Bob Herbert: Why the wigging out over earmarks?

March 7, 2009

Bob Herbert wrote a column: "Miracles Take Time" in which he wonders why folks are "wigging out over earmarks". He talks about the economy and how bad things are, and, of course, blames the right wingers.

..saved up from the increasingly tragic devastation wrought by the clownish ideas of right-wing conservatives and the many long years of radical Republican misrule.

Predictable, comical and lacking in imagination. One cannot defend barry without mentioning his opponents. But how else to promote barry? What has he to show for himself?

Words.

Words that clearly don't matter.

Whose fault is it that the clowns were allowed to misrule for 8 years?

And then he concedes that barry "is as legitimate a target for criticism as any president". But he starts the next sentence with *but* to make it seem like the previous one actually meant something.

What happens when someone legitimately targets barry?

All hell breaks loose and the proobamedia come a'scurrying to cover for little barry.

But now they're starting to walk. They're starting to realize how they were conned and how foolish they looked - look - and their own rage is beginning to surface.

And barry's answer?

Well, if you don't like what I do, you can vote for someone else next time.

Who's stoking the fear?

It took Mr Bill to tell him not to fearmonger in an attempt to drop expectations so he could look like a miracle worker. Hence the change in tone of that speech.

Listen to these words all strung along:

This intense, impatient, often self-righteous, frequently wrongheaded and at times willfully destructive criticism has come in waves...

One gets exhausted trying to read through it. What does it sound like to you? Like he's punching something?

A cushion with Rush Limbaugh's pink face on it, perhaps?

Why doesn't he just come out and say it in similar terms to HE'S BACK! HE'S BLACK! or IT'S A PHALLIC SYMBOL! Something like, LEAVE MY BOY ALONE!

Well, not *boy* because it's a racial code word dontcha know.

And *coward*?

Here's the but about barry being a legitimate target.

But there is a weird hysterical quality to some of the recent attacks that suggests an underlying fear or barely suppressed rage.

It's called buyer's remorse.

Iraq (and race baiting) got him the nomination. And when he had the chance to fulfill his initial promise of bringing all the combat troops home in 16 months, he didn't take it. He took the middle option. Surprise.

Then it's earmarks.

More than 4.4 million jobs have been lost since this monster recession officially got under way in December 2007, and we've got people wigging out over earmarks. Folks, get a grip. Some earmarks are good, some are not, but collectively they account for a tiny, tiny portion of the national budget — less than 1 percent.

Freaking out over earmarks is like watching a neighborhood that is being consumed by flames and complaining that there is crabgrass on some of the lawns.

Except if the freakers voted for a fireman who could walk on water and actually believed what he promised.

You know that nebulous Change! chant?

I am going to change Washington!

I am going to put an end to partisanship!

I am going to bring in a new Era of Responsibility!

I am going to put an end to wasteful spending!

I am going to do away with lobbyists and earmarks!

I am going to get the troops home in 16 months!

I am going to be transparent!

I am going to let the public review the bills for 5 days before I sign them!

And what has he done?

Broken every single one of them (and more) in just six weeks.

Can you really blame them their freaking out?

They looked past his lack of experience because of the above trade-offs. They looked past his lack of specifics because he spoke of Change! and they were hungry for it. They went along with his poll-driven policy "refinements" because they had no choice.

And then what happened?

He has been anything but transparent.

He has whined about how bad things are when he promised Hope!

And he filled his Change! cabinet with Clinton people, tax cheats, illegal alien harborers and pay-to-play governors.

One by one the trade offs have been negated.

It may not be helpful - but when one is deceived for close to two years and donated time and money to someone who promised them something in return and then in a matter of six weeks proved himself to be like every other politician - impatience and frustration follow.

And who's the one freaking out about the crabgrass that is Rush Limbaugh?

In the midst of the craziness, conservatives are busy trying to blame this epic economic catastrophe — a conflagration of their own making...The right-wingers would have you believe this is Obama's downturn.

