Fire CEO Ken Lewis
April 27, 2009 7:19 pm

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Masters of disaster
April 27, 2009 8:25 pm

Paul Krugman

So Bobby Jindal makes fun of "volcano monitoring", and soon afterwards Mt. Redoubt erupts. Susan Collins makes sure that funds for pandemic protection are stripped from the stimulus bill, and the swine quickly attack.

What else did the right oppose recently? I just want enough information to take cover.

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Historian Michele Bachmann Blames FDR's "Hoot-Smalley" Tariffs For Great Depression
April 30, 2009 10:58 pm

By Eric Kleefeld, TPM

Make no mistake: When it comes to economics, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) knows her history -- even if that history is from another planet.

On Monday night, our friends at Dump Bachmann reported, Bachmann took to the House floor and paid tribute to the economic policies of Calvin Coolidge and the "Roaring 20s" (the era that ended with a massive monetary contraction and the Great Depression). One particular line really does stand out, though -- saying Franklin Roosevelt turned a recession into a depression through the "Hoot-Smalley" tariffs:

Here's what really happened: When Franklin Roosevelt took office, unemployment was already about 25%. And the tariff referred to here was actually the Smoot-Hawley bill, co-authored by Republicans Sen. Reed Smoot of Utah and Rep. Willis Hawley of Oregon, and signed into law by President Herbert Hoover.

Interestingly, this speech also happened on the same day as when Bachmann connected the 1970s swine flu outbreak to Democrat Jimmy Carter being president, even though it was actually Gerald Ford in office at the time.

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The Auto Bailout Is Going Off the Road
May 1, 2009 8:07 pm

Robert Reich

GM just announced it was laying of 21,000 more of its workers, as a means of assurring the Treasury Department the company is worthy of more bailout money. A Treasury official was quoted as saying approvingly that the goal is a "slimmed-down" GM.

What? Having General Motors or Chrysler cut tens of thousands of jobs in order to be eligible for a government bailout reminds me of "saving" Vietnam by bombing it to smithereens. Aren't we giving these companies billions of taxpayer dollars to save jobs? If not, we're just transferring money from taxpayers to GM and Chrysler bondholders and shareholders.

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Party of No(body)?
May 1, 2009 8:29 pm

by Nate Silver

....Per the LOESS curves, the number of Republicans has decreased by about 5 percent since Inauguration Day, from roughly 27 percent to 22 percent. The number of Democrats has also decreased slightly, however, from 38 percent to 35-36 percent. The gains have been made by independents, whose numbers have increased from 30 percent to about 36 percent, such that there are now roughly equal numbers of independents and Democrats.

The shifts in the number of Republicans and independents appears to be a somewhat recent phenomenon, dating not from Inauguration Day itself but rather from the past 50 days or so. My guess is that it is related to increasing -- if possibly unwarranted -- optimism about the economy, perhaps coupled with the GOP's lack of focus in articulating an agenda.

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Arianna On "Countdown," Discusses How Dem Senators Screwed Homeowners
May 2, 2009 7:35 am

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Ed Schultz:This is no time for bi-partisanship, we need a liberal on the Supreme Court. ...
May 2, 2009 4:45 pm

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Study: Conservatives don’t know Colbert is laughing at them
May 2, 2009 8:19 pm

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2010: The Age of the Goposaurs
May 3, 2009 2:20 pm

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The GOP's Worst Medicine
May 3, 2009 5:16 pm

by Eric Alterman

....Seriously, folks. I sort of get why most conservatives say the things they do. I know why Dick Cheney and Karl Rove want to blame Barack Obama for the consequences of their mistakes. It gets them off the hook. And I get why Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Malkin want to blame swine flu on undocumented aliens; it’s because there are racist demagogues and alas, there are ratings to be earned and money to be made there. I even sort of understand why Michael Steele says he wants to give his party a “hip-hop makeover" because, really, what else he is going to say? But why do voters in the sixth district of Minnesota want to be represented by a madwoman?

I mean, politics ought to be entertaining, I agree. That’s why we sent you Al Franken. Now send him to the Senate already and cut this ridiculous crap. We got the joke.

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Bat For Lashes - Whats a Girl To Do
May 3, 2009 9:45 pm

Kind of freaky. I guess she just appeared on Letterman.

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