Discussing better than expected economic numbers this morning, President Barack Obama also talked up his “cash for clunkers” program.
** UPDATE: CALIFORNIA 2010 FUNDRAISING. The fundraising numbers for the first half of 2009 are becoming available now after 5 PM. A few quick takes … GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman has, somehow, spent about $6 million already. Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Gavin Newsom reports $1.2 million cash on hand. But he has over $300,000 in accrued debts, meaning he has only $900,000 available to spend. That’s less than one-eighth what frontrunner Jerry Brown, who has paid all his bills, has to spend …
** QUICK HITS. In another sign of nascent economic recovery, the Dow Jones finished up again today, making this July the biggest gaining July in the US stock market in 20 years. … Sarah Palin, touted as the most popular governor in America when she was the surprise pick last year for the national Republic ticket, quit her office this month little more than halfway through her only term in office with her Alaska constituents having a far more mixed view of her. According to a Hays Research poll taken Wednesday and Thursday, Palin has a 47% positive rating in Alaska while 48% give her a negative rating. … Not much happened in California politics today. Mainly waiting on the potential gubernatorial campaign rivals to former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown to follow his lead of yesterday and release their fundraising results for the first half of 2009.
** THE RECESSION LAST YEAR WAS MUCH WORSE THAN REPORTED. While right-wing Republicans were spending much of their time denying that there even was a recession in the US, it was actually more than twice as bad as finally reported in 2008 by the Bush/Cheney Administration.
The world’s largest economy contracted 1.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the last three months of 2008, compared with the 0.8 percent drop previously on the books, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. …
Consumer spending, not surprisingly, also fell farther than previously revealed.
Consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy, decreased 1.8 percent in last year’s fourth quarter from the same period in 2007, exceeding the prior estimate of a 1.5 percent drop. Purchases also began sinking sooner than previously projected, registering their first decline at the start of 2008 rather than in the second half. …
Residential construction fell 21 percent during the period, almost 2 percentage points more than previously reported, aggravating what was already the worst slump since the Great Depression.
The mouthpieces of the far right spent most of the election denying that America was in recession at all. But the truth is that the recession began in December 2007. Now that Barack Obama is in the White House, they talk up the country’s economic woes incessantly.
And as perception, like employment, almost always lags recovery, they are scoring some points. But those political gains will be relatively short-lived.
** PALIN CANCELS CALIFORNIA TRIP TO REAGAN LIBRARY. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was slated to appear at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley on August 8th for the 50th anniversary of the Republican Women Federated Clubs. Her office had previously closed the event to press. Now she’s not coming at all, in another of those scheduling mishaps that seem to plague her. You’ll recall the on-again/off-again saga of her appearance at the big Republican national congressional fundraising dinner in Washington.
** THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE FANTASY LIVES: WHY REPUBLICANS NURTURE THE OBAMA “BIRTHER” NONSENSE. Because most of their voters may believe it.
A new Research 2000 poll for the Daily Kos shows the breadth of the belief in the cockeyed notion that Barack Obama was not born in America. It’s concentrated in the Republican Party, amongst conservatives and older voters, and in the South.
Perhaps racism isn’t dead after all, and irrationality is loose in the Republican mainstream.
58% of Republicans believe that Obama isn’t really an American or say they’re not sure if he really is. 28% of Republicans say that the president is not an American, while 30% say they aren’t sure if he is. Only 42% of Republicans say they believe that the president of the United States is an American.
With respect to all Americans, 77% believe that Obama is an American, 11% say he is not, and 12% aren’t sure.
The breakdowns of Democrats and independents more than makes up for the dodgy Republican view. 93% of Democats and 83% of independents believe that Obama was born in the US, with only 4% and 8% believing he was not.
The regional breakdown is fascinating. 93% in the Northeast, 90% in the Midwest (which Obama represented in the Senate), and 87% in the West believe that Obama is really an American. But only 47% in the South say they believe what has repeatedly been shown to be the case.
As that poor, benighted white woman sputtered to John McCain at an October town hall: “He’s … an Arab!”