Was not barry in the democratic controlled Senate? And Chris Dodd, Barney Franks and Harry Reid? Nancy Pelosi?

They are all just as responsible as the Republicans.

And then there's a reference to Alan Keyes' statement (with video) that barry is a "radical Communist".

Thing is, if one were to honestly break down what barry has proposed, one might very well come to the conclusion that barry is a radical Communist.

Now here is the truth:

I don't know whether President Obama's ultimate rescue plan for the financial industry will work. He is a thoughtful man running a thoughtful administration and the plan, a staggeringly complex and difficult work in progress, hasn't been revealed yet.

People have been waiting two years for him to reveal his plans. What he has revealed - what he has shown with his (in)actions - is not what they voted for. They have every right to be angry.

They don't want thinking - they want results.

They don't want a panel of experts deciding before a policy is announced - they want a decisive leader.

They don't want more speeches - they want someone who can govern.

It is becoming clear that barry can't do much more than stump in swing states, snipe with his opponents and complain that he wishes he didn't have these messes, while trying to convince folks it isn't about him.

Who can take him seriously?

Frustration, fear and rage may not be helpful, but they are healthy responses to what he has done in his first six weeks. Responses that are going to turn to something much worse - as in violence - when what he has been hiding is revealed.

Maybe the nuns in grammar school were right when they counseled that patience is a virtue. The man has been president for six weeks.

Patience may be a virtue, Bob, but lying is a sin.

Who needs morphine?

Freud would have had a riot with this election season. If the bizarre mancrush and non-saluting messianic chanting didn't strike his fancy, Bob Herbert's phallic preoccupation and Tucker Carlson's ever-present castration anxiety most assuredly would have.

Dear pro-Obama media members:

Where is the discussion of the lack of black voter turnout? Only 2% increase from 2004. Approximately 8 million eligible black voters did not even register. Roland? Ms Brazile? Bob Herbert?

Quote of the day: Palin will be "coming back to the United States"

November 10, 2008
MSNBC

Mark Murray is discussing Governor Palin and the press with David Schuster. Murray said that since she's so far away in Alaska she will be "coming back to the United States" to do interviews.

He's not the first to think Alaska isn't part of the US. Stu Rosenthal said he does American politics, which means he doesn't do Alaska.

Gov Palin doesn't know her geography? Barry thinks there's 57 states, Jonathan Capehart doesn't know which states surround Ohio and Bob Herbert doesn't know his phallic landmarks.

Alma (Campbell) Brown's youth vote

October 31, 2008
Rant alert

Here's Alma Campbell Brown's comments. Recall how she and most every other pundit has said the reason barry won't become president will be because of "racist white America". Because America is still a nation of racists. Even though a black (biracial when politically expedient. How is his typical white person grandmother doing now that barry's case has been thrown out? What kind of man hides out in Hawaii and doesn't stay just one more day for his grandmother's 86 birthday? Her health was so precarious that he had definite plans of when he was returning? How moronic do you think we are?) man is the nominee of the Democratic party and is favored to win the presidency - Americans are racists. Even though Rep John Lewis can make disgusting irresponsible statements about an American hero, POW and presidential candidate weeks after a black man was coronated the nominee and weeks before he most likely becomes the president of the United States. Oh yes. America is racist because they see all black men as the same. And McCain is just the same as Wallace because they're both white Republicans?

What happened to President Bill Clinton when he made a comment that was perceived to be a comparison between one black man and another? A comment that Rev Jesse Jackson said did not offend him? A man who had served the country during it's most prosperous times in recent memory is suddenly a racist just because he is running against a black man. How many voters in the black community know that barry's camp headed into SC with a plan to paint the Clintons as racists? That they had a strategy already laid out to get the black vote (who hadn't been backing barry) even before Mr Bill said a word? How many black voters know that the fairy tale comment was about barry's stance on Iraq - not his presidency? Donna Brazile doesn't even know. It is a fairy tale and it has been proven to be so. Look at how his position has changed just while running for president - most marked after her got the nomination.

