Someone pi$$ed in Cafferty's cereal..Geez.

[monmouth]

Complete article at www.cnn.com



NEW YORK (CNN) -- What a joke. Your Congress has voted to spend almost $790 billion of your money on a stimulus package that not a single member of either chamber has read.

The 1,073-page document wasn't posted on the government's Web site until after 10 p.m. the day before the vote to pass it was taken. I don't care if you're Evelyn Wood, you can't read almost 1,100 pages of the lawyer talk that makes up all legislation in eight or 10 hours.

The criminal part of this boondoggle is divided into two parts. The first is the Democrats promised to post the bill a full 48 hours before the vote was taken to allow members of the public to see what they were getting for their money. Both parties voted unanimously to do this ... and they lied.

It didn't happen. Why am I not surprised? Congress lying to the American people has become part of their job description. They can't be trusted on anything anymore.

I'm sure part of the reason there was no time for the public to read the bill was the 11th-hour internecine warfare between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

When Reid first announced the compromise had been reached, Nancy Pelosi was nowhere to be seen. And it would take an act of God for this egotistical, arrogant woman to miss a photo op where she could take credit for anything. But she wasn't there.

She summoned Reid to her office, where unnamed sources said she blew her top over some provision for schools that she wasn't happy with. Pelosi's snit delayed everything.

[truebrit71]

1. Um Cafferty...no-one read the (un)Patriot act either...

...:eyes:

[EFerrari]

2. Does anyone know if this is true or not? n/t

[nc4bo]

4. I've heard him saying this a few days ago, so this new instance doesn't surprise me at all. nt

[FriendlyReminder]

3. This doesn't sound like Jack at all.

If it is Jack, perhaps he just needs to pop a couple of V's and all will be well in the morning...

[elizfeelinggreat]

32. Have you listened to him for very long?

I'm asking because I don't listen anymore (I stopped during the Bush years) but I don't remember him being such a friend of Democrats until he was VERY upset with the Bush administration.

Maybe I'm wrong ... do you remember him before W's terms?

[FriendlyReminder]

39. No, only in the past few years...

Maybe he just likes being an antagonist.

[Motown_Johnny]

5. most of it was worked out well ahead of time. It isn't like all 1.100 pages were new

this is a BS RW talking point

[Spazito]

21. Exactly!

All that needed to be circulated were the changes made to reconcile the Senate and the House bills which would not have amounted to 1,100 pages, doubtful if those changes generated even 1/10 of that number.

[monmouth]

6. I'm going to cut him a break on this, I think he was becoming too leftish

for the corporate whores and they sent him a memo telling him to get with the program. He was so great during the primaries and election, this shocked me.

[w8liftinglady]

7. like I told someone-this seems like the "2 minute hate" from 1984

Every single letter to the editor,editorial,news item have been along these lines

[nc4bo]

20. He brings up points that alot of people are thinking themselves, not necessarily Pukes either.

Even I have questions and I love Pres. Obama. Our economy is in some deep trouble and the options are not only limited but none of them painfree.

Here's some more from Cafferty:

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/category/stimulus-plan/

I had to cut him some slack too, I'm just as guilty of he is and don't know how I'm supposed to feel; I sincerely hope this works.

[WilliamPitt]

8. "It was posted in a format you couldn't use search on!!11!" - similar comments from others

It was a fucking .pdf file.

With a big



...at the top.

:grr:

[EFerrari]

15. If he's wrong, he'll admit it, unlike 101 of the other 100 dufuses on the tube.

[TWiley]

35. There is a CTRL keystroke to open the search window.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. So I suppose Jack Cafferty has read it.

:shrug:

[TheWatcher]

10. What's horrifying to me is people getting pissed at Cafferty

Instead of being pissed at CONGRESS for not reading the Bill.

I know everyone is supposed to follow blindly and worship fondly, not question, focus on sexy beach photos, and sing happy hymns of hope, but the fact of the matter is what Cafferty us saying is TRUE.

And as someone pointed out upthread pointed out, they didn't read The Patriot Act either.

When this Stimulus does not work, I wonder if people will actually bother to scrutinize the leadership behind it, or continue to shout down and demonize anyone who points out that which we'd just rather not hear or deal with.

[TWiley]

11. Limbaugh horse shit is what that is.

Who read the patriot act?
Who read GWB's $850 Billion bank bailout?
Who reads the entire text of any federal budget?

Why am I not suprised .... CNN (especially Lou Dobs) has made lying to the American People part of their job description.

[TheWatcher]

13. Um, I'm sorry but he's actually telling you the Truth

"Who read the patriot act?"

No one. A textbook example of leadership not doing it's job.

"Who read GWB's $850 Billion bank bailout?"

