NationalTreasure's Comments (442)

“are there anymore adults left in the GOP who are not intellectually bankrupt?

The political right of the 21st century is obviously and shamelessly intellectually bankrupt. ... The right has always been intellectually bankrupt: Reagan and Gingrich were always an "emperor's new clothes" phenomenon, and there have always been people calling them on it.

www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/0...”

“the more that Kyl runs his mouth the more it becomes clear that the Irepublican leadership is bereft of substance, a vision and the intellect to lead this nation

the republicans are a bunch of cretins, from their idiotic tea baggers, their birthers, death panel Palinistas, to the nit wit neo-cons, and the dim wit talking heads of Limbaugh, Beck and the fearmongering telepromptor readers at FoxNews

small wonder the republicans mock the "intellectual Elites" --- the republicans have nothing constructive to offer and seem like a bunch of 4 year olds stuck in a perpetual temper tantrum”

“" Then bam -- the health insurance industry comes out with a study (today) threatening consumers with big premium increases -- a tactic sure to bring fear to the public's collective heart. "

no one should be surprised that the the insurance industry would cook up studies to refute anything that they feel will cut into their monopoly --- this industry is one of the most insidious inhumane in existence --- the Democrats and the Obama administration need to stand up for what is right and pass real health care reform and just ignore the insurance industry's demands

BTW

the reason the insurance industry keeps screaming that they can not compete across state lines is that they want to circumvent State Rights and make an end run aroung state insurance commissions --- depending on the state, these state insurance commissions are about the only thing stopping the insurance industry from totally screwing over Americans”

“+Mr. Stone:

don't hold your breath and don't sit back and act like the gay and lesbian community didn't have any part in the abomination of DADT -- HRC supported the Clinton/Gore administration in pushing DADT --- don't get selective amnesia now --- don't get all pious now -- not with the same Clinton administration staffers and advisors who worked with HRC on DADT and are currently are working with the Obama-Biden administration, folks who HRC pushed to get jobs with the Obama-Biden administration

BTW

pandering to the gay and lesbian community won't abrogate the instutionalized discrimination that the Clinton/Gore administration codified by the 1996 DADT --- DADT should never have been supported by the HRC --- DADT has helped to lend credence and legitimize the discrimination of DOMA”

“the Smuggers are pathetic --- Kristol, Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Brooks and the rest of the GOP toadies cheered when Reagan, GH Bush went around lobbying for the US to get Olympic games even when their attempts failed

the republican's talking heads also didn't complain when GW Bush tried to win Olympic games for the US and failed it was barely noticed at the time, but in January 2008, then-President George W. Bush met with the Chicago 2016 Bid Committee and U.S. Olympic Committee members about bringing the 2016 summer games to the city and GW Bush gave a video presentation in support of New York's bid for 2012 Summer Olympics
www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/0...

www.stltoday.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=664004&start=12...”

“although Sen. Coburn was an ObGyn he would be able to treat a male for a gynecological problem --- however there is that tricky little detail of the need to have a valid medical license for the jurisdiction in which one is practicing medicine

ahh the plot thickens --- not only does Sen Coburn not have a license to practice medicine in Oklahoma, he does not have a license to practice medicine in the District of Columbia

methinks that perhaps Sen. Coburn is remiss in his practice of medicine of without a license in the District of Columbia and should be thrown in jail based upon his arrogant and contemptible statements to federal prosecutors”

“+Rick:

sadly, it appears as though your good friend John Ensign may have a bad case of megalomania

BTW

psychiatric treatment really should be covered under the Senate's insurance plan --- there are a lot of folks on Capitol Hill who could use a bit of help in coming to terms with personal accountability and reality”

“what's the definition of a "bubble?" --- a bubble is Wall Street running a ponzi scheme --- the savings and loan bubble of the 80's, the energy and dot com bubble of the 90's and the mortgage and credit bubble of the 2000's --- all of these "bubbles," were based upon a false dichotomy that were ponzi schems writ large and legitimized by Wall Street snakes --- the inappropriate manner in which value was accessed to financial products and the marketing of derivatives as though they were financially sound instruments, lack of transparent accounting principles and, regulatory agencies that are either reluctant or refuse to enforce the spirit and letter of the law, the revolving door and collusion between regulators and the staff at the various trading markets, investment firms, banks and DC lawmakers -- there is nothing complicated about a "bubble," a bubble is simply an artificial paradigm contrived to decieve and rip off folks”

