Weren’t we told Obama is our Spock? ST II WoK ‘The Needs of the Many’ FILK
Shout out to the brave souls who have stayed behind trying to stop the reactors from melting down~
Update: Video added; Moderate Dems remove the beer goggles: Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) challenges Obama at Dem Q/A ‘No one in your administration knows how to make payroll”
Update: CSPAN has posted the Q/A, Boxer D-CA wants MORE liberal policy pushes, denial just ain’t a river in Egypt ya know?! and poor Blanche, (who is clearly forced to ‘rely on the kindness of strangers’ at this point) tries to tell Obama to push back against the lefties and get the party back on the middle path (h/t Buddha).
AWESOME!!! Look signs of life in the moderate Democrats! Coming out of their koolaide induced stupor waking up next to a neoprogressive, big government, tax and spend, trade war inducing, capital market killing leadership. Looking for video hope someone gets it up! Obama moseys on down to the Senate Dem conference and lectures them to walk on off that cliff! and ignore the American people cuz he knows best (he sure has some Daddy issues and IMO will patronizingly, condescendingly, arrogantly ‘father’ this country into a Depression if he continues to pursue these ass backwards economic plans)
The seminal moment of this morning’s q-and-a between Senate Democrats and President Obama was an extraordinary — and extraordinarily uncomfortable — exchange between Blanche Lincoln and Obama over the party’s left and right wings.
Obama, in professorial mode, had spent much of the first hour of today’s appearance instructing Democrats to stay his progressive course on health care and other key issues.
Lincoln, who faces serious competition in her ’10 re-elect — and a 27 percent approval rate in Arkansas — practically demanded Obama “push back in our own party… for people at the extremes.”
She added that “no one in your administration” understands how to make payroll.
Obama shot back hard, warning Lincoln, gently but firmly, that he had no intention of adopting the previous administration’s policies, cautioning, “I don’t know what would differentiate us from the other guys.” [quickie transcript]
“We should not be spooked,” he added.
Blanche Lincoln is the second canary in the Dem electoral coalmine (following MASS) and after polling miserably recently she is pushing back. Also on national security:
Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love: moderate Dems should support Scott Brown (MASS) and Sue Lowden (NV)
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I know this is sacrilege for a lot of Dems, but at this point I am supporting Scott Brown and Sue Lowden. Ask yourself something Democrats, who the hell are we supporting and why?! These Democratic Senators killed prescription drug reimportation, they are gutting Medicare, they are rolling over on the main issues that the party platform espouses in re women and progressive taxation.
Gallup Daily: Obama Approval drops below 50% for first time
Boy, Gallup did all they could to make this line look flat, but the drop is from 70 to 49, that is DOWN, the direction of the line should be DOWN as well, lol!
The latest Gallup Daily tracking results show 49% of Americans approving of the job Barack Obama is doing as president, putting him below the majority approval level for the first time in his presidency
…Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,533 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Nov. 17-19, 2009, as part of Gallup Daily tracking. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.
Slip slidin’ away…..
Courtesy of Oakswarrior:
Paul Simon backed by the Oaks on his 1977 hit, “Slip Slidin’ Away.” The ORB provided the original background vocals on the original release.
From the 1986 “Gospel Jam Session,” originally aired on cable, later released on VHS and DVD with various titles (the most recent being “Paul Simon’s Night Of Gospel Glory”)
WOW! Must See TV: Congressional JEC panel ripping Geithner apart: Rep Brady (R-TX) first to ask him to resign: MiM starts Obama economic team “shake-up” watch…
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If you look at UE Tim, the US is substantially WORSE off than it was when Obama took office to answer Timmehs whine….In fact someone should tell Tim, taking him at his word that he believes all measures, any measure of economic activity shows things are better since January, the measure of foreclosures and delinquencies has also more than doubled since Obama ‘took charge’:
Update: 12:10pm EST: uh oh. Kudlow says and Steve Liesman confirms, that Geithner is the most fiscally conservative member of Obamas economic advisers. No wonder we are in a world of hurt! CNBC just ran the Brady Timmeh back n forth so it should come up in a video post shortly. will get it up right away.
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Update: 11:!5am OMG OMG Geithner just threw Seniors unda da bus!! He acknowledges to Brownback that yes the CBO score only works if Congress actually DOES the Medicare cuts and he insists they must and should and will DO THE CUTS. He says the costs have to be reduced, Brownback is saying but why cant we save Medicare? Good grief Geithner is a disaster, you aren’t supposed to tell Seniors they are getting thrown under there Timmeh, Obama will be displeased. Good ad for the GOP though!
WOW!! Excellent!!!! Live feed from CNBC here
I am starting Geithner Fired/Resigns Watch now, there will fer shure be some sort of ‘ Obama economic team shake-up’ to placate the rumblings as they get ready to ask for MORE STIMULUS…They can’t get away with it under Geithner IMO, looks like he is marked as sacrificial lamb, but the Progressives will be no happier with Larry Summers, lol….