No one. A textbook example of leadership not doing it's job.

"Who read the Stimulus Bill?"

No one. A textbook example of leadership not doing it's job.


So, do we hold our leaders feet to the fire? Demand accountability?

NO! We yell at the messenger for telling us our leaders are not doing their jobs!

Brilliant.

[TWiley]

19. I am sorry but he is NOT telling the truth.

The entire budget has not been read by a single person before the vote by anyone in over 30 years. McCafferty is lying because he implies that this is something new. It is not new. It is the way it is, and the way it has been for many years.

They hash out details in subcomittee meetings; many many many are happening simutaneously. Committee leaders report to their party leaders. Deals are made; agreements are made, then the committee puts it into print.

It is how the system has always worked.

Now, your stunningly brilliant answer is for every congressman, and every senator to thouroughly read every page, mark each part they disagree with in red ink, and debate endlessly until all 1000 pages meet everyones expecations?

Brilliant ............ Nothing would ever be decided and no action would ever be taken !

Now, go back to sunday school and ask your teacher more questions.

[TheWatcher]

27. Awwww, you insulted me. I think I'll go cry now.

:eyes:

Yes, he IS telling you the truth. You just don't want to deal with it. And no, he isn't presenting this as something new. And we HAVE been getting the shaft this way for a very long time.

And if you are fine with the fact that this is the way the system works, then great for you.
"Now, your stunningly brilliant answer is for every congressman, and every senator to thouroughly read every page, mark each part they disagree with in red ink, and debate endlessly until all 1000 pages meet everyones expecations?"

You mean do what we elected them to do? Do their jobs? That would be nice.

Now, take your "Support The Football Team, No Matter What" mentality and kindly get out of my face.

You can make your point without being insulting.

[TWiley]

34. Here ..... have a tissue for your "issue"

Sometimes, young cub, it is better to understand the world exactly as it is than it is to foolishly repine over it's sins. You seem to think that nobody grasps the contents of the stimulus package. Oops, you are wrong again.

Limbaugh broke this "story" and lim-bots world wide have been chanting the mantra.

and, who is insulting? Take a look in the mirror buster.

[TWiley]

37. The AP had plenty of time to read it and summarize it.

here, read this. Funny how you believe that nobody understands it when there are so many ordinary reporters covering the story in detail.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/how-the-stimulus-bill-could-affect-you.aspx

[TheWatcher]

41. "Ignored" surely is talkative these days.

:rofl:

[Fleshdancer]

12. Cafferty's a curmudgeon regardless of which party is in charge

I like that he's consistent. If the Congress critters didn't read the bill, then why not call them on it? If the bill wasn't posted on the website until after 10pm the day before the vote, then why not call the administration on it?

I disagree with his hit job on Nancy Pelosi though. He sounds ridiculous for bitching that she never skips a photo op but then finds fault when she does indeed skip a photo op. Contradiction much?

[NNN0LHI]

17. Thats not so

When he started out at CNN on the morning show he was a world class Bush ass kisser.

Don

[Fleshdancer]

22. I didn't realize that

I had no idea he was on a CNN morning show. I didn't become familiar with Cafferty until he was on the Wolf Blitzer show in the afternoons grumbling about everything from the Bush administration to kids on his lawn practically.

[NNN0LHI]

33. Yea, Cafferty is a snake. Had my eye on him for a while

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/cafferty.jack.html

Jack Cafferty

Jack Cafferty provides commentary and insight for CNN's political program, The Situation Room. Previously, Cafferty was a co-host on CNN's American Morning, a host of CNN's weekend business show In the Money and an anchor of Before Hours, CNNfn's former morning program. Cafferty is based in the network's New York bureau.

Here is an example of what I was talking about above:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200504300001?f=s_search

CNN co-host Jack Cafferty claimed that Bush proposed "reducing long-term benefits for the more affluent members of this society." Cafferty later reported that Bush proposed cutting "future benefits for wealthier retirees," and criticized newspaper headlines that suggested -- accurately -- that the benefits would be more widespread than Cafferty claimed: "Headlines in The New York Times and The Washington Post this morning scream that President Bush wants to cut Social Security benefits. Granted, he was talking about future benefits for wealthier retirees, but don't be fooled -- Social Security is called the third rail of politics for a reason." {CNN, American Morning, 4/29/05}

Here are more examples:

http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/search_results?qstring=Jack%20Cafferty%20&mm_audio=0&mm_video=0&sort=default&page=4

[napi21]

14. It's NOT TRUE that nobody read the bill!

First of all, that's what Congress critters have a staff for....TO READ BILLS and let their boss know what's in them.

Second, the House version of the bill has been available on the House web site for a few weeks, and the Senate version was available on the Senate site.

