Four horsemen of Obama's apocalypse

Just go read it: America: A fearson foursome [FT Registration required]. Or read a review with commentary: Steve Clemmons, Core Chicago Team Sinking Obama Presidency:

Financial Times Washington Bureau Chief Edward Luce has written a granularly informed insider account about those who hold the keys to the inner most sanctum of Obama Land -- Rahm Emanuel, Robert Gibbs, Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod.

It's a vital article -- a brave one -- that includes "dozens of interviews with his closest allies and friends in Washington."

Most are unnamed because the consequences of retribution from this powerful foursome can be severe in an access-dependent town. John Podesta, president of the powerful, administration-tilting Center for American Progress, had the temerity and self-confidence to put his thoughts publicly on the record. But most others could not

Clemmons continues at length...

I wonder if Obama can get the Financial Times on his Blackberry?

...Update: Jane Hamsher weighs in.

Comcast

Comcast CEO gets reamed out by Al Franken:

Sen. Franken said that Comcatastrophe Roberts had met him in his office and said that the FCC rules "will make sure that you always have a wide variety of programs because they forbid [Comcast/NBC] from discriminating against other company's programs."

Then Franken pointed to a sign he had printed with a quote from Comcast's attorneys saying that those same rules were unconstitutional.

"In other words, looking to get approval for this merger, you sat there in my office and told me to my face that these rules would protect consumers but your lawyers had just finished arguing in front of the Commission that it would be unconstitutional to apply these rules," Franken said.

Video at the link

Rahm Emanuel

Hasn't this fucking retard jackass been fired yet?

New blogger

Welcome, Harold Ford Jr..

Ave, Haroldus, morituri jocularum te salutant!

(Hail, Harold, those who are about to die laughing salute you.)

...Okay, my Latin may be a wee bit rusty.

She eats it up like candy

That's what Pauly says. And you know that Pauly wouldn't bullshit you on his blog. No sir!

Digital Nation

Digital Nation is a PBS Frontline documentary airing Tuesday on WKNO-10 at 8 (90 minutes), repeating at midnight. Review in Salon.

Chris Peck

So much naivete, so little time. Oh well, just to pick one thing:

And subscription prices? They too seem to seek a different, lower level in digital form. For comparison purposes, the iPod suggests going digital effectively reduces the cost of buying music by 90 percent, taking the price of a $10 CD down to the 99-cent price of an iTunes download.

The price didn't come down. It's still 10 tracks x 99 cents = $10 for the whole CD. What's different is that you can now buy the only good track on the CD, without being forced to buy the rest of it.

That's what really scares business people. Most of what they've always sold us was 90% garbage bundled with maybe one good thing. We knew it, and they knew it, but they had us over a barrel and we just stuffed our feelings and paid the price. In the digital age, we don't have to.

Truth be told, we should probably be paying $3.99 for the good track - the price of a mini-CD single. We would be, if the music industry had been on the ball. But the industry sat on its hands and even fought the digital age, so Jobs and others came along and set the prices for them.

Life moves on.

Trafficking in Haiti children

When you read and see reports of the bureaucratic difficulties for American parents trying to adopt and bring homeless/orphaned Haiti children into this country right now, please keep something in mind: There's long been a serious problem of children being removed and exploited to become household servants -- or much worse. There was a reason for all that paperwork and approvals. Now, the system that was trying to protect these children has been mostly destroyed.

PO'd about PO

I think one of our problems is that we keep calling it "the public option." Let's call it something else that people will instantly understand and more people will get excited about. I've got an idea. Let's call it: "Medicare for All."

See how easy that is?

Paul Ryburn

Write him and tell him how you feel about this and this and this and especially this and all his other misogynist crap. Then, write the Flying Saucer (or call the manager) and tell them how you feel about establishments that cater to creeps who like to abuse their employees and use them as Internet dartboards.

...Update: Be sure to delve into the comments (and see my earlier post).

