I've run out of creative poetic ways to inquire about "my guy," Richard Wolffe, and I'm not going to besmirch any more classic songs. So, I'll just resort to this:
Please let us (especially me!) know if Richard Wolffe will be returning to Countdown!
Birthers & Cokie Roberts will conveniently ignore this event, but on Aug. 21, 1959, President Eisenhower signed an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. The operative words here are STATE & UNION! They're 1 syllable words, but they'll need to give themselves plenty of time for these words to sink in anyway, I'm sure.
And, on Aug. 21, 1904, Count Basie who was one of the leading big-band leaders of American jazz was born. He will always have a happy, funny, warm, & fuzzy place in my heart for this!
Let's Countdown.
#5 "National Lampoon’s Vacillation" AKA "Steele – Trap Mind" AKA "Base Jumping" - Rep. Steny Hoyer said today he’s all for a public option in a health care reform bill, but he wants a bill, and, I guess, if the public option is standing in the way of bill passage, he’s willing to cut it. Speaker Pelosi, in a rare act of admirable chutzpah sorely lacking with the previous administration, said that no health care reform bill will leave the House WITHOUT a public option. I’m really starting to think that getting Dems to keep consistent with message & to work and play well with other Dems is about as fun as herding cats, and, as a "mommy" of 5 cats, I KNOW HERDING CATS. Senator Reid is signaling his readiness for the reconciliation process (aka telling the "party of no" no more). Senator Kyl claims no GOPer will vote for either the version of the bill from the House or the bill from the Senate HELP Committee. OK...fine... we can all hope that the White House & Dem Congress critters will follow Michael Steele’s advice for the Dems to proceed onward & upward! And, as a result, when meaningful actual health care reform passes, all bat$hit GOPs in Congress will be shown the exit door by their constituents in 2010. 46% of the American people approve of the way President Obama is handling the health care issue. 50% outright disapprove. OK, what brilliant mind came up with the excuse that the comments of President Obama & HHS Secretary Sebelius were merely ways to see how the GOP would handle their comments? I don’t know about that. Clarence Page seems to think the comments were more to "stimulate progressives." Y’all think that worked? Rep. Hoyer may be reaching out to Blue Dogs? Why? Why risk the huge benefit of having huge control over both houses of Congress & the White House?! Oh...yea...silly me... to quote Cuba Gooding, Jr. in Jerry McGuire, "Show me the money!" There’s Melissa Harris – Lacewell again! President Obama is still enjoying a big personal popularity advantage; people, for the most part, still trust him. I do, too, but to not bring attention to or question the missteps taken by this White House on health care reform over the last weeks would be doing the exact same thing "the left" accused GWB’s supporters of doing during his Presidency – blindly following their leader like little non – thinking automatons in the face of obvious "What the Spark?!" actions. Holy crap! Did y’all hear what Professor Harris – Lacewell said?! It bears repeating in full:
If they [Congress] do not pass a bill with the public option, the Democrats will lose the House in 2010.
YO, BLUE DOGS! DID Y’ALL HEAR THAT?!
#4 "Holidaze" - How many vacations had GWB taken by this point in his first term? HA! Keith answered by question; it was 31 days. Hell, even President Clinton had taken more time off than President Obama has at this point. And, did y’all hear that number of days GWB ended up either en route to or at Camp David or "brush clearing" in Crawford – over 900! Our nation fought a "war on terror" with its Commander in Chief putting out a "Gone Fishin’" sign for a third of the time he was in office. Now, "the right" is ragging President Obama for taking a week’s vacation to Martha’s Vineyard; eat a lobster roll for me, President Obama! ;D
** No "Oddball"?! DAMN! The Mannity, who screwed up his Baucuss the other night, is STILL sparking up his Baucuss. A guy in Idaho took pictures of a house claiming it was for a foreclosure investigation. Guns were drawn by said guy when the homeowner confronted him. HE’S A TEA BAGGER! And, I know LOTS of you will want to join me in welcoming "Bat$hit" Bachmann to the pro – choice side of abortion! Check this out!
...People need to continue to go to the town halls, continue to melt the phone lines of their liberal member of Congress and let them know, under no certain circumstances will I give the government control over my body and my health care decisions.
TESTIFY SISTER! **
#3 "The Nexus of Politics and Terror" - Donald Rumsfeld defended himself against Tom Ridge’s accusation of playing politics with the terror threat level days before the 2004 election BY QUOTING OBL! Well...gee... indeed, if you can’t beat him (or catch him or kill him or find him), join him. A spokesperson for John Ashcroft suggested that Tom Ridge apply his duct tape somewhere. The original "nexus of politics and terror" segments were actually inspired by comments from Tom Ridge. And, we get an updated version. Ugh...I don’t know if I have the stomach to remember so much about the previous occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
#2 "The Nexus of Politics and Terror Part Deux" - Well golly, Scott McClellan is coming to Tom Ridge’s defense. Sorry...to both gentleman, too little too late. Here’s Jonathan Turley! Go get ‘em, Professor Turley. The GWB administration was playing politics with national security at the same time they were telling dissenters to not play politics with national security. I think Professor Turley disagrees with what John Dean said last night about possible criminal implications of Mr. Ridge’s assertions. John Dean said last night that manipulation of a federal agency for personal political gain was a crime. Professor Turley, however, seems to believe that since the nature of the terrorist rating system was pretty damn discretionary to begin with, it might be difficult to prove a crime but was an absolute betrayal of the Presidential Oath of Office & an abuse of power. Hm...are there any lawyers in the house to help clarify this? When Homeland Security was asked to raise the threat level to NYC financial centers after the 2004 convention, they were asked to include comments about GWB’s leadership; Homeland Security & Tom Ridge complied.
WPITW – An LA Times blogger had some fun with a misplaced television machine ad concerning Countdown. Tom DeLay played the victim card in one of his town hall meetings that he wasn’t even there for. Ms. Betsy "Death Panel" has been asked to resign from her job after her BRILLIANT performance on TDS last night; aka, she’s been sacked! Man, that segment was a little somethin’ somethin’ special.