Stressing Out On The Stress Test

Treasury Secretary Geithner cryptically proposed that new Federal aid to the big banks would be preceded by a "stress test".  But what did he mean?  Who knows!  Let's cite Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman as our Exemplar of Uncertainty:

3. Stress test: everything depends on how this is actually implemented. What happens if, or more likely when, a major money center bank is stress-tested and found to have negative net worth? One possibility is that the auditors are told to come up with a different answer; that’s a big concern. The other is that the bank is effectively nationalized; as I read the language that could be achieved as part of the public capital injection.

So what is the plan? I really don’t know, at least based on what we’ve seen today.

Not helpful! 

Geithner was asked whether any banks were "too big to fail" at a Senate hearing yesterday and specifically declined to use that language, referring instead to a commitment to contain "systemic damage".  Yike!

That is a heck of a presentation - the biggest banks will be tested somewhere down the road, some may fail the test, and the consequences are unclear.  One marvels that the Dow fell only 380 points.

But the WSJ lights a candle of hope in today's reporting:

Government officials are saying the tests, in which they try and gauge a bank's condition under the worst case scenario in two years, won't be used to separate banks that survive from those that are liquidated.

"I don't think there is a pass-fail on the stress test," a government official said. "This stress test is not a test for who is insolvent or not."

Rather, government officials say the tests will be used to gauge how much extra capital big banks might need as a buffer to continue lending through the economic downturn. The Treasury Department said Tuesday that it would invest an additional $100 billion and $200 billion into banks on top of the $250 billion it has already said it would put in.

Geithner's latest looks like another triumph of ad hocery.

[END OF THREAD]

Comments

[bad]

These clowns are causing me stress. Do I pass the test?

[kim]

There is a defibrillator handy, right?
=====================================

[Captain Hate]

There is a defibrillator handy, right?

Yeah but Daschle's plan won't approve its use on anybody able to be revived.

[Fresh Air]

Do I pass the test?

Yes. Please collect two-hundred million dollars!

[Jane]

My gawd I just found out from a friend (who is my broker) that my mother and his grandmother still support Obama.

I told him to call them back and tell them the first thing Obama is going to do is deny them medical care.

[cathyf]

Well, "stress test" is a term of art. If they mean running VaR on bank portfolios, well, yeah, that's the way it's done. And we are talking about incremental refinements in the risk reporting that the regulators already require, and have for decades (and have been continuously incrementally refining for decades.)

But I wouldn't assume that these folks mean anything sensible by the blather spewing forth from their mouths.

[bad]

Jane, I'm hearing rumblings about reduced Social Security benefits. No details or how soon but I can vouch for my mom dropping him at that point.

Hmmm... maybe not. She hates the porkus BILL and blames congress, not O.

[narciso]

The very dark humor, he can derive from this, is that some like Cantakerous Kate are recovering from their date with Obama
out of spite, with her husband's reaction to Sarah. That doesn't really help because that and four bucks won't get you a macchiato; but a little schaudenfreude to get us over whatever TurboTim's latest scheme.

[glenda]

we need to take plenty portable defibrillators to the island.
we must make lists now.
needs/ expertise/ communications/rations
shelter...and we should all start a new language--xnay on pig latin,please!
Or should we go to moderate climate Hills?
There could be tunnels for safety!

[Rick Ballard]

"Jane, I'm hearing rumblings about reduced Social Security benefits."

Cheer the old folks up, Bad. Under Kill Granny their probability of living to see benefit cuts has dropped considerably. Talk to them about the nobility of their coming sacrifice. The memorial will be inscribed with They died so that Democrats might spend. A lovely sentiment.

[Jane]

My mother told my friend that she was disappointed in Daschle but thrilled to death with those wonderful strong women from Maine.

[barf]

[bad]

That's funny Jane. My daughter views those wimpy women from Maine as sell-outs, utterly lacking backbone.

[PeterUK]

Mr Ballard,
God forbid that the phrase "Ethnic Cleansing" should come up.

[steveaz]

RE "Stress Tests:" aren't banks' elected boards supposed to govern their corporations safely through stressful times?

What has happened to the mechanisms that hold corporate boards accountable to their share-holders? It appears that, under Obama, these failed governors will get a pass, and that the Federal government will fill-in for them.

Where is the share-holder outrage? Where is the ambulance chasing Johnny Cochran looking to score millions from Rubin, Raines et al, in the name of restituting conned Citigroup, Wachovia and GE-Financial stock owners?