If Obama were not black, with a “foreign”-sounding name, this dangerously irrational notion would not be so pernicious and insistent.
President Barack Obama met yesterday with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. She is making progress against an Islamic jihadist insurgency on Mindanao and elsewhere.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama has had his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 9 AM Pacific, Obama has lunch with business leaders in the Private Dining Room of the White House. Their names have not been disclosed.
At 10:15 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on the economy in the Diplomatic Reception Room.
At 12:30 PM Pacific, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.
At 3:10 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden Obama and Biden arrive at Blair House, across the street from the White House.
At 3:15 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden host a meeting with members of the Cabinet at Blair House.
At 7 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden return to the White House.
The Obama Cabinet is holding a two-day retreat, today and Saturday, at Blair House. The 22 Cabinet-rank officials are meeting to assess how things are going and discuss how to work together across disciplines.
Obama’s remarks on the economy come with strong sign that the recession is being arrested. America’s gross domestic product for the last quarter declined only 1%, significantly less than had been expected.
The GDP declined 6.4% in the first quarter, the biggest drop in 30 years.
Obama is also closely following the progress of health care legislation in both houses of Congress. A major bill will be voted out of the House Energy & Commerce Committee by day’s end. Details are still emerging about the shape of an emerging compromise in the Senate Finance Committee.
Civilian deaths in Afghanistan are up 24% this year, according to the UN. Most are due to the Taliban, but too many are due to US air strikes against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, an issue in the Afghan election.
Obama is also monitoring several geopolitical crises.
In Afghanistan, the central Taliban leadership is trying to overrule a truce struck in a northern province of the country between Taliban fighters and the Afghan government and has declared that all negotiations are to be conducted by them. The British have declared their part of the offensive against Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan a completed success.
Campaigning is underway for Afghanistan’s August 20th election. President Hamid Karzai, who faces two challengers, remains a strong favorite. Taliban forces are stepping up attempts to disrupt the election.
According to the UN, some 1,013 Afghan civilians died in the first half of this year, compared to 818 during the same period in 2008 and 684 in 2007.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will announce the signing of the California National Guard Education Assistance Program. It will help about one thousand National Guard members pay for colleges and universities with grants to cover most fees for attending qualifying institutions.
Schwarzenegger makes the announcement with remarks at the Parade Field of the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos.
The event will be webcast live at 10:30 AM www.gov.ca.gov.
** IS OBAMA GETTING OVEREXPOSED? Is President Barack Obama getting overexposed? As talented a communicator as he is, it seems he’s in danger of just that.
In part because he is such a talented speaker. He’s the big gun that Team Obama keeps firing when it’s in harm’s way. Which it almost always is, having inherited the biggest economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression, a growing environmental crisis, and geopolitical crises around the globe. Not to mention a hyper-partisan political environment and a semi-functional media culture.
The question takes on some urgency for Obama with his “hurry up offense” coming up short on universal health care.
With Obama having dipped in the polls, though still very healthy in the mid-50s in job approval despite multiple crises, it’s a good moment to rethink one’s drink, so to speak.
There’s no question that, in this fragmented media culture marked by an acute attention deficit disorder, Obama is the prime driver of news. But that doesn’t mean he has to do it himself. …
** ANOTHER ‘60S ANNIVERSARY: THE UR-ACTION BLOCKBUSTER GOLDFINGER. We have two iconic ’60s anniversaries this week. Ironically, it’s the least known by far of the two that continues to resonate most in the culture. On July 20th, 1969, a human being first walked on the Moon. On July 21st, 1964, Goldfinger wrapped principal photography.
We haven’t gone to the Moon for 37 years, nor can we go to Mars, as the Apollo 11 astronauts are urging, anytime soon, but we sure go to blockbuster action movies. And Goldfinger is the ur-action blockbuster. … From my July 21st essay.
** WHY THE BIG FADE FOR BRUNO? Bruno, the follow-up to ace comedy star Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 smash hit Borat, is one of the most hyped movies of the year. It’s gotten so much publicity it feels like it’s about to come out on DVD. But after a fast start on Friday, July 10th, the mockumentary about a gay Austrian fashionista has been fading badly ever since. This past weekend, it’s down 73% from the opening weekend.
