One complaint (4.00 / 4)

Why couldn't Bernero have spent seven words to say "that $70 dollar figure is a lie"?

Conduct your own interview of Sarah Palin!

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by: fwiffo @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 18:04:06 PM CST

I had the exact same reaction (4.00 / 2)

otherwise Virg did a damn good job

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by: The Big Hurt @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 19:22:52 PM CST

[ Parent ]

$70 is not a lie, calling it "pay" is (4.00 / 3)

From what I understand the "burden" is $70 a hour, if you include all retire and health care costs. The lie is when the "anchor" turned "burden" into "pay."

The workers aren't getting $70 an hour, most of that and retiree and health care costs. Costs that should be covered by single-payer health insurance and gov. pensions so Toyota et. al. pay as much per worker as the big three instead of getting a total free ride on retiree costs.

Why are we punishing the big three for being in business forty, fifty, sixty years ago and having retirees, and rewarding Toyota for only opening their first plant in the US in 1980, and no retirees yet? It makes no economic sense, even under a "free market" perspective.

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by: EastBayBlue @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 12:07:26 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Rick Santelli comment? (0.00 / 0)

David, I've been looking forward to see if you have a reaction to Rick Santelli's disgusting rant on CNBC today. Will you be posting about it?

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by: Semblance @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 18:11:17 PM CST

Stay tuned (4.00 / 2)

It's coming tomorrow morning...

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by: David Sirota @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 20:14:35 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Good! (4.00 / 5)

We have to fight back on it... I'm hearing rumblings and grumblings from people I wouldn't expect to susceptible tot eh "southern Strategy", but this plan of attack by the right is starting to take hold.

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!

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by: lord_mike @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 21:49:58 PM CST

[ Parent ]

that was funny and sad at the same time (0.00 / 0)

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by: The Big Hurt @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 21:47:47 PM CST

[ Parent ]

odd thing is obama, congressional dems are on fox's side (4.00 / 1)

it's a waste of time to focus exclusively on fox. face it, murdoch supported hillary clinton, who lied to voters to get elected to the senate and in her bid to attain the presidency. she does not support worker's rights, we also have to face it, neither does obama. both he and clinton signed a pledge to force a renegotiation of nafta or leave it. we were told that obama's campaign assured canada that it was only campaign rhetoric. today, obama assured harper that they shouldn't worry about buy america. that's because the provision has been rendered toothless.

we all know fox and it's owner seeks to destroy america's workplace protections and wage laws, as well as food and product safety and environmental laws. we all know fox is the enemy, but to do so, as if bush or another republican was in the whitehouse is fruitless. the bulk of our attention needs to focus on obama and the democrats in congress. they are the conduit through which murdoch and his cohorts will achieve their ends. we can not waste even a moment.

obama is not the candidate he presented himself as being. to continue to provide him even a little bit of cover on the issue of worker's rights, and the suffering of citizen workers due to what he is advocating is racist.

he continues to lie to us. i believe eric holder's comments the other day, accusing us of being a nation of cowards on the subject of race, was an attempt to create a diversion to provide obama cover today when he was going to betray american workers, by reassuring canada's right wing president, the corporate and foreign globalists.

the msm here provided him cover, pretending he cares about labor and environmental provisions needing to be inserted into nafta, but the canadian press, and sirota's earlier article on the subject show exactly what obama's intent was, to continue feathering the nest of his wall street, corporate and foreign contributers. the status quo.

any mention of fox's attacks against the legitimate concerns of workers, should be paired with obama's duplicity and betrayal of the legitimate concerns of citizen workers. this also impacts canadian and mexican citizens who are also demanding nafta be reformed to include labor and environmental provisions.

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by: ceol @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 18:43:17 PM CST

i still have some hope for obama, (0.00 / 0)

i think the only way to change the system is from the inside, to pretend to be one of them, he cant turn the government on its head from day one,

ever watch that show intervention, most of those junkies refuse help because they need to feel like it was their idea all along

Even the thief in the night has to give a piece of meat up to distract the dog,

he is not a lost cause yet in my book, but i am losing my optimism, if you know what i mean

whatever you think people owe you, that is what you owe people

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by: eomonroe00 @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 00:43:35 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I agree to the extent (4.00 / 1)

that Obama's going after an extremely reactionary, entrenched, vicious and powerful political, national security and media that is decidedly right-leaning, and it's probably no wise to take it on head on and right out of the blocks. He'll only be swatted back and suffer a fate similar to that which Clinton suffered early in his first term.

To the extent that he intends to go after them--and he must--he needs to do so carefully, slowly, deliberately, systematically, methodically and smartly. Like defusing an actual ticking time bomb (and not the ones in the infamous torture hypothetical), you have to be slow and careful, or it'll blow up in your face. So I'm ok with slowness at first.

