A Big Win For Obama!

It's fun checking the Big Media reaction to Congressional passage of three free-trade deals.  The NY Times sees a win for Obama with just a hint as to the identity of the opposition:

WASHINGTON — Congress passed three long-awaited free trade agreements on Wednesday, ending a political standoff that has stretched across two presidencies. The move offered a rare moment of bipartisan accord at a time when Republicans and Democrats are bitterly divided over the role that government ought to play in reviving the sputtering economy.

The approval of the deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama is a victory for President Obama and proponents of the view that foreign trade can drive America’s economic growth in the face of rising protectionist sentiment in both political parties. They are the first trade agreements to pass Congress since Democrats broke a decade of Republican control in 2007.

All three agreements cleared both chambers with overwhelming Republican support just one day after Senate Republicans prevented action on Mr. Obama’s jobs bill.

The Washington Post has Obama the winner:

Obama gets win as Congress passes free-trade agreements

Congress resoundingly approved long-stalled trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama late Wednesday, authorizing the most significant expansion of trade relations in nearly two decades.

...The House approved all three deals and was quickly followed by the Senate. Final approval of the agreements represents a victory for the Obama administration and congressional leaders in both parties... (Hmm, Harry Reid voted against the bills.  Leadership that's shirking!)

Only in the tenth paragraph do they identify the dead-enders Obama managed to vanquish:

Several Democrats and prominent labor unions, however, oppose the deals, arguing that they could help U.S. companies without bringing much benefit to U.S. workers, particularly if increased imports lead to widespread layoffs. Some also argue that the agreements serve to reward two countries, Panama and Colombia, that have been hostile to organized labor and international environmental standards.

The LA Times sees the winners and losers more clearly:

Despite divisiveness, Congress passes 3 trade pacts

After a debate marked by disagreement among Democrats, both houses approve free-trade deals with Panama, Colombia and South Korea, a key victory for President Obama.

By Kathleen Hennessey, Washington Bureau

October 13, 2011

Reporting from Washington—

Congress passed a trio of free-trade agreements late Wednesday, removing barriers to trade with Panama, South Korea and Colombia — but exacerbating deep disagreements among Democrats on the government's role in protecting U.S. industries.

The approval of the pacts, in a rare bipartisan collaboration, is a big victory for President Obama, who sold the deals as a key step toward bolstering job growth. But it angered liberal groups and labor unions that say the agreements will hurt working Americans by subjecting them to additional foreign competition and accelerating a race to the bottom on wages.

Well, it certainly helps Obama to show that he can get stuff done in defiance of his base.

Comments

[Gmax]

Obama was on the right side of a argument. For once. Lets give him the praise he deserves here. Nixon went to China, Obama stares down Richard Trumka. About the same.

[MarkO]

Golly. Tomorrow, minus 6.

[matt]

I dread the FTA with Korea. They are one of the most corrupt and mercantilistic countries in the world.

To illustrate the mindset, a senior executive of Hyundai, which is based locally, was at one of their all Korean get sh*tfaced drunk nights, got into his car, and killed a 23 year old kid. He high tailed it, put the car in the garage, and called his boss.

His boss got him on the next flight out to Seoul and it took 4 years to extradite the bastard. Hyundai, of course, defended him.

It is the general mindset that is so disturbing.They will gladly export, but will find all sorts of reasons to limit imports as the Chinese and Japanese do.

[bgates]

just one day after Senate Republicans prevented action on Mr. Obama’s jobs bill

That's not what I heard. Anything the Pubs do in the Senate requires some degree of bipartisan accord, right?

[lyle]

I'd have to agree with Matt re Korea. I have a client who has dealt with them for 20 years over memory chips. Shameless, ruthless bastards indeed.

[NK]

The Legacy Media is pathetic, and not in an amusing way. Let's see, the Repubs with some Dems pass the Trade Areements which were devised by Clinton, negotiated by Bush and demagogued by candidate Muppet-In -Chief (Muppet) Obama. Now the Repubs adopting the Agreements he demagogued against is a win for the Muppet. This is what the Legacy Media has left, --Victory-- the Muppet signs bills negotiated by BusHitler and passed primarily by Repubs. Pathetic, but not the leastbit amusing.

