Tickling their fancy
Eric Massa, conservative media hero for a day
Tickling their fancy
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
There's an old saying in politics: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." But given the way some of our conservative media superstars have embarrassed themselves during the past 48 hours, perhaps the old saying needs to be amended: "If the enemy of my enemy is a blithering idiot, I would be wise to distance myself from the idiot, lest I look like an idiot as well."
Well, it's too late for Glenn Beck to heed that advice.
Yesterday, on his Fox News TV show, Beck devoted a full hour to his new best friend, Eric "Tickle Fight" Massa. By the end of the hour's hilarity (which appeared to have been scripted by Seth Rogen), Beck needed a squeegee to wipe all the egg from his face.
As you probably know by now, Massa is the unhinged New York Democrat who served 431 days in Congress until he quit his seat on Monday. He had first suggested last week that he was leaving because of a cancer scare, but later revised his story, claiming that he was being railroaded by an unwarranted House Ethics Committee probe of his behavior toward a male aide (he said he was merely guilty of talking like a "salty old sailor"). Then, over the weekend, he revised his story yet again, this time claiming that House Democratic leaders and Obama lieutenant Rahm Emanuel had conspired to craft a bogus ethics probe as a pretext for kicking him off Capitol Hill - because of his opposition to health care reform.
Bingo! That version of the story made him an instant conservative media hero; if he was the enemy of the enemy, then surely he must be the conservatives' friend. On Monday, The Drudge Report home page was all Massa all the time. Rush Limbaugh went into overdrive, declaring on the air: "We're doing our part here to make it a national story...This guy is as fired up as anybody...This guy is going to have so much support from people." And Beck was all atwitter, Twittering his fans to say that Massa would be featured on his Tuesday show for the full hour because "all Americans need to hear him."
But even before Beck put him on the air, there were intimations of trouble. Some conservatives, to their credit, expressed concern that perhaps it was foolish to embrace a guy who was under investigation for feeling up a male staffer; in comments posted yesterday on the Politico website, ex-Bush deputy press secretary Scott Stanzel dismissed Massa as "an egotistical creep that we'd all be better off hearing from less," and Republican strategist Bradley Blakeman warned his brethren that "it will be a huge mistake to use this pitiful man for political gain."
Then came the news yesterday, courtesy of an afternoon story on the Washington Post website, that Massa has actually been under investigation for a year, with respect to "a pattern of behavior and physical harassment" of multiple male staffers. Give the GOP's recent headaches with Mark Foley and Larry Craig, why would conservatives want to embrace another alleged miscreant - from the other party, no less? Even Limbaugh slammed on the brakes yesterday and began to distance himself from his Monday hero.
But not Beck. His show was a kick to watch yesterday, even without popcorn. Beck sat there expecting Massa to stick with his tale about how he was supposedly forced out of his seat by the pro-health reform liberal conspiracy...but here's what Massa said instead:
"I wasn't forced out. I forced myself out. I failed. I didn't live up to my own codes. I own this. I take full and complete responsibility for my misbehavior."
Well, that's not what a Fox News hero was supposed to say. Massa was supposed to deliver a stinging indictment of Chicago-style liberal hardball. He was supposed to provide new details about how Emanuel had yelled at him about his health care stance while both men were naked in a communal congressional shower (another weekend claim), but instead he admitted on the air that nobody else witnessed the alleged incident (and even if it happened, so what?).
And Massa was certainly not supposed to blather on about his longtime penchant for...how did he put it..."tickle fights."
By this point, Beck wore the look of a pedestrian seeking to evade a street-corner lunatic. But Massa was unstoppable: "Now they're saying I groped a male staffer. Yeah, I did. Not really grope him. I tickled him 'til he couldn't breathe and then four guys jumped on top of me. It was my 50th birthday...I should have never allowed myself to be as familiar with my staff as I was. I never translated my days in the Navy to being a congressman." He said that "tickle fights" are common in the Navy (this guy will not be appearing in any Navy recruiter ads), and he even brought some visual aids to the show, promising Beck that "I'm gonna show you a lot more than tickle fights...It looks like an orgy in Caligula."
During Massa's brief reign as a conservative media hero, Beck apparently chose to overlook the fact that Massa had actually compiled a liberal record in the House. He was rudely reminded of this when Massa suddenly turned on him: "Stop calling Americans names. Calling fellow Americans names. Pejorative, insulting, 'socialist,' 'communist,' whatever the case may be - colorful names designed to emote emotions." Massa even committed a Fox News heresy, by going after the tea-party movement: "You can't show up at a tea party rally and claim that the entire budget deficit happened this year."
