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from the “Heretics must be punished” files: “Brown win could spark Obama war on Wall Street”

And the best way to punish heretics? Punish everyone, just to be on the safe side. Like, say, by striking a blow against an already troubled economy. James Pethokoukis:

Scott Brown’s stunning capture of the Massachusetts Senate seat held for decades by Ted Kennedy was a political black swan, a near-unpredictable event.

The result ends the Democratic supermajority in the Senate and leaves key parts of the Obama agenda in deep trouble. But the biggest loser just might be Wall Street. Desperate Democrats may see anti-bank populism as a way of holding power as the November midterm elections approach.

The last days of the heated Senate race saw the first attempts at that political gambit. Democratic candidate Martha Coakley’s allies in Washington, both the White House and national Democratic officials, used President Barack Obama’s proposed bank tax as a cudgel to bash Brown via emailings and telephone calls.

But the game was probably over by then for Coakley. A combination of high unemployment, an unpopular healthcare reform bill and the candidate’s own lack of charisma and effective experience were more than enough to clinch an easy Brown victory.

A historic victory, really. It is hard to overstate just how “blue” a state Massachusetts is. Obama won it by 26 percentage points in 2008. Until now the state’s 10 U.S House members, two U.S. senators and all statewide officers were Democrats. The state hasn’t had a Republican U.S. senator since 1979. And, of course, the seat Brown captured had been held by the late Edward Kennedy since 1962.

Now Brown’s victory threatens the healthcare reform bill that Kennedy championed on his deathbed. Democrats could still ram it through before Brown makes it to Washington. But potential legal challenges make that unlikely.

As it is, Brown’s election is enough of a systemic shock to freeze the political process on Capitol Hill. Moderate Democrats in both chambers are nervous about their previous “yes” votes for healthcare. They may be unwilling to make any more. The prospects look even bleaker for cap-and-trade energy legislation, a bill with even less support than healthcare.

Financial reform legislation was already likely to get milder rather than stronger. But not so the rhetoric. Unable to trumpet the economy, hitting Wall Street is one of the few political bullets Democrats have left.

So expect the Obama administration to go all out for the bank tax with increasingly harsh words for big financial institutions. Democrats may also be more willing to consider controversial proposals banks hate, like letting judges rework mortgages. But given the Massachusetts precedent, it may not be enough to save the party from a wipeout in the fall.

If progressives see their grand designs crumbling before the last few pieces of the foundation can been laid, we’re likely to see them lash out, their frustration made manifest in petulant death throes of a self-appointed royalty on the eve of revolution. Or like spoiled children who’ve been told play time is over and that they now must relinquish their toys — and in a fit of pique, endeavor to destroy everything in the room.

As dicentra noted in the comments to an earlier post:

[…]

This is going to launch a ProggFit like we’ve never seen before. You think they’ll just accept this defeat and tack rightward?

Ha!

I say, HA!

They’ll double-down on their horrible plans, accelerate, take off the mask, go all-in.

Because the power is slipping away from them in their Worst Nightmare Evar, and they can’t keep the wraps on anymore.

POPCORN!

All correct. Except for the popcorn bit.

More like bread and circuses. Only the clowns will be wearing wingtips, or trying to spread the rouge a bit with the help of a syringe and some Botox.

0 Replies to “from the “Heretics must be punished” files: “Brown win could spark Obama war on Wall Street””

  1. LTC John says:

    I am afraid you are right. And being a great position to see what business in the US is doing (as opposed to thinking) I am going to see if the porgg-fit results in businesses still hunching their shoulders and not hiring as much, expanding, you know…creating weath and all that icky stuff.

  2. LTC John says:

    “porgg-fit”? I sound like Witheld. “Progg-fit”, rather.

  3. Silver Whistle says:

    Politicians are scumbags; that is a given. Even scumbags, however, have a highly developed sense of self-preservation. I hereby predict an outbreak of doubt in both Houses, and support for Obamacare drop below required levels among Dems. If you were a self-serving scumbag, it’s what you would do. Only the hard core idealogues will go down with this ship.

  4. McGehee says:

    Desperate Democrats may see anti-bank populism as a way of holding power as the November midterm elections approach.

    Some people just want to see the world burn. Why so serious?

  5. Spiny Norman says:

    Only the clowns will be wearing wingtips, or trying to spread the rouge a bit with the help of a syringe and some Botox.

    Sounds rather bauhaus to me. And sorta creepy.

  6. bh says:

    It makes we wonder, where do they think they going to get political contributions from?

    Insurance companies? Banks? Manufacturers? Small businesses? I don’t see the small donations working as in a Presidential election year.

    So, still the lawyers, obviously, but where else?

    Add that to the fact they are going to have more retirements and more contested races across the board this fall. It seems they should spare some of the economy if only to extort money from it.

  7. bh says:

    “A Presidential election year” should be “non-Presidential election year” above.

  8. One of TEH Ones!!!11!!! prime attributes was his ability to be everything to everyone, i.e., his “Blankslatednesss”. If he were a man who was internally like Bill Clinton he could throw over his Left allies, do a purge, and run in the center for the next three years, to end up getting re-elected in 2012. If he were truly a man of the Left, he would cling more closely to his Left allies, double down, and run further leftward to bolster his base.

