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August 2: 7 Best Moments from Sunday Talk
Timothy Geithner flubs a question about taxes, Michelle Malkin slams the unemployed, and John McCain still stands by his woman. That and more in our Sunday roundup.
Read My Lips: There May Be Taxes. Or Not.
The big news coming out of Sunday talk wasn’t what Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, but what he didn’t articulate. When pressed by Stephanopoulos on whether the government would introduce new taxes to reduce the deficit (something President Barack Obama vowed against), he said, as David Axelrod cringed somewhere, “We’re gonna have to do what it takes, we’re gonna have to do what’s necessary.”
Summers: Remember What Geithner Said? Let Me Confuse Things Further
Obama economic adviser Larry Summers tried to do some cleanup work on Face the Nation. When pressed by Bob Schieffer over whether the president will raise taxes, Summers, after a bit of evasive action, said, “it is never a good idea to absolutely rule things—rule things out no matter what.”
Michelle Malkin Jabs Jobless for Milking Government
Michelle Malkin made a rare appearance at the This Week roundtable, arguing that extending unemployment benefits can give an incentive for people to avoid looking for a job. (As a side game: Can you count the number of mixed metaphors in her opening sentence?) But as Cynthia Tucker pointed out, amid a recession, the job market isn't exactly booming.
How Rich People Smoke Pot
Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
Justice Clinton?
As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
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February 7: 8 Best Moments from Sunday Talk
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Andreams
I wish Michelle Malkin could be in my shoes - 60 years old, company closed, no insurance, no job and no prospects. I've worked 43 years but I guess that doesn't count.
isabelle8787
I so understand. I will keep you in my prayers. It is so unfair to have to find a job at 60, especially when employers know that hiring people who are older will effect the companies group health care plans. I hope and pray that somehow someone will effect some kind of reforms on health insurance companies. Ms. Malkin has some bad karma coming her way.
StellaRay
Godspeed to you. Hang in there, something will come up. Don't know what, but I send up a prayer for you.
case1234
True, I guess according to Malkin unemployed people aren't working because they aren't trying hard enough. So if you lost your job and get unemployment you are a "Welfare Queen".
We better not catch any registered Republicans applying for unemployment benefits.
Fang1944
I've been in your shoes--I was 58, but that's not much different. Hang in there. Do any job you can get until things get better.
Have you tried temporary labor agencies? They're not just manual labor; they often have office jobs.
nickatdabeach
Here is Obama's Kenyan birth certificate. read it & weep.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=105764
hannahOnline
at the bottom of this document it shows that it was written up in 1964, notarized in 1964: three years after his birth. This was not a document that was produced by the hospital when he was born: this is a document produced 3 years later.
Llplo99
You are an idiot birther. Keep your head under the cover and stay there.
kayjay
It's also dated Feb 1964, and has "Republic of Kenya" on it -- at the time it was the "Dominion of Kenya", a British Colony. I know birthers are morons, but at least get a normal person to do the forgery.
MariosRight
I noticed the last couple of days there has been very little mention of the issue.
The birthers are getting desperate because their cause is losing ground fast. Now resorting to posting forged BC. Hilarious!
Ritarita
All of you above-
See today's Cheat Sheet
On Lou Dobbs
There is a hilarious post
From RoadScholar.
innovations
I see the Birthers are still insulting the FBI, CIA, NSA, and our government in general by accusing Obama is not a citizen. This is very embarrassing to our country. Our national security catches, spies, terrorists, planned assasin's, but they just cant get Obama's birth certificate huh? And this Malkin person feels that extending unemployment benefits will discourage people from looking for work? Well I would agree if there were 12 million job positions throughout America just waiting to be filled, but unfortunately there isn't. She's the Asian equivelant of Rush Limbaugh when he told Barabara Walters in an interview what he thought about the recession. He replied "what recession"?? Either them Oxy's got his brain fried or he's just naturally stupid--hmmm could be door #2.
trueconserv
Actually, Michelle Malkin makes a really good point. Jobless benefits are now up to 72 weeks. My brother-in-law is was laid off and he is getting paid pretty well by the state. If he got another job, it may not pay as much. Why bother going out and getting a job if the government is going to take care of you? If Obama & the dems in Congress wanted to get this economy back and get people employed, then they would stop the income taxes and drop the corporate taxes. Talk about instant stimulus. Obama is intent with destroying the economy.
innovations
the maximum that unemployment pays is appx $400. And you have to show proof that you've been looking for a job with names and numbers of potential employers.
