On This Day: Sen. Barack Obama, D-IL, talks on his cell phone outside of the Senate chamber during a cloture vote on the immigration reform bill on April 6, 2006, on Capitol Hill in Washington
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MoooOOOooorning – Happy Sunday!
06
Apr
14
118 Responses to “Early Bird Chat”
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The Obama Diary 
Hi!
Moooooorning Linda!
Morning Ms. Chips! A signal to buy a lottery ticket – never win anything, so i rarely try. Today i can thank my rebooted computer
🙂 If you send us a postcard from the Cayman Islands, we’ll know you’ve hit the jackpot!
fingers crossed!
GM bt.
Morning Mister!
amk, they were stupid the whole time, and still is racists and stupid.
I want to add…that these folks have had their fears validated by the RW media, the GOP and their allies…where would our country be if there was a concerted effort to combat these racist stereotypes and belief systems along with the institutional structures and policies that keep these notions in place….I know that sometimes it might be hard to see these folks as victims…but when you continually vote against your own interests…you become a slave to those forces that want to enslave all of us….
look at Kentucky…a red state …because they had a DEM Gov…he was able to sign up folks for health care despite their dislike of the PBO…those that have health care know now that what FOX was feeding them was a lie….perhaps this is how we combat the isms…
#TrustBarack
Morning Ms. Chips! Morning everyone! Have a great day.
Eric Boehlert On MSNBC’s Disrupt: Right-Wing Media “Freak Out” Over ACA Enrollment An “Epic Failure”
http://mediamatters.org/video/2014/04/05/eric-boehlert-on-msnbcs-disrupt-right-wing-medi/198765
G’morning Chips & TOD! Congrats Linda on #1 🙂
Moooooorning Hopefruit!
David Gregory, on a tease for MTP on Today, just told me that the Sup.Ct’s horrific campaign finance decisions were all “Obama’s fault”!!! Said that PBO opened the gates for Cit. United and this week’s McCutcheon decisions. So——–PBO is even more powerful than I thought—-controls the minds of the justices on the Sup. Ct.——-and—- I was wondering how they could tie these disastrous decisions to PBO, and now I know. You just have a member of the news media state it as fact, no matter how preposterous.
Pretty soon the only people watching MTP will be those in the control room at the studio.
I sure hope so!
Good Morning Judith.. Amen.HZ
In other words, Dotster, MTP just said, “Suspend all judgment and critical thinking all those who enter here.” They sure know how to cull the crazies and lure them to the show.
How does the bastard David “GOP mouthpiece” Gregory think that the SC decision was Obama fault?
These immigration “groups” featured on MSNBC need to be exposed. They do NOT represent the Latino Community or hold it’s best interests. They are sponsored by GOP funders to go after the PBO/Dems, and diminish Latino support for the Dem party, while letting the GOP off the hook.
Hf, at a guess, I would bet that the number of Latinos watching MSNBC is miniscule, especially since their total viewer ship is low to begin with. Latinos are smart enough to know when they’re being conned. I’ll bet they don’t waste a lot of time with this garbage.
Victoria Soto called PBO a ” Liar ” on Bill Maher a couple of months ago about the You can keep your plan if you like it.
She actually yelled it out on his show.
I’m not familiar with this Victoria Soto person. Is she one of those immigration “advocates?”
She is at the table on Steve Kornacki’s show today.
I think I know who that Soto woman is, she have been on Rev. Al show before.
Hf, this reply from Aleteja shows how much smarter the Irish are and how much freer from corporate control their media is.
Exactly Jackie.
No good news about the ACA, Obamacare. 7M
Of course, we TODers know this is what is going on, but others may still be unaware.
Well…this makes me glad MSNBC’s viewership is tumbling, per information on Politicususa and other places. And, as long as this is their push, their viewership will continue to tumble. They are killing themselves. We used to be faithful viewers. Now we don’t even turn on Rev. Al.
15 things everyone would know if there were a liberal media
By akadjian (August 7, 2013)
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If the media were “liberal,” it would serve the public interest and shine a light on issues like the ones above.
More people would also have a better understanding of global warming, peak oil, population growth, political lobbying, government’s role in a functioning economy, how much we spend on the military, and countless other issues.
What you’re more likely to see in the media, however, are stories designed to get you to buy their paper, or watch their show, or listen to their radio station. If it bleeds, it leads. This is why the media is concerned with scandal, celebrities, gossip, and fear.
