Today’s Qs for O’s WH — 2/6/09

“The President believes that the process he’s put in place will create a firmer and more sound legal framework to move forward.”
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He hasn’t really put a process in place yet, has he jake?

Has justice been served with the military tribunals? Has justice been served by the label Enemy Combatant? Has the 911 victims been satisfied to date with any of the out comes?
The short answer is no. So why continue with it?
Fuss all you want it changes nothing.

He hasn’t really put a process in place yet, has he jake?
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After about 15 days, no. But neither had his predecessor after 6 years of holding Nashiri, who had been aprehended in the UAE. The Military Tribunal didn’t even begin until December of ’08. Pohl and the Bush administration knew that Gitmo and their present system of detainee procedures were going to be cleaned up very soon after Obama had been elected. After all, it had been a campaign promise that necessitated quick implementation. It looks the worst on Pohl, who at the last minute implemented he proceedings, knowing full well they would be challenged. He was basically acting under a political agenda that would have only served to prolong the delay, while claiming he was acting on the behalf and interests of the family. It was dirty double dealing.

Some cynical Democrats, including me, are starting to call the Stimulus Bill “The Obama Re-Election Plan.” Today, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released its opinion on the Stimulus Plan, aka the Muddle.
They say, “President Obama’s economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday… CBO did project the bill would create jobs, though by 2011 the effects would be minuscule.”

First of all, there is no way Gibbs actually WROTE that email. He may have sent it, but surely it was written by some legal counsel within the administration.
Gibbs is a pathetic press secretary. His lack of knowledge, confidence (I don’t think he even believes what he says) and weak attempts at injecting humor to distract from his own discomfort is just plain hard to watch.
I applaud Jake as always for not allowing this new administration to think they are just too smart and too clever for the average American to figure out that they are no different than any other politician.

jon,
I don’t have the exact numbers but it was something like 37% approve it “as is”, 25% completely reject a stimulus bill and 38% want a stimulus bill, but not this one…they want it modified. So the majority of Americans are against the current bill.
Whatever your political affiliation, I can’t imagine anyone really thinks Robert Gibbs was a good choice for Obama. I think he’ll be gone in 2 months. He just is not ready for prime time. He can’t handle any questions, not just Jake’s…not any period. He muddles through answers unnecessarily and doesn’t serve Obama well.

DOH-BAMA could care less about these families or terrorism.. the proof is coming out. he will be granting pardons and Social Security benefits to them shortly

smith: “what is the alternative that will speed justice?”
Trials in the US under a framework approved by Congress, which has the Constitutional power to define the court system (with the exception of the Supreme Court at the top).

BertieW: “Yeah, all you would have to do is go to the Gallup home page. The % of people who support *this* stimulus HR1 is 38%. ”
OK, I actually went to the page and the most current Gallup poll:
“As you may know, Congress is considering a new economic stimulus package of at least $800 billion. Do you favor or oppose Congress passing THIS legislation?
Favor: 52%
Oppose: 32%
No Opinion: 10%”
Gallup headlines the page on this poll “Public Support for Stimulus Package Unchanged at 52%”
(Emphasis mine) This poll asks the exact question Do you want to pass this bill, yes or no? And the answer is yes – 52% is much larger than 32%.

Only two weeks into his presidency, it’s already time for President Obama to put up or shut up – to put our money where his mouth was during the campaign.
If he saddles our nation – and our children – with $1 trillion in debt for the same old, bloated, wasteful Washington spend-a-palooza while unemployment goes to double digits and the breadlines grow longer, he will not be remembered as a new Abraham Lincoln.
He will be remembered as the man who presided over the total collapse of the American economy – and the superpower status built on top of it.

And the answer is yes – 52% is much larger than 32%.
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JHW- I think what happens is that percentages within the percentage are used. For instance, with the FOX poll, 75% wanted some form of a stimulus plan, but 38% were okay with how it is, while 37% wanted changes. Some people, including pundits, ran with the lower numbers. I would definitely be with the 37% because I want less taxes and far more stimulus. It’s a shame the two biggest expenditures are so different in size, with tax cuts around 30% and infrastructure at 10%.

kathy: “I think what happens is that percentages within the percentage are used. ”
In this case, it’s a matter of the question wording. BertieW keeps citing that wanting the bill passed with changes is the same as wanting no stimulus bill (the option the minority party Republicans are currently offering – Democrats are not in the majority to pass a third round of Bush tax cuts that haven’t worked yet). I am trying to point out when the option is this bill or nothing, the results of Gallup polls are VERY clear.
Polls don’t lie when they fully cite their methodology. BertieW does lie when he misstates what the poll is saying.

