Zandar's Thought Of The Day

Dan Riehl again on the Winger futility of suing over Obamacare:

But I'm also unconvinced America will be content with a failed court action. The Constitution has been so twisted from its initial intent and from the people still may believe it means, I'm not sure the system can bridge the gap here. At some point, states may have to consider banding together to develop an approach with far broader implications for America in the end. I've never seen the kinds of lines being drawn in America I am witnessing today. And this issue is not going to quietly just slip away.

States banding together...hmm.  Why, that would be a group of states.  A...confederation of them, one might say.

Seems kind of eerily familiar...

Own The Darkness

Oliver Willis lays it out. (emphasis mine)

Looking around at the conservative blogosphere’s reaction to threats and actual violence versus Democratic lawmakers that instead of condemning the actions the right is actually excusing it, and in some ways, egging it on.

When the first dead body turns up as a result of tea party terrorism, they’ll own it, completely.

Nobody’s arguing that on the left there was strong protest to Bush’s ill-guided policies that resulted in the deaths of thousands, but there was no support for violence against Republican lawmakers the way there is today from the right. Democrats were not linking arms with anti-government protesters who entertained assassination fascinations with our leaders.

The conservative movement owns tea party terrorism and whatever may come of it.

No doubt the usual suspects will show up to justify the violence, but the fact of the matter at this point this talk equating the exercise of democracy with treason is going to cause blood to flow.  Even the Senate parliamentarian is under threat now.

Not only do most of the wingers I've seen expect violence, they already are working to blame these acts as "false flag" attacks carried out by "the angry left" to start a war.

Delusional to the end.

Shutdown Sequence

Hey America, want to assure yourselves of a federal government that doesn't work in 2011?  Vote Republican this fall!

A potential Republican majority may not be able to repeal healthcare reform, but they'd probably refuse to fund it, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said today.

Appearing on Fox News, Boehner acknowledged that if the GOP wins control of Congress in 2010, they may not be able to repeal the healthcare bill President Obama signed into law yesterday. Obama would be able to veto a repeal, and Republicans would probably not have the two-thirds majority necessary to override that veto.

"With a Democrat president for the next two and a half years, even if we gained the majority it's going to be very difficult to repeal this bill outright," Boehner said.

Nevertheless, Boehner said Congress could simply refuse to approrpriate the funds needed to execute reform.
"It's going to take appropriated funds to actually come through the process to fund the hiring of new employees to create these new bureacuracies," Boehner said. "I can't imagine that a Republican Congress is going to give this president the money to begin this process."

Orange Julius is already saying "Hell no you can't!"  That's a hell of a platform to run on, the Shut Down The Federal Government Over Funding Health Care Reform plank of the GOP.

At this point the GOP is so utterly bankrupt of ideas that the only thing they have left is threatening to destroy the government so that nothing works for anybody.  This is their big campaign message in 2010.

Good luck with that, Orange Julius.

Cramer Versus Cramer Again

I laughed, I cried, it was better than "Cats".

Cramer during tonight’s show offered a mea culpa to viewers: Despite the horrible effect he thought health-care reform was going to have on stocks, all the major indexes have held up since the bill passed on Sunday. In fact, barring today’s declines – and he didn’t think they were linked to health care – the market dipped for only about 20 minutes after Monday’s opening bell, then continued its bullish move upward.

Possibly even worse, Mad Money viewers who took Cramer’s advice missed a chance to buy that dip. He’d fully expected a pullback to follow the House’s yea vote, giving viewers a great entry point on any number of stocks. But that window of opportunity closed too quickly for most people. And investors who took profits before the vote never got the chance to get back in.

Jim Cramer wrong?  Gosh, that NEVER happens.  You know, except for all the times he's been laughably wrong about mostly everything over the last three years.  Housing market bottomed out in July 2009, remember that?  Dow 15,000, remember that?  No CRE meltdown, remember that?  Banks are stable, remember that?  It's not like Cramer's side gig at TheStreet.com is being investigated, right?

So what happened? Here are his 10 reasons why he missed the health-care call:

Allow me to save you some time. 

1. Jim Cramer doesn't know a goddamn thing about economics, but he's a hell of a scam artist.

Fin.

