White House Correspondents Dinner: Wanda Sykes
Wanda Sykes is always funny. She seemed to be a little nervous in the beginning but when she got going, it was great. The video is a little long, but watch at least until the abstinence joke around 7 minutes in:
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May 10, 2009 |
Karol Collymore | Comments (133 so far)
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Posted by: Bill McDonald | May 10, 2009 7:05:32 PM
As a professional comedy writer, I just want to say I think the Bush administration finally ended last night and it was Wanda Sykes who killed it. Before it was over I had tears in my eyes - not from laughing but from pride. This is what comedy is for - to point out things in a funny way that compounds the impact of the truth.
I went for a long walk afterwards and the world was different. Check that. The world was the same again. 8 long years of horrendous wretched mediocre awfulness and they finally got shoved into the past. I am healed from the Bush administration.
If I had to get technical I could criticize her first joke for not going BOOM! I could criticize the kidney failure comment for giving the critics something they can point to and say, "See, that's how mean they are." I'd rather hear it expressed with a great joke than a flash of anger.
But pointing these minor problems out would be as distorted as the Drudge Report and some comments I have seen. One responded to President Obama's brilliant set by saying that it was clear Obama had bought into the talk that he was the messiah. He actually believes it now.
That's the level of desperate dumb we are dealing with in the right wing.
To criticize any aspect of Wanda's performance has to be in the right context. It was one of the great comedic bursts ever seen at this dinner, and I've watched a lot of them.
The main reason this was shocking is that it's not everyday that you hear the real deal in Washington, D.C.
They can change the drapes at the White House, they can have a parade, but somebody had to come in and puncture the giant ugly balloon that was left. Wanda did that and the Bush administration is now officially over.
Posted by: petey | May 10, 2009 8:05:25 PM
Sick and not funny. Limbaugh may want Obama to fail, but not die, or even joke about him dying. Sick, demented and deranged if you think that's funny.
Posted by: Bill McDonald | May 10, 2009 8:51:14 PM
Petey,
This is why I'd have replaced that part with an actual joke as I pointed out in my comment. It gives the right wing something to latch onto rather than dealing with the real jokes.
But let's not overreact: After watching Cheney in action I thought "sick, demented and deranged" was something the right wing admired.
Here's the story as I'm sure even the FOX table got: President Obama was excellent and Wanda Sykes followed with a devastating, funny indictment of the last 8 years.
I say if you felt like the Bush administration was a disaster, you should enjoy what Wanda said. It's probably the only indictment we're going to get.
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | May 10, 2009 10:41:08 PM
Hyper-astute and long-time observers of the Oregon Legislature may get a big laugh (and a bit of a shock!) if they pay very close attention to the crowd reaction to the Oprah "look under your seats" joke.
That's all I'm going to say. Y'all need to figure it out on your own.
Posted by: Bill McDonald | May 11, 2009 12:15:27 AM
You know what's wrong with the first joke? It doesn't make factual sense so the audience gets hung up on it for a second before laughing and then barely laughs.
I would have gone with an inclusive setting joke:
"It's nice to be here. Did everyone enjoy dinner? Wasn't the service great? See, that's why it's good to dine with President Obama right now. The waiters know how he's throwing money around these days. They're thinking, "Let's make the service great. Barack could tip us a trillion dollars."
Posted by: LT | May 11, 2009 12:24:50 AM
Basketball jokes were priceless! Also the if Biden were ever a hostage jokes.
Also loved the part about "first black president .... unless you screw up and then it is going to be what's up with the half white guy?".
It is time we relearn the difference between satire and just plain mean. Too much in politics in recent years has been just plain mean. This was a great example of satire.
Posted by: Bill McDonald | May 11, 2009 12:56:00 AM
I thought the best joke of the night was President Obama's about grounding his children for taking Air Force One to New York.
Now contrast the mood with President Bush's video where he looked for the WMDs under his desk in the Oval Office with his dog, as hundreds of thousands of people were being killed or maimed by the Iraq War.
The right wing can get all huffy about Wanda's kidney line if they want, but nothing was sicker than W making fun of not finding the WMDs.
By the way, Wanda was comparing Rush to Osama and Osama had kidney failure. Which doesn't make it a particularly clever line but that's how she got there.