    What I am afraid of is that he is TRULY a blank slate, not just to everyone, but to himself as well. If that is the case, we are in for an interesting next three years. And I mean interesting in the Chinese curse sense…

  9. bh says:

    Heh, actually, I had it right the first time.

    Coffee time.

  10. LBascom says:

    Brett Hume was just comparing this to Clintons wake up call in ’94, and how it was maybe fortunate for Obama that got it a year yearly thanks to a special election.

    Then he went on to say that Clintons prior experience helped him see it, whereas Obama, not so much.

    It will be interesting to see exactly how narcissistic Obama is…

  11. JHo says:

    So if the left’s stated Bush-era preference was for democracy and constitutionality, what does that make all this?

  12. sdferr says:

    “It will be interesting to see exactly how narcissistic Obama is…”

    For now, I’m assuming he’s in the “we HAVE to try!” camp, lacking the wit to understand his position. Any reversal on his part will be entirely uncharacteristic and demonstrate the one sure thing he’s so far proved to lack: an ability to learn.

  13. LBascom says:

    And while contemplating the man Obama is, I came across this anchoress piece on W. she has re-posted, along with this. Brought a tear to my eye, it did.

  14. LBascom says:

    Oh, the post that prompted the anchoress…

  15. J."Trashman" Peden says:

    My Friends, of course mocking them is always important. But we have an important decision to make regarding any answer to, or prophylaxis for their imminent rage: Shall it be real spankings or real pacifiers? For the children!

    Seriously, if I could get some pacifiers to my Sen-a-tors, I’d be off to Walmart stat.

  16. steph says:

    Well, according to Fineman and Olberdouche, it will be easier for the Dems to rule with 59 rather than 60. A majority of 60 was just to difficult to work with. It’s like having all of the money you could possible have to spend on things, but, geez, you just can’t decide what to spend it on. But with 59, oh, the dems are really gonna be focused now. (I can’t link from work, but I swear that’s what they were positing last night).
    I learned a long time ago, when I was a college lad living with over-privileged soft-socialists and Chomskites, that when they’re not lying to you, they’re lying to themselves, because that is all they have ever known or will ever know. Damn lies.

  17. J."Trashman" Peden says:

    As for Obama, he always sucks anyway.

  18. J."Trashman" Peden says:

    I learned a long time ago, when I was a college lad living with over-privileged soft-socialists and Chomskites, that when they’re not lying to you, they’re lying to themselves, because that is all they have ever known or will ever know. Damn lies.

    Amen, instead of even turtles all the way down, it’s denial.

  19. Slartibartfast says:

    Sounds rather bauhaus to me.

    Fixed link.

  20. Benedick says:

    Will they tack center or double down? Answer: Both. You want to see a party at war with itself? Grab some of dicentra’s popcorn.

    Pelosi, Reid and the rest of the bona fide proggies are absolutely going press ahead with their agenda. Problem is, they won’t be able to hold together the moderates as they were able to whip into line (to a much greater extent, anyway) last year because the moderates have enough evidence to stop over-reading their mandate.

    Meanwhile, the Evan Bayhs wasted no time in setting up a contrarian camp last night. The health care debate is not going to be about health care for awhile. It’s going to be a debate about what approach the Dems should now take to the health care debate. And it’s not going to remain civil. And it’s going to spill over into campaign season. And the moderate faction will swell as the tea party voice grows louder.

    And when the Dems inevitably give up substantial Congressional ground after the midterms, it’s all going to continue in the form of internicide finger-pointing about whose fault it all was. And the Lefties are going to be more bitter than they’ve ever been because they just lost their one true shot in the modern era to own this joint. An

  21. Silver Whistle says:

    Slart,

    Sometimes Goth, sometimes glam. Have to confess to buying a couple of their albums in my youth.

  22. Benedick says:

    Meh. Is there a limit on comment length?

    Anyway, then the moderates will finally be sick of the filthy hippies, who will find a new generation of Kuciniches to worship. But meanwhile Barack will finally realize that maybe there’s a thing or two to be learned from that Clinton fellow. And he’s start pretending to be a centrist, but unfortunately for him that will only piss off the Left and it will be too late for him to reclaim the goodwill of the independents, because, you know, they won’t get fooled again.

    And so by 2012, Barack will have nothing like the support he had in 2008. But meanwhile, someone (not Palin) will emerge from the GOP who will be likeable and deliver a message that appeals to the tea party center (as well as a sufficient faction of conservatives) to win and send Barack to join Carter in sitting around and bitching bitterly about those thieving Jews.

  23. dicentra says:

    Heh.

    As I read the top half of the post, I planned to sail down into the comment section, link to my comment, and then gloat.

    Thanks, Jeff, for saving me the trouble. :D

    And I still say it’s going to be a popcorn-worthy event. What, Olbermann’s meltdown wasn’t fully entertaining?

  24. Benedick says:

    Mark my words: Democrat Civil War. The hard-core progs in the House — the ones from hard-core prog districts — will not give up. They cannot give up. Their Lefty base won’t let them, and no amount of tea-partying is going to change that. This is their one and only shot to “fundamentally transform America,” and if they ease up, they will never have power again. Ever. And they NEED power.

    But the moderates (or at least those whose constituencies have significant swaths of independents) have already begun to demur. Led by Bayh, they will be tapping the breaks. They also need the power, but they must appeal more to the centrists than to the Code Pinkos. There are many more of these Reps than there are progs who answer to progs. Its just we didn’t really see it that way last year because they over-read their mandate and they owed Barack and Nancy and Harry. But now they see.

    The health care debate, for at least awhile, will not be about health care. It will be a debate about the approach the Dems should be taking with regard to the health care debate. And it will not remain civil. And it will spill over into campaign season. And tea parties will be happening. And when the Dems inevitably give up substantial

  25. Kresh says:

    Sometimes Goth, sometimes glam. Have to confess to buying a couple of their albums in my youth.

    No shame in that my friend, no shame.

  26. dicentra says:

    If he were truly a man of the Left, he would cling more closely to his Left allies, double down, and run further leftward to bolster his base.

    You can 86 that subjunctive voice, there. Obama’s “blankslatedness” is a campaign pose. The Lefty Within perfectly complements his narcissism.

    He’ll double down, go all-in, and bet the farm. He’s incapable of anything else.

  27. Benedick says:

    DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT. Sorry for the overlapping, repetitive posting. PC was giving me error messages when I . . . over nevermind. I’m going to go hide.

  28. dicentra says:

    So expect the Obama administration to go all out for the bank tax with increasingly harsh words for big financial institutions.

    Is it just me, or does the Obama admin totally misread the public (again) on this? Are people actually as cheesed off at Wall Street as he’d like them to be? Or do we recognize that whatever Wall Street did or did not do, the gubmint’s actions afterwards were no better and perhaps worse.

  29. Slartibartfast says:

    This version might be better, or possibly my Youtube is on the fritz.

    I actually like this song better, but it’s a matter of taste.

    Peter Murphy was better as a solo act, though.

  30. dicentra says:

    PC was giving me error messages

    No shame in that my friend, no shame. It happens to all of us at least once.

  31. sdferr says:

    “He’ll double down, go all-in, and bet the farm. He’s incapable of anything else.”

    ‘Zactly dicentra, and besides, as only he knows, he is possessed of such a shining truth that everyone will love him when he makes it appear in the public square garbed in raiment of light.

  32. The Dems could have run the table last year, but just didn’t. Now they’re paying for their dithering, just as the Republicans did in ’06.

    “It was a thumpin’!”

  33. bh says:

    Can Obama move back to the center? He might, and for all our sakes, I hope he does. But unlike many, many other folks who have sat in his office, he’s never had to do it before.*

  34. Dicentra, as I said on another forum, Obama is a victim of his social classes blinkered vision, he cannot think outside himself, to put himself into someone elses shoes. I almost feel sorry for him. The problem being that not only do I not think thay anyone knows the true Obama, I don’t think HE does. And that’s the worrisome part…

  35. LBascom says:

    In case anyone is curious about my reminiscences of W

  36. dicentra says:

    It has begun:Electing Brown “deliberate, premeditated murder … of health care”

    Olby: Massachusetts suddenly turned racist!

    Axelrod signaled that the White House is not giving up on health-care reform.

    “He believes there is a real crisis,” Axelrod said. “He believes we have to deal with that crisis.”…

    Axelrod and Gibbs each said several times that they understand that there is real anger in the country, a pivot from this summer, when they dismissed those who angrily protested the health-care bill at town hall forums.

    “There’s a tremendous amount of anger,” said Gibbs, who in August called the town hall protests “manufactured anger.”

    But Axelrod, known as the White House’s “keeper of the message,” argued that the anger in the country does not mean their agenda has been rejected.

    “There is a general sense of discontent about the economy and there is a general sense of discontent about this town,” Axelrod said. “That’s why we were elected. We are committed to doing something about it.” *

  37. AllenG says:

    And “Wall Street” and the “Big Banks” will laugh all the way to… well… the bank…

    Big regulation is the friend of Big Business. We need to get that message out loud and clear. The only way to make big businesses behave “fairly” (I hate that word- it has almost no bearing on reality) toward people is to keep the rules so simple that the average lay-person can understand them. That way, people know when they’re being cheated and can do something about it.

  38. bh says:

    It’s fun watching the fallout in unexpected places:

    “Oh, Go F*ck Yourself, Curt Schilling”

    “Last Night’s Winner: Massholes”

    Both from Deadspin, the Denton sports blog.

  39. J."Trashman" Peden says:

    He’ll double down, go all-in, and bet the farm. He’s incapable of anything else.

    Dittos from this dittohead, too.

  40. dicentra says:

    Obama is a victim of his social class’s blinkered vision; he cannot think outside himself, to put himself into someone else’s shoes.

    Obama was a narcissist long before he went to college. His personality disorder, brought on by rejection of both his parents (including a very narcissistic mother, who couldn’t be bothered to raise him), crystallized in his teens.

    The narcissism of Leftism is as natural to him as water to a duck.

  41. dicentra says:

    The only way to make big businesses behave “fairly” … toward people is to keep the rules so simple that the average lay-person can understand them.

    How about keeping the regulations limited to honesty and transparency, and get rid of any social engineering stuff? How about getting rid of lobbyists who insert several pages of their own text into every bill, thus ensuring that the little guy gets crowded out?

    Oh, there’s so much wrong with the relationship between Big Biz, Big Gubmint, and Big Law. We’ll have to nuke it all from orbit, just to be sure.

  42. sdferr says:

    “…does not mean their agenda has been rejected.”

    Axelrod and Gibbs (and by implication, their “masters”) are thinking the US has never had a Mussolini style public hanging and have decided carry on in an effort to dare the country to just try it?

  43. Silver Whistle says:

    I don’t know why, but Jeff G’ clown reference had me thinking of Klaus Nomi.

    Anyhoo, I always liked Bauhaus’ version of Ziggy.

  44. J."Trashman" Peden says:

    Oh, there’s so much wrong with the relationship between Big Biz, Big Gubmint, and Big Law. We’ll have to nuke it all from orbit, just to be sure.

    From “The Big Book of Trash”, It ain’t wise to recycle any got dam pestilence, bitches

  45. blah says:

    I’m kind of hoping if Obama doesn’t back down now, then after the midterms we’ll have a President Havisham, sitting around in his inauguration day suit watching his old speeches on his iPod all day. But then, I’m an optimist.

  46. Slartibartfast says:

    Klaus Nomi so needs a link. For da visuals.

  47. LBascom says:

    The narcissism of Leftism is as natural to him as water to a duck flounder.

    FTFY

  48. ThomasD says:

    Obama is not the sort of experienced politician that Clinton was, I doubt he could triangulate even if he wanted to, much less had any inkling of what the American center truly represents.

    Although I’m quite certain he has a very vivid cartoon of middle America tattooed into his psyche. That is what he will base his response on.

    You think the nutroots/proggs are pissed over this blatant rejection of The Won? Anyone seen or heard from Michelle today?

  49. LBascom says:

    And coming

  50. Silver Whistle says:

    Thanks, Slart, for picking up my fumble. We shall not see his likes again, at least in a hurry.

  51. LBascom says:

    And coming…(with a tongue-in-cheek just for PWers)

  52. LBascom says:

    Oops, coming

  53. LBascom says:

    Apparently, Wall street is a little worried Obama is going to double down too…

  54. Danger says:

    Thanks for the reminiscences of W, LBascom 8^)

    The anchoress mentioned it but left out the link of the 01 series first pitch:
    http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2009/07/video-george-bush-throwing-out-first-pitch-at-2001-world-series/

  55. Joe says:

    Olbermann questions whether Massachusetts might be racist.

    Hey, only one blogger gets to ask those questions about intent.

  56. sdferr says:

    Has anyone made the connection to the Emperor’s New Clothes story?

    Scott Brown is the little kid who pointed and laughed.

  57. Silver Whistle says:

    Lee, that Big Hollywood piece by Leigh Scott – it’s like he’s been reading some Goldstein.

  58. LBascom says:

    It’s been both a privilege, an honor, and a delight Danger.

  59. geoffb says:

    Those “moderate” Dems better watch their back. I fully expect that the progressive wing will run against some of them in primary campaigns. Possibly take some of them out.

    The Republicans need to also “double down” on the mantra of lower taxes, less government, fight the terrorists not give them paid for trials. Run Conservatives and win dummies.

  60. LBascom says:

    Yeah Silver Whistle, he probably should have included a h/t. ;-)

  61. McGehee says:

    But we have an important decision to make regarding any answer to, or prophylaxis for their imminent rage: Shall it be real spankings or real pacifiers?

    Burlap bag, rocks, deep lake.

  62. ThomasD says:

    Rocks are unnecessary and entirely too humane.

  63. cranky-d says:

    Don’t forget to stock up on Squid™ brand torches and pitchforks. It makes you angry mob look much angrier and mobbier.

  64. Squid says:

    Whether it’s a mad scientist or a crooked politician, Squid™ brand torches and pitchforks get the job done right!

    Look for Red Mantis™ tar and Ghotifeathers™, coming this fall!

  65. LTC John says:

    “mobbier”. I like that.

  66. Topsecretk9 says:

    we’re likely to see them lash out, their frustration made manifest in petulant death throes of a self-appointed royalty

    Like earlier this year when they bit that dudes finger off?

  67. McGehee says:

    Rocks are unnecessary and entirely too humane.

    But I own the rock concession! Why the man always wanna be keeping me down?

  68. dicentra says:

    Run Conservatives and win dummies

    You want us to run conservatives and then win dummies?

    Oh. Yeah. That’s pretty much BAU (bidness as usual).

  69. BJTex says:

    Here’s a classic example of two college political science professors who remain entirely fixed on ends while utterly ignoring means.

    The real question is what message politicians and pundits will take out of the Massachusetts surprise.

    […]

    Many argue it means Democrats should run from reform. But that would not just be disastrous for American health care. It would misread the results and ignore the lessons of history. Not passing health reform would guarantee that dire predictions about the Democrats’ fate will come true.

    Do you see the tortured logic being employed to prop up the punch drunk prize fighter? We’ve come this far but even if the bill sucks it has to be passed or voters will know, know in the heart of hearts, that Democrats are failures.

    The very thought that the bill is so bad that it shouldn’t be passed because a majority of Americans think it’s ill considered and rotten is trumped by the need to do something. Damn the filibuster and ignorant voters. Full speed ahead to victory!

    Doers do: Teachers teach: Taxpayers pay.

    I hope that this particular analysis is gospel amongst Dems so that the fissure that opens up and swallows many of their legislators come November will be as wide and as deep as the Grand Canyon. Those two guys can then scratch their heads and wonder how their reading of history could have gone so wrong, what with the righteousness of the ideology and all.

  70. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    Oh sweet Lord.

    Mort Zuckerman. Lifetime liberal, Editor & Chief of US News & World Report, and publisher of The NYDN takes a friggin’ tire iron to Barack Obama.

    That one folks, is gonna leave a mark.

  71. sdferr says:

    Thing is, how can it LYBD, given that Zuckerman supported the fucker from the get-go? Unless you mean Z is beating on himself?

  72. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    That’s what I’m saying sdferr.

    That column was the equivalent of a Father admitting to all his friends, “My son is a fucking idiot.” But, yeah, he then turns the tire iron on himself and basically says he regrets supporting him.

    Either way Rahm ain’t gonna let Barry see that column.

  73. Silver Whistle says:

    It reminded me of the way Rupert Murdoch felt the way the wind was blowing for the Tories in their last days and started editorially supporting New Labour. Strictly opportunistic.

  74. Squid says:

    Zuck can’t bring himself to admit that he fell for a blank slate who campaigned on nothing more substantial than Hopenchange, because that would require a level of self-awareness that his cognitive dissonance won’t allow.

    But he sure as hell realizes that marketing skills don’t translate into management skills, so I suppose that’s something.

  75. dicentra says:

    Anyone over here know what the deal is with pudding over at Ace’s?

    No way will I plow through his whole site to find out myself, but I also don’t want to miss out on a smooth and creamy inside joke.

  76. bh says:

    Fortunately, one of his readers remembered to bring the Jello Sugar-Free Vanilla Pudding. This photo shows Ace on Blogger’s Row holding the Official AOSHQ Pudding that Norah O’Donnell was invited to lick from the Official AOSHQ Scrotum[…]*

  77. sdferr says:

    Can’t help you dicentra but I do recall someone writing about the pudding between FPiC Barry’s ears a couple of days ago.

  78. dicentra says:

    Thanks bh.

    How, oh how did I guess that I’d end up regretting asking the question?

  79. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    “Strictly opportunistic”

    No doubt. Didn’t mean for a minute that it made Zuckerman look good and focused new light on Obama. Mort sat down at the poker table, failed to notice he was the sucker, put in all his chips, lost his ass, and now he’s mad that everybody knows it.

  80. mojo says:

    Theme Music:
    Another One Rides The Bus (Weird Al)

  81. bh says:

    Heh, thought about giving you a quick and clever disclaimer.

    Unlike you, I’m not well enough read to know if I could allude to it with Tristram Shandy.

  82. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    dicentra,

    It’s a “this is sooooo good I wanna dip my balls in it” kinda thing. Been a running gag over there for years.

  83. dicentra says:

    Also, for the latest episode of “dicentra uses PW for cheap tech support,” does anyone here know how to set up an MS Access query (using the GUI, plzkthx) to return all rows that contain one value out of multiple values in a particular field?

    When I configured the field (XFIELD), I used the wizard to derive the values for XFIELD from another table (XTABLE), and I specified that you could select multiple values from XTABLE for XFIELD.

    I just need to pluck out the rows where one (1) of the values in XFIELD is present.

    Anyone know how?

  84. dicentra says:

    LYBD, I knew about that thing, but wasn’t sure if the pudding was tied in. And bh, if you’d used Tristram Shandy as the ref, I’d probably miss it, having read only part of it some 15 years ago.

  85. bh says:

    On the local radio right now, they’re seriously discussing if we can take out Russ Feingold (D-WI) with Tommy Thompson.

    After yesterday, I’m thinking maybe.

  86. bh says:

    Oh, and the one DBA I know, di, didn’t answer his phone.

  87. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    In what is possibly the greatest 2010 Republican ad ever, here’s Gibbs today on Obama’s leadership: “I don’t honestly believe we would be where we are if not for the President being very intimately involved.”

    Then immediately heard in a loud whisper from behind the curtain, “Walk it back! Walk it back!!”

    Ok, I made the last part up.

  88. geoffb says:

    You want us to run conservatives and then win dummies?

    I was trying a new “comma-lite” diet. Doesn’t work too well.

  89. bh says:

    Don’t worry, Geoff. I use too many. It’s the law of conservation of punctuation.

  90. steph says:

    dicentra:

    Select * from OBAMA
    Where TRUTH => ‘0’

    Result Set = NULL

  91. sdferr says:

    Despite the possible implications of overconfidence LYBD, I’m thinking today is a day for hot biscuits and pan gravy (bacon? sausage? ham? … yes please).

    Oh, and a toast to Sen Scott Brown. Here’s to you Senator, have a great year.

    And those Melba squares? Barbara Boxer.

  92. JD says:

    Barcky and Gibbs are like a bad comedy duo.

  93. steph says:

    dicentra,

    Seriously. I’m not sure I’m understanding your question. Using Query Wizard in MS Access, you select the columns from the table you want to search, then create your design. In the Select Query window that appears after you finish your design, you place your criteria (eg., *bam* returns all results containing containing bam, such as Obama, Slambam, or “Obama” if you want to return only rows containing Obama), and run the query. If you want to dump the results into a new table, you first need to click QueryMake Table Query.

  94. geoffb says:

    Like an eel he is.

    This is the teaser headline, The President advised Democrats not to ‘jam’ health care past GOP after Tuesday’s stunning Senate defeat. But the story shows him selling the same old garbage with a few hemline trims to try and peel away one or more of the “moderate” Republicans.

    This from Sarah Palin’s Facebook page is what is needed.

    We need common sense solutions like reforming malpractice laws, allowing people to purchase insurance across state lines, giving individual purchasers the same tax benefits as those who get coverage through their employers, and letting small businesses pool together to provide insurance for their employees.

  95. LBascom says:

    Common sense?

    That’s just crazy talk!

  96. dicentra says:

    steph:

    Every time I put something in the criteria field, it tells me it’s a mismatch. Then if I do a plain old table query and try to sort one of the columns alphabetically, it crashes.

    Maybe this time there’s a problem with the app instead of between the keyboard and the chair.

  97. Mr. W says:

    You may be assured that whenever the question has multiple answers, Obama will pick the wrong one.

    Every.Single.Time.

    I am going to miss the Democrat Party,

  98. Mikey NTH says:

    You cannot help those who remain stuck on stupid.

  99. Mikey NTH says:

    The Anchoress links to a Michael Novak column, and in his last line Novak writes that he admies GWB for his guts and his decency.

    That is correct. GWB demonstrated guts, and above all, he demonstrated decency. And decency is so rare it ought to be celebrated. President Obama could learn a lot from that use of the bully pulpit.

  100. TexasDoc says:

    I tuned into PMSNBC for a few minutes just for kicks. It was so fun watching the demented Chris Matthews and the pseudointellectual Rachel Maddow sputter continuously to explain Scott Brown’s victory. For all of her pretense, Rachel is the dumbest political scientist ever. For all of his idiocy, Chris was suddenly possessed by a need to explain how angry people were about deficit spending. Shows you how low political science and journalism have sunk.

  101. sdferr says:

    FPiC Barry stays true to form:

    “Here’s my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts, but the mood around the country: the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office,” the president said in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. “People are angry, they are frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.”

  102. Mr. W says:

    Somewhere, Saul Alinsky is weeping quietly. He can’t believe that Obama was dumb enough to think that ‘Rules for Radicals’ was an operators manual for the United States Government.

    Rules for Radicals told you how to get power, not what to do when you got it.

    Sheesh! Some genius Barry turned out to be…

  103. happyfeet says:

    just words. People don’t like you, little president man. They think you suck ass.

  104. sdferr says:

    Step one in the transform to the populist man of the people:

    It’s been one year since Barack Obama’s inauguration, and already one early innovation of his administration is a distant memory: the Wednesday White House cocktail parties.

  105. dicentra says:

    OK look.

    I built the query I wanted. Worked just fine.

    Then I tried to build a report on the query, and the blasted thing–instead of returning the field I wanted–returned the ID number of the row.

    Which the query did not do.

    In between multiple crashes.

  106. sdferr says:

    Step two: cease hising his wife’s skirt in AirForce One on the way to a night on the town in New York City.

  107. dicentra says:

    Yet another example in the Microsoft Is a Fascist Company list.

  108. Noah Nehm says:

    Mr. W: Exactly. Rules for radicals works in parasitical mode. Provided that the radicals are few in number, they can feed off their host without killing it. Once they take over, though, the host start to die or fights off the infection in earnest.

  109. sdferr says:

    Step three: Flash the argyle socks and the basketball court.

  110. Mr. W says:

    You would think that Bill Ayers would have wised Barry up during one of his trips to the Whitehouse.

    Speaking of: How does a convicted domestic terrorist like Ayers get past the gates of the Whitehouse? Have those dimwits done away with the background check all together?

  111. sdferr says:

    Not to mention the wisdom of dragging the House and Senate along on a year long time-wasting wild goose chase after a HCR takeover of 1/7th of the economy only to have nothing, repeat, nothing to show for it but an angry constituency ready to throw his party out of office come Fall. Genius!

  112. Mikey NTH says:

    IIRC, there is something called the ‘Laffer Curve’ which demonstrates the point where trying to collect a tax becomes more troublesome than what the tax brings in as revenue. I wonder if anyone in poli sci has done a corruption curve, where the amount of horse-trading and log-rolling and pork-barreling becomes more troublesome to a majority party than continuing with a particular political agenda?

    The 1994 change-over in Congress was not only a reaction to ClintonCare, or the Contract With America, there was also the corruption scandals in Congress with the House Post Office, etc. The 2006 changeover was not just Iraq, but the corruption scandals in Congress with Cunningham and DeLay.

    If there is a big Democrat loss in Congress in November 2010 it may be due to the scandal of the current health reform bill, the corruption, the payoffs involved to get it to where it now is.