At the end of the hour, Beck gave up and told his audience, "America, I've got to shoot straight with you. I think I've wasted your time." Actually, he didn't. He showed how badly an agitprop entertainer can embarrass himself when he overplays his hand and allows a political corpse to tickle his fancy.
Massa was able to spend a few days as a dead man talking, but, fortunately for the Democrats, he'll barely be remembered by the time we count the final votes on health care. And perhaps those chastened conservatives who sought to annoint him as a hero would like to distance themselves by singing these lyrics, courtesy of the punk rock band Social Distortion:
With friends like you, who needs enemies?
You ain't right, you ain't never gonna be...
You shake my hand, while you're pissing on my leg
I'm cuttin you loose, I don't need this misery
Your time's run out, I've got nothing left for you...
I'm leaving you far behind
Stop wasting all my time.
Comments (89)
Massa and Beck? Really?— NEPhilly
At least Beck apologized to the audience for wasting their time. When will we get an apology from Keith Olbermann?— jmc- I liked that Beck said he wasted people's time. At least he knew he missed his target and admitted it. But you;re right- great entertainment, and that's what Beck is, an entertainer. Nothin wrong with that. Olbermann is an entertainer too, he just doesn;t seem to realize it.— tjm333126
- Can't we get back to the more pressing issues, like back waxing?— p-diddy
- Give Dick a break. Dems have had it rough. Obama didn't turn out to be the leftist savior they expected. Someone has to pay- why not a basic cable entertainment show? I mean, it has to be someone's fault right?— tjm333126
Comment removed.- Polman... You wasted your time writing this and I wasted my time reading it.— Phil Checchia
- MOCKY: 4 of 5 more accomplishments from Bush-Cheney, because I gave Tom #81 on the last thread. ........... 82. TORTURE DEATHS that have occurred at various prisons, and I don't mean natural causes. ............... 83. RUMMY'S SIGNATURE MACHINE for soldiers killed in Iraq, and Bush had nothing to say after this was exposed. .............. 84. WIRETAPPING DOCUMENTS WERE MADE UNAVAILABLE FOR VIEW by David Addington, aka Cheney's attack dog. ............. 85. The BIO-CHEM TRAILERS in Iraq that were part of Powell's smoking-gun UN speech on 2/5/03.— Talvenada
- Maybe a larger point can be made here- for those of us who want less govt control of our lives, the Massa scandal is one of the things we point to. How many congressman, republican and democrat, have been caught in either sex scandals or criminal acts over the past few years? There are tons! Personally, I am more inclined to trust my life to myself than I am to these clowns. The desire for power and control are part of the human condition and are unavoidable. The view that govt can be all wise and free of personal desire, acting only and always for the greater good just seems absurd- and has been proven so time and time again. Democrats love to spout off about "corporate special interests" and the like, but are thier special interests any different? We need to start having a conversation about the reality of governance, and stop whining about Glenn Beck or whoever else is the enemy of the state for today. Dick, I'd love to hear some theorhetical reasons why you believe the things you do. This is what goads me most about liberals- they rarely thgouthfully defend their ideology, preffering to shout down anyone who doesn;t share thier views. your poor buddy Will is gonna have a heart attack soon. He's off the hinges!— tjm333126
- This was very insightful column about the desperate measures one side will take to score political and social points against the other. And it's pretty funny when it backfires. When our discourse devolves into scorched earth, this is what happens. And the sad thing is that the polar heroes on either side don't realize the damage they are doing to the country is far worse than the issues on which they and their foes disagree. Conservatives, liberals ... you know it's true, right?— HeywoodEm
- tjm, well said. At least insurance companies are up front about what they are about. Making money. Pretty transparent if you ask me. We all know our congress is bought and paid for by special interests through campaign contributions, but the quid pro quo involved is a much shader proposition. Currently, if an insurance company denies too many patients bills or is otherwise outrageous either govt. regulators, the news media (through bad publicity) and/or free markets (people change companies) take care of it. Now place the govt. in competition with insurance companies (ie. Fannie/Freddie in financials), who regulates them if they become too outrageous? The congress? Can the news media cause a stir with say the IRS or any other govt. agency using bad publicity? Maybe. Can people leave the govt. run system and use the free market to register their displeasure (or pleasure) with the system? Doubtful given govt. subsidies to the poor & govt. interference in the free market. So I say no to govt. run healthcare. I don't want the govt. being involved in that decision. I don't even trust them with all my medical information in one place. I don't trust them to keep their own house in order let alone my healthcare decisions. Sorry, that is the way most Americans feel about this pig of a healthcare bill & the dems are going to pay the price either way in November for dithering away over a year on this nonsense, imho:)— NEPhilly
