The woman who told Obama she was having trouble defending him, and who is CFO of . . . .

[Stinky The Clown]

. . . . a veteran's organization . . . . . was she a plant or sincere? I saw her on Olbermann (I think) tonight and she seemed on the level to me.

What is the collective DU take on her?

[RKP5637]

1. When I saw her I thought she was a plant, but haven't seen KO yet...

[TheDebbieDee]

2. I think she must be a plant................

[babylonsister]

3. Real imo. I have to defend Obama every day - on DU. nt

[Stinky The Clown]

36. Well, to be fair, you don't *have* to. You *choose* to.

Its a game. The outcome means nothing other than ego points.

You play it. I play it. We all play it.

Maybe once upon a time this mattered. But that time seems to me to be gone. We're all just people with too much time, the ability to watch tv and type, or an aversion to tv and lots of free time to type. And so we all type here.

Do you think minds get changed or things happen as a result of what gets typed here? I seem only to see the same hardened, intractable positions from the same posters, day after day after day. I bet you feel that way, too.

See? We have lots in common!

[lumberingbear]

4. She was on with Tweety

I liked her.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Okay, maybe it was Tweety. I wasn't sure as I was cooking and looking

Actually, listening and not looking.

And cooking.

Or whatever.

:)

[Kelvin Mace]

6. Sorry if you think she was a plant

Her concerns were real, and echo my own anger and frustration with Obama and the Dems.

Another day, another cave. The GOP said fuck the troops we hate gays today, and rather than grill them in a press conference for failing to support THEIR war, crickets. If the Dems had voted against a military appropriations bill. it would have been 24x7 "traitor Democrats"

[Stinky The Clown]

12. Your biased snark overloaded your head, pallie

*I* didn't say - or even infer - that she was a plant. I asked the question, and in what I thought was a fairly neutral way.

Tell ya what. To show how far off base you are with *your* inference, ask any strong Obama supporter on DU what they think about me. I make your anger at Obama look pretty damned tame.

Getcher facts right before you try for the money shot, k?

[HughMoran]

13. I think you're the best, most neutral poster here

An intellectual giant that I follow around - I wanna be just like you.

:thumbsup:

[Stinky The Clown]

20. I know ya do, Hughey. Someday, when you grow up, maybe it can happen.

Your posting here in reply to a post that has nothing to do with you proves it.

But right now, no. You can't hang around with me.

And I take it back about your sig line imitating me. It is far sillier than that.

*meow*

[HughMoran]

23. Stinky needs a big ol' hug

Poor fellow. Smile! They're contagious! :D

[Stinky The Clown]

25. I got all the hugs I need, little feller.

Now step away from the podium and stop hopping like a kid on a pogo stick.

You gotta go to the toitie?

[HughMoran]

26. I'm busy building an altar

Must.

Worship.


:pals:

[Stinky The Clown]

30. Maybe later, Hughey. I just have time to play right now.

[Kelvin Mace]

48. I believe the key word in my statement was "IF"

I said "Sorry if you think she was a plant", your question was:

"was she a plant or sincere?"

You were entertaining both possibilities, I expressed my regret that you might consider her a plant.

How is this snarky?

You asked a question, I answered it.

[Stinky The Clown]

31. Kelvin, I'm still hoping for an answer from you.

[Kelvin Mace]

50. Sorry, I have been busy and didn't see your response

until i got back on just now.

And to clarify, it was not my intent to offend or misconstrue your remarks, I simply was expressing sorrow that such a question had to be asked.

The second part of my post was pure anger and frustration at the situation, not you. I apologize for not making that plain.

David

[Stinky The Clown]

64. Fair enough. Thanks!

[sendero]

7. If she's a plant..

.. she's a damn good one because she NAILED the way many of us feel about Obama. He doesn't get it and his time is running short.

[spanone]

14. you can't fix in 20 months what bu$h*/cheney took 8 years to destroy

[donheld]

33. Right. Especially when

you appoint the ones who caused the problems to solve them.

[sendero]

37. You can START...

... and we havent't even done that yet. I'm sick of the intellectually weak characterizations that have me expecting him to FIX EVERYTHING.

Just FIX SOMETHING, ONE GODDAMNED FUCKING THING.

[Greyhound]

52. Probably not, but that is no reason to start off by making it worse. n/t

[xultar]

8. Planted by whom?

[xchrom]

9. Good question. Nt

[laureloak]

10. What a whiney, self centered pig. Kids in private school and

she complains to the President of the United States that she doesn't want to eat hot dogs and beans.

