As the GOP prepares to cave...

Hmmm...

Bipartisan Wall Street reform negotiations appeared on the brink of collapse Tuesday night after Republican and Democratic principals found themselves at an impasse over the issue of consumer financial protection. But though Republicans have been promising all week to sustain a filibuster, blocking debate on the Democrats' legislation, they now seem prepared to cede the current fight, explicitly saying that, if talks don't bear fruit soon, they'll allow the bill to move to the floor.

"I don't feel like there's a real possibility in the near future of getting a bipartisan bill... I just don't feel that's a possibility," said Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) in response to a question from TPMDC.

Corker hasn't decided if he himself will ultimately decide to break a GOP filibuster of financial reform legislation--but he's fairly certain that a global agreement between Democrats and Republicans is likely impossible. "I don't feel under any pressure [but] I'm just far less optimistic than I've ever been."

Unlike Corker, Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), long thought to be a financial reform swing vote, said he'll give negotiations between Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Richard Shelby (R-AL) a bit more time--he said he's likely to vote to sustain the filibuster again tomorrow. But if there's no breakthrough soon, he's going to vote with the Democrats to debate the issue on the floor.

And what did Jonathan Chait say...oh, yesterday?!??

Republicans think they can limit the political damage of a filibuster if they reach a bipartisan deal. But what incentive do the democrats have to reach a deal? If they can force the Republicans to maintain a filibuster, why not keep the issue going until November? The strategy here seems to be, take a political hit by opposing popular legislation, and then hope that somehow this will strengthen the party's hand in the negotiations to follow. How will this work? It's like trying to bluff your opponent in poker when both you and he know he has the stronger hand.

What's more, Republicans are no longer even pretending to be able to hold the line after today's vote.

Now that the Democrats know the Republicans are planning to defect after the first vote, why on Earth would they compromise? Moreover, what is the point of taking the hit by filibustering reform in the first place? It could work, in theory, if you could bluff the Democrats into thinking the GOP might hold the line indefinitely. But I'm pretty sure the Democratic party has access to articles published in Politico, which means the jig is up. So now the Republicans are trying to bluff in poker when they and their opponent know they have the weaker hand, and their opponent has heard them admit that their strategy is to bet for a couple rounds and fold before the end. Why not just cut their losses now? This makes zero sense.

As Always...

Richard Cohen, as ever...with his head stuck up his @#$...

The President and Vice-President's Eulogies at Beckley, West Virginia (VIDEO)

First off, Biden gave a barnburner of a eulogy. He may have been (for the first time) a little better than the President. But the President was the man they all came to see, and they gave him a warm, incredible reception.

The President appears at 7:35 into the video for his own speech.

I love the President n' all...

...but I don't do Yankee Videos. Ever. Find it your dang self.

Also apparently, a controversy's already building about somethin' Obama said. Thus, I link you to Keith Olbermann's baseball Blog.

"By the time I get to Arizona..." Part 2

Can't claim credit for this, because a caller to the Randi Rhodes show pointed it out first.

Legal question:

It seems to me that the U.S. 14th Amendment to the Constitution pretty much eliminates the new Arizona statue. Did the State of Arizona even have the right to enact such a law?

The Fourteenth Amendment - Citizenship Rights. Ratified July 9, 1868.

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

The Fireside chat for April 24, 2010 (VIDEO)

As the auto industry and financial markets begin to stabilize, the President says the government’s emergency interventions can now wind down. He pledges that real reform, particularly on Wall Street, must now begin.

"By the time I get to Arizona..." (VIDEO)

No, the President did not quote Public Enemy during his speech today.

This is from a Naturalization Ceremony for American Soldiers on the White House lawn. It was a nice ceremony, but the President took a moment (about 16:00 minutes in) to blast Arizona and their (at the time) about-to-be-signed racist-ass law.



From the White House website:

...people who are in America illegally have a responsibility -- to pay their back taxes and admit responsibility for breaking the law, pay a penalty, learn English, pass criminal background checks, and get right with the law -- or face removal -- before they can get in line and eventually earn their citizenship.

