Got 2 Minutes and $7.7 Trillion? November 30, 2011March 26, 2017 GOT TWO MINUTES? This video makes me wonder whether Mitt Romney will really win the Republican nomination. It obviously won’t be Perry or Cain or Bachmann (or Paul, who at least deserves respect for his principled, if to my mind mostly wrong-headed, views). Will it be Gingrich? Huntsman? Has Huntsman been the guy in capture-the-flag who just hides the whole time and everyone forgets he’s there until, at the very last minute . . . ? (Wasn’t that how it worked in Role Models? Or am I getting my movie masterpieces confused?) But, no, Republican primary voters are not going to choose Huntsman. So could it really be Newt? Watch the video. GOT $7.7 TRILLION? It’s not clear to me the Fed erred in quietly making available whatever it took to keep the financial system from collapsing – read the important story here – but it is clear to me that those who subsequently tried to block or weaken the Dodd-Frank financial reforms were on the wrong side of this, and have left the financial system still too vulnerable. If you watched the Barney Frank press Monday, you heard some current examples of how the Republicans are working to prevent even the regulation that Dodd-Frank did enact from being funded or staffed. GOT THE CONNECTION? So how do you get a large slice of the 99% to vote against their own interests, as they did in voting for Bush twice and then McCain? And as they surely will vote for Romney or Gingrich? You do it with 20 years of talk radio and Fox News and an alternate universe (something else Barney addressed Monday) in which 70% of those who voted for Bush in 2004 believed Iraq played a role in the 9/11 attack (but didn’t know Bush was planning to control Iraq long before 9/11) . . . in which people are ginned up to believe that tyranny (and gun confiscation and Sharia law) are imminent (see Monday) . . . and in which the President is not a citizen but a communist (even as, I must note ruefully, so many of my liberal friends excoriate him for being ‘Republican-lite’). Add to that the Republican full-court press to make it harder for poor people and students to vote, and the Citizens United case, and the 99% might just see the 1% winning again, as they did in 2000, 2004, and 2010. I think not – but each of us who cares about this – including those like Warren Buffett in the 1% who want to see the 99% win (and who recognize that ultimately, if the 99% do win, the 1% win even more) – needs to get fully engaged. Buffett has written his max-out check to Obama Victory Fund 2012 and is taking his time to headline fundraisers for us. You can help, too – both with your time and your money. The campaign calculates that help NOW is three to eight times as effective as the same help next fall, when most people give it. Each paid organizer we can hire now snowballs into literally hundreds of volunteers. Every week we wait is one fewer week for that snowball to grow . . . one fewer week for our volunteers to register millions of new voters — and help millions of existing voters who lack photo IDs jump the Republican hurdles to voting. NOW is our best shot at building the turnout that, in 342 days, will take back the House, hold the Senate and White House, flip back state legislatures and governorships, and – most important of all – prevent a complete right-wing lock on the Supreme Court for the next 25 years.
Barney November 29, 2011March 26, 2017 BARNEY I like the way DNC Chair Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz put it: “This is a man of incredible intellect. A powerhouse who has championed the rights of consumers in the financial services community. I really have a heavy heart today. I’m going to miss him terribly.” And I like what the President said: “This country has never had a Congressman like Barney Frank, and the House of Representatives will not be the same without him. For over 30 years, Barney has been a fierce advocate for the people of Massachusetts and Americans everywhere who needed a voice. He has worked tirelessly on behalf of families and businesses and helped make housing more affordable. He has stood up for the rights of LGBT Americans and fought to end discrimination against them. And it is only thanks to his leadership that we were able to pass the most sweeping financial reform in history designed to protect consumers and prevent the kind of excessive risk-taking that led to the financial crisis from ever happening again. Barney’s passion and his quick wit will be missed in the halls of Congress, and Michelle and I join the people of the Bay State in thanking him for his years of service.” I’ve been dazzled by Barney since before Touch Tone phones. He was one of four resident “tutors” in my college dorm, so I knew him before he ever ran for office (how could he ever run for office, we wondered, perhaps inspiring his first campaign poster: “Neatness Isn’t Everything”). I burst with pride-by-association at what he has accomplished. If you have time, watch him explain his decision and (among other interesting things) confront the misinformed “housing crisis” criticisms opponents have made. SIGA Jim Leff is the guy who got me interested in the first place; read his take on the current situation – it’s not a boring tale. (It’s still a rank speculation, but I bought more yesterday around $2.) SOLAR BACKPACK A friend who volunteered in Haiti turned me on to this top-of-the-line solar-paneled backpack. Keeps all your devices powered even when you’re off grid. Do I hear reindeer hooves?
