ThinkFast: November 20, 2009
ThinkFast: November 20, 2009
“The tea party movement has become so rife with internal feuding over philosophy, strategy and money that some supporters fear it will disintegrate before realizing its full potential,” Politico reports. “Some of these groups may burn out, but this is part of this entrepreneurial process and the competition is good,” said Adam Brandon, vice president of communications for FreedomWorks.
“The Obama administration won’t announce its new comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan until after Thanksgiving,” a White House official confirmed to Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin. “Observers and experts close to the discussions see it as the White House’s attempt to stage a full and controlled rollout over the week beginning November 30.”
A new survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association finds that nearly 1 in 10 homeowners with mortgages was at least one payment behind in the third quarter of the year. The delinquency rate is the highest since the association started keeping records in 1972.
The U.S. military says the vast majority of the 700 detainees at the prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan “could eventually be released because they’re fighting more for money than ideology.” Brig. Gen. Mark Martins said that 10 to 20 percent of the inmates at Bagram are considered hard-core or “irreconcilable” Taliban fighters.
“The U.S. Army will allow the media limited coverage of Sarah Palin’s appearance at Fort Bragg, but will bar reporters from interviewing her or her supporters on the post,” reports the AP. “A Fort Bragg spokesman initially said the Army would ban the media from Palin’s book signing next week, fearing it would turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama.”
Republican governors have “urged GOP candidates competing in 2010 elections to not harshly attack President Barack Obama, citing polls that show his personal popularity remaining strong despite unease over his policies.” “We need to be careful,” said Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MI). “We need to treat the president respectfully. … This is a guy that people like.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said yesterday that it will begin “auditing companies that might have hired” undocumented immigrants. One thousand firms have been “notified” and the agency said it is “focused on finding and penalizing employers who believe they can unfairly get ahead” with undocumented labor.
The Senate finally confirmed Judge David Hamilton to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday following a GOP filibuster that caused a five-and-a-half month delay in his confirmation. “This is a nomination that should be confirmed and should have been confirmed months ago,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) told the press.
“America’s once clear dominance in space is eroding” to other nations, including Russia, China and India, a panel of experts told the House subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics yesterday. Sixty nations now have their own space agencies, and “Russia now leads the world in space launches,” the panelists said.
And finally: At the recent Energy and Commerce Committee markup of the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) broke into song.
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The tea party movement has become so rife with internal feuding
Some people are such bigots that they can’t stand anyone the least bit different from them – as everyone is. Thus, they are all really movements and parties of one. If we can survive their temporary unity, we can watch them disintegrate.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:07 amBarbour is from Mississippi (MS), not Michigan (MI).
November 20th, 2009 at 9:08 am“We need to treat the president respectfully. … This is a guy that people like.” Yeah, you wouldn’t want to treat him with respect because he or the office deserve it, just because if you don’t, you could lose votes. Nice, real nice.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:09 amWhy the phuck is this bimbo being allowed to hawk her useless crap book to our Armed Forces? They have a nation to defend and don’t need to hear from a moronic a$$tard!!!
Let her go to Iraq to entertain the troops!!!!!!
November 20th, 2009 at 9:15 am“America’s once clear dominance in space is eroding”
So?
International collaboration at the space station, sharing resources, allowing astronauts from various countries on the same shuttle and mixing Nationalities for extended stays on the space station proves that no Country ‘owns’ space exploration.
This should serve as an example of how to approach other research fields and disciplines.
The idea of ‘owning’ something is where we get in trouble in the first place.
If all Nations cooperated in medical research, for example, we could have beat cancer by now.
‘Owning’ is what corporations try to do. Let’s not fall into the proprietary trap big business personifies.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:16 amSooooo…competition amongst tea parties is good…
…but competition amongst health care providers is bad?
November 20th, 2009 at 9:18 am“The tea party movement has become so rife with internal feuding over philosophy, strategy and money that some supporters fear it will disintegrate before realizing its full potential,” Politico reports. “Some of these groups may burn out, but this is part of this entrepreneurial process and the competition is good,” said Adam Brandon, vice president of communications for FreedomWorks.”
There will never be a shortage of morons, dolts and lunatics, so the “Tea Party” movement will survive just fine.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:19 amLOL! ‘Some of these groups may burn out’ Ya think? A group of anti social, anti government, paranoid, unitelligent bigots can’t come together for the good of…. umm.. What are they protesting again?
