Friday News Roundup - Domestic
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-06-22/friday-news-roundup-domestic
A House panel voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney told a Latino group he would replace and supersede President Barack Obama’s immigration plan. Federal Reserve officials extended a program known as “Operation Twist” and said they were prepared to do more if necessary to spur job growth. Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times, Jeanne Cummings of Bloomberg News and Ari Shapiro of NPR join guest host Terence Smith for analysis of the week's top national news stories.
Guests
Doyle McManus
columnist, Los Angeles Times.
Jeanne Cummings
deputy government editor, Bloomberg News.
Ari Shapiro
White House correspondent, NPR.
Friday News Roundup Video
Moody's downgraded the long-term credit ratings of 15 major U.S., Canadian and European banks Thursday, including five of the six largest American banks. Our panel discussed what it means for the U.S. economy and consumers. "It reflects the continuing fears that Europe's financial crisis is not over, that the banking system is still fragile," said Los Angeles Times columnist Doyle McManus. Jeanne Cummings, deputy government editor for Bloomberg News, said the downgrade reflected the lack of confidence in economic growth projections. Ari Shapiro, White House correspondent for NPR, described the Federal Reserve's Operation Twist monetary policy as "economic jujitsu."
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The Republicans plan to spend in excess of 1.2 Billion in order to defeat Obama. That's $1,200,000,000.....
What an unconscionable waste of money! This borders on the sick and obscene. For one moment imagine if you will the "good" that money could do if applied to our "real problems" in this country.
Think of the sickness, pain and hunger that could alleviate.
But.... instead one political party decides that it would be better to purchase the United States to the tune of 1.2 Billion dollars. Of course this only ups the ante on the other side as well, making this the most expensive election in American history, and perhaps the last one for democracy ever.
I am ashamed of my country and ashamed of what politics has turned it into.... if you are in favor of any of this, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Maybe someday you will have to explain to either your children or your grand children how you helped sell out the country.
Like being paid some beans for your cow. Just don't expect a beanstalk or a giants golden-egg-laying goose at the other end....because just like then, this is a fairy tale as well.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/obama-campaign-predicts...
Here are some excerpts from the link used in the above post, talk about spinning, hey TB!
Senior officials in President Obama’s re-election campaign predicted Wednesday that Republicans will spend upwards of $1.2 billion on television ads in the general election, a sum they are unlikely to match.
To be clear, some (or maybe most) of this — campaign officials talking on background about how great the other guy is doing in fundraising — is spin. Obama is no slouch when it comes to fundraising — he collected $750 million in 2008 — and his campaign is smart enough to know that one of the best ways to goose its own major (and minor) donors is to warn of the avalanche of money coming in on the other side.
"I think without question the president will be the first president in our lifetime who is going to be outspent in an election,” campaign strategist David Axelrod told the Wall Street Journal last Friday.
'There’s little evidence that campaign finance has the power to persuade undecided voters, however. While most people believe there is far too much money in politics, they tend to adopt a “pox on both your houses” mentality, making it tough for one side to score political points'.
No spin monte....1.2 billion is still 1.2 billion and it is being wasted on politics when it could and should be put to better use. If you bothered to read my previous post I was placing a pox on both political parties.
I know where your loyalties lie and I know that you are fooling yourself. Conservatives and liberals alike are being fooled. Wall Street tells America what to do and it does it!
If Americans wanted to make a true statement....then they'd boycott the polls.
You know, a truly radical idea like...."what if they held and election and no one showed up". But you're a sheeple like you claim others to be and will dutifully show up and waste your vote for a party that doesn't give a rip about you.
Americans should take the truly radical step of not participating in this joke because it is meaningless, we are not a democracy and have not been one for a good long time.
We are the best country money can buy.
Teece Bowman wrote:"No spin monte....1.2 billion is still 1.2 billion" "dutifully show up and waste your vote for a party that doesn't give a rip about you"
Not when it's not 1.2 billion, did you even read your own link?