- Odd, the Polman article above looks strangely similar to one Time did that was posted last night. Hmmm.— CD75
- Beck is a substance abuser. It's pretty clear, just looking at him, that he hasn't kicked an addiction to prescription pain killers.— p-diddy
- I'm not sure why anyone takes this man seriously. Let me tell you an inside story. An old college buddy of mine used to work for Fox News for a couple of years. He started out doing the news crawl. Last year he was placed on Beck's show and even was writing his monologues at one point. Then he was moved off of that as Beck became popular and calling shots - that is to say replacing people with his own self-selected nodding heads. My friend eventually quit, because he realized how brainless and one-dimensional this type of entertainment is. And there you have it - a true human interest story on Glenn Beck. But that's only part of a much larger picture. What I still find truly remarkable are the followers who trust Fox News programming as the only de facto, true news source. If I were to ask someone unitiated in American news media the question "Does it sound plausible that every news source in America is involved in a massive conspiracy to enforce government control and take away your freedoms, while there is only one source that gives you the straight dope (you know, because they tell you that they do)?" To be frank, that sounds as crazy as the delusional folks who insist that 9-11 was an inside job. But hey, my hat is off to Mr. Murdoch, he has indeed outfoxed the market by convincing a large portion of consumers that his product is the only viable product. Brilliant.— puttinonthefoil
- "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." DP, that doesn't come from politics but it applies there. It's from "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.— pj katauskas
- Sorry if that last comment sounded judgmental. If I was shouldering the burdens of Christ like Beck, I might take tranquilizers too.— p-diddy
- JMC, your comment about Olbermann made me laugh. He's often a blowhard, even the times I agree with him. I prefer Jon Stewart.— RunWrite
- Comment removed.
- Glenn Beck: "It took me about a year to start hating the 9/11 victims' families." Actual quote.— p-diddy
- I wonder what DP would have written if Massa had been interviewed by Oprah instead and pulled the same shenanigans?— pj katauskas
- JMC, you gave me a good laugh about your comment with Olbermann. He can be a blowhard, even when I agree with him. I prefer Jon Stewart. Apologies if this appears twice. I thought I had already posted.— RunWrite
- jwad: You don't have to be a pill head to look at a (supposedly) ex-addict's bloated, red face on television to know that he's probably still doing them. Take a look at almost any picture of Glenn Beck, and tell me it doesn't look like something's wrong.— p-diddy
- I prefer Colbert. He's not so openly liberal and I think is funnier/wittier.— pj katauskas
- Tal, I didn't see all of your count, so maybe you did this one. You certainly don't need my help. However, The Inquirer ran an excellent series sometime back, maybe a year or so, on the administratiion's use of the EPA. Sad and troubling.— RunWrite
- Did Larry King also waste America's time having Massa on his program? After all, he directly contradicted some of the things he said on Beck's program when interviewed by King. Did King or CNN apologize as well (even though King's audience is less than a third of Becks's).— tom - wilmington, de
- Tom, don't be silly. DP would never criticize CNN— pj katauskas
- PJ, I like Colbert too. He's edgier. I like Stewart's grasp and discussion of the issues, yes, definitely from the left.— RunWrite
- RunWrite, that was the word I was looking for, edgier. I never know what he'll come up with. Stewart I can sometimes predict, because of his liberalism. I imagine they are both libs, but Colbert cloaks his better.— pj katauskas
- p-diddy, you truncated the quote from an entire bit, where he stresses it is only about 10 families who are always on the news and always complaining. Fox does not say they are the only place to get the straight scoop, just the only place that gives a "fair and balanced" report. How many conservatives ever appear on Olberman, Maddow, Anderson Cooper, Schultz, etc?— tom - wilmington, de
- Tom, answer = ZERO!— pj katauskas
