Ongoing 'West Wing' Fantasies

Obama gave an inaugural speech intended to rally his liberal base and annoy the rest of us, and the NY Times is still aquiver.

Their latest installment of West Wing is here:

Obama Speech Leaves G.O.P. Stark Choices

By JONATHAN WEISMAN

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s aggressive Inaugural Address on Monday presented Congressional Republicans with a stark choice over the next two years: accommodate the president’s agenda on immigration, guns, energy and social programs and hope to take the liberal edge off issues dictated by the White House, or dig in as the last bulwark against a re-elected Democratic president and accept the political risks of that hard-line stance.

Obama spoke and the world shifted. Just like it did with health care. And more stimulus.

Mickey Kaus takes the Times to task for their packaging of the debt-ceiling maneuvering. The Times is also amusingly hopeful with this:

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, vowed Tuesday to put on the floor any gun control measures passed by the Judiciary Committee, inching closer to another showdown with the House.

A showdown with the House? As the Times editors noted last week, Reid is inching closer towards a showdown with a slew of unsympathetic Red State Democratic Senators, himself included:

The gun lobby is focused within the Republican Party, but Democratic lawmakers have also been to blame for failing to pass meaningful gun regulations. Already, some Democrats who should be strongest on gun controls are showing familiar signs of weakness.

Senator Pat Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, will be needed as a leader in this effort but has been mumbling about the need to hold extensive hearings. And Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, was making ominous, cowardly remarks over the weekend about tailoring whatever the Senate does to what he thinks could get through a House dominated by the far-right fringe of the Republican Party. He has started to wriggle away from the idea of an assault weapons ban, for example.

And in other reporting the Times noted yet another plot twist in their West Wing episode - the Keystone pipeline is back and Obama needs to figure out how to duck it again:

WASHINGTON — The governor of Nebraska on Tuesday approved a revised route through the state for the Keystone XL pipeline, setting up a decision for President Obama that pipeline opponents say will be a crucial test of his intentions on climate change.

Uh huh. If we don't take the oil Canada will sell it to China, so the impact on global warming of turning away this pipeline will be roughly zero. Still, liberals progressives will howl, so what will Obama do (other than blame Boehner and Bush?). Maybe another dramatic speech? Stay tuned...

 

Comments

[Old Lurker]

Funny DoT! We here laugh at two actors who stumbled into great gigs. Your Flo had no idea she was going to become the face of Progressive and probably never had a repeat commercial in her life. Now she is set for life financially.

At the other end of the spectrum is the T Mobile girl who also was probably hired for a one-off but has become the face of her company. Now that is to be applauded by all of us real men! Seriously pretty.

[Mark Folkestad]

I picked up a few lots of ancient coins found by amateur detectorists and military mine detector crews a few years ago. Most were almost unrecognizable clumps of corroded metal. With much care and reverse electrolysis I got a lot of amazing coins out of the messes. There were two perfect examples of the coin Constantine the Great minted to commemorate the founding of Rome. Those two went to special people. Almost all of the ancient coins were lost to burglars stoked up on meth. Phooey.

I was given an almost uncirculated denarius from the reign of Tiberius, the coin most often identified with the coin Jesus pointed to in the story about differing duties to God and Caesar. My pastor uncle had gotten it as a special gift from a multi-millionaire parishioner. I put the tarnished silver coin into a gold collar with a gold chain. It was borrowed by many pastors to illustrate that particular Gospel lesson. And every pastor in my family, in particular. My goddaughter, a new Lutheran pastor, accepted it as a family trust, to be passed on to the next generation's first pastor.

[narciso]

I keep telling them where to put the blade, don't I;

http://counterjihadreport.com/2013/01/24/phares-on-benghazi-hearings-did-washington-consider-the-salafi-militias-allies-or-foes/

[narciso]

She resembles the one in the LUN. which was one of the few SFw pics I could find.

[jimmyk]

Don't use coins - collect coins.

I keep an eye out for valuable coins too, and have found a few over the years. Probably nothing worth more than $10 or $20, though. The most exciting was 1909 penny that would have been worth quite a lot but looked like it was run over by a truck.

[jimmyk]

Am I the only person who considered Steve Forbes barely preferable to Trump?

I don't think the comparison to Trump is so apt, if you're talking about Steve. He seems like a sort of earnest but geeky conservative.

It always pained me to watch Steve Forbes speak.

Not a great politician but I liked him when he was running on the flat tax. I'm surprised he'd let the Forbes name be sullied like this.

[Captain Hate]

I don't think the comparison to Trump is so apt, if you're talking about Steve. He seems like a sort of earnest but geeky conservative.

That's fair but in both cases I got the impression that they were mainly asking for my attention because they had a lot of money and a flair for self promotion.

[Janet]

One thing to learn from the Dems is that if you stall, stall, stall....
months later few Americans still care about whatever it was. The few still asking questions & talking about it look like kooks.

Promise meetings... blah,blah,blah about nothing....wait...introduce confusing terms to the dialogue....schedule another meeting to schedule more meetings....

This is where the Dems have the advantage cause the MFM let them get away with this. Any Republican "event" gets screamed about in headlines & on "news" shows ad nauseum.

[Porchlight]

Cannot stand that Progressive woman. But I love the idea that such an annoying person is the face of "Progressive" to so many people. (The company was founded by lefties and named accordingly.)

[fdcol63]

Progressive "Flo-Bot".

Reminds me of a past girlfriend, in more ways than one. IYKWIMAITYD

[maryrose]

The Progressive gal is all right. She just has horrible bosses. She's just trying to make a living.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--At the other end of the spectrum is the T Mobile girl who also was probably hired for a one-off but has become the face of her company. Now that is to be applauded by all of us real men! Seriously pretty.--

Very pretty girl with a very weird walk.
Her upper arms remain fixed in place and her lower ones pivot at the elbows like open gates in a gale.
Musta learned it in modeling school.

[Mark Folkestad]

http://t-mobile-girl.com/

For those who wish to know more about the T-Mobile girl.

[Mark Folkestad]

http://www.ranker.com/list/the-50-hottest-pictures-of-t-mobile-girl-carly-foulkes/greg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carly_Foulkes

http://coedmagazine.com/2011/02/28/t-mobile-girl-carly-foulkes-bikini-pics-33-photos/