And I’m sure you’ll all have a happy new year!
Except for the poor suckers who will be forced to buy unreliable private health insurance or face a tax penalty; and the 19% of workers whose employer-provided health plans will henceforth be taxed; and the women whose reproductive rights were sold to a handful of bible-thumping congresscritters in exchange for votes on this “historic” health care legislation. Not to mention the millions of other people for whom our for-profit system of “health care” already fails, and for whom this “reform” will do next to nothing.
But never mind that, because Obama says THIS IS THE BIGGEST LEGISLATIVE VICTORY SINCE LIKE FOREVER!!1! W00t!!
But anyway …
In order to bring back some of the Christmas spirit I’ve sapped with this downer post, here’s Jack Benny buying a Christmas present. Also: Frank Nelson. Yeeeesssssss???
Remember the good old days when Obama was touted as a wizard who was going to solve all America’s problems?
Yes … yes … I’ve gotten my share of “I told you so’s” from conservative pals. But really, most of them have no room to talk. A growing number of former Obama supporters (such as myself) have already seen him for the weak-kneed corporate whore that he is, and have begun to push back.
And yet most Bush supporters spent some six or seven years blindly wallowing in his ineptitude before they even began questioning him (think immigration reform and the sale of ports to Dubai). And some of them still think invading Iraq was a good idea.
Just sayin’.
Bush was hardly a conservative President, if you look back at his record. “No Child Left Behind” was actually conceived by…Senator Ted Kennedy. Also, look at the money he spent on foreign aid to Africa, etc.
The fact is, that I knew from Day One, was that he was a Chicago Machine politician (OK, it’s not supposed to exist anymore, but who really believes that?) who got very lucky. He became an Illinois senator because his Republican opponent got destroyed in an abruptly-revealed sex scandal. He became the Democratic nominee when Hillary Clinton flubbed her candidacy, and the President when the US economy suddenly went bad. McCain was a weak candidate, but I felt him more competent for the office than who we have now, who is clearly in over his head.
As it happens, I live in the Chicagoland area myself. That’s how I knew.
Bush’s record? You mean the $1.8 trillion in tax cuts that overwhelmingly favored the top income earners? The Patriot Act? Invading Iraq on evidence that was provably false? Having his hack lawyers write memos justifying crushing a boy’s testicles as a form of interrogation? Etc.?
It’s safe to say Bush is “hardly a conservative” now, but where was the outrage among conservatives when he was supposedly crapping on their ideology for 8 years? Where were all those conservatives speaking out against him or criticizing his policies? Oh right, most of them were too busy accusing liberals of treason for doing just that.
Oh the conservatives were criticizing him, all right. Nobody was taking notice though. And as for the Patriot Act, note that Obama hasn’t tried to repeal it. Also, it was no attack on civil liberties. If it made it treasonous to attack Bush, the news media must not have gotten the message.
Crushing a boy’s testicles? I never heard that one before.
Oh the conservatives were criticizing him, all right. Nobody was taking notice though.
In complete seriousness, I would love to see evidence of this. Particularly from 2001-2006. If you have links to blog posts, or op-eds, or anything of this nature dating from Bush’s presidency, please send ‘em!
And as for the Patriot Act, note that Obama hasn’t tried to repeal it.
Because he’s a f*cking tool. Honestly, I ain’t gonna expend a damn bit of energy defending Obama (or any of the spineless Democrats in Congress). He lost my support for good. The hell with him.
If it made it treasonous to attack Bush, the news media must not have gotten the message.
Tell that to the Dixie Chicks.
Crushing a boy’s testicles? I never heard that one before.
Here ya go.
I am no legal expert, and this is from Wikipedia, but this is what I found on the USA Patriot Act:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act
I do not pretend to understand it fully, but when it was mentioned on another forum, there were lawyers who argues that it actually only consoldiates existing US laws. In any case, the Supreme Court did strike down certain key items of laws passed that have to do with these matters.
The link you provided indicated that Yoo said there was no law against the executive branch ordering it.
The Dixie Chicks didn’[t run afoul of the Bush administration, but alienated their own fanbase, who were, at least at the time, behind the President.
I have no links readily available, but I’ve read a number of columns by the late Robert Novak, and many of them certainly criticized the Bush administration.
It doesn’t bother you that John Yoo basically said that the President has the constitutional right to order the sexual mutilation of children? And that not only did he SAY that, but he actually wrote a memo in 2002 arguing that the President does indeed have such powers? Come on, restore my faith in humanity. Tell me it bothers the hell out of you.
And I never said the Dixie Chicks ran afoul of the Bush Administration. I meant they ran afoul of Bush’s rabid frothing followers who slimed them with the help of a far-too-accommodating news media, accusing them of everything from treason to being Saddam’s sex slaves.
I remember in junior high school we had to study the US Constitution and take a test on it to graduate, per Illinois law. (The Illinois State Constitution as well.) The teacher mentioned that the President was immune to being arrested while he was in office, the reason being that he couldn’t be arrested on trumped-up criminal charges such as treason (a common practice in Britain in that era). I remember the class laughed nervously and asked if it meant he could get away with murder as well. Evidently the answer was yes. Presumably that’s why we have impeachment.
As for the Dixie Chicks, they have the right to say anything about the President that they want. Everyone else has the right to despise them for it. ‘Nuff said.
Impeachment is only for serious offenses, like blowjobs.
It’s not really meant for pedestrian stuff like invading other countries, and torturing and imprisoning people without charges.
Clinton was guilty of far worse than sex. Perjury, obstruction of justice, etc. After his term ended he agreed to be disbarred-a serious thing to do to a lawyer. The Watergate scandal didn’t kill anybody either.