What I'm not so ok with is, instead of delaying the need to confront, reverse and correct all this, he's starting out by actually validating these very same policies and practices, e.g. states secrets, rendition, indefinite detention, etc. So he gets no initial points from me for slowness and deliberation, and loses points for quickly siding with those whom he needs to smack down. I don't get it. Is this part of some super-clevel master plan in which he starts out by not only not taking these people on, but actually appearing to side with them, a la Nevada Smith? Or is he indicating early on that his words during the campaign will not be matched by actions as president? Very perpelxingly, and troubling.

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton

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by: kovie @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 02:32:22 AM CST

[ Parent ]

keep dreaming (0.00 / 0)

i think the only way to change the system is from the inside, to pretend to be one of them, he cant turn the government on its head from day one

he is one of them.  his abe lincoln book really houses some ayn rand and his chicago time imbued him with the Von Hayek spirit.

dems and repubs are all neo-liberal, aipac ass-kissing, war loving suits.

but keep pretending that the D is a huge improvement.

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by: M.B.S.S. @ Sat Feb 21, 2009 at 03:33:39 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Do you often cite quotes that OTHER people (0.00 / 0)

have made in order to make your "point"? Because this quote was not mine, but from the person that I was replying to.

But considering that you're clearly part of the CT-inclined Naderite loony bin that is basically the left-wing version of Randianism (I take it that you were part of that whole gang that Digby recently kicked off her site for being disruptive loons) who will not be happy until La Glorious Revolucion! takes place and finally brings peace, love and hemp culture throughout the land, it hardly surprises me that you'd play fast and loose with reality.

Always some fabulist ninnies around playing around with cool ponies, convinced that they're real and on the way in great herds.

The present system, warts and all, is more or less the best that human society is ever going to get. The key is to reform it, not replace it. Wishing for it to be destroyed and replaced by magical pony politics is a fool's paradise, because whatever replaced it would eventually end up being no better--if we're lucky. But keep dreaming, maybe your pony too will arrive someday if you just wish hard enough. You're not a Trojan, are you?

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton

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by: kovie @ Sat Feb 21, 2009 at 20:30:38 PM CST

[ Parent ]

vaccinate your children (4.00 / 1)

against Reaganite rabies

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by: jr1 @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 18:43:40 PM CST

Bernero rocks! (4.00 / 4)

Too bad this will be his last national television appearance.

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by: kanzeon @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 19:20:20 PM CST

never saw that (0.00 / 0)

FDR clip before, but good for you for exposing their right wing lies. ridiculous.

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by: odnarbssagib @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 19:37:48 PM CST

Can this guy run for governor in 2010? (4.00 / 3)

If Granholm doesn't of course. At least get him in as Lt. Guv so he can move up.

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by: adamterando @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 21:29:41 PM CST

Actually, I think/hope (4.00 / 2)

he is positioning himself for a congressional rep seat run.  Granholm can't run again (term limited) and the Lt Guv is assumed to be most likely to get it.  And our Speaker of the House, Andy Dillion, is also term limited, and he's a good guy.  

I'd like to see Bernero run for MI-08.  

Kick Mike Rogers ASS

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by: Ferris Valyn @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 01:57:02 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Bernero's future (4.00 / 2)

First Virg will have to get re-elected this November.  With all the time he spends with the state and national media, Lansing City Councilwoman Carol Wood is hoping he'll be distracted enough for her to oust him this November.  Not to be too crass, but Ms. Wood will also get a lot of sympathy votes due to her mother being the victim of a serial killer two years ago.

Assuming he gets re-elected, Virg will probably join the rest of Michigan's Democratic establishment in supporting Lt. Gov. Cherry's run for governor next year.  Cherry's only likely Democratic challenger will be State Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith.  But yeah, he would be a great choice to be either of their running mates.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that we in Michigan's 8th Congressional District will see a serious challenger to Rogers in 2010.  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has refused to back any challengers in Michigan until after a district has proved that a Dem can be competitive.  So in 2006 neither the 7th or 9th Districts got any money from the DCCC, but once the Dem nominees that year proved the district could be close (both races were decided by under 5%), the Democratic establishment ignored the 2006 nominees (respectively, Sharon Renier and Nancy Skinner, neither of whom had ever held elective office) in favor of State Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer (in the 7th) and former state senator and lottery commissioner Gary Peters (in the 9th).

So before a Bernero-level candidate would make a serious run against Rogers in 2012, some average person like you or me or Bob Alexander (the 8th-CD Dem nominee in 2004 and 2008) would have to run a race close enough to attract the establishment candidates' and the DCCC's attention.  But if we did, we shouldn't expect any reward for it.  Bob is still trying to pay off his 5-figure campaign debt.

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by: Ted Kilvington @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 11:00:09 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I suspect you are right (0.00 / 0)

about what its going to take before we see an attempt to take the 8th, I really want to be rid of Rogers.  

Maybe Rogers will be stupid, and make a run for the Governorship.  

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by: Ferris Valyn @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 15:56:54 PM CST

[ Parent ]

why do all the (0.00 / 0)

fox mouthpieces look alike, i know they all have the same rw agenda but its amazing how much they look as if they are from the same family, oh yea, inbreeding, i forgot, my bad.

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by: pc @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 06:41:14 AM CST