So responsibility. Accountability. Common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform. I thank Secretary Napolitano for helping to lead our efforts, both on and off Capitol Hill. And I thank Senators Schumer and Graham for working with us to forge a bipartisan consensus on a framework for moving forward, and I welcome the commitment of House and Senate Democratic leaders to take action.

I’ll continue to consult with Democrats and Republicans in Congress, and I would note that 11 current Republican Senators voted to pass immigration reform four years ago. I’m hopeful that they will join with Democrats in doing so again so we can make the progress the American people deserve.

Indeed, our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. And that includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.

In fact, I’ve instructed members of my administration to closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation. But if we continue to fail to act at a federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country.

As a nation, as a people, we can choose a different future -- a future that keeps faith with our history, with our heritage, and with the hope that America has always inspired in the hearts of people all over the world. For just as each of these 24 new citizens once cast their eyes upon our country from afar, so too, somewhere in the world today is a young boy or a young girl wondering if they, too, might someday share in America’s promise.

Don't go counting your...ahem...chickens...

Josh has a warning for those who think that the Dems are about to get trouched in the upcoming midterms:

It's easy to overstate the power of money in a political race. So long as both candidates have a threshold amount of money adequate to get a message out, it's hard for a money advantage to save a candidate who has the odds really stacked against them. But Christina Bellantoni points out that a number of the most endangered Senate Dems -- Reid, Lincoln, Specter, Boxer, et al. -- all have lots more money in the bank than their GOP rivals, even as they're struggling to do degrees in the polls. In the case of Harry Reid, for instance, something like 30 times as much as his likely rival.

Money can only do so much. And there's no way national Republicans won't at the very least adequately fund these challengers. But the disparities are great enough that it's made me rethink at least a little what I think is going to happen in these races.

The President's remarks on Wall Street Reform at Cooper Union (VIDEO)

Right down the block from my old dorm at NYU.



In case you doubt, I have vivid memories of what its like when the President comes to visit Cooper Union, as evidenced below:




What do you want to bet that that same guy was out there today?

Uhh, gee Blanche. Ya think?!?

Former Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR): Empty, soulless, but not completely stupid.

I just want to know why she thought this was a good idea before the SEC Investigation was announced.

In case you need a funny explanation of the Goldman Indictment (VIDEO)

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Goldman Sachs Fraud Case - Andrew Ross Sorkin
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

CNBC: John Harwood's Interview with President Obama (VIDEO)

This are the pieces I was able to grab so far. (In the end, I think it covers the 15-20 minutes mentioned up front).

And yes, this portion of the Interview goes black about 3 minutes in.

And yes, the website posted it anyway:

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Okay, back up and running:

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And part three, covering Goldman stuff:

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Are Tea Partiers Racist? ... Part 2

Don't just gauge the racism of the Tea Parties by the quality of the white people attending, judge them also by the quality of the people of color attending:

I had specifically come to this rally because it was supposed to be especially diverse. And, on the stage at least, it was. The speakers included a black doctor who bashed Democrats for crying racism, a Hispanic immigrant who said that she had never received a single government entitlement and a Vietnamese immigrant who said that the Tea Party leader was God. It felt like a bizarre spoof of a 1980s Benetton ad.

The juxtaposition was striking: an abundance of diversity on the stage and a dearth of it in the crowd, with the exception of a few minorities like the young black man who carried a sign that read “Quit calling me a racist.”

They saved the best for last, however: Alfonzo “Zo” Rachel. According to his Web site, Zo, who is black and performs skits as “Zo-bama,” allowed drugs to cost him “his graduation.” Before ripping into the president for unconstitutional behavior, he cautioned, “I don’t have the education that our president has, so if I misinterpret some things in the founding documents I kind of have an excuse.” That was the understatement of the evening.

I found the imagery surreal and a bit sad: the minorities trying desperately to prove that they were “one of the good ones”; the organizers trying desperately to resolve any racial guilt among the crowd. The message was clear: How could we be intolerant if these multicolored faces feel the same way we do?

It was a farce. This Tea Party wanted to project a mainstream image of a group that is anything but. A New York Times/CBS News poll released on Wednesday found that only 1 percent of Tea Party supporters are black and only 1 percent are Hispanic. It’s almost all white.

