice was wrongly pummelled by people he could have asked to stop and worse still, while they actively advocated on his behalf for the job!!!
Sometimes it just pays to do the honorable thing and speak up!!! A memo released after the fact does little to assuage the bad blood many people I know now have for John Kerry!!!
Tell the many people you know to get over it.!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why is everyone jumping all over John Kerry, there was alot of Democratic Senators who didn’t have anything to say. I can’t think of to many that stood up for Amb. Rice. Even Hillary were mighty silent.
I won’t be doing that!!!
They have every right as do I to feel exactly how we feel about Kerry!!!
He was the one being bandied around as the more “superior” candidate to Susan Rice’s “not bright”!!!
He should have spoken up on her behalf especially since he deemed her smart enough to be his foreign policy adviser when he ran for president in 2004!!!
This is not some random chick as far as Kerry is concerned!!! This is a woman he knew well and knew could do the job too!!!
But his own blind ambition trumped his humanity and decency in this instant!!! Not a good or honorable moment for John Kerry!!!
In this instance!!!
And if you’ve read any of my posts today, you’ll find that Hillary’s lack of support for Dr. Rice has been more than addressed!!!
Hillary Clinton gets zero respect from me!!!
uh, where’s the THUMBS UP button for eleroy? YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! ..TOTAL AGREEMENT.
Maybe I need to check over things because all I have seen is the attack on John Kerry. There went weeks when no one heard a word from Hillary when McCain and Graham were running their mouth. What’s is so good about this blog is we can disagree to disagree.
“He was the one being bandied around as the more “superior” candidate to Susan Rice’s “not bright”!!!”
And it’s not Kerry’s fault that his name was being “bandied” any more than it’s Susan Rice’s fault that she was called “not bright.” I admire Ambassador Rice and I’m sure she’ll not be out of a (very high level) job any time in the next four years. I think Kerry would do a good job, too. It’s not Kerry’s doing that he’s being discussed as the Great White savior. People are only responsible for what they do, not for what’s said about them. After four years of nonstop slander of the President, I’d think we’d understand that by now.
The only important factor is what the President wants. I trust him to be the best judge of that.
Why are people jumping all over the president saying he did a lot of trash talk but couldn’t back it up!
Susan Rice has small children could she be away from home that much as SOS? Who knows, but I think she and her made this discission together.
You’re spinning amazement like it’s not going to happen. Short of a miracle, good ole Legacy will be SOS and he will work well with the team because that is PBO’s number 1 criteria. Legacy and PBO get on fine. That’s not the reason the Poopers sabotaged Rice. They did it out of pettiness, racism and the desire for Legacy’s senate seat. I like Kerry as much as i like any other democrat but I think he’s more of the same and fresh blood would have been nice– Al G. sounds like a Kerry kool-aid drinker. If he can look at good ole Legacy and his long history of Washington insider-ness and say that Kerry at State will be different and a change from Hillary, then he’s more delusional than I thought. It’s one rich old white person with deeply entrenched political ties, replacing another rich old white person with deeply entrenched political ties.
I wasn’t spinning anything. I was just saying that it would be sweet schadenfreude if Kerry were to surprise and be like a hundred times better than the very low expectations we both have of him. I’m not a Kerry fan by any stretch of the imagination. Think he’s a neocon blowhard, but people surprise sometimes. Hillary was WAY better than I thought she would be.
Kerry’s a neocon??? Wha?? That’s a new one.
My threshold for Neocon is very low. Anyone who isn’t viewing things exactly the way PBO does, is a neocon in my book.
Did Malia and Sasha get to attend this Hanukkah event, I’m wondering?
i hope they didn’t have homework–isn’t tomorrow the last day of school before vacation? the family was scheduled to arrive in hawaii on monday (yipee!!), but i don’t know what the current plan is.
I hope that our beloved President can finish jacking up Boehner so he can leave with his ladies.
That would be nice – given that the President just finished a grueling campaign, dealing with Super Storm Sandy in the middle of it, and running the world for four years. He deserves a break, far more than any fool in Congress.
Now I sure do agree with that theo67.
Stumbling, Bumbling John Boehner
By Booman
—————————-
He doesn’t have the ability to lay out a budget plan as a counteroffer to the president because he doesn’t have a clue how the budget works, and neither does his staff. He’s a fraud and a buffoon. He can’t even figure out how to cave in. He’s just paralyzed. We’re going over the cliff because he can’t even come close to pulling his shit together to make an offer that Obama would accept and that would also be acceptable to his caucus.
————————————-
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/12/13/161512/63
Gotta say, LH, Booman nailed.
