Open Left

But There's VERY Little Wasteful Spending. (4.00 / 4)

It's one thing to say it in a general way.  That bugged me enormously and was one reason I could never support him.

But NOW it's gone way beyond that.  Now it's validating Herbert Hooverism.  

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 22:40:08 PM CST

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I agree that there's very (0.00 / 0)

little in the discretionary budget. but he promised to do it over and over again. and I think he believes in it. so we shouldn't be surprised that he's proposing it. politically, since it seems (to me at least) that it was a given, there's no point in waiting till after the midterms. lots of good house dems won't like it--and maybe won't abide it--but it could give lots of other moderate and conservadems cover. I don't like that, but maybe it will get them to stick with him on energy, education, etc. maybe even health care.

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by: along @ Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 22:55:04 PM CST

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It Won't Give ANYONE Cover (4.00 / 11)

That's stupid Versailles Dem consultant talk.

What it does is amplify the GOP's message 100-fold and cut the legs out of down-ticket Dems that want to run as populist progressives based on good old-fashioned Democratic values.

It's literally killing the Democratic Party.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 22:59:27 PM CST

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The thing about consultant class thinking (4.00 / 3)

is it tricks people into thinking they can be the guy giving the advice and, therefore, are just as good as the people who themselves actually have power.  

It's kind of similar to why some (and a highly exaggerated number at that) working class people vote Republican.  But very much unlike the wishful thinking that motivates so-called "Reagan Democrats," it's actually a fact that a majority of people who can speak in complete sentences would make perfectly capable professional political consultants.

What's so false and insidious about it is it deceives people into believing that what builds broad based political coalitions that win elections over the long term is the right consultant who can come up with a "magic bullet" in the form of a brilliant technocratic strategy driven by the "right message."    

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by: wobbly @ Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 23:09:51 PM CST

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Yep. (4.00 / 3)

When you think about it, it's actually a form of pornography.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 23:18:21 PM CST

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I'm not suprised anymore (4.00 / 2)

when progressive promises get ignored and conservative promises are kept.

But I still don't like it.

Politics is the art of the possible, but that means you have to think about changing what is possible, not that you have to accept it in perpetuity.

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by: David Kaib @ Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 23:03:46 PM CST

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