[Stinky The Clown]

15. If, three years ago, she was within her means with "kids in private school" and a diet of . . . . .

. . . . other than hot dogs and beans, why is she wrong to still want that? Seriously. Why do you deride her as a "whiney pig?"

If she was a plant, then you don't know the first damned thing about her because, as a plant, she would be a total fraud (See Plumber, Joe The). If, on the other hand, she had attained a certain status, why should she have to give it uncomplainingly?

Really. I'm interested in your answer.



edit for typos, not substance. No words changed.

[hendo]

17. I doubt that there is a satisfactory response comming n/t

[hfojvt]

35. How the mighty have fallen

boo hoo hoo. We should all cry for them.

Here's how that works. Very simply. Her status was - she was better off, financially, than 70% of all other Americans. Then she lost some of her precious status, and yet, she is still better off than 60% of all Americans, many of whom have lost much more than just a little status. Many have lost their homes, their life savings, and many are on the edge and wondering what they are gonna do if things don't turn around.

This woman, however, does not care about their problems. No, she cannot see past me, myself and I. She ought to be able to step back and see the big picture, to see that "hey, I am STILL better off than many other people - by a long shot"

It is exactly her type of self absorbtion that is a huge flaw in American society. So many Americans are all about "more for me" and don't seem to give a crap about anybody else, except their ability to one-up their neighbors.

What she did was a little bit like going into an ER after a twenty car pile-up and expecting the people there to be greatly concerned about her broken fingernail. The chorus of the world's smallest violins is quite predictable :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[laureloak]

53. You got it, baby!

[pintobean]

55. Or

she was using herself as an example, representing a large portion of society. Many of us are being forced back down the ladder after decades of climbing.

[Missy Vixen]

54. You evidently did not get the memo

Everyone that makes over $20,000 a year deserves whatever they get, and even those making that amount of money should be ashamed. After all, anyone who isn't subsisting on peanut butter and stale bread and living in someone's garage is obviously a "whiny pig" when they watch everything they worked their entire lives for slip away, including any hope for the future.

:sarcasm:

I previously owned a business. I wasn't rich. I did re-invest the small amount I managed to clear every month after the bills were paid in our community, though, and I can't do that anymore. My husband was out of work for ten months from November, 2008 - August, 2009. The life we formerly had is GONE. We had no kids in private school, we don't have stainless steel appliances or a granite countertop in our kitchen, but we managed to save our house with Senator Murray's help. There are a hell of a lot of people who are watching the life they worked hard for go down the drain. What those who are intent on name-calling them seem to forget is that while they're getting their jollies knowing people in their neighborhoods and communities are paying a far higher price for the past two years than they ever dreamed, it affects all of us.

The neighbor down the street who used to visit a local restaurant for dinner and a margarita or two on Friday night can't afford to do so anymore. That restaurant owner is having a tough time as a result. He lays off employees, who then can't find another job. Their families aren't prepared to weather long periods of unemployment because they didn't make a huge amount of money to begin with, and they are looking for anything to keep food on the table and a roof over their kids' heads. There are a lot of very desperate people now; if they can't find a job, any job, they're going to get cash in any way they possibly can.

There is nothing left for the economy of this country to grow on. Nothing. It has been outsourced and offshored. When people can't find a job to maintain even the most modest home, a car, get the kids fed and enough of an education so THEY can find a job someday, they're certainly not stimulating whatever economy is left by doing some of the things we all enjoy once in awhile: Going to a movie. Going out for dinner. Taking in a musical performance, attending a sporting event. Working on a cherished hobby. Anything that brings even a bit of enjoyment is GONE. Maybe that doesn't seem like a big deal to those here, but wow, it's sure made an effect on society over the past two years. Anyone whose employer still offers vacation days is afraid to take them. After all, will they have a job when they come back from that desperately needed vacation?

Maybe the "new normal" is acceptable to the mean-spirited who really get off on the idea that someone else will suffer for the crime of making more money than you did, but the woman in question raises some pretty valid points. I might also add that she works for a vets' organization. If anyone suffers in this "new normal", it's vets. One of my friends told me a few months back her kid reupped with the Marines because he knew he wouldn't be able to find a job here. He's going to Afghanistan for the third time next month. There are hundreds of thousands of vets around the country that are homeless or living in shameful conditions because they either can't find a job, or can't survive on the pittance they get paid.