What The Other Side Is Saying November 28, 2011March 26, 2017 WHAT THE OTHER SIDE IS SAYING – I I gave $500 to Steve Forbes’ 1996 presidential campaign – I’m a Forbes Family Fan – because I thought he might elevate the Republican debate (sadly, no) and $500 to my great friend Mike Huffington’s 1992 congressional race (remember moderate Republicans?) . . . and have been getting right-wing missives ever since. On Thanksgiving I got an email that begins: Tyranny and gun control is only an election away! Liberty is at peril every single day and with every breath we take. For 235 years, tyranny in the United States has been held at bay through US Citizen’s right to bear arms. Leaving aside the two grammatical errors – the pointing out of which only makes gun-rights folks even angrier at people like me – can you think of a single instance, let alone a daily stream of them, where private gun ownership has prevented tyranny here? What are these people talking about? It continues: . . . The recent Occupy Wall Street protests and liberal attempts at gun control are eerily reminiscent to the rise of Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Idi Amin. Barack Obama and Eric Holder, gun control advocates, are secretly conspiring to strip American Citizens of the right to bear arms. It’s true that a lot of us think you shouldn’t be able to walk into a gun show and buy a dozen submachine guns with cop-killing bullets if you have a history of mental illness. And some of us think you should need a license to carry, and that guns shouldn’t be allowed in football stadiums or bars. There are all kinds of liberal notions floating around out there, most of which I share. But there is absolutely nothing for the gun folks to worry about from Barack Obama. Even if this were an agenda item, and it’s not, he could never possibly get 60 Senate votes to license or register – let alone confiscate – anyone’s guns. So the urgent tone of the email is hysterical – and not in the “funny” sense. It includes a video clip of Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pot, and Imin . . . then goes on to urge a free fax blast to your lawmakers and members of the Supreme Court . . . and offers you links to buy guns, ammunition, and knives. Oh, the victims of tyranny, upon whom – by liberals – Social Security benefits and access to health care have been thrust! Who now – thanks to Barack Obama – have to accept less onerous college loan terms! Who – thanks to liberals over the decades – must suffer the tyranny of a cushion to fall back on if they lose their jobs; a minimum wage to prevent a complete race-to-the-bottom; an Earned Income Tax Credit (Republicans deserve a chunk of the credit for that tyrannical program); cleaner air and water (again, give Republicans some credit); the Internet (a DARPA-funded development Al Gore championed) . . . and, through some combination of labor unions, communists, and Pol Pot wannabes, weekends. WHAT THE OTHER SIDE IS SAYING – II Another Thanksgiving email [emphasis and highlighting in the original]: . . . did you know that your TURKEY may have been consecrated to Allah this Thanksgiving? Let me explain. Most grocery stores carry Butterball© turkeys. It is one of the very largest suppliers of turkeys in America. Did you know that every single Butterball turkey is halal? I know you are asking: What is halal? It is another part of Sharia law. The term Halal designates any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term is used to define food seen as permissible and blessed according to Islamic law. Yes, we’re talking about good, old-fashioned, American Butterball© TURKEYS! Much of the meat processed in Europe and the United States is processed as halal without the knowledge of the non-Muslim consumer. There are only two plants in the United States that perform halal slaughter keep the halal meat separated from the non-halal meat, and they only do so because plant managers thought it was right to do so. Wendy Howze, a Butterball Consumer Response Representative says: “Our whole turkeys are certified halal.” Halal slaughter involves cutting the trachea, the esophagus, and the jugular vein, and letting the blood drain out while saying “Bismillah alahu akbar”—in the name of Allah the greatest. Many people who do not want to eat food that has been offered to another god refuse to eat it on religious grounds. It is meat slaughtered according to Islamic ritual. This offends many Christians and Jews. According to the anti-Muslim activist Pam Geller: “Non-Muslims in America and Europe do not deserve to have halal turkey forced upon them in this way, without their knowledge or consent. So this Thanksgiving, fight for your freedom. Find a non-halal, non-Butterball turkey to celebrate Thanksgiving this Thursday. And write to Butterball and request, politely but firmly, that they stop selling only halal turkeys, and make non-halal turkeys available to Americans who still value our freedoms.” I know, it may be already too late for you and your family. But please understand what is happening to our American society. Our culture is being changed – slowly but steadily in every single area of our life! And we must fight