More And Bigger Stimulus - The Non-Debate

Paul Krugman whines that no one is talking up the notion that the current stimulus bill was too small.  Megan McArdle steps into the breach:

Democrats aren't interested.  They aren't interested because they are already facing political pressure over the debt.  Doing another stimulus will--or so they think--make it much harder for them to do health care and climate change.  Their initial thesis that a big, bold spending program would "prime the pump" for more big, bold spending programs has fallen flat.  The stimulus is working too slowly, probably because little money has yet been dispensed, which has made further spending programs less, not more, popular.

A question for Paul Krugman and other stimulus proponents:  would you rather have a second stimulus, or health care?  I know that in an ideal universe you wouldn't have to choose, but assume that the worrywarts are right, and you do.  Which should Obama get done?

To which I would add - as noted by Ms. McArdle and fretted about by Team Obama when the initial forecast were made, it is hard to spend all this stimulus money quickly.  This is from the January economic summary by Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein:

Because it takes time to carry out new spending programs authorized by legislation, we expect the jobs created by spending on infrastructure, education, health, and energy to be concentrated in 2010 and 2011. At the other extreme are funds to protect the most vulnerable, which are generally spent promptly, and tax incentives for businesses to invest quickly.

Interesting - does Krugman seriously think Congress should authorize even more money to not-spend anytime soon?  Economically, it does not make much sense to authorize funds for which projects are not available; politically, it would be much harder for Democrats to resist Republican calls for tax cuts as part of the mix when Obama's own economic team admits that there aren't enough "shovel-ready" projects and that tax cuts can provide a quick economic boost.

So, a bigger stimulus bill, had it been debated last winter (or if it were to be debated now), would almost surely have compromised between the Republican plan for tax cuts and the Democrat plan for more spending by doing both.  Hard to see why libs would favor that; easy to see why Obama didn't steer the conversation in that direction.

Comments

[Barry Dauphin]

More "shovel ready" projects. Yeah, we know what's being shoveled by the administration. And it's piling high.

[Neo]

I would suggest that the US Postage Service issue any possible “Michael Jackson” stamp in the largest domination possible, so as to have these stamps, that will never be used but collected, offset the costs of actual postal service.

I suggest a stamp for “Global Express Guaranteed®” service which starts at $31.95.
It may be a lot, but Michael deserves the best … and so do we.

[Pofarmer]

I know that in an ideal universe you wouldn't have to choose, but assume that the worrywarts are right, and you do.

Do any of these supposedly smart people stop and think, for even a second, where all this money is going to come from?

[RichatUF]

Pofarmer, it is the magic money machines in Washington DC. And failing that, the money trees out behind Capitol Hill.

So, a bigger stimulus bill, had it been debated last winter (or if it were to be debated now), would almost surely have compromised between the Republican plan for tax cuts and the Democrat plan for more spending by doing both.

Wasn't this the Limbaugh Plan?

[RichatUF]

Obama-Limbaugh Bipartisan Plan of 2009. link

[Soylent Red]

I'm down here in one of my semi-regular homes away from home station at Ft. Polk. We have a radio show here called Walton and Johnson broadcast out of east Texas that discusses news of the day and so forth in a morning zoo format.

Best description of the Obama Administration I've heard yet this morning:

Obama is like the uncle that can do magic tricks when you are three or four years old. Not particularly good magic, and certainly not very technical, but designed set up situations in which a stock set of magic tricks can be promulgated.

Those who are not toddlers are not fooled. But for the toddlers? Obama is the coolest and most amazing magician around.

SEE! Obama deftly hides a coin and makes it reappear! BE AMAZED! When Obama magically makes his thumb break into pieces!

[abad man]

If the worrywarts are right, I'd say you get neither health care or another stimulus. We can't pay for either one. If the Gods could only save us from these idiots.

[ben]

Nothing would further energize the Tea Party movement than a new stimulus boondoggle proposal...keep digging.