Of course, there is a chance that she designed the line to shock and cause headlines and draw more attention to the evening. In that case it worked well, and she played Drudge Report, etc...for suckers.
Posted by: rw | May 11, 2009 6:28:15 AM
I am glad she told a lot of "black" lines, for I think she put it also, on the table, the private and not-so-private discomfitures many felt. The worries. And, exiting (we HOPE) a dangerously partisan era, one cannot help but be aware that partisanship comes in all versions: ethnicities, SES, so on and so on.
The bit about lunch and Pelosi... heh.
Posted by: Bill McDonald | May 11, 2009 8:19:17 AM
I don't mean to comment too much on this but I relate to this function completely. This is my area. I write political humor for radio and TV. Besides, I used to be a columnist for the Tribune so I can relate a little to the media audience. Heck, I was a waiter for years so I'm even an expert on banquets.
My most disappointing one of these dinners is when a client did the gig back in the Clinton era. See, when he got to Washington, "USA Today" asked him what he might say and he gave one of my jokes as an example. It was nice to see that in the paper, but I wanted one directly to the Prez at the dinner and it didn't happen. Bummer.
So here's my opinion on the swirling storm around the "kidney failure" line. I see it's still a main story on Drudge, 2 days later with Wanda's picture. Could that be a clue why Wanda did it?
I mean she could have easily gone with a joke there: "Rush, if you want to see something fail just go to an all-you-can eat buffet. I guarantee that place will fail."
This stuff isn't that hard, so for Wanda to say she wants Rush's kidneys to fail means 2 possible things:
1. She is using the moment to vent some genuine anger built up over years of listening to this clown spew his nonsense.
2. She wanted to launch this monologue into media orbit. Judging from her picture on the Drudge Report this morning, that could be working.
I like the last comment above from RW. There is so much skill in Wanda's joke about President Obama and Biden having a burger together. She used Pelosi to touch on the dreaded subject of all the people who wish President Obama great harm. Comedy has to access the main things everyone is worrying about, but lightly, with skill.
It is so easy for comedy to fail. Even people like Jerry Seinfeld say they have no clue if a joke will work 'til they try it. So to see both the President and Wanda rock the house like this was truly sensational.
And to hear this stuff looking back at the Bush administration? That was righteous.
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 8:45:35 AM
Sad, but not unexpected, to see lefties defending Wanda Sykes. I guess 'hate speech' isn't wrong when practiced by a Democrat.
But you know if Bush had sat there laughing as a comedian called a prominent Democrat the '20th hijacker' and wished for his waterboarding, that the media would have lit up in a weeklong firestorm.
Dont deny it.
As Barry himself said to the 'media watchdogs' at the same dinner "I know you all voted for me."
He knows he's safe. The media won't turn the light on.
Posted by: joel dan walls | May 11, 2009 9:27:52 AM
Say Joe White, remind me why Rush Limbaugh is still your hero and why he was never prosecuted for all those phony Oxycontin prescriptions.
Posted by: Kurt Chapman | May 11, 2009 9:54:05 AM
I'm not a Limbaugh fan. Like Dr. Laura, I can only take them in 3 mnute bytes or less. I prefer less. That said, I'm not a fan of Sykes type of comedy either (but do recognize that she is good at it).
She crossed the imaginary line with calling Limbaugh the 20th hijacker.
Posted by: Scott Jorgensen | May 11, 2009 9:58:38 AM
I read a summary of the correspondence dinner on CNN.com, and laughed myself silly at one of Obama's jokes. It was the one about how Dick Cheney couldn't make it because he was working on his memoirs, "How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People." Hilarious!
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 10:09:35 AM
You'd have to ask the prosecutor why he didn't pursue charges.
I think he was a Democrat.
And does Limbaugh getting hooked on prescription painkillers after cranial surgery really have anything to do with Obama's obvious pleasure at Sykes hate speech?
Rush is a person who says what he thinks not what he thinks you want to hear, and doesnt have to spend other peoples money to make himself look generous.
Remind me why Obama is your hero after he sat through 20 years of Jeremiah Wright's sermons about 'white man's greed' and why God must be black?
