Now We Are Just Haggling Over The Price

Leon Panetta, nominated to head the CIA, took in over $700,000 in speaking and consulting fees.  But he paid his taxes!

So, is this the sort of revolving door, cashing in on power, Washington business as usual that Obama promised to change?

The White House's nominee for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, has earned more than $700,000 in speaking and consulting fees since the beginning of 2008, with some of the payments coming from troubled financial firms and from a firm that invests in contractors for federal national security agencies, according to financial disclosures released Wednesday.

Mr. Panetta received $56,000 from Merrill Lynch & Co. for two speeches and $28,000 for a speech for Wachovia Corp., according to disclosures released ahead of Thursday's scheduled Senate hearing on Mr. Panetta's nomination.

That's encouraging - almost no one with a direct connection to national defense was interested in paying to hear Panetta's thoughts on national security or intelligence so he should be good to go for the CIA job.

WITH BATED BREATH:  Will the Times use their new power wisely?  Stay tuned!

[END OF THREAD]

Comments

[peter]

C'mon Tom, you didn't actually believe that change thing, didja?

[stevesturm]

per the article, the $700,000 was just since the beginning of 2008, there's no mention of how much money he made in earlier years.

[Chris]

From the WSJ article;
Like Mr. Daschle, who also worked for a firm with lobbying clients, Mr. Panetta doesn't violate Mr. Obama's ban on hiring registered lobbyists.

It's all good, then. That's 700K for last year, btw. A piker compared to Daschle. Would be interesting to see the #'s from prior years. Surely he cracked seven figures at some point.

[clarice]

Just don't register..call it consulting or advising and charge big speakers' fees.

Call our dear Mr PUK who'll put you on our SCAM speakers'rota.

[bgates]

Big deal. I heard from Nancy Pelosi that per capita income is $53 billion. Big shot like Panetta wouldn't wipe his ass with 700k.

[Daddy]

Wonder what that works out to per word spoken?

Let's take the 2 Merrill Lynch speeches totaling $56,000.00 as an example. Assuming Leon spoke approximately 120 words a minute for 60 minutes, you simply multiply 120 words x 60 Minutes to get 7,200 per speech. Multiple that by 2 (7,200 x 2) = 14,400 total. Then dividing $56,000 by those 14,400 words equals 3.888..., or just under 4 Dollars per word. Thank goodness it wasn't Caroline Kennedy speaking, or it would have cost another 50 grand just for the 'you knows'.

[Pofarmer]

Ya know, there really needs to be some kind of statute of limitations on "Public Service".

[bad]

Hre's an article about Panetta as a possible leaker of govt. documents back in the day. LUN

[Pofarmer]

And who in the world is paying for all this "speaking" and "consulting"?

At least with the mob, you know what your payoff buys.

[clarice]

Here's a useful rule of thumb:If the press treats a longtime insider warmly or even benignly, he's probably a leaker.

Years ago, the NYT would have a Man in the News feature where they'd single out an official and write something all nice about him, from then on he was in their pocket.

[Extraneus]

Man, would I love to pay Panetta $4/word just to come to my house and talk about whatever was on his mind.

[bad]

Clarice, here is the story on General Zinni and his treatment at the hands of th O admin. It ain't pretty.... LUN

[verner]

I'm kind of like Dianne Feinstein--why the hell did he pick Leon in the first place? Whose idea was it? Hillary's? Bills?

The first thing that comes to my cynical mind is that with Leon, all the "illegal" CIA wiretaps of Bill with the Chicoms and Saudis never see the light of day.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

It would be even better to pay Panetta to stop talking.

[clarice]

I'd bet it was Dynacorp and suddenly realizing he was losing on the ethics front tat caused O to deep six Zinni. In any event I think we're the better for that.

[Old Lurker]

"Man, would I love to pay Panetta $4/word just to come to my house and talk about whatever was on his mind."

I'd pay Obama $4/word to shut up. We would use the same counter that is tracking the jobs created "or saved".

[verner]

Gee Bad, why was O so dang rude to poor Gen Zinni. He seems like his kind of guy.