[Danube of Thought]

I am posting from Kona, after a sunset dinner of Kobe beef preceded, natch, by the Stoli Martini. In light of this morning's (Wednesday) Ras numbers, it was as pleasant an evening as a man could hope for.

I am thinking the Dems are approaching disarray, and The One's magic has forever evaporated. HRC will leave within 18 months, and will challenge in 2012 if there is enough blood in the water.

Ain't it grand how the trolls disappear when the polls turn south?

[MayBee]

I love that, Soylent.

I also love the two current lines of Dem defense,
1- The stimulus package just wasn't big enough. Perfect, because it means stimulus was right, it just always needed to be a little bit more than what it was. My guess is the second stimulus will similarly be too small/too late. Theories that can never be proven wrong.

2- Things would have been worse without the stimulus. Perfect again, because who can prove it wrong?

These both fit in perfectly with the Dem theory on Iraq, which was
3- Without the Iraq war, Saddam would have remained contained- cheaply- and our concerns about him would have evaporated. Iraq would have drifted into a peaceful state (and not gotten into a nuke race with Iran).

Ah.
The sweet determination of what would have been. Somehow, it is exactly what you would have wanted it to be.

[AllenS]

Being a Social Security recipient, I received my May 14 stimulus check of $250, like 50+ million other recipients. Second stimulus? Hey, great! Could I have $5000 next time? Oh, what the heck, make it an even $20,000.

[Jack is Back!]

What is that old adage about when thinks are going to hell, and you didn't have an approach to contingency planning, you just throw money at it. This is what is happening. No need to think, strategize, "skunk the works", innovate, go outside the envelope, etc. Because? Well, we're to smart to do that and anyway smarts don't buy continuing votes but money talks. This is Chicago style intelligent economics. Heal the ward, baby.

[peter]

A fitting memorial at LUN

[The press looked upon Chief Servant Bush as one of the 'little people'.]

Whoops, wrong thread for that cute comment. We have more CIA drama, with Congressional Democrats sitting on a nasty scandal of CIA subterfuge, while the Admin is about to veto a bill increasing Congressional oversight of the agency. Don't you wish they all had servants' hearts?

[peter]

Typical lib hypocrisy at LUN

[clarice]

"The stimulus package just wasn't big enough" And the problem with the socialist programs that didn't work is the wrong people were running them--with the right ones, we'd have reached utopia.

[The globe is cooling, folks; you can have your CO2 and temperature, too.]

Sometimes I'm just amazed at the raw political practicality of some the most warped expressions of government power. I'm speaking of the posturing about energy and climate at the G8. Unable to agree on 'emission limits' the meeting has produced an agreement not to let the global temperature rise more than 2 degrees C. above pre-industrial levels. This is an extremely clever way to get around the whole conundrum. That roar you hear? King Canuck laughing in the clouds.

[Better stay out, the water is cooling, too, folks.]

Why, that doctor was worried about getting infected
From one of those children differently complected.
I don't worry of small ones cruelly rejected;
But do so of big ones whose sins are detected.

[Economically, they are doing everything wrong. Strategically, they are doing everything wrong. What are they doing right? Spin, Baby, Spin .]

You know, c, I'm now grateful for the pathological rush job on the blatantly political porkupolis bill. Had it not been rushed in precipitously, it would not yet have failed, and we might have gotten both Cap and Trade and Guvmint Medicine. Now, the painful vaccine may prevent those two diseases, and the ugly scar at the vaccination site may provoke ongoing discussion of the incompetence of those behind the needle.

[clarice]

That's any excellent point,Kim.

