Highly credible Cheetopia Obama uber-fan Kid Oakland’s gone off the deep end (again). Sad, really:
against Hillary: this is personal
Oh, this is new? Film at 11…
Why has the gas tax pander set me off so much?
Let me give you five reasons: Dominic, Louise, Catherine, Will and Oliver. They are ages 6, 4, 4, 2 and 9 months respectively. I happen to care about them a great deal.
Let me guess. Hillary’s going to kill them and eat them? Nice work on the subliminal trope, there, kid.
My nieces and nephews are truly children of the 21st Century. They will see the legacy of the environmental policies we enact…right now. They will also live to see the legacy of all that we don’t do, as well.
We don’t have time for a “gas tax holiday.” We all know that’s true.
What you mean “we,” Obama Fan? Here’s what the dull normals “know” is true:
Todd Beeton over at MyDD:
First are the fundamentals of the anxiety people are feeling about rising gas prices. On CNN a few minutes ago, an extraordinary anecdote from an Indiana voter:
My wife for instance is a nurse, she quit her job because it’s cheaper to stay at home with the kids than to pay for daycare and gas.
And this from CNN’s recent poll:
A national CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Friday found that 49% of respondents think the economy is now the most important factor in deciding how they will vote in the upcoming presidential election. That’s up from 44% in February and 29% in December.
And what about the economy is the biggest concern? Rising prices, specifically, rising energy costs.
So what the dull normals know—you know, the people that The Times doesn’t interview, because they don’t need to; they can ask “creative class” wannabes about them—is that they can’t fucking drive to work now. And if the dull normals can’t fucking drive to work, kid, they — and look, I accept, I really accept, that the dull normals are not creative, so they can’t possibly care about their kids in the same sensitive, casually poetic way that you do — can’t feed their kids now.
The dull normals, kid, need help now. Hillary understands that, and she’s trying to help. You don’t. If Obama does, he doesn’t care. In fact, he’s already written them off. [NPR; hat tip, white_n_az] Funny thing about the whole Unity
thing everybody’s twisting their hankies about: There are real interests at stake, and conflict is occuring. And you know what, kid? The dull normals have problems now. Their kids have problems now. That makes their problems more important than yours.*
Yeah, I’m against global warming. But I also can see the big wienie coming a mile off. I’ve already seen the creative class toss universal health care overboard, and what that means is that the creative class will — as is entirely human and natural, and the sort of conflict that a functioning political system would be able so solve — attempt to shift as much of the costs away from themselves to others. The rich will have already pulled up the ladder after themselves, and what that means is that the creative class will go after the dull normals. Their attack on the white working class as racists prepares the moral high ground for this, of course. And the attack on the gas tax — a minor issue, at the very, very worst pointless, not evil—prepares the ground for the big weinie. No relief for the dull normals is the operating principle of the “creative class” [cough]. Not on the big stuff, like universal health care (go die!). And not on the small stuff, like the gas tax (quit work!).
Here’s my picture of the worst case scenario for policy outcomes on global warming: It plays out like de-institutionalization in the 1970s. Remember that? There were two parts to the plan. First, for both good and bad reasons, we shut down institutions that cared for the mentally ill. That saved a good deal of money on buildings, staff, medication, blah, blah, blah. Second, we planned to take care of the mentally ill on an out-patient basis by building local clinics. Well, we did part one, and not part two. And so the mentally were left to fend for themselves and thrown out on the street.
So, I imagine at least two parts to the plan the “creative class” [cough] is going to foist on us dull normals to solve global warming**: Part one will be to increase the price of gas (good, more energy efficient), encourage concentration in cities (good, more energy efficient), and start to discourage sprawl (good, suburbs really do suck). Won’t it be great when “we” can all walk to work? Part two will be a massive increase in public transportation infrastructure, so that “we” don’t have to use our cars as much (very very good, way more energy efficient). Part two will be expensive — especially out to the burbs — but worth it, a price we as society should pay, blah blah blah.
But watch how it will play out: Cities will become very, very desireable places to live, even more so than now, and so anybody who can escape from the burbs will move to the city. That accomplishes Part One! By that point, housing costs in the city will have risen to the point that the dull normals will not be able to live there, and will be forced out to the burbs. At that point, enter the Big Wienie: Any constituency for Part Two — building out public transportation infrastructure to connect the cities to the burbs — will magically evaporate, and just as happened with deinstitutionalization, we’ll abandon Part Two after doing Part One, and the the burbs — finally, some use for all the McMansions — will become a dumping ground for the underclass, which will be much larger than it is today. Just as the streets are the dumping ground for the mentally ill. (We see this process in miniature starting today with broadband connection.)