[bgates]

Several Democrats and prominent labor unions, however, oppose the deals, arguing that they could help U.S. companies without bringing much benefit to U.S. workers, particularly if increased imports lead to widespread layoffs.

Leave aside the accidentally revealing phrasing that suggests Democrats will oppose the interests of American companies even if the deals had small benefits for workers. What's the economic model in which increased imports => widespread layoffs => help to U.S. companies? Do American firms benefit from lower labor costs if unemployment is driven up by the fact that American firms aren't selling as much?

[Danube of Thought]

I had a South Korean client--large international corporation--of whom one could say that their very business model was predicated on corruption, deceit and law-breaking. Disgusting individuals, to boot.

[Danube of Thought]

The sticking point was always that Obama wanted expensive job retraining for anyone who lost his job as a result of the bill (good luck figuring out who that is). How was that issue resolved?

[maryrose]

These trade agreements are a win for the repubs and now Obama can't run against a do nothing Congress. In addition today Portman Rand Paul and believe it or not John Mccain unveil "the REAL Jobs Bill" to counter Bammy's claim the repubs have nothing. Obummer's plan sits on a shelf because 2 dems voted agin it. House dems are breathing a sign of relief that they don't have to take a walk the plank vote on it. Also Pelosi, Hoyer and Reid voted against the Prez.I guess they don't want to create new jobs.

[maryrose]

Pelosi, Hoyer and Reid voted against the trade bills...

[Army of Davids]

Cain Train...Come on aboard.

Going through Iowa and New Hampshire....

Picking up speed in South Carolina and Florida.

Cain polls well in Southern states.

[Jack is Back!]

Matt, Roger that.

Doing a refinery upgrade and expansion in Indonesia we tried to integrate skilled Filipino's with trainee Indonesians but too many food fights (literally - they eat different qualities of rice). Had to get rid of the Filipino's and bring in skilled Koreans. But we had to segregate them in a camp across the bay on an isolated peninsula. Brought them to the worksite by LST every morning and in precise military formation. All of them ex-Korean Army and tough as nails but their bosses tried to bribe every one of our managers to bring in more workers, change the payroll rules (IOW make the checks smaller for the men but higher commission for the Korean bosses). It was constant. Every day they were in my office where I had to threaten them with dismissal if they wouldn't stop the extortion but they didn't know what I was talking about since for them it was SOP and they couldn't understand why I didn't understand their business culture.

Finally, we were able to replace them (about 1,000) with 250 Taiwanese welders and instrument fitters. Best move ever. The Taiwanese are by far the most talented and skilled of all the electro-mechanical trades - a lot of their guys are graduate engineers. In fact, our instrumentation was Japanese and they had people there bench testing and calibrating during the day and we had the Taiwanese correct all their errors at night. Costly but necessary.

Ah, the good old days.

[Boatbuilder]

Try to imagine yourself as a journalist writing that New York Times piece. And try to imagine how you could possibly do so without admitting to yourself that you are guilty of pure disingenuous hackery.

[NK]

I call BS on DOT-- Obamidiot's objections the the Trade Agreements when he ran for US Senate and in voting against Cloture as a Senator was the full out Union Thug BS -- 1.loss of jobs, 2. Panama and Columbia violate worker rights 3. S Korea cheats, etc etc etc, unions oppose all FREE trade agreements because they want a closed US market where unions can get more members and power, trade Agreements favor start up US companies with no union workers and make it more difficult for big companies with union workers -- so Union Thugs want protectionism not trade. The fig leaf "worker retraining" BS in the Agreements means nothing to the Union Thugs, b/c laid off union workers don't pay dues. Bam threw Trumka and the other Thugs under the bus to "claim" some victory. You'll note DOT that Pelosi, Hoyer and the other Union Thug Dem whores voted against the agreements. They apparently need the Union Thugs more than Bam.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

What's the economic model in which increased imports => widespread layoffs => help to U.S. companies?