The demons of the senate are saying they need the PorkPie to spend our future taxes because if American’s are given the stimulus money they will not spend it but use it to pay bills instead because they are scared (and would act too responsibly…..)
They want us to depend on them or they tell us we will be out on the streets. Is there anyone in the House or Senate that we trust to tell us the truth?
No one I trust right now.

What a petulant child, he is. He wants this stimulus passed immediately so that he can go to Springfield, IL next week and play Lincoln.
Yes, he’s painting gloom, doom, snd fear on everyone’s living room walls. Maybe he’s The One who should go into his bedroom and hide in the closet.
He is the most arrogant man I think I have ever watched in action.
His life and his political career have been a game to him a game he is proud to say HE WON(because he cheated)
Who ever heard of a president saying because I won that’s why.
He got his air force one jacket looks like a halloween custom on him.
Scared me.
It really takes a flippin’ flyin’ ####### to tell the opposition that they “won” (by cheating) when they are both on the same sinking ship. Childish does not even start to cover it and STUPID is an understatement.
Obama is a trainwreck.

“In this case, it’s a matter of the question wording. BertieW keeps citing that wanting the bill passed with changes is the same as wanting no stimulus bill”
I can see why Rahm thinks education is crisis to be exploited.
They didnt ask if there should pick a different font for the bill. The survey question was “major changes” MAJOR.
ma·jor (mjr)
adj.
1. Greater than others in importance or rank: a major artist.
2. Great in scope or effect: a major improvement.
3. Great in number, size, or extent: the major portion of the population.
4. Requiring great attention or concern; very serious: a major illness.
So people would like changes “great in size, scope or extent, and the Demo’s offer to take out Gibb’s proverbial 0.02% of the bill.
15 Senators get together in a bipartisan way and try to look through the bill and fix it and Obama stamps his little foot and says “I won!”
That means he is trying to prevent just the changes that people want.
All the while playing the fear card.

President Obama and the Democrats in Congress are selling soothing syrup to their political base at a price of massive inflation and agony for the future. What Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in his first inaugural address holds doubly true today: “Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money.”
Democrats have, of course, always been willing to tolerate a certain level of inflation in an effort to hold down joblessness. But the lengths to which they are now going to spare us immediate pain and the implications of a doubling of the money supply in one year are beyond rational calculus.
It’s hard to believe that any administration, set of economists or political party could be this irresponsible or so focused on the next election that they are literally willing to mortgage much of the next decade to win it.

Concerned in OH: “…Bush has that honor. The recession started in 2007,”
Wrong. The Democratic congress has that honor.”
Sorry – I forgot the Republican Mantra: The buck stops with the Democrats. (Who took control of congress a whole 9 months before the recession – it must be their fault!)

Concerned,
Funny you should mention KY – here’s a statement from the Governor there:
“I was pleased to hear details of President-elect Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan and his desire to help struggling states. Kentucky, like the nation, is facing a worsening recession and state government is faced with a $456 million revenue deficit for the current year. That is why I strongly support President-elect Obama’s calls for an infusion of funding for energy and education, health care and traditional and non-traditional infrastructure programs.
“Most important, however, is the timing of a stimulus package. Just as I have called upon state legislators to move quickly to reach agreement on a plan to balance Kentucky’s budget while protecting critical needs, I’m urging Congress to move quickly to pass this vital economic stimulus.”

“I appreciate President Obama’s quick response to our request for a major disaster declaration following this devastating storm,” Gov. Beshear said.

Some of the other governors lobbying for passage of the recovery act:
Charlie Crist R(FL)
Mitch Daniels R(Indiana)
Jodi Rell R(CT)

“Not really. Bear in mind that the Bush presidency – 6 years with a Republican Congress – added $4 trillion dollars to the debt. That is five times this stimulus package. ”
So whats your explanation about why that wasn’t stimulative?

“No, Bush has that honor. The recession started in 2007,”
Wrong. The Democratic congress has that honor.”
And yet you blame the recession of late 2000, early 2001 on Clinton.