Blockbuster Flat Busted

A decade ago, Blockbuster Video was arguably the largest media player in the country.  Movie studios, distributors, marketers, game makers, they all lined up to get on Blockbuster's shelves as America's media store. They had an enormous amount of clout.  Everyone made them deals to stay number one and keep them number one.  And when you're number one, people come gunning for you.

How quickly things change.

Blockbuster is in a heap of trouble with nearly $1 billion in debt, and its latest fixes might not be enough to keep the company from filing for bankruptcy.

The movie rental company launched its newest enterprise on Wednesday, beating rival Netflix to the punch in mobile movies. Blockbuster is now offering on demand video via T-Mobile's new HTC HD2 smart phone. The new service is also expected to be available on Android and Windows Mobile phones soon.

That news follows the company's announcement on Tuesday that it signed a new agreement with movie studio Warner Bros., which is owned by CNNMoney.com's parent company Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500). The deal will continue to allow Blockbuster to offer the studio's new releases about a month before its chief competitors, Netflix (NFLX) and Coinstar's (CSTR) Redbox.

Blockbuster's latest moves are steps in the right direction. But to overcome nearly $1 billion in debt, unprofitable stores and continued losses, what the company really needs is a major turnaround. Blockbuster said last week it may have to file for bankruptcy protection if it cannot lower its debt by other means. 

Video killed the radio star, but the internet killed Blockbuster.  America's video store is Netflix these days.  Netflix really is one of the great American success stories.  And now Blockbuster has ended up as one of America's great cautionary tales.

If It's Thursday...

New jobless claims down to 442,000 and continuing claims down to 4.55 million this week.

We're still in a holding pattern and have been for, oh, months now.  They're not getting worse, but the overall numbers simply aren't getting any better, either.

Yes We Can (Orange Julius Remix)

This vid's been making the rounds this week, give it a look.


Democrats: "Yes, we can."
Republicans: "Hell no you can't!"

Seems like a pretty simple message to me...

StupidiNews Focus

At this point, the HCR reconciliation fix bill is heading back to the House for another vote once the Senate finishes.  It's a hurdle, but it might actually be a major opportunity for the Dems, as Ryan Grim explains:

Senate Republicans succeeded early Thursday morning in finding two flaws in the House-passed health care reconciliation package. Neither is of any substance, but the Senate parliamentarian informed Democratic leaders that both are in violation of the Byrd Rule.

One is related to Pell Grants and the other makes small technical corrections. Why they're in violation of the Byrd Rule doesn't matter; the upshot is that Republicans will succeed in at least slightly altering the legislation, which means that the House is once again required to vote on it. With no substantial changes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) should have little problem assembling the same coalition of 220 Democrats who passed the measure Sunday night. That's already four more than the minimum 216 required for passage.
But the ruling might give Democrats another option -- the public one.

Democratic leadership no longer has to worry that additional amendments would send it back to the House, since it must return to the lower chamber regardless. The Senate is now free to put to the test that much-debated question of whether 50 votes exist for a public option. Democrats could also elect to expand Medicare or Medicaid, now that they only need 50 votes in the Senate and the approval of the House.
The question then becomes whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) could pass the reconciliation changes with a public option. She has long maintained that the House has the votes to do so. Indeed, it did so in late 2009. Since then, however, two members who supported the public option are no longer in the House.

But with fewer members, the House also needs two fewer votes than the 218 required for a majority in November, alleviating some of that pressure.

Would they have the votes?

The Huffington Post interviewed House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) on Wednesday evening and asked if he thought he could have gotten the public option back through a second time, when the House voted on Sunday, even without those members who had left. "Yes, sir," he said emphatically. Clyburn added that the problem for the public option has never been in the House. The problem has been in the Senate. And now the upper chamber has a chance to vote on it.

Back in the Senate, after the Parliamentarian Alan Frumin had advised the leadership of his ruling, the Democratic and Republican leaders huddled on the floor and agreed to adjourn until 9:45 a.m.