By dequalss
Typos abound, getting ready while I do this- TImmeh is red and ranting and blaming Bush and Rep Brady made him acknowledge yes he was head of NY Fed when this collapse happened, and they are cross talking, Brady says the public has lost all confidence in Geithner and he reflects badly on his President, he says at some point Geithner has to take responsibility…ohhh excellent!!
Update: 11:04am EST: Rep. Burgess (R-TX) just said “I don;t think you should quit, you shouldn’t have been hired”. Is that a bus engine I hear idling??? This the Joint Economic Committee and is made up of both Senators and House members, double the fun!! Now Sen Brownback is going off about the health care plan and the Yuan peg…
(FD-MiM is a former AIG employee and shareholder and we have followed Geithner’s handling of the crisis as NY Fed-head closely for two years now, our posts on Geithner, Hank Paulson and AIG are legion. Our previous posts on Geithner and the troubled CITI bailout here and here and here and here and here and even here ….)
Recall Sens DeMint and Isakson called on Geithner to resign last March. As did several members of the House.
This is in keeping with the report in TheHill this morning:
A Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) member said there’s “growing consensus” among liberals that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should step down.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said Wednesday that he and other liberal House members are becoming increasingly tired of Obama administration economic policies that they say are too focused on maintaining the stability of Wall Street firms and largely ignore “Main Street.”“A growing consensus in the caucus [believe that Geithner should be removed],” DeFazio said on MSNBC this evening, adding that some lawmakers are “considering questions regarding him and other economic advisers.”
DeFazio said that lawmakers have not yet drafted a plan to remove Geithner. The lawmaker also took aim at top Obama economic adviser Larry Summers for furthering many of the same policies favored by Geithner.
“We need a new economic team,” said DeFazio…..
Hey man, live by the populist pitchforks, die by the populist pitchforks. Hard to put that class war genie back into the bottle and it was a HUGE mistake to embolden the populist rhetoric flame throwers in the House…
This drum beat is getting louder. Dodd thinks Geithner is a drag on his polling, lol, and Simmons, Dodd’s GOP opponent called for Geithner’s resignation already:
A former House Republican running for the Senate in Connecticut is calling for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to be replaced over his handling of AIG’s bailout.
GOP candidate Rob Simmons reacted to a report by Neil Barofsky, the inspector general of the $700 billion bailout program, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Barofsky’s report criticized the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which Geithner led during the bailout, for a series of missteps that Barofsky said ended up requiring the government to provide additional support to AIG.
“The report issued yesterday by the inspector general for the TARP program is a deeply troubling account of Secretary Geithner’s failed management of the AIG bailout in which he cost taxpayers $13 billion in unnecessary new debt,” said Simmons, who appears to be the only candidate or office-holder to call for Geithner’s replacement in response to the report.The federal government committed more than $180 billion to AIG, which was crippled by poor investments and trades in credit default swaps, a financial derivative.
Simmons also attacked his opponent, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), in the statement calling on Geithner to be replaced.
“The cozy relationships between the bailed-out financial companies and powerful politicians like Tim Geithner and Chris Dodd are exactly why Americans have lost trust in Washington, D.C., and why we need new leadership with the skills and integrity to clean up their mess and get our economy back on track.”…
More great housing news:
US mortgage delinquency rates and the percentage of loans that entered the foreclosure process jumped in the third quarter, with both reaching record highs, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Thursday.
The percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started rose to 1.42 percent in the third quarter, an all-time high, up from 1.36 percent in the second quarter and 1.07 percent in the third quarter of 2008.
…The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 9.64 percent of all loans outstanding as of the end of the third quarter of 2009, up 40 basis points from 9.24 percent in the second quarter and up 265 basis points from 6.99 percent one year ago, the MBA said in its National Delinquency Survey. The delinquency rate broke the record set last quarter. The records are based on MBA data dating back to 1972.
…The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the third quarter was 4.47 percent, an increase of 17 basis points from 4.30 percent the second quarter of 2009 and 150 basis points from 2.97 percent one year ago.
The combined percentage of loans in foreclosure and at least one payment past due was 14.41 percent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the highest ever recorded in the MBA delinquency survey….
Update: Consumer Protections and subsidies in Senate Bill do not begin until 2013; Preliminary CBO score in for Reid bill- Dems meeting; Reconciliation push and Public Option in health care dead in Senate or head-fake?
Update 4: 7:16 pm EST: Carrie Budoff-Brown has some numbers from Sen Conrad:
..Unlike the House bill, there’s no surtax on the wealthy, but it does include a Medicare payroll tax of 1.95 percent on couples who earn more than $250,000 annually. The threshold for the high-end insurance tax was bumped up to apply to plans that cost more than $23,000 annually for families and $8,500 for individuals. That’s an increase from $21,000 and $8,000 respectively.
The reimbursement rates for the public plan will not be tied to Medicare, and co-ops, Conrad’s brainchild, will still be offered. And finally, the bill will include the CLASS Act, a long-term insurance program for the disabled, but will not use the revenue from the program to help pay for the bill, a move that should assuage moderates’ fiscal concerns…
Update 3: 7:05pm EST Sen Kent Conrad says Senate bill taxes high dollar insurance plans (no dollar given and this will be key- IS IT INDEXED TO INFLATION??? Cause if not, it is a trap like the AMT to make it look good to CBO but it will catch the middle class as we go forward) and Conrad also says it will raise the Medicare Payroll tax for high earners. I assume, lol, they mean on the Medicare payroll tax that they will extend that tax to NON EARNED INCOME since high dollar earners don’t earn most of their income in a ‘payroll’ form per se.
Update 2: 6:43pm EST: Reid at the podium now, a FOX reporter said there will be a public option and states will have to offer two options one with and one without abortion.
WSJ has the CBO scoring here:
…Mr. Reid’s bill would gradually extend health-insurance coverage to nearly all Americans by providing government subsidies to help pay premiums. Starting in 2013, it would ban insurance company practices such as charging more to those in poor health, or denying them coverage altogether.
Consumer protections do not begin until 2013!? Oh boy that won’t go over well with the left.
All Americans would be required to carry health insurance, either through an employer, a government plan or by purchasing it on their own. The Medicaid health insurance program for low-income people would be significantly expanded.
The bill would set up new insurance marketplaces — called exchanges — primarily for those who now have a hard time getting or keeping coverage. Most people buying coverage through the exchanges would get tax credits to help cover the cost of premiums. They would be able to pick private coverage or a new government health insurance plan.
However, the government plan may not be available all across the country. Mr. Reid would allow individual states to opt out.
To keep down costs, the government subsidies and consumer protections don’t take effect until 2013. During the three-year transition, Mr. Reid’s bill would create a federal fund to help provide affordable coverage for people with medical problems turned down by private insurers in the meantime.
The majority of Americans who now have employer-provided health insurance would not see major changes. Among the exceptions to that rule: Children would be allowed to stay on their parents’ health insurance until their mid-20s…
FOX reporting Reid is unveiling his health care bill for the Senate Dems behind closed doors tonight, he has a preliminary CBO score. Reid’s aides indicate 849B over 10 yrs, govt run option with state opt out included, and somehow it will magically cut the deficit 127b in the first 10 years..let’s see what they say when they come out of the meeting…
RedState picks up the CQ word that reconciliation is dead in the Senate and deals are all on the table, Sounds AWESOME but I am worried it is a head fake…
I agree with RedState that it would be smart for the Dem leadership to cut a deal on this since Obama got a talking to in China about the impact of the health care bill on the deficit, and word on the street is the oncoming UE jump to 11% and the extended length of UE is likely to be so bad that they must do another ginormous stimulus asap, voters will be pixxed and they don’t need an extended fight on health care right before Son of Stimulus. The economic clock ran out on them, thanks to their own stupidity in writing the stimulus I which had an infinitesimal amount of infrastrucutre in it, the ads for the GOP in 2010 write themselves:
Senate Democrats have abandoned plans to use a fast-track parliamentary strategy to avert a threatened Republican filibuster and pass a health care overhaul — a signal that they are considering major policy concessions to moderates...The most significant of these could be restructuring or dropping altogether a proposed government-run insurance plan — the so-called public option — that many liberals consider a necessary part of the overhaul.
One possible fallback is a proposal by Thomas R. Carper, D-Del., to create a government-sanctioned insurance plan that would be available only in states deemed to lack affordable private insurance plans. Under Carper’s plan, the insurance plan would be structured as a private nonprofit entity, run by a board appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate…
But Democratic leaders had used the threat of reconciliation to try to corral support for the health care bill from moderates in both parties. That tactic largely failed.
“I think the more people studied [reconciliation], the more people realized that is not a very good way to do substantive legislation,” said Budget Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D…
In a meeting Nov. 16 with Democrats who support a Medicare-like public option, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., indicated that he did not plan to try to move a health bill through reconciliation, other Democrats said.
“I’m not going to quote him, but suffice to say, after the meeting was over I thought it was unlikely,” said Bob Casey, D-Pa.
Regan LaChapelle, a spokeswoman for Reid, said, “We are not ruling anything out, but Sen. Reid is continuing to work to put together a bill that will garner the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster…”…
VA Debate: McDonnell – Deeds
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Politico headline reads ‘Deeds points finger at Washington’ .
BWAAHAAA Remember: ‘Obama’s Long coattails gonna keep a Dem majority’ they said! BWAAAHAA!! More like an anchor baby! Go McDonnell!!
Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Creigh Deeds said in an interview that he was lagging in the polls entering the final weeks of the campaign in part because of voter concerns over his national party’s agenda.
“Frankly, a lot of what’s going on in Washington has made it very tough,” Deeds said in a “Battleground Virginia” interview sponsored by ABC 7/WJLA-TV, POLITICO, Google and YouTube. “We had a very tough August because people were just uncomfortable with the spending; they were uncomfortable with a lot of what was going on, a lot of the noise that was coming out of Washington, D.C.”
As one of two off-year governor’s races — the other is New Jersey — that are being closely watched for signals about the 2010 midterm election landscape, the factors behind Deeds’s struggles to date are being studied closely in both parties….
Moderate in the Middle 