I just can't get into this "I'm a victim" scene, the government we deserve thing works for me. My ideal candidate would be the one who cuts the government middle class umbilical cord and then and only then can people live up to their true potential. There are some very stark differences between the two candidates and one of them is playing the victimization card pretty hard.
Look monte.....
Truth of the matter is the Republicans and the Democrats are going to waste far more than 1. 2 Billion. It could be multiple billions before this is all through....my point is that money spent in politics is a waste. Period.
Of all people you would think that a simple fact like wasted money would sink in on you. Evidently not...there's no difference between Obama and Romney. It's just a matter of which one Wall Street is going to anoint.
You are a victim monte.....a victim of your own limited thought.
This report should clear up a lot of things about Republican belief systems....
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~benv/files/poll%20responses%20by%20party%20ID.pdf
"Rather than a failure of the media, therefore, this latest poll result seems to indicate a refusal -- unique to the modern Republican Party -- to acknowledge facts."
The Pew survey adds to a wave of surveys and studies showing that GOP-sympathizers are better informed, more intellectually consistent, more open-minded, more empathetic and more receptive to criticism than their fellow Americans who support the Democratic Party.
http://reason.com/blog/2012/04/23/republicans-know-more-than-democrats-say
"Get the Government out of MY Medicare"
Typical T-Party and Fox News informed viewer.
Teece Bowman wrote:
Truth of the matter is the Republicans and the Democrats are going to waste far more than 1. 2 Billion. It could be multiple billions before this is all through....my point is that money spent in politics is a waste. Period.
Teece,
I get that you don't like the money in politics, but how would you be made aware of the the candidates and their stance on issues if they didn't spend money. Money I might add that individual citizens donate to the cause to show their support of a particular candidate or general party. And sure there is the corporations are people argument, corporations that are run by people, employ people, and whose profits go to people. Therefore there is no good reason for them to be considered people(let the downstream people speak for themselves with there money). Money is not bad, it is a way for the citizenry to state there position in an organized fashion. Don't be an idealist, it provides no value, be realistic about what you are trying to achieve and then work doggedly to do so. I respect your opinion but disagree with your assertion that money in politics is wasted. I like to hear for all candidates even the ones I typically disagree with, a good idea is a good idea no matter where it comes from.
I continue to hear about how horrible the economy is doing. In Michigan, where we were certainly very hard hit in 2008, today I see restaurants midweek packed with waits of 30 minutes. It is hard to find parking in the mall, and the traffic getting to work is heavier than ever. I live outside Detroit. Houses are selling, and people are working. We aren't totally there yet....but things are MUCH better than they were in 2008. The more people speak of how badly the economy is doing, I am beginning to feel it is misinformation to continue to portray all this negativism.
Look my assertion is that money is being wasted. Any amount of money that is not being used to better humanity, to improve everyones lot in life.....is a waste.
Okay, for a moment, think about what the stated amount (from the article headline) of 1.2 Billion might do for cancer research. Think about how far that amount of money might go towards curing disease, or being applied to other life enhancing pursuits.
Instead what do we get? Hours and hours of negative and often outright false statements that serve no purpose other than to stir up and foment hatred.
Now take at figure of 1.2 Billion and expand on it, because it is only the tip of an iceberg.
Why not completely limit political discussion? Why not tell candidates that you get only this amount of money (both equal) and or, this amount of time (both equal) and be done with it. If you cannot persuade people in the same amount of time with the same resources, then your original philosophy must not have been very good to begin with. I recognize that this is idealistic, but I also cannot get past the outright waste which also provides no value.
PMPS wrote:
"The more people speak of how badly the economy is doing, I am beginning to feel it is misinformation to continue to portray all this negativism."
See this is what I'm talking about. Money in the form of funds being spent by PAC's being used to tell lies. If the economy is improving in a certain area, then let the truth be stated. (which is impossible) But both political parties will go in and cherry pick statistics and lie about one another.
If you keep Americans at one anothers throat, you can then hide from them the fact that you are swindling them. And both parties are swindlers busy at the business of getting rich and rewarding the wealthy.
And the wealthy pump more money into the misinformation machine and the cycle just repeats.
There is only one solution to this.....don't participate in it.