.
.
One way to approach the topic is to simply ask: If we have a “liberal media,” where are the liberal stories?
———————————————–
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/07/1229087/-15-things-everyone-would-know-if-there-were-a-liberal-media
“Lacking congressional backing to raise wages or end gender pay disparities”
says it all.
How can you not love this president. He just keeps going on, doing whatever he can in anyway he can to help people. Someone slams a door in his face, he opens a window. The world of government contractors is vast and what they get can set the standard in many communities. This is how you make progress–one incremental step at a time until the change is so pervasive people don’t even recall how it happened.
‘This is how you make progress–one incremental step at a time until the change is so pervasive people don’t even recall how it happened.’
Amen, JackieG (especially in today’s political climate)!
“While it looks, on first glance, logical to collect data on where discrimination is happening, though, pay secrecy may not immediately stick out as the most important issue for enacting fair pay. But the issue is actually a driving factor in women’s inability to earn as much as the men they work with”.
“Despite holding 41 percent of science and engineering degrees, women barely fill over a quarter of tech jobs. There’s up to a 50 percent gap in the number of male and female tech employees, HR&A Advisors, a New York-based economic development consulting firm, wrote in their report. In New York, nearly 80 percent of all developers are men, where women only make up the majority of workers in the medical and clinical lab jobs that pay less.”
“But even as they’ve been working harder on their educations and starting more businesses, black women aren’t seeing higher returns. While women working full-time, on average, make 77 percent of what men make, black women make 64 percent of what white men make. In 2010, single black women’s median wealth, or income and assets minus obligations, was just $100, compared to single white women’s $41,500. Almost half had zero or negative wealth. Even though they participate in the workforce at elevated rates, they are stuck in low paying work — they “are more likely than any group in America to work for poverty-level wages, thereby making them the most likely of all Americans to be among the working poor,” the report notes. They also experience high unemployment rates, with a 9.9 percent rate compared to 5.1 percent for white women.”
Good morning. Every internet/Comcast-connected device in our house started acting up last night and continues today. Connections are so painfully slow, you could compose whole essays waiting for links to come on line. Husband is now on the phone to India, trying to figure out what’s wrong. I may have to shut down quickly if we have to boot up again. Read a report that one of our PA governor candidates–Tom Wolf– is so far ahead in the polls, that it may be statistically impossible for any other candidate to beat him in the primary next month. We’ll see. We are going to be bombarded with ads for the next six weeks and the infighting will be fierce. The one person I do NOT want to win the primary is Allyson Schwartz. People in Phillie may feel differently, but I think she will not do well state-wide. She was also a ‘third-way’ Dem in the US House and I don’t entirely trust her.
Update: Looks as if our problem is modem related, so we will not be able to fix it until Comcast offices open on Monday. (SIGH)
I’m with you on AS – she can’t win the “T,” and it rubbed me the wrong way that all of her initial buzz was “she the 1st woman” ala “Hillary ’08.”
Wolf’s commercials are persuasive, however, there is just something troubling about him; can’t put my finger on it…
I’m acquainted with McCord and feel he’s done a great job in other capacities; needless to say, that’s who I’m supporting.
Me, too, Alycee. McCord is my favorite and I’m voting for him, though I just don’t see how he can break through at this point. Wolf is a little too slick for me, but he would be 10 trillion times better than Corbett, so if he wins the primary, I’ll work hard to get him elected.
I remember multiple threads here in 2012 mocking Chuck Todd’s ” Enthusiasm Gap ” meme. I think Chips made a hilarious video showing all the empty venues showing Romney and also huge crowds for PBO.
The top cable news shows get under 1 million viewers on average. ( O’Reilly is not news ). Even the network shows get under 10 million….
Most voters are to busy for that nonsense…..the pundits are talking to each other , not the American people….
They are in competition with other networks only.
I agree Linda, which is what I tried to tell a few people on Twitter yesterday. Making definitive claims about voter enthusiasm 7 months out is a bit reckless in my opinion. Most people don’t tune in to politics more than 1-2 months ahead of election day, unless they are junkies.
