rpasley's Blog

rpasley Commented on Reid: We'll Get A Health Care Bill By Any Means Necessary by Brian Beutler

2009-08-20T03:42:00Z

Reid makes Daschle, one of the least effective majority leaders ever, look like a strategic genius. He's full of double-speak, and I don't trust a thing he says. In fact, I believe the opposite, so when he says "We'll Get A Health Care Bill By Any Means", I fully expect that "by any means" he means "I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing and I can't promise jack-sh*t without gutting reform. He's a disaster, and I'm wildly disappointed at the O adminstration's inability to not lead their party under the most favorable conditions they'll ever see...

rpasley recommended Where Are The Doctors? by David Kurtz

2009-08-10T16:04:53Z

rpasley recommended TPMDC Morning Roundup by David Kurtz

2009-08-05T13:48:53Z

rpasley recommended Bonner Responds: Forged Letters Were Sent By "Temporary Employee" by Zachary Roth

2009-07-31T18:05:15Z

rpasley Commented on Bonner Responds: Forged Letters Were Sent By "Temporary Employee" by Zachary Roth

2009-07-31T18:33:01Z

It seems to me that this temporary employee was engaged in the very same "strategic grassroots support to help you win" that Bonner's logo promises...if by "you", they mean Citicorp, Aetna, PhRMA, Dow Chemical, et al.

The veracity of Bonner's claim that they notified the affected group (note the use of the singular...a nice touch when later having to suggest that this rogue temp did the same thing with others without management's knowledge) should be verifiable with that group, and TPM should confirm the circumstances of Bonner's claim.

rpasley recommended Conservative Activist Forwards Racist Pic Showing Obama As Witch Doctor by Zachary Roth

2009-07-23T14:34:04Z

rpasley Commented on After Brightly Colored Chart Failed To Win Waxman-Markey Fight, GOP Brings It To The Battle Over Health Reform by Brian Beutler

2009-07-15T23:11:33Z

Nova Voter...rather than providing a link to a wildly verbose passage on Wikipedia that makes the otherwise laughable flow chart imminently readable, you might offer a concise remedial lesson on the usage and your pet peeve...

rpasley Commented on Sotomayor: My 'Wise Latina' Comments Not So Different from Samuel Alito by Versha Sharma

2009-07-15T22:00:23Z

Bravo....and this is why decisions even at the SC level need only be a majority, not unanimous. If not for their individual human differences, how else would any multi-judge court deliver split decisions?

rpasley Commented on The New Neocon Assault On Obama and Iran by Jacob Heilbrunn

2009-06-17T18:54:39Z

Your Thomas Paine quote actually supports one of the reasons why Obama should NOT comment...for him to invoke Paine, it would be "Give THEM liberty, or give THEM death"...which is clearly unhelpful to any resistance movement.

rpasley recommended Levin Calls Cheney A Liar On Torture by Eric Kleefeld

2009-05-28T22:39:27Z

rpasley Commented on Accused "Terror" Ringleader: I Smoked Pot Before Bust by Zachary Roth

2009-05-21T20:50:54Z

I have to now wonder about the timing of this bust related to today's Obama/Cheney death-match and the fear-mongering to which Obama alluded and which we all know was BushCo's only secret for success. Obviously, Cheney still has many friends in high places, and the notion that this sting was "force-fed" to culminate in last night's action, hours before Cheney was scheduled to sell his potent snake oil, is not so far-fetched.

Maybe these are the dead-enders that Cheney is so familiar with...

rpasley Commented on The Daily Muck by Zachary Roth

2009-05-15T15:32:53Z

Was Pelosi briefed individually, or in a committee meeting? I would have to presume it was in committee, but I don't believe any Republicans who would have been present have stated for the record that they are sure that waterboarding was discussed specifically. They keep referring to that very suspiciously worded CIA memo and their horror that Pelosi should question the CIA's integrity, but they are NOT saying, YES, I HEARD WATERBOARDING WAS BEING USED. Of course,it's very convenient that Republicans will hide behind the ruse that they cannot talk about classified meetings...but they can sure spout off on the Speaker's audacity to call foul.

I'm no fan of Pelosi's, but I strongly suspect that those briefings were designed for just this sort purpose...to create a means to apply intense political pressure later on, should the program's purpose and legality be challenged by a future administration.

rpasley Commented on Report: Angry Intel Officers Tipped Pelosi To Harman Wiretap by Zachary Roth

2009-04-23T16:55:12Z

I've always had a sneaking, if unspoken, suspicion of this too. After initially suggesting that the Ohio results would be contested, Kerry caved very suddenly a few hours later and, as if he was a butler, handed the win to Bush on a silver platter. After such a brutal campaign, with the momentum and numbers going his way, it seemed way too conciliatory for Kerry to just quit without challenging the outcome, even if only for appearance's sake. When I saw that happen, I thought immediately that the Bush campaign had an ace-in-the-hole that they pulled out to get Kerry to concede...

rpasley Commented on Obama's Winning Week. Really. by Matthew Cooper

2009-02-15T17:54:51Z

This isn't a matter of crying about the results of the stimulus package...it's about how the inside media reports on the sausage-making. It may prove to be the case that, despite the media's focus on inflating the importance, veracity, and relevance of the Republicans' perspective, that Obama "owns the Village". He didn't own it three months ago, and he didn't own it 3 years ago...yet, in all that time, the media has framed the Republican agenda as mainstream "born in the USA-ism" and the Democratic one as craven vote-buying cronyism.

The question remains, why is that, and will it change?

rpasley Commented on Obama's Winning Week. Really. by Matthew Cooper

2009-02-15T16:33:42Z

As others have pointed out, I think Matt Cooper misses Josh's point. The media has a significant knee-jerk willingness to report, and thus validate, Republican talking points, regardless of their veracity or how they are being perceived by the public. TV is especially complicit in the dis-information machine that was so critical to the political success of the Bush administration, and relationship smacks of corporatism, thru and thru.

Cooper's boldest assertion in his rebuttal of JM's argument? "...but so what? The important thing is not the atmosphere but the results." not only dismisses the very issue at hand, but does so with no sense of personal involvement...it's as if Matt has forgotten he works in the media business.

Does Cooper also forget the immediate past, in which he himself was inextricably entwined? It was the "atmosphere" that led to almost 8 full years of disastrous results for America on too many fronts to list, and the media helped shape that atmosphere with its absolute abdication of core responsibilities in the interest of political access (at best) or corporate fealty (at worst).

Cooper should stick to beat reporting and forgo the analysis...Frank Rich has it nailed in today's piece "They Sure Showed That Obama". Hell, even that unfunny but accurate opening skit on SNL last night was more accurate than Cooper's take...

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rpasley recommended Day of the Jackass by Rotwang

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