It's exactly like the defections of New Orleans' police-force during Katrina: when key enforcers go AWOL, the Democrats never exact punishment on the defectors. Instead they blame the Fed's, FEMA and global warming, the media forge the front-lines for them, and the actual criminals wind up getting a pass.

Could it be this pining for the benefits from a Federal "bail-out" is the mechanism by which sub-prime borrowers will get their mortgages paid, union choked auto-makers escape their trap, and established, usually-Democratic, city political machines avoid accountability for decades of malfeasance?

Something is seriously wrong with America's system of accountability. Maybe we've adopted Haiti's system of voodoo science and coercive politics. Could it be we got cross-pollinated by an upwind spore while Clinton "fixed" France's ex-colony?

We can't take much more of this accountability dodging and remain a world-class nation.

[bad]

Tapper:

At Howard University today, First Lady Michelle Obama told a crowd of 250 students, she still struggles with the challenge of balancing work and family.

It's probably time to stop referring to her situation as a struggle. Grandma lives in the same household and there is an enormous staff. How is she to inspire others of limited resouces when she whines in spite of all the advantages? Good Grief!!

[bad]

Could it be this pining for the benefits from a Federal "bail-out" is the mechanism by which sub-prime borrowers will get their mortgages paid, union choked auto-makers escape their trap, and established, usually-Democratic, city political machines avoid accountability for decades of malfeasance?

Oh Hellz yeah

[Jane]

I want accountability from our politicians long before I care about it for Wall Street.

But the media doesn't do accountability now that O's in office so we are out of luck.

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for Clarice's calm, incisive analysis of Murtha's corruption.

[bad]

Speaking of stress, have you seen the picture of Pelosi on Drudge?

[Danube of Thought]

Way to go, Clarice--sink your teeth in that fat S.O.B. and don't let go.

[JM Hanes]

Never thought I'd see the day when even Krugman is stumped for talking points. Where did all the flowers go?

Doublespeak Index: Obama, Barack H.

I don't want to get out in front of my Treasury Secretary = I'm going to let Geithner take the hits.

[PeterUK]

bad,

[Jane]

Geez Louise I read that Murtha article about an hour ago and I never realized Clarice wrote it. It was great Clarice.

[Extraneus]

Hey, Clarice. Great article.

I think something's wrong with this part:

Roll Call’s Mary Jacoby observed that “Of the approximately $4 billion in ‘directed spending’ contained in the $240 billion fiscal 1994 defense appropriations bill, more than $11 million is earmarked for projects in Murtha’s district.” Of this, $103 million went to “a non-profit research” company in his district known as Concurrent Technologies Company (CTC), “a subsidiary of the University of Pittsburgh Trust”.

Was the $11M a typo?

[JM Hanes]

Clarice:

Nice roundup on Murtha!

It looks a correction is needed in the Newsbusters excerpt: "....more than $11 million is earmarked for projects in Murtha’s district. Of this, $103 million went to a non-profit research company...."

Sounds like that should be $11 * billion*

[bad]

Gibbs is late again. That's gonna stress the reporters who will be meaner to Gibbs, hopefully...

[JM Hanes]

Just my luck. Extraneous is $11 billion ahead of me.

[bad]

Hey, I'm rich!! Fresh Air says I can have $200 million. Is that in the porkus BILL?

[Extraneus]

It said "of the $4B," so it didn't seem like it could be $11B. Maybe $x11M or $11xM?

[peter]

I think Obama had surgery on his nose to look less Negroid. LUN

[Danube of Thought]

Off-topic, but very nice, from Agence France-Press:

"Baghdad - Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Wednesday he had been 'reassured' by the United States that there would be no sudden pullout of American troops, despite an improving security situation. (Snip) Zebari, however, insisted that there would be no sudden withdrawal. 'We have been reassured by the new administration that there will not be a major change, or a quick disengagement or quick pullout from Iraq,' he told reporters."

[JM Hanes]

GIBBS: I'm not going out there again.
AXELROD: Yes, you are.
GIBBS: Am not!
AXE: Are too.

Speaking of tacky: I caught a video of Obama after his first ride on Air Force O, as President. He descended the stairway, got into the limo -- and he was chewing gum. I don't feel really, really old all that often but...

[bad]

JMH, are you sure it warn't a chaw of tobakky?

[bad]

I don't know about the nose, Peter, but he should have gone with something other than a magenta sheath.

[JM Hanes]

bad: Probably breaking the habit with gum because Michelle told him he couldn't spit smoke.

