He wouldn't make the top four since 1988. What the hell is this imbecile blithering about?

Was this covered here and I just completely missed it? If so, I don't care. I have to post it again.

Obama’s comments in a recent “60 Minutes” interview that his legislative and foreign policy accomplishments top all but three former presidents has sparked fierce blowback among right-leaning blogs.

The presidentÂ’s claim didnÂ’t air in the showÂ’s Dec. 11 television broadcast...

Go figure.

... but was included in the full interview video that CBS posted on its website that day.
The “60 Minutes Overtime” video shows Obama telling correspondent Steve Kroft:

“The issue here is not going be a list of accomplishments. As you said yourself, Steve, you know, I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president — with the possible exceptions of Johnson, F.D.R., and Lincoln — just in terms of what we’ve gotten done in modern history. But, you know, but when it comes to the economy, we’ve got a lot more work to do.”

NewsBusters pounced on the comments with a story under the headline: “60 Minutes broadcast edits out laughable Obama claim as 4th best president.”

Our president has actually snapped in office.

Posted by: Ace at 09:17 AM | Comments (361)
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Kind of.

The clash had been intense and swift, with police shoving protestors and journalists alike with their batons, but it appeared only one protestor was taken into custody.

Afterwards, White said officers had hoped to ask the protestors a final time to remove their belongings, but when two prostestors began setting the shelters aflame, officers and firefighters had to move it.

A firetruck moved in to douse the flames as a battery of police closed ranks shouting, “Move back!” to allow firefighters access.

Police said two protestors were arrested on arson charges and two were arrested on charges of failing to obey a lawful order.

They did "Tebow" -- which is the lead sentence of this Denver Post piece -- but obviously this is all about a different God, name of Karl Marx.

And I doubt the Tebowing was done seriously.

Sorry: Got diverted.

Posted by: Ace at 08:47 AM | Comments (107)
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This is probably not surprising to you, so much as it is a sharpening of your gut-level vibe.

A group called "Frontier Lab" employed market-research type surveys, peering beyond surface-level questions that pollsters usually asks, to get at what really animates OWS.

First, that many of the rank-and-file occupiers feel isolated in their lives, and appear to lack basic community ties such as are provided by participation in clubs, churches, and strong families.... They thus attach to their political causes with something like a religious fervor. For many, a commitment to “social justice” is “not the end, but rather a means to an inflated sense of self and purpose in their own lives.” Crucially, involvement with others who agree with them provides an “overwhelming feeling of being part of a family.” I noticed this on my first trip down to Zuccotti Park, when I saw a telling sign adorning the entrance to the tent city: “For the first time in my life, I feel at home.” On subsequent visits I was struck by the importance of the commune to the project. As much as anything else, vast swathes of occupiers were simply looking for a new club. This group, Frontier Lab dubs the “Communitarians.”

The second group, which to all intents and purposes forms the leadership, is less existentially lost, and derives its fulfillment from the “prestige,” “validation,” and “control” afforded by the movement’s coverage in the media. Frontier Lab calls this group the “Professionals.” Its members fill the ranks of the professional Left and boast long histories of attending and organizing protests. For them, indignation is quotidian, “community action” is a career, and they feel “validated by the fame and attention” and “rewarded for their life choices.” Unlike the Communitarians, the Professionals actually want tangible change, or a “win,” but politics is still playing second fiddle to self. There is nothing spontaneous or organic about the movements they lead. They are waiting for the revolution and hope to be in its vanguard. Their careers depend upon it.

Testing on the Myers-Briggs personality profile consistently put the rank-and-file in the Stunted Weakling category, and the leadership in the Gigantic Colossal Douchebag group.

I made up that last part but for realz it's true anyway.

Posted by: Ace at 06:36 AM | Comments (310)
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The GOP-controlled house and the Democrat-controlled Senate are still at loggerheads over the payroll tax "cut" bill. The Democrats (and Senate Republican Scott Brown) are painting the restive House GOP caucus as a bunch of Tea Party bomb-throwers, but by my reckoning they're simply doing what they were elected to do: put the brakes on government spending. The problem the House members are struggling with is not the payroll-tax holiday (it's not a "cut") but how to pay for it -- all that money not going into SS now will have to be made up in some way later. The Democrats fully intend to force a massive tax-hike later to pay for this "cut" now, and the House GOP knows it. Meanwhile, the Donks know the tax-holiday will play well with voters going into the holidays and thus help Good King Barack have a very Merry Christmas. The Senate GOP is worried more about the optics of the situation, and not unreasonably so: this kind of brinkmanship during the Holidays runs the risk of souring voters on the GOP. The Senate GOP caucus is also weaker than the House Caucus (i.e., Brown, Lugar, the two ladies from Maine) and may feel that the Senate bill is the best hand they're going to get dealt.

I think I already inducted Maine into the LOTB some time back, but theyÂ’ve ascended to the Premier level along with such stalwarts as Illinois and California: Maine now has more welfare recipients than it does net taxpayers.