While you're at it, if "Obama and the dems" stopped income and corporate tax, where do u suppose we'll get money to pay Bush's debts? The elderly's social security and medicaid for the elderly? Do u know of a good bank to rob? If Obama was intent with destroying this economy you schmuck he would do what Bush did and make a phone call to China and borrow a few more trillion and do whatever Bush diid with the money he borrowed. Do you ever care to know what Bush did with the borrowed trillions? Let alone the $5.6 trillion surplus he inherited from Clinton?? Before you say what all the dumb pukes say--"well he had to finance the war duh huh huh", here' s somewthing I know you didnt read because God forbid you listen to real news reports instead of Hannity "The Bush Administration's refusal to offset the costs of its new tax cuts,and the wars have led to the ballooning of the national debt. This Administration has pushed through tax cuts that cost roughly $2 trillion. The wars have already cost nearly $900 billion. Yet, the Bush Administration has paid for NONE of these measures. In fact, if the Bush Administration's tax cuts and the war had been fully offset, we would not be facing such a mountain of debt, which threatens our economy and our ability to meet the needs of our citizens"--CBO REPORT SEPT 9, 2008
yweston
Michelle Malkin is a "nitwit". That deranged mind of hers is saying people are happy to remain unemployed and they "just" don't want jobs. As if the economy is booming after 8 years of the Bush Administration and the jobless rate isn't approaching 10%. However, I suppose that 10% are a bunch of "lazy" people drooling over 13 more weeks of unemployment. I repeat she is a "nitwit"
MASHnews
This chick is more than a "nitwit"....she's a fool! She has such a nasty disposition and thinks she's so smart, but she's the biggest dummy. She talks an intelligent game, but listening to her closely anyone with intelligence can hear exactly what she's saying...FOOL TALK. They need to keep her off the air like they need to keep Joe Jackson off.
StellaRay
To fang---
Sadly, I know you speak the truth. But I am illogically crossing my fingers that America will not prove to be any dumber than it has been in the last decade.
Because if you think we have a storm now, well, wait till baby boomers are in full retirement. It is the largest population bubble in the history of this country, through no fault of their own. In fact, baby boomers are currently funding the wellfare of all our aging parents, and rather nicely at that.
Within ten years we will have a choice to make, overnight, if we leave it till then. Most baby boomers lost a quarter of their IRAs or Keoughs in the dot
com bust of 2,000. It took 8 years to get those numbers up to where they
had been in 2000. And of course, in the last year boomers have lost it all over again and even worse. With no time to make it up one more time. Many of them find themselves without a job and old enough to face the ageism that is more predominant than any "ism" in this country.
And that's a travesty, as older people have the experience and the maturity that this country so sorely lacks for. But in any case, agree with me or not, this country's waterloo is coming. It will finally come down to our civility as a democracy. We either take care of our old or we kick them to the curb. And I know there are many who will say we've been doing that with the poor for years. And I don't disagree. I say simply that America will not be able to hide its selfish pedigree when the boomers are living in tent cities.
Slamlander
In Switzerland, unemployment is 18 months and we don't see the problem that Malkin is stating. 13 weeks is not enough time to find a job and in the best of times, every recruiter will tell you that it takes one month search for every 10KUSD in salary. That means that an 80KUSD programmer will search for eight months to find his next job, provided that there is one.
Malkin is a damned fool that is trying to make a name on the backs of the unemployed. She needs to become unemployed herself.
cbl99201
If Obama doesn't somehow curtail the high unemployment numbers he is in deep doo-doo. They aren't his fault, and he has already done much towards this end, but he must somehow more effectively address this problem or the Democratic "super-majority" will become nothing more then a fond memory.