While I don’t agree that the poster boy would win Kerry’s seat, I also think it’s time to find someone, who is fresh and attuned to the present day geopolitics reality, for SoS. I don’t see Kerry fitting that role.
Thanks. See my responses to Tien Le. He’s the same as Hillary, grateful though I am for her service.
I’m in full agreement with both of you…just want to be surprised when someone over-performs like Hillary did. It was brought to my attention that if Kerry gets the nod then Elizabeth Warren would become the Senior Senator from MA.
Now Petraeus’ expectations of fresh pineapple slices at bedside nightly comes into focus———-the very teeny tiniest tip of the iceberg. The Pentagon operates 234 golf courses??? And much much more. Unbelievable. Trim the defense budget indeed.
Barney Frank had about five minutes on this subject on Ed’s show tonight. It was well reasoned and sensible. He said there is no reason we need to keep defending Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, etc. from the Soviet Union. He thinks we should close all, or nearly all of our bases in Europe. There is no practical reason for them now. If you read the Salon article, I’d say the main reason for those bases is for officers’ travel spots. I know we have closed a fair number in Germany. The base where my son was stationed from 1988-2000 is closed, that one I know about. I’m curious to know how many bases we still have in Europe, particularly Germany and Italy.
Our bases are not exactly there to “defend” these countries!!!
That was their purpose during the Cold War. Barney Frank is questioning what their purpose is now. He is right to question their purpose now. Right now I think their main purpose is to stimulate local economies.
We were so scared of East Germany, if you remember. They seemed invincible…..their athletes were big winners in the Olympics, they had this supposedly highly trained army. After the wall came down, we found out they were basically a paper tiger. Their technology was pathetic, and their money went to training Olympic athletes. The Pentagon is still operating as if the Cold war were going on. Barney Frank…..and from what I read, Chuck Hagel….know this has to change. Frank believes many of our fiscal problems could be relieved by closing European bases, and generally deflating the defense budget. The Republican senators hate to hear any talk of lowering the defense budget, but that is where BIG savings could come. Some of that money perhaps should go to security at various embassies!!!
I think it’s time we re-imagined the military and warfare all together. The technology and new landscape make for new possibilities.
YES!!!
All while most of the young parents they send to war are paid so poorly they qualify for food stamps and WIC. It’s a disgrace!
That I agree with, 100 percent.
There are a lot of things on base for the military who live there, including housing, food establishments, fitness centers, clubs, chapels, day care centers, schooling, exchanges, golf courses, even some public/private junque food partnerships like McDonalds and the like. There are perks to being a flag or general officer, including having staffs. Ceremonies requiring marching bands (since the earliest days of our republic) are an important part of military culture (pomp and circumstance) and a way to participate in civilian activities, so there is goodwill for the military among the American people and to inspire patriotism. A lot of times, free concerts are given in communities, which are very much appreciated by those communities – I’m sure many of us have been to some. Military band members, often recruited for their talent, go on to musical careers in civilian life (I know a few). Military chefs are trained by the military, and when they leave the military, they have marketable skills. I’m not saying the budgets can’t be trimmed, but being in the military is a lifestyle – the bases are often their homes and they’re a lot safer staying put. Another reason to have lots of stuff available on base is because our taxpayer dollars train, maintain, and pay the military, and there is need to “protect” those investments. Plus, there are always nice high fences and gates and guards, so none of the younger military in boot camp can hop over them and go into town to hoist a few. (Can you tell I used to be a Navy public affairs officer? Ha!)
If the golf courses are for the use of the soldiers and their families, then I have no problem with that.
Why pineapple slices? Was he using them for…ah, never mind. I have a dirty mind but seriously what if no pineapple was available? Would he send a military convoy to Hawaii to get some? As for the golf courses, sell them, use that money to shore up Medicare and Social Security and provide health care to people that need it. Personal chefs, marching bands have to go too. Waste of money.
And what is Guiliani military service and 9/11 don’t count? Which war did Guiliani serve in?
Something non-political – it’s meteor showers tonight and the skies over the DC area are clear and bright. I lay outside for about 30 minutes, as bundled up as I could be and lying on a summer lounge chair. I saw at least 6 good falling stars and a few I wasn’t sure of, they happened so quickly. Go out within the next 2 hours or so, the weather people say, and there should be more of the same. I just love falling stars.