against that! Sharia Law is overtaking our society. Almost 100 cases in our courts involve the implementation of Sharia Law into our society. You ask: “What really is Sharia Law?” The bottom line definition: “The enemy adheres to an all-encompassing Islamic political-military-legal doctrine known as Sharia. Sharia obliges them to engage in jihad to achieve the triumph of Islam worldwide through the establishment of a global Islamic State governed exclusively by Sharia, under a restored caliphate.” You see, we have a very pro-active, pro-Muslim United States President – President Obama. This is unprecedented in American political history! You see, Sharia Law has not only infiltrated our court system, it has made its way to our Thanksgiving tables. GOD HELP US! We must fight back while we still can! Florida’s U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams has introduced over seven months ago H.R. 973 which forbids foreign law (including Sharia Law) from our United States court system. Through over 5 million e-mails (not including the 100,000’s of TV ad viewership, Facebook© and Google© responses) that Conservative Action Alerts has sent in the last seven months, we have helped to raise the number of Co-Sponsors to this all-important bill to 72! Will you help us today to inform the non-Co-Sponsors that they must get on board this nation-saving bill? ☞ It goes on at length, urging you five different times to click a link to fax Congress: “I desperately urge you to help Co-Sponsor H. R. 973 to make sure that NO foreign law (including Shariah Law) can infiltrate our United States courts system.” And they will charge you just $33 to fax all 100 senators (at a presumed cost to themselves, given efax blasts, of essentially zero) . . . $119 to fax all congresspersons who have not yet sponsored the bill . . . or (among several other options) “$175 … BIGGEST IMPACT—fax all Senators and Congressmen who have NOT yet Co-Sponsored H.R. 973, and help our nationwide MEDIA EFFORTS.” In small print at the end: “Conservative Action Alerts (CAA) is a media outlet protected by the first amendment and that [sic] support for our efforts is not tax-deductible. Diener Consultants, Inc., 17388 Nature Walk Trail, Suite No. 301, Parker, CO 80134.” My guess is that someone behind this email may be eating pretty well himself, whatever the religious background of his turkey. Be that as it may, the more important point is that millions of these emails are circulating, adding to the right-wing hysteria – Buy guns! Protect yourself from the imminent tyranny! Protect yourself from Muslims! Stop Obama! – and they are not, in my view, adding to the public weal.
Frum Tells It Like It Is Romney? Not So Much November 23, 2011March 26, 2017 SEND THIS LINK TO EVERY REPUBLICAN YOU KNOW David Frum writes: I’ve been a Republican all my adult life. I have worked on the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, at Forbes magazine, at the Manhattan and American Enterprise Institutes, as a speechwriter in the George W. Bush administration. I believe in free markets, low taxes, reasonable regulation, and limited government. I voted for John McCain in 2008, and I have strongly criticized the major policy decisions of the Obama administration. But as I contemplate my party and my movement in 2011, I see things I simply cannot support. . . . This past summer, the GOP nearly forced America to the verge of default just to score a point in a budget debate. In the throes of the worst economic crisis since the Depression, Republican politicians demand massive budget cuts and shrug off the concerns of the unemployed. In the face of evidence of dwindling upward mobility and long-stagnating middle-class wages, my party’s economic ideas sometimes seem to have shrunk to just one: more tax cuts for the very highest earners. When I entered Republican politics, during an earlier period of malaise, in the late seventies and early eighties, the movement got most of the big questions—crime, inflation, the Cold War—right. This time, the party is getting the big questions disastrously wrong. . . . . . . Over the past two decades, conservatism has evolved from a political philosophy into a market segment. An industry has grown up to serve that segment—and its stars have become the true thought leaders of the conservative world. The business model of the conservative media is built on two elements: provoking the audience into a fever of indignation (to keep them watching) and fomenting mistrust of all other information sources (so that they never change the channel). As a commercial proposition, this model has worked brilliantly in the Obama era. As journalism, not so much. As a tool of political mobilization, it backfires, by inciting followers to the point at which they force leaders into confrontations where everybody loses, like the summertime showdown over the debt ceiling. But the thought leaders on talk radio and Fox do more than shape opinion. Backed by their own wing of the book-publishing industry and supported by think tanks that increasingly function as public-relations agencies, conservatives have built a whole alternative knowledge system, with its own facts, its