StellaRay
Yeah? And go where? Back to the republican wild wild west of deregulation and careful tending of the rich?
Fang1944
People aren't logical about this. If the economy's bad, they vote out the party in power. Seen it over and over.
trueconserv
We are in this mess because of too much government meddling.
drkaza12
Michelle Malkin is an idiot. her cheese comment was degrading; as if the unemployed are a bunch of shiftless welfare rats, munching away at block of velveta, stolen from the pantry of hard working Americans.
Dear michelle; even a welfare rat doesn't live by velveta alone. every once in a while they've got to gnash on something only descent employment can give.
why does michelle hate America?
laDivaG
I doubt Michell hates America, but, there is little doubt she hates unemployed Americans.
It's as if Malkin believes unemployment to be a paid vacation. Hasn't it occurred to her, and the, "Clinton economists, George," she quoted that people might hold out, searching to the last minute, for a job suited to their qualifications but, when faced with loss of benefits, are forced to take any full-time job going?
For the vast majority of unemployed people, unemployment benefits are a tool that helps pay the bills during the search for another job; the money represents time to find a new job.
And, let's not forget that for every MBA greeter at WallyMart, there's a GED who will be left unemployed.
tarryh
George jumped the shark! Next week he will have Elizabeth Hasselbeck on or maybe the crazy Russian Israeli "birther" woman. All this is under the "fair and balanced" justification which is really just another way of saying we want people who will create controversy and from that ratings. George, you are damaging your brand. Representing different view points is important. I like George Will. He is intelligent and does not just make things up or outright lie. I wanna hear what he has to say. But yea Gods, man, Michelle Malkin. You got what you and your rating-hyping producers deserved today. It is just because of this trend in the Sunday Shows that I stopped watching. The only one I watch if Fareed Zakaria. He has not stooped the this level of pandering.
missbike
Sorry tarryh, but George Will lies his butt off! He may do it very prettily, but actual fact checking puts him in the same make-it-up-as-he-goes-along bag of scum as Rushbo and the other idiots on AM radio. The man's a joke.
As for this mean mouthed woman Michelle Malkin- has she checked to see how much unemployment is? Nobody would sit around collecting checks that won't cover rent and groceries if a job were available. What an idiot. This is just like the "Welfare Queen" BS; $172 a month is no incentive to avoid working when you can get that kind of money for free, right?
StellaRay
Malkin is arrogant and ignorant. This is not just any old recession, it is the Great Recession. Many jobs that have been lost are not coming back and it will take years for new industries to take root and fill in the holes.
Furthermore, as current unemployment laws stand, you cannot take a part time job without giving up your benefits.
Which means you must find a full time job. This has been particularly hard on those fifty and up, who are having a hard time finding a job with a salary anywhere near equal to the one they lost---the salary they spent decades working up to.
No one needs Malkin to lecture about "incentive." Particularly when she clearly knows nothing of the fear and
discouragement of finding yourself without a job in this economy.
I would hope she's in line for a few karmic lessons.
intelliwave
Michelle Malkin is evil! Pat Buchanan is an unrepentant racist and John McCain must stop defending his decision to put Sarah Palin on the republican ticket. I live in Ohio and so many of my republican friends chose not to vote or voted for Obama because of her. Admit it McCain she lost the election for you.
isabelle8787
Ms. Malkin has no idea what it is like to try and find a job right now, or what it is like to try to support oneself on unemployment - middle class americans can barely support themselves on regular wages, let alone on what amounts to "half of your regular take home pay" = what a nut!! And what she really doesn't get is that if you have 10% percent of the population unemployed and then without income - you are inviting a huge crisis. Talk about a privileged little person who has no idea what hard times are like. She is also too arrogant to understand that what goes around comes around, homeless, hungry people effect everyone in society.