The one where people in the US pay less for things and so have more money.

[JM Hanes]

Even for a sycophantic press, this is astonishing coverage. Congress would have passed those trade bills the day after Nancy Pelosi handed the gavel to John Boehner. The only win for the President who stonewalled their passage for so long is the media's willingness to call it a win.

[Danube of Thought]

Is the worker retraining provision in the bill that passed, or not?

[Jim Miller]

The agreement that is the most positive for us, net, is probably the Colombian deal. As I understand it, there are already almost no barriers to Columbian exports to the US, but this will lower barriers to US exports to Colombia.

[PD]

This is a win for Obama, a show of his leadership?

I thought the reason these bills weren't passed was because Obama was sitting on them for years at the WH and the Repubs had to shame him into finally sending them over to Congress.

No?

[Danube of Thought]

Looks like Obama did win something:

"WASHINGTON — The House has passed legislation to extend provisions of a half-century-old program that helps workers hurt by foreign trade with retraining and financial aid.

"The extension of expired provisions of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program was demanded by the Obama administration as a condition for submitting three free trade agreements to Congress. The vote on the worker aid bill came after the House approved the trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

"The Senate already has passed the bill, which includes a program allowing duty-free entry for goods from developing countries, and it now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.

"Those qualifying for the worker aid program can get financial support to retrain for new jobs and subsidies so they can get health insurance."

[NK]

DOT is still guilty of BS because of the false premise. Repubs agreed to "retrainig" fig leaf years ago to get past Senate filibusters, the union Thug puppeteers told the Dems to say no. Bam could have had these Agreements Jan 2nd 2011 if he expressed willingness to sign them, because the newly elected Repub House would have immediately passed them. he sat on them for months, when he realized he needed something, anything, on the economy he chucked Trumka under the bus and said he would sign.

[Ignatz]

Considering Barry had the audacity to blame Republicans for not passing free trade agreements he refused to send them I think anyone assuming he won't continue to berate them for not passing them just because they have now passed them is underestimating just what a deluded creep he is.

[Appalled]

Hey JMH:

I responded to your Hiroshima post on the big long thread this morning. Don't know if you want to continue the colloquy or not, but FYI.

[NK]

Ignatz has it about right-- with some minor rhetorical flourish.

[bgates]

to extend provisions of a half-century-old program

Change has come to America!

[JM Hanes]

Appalled:

I responded a little later in the Iranian thread. As you'll see, I don't really think it's a big deal one way or the other. Appreciate the heads up though, because I always enjoy our backing and forthing.

[NK]

Bgates-- nice touch. The "retraining" was a fig leaf; Obamidiot needed something, so the unions went under the bus and the repubs passed the Agreements. End of story.

[Captain Hate]

The WSJ had an op-ed recently regarding how "retraining" programs are a horrendously ineffective money pit for feelgood spending.

[Jack is Back!]

Obama now thinks Ed Henry is Mitt Romney's spokesman. I mean this guy is more than petulant he is paranoid. This reminds me of when Nixon started to lose it during Watergate and was challenging Dan Rather at press conferences.

Hide the strawberries.

[Danube of Thought]

"DOT is still guilty of BS because of the false premise. Repubs agreed to 'retrainig' fig leaf years ago"

Where can we find that agreement?

And try loosening your underwear a bit...

[Clarice]

JMH, with an assist from Chaco I was able at last to fix the formatting on your piece.

[Danube of Thought]

L.A.Times, June 29, 2011:

"Reporting from Washington — The White House and Senate Democratic leaders reached a breakthrough on passing long-sought trade agreements with South Korea and other U.S. trading partners.

"But key Republicans immediately threatened to torpedo the plan Tuesday because it would extend an existing federal program to retrain American workers who lose jobs to foreign competition."