In other words, now there's no reason not to give the Senate an opportunity to get 51 votes on the public option as one of the amendments before the HCR reconciliation fix bill, as the bill has to go back to the House anyway.  I don't expect the public option to pass the Senate, but there's no reason now it shouldn't get a vote...it has the votes to pass in the House.  Should it get through the Senate...well, there's your public option right there, folks.

If Republicans can take hours to pile on amendments to try to slow the legislation down, Democrats can offer one amendment that will have overwhelming support, help lower costs, and create real competition for insurance premium dollars.  Take a swing at the fences, guys.  You'll never have a better opportunity to pass the public option with 51 votes.

StupidiNews!

• Republicans succeeded in forcing the reconciliation part of the HCR bill back to the House for another vote.
• California voters will get to decide this November on legalizing pot for recreational use. 
• Finance reform is gaining momentum in Congress towards passage this Spring.
• Germany's Angela Merkel laid out her conditions for helping Greece's economy if that day comes.
• The latest wireless industry survey shows that 91% of Americans use cell phones.

Last Call

Want to know what's coming?  I won't link to Dan Riehl's tirade.  You can find it yourself if you're curious.  But I will let you know what the average winger is thinking right now about the continuing violence against Dems.

They have no right to feel outraged, these Democrats, after having spent weeks and months fueling outrage across America with the corrupt back room deals, their reconciliation plans and slippery bookkeeping, coupled with an absolute refusal to take the voice of the people into account in passing vile, un-American legislation America doesn't want. Shame on them. Shame!

And now, what? These malignant little tyrants want to play the victim? After victimizing America with their pathetic antics, their corrupt practices, all to push a destructive ideology America has long rejected? The Democrats are the real criminals here. They have torn the fabric of America with a repulsive world view they now hope to thrust upon the American people, whether we like it, or not.

And the American people are beginning to say Not! - which is their God given right their Constitution, not some low rent, half-baked excuse for a politician, ensures for them. You broke it, the public trust, among other things. And now you've bought it. So, own it for once you miserable little cretins. Resign your offices and crawl back under your rocks if you can't take the heat that you and no one else generated. And don't expect us to feel sorry for you, or respect you for the wrath you're now faced with confronting. That may be the only thing you actually deserve for the unjust and un-democratic way in which you've comported yourselves throughout this entire charade.

You can choke on it and rot in hell where you belong after wards for all I care. You behaved like tyrants and now some few are treating you like tyrants. Where in the hell is the big surprise in that? Because I can't find it. All I see is a bunch of miserable creatures unworthy of the offices they hold. And I can't wait to see your sorry asses thrown out of them come this fall.

Riehl is delusional.  His spittle-flecked invective is precisely what I mean by "Obama Derangement Syndrome."  Here's a man who feels so aggrieved, so violated, so victimized by a Democratic majority that was fairly elected by the people actually passing Democratic legislation, that he simply dismisses the threats and hatred, the vitriol and the anger, as something the Democrats deserve for daring to pass legislation in his country.

Passing legislation is a violation of the "public trust".  Democrats are "criminals" to him, "malignant little tyrants" to him, not even human, not even worthy of basic human decency.  Hell, they're not even worthy of the kindness you'd show an injured animal.  "Own it for once, you miserable little cretins."

"Rot in hell" is his advice to people he views as "miserable little creatures."  If you dehumanize your "enemy" then you feel no remorse when you commit acts of violence and anger against them.

All this...for passing a health care reform bill.

The projection here is sickening.  You thought they hated Obama before?  You have no idea.  He won, on Sunday.  He beat them.  And they so utterly despise him, that now the gloves are truly off.  The real violence, the real hatred, those are now going to be on full display.  The mask is broken.  And there are millions like Riehl out there.

The rough beast is no longer slouching.  It's running at full tilt.

A Lesson For Our Firebagger Friends

CNN's Wolf Blitzer accidentally tells fellow CNN anchor Rick Sanchez the truth about the opposition to health care reform.

But if you take a closer look at people who didn't like it, about 12% of those people who said they didn't like it they didn't like it because they didn't think it went far enough. They wanted a single payer option, they wanted the so-called public option, they didn't like not from the right, they didn't like it because it wasn't left or liberal enough.

