Lawrence explains why the normally disciplined Congressional Republicans are now in all-out panic.

[mzmolly]

"Lawrence explains why the normally disciplined Congressional Republicans are now in all-out panic in the most difficult negotiation they have faced to date with President Obama."

http://thelastword.msnbc.msn.com/

Brilliant analysis by Larry O'Donnell, once again.

Enjoy. :hi:

[RandySF]

1. Lawrence got one thing wrong.

The press will never admit that the Republicans lost this one.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

7. Especially the Morning Slow assholes (n/m)

[Kahuna]

44. Mika has been gloating the last two days. Today, she took on

cantor's account of Obama's going off on him, saying she didn't believe the president did that because he's "cool." She also said in so many words that cantor and the repukes have been acting like disingenuous jerks. Joe couldn't really counter any of that. Yesterday, Joe was agreeing that the president outfoxed the rethugs.

[aquart]

2. Appreciated. Thanks!

[Richardo]

3. Nice piece

:patriot:

[upi402]

4. The psycho-date used to be exciting

but now has a weapon and is doubling down with the new power-up!

yay!
:silly:

Republicans courted the whackos and turned conservatives into frothing freaks...
now they can't control the monster. Huh, I'm shocked.

[freshwest]

14. HAHAHA

[Kahuna]

46. Yep. I'm waiting to see a Dr. Frankenstien cartoon with a bunch of

monsters with teabags hanging out their mouths and a terrified boehner as Dr. Frankenstien.

[TalkingDog]

52. I might take you up on that....

But it wouldn't it be the Kochs as Dr.s Frankenstein and Boehner as Igor?

[RandySF]

5. I loved the reference

To what Obama did to the Somali hostage-takers.

[Richardo]

20. Me too

:D

[cliffordu]

32. I loved it too. Fuck with this man at your own peril.

Really.

[mzmolly]

35. That WAS

good. :D

[Kahuna]

47. As did I. I love my president. He is a very special man and a gift..

that we Democrats would be crazy to not get behind and support.

:patriot:

[Viking12]

6. Can we get over the myth that Obama is a super jedi ninja political strategist?

This 34th degree wizard with +20 power of smiting got old 2 years ago.

L.O'D. is an infotainment talking head. You give him far too much credence.

[EarlG]

8. He's a bit more than just an infotainment talking head

From 1989 to 1995, (Lawrence O'Donnell) was a key legislative aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. From 1989 to 1991, he served as senior advisor to Moynihan. From 1992 to 1993, he was staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, then chaired by Senator Moynihan. And then from 1993 to 1995, he was staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Finance, once again under Senator Moynihan’s chairmanship. He thus led the staff of the Senate's tax-writing committee during the consideration of President Bill Clinton's first budget, which Congress enacted in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_O%27Donnell

[KittyWampus]

9. LOL!

I think he also advised on the tv program West Wing- but that probably just falls under the infotainment label :)

[Viking12]

10. What has he done for you lately? A crisp 'West Wing' script?

[mzmolly]

16. He's not in a position to do anything

but give his professional analysis, which he did very well tonight.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[EarlG]

22. What has he done for me lately?

Most recently he's given me some interesting political analysis on the ongoing debt ceiling talks, which was presumably informed by his previous experience working on high-level budget negotiations in his role as staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Finance.

[trumad]

42. You just got your ass handed to you

and this is what you come back with?

Weak.

[ProfessorGAC]

51. What Trumad Said!

Good one, Tru.
GAC

[Kahuna]

48. When it comes to knowledge of inside Washington, I will listen to

O'Donnell, over any of the rest of the bunch every day of the week. Lawrence rules! Why? He just does. ;)

[mzmolly]

11. Who do you give credence to? Someone who has experience actually

sitting in on Presidential negotiations, or some of the squawking heads here at DU?

I'll stick with O'Donnell.

Can we get over the myth that Obama is a super jedi ninja political strategist?

Can we get over the absurd comparisons between applauding sound political strategy, and Jedi Ninja's?

[Viking12]

13. Sound political strategy? Like HCR? Repealing Bush tax cuts?

What evidence do you have that Obama is a sound political strategist? Iraq? Gitmo? Afghanistan? Torture?

[mzmolly]

15. HCR passed, and repealing the tax cuts for the middle class would have been foolish

in this economy. Republicans refused to fund the closing of Gitmo. Obama ended torture. Afghanistan is always where Obama said we should focus our military strategy. Oh, and Osama Bin Laden is dead. Pay attention!

:hi:

[Viking12]

18. LOL.

The HCR that passed was a freaking Republican bill. Pay attention. Candidate Obama, the 23rd level elf, with powers of mind control, promised single payer.

The Commander in Chief could close Gitmo tomorrow.

You honestly believe we've stopped torture under Obama? Pay attention!