[Danube of Thought]

June 30, 2011:

"WASHINGTON -- Senate action on three stalled free trade agreements was cut short Thursday when Republicans refused to participate, objecting to linking the deals to renewal of a program that retrains workers hurt by foreign trade."

[Jack is Back!]

OT:

For all the college football fans out there I give you Occupy Herbstreit:)

/Clever guy with a lot of poster boards and a sharpie plays OWS as a movie set

[Ignatz]

My own thought is that Barry may be tougher to beat next year than he now appears, not because of any of his policies, which are almost uniformly awful, but because pent up demand may be building in the economy and may counteract the recessionary forces.
Doesn't seem to be much empirical data to support the thought at this point; just more of a hunch.

[Jack is Back!]

Iggy,

Just as that happens Europe implodes. I still think they own the "pudding stick" at this time.

[Danube of Thought]

February 28, 2011:

"Although the White House renegotiated a pivotal free-trade agreement with South Korea in December, scoring rare bipartisan praise, House Republican leaders have refused to allow the deal to move forward. They want the administration to make progress first on similar accords with Colombia and Panama that face stiff opposition from labor unions and liberal Democrats.

"To add to the pressure on the administration, House Republicans in February blocked a big expansion of trade adjustment assistance — which provides cash, training, relocation, job search and other benefits to workers displaced by globalization — from being renewed. Many of the 220,000 workers who took part in the program last year could have their benefits reduced as a result."

[Jane]

I can't imagine Iggy. Everyone is sitting on their hands.

[BB Key]

JiB , Best coverage of OWS I have seen

[Texas Mom 2012]

It is my understanding that Obama has held these agreements without sending them to Congress FOR YEARS. At the same time he blamed Republicans for not passing the trade agreements THAT HE HAD NEVER SENT TO CONGRESS. And now he is claiming a big victory? Really, the victory of finally SENDING the AGREEMENT? This guy is delusional and apparently the MSM has caught the delusion from him. Simply unbelievable. It's 1984 doublespeak crazy.

[Sue]

The Other McCain is reporting that a top staffer for Rubio pushed to move up the Florida primary to help Romney. Are we looking at a Romney/Rubio ticket? That might excite a few people. Including TK.

[NK]

DOT-- you are relying on Legacy Media, really. The last story you reprint is fairly accurate, First of all Bam was too much of a pussy to get the Agreements done with a dem controlled House. Two, when the Repubs took over the House in jan 2011, BAM tried to scam all sides by only putting through the S Korea pact to the new the Repub House; the Repubs said no, to anything until all three were submitted and used the 1974 TAA figleaf re-training program as leverage. BTW theseare the Agreements Booosh negotiated with minor union protection in Pnama/Columbia crap. Bam spent the next 4 months dicking around to get enough Senate Dems to overcome a Dem filibuster against the 3 Agreements. Bam got that Dem signoff in June when the Dems started panicing over the worsening economy and said F-You to the unions. After the budget nonsense was settled in August and the House got back to work in September, Bam sent the final negotiated bills. That's the deal; Bam is panicing, he got his figleaf of an extension of a 37 old TAA law, and the world goes around. The Legacy Media and DOT call this a BAM victory. Yeah. PS: my tidy whiteys are fine.

[Danube of Thought]

"you are relying on Legacy Media, really."

What are you relying on? Do you have any evidence that the assertions made in the June 29 and June 30 items are false? Is there any record of any Republican having characterized them as false?

I have not called it an Obama victory. I said it looks like he did win something, and he did. The GOP was refusing to extend the law on the grounds that doing so would be too expensive; now it has caved.

P.S.--it's "tightie" whities.

[NK]

DOT-- you're the best. Please note, Bam had a Dem House and a 60 majority Dem Senate - he never sent the Agreements up because his Union masters said NO WAY, NEVER, NO HOW, in that order. The TAA stuff was leveage to pass all 3 Agreements, once Bam caved on Panama and Columbia the Repubs were good to go.

PPS: thanks for the tightie whitie correction.

[Danube of Thought]

Correction: tighy whities.