[JM Hanes]

Couldn't say about Obama, peter, but Michelle desperately needs a better hair dresser.

Too bad Geithner gave our resident economists nothing to work with on the bailout front!

[Jane]

Robert Gibbs is a moron.

[Sue]

It is nicotine gum.

[Porchlight]

How is she to inspire others of limited resouces when she whines in spite of all the advantages?

She can't help herself, bad. That's just who she is inside. It won't matter what heights she hits, "they" will always be there holding her back.

That photo essay that peter linked is interesting. Does anyone else think Michelle looked much happier in the photos from early on in her marriage? Now she has kind of a triumphant look, but it is not a sweet or happy kind of expression. I suppose it's sexist for me to expect her to look sweet and/or happy.

[Jane]

Porchlight,

It sounds like you think she resents being black. My guess is she's not the first, but boy that is not the attitude of a leader or a role model.

[Extraneus]

Robert Gibbs is a moron.

So what? Does anyone remember Lincoln's press secretary?

Their crises were different, but the responses of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama bear striking parallels, historians say.

[PeterUK]

"It is nicotine gum."

What does Obama do with it when he isn't chewing,does he stick on Joe Biden's forehead?

[Sue]

peter,

Good grief. The commentary on each of those pictures is enough to make you barf.

[RichatUF]

cathyf-

I think the most useful numbers will come from here. The banks which don't cough up some coin are at "systemic risk" of failing the stress test. The "systemic damage" to those deemed not generous enough could be catastrophic.

[clarice]

Thanks Extraneus It should be $11[3] million. In the original the author had $110 million but reading downward it is apparent the total figure was $113 million so I put the [3] in place of the 0 and somehow in editing it got lost.

CC

[Jane]

Harry Reid says they have reached an agreement.

I may never go to the state of Maine again.

And now he is saying the 3 republicans love their country and are patriotic.

WE need that island fast.

[Porchlight]

Jane,

I must admit that I do think the evidence points in that direction. The Princeton thesis, the comment that "they keep moving the bar," her statement last week that "they let us out" of the White House. I am sympathetic somewhat, but at what point shouldn't one give it up? Her husband is leader of the free world.

[bad]

Sounds like Specter, Snow and Collins have totally capitulated.

What is Lieberman thinking?

Damn them all

[clarice]

AT is running bgates piece as a blog. The editor had some big troubles with the formatting and asks that all future submissions be made in word. If that's a problem for anyone lwt me know and I'll see if I can convert it for you.

[peter]

Porchlight, interesting take on Michelle's visage. There may be stresses to the marriage beyond the difficulties of paying for piano lessons on a $300,000 annual salary. We are only three weeks into the Obama presidency and yet we have learned so much so far. OT, Anyone see the current New Yorker article on housing? I can't link it online, but it says Ft. Myers is the epicenter of the housing bubble. Interesting read even for a Kool-Aid drinking magazine.

[Jane]

I must admit that I do think the evidence points in that direction.

She can have any attitude she wants but it's not one you should ever find in a leader.

[MayBee]

I'm taking a stroll down memory lane today, and remembering when people went bezerk over Joe the Plumber saying Obama is socialist with clever rejoinders like this:

Socialism: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods 2 a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

Why does it come as no surprise he can't even understand the dictionary?

As if, right?

[MayBee]

Is "Mom-in-Chief" an Axelrod creation?

[Daddy]

OT, but trying to provide some good cheer;

Todd Palin (1st Dude) is currently in 5th place in the Iron Dog Snow Machine Race. Having whizzed along at 100 MPH in -50 degree temps (not counting windchill), they are currently 900 miles into the contest and resting at the Halfway point in Nome. Pictures of Todd and all the contestants at ADN.com. If you click on the box with the photo's of all the contestants, he's top row far right.

[bad]

GO TODD!!!

Thanks Daddy for that lovely visual.

But I'm still pissed ...

[matt]

So with all this talk of reduced Social Security benefits and rationed medical care, where is the AARP on this one?

They were very successful in getting involved in issues far from those of retirement previously. What now? And why aren't people with chips in the game starting to deluge Congress with their opinions? If the Republicans want an issue that will seal the deal in places like Florida and Arizona, they should jump on this.

[MayBee]

Are you pissed, bad, or mad????

So.... are we placing bets on whether Dr. Eric Whittaker will be needed to help computerize medical records?
So far, he's the only crony in the Jarrett/Barack/Michelle/Axelrod constellation that hasn't gotten a government job.