There is a limit people can take before they start speaking up. The woman who confronted President Obama had reached that point. Truthfully, he should be happy I wasn't in that room. I would have been polite, but I would have had my comments listed via bullet point on a 3x5 card so I would not forget them. I understand that he is one man. I understand that he works hard. I also understand that he has consistently sided with and hired those who got us into this mess in the first place. He asked us to "hold his feet to the fire". It would have been even toastier in that room if I was there. After all, it's not just me. It's everyone we know. It's bigger than any of us now.

The time to act courageously and decisively was twenty-two months ago. We can't afford to wait till the end of President Obama's first term. If that is not clear to him, I'm not sure what's going to make it clearer.

And, no, I do not think the woman was a plant. I think she spoke her mind.

[laureloak]

60. Greed is the problem with her. Not sacrifice, just greed.

[Missy Vixen]

66. Based on what?

The fact she wanted to maintain her lifestyle?

Do you think she got wealthy working for a vet's organization?

This has nothing to do with "greed". It's all about a tremendous number in this country whose lives are stripped to the bone. There's nothing for them to look forward to. They're talking to a man worth (conservatively,) several million dollars, and whose friends are all worth several million dollars. They don't worry about where their kids' next meal is coming from or where the money's coming from to pay for college, do they?

Why should she work hard all her life to watch it evaporate in two years?

[laureloak]

68. She spends for private school yet doesn't want to bother

budgeting for it. It's just too much trouble to cut back during hard times. Too bad, Ms Greedy, those lucrative times are gone forever.

Many of us have worked all our lives only to be struck down but we shoulder our burdens without complaint and extend a hand to help others. There's no guarantee you will get everything you want out of life and it damn sure isn't the fault of the President of the United States or the Democratic party if you don't.

The whiney pig is crying because she can't have everything for herself. Cry, pig, cry: Wee, wee, wee all the way to the Hannity show.

[emilyg]

11. Real.

[Emit]

16. I think she was on Hannity's radio program today

as a guest

Velma Hart

[Pithlet]

27. Big surprise.

I'd said I thought she was a plant in another thread about her.

[NYC_SKP]

41. That she appeared on Hannity says quite a bit about her, IMHO.

Plant or not, there's something stinky about her. (no reflection on the OP)

:donut:

[lonestarnot]

18. Can I just reserve my opinion until you tell us what vet's org?

[Stinky The Clown]

22. AmVets

That's what she claims. That's also what their web site states. See this link/scroll down to "Financial Department"

http://www.amvets.org/about_us/officers_and_staff.htm

[lonestarnot]

28. Smelling fishy to me.

But haven't seen her on any of shows referenced here yet. Daily Show now on the thread. :shrug:

[Stinky The Clown]

29. For what its worth, AmVets is a very real organization.

We've supported them for years.

[lonestarnot]

32. Oh yes. I know they are a very real organization.

:evilgrin:

[lonestarnot]

34. Two observations, just saw her on Tweetie. Send her kids to private schools

and said tonight that she was joking when she said she didn't have a credit card, but at the time Mr. President actually asked her, she did not appear to be joking. I'll bet that Blue Doggers are ok with her. :shrug:

[DeschutesRiver]

44. Hadn't heard that part - changes my opinion

So Obama takes your question, and you lie as a "joke" when he asks you if you have a credit cared?

I only saw her on Matthews and she said she was an Obama voter and sounded like she was still fully in support of him (think she almost interrupted something Chris was saying to make that point). I thought she sounded straight up and sincere. But playing games with the answer to a question by the President in a town hall format, along with her appearance on Hannity, makes me think I might be mistaken.

[CBHagman]

58. Here's a bit of what she said.

This is a portion of her remarks.

"I am a chief financial officer for a veterans service organization, AMVETS, here in Washington. I'm also a mother. I'm a wife. I'm an American veteran. And I'm one of your middle-class Americans. And quite frankly, I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration defending the mantle of change that I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now.

"I have been told that I voted for a man who said he was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class. I'm one of those people, and I'm waiting, sir. I'm waiting. I don't feel it yet. And I thought, while it wouldn't be in great measure, I would feel it in some small measure.

"I have two children in private school, and the financial recession has taken an enormous toll on my family. My husband and I have joked for years that we thought we were well beyond the hot-dogs-and-beans era of our lives. But quite frankly, it's starting to knock on our door and ring true that that might be where we're headed again. And quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to answer this honestly: Is this my new reality?"

As far as I'm concerned, that raises as many questions as it poses. What does she mean by feel? With what specifically is she disappointed? Is she worried about her 401(k)? Does she own a home? Is her husband employed?