Maybe if the liberal biased main stream media covered Fast and Furious like they covered Alberto Gonzales people might know something about it. Too much to ask these days for even handed reporting. Unlike Alberto Gonzales there has been a virtual media blackout of "fast and furious" so why would any Congressional democrats feel any pressure to ask Eric Holder to resign.
Ari, to suggest that the time to give the Fast&Furious contempt issue credence is only once Dems join in is just pure NPR liberal-centric foolishness. During a Presidential election year, there could be pictures of Obama having sex with children and not a single Dem would step up to express concern.
Re Jeanne's comment that Americans want Congress to focus on the economy ONLY and not Fast&Furious (or apparently any other issue) is equally foolish. I'd argue that the White House could be using the sucky economy as a cover to promote the idea that people should expect Congress to focus only on the economy and nothing else so that the Administration's support (direct or indirect) of a program that resulted in the death of Americans can go uninvestigated. NPR sure won't be looking into it.
And to suggest that a concept is widely held because Jay Carney mentioned it is laughable. He's as biased as one could possibly be, and yet you present his making an utterance as an example of an impartial widely held view.
"Winning" an online discussion is like winning the Special Olympics.
You may win, but you're still "special".
Are you saying liberal commentators are severely retarded?
You mentioned making a new amendment to help control the money flowing through campaigns these days. Is there any political will do so?
"Fast and Furious" is being compared to "Iran Contra" by Fox News types. Where is the Ollie North document shredder? Where is the terrorist organization the guns were to wind up?
Ollie North got a gig worth millions as an infamous liar on Fox News,will Holder get millions from MSNBC for the same ?
LibVet wrote:
" Being old enough to remember the 50's, I remember the conservatives' unwarranted commies-behind-every-bush paranoia. Conservatives have merely exchanged one bogey man for another."
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Your memory of the 50's is clouded with invincible ignorance. Communists were not "behind-every bush," but Americans, in and out of government, i.e.
Harry Dexter White, Senior U.S. Treasury department official
Alger Hiss, Lawyer involved in the establishment of the United Nations, both as a U.S. State Department and UN official
Harold Glasser, U.S. Treasury Dept. economist, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.
Nathan Gregory Silvermaster, U.S. War Production Board (WPB)
spied for the Soviets.
In case you didn't know it, the Rosenbergs actually did provide the Soviets with classified nuclear weapon secrets. This was confirmed with the release of the Venona documents. Not to mention The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) at that time was indeed being manipulated by the Soviets.
It is the liberals who have a fondness for crowning bogeymen, i.e. McCarthy, Goldwater, Reagan, etc. Libs are the ones who attacked Roy Cohn for being a homosexual.
Did Jeanne Cummings really say that the media/reporters do the best they can when reporting a story? Does she not remember the coverage of the runup to the Iraq war and subsequent grovelling, I mean coverage?
I'm disappointed with the discussion being led by Terrence Smith and in particular comments made by both Doyle and Jeanne.
I miss Diane and hope she returns soon.
Teece Bowman wrote:
Look my assertion is that money is being wasted. Any amount of money that is not being used to better humanity, to improve everyones lot in life.....is a waste.
Okay, for a moment, think about what the stated amount (from the article headline) of 1.2 Billion might do for cancer research. Think about how far that amount of money might go towards curing disease, or being applied to other life enhancing pursuits.
You do realize that this 1.2 billion dollars doesn't disappear right, the money is in motion through the economy, take television. The Candidate hires an advertising firm, a producer a director, and a few other persons to handle the technical side of it and possibly a few actors. Then they pay the television station, who pay their employees and make a profit. And taxes are being paid on the profit to all of these persons, or companies along the way. And the individuals are more then within there rights to donate to cancer research . Or continue buying goods and services that make a profit for others to pay taxes on and donate as they see fit. Your argument breaks down when you look at it logically. As a person with typically more liberal views I would think the increase in taxation on the money in motion would be something you could get behind.
Are you saying they're winning?
Patsy Nomore wrote:
"Ollie North got a gig worth millions as an infamous liar on Fox News,will Holder get millions from MSNBC for the same ?"
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North is on FOX News once a week with "War Stories." He is not a pundit or anchor. On the other hand, MSNBC showcases Al Sharpton, who came to fame for trying to prop up notorious liar Tawana Brawley. ABC News hired George Stephanopoulos. His claim to fame prior to that was selling POTUS Clinton's lies about Lewinski. Judging by the liberal bias of news stalwarts i.e., Cronkite, Rather, Koppel, Williams, etc, Holder would be right at home in the lame stream media.
Teece Bowman wrote:
"The Republicans plan to spend in excess of 1.2 Billion in order to defeat Obama. That's $1,200,000,000.....
What an unconscionable waste of money! This borders on the sick and obscene. For one moment imagine if you will the "good" that money could do if applied to our "real problems" in this country.
Think of the sickness, pain and hunger that could alleviate."
The President spent in excess of 2.5 Trillion on ineffective stimulus and an unconstitutional health care act. That's $2,500,000,000,000.....
What an unconscionable waste of money! This borders on the sick and obscene. For one moment imagine if you will the "good" that money could do if applied to our "real problems" in this country.
Think of the sickness, pain and hunger that could alleviate.
Listening this morning to a lot of opinion and understood weekly roundup to be more about the facts; an overview of the week’s events nationally; and the guest lineup is an obvious offering as usual though; and not as thrilled with that too.
Arkus:
Re: "GOP-sympathizers are better informed" -
That flies in the face of a Fairleigh Dickson study earlier in the year that even John Stewart referred to in his interview on Faux Snooze which indicated Fox viewers and their ilk are far more poorly informed than those who get their news elsewhere. Is it really fair to trade "statistics" and studies from sources that have a built in agenda?
Next thing you'll let us in on is that a Rasmussen poll says X or Y.
Or will you quote Michael Savage or Rush or Anne Coulter ?
The Obama "Stimulus" gave Cleveland Ohio a new huge Interstate bridge,saving us 100`s of millions of local tax dollars. The T-Party sees these projects and jobs as wasted money. I see their continuing plan of blowing up other countries as a waste of wealth and blood.Oh yea,oddly enough our T-Party Governor named this bridge the 'George Voinovich' Bridge,a T-Party Republican who voted against it. Can you spell HYPOCRISY ? They even passed a T-Party law forbidding a sign be placed on these 'Stimulus' projects.
LibVet wrote:
"That flies in the face of a Fairleigh Dickson study earlier in the year that even John Stewart referred to in his interview on Faux Snooze which indicated Fox viewers and their ilk are far more poorly informed than those who get their news elsewhere."
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That would be the same Jon (not John) Stewart who called MSNBC's line up "The Munsters." Does Olbermann pay you to say "Fox Noise," "Faux News," "Faux Snooze," etc?
http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/2009/01/08/jon-stewart-msnbc-is-like-...
This is very simple:
Mitt Romney is an ROI / Bottom-Line kind of guy.
If you are wealthy, Mitt has promised you tax-cuts.
There are approximately 250 multi-billionaires in the United States. If you are one of them, or even a pauper like Romney with only $250 million, those tax cuts amount to many multiples of the U. S. median household income.
To the mega-wealthy given the ROI they will receive by putting Mitt Romney and the Republicans in total control of our government, $1.2 Billion, $2 Billion, or even $3 Billion is a mere pittance
Watch out for the tsunami of money that will sweep away the typical budget in many House and Senate races, as well as into the battleground states in the last few days of the election.
Don't forget the SuperPac money can be used to hire people on the ground. I'm sure they'll be hiring limousines to drive Republicans to the polls who don't vote in every election.
Add that to scouring the voter rolls in Florida, new voter-id laws, cutting back on the days for early voting, and robo-calls stating if you voted in the Democratic Primary, "you're job is done", and we could be headed for a total takeover of our government by the Ayn Rand branch of the GOP.
The $1.2 Billion is a modest estimate of what the mega-wealthy will spend to buy their tax-breaks and it doesn't even include the money they'll dump on House & Senate races.