"Tighty Whities

"The simplest form of underwear available to men of all ages. Usually in the color white but briefs made for childen typically have colored designs on them. They fight tightly over the male crotch region (hence the name) and act as a cradle for the testicles and keeps the penis nice and snug with them. Young men are usually ridiculed for wearing tighty whities because of the simple fact that younger boys wear them in childhood. For comfort, these are the way to go, but don't get caught wearing them."

And that's not from the legacy media.

[Sue]

Iowahawk: "Whoa there, fella! I said I wanted a job, I didn't say anything about wanting to work."

[Clarice]

My husband was buying tight whities today to give away. It seems DC homeless men get lots of clothing donations but need underwear most of all and the synagogue is buying up and donating 5722 pairs to celebrate the year 5722.

I say this because if you are eve considering care packages for people be sure to include some.

[Cecil Turner]

I prefer boxers (full disclosure: never tried a fig leaf).

This was hard to see coming. Oh wait, maybe not so much:

On the actual jobs production front, Harry Reid has finally been shamed into setting up a vote on the trade preferences bill. Watch the Dems fall all over themselves trying [in vain] to avoid passing it. How they spin that one will be illuminating.

[Dave (in MA)]

They fight tightly over the male crotch region

[Danube of Thought]

I prefer a thong.

[Gmax]

LOL

[JM Hanes]

Clarice:

You're a Goddess! I appreciated your post in the comment thread too. It's ironic, because I'm actually really depressed about Romney and the whole inevitability narrative at that moment. I'm also more convinced than ever that we need to inject some serious energy into the push for a Senate majority -- even if only to counteract the potentially deadly lethargy that would greet a Romney nomination.

Soooo, who has got a Democratic Senator up for re-election or an open spot?

[centralcal]

Sue, thanks for posting that piece about the Florida primary. The other day, very busy at work, I started a thought about manipulation in the choice of our candidates, which I could never complete nor get back to, due to phones ringing off the wall. I simply gave up.

However, it was just those sorts of rumors of a few weeks ago, about Romney folks working behind the scenes to fast forward primaries because they knew it would benefit him while he is still seen as the "front runner." I feared the Tea Party conservative voters might not be aware that this was going on and the possible motives.

[centralcal]

Golly, JMHanes, not a Senator and don't know if she is up for re-election, but I have a candidate (below taken from Twitter):

Rep. Jackson Lee (D-TX) just gave a solo standing ovation during Korea President Lee Myung-bak's speech to Congress.

[Rick Ballard]

JMH,

Bingaman's seat in New Mexico carries a double weight if the Presidential race is close. Same for Kohl's seat in Wisconsin. Romney could use the help in NM and Perry could use the help in WI while Cain could use the help in both.

[fdcol63]

But only because she got confused and thought it was Kim Jung Il.

[centralcal]

From Michael Walsh at NRO:

As I’ve written elsewhere, there’s more than a whiff of a nervous used-car salesman about Say Anything Mitt. The man wants to make the sale so desperately it’s almost comical; he’s like a character from a Barry Levinson movie or a play by David Mamet, minus the Anglo-Saxonisms. (Just try to imagine Mitt doing to the classic Alec Baldwin scene from Glengarry Glen Ross.)

[snip]

Heading into an election with an extraordinarily weak incumbent, whose only real constituencies now are the poor and the media, is Romney really the best we can do?

[Melinda Romanoff]

Louisa Cty, Va- suspected tornado reported.

4:25 PM

[Rick Ballard]

Other states meeting your criteria are Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio and Virginia. North Dakota is in the bag.

Outliers include Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Washington.

Real long shots would be California, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and West Virginia.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vnjagvet]

First McCain, now Romney.

Someone please remind me again why we gave up the old convention/"smoke filled room" method of picking nominees. It worked pretty well for the GOP from Lincoln to Ike.

[Dave (in MA)]

Check out today's Drudge photo juxtaposition fun.