The only thing that both houses of congress needed to read were the changes that were made to the bill ofter in the conference. I'm POSOTIVE that the staffers & even some of the members read those changes.

All the hullabaloo about bills not being read is smoke & fluff!

[TheWatcher]

16. So they did read the Patriot Act then.

I seem to remember a lot of outrage here when that came out, and rightfully so.

So we were wrong?

[napi21]

38. I don't recall enough about when they were hyping the patriot act to

ba ab;e tp answer you, but I do know THIS bill was on the House & Senate web sites since they first put it together. Even Nancy pointed that out the other day. If you remember, lots of people freak out that their Sen or Rep didn't "read the bill" prior to signing, but that's very typical. That's what staffers do, and then point out what they see as problems or conflicts to their side of thinking.

What I don't know for sure is if the Patriot Act data was published or posted anywhere prior to voting. Somehow I have to believe it was, or at least most of it.

[TheWatcher]

40. Well, they didn't read that either.

It just HAD to be rammed through before we all died in a white flash because of people in caves coming to get us. There was plenty of coverage here on DU of how they never even read it.

It really doesn't matter which "Football Team" is in Power.

They need to do the jobs they were elected to do.

[OneGrassRoot]

18. Someone please help me out here....

A Republican who voted for Obama called, asking me about this.

Honestly, I haven't watched or read much of anything for the last two weeks. It's all white noise and full-on attack about everything. Everyone has a different opinion about the stimulus.

He called saying that Obama posted it on the website too late for Congress to read and had tweaked things while it was in his possession. Sounds O'Leilly or Dobbs-like to me (at least he doesn't listen to Limbaugh any more).

I know lots of things are changing in protocol, but did Obama have anything to do with this part of the process, before they actually voted on it and THEN it came to him today to be signed. Is the White House to be blamed for either the delay in posting online or Congress not having time to read it?

Thanks. :)

[Spazito]

23. The Senate and the House had copies of the original package they each voted on...

they had them before they voted, remember the repubs quoting from it when they were "outraged"! All they needed and, I have no doubt received, were the changes that were made when the two separate bills were reconciled. The media was reporting on those changes many hours before the final vote so the repubs are full of shit as usual, imo.

[OneGrassRoot]

24. I know I posed my question awkwardly...lol

thank you for understanding it and answering so clearly. :)

Geesh, I felt like a troll even typing it out, but that's what I get for choosing to be uninformed right now. Oy.

:)

[Spazito]

28. It was a good question, one that should be answered....

you are not the only one asking it, I am glad you asked and that I could help.

[Fleshdancer]

25. Congress doesn't read bills on a website. The website is for the rest of us to read it.

Congress had plenty of time to read it and Boehner himself used the actual bill as political theater when he complained about it on the floor and in his own press conferences.

[OneGrassRoot]

30. Yes, I understood it was to be posted for us to read....

where I was foggy was on whose responsibility it was to post it in a timely fashion: Congress or The White House.

I see it's Congress. :)

Thanks!

[Still Sensible]

26. I think Cafferty's comment is fair

Since when is it out of bounds when politicians tell us one thing and do another to call them on it? The good news is that Cafferty was always pretty hard on GWB and this is a pretty minor thing. It's not that nobody read it--make no mistake, the staffers on both sides of the aisle made sure their bosses knew what was in it--it's that one of the most high profile "promises" of the President's change in policy was broken.

And Cafferty was probably on target to blame the Pelosi/Reid kabuki dance for it. Obviously Cafferty is no Pelosi fan. He could have just as soon blasted Reid.

[Spazito]

31. It would be fair....if it was accurate. It was not.

Here's why:

The Senate and the House had copies of the original package they each voted on, they had them before they voted, remember the repubs quoting from it when they were "outraged"! All they needed and, I have no doubt received, were the changes that were made when the two separate bills were reconciled. The media was reporting on those changes many hours before the final vote so the repubs, and in this case Jack as well, are full of shit, imo.


I like Cafferty and I think he just didn't do his homework on this one as opposed to deliberately regurgitating the repubs lies.

[niyad]

29. hey jack, unlike many people, I CAN read that fast--and with comprehension, too.

what the HELL is the matter with that man today?

oh, and why is it that NONE of the reichwing talking heads had anything negative to say about the fact that NOBODY read the patriot act before that putrid piece of liberty-stealing legislation was signed?

[crimsonblue]

36. Like many people were going to read it anyway.

Do Americans read the fine print of any legislation? No. That's why we have non-profit watchdog groups and the media to read through them and tell us what it all means. Maybe Cafferty could have taken to time to read the stim bill and report back on it, instead of shitting in his pants.