Linda, this is the absolute truth. The number of people who follow the news is miniscule compared to the total population. Husband read yesterday that the total number of people who actually contribute any $ to a political campaign–even $1– are UNDER 200,000 nationwide. In PA, most people could not tell you who is running for governor on the Dem Ticket –or even that there IS a governor race–and they will not be paying attention until the end of the summer when the bombardment and phone calls become too hard to ignore. In our state, it’s pretty impossible to know who’s enthusiastic because we don’t even know who the candidates are yet. So it it pure bogus BS designed to make Republicans feel better and depress the few Dems who are paying attention.
Right on Linda. Right on!! This is why I don’t care what somebody like Morning Joe says. Nobody’s watching except die hard cable news junkies.
This is *amazing*
7 out of 12 million. Not bad given the intimidations.
great respect for people who vote even when death is staring them in the face
Charles Blow is out of his F-ing mind….
Again, Blow is either extremely naive or disingenuous and as Maggy indicated, possibly trying to get a corporate gig somewhere. EVERY ONE who’s been paying attention to politics these last 5 years, knows that the Tea Party is part and parcel of the GOP, created by the GOP in corporations and media and used by the GOP.
Blow is being disingenuous now. He knows perfectly well that coming on TV and simply bashing PBO (usually with false talking points) is never “healthy.” That’s why the “left” is not going anywhere, because bashing the President creates the exact opposite of engagement – it deflates, demoralizes, and dampens enthusiasm. That’s why the media encourages it so much!
I’m sorry but you are a dam fool if you admire anything the racists ass Tea Party does. I guess Blow is saying the left should be prepared to shut down the government, nearly destroy the credit rating for this country, and let people suffer if they don’t get everything they want. There is nothing to admire about the Tea Party Republicans.
I know PBO says he has run his last race.
But on this I respectfully disagree – he has at least 1 more race to run => this mid-term election;
I believe that if PBO continues leading the charge, voters this November can once again surprise the world by defeating the beltway wisdom;
yes, there is gerrymandering, voter suppression, campaign finance reform destruction by SCOTUS, gop-biased media, ALEC, Koch etc and these are all huge obstacles;
but the history of this nation has also proved that when voters understand the stakes, get the evidence that the system is becoming intolerably unfair, then they get angry;
a result of this anger is that a significant proportion of voters will then rise up and do all they can to correct this injustice;
we know from experience that the more regular people listen directly to PBO (without the media black out or distortions), the more they focus on the issue he is pushing;
I think that in the next few weeks and at least to the end of may, PBO would make a real difference if he got on Bus 1 and went directly into the center of red states where people are uninsured, poor or working-poor and ask them to help him get into the fight for their health care (Expanded Medicaid) and their income (minimum wage hike).
working with young people, I know that they often want to hear a direct request from someone they respect and trust – they respond to being specifically asked to help make a change they agree with;
I think PBO could make GOP start panicking to defend “their turf” if he can mobilize the youth, the poor and Dems in the Red States to make a a historical difference for their people;
for good measure he could tug at the sense of fairness of independents and some religious leaders in these states if he use the MLK quote to call out damage done by ” ……..the silence of our friends (in this case the friends of the poor and working poor) “;
PBO may consider repeatedly asking those who profess to believe in socio-economic justice this question: “if you can’t fight for the poor, then who are you fighting for” ;
as for most elected Dems, most only join the fight when they see support building for an issue – otherwise they just cower in their corners;
so for now PBO is the one I look to put a spine in the Dems;
in summary, it may take PBO to start directly attacking the gop’s hold on Dixie;
Hello Robert Gibbs, Speaker Pelosi have spoken, so you can shut your freaking mouth.
“No. I don’t know why we’re focusing on that. One person says one thing,” Pelosi added when Crowley pressed her again about whether the business mandate would say.
Pelosi also suggested that Gibb’s comments stemmed not from his knowledge of the law, but his current interests now that he has left the White House.
“I don’t know who his clients are or what his perspective is,” she said when first asked about his prediction. “But we are celebrating the fact that we have over seven million who have signed up.”
—
Candy Crowley is a GOP water carrier……..she keeps the buckets under her desk.
Gibbs left the WH over 3 years ago……he is NOT relevant at all.
Maybe Gibbs want to be relevant, that is why he gets on tv now and speak negative about the Obama administration.
Nancy isn’t suffering this fool!! LOVE the way she puts these guys in their place. Nancy Smash!
Gibbs is doing as good a job outside the WH as he was while he was in.
What a dumbass. This was supposed to be a week of celebration for hitting the mark. Instead this big mouthed ass makes an uninformed remark and what did it do? Gave the press a much needed NEW distracting focus to tie on the Dems.