“once again republicans affirm that they are devoid of original thoughts and bankrupt on ideas that the best they can do is dream about copying the HuffPost”

“steroids out --- human growth hormones in, nearly impossible to detect and none of the steroid side effects”

“+Mr. Henderson:

State's Rights, strengthening corporate personhood, the GOP's attacks on the judiciary over the past 40 years, the evisceration of Federal regulatory authority and the GOP's crushing blows to habeas corpus and other Civil Rights are all part of the GOP's long term strategy to regain political power and return things to the good old days ... the pre 1960's days”

“+Awake-and-Sing; +David:

it is clear that President Obama is exacatly like candidate Obama in that Obama has always been someone who talks the talk but does not walk the walk and is simply just another politician who gives a good speech and will say anything and do anything to get elected --- ya'll just drank the cool-aid :-)”

“Aspen has been a bust for over 15 years the night life sucks, it blows trying to fly into Aspen, the town prides itself on how expensive it is but does not realize it has shot itself in the foot with all of the time shares, oh lets give them a fancy term like fractional ownerships, there is really little for children and teens to do, all anyone in Aspen wants to do is sit around and kevetich about how things just aren't the same as they were 30, 40 or 50 years ago while bragging about how expensive per square foot it is to build in Aspen as the shops and resturants are falling by the way side to make room for real estate offices and everywhere you step there is dog crap on the sidewalks, footpaths and in the parks --- folks find that they can get a better deal in Banff, Jackson or Telluride, while skiing better runs, and have a whole lot of fun without feeling like they are getting ripped off like they do when they are in Aspen --- Aspen lost its allure a long time ago and now it simply feels superficial, like Disney World but only with snow”

“ACORN's transgressions are no where near the magnitude of the voter disenfranchisement that has occured as a result of Diebold and ES&S --- yet while the Democrats where distracted with ACORN Diebold and ES&S have merged -- so not only have the Democrats lost the voter registration skills of ACORN the have ignored and allowed to go unchecked the controversial voter disenfranchisement issues associated with Diebold and ES&S to stand --- when are the Democrats going to act like they were elected to lead and stop kow towing to the republicans”

“once again the republicans played the democrats like a cheap fiddle, while the main stream media and our elected officials were distracted with passing legislation against ACORN and reprimanding Joe Wilson (allowing the republicans to cry victim when called out on their racism further distracting the main stream media) Diebold and ES&S have merged to wreck more havoc on our electorial processes, by comparison the actual disenfranchisement of real voters that has resulted from problems directly associated with Diebold and ES&S voting machines overshadows the bad actions of a few ACORN employees”

“no one is denigrating them for their looks --- the point is that smoking and obesity related health problems increase the healthcare costs for the rest of Americans

the GOP hypocrites are always preaching self responsibility and, railing against increasing taxes but, the hidden cost of smoking and obesity are passed on to the rest of Americans who take control of their lives and do not smoke and who are not over weight

these wing nuts live in states that offer the least regulatory control over insurance companies as a result the residents of Idaho, Texas, North and South Dakota, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina, North Carolina, and West Virginia yet these are the very states that per capita have the highest numbers of people on SChip, WIC, Medicare and Medicaid so the rest of us are stuck defraying the cost of the smokers, and fat, ignorant jerks who are against health care reform”

“seems like the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries, which rake in trillions of dollars in profits, got a bargin when they bought Baucus --- what a deal Baucus sells out the American people for a few million and health insurance and pharmaceutical company executives get to take home even larger bonuses”

“the sad part is that the lemmings are proof positive of our low educational ranking against other developed countries -- that these folks don't understand things like Medicare, terms like liberal, socialist and communist and have been ingnorant on numerous issues of American history”

“fanned”

“5) the greatest weakening of unions occured in the 90's under the Clintons through their "triangulation strategy," Bill Clinton was under constant republican attack that he squandered his political capital to get re-elected meanwhile Newt and his band of wing nuts used their counter revolution to destroy the working class and allowed China, India, South Korea and every other country to make hay at the expense of the American worker under the guise of "opening up to globalization," and "whatever is good for corporate America is good for all America,"

6) Bellbiv make no bones about it I am a progressive, a very liberal progressive and want Obama to succeed but I will not take a page from the republican's playbook of denial and paranoia -- I will not be intellectually and politically dishonest