- ***And how about you, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran? How are you feeling today? Yes, I am sure you have your proxies in Iraq. But I am also sure you know what some of your people are quietly saying: “How come we Iranian-Persian-Shiites — who always viewed ourselves as superior to Iraqi-Arab-Shiites — can only vote for a handful of pre-chewed, pre-digested, ‘approved’ candidates from the supreme leader, while those lowly Iraqi Shiites, who have been hanging around with America for seven years, get to vote for whomever they want?” Unlike in Tehran, Iraqis actually count the votes. This will subtly fuel the discontent in Iran. Yes, the U.S.’s toppling of Saddam Hussein helped Iran expand its influence into the Arab world. Saddam’s Iraq was a temporary iron-fisted bulwark against Iranian expansion. But if Iraq has any sort of decent outcome — and becomes a real Shiite-majority, multiethnic democracy right next door to the phony Iranian version — it will be a source of permanent pressure on the Iranian regime. It will be a constant reminder that “Islamic democracy” — the rigged system the Iranians set up — is nonsense. Real “Islamic democracy” is just like any other democracy, except with Muslims voting.*** http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/opinion/10friedman.html?ref=opinion— NEPhilly
- Tom, I'm not sure if it's about apologies or wasting America's time. It's their shows; they can fill the airwaves as they see fit. We can watch or not watch. It seems that Beck's apology was to his targeted audience because the guest didn't spout the agenda Beck would have preferred and that his audience would have applauded.— RunWrite
- PJ, Colbert's definitely unpredictable, part of what makes his stuff edgier. He'll skewer any target. You're right; he cloaks his views better. I would think Stewart would admit he's not trying to cloak his views, just to speak intelligently on them. If you haven't seen him on the Bill O'Reilly show a couple weeks back, you might want to check it out. It was entertaining. I forget if I watched it on Hulu or Youtube.— RunWrite
- RunWrite, actually Beck apologized because he viewed Massa as a nutjob, especially with the "tickle party" comment.— tom - wilmington, de
- RUN: Yeah, I listed putting the anti-environmentalist in charge of The EPA, and Cheney's force-out of Whitman. Lower standards = bigger profits = more irrelevant-to-Cheney pollution.— Talvenada
- Comment removed.
- RunWrite, thanks for the tip.— pj katauskas
- TJM, please don't generalize (I've asked for this in the past, too). I can tell you why I'm liberal, and what philosophy or thought is behind my positions. First, I think I'm driven by a certain empathy for those who struggle in one way or another, and for the most vulnerable parts of our population -- children, the poor, the elderly, the handicapped. I feel strongly that there should be a safety net for them. I don't think people who are poor are inherently lazy or want the government to take care of them. I think they have unbelievable, sometimes unspeakable challenges to overcome. Many of them had horrible family situations from childhood on, including sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect or other horrible conditions. These aren't easy to overcome. I think some people who are more fortunate can get impatient or feel that the poor don't even try. But such conditions leave indelible scars on the psyche and emotional lives of people. Secondly, I think my Quaker beliefs shape my views of the world. I certainly don't apologize for them. If I didn't think they were right or just, I would change my opinions. Does that explain my views, at least? I am open to compromise, and I think that's crucial for a country as large and diverse as ours so that we can accommodate our many differences.— NigeltheMastiff
- pj katauskas : are you sure you "get" Colbert? He doesn't cloak his liberalism. He does a complete parody of a conservative talk show host. When he says things like "Every time the President comes up with a new secret tactic to take down al Qaeda, the media blows its cover. Torture, monitoring our phone calls, monitoring our emails, secret prisons, all perfectly reasonable temporary concessions of freedom that will only be in effect as long as our never-ending war on terror. ", they're digs at guys like Beck and Hannity. I think the guy's funny, but he's at least as liberal as Stewart.... "Which brings me to threat number one: gravity. It is not enough--it is not enough that everyone in the mainstream media is against this President. Now even the laws of physics are jumping on the anti-Bush bandwagon? 'Course, I've known about gravity's liberal bias ever since my tenth grade science teacher, Mr. Stamp, dropped a bowling ball and a feather in a vacuum. Bowling ball should definitely have won. There's only one way that feather could keep up: affirmative action. Point is, we've lost gravity to the liberals, folks; but inertia, I hope you're listening! You of all principles of physics should know to stay the course. "— still_independent