November 20th, 2009 at 9:20 amGOING ROGUE by Sarah Palin has become the MEIN KAMPF of the Teabagger movement.
Those people are crazy, stupid, witless racists with pronounced tendencies toward reflexive violence.
I don’t trust them and I would never vote for any candidates that they endorse.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:20 amI agree, dixie blood.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:21 amThe military brass who are allowing Palin to peddle her wares on a US Armed Forces base need to be held accountable for what I view as a serious affront to the integrity of the military.
dixie blood says:
Let her go to Iraq to entertain the troops!!!!!!
…by doing the only thing she is really qualified for: strip tease and pole dances.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:22 amMichelle Bachmann’s new book:
‘Going Crazy, An American Nightmare’
November 20th, 2009 at 9:24 amWhat is the environmentally friendly way to dispose of a teabagger after it’s been used? By November 2010, we’ll have a lot of them.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:27 amPatrioticLiberalChristian says:
November 20th, 2009 at 9:30 amWhat is the environmentally friendly way to dispose of a teabagger after it’s been used?
I believe we’d have to ask FreedumbWorks; they’re ‘using’ anyone stupid enough to think Medicare is private insurance.
If Reid really wanted a quick end to these filibusters, he’d make the Repubs really fillibuster, each and every time – portapotties and cots all around. Maybe after a few weeks of that, the Repubs might be ready for some true bipartisanship.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:30 amSeriously. If you ever looked at the various international treaties we’ve signed in regards to space, it’s quite laughable. Like the one preventing the use of nuclear weapons in space. Our brightest scientists barely have a clue how nuclear weapons work on EARTH. The only option (which every other country that has done a successful space launch has learned) is global cooperation. Even in the midst of the Cold War, Americans and Soviets had a limited degree of cooperation.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:33 amSo just to be up to date with GOP reasoning…President Obama, our Nation’s foremost statesman, observes the arrival of fallen troops from Afghanistan and is deemed a “publicity seeker” and to be “politicizing their deaths” by the Right. President Obama keeps a pre-scheduled appointment at Fort Hood to speak with troops despite the recent murders there and screams from the Right that he is once again “politicizing their deaths”. Sarah Palin (failed “also ran” and quitter of her Governor position) makes plans (specifically because of the murders) to visit Ft Hood as part of her publicity tour to sell her book and the Right is just fine with that. Sarah Palin is a whore, plain and simple. The hypocracy by the Right is rhetorical.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:33 amIf you hold enough tea parties, the Mad Hatter is bound to show up.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:34 amPerhaps the christian nationalists in the military recognize a civilian christian nationalists when they see her.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:35 amA Patriot Acting says @ 17 …
Perhaps Palin should be appointed Ambassador to Babylon…
November 20th, 2009 at 9:37 amIn our modern world this is almost inevitable. There is simply too much information out there flowing in from too many conflicting political directions to stay locked into one position for long. How do you nail down something enormously complex like abortion, war, economic justice, healthcare reform etc. in 25 words or less?
To say the very least, there are endless variables to factor into endless social, political and economic permutations. Only the intellectually challenged are blind to this. They settle on one or another rendition of The Whole Truth and cram every new factoid into it.
There are as many shades of conservative thought as there are liberal thought. Even within any particular ideological or politcal strain [Marxists, Libertarians, Zionists, Jihadists, Environmentalists etc] there are countless splinters to reconcile.
And they never are, of course. Instead, sooner or later, an existential leap is made to one side or the other and you struggle constantly to maintain some sort of equillibrium.
Why else do you suppose being a True Believer blockhead is so tempting?
November 20th, 2009 at 9:42 amPatrioticLiberalChristian says:
“What is the environmentally friendly way to dispose of a teabagger after it’s been used? By November 2010, we’ll have a lot of them.”
Throw them all into the harbor? If they float, they are witches. If they don’t, America’s collective IQ goes up a few points. I believe that teabaggers are fully biodegradable.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:43 amAlso, Somalia signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, leaving us as the only country in the world that hasn’t ratified it.
Woo!
We’re number 1!
November 20th, 2009 at 9:43 amWe’re number 1!
caption…
Too much caffeine.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:44 ambut this is part of this entrepreneurial process and the competition is good
So the Tea Party fools are lying to themselves now..
the only competition they have is reality.