How many voters of any color or party still believe barry had an actual say on Iraq? He HAD NO SAY. NOTHING HE SAID MATTERED. HE WAS NOT "IN THE MIDST OF A HEATED SENATE RACE."And when he did have a say he didn't back up that "judgment" and everyone falls happily in line.

Mr Bill gets reviled in the press for "not coming around" and yet the press seems to overlook that barry refused to reach out to him until he had to. That barry's camp (which includes the MSM and the DNC) were cruel and vicious to the Clinton's about the convention. If Jonathan Capehart had an ounce of integrity he would have written that story. What would have happened to him if he had? White guilt + black silence + absolute media corruption = 2008 presidential election. Post racial? Post partisan? Journalistic integrity? Thanks for the comedy.

It was/is barry's arrogance and egomania that directly resulted in Mr Bill's "not coming around". barry was coronated head of the Democratic party and refused to reach out to the previous leader because he hates the former president's wife. Oh, yes, hallelujah, praise Jesus! America is electing a new type of politician. Or Bob HE'S BACK! HE'S BLACK! Herbert proclaimed the herald of new politics!

And who has done a study of whether America is still a country of misogynists? Every poll has shown that America feels less ready for woman president (and obviously VP) than a black male president. We keep seeing these videos shot by bot operatives about people not wanting to vote for a black man - they were not voting for him or any other Democrat anyway. But how is that received in the MSM? Not mentioned. Just used as a platform for another discussion by the liberal white press - what type of servants to they have cleaning their house while they're at work pontificating about minorities in being foreclosed America? The WalMart moms and Joe the Plumber. And Mika and Joe sit back drinking their $5 Starbucks and chat about mortgage foreclosures and racism in America.

Where are the videos from the black community saying no way they'd ever vote for a woman - certain not a "rich white woman who ain't never been called a nigger"? I still can't believe he said that. Well not that he said it. The fact that it took barry kept him on in official campaign advisory position. Haven't seen a single video or story because how would it help barry? Plenty of he's a Muslim. Who the hell cares if he is? What does that say about the MSM pointing it out like it's a negative or scary thing? What does that reveal about their own preconceptions? Who's automatically associating it with terrorism? Have they ever had a poll on McCain or Senator Clinton's religion? How can you say that 23% of voters won;t they they're Muslim? The whole question is skewed.

People voted FOR barry because they didn't want a woman president. How about the interviews of barry's church members who said wright was telling the truth when he was ranting about "Hillary"? How is that not considered racist. This whole race issue is a damn joke.

BROWN: And if Democratic candidate Barack Obama wins, it will be the youth of this country who gave him the presidency.

Here's a hint: It's a new school year. It's no longer "cool" to be a barry fan. The attention span is milliseconds - not 8 hour voting lines. Had someone found a way to integrate it into a blackberry or iphone like barry did with his X-Box ads then he'd win by 20 million.

OBAMA WINS!!!

CNN's JOHN KING reports that The New Mexico Sun News has gone Dewey and pronounced barry the winner with their "Collector's Edition". Who has more merchandising: Disney or Obama? I wonder how Governor Judas will react if/when obama loses. Maybe that's why his suit was so wrinkled. Anyway the paper comes out every two months thus the prediction.

Editors: "When it comes to calling the winner of a presidential election, everyone wants to be first. The New Mexico Sun News hereby claims that achievement."

Haven't the MSM been doing that for over a year? The DNC promised it to him in 2004. I'm sure Fineman, Alter, Meacham and Wolffe already have their articles written and are half-way through their books.

The liberal leaning alternative newspaper ended by imploring its readers to get out and vote, "even if we did spoil the ending for you."

Swing state? Are there barry ads? Do ACORN workers deliver the papers? How much more blatant pro-obama media bias can there be? Nothing subliminal about it. It's basically a campaign flier. I wonder if they printed his inauguration speech. Will Bob HE'S BLACK! HE'S BLACK! Herbert recognize the landmark this time or will he imagine more phallic symbols?