Massa was a DINO.- TOM: How many have been offered, like Liz Cheney, to come on, and rejected the opportunity? Only Olbermann hasn't offered that I know of, but Levin, Hannity and O'Reilly talk over guests who disagree with them.— Talvenada
- Tom, fair enough. I didn't see the show, and from what's been presented here, Massa doesn't sound reliable.— RunWrite
- Let's see, a Democratic rep says he was assaulted in the shower by the naked Chief of Staff and then forced out for dissagreeing with the President on health care? That is news no matter how much the state media wants to cover it up.— Comrade Noodlehead
- Fernando, you mean a DINC, don't you?— pj katauskas
- ***The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 42% favor the plan while 53% are opposed. These figures include just 20% who Strongly Favor the plan and 41% who are Strongly Opposed. Last week, support for the health care plan inched up to 44% following the president’s televised health care summit. However, that mild bounce has faded, and support is back to where it was for months. With the exception of last week’s results, overall support for the president’s health care plan has stayed in a very narrow range from 38% to 42% since Thanksgiving. As has been the case for months, Democrats overwhelmingly favor the plan, and Republicans are overwhelmingly opposed. As for those not affiliated with either major party, 32% favor the plan, and 64% are opposed.*** http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/september_2009/health_care_reform— NEPhilly
Noodlehead it's only news if it actually happened.— potus- It cracks me up when people like nephilly post links to opinion columns on an opinion column. Never ceases to amaze me how the rightists pick their flavors of the month. Joe, the non-plumber tax-evader. The SC governor who is flying to South America for affairs while spending tax money. The insane Democrat, who is a fan of single-payer, who can't keep his stories straight. Yeah, America would be great if you guys were in control.— HandNik
- hand, I figured the opinion of a NY Times reporter would sway you. I guess not:) I imagine polls do not sway you either? I also had a whole post of just my opinion. Just trying to cover all the bases:) The job market could not get any worse.— NEPhilly
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- Cheese, I can't think of a politician on either side who isn't fairly sleazy.— NigeltheMastiff
- Cheese, I can't think of a politician on either side who isn't fairly sleazy.— NigeltheMastiff
- Nigel- to the following: ("I think I'm driven by a certain empathy for those who struggle in one way or another, and for the most vulnerable parts of our population -- children, the poor, the elderly, the handicapped. I feel strongly that there should be a safety net for them.")- I think most people feel this way. more than most. However, this in itself is way too simplified. Personally, I like to spread my "cause money" around to organizations that I believe do good work in the community and are light on beuaracracy. I've personally worked in non-profit, corporate, and govt, and I can tell you with certainty that non-profits by far have the purest motivation and people. govt, by far, is the most screwed up and laughably wasteful. Liberals would rather hand over more control, and more money to the govt so that the state, ostensibly, will responsibly create the "safety net" of which you speak (and also, I believe, being a liberal provides one the sensation of self-satisfaction, though thats another story entirely). I contend, that people-Americans in particular- are inherently good and that when given more of thier own $$ back they "redistribute" it to various social entities that they support. I'll also content that this method of redistribution cuts out the waste we see in govt, while simultabeously curbing thier power over personal decisions. The govt, republican or democrat, always provides a safety net. What is at odds is the level of control/responsibility we're willing to give them. I say less. (now, there are many more reasons to go away from the welfare state, the most important and realistic one being that we simply cannot pay for it. As the govt grows the tax base shrinks, and as the base shrinks the govt appetitie increases....hwo do you recitfy these two realities?) Anyway, we should be having more of these types of discussions. Too bad the guy who's paid to do it spends his time sniping about a whole bunch of nothing.— tjm333126
- Darn, I'm really sorry I keep posting twice. I must tap the enter key a couple of times. I will try to be better. :(— NigeltheMastiff
- So a Democrats is having " tickle fights" with his staffers and this is Republican's fault? I guess it's just a slow news day. Kinda funny that Beck got punked. At least he apologized for wasting the audiences time.