OT
support the public option…
November 20th, 2009 at 9:44 amWhat, Sarah Palin engaging in political grandstanding? How dare the Army even consider such a thought. Palin will endlessly use pictures of her standing with the soldiers to showcase her foreign policy credentials, never mind that the event has no other purpose than a simple book signing to line her pockets.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:45 amThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Sarah Palin is playing to her dominionist evangelical base.
Right now, they are praying for Obama’s death, but it won’t be long before one of them decides to “do the Lord’s work” and attempt something horrible.
These people and Sarah Palin are total dirtbags.
Shame on the corporate-owned media for their own indifference.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:51 am“storm says:”
Another squall.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:53 amdixie blood says:
Let her go to Iraq to entertain the troops!!!!!!
She’d have to find it first. That’d take a while if she can’t see it from her porch.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:53 amThe base of the Republican Party is the evangelical christian movement in the U.S. As a result, fractionalizing is a predictable outcome.
For an excellent insight into this movement, see:
http://www.pcusa.org/oga/perspectives/jan07/presbyterians-evangelicals.pdf
November 20th, 2009 at 9:54 amLovely picture above of a teabagger. Stick her head in a large cup of hot water. One large cup of iggnorant wingnut tea. Where do these idiots come from.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:54 amssc@32, And Faux News and Repugs BLAME Progressives for coming with ‘Tea-Baggers’. What a friggin joke! THEY came up with ‘Tea-Baggers’ because they didn’t understand the term had another meaning. Revisionist History strikes again.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:58 amWhat is the environmentally friendly way to dispose of a teabagger after it’s been used?
I understand teabags make excellent compost…
November 20th, 2009 at 9:58 amgeorgewalton@21: Totally agree with you.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:02 amThese teabagger idiots are turned out “en masse” by the evangelical churches, which have themselves devolved into repiggie party gas stations.
Evangelicalism is the fastest growing mental illness in this nation.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:05 amCaption contest:
George Costanza’s teabaggin’ cousin, “You sold me LADIE’S glasses!”
November 20th, 2009 at 10:09 amSPERM says:
November 20th, 2009 at 10:20 amSQUIRREL!
It is an outrage that Palin would be allowed to spread propaganda, lies and mischaracterizations at Army bases.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:23 amShe is no authority on anything except herself.
She has no background, no credibility, no experience. She is an opportunist, exploiting the fears and concerns of others for her own personal and political gain.
Did everyone else lose Think Progress for an hour or so today?
November 20th, 2009 at 11:36 amAnother crash?
Blog was down, that’s all.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:37 am“The tea party movement has become so rife with internal feuding over philosophy, strategy and money that some supporters fear it will disintegrate before realizing its full potential,” Politico reports.
_____________________________________________________________
When I was younger, I remember the protests I was involved in. There was the fight for civil rights in the 1960’s, where the message was very clear. We wanted an end to racial segregation in housing, schools, jobs, and every part of American life. Later, it was the Vietnam War — we wanted our involvement in Vietnam to end, another clear message.
The teabaggers have yet to agree on what their message is. OK, we KNOW what their real message is — “we hate Obama and we want him gone, because he’s a black man, or he’s a Democrat, or both” — but they’re having a tough time selling that without some specifics.
So in their effort to provide specifics, we have “Obama = Hitler”, we have “where’s the birth certificate?”, we have “Obama’s gonna take away your gun”, we have “we’re taxed to death”, we have “Socialist Marxist Fascist secret Muslim”, and many other messages with varying degrees of absurdity, all combining to create a cacophony through which nothing gets heard or understood.
Because the only thing the teabaggers have in common is that they all hate the President, it’s no wonder they’re having a hard time staying unified. I don’t know what this “full potential” is they’re supposed to be able to realize, but I’m pretty sure whatever potential was there has long ago been reached.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:54 amI agree with the previous statements about Palin’s visit. There is no reason for her to be allowed on the base since she hold no political office. If she wants to go to the base, then anyone who wants to talk with her should do it off the base. This is just going to be more political grandstanding when she leaves the base.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:01 pmI’m sorry to say it, but that’s a perfect Tea Bagger picture. Whew, talk about ugly…
November 20th, 2009 at 12:23 pmmissmolly says:
The teabaggers have yet to agree on what their message is. OK, we KNOW what their real message is — “we hate Obama and we want him gone, because he’s a black man, or he’s a Democrat, or both” — but they’re having a tough time selling that without some specifics.