Maybe it was Hillary. Or maybe they just didn't like the idea of a general who was more than willing to break ranks with the commander in chief in a very public, very vocal way. Hey, if he did it to Bush...

[bgates]

why was O so dang rude to poor Gen Zinni

After his documented problems with Hillary, Jessica, and Nancy Pelosi, I had thought he was a sexist, but maybe he just doesn't like people whose names end in vowels.

[peter]

A Madoff whistle blower with a dog whistle at LUN.

[bad]

Treating General Zinni in such an unprofessional manner was unnecessary and unwise.

[narciso]

Zinni and Armitage were on the board of Veritas Capital, which controls Dyncorp; he
was also associated with some insurance annuity company, First Management (or something) that had taken advantage of vets; as I recall Jason Steynwyck's recounting of the tale.

[RichatUF]

bad-

How so? Zinni was a Soros general and is no longer useful. He'll get some board offers to defense contractors and do "consulting" work in the Gulf. Never understood why the guy running CENTCOM when the Oil for Food program was looted and al Qeada became a global threat is somehow the "go to guy".

[Daddy]

Narciso,

I really enjoyed Jason Steynwyck's Blog back during the Iraq war period. I've forgotten the name of his blog. Is he still posting, and if so, do you recall the name of his blog?

[narciso]

Yes, Rich, with his record, one would think he would quietly hide, due to his statements
on Iraq, AQ, et al. For the reasons I outlined above, Iraq probably dodged a bullet, in Zinni. Solid vetting procedures all around, unless they are supposed to move the crooks up to the front of the line. The nutroots specially won't like Panetta's ties to Booz Allen Hamilton and the Carlyle Group; which ironically give him some of the experience he's been looking for.

[narciso]

I think it's CounterColumn, instead of Iraq Now, he's cut back on his posting recently was very valuable giving a true perspective of the 124th Florida National Guard as it's spokesman, the limits and capabilities of
rescue and relief efforts like Katrina. By the way, what's with Mt. Redoubt, still kind of temperamental, looks clear from the pictures you posted. Are they stillrerouting
flights around Anchorage.

[bad]

Rich, because you never create an enemy where you don't have to.

[Daddy]

We're still doing OPs Normal. At our hangar facility at the airport they have access to some computer radar sight if it blows, but mainly they just keep one computer posted to AVO (The Alaskan Volcan Observatory) at all times. All our flights went as scheduled yesterday when I sat standby, and thats as much as I know. Thanks for the Jason website.

[Schwarts Stein(Last Hallucination) ;Artificial Hallucination;]

Maybe it should be Chayes from CIA, I mean NGOs or Shayes from the CIA cash, I mean intelligence committee, because there are more now or something. The non federal jobs are pretty tough. Generals aren't good for Kennedy/Obama Harvard wars.

The Frasure award should work nicely at USIP and Hillary's free school for federal employees.

[narciso]

Any perspective on this somewhat
schizophrenic review of the Sarah phenomenon, from a Commentary/NRO commentator, which is more complementary than most, but then presents some odd assumptions.

[RichatUF]

bad-

Rich, because you never create an enemy where you don't have to.

He ought to be more concerned with pissing off Speaker Pelosi. Obama will be embarrassed with some of the legislation that she and her tinkergnomes could work up.

Also pissing off people is in Obama's rule book-who, how to, and why. Zinni ain't going to do anything but piss-and-moan in FP, a specialist publication with a micro circulation. Soros is going to cut off his PR, and besides followers of the WOT, he'll be forgotten by the end of the week.

[bgates]

narciso - it struck me that Levin invented some criticisms out of a desire to appear evenhanded. The claim that Palin emphasized "physical prowess" was just bizarre. For that matter, so was the idea that the Republican party is the center of economic elitism.

OT, is anyone else afflicted with a British Firefox? If I write that I want to put a bullet through the brain of the guy who programmed the spellchecker, this thing complains unless I call it the "centre of grey matter".

[bad]

her gut-level appeal to the culture of the lower middle class

Narciso, I take exception to this assumption, simply because I know so many who don't fit that description who are staunch fans of Sarah.