- Tom: Are you kidding? Somebody says "It took me about a year to hate the 9/11 victims' families", and your comeback is that I'm taking what he said out of context? But ok, let's look at the context. He was saying that he thought Katrina survivors AND the 9/11 families were whiners. Even if you're a Republican, you've got no business defending this cretin. I also like his "Sir, prove to me you aren't working with our enemies" when interviewing Rep. Keith Ellison. "I'm not saying he's racist, I'm saying he has a deep seated hatred of white people." Someday, if we're fortunate, people will look back on Beck and chuckle in disbelief. But I'll refrain from attacking Beck any further. It's like mugging a blind person.— p-diddy
- TJM, I think it's a fruitless and counterproductive exercise to judge an entire group of people whom you don't know as being self-satisfied, smug or whatever. We can't really know what is in others' hearts, so why disdain what they say? And before you hold your nose around government workers, let me tell you the situation I'm in. I work for a two-year college, and their mission is to provide access to those who might not otherwise be able to go to college. Sixty percent of our students are in learning support (remediation). I've rarely seen people who work so hard. And they certainly aren't in it for the money. A starting Ph.D. only makes just over $39K. It's embarrassing. I know that many on this site think that all government jobs are full of overpaid, incompetent people. It's just not true. I certainly don't agree with how things get done in an academic setting (meetings ad nauseam, management by committee), but they crank out the work. They stay late to help students. It's really unfair to lump them in a group that you've created because of your bias against the government. Are there incompetent government agencies and employees? Of course. There are in other sectors as well. As for allowing individuals to provide the safety net, I agree that most Americans are decent people. But in times like we have now, people just don't have the money to give like they used to. And there are more needy people than ever. Keeping it solely at everyone's discretion might mean that the less popular causes really struggle. (Sorry, a big long-winded.)— NigeltheMastiff
- Since Fox News is sometimes discussed but particularly relevant to this post, I'll continue by addressing two points from Tom's reply. He says that they do not claim to be the only reliable source of news, just "fair and balanced." First, it is implied in this slogan that other sources lack this quality. Second, you will frequently hear from its adherents that it is "the most trusted" and achieves higher ratings than all of its competitors. These go hand in hand to prove my point, namely that its market considers it to be the only viable source of news. Finally, Tom proposes that it is "fair and balanced" due to its guests. In response, there are many other news sources that invite a wide spectrum of guests. You can't compare Fox News to its most extreme ideological foils but to all shows. Furthermore, it is neither fair nor balanced if the so-called other opinions are only invited on to play the Washington Generals to your Harlem Globetrotters. Ultimately, I am concerned by hypocrisy. Namely the fans of Fox News would be the first to deride so-called party media, particularly if it is run by the state. Yet, like North Korean broadcasting, party media is precisely what Fox News offers. It is simply delusional to think otherwise. You cannot both sneer/laugh at Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf and at the same time celebrate Fox News.— puttinonthefoil
- puttononthefoil- Do you watch Fox news? or do you get your narrative about Fox news from their competitor MSNBC? Juan Williams, Bob Beckel, Alan Colmes, Susan Estrich, Dr. Lamont Hill are all liberal contributors and appear every day. Liberal Senator Dennis Kucinich appears on the show very often. I think you do get both sides of the story. Perhaps there is a bit of a conservative slant but for the most part the dialogue is respectfull. When I tune into MSNBC it is one snarky line after another and only reinforcing views are represented from what I have watched. . As for Glen Beck he is no big fan of either party- but if you get your narrative on Beck from the liberal pundits without watching his show then you probably think otherwise.
