Political Theatre category archive

Only one Republican Congressman voted for Social Security.

On the Media explores the historical reality. From the website:

Obama promised to bring a bipartisan spirit to Washington. But this week he signed the 787 billion dollar stimulus package with basically no Republican support and the media declared it a failure of bipartisanship. What’s bipartisan really mean anyway? James Morone, a professor from Brown University, says the media might have a warped sense of the word. (Media? Warped? Oh noes!–ed.)

Listen:

The transcript will be posted Monday.

But a lousy Senator. This is beyond stupid.

Dick Polman:

. . . A liberal Democrat has signed into law a bill mandating $282 billion in tax cuts over the next two years – dwarfing George W. Bush’s $174 billion in tax cuts during his first two years – yet the party that typically invokes “tax cuts” as its ideological mantra decided to vote No. There are 219 Republicans in the House and Senate; 216 voted against a tax cut that’s bigger than the Bush cut.

(snip)

Do they not recognize how badly they have been rolled, how the Democrats may well have swiped one of their signature issues?

The missed obvious: They weren’t tax cuts for the rich.

When King Solomon offered to split the baby, he was not being bipartisan.

He was getting results.

There are too many out there who define “bipartisanship” as some form of splitting the baby. As long as the result is somewhere sort of half-way between the desires of the two major parties, it must be ipso facto “bipartisan” because it’s in between (in Left Blogistan, that philosophy is often referred to as “Broderism”).

The flaw in that reasoning is that what virtue there is in bi-partisanship lies in improved results, not in a split baby.

Today’s National Journal contains President Obama’s thought on bi-partisanship (emphasis added):

Obama said the near-unanimous Republican opposition, after all his meetings with GOP legislators, would not discourage him from reaching out again on other issues. “Going forward, each and every time we’ve got an initiative, I am going to go to both Democrats and Republicans and I’m going to say, ‘Here is my best argument for why we need to do this. I want to listen to your counterarguments, if you’ve got better ideas, present them, we will incorporate them into any plans that we make and we are willing to compromise on certain issues that are important to one side or the other in order to get stuff done,'” he said.

Cooperation on the economic agenda, he suggested, may have been unusually difficult because it “touched on… one of the core differences between Democrats and Republicans” — whether tax cuts or public spending can best stimulate growth. He predicted there may be greater opportunity for cooperation on issues such as the budget, entitlements and foreign policy. And if he keeps reaching out, he speculated, Republicans may face “some countervailing pressures” from the public “to work in a more constructive way.” White House aides suggest that regardless of how congressional Republicans react on upcoming issues, Obama will pursue alliances with Republican governors and Republican-leaning business groups and leaders.

Yet while promising to continue to seek peace with congressional Republicans, Obama also made clear he’s prepared for the alternative. “I am an eternal optimist [but] that doesn’t mean I’m a sap,” he said pointedly. “So my goal is to assume the best but prepare for a whole range of different possibilities in terms of how Congress reacts.”

Via The Huffington Post.

Also posted, with slight edits, at the Great Orange Satan.

Frank Rich in the Toimes:

Just as in the presidential campaign, Obama has once again outwitted the punditocracy and the opposition. The same crowd that said he was a wimpy hope-monger who could never beat Hillary or get white votes was played for fools again.

(snip)

Because Republicans are isolated in that parallel universe and believe all the noise in its echo chamber, they are now as out of touch with reality as the “inevitable” Clinton campaign was before it got clobbered in Iowa. The G.O.P. doesn’t recognize that it emerged from the stimulus battle even worse off than when it started. That obliviousness gives the president the opening to win more ambitious policy victories than last week’s. Having checked the box on attempted bipartisanship, Obama can now move in for the kill.

Three weeks from now, no one outside of his home state, politics, the news business, or political blogistan will remember his name.

Twits:

Twits on Twitter here.

Via TPM.

Via Andrew Sullivan.

DougJ at Balloon Juice:

The main purpose of the Republican party is to support the interests of big business (this is also one of the primary purposes of the Democratic party). I’ve always thought, though, that some day the Republican party would become so insane that it would begin to frighten big business. That day may have arrived.

As Duncan puts it, “Alienating Their Base.”

(Aside: I actually wrote this post before I read Duncan’s, but I had set mine to fire off in the wee hours.)