It was an odd piece but I'll re-read it when I'm less tired.

[bad]

Rich, sometimes the enemy you create with that sort of treatment isn't the target of the treatment, but an observer of the treatment.

Panties are easily wadded...

[bad]

bgates, I thought that was a bit of envy directed at her totally hot husband.

[RichatUF]

bad-

True. Very curious. For such a "sweeping mandate" you'd think he would save his political capital for real fights, not getting into high school spats.

[bad]

LATIMES Blog thinks Panetta may be headed under the bus. LUN

via Instapundit

[bad]

More on Panetta at the Swamp. LUN

Klein's gonna cry...

[narciso]

You know I didn't even notice those two particular critiques. She is faulted for not providing a message for the McCain campaign, hello that wasn't her job, and
yet she did, otherwise she wouldn't have drawn such huge crowds. I don't know I begin to think that even the people supposedly on our side, like Levin, can't
interpret reality properly. It's dissapointing because I expect more from
Commentary than the New Yorker or frankly even National Review

[Pofarmer]

you'd think he would save his political capital for real fights, not getting into high school spats.

I'd seriously doubt if he'd know the difference, given his history thus far.

[RichatUF]

bad-

I re-read the FP graf and your comment, and got to thinking about "low level". I'm buttering and salting my popcorn.

[Frau Jedöns]

Methinks the "lower middle class" label for Sarah Palin reveals that Levin has little knowledge of the Palins, Alaska or middle class America. If we had found out as much about the Clintons, Kennedys, or Kerrys we'd most likely strike the "middle" from the label.

[Chris]

Too funny. Henninger on the government stimulus in the WSJ;

Sen. Tom Coburn is threatening to read the bill on the floor of the Senate. I have a better idea: Read it on "Saturday Night Live."

LUN

[RichatUF]

bad-

"I don't know of any instance he was asked to make a call on behalf of a client," Black said of Panetta. He said Panetta is "just kind of available to us for advisory purposes. He does a lot of kind of internal stuff.''

He was paid $120k for "advisory purposes" and "kind of internal stuff". You really can't make this stuff up.

[PD]

Why is it a bad thing to be appealing to the lower middle class, anyway?

Except to those for whom it's important to be able to look "down" on them, of course.

[Rick Ballard]

"I'm buttering and salting my popcorn."

Rich,

President LePetomane called Zinni to congratulate him. Who changed President LePetomane's teeny tiny mind afterward and had him make more of an ass of himself than usual? Is Mel Brooks really directing this comedy?

[JM Hanes]

Daddy:

Jason Steynwyck at Countercolumn.

[bad]

Rich and Rick, I blame the tightly wrapped message.

[bad]

I always thought Sarkozy was laughing at O during the rockstar tour. I wonder what he thinks of O now?

[Ranger]

He was paid $120k for "advisory purposes" and "kind of internal stuff". You really can't make this stuff up.

Posted by: RichatUF | February 04, 2009 at 11:51 PM

Well, it is less work than those once every 3 month meetings that Rahm Emmanuel had to attened, or phone in, at Freddie Mac, so you can understand the pay cut.

[Rick Ballard]

Bad,

As I mentioned on another thread, the lad needs a tasteful shock collar to go with his teleprompters. He's going to scare the womenfolk and chirrun if he keeps whuppin' it out like that.

[RichatUF]

Rick-

Too low brow for Brooks. It took me a few minutes to figure out the screw up though.

At this point Obama ought to move Panetta to Chief of Staff, keep Gen. Hayden at CIA, get some clean confirmation hearings, and dial back the Obot campaign for the spending bill (ie let the Senate strip it down to about $350 billion front loaded with either a business tax cut or an AMT elimination). A pro as COS wouldn't have made this many unforced errors.

[narciso]

Just drop out the word 'class' altogether when it comes to the latest generation of those scions. You're getting the same vibe
from it too, I gather. More of Michael Barone's upscale vs. downscale preference.