Obama brought his children to be taught by the good Rev and to hear about Wright's visit with terrorist financier Moammar Ghaddafi.
If Bush had gone to a church that claimed to preach an Anglocentric gospel, we would've never heard the end of it.
Why does Obama's 20 years at a church preaching an 'Afrocentric gospel' get a pass?
Why is this important still today?
Because Obama admits that Wright was his 'mentor' and foundational to shaping his political philosophy.
Posted by: LT | May 11, 2009 10:24:59 AM
Joe, Rush Limbaugh has said a lot of obnoxious things over his career, but perhaps his low point was on the TV show when he made fun of preteen Chelsea Clinton. Even some people who have voted straight Republican ticket all their lives think the children of public figures should be off limits.
Not all of what Sykes said was funny. I thought some of the jokes were funny and some were off color/unfunny, perhaps unwise.
But as someone who still hopes that it was the attack on the preteen daughter of a president which got the Rush Limbaugh TV show cancelled, I think what was remarkable about the Sykes jokes about Limbaugh is that Rush has finally met his match. National coverage of jokes which got thru the thick skin of Rush and the "dittoheads"---and they were delivered by a black woman at that!
Anyone who has ever been in a situation supervising young people will relate to this idea:
OK, time to stop the fight. How about if we agree that from this point forward, all sides agree to some rules of civility?
Of course, without insults, what does Rush have to offer these days after his "side" lost 2 major elections in a row?
And I see that Cheney has said Limbaugh is a Republican but Colin Powell isn't.
Maybe Cheney and Limbaugh should form their own party and let the Republicans go back to the days when Jack Kemp and Gerald Ford gave this country an example of civility and caring for all citizens, not just the "base".
This country has done better in the times when 2 intelligent parties are debating serious issues than when nasty rhetoric devolves into "good guys" and "bad guys".
Posted by: Karol | May 11, 2009 10:28:01 AM
Jokes, people, they are jokes. The job of the artist is to provoke and clearly Wanda did it. As was mentioned somewhere, comedians can speak truth in a way the rest of us can't. The pull out method? Oxycontin? Stereotypical Black guy playing pickup basketball in the White House?
Sense of humor, anyone?
Posted by: Carla Axtman | May 11, 2009 10:45:36 AM
I thought Sykes was hysterical. I didn't hear any "hate speech" in her routine. I heard edgy, interesting and engaging comedy for almost all of her time at the podium.
I admittedly didn't get the kidney reference so it wasn't funny to me. But the Limbaugh stuff was hysterical because it's outrageous and frankly--has a kernel of truth to it when placed in the context of her entire monologue.
Posted by: Rip | May 11, 2009 10:47:40 AM
Wanda Sykes is a comedian. I think we should all thank the powers that be that Obama's favorite comedian, George Carlin, was nopt available. He would have made comments to cause Wanda Sykes to blush. I think the kidney failure joke was dead on and it is obviously a continuation of the comparison to the traitorous speech by Rush and the hatred of fundamentalists like Bin Laden. Limbaugh and Bin Laden are very similar in their rhetoric and as such are fair game for such comparison. Just as Bin Laden has kidney failure, it is a worthwhile comparison to serve as the poetic hyperbole at the core of the comedian's art. Anyone who cannot see that is blind. I am a Republican who believes that our party has been hijacked by neo-conservative supply-side economists and must be taken back before we can grow. Wanda Sykes seems to understand that concept; I thought she brilliantly and hilariously illustrated her understanding.
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 10:52:30 AM
Rush is a private citizen, and yes his comments about Chelsea being ugly were below tasteless.
I said so then and I'll say so now.
Obama is not a private citizen, he is an elected official and accountable to the public.
As prez he is supposed to set the tone and the example.
So you wanna debate who should be the issue Obama vs Rush? I'll go at that all day long.
Obama's approval of the hateful speech of Wanda Sykes is despicable and any Democrat who hasn't the guts to say so should be ashamed.
But I know that they aren't and they aren't even capable of shame.
Posted by: Jim H | May 11, 2009 10:55:48 AM
I think the joke that got the biggest laugh of the night (well, I only watched Obama and Sykes' bits) was the Rush/oxycontin joke by Sykes. Maybe that's why the right is all in a huff - they witnessed the entire Washington press corp laughing their asses off at their dear leader's expense. ohhhh, did we get our wittle feehwings hurt??? poor babies.... Ha! Priceless.