That's how you got 50% of the American people who said, "we don't like this plan." But only about 40 or 38% were the ones who said it was too much government interference.

Holy crap, you'd think there's a story there.  You'd think the "overwhelming bipartisan opposition" lie they've been pushing could have been disproven months ago if anyone had bothered asking people why they opposed it. Digby:

All we've been hearing for months now is that the "American people" don't like the bill because it's a government takeover. The Republicans turned that into their entire rationale for opposition, claiming that the Democrats are going against "the will of the people" and somehow usurped the Democratic process. And here it turns out that it's only the Republicans and a few conservative "independents", 38% or so of the country, who think the bill is a government takeover.

That's quite a different story don't you think? One that might have been told before now by the news networks? It might have changed the whole damned debate, actually.

Blitzer admits that they just "assumed" that everyone in the country held this wingnut view. After all, the pictures showed a bunch of angry middle aged white people screaming about socialism, and they look like their perception of Real America, so why bother to drill down into the numbers any further?

This is a perfect example of the village advancing its narrative of a great conservative majority that doesn't exist. It's a pathology with these people.

Only now that the bill has passed anyway, and our Village Idiots are scrambling to see why the Dems actually developed spinal fortitude on this one (the Villagers have to have some sort of an answer or they lose credibility) when they looked, lo and behold, there's one in eight playing firebagger from the left.

This goes to show you two things:

One, the Village is lazy.  Poll analysis is serious bidness.

Two, the firebaggers shot themselves in their own foot and were played for fools, entirely used as opposition to ANY health care reform by the right (just as predicted.)  Despite their best efforts, they didn't manage to completely f'cking sink the bill.  They came perilously close to doing so.  And I wonder how much better the bill would have been if they had supported the effort all the way through instead of "principled opposition" that almost got us Not A Damn Thing.  If the Dems had seen the polls showing that people were behind this effort, they would have wanted to improve it more.  Instead, because the firebaggers showed up as opposition to the ENTIRE HEALTH CARE REFORM EFFORT, the Dems repeatedly scaled the bill BACK.

I've said for a while now we need a better Washington pundit class.  But damn, we need a better far left pundit class too.

You DO Know, Jack

With all the attention on the nation's various state Attorneys General and Obamacare, it's important to note that all the ones suing are Republicans, and many of them have notions of higher office.  Kentucky's AG also seeks higher office, in this case Jim Bunning's Senate seat.  But Kentucky AG Jack Conway is different in two respects:  one, he's a red state Democrat, and two, he's firmly on the side of not wasting Kentucky taxpayer money on a frivolous lawsuit.

KY AG Jack Conway (D) is wading into the health care debate, announcing Tuesday he will not file a lawsuit against the federal government in trying to refuse the legislation.

"I do not intend to use my authority as Kentucky Attorney General to sign our Commonwealth onto a health care lawsuit against the federal government, because I will not waste taxpayer dollars on a political stunt," Conway said in a statement provided to Hotline OnCall.

Earlier today, Sec/State Trey Grayson blasted Dems in Congress for passing health care, "despite overwhelming and bipartisan opposition."

Grayson continued, "Fortunately, there is still an opportunity to prevent this intrusion into our lives as more than a dozen states have declared their intent to challenge this law in court. Today I call on Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway to join in this effort and file suit against the federal government for the unconstitutional overreach of its authority with the passage of this health care legislation."

"Trey Grayson's gimmick may be good 'tea party' politics, but it's based on questionable legal principles," Conway said.

My observation is for Conway to win, he's going to have to run as a true progressive.  Health care gives him the wedge issue he needs to catch up to Lt. Dan in the polls.  It's an observation shared by my KY blogger collegues, that Conway trying to out-DINO Mongiardo will only end up being a disaster.

Conway, to his credit, sees an opening here to run to Lt. Dan's left.

Mongiardo has said he would have voted against the Senate bill but for the House bill that passed in November. He also is well-informed on the issue as a doctor, and he says frequently that if elected, he'd be the only Dem doctor in the Senate.