Thanks, Gibbs!
Actually Gibbs did do a pretty good job while he was in the White House. Now? Not so much.
I thought he was awful as press secretary.
Not really.
I AGREE 1000%. Never liked him as Press Secretary. That was one choice right out of the gate that I never understood. I felt he was weak or as the old saying goes “wishy washy”.
I felt the exact same way as you. His responses came off as timid, hesitant, he seemed to stutter a lot and sounded unclear. Awful.
Carney is a thousand times better.
What we all likely know—but long term study proves those first few months of an infant’s life, the parental bonding or lack thereof, is a big indicator of future temperament and behavior….
W’happened? Did corporate media threaten the Black pundits with losing their jobs if they didn’t appear to to criticize PBO/DEMS or something? Something is amiss these past several weeks…. Or did Charles Blow get with Roland Martin and decided that Barack Obama is getting too much love from the people, while the two of them are left high and dry….
Thank you hopefruit2.
Melissa Harris Perry is one of the critics….she makes me sick..
She is extremely invested in her MSNBC gig (nicknamed her newborn after her show) and keeping that gig appears to trump just about everything else- even her integrity.
y
Well at least Messina is not buying into the MSM’s bullshit about Dems losing the Senate. Glad to see that.
Axelrod now works in an academic department where he invites all the creeps from the right for lectures and panels. He’s in a completely different world now and it shows.
Messina is still in the election biz. I’m disgusted that he’s sold out to HRC but he still does want to win elections rather than theorize.
You’re right about Axelrod. He’s not bitter like Gibbs, but I do think his agenda/priorities have now shifted. For example, he tweeted a very demoralizing comment about “democracy being dead” which cannot in anyway be spun as a “strategy” to get Dems motivated.
I think Messina had a talk with PBO a few weeks ago, and may have had to tone down the HRC rhetoric some.
Hmmmmm. Interesting thought.
;
;
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Speaking about demoralizing. That article all but puts a gravestone on the entire Obama presidency! “too late to reboot…..yada, yada, yada.” I don’t agree with the polling for one thing, and I disagree with this article. WHY do we get a constant stream of these articles????
No president in my life time has worked harder for the country, yet he gets little or no credit. Reagan started the destruction of the middle class, and he is a god…..We indeed are in Lewis Carroll’s looking glass world!
we knew that once PBO is flying high with successful Obamacare and robust job growth, let alone foreign policy, the media will be revving up with articles that undermine him and Dems and help gop;
just put it out here so that people can call the authors out about this nonsense;
media is determined to push a certain meme and we have to try and call them out of their lies and lack of understanding about what PBO is doing
Yep, it’s quite incredible to watch. You have the best president in generations. The most honest, hard-working, unselfish man to occupy the Oval in ages. A man who is so evidently preoccupied by the well being of all americans. And a man who is LOVED all around the world, whose intellect and vision impresses world leaders.
And in the USA, the media and the political class criticize and whine and concern troll him 24/7 !!!!!
I admit, I had NEVER realized, before the Obama presidency, how shallow, how self-serving, how corrupted the media and the political class were. I mean, I knew there were some problems, I just didn’t know how BAD it was.
It’s all about trading favors, flattering egos, creating drama, making people fearful of retaliation. Since President Obama has refused to play games, they’re not interested.
why do people forget that even when the economy was falling apart in 2008, at least 48% (millions) of Americans still voted for that bitter Mccain?
it would ne interesting to see if those who claim to dislike PBO now EVER really liked him or were just hiding their private thoughts and following the bandwagon of siding with the winner;
most important to me is the percentage of Americans that have stuck with PBO no matter what – 42 to 47% is a huge number during troubled economic time and amidst heightened hatemongering and race-baiting
Good morning everyone:) We could all learn a thing or two from Hawaii about healthcare. They’ve been doing this and getting it right for a while now!
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-healthcare-coverage-20140406-dto,0,7780529.htmlstory#axzz2y7R88Vil
Forty years ago, the state became the first to require employers to provide health benefits.
Hawaiians live longer than their counterparts on the mainland. They die less frequently from common diseases, such as breast and colon cancers, even though these cancers occur more often here than in most other states. They also pay less for their care; the state’s healthcare costs are among the lowest in the country.
Hawaii’s success owes much to the state’s trailblazing health system and its long history of near-universal health insurance.