  113. sdferr says:

    “…a corruption curve…”

    Someone working on Public Choice Theory might be developing one Mikey. GMU maybe?

  114. Mikey NTH says:

    Mr. W: Rules for Radicals works very well when you are going up against the establishment (one that will not just machine-gun you and call it a day). They don’t work so well when you are the establishment. Like the cell phone commercial from a few years back where boss-man is showing off his new cell phone to his flunky and says “This is my way of sticking it to the man,” and the flunky replies, “But sir – you are the man.”

    President Obama – you are president of the United States of America – it does not get more “you are the man” than that. At least on this earth.

  115. bh says:

    Interesting thought, MikeyNTH, and like sdferr, public choice theory is the first thing that comes to mind.

    Very specifically though, I can’t think of any work on that direct question.

  116. Mikey NTH says:

    I will look at that sdferr. Thanks.

  117. newrouter says:

    Have those dimwits done away with the background check all together?

    ask Erroll Southers

  118. Mr. W says:

    I think that the background check on Erroll Southers told them that he was their kind of guy. As was Bill Ayers, Che, and Pol Pot.

    Their standards are…um…’different’.

  119. Mikey NTH says:

    newrouter – if the President invites someone to the White House who has terrorist connections or a terrorist past (Yassir Arafat?) then that person gets in. I do not know much about the Secret Service, but I doubt they get a veto on whomever the President chooses to invite.

    IIRC, in a James Bond novel, M tells Bond that everyone in the fleet knows what to do except for the admiral. It is true in at least two ways – the admiral gives his orders and everyone knows what they have to do; and everyone has an opinion about what should be done, but does not have to live with the responsibility and consequences of giving the orders.

  120. Mr. W says:

    Well it really does not matter because the Whitehouse said that it was a different William Ayers. I am not kidding.

    That went along with the Jeremiah Wright that showed up on the visitor logs, who was, you guessed it, NOT the same ‘reverend’ who spouted hate-America rants for Obama’s approving ears for 20 years.

    Seriously? These people make the Clintons look positively regal.

  121. newrouter says:

    hillary 2012!!1

  122. steph says:

    dicentra:
    Sorry, I’ve been offline for the last several hours. I don’t have Access if front of me, so this is from memory.
    re type mismatch: check you table design. Make sure the data type is text or date or number or whatever matches the kind of data that populates the field.
    re report results: does the query return the results you expect to see? Or does it only return a blank row of data? If it returns expected data, the report *should* work.
    If the query works, save the query. Then go to report wizard and build the report using the saved query as your building block for the report. Make sure your add as many fields into your report as you need to see on the report. Choose whatever grouping (probably none, it sounds like) and sort options, then finish the report.
    What kind of data are you trying to report on?

  123. Joe says:

    The Night Obama Care Died

    HT: Rush and Weasel Zippers

  124. Joe says:

    Well here is a good one: The Night Obama Care Died

    HT: Rush and Weasel Zippers

  125. bh says:

    Wildly off topic but I’m watching this right now and it’s cracking me up. The part with his little cousin Harris is great.

    Definitely worth renting.

  126. dicentra says:

    steph:

    The data mismatch prolly comes from my inputting text instead of the ID number for the row.

    However, the query works, but the report doesn’t return the same field from the table as the query does. The query has two columns from the same table: the second column is a table.field.value column, and the values derives from another table. That other table has four fields including the ID field. The query shows me the second field (what I want), but the report shows me the ID field.

    I asked someone with a bit of SQL experience to help me; we did a net meeting so she could see my desktop, and she couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

    I suspect a bug. Access crashed at least 10 times, usually when I tried to sort query results alphabetically on the table view.

    Yeah. It couldn’t handle that.

  127. Mr. W says:

    I hereby renounce my disbelief that Obama could accomplish any of his campaign promises. Just like he said he would, Obama has truly united left and right; Paul Krugman and I both think he’s worthless now.

    Way to go, Barry!

    He also said that one of America’s two political party’s days were numbered. He’s making progress on that one too.

    You go, girl!

  128. dicentra says:

    BTW, this is Access 2007, and the ability to select multiple values for a single field from a table is a new feature, so I bet it’s buggy as all get-out.

  129. newrouter says:

    You go, girl!

    mom pants do that also creases

  130. newrouter says:

    “multiple values of baracky”

    blue screen of death

  131. steph says:

    dicentra:
    Sorry I couldn’t help. I think the Access I use, when I use it, is 2003! I’m never cutting edge, because of the buginess! I’ve been using SQL Query Analyzer 2005 for most query building I’ve been doing of late.
    Anyways, cheerio and hope for better outcomes tomorrrow.

  132. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    “there is something called the ‘Laffer Curve’”

    When Ben Stein first uttered that to a bored room of sleeping, drooling, “Bueller…?, Bueller…? students”, my high school brain thought it was the “Laughicur”. A possibly funny type of witchcraft.

    Which made voodoo economics all the more curious.

    Save Ferris.

  133. cyn says:

    Prove it, fucker. The collasping world awaits.

  134. cyn says:

    Or collapsing. I like the former.

  135. Danger says:

    “Prove it, fucker. The collasping world awaits.”