own history, its own laws of economics. Outside this alternative reality, the United States is a country dominated by a strong Christian religiosity. Within it, Christians are a persecuted minority. Outside the system, President Obama—whatever his policy errors—is a figure of imposing intellect and dignity. Within the system, he’s a pitiful nothing, unable to speak without a teleprompter, an affirmative-action phony doomed to inevitable defeat. Outside the system, social scientists worry that the U.S. is hardening into one of the most rigid class societies in the Western world, in which the children of the poor have less chance of escape than in France, Germany, or even England. Inside the system, the U.S. remains (to borrow the words of Senator Marco Rubio) “the only place in the world where it doesn’t matter who your parents were or where you came from.” . . . Over the past few years, I have left this alternative knowledge system behind me. What is that experience like? A personal story may be relevant here . . . ☞ It’s worth the full read. Send the link to every Republican you know. If you want, blame me. “The conservative shift to ever more extreme, ever more fantasy-based ideology,” Frum writes near the end of the piece, “has ominous real-world consequences for American society.” Even though he and I would respectfully disagree on a lot of things – he really is a Republican – we sure agree on that. “[I]n in the interests of avoiding false evenhandedness,” he concludes, “it must be admitted: The party . . . struggling with more self-imposed obstacles to responsible governance, the party most in need of a course correction, is the Republican Party. Changing that party will be the fight of a political lifetime. But a great political party is worth fighting for.” And speaking of a party gone wrong . . . IS LYING REALLY OKAY? A certain Texas Governor won the presidency in 2000 in part because he lied. He insisted that “by far the vast majority” of his proposed tax cut – which quite plainly would go mainly to the best off – would go to people “at the bottom end of the economic ladder.” It was a multi-trillion-dollar lie. Now comes a new Texas Governor running for president. I have not previously written about his lie from a couple of weeks ago – namely, his campaign ad showing Obama seemingly calling Americans “lazy” when in fact the President indisputably called us nothing of the kind – because Rick Perry is obviously not going to be the Republican nominee. But now that Romney is doing the same thing, it’s worth asking: is it really okay to do this? If I’m caught on tape saying, “Hitler was not a bad man, he was the most terrible man who ever lived,” is it okay to run an ad quoting just the first part? “Hitler was not a bad man?” From the Associated Press: . . . [I]t is telling that Romney uses his first ad of his second White House bid to take Obama’s quotes out of context and not pitch his own record as successful businessman, the leader of 2002’s Olympics or his four years as Massachusetts governor. The ad is the second time in as many weeks that Romney has taken an Obama quote out of context. In interviews last week, Romney contended that Obama said Americans were “lazy.” Obama was actually talking about U.S. efforts [mainly, government efforts] to lure foreign investment, not [about] Americans themselves. But Romney didn’t make that distinction and mischaracterized the president’s comments at an economic summit. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is challenging Romney for the GOP presidential nomination, aired an ad using the same incorrect claim. . . . From the Washington Post: . . . Perry and Romney have ripped Obama’s remarks completely out of context, similar to Romney’s ridiculous Four-Pinocchio claim that Obama ‘apologized’ for America overseas. In both cases, the candidates are trying to feed into a subterranean narrative that Obama is not quite American, or certainly not proud to be an American. . . . From Politifact: Mitt Romney ad charges Obama said, ‘If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose’ Ruling: Pants on Fire On the eve of a presidential trip to New Hampshire on Nov. 22, 2011, Mitt Romney’s campaign released an ad targeting President Barack Obama. . . . The 60-second ad, called “Believe in America,” is designed to contrast “candidate Obama from 2008 with President Obama of today” . . . [and] has a clip of Obama saying, “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” The clear implication is that Obama believes that his economic record is so bad that he will lose in 2012 unless he can steer the conversation away from the economy. . . . Here’s what Obama [actually] said . . . “Even as we face the most serious economic crisis of our time, even as you are worried about keeping your jobs or paying your bills or staying in your homes, my opponent’s campaign announced earlier this month that they want to ‘turn the page’ on the discussion about our economy so they can spend the final weeks of this election attacking me instead,” Obama said in the speech. “Sen. McCain’s campaign actually said, and I quote, ‘If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.’” So the