[clarice]

Per Instapundit:

TIGERHAWK: The 35% Solution: “Because its efforts have been broken into separate initiatives with different justifications, few people other than news junkies have noticed how extraordinary Barack Obama’s agenda is. Perhaps a number will help: 35%. That is the aggregate percentage of United States GDP produced by the three industries that the Democrats hope to restructure from the top down: Health care (17% of GDP), energy (9.8% of GDP), and financial services (8% of GDP). Think about that. Without even considering the transformational impact of proposed anti-business laws of general application, such as the Orwellian ‘employee free choice act,’ the Obama administration wants to redesign 35% of gross domestic product from the center. And he proposes to do it all in a rush this summer, lest the decline in his popularity and that of the Congressional Democrats erodes his power to do so.”

[Get a horse.]

Not to mention transportation.

[Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.]

Every morning in my lair
I look to see which particular hair
Has raised a point
About the joint
despair and danger everywhere.

[Pofarmer]

Hey Clarice.

I looked at the Rosenberg links listed in the last thread. Scary thing is, Rosy is a gloomy gus WITHOUT listing all the dubious policy this administration is pushing.

[joycekane]

Welcome to Blackwhiteconnect.com
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[A third of a century explained in a third of an hour.]

Yes, Pof, the Rosenberg link is at 10:49 PM in the Pickens thread. Thanks to the Melody Lingers On, for that one.

[Yesterday at six o'clock I went to Senna Square.]

Hey Joyce, why don't you try flogging game coins instead of women?

[RichatUF]

k-

Scott Shane did a bit of scribbling on it in the NYT. I'm not sure having "covert" missions drawn up by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees will improve the CIA. And what the hell, are the Dems really so stupid as to get into a pissing contest with their allies. They did a bang up job against the Bush Administration, why would they want to wreck such a valuable thing. It doesn't break my heart though seeing that rats nest of treason get theirs.

[Not even the Umpire knows what's on second.]

Yah, Rich, there is that; but who's on first?

[narciso]

Of course, Rich, but as with everything else,you can't consider that they want to improve anything. It looks the Alinsky philosophy has moved on to intelligence policy. Looks like they'll have to make stuff up Much like the late Sen. Symington, who had visited Laos in the 60s, but then was shocked about 'the secret war in Laos'.
Having examined the topic in a college paper, the whole rogue elephant, was an allegation designed to obscure that Presidents were using it as a tactic to avoid all out military involvement. In Santo Domingo, it got a future Batista out of the way, thanks to the Espaillat bros.
In Vietnam, it failed but for reasons that Mark Moyar has spelled out in Victory
Forsaken. In the Congo, Lumumba was gotten out of the way, but neither Mobutu or Kabila
were really palatable alternatives. With General Schneider, it had a brief backlash
but it ultimately cleared the way for a long standing regime. The complaints about the longstanding campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq ignore is that TRODPINT and JAWBREAKER to consider the former were so limited, that policy had to escalate to the next level.
rid of a would be

[Shed light upon the Shadow Government, and watch the cucaracha scuttle.]

They've turned inward, from alien interventions which were ineffective and counterproductive to domestic work, at which they are both effective and insidiously perversive.

[Jack is Back!]

Out here in the wild blue Atlantic almost half way to Cherbourg we are getting a story about Panetta starting to feel the pangs of Democratic guilt and changing his attitude to resemble a man who has received his favorite horse's head to wake up to. Tell me Leon, this can't be true. You are saying that "you too" were misrepresented by those devious CIA types? You can't trust those Ivy League history majors, you know. Good thing, young Miss D' Alesandro learned at her father's knee how to handle guys who go soft and mushy. I guess it was when you went to buy a new pair of shoes and the guy asked if you wanted concrete or steel that changed your mind, eh?

[There's a third base?]

Mebbe so, JiB, but I smell that Nancy's a pawn in this one.

[RichatUF]

And I'm probably late on this link but to get DoT's heart soaring like a hawk. -8 today.

[Extraneus]

-8%!