On Panetta, the hypocrisy just grows a new set of legs, not just on economic grounds,
re; lobbying for firms who subsequently received a bailout(I could have sworn
that he had said something against that) to lobbying for a division for ;wait for it, the Carlyle Group, and Booz Allen Hamilton; you know that makes him one of the neocon torturers by proxy, in the netroots fevered
minds. Which ironically wins him some points.

[bad]

lol Rick

Maybe Rahm is really spooked by Fitz. Hence the unwound message...

[SunnyDay]

bgates,
OT, is anyone else afflicted with a British Firefox? If I write that I want to put a bullet through the brain of the guy who programmed the spellchecker, this thing complains unless I call it the "centre of grey matter".

When Firefox underlines a misspelled word, place your cursor over the word and right-click. Select "languages" and load English - US.

[narciso]

Can we all have a wry chuckle at David Brook's (I think Morgan Freeberg, termed
it an NC-17 kind of thing)column celebrating
the genius of the Obama team. You know quoting Nehbuhr only gets you so far, specially since the latter was skeptical about government ability to really alter human behavior. A little or Max Weber's protestant ethic, or even Thorstein Veblen's
conspicuous consumption would have more significance

[clarice]

That, or he could just go get the damned puppy already, Rich, and the press will forget all about those errors and concentrate on that. And if worse comes to worse he'll haul kids again.

[Rick Ballard]

Rich,

Well, we can all understand the current CoS preoccupation with Fitz hanging off his rear with a bulldog grip. That's gotta be a little distracting - especially with the additional delay in Uncle Tony's sentencing. Uncle Tony ought to be ready for a solo at Carnegie Hall by now. And then there's Blago. Flat broke with only information to trade for a little leniency.

The President is actually only doing slightly worse than I anticipated. Not too shabby for an unqualified and not terribly intelligent buffoon. It's just a shame that this is the high point.

[narciso]

That image is just screaming for aPhotoshop,
Rick, something possibly out of Tom & Jerry.

[Pofarmer]

A pro as COS wouldn't have made this many unforced errors.

Carry on is what I say.

[bad]

Bob The Builder
Can we fix it?
Bob The Builder
YES WE CAN

Is this where that slogan came from? I hope O is paying royalties.

[RichatUF]

Rick-

I like the way you break it all down. Rahm is probably learning "I don't specifically recall" in all 31 Clintonian flavors. Maybe Zero is saving the puppies and kids for when he fires Fitz et al?

The thing I really haven't figured out is why Obama is on the one hand telling the "blue dog dems" to vote against the spending bill, and on the other, doing a full court press that it has to be passed to avert catastrophe. I'm all for strategy, but this is a mess that all but the most sycophantic O-supporter (Chris Todd, to much vetting, I'm looking at you) would spin.

[Stephanie]

Just dayum... go play a little golf (with a golf cart cover and a heater, TYVM ManBearPig), and it takes 1 1/2 hours to read all the comments/links here since yesterday. BTW say a prayer for my youngest (daughter) who is in the middle of golf team tryouts.

Thanks to those that liked that screed I penned at 3 AM.. it had been percolating for days. She was right wasn't she.... you can't put lipstick on a pig nor can you market it as pearls.

[clarice]

Rich:"The thing I really haven't figured out is why Obama is on the one hand telling the "blue dog dems" to vote against the spending bill, and on the other, doing a full court press that it has to be passed to avert catastrophe. "

Isn't that the equivalent of voting "present"?

Niters.

[Stephanie]

The thing I really haven't figured out is why Obama is on the one hand telling the "blue dog dems" to vote against the spending bill, and on the other, doing a full court press that it has to be passed to avert catastrophe. I'm all for strategy, but this is a mess that all but the most sycophantic O-supporter (Chris Todd, to much vetting, I'm looking at you) would spin.

Maybe he thinks Soros sold him a faulty magic unicorn and skittle machine*, and he has sent it out for repairs?

*copywright Wonka Industries

[Ann]

Pat Dollard has an interesting item on his blog: New Hampshire Fires First Shot Of Civil War - Resolution Immediately Voids Several Federal Laws, Threatens Counterstrike Against Federal “Breach Of Peace”

Will one of you smart JOM lawyers tell me if we should ready our pikes and pistolas sooner than I thought.

