"Deficit Memories": Progressive messages invade a cartoon... (image)

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Jen Sorenson, "Slowpoke.

(Updated) Howard Dean on "Face the Nation" Today (with video)

UPDATE II: CBS News-video (09:32):.

Bob Schieffer spoke with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Gov. Howard Dean (D-Va.) on the bipartisan efforts needed to resolve the issues that lead to Standard and Poor's downgrade of the U.S. credit rating.

UPDATE: Rachel Maddow will be on "Meet the Press" today, which airs in Seattle @ 10am on KONG (16).


CBS News, with video (00:39):

This Sunday's Guests on "Face the Nation" are Obama Campaign Adviser David Axelrod, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Howard Dean, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Months of debate over the crisis created over the debt ceiling have given way to a new cold reality in Washington - the economy. As the government dithered to fix its own mess, the stock market erased all of its gains from 2011, roughly a trillion dollars in value lost in a matter of weeks, capped off by a 513 point drop Thursday.

Howie P.S.: Face the Nation airs live in Seattle @8:30am on KIROTV (7). I have been wondering what Howard Dean has to say about our current situation. I will post video of the show when it becomes available online.

Chomsky: "America in Decline--in no small measure self-inflicted."

Noam Chomsky:

Another common theme, at least among those who are not willfully blind, is that American decline is in no small measure self-inflicted. The comic opera in Washington this summer, which disgusts the country and bewilders the world, may have no analogue in the annals of parliamentary democracy. MORE...

"2010 Census numbers on same-sex couples in Seattle" (with interactive map)

Seattle Times, with interactive map:

State sees surge in gay couples, especially outside Seattle | While Seattle's Capitol Hill remains the center of gay life in the area, the number of same-sex couples there barely budged over the decade -- growing only slightly for male couples and not at all for female couples. Meanwhile, neighborhoods such as West Seattle and suburbs like Lynnwood, Shoreline and Lake Forest Park saw the number of same-sex couples rise sharply. Read full story.

Howie P.S.: Surprising (to me) factoid from the story:

Vashon Island, population 10,600, has the highest concentration of same-sex couples in the state. Some 5.5 percent of all couples there were same-sex, followed by Seattle, at 5.4 percent.

"Forgetting Lessons of Keynes and FDR Brings On the ‘Obama Recession’"

David Woolner (new deal 2.0):

In the past two years we have heard official after official claim that they do not want to repeat “the mistakes of the Great Depression.” Yet the recent behavior of both the Obama Administration and senior members of Congress belies this claim. Rather than fight for economic policies that would stimulate the economy and put people back to work, this Administration — and even many senior democratic party officials — have chosen to ignore the lessons of the past. Instead of focusing on jobs and growth — the real crisis in our economy — they have embraced the sky-is-falling rhetoric of the Republican Party extremists. MORE...

"The U.S. Doesn’t Have a Debt Problem. It Has a Crisis of Values"

Imara Jones (Colorlines.com):

One key reason that markets have showed continued confidence in U.S. debt is that unlike debt problems in, say, Greece and Portugal, U.S. deficits are largely the result of government policy rather than a fundamental structural problem with economy. The majority of U.S. debt since 1980 is the result of tax cuts and wars—first the Reagan tax reductions in the 1980s and his administration’s Cold War build up, then the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. doesn’t have a debt problem; it has a values problem. MORE...

Dear Mr. President- (friendly advice)

Paul Krugman:

The point is that it’s now time — long past time — to get serious about the real crisis the economy faces. The Fed needs to stop making excuses, while the president needs to come up with real job-creation proposals. And if Republicans block those proposals, he needs to make a Harry Truman-style campaign against the do-nothing G.O.P.

This might or might not work. But we already know what isn’t working: the economic policy of the past two years — and the millions of Americans who should have jobs, but don’t. MORE...

Bob Schrum:

Time and again, most recently during the manufactured debt crisis, the president has already proved that he's the reasonable person in the room. Now he has to prove that he's the passionate person in the room — and that he's passionate about the things that matter to ordinary, hard-working, and out-of-work Americans. This is where he would do well to listen to his progressive ranks and his own progressive instincts. He has to put an edge on his message, as FDR and Harry Truman did. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Meanwhile, the President has an idea of his own, "Obama Pushing Jobs For Unemployed Military Veterans":

President Barack Obama is asking Congress to approve new initiatives to help some of America's 1 million unemployed military veterans find work, including tax credits for companies that hire out-of-work vets.

The proposal Obama is to outline Friday is part of the president's efforts to return to a focus on jobs after spending weeks mired in the contentious debt-limit debate that consumed the White House for much of the summer.MORE...

H/t to Greg Sargent.

Matt Taibbi on Countdown-"Evil Corporate Tax Holiday Deal Still Alive" (with video)

MiniRtist with video (07:26) from Current TV.

Howie P.S.: Taibbi writes about this in latest post on the Taibblog:

For people interested in this story, I definitely recommend reading this Bloomberg article focusing on Cisco, one of the biggest lobbyers in favor of the tax holiday. This is a company whose CEO, John Chambers, wrote an editorial last October in the Wall Street Journal predicting that the tax holiday would generate a trillion dollars in repatriated earnings, money that Chambers insisted would outdo even Barack Obama’s stimulus as a job-creation engine...MORE...

"Food Stamp Participation" (Chart of the Day)

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H/t to Shaun.

NY Times poll: "plurality blames Bush, not Obama, for the deficit"

Greg Sargent:

* The new New York Times poll finds a plurality blames Bush, not Obama, for the deficit, and 72 percent disapprove of the GOP’s handling of the debt ceiling fight, versus only 47 percent who disapprove of Obama’s handling of it.