    Cyn(n),

    Does that explain the loss of an n in your name?
    And which demon in your head were you referring to with the question?

  136. Danger says:

    Because we don’t normally drop the F-bomb round here without being provoked.

  137. alppuccino says:

    “Look at me! Me and Michelle donated 15 grand of our own money to the little Haiti negroes! How much did Bush donate?”

    You’ll never know Barry. And no one will ever know. Just like no one will ever know how many times W went to Dover to honor the fallen. Or how many homes he visited and demanded total secrecy. We’ll never know, but around 300 of us assume it was a lot.

    But Obama is a great orator. Case closed.

    “Hey, I think I’ll go over to Massachusetts and hang a little oration on those rubes. Get out of my way Rahm, this calls for Obama time.” What.a.fucking.idiot.

    He’s a good person. He donated his own money. And he trusts us enough to announce what a good person he is. He’s not even high-functioning.

    I apologize to Jeff for this little hijack. I went to the website honorfreedom.com which aims to set the record straight about George W. Bush and it fired me up. The problem with the website is that the lies and myths about W are so numerous, It’s like an online history text book.

    My point: Obama has not one redeeming quality. Zero. He is Gollum.

  138. Silver Whistle says:

    I’m wondering, alp, what Dear Leader’s score would be on this test?

  139. Danger says:

    Nothing to apologize for Alp. (yours isn’t the only diversion on this thread;)

    Where did you see the Obama self promotion news?

  140. B Moe says:

    “Hey, I think I’ll go over to Massachusetts and hang a little oration on those rubes. Get out of my way Rahm, this calls for Obama time.” What.a.fucking.idiot.

    One of my pet peeves is folks using higher education as a sign of intelligence. All you need to graduate college is a good memory. A good memory is not the same as intelligence.

  141. B Moe says:

    One of my pet peeves is folks using higher education as a sign of intelligence.

    I meant to say as synonomous with intelligence. It can be an indicator, but it isn’t proof positive.

    Need more coffee.

  142. B Moe says:

    Jesus. Synonymous.

  143. Rusty says:

    Big regulation is the friend of Big Business.

    Ugh. Guess who writes the regulations.

  144. B Moe says:

    I went to the website honorfreedom.com which aims to set the record straight about George W. Bush and it fired me up. The problem with the website is that the lies and myths about W are so numerous, It’s like an online history text book.

    More folks are starting to see the light, Al. History may judge him fairly yet.

  145. BJTex says:

    al, I was just thinking about that this morning. Something might end up in the Pub on that topic.

    My take is that Obama is the coldest fish I’ve ever seen as a President. Watching him talk about Haiti or Ft. Hood is like listening to a human wire service report: bland, uninspired, devoid of any notion of real, human connection. Of course he has to proclaim his caring in money or troops or ships because, in truth, it’s not that important to him to invest his emotions. Compare and contrast the way W and Clinton and Reagan dealt with these disasters you see leaders who, at least, conveyed that they cared at a basic emotional level.

    One might argue those threes’ sincerity but at least they made the effort. I don’t think this guy has almost any milk of humanity in him. It’s all political, ideological, power brokering and public relations.

  146. LTC John says:

    “One of my pet peeves is folks using higher education as a sign of intelligence. All you need to graduate college is a good memory. A good memory is not the same as intelligence.”

    I think the best thing I can say for all the pieces of paper I have from PLACES OF HIGHER LEARNING is that I may have learned some methods of looking at things, a few tricks of the trade (especially in law school) and had some time to practice them – but none of them ever made me “smarter” or “better”…

  147. alppuccino says:

    I’ll go you one better BJ:

    Have you ever heard the military say something like “We couldn’t possibly go there. There’s only one runway and it’s really bumpy.”

    Obama’s first instinct on Haiti was not “military invasion” but a leftist photo op of his doctor-led USAID going in so they could tell us that getting the aid to people is very difficult because there’s only one runway and it’s really bumpy, you know, because of the earthquake.”

    Have LTC John do the math. How long would it have taken, if one hour after this devastating earthquake, a general would have been told to get over there and set up a shock and awe of humanitarian relief. How long would it have taken to have an airfield up and running with aid coming in.

    Now take that number and back down to that day and tally all deaths from that day on and lay them at Obama’s feet. Now multiply that number by Obama’s wonderfulness factor. Because it’s one thing when a guy who hates black people let’s black people die needlessly because he doesn’t care. But it’s exponentially worse when the saviour of all mankind let’s black people die needlessly because he’s retarded.

    The 15k is blood and guilt money. Mark my words.

  148. BJTex says:

    OK, al: Uncaring and a Doofus. That works.

  149. B Moe says:

    Don’t sugar coat it al, tell us what you really think.

  150. alppuccino says:

    Fired up, ready to go, B Moe.

  151. Rusty says:

    139.Comment by Danger on 1/20 @ 11:48 pm #

    “Prove it, fucker. The collasping world awaits.”

    Cyn(n),

    Does that explain the loss of an n in your name?
    And which demon in your head were you referring to with the question?

    I’m glad you broached it because every time I try to be witty with cynn, I’m called an asshole. Wonder what flavor of ‘courage’ she’s imbibing now.