Why the big fade? It’s actually not much of a mystery.
Once you see the movie, the only mystery is why it wasn’t predicted in the first place. … From my July 19th column.
** HILLARY’S BACK! (OR NOT). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ballyhooed address Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington fell decidedly flat. For a few fairly obvious reasons.
First, President Barack Obama, like a number of other presidents before him, starting with Thomas Jefferson, is his own secretary of state. Second, Obama has already laid out America’s new geopolitics, in a series of major addresses in Prague, Cairo, Moscow, and Accra, Ghana, as well as in announcements here in the US on new policies with regard to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. Thus making Clinton’s speech an exercise in echo. Third, Obama has other very powerful geopolitical counselors, including Vice President Joe Biden (whom a mutual friend told me when he was tapped for the ticket really wanted to be secretary of state), a coterie of special envoys reporting to the White House, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, the former NATO commander and Marine Corps commandant.
And fourth, Clinton has been neatly mouse-trapped by Obama. She and her husband have been moved off the political gameboard by Team Obama. As I expected when I wrote about her appointment here on the Huffington Post when it was rumored last November. … From my July 15th column.
** DIMINISHING RETURNS FOR OBAMA’S SUMMITEERING? President Barack Obama returned early Sunday morning from a near week-long international tour that took him to a key summit in Moscow, a G-8 summit, and his first appearance in Africa as president. But some suggested, with his poll numbers down a bit and media attention mostly elsewhere, that his summiteering is having diminishing returns.
Perhaps. But I think it has at least as much to do with the media culture.
American media, especially cable TV news, is moving more into infotainment mode, stuck on a few areas. Geopolitics has never been its strong suit, and political coverage is mostly focused on food fights. Which was unfortunate, as following on to his addresses in Prague and Cairo, Obama gave the final two of his advertised four major speeches on his new geopolitics last week, in Moscow and in Accra, Ghana. … From my July 12th column.
** OBAMA DOES MOSCOW, AND VICE VERSA. … From my July 8th column.
** OBAMA’S CONSEQUENTIAL FIRST 4TH: NOKO, AFPAK, IRAQ, RUSSIA, PALIN (PALIN?!) … From my July 4th column.
** THE GOP’S PALIN FOOD FIGHT: WHY NOW? … From my July 2nd column.
** TRANSFORMATIVE: LE CINEMA DE MICHAEL BAY. … From my June 29th essay.
** STAR TREK FIRSTS … 43 YEARS ON. … From my June 23rd essay.
** OBAMA AND THE AYATOLLAH. . … From my June 19th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
You can listen to my recent video webchat with Schwarzenegger here.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading in the $67 to $68 per barrel range.
This is up over $33 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum.
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| Comments (54) |
It’s good Barack is recognizing the Philippines. There are millions of Filipino-Americans.
I don’t see how the Taliban can expect to get popular support in Afghanistan when they are killing so many civilians.
Obama’s Cabinet is bonding? How cute.
Obama did good with the Filipino president.
If we are the saviors we have to avoid killing the people we’re spposed to be saving.
Capitol Boy says:
July 31, 2009 at 9:07 am
I don’t see how the Taliban can expect to get popular support in Afghanistan when they are killing so many civilians.
There’s some history between the US and the Philippines, too.
>Capitol Boy says:
It’s good Barack is recognizing the Philippines. There are millions of Filipino-Americans.
I never knew that.
That’s generally best …
> Jonas Blane says:
July 31, 2009 at 9:38 am (Edit)
If we are the saviors we have to avoid killing the people we’re spposed to be saving.
Capitol Boy says:
July 31, 2009 at 9:07 am
I don’t see how the Taliban can expect to get popular support in Afghanistan when they are killing so many civilians.
Let’s not be anti-New Age …
> Len says:
July 31, 2009 at 9:21 am (Edit)
Obama’s Cabinet is bonding? How cute.
I don’t think they are.