[dw53]

levin's article in Commentary on Palin is good.Levin refering to Palin as "lower" middle class is probably the misunderstanding of a foreigner.She is,of course,solid middle class.Pretend you don't love her and read Levin's story a little slower.Might be what he did to write it.I'm a long time lurker(2 hours-5 days)so I know you guys are sharp,and I know you get cranky.For a foreigner,Levin does a pretty good Joe Friday so reread it in the morning.

[RichatUF]

narciso-

Thanks for the link to the article. More navel-gazing is how I read it. He even states in the article that McCain didn't capitalize on the energy she brough to the ticket and on balance she helped rather than hurt. I also find the "lower middle class" label offensive in this context, and inappropriate, because Gov. Palin is many things, but "lower middle class" isn't one of them.

Again, and I'll have to dig up those late night comments from a few threads back, the point the so called intellectuals in coming back to "cultural populism" or "cultural conservatism" as the defect, is that Obama ran as the cultural conservative "from Kansas roots and values". In addition to the campus organization I've mentioned, he had success in churches (beyond the black church) as well.

Obama's $750 million campaign war chest allowed him to define McCain as aloof and unsteady (risky), Palin as a "ditz", and provided the resources necessary for him to carve out from the GOP center-right support (those traditional in their private lives, but non-judgemental in cultural issues). His gun flub didn't make it beyond blogs (and probably didn't matter) and all the other embarrassing flubs were well hidden. Obama's economic message was "I have the support of Warren Buffett" and with a once in a century financial crisis and an unpopular administration that's all he really needed.

People wanted change, well they are going to get it good and hard. More later at a more reasonable hour.

[Daddy]

JMH, Thank you.

Narciso,

Just in from little girl indoor soccer practice and ran through the Levin piece. I was with him till about 85 percent of the way through. The above critiques by bgates, Bad, and yourself are generally what struck the wrong chord with me about it, but up to then I think it was very much on the money.

I think that for both Left and Right Sarah somehow became a target to tear down, not simply to get rid of her or destroy McCain, but instead almost an unrivaled opportunity to exalt oneself in the process of tearing her down. Her wholesomeness and decency and naturalness and "Anti-intellectualism" if you will, made her an inviting and presumably easy target. Certainly that was the perception and game plan for Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric, which is why I was so pissed off that she was immediately thrown to those weasels by the McCain Camp.

I was surprised that McCain chose her in the first place but I wasn't surprised at how well she did on her first coming out opportunities because I had seen it before in her campaigns up here in the past. But that an attractive, intelligent, uncorrupt down home Governor with an 80 percent approval rating now became the target of every Tom Dick and Harry on the National and local scene was something, in my naivity, I was unprepared for. Now when I see Walt Monagahan running for Mayor and Hollis French preparing to run for Governor, I personally now recognize how one path to prominence and power on the Left is to maliciously and flagrantly try to destroy the character of decent individuals on the Right. Now they've got name recognition, a sympathetic press, and presumably backing. How they can look at themselves in the mirror is beyond me, but no wonder they can't find an uncorrupt one to fill Obama's Cabinet if lies and slander of decent folks is how they rise to prominence in the Party in the first place. That by the way is a trait I have never seen out of Sarah herself, and that's speaking as a guy who was not a major Sarah proponent before this whole thing started.

But unfortunately I also witness Sarah destruction as a stepping stone for members of the Right, (Frum, Noonan etc). On the local level I now witness God's gift to Conservative's, Dan Fagan continually pounding her on the radio at every opportunity with adolescent glee, yet then agonizingly bemoaning the fact that there don't seem to be any new good Conservatives popping up to run for office. Golly, wonder why. I hear him legitimately hammering Mayor Begich for almost criminally signing Union Contracts in the dead of night, and saddling the City with a 17 million dollar shortfall, undiscovered until after skipping town, yet fuming that the ADN or local Media refuse to cover the story. Yet then he mentions the slightest bit about Levi or Troopergate etc, and suddenly the story's on NPR in a heartbeat. So guess which well Dan goes back to for ratings?