7) I will conceed your points about health care if the republicans, from the time that Nixon went over to communist China and began bartering away our manufacturing base and, over the past 28 years Reagan, both Bushs along with the republican controlled federal legislature have put corporate interests above the overall good of the American people

Bellbiv -- I had hope of real change in Washington and that we would get a health care reform bill that the most staunch progressives could be proud and serves the needs of Americans not the needs of the pharmaceutical industry and insurance corporations”

“+Bellbiv:

since you want to trip the light fantastic down the yellow brick road lets revisit the bailout -- yes the Democrats get to hid under the cover of rhetoric that the bailout was the failure of GW Bush but lets be honest:
1) the bailout would not have happened without the votes of more Democratic politicians than Republicans

2) it was Barack Obama, who left the campaign trail to sit at a conference table in the GW Bush White House and, Obama allowed his presence and a promise to vote for passage of the of a bill that was highly flawed and without teeth and lacked enforcement measures for accountability to get enough votes for passage

3) the Democrats should have demanded more instead they allowed the republicans to play them and take cover under the grounds of fiscal responsibility and; once in office Obama hired the very people who were at Treasury, the Fed and on Wall Street who did nothing to prevent the "irrational exhuberance," from causing our economy to crash

4) as far as you driving on a road that was completed with $100M in bailout money -- incredulous - you obviously do not have a grasp and know how of federal funding of highway construction projects because, just a coursory search of of DOT bailout funded projects reveals there is not one $100M bailout encumbered project that has been completed”

“it would behoove President Obama and those in his adminstration to offer Americans on Main Street a lot more than token lip service and empathetic platitudes

the Obama administration has no hesitation on emptying the treasury to the hegde funders on Wall Street who have run the same sort of ponzi schemes as Madoff, with the only difference being that they conducted their theivery under the cloak of large investment firms and big banks

rather than obfusating real issues with the triviality of what President Obama thinks about Kanye West lets hear about what will be done to help the unemployed and underemployed, what's going to be done to help folks who are facing foreclosure and Afghanistan and Iraq

give me a break Bush never would have been asked about something so trivial let alone have dignified the subject

Obama needs to realize he is the Commander in Chief and, act accordingly by doing the job he was elected to do and, serve the best interests of folks on Main Street rather than maintaining the status quo by kow-towing to K Street and Wall Street

BTW

somebody please tell Obama that his comedy act has gotten old, his jokes have always been lame and that his recent round of rehashed campaign speeches won't put food on tables or pay the bills, not now and not in 2012, America needs more deserves better from Obama”

“+Mr. Baker:

it is pointless to try and reason with the republicans --- they are trying to be logical their strategy is to marginalize President Obama and set things for electorial victories in 2010 and 2012 while serving the interests of insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies

the insurance and pharmacutical industries want one thing they want direct unrestricted competition and access to the pool of money that the government would expend on health care --- regrettably it looks like the industries will get what they want while we end up with a health care system that fleeces more money out of the government under the guise of reform just as the bogus Medicare Part D has done”

“Serena has long been on the record stating that John McEnroe is one of her greatest tennis heros and tennis role model
also, the most visible faces and voices of American tennis in the USTA and Fed Cup, on NBC, CBS and ESPN and in TV and print ads have been the McEnroes a couple of the worst behaived tennis players to ever hit the professional courts
throughout the past 40 years it has been deplorable to hear and see the talking heads on TV suck up to the McEnroes as though they were the equivalent to royalty and replay ad nauseum matches that show John McEnroe having meltdowns, yet, now the USTA and the talking heads suddenly want to renounce bad behavior
tennis has used and, profited from the antics and high drama of misbehaving tennis players to garner interest and viewers in tennis programing”

“Serena has long been on the record stating that John McEnroe is one of her greatest tennis heros and tennis role model
also, the most visible faces and voices of American tennis in the USTA and Fed Cup, on NBC, CBS and ESPN and in TV and print ads have been the McEnroes a couple of the worst behaived tennis players to ever hit the professional courts
throughout the past 40 years it has been deplorable to hear and see the talking heads on TV suck up to the McEnroes as though they were the equivalent to royalty and replay ad nauseum matches that show John McEnroe having meltdowns, yet, now the USTA and the talking heads suddenly want to renounce bad behavior
tennis has used and profited from the antics and high drama of bad behiving tennis players to garner interest and viewers in tennis programing
if the USTA were serious about decorum then they need to stop using the bad boy McEnroes as the face of American tennis, since Serena says John McEnroe is her great tennis role model”