As far as invading other countries, most if not all US Presidents have done these things, often without declaration of war. As for people being held without charges, it’s a question of whether the people are enemy combatants, criminals, etc. which is actually vague under US law. It took a decade to decide what to do with Brian Dougherty, who was imprisoned in the US as a fugitive from Northern Ireland and had fought for the IRA, due to legal quibbles.
The fact that Clinton perjured and obstructed justice, stupid and illegal as it was, does not give the issue any added gravity. He was basically impeached for lying about a blowjob. Clinton was a dipshit, but his dipshitism didn’t lead to death and destruction. Well, except for Newt Gingrich’s political career. But that’s another story.
By the way, I would consider authorizing torture to be an impeachable offense of a magnitude far worse than lying about your sex life.
Like I said, neither did Watergate. And lest you forget, Clinton did get us involved in the war in Yugoslavia, which was really none of our business except the Europeans couldn’t handle it themselves. And Yugoslavia was absolutely no miliotary threat to anybody.
When I referred to Clinton’s dipshitism, I meant it strictly in terms of the impeachment proceedings. Though his other instances of dipshittery (signing NAFTA, the Defense of Marriage Act, pushing for financial deregulation, dismantling Welfare, etc.) are just as deserving of the moniker.
Going on a different note, here’s a song and video I find appropriate for the news about Obama: “Hero Takes a Fall” by the Bangles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGuj50t_P-k
Oh yeah, I forgot the whole reason for this thread was because Obama is a spineless corporate sellout who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about reforming our broken institutions. Thanks for the reminder!
Now we can finally agree on something: the current President is a dipshit.
Happy New Year!
It’s not just you. A lot of his former supporters have turned on him so abruptly after the passage of the health care bill, it certainly took me by shock!
There have been a lot of broken promises from Obama this year (lack of action in cleaning up the financial mess, not repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, not reigning in the most egregious abuses of power from the Bush years, continuing to indefinitely detain innocent people at secret prisons, the list goes on).
But the health care bill was the final straw.
Obama campaigned on a public option, and repeatedly insisted that a public option must be included in any bill he signs, even as recently as this summer. This is well documented. But now that the public option is out of the bill, he has the brass knobs to get in front of a camera and lie his ass off: “I didn’t campaign on a public option.” All he wants is a bill — any bill — that he can sign and wave it around in 2012 saying “look what I did!”.
Look, liberals understand the need for compromise when you’re making legislation. We get it. If this health care bill was merely “weak”, we could probably live with it. But there is a difference between compromising and just throwing everything away hoping to appease people who completely disagree with you. Thanks to the capitulation of Obama and the Democratic “leadership”, this health care bill is not just “weak”. It’s “bad”. As in, worse than what we have now. I honestly didn’t think they could make our health care system any worse, but I was evidently wrong.
Oh, and the public option is more popular with the American people than Obama is right now.
You might find this article by Charles Krauthammer, who is a former doctor, interesting, whether you agree with him or not:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/25/AR2009112503607.html
Written before the bills were voted on BTW.
One thing about you: at least, unlike other liberals, you are willing to criticize Bill Clinton while practically every other liberal goes out of his way to praise him to the skies.
“Willing to criticize”? I loathe the bastard.
Thanks to Clinton and his “triangulating”, we are left with a Democratic Party that is mostly interested in appeasing corporations, and giving the highest priority to the demands of a few conservative congressmen … regardless of how much those demands are out of step with the vast majority of the Democratic base. This is Clinton’s legacy. And from the looks of things, it’s going to be Obama’s legacy, too.
I remember when I was a high school sophomore Bush was elected the first time. The only thing I could think at the time was ‘I can’t believe Americans would rather have a president they could be buddies with over a president who could get the job done.’ Now whether or not Gore could do the job is a matter for those with time machines, but Bush couldn’t do it..
I was a senior in high school when Bush was elected, and at the time I didn’t realize how shady a deal it was. After reading up on it over the years, I found that during the recount the Republicans flew people to Florida to chant and shout and protest and make it seem like they were representative of the majority of the voting public (even though some of them weren’t even from Florida). Throw in that crazy Supreme Court ruling and to this day, you still have to wonder if Bush actually did manage to steal the damn thing. It wouldn’t surprise me.
I think we all need to look at the undeniable facts: For example Dick Cheney besides being the most accurately named man in the world is also a sith. Sean Hannity is a jackball and neither party is worth the time to call them morons. That’s why I’ve decided to start a third party I hope I can count on everyones votes in 2012 My Grandma/Elvis in the white house!
Guess who else feels the exact same way about Obama:
http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20091225
Looks like he’s going to be the 21st century Lyndon Johnson.
Actually, I’d take Lyndon Johnson over Obama any day of the week. Heck, I’d even go for Eisenhower.
Both men accomplished some astoundingly progressive things during their terms. Ike gave us the Interstate Highway Bill and the first Civil Rights Act. LBJ gave us Medicare, Medicaid and the second Civil Rights Act. Obama is giving us a flaming bag of dog sh!t he’s laughingly referring to as “health care reform.”
You’re right, my sincerest apologies to Lyndon Johnson. He did make some genuine accomplishments, though I was referring to the fact that he got the young Left upset with him over the Vietnam War. At least he was originally a hero for a valid reason, not just some party hack whose reputation was all hype and wishful thinking and nothing else.
Ironically, Obama has finally earned his Nobel Peace Prize after all. He has managed to unite all political sides of the USA-against him. Don’t take my word for it; columnist Kathleen Parker has said the exact same thing in a recent column.