It’s meteor showers tonight;
And the skies over DC are clear n bright;
Catch a falling star and put in your pocket, never let it fade away;
Catch a falling star and put in your pocket, save it for a rainy day.
have yourself a movie little christmas! 🙂
But for its penultimate paragraph, because I cannot stand it when lesser beings “tell” President Obama how to actually be President, this sounds like a reasonable piece on why Chuck Hagel should be nominated as Secretary of Defense:
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/12/13/top_five_reasons_obama_should_pick_chuck_hagel_for_secdef
PBO will make the best choice 4 SoS. Don’t have unnecessary angst. IMHO, I have no idea! Just a guess that Kerry got bruised right along w/ Susan. Don’t be surprised if choice is someone else entirely. Someone who’s been under the radar thus far.
I keep thinking that … but I can’t come up with a name! Which is why nobody at the White House is calling me!
Yep. And, in the short term, with stuff getting really hot in Syria (thus, Iran) and Benghazi long from resolved, will not surprise me in the least if SOS Clinton stays on for the foreseeable future.
Jacquelineoboomer didnt realize you posted the same article right above me sorry. Great minds think alike…..? I just fleshed out another angle of whats going on, PBO is gonna nominate Hagel and didnt have the space for both Rice/Hagel Conformations with R’s b/c PBO is about to send the ultimate middle finger to PM Netenyahu for f****ing w/ him during the elections and the Israeli lobby even though Rosy (current head of AIPAC) helped elevate PBO through Chicago politics. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/13/the-hagel-haters.html
YIKES.
The number of service personnel sounds light. Still prayin’.
Helping to defend Turkey against rocket attacks from Syria.
Scary.
And, to intercept missiles aimed at his own people that are deemed high probability armed with chemical warheads.
Support group for the Patriots, Jacqueline.
#FORWARD
there already in Jordan too http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/10/ap-panetta-says-us-forces-sent-to-jordan-101012/
Eek.
Also this is video of US training they claim is for anti-terror raids but its really to secure Chemical weapons http://security.blogs.cnn.com/category/middle-east/jordan/eager-lion-2012/
Thank you.
Yes, I thought that, but didn’t have enough knowledge to process it. And it also hit me how serious it all is!
Understood, Jacqueline. As I’ve been trying to convey, in carefully limited posts over the past few months, the situation has steadily moved to the moment when Assad is totally cornered. That’s now the case. Moreover, the distribution and types of forces are meant to protect as many people as possible should he select the option to use chemical weapons. Plus, the larger distribution of forces are to deal with Iran, definitively, should they attempt to engage. Yes, it is gravely serious and yet another reason we can be very grateful PBO is President.
#TrustBarack
Bobfr looks like were thinking the same thing re chemical weapons, people also forget this monster “training” exercise that was done right before the election that was overshadowed.
All the folk who matter certainly didn’t overlook it 🙂
also re: someone under the radar for SOS only other possible person (which will never happen for obvious reasons) especially if Hagel is DOD would be Hunstman who was Amb to Indonesia,China, and trade rep in Raegan/Bush 41/Obama admins
I’ve thought of several individuals, other than Ambassador Rice, whom PBO might consider (Huntsman is not even in the top 20, btw ). I’ve never mentioned any because I don’t play that game out of respect for him.
As I noted earlier today, we have ZERO evidence that Ambassador Rice was his #1 choice. Just because she visited with some Senators is hardly ample reason to think she was.
But, what is clear is that she was the victim of a vile racist attack and that is indeed now fact. That we will never forget and it’s unlikely PBO will, either.
What is also clear is that the bashing of Senator Kerry, SOS Clinton and others that has happened, even at TOD, is ugly and unjustified by any objective measure. Some comments made me wonder if it was time to dash to the kitchen and grab the tin foil roll.
#FORWARD
the Hagel knives are already out worse than I thought even 1 hour ago, its amazing how fast AIPAC can mobilize
Please. AIPAC can whine all they want. PBO will DO what HE WANTS. OK?
I agree with you sentiment wholeheartedly also re: “That we will never forget and it’s unlikely PBO will, either” my honest first thought when news broke earlier this afternoon was PBO is gonna punish R’s over this first w/ the budget sequester. WAPO reports that Rice contacted PBO aides Wed night before she called today. He did 4 local TV hits today and then met w/ Boehner at 5 and I dont want to even began to imagine how pissed he would have been after sleeping on the news for 24 hrs.
Yes, Bobfr—–you are exactly right, imho.
Your insight and measured words are satisfying to hear. Calm and reason are called for at this time, not baseless accusations and uninformed speculation.
Thanks for the sanity, Bob. It’s time for all of us to calm down and trust that the president will do the right thing. Vile racism seems to be SOP for the current crop of Republicans in both houses of Congress. It’s what will doom them in the end. The country has evolved. They have not. And we will not forget.