Forty years ago, the state became the first to require employers to provide health benefits, codifying a tradition that grew out of Hawaii’s agrarian past, when sugar and pineapple plantations employed doctors to care for their workers.
That system has led to some of the highest rates of coverage and best access to medical care in the country.
This is how it SHOULD be!
CHIPS!!! Can you please highlight this story??? It is a wonderful example of what PBO’s vision for healthcare is vs the Red state no insurance you’re on your own…the difference in quality of life is stunning. The people in Hawaii live, on average, 14 years longer than their mainland counterparts because they are covered with good insurance!
Please give this a more prominent place 🙂
LOLGOP @LOLGOP 2m
Guys, the people who didn’t stop the biggest terrorist attack ever, invaded the wrong country and approved torture
need answers on Benghazi.
So Obama is unpopular, while the ACA is becoming popular, that’s what the Atlantic is saying.
More crap from the I hate Obama media.
Happy Sunday TODers!
Hmmmmm. Anyone know this??
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/04/06/republicans-quietly-important-fix-obamacare-democrats-wanted.html
At the prodding of business organizations, House Republicans quietly secured a recent change in President Barack Obama’s health law to expand coverage choices, a striking, one-of-a-kind departure from dozens of high-decibel attempts to repeal or dismember it.
Democrats describe the change involving small-business coverage options as a straightforward improvement of the type they are eager to make, and Obama signed it into law. Republicans are loath to agree, given the strong sentiment among the rank and file that the only fix the law deserves is a burial.
….
No member of the House GOP leadership has publicly hailed the fix, which was tucked, at Republicans’ request, into legislation preventing a cut in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients.
May God bless our Consoler in Chief! POTUS to Fort Hood on Wed. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20140406/us–fort-hood-obama/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage
I really, really like this young lady. She is such a breath of fresh air.
you know the beltway media will never let PBO have breathing room to celebrate his achievements before they attack him and help the gop;
yes, that article from the Atlantic needs some serious push-back – that is why I pasted that tweet ;
in any case popularity of any POTUS is not static, it changes as many things change and the polls today do not necessarily hold tomorrow
sunday shows often set the table for the week’s controversies so expect more undermining of PBO’s Obamacare success
The Atlantic’s article is seriously flawed in that it presumes that the political approval polls of today are measuring the same thing as polls of the 1980s and 1990s. Unlike polls of yesterday, the presidential polls today gyrate with with the 24 hr MSM news’ cycle and are as reliable as the whims of the agenda-driven pollsters/corporate media who administer/interpret them and the skewed/misinformed samples that respond to them. What the pollsters (and MSM) didn’t bargain for is that the toxic polling environment that they created cannot exist in a vacuum for just PBO and will inevitably spill over to anyone currently in the role of governing. Thus the most reliable indicator of the President’s standing is not the absolute value of his approval poll numbers, but the gap between his approvals and that of congress’. When you factor in the widespread monied efforts to bring him down, PBO remains on solid footing – even more so than his last 6 predecessors.
Yes, that’s what the AP-GFK poll yesterday being spread around by the likes of Axelrod and others were about. It was a ploy to boost GOP flagging morale and demoralize Dems. Interesting that some couldn’t see it for what it was. But many of us did, fortunately.
Someone needs to remind Alexrod that AP/Gfk polling came in LAST in accuracy in 2012 our of 28 polls.
Yes, and someone needs to remind Axelrod that WE are aware of it.
MUST READ AND PASS.
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2014/04/president-obama-and-hispanic-caucus.html
Thanks DF. She’s always insightful. 🙂
Arrived! And before the noon bell too! 🙂
Good Morning, folks! (O, and Good Night, Amk!) 😉
I turned on my TV and stumbled upon Face the Nation? Did anyone else see it? Dan Pfiffer was on and also Tom Friedman. So far, not a GOP show.
Hi Family!
Looks like I missed a fun Night Owl Chat last night. Thanks for LL! I enjoyed the poem too.
Hope everyone doing well this morning/afternoon!
Hello out there, Jovie! You just crossed my mind – hope you, and your mom, are okay.
Rise and Shine.
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/04/06/rise-and-shine-791/
http://prks.org/1sixub4 For the new Easter egg collection, starring a collectible egg with Bo & Sunny! I wish I wasn’t poor, it would be great to add to my collection starring Bo only!! Oh well….
Woooweee, that hunk a Rise & Shine, NW! Thank you!