Rasmussen Reports

[Ranger]

I posted this link in the AIG thread, but it more properly belongs here:

http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/07/why_unemployment_could_hit_14.php>Why Unemployment Could Hit 14%

The core of the discussion is about this premis:

Because a lot of PBI [private business investment] goes toward offsetting depreciation and increasing productivity, it takes a 5% year-over-year increase in PBI to produce a 1% increase in the number of jobs. Correspondingly, a 5% decrease in PBI will yield a 1% reduction in total employment.

...The 37.9% investment decline reported by the BEA [Bureau of Economic Analysis] can be expected to eventually produce a reduction in total employment of about 8.5%. Accordingly, we can expect unemployment to rise to about 14% within a year unless the downward slide of PBI is reversed.

I think when you match that up with this statement from the Obama econ team:

At the other extreme are funds to protect the most vulnerable, which are generally spent promptly, and tax incentives for businesses to invest quickly.

you get a very clear picture of why the Porkulus is not working.

All the uncertainty the Obama team has imposed on the economy by trying to push through Cap and Tax and Obamanational Care have caused a total collapse in PBI. And no PBI means no new jobs to make up for the ones that are being lost. Even if neither of those two programs pass this year, it won't matter how many tax incentives for businesses to invest quickly you create, as long as you are still talking about trying to get them passed in the future.

[Extraneus]

Not late at all, Rich. It must have just updated because yesterday's was still up 10 minutes ago. Hearts will be soaring like vultures pretty soon at this rate.

[Marko]

If the politicians wanted a 'stimulus' they would get out of the way and let the creative force of free people lead the charge. Instead, the tyrant thugs are all about power and the thieving programs they are putting in place are more accurately called 'skimulus'.

[Extraneus]

Hearts must be aflutter in the White House, too.

[Porchlight]

51-48 overall at Ras.

Also, a look at state polling from Fred Bauer (h/t HotAir) - independents falling off in droves:

Independents in the Balance

Look at Virginia - I think someone already linked it - Obama 38-52 among independence, 48% approval overall. And PPP is a Dem polling outfit.

[Name that tune.]

Dr. Doom speaks of 'brown manure' instead of 'green shoots' at Forbes, today. He as well as Rosenberg speaks of the 'partially employed' represented by the hours worked per week, which means that real unemployment is actually around 15% and no relief in sight. Obama is fiddling while Rome burns and soon the piper expects to be paid.

[Porchlight]

independence=independents, sorry

[RichatUF]

Extraneus-

I opened it right when it updated. Saw this, which should warm DoT's heart as well:

July 9, 2009: There is a gender gap when it comes to perceptions of Obama’s performance. By a 46% to 27% margin, men Strongly Disapprove. Women are more evenly divided—33% Strongly Approve and 30% Strongly Disapprove.

And Obama is doubling down on crap-and-tax and Obamacare.

[clarice]

How to keep women from voting in 2010, that is your mission, angels..

[Extraneus]

Buffett Backs Second Stimulus

The Legendary Investor Is Critical of the First Stimulus Package, Comparing It to Viagra and Candy

[Bill in AZ]

((How to keep women from voting in 2010, that is your mission, angels..))

JOM women get to vote at least twice.

[Angels who guard you when you govern, usually retire at 10% unemployment.]

Easy, c, keep Caribou Barbie off the campaign trail. The more she talks, the more women will vote, but not the way the media elite and the Alinskyites hope.

[Extraneus]

Drudge has the new Rasmussen pic up today. Two days in a row. Good, good times.

Tell us about a second stimulus, Mr. President.

[Even furniture isn't selling, now.]

Candy is dandy, Bill, and likker is quicker and Buffett's bull run lasted longer than Viagra. But, Warren, old buddy, no stimulus is going to get it up now.

[RichatUF]

Ranger-

It is almost as if the guys at the Atlantic have been reading JOM;)

Until the Obama Administration gets serious about improving private employment, the rest of his agenda is going to drive into the ditch. Cap-and-Trade, Card Check, and Obamacare are job killers and Pethokoukis linked to a GOA report showing that the stimulus to date has gone to just bailout the states (after they have been abusing their budgets for years). The Obama Administration isn't going to build any sort of recovery on keeping teachers in shrinking school districts and putting solar panels on eveyone's roof.

