Politicslam

Fantastic Morning Joe

2010-02-27T06:13:00.001-05:00

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Newsweek Photos of Companies Started In Bad Economies

2010-02-26T06:04:00.000-05:00

Apparently now is as good a time as any to start a new business.

What If Journalism Was Like Medicine?

2010-02-25T06:16:00.000-05:00

I really enjoyed reading this article by Nicholas Kristof.

Why I Don't Care About Tiger Woods (And You Shouldn't Either)

2010-02-24T06:42:00.003-05:00

All robotic apologies aside, I do not care about Tiger Woods. How many times do we have to see this show before we get tired of watching it? Trusted public figure does some awful stuff, goes into "rehab" and then apologizes at a news conference.

I'm done.

We should all spend more time looking up to the people in our life who've really helped us and stop wasting our time with celebrities and athletes.

We make these people too important.

PS-My apologies for the preachy tone of this post.

President Paul Anyone?

2010-02-23T15:01:00.002-05:00

Apparently Ron Paul won the straw poll at CPAC the other day for their choice for president. The conversation on Hardball was interesting.

Buchanan's analysis is particularly good I think.

(Feel free to fast forward through the CPAC one liners if you've seen them already)

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Why Do People Do Crazy Things? Texas Plane.

2010-02-22T21:32:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about why people do crazy things. I know human beings get pushed sometimes to the brink, but I just can't understand. I can't understand what would make someone fly their plane into an IRS building.

I guess there will always be wackos, but I wish there was a way we could prevent things like this from happening. I mean...is there any way to help people like this?

Jobs Bill Moves Forward

2010-02-22T20:07:00.001-05:00

The mini jobs bill moved forward today with GOP support.

Multiply the current bill by 20 and maybe then we'd start to put some workers back to work. But at least they're doing something.

Is Bipartisanship Possible?

2010-02-12T06:40:00.001-05:00

Is it possible to work with the other side when they aren't interested in working with you? I'm the kind of guy who is all about working together to solve problems, but I have been frustrated with both sides and their inability to even talk to the other side.

Is bipartisanship even possible with all of the garbage out there?

Where are all the grownups?

Toyota Issues?

2010-02-10T06:04:00.009-05:00

There seems to be some serious issues with Toyota, that are impacting all of their most popular models. I couldn't help but wonder though, sure is good timing for our car industry.

Earthquake Coverage

2010-02-09T06:45:00.000-05:00

Check out this research from Media Matters: How Fox’s top three shows covered the earthquake in comparison to MSNBC's top three shows. Illuminating or just eh?

Stewart and O'Reilly: Civil Discussion Confused Look

2010-02-08T18:19:00.001-05:00

Who would have thought that we'd actually get a substantive conversation out of these two. Really it's fascinating. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

And You Want To Give Corporations More Influence In Washington Why?

2010-01-21T21:33:00.000-05:00

When I heard about this, I honestly felt a little sick. Corporations can give unlimited amounts of money to individual candidates. It is absolutely atrocious. Clearly conservatives don't believe in "judicial activism." Oh wait a minute. They do.

The Best Thing to Happen to Democrats In a Long Time

2010-01-20T21:25:00.000-05:00

Martha Coakley's loss of the late Senator Ted Kennedy's senate seat to Scott Brown is the best thing to happen to Democrats in a long time. Why? They have to adjust now. This is the scenerio that would have hit them in the midterm election anyway, but now they'll be able to adjust a year earlier, and prepare for life after the super majority.

The lesson is clear. The Dems first year focus is not what most Americans care about. Here's a question for you. Minus your most liberal friends, do you know anyone cares about the public option? I don't care about it and I can honestly say I only know three people in my immediate circle of friends, family, and coworkers who ever talk about it as an issue that is important to them. What they all talk about though, is the economy.

Coakley was a terrible candidate, but she was where liberal Democrats wanted her to be on all the big issues, and it didn't matter. Most Americans want solutions to problems, not ideology, and the sooner the Democrats realize that, the sooner they'll be able to get something done.