> Capitol Boy says:
July 31, 2009 at 9:07 am (Edit)
I don’t see how the Taliban can expect to get popular support in Afghanistan when they are killing so many civilians.
4 million, I believe.
> Capitol Boy says:
July 31, 2009 at 9:04 am (Edit)
It’s good Barack is recognizing the Philippines. There are millions of Filipino-Americans.
Were there still Filipino stewards when you were in the Navy?
How long has that insurgency been going on in the Philippines? I mean, how many decades?
Capitol Boy says:
July 31, 2009 at 9:04 am
It’s good Barack is recognizing the Philippines. There are millions of Filipino-Americans.
Sure. But we’re the interlopers there. We have to do it better.
Capitol Boy says:
July 31, 2009 at 9:07 am
I don’t see how the Taliban can expect to get popular support in Afghanistan when they are killing so many civilians.
On the 101 west of downtown L.A. is a sign that the next offramp is for Filipinotown, a designation for an area of the city near Echo Park. For years WWII Filipino veterans held protests in MacArthur Park about the promises made when they enlisted which were not kept. This sad chapter has finally been addressed–and sadly only a fraction of the brave men who fought are alive to belatedly get what they were promised.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/23/forgotten.veterans/
I’m glad my posts are showing up right away again.
Loooks like the new Governor in Juneau is cleaning house including a farewell to the Palin cronies. I judge a politico partly by the quality of the aides etc. they recruit–Palin’s were mostly unqualified sycophants whose chief attributes were unquestioning loyalty to their patron. Thankfully this cult is no longer ruling Alaska and hopefully will quicky vanish in the rear view mirror of history…
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/142633
Don’t be too sure. Look at the new poll showing that most Republicans either don’t think Obama is really an American or say they aren’t sure.
Palin plays directly to these viciously irrational notions.
It’s a learning/unlearning/learning software …
> Jack Aubrey says:
July 31, 2009 at 10:47 am (Edit)
I’m glad my posts are showing up right away again.
Yes, MacArthur Park. And sadly, few today will even understand why the protests were held there …
> Dana says:
July 31, 2009 at 10:45 am (Edit)
On the 101 west of downtown L.A. is a sign that the next offramp is for Filipinotown, a designation for an area of the city near Echo Park. For years WWII Filipino veterans held protests in MacArthur Park about the promises made when they enlisted which were not kept. This sad chapter has finally been addressed–and sadly only a fraction of the brave men who fought are alive to belatedly get what they were promised.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/23/forgotten.veterans/
It’s been a few decades since I had some involvement.
But it’s been simmering far longer than that.
The Soviets provided aid to the rebels during the Cold War. Now a transnational Islamic jihadist network is playing that role.
> Jack Aubrey says:
July 31, 2009 at 10:44 am (Edit)
How long has that insurgency been going on in the Philippines? I mean, how many decades?
Capitol Boy says:
July 31, 2009 at 9:04 am
It’s good Barack is recognizing the Philippines. There are millions of Filipino-Americans.
Yes. It was a longstanding tradition.
> Jack Aubrey says:
July 31, 2009 at 10:44 am (Edit)
Were there still Filipino stewards when you were in the Navy?
No wonder they act crazy; they ARE crazy!
** THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE FANTASY LIVES: WHY REPUBLICANS NURTURE THE OBAMA “BIRTHER” NONSENSE. Because most of their voters may believe it.
A new Research 2000 poll for the Daily Kos shows the breadth of the belief in the cockeyed notion that Barack Obama was not born in America. It’s concentrated in the Republican Party, amongst conservatives and older voters, and in the South.
Perhaps racism isn’t dead after all, and irrationality is loose in the Republican mainstream.
58% of Republicans believe that Obama isn’t really an American or say they’re not sure if he really is. 28% of Republicans say that the president is not an American, while 30% say they aren’t sure if he is. Only 42% of Republicans say they believe that the president of the United States is an American.
lol
More video today?
This Palin person’s got serious problems.
** PALIN CANCELS CALIFORNIA TRIP TO REAGAN LIBRARY. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was slated to appear at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley on August 8th for the 50th anniversary of the Republican Women Federated Clubs. Her office had previously closed the event to press. Now she’s not coming at all, in another of those scheduling mishaps that seem to plague her. You’ll recall the on-again/off-again saga of her appearance at the big Republican national congressional fundraising dinner in Washington.
Ya think?
“A new Research 2000 poll for the Daily Kos shows the breadth of the belief in the cockeyed notion that Barack Obama was not born in America. It’s concentrated in the Republican Party, amongst conservatives and older voters, and in the South.”
Birthers are going to push what’s left of the Republican party out of the mainstream. Look at those independent numbers!
And say goodbye to Latinos.
Finally, the Right Wing Media is making MY life easier.
Obama’s cash for clunkers program is a smart one.
Birthers are the new Birchers.
“THE RECESSION LAST YEAR WAS MUCH WORSE THAN REPORTED”
Bush allowed the real threats of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran to fester while he was lost in Iraq. Plus he couldn’t see the biggest economic downturn in 70 years.
It’s like he’s was a Frankenstein hybrid of Chamberlain and Hoover.
I never made the connection. And here I have been living next to the park all these years. Sometimes the obvious just eludes you.
>20.Bill Bradley says:
July 31, 2009 at 11:09 am
Yes, MacArthur Park. And sadly, few today will even understand why the protests were held there
The Republican Party is more and more resembling a cult. Sad.
>18.Bill Bradley says:
July 31, 2009 at 11:08 am
Don’t be too sure. Look at the new poll showing that most Republicans either don’t think Obama is really an American or say they aren’t sure.
Palin plays directly to these viciously irrational notions.
If anyone has more details on the Daily Kos poll, please post them. I’d like to see crosstabs and any additional questions.
I think Bill’s read is correct — Birthers seem to be racists. Look at the racial, regional and age breakdowns. Plus, look at how low Republicans scored on the FACT that Africa and America where once part of the same continent.
Do Republicans just skip 5th grade science class (Gondwanaland? Anyone?!). It’s like watching those SNL sketches of Will Farrell hosting Celebrity Jeopardy.
Republicans are becoming so dogmatic that it’s going to require an event of Reformation proportions to bring them back into the mainstream.
I agree with Dana — I think Republicans are going to start shaving their heads and hanging-out at the airport…
I’m not wild about this cash-for-clunkers program. The MPG improvements are minimal because Congress watered down the bill. We’d likely see more GHG emissions reductions from subsidizing home weatherization (which, to his credit, POTUS is doing via the stimulus).
It might be good politics, though. Helps in the Midwest. The name of the program is attractive.
I am not celebrating the Republicans being a cult, by the way.
Bill has pointed out having only one dominant party in the long run is bad.
The “leaders” etc. presiding over this are short sighted and seemingly only interested in preserving their power etc.
These folks control large blocs of Congressional seats, hold many offices in cities and state capitols, etc. To be dominated by a culture of dysfunction is terrible and we all suffer as a result. We have real problems to deal with, and the nosense peddelers are wasting valuable political discourse space with their stupidity.
Dana — what I meant to say was that I don’t think this level of dysfunction is sustainable. Something will break.
The nature of things is towards equilibrium. That will happen with either the Republicans coming to their senses or making themselves so irrelevant that something new can take their place.
Tories? Whigs? Prohibitionists? Adapt or die…
It’s amazing that Obama, who is so well known that as Bill wrote he is almost over-exposed, can be seen as any thinking person as un-American. Nativism and ignorance are very deeply entrenched in America still.
They were very loyal to America even though they were not Americans.
Bill Bradley says:
July 31, 2009 at 11:09 am
Yes, MacArthur Park. And sadly, few today will even understand why the protests were held there …
> Dana says:
July 31, 2009 at 10:45 am (Edit)
On the 101 west of downtown L.A. is a sign that the next offramp is for Filipinotown, a designation for an area of the city near Echo Park. For years WWII Filipino veterans held protests in MacArthur Park about the promises made when they enlisted which were not kept. This sad chapter has finally been addressed–and sadly only a fraction of the brave men who fought are alive to belatedly get what they were promised.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/23/forgotten.veterans/
Why no Tweets yet from Twitter Boy Newsom? Too busy getting Eric Jaye’s wife off the Arts Commission?
… Not much happened in California politics today. Mainly waiting on the potential gubernatorial campaign rivals to former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown to follow his lead of yesterday and release their fundraising results for the first half of 2009.
What new video today?
More great news for JB!
** UPDATE: CALIFORNIA 2010 FUNDRAISING. The fundraising numbers for the first half of 2009 are becoming available now after 5 PM. A few quick takes … GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman has, somehow, spent about $6 million already. Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Gavin Newsom reports $1.2 million cash on hand. But he has over $300,000 in accrued debts, meaning he has only $900,000 available to spend. That’s less than one-eighth what frontrunner Jerry Brown, who has paid all his bills, has to spend …
Obama on the economy, and the late Cory Aquino.
> Jonas Blane says:
August 1, 2009 at 9:15 am (Edit)
What new video today?
Indeed they were. Many to the death.
> marcos leon says:
July 31, 2009 at 3:42 pm (Edit)
They were very loyal to America even though they were not Americans.
Bill Bradley says:
July 31, 2009 at 11:09 am
Yes, MacArthur Park. And sadly, few today will even understand why the protests were held there …
> Dana says:
July 31, 2009 at 10:45 am (Edit)
On the 101 west of downtown L.A. is a sign that the next offramp is for Filipinotown, a designation for an area of the city near Echo Park. For years WWII Filipino veterans held protests in MacArthur Park about the promises made when they enlisted which were not kept. This sad chapter has finally been addressed–and sadly only a fraction of the brave men who fought are alive to belatedly get what they were promised.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/23/forgotten.veterans/
They may go through several election cycles like this.
Remember the Democrats after 1968.
> Brasky says:
July 31, 2009 at 3:11 pm (Edit)
Dana — what I meant to say was that I don’t think this level of dysfunction is sustainable. Something will break.
The nature of things is towards equilibrium. That will happen with either the Republicans coming to their senses or making themselves so irrelevant that something new can take their place.
Tories? Whigs? Prohibitionists? Adapt or die…
There are smart, reasonable people in that party who are being buffaloed by loons.
> Dana says:
July 31, 2009 at 3:06 pm (Edit)
I am not celebrating the Republicans being a cult, by the way.
Bill has pointed out having only one dominant party in the long run is bad.
The “leaders” etc. presiding over this are short sighted and seemingly only interested in preserving their power etc.
These folks control large blocs of Congressional seats, hold many offices in cities and state capitols, etc. To be dominated by a culture of dysfunction is terrible and we all suffer as a result. We have real problems to deal with, and the nosense peddelers are wasting valuable political discourse space with their stupidity.
The Senate will try to water it down more.
> Clutch J says:
July 31, 2009 at 2:41 pm (Edit)
I’m not wild about this cash-for-clunkers program. The MPG improvements are minimal because Congress watered down the bill. We’d likely see more GHG emissions reductions from subsidizing home weatherization (which, to his credit, POTUS is doing via the stimulus).
It might be good politics, though. Helps in the Midwest. The name of the program is attractive.
There is a type of conservative that already hated Obama even before they heard of Jeremiah Wright. They were almost palpitating in hopes of finding something to latch on to, but loathe to speak negatively other than to claim that he was an empty suit of some sort …
Which I thought of as classic projection.
>#
Brasky says:
July 31, 2009 at 2:30 pm (Edit)
If anyone has more details on the Daily Kos poll, please post them. I’d like to see crosstabs and any additional questions.
I think Bill’s read is correct — Birthers seem to be racists. Look at the racial, regional and age breakdowns. Plus, look at how low Republicans scored on the FACT that Africa and America where once part of the same continent.
Do Republicans just skip 5th grade science class (Gondwanaland? Anyone?!). It’s like watching those SNL sketches of Will Farrell hosting Celebrity Jeopardy.
Republicans are becoming so dogmatic that it’s going to require an event of Reformation proportions to bring them back into the mainstream.