comment is drastically different than the way it’s portrayed in the Romney ad. Obama was actually saying that his opponent’s campaign three years earlier had said, “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” That context is not included in the Romney ad — and leaving it out sends a profoundly different message. Our ruling: . . . ridiculously misleading . . . Pants on Fire. From The American Prospect: The Lying Lies of Mitt Romney Jamelle Bouie | November 22, 2011 In New Hampshire, the former Massachusetts governor begins his television campaign with a hefty dose of dishonesty. . . . From Washington Monthly: In October 2008, a month before the president was elected, then-candidate Obama spoke in New Hampshire and told voters, “Senator McCain’s campaign actually said, and I quote, ‘If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.’” In Romney’s new attack ad, viewers only see Obama saying, “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” The obvious point is to deceive the public — Romney wants voters to think the quote reflects Obama’s current thinking, not McCain’s three years ago. Romney, in other words, is choosing to mislead voters and hoping they don’t know the difference. . . . [H]ow much more deception can Romney try to get away with before he develops a reputation as a candidate with an honesty problem? Last week, an MIT economist who worked with Romney said the former governor is “just lying” about health care policy. The same week, Romney was caught lying about the makeup of the last Congress, and also got caught lying about a quote from the president. Three weeks ago, the former governor got caught lying about his tax plan, and several times over the last few months, Romney has also been caught lying about economic conditions and whether the president “apologized for America” (he didn’t). Over the course of a campaign, it stands to reason a candidate who speaks all the time is going to make some mistakes. He or she will invariably also make occasional claims that aren’t supported by the facts. But it seems as if Mitt Romney, when he’s not wildly flip-flopping or avoiding taking firm positions on controversial issues, is frequently just flat-out lying. These aren’t minor slip-ups; these are examples of a candidate who looks more like a con man than a leader. Romney is taking a huge risk playing this game. He’s already the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, and the political world is starting to solidify its take on his personality. The more the former governor is caught deceiving the public, the more questions about his character will be unavoidable. YMI Avik Roy, a health care analyst at Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. (and a Forbes columnist), noted the YMI’s sharp drop, from $1.86 a few days ago to as low as $1.03 yesterday on heavy volume (closing at $1.35) and – while acknowledging that someone may know something we don’t – reiterated his analysis and his $6 target price. Only with money you can truly afford to lose. HAPPY THANKSGIVING! As I’ve said so often in this space, almost all of us live better than the kings of England, czars of Russia, pharaohs of Egypt ever did. We have magic carpets with seats that recline; we have jesters, bards, gladiators and orchestras on instant call (with remote control, volume control, pause, fast forward and reverse). We have cell phones, antibiotics, zippers – Velcro, even – Google, anesthetics, and aspirin. We have air-conditioning. We have each other. Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers.
Grover and Newt November 22, 2011March 26, 2017 THANK YOU, GROVER NORQUIST Following up from yesterday, may I say one more thing about Grover Norquist? Things were pretty good in the Nineties: low unemployment and an economy pretty much in balance, with everyone getting richer and our National Debt shrinking relative to the size of the economy as a whole. But thanks to Grover Norquist, things are even better now. Sure, we’re on the brink of national bankruptcy, politically paralyzed, and a third of us are below, at, or barely above the poverty line . . . but we have lower taxes! And if we’re rich, much lower taxes. God forbid we ever make the mistake of going back to a Nineties-style economic balance. The Republicans are all but unanimously pledged to make sure we never do. IN CASE YOU LIKE NEWT The new Republican front-runner. Yes, there was the thing about pressing his second wife for a divorce while she was in the hospital. But this is mainly about hucksterism. Pretty devastating – here. DEPT. OF IRONY “We have candidates for President now saying that government can’t create jobs. These are guys with government jobs. They’re ON THE GOVERNMENT PAYROLL. Saying government can’t create jobs. Government created YOUR job.” – Lawrence O’Donnell, MSNBC APRICOT JELL-O If you ever find yourself in a situation where you’re allowed to eat JELL-O, but not red JELL-O – or even if you don’t – I have pretty wonderful news for you: apricot JELL-O. It’s really good (lemon-lime JELL-O is punishment no one deserves) and you can go even crazier and mix it with Haagen-Dazs peach sorbet. I know a thing or two about cooking.
Infrabstruction v. Results November 21, 2011March 26, 2017 INFRASTRUCTURE Have I mentioned this before? (Google says yes – 246 times, going back to 2003.) Well, obviously none of this is original with me; but it’s taking wing – and taken to the streets. Watch Rachel on Occupy Wall Street and how our Republican friends are dead set against doing what so clearly and desperately needs to be done. And then watch ’60 Minutes’ – this next item – to understand why they block it: THE WORST MAN IN AMERICA If he’s not the worst, he’s right up there. Whether the National Debt is 30% of GDP as it was when Jimmy Carter handed it off to Ronald Reagan, or 100% when George W. Bush handed it off – with a $1.5 trillion deficit – to Barack Obama, Grover Norquist always knows what to do, and it’s always the same: cut government revenue. Wartime? Cut it. Peace time? Cut it. You may never even have heard of him, but he’s one of the principal reasons our political system is so broken and our country in such dire straits. In case you missed last night’s ’60 Minutes’ profile, you can watch it here. THE BEST MAN IN AMERICA Or if not the best, he’s right up there. Here is Mayor Rahm Emanuel on his former boss, the President: Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Remarks at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner November 19, 2011 . . . Four years ago, at this very dinner — and many of you were in attendance — a young senator from Illinois, who was 23 points down in the polls, spoke to you in words you will never forget. With the promises he made in that speech, he began a journey that would change history — and he did it with your help. Now all of us may be a little older and a little grayer — or as my youngest daughter likes to say, “Dad they can say it’s salt and pepper, but for you, it’s all salt.” But we can remember what he said and what he believed was worth fighting for. He stood on this platform, and promised to end “a war that should never have been authorized and should never have been waged.” Republicans didn’t want to let it happen, and Democrats didn’t believe it could. Yet, tonight, the last of 170,000 of America’s finest are on their way home. The war is over. That is the change we believed in. That is the change we worked for. That is the change our president delivered. Four years ago, at this very dinner, President Obama promised he would take the fight to Al Qa’eda, those who were actually responsible for 9/11. He said he would bring justice to Al Qa’eda’s leaders. Tonight, Osama bin Laden is history. Al Qa’eda has been decimated. Thanks to the bold, determined leadership of our President, justice has been done. And America is safer for it. Typical of the person I know, President Obama did not brag. He thanked our troops and intelligence services for their excellent work, and he moved on to the next terrorist who was threatening America and brought him to justice. He didn’t hang a banner and he didn’t pretend the mission was accomplished. He got the job done. That is the change we believed in. That is the change we worked for. That is the change our president delivered. Four years ago, Senator Obama stood before you and said he wanted to “stop talking about the outrage of 47 million Americans without health care and start actually doing something about it.” He promised then: “I will make certain that every single American in this country has health care they can count on and I won’t do it 20 years from now, I won’t do it 10 years from now, I will do it by the end of my first term as President.” Now folks, you know this, politicians have been making that promise for over 60 years. President Obama delivered. Because of President Obama’s leadership, an insurance company cannot turn you down because you have a pre-existing condition. Because of President Obama, they cannot discriminate against you because you’re a woman, or have grown older. Because of President Obama, kids can stay on their parents’ policy until they enter the workforce. Because of your support, Iowa, and his courage, no American will ever again receive a letter that says: “Sorry, you’ve reached the limit. We won’t pay for your cancer treatment any more.” Republicans opposed every one of those reforms, but now we have those life-saving protections, that peace of mind, because of President Obama’s leadership. That is the change we believed in. That is the change we worked for. That is the change our President delivered. President Obama stood here at this dinner four years ago and promised, “to make sure that every American child has the best education that we have to offer – from the day they are born to the day they graduate from college.” As President, he has doubled college scholarships. He’s brought down the cost of college loans. He invested in schools and innovation with the Race to the Top. He expanded access to community colleges, the most undervalued asset in our education system. You gave him that chance. Republicans fought him every step of the way, but because of his leadership, millions of young Americans have been given a better chance. That is the change we believed in. That is the change we worked for. That is the change our President delivered. You heard him say it, right here in Iowa, four years ago. He made the pledge, not just to you, but to the American people. And now you’ve seen him deliver on the promises he made. That’s how we measure character in a leader: doing what you say you will do. Now, I had the privilege of seeing that character close up, working by his side during two of the most harrowing years any President has faced in our lifetime … And, no, despite what you’re thinking right now, they were not harrowing days because I was at his side. They say you learn the most about someone’s character in a crisis … then I think we all know our President pretty well. During our greatest economic crises in decades, the strength of our President’s character was on display every day. The President inherited an economy that was spiraling towards depression. He inherited a financial system that had frozen up and an auto industry that was near collapse. The problems President Obama faced were not caused by accident. They were caused by policies — Republican policies. The first time I worked in the White House, for President Clinton, we had a Democratic House, and a Democratic Senate with a Democratic President. We passed an economic plan without a single Republican vote. And that plan put America back to work and back to economic growth. It created millions of private sector jobs. It lifted seven million Americans out of poverty. It reformed welfare as we know it. And it put 100,000 cops on America’s streets. We balanced the budget. We put America on a path to zero debt by the year 2009 … It seemed so far away then. We left President Bush a record surplus and he left President Obama a record national debt. You know how that happened: the Republicans happened. They held the White House, the House and the Senate for six long years. And they did something no one had ever tried in 200 years of history: they tried to fund two wars by cutting taxes three times. . . . They took everything they inherited: the jobs, the surplus, the stature of our country around the world — and they squandered it. It’s ironic … I figured the one thing Republicans were really good at, was inheriting things. But that’s what the Republicans handed President Obama and America on day one, January 20th, 2009 — the worst economic mess for a president since FDR took over from Herbert Hoover. But President Obama didn’t complain, and he didn’t blame. He knew the burdens of everyday Americans were a hell of a lot more searing than his own. So he rolled up his sleeves and he went to work on behalf of the hard-working families of this country. Every day I worked by his side, I saw a leader who didn’t ask what was the easy thing to do, what was the politically convenient thing to do, but what was the right thing to do, what was the essential thing to do, for America and America’s future. The President did not make choices based on politics. He made them because of his principles. He did not make choices for the next election, he made them for the next generation. Trust me, I know this first hand, he didn’t make decisions based on whether they were quick, or politically convenient, because I was often recommending the quick or politically convenient thing to do. And I didn’t win any of those fights. President Obama never tailored what he believed to the moment. Now, compare that to Mitt Romney: Once he was pro-choice, now he’s not. He was pro gay rights. Now he’s not. He supported gun control. Now he doesn’t. He supported efforts to deal with greenhouse gases and climate change. Now he doesn’t. He supported immigration reform. Now he doesn’t. He supported national health care reform with a mandate. Now he doesn’t. Mitt Romney says he’s a man of steadiness and consistency … And if that’s true, then I’m a linebacker for the Chicago Bears. While people have talked about all his flip-flops, I actually think there’s a different part to Mitt Romney that people don’t fully appreciate. It’s what he’s been steadfast about — what he has refused to bend on, where he has never flip-flopped, and never abandoned his position. And that’s his position on the middle class versus the most fortunate: what he’s failed to do for the middle class and what he’s willing to do for the most fortunate. . . .
