Mitch McConnell said today on Face the Nation that President Obama thinks the Democrats lost in the midterms because he undersold his achievements, but in reality Americans just didn’t like what he was selling. I thought that was just GOP bombast until I got to the "Week in Review" section of the Times. Look at these charts. The Dems lost ground in virtually every single demographic this election, including African-Americans. This was a bigger massacre than I realized. Naturally, the Democratic response will be to re-elect Nancy Pelosi Minority Leader, which should really turn things around because we know how popular she is all across the country.
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I never imagined I’d be defending Keith Olbermann over anything, but this flap over his political donations is ridiculous. First of all, don’t his rights as an American citizen to participate in democracy trump the rules of a corporation, or the arbitrary and unwritten rules of “journalistic impartiality?” And secondly, aren’t his highly-opinionated, one-sided, on-air musings a more powerful expression of his partisanship than his $7000 contributions to a few local races? I say yes to both.
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It’s interesting how little complaining there has been from either Republicans or Tea Baggers over the Feds decision to print an extra $600 billion in cash the day after the elections. This money takes the form of new T-Bills and is a net addition to the deficit. Maybe since it can’t be pinned on Obama it isn’t worth the effort?
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I’ve never been a Notre Dame fan and won’t be one in the future, but the institution earned a lot of respect from me when it stepped up and took full responsibility for the death of a student who was killed last week when the 50’ platform from which he was taping football practice blew over in a 50 mph wind – legal liability be damned. It doesn’t happen often in this modern American “it’s somebody else’s fault” society.
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Browns 34 - Patriots 14. Nuf said.
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16 comments:
Dems were sliced and diced -- and yet they still don't get it. Obama believes he didn't communicate his message clearly enough. Pelosi plans to run for minority leader and the economic elites (Summers and Geithner) still are getting it wrong.
The shift away from the left is evident in the election of Republican governors and legislative majorities in key electoral states.
Olberman's a screaming lunatic but has every right to support his political choices. I even signed the petition for MSNBC to bring him back. O'Reilly needs his pinata boy!
Both the Dems and the GOP were too busy watching their stock portfolios expand and way too grateful to beat up on the Fed. Plus the way Bernanke explained the whole process, he might as well have been speaking Swahili.
I was shocked Notre Dame was willing to take on the responsibility of that young man's death. Go Irish!!
Go Cleveland!!!
It'll be interesting to see if BO can recover fron the ass whipping he took last week. WJF did a pretty good job of it in '94. Can he reassess and move forward? Maybe some upside for the Dems here.
NBC's rules for it's correspondents should be different than MSNBC's. You're right Dennis, Oberman and company are all about bias - that's what MSNBC, just like FOX, is all about.
As to the Fed, no comment. I've never got a grasp on how this fourth branch if you will, can do what it does.
Since you mentioned ND, I must tell all you Hiram boys that I had drinks with Prez Tom Chema (an ND, Harvard Law grad) last week. I'm pleased to say I think HC is in the best hands it's ever been in. Chema is getting it done in a big way. When he got to Hiram six years ago there were 700 students and it was on it's way to the graveyard. Today there are 1150 students, about what there were when we were there, and I think he's building a school that you'd be very proud of. I've never given Hiram much money, but I'm opening up my meager pocketbook for them now. He's a very strategic thinker, with a real entreprenurial attitude. He'll try ten differnt things so he can have a big time winner with one of them. Hiram's on a good road!
Almost every demographic. Dems won among Hispanics and, brace yourself, 18 to 29 year olds. Everybody I know who went to the DC Beckfest was over 70. I think the future may be brighter than the present.
And anybody who thinks the earth has tilted on its axis because of this election should look at recent history. All the same claims were being made 2 years ago - but in the opposite direction. Obama hasn't done anything he didn't talk about in his campaign.
I think our electorate just doesn't know what it wants. And neither party seems capable of defining a vision that people can buy into. Check back in 2 years, then in 4.