And even when compared to other whites, their views are extreme and marginal. For instance, white Tea Party supporters are twice as likely as white independents and eight times as likely as white Democrats to believe that Barack Obama was born in another country.

Furthermore, they were more than eight times as likely as white independents and six times as likely as white Democrats to think that the Obama administration favors blacks over whites.

Thursday night I saw a political minstrel show devised for the entertainment of those on the rim of obliviousness and for those engaged in the subterfuge of intolerance. I was not amused.

Here we go again...

Paul Krugman remains a brilliant Economist. He remains a dreadful strategist.

The Fireside chat for April 17, 2010 (VIDEO)

The strongest consumer protections ever. Bringing transparency to financial dealings. Closing loopholes to stop recklessness and irresponsibility. Holding Wall Street accountable and giving shareholders new power in the financial system. President Obama lays out what Wall Street Reform is about, and questions whether opposition from the Senate Republican Leader might have something to do with his recent meeting with Wall Street executives.

A Bold New Course for NASA (VIDEO)

A conspicuous shout-out to Buzz Aldrin. I wonder why.

Sen. Chris Dodd: "My patience is at an end..." II (VIDEO)

Ted Kennedy pays a spiritual visit to the Upper Chamber:

Puppets... (VIDEO)

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The FinReg Offensive has begun (VIDEO)

In addition to Chris Dodd this afternoon...



And, after the meeting:

Sen. Chris Dodd: "My patience is at an end..." (VIDEO)

Bring it, Chris. Bring it!!

Andrew Breitbart is a liar...again.

Media Matter's Eric Boehlert proves that Andrew Breitbart is a lying sack of @#$%.

"Why can't we have a better Press Corps..." II

Andrew takes time out of his day to vaporize Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post, and deservedly so.

DeLong: "Why can't we have a better Press Corps..."

Nothing makes me happier than watching (reading) educated professionals rip on the Press Corps.

The Fireside chat for April 10, 2010 (VIDEO)

With April 15th approaching, the President discusses several of the tax breaks for middle class families he has signed into law. Find out more about the Making Work Pay tax credit, breaks for first-time homebuyers, rewards for making your home more energy efficient and more through the Tax Savings Tool at WhiteHouse.gov.

Julian Bond destroys Gov. Bob McDonnell (VIDEO)

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Why not have a commemoration of Civil War Month, in which you talk about the valor, the honor of soldiers on both sides of the army?

Surely, the Union Soldiers were just as courageous, just as valorous, just as honorable as those who fought for the other side. Surely, they loved their families and homes and defended with the same compassion and interest.

But somehow or another, this blind allegiance to one side—in fact, to the losing side—to the only side bearing a flag which fought the United States and was defeated, but which is regularly displayed all over the United States. We don‘t see Japanese flags, German flags or the other flags of nations we‘ve fought and beat displayed around on the backs of trucks, on bumper stickers, but we see this flag, the battle flag of the Confederacy.

And, as I say, the NAACP, and I think many, many others, think it is time it stopped.

The President's all-so brief remarks at the White House Easter Prayer Breakfast (VIDEO)

The President also took a moment to express our collective condolences for those who died in the West Virginia Mine Explosion.

In regards to our Nuclear Force Posture...

I read Fred Kaplan at Slate all the time. I depend on Thomas Ricks for the whole picture: getting down into the details of why the Surge worked (the subject of his book, The Gamble), how the Israeli Army had to cancel a planned operation and the bizarre reason why, the possibility of Iraq falling apart in the near term and why we might need to stay longer (which I respectfully disagree with). In effect, I depend on him to make it complicated. I depend on Fred Kaplan to keep it simple. Fred usually takes the Military headline of the day, and breaks it down to be understood by any civilian.

He does it today with Obama's change of our Nuclear Force Doctrine:

The Pentagon released its Nuclear Posture Review today, and those seeking clarity from the major newspapers must have come away more confused than ever.

The New York Times, in a front-page preview of the report headlined "Obama to Limit Scenarios to Use Nuclear Weapon," called the president's new strategy "a sharp shift from those of his predecessors."

Yet the Wall Street Journal, titling its story "U.S. Keeps First-Strike Strategy," shrugged off the report as "a status-quo document" that makes "only modest changes."

Both stories exaggerate. The actual 49-page report is neither dramatic nor ho-hum. In a formal statement this morning, President Barack Obama said it takes "specific and concrete steps" that "reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national-security strategy."

That's the most that can be said for it, but that's hardly trivial.

Disarmament activists had hoped for more. But, like the single-payer advocates in the health care debate, they were fooling themselves if they expected it.

The big issue—a matter of suspense in arms-control circles—was whether the document would declare that deterring a nuclear attack is the "sole" purpose of nuclear weapons or merely their "primary" purpose.

If it was the "sole" purpose, that would mean the president was declaring that the United States would never use or threaten to use nuclear weapons except in response to a nuclear attack on U.S. or allied territory. It would signal a "no-first-use" policy.

If it was merely the "primary" purpose, that would mean the United States might use nukes in other circumstances, for instance in response to a chemical or biological attack or to a large-scale conventional invasion of an ally. We would, in other words, reserve the right to fire nuclear weapons first—as we have been doing, and declaring, since the atomic age began.

Obama's strategy carves out a novel, and very intriguing, chunk of middle ground. It rejects "no-first-use," noting that the United States is "not prepared at the present time to adopt a universal policy that deterring nuclear attack is the sole purpose of nuclear weapons."

However, it does declare that the United States will not fire nuclear weapons first at any country that has signed, and is in compliance with, the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The distinction may seem semantic, but in fact it's substantial. Throughout the Cold War and in the two decades since, presidents have always maintained a strategic ambiguity about when and whether they might use nuclear weapons. The commonly invoked phrase has been that "all options are on the table," sometimes with eyebrows raised while saying "all."

Obama is now saying that in conflicts with countries that don't have nuclear weapons and aren't cheating on the Non-Proliferation Treaty, all options are not on the table. We don't need to brandish, much less use, our nukes. We can launch sufficiently devastating attacks with conventional weapons and defend ourselves against whatever those countries might throw against us.

This declaration has three tangible effects. First, the nuclear war-planners at U.S. Strategic Command are, in effect, ordered to stop looking for targets in treaty-compliant countries—and to stop listing "requirements" for more nuclear weapons to hit those targets.

Second, it provides another incentive for countries—even unfriendly countries—not to develop nuclear weapons (if they believe the U.S. declaration, anyway).

Third, it further isolates those countries that are in violation of the NPT—which is to say, Iran and North Korea.

UPDATE: 4:58pm, Pacific: In case you're wondering, righties. He's another key graph:

...officials agreed that there were strategic reasons for preserving the first-use option under some circumstances against some potential foes. Second, Robert Einhorn, undersecretary of state for nuclear security, added, in the same phone conference, that several allies in Asia and Europe—who were consulted throughout the drafting process—said that they would find a no-first-use policy "very unsettling." The Cold War concept of the "nuclear umbrella"—in which the United States guarantees an ally's security by threatening to use nuclear weapons in its defense—is still alive.

The President fares far better in Basketball than in Baseball... (VIDEO)

From Saturday's Half-time show. The President starts off ice cold, then heats up...

It was high and outside... (VIDEO)

...if you're Andre the Giant.

Damn straight.

Honestly, what else was he gonna put down?

He may be the world's foremost mixed-race leader, but when it came to the official government head count, President Barack Obama gave only one answer to the question about his ethnic background: African-American.

The White House confirmed on Friday that Obama did not check multiple boxes on his U.S. Census form, or choose the option that allows him to elaborate on his racial heritage. He ticked the box that says "Black, African Am., or Negro."

To White America (I'm looking at you, Rush Limbaugh), this is a revelation. For the African-American Community, it's Saturday.

Rachel calls Bull@#$% (VIDEO)

Not the biggest Rachel fan in the world, but she nailed this one.

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The Fireside chat for April 3, 2010 (VIDEO)

In this week of Easter, Passover, and faithful celebration, the President uses his address to offer his holiday greeting and to call on people of all faiths and nonbelievers to remember our shared spirit of humanity.

Is everyone just afflicted with short-term memory loss or what?? (VIDEO)

I am still amazed, sometimes, at how short my fellow Liberals memories can be.

A lot of them are decrying, howling in protest, and just plain ol' pissed off with President Obama's decision to allow some Offshore Drilling for Oil. (Not everyone got it wrong, though). My fellow Liberals are claiming that this was a betrayal of a promise he made on the campaign trail.

Except for the part where...you know...it wasn't.

Below is the video from a speech that Senator Barack Obama gave on August 4, 2008, on Energy in Lansing, Michigan.



The money part is about 11:54 into the video.

But to be complete, I have the relevant portion of the text right here. Please tell me where this statement diverges from what was said on Wednesday:

Last week, Washington finally made some progress on [make a serious, nationwide commitment to developing new sources of energy]. A group of Democrat and Republican Senators sat down and came up with a compromise on energy that includes many of the proposals I've worked on as a Senator and many of the steps I've been calling for on this campaign. It's a plan that would invest in renewable fuels and batteries for fuel-efficient cars, help automakers re-tool, and make a real investment in renewable sources of energy.

Like all compromises, this one has its drawbacks. It includes a limited amount of new offshore drilling, and while I still don't believe that's a particularly meaningful short-term or long-term solution, I am willing to consider it if it's necessary to actually pass a comprehensive plan. I am not interested in making the perfect the enemy of the good -- particularly since there is so much good in this compromise that would actually reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

The complete text of the speech can be found here, where the then-Senator says that drilling is basically a bull@#$% solution for short term energy prices. And so it remains. Yet, somehow the American Public is convinced the reverse is true.

I don't want to sit here and say I'm not a little disappointed by what happened, but I knew there was a reason this wasn't a kick in gut. This wasn't a freakin' surprise. Pretending otherwise is just getting sad.

The President's Health Care Speech in Portland, ME (VIDEO)

I hope this worries the two allegedly reasonable GOP Senators from Maine.

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I'll put up the White House Video when it comes up. Apparently, Maine has never heard of the High-Definition Camera as of yet.

"To my colleage, the distinguished nude model from Massachusetts..." (VIDEO)

Maybe Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) is dumber than advertised. After all, there is such a thing as diminishing returns.

Never get into a fight with a gal who buys ink by the barrel...or has a nightly T.V. show (same diff).

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Bill O'Reilly...one of the good guys for once??

Who'da thunk?

What can I say? Sweet Jesus, I hate Bill O'Reilly, but when he does right, he should be praised for it. So, good going, Bill!

The President annouces his plan to expand Offshore drilling... (VIDEO)

This is a mixed bag. This is something he clearly decried during the campaign in 2008, saying (rightly) that expanding offshore drilling won't do anything to help with falling gas prices. With Gas Prices set to spike again this summer, this move will do nothing to address that.

At the same time, with Gas Prices set to spike again this summer, the President just undercut the principal GOP talking point going into the Midterms.

On top of that, Senator Kerry thinks this move may help him get 60 votes for Climate Legislation.

Green shoots III

From TPM:

The upward trend for the Dems continues. But what's new is that there's an upward trend for the GOP as well.

But, you take out the ever-unreliable Rasmussen Poll, and...

Green shoots II???

If things are going well for Democrats in hard-luck Ohio, then...

"You Made History..." (VIDEO)

Not all will agree, but if you are of like mind, this is the sort of video that give your shiver, a good shiver.

The President's Joint Appearance with French President Nicholas Sarkozy (VIDEO)

France and the Rest of Europe love the way Obama does business.

Obama expects Iran Sanctions "in weeks"...

Sarkozy went to Ben's Chili Bowl. He can do no wrong by me.

Signed. Sealed. Delievered. (VIDEO)

I hope some of them college kids on stage got a pen.

I love the French...

Yes, that was French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni going to Ben's Chili Bowl today.

Word up.

The President's Interview on the Today Show... (VIDEO)

Multiple Parts. We start with Afghanistan and Health Care:

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....then we move on to Faith, Family, and Basketball:

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...and finally, the Tea Party and the Political Divide:

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We now mark the third occasion since the creation of this blog where I disagree with the President.

If you've attended a Tea Party rally, I do think you're on the fringe.