[MayBee]

I found this:

7/13/2006 - ...
Gov. Blagojevich, State Rep. Julie Hamos, Dr. Eric Whitaker, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, and other local and state officials were given a demonstration of our electronic medical records system. ...
At the hospital, the Governor signed an Executive Order creating a new Division of Patient Safety, which will consolidate the state’s efforts for dealing with medical errors. He further proposed that, by 2011, all healthcare providers use “e-prescribing” to cut down on prescription errors.

So the medical records stuff was a Blogajevich-era initiative when Obama's best friend Dr. Eric Whitaker was director of Illinois Department of Public Health (a job Obama got him by suggesting him to Rezko).

So I think I have the medical records mystery solved (it's another job for Dr. Whitaker now that Michelle and Valerie have left his employer, UofC Hospital).

Now....who builds School Science labs?

[RichatUF]

Maybee-

...who builds School Science labs

Marmon Group. Formerly a Pitzker family firm until Buffett bought them out a few years back. They are mostly roads and heavy construction, but they also have a plumbing and hvac side too. That is only a guess.

[JM Hanes]

bad:

"How is she to inspire others of limited resouces when she whines in spite of all the advantages?"

She's not really whining about her own circumstances; it's just the FLOTUS version of "I feel your pain." It's meant to be empathy, as in: The balancing act that women do is hard even when you've got resources like I do, so I know how much harder it is for you. I know how much help you need -- so I'm going to tell you something about Barack.....

It does take some finesse not to sound like you're po' mouthin' though -- another nifty southernism for talking poor when everybody knows you've got money to burn. Think Bill Gates bemoaning the steep price of paperclips, or being reduced to using a plastic ice bucket in his limo. People who make a habit of it are pretty universally despised, not least by the po' folks they think they're connecting with.

[bad]

HEH Maybee, I don't know how that happened at Tapper but I decided to let it go.

What dya think?

[MayBee]

love it!

[bad]

You are absolutely masterful over there.

[JM Hanes]

Rich:

I accidentally posted a comment for you on the "Most Important" thread instead of "Hope" -- but at least it should be easier to find on a single page.

[Porchlight]

She can have any attitude she wants but it's not one you should ever find in a leader.

True, Jane. It is disappointing to me that someone so negative about her own achievement should be the role model for millions.

And, interestingly, it doesn't seem to be an attitude that her husband shares. I wonder if there is any tension between them because of their different backgrounds.

[Porchlight]

She's not really whining about her own circumstances; it's just the FLOTUS version of "I feel your pain."

Interesting take, JMH. But remember she did say something to the children at the elementary school last week about how FLOTUS "doesn't pay very much." Again, not attractive.

I get such a complainer vibe off her that I'm not inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt; however, I realize that this is extremely subjective of me.

[clarice]

Jane, you have a nice voice whenever Dick lets you get a word in.

[PDinDetroit]

Define Irony: On Child Count Day in Detroit Public Schools, City Council President Monica Conyers uses a police officer and department-issued car to chauffeur one of her sons to a private suburban school about 15 miles from the city.

LUN

[Neo]

It was interesting when a few of the major bank CEOs today (just a few minutes ago) showed amazement and chagrin at just what Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner would be doing with the TARP II monies given that they expected to pay off the TARP I money on time or early and had no need for additional TARP loans (unless they looked cheap).

Is the economy really getting worse or is the Obama administration just blowing it up to look better when the economy eventually comes around ?

[RichatUF]

JM Hanes-

Thanks for that. Those were great pieces you put together. I'll have to get inspired though and some have already gotten out of the gate. Don't know how much I'd be able to really contribute.

It pisses me off that Reps still trail Dems in handling the economy (and lost that metric by 15 points during the election), but it was the exact sort of "public-private partnership" Geithner is proposing that got us into trouble in the first place.

[PDinDetroit]

Jane, you have a nice voice whenever Dick lets you get a word in.

Clarice, somehow this creates a visual I don't think you meant...

Or, maybe it is just me...

[narciso]

They collectively do have quite a chip on their shoulder, that still hasn't lifted despite their long time involvement with the upper levels of the establishment. I outlined my rationale behind his alienation,
I can't quite figure our her. Any who, wonder if anybody will be making any comparisons between this upcoming vogue spread and the one LUNed above, two years ago.