Focusing attention on Afghanistan doesn't require 50,000 extra troops and another 10 billion per month. But you knew that right?

[mzmolly]

21. HCR, Republican? A Republican bill that every Republican in the house

and Senate opposed?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/21/AR2010032100943.html

The Commander in Chief, is not king.

"The End of Torture" Newsweek January 22, 2009

In the first sign of friction within his new administration, President Obama overruled the pleas of senior U.S. intelligence officials and signed a new executive order that bars the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods beyond those permitted by the U.S. military.

The order was one of four sweeping directives Obama signed calling for the closure of the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay and revamping U.S. counter-terrorism policies.

The executive orders, while expected, represented a clean break with Bush administration policies and won quick praise from human-rights groups. ...

In perhaps his most far-reaching and potentially controversial move, Obama ordered that the CIA immediately cease using any interrogation techniques that are not already authorized in the U.S. Army Field Manual. He also ordered the CIA to close, "as expeditiously as possible," any secret detention facilities overseas and begin immediate compliance with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits "humiliating and degrading" treatment of prisoners.

No, YOU pay attention. Obama isn't King, or a Ninja Jedi, he's President and unfortunately he has to deal with an immature, wrong headed, opposition party.

[Viking12]

27. Where did the mandate originate?

The concept of the individual health insurance mandate originated in 1989 at the conservative Heritage Foundation. In 1993, Republicans twice introduced health care bills that contained an individual health insurance mandate. Advocates for those bills included prominent Republicans who today oppose the mandate including Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Robert Bennett (R-UT), and Christopher Bond (R-MO). In 2007, Democrats and Republicans introduced a bi-partisan bill containing the mandate.

http://healthcarereform.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004182

HCR didn't start on Jan 20, 2009.

[mzmolly]

28. Switzerland, The Netherlands, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton

and others.

Where did Democracy originate? You know, that pesky thing that requires compromising with about 500 people, to get stuff done?

[LoZoccolo]

25. Who are you? n/t

[Viking12]

29. I am a concerned liberal that seeks to hold the President accountable?

And you?

[butterfly77]

31. Maybe,it's..

Slannity,Joe scar or one of his liars from his panel,ann coulter,grover norquist,DICK armey,DICK morris,laura ingraham,Beck,fox and friends..

[cliffordu]

36. Not really. In the last 6 months the Prez bagged the ENTIRE republican party

Go back and read WTF he did to the Clinton Machine during the primary........then what he he did to the Republicans over the Ryan budget...calling that shithead into a press conference so he could eviscerate him,

And now this.

This is a man who had Somali pirates shot in the face, and a year after that killed Bin Laden the night he eviscerated Trump and the Birthers for the last time and told great jokes while doing so.

He is not Ninja. He is, Samuri - and perhaps the most vicious and hard assed President since Johnson, when he picks his fight.

I get the feeling the R's won't fuck with him again because they think he's weak.

we should support him. I get the feeling that the bullshit about cutting SS and Medicare was just that all along.

he played them like a really good cop plays a junkie.

[SHRED]

41. LOL

O'Donnell, Keith, Rachel, etc...favor their on-air careers over any truely stinging liberal/left commentary.
They spend more time bashing Republicans then questioning the powerbrokers; no matter the party affiliation.

[freshwest]

12. BWAHAHAHA! Thanks, K & R!

[grahamhgreen]

17. Good, but nothing definitive on no cuts to social programs.

[mzmolly]

23. Nothing definitive on any details,

true.

[LoZoccolo]

24. Go Lawrence!

:bounce:

[lumberjack_jeff]

30. The Howard Cosell delivery drives me nuts. n/t

[mzmolly]

34. I love his delivery.

It captures my attention, almost immediately. :hi:

[lumberjack_jeff]

37. The em-pha-sis on each syl-la-ble gets ty-er-some.

This is How-ard Co-sell.

[mzmolly]

38. LOL

I ne-ver thought of that.

[Kahuna]

49. He does tend to speak in a deliberate manner so that even the

more dense among us can get it.

[LetTimmySmoke]

33. The whole GOP strategy has been based on the assumption that Obama will cave.

I think a similarly incorrect assumption was made in 1940.


EDIT - And all the angst against Obama over caving served its purpose. It made sure he didn't cave. It was a non-self-fulfilling prophecy in the most beautiful way.

[Scurrilous]

39. K & R

:thumbsup:

[SidDithers]

40. K&R...nt

Sid

[Kahuna]

43. Lawrence use to be one of the "professional left" who didn't get

the president's modis operandi. I'm happy to see that he now gets it and seems to have a great deal of respect for the president.

Go Lawrence! :patriot:

[graywarrior]

45. I trusted Obama all along...wierd, huh?

[Kind of Blue]

50. Yeah, Lawrence was incredible last night.

KnR. Thanks for the link. It was nice seeing the clips again. :hi: