Sunday Roundup

This was not a good week for public figures with notable heads of hair. The boyishly coiffed Tom DeLay caused jaws to drop all across America with his rump-shaking cha-cha to "Wild Thing" on Dancing With the Stars. Breck Girl-turned-Cad John Edwards saw his already-tarnished reputation further sullied by the release of details of his affair with Rielle Hunter, including a promised post-Elizabeth rooftop wedding featuring the Dave Matthews Band. And the idiosyncratically maned Donald Trump made headlines by allowing Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi to pitch a tent on his Bedford, New York estate. But it was follicly-challenged columnist David Broder who took the prize for the week's most ludicrous act: criticizing President Obama for "his determination to rely on rational analysis, rather than narrow decisions." God forbid. It was enough to make your hair stand on end.

 

 

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Comments

[JohnnieBravo]

Broder, like many other old white men in the Republican tent, can't seem to come to frips that the President is black and that teh country, by and large, is moving away from their ideology. The GOP isn't GRAND. It is OLD though. And as far as a Party, well.....

[wonketteRAWKS]

Just heard that Obama wants kids to stay in school for longer hours and may cut summer vacation.

I think that'll make the kids' hair stand on end!

[ProfessorDuh]

Now, now. Broder would certainly object to the federal government torturing a few thousand American liberals to death — if the proper congressional subcommittee had not been notified first.

[Winski]

...."shallow, insular opinion"....Broder's own words used the describe what this President COMPLETELY rejects and substitutes ..."we must put aside parochialism to take the long systemic view; and when we finally formulate a uniform national policy supported by empirical and objective data rather than shallow, insular opinion, we will arrive at solutions that are not only more effective but less costly as well." as his mantra consistently shows how far Bush and Cheney, along with their minions, have taken us down a VERY dark path of irrational and extremely dangerous "only short-cuts will possibly work" approach to problem solving..

Not only did Bush and Cheney, but Broder himself, forge a constituency that only reacted to short term hits and had no time, in fact disdained taking the time, to actually think thru a problem to a rational end. This got us, as a country, into a political and fiscal spot I'm not sure we can get out of..Hopefully there are more and more of us over some span of the time that will be able to bring some sanity to our thinking processes so we can recover what we have left. If we surrender to people hell-bent on talking us down this short-term oriented path to oblivion we will dissolve as a country. We cannot allow this to happen..under any circumstance.

[Guitarsandmore]

My favorite disaster of the week was the bill congress voted on and passed to defund Acorn, proving once again that the people we elected to represent us and defend the constitution have never read and do not understand the constitution.

Defund Acorn Act

1. appears to be really really unconstitutional (no bill of attainder – targeting one specific group, article one)
2. If not just enforced against ACORN then also guilty are Lockheed Martin, Northrup Gruman, Blackwater, KBR, who are all guilty of government fraud and Armor Group who were allegedly involved in child prostitution. DynCorp group also guilty of forced child prostitution ring.
3. DynCorp continues to receive lucrative government contracts as does Blackwater, KBR, Lockheed Martin, and Northrup Gruman.
4. The crimes of Acorn pale in comparison to the charges leveled at Blackwater, KBR, and Dynacorp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt5heDbjz84

Congressmen obviously need to take a remedial class on constitutional law.

I can't decide whether to be embarrassed for them or to just scream at the tv.

[princeza]

Neither. Write to your Senators and Rep and clue them in on this situation. Enough emails from enough constituents *might* make a difference.

With all of the lawyers in Congress, you'd think at least one would realize that the De-Fund Acorn Act would be unconstitutional. But I may give them too much credit.

And I do agree, if we go after ACORN, then the rest of the companies you listed need to be included. But they won't.

[LMPE]

Yeah, why behave like adults when we can be a bunch of ignorant cowboys?

The big surprise this week was that Sarah Palin did NOT cancel her Hong Kong appointment.

[ladybuttercup]

for $300 K, (without the pre ss in a far away country with population who speak chin ese,)
would you?

[IssuesInFocus]

Absolutely not. I would seek to increase engagements. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_ASBQFJrSk

[res1pismobeach]

With all the talk from the "right wing" cool-aid drinking Republicans about "how the Government can't run anything", I would like to point out to this brilliant crowd that the Governement runs the U.S Military which provides for their safety and the survival of our "way of life" and freedoms on a daily basis, also, the last time I looked every time they board an airplane "it's governement run FAA" that ensures their safety, also, NASA has done a pretty good job, in-closing, the same crowd that "rails" against our government becoming a Socialist" Government have no problem cashing their Social Security checks every month and allowing Medicare to pay for their medical issues, it would really impress me if the crowd that constantly opposes our government "would simply stop" receiving government run services, you do not have to continue to receive Social Security or Medicare. Mr. Cantor the "brillinat" repubilcan that stated in a town hall meeting "you should depend on charity", I often wonder if he and his family or realitves depend on charity or "Government run services" like all the benefits he receives as a Senator, again, it would impress me if he announced he was removing all of his family members and himself from any type of Government run or Government paid for service.

Res

[incognito-ergo-sum]

I was talking with a man who retired from the Post Office. Seems that current and former government workers are furious at the right for their denigration of them..

Hopefully, these people will not vote Republican till the right stops the government worker bashing.

[womanhattan]

Arianna, how could you forget Blagojevich! Speaking of public figures with notable heads of hair.

Jon Stewart: "It was a quid pro quo in your mind, but a quid pro quo for the good of the people of Illinois, who you say in the book you love very deeply. By the way, you come off very well in the book."

[shel18]

Arianna, I thought you were going to mention BlagOJEVICH too. His hair's notoriety has to be comparable with all of the other bafoons you mentioned.

His 'innocence' campaign stop on the Daily Show was great.

PS
When are you going to create HuffPost Canada? We need one up here :)

[Jay Adler]

Ariana: Your point as I analyze is well taken. As Americans, our leaders and celebrities and print journalists are become one big anomaly rolled up into a ball of minimized credibility. As a former New Yorker and coincidently a licensed p/t New York Real Estate Broker myself I know that, Trump's family was a very big player in New York City Real Estate. Donald is brilliant and shrewd but he basically sells the cachet of his name and loves his woman as much as being in the limelight. Although I think he may have made it to a high political figure, he is as much suited for acting on television as the thousands of waitresses on the East Side who believe themselves to be in show business also. There is an underground tactic of wealthy people and corporations hiring top shelf show business bands and actors to appear at private events. Nothing improper about this.Fleetwood Mac, Dave Mathews, Tony Bennett, Jimmy Buffet (Enron) and a hoard of NBA and Pro Ball players that for $20K will come to your 13 year old's birthday party to run a clinic. Tom Delay looked like he is ready for a Condo in Del Ray.

[bluff]

I've decided that if I can, with no thought at all, throw ad hominems at somebody's essay, the essay is pointless and therefore unattackable.

[Beelzebufo]

Huh? If you can attack someone's essay it is unattackable?

[LuckyGrad68]

You missed the best one. Hillarys facial expressions behind Obama in Pittsburg simply did not speak glowing admiration. (What was she thinking?) Speaking of hair you should have seen that mop only 40 short years ago.
It didn't take long to soak in after wealthy people had them installed on the Watergate Committee and the Clintons were shocked? about Nixons illegal bombings. They lie! Congress had said no to bombing missiles stacked in plain sight and being used to kill us because they were on the other side of a trail and Nixon did it anyway. These things could ruin a whole nights sleep. (Watergate in a nutshell) Basically well after our Congress had gotten an Asian death spiral going they immediately began arguing about it and one side lost power, wanted it back and nothing else in the world really mattered at the time.) Something way over Bob Woodwards head...psst..spoken deeply..it was nothing more than this.
Oh well is it just me or is there a chance one of the guys we saw this week might be Charles Bronsons long lost brother? The one that few in on his magic carpet apparently.

[robert234]

My hair has been standing on end for over 50yrs. while watching individual human madness and ignorance given collective license to government to plunder and kill on an expotential level----All the while with MEDIA's adoration. As Rose Wilder Lane sagaciously remarked, "There's been 6000yrs. of it in every language". So we all await the moment when Obama's transfiguration as Solon, Solomon, or Christ saves humanity. I suppose it will demand on their coiffures.

[Jeffbc]

I didn't interpret Broder's column the same way. He seemed to just be commenting on the reality of how dysfunctional our system is, how difficult it is to develop a rational, coherent, long term strategy that actually is for the good of the people. The reason is that we are so driven by local self interests. Yet, that is the essence of a democracy. The President's job, and the essence of politics as well, is to convince, cajole and compromise to find a solution that is optimal, that is optimal in a democracy. The amazing thing is that it actually works sometimes. We have yet to see if the President, who I fully support, can pull it off.

[waiteman]

David Broder, who I have been trying to read, but can't seem to make it past his first paragraph, is an old man whose positions on the state of the world haven't changed since he took up a pen. He meanders around in his columns without saying much of anything. (Case in point you having a different understanding of what he wrote vs Arianna.) The thing that is most annoying about him is he often takes misinformation from republicans and validates it. The question remains does he even understand what he just wrote - my most recent suggestion to him - retire you have nothing relevant to say anymore.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/sunday-roundup_b_300843.html do you even know what you just wrote?

[Unsui]

I Agree with you on this, Jeff.

[Winning09]

I knew John Edwards wasn't cool.

The Dave Matthews Band!

lol

[donklinestiver]

Broder had a senior moment thought he was writing for the Washington Times.