[Sandy Daze]

centralcal @ 1643, "is Romney really the best we can do?":

Following up on Porchlight on "the Iranian Plot" --

[henry]

re: WI own senate seat. Right now we have Tommy Thompson (makes Romney look like small govt fanatic, think Medicare drug coverage), Mark Neumann (ran dirty primary against Walker), and the other Fitzgerald (state assembly leader, not his brother the state senate leader Scott F). Tommy is running on the inevitable / electable slate and has blocked campaign donations to all others. Neumann is running on ego and his own checkbook. Fitzgerald is screwed -- donors all locked to Thompson. The Dems are running a Dane County lesbian clone of Kloppenburg, so this seat will flip to R. I am not happy with thechoices for R.

[Janet]

All the people that would be good candidates are on their computers, commenting at JOM.

[JM Hanes]

From an item in the Tatler today, Raymond Ibrahim is doing a job that apparently even our own State Dept. won't do and documenting instances of Muslim persecutions of Christians:

The purpose of this series is two-fold:

1) Intrinsically, to document that which the MSM does not: Muslim persecution of Christians.

2) Instrumentally, to show that such persecution is not “random,” but systematic and interrelated—that it is ultimately rooted in a Sharia worldview.

I haven't had time to scope out his site, but I think it's worth trying to up his visibility, so that folks with sources to share might be able to help in such efforts. It's not just Muslims vs. Christians either. I've never gotten over the fact that the Obama Administration defunded the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center.

Have chores demanding belated attention here, but will be back to follow up on Congressional races! Gad, that sounds like Jonah Goldberg, who seems to think that folks want to be advised of his whereabouts at all times.

[Porchlight]

You guys are cracking me up.

Nice pic, Sandy Daze. ;) I think we have been visiting the same Legal Insurrection thread, perhaps.

centralcal, the primary schedule manipulations have Romney's fingerprints all over them, as does the dangling of a fake Christie run. Speed up the process to favor the current frontrunner, and keep any last potential challengers out of the race. Romney is determined and he has tons of influence. Still don't hate the guy, but thinking about this stuff leaves a real bad taste in my mouth. It would be amazing if in this Tea Party cycle we end up with the ultimate establishment insider as the nominee. But it looks like it's happening.

I love Rubio, but I have to remind myself every now and again that he is more an establishment figure than a Tea Partier/outsider.

[Porchlight]

All the people that would be good candidates are on their computers, commenting at JOM.

I had that exact thought, Janet.

[Porchlight]

Gad, that sounds like Jonah Goldberg, who seems to think that folks want to be advised of his whereabouts at all times.

Heh. What an outsized ego that guy has. Must get wearisome carting it around.

[Rick Ballard]

Henry,

I'd take a one term RINO if it was the 58th-60th seat.

[Jack is Back!]

"SlooooooooooWWWWWW Talking" Bill Nelson in Florida is very vulnerable considering he couldn't keep the Shuttle program in some form of continuance. Plus, he says yes on everything Dingy and JEF bring up. The Tea Party is big here especially when the snow birds come down after Thanksgiving. They can't vote but they make enough noise to generate PR for the ones that can vote but have to work all day and miss the stuff on TV.

Rumor has it that if you sport a Obama-Biden bumper sticker on your custom golf cart in The Villages they put Fixadent on your windshield.

[rse]

Anybody heard what Jonah's next book is about? Liberal Facism was good. Really ruined the smiley face emblem.

Porch- Have you found the anthology Not One damsel in Distress by Jane Yolen for the young waitress? My girls loved.

Rick-speaking of NM, had some dealings with wife Ann as an appointee years ago. What a racket the spouses can be in DC. If you had read what I read today on higher ed, you would barely allow the kids to just visit for a football game. So sad. I kept writing; "For this you spend $200 K?" in the margin.

[henry]

Rick, me too. The 57-59 non RINOs will have to come from somewhere else. I was hoping for another Ron Johnson, apparently not is available here this time around.

[Captain Hate]

because I'm actually really depressed about Romney and the whole inevitability narrative at that moment.

Is last night's full moon the explanation for JMH and I agreeing on something like this?