Likewise "Republican" Andrew Halcro's will criticize her in hour 1 for promoting AGIA over some other alternative, then in hour 2 criticize her for considering some other alternative over AGIA, then in hour 3 take a call from Hollis French or whomever so they can criticize the Sarah of hour 1 or hour 2 take your pick.

So Sarah as a target and as a stepping stone in self exaltation needs to be put into Levin's equation in my view.

[peter]

Uncle Tony ought to be ready for a solo at Carnegie Hall by now. And then there's Blago. Flat broke with only information to trade for a little leniency.

ha ha ha "singing like a canary on speed" as Kojak used to say in the 70s.

[hit and run]

Good Morning!

Only two days to go!

It's 14 degrees here and somehow a window in hit and run jr's bedroom was cracked open last night. Brrrrrrrr!

[Amused bystander]

Narciso: When folks like Zinni and Armitage are on the boards of commercial firms you know we are in trouble.

If FOX, or someone like them, was smart they would just a a regular show that exposes these networks.

It is obvious that we cannot relie on the Internet to get this out.

[PeterUK]

"Big shot like Panetta wouldn't wipe his ass with 700k."

One has to leave tips,one needs loose change for that.

[bgates]

Sunny, thanks a lot!

dw - Levin went to college in DC. Where is he from?

I wasn't that bothered by "lower middle class", because Levin wasn't using the label as a slur. I grew up in Palin's kind of neighborhood, around people whose second home was a hunting cabin in the woods. My high school would send about one kid a year to an Ivy League school, and maybe 50-75 others to some other college out of a graduating class of 200. It seemed to me that Levin's point about economic class was that more than just that one kid should be eligible for the presidency. (I try to take a nuanced view of these things, and I don't think that one kid should be disqualified, though in light of recent and current Ivy League alum performance I understand if others think differently.)

[Amused bystander]

relie=rely

[bgates]

I need to start reading the Examiner next week, because Byron York is going there, and he's taking his title-writing with him. Just saw this gem on the Corner:
We Plan To Live Up To Our Ethical Standards Very, Very Soon.

[Pofarmer]

Daddy.

I think that some of the "conservative" radio commenters think it is their job to tear everyone down. They may not realize that the perfect is the enemy of the good. I've heard Shawn Hannity criticize conservatives time and time again for "spending like drunken sailors" apparently never realizing that the main increases in spending are mandated spending, not voluntary spending. Spending is gauranteed to go up whether they come up with any new votes or note. It's one thing to criticize those on ones own side of the field. It's another thing to tear them down with glee when you know that the wolves will pounce. Yes, politics is a tough business, but the left has finely honed these bloodlust politics, where you seek to not only defeat your opponent, but destroy them.

[bad]

I'll read York wherever he goes. And that headline rocks.

The Examiner does good reporting. Insty links the Examiner on a regular basis.

[bad]

Why is Obama preaching again? He's the National Nag. And we all thought Michelle would win that title, hands down...

[Amused bystander]

Well, we need to stop this meme about te GOP standing for "economic elitism" dead in its tracks or "tracts" it would seem).
I encourage people like Clarice, Jane, P2P et al. to give it a go soon.

The GOP is the party of the Middle Class, and it is the Democrats that are the rich. Socialism and Socialism enabled corporatism are the path to "economic "elitism". Pointing out the meaning of economic freedom and opportunities that small businesses offer to employees and owners alike are a good places to start.
That is the way to counter it, or at least one sound way.

It is bad enough that the Democrats still think it is 1929, but when Conservative "intellectuals" keep pushing this it starts to border on senility.

The remnants of the old order, the WASP ascendancy, were almost totally co-opted into the Liberal elite, mostly by the time Ike left office.
The only holdouts were the active political wings, but even here the questions were mostly about who was getting which piece of the pie. The Rockefeller crowd made common cause with FDR and hardly represent the GOP after Nixon's rise. Much of the new groups that displaced the old order where Democrats who made their living off of the WW2/Cold War State bonanza. Since the 1960's the Country Club set has been mostly replace by the Sierra Club cliques.