...and now this.

Twitter explained

I grok! I grok! Epiphany! Now I understand teh Twitter:

Seinfeld was a show about nothing. Twitter enables each of us to produce our own shows about nothing.

A winner

It would be so much simpler. And so much better than either the House or Senate bills they were working on. And who could argue with it? In fact, I think it would be hugely popular, and bring Democrats a landslide in November.

Medicare for All.

Losing builds character, yes, but winning is still the name of the game. Democrats should try it sometime.

...Rahm Emanuel doesn't want to win. Fire him.

Bookmark

Baltimore: The transcript. The video (67 min).

...Adding: I understand that he did real well. I just hope it doesn't go to his head. He needs to understand: After this meeting, the GOPers will go back to being the party of NO. They can't help it. It's their DNA.

Bernanke

It may be too late after today, but do read this:

Republicans appear to have documents linking Ben Bernanke to a decision to give the backdoor bailouts at AIG despite staff recommendations. They are very specific about which documents show this and they want them made public. If they are made public before the confirmation vote, Bernanke is obviously in a lot of trouble. But there’s a much worse scenario.

If the Democrat leadership and the White House strong arm the Democratic senators into confirming Bernanke with most Republicans voting no – and then the documents are revealed, you have a political disaster on your hands. Then the Democrats will appear to have been on the side of funneling taxpayer money to the banks in a way that was unconscionable and inexplicable (given that some of them didn’t even ask for the money and everyone agrees that they didn’t need and couldn’t get a hundred cents on the dollar anywhere else).

Continues

Ooops. Too Late.

Post game

He showed some humility for his mistakes. He took some digs at the other side. He didn't say the words "bi-partisan" or "reaching across the aisle" very many times.

But I didn't see enough to convince me he'll kick ass hard enough and soon enough to save the Democrats in November, or save himself in 2012. Maybe he will. But you couldn't prove it by this speech.

He did say he will get out of the bubble and listen more. That would be good.

He apparently picked up a swell in his public sympathy and approval. (That will last all of about a week, Bob snarks, cynically.) If it lasts, good for him, but he needs to keep the momentum going. And I don't see how he can do that without setting aside the Kumbaya and kicking some ass, which he seems to be loath to do.

The first ass he should kick is Rahm Emanuel, whose disdain for liberal retards is well documented. Kick it straight out the door. That might go a long way toward convincing me.

I've been ready to start talking about primarying him. Out of respect, I'll give him a week or three to bask. But I'm thinking.

Shallow thought

It's good that, in a free country, Chris Matthews can bring these things up. It's good for us to know, anyway. Being forewarned, we can stand clear of his puke jet.

What he could have said

"As of tonight, there will be no more minority rule. We are going back to being a democracy, where the majority rules. There are some in this room who will not like that. They can kick and scream all they want, but they'll just have to get used to it. This is the way it will be. We have a country to run, and it's in deep trouble. Partisan games do not take precedence ove getting the important work done."

Nice speech

But I sure don't see anything about the snakes.

I do like the fact that the TV camera keeps zooming in on the glum, non-clapping folks on one side of the chamber. They really look like idiots, and I think they might know it.

But nothing about snakes...

...Update: Somebody must have tipped them off about how stupid they looked. They're now clapping, at least.

Still no snakes.

...Okay, I guess he did find five snakes wearing robes and showed them the windows.

Howard Zinn, 87

Sad. RIP.

I admit it

I was deluded. Were you?

In my defense I will say that I was for Obama over Clinton because I believed she didn't have a chance in the general. Not a chance. She would have been creamed. As bad as the racial bigotry in this country still is, gender bigotry is probably worse and (dare I say it?) more casually accepted.

I also believed that a certain amount of white guilt and Magical Negro Morgan Freeman love would help shield Obama from the worst that the Republicans could do.

But beyond the optics and the pragmatism, I was definitely one of those living in hope that he was more than just a good orator.