[Ranger]

Yes, a second stimulus is just what Obama needs to pump his numbers up...

Also from the Ras writeup for today:

Just 27% of voters nationwide favor passage of a second economic stimulus package. Sixty percent (60%) are opposed.

Obama and the Dems may be headed for the perfect political storm. No passage of either Cap & Tax or Obamanation Care, but big talk about trying again next year. But, to make up for it they ram through another Porkulus bill. That keeps private capital on the sidelines, and ensures the economy stays in the tank through the 2010 election cycle.

[RichatUF]

Even furniture isn't selling, now.

Don't worry he can still sell underwear and soda. And he has a rechargable car battery plant in China he is hoping will have full order books soon.

And in my last GOA->GAO

[PeterUK]

Looks like the Stimulus is going the way of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.
Soon all that will be left of Obama is the smile,like the "Smile on the Cheshire Cat".

[Extraneus]

Did everyone see Michelle's $6000 purse? Well, to be fair, the WH says it only cost $875.

(Also h/t Drudge.)

[clarice]

Robin Ghivan does her usual swoon over the fresh new approach to ceremonial dress of MO. She has better taste than this. She's either blinded by Obamalove or angling for a room in the WH.

Wait till the $6k purse for a walk in the Russian woods story gets out as the unemployment lines start snaking around the block.

Robin made fun of Mrs Alito's clothes at her husband's confirmation hearings and at the Roberts' childrens' "too perfect" garb at his swearing in.

Fashion as political weapon, I take it.

[They think they are beating a dead horse, but it's gonna kick.]

OK, JiB, the wind changed and now the stink is from Pelosi. Sam Stein at HuffPo(I was dragged there) believes this brouhaha is about interrogation policy.

[Dave (in MA)]

Extraneus, and here I sit with a home-made duct tape wallet in the pocket of my $12.99 jeans.

[Silver salts? How Nineteenth Century.]

Heh, Dave, I've got Walmart 35mm photo receipts in my wallet instead of folding money.

[K1000, not Nikon F.]

Please don't take my Kodachrome away. Too late, it's gone.

[jean]

How did Michelle get a $6000 purse for $875 ?

[jean]

Over at Insty he has a post about the Americorp Official refusing to answer questions from a congressional investigator.It is going to get really ugly.The whole crew seems to believe they are above questioning

[Transfusion, transfusion.]

She's a bear at garage sales, jean. She's looking for old lace to doily up her platter spread. Please pass the lead, Jed; slip the juice to me, Bruce.

[clarice]

Don't know. I have found a place that sells fabulous almost perfect reproductions of great handbags from italy for a fraction of the cost of the real things--using the same leather as the real thing..but in her case I suppose she gets a deal for the promotional value. Still, if I were traveling abroad I'd use American made stuff..

[clarice]

On second thought--there is no American made stuff worth carrying--Coach is made in China as is Kate Spade--but at least they are American brands.

[My red corpuscles are in mass confusion.]

Omigod, Transfusion is on YouTube. Search 'Transfusion, transfusion' and click Nervous Norvis. Hey, Daddy-O, Make that Type O.

[clarice]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Hoyer-linked-firm-will-do-Recoveryorg-redesign-50353982.html>Hoyer gets stimulated like crazy

ABC reports this morning that the Maryland firm Smartronix has won what seems like an enormous $18 million contract to re-design the Recovery.gov website. Approximately $9.5 million would be spent by January in order to make "Recovery 2.0" out of the site that is at least supposed track the spending of federal stimulus funds in detail.

Smartronix, a medium-sized Maryland-based firm (over 500 employees) founded in 1995, boasts a large number of government clients, mostly military. The company appears to have just one important political connection: according to FEC records, Smartronix president, Mohammed Javaid, vice president Alan Parris, and partner John Parris have together given $19,000 to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D) since 1999.