Beshear asked Obama for a disaster declaration to free up federal assistance Thursday, two days after the storm hit, and Obama issued it hours later. Trucks loaded with supplies began arriving at a staging area at Fort Campbell, Ky., on Friday morning.
On Saturday, Beshear ordered all of the state’s Army National Guardsmen into action to distribute supplies, many of which came from FEMA.
“We have had tremendous and quick response from President Obama and his administration,” Beshear said Monday. “I don’t think any of our folks that have dealt with disasters before ever recall as quick a response as we got last Wednesday.”
Trina Sheets, executive director of the National Emergency Management Association, based in Lexington, Ky., said that from what she’s heard, FEMA’s response has been very good so far. Her group represents emergency management directors from all 50 states.
“The governor’s declaration request for an emergency was turned around very, very quickly by FEMA and the White House,” said Sheets, who just had her power restored Monday after four days without it. “And President Obama has spoken with the governor of Kentucky on several occasions throughout the event.”
Sheets said she hadn’t heard any complaints so far about the federal response.

“The prevailing liberal wisdom for FEMA’s purported failures at Katrina was because “George Bush hates Black People”.”
Most people (including myself) feel the failures at FEMA stem from Bush hiring a crony with zero experience for the job, notwithstanding Kayne West’s accurate observation.
“Heckuva a job Brownie!”

“50 deaths that could have been avoided had 0bama not been too busy with cocktail hour to care.”
The storm has been blamed for 27 deaths in Kentucky, mostly from carbon monoxide poisoning from generators.
And from today
A Kentucky official says the number of power outages has dropped to about 125,000 across the state, down from a high of more than 769,000.
I know Katrina was embarrassing for you.
It was embarrassing for all Americans which is why Bush’s incompetence and failure of leadership was so vilified.
We can see the difference with Obama who was quick to declare disaster areas and has some in charge of FEMA who actually knows what they are doing.

Concerned in OH forgets the terribly delayed response of Fema, not only in LA, but all accross the region. How convenient…

ALL Americans will be waiting to see this new process “he’ll put in place” to be better and sounder framework.
How it will be a quicker and “litigation free” in a civilian or modified civilian court is very questionable?
Same witnesses
Same interrogation
Same intelligence reports
Except it will be more difficult to provide the national security for our intelligence processes and extremely questionable that witnesses here or abroad will feel quite as secure standing in open court and then going in witness protection.
In military courts, well there’s the tribunal, there’s a specified appellate level, then right to Supreme Court for a constitution question,
IN the regular US court system, well, you know anything can and will happen.
In addition to the human rights questions and procedural minutiae, there is :
Venue shopping – what court is best
Conflict of interest of judge
Various motions of delay.
We all saw the OJ trial. KSM or even Nashiri will be that on steroids in a public trial, with the added extra pleasure that our national secrets and our national security are ebbing away in the courtroom.
Good work, President Obama.

“if we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, we stand up there and we make really tough decisions, there’s still a 30-percent chance we’re going to get it wrong”
I prefer Joe Biden’s honesty to the Cheney method of never admitting mistakes even in the face of overwhelming evidence.

I remember Bush on the TV days after the disaster had begun saying that they were doing absolutely everything they could do to get relief to the people trapped at the Superdome while a helicopter sat on the ground in the background doing absolutely nothing. I think the first water they actually saw was sent by Donald Trump.

skip you bring up Katrina,where everybody knows the problem was with the democrat governor and mayor, who let buses flood instead of using them, and not pushing for evacuation as Pres. Buish requested, the state needs to ask for help first.
Now Obama sat on his but while people died in Kentucky and Arkansas for over a week and then sent food supplies that contained tainted Peanut butter!!
Wheres the out cry!!

and then sent food supplies that contained tainted Peanut butter!!
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Yecch! I hope they sent some Immodium to go with that tainted Peter Pan.

Mark Kraft -
Exactly! What would be the point of an election if the winner had to change everything to what the loser wanted? Darned Republicans are crazy and irrational.
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“Who ever heard of a president saying because I won that’s why.”
“I earned capital in the political campaign and I intend to spend it.”
- George W. Bush after the 2004 elections.
Keep in mind that Bush only won by 2.4%… not by 7.2% like Obama.
Obama had a higher percentage of the popular vote than Reagan when he beat Carter. He won. As such, his policies will be the basis for negotiation, not the failed Republican policies.
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