Odds and EMIS November 18, 2011March 26, 2017 HELL I have Outlook on the run. It’s a simple matter of switching to a brand new computer and starting from scratch . . . very carefully . . . with a brand new Microsoft Office 2010. By Monday I could be out of computer hell and fully functioning. But can I just say that when I ‘created a rule’ on the virgin supercomputer (it probably has more power than a 1984 supercomputer – and do you remember when ‘1984’ was shorthand for ‘the impossibly distant future?’ no, of course you don’t) . . . with the virgin Outlook and with just 6,893 email messages downloaded into it to start . . . and when it asked whether I wanted to ‘apply the rule now?’ and – foolishly – I said ‘yes,’ it then took four hours to run through each of the 6,893 and move those from a particular sender (as 4,706 of them were) to the new file I had created for that sender. Four hours! That’s 240 minutes which is (check my math here) 14,400 seconds . . . so about 3 seconds to move each email to the new folder. I have a niece who could have done it faster than that manually. And she’s five. Still, I can definitely see hell’s EXIT sign up ahead, and I am psyched. For now, some odds and ends: GOLD A hat-tip to Andrew Sullivan (via my friend Chris) for spotlighting this charming clip: two-and-a-half minutes explaining why gold is . . . well, as good as gold. SMBC Aristides’ Chris Brown: ‘The SMBC secondary priced at $19 last night, though it was 2x oversubscribed. Tangible book value of the bank drops from $22.47 to $21.26. It’s a great buy in the $21 range. Management stated it should take them 18-24 months to deploy the extra capital. All things being equal, I believe this will be a $27-$31 stock at the end of that period.’ NABI Guru: ‘As expected, the second trial of its nicotine vaccine did not succeed in its second Phase III trial. They announced they have hired Piper Jaffray to ‘realize shareholder value.’ They have financial assets worth $3/share. I’m sure there are plenty of companies to merge with that could realize this value.’ Not what we hoped last May, at $5.50 – it closed last night at $1.87. But that’s why I almost always italicize the phrase ‘with money you can truly afford to lose.’ EMIS Guru: ‘Good news: They showed statistical significance in increased bone density. Bad news: They did not show statistical significance in fractures. So a Pyrrhic victory. Because calcitonin was approved by the FDA before the fracture requirement, they could actually file for FDA approval on the basis of bone density and potentially generate sales, under what is called a 505b2 application. I can’t say that the sales will be very large, though, and I’d be surprised if Novartis continued with the partnership. We will sell and move on.’ Biznscards: ‘Another black eye for guru?’ ☞ Ballplayers who bat 650 are considered quite good in some leagues. No one is going to get speculations right all the time.
Cool Fire November 17, 2011March 25, 2012 The world may be ending, but Borealis is $4, I have a vague strategy for getting out of computer hell, I got an empty seat next to me on the flight back from Chicago (by moving to the very last row of the plane after they closed the doors), and I found my new Kindle Fire waiting for me when I got home. Within minutes, and for free, I was watching the pilot episode of The Wonder Years, which took just seconds to load. It’s one of 10,000 movies and TV shows free to Amazon Prime members (and who would NOT pay the $79 a year for Amazon Prime’s free delivery?), and one of 18 million movies, books, TV shows, and pieces of music you can buy on the cheap. The $199 Kindle Fire is smaller (and cheaper) than the iPad2 … and smaller can be good if you’d like to keep your tablet in a wide but not ridiculous pocket. All in all, pretty cool.
Congressional Approval Drops to 1% I Sink Into Outlook Hell November 15, 2011March 26, 2017 Outlook decided yesterday — apropos of absolutely nothing that I can divine — to start downloading 68,000 emails I had previously processed again, for the third time now. So I am back in computer hell, thank you very much, and will offer just a couple of things today. INSIDER TRADING BY CONGRESS It’s simply outrageous, as shown in this must-see ’60 Minutes’ segment. Although the principal reformer shown was a six-term Democratic Congressman, it still speaks badly of almost everyone that the reform bill has got only six co-sponsors, after years of trying. This needs to be fixed. THE REPUBLICAN – NOT PRETTY Ann: ‘Please rethink the ‘2-minute Republican woman’ clip – listen to the filmmaker egging her on. Having been in situations where I think people were taking that tack with me, and manipulating me – or trying to manipulate me – into saying things I wouldn’t otherwise say, I feel for her. It’s sickening, to be on the receiving end of that sort of deception. (Yes she was aware she was being videotaped, but still, the guy’s tactics were ugly.)’ ☞ You are a wonderful soul, Ann. But I think our side, in its tendency toward thoughtfulness and sense of fair play – which I prize and which you embody – can go overboard. I think we need to risk hurting her feelings. Yes, the interviewer was teeing her up to think she was talking with someone of like mind; yes, he was encouraging her not to pull her punches. But this was not some crazy outlier. She was parroting things millions of Limbaugh “ditto heads” (their own term for themselves) believe. I think we really have to allow for the likelihood she meant what she said. EMIS The stock dropped 80% yesterday. I’m sorry this one did not work out. Onward and upward (and no, I did not join the rush to sell; because I know myself well enough to know that if it goes to zero I’ll be less unhappy than if it someday surprises on the upside and I sold for pennies).