- POT-FOIL: Not only that but it implies that ALL of its programs are we-report-you-decide fair-and-balanced, and not just their news reporting.— Talvenada
- From the AP..."WASHINGTON — The government ran up the largest monthly deficit in history in February, keeping the flood of red ink on track to top last year's record for the full year. The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the February deficit totaled $220.9 billion, 14 percent higher than the previous record set in February of last year. The deficit through the first five months of this budget year totals $651.6 billion, 10.5 percent higher than a year ago. The Obama administration is projecting that the deficit for the 2010 budget year will hit an all-time high of $1.56 trillion, surpassing last year's $1.4 trillion total. The administration is forecasting that the deficit will remain above $1 trillion in 2011, giving the country thrree straight years of $1 trillion-plus deficits." I thought we were effectively out of the recession. These numbers do not even include the $100 Billion "Jobs" bill just passed by the Senate that offers job incentives like extended unemployment, extended COBRA subsidies, and extended Medicaid payments to the states. Lots of jobs will be created by those items. This is also the second "exception" to the new Pay-Go legislation Obama signed a little over two weeks ago, celebrating how gov't will now be living within their means like millions of families do every day. The administration says the huge deficits are necessary to get the country out of the deepest recession since the 1930s. But Republicans have attacked the stimulus spending as wasteful and a failure at the primary objective of lowering unemployment.— tom - wilmington, de
- SPIN BORO MIKE: Hannity is respectful, Beck is respectful, and neither is snarky. Beck leans republican despite his claims to the contrary. He'll knock 9 Dems to 1 'Pub, which is his definition of partyless.— Talvenada
- um, not to state the obvious but my Internet life twin appears to be make a lot of unsubstantiated claims. Not to mention he appears to be recycling the same old stuff day and and day out. And BTW, Bush is so last year. Get over it— Alvenada
- POT-FOIL: Respectful Hannity had a laugh track set to a recent speech by Obama. I suppose that was humor. Respectful Beck points out how Obama's Admin. is filled with Commies, and are connected to Chairman Mao. I suppose that was commentary. Respectfully O'Reilly called the son of a 9-11 victim a traitor for being against The Iraq War at its beginning. I suppose that was only his opinion. I watch Fox NEWS to see what they're up to, but sometimes it makes me barf before it's over. Yeah, a slight conservative slant that's barely noticeable!!!— Talvenada
- MOCKvenada: I gave you a chance to not request the 118 Bush-Cheney questionable acts, and you scoffed that I don't have them. I gave you the chance to opt out before I started what I said was going to be 22 days in a row. Twice you've implored me not to stop, and if I did you would brag about your non-sweat-breaking victory. .................... Now, you have the marble stones to say get over Bush??? LOL AND THEN SOME!!!! ................ Point to one act that was repeated, and I'll explain it to you. Just give the numbers. Example: Preemptive war is one thing, and falsifying intel to prove you should go to war is another. Now, call me a liar and say they are one thing. Say it straight without some creative implying statement. I said the acts were questionable, what part of questionable is substantiated? Speak O enlightened one!— Talvenada
- Tal- Hannity has Bob Beckel on his show about every night. They kid around a little bit, argue politics, and yes it is very respectfull. When I watch Olberman it's almost personal . I get the impression that Keith Olberman hates the air that conservatives breath. Olberman thinks conservatives are vile human beings. And maybe that why Fox's ratings are 3 times that of MSNBC. What I find is that people who hate Fox News do not watch Fox news. They get their views of Fox News from the MSNBC pundits.
- SPIN BORO MIKE: Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin and Schultz are the top of the slime mountain. Olbermann, O'Reilly and Maddow are the 2nd tier. I've seen and heard all of them.— Talvenada
- Ten O'clock is lights at the institution. Don't forget your meds and your tin foil hat. Night, night— Alvenada
- Gimme 5 more tommorow there buddy. I'm thinking you could recycle Katrina, maybe throw in a Rove or a Halliburton.— Alvenada
- MOCKYvenada: 18 words, 3 insults and no challenge. LOL!!! At you!!— Talvenada
- MOCKY: You ask for 5 more after you carp about get over Bush, and tell me to take meds? LOL!!!— Talvenada
- Comment removed.
- Tickle fight! Halliburton, Rove, Scooter, Mr. Roper and Jack Ritter, Run Forest Run!— Alvenada
- MOCKY: Back to your old self posting gibberish to claim my 118 Bush-Cheney badges of honor are gibberish.— Talvenada
- Eric Holder hired 9 attorney's who represented jihadists to post at the Justice Department working in national security and anti-terrroist positions. Is that like hiring a mob attorney to the organized crime unit? Was this reported on MSNBC? CNN? ABC, NBC or CBS? Did Holder let this be known during some committee hearing? NO, it was first reported on Fox News. That must mean they are partisan, right?— tom - wilmington, de
- Tal, you wrote "Point to one act that was repeated, and I'll explain it to you. Just give the numbers." I already did that, and your explanation was jibberish. Here are three more.."8. AFGAN WAR OUTSOURCING to attack a country that had nothing to do with 9-11, while bin Laden became secondary. ..... 26. BIN LADEN'S ESCAPE is self explanatory........62. WENT AFTER SADDAM INSTEAD OF BIN LADEN is self explanatory." Why are these the same thing? Because we attacked Iraq, which was to go after Saddam, which (according to liberals) allowed Bin Laden to escape. Explain away.— tom - wilmington, de