[Clarice]

You're welcome, jmh. If you read the comments there you could see why bloggers often burn out. Your point was honest, clear, well-researched and perfectly written and the critical posters really used the comment section just to blow steam--it's clear they never really read the post.

[jimmyk]

All the people that would be good candidates are on their computers, commenting at JOM.

President - Ignatz
VP - Hit and Run
Treasury - Cathyf
AG - Clarice or DoT
Surgeon General - Janet
Press Secretary - bgates or Captain Hate
Commerce - Matt
Education - rse (until it's shut down)
Labor - henry
VA - Jim Rhoads

Apologies to the many worthies left off the list.

[henry]

jimmy, can we shut down Labor too? Please?

[Captain Hate]

Janet's first act should be to threaten all federal funds going to NYC pending Bloomberg rescinding all his smoking bans.

[jimmyk]

That's why I hired you, henry!

I forgot:

Agriculture - Pofarmer

I think the only departments we really need are Defense, Justice, State, and Treasury anyway. The rest should just be wound down. State needs to be thoroughly fumigated.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

OT: Does anyone remember which campaign was using Twisted Sister's "We're Not Going to Take It Anymore" as their theme song?

[Rick Ballard]

I believe Romney might do better if he described his stint as an OPM dealer as being a salvage man for the Bain Capital wrecking yard. If he could pick one instance where a thriving company emerged after Bain went in and robbed the corpses after having bayoneted the wounded and stick with it as "the" story it would draw attention away from the Romneycare failure.

Dunno if Bain actually had any successes like that, my impression is that they mostly sold Norwegian Blues - nailed to their perches and needing very dim lighting to achieve a decent presentation.

[narciso]

From the wiki on Bain, Rick:

One of the fund's first start-up investments was Staples, Inc., the $15 billion office supply retailer. The funding enabled Staples to expand from one store in 1986 to nearly 1,700 in 2006

[narciso]

Here's a few more examples:

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11138475/4/5-of-mitt-romneys-best-bain-capital-buys.html

[Jim Miller]

Here's the Hanes/Feldman post, for anyone who may have missed it.

[Jim Miller]

Clarice - When the comments at Sound Politics get me down, I sometimes recycle this old post.

Short version: People who change the subject in comments are, in effect, conceding your argument.

[Danube of Thought]

"First McCain, now Romney."

Rather than blame those two men--each is exactly whar he is, and everyone knows it--we should find someone better, and who can win the general, and persuade that person to run. I thought that person might be Mitch Danielsb it wasn't to be. It is all terribly depressing.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Someone please remind me again why we gave up the old convention/"smoke filled room" method of picking nominees. It worked pretty well for the GOP from Lincoln to Ike.

Because we allowed the media to take over the process, set the agenda, and define the candidates, then the sheep follow. And because no-nothing people are making the choices now, rather than those with some idea how everything really works.

And because both conservatives and liberals think no one is pure enough for them. And because both groups go into a snit if they don't get their own way. Do you seriously think Ike would pass the conservative purity test of today? Let's face it, even Jesus couldn't pass the conservative purity test. He consorted with prostitutes, sinners, and tax collectors.

[Jesus H.]

If nominated, I will not run.
If elected, I will not serve.

[Barbara]

I think the only departments we really need are Defense, Justice, State, and Treasury anyway.

I think you have Clarice or DoT at Justice.

How about these:

Defense - Soylent Red
Treasury - Mel or Rick Ballard
State - Jane

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Dunno if Bain actually had any successes like that, my impression is that they mostly sold Norwegian Blues - nailed to their perches and needing very dim lighting to achieve a decent presentation.

Huh? Narciso beat me to it, but here are 22 companies listed by Wiki. I don't know if the list is to date or not.

A

Aleris
AMC Theatres

B

Bombardier Recreational Products
Brake Bros Ltd
Brookstone
Burger King
Burlington Coat Factory

C

Clear Channel Communications

D

Dollarama
Domino's Pizza
DoubleClick

E

Edcon Limited

G

GOME Electrical Appliances
Guitar Center

H

HD Supply
Hospital Corporation of America

N

NXP Semiconductors

S

Sealy Corporation
Staples Inc.