Earthquake in Haiti. Thousands Dead. Clinton and Bush to Lead Relief Efforts

2010-01-18T17:55:00.000-05:00

Earthquake in Haiti. Thousands Dead. The Times has coverage. This is some scary stuff.

Former Presidents Clinton and Bush will lead the relief efforts.

Conan and Jay Updated

2010-01-17T17:35:00.001-05:00

Anyone have any strong feelings about Conan and Jay? I know a lot of people really like Jay Leno, but I've never found him particularly funny. He's really likable, but just rarely gets a belly laugh out of me . It surprises me that they would do this to Conan too, after how long he's waited for the Tonight Show.

Check out this Op Ed from Conan from 1993 in the New York Times. Who writes an Op Ed about how bad their own show is right as it is launching? Wow.

Jimmy Kimmel Destroys Leno On His Own Show

2010-01-15T19:18:00.001-05:00

Developments in the continuing Tonight Show saga. Jimmy Kimmel weighs in and is delightfully ruthless. He's without ruth. I have to admit I enjoyed it. Too far?

Bending the Cost Curve = Wa Wa Wa, Wa Wa Wa Wa Wa (Charlie Brown grown up style talking)

2010-01-10T07:19:00.005-05:00

President Obama and everyone in his administration should never use the following phrase again, “it's going to bend the cost curve down.” It's the worst talking point of all time. Who cares about cost curve? How are people supposed to relate to a cost curve? Are you telling me that people are sitting around the kitchen table talking about bending the cost curve down? No people sit around the table and worry about how they are going to pay their bills.

If you want some great information on the health care debate, be sure to read Zandra's excellent piece for the Slam. Over the holidays when talking politics several people mentioned things they learned from that piece. You need to check it out. Anyway, the entire healthcare debate should have been debated from a perspective of strengthening the American economy. The bill should have provided a boost to small business by insuring all Americans and restoring competition to help small businesses compete with big businesses. Since healthcare is a personal as well as an economic issue, the bill could have been made to lower premiums for working families and provide health care to those who can’t afford it.

The bill could have made our American businesses more competitive with businesses around the world by providing healthcare to workers and therefore enabled American companies to compete with foreign companies. The President and Congress should have focused on explaining how their plan would reduce the cost of health care by providing competition and incentives in the marketplace for keeping costs down. They also could've come up with a good plan. They didn't do any of these things.

A Moral Issue

Healthcare for all Americans is not just an economic issue is also a moral issue and I saw very little of this argument put forth by the Democrats. It is immoral that small children can't get adequate health care because their parents are poor. All children should be covered in the United States. We need to take care of our kids. That's how you get it done.

We Gotta Get Out of This Place

2010-01-06T20:14:00.002-05:00

I know I've had very little to say in the past few months. One of the reasons for this long silence has been my frustration with our government. Has anyone else been as frustrated as I have been? You know it's bad, when I don't even want to think about politics. Sure, I watch Hardball and 15 minutes of Morning Joe on most days. I still read a few newspapers regularly, but I haven't even wanted to talk politics. I have to admit I've wanted to escape from it all. I even started rereading Lord of the Rings.

Here's Why I'm Frustrated

One side comes into power after a big election and that side gets almost nothing done for eight years. Then, the American people get frustrated and elect a new group of politicians who get almost nothing done for eight years or four years if they are terrifically bad and the other side can make this case effectively.

I didn't like the direction our country was going in, under George Bush. And I was very happy to see the Bush era come to an end. The American people agreed with me and decided to elect Barack Obama and throw the Republicans out of the House and the Senate.

But the pattern repeats. The Democrats seem to not have learned from the mistakes of their Republican predecessors, in that their agenda does not reflect the will of the American people. I know very few people that are truly happy with what the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress are trying to spend their time on. I agree with the administration that health care is tremendously important, but from the beginning the process was flawed in that they did not address the main concerns of the American people.