More to come...

UPDATE: Smartronix got $260 million in other federal contracts

Smartronix has received more than $260 million in federal contracts since the year 2000, with the top awarding agencies being the U.S. Navy, Federal Technology Service, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Minerals Management Service, and the Office of Policy, Management and Budget (not clear which department or agency issued this contract), according to USASpending.gov.

Nearly $180 million of the contracts awarded to Smartronix during the period 2000-2009 were awarded on less-than-competitive basis, including $21 million for non-competitive awards. Another $33 million was awarded in competitive processes in which Smartronix was the sole bidder.

__

But will they respect him in the morning?

[RichatUF]

Seems like a lot of money to design a website that has only been around for a few months.

[jean]

CLARICE you really got my attention.Now we are talking important stuff. Does your purse reproduction place have a web site?

[Jane]

How to keep women from voting in 2010, that is your mission, angels..

How about a Sale at Nieman's?

[jean]

At 75% off I'd miss my own husbands funeral

[laura]

Jane,

The precocious one is at the YAF conference right now. It is being streamed live. Great presentation this morning by Steve Moore from the WSJ. Walter Williams is up tonight. LUN

[Steve McIntyre's a Canuck; maybe God is, too.]

It's King Canute, you Brute.

[Original MikeS]

While I don't want to get into a discussion about whether Obama's package was big enough, I do agree that there isn't enough stimulus in the $787 billion stimulus bill.
Worse, it seems that the prospect of Obama's insane spending spree and the insane debt that it will cause is scaring the hell out of everyone and may actually choke off a recovery.

[clarice]

http://www.handbagmusthaves.com/

The construction and material is first rate--carefully check the hardware--the owner will gladly offer replacements if any isn't working properly which is sometimes the case.

Go for the hermes,pradas and bottegas if you really want to see top quality reproductions.

[Thomas Collins]

Discounts? Try the shops around the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan. if you pay cash, you can negotiate the price down from the already discounted price. I've gotten terrific luggage and wallets at these shops.

For those who feel that shopping at discount shops near bus terminals is beneath them, feel free to spend gazillions of dollars at tony stores.

[jean]

I agree MIKES.Both business and people are waiting for the next shoe to drop.CLUSTERSTOCK.COM had an interesting article on why PIMCO didn't join p-pppi .Bottom lime Pimco doesn't trust our government.How can any business plan for the future when the rules keep changing

[Dave (in MA)]

I don't want to get into a discussion about whether Obama's package was big enough

">http://www.lust-for-life.org/Lust-For-Life/Cartoons/ImageFiles/BeavisButthead.jpg">

Uh, heh-heh. Heh-heh.

[matt]

USA Today is reporting that counties who voted for Obama are getting the vast majority of the stimulus money. Chicago politics writ large. It's payback time for Mr. "Can't we all get along?".

[Jane]

Extraneus, and here I sit with a home-made duct tape wallet in the pocket of my $12.99 jeans.

Are you sure you aren't my brother in law (AKA Colonial Ducktape)

[jean]

Thanks Clarice. TC I'm afraid if I went down to our Bus Terminal I might return in a body bag.I love a good deal,but I'm kind of a chicken

[Jane]

How fun Laura. Now tell them to show the audience.

[narciso]

Well it wasn't designed to do, as the CBO projections indicated. Everything that was said about the Bush administration 'lying' about WMD, is quadruple with this crew. Projection is a powerful force with this bunch, as with any number of other examples which I don't want to go ad nauseum about
(sarc) The problem is that these people, keep steering the economy into multiple minefields with Cap n Trade, and Single Payer, and regulating dust for farming, and
organic farming, and every other dang fool thing.