Enjoy your latte, kid. Tell me again what you mean by “we”?
NOTE * Maybe we could come up with some sort of compromise on this, rather along the lines of the MI/FL 50/50 plan Obama’s proposing, where Obama gets 50% of the delegates even though less 50% of the voters voted for him, or where the votes of people in caucus states have a lot more weight than the votes of people in states with genuine secret ballot elections. We could set the value of dull normals at some fraction of the value of “creative class” [cough] types. Once the principle is accepted, the only policy issue would be to agree the fraction. How about 3/5?
NOTE ** I’m sure there will be a lot more to it, but these two parts will do for now. For example, a rapid Russian-style decrease in life expectancy would certainly be helpful.
Front page
You're talking about History
and kids don’t understand history because they don’t have any.
They think that Hope! Change! Unity
! is something new that nobody ever thought of before.
They mastered Sim City so they know how to build a perfect world.
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All the high-flown speeches in the world don’t amount to a pile of horseshit without being grounded in the mundane machinery of the state- Anglachel
you seem to be forgetting...
that the Obama campaign has completely written off the working class voters - see Axelrod on NPR, Obama quote about ’bitter’, etc.
They simply aren’t interested in these issues…The Marie Antoinette philosophy of government which worked so well for her didn’t it.
Kid Oakland is just figuratively losing his head.
Axelrod on NPR?
Got a link on that?
I’m not forgetting that at all, white_an_z. Does it sound like it? If so, I’m slipping.
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Axelrod on NPR
You betcha…NPR audio
or if you want a text based assimilation Lekkington Post discusses Axelrod on NPR
ohmigawd
Let me give you five reasons: Dominic, Louise, Catherine, Will and Oliver. They are ages 6, 4, 4, 2 and 9 months respectively. I happen to care about them a great deal.
THE GAS TAX HOLIDAY IS GOING TO DESTROY OUR CHILDREN!!!!
Interesting point, paul, that I forgot to make
Obama does want to make health care universal for children, right? For Dominic, Louise, Catherine, Will and Oliver?
But not for dull normal adults.
So I guess if Dominic’s feet start bleeding, he’ll be guaranteed care. But not my friend with the bleeding feet: She’s an adult dull normal — all she does is own a little store in a small town, and so she’s not “creative” — and so she should go die.
The obvious point here is that Obama will push for only and exactly what his base demands of him. That means that he’s utterly untrustworthy on Social Security. Old people to the ice floes! If we’re generous, we’ll let the take their dog food with them!
Yes, it is personal, isn’t it? What a surprise. Political and policy choices have real consequences in people’s lives. Apparently, Kid Oakland is just beginning to understand that. Hence, the self-regarding outrage. Again, sad.
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
The plan has been in place for some time
It’s called “gentrification”. They are doing a swell job of it in Chicago right now. Part one: tear down all public housing and replace with upscale, high-density condos for the “creative class” [cough]. This is basically good, since it removes a blight in the city, a prison for it’s inhabitants and a poorly-executed bad idea in the first place. But what to do with all “those” people who lived in that public housing? That would be Part Two. Progress? ==crickets==, but the plan calls to disperse all them section 8ers out to the (deteriorating) near suburbs where they have no support structure (i.e. family), no jobs, and no transit resources.
I love that word “gentrification” too, isn’t what we now call the “creative class” [cough] just a new-fangled word for “gentry”?
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Good night and good riddance!
Here is a link
I wish I knew how to make them all fancy and just say “Cabrini Green Fight”….
http://revcom.us/a/1229/cabrini.htm
I’ll bet a noted “community organizer” from Chicago is all over this one though.
Snort!
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Good night and good riddance!
Cabrini Green...
is on the near north side and prime location but obviously nuclear because of Cabrini Green.
If it were south side, Rezko would have been called in to manage it.
;-)
get a load of this --
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/4/9… — “On Meet The Press, while Barack Obama acknowledged that were he President he too would order an attack on Iran should it launch a nuclear attack on Israel, he does not like Hillary Clinton’s tough language stating the same view.
