NJ.com: Clarence Clemons — the Big Man with the big horn — died today of complications from a stroke he suffered last weekend, said a source close to Bruce Springsteen. He was 69 years old.He was the spirit of the E Street Band, and the oaken staff that Bruce Springsteen leaned on. There have been many charismatic figures in the band, but none had the personal gravity of Clarence Clemons, the group’s Bunyanesque saxophonist.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Clarence Clemons Dies at 69
Must Reads
Brian Beutler: Three Most Common Mistakes Made By So-Called Fact Checkers When Assessing GOP’s Medicare Plan
Michelle Goldberg: Bachmann's Unrivaled Extremism
The Rude Pundit: This Is the Way the Weiner Ends: Not With a Bang But a Whimper
Digby: Bachmann's New Narrative
Bob Cesca: Firebagger Panel Disconnected With Reality
Bachmann's Chances
That's what I told a colleague of mine when he came up to me and said this: "You're a level headed liberal like myself. Does Michele Bachmann really have a chance at winning the nomination?"
My friend was concerned about the talking heads and pundits going gaga over Bachmann after her first debate appearance. Let's call it the Sarah Palin Low Bar Syndrome. The problem with mainstream media is that instead of reporting the news and sticking with facts, they need to inject their opinion into everything. And after they witnessed Michele Bachmann's performance at last Monday's CNN New Hampshire debate (and considering some of the questions included, "American Idol or Dancing with The Stars?" or "Deep dish or thin crust?", I use the word "debate" loosely) the MSM gave her high marks because they didn't see her drooling, staring off into another camera or vomiting on herself. This of course, was after some of her more ridiculous comments earlier in the year like the Founding Fathers working tirelessly until they abolished slavery, or thinking Lexington and Concord were in New Hampshire and then trying to laugh it off with an Obama teleprompter joke.
They did the same with Sarah Palin in 2008 after the only Vice Presidential debate in which she stated she wasn't going to answer the questions posed of her, just blurt out any talking points she could remember (this was before the hand prompter) and occasionally wink at the camera. But Palin didn't soil her undies on camera, so she must have won the debate, right?
Now, I'll give Bachmann some credit. The smartest thing Bachmann did in the debate was steal the headlines by announcing her candidacy right then and there. And she's shown she's a little more than cunning. She's not dumb enough to use her Tea Party incendiary rhetoric on a national stage. She's not going to ask people to be armed and dangerous because of cap and trade. She's not going to outwardly ask for an investigation to see which members of Congress are "un-American." It doesn't suit her to let her wingnut freak flag fly when speaking to a larger audience. Doing it with some more isolated crowds will do the trick just fine. Especially when sprinkling in the veiled biblical verse here and there.
But that's the difference between Bachmann and Palin. Michele may say some crazy shit, but she knows when to tone it down to appeal to a larger contingent. Sarah takes a scorched earth approach and usually doubles down on the stupid.
Not to worry, though. There is still another 17 months before the general election, plenty of time for the media microscope to start scrutinizing more carefully below the surface. That's also plenty of time in which I'm sure Bachmann will eventually slip and show the country how loony she actually is. Sure, she might win in Iowa where she's taking advantage of a large evangelical population and where nearly half of primary voters think President Obama was not born in the United States, but she'll most likely fade back after New Hampshire.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Weiner Resigns - UPDATED
It's a shame it had to end this way. But when I happened to catch the local news at 5pm yesterday and witnessed them leading with yet another Weiner picture, I knew the distraction was just too much for anyone to bear and that eventually he'd have to resign.Rep. Anthony Weiner resigned from office Thursday, saying, "Unfortunately, the distraction that I have created" has made it "impossible" to continue his work in Congress.Weiner apologized "for the personal mistakes I have made and for the embarrassment I have caused" to his neighbors, his constituents, and his wife.
And he did just that today. In Anthony Weiner's resignation, he knew that he had no one to blame but himself and that there was just too much of a feeding frenzy for him to be effective at his job.
On a side note, the decorum of the heckler at the conference was atrocious. I hope he gets what he deserves, namely being run over by a truck on the way out of the conference.
UPDATE (8:20pm): Via Bob Cesca: "Sounds like Benji from the Stern show was back — shouting 'pervert' and 'are you seven inches' at Weiner during his statement."
Really? A Howard Stern lackey was heckling Weiner? Is this the same shock jock who has porn stars take off their clothes in his studio to ride orgasm inducing machines on the air? (Link is NSFW) And he's sending fuckwads to belittle Anthony Weiner? Gimme a break.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Andrew Card is Sad...
