Friday Funnies

The video is the best thing here in a long time.  Hard to believe Barbara Boxer has a job.

Give the teleprompter thing a rest, Joan. After all the man has a lot on his mind and having to remember the content of each and every public address is just a part of it. I mean he speaks in complete sentences and completes whole thoughts and everything. You'll never hear nucular out of him. And there won't be enough fodder to make several 365-day calendars of Bushisms.  I kinda miss the inadvertant 'W' humor, but it's not real impressive in a leader.

I watched most of the Obama/House Repub meeting on c-span... was a good exchange. I thought both sides made some pretty good points. Not sure if it will really matter though. It's the congressional dems who have zero interest in that kind of open dialogue and debate. Pelosi pretty much laughed at the idea that Obama can get them to end the status quo of backroom deals. The message seems pretty clear from them: "F*** change!" They want Obama as a rubber stamp, not telling them how to run their own houses. They don't want some new guy telling them what to do, and it shows.

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Glock21 Op/Ed

Not sure if it will really matter though. It's the congressional dems who have zero interest in that kind of open dialogue and debate.

Whatever.  Obama nailed it perfectly when he said his centrist health care polices were being declared "some sort of Bolshevik plot."  Or when he explained the funding problems with Medicare and then said when he proposed caps on spending the GOP started telling old ladies he's going to take away Medicare.

Republicans have had several chances to support the legislation that has gone through the Congress with some of their ideas inside the bills.  They've decided to play politics instead and destroy any hope at bipartisanship.

That room was filled with a couple of adults and a whole lot of children.  At times Obama appeared to be giving them instruction in basic governance on the federal level.  At other times the Republicans appeared to be dumb as a box of rocks.  To listen to all that and then declare the congressional democrats are the problem is mind boggling.  Only a blind partisan could arrive at such a conclusion.

But thanks for highlighting why it is generally pointless trying to have any sort of rational discussion with you.

I'm not trying to have a rational discussion with you.  I'm just pointing out where you're wrong.  Anyone who watches an hour of Obama exposing the dearth of actual ideas coming from the House Republicans only to declare that it is Pelosi and Reid that are to blame for the troubles needs to be challenged, imo.  And I have a hard time understanding how someone could draw that conclusion without the blinders of partisanship.

That's pretty much it.  No big conspiracy, no big obsession.  You're just wrong and I wouldn't want someone who hasn't watched the tape to walk away with the wrong perspective on what happened.  I'll try harder to play nice in the future ("whatever" "blind partisan" etc.).  You obviously don't appreciate that kind of banter.

Have a good weekend.

C-span.org has the coverage of the Obama / House GOP Q & A meeting here: http://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2010/01/29/HP/R/28993/President+Speaks+at+GOP+Retreat.aspx

People won't find any backing for my complaint about the dem congressional leadership in it because that complaint wasn't based on this Q & A... but hey, that might actually mean they read what I wrote, not been wrestling with straw men. How very grown up of them.

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Glock21 Op/Ed

At least the teleprompter jokes are pretty silly compared to the conspiracies of secret Rovian communication packs hidden in jacket buldges during the Bush admin. Teleprompters for speeches are just high tech note cards in my opinion... allows for a better presentation, with a stronger appearance of eye contact, which is good stuff as any Speech 101 class suggests. The under-the-camera prompters make it appear like the guy is only talking to the tv audience instead of addressing an actual one... which is fine for oval office messages, but looks artificial when actually addressing an audience too.

Not sure why people are so riled up over the right making jokes about it, it's not like it has any bearing on Obama's image, nor does it matter to anyone beyond right wingers who like to poke fun of him or think it confirms some of his tired/groggy/off-the-cuff gaffes/etc clips during the campaign proved his masterful speech giving was somehow a ruse. There are certainly far more damaging criticisms they could focus on instead... just ask his base. Their lost enthusiasm, and many who are actively criticizing him too don't have anything to do with right wingers or the Daily Show making fun of him for setting up teleprompters in a grade school setting.

On a more humorous note, if you missed it, an old MadTV skit on the iPad... sorta NSFW... ish... http://glock21.blogspot.com/2010/01/comic-relief-ipad.html

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Glock21 Op/Ed