This is one of the major problems we face, we are using world views, rhetorics, slogans, bromides and cliches that stem from the first half of the last century. We are caught in a trap of obsolete ideas and "sclerosisfied" rhetoric.

The National Parties and the MSM are to blame for most of this. I do not see how we change this other than just speaking out in our daily lives,over and over again. It is fairly clear that there is a broad mass that will never be reached by the internet.

Some how we must find the courage to do this.

The "NRO elites" in the GOP are not helping matter at all. They are an embarrassment.

This Commentary article has some good points, but it still carries a whiff of this offensive Upper East Side snobbery, unwarranted high self regard and the general obtuseness of our plight that characterizes the mentalities of so many these false, self-anointed elites. We are bedeviled by them. We are in a fight for the very existance of the Republic and we need every patriotic hand and every seeing,living eye that we can muster. And every voice.

The smug "Old Order" ("menopasal order"?) of false elites created and maintained by looting the nation must be radically reduce if not undone altogether. We must drain this swamp.

[narciso]

Po, I swear it's as if they go around with a historical blindspot on something. They forget how Reagan was savaged for even doing some basic trimming of certain
programs; the whole 'ketschup is a vegetable' Bill Moyer's 'Shame of the Nation' series for PBS at the height of the '82 recession, The reception Newt received for just considering reducing the rate of growth. You can't win either way, you raise the level of spending you condition it like with NCLB, which frankly is a crock, from personal experience, and they still call you Scrooge. We forget that there was a big wave of infrastructure spending, what four years ago, where did it go.

[centralcal]

Re: The Washington Times . . . Pelosi wants to pee on it.

LUN

[Amused bystander]

Forgot the article link

LUN

[clarice]

AB, you're right about sclerotic rhetoric and the class divisions of the parties.

[Amused bystander]

Good advice, RichardUF. And it will rain pigs first.

[Jane]

Amused,

I actually talked about that at the end of my show in Tuesday. (LUN) I asked Dick why he was a democrat and he said it was because he believed in helping his fellow man. I told him that Republicans were the people who did that. He said that was because republicans are the party of the rich and I said "no no no". If you've got some data in support, I'll try and raise it again next week.

[centralcal]

bad: "Why is Obama preaching again? He's the National Nag."

No kidding. He is planning a prime time press conference on Monday to "bypass the media filter" and get his "stimulus" message out to the masses. Additionally, an Oval Office message is being considered.

[narciso]

The media misunderstand that they got themselves a Stevenson Democrat, another product of the Chicago machine, updated with 50 years of history. And that's not a good thing either. Consider the influence that wing had on the Kennedyadministration; forcing a retreat on the Ba of Pigs, till the mission was pointless; negotiating the fig leaf on the Cuban Missile Crisis, pushing for the removal of Diem. The whole discussion of Afghanistan as the next Vietnam has that really bad odor. Didn't they used to say this was the 'good war'
or is that just "East Asia over Eurasia
on the Malabar front"

[bgates]

Jane, I stumbled on to this, which looks like an interesting discussion of that point. Nassim Nicholas Taleb has nice things to say about the data, and I have a lot of respect for him (easily enough to counter the negative impression left by equally positive words from EJ Dionne, the Bob Herbert of DC).

[Jane]

BTW, my broker just told me that Goldman and one other company would be exempt from the $500k ceiling - because their top guys are BFF's with O.

[narciso]

Boy they used to say that W was in a bubble, but he really takes the Cake, The media has been singing his praises, about the need for a stimulus (hosanna in the highest) for two weeks now. What's that line about dog food and the marketing plan; the people aren't buying it. Actually, considering the spokesman he put up, the nature of the package itself, one wonders if he didn't want it to fail on purpose. No, he's not that clever. The election's over, he has to deliver, Peggy in Sarasota is waiting for him to pay for her gas and mortgage.

[bad]

My understanding is the TARP restrictions on executive pay are not retroactive. Only companies accepting money in the future are subject to the new limitations.

[Old Lurker]

"...he said it was because he believed in helping his fellow man. I told him that Republicans were the people who did that."