Wonder what Bob Herbert sees in this?

pix courtesy of obamamessiah
A naked breasted white woman wrapped in the American flag, the messiah appearing in the clouds and the adoring masses kneel at his feet. Obama campaign headquarters. I don't even know what to say about the second pix...it reminds me of something. Oh yeah, the Olympics. Here you go. Ought to make Shweaty Hardballs happy.

RANT ALERT: Newsweek's double standard cover of Governor Palin

The cover is a despicable attempt by barry's propaganda machine to discredit Gov Palin at her very core and strength as a charismatic, attractive woman. Every pix of barry in the magazine and online has been perfectly well-lit and airbrushed. Gov Palin's pix was an extreme close-up showing black heads, pores, a mustache and incompletely plucked eyebrows. All that was missing was the spinach in her teeth.

Gov Palin has been attacked as a human being, an Alaskan, an inarticulate hey ya yahoo, mother, a mother of a "DISABLED INFANT WHO WILL BE A DRAIN ON TAXPAYERS SO WHY DIDN'T SHE JUST ABORT IT", a mother who lied about her pregnancy and gave birth to her grandchild (lie), a hypocritical mother because her teenage daughter became pregnant, a mother who wants to charge rape victims for their rape kits (lie), a mother who doesn't care if women are raped and/or incested (beyond words), a mother people "would like to fuck" (beyond disgusting), a mother who is using her son's deployment (to courageously serve our country) as a political scheme, a loose woman who teenagers aren't safe around, a wife of a husband who commits incest, a crazy lady who wants to ban books (lie) but can't read herself, a woman who appeals just to "mindless WalMart moms", a ruthless killer of animals, an empty-headed ditzball of a beauty queen whose only talent is looking good in a bathing suit, an uneducated politician who went to different colleges and aspired to be a sportscaster (herr olbermann), an incompetent and dirty politician who has no future and, of course, the familiar refrain: she's a racist....all in what six weeks?

It is a testament to Senator Clinton for having survived decades of sexism and blatant misogyny. How far have we come as a nation? A black man can become president while his female opponents are destroyed in any and every fashion without the supposed man above the fray, grand uniter and transcender of race stepping up even ONCE to say stop. Michelle Bernard remarked on the night of barry's nomination: "THIS IS THE GREATEST MOMENT IN THIS NATION'S HISTORY." At what cost and to whom? If this is the greatest moment in our nation's history then something is very wrong.

The cover was intentional, malicious and clearly used to further barry's cause. What a surprise. What won't they do? They don't even try to hide it anymore. jon meacham, who has let his rag become an unapologetic pro-obama propaganda newsletter, should be summarily fired--not just for the cover. howie fineman knows what barry is all about but is letting his mancrush and white guilt destroy whatever integrity he might have once had. richard wolffe from across the pond and an expert on US politics and THE AMERICAN PEOPLE - especially the bitter white racists who were born and raised in this country - is so madly in love with barry that he makes up a story about barry visiting Pakistan when there is no passport evidence to back it. jonjon alter lives in Chicago and knows all about barry's dirty connections but has been lying and looking the other way, while he attacks any and all barry opponents, reserving his microphallus gyne envy venom for SHRC. DISABLED INFANT & "HISTORY'S SOCCER MOM" spewed out of his peanut-sized misogynistic mind and then he tried to cover it up with a "correction". He will go down as one of the most corrupt and unethical "journalists" in history. He must really hate himself. How can a cancer survivor have such little disregard for kindness and positivity?

Here's the title of the cover that barry and newsweek find unoffensive:

"SARAH PALIN IS ONE OF THE FOLKS (AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM)"

Translated: Sarah Palin is one of the RACIST WHITE folks. (And that's the problem.)