Via the Democratic Daily.

Big Brother was (and probably still is*) listening in. From On the Media:

Late last month, former National Security Agency analyst turned whistleblower Russell Tice said definitively that the NSA monitored domestic communications of American journalists. Reporter Lawrence Wright, who has long believed he was a target, says he’s not surprised by the allegation.

Follow the link to hear the story or listen here:

______________________

*This is not directed at Mr. Obama, but rather at the strongest force in organizational dynamics: inertia.

Panasonic Corp., sinking into its first annual loss in six years, said Wednesday it was slashing about 15,000 jobs and shuttering 27 plants worldwide, joining a string of Japanese companies making deep cuts as they cope with the global slowdown.

Oh.

Wait.

No UAW in Japan.

’nuff said:

A particularly contentious exchange took place between Rep. Gary Ackerman and the SEC’s acting general counsel, Andy Vollmer.

In response to Mr. Vollmer’s refusal to answer questions, Mr. Ackerman asks three times whether the Bush holdover was hiding behind executive branch immunity.

“Yes, in part,” he finally answered.

Doctors don’t open up the prescription pads and start writing prescriptions for improper, unproven, and, sometimes, dangerous uses of powerful (and often grossly over-priced) drugs (emphasis added).

. . . an ever-growing segment of the American pharmaceutical business is eluding that rigorous scrutiny. Millions of patients are being given drugs by their doctors that the FDA hasn’t approved for treating their particular illnesses. Off-label prescribing, as it’s called, puts patients at risk while offering no assurance the drugs will work.

Drug companies encourage them to do it:

Eli Lilly & Co. pleaded guilty today to a criminal count of illegally marketing its powerful antipsychotic drug Zyprexa in a settlement that the federal government said will “send a message to Eli Lilly employees that they need to respect the law, not break it.”

The guilty plea in Philadelphia federal court had been expected since earlier this month, when the Indianapolis company agreed to a settlement that also included a $1.4 billion fine.

The Philadelphia U.S. Attorney’s office had charged Lilly with illegally promoting Zyprexa to treat dementia and Alzheimer’s in the elderly.

That’s the free, as in unfettered and unmonitored and conscienceless, hand of the market.

Chart of off-label drug marketing here.

The furor over the digital TV conversion is much ado about not much of anything.

Jeffrey got me thinking about this.

Suzabell at GNC discusses some of the issues facing her parents, but still believes the switch should go forward:

Personally, I hope there is no delay in the switchover. It’s been in process a long time, and I believe it needs to happen on schedule. But I have to wonder if the planning was lacking in foresight, after all is said and done. My mother would think so, that’s for sure.

Todd at GNC reports that Hawaii, where he lives, went digital a couple of weeks ago and, so far, he’s seen or heard no complaints either in person or in the news.

I have several thoughts:

• Whether or not it was a good idea, it’s soon gonna be a done deal.
• No matter when it happens, there’s some folks will have trouble. Putting it off helps no one.
• The rhetoric seems to focus on “old folks will have trouble.” That sort of rhetoric is a sure sign of FUD.
• What’s the difference between five or six (remember, we’re talking over-the-air broadcast here–this has nothing to do with cable or satellite television) channels of garbage and no channels of garbage?

Jon Swift analyses the Republican Party’s strategy of hope. Here are the high points. Follow the link for a full analysis and explanation:

While Obama seems like a nice young man, kind of like a young Sidney Poitier, is handsome and polite, seems well educated and articulate, and even brought Republicans candy and flowers, Limbaugh was not fooled for a minute. If Obama succeeds, who knows what kind of man America’s daughters will bring home to dinner next? Since Obama is trying to seduce Americans by giving them hope, Limbaugh knows that we Republicans must have our own message of optimism and hope. So here are some of the things that we are hoping for . . .

Look beneath the Fold for Two of the Seven Hopes–ed.

Busted Browns:

Many Iraqis considered it poetic justice when a journalist tossed his shoes at President George W. Bush last month.

Now the bizarre attack has spawned a real life work of art.

A sofa-sized statue of the shoe was unveiled Thursday in Tikrit, the hometown of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Via Noz.

Tony Auth today.

Andrew Sullivan comments on the backstory.

Brendan muses about the strategy.