Ritarita
Question is
How long does she
Have to keep talking
Before her hair turns into
That mass of writhing snakes
I've heard so much about?
NYUKULELE
Geithner and Summers -- How about taxing Goldman Sachs? Do I want an economy where Wall Street goons get millions, tens of millions, even a hundred million in bonuses, while people lose their jobs and homes? No thanks. Raise taxes to support their thieving friends? Didn't Summers crash Harvard? Is the entire country next?
magicman
Geithner and Summers should be given the heave ho at this point. The People are Fed Up with Fractional Reserve Banking and Public Ponzi Schemes, and these boys know it. They should leave quietly and voluntarily. Perhaps a 90% Tax on all Firms and Employees who received Bailout Funds should follow and be restricted only for the time period for which those Firms and employees continue to utilize Public Funds. That'll pass both The House and The Senate.
Genni2002
Well put!
davidstirling
In George Stephanopoulos' defense, Michelle Malkin wasn't his first choice for the roundtable. The "Obama is an Arab" lady wasn't available.
Downriver
She must be one of them "Compassionate Conservatives"
AlanD2
Right, one of those "if you don't have good health care, you don't deserve any" types.
missbike
Why is McCain insisting on defending Palin? Shouldn't he move on from the Great Train Wreck of his whole political career because of that racist, stupid woman? Letting her turn his campaign into KKK rally's and making an illiterate fool of herself on TV should have been enough for him to politely move on from from her 800 pound albatross self.
trueconserv
Please justify your crude statement. You have no proof that she is a racist and she's not stupid either. She did not ever turn his campaign into a KKK rally and you are a fool if you believe that lard. The democrats were known for that historically and that's a fact. If you cannot contribute in a way of putting some good reasoning but only hateful spews, then don't bother.
Slamlander
Actually, she was/is a stooge for the Religious Right that would over-turn or undercut "Roe v Wade" at the first opportunity.
xbainx
The problem with Republicans is they have stupid, useless, opinions about everything.
Pat Buchanon can suck my dick, in my opinion.
See? That accomplished just as much.
louis4louis
and that dumb chick melkin can join the line with Pat too ..lol
mattheww
Michelle Melkin sure was good TV, though. The shameless book plug, the lashing out when countered, the overuse of nitwit buzzwords like "optics" and "ummm..." You could see the others herniate themselves trying to keep their eyes from rolling, as the air got thick with the question "who invited her?" George S. just wordlessly smiled his reply: "Hey, it's August."
trueconserv
I just love to watch the libs Whoopi and Joy have someone tell them the truth. Notice how they squirm! It' s just entertaining watching someone set them straight with facts because they usually are without them on a daily basis.
notnowmooky
At my last 4 jobs, over 10 years, I've made $101K, $120K, $130K and $135K. My product line was killed and I lost my job. My unemployment pay is $450/week before taxes. Do you really, honestly believe that I'm going to pass up $500 PER DAY income to continue living on $450?
The conservatives are loosing what little touch with reality they ever had. They have Birthers and NRA, they believe Obama wants to kill Granny, they think Americans are so lame they will stay on unemployment rather than work. Nothing in our history supports such a ridiculous claim. But reality and reason never hindered a conservative.
trueconserv
Obama, "just give your 105 year old mom a pain pill, instead of surgery."
Obama "I want to bankrupt the coal industry."
Obama, "I don't believe in the Bill of Rights"
Obama, "I sought out chicanos, and marxist professors"
All fact and said by the annointed one
co-intheknow
Prove out each and everyone of those statements, true - until you can give a source that is not Fox News, WND, NewsMax or some other far-right spew machine, you're a liar.
You've been a busy little basher on a number of threads - whassa matter, somebody get to you about talking about the previous administration and you got your undies all bundled and have to play she-ro to the Bush admin, and failed McCain/Palin team?
Proof & truth or shut the hell up and go back to your Free Republic mothership.
co-intheknow
true"con" - guess you have no response. way to back up your trash message. All of your Obama statements FAIL! Way to go to support your credibility.
Thank you.
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