Let's see if barry would speak up about this:

Obama is one of the UPPITY BLACK folks & that's the problem.
Obama is one of the LIBERAL ELITE folks & that's the problem.
Obama is one of the RADICAL BLACK CHURCHGOER folks...
Obama is one of the DOMESTIC TERRORIST DEFENDER folks...
Obama is one of the UNETHICAL folks who lies about his campaign donations...
Obama is one of the WHINY BLACK folks who use race to their advantage...
Obama is one of those EFFETE, SPINELESS INTELLECTUAL folks...

It's absolutely ludicrous. How is one ok and not the other? Two reasons: race and gender. Period. Why are the GOP being told it's no big deal? That there is more important things in the world when barry runs an ad about McCain's rage being a national security issue? What would HE'S BLACK! HE'S BLACK! Herbert, Roland BLACK AIDS! BLACK AIDS! Martin, Rev Sharpton, Rep Lewis, Rep Clyburn, Donna Brazile and the Obama camp be doing? Who would be listening then? Talk about race riots. The Double Standard is absolutely appalling. RACE triumphs all and anyone who doesn't believe that by now is crazy. The proof is everywhere. And for the folks who think barry secured the nomination on his own - you're delusional.

Ayers funraiser: "a coffee"

October 9, 2008
Larry King
Debbie Wassmerman Shultz, Paul Begala, Hugh Hewitt
Selected quotes about Obama & Ayers

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: (about Ayers' fundraiser for barry): "It was a coffee."
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: "If we're going to follow your logic, then John McCain associates with terrorists, also, because Mr. Annenberg's widow just endorsed John McCain and she allowed -- they allowed Bill Ayers to be on their board. So if we're going to do six degrees of separation here..."

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: "Mrs. Annenberg just endorsed McCain over the weekend."

How very convenient isn't it?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: "And they allowed Bill Ayers to serve on their board. So..."

"Allowed" is an interesting word. And why is she bringing up Annenberg with ACORN going on?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: "No, but she thought that Bill Ayers was a solid enough person on education to allow him to sit on their board."

VIDEO CLIP OBAMA: "The notion that somehow he has been involved in my campaign, that he is an adviser of mine, that he -- I've palled around with a terrorist -- all these statements are made simply to try to score cheap political points."

BEGALA: "...McCain himself was on the board of the U.S. Council for World Freedom, which was created by and supported by the World Anti-Communist League, which ADL, the Anti-Defamation League, said was a place that harbored and was a gathering place for anti-Semites and racists."

HEWITT: "...that Bill Ayers had been -- he thought Bill Ayers had been rehabilitated. Well, look, in 1998, Bill Ayers went on ABC News with his wife and said he wished he could do it again. In 2001, he stood on the American flag in a photo shoot on 9/11. In 2007, less than a year ago, he went to the SDS reunion in Michigan and denounced the United States in the most uncertain terms."
HEWITT: "And it's not just Ayers. It's Rashid Khalidi. It's Tony Rezko, who's convicted and in jail right now. It's Jeremiah Wright. And it's ACORN. And I'd like to ask the Congresswoman, Larry, does she know Rashid Khalidi is, does she know how close he is to Bill Ayers and how close he is to Barack Obama and does that bother her?"

Why are they just getting to this? This has all been documented by us here and on Newsweek and by many other people. Larry (an obvious Obama fan) sends it to commercial and it never gets brought up again. Why it pays to have corrupted media.

LARRY KING: Now, Kathleen, made a lot of news last month when she urged Sarah Palin to step down. And here's what you wrote: "Only Palin can save McCain, her party and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first. Do it for your country."

I found this an interesting comment on McCain's strategy by a GOPer. MICHELLE LAXALT: "I'm sorry. This is not the Republican Party that Bill Buckley, that Paul Laxalt, that Ronald Reagan raised me on. And I don't believe the American people like this kind of dirty politics. If they can't win fair and square, they shouldn't trash the other guy." & "...racist talking points. And I think they should be ashamed of themselves."