Bob – How thoughtful of you to go the extra mile and spell that out for me … to “repay” you for this thoughtfulness, in advance, earlier tonight I used #TrustBarack in one of my replies here, because – like ol’ inspirational you – I certainly and definitely trust President Obama.
You are such a generous and kind spirit, Jacqueline. Treasure getting to know you here and have the opportunity to work together to support our President!
#TrustBarack IN_DEED!
Thank you, Bob, and right back atcha! Goodnight to you and our fellow TODers!
Rest well, Jacqueline!
I’m going to try to get a bit of sleep as well. Tomorrow another long day 🙂
Breathe, Bob! Good morning, when you get there!
Not sure if this was already posted:
Bless you Mrs. Susan Rice, you will be just fine. Where one door is close, God will open another one bigger and better. McCain, Graham, Ayotte will get their payback one way or another. Some call it karma.
Well said.
Nothing won’t be done to those weasels McCain, Graham, Ayotte or Collins, or any other. You have Democratic Senators who know the harmful way the Republicans have used the filibusters and they don’t want to support a change. So don’t look for anything to be done to those lousy weasels.
So now the Republicans in Michigan have passed very restrictive anti-abortion legislation, an emergency manager bill that was overturned in the Nov.6 election, and a bill that makes it all but impossible to recall them. When they passed the RTW legislation, they voted on it hours after it was introduced. No one had time to read it and Snyder signed it right away. No public hearings, no debate. They had staffers sit in the empty seats in the chamber so people couldn’t even come in to hear it. When thousands went to Lansing to protest, Dick DeVoss rented the Capitol steps so protesters couldn’t speak there. One Republican who voted for the RTW law tried to argue that the paramedics union, the one her husband belongs to, should be exempt. (She wasn’t successful). I’m not going to go full-Godwin out loud, but in my heart that’s what I’m thinking. I feel as though I’m living through a coup. We’ve won the national election and I sure am glad about that, but it means nothing here. I am going to make myself believe that this is a last dying gasp of a party that will be shut out of power for many years. But the damage they do in the meantime is enormous.
Some of these Rich Liberals need to step up and take them to court. The conservatives do it all the time.
This is a lesson that all thinking people in this country need to learn. There are many levels of government in this country and three branches of the Federal government – and that’s all by design. It distributes power. Many people think that the saying that the US President is the most powerful man/person in the world is actually true – and it just isn’t. It’s by design that his power is limited. Otherwise, he’d be a dictator or a king. So, I’m not sure why people only focus on, and vote in, presidential election years.
The GOP figured this out several decades ago, and they started embedding their right wing ideologists into all levels of government – federal, local, state. They got their idiot judges into judicial positions all over the place – case in point, the idiot who said women who don’t fight back weren’t really raped and that their bodies should be able to shut down a rape. They took over the governing bodies who set up the text book curriculum in this country. They took over the radio stations and created TV news outlets, so they could control the messaging. And they did this slowly, over decades. They go after the Presidency every four years, but they also have think tanks, lobbyists, media messaging to influence the way people think in the mid-terms and local elections, too. They’re on the school boards – which is where Sarah Palin made her start. They’re everywhere. And they operate under the radar, because everyone else is only looking at the top seat of the Presidency, thinking that all the power resides there. There’s a reason why the middle class is suffering, and corporations have the loopholes they have, and the infrastructure spending hasn’t happened in 50 years, and the ranks of the poor are widening. It’s because the people making those things happen aren’t after the Presidency. Remember, Grover Norquist said that they just need a president with working digits to sign the legislation they come up with. They really believe that.
Eugene Robinson- ummm ah yeah and ah umm yeah that’s right and I think that while umm ahh umm the president could have nominated Susan Rice and ahh umm ahh he would have had a Posse around Her so ahh ummm yeah why didn’t he and ummm ah the President should have ummm ahh ahh.
Why in the World does he get on MSNBC so much?
His articles are terrific, his Punditry not so much.
Eugene Robinson checks his manhood at the door every time he goes on Morning Joe. I have never seen Eugene stand up to Joe on any issue.
President Obama said in an interview with ABC News that the federal government has better things to do than prosecute marijuana users in the two states where it has been legalized by November ballot initiatives.
“We’ve got bigger fish to fry,” Obama told ABC’s Barbara Walters in an interview set to air Friday. “It would not make sense for us to see a top priority as going after recreational users in states that have determined that it’s legal.”
Colorado and Washington State both voted to legalization pot for recreational use in November — putting their state laws at odds with the federal government’s narcotics law and stated desire to stomp out drug trafficking and usage.
Morning everyone:
http://theobamadiary.com/2012/12/14/rise-and-shine-373/