To which income bracket do they belong? (Believe me, that matters one hell of a lot, especially in this area of the country...) What kind of private schools are we talking about, relatively modestly priced parochial schools or very exclusive ones?

Is she really going into the hotdog-and-beans era, or is that just hyperbole? It matters, in an area like this, where some people are juggling multiple jobs and living in cramped apartments, and others sigh petulantly when if you won't let them cut in line in front you at the Safeway (I live here and have worked with the public, so I know whereof I speak).

I have to say that her mention of her role as chief financial officer, plus the comment about her daughters going to private school, pushed my skepticism buttons.

And speaking in my role as a schlub with a bus pass and a rented apartment, I have almost limitless contempt for anyone who is pitching a tantrum 18 months into Obama's presidency. The wheels don't turn that fast.

[ecstatic]

51. I wonder why she lied... very bizarre

My guess is that she is overwhelmed with credit card debt and wants someone to blame. But other than that...let's see... EMPLOYED CFO, kids in private school, STILL HAS HER HOME (although it's probably lost a lot of value--join the club)...

[Freddie Stubbs]

57. What's wrong with sending your kids to a private school? President Obama does it

[lonestarnot]

67. This is not a thread about education. No hijacking allowed.

:evilgrin:

[laughingliberal]

19. I saw her. I thought she was genuine and I also think she was not bashing Obama at all but likes him

I also thought her question to Obama about our 'new normal' was a good one. Are there any among us who have seen the lives we worked so hard to have slipping away who aren't asking ourselves that? It was Obama's guy Goolsbee who said jobs aren't coming back soon. We're all wondering if there's any future.

[pinboy3niner]

21. On the level. nt

[hendo]

24. She is on The Daily Show now

or rather, they are showing a clip of her.

[laureloak]

61. You're popping up all over this thread selling this woman.

[LWolf]

38. I have no idea since I don't watch poliltics on tv or listen to it on the radio.

I'll say that it wouldn't surprise me that anyone is having trouble defending Obama. Only the selectively blind, deaf, ignorant, and naive can do so at this point with any level of comfort.

In my opinion, of course.

[old mark]

39. I saw her several times on MSNBC all day and she seemed sincere to me. I'm glad this

came up, though...who do you think would have "planted" her - the Dems or the GOP?

mark

[Stinky The Clown]

65. I actually don't think she was a plant. But that was the buzz in some circles.

I think she was just what she appeared to be.

[HughBeaumont]

40. Refresh my memory, did corporate/wealthy hostage-holding come into play . . .

. . . or does this Laissez-FAILED shitheap fall squarely on Obama's shoulders in her mind, as if he's supposed to magically stop uncaring greedy fuckbags from masturbating to pictures of cashpiles, lines of laid-off workers and soaring profit charts?

[Lost4words]

42. not a plant an honest democrat speaking truth, Im tired as well. nt

[UTUSN]

43. She protesteth too much about supporting him. The damage she did

at embarrassing him in real time far outweighs after-the-fact protestations. She seemed to be enjoying the attention way too much. And LIMBOsevic was claiming she was a plant, but from the Left, supposedly because somehow it was a softball opportunity for the president to look good?

What veterans' organization does she work for? Can't be the "service" organizations or the VA, which, technically aren't supposed to be advocating for specific politicians, such as her protesting that she is a big supporter of him.

[cherokeeprogressive]

56. She works for Amvets

You know, the organization that has been preparing to embarrass Barack Obama since 1944.

Here's her email address, maybe you'll ask her why she lied? I'm betting not though...

[e-mail]

[seabeyond]

45. the thing is stinky. i understand her. and everything she says. i also understand where obama is

coming from, recognize what he has accomplished. see where he has failed. and support him, absolutely.

[Gaedel]

46. Real

She just didn't get her pony yet.

[MannyGoldstein]

47. Who selected the town hall participants and how? nt

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

49. Works for AMVETS. Seemed legit to me on Olbermann.

A frustrated supporter.

Though post #34 above is interesting.

[zonkers]

59. Planted by WH perhaps? To give independents and repubs w/an aversion to teabaggery the impression

that he does not cave to "libruls"? It makes as much sense as anything.

[TK421]

62. I watched that....she seemed pretty sincere to me, I don't think she was a plant

but I could be wrong...doubt it. I watch facial expressions, and either she is sincere or one hell of an actress.

[Tx4obama]

63. What ever she is, she IS a FIBBER. She said on a news show she DOES have a credit card.

At the townhall she told President Obama that she didn't have one.