Similarly, while Barack Obama does not reject Hillary Clinton’s “umbrella of deterrence” proposal, he does not think it is smart to debate the proposal in a campaign for the Presidency. I kid you not. Obama said the Presidential campaign is the wrong place to discuss a serious foreign policy issue. …”
lambert lambert lambert
The creative class will show they care by making documentaries about dull normals. Your friend with the bleeding feet will get her fifteen minutes, but no real help, of course. Real help isn’t as cool as you know, being on the intertubules.
I mean, who wants to change bandages or get legislation through when there’s a new version of After Effects out?
Wow, that's quite an Axlerod quote!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/23…
“The white working class has gone to the Republican nominee for many elections, going back even to the Clinton years.”
Slightly Shorter Axlerod: “Since the white working class is just racists..”
Ah, yes. Gentrification. Xenophon was on this...
… long before I was, of course, and I never made the connection. Slow, slow. Thank you, Herb.
The implication here is that Obama’s “community organizing” skillz are, in fact, central to his candidacy, but not in the way that we think, and the results play to a different audience than we think. (Here, required listening really is required; wait for the housing part.)
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Amberglow, that's interesting but off topic
for this thread. Normally, I don’t care, but the commenters today are coming up with such great on-topic stuff, I hate to lose focus. Thanks!
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
creative class
oh poo, I lost my notes on this….is that the same as the creative right brained subject oriented learners?
Seriously, The US in contrast to Europe spreads out, this requires more resources, oddly enough the US for the most part (NY excluded, Minnesota and Southern CA) have a pretty bad transportational system (if you don’t have a car you are screwed). The farther from a city the more proportionally resources are stretched.
On the holiday gas tax. I know that my family always drive from here to there, because of gas we have been looking at air fare to see if it is cheaper to fly than to drive. We also try to get more cousins in one car, if there are 2 that might drive a separate car for a family vacation we will fly them, usually it is cheaper than spending the gas, etc.
I see the holiday tax benefitting the working class primarily, secondarily it would benefit on down, and not as much on up.
Considering how depressed our economy is, and yes it’s not a cure all but its a small thing. I do not understand why Obama would not have gotten on the gas tax deal if for no other reason than to make people feel better.
Bandaids aren’t going to heal my boo-boo, but they feel nice, especially if mom gives it a little kiss.
“The great divide in this country is not by race or even income, it’s by those who think they are better than everyone else and think they should play by a different set of rules,” —Bill Clinton
Is it just me...
… or does it seem like anglachel doesn’t “produce” at the same rate as the rest of us hard working bloggers? She hasn’t posted for almost 48 hours. Her production level is becoming incresingly inversely proportional to the demands of her audience. Damn Sadist.
Come together at The Confluence
Funny How Kid Oakland Who Is So Worried
about his nieces and nephews and the legacy of the environmental policies we enact…right now isn’t at all concerned that his savior Obama voted for Cheney’s umm environment friendly umm Energy Bill. Or that he introduced a liquified coal bill, which Gore stated was a horrible idea and is a big fan nuclear energy. Also, his savior Obama thinks Republicans have better ideas on government regulations. Tunnel vision seems to be a requirement if you worship at Obama’s feet.
i can't remember the last time
That a relatively insignificant campaign promise has generated such a swift reaction by the press. Anyone come up with other recent examples? All the media outlets talk about how “all the economists agree” that it is a lousy idea and another example of campaign PANDERING. (And doesn’t that fit in nicely with Obama’s latest anti-Washington screed?) Why aren’t tax cuts or other targeted programs discussed so one-sidedly like this gas-tax rebate program? My only thoughts are that it has to be strongly criticized because it was brought up by Clinton.
They are flogging the gas tax holiday
because they need to change the subject and they got nothing else.
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All the high-flown speeches in the world don’t amount to a pile of horseshit without being grounded in the mundane machinery of the state- Anglachel
And the beauty part is...
1. Anybody who hasn’t drunk the Barlek Kool-Aid knows to check Krugman, and he says “pointless, not evil” and
2. Hillary’s got them all arguing that the base shouldn’t get any help. Haw.
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
If Hillary walked on water
the OFB
would wankfest that she couldn’t swim.
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All the high-flown speeches in the world don’t amount to a pile of horseshit without being grounded in the mundane machinery of the state- Anglachel
If this isn’t Carville, I’ll eat my hat
This little proposal is reverberating all through the country, and the more the MSM and the blogs criticize Hillary the better she looks to voters and the more clearly she is differentiated. Obama, once again a step behind, either had to agree with Clinton or McCain and be seen as a follower or set himself in opposition to both of them and take the least desirable position. Not a leadership move.