T

Toys "R" Us

W

Warner Music Group
The Weather Channel

[pagar]

"Agriculture - Pofarmer"

I see Cathyf touched on this before. But the 1st thing that needs to be done by Sec of Ag is fire every single person that has any thing to do with driving up and down the highways and byways of America looking for unlicensed rabbits. Stamp their records Not Eligible for Govt Employment at any level.

There are 81,205 pages of Federal govt regulations to be reviewed.
"We’ve seen that in Kansas as well, where an unholy alliance between environmental groups and ranchers has stopped power transmission lines — ironically enough, from wind farms — in the Flint Hills to cities out of state because the lines might affect the breeding habits of the lesser prairie chicken."

'This regulatory bomb is blowing up industry after industry:"

" Agriculture is already a fragile industry. In 2009, America’s median farm income barely cracked $50,000. But the explosion of federal regulations under President Obama is making survival that much harder: 660,900 small businesses — from family farms to auto repair shops — closed in 2009. That year, the Obama administration proposed 2,044 new regulations. In 2010, proposed federal regulations jumped to 2,439.

As AJC points out, the growing Obama regulatory burden hits all businesses large and small, but hits small businesses like Deardorff Family Farms the hardest:

Average annual small business compliance costs have soared to more than $10,500 per employee. "

Chances are the Dept of Ag won't be needed in 2013 because all farms will have been regulated out of business.

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/regulatory-burdens-destroying-farming-industry/2/

[Danube of Thought]

Clarice for AG. TC for IRS.

sue, looks like it'll have to be Game 6.

[Rick Ballard]

Narciso,

Sealy looks like the best bet. Staples was a good call but he needs a salvage story rather than an excellent VC bet. The bit about Sealy weathering the recession is a winner. It really wouldn't take much effort to come up with a solid pitch based on that one.

[Rick Ballard]

Barbara,

I'm completely unqualified for the Treasury. I'm just hoping for a quiet sinecure at the Mint during the cathyf administration.

[Ignatz]

--President - Ignatz--

I would only serve if my election was coincidental with a Constitutional amendment giving the president the power of summary executions.
There's a reason I could never work retail and have vowed to never have another employee.
But I bet no one would miss watching a state of the union address; talk about target rich.

[centralcal]

Excellent cabinet/dept. secretary ideas! I've been told that I am a really good sycophant, so I know I would make an exceptional assistant to any of our esteemed honorees. ;)

[Captain Hate]

I think it's instructive to look at how both parties reacted to outsiders. When the Kostards took over the donk party in Connecticut and had Ned Lamont win the Senate primary against Joe Liebermann, the party cut all ties with Joe. It was a bit high-handed since Neddie was a single issue candidate; but they had no problem with throwing their support to where they perceived the energy being. It was ill-placed in retrospect, and maybe party insiders were working behind the scenes for Joe; but if they erred I think they erred in the right direction, albeit ultimately in a losing cause.

Contrast that with how the Tea Party candidates in Delaware and Alaska were treated by Repub central, with party insiders torn between useless drones and the candidates with the energy. COD and Joe Miller may not have been ideal candidates; but they didn't deserve having to fight two front campaigns. In COD's case it was particularly bad because the party insider's complaints didn't go to support any third party candidate who ostensibly could be at least somewhat expected to vote with Repubs; it was one of the most self-destructive antics for no gain I've ever seen.

When you have a party like that, is the lack of even a somewhat ideal candidate surprising? Rience Priebus is probably doing the best he can given the embedded underlying rot.

[Jane]

I have a senator up for re-election, running against a communist from what I can see.

[Captain Hate]

Good luck with that, Jane; Scott may not be an *ideal* TP candidate but he's obviously preferable to the commie alternative.

[maryrose]

We have Sherrod Brown going against hopefully Josh Mandel in Ohio. I will move heaven and earth to defeat Sherrod Brown,