Despite Huge Push, Support For Obama's Budget Slips A Bit (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line) Despite the huge push by Obama and Dems to sell his budget over the past several weeks, a new Gallup poll finds that public support for it hasn't budged and may have even slipped a bit...At the end of February, 44% of national adults hold a generally positive view of the budget; now that number stands at 39%. Gallup says this shows that support for the budget has "held steady," probably because the shift is within the margin of error. But Gallup, interestingly, also says that there has been a "noteworthy" drop in support for it among moderates and liberals.
Washington Dems To Blame For Slip In Support For Budget? (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line) - One reader writes: "Since the first poll was taken, Congress has taken steps to make this budget more conservative. And support for the budget has dropped amongst liberals and moderates. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that the problem here is D.C. Democrats are listening to Republicans concerns instead of voters concerns." A second reader opines: "I am sure there are some Democrats/liberals/progressives whose view of the budget might be negative now because of the fact that Kent Conrad and the rest of the ConservaDems have watered it down and taken out the health care money and the cap and trade provisions." Given that the new Gallup poll finds that support for the budget has slipped nine points among liberals and eight points among moderates, these takes sound pretty plausible.
House GOP offers budget blueprint but scant detail (AP) House Republicans have released their response to President Barack Obama's deficit-laden budget, but their glossy pamphlet offers little beyond campaign-style talking points.
GOP Releases Problem-Laden Alternative "Budget" Preview (Dissenting Justice) Highlights from the Blueprint Politics, Politics, Politics The blueprint reads like a political document, rather than a budget (or budget preview) Questionable Statements As with most political documents, the blueprint distorts the record. Fiscally Troubling The Republican blueprint suffers from the same problem as the Obama budget: It promises to do many things with insufficient funds.
John here: We really need to start thinking about a third party.
Comparing the U.S. to Russia and Argentina (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon) Desmond Lachman - the former chief strategist for emerging markets at Salomon Smith Barney and a long-time official with the IMF (no raving socialist he) argues that the most apt comparison for the U.S. now is not Japan's "lost decade," but rather, "that the United States is coming to resemble Argentina, Russia and other so-called emerging markets, both in what led us to the crisis, and in how we're trying to fix it."
Despite the limitless gorging on public funds by the very oligarchs (government owners) who caused the financial crisis in the first place, the predominant sentiment from our establishment media now is that Obama needs to force ordinary Americans to "sacrifice more."
The Quiet Coup (The Atlantic) The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, Simon Johnson, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government.
So why do we put up with this? WHY AREN'T WE TAKING THE BRIBERY MONEY OUT OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS?-Caro
Instead, Congress is working to get MORE bribery money into the political process: House Democrats Track Who's Helping Party (Political Wire) "It's never too early in election cycle to start fundraising -- or to shame your colleagues into contributing," CQ Poltics reports. "The campaign arm of Democrats serving in the House is privately circulating a tally showing members of that caucus where they stack up in fundraising for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)." "With a quarterly filing period coming to an end next week, the internal list provides an early look at which members of the majority are looking to flex fundraising muscle within the party -- and earn favor with the leadership while they're at it."
So this is good news: Parties See Drop in Fundraising (Washington Post) Between economic turmoil and a campaign that endlessly taxed donors, political giving slows.
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If I ever reflect on how it is that I went from being a huge fan of Obama's, to a person who was excited about him and waiting to hear his plans, to wondering why I was not hearing anything tangible, to coming to terms with that fact he had no intention of clarifying anything, to coming to understand that he was a shallow pretender, to loathing everything his campaign represents - I will look no further than this email I received today from an Obamite:
let me guess with all respect, -- you are below college education. thats for sure. right? -- you have a working class background. thats also for sure. right? -- you are not interested in politics. thats possible. right? -- you prefer to eat cheese stakes at geno's. thats also possible. right? -- your are just a bad bad-boy who likes to play mind games. maybe. right? have a nice day
I loath these people. I will vote for McCain or no one if Obama gets the nomination. Not because every one of these assumptions is wrong about me. I have a BFA, come from a middle class background, am obsessed with politics, and am a bad boy but not a "bad bad" boy. (A cheese "stake" would be a bizarre and pointless item so I have no use for it, but I do like a cheese steak every now and again). I will vote for McCain or not at all because of the dripping, oozing condescension that Obamites have for those without college degrees. Because of the high end, fraudulent contempt Obamites have for the working class. Because I do not want to sit through another 4 years of an administration populated by those who think "cheese steak" consumers are less than equal partners in a democracy. I don't give a flying crap where the prigs land on the Left/Right scale.
By lying overtly and covertly about who he is Obama has poisoned this campaign and this country. He has used his considerable talents as an orator to fool the chattering classes and the media. He has used skillful oratory to blur his questionable past, rewrite our recent history, and open another gash in the wound of race in America. He has taken the difficult issue of race and turned it into a Benetton commercial and wonders why Pennsylvania isn't buying it. He breathlessly compares his grandmother to the putrid Wright and wonders why his grand "speech" didn't take. He has taken the low road, while claiming the high one. He has lied about his intentions for the wars if elected. He has lied about his association with his church: Our Lady of Perpetual Resentment. He has plagiarized speeches, lied about both Clintons, lied about NAFTA, and run a dishonest, ruthless campaign. He has willfully associated with bigots, slumlords and terrorists to further his career. (Yes, William Ayres is a terrorist.) He has turned the idea of meritocracy on its head by elevating vagueness and self promotion to messianic heights. He has accomplished nothing of note in his public life and insults those who have. Finally, the clip below of the staged "woman fainting" at his revival meetings is seemingly minor but goes to the heart of the Obama ideology: Illusion over reality.
He is a fraud.
I loath his campaign for good reason.
Voters in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, and North Carolina can drive a stake (cheese?) into the heart of the Obama campaign - or Republicans, Independents, and 25-40% of the Democrats can in November.
Let me tell you: if Michigan and Florida had not been thrown overboard by Howard Dean and Donna Brazile - Obama would not matter. "God Damn, America!" is not going away. It is testimony to the willing irresponsibility of the media that Wright's bile was not shown to the nation earlier. If Wright had been known to us in January, Obama would be a footnote now. It was out there to be seen. It is only compliant, brain-dead, synchophants in the MSM that kept those tapes off the air for so long. With two candidates that cannot get a majority of the delegates we have a real monster on our hands.
Obama has never been qualified for the Presidency. But staying in a church in which your pastor screams GOD DAMN AMERICA! from the pulpit disqualifies him forever. He is responsible for his actions. His action in this case was to make excuses. All the ass kissing by all the kings men - and women - (Olbermann, Dowd, Rich, and the rest) can't put Obama back together again. Independents are falling away like Greenland glaciers. Republicans will be energized. And half the Democratic party will be angry.
Finally, when all is said and done - it is his lunatic supporters I fear most. We have gotten a small taste of that happy mob turning ugly this week. Imagine what they'd do with a President Obama (lol) stranded between his own rhetoric and reality.