- Ever hear how Obama constantly criticizes the rising cost of healthcare? Well..."If President Obama really wanted to find out how quickly typical health insurance premiums have been increasing, he could have a staffer call the Bureau of Labor Statistics and ask for Table 3A of the “Consumer Price Index Detailed Report Tables Annual Averages 2009.” It turns out the consumer price index for health insurance premiums fell by 3.2% in 2009."— tom - wilmington, de
- TOM: He did not get bin Laden in his EIGHT years, because he wanted to get Saddam, which is 1. He allowed him to escape from Toro Boro when he had him CORNERED which is 2. He outsourced The Afgan War to start a war that Cheney wanted from day 1. I'm a Mod Dem unless I go Indy, and I don't care what Libs say. .............. The guy responsible for 9-11 was not caught, that guy escaped despite being cornered, and outsourcing a legit war to START another war is questionable for any reason.— Talvenada
- TOM: This is where you dis me with that pompous Conse 'Pub 'tude thru your blatant use of insults, which is especially rich when you insult me in the same post you bloviate that I think anyone who disagrees with me is insulting me. Do that one; it's my favorite!— Talvenada
- But Hannity has Bob Beckel!— p-diddy
- Tal, I am a moderate Whig and just because you say I'm not doesn't make it so. If you are a moderate Dem, then Mama Cass was skinny. As to your "explanation", you once again proved Bill Reilly and Alvenada's points, debating you is the true definition of insanity.— tom - wilmington, de
- tom: perhaps the author from the CATO institute should have read what the CPI for "health insurance premiums " actually represents. It is NOT what people actually pay for health insurance, and it does NOT cover employer or government subsidized coverage. From BLS: "Challenges to pricing health insurance. The current indirect method for measuring health insurance premium changes does not mimic the way consumers pay for health care and it forces the medical care indexes to measure changes in what medical care providers receive from insurance companies rather than what consumers pay for the medical items out of pocket." Also "The weights in the CPI do not include employer-paid health insurance premiums or tax-funded health care such as Medicare Part A and Medicaid". So to summarize, it only covers the private insurane market, and does not reflect wat people actually pay for premiums. Gee, I wonder why he didn't just use it? ... http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpifact4.htm— still_independent
- phillyignorance, I don't know if you were just raising dust here but the 10:16 post was so over the top as to be offensive. It is Olberman-ish in its oversimplified view of people. It's a disgrace.— JimR
- phillignorance, its a FACT that liberals don't watch/read the news? I'd be interested in learning where you gleaned that piece of information, especially as I'm a liberal and I read about 6 newspapers and three Web sites a day.— NigeltheMastiff
NigeltheMastiff - You read about 6 papers a day? Impressive. Care to name them and tell us all what your subscription costs are to these papers? Or are you reading a 6 page newsletter?- No need to be obnoxious, Lord. I have to take a bunch of them for my job. Atlanta, Marietta (suburb of Atlanta), Rome (GA, where I live), Cartersville (small town north of Atlanta), Cedartown (OK, I don't really read this one; more like glance over for news of the college, as the town is REALLY small). Daily I look at NYT, CNN and Philly Web sites. Sometimes, Time or Newsweek. I didn't say that to try and impress. It's really part of my job, but as a result, I am somewhat informed about national news.— NigeltheMastiff
- Oh, and before you rain down disdain on the smaller dailies, you might want to know that they are all super, super conservative (except for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution), so I do get a lot of that point of view.— NigeltheMastiff
- It's the same stuff with many of the same people every day. As bad as it gets, I credit the Inquirer with keeping the site more civilized that say Politico, which is brutal. I'm fascinated with politics but what bugs me is the snap judgements made by people about other based on party. Conservative has a certain connotation and jeez, liberal is a dirty word. I've attended Phillies games for 30 years with a friend who is a Republican. We get along famously because neither of us are compelled to broadcast our politics. Over that 30 years, there were ups and downs, births and deaths, that we experienced. It showed me that despite our political differences there were so many more big things that we have in common. It makes these political discussions seem trite and the blowhards who have a comback for everything to be silly. So before making insulting and over the top comments, people from both sides should think about what they're saying. Some of these remarks are propagandist talking points coming out of the boiler room. The guy in the boiler room is getting paid to be a stooge and that's good for him, he's laughing all the way to the bank. Everybody else just sounds foolish.— Rabe56
- Comment removed.
- The point isn't that Beck is an entertainer, not a newsman. The point is that he is a slimy, despicable opportunist.— Bartleby
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Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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