McCain = Reduce gas tax, but also reduce government support programs = A net wash.
Clinton = Reduce gas tax, increase oil profit windfall tax, maintain government support programs = Three pluses
Obama = No gas tax break = A negative.
In tough economic times more people will vote their pocketbooks, more people will view government safety net programs as necessary, and more people will view excessive profits for big industry as unfair.
Hillary touches all three of those decision drivers in a positive way, while differentiating herself from both Obama and McCain and generating massive free publicity; this smells like a Carville strategic move to me. “Haw” indeed.
BIO: Not a negative
a nothing. Zero, nada, zip, zilch, bumpkis.
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All the high-flown speeches in the world don’t amount to a pile of horseshit without being grounded in the mundane machinery of the state- Anglachel
I think you're right on Carville
It has that lovely Carville handwriting. “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Did you see Hillary? I didn’t, but word is that she “stuttered” when asked to name a prominent economist who supported it. Did anyone hear? Did she in fact stutter? Because now I’m betting now.
Anyhow, look how well the economists have been doing for us…
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Since Obama is knee-jerk rejecting anything Hillary proposes
she should think of other proposals for Obama to oppose.
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All the high-flown speeches in the world don’t amount to a pile of horseshit without being grounded in the mundane machinery of the state- Anglachel
myiq--she always has--
that’s why she’s attractive to millions of actual Democrats.
His oppositions and rejections are really not helping him—and him not pushing his own proposals as better alternatives (which they aren’t, if they exist at all) in all the soundbites and ads hurts him greatly too.
In times of crisis, doing nothing isn't popular.
Just ask Herbert Hoover.
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All the high-flown speeches in the world don’t amount to a pile of horseshit without being grounded in the mundane machinery of the state- Anglachel
it's just a distraction
they’re making a giant deal out of to distract from Wright—it’s not working tho, if the Sunday shows and papers and weekly mags are any indication.
Inside Washington
Inside Washington on NPR. Just flipped the tube on to see what the blowhards have to say; they are my negative indicators. Moderator and panel of four all agree Hillary’s gas tax proposal is a bad idea, therefore it must be brilliant. They agree the economy actually “isn’t that bad” so we are headed on a worse course than anticipated. They agree that McCain has a real shot at the White House; suddenly I am feeling more confident about November.
If Hillary stutters she’ll get criticized for being hesitant. If she doesn’t stutter she’ll be criticized for being a smooth-talker. The hard-core R’s and the committed OFB
listen to that nonsense; more and more sane voters are tuning it out, which is why the MSM/VRWC
/OFB have had to escalate the noise level just to be heard.
By November, every one of these fake criticisms will not just be ignored by voters but seen as an annoyance. Fifteen years of Clinton-bashing is about to flip back on these fools, and they don’t know what to do about it. The more they bash her, the more she will gain power; the more power she gets the more she will be able to exact payback.
Payback Is A Bitch.
"she should think of other proposals for Obama to oppose."
like single-payer!
That's what I've been saying
Attacking and bashing Clinton, in the manner that has worked on every Dem since Carter, will not work against her.
More people in this country get a queasy feeling watching a women getting beaten(metaphorically or physically), more than those who feel a “tingle” when they see it(though they aren’t outnumbered my much).
This will work in the Dems favor in Nov.
Bill Clinton for First Dude!!!
That's brilliant, Hipparchia
Adjust the plan and make it stronger.
“As I’ve been travelling about the country, talking to ordinary Americans…”
It writes itself. Obama will then consult the elite economists, and they will give him something their owners will love and the voters will hate. And we’re off the races!
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
I thought Hillary should have made bold proposals
back in February when Obama was on his winning streak and she had nothing to lose.
She is more liberal than Bill but still takes positions to the right of her true beliefs.
With nothing to lose, why not go all in and propose a truly liberal/progressive agenda.
Okay, I’m dreaming but if you’re gonna dream, dream big!
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All the high-flown speeches in the world don’t amount to a pile of horseshit without being grounded in the mundane machinery of the state- Anglachel
She doesn't want to promise the moon
the fail to deliver the stars. That would leave us with a 1 term Clinton re-presidency, and I think she needs 2.
Bill Clinton for First Dude!!!
Aeryl: The OFB will hate on her if she cures AIDS
while balancing the budget and achieving world peace.
If Hillary wins, she will win twice. Bet the rent.
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All the high-flown speeches in the world don’t amount to a pile of horseshit without being grounded in the mundane machinery of the state- Anglachel