We gotta get out of this place.

Debating the Filibuster

2009-12-30T16:02:00.000-05:00

To filibuster or not, that is the question. Here's a good little article on the topic.

Do you think that the filibuster is a good or bad thing and what is it's purpose?

Matthews and the Bishop

2009-11-23T19:49:00.001-05:00

I saw this on Hardball tonight and couldn't wait to post it for discussion. Kennedy's words are as true today as the day that he said them.

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A Perfect Union

2009-11-20T17:34:00.007-05:00

I got a great question from a loyal Slammer today (Thanks Zandra!) and I wanted to post it for all of your reading and commenting pleasure.

What would our society look like if it were "perfect" in your eyes?

I have to say that this has really got me thinking...

I know this might sound a bit corny, but I think it would look a lot like the society we have today. I do think our country is and can continue to be the greatest country in the world, but not if we are complacent, like many of us are today. Politically I like the system we have. If I could, I would waive a magic wand and change a few things though.

1. I would eliminate the strangle hold that corporations have over our government and give regular people more of a voice.

2. I would elevate the level of our political discussions. Everyone knows that there are people out there with the best of intentions for our country and then there are people out there trying to make money by doing things like personally attacking the President (Mike Huckabee just came out strongly against this. Good for him).

3. Also in my eyes people who talk about making America more competitive would actually back it up by supporting measures to invest in research and development, infrastructure, and education to keep us competitive with the world.

***There are a ton of other things that I would want too (ending hunger, homelessness, violence, suicide, etc...I'd like everyone to have a nice place to live and good family and friends...).I just wanted to focus on those top three to highlight them.***

And We're Back!

2009-11-17T17:25:00.000-05:00

Whew...We made it.

It seems like it's been forever, but the Slam is back. I want to apologize again to all of you for the unexpected hiatus and to thank you for your support.

I hope that we can pick up where we left off.

Happy Slamming:)

Tom

Don't Ignore Fox

2009-10-18T14:57:00.001-04:00

Slate's Jacob Weisberg advises Obama to "Ignore Fox." I'm not sure if that's the right advice though. I think the reason the Obama Administration has chosen to single out Fox News, is because a large part of their regular programming is deliberately misleading and slanted. The lesson Democrats learned from the 2004 election is that no untruth can go unchallenged, because if you let this stuff go unchallenged it ends up becoming "true" at least in the eyes of the American people. President Obama doesn't want to get "death-paneled" like John Kerry got swift-boated.

There's definitely merits to both arguments, but I tend to favor the direct approach, only because Republican radio thrives on endlessly repeating stories over and over again. The belief is that if you repeat something often enough it becomes true and becomes a part of the popular conversation. Rush, Hannity, and Beck all exist to try to take down the administration, and ignoring them only empowers them.

Where I do agree though is that President Obama shouldn't be taking swings at these guys. Send the low-level guys out to punch back and then move on.

Balloon Boy: What do you think?

2009-10-17T10:22:00.000-04:00

"We did it for the show." That's what the boy said when questioned about why he didn't come out of hiding. I'm sure all of you have seen this story and have opinions to share. Most of the people I've talked to think it is a fake.

The woman who was on wife swap said that he the man is very interested in being on TV, so that he can do his science experiments.

I dunno though, maybe it wasn't. Maybe the guy just happens to be a bit of shyster and this happened to happen to him. What do you think?

Did President Obama Deserve the Nobel Prize?

2009-10-11T22:42:00.000-04:00

When I woke up in the morning and was watching Morning Joe I did think it was a joke. I thought they were kidding. They were of course talking about President Obama winning the Nobel Prize. I'm not exactly sure how he won it, or what he won it for...I actually don't think he really knows either. He seemed confounded by it.

Did President Obama deserve to win the Nobel Prize? And....why do you think they awarded it to him?