[peter]

You know what really bugs me about Michelle Obama? when she was on the campaign trail (when she wasn't being muzzled) she would talk about Obama would make us all into volunteers who would "get involved" in community activities. What volunteer work has she done since she became the FLOTUS? Lady Bird Johnson worked on environmental issues, Eleanor Roosevelt worked on charities, so did Laura Bush. Nancy Reagan helped to fight drug addiction. Barbara Bush worked on illiteracy. Talk is real cheap, Michelle.

[RichatUF]

Neo-

Is the economy really getting worse or is the Obama administration just blowing it up to look better when the economy eventually comes around ?

But isn't worse better. Obama's program isn't about getting the economy back on track it is to cement a Democrat super-majority so politicians in big cities and Washington DC can loot everyone else. Also, Obama's team must think that he'll be able to weather the continuing unemployment. The last recession unemployment continued to climb for a year and a half even after growth returned to normal. This recession is setting up for a run up in unemployment to 9.5% and it'd take the remaining portion of Obama's term to get it back down to where it was when he entered office. The problem with all this is is that Obama is making the porkulus bill his elixer for the recession-if unemployment is still climbing after 6 months, he took what he could have blamed on the prior administration and the GOP and now he owns it-right out of the gate. It doesn't matter that the spending in the bill doesn't start kicking in until 2010 and 2011-it won't save GM and Chysler nor a swath of retailers and banks.

[clarice]

PD--whatever you're reading into that sailed right over my head. I mean Dick steps all over whatever Jane is trying to say.

[daddy]

Guy's, can you please give me a link to where MayBee's holding court. I haven't had the chance to catch up so please excuse my ignorance. Thanks in advance.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

All I know is that I'm damn tired of being yelled at by Obama and his many minions. I didn't cause the crisis. I lost my house, but I managed to get it sold with about 20 minutes to spare before the loan went sour. I took a huge hit on the price, selling a a fire sale price, but I still managed to get enough out of it to pay cash for my car, so I contributed to the auto industry without putting a strain on the credit market. I live on a poverty income, I recycle, and I never turn on my heat, even though this morning my house was at a warm 39 degrees when I crawled out of bed. We use lots of warm comforters, wear wool socks and sweaters, and get the blinds open as soon as possible to let the warm sun heat it up. I fast every other day in order to save on food and still be able to feed my pets and pay for my only luxury, Internet access. I think I do my part, as much as I'm able, and I'm sick of being yelled at. There is nothing in this stimulus that will benefit me in any way as far as I can see, but it will hurt me if taxes go up.

There that's my rant. Consider me a very angry voter.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

Satellites Collide Over Antarctica

[Bill in AZ]

Sara, any other info? Strata-sphere seems to be overwhelmed for the moment.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

He has an update saying that the Russian satellite was breaking up and our sat. was hit by the debris.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

Oh, and ours was an iridium communications sat., they aren't sure what purpose the Russian's sat. had.

[Jane]

Clarice,

Dick has gotten so much better -

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

Oh boy:

ABC's Terry Moran to Obama: Why Don't You Just Fire Bank Execs?

"Nightline" co-anchor Terry Moran on Tuesday interviewed Barack Obama and pressed him from the left, wondering why he didn't simply fire the executives who the journalist blamed for "wreck[ing] these banks in the first place." The two were discussing the stimulus bill and the current economic problems on Wall Street. As the MRC's Brent Baker already noted in a previous blog, Moran also seriously wondered, "Why not just nationalize the banks?"

After the President suggested that such an idea was unworkable and didn't make sense, the host persisted. Moran challenged, "People are angry." Going further, the ABC journalist queried, "Why shouldn't you just fire the executives who wrecked these banks in the first place and tanked the world's financial system in the process?"

[clarice]

See, moran, that dimwit , sets the narrative and for MOST Americans that is the narrative:The naughty Bushites and their top hatted friends in the banks ruined the economy. The role of Frank and Schumer and others is hidden from view..We have some 1930 big capitalism stereotype that sticks in their peabrains courtesy of pretty boy Terry and his friends.

[centralcal]

mad bad, MayBee and JMH are keeping the comments enlightening at Tapper's place, I see.

Good for ya!

[Thomas Collins]

Any hints on the agenda for your March 3rd solo show, Jane, or is that a closely guarded secret?

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

Obama shifts FBI from Counter Terrorism to Fraud

[Topsecretk9]

Via Insty

The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, otherwise known as the House ethics committee, announced yesterday that an investigative subcommittee has been reauthorized in the 111th Congress to look into potential impropriety by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.).