And Obama? He could not have won the primaries -- no matter what anyone wants to believe -- without the massive pro-Obama MSM bias and DNC assist. Never. Sen Clinton & Barry had the same amount of votes and barry won the caucuses, which gave him the delegate lead. Only 4/13 caucuses are blue states. And barry wasn't trashing the other guy? He made the Clintons and her supporters out to be racists - (we see the racists now) - and that's how he got the black vote, which is why he won. Admitted by black folks everywhere. He loses SC - he's gone. And SC only became available because of the DNC & Rep Clyburn. He is a real piece of work. Lewis is talking about racial unrest and Clyburn (and HE'S BLACK HE'S BLACK Herbert) made repeated racial threats that if barry didn't win "some people" were not going to be happy. Barry did not win fair and square - not even close. All these nefarious connections were brought up in the Primary and hidden by the MSM. I hope I'm alive in a few years when people will finally admit to the pro-Obama MSM bias because by then there will be no need to hide it and proof already abounds - here and elsewhere.

Bob Herbert's Phallic Delusions

August 4, 2008
Morning Joe
Bob Herbert on his racist rant of mistaken identity and not the one he was talking about.

Let's truly look past race as our obamessiah politically expediently Ciceroed in the city of our founding Fathers! Does the Bell still ring? I should know that but its not as bad as 57 states or Jonathan Capehart from the Washington Post wishing he had a map to see what states bordered Indiana. Willie Geist couldn't find New Mexico. How can we expect them to know anything about barry? Bob HE'SBLACKHE'S!BLACK Herbert seeing phallic symbols instead of Victory Column in Tiergarten Park in Berlin. barry initially wanted the Brandenburg Gate but it would be viewed as "electioneering. What else was he doing? He was electioneering to the world before he is responsible for anything. his ego has no bound. A friend of Barack Sr said his downfall was arrogance and alcoholism.

(8-2-08) Herbert's article: Running While Black:

Both ads [He relates McCain's to a Harold Ford ad.] are poisonous and emanate form the upper reaches of the Republican Party. [What a surprise.] Both were designed to exploit the hostility, anger and resentment of many white Americans who are freakishly hing up on the idea of black men raising above their station and becoming sexually involved with white women.

Recall Jesse Jr's statement after Iowa. Something about how do we go after a white women [Sen Clinton] The natural example is OJ & Nicole Smith. Where do they get these ideas of how white people think? They don't know that any more than I know how black folks think. But it's ok for him to conjecture. Why doesn't anyone find this racist? The Double Standard.

Pix Courtesy of www.minnpost.com

"Celeb"

Courtesy of JohnMcCaindotcom

August 4, 2008
Bob Herbert on Morning Joe

Courtesy of videocafeblog
Thought it was the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Washington Monument. And that McCain camp had inserted the phallic images to scare voters about interracial relationships & Obama "having relations" with white women. How insane is that? His married his father and African. And how does he know what whites think about black men? How is this not racist. Doesn't he have anything else t write about?

Transcript courtesy of Newsbusters' MIKE FINKLESTEIN

BOB HERBERT: You guys have seen the ad a number of times, I am sure, and you have it here in-house. First thing you see are a couple of images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, right? And we see an image of Barack Obama right after that, comes quickly right at the beginning of the, you remember that, right? Do you remember any other startling images right there at the beginning?

Silence on the set.

HERBERT: Alright. There is an image right there in that very beginning of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and there is an image of the Washington Monument. Look at the beginning of that ad again. And you tell me why those two phallic symbols are placed there [snaps fingers]—pow!—right at the very beginning of that ad.

How is this an expert on anything? How are we to take him seriously? He writes for the New York Times. These things are what is so so aggravating. The large lies and then the lies that get layered on and people believe everyone despite easily findable truth.

Do you know what a fraud barry is? Or are you so blinded by certain racism in anything said or done about barry? I just want to know. I don't care if you don't - I would like to know if you exist.