HereÂ’s a great idea for those who want to learn more about economics but grow faint at the forbiddingly-long tomes filled with dense jargon: comic-book guides to basic economics. Volume 1: Microeconomics and Volume 2: Macroeconomics.
more...

Posted by: Monty at 04:53 AM | Comments (216)
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To get you started:

The technology wars are heating up. Apple just got HTC smartphone sales banned in the U.S. Apple sought a ban on the sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tabs across the globe and got one in many places. But Samsung says the ban backfired by turning the Galaxy Tab into a household name.

Skype is offering free airport wifi over the holidays. You just have to have the latest version of skype installed...

Nevada has only sold 10 tickets to its bowl game. Dude.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:59 AM | Comments (189)
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Taking the O'Quiz

Which is a weekly current events quiz off of Bill O'Reilly's website but I'm pretty sure that BOR has little to do with it.

This one was pretty hard with the average score being only 1.92. I got a 6 - but in my defense I'm been very busy the last few weeks and so my normally obsessive news reading has suffered. Plus I suspect the new higher fluoride levels have begun affecting my mind-thoughts.

You can take the full quiz here and see if you're uh, moron enough to break the big 2.0.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:22 PM | Comments (848)
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ABC released an interactive candidate match game of their own. Again, eleven questions on the following subjects:

• Two on the economy (jobs, taxes)
• Three on security (Afghanistan, Pakistan, U.S. border security)
• One on health (Obamacare)
• One on energy
• Four on 'hot topics' (AGW, gay marriage, abortion, education)

It seems a little easier to discern which candidate lines up with which answer in this survey, so you'll have to try not to wishcast your results.

Fear not, your results are non-binding. Take the test here.

Posted by: JohnE. at 04:38 PM | Comments (139)
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It's probably not, and a lot of people besides Palin have said so. While it's too late to file for the first four or five primaries, there is an eight week gap after those and Super Tuesday, so if the primary electorate is not satisfied on one guy, someone could come in late.

The early primaries are not a knockout punch as far as actual delegates pledged. They are primarily important due to the momentum they create.

And if there's no momentum, or little momentum, then they are indecisive and indeterminate. And mean no more than any other several states' delegates.

Likely? No. Possible? Sure.

But Palin says it, so of course the speculation runs to the idea that she's talking about herself.

FoxNews seemed to believe Newt Gingrich was going to run for president. They asked him to clarify his intentions, and either declare for president, or continue appearing as an analyst on the network.

He declared for president.

They also seem to have wanted Huckabee to make a decision. He did.

As far as I know FoxNews hasn't had this talk with Palin, or, if they did, she clarified her intention as wishing to continue as an analyst.

Although things could always change, I'm not sure where this idea springs from that Palin is actually interested in a run for President. It is odd that someone with a desire to be president would quit -- um, resign from office for perfectly understandable, even noble, self-sacrificing reasons, I should say-- the office which confers upon her the quality of presidential plausibility.

Nor do I understand why the people who employ her -- who have insisted on a sharp distinction between candidate and analyst -- would be so in the dark about her intentions.

But there you go. She says it's not too late (hardly a novel statement), so let the speculation commence.

Posted by: Ace at 11:51 AM | Comments (374)
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Gallup has it 26%-24% in Newt's favor, but that is margin of error.

CNN has it at 28% a piece.

You know who this benefits? That's right, Rick Perry.

Only a little over a third said that they had made up their minds, while 56% said they may yet change theirs. Among the top five candidates, Rick Perry gets the best rating for possible reconsideration, from 54% of voters, while Romney comes in second with 52%; Gingrich falls below Michele Bachmann (44% and 46%, respectively) while Paul only gets 39% who would consider casting a vote for him in the primary. Conversely, Paul ranks highest among candidates for voters saying they would not consider their candidacies, 43% to BachmannÂ’s 42%.

An Insider Advantage poll has Perry beating Gingrich in Iowa (???), moving into third place behind Luap Nor (!!!) and Rombley.

Posted by: Ace at 11:17 AM | Comments (226)
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We just heard of robo-polling testing him against Obama, and now a campaign-theme trial balloon?

Bush begins the piece with a nice word for House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan. After that, the article is a standard Republican call for an end to excessive and intrusive government regulation. "We have to make it easier for people to do the things that allow them to rise," Bush writes. "We have to let them compete. We need to let people fight for business. We need to let people take risks. We need to let people fail. We need to let people suffer the consequences of bad decisions. And we need to let people enjoy the fruits of good decisions, even good luck. That is what economic freedom looks like."

Perhaps Bush just wanted to say something. Or perhaps he wanted to join the presidential conversation, either as an influential voice or a possible candidate. If his motivation is the latter, it would be a change from months -- years -- of denying that he would run for president in 2012.

Posted by: Ace at 10:29 AM | Comments (239)
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