Jane, lots of work on that last year by Arthur C. Brooks, NRO, Heritage and others. See WSJ in LUN for example. Google and you will find lots. You can beat Dick big time on this point.

[Amused bystander]

Well we need to get on the horn to our reps.

My guess is he will push this through.

This is the only way that he can completely end run debate on his dastardly agenda. Every day we can slow it down is a blessing.

I fear that the media barrage with let him get his way. It will be exceeding hard to reverse this.

We need to stiffen their spines.

they need to get people like Palin, Rudy and Fred out there. Send Mitt out to the Chamber of Commerce crowd.
They need to do it today.

This bill has every chance of destroying the Republic. It is a dodge and a hustle.

But watch them turn public opinion for it.
This will look like the Palin salvos.

I urge you all to be outspoken about it in your daily lives. It might be all we can do.

Few things are more important that stopping this. It amounts to a communist coup.

[jean]

Goldman is trying to get out of the TARP.If I remember correctly some of the banks were forced to take TARP so others wouldn't have a cloud over them

[Extraneus]

Monday's a long time to wait if he thinks he's going to stem the tide with personal charm. This is from yesterday, and the trend isn't going his way:

50% Say Stimulus Plan Likely to Make Things Worse

It'd be a great thing if the whole bill went down in flames. Humbling, too.

[MayBee]

He was paid $120k for "advisory purposes" and "kind of internal stuff". You really can't make this stuff up.

This is why they have such contempt for people in the private business sector. They think these are the kind of jobs the rest of us have.

[verner]

Narciso, His biggest mistake was in believing that his sweep in November translated into undying love and blind trust. The marvelous muddle voted for him because they kept hearing words like "pragmatist" and figured..."OK, I'll give him a try."

Now reality is biting. What we've got is a rehash of Johnson's "war on poverty" Huey Long's "all my friends get a piece of the pie" and Jimmah Carter's "friends in Jesus" foreign policy--brought to you by corrupt Clinton retreads, kooky neo-marxists, and a press secretary who uses his kid as a prop to try and deflect ire at total incompetence.

That rumble you're hearing over the horizon is a collective "oh crap" from the great American people.

[bad]

Amused, I haven't heard a single person speak in favor of the porkulous bill. And the group includes those who voted for Obama and several committed lefties.

[Amused bystander]

Jane, their are sites that list political contributions. The data can be filtered by region, county, corporation, etc. Somewhere there is an actually a break down of Manhattan by street, and this is quite revealing.

What you might do is pick some ultra rich counties, Like marin or Westchester, and then compare poltical contributions.

Sorry I cannot do more right now.

[bgates]

Dear Senator,
You have the tremendous luxury of being able to focus on whether the proposed spending bill is good for the country without the distraction of how much it will cost you personally, since as a Democrat elected official no one expects you to do your legal duty and pay taxes like a commoner. I am writing to implore you to do what is best, and that is clearly this:
Increase the spending to $100 trillion.

Imagine all the good that can come of people as smart as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid confiscating $1 trillion in wealth from wastrels like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Now imagine that times 100. If the 500 million jobs the Speaker says are being lost in the recession could be saved by the current spending plan, just adding 2 zeros to every number in that plan would save (or create) 50 billion jobs, enough to ensure full employment including a swing shift position for every human being on the planet for several generations.
Clearly you have already heard and discarded objections against the miserly $1,000,000,000,000 plan, such as "how can we solve the problem of debt by increasing debt", "who on earth will pay for all this", "what little of the proposed spending can be described as 'stimulus' doesn't even occur for 3 years", and "I wouldn't trust those cheating corrupt sons of bitches in Congress to get me change for a five dollar bill". These objections have no more force against a $100,000,000,000,000 plan than they do against a $1,000,000,000,000 scheme.
If the plan under consideration now is good, a plan 100 times bigger should be that much better. If the current plan is a gigantic fraud the mere suggestion of which leads to every current member of Congress being voted out, exiled from polite society, and forced to cadge out a living in swamps and deserts far from civilization - well, let's get to that point as fast as possible too.