I think their message is “Obama is a n*****”, but
November 20th, 2009 at 12:41 pmthey can’t articulate what they REALLY think, as that won’t fly in 2009.
Instead, they have to substitute, “He’s a socialist”, “He’s a fascist.”, “I don’t trust him”, “he’s Hitler”, “He’s the boogieman”, whatever, etc.
That’s why there are no specifics.
flavorino says:
I think their message is “Obama is a n*****”, but
they can’t articulate what they REALLY think,…..
They cannot articulate what they think because they don’t think. The teabaggers are clueless. They have mantras which they repeat as if somehow repetition makes it true. This is why they are easily manipulated by Dick Armey and Freedom Works.
November 20th, 2009 at 1:02 pmOh, nonsense… Teh Teabaggers are very specific about what they dislike about Obama…
Everything!!!!™
He’s Not A Real American!!!™
He’s Certainly No George Bush!!!!™
He’s a…
NazifiedCommunoMaoisticalSocioFascisticoSecretMuslimAngryAmericanhatingLibrulBlackNationalist™
… and THAT’S just on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday…
November 20th, 2009 at 1:02 pmMissMolly – very astute observation (as usual), but I think I can distill it down even further with regard to teabaggers:
THEY HATE.
That’s it. They just …hate.
And I pray to FSM that they never find a sharp focus for all that generalized hate – or this nation is in real trouble.
November 20th, 2009 at 1:16 pmCould it be because the banks refuse to modify your loan until you default? That’s why we didn’t pay this month.
November 20th, 2009 at 1:22 pmIf we waterboard the teabaggers, we can all have a nice cuppa.
November 20th, 2009 at 1:32 pm42. MissMolly,
a little more evidence for your position is the “Rupert Murdoch called Obama a racist” flap reported today on TP and last night on Olbermann.
the video shows a reporter asking Murdoch if he said Obama mad a racist comment. Murdoch confirmed. The reporter then asked Murdoch what comment he was referring to. Murdoch declined.
The fact that he made a flat out statement that Obama made a racist comment but then refused to identify the particular comment – doesn’t that make it rather clear that he was engaging in intellectual dishonesty if not bluntly lying ? What would he gain by not referencing the comment? Why is he refusing to footnote ?
November 20th, 2009 at 1:53 pm@20 “Perhaps Palin should be appointed Ambassador to Babylon”
I was thinking Atlantis.
November 20th, 2009 at 2:33 pmA new survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association finds that nearly 1 in 10 homeowners with mortgages was at least one payment behind in the third quarter of the year. The delinquency rate is the highest since the association started keeping records in 1972.
Whatever happened to all that taxpayer money for loan modifications that Obama talked about? Just more phony lefty B.S. … the faster the foreclosures start the sooner the real estate depression will end. … delaying the the inevitable will never work.
November 20th, 2009 at 8:56 pmRepublican governors have “urged GOP candidates competing in 2010 elections to not harshly attack President Barack Obama, citing polls that show his personal popularity remaining strong despite unease over his policies.” “We need to be careful,” said Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MI). “We need to treat the president respectfully. … This is a guy that people like.”
They may like him personally. But, his economic policies are a disaster. Totally clueless.
November 20th, 2009 at 8:58 pm“The Obama administration won’t announce its new comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan until after Thanksgiving,” a White House official confirmed to Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin. “Observers and experts close to the discussions see it as the White House’s attempt to stage a full and controlled rollout over the week beginning November 30.”
Don’t worry MSNBC will be spinning in Obama’s favor.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:26 pmSKdeA says:
A new survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association finds that nearly 1 in 10 homeowners with mortgages was at least one payment behind in the third quarter of the year. The delinquency rate is the highest since the association started keeping records in 1972.
Could it be because the banks refuse to modify your loan until you default? That’s why we didn’t pay this month.
Could it be for 60% of all modifications end up defaulting again within 4 months? What is the point. Just sell the damn real estate to the highest bidder and move on. These stupid delaying tactics are no good.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:29 pm“… next they took the Neanderthal, and I said nothing. Then they came for me” -Bible Spice
November 21st, 2009 at 11:09 amMr Duke and Dr Venture
Two ignorant piles of dogshit who never tire of showing us just how stupid and brainwashed they are
November 21st, 2009 at 8:30 pm