...because there will be no Democratic debate before President Obama is chosen as the nominee.
And yes, this is the same Andrew Card who was George W. Bush's Chief of Staff during the 2004 election cycle... when Bush was the incumbent and didn't have to debate fellow Republicans before he was chosen as the nominee for his party.
...The stupidity, it burns!
Too Little, Too Late
Sorry, Eric. Too little, too late. You showed your true colors with the "chugging 40s" line weeks ago. Just own up to being an Obama basher because he's black. At least then you'll be an honest racist.“One editorial note. On Friday, we did a story about the President meeting with the President of Gabon. We got a little bit fast and loose with the language, and we know it’s been interpreted as being disrespectful, and for that, I’m sorry. We did go a bit too far.”~Eric Bolling's apology for his "hoods in the hizzouse" commentary last week.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Romney's Bullshit Talking Point
For the last few days, whenever I've caught Mitt Romney on the television machine he's inevitably saying this:
Really, Mitt? More chronic than the Great Depression? Please show me the bread lines.“Barack Obama has failed America. He didn’t create the recession, but he made it worse and longer. And now we have more chronic long-term employment than this country has ever seen before.”
Now any legitimate economist, or normal adult for that matter, will explain to you that Mitt Romney is full of shit.
Moody's economist Mark Zandi says the stimulus helped:
Calvin Woodward and Jim Kuhnhenn of AP also fact checked Romney's recession claims:If government had not reacted as aggressively or as quickly as it did, the financial system would still be unsettled, the economy would still be shrinking, and the cost to U.S. taxpayers would be vastly higher. In sum, the government’s unprecedented response stabilized the financial system and ended the recession......Setting the record straight on the stimulus question is important because it will shape the current debate about how government should manage the still-fragile economic recovery. Last month (July, 2010), partly because of the misconception that the stimulus didn’t work, Congress was barely able to muster enough votes to pass another extension of emergency unemployment benefits. Not doing so would have been a serious error, putting the recovery in jeopardy.
Now call me crazy, but isn't the mainstream media supposed to know these facts? And yet, I didn't hear CNN moderator John King questioning Romney on his debunked talking points in the GOP debate last night. He was too busy playing "Obamneycare Gotcha" with Tim Pawlenty.THE FACTS: The gross domestic product, the prime measure of economic strength, shrank by a severe 6.8 percent annual rate before Obama became president. The declines eased after he took office and economic growth, however modest, resumed. The recession officially ended six months into his presidency. Unemployment, however, has worsened under Obama, going from 7.8 percent in January 2009 to 9.1 percent last month. It hit 10.1 percent in October 2009.A case can be made for and against the idea that Obama's policies made the economy worse than it needed to be and that the recession lasted longer than it might have under another president. Such arguments are at the core of political debate. But Obama did not, as Romney alleged, make the economy worse than it was when he took office.
Thanks For Playing, T-Paw
He plays Mr. Tough Guy when on Sunday when criticizing the Affordable Care Act by calling it "Obamneycare" in a two-for-one jibe at President Obama and one of his primary opponents, Mitt Romney, but when Tim Pawlenty is face to face with his GOP rival the very next day, he passes on any Obamneycare rhetoric and slinks away with his tail between his legs.
No guts, no glory. Thanks for playing T-Paw. NEXT!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Looks Like En Masse Defections Are Trending
First it was Newt Gingrich's entire campaign staff who up and quit after what they saw as Newt's money making con game and decided they couldn't support an unserious candidate. They had better things to do than sit around while Newt and Callista took a vacation to the Greek islands just a couple of weeks after announcing a presidential nomination bid.
And now it would seem that Florida Governor Rick "29% Approval Rating and Diving" Scott is losing support of Florida police officers... all of them:
Let's hope others state and country law enforcement public workers follow suit.Next month the Broward County Police Benevolent Association is holding a "Party to Leave the Party" -- an event coordinated with the Supervisor of Elections where police officers and the general public can switch their voter registrations from Republican to Democratic or Independent.The reason for the switch? The association, which serves as the bargaining union for the county's law enforcement officers, is unhappy with the leadership of Governor Rick Scott and the results of the past legislative session, including changes to the Florida Retirement System that will require the workers to pay more of their own wages into retirement savings...."[Governor Scott's] union dues deduction bill is a flat-out union-busting bill," says [Broward PBA President Patrick] Hanrihan. "Under the law, a government agency wouldn't be allowed to collect union dues if it was involved in political campaigns." He notes that Scott had "no problem" taking money from the police union in the past election.
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