I just watched the Prez on 60 Minutes. His plan is still to try to work with the Republicans -- why switch when it's been such a winning strategy.
The similarities to Truman are remarkable, but Truman was a tough guy who wasn't afraid to fight and let the public decide. This guy has no fight in him that I can see.
[@ Kaz -- completely agree about Chema, despite the schools he attended :) ]
Maybe Americans were hearing what they wanted to hear, or just happy they were hearing something 'different' from what had landed them in that dark crevice... The dust was beginning to settle, they looked around and saw a financial disaster, a mess in the Middle East and the faces of those who got them there. This new message sounded good, though they didn't listen long enough or often enough to get the whole spiel. They hastily groped for "anything but Bush!" and sat back with a false sense of relief. When the sun finally began to rise again and shed light on what they ushered in, they did not like what they saw. 'Who is this man and his colleagues who are bent on hurting us? By all means we are an injured nation, but the people we called upon to bring us back to health are ignoring our gangrene, pouring salt in our gashes and amputating healthy limbs! They say it is for our best, but I want a second opinion.'
Perhaps his message became all too clear - "We're the government - we don't care what you want, we know what you need, and you're going to get it, whether you like it or not."
As far as Keith Olbermann is concerned, the rules is the rules. If he wilfully violated the terms of his contract or policies of his employer, he needs to suffer the consequences of his actions. If he was not aware of these policies or terms of his contract, he needs a better lawyer. Whether or not we agree with the rules is moot. If he doesn't like the policy, well, he should have thought about that before accepting the position.
Olbermann has his job back. Ay must have been very persuasive when he argued for his job with MSNBC. I am going to hire Ay to represent me when I am in trouble. The Browns play Pittsburgh in Cleveland on Jan 2. We can only hope the game means something and the Browns can ruin the Steelers season.
Kaz, I too had dinner with Prez Tom Chema last month and was very impressed. He's a lot like Dennis; personable, unassuming but focused, motivated and ideal minded. Wait, did I just say Dennis? Getting Hiram out of the doldrums of the demographics of a small student bodied, liberal arts college out of an urban setting, required him to rethink the source of potential students for admission. He stepped up recruiting in good schools, as Catholic prep schools, which sent its best to colleges and universities at the top of the list. Not all students get into those schools. Many excellent students are up for grabs. He has also instituted an entrepreneurial program in conjunction with other institutions.
Regarding election results. You see voting stats but you cannot prove if the motive it to or away from candidates. Was it not established before the elections that the Republican leadership was less popular than Democrats? Besides, aspects of the health plan which could be very popular have not been instituted. And, the economy could be much worse, or still be in a lag period from the stimulus. These will be difficult times for all leadership.
Kaz and Dennis - It's a bit disturbing to think that our time at Hiram was the high water mark.
It's becoming clear that the 2006 and 2008 elections were aberrations in American electoral politics. Republicans are just simply better at electoral politics than democrats. They aren't better at governance but they are better at getting elected.
Sitting here in Cincinnati, basking in the radiance from John Boehner's tanning bed up in West Chester, it is a sad commentary that with everything that went on last week the highlight was the Browns thumping Grumpy Bill and the Patriots.
Tonight on MNF the T-Ocho Show gets destroyed by the Evil Empire from up the Ohio River and tomorrow Olbermann's back on MSNBC with an apology from management. Oh, and the headline on the front page of the Cincinnati Enquirer this morning-"Obama Open To Compromise"
"Obama Open To Compromise"
The ultimate "Dog bites man" headline.
Ideas from a notion man,is it money we are to ban? A liberal art school out of the can. Olberman still a weasel, ND my as well been an easel,The brownies have a diesel..well done or well said Big D, your sounding more and more like Uncle Walter. and thats the way it was....
...as long as I don't start sounding like Uncle Smut.
Il semble que vous soyez un expert dans ce domaine, vos remarques sont tres interessantes, merci.
- Daniel
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