* But: The poll also finds that only 15 percent think the spending cuts in the deal went too far, versus 44 percent who said they don’t go far enough.

Those numbers mirror Gallup’s findings and suggest yet again that the public has internalized key aspects of the conservative economic worldview. MORE...

Howie P.S.: I hope the electorate is able to figure out by time the next elections roll around that G. W. only managed to create the deficit with the help of many others in his party and with the aid and comfort of some DINOS (DemocratsInNameOnly).

Rachel Maddow on how the 'job creators' are doin' great without creating the jobs! (video)

MSNBC-Rachel Maddow, video (15:03).

"At Obama’s birthday party in Chicago, a warm embrace from die-hard supporters" (with video)

David Nakamura (WaPo), with video (00:41)and photo gallery:

Leo Henton, 52, a Boeing engineer from Seattle who was on vacation with his wife, Cynthia, said that Obama was realistic in the face of stiff Republican opposition to raising taxes and cut the best deal he could.

“My opinion is that the deal is for 10 years and there’s a trigger,” said Henton, who was third in line. “We’re in a recession right now, or what sure looks like a recession to me. The heavy cuts will not come in for another two years. He did the wise thing in terms of the deal.” MORE...

(Updated) Ari Melber: "'Super Committee' not so super" (video)

UPDATE: NEW headline for this post now @The Nation.com: "The Spending Cuts Are Two Sacred Cows Strapped Together With a Time Bomb." Don't believe me? Here it is.


MSNBC-Dylan Ratigan, video (04:40).

H/t to Pam Eakes.

Patty Murray Explains Why She Supports the Debt Limit Bill (video)

SenatorPattyMurray, video (07:40).

Knute Berger on Tim Ceis: "it's time for Seattle to move its ass."

Knute Berger(Crosscut):<

The deep-bore wisdom of Tim Ceis---A master strategist and former deputy mayor talks about the tunnel, redistricting, and Seattle politics. Ceis is pushing pragmatism, but how pragmatic is a risky tunnel? MORE...

Somewhat Discouraging Thought of the Day

This is the Gingrich government shut down all over again, but better played and against a decidedly less adept enemy.

-from John Aravosis (AMERICAblog) on "Tea Party Envy."

"President Obama: Next Chapter Of Deficit Reduction Will Include New Tax Revenue" (with video)

Colby Hall (MEDIAite) with video from MSNBC (08:20):

President Obama took to the White House lawn today and addressed the press shortly after the recent bill had been passed that raised the debt ceiling, and aimed to pivot the focused conversation to “a more balanced approach” to the fall season. The president’s response was muted in tone, downplaying any celebratory tone, and immediately presented the political agenda for next few months: lowering taxes for the lower and middle class and putting more revenue burden on the wealthy.

The president insisted that the next chapter of deficit reduction will focus on a revamped tax code and also hit some of the same talking points he made in the last few days, namely that the people may have voted for a divided government and not a dysfunctional one. “It shouldn’t take the risk of default or catastrophe for people in this town to come together and get something done.”

(Updated) Peter Daou: "How the Democratic establishment shunned the left, spawned the Tea Party and moved America right" (with video)

UPDATE: Booman comments on Daou's post:

I agree with a lot of Peter Daou's analysis. I especially agree on three points. First, the culture of Washington DC is absolutely toxic and really does resemble a bad movie about high school. Second, the political Establishment, including the Democratic Establishment, is not in tune with progressive politics. Third, if we're ever going to stop losing ground to the radical right, the Democratic Establishment is going to have to learn to work with the activist base. Where I have a problem with Daou's take on things is that he places all the blame for this less-than-ideal relationship on the Democratic Establishment and he gives the progressive blogosphere a complete pass. MORE...

Peter Daou:

At the root of the problem is this: the GOP benefits from a superior communications mechanism with which to shape and reshape conventional wisdom. Faced with a public that holds opposing views, politicians can either change their positions to match the public’s views or change the public’s views to match their positions — Republicans almost always choose the latter, bolstered by a highly sophisticated framing and messaging infrastructure crafted and funded over decades. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Daou ends his piece with this

The one thing that gives me hope is that the inexorable march of human progress is the activist left’s secret weapon, ultimately trumping manufactured conventional wisdom, the deceptions of the right and the weakness of the Democratic establishment. It’s a harrowing journey, but eventually progress wins out.

Post Debtmadgeddon Pundit Super-Roundup

Greg Sargent (The Morning Plum):

Lori Montgomery (WaPo), Karen Tumulty and Perry Bacon Jr.(WaPo), Timothy Geitner (WaPo op-ed), Steve Benen, Mark Landler and Jeff Zeleny (NY Times), Erik Wasson and Mike Lillis (The Hill), Naftali Bendavid And Carol E. Lee (Wall Street Journal), David M. Drucker and Humberto Sanchez (Roll Call), Joan Walsh (Salon).

"Abbreviated Pundit Roundup" (Daily Kos):

Peter Nicholas, Ezra Klein, Mark Gongloff, NY Times.

Seattle Times ed-board: "spending cuts ought to have been balanced with some revenue increases."

Seattle Times editorial board:

The federal government is not going to be available to do new things. It is not going to be able to fight three wars at a time. It will not be a font of new social benefits. It is not going to be able to bail out state governments.

The political questions will not be what things to do more of, but what things government will have to do less of in order to preserve the things that are essential. MORE...