More than a month into the new session, the reorganized committee -- with new leadership -- will begin again to look at Rangel's ethical issues, which we recently reported on here. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in November that the report would be completed by the close of the 110th Congress, which was January 3.

Riddle me this -- if congress can cobble together a massive trillion dollar socialization spending bill in just a few days and cram it down our throats why can they investigate a members publicly documented ethical lapses in less than a couple of years?

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Because it takes more time to cover it up, Top.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

Shutout

Democratic Tax Cheat Charlie Rangel will divvy up the pork, but not the Republicans.

Connie Hair reported: “Republicans have caught the Democrats in a midnight stimulus power play that seeks to cut Republican conferees out of the House-Senate negotiations to resolve a final version of the Obama “stimulus” package. Staff members from the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) met last night to put together the stimulus conference report.”

Rangel is in, deciding how to spend taxpayer money, which is odd because he really isn’t a full-fledged taxpayer.

But he writes the tax laws anyway.

Lawhawk reported:

“Rep. John Carter, a Republican sought to have Rangel removed as Chairman. The House voted 242-157 to defeat Carter’s resolution. Carter had also introduced legislation that would establish the Rangel rule — providing all taxpayers with the same benefits afforded Rangel by the IRS.”

I wonder if it is too later to start the Surber Pitchforks and Torches Co.

[PeterUK]

Just a snippet from the other previous thread.

"what happens is going to depend on how the markets respond over the long term, not today or the next day but a month from now or two months".

To Obama,two months is long term? The man has the attention span of a mollusc.

[Jane]

Any hints on the agenda for your March 3rd solo show, Jane, or is that a closely guarded secret?

TC

Dick, without telling me, arranged for a co-host who is a local priest, Obama lover of the "just give him a chance" variety. When I talked with him a bit about the basis of his adoration, he conceded it was because O is cool. He's not following politics particularly.

Dick wants him to run the board and he told me he is willing to step back if I want. I told him I would be willing to be the host and have him as my guest. He's a great guy but the show is about politics and he's not all that up on politics. So right now I'm thinking about the first half hour being me solo and then he can tell me why he loves O.

I'm pretty sure Dick had no intention of telling me any of this, but I ran into the priest. My concern is that I will be mean to a priest on air. That probably won't work very well.

[Jane]

Anyone know how to start a national referendum. I want the Rangel Rule to be force into law.

[Rick Ballard]

Jane,

There are some Catholics on board here who would be quite cheerful about providing you with a recipe for minced priest that wouldn't take more than 15 minutes or so. Shoot, I can dig up quotes from Bishops and Cardinals that would leave him stammering.

[MayBee]

JMH- just a warning. They are really delete-happy over there. If you say anything like "you are wrong" to the host, it can be deleted by the comments-monitoring company they've hired. Ditto links.
That was an excellent comment, so heads up that it might be disappeared. If that happens, just repost without the homework line.

[Thomas Collins]

I think having the priest as your guest in the second half hour is a good idea, Jane. You can do substantive politics in the first half hour, and then have the priest extol Obama's coolness in the second half hour. On the basis of my listening to you deal with DV, I am confident you won't come across as mean but will be able to quiz the priest on what coolness has to do with dealing with national security or the economy. Or you might decide to chat with him about what his congregants have to say about Obama.

On the other hand, if you are in the right kind of mood, you might surprise him by asking a question about his supposed area of expertise. Just think about the look on his face if you asked him to explain the human and divine nature of Christ in light of the Council of Chalcedon! If he is a priest, he could hardly object to answering the query!

[Boatbuilder]

How did Moran feel about Bush's authority to fire DAs--you, know, the people who actually work for the President?

But bank presidents=bad people (probably Republicans). Obama (as POTUS, with absolute power and auhority) should be allowed to fire them, because they stand in the way. And we don't like them.

Truly frightening.

[Jane]

Shoot, I can dig up quotes from Bishops and Cardinals that would leave him stammering.

Lay em on me. Just make sure they don't leave me stammering.

What I'd like to do is lead him down the garden path so he comes to my conclusions on his own. I've just got to find my road in. I'm not Catholic, not religious and the thought of addressing someone as "father" is enough to make me shiver, but I'll get over it.

[Jane]

Oh and in case you know a lot of priests TC (Rick I suspect you are too far away) the link for his website is under my name.

[PeterUK]

"I'm not Catholic, not religious and the thought of addressing someone as "father" is enough to make me shiver, but I'll get over it."

Well,it might not be the height of coolth nowadays,but back in the day, address him a Daddio.