Conway needled him today: "I find it ironic that Daniel Mongiardo -- who would have voted against health care reform and believes we should 'stop and start over' -- would choose to align himself with Trey Grayson, Rand Paul and the right-wing extremists who are following Mitch McConnell's lead in opposing progress on health care. This is an historic moment, and as a Democrat, I am proud to stand up to those who prey on voters' fears, rather than appeal to their hopes."

More of this, Jack.  I mean, you're still doing it wrong to the point of EPIC FAIL but at least you have an issue now.  It came, oh, SIX MONTHS TOO LATE, but hey.

Zandar's Thought Of The Day

Government debt sales, not doing so hot.  Bond traders are blaming Obamacare.

Investors showed scant interest in the latest round of debt auctions: Depressed demand today in five-year note sales pushed Treasury yields up. The $42 billion sale drew a yield of 2.065 percent, full 10 basis points, or 0.10 percentage points—up from the where the five-year was trading when the results came out at 1 p.m.

Jefferies’ Chief Financial Economist Ward McCarthy agreed with his colleague and told CNBC, “There’s a lot of concern about what’s happening on a fiscal basis. We have enormous budget deficiencies, and Congress and the Administration really have done nothing to address that. In fact, the recent legislation on health care is going to increase our budget deficits by over a trillion dollars.” 

That's interesting.  CBO numbers paint a much different picture.  But hey, why bother with the truth when you can throw around scary numbers on CNBC and blame the President?

I mean, why should a Chief Financial Economist want to get his numbers right on TV?  Psssh.  Not in the Village.

Collateral Damage, Inc.

The level of hatred raised by some on the right is beginning to reach dangerous levels.  Eventually they are going to seriously hurt or kill someone involved in the HCR vote.  Today's latest example of violence:

Law enforcement authorities are investigating the discovery of a cut propane gas line at the Virginia home of Rep. Tom Perriello’s (D-Va.) brother, whose address was targeted by tea party activists angry at the congressman’s vote for the health care bill.

POLITICO reported on Monday that Mike Troxel, an organizer for the Lynchburg Tea Party, posted on his blog what he thought was the congressman’s address, encouraging tea party activists to “drop by.”

The address has since been posted on websites of at least one other local tea party activist.

And what do you know, a propane gas line was cut at the address listed.  Wrong address, wrong Perriello, but somebody could have been seriously hurt.  If this was done on purpose, it's reprehensible.  if it was a complete coincidence or accident, it still demonstrates the level of rhetoric coming from some on the right is over the line.  Vandalism has been committed already in the name of revenge against this health care bill and the Dems who passed it before.  There are those who are out there approving of and encouraging this behavior.  This has to stop.

As John Aravosis concludes:

The first time a member of Congress or their family is physically harmed by a Teabagger, the GOP can kiss their aspirations for public office goodbye for the next century. 

Believe it.  The steadfast refusal of the right to completely disavow these nutjobs only makes them more influential and liable to cross that big, thick, bloody red line where somebody gets hurt or killed.  Now, I know that even if this was intentional, there's enough safety equipment designed into your average propane tank sold for residential use that cutting the line would not cause a problem by itself (unless the tank was tampered with as well.)  But there's no justifying this if it was intentional.  None at all.

It's time for the right to put an end to this nonsense.

Or, you know, do we have to wait until someone decides to "take aim" at these House members?

The Hoffman Effect Rolls On

How much of a disaster is Rand Paul turning out to be for Kentucky Republicans?  Even Dan Riehl thinks Paul is the wrong guy.

If Rand Paul hired, first a white supremacist, than an operative who can't follow a listserve's rules to stay on topic and not spam after multiple hints and a moderator warning, how good can Rand Paul's judgment really be in the end? As I've now grown genuinely concerned, may as well have a look at the Kentucky Senate race I've mostly ignored until now.

Obama was hammered for bad vetting rightly enough. No point in letting our side end up on the short end of the stick in Kentucky because we failed to do ours. So, let the vetting begin.

Good luck on that, Dan.  On on hand, dude just raised $200k with an online money bomb.  On the other hand, Dick Cheney just endorsed Trey Grayson.  Really?  You want Mr. 17% popularity endorsing you?  I think that helps Paul more.

This is starting to be a disaster that the Dems might actually win here.