[laura]

she's on the far left as you look at the front.
She had put together one outfit with a dark pink shirt 3/4 length sleeve, a leather skirt I used to be able to wear (a line just above the knee) and danglely earings with subtle make up. Way too grown up, but very classy.

[Thomas Collins]

Jean, that's not a problem for me. I look more low life than any bum hanging around the Port Authority. The bums are afraid of me! :-))

[Ignatz]

--Unable to agree on 'emission limits' the meeting has produced an agreement not to let the global temperature rise more than 2 degrees C. above pre-industrial levels.--

Hmmm, are they constructing a gigantic magical global thermostat in lieu of their retarded 'emission limits'?
Nixon had his wage and price controls and now Barry will have his global temperature control. I suspect the latter will work even worse than the former, which will take some doing, but I'm sure he's up to the task.

--Until the Obama Administration gets serious about improving private employment, the rest of his agenda is going to drive into the ditch.--

Rich,
Eric Hoffer wrote "The True Believer" about just such idealogues as Barry. His noggin is impervious to facts, empirical evidence and the real world. That's why his only solution is to double down when his idealogy fails.

[RichatUF]

Ignatz-

are they constructing a gigantic magical global thermostat in lieu of their retarded 'emission limits'

Heh. Get Hit to photoshop an Obama hypto-symbol on a thermostat dial in the middle of the sun.

A great book, think I'll pick it up for a re-read this weekend.

[Pofarmer]

His noggin is impervious to facts, empirical evidence and the real world. That's why his only solution is to double down when his idealogy fails.

Ignatz, I think you are exactly right. Scary thing is, if Congress decides not to play along, he'll use the regulatory agencies to enact much of the stuff anyway.

[RichatUF]

Pofarmer, even worse, he'll have his czars undercut Congress, Executive Branch Agencies, and his cabinet. It's worked so far.

[clarice]

I don't know what he'll do if he loses Congressional approval.Actually, he's already beginning to look very stressed IMO. Once Congress starts turning I am not sure what he will do. Everyone here knows he's bluffed his way into the WH and everything depends on maintaining that bluff and looking unstoppable.

[MayBee]

Once Congress starts turning, we'll start to get dribs and drabs of his history released in the press.

Eventually, we'll see the Palestine tape the LA times has been withholding. When that happens, we'll know he's lost Hillary.

[clarice]

I;m thinking that myself, MayBee..

[Fresh Air]

everything depends on maintaining that bluff and looking unstoppable.

Excellent observation. No one has made him turn over his cards before. That's why he voted present 147 times in the Illinois Senate, why his subcommittee in Washington never met, and why he refused to answer hard questions last fall. "Never mind all that...just get on the bandwagon!" was his campaign philosophy. It only works until the bandwagon runs off the road and starts tumbling down the mountain. Hubris before the fall, indeed.

[Extraneus]

Steyn's on for Rush again, ladies.

[Ignatz]

--everything depends on maintaining that bluff and looking unstoppable--

That's how narcissists operate. They'll bluff themselves right over a cliff to oblivion to maintain their facade.
Unfortunately our wagon is now hitched to this jackass who is stepping, Wile E Coyote like, into thin air.

[clarice]

Ignatz, my darling...Congress is full of people whose motto is," I'm saving my ass first." As the tide turns it'll be "Obama, who?"

[PD]

Re: Rasmussen. Everything else about this President is Historic, even his trip to the burger joint with Joe Biden. Perhaps he can establish a Historic rate of decline in the polls.

[bad]

A very stupid Social Security spokesperson is trying to justify a training session in Arizona at a tony resort instead of using their video conferencing capabilities.

Can you say AIG?

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

[PD]

Oh great. I come to Cincinnati and now Joe Biden comes to Ohio today.

[Sue]

Does anyone know who the boy is in the picture with Malia on Drudge?

[MayBee]

I was guessing he's a bodyguard, Sue, but he seems inappropriately dressed. Maybe he's supposed to look like he isn't a bodyguard.