One of my favorites was when Sykes used the "N" word - talking about the President's nipples and how she didn't need to seem them.
Other highlights for me:
- Obama making fun of Steele for trying to sound hip.
- Obama's Boehner joke about being colored but not a color that occurs in the natural world (a joke he could barely get out because he was laughing too hard). I've heard this before but I loved seeing Obama make it himself.
- Sykes' "pull-out" method
- Obama referring to Fox's table position
- Olbermann's reaction to Sykes' jokes about Hannity and waterboarding along with her crack about how she could break Hannity by making him sit in the center seat in coach.
- Seeing one of my favorite teevee stars in the audience - Dulé Hill from West Wing and now in one of the best shows on television: "Psych".
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 11:03:23 AM
Rip,
Anyone who believes that you are a Republican has probably also recently purchased a bridge in Brooklyn.
Nice try, but you'd be better off admitting that you're a Democrat.
Posted by: Rip | May 11, 2009 11:21:12 AM
Hey, I voted Democratic in the last few elections, so call me one if you wish. Does that mean I follow the recent party line? No. I am more of a Jeffersonian Republican than a Limbonian one. I believe in my heart of hearts that the responsibility of Federal Government is to represent the people (def. Republic). I don't know who these idiots we have runnibng the Party are and I sincerely don't align with them at all. I am not a Democrat, but I can see past partisanship enouigh to know that the lesser of two evils now is the current administration. I think we must reinvent our Party for modernity and as Jefferson suggested (and I paraphrase), "throw out the old and do something different." I think this is the eve of the collapse of the American system of government and as such our founding fathers have graciously provided us with a means of self-empowerment. Strip down the constitution and modernize our practices. Idiots like Rush Limbaugh will Willy Hortonize our future and lead us away from the truth of the Republican core ideals: "smaller government, representation for all, long endurance of a nation concieved in liberty." How dare you say I am not a Republican? Can you say that Dick Cheney is and Colin Powell isn't? Anyone who does needs to look at the origins of the Party. "Free soil, free labor, free men." Where the hell are these core virtues in Rush Limbaugh's inane ramblings?
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 11:23:39 AM
Karol wrote: "comedians can speak truth in a way the rest of us can't"
Is it 'truth' that Rush is the '20th hijacker', Karol?
Is it 'truth' that he should be waterboarded?
Your definition of Sykes as an 'artist' grossly degrades the meaning of the term.
If Rush had described Obama as needing waterboarding, if he had wished that Obama's kidneys failed what would've been your reaction?
Would he be simply 'an artist who does his job'?
What was your reaction when Julianne Malveaux said of Clarence Thomas: "I hope his wife feeds him lots of eggs and butter and he dies early like many black men do, of heart disease....He is an absolutely reprehensible person."
Is hate speech only acceptable when practiced by a leftist?
Posted by: Rip | May 11, 2009 11:37:39 AM
There are two types of "hate speech". Hate speech that attacks a specific individual for his or her own actions, and hate speech that generalizes a group based on generally accepted (no matter how skewed) perceptions. Is is okay to hate someone who does something you consider to be morally reprehensible? I don't. However, I understand that some people are not like me. I was offended much more by Rush's diatribe in which he states that he hopes the administration fails. It hurt me as an American and it is, at its root, fundmentalist garbage. Republican Fundamentalism is a misnomer in that the squeakiest wheels seem to have the least true knowledge about what i consider to be true Republican values. I mean, the "Office" of President is bigger than the "person" who happens to hold such office. Why can't we stop being sheep for a second and really look critically at what out party is doing? Are we that afraid of what we may find? We have a grand opportunity to create a new, more viable America, and we're letting it slip through our fingers at the behest of the money-grubbing old guard. That, to me, is unconscionable. I hope Mr. Obama succeeds and I hope that he does it through collaborative effort with Republican leaders. Right now we are being outshined by the other guy's propensity toward change. If we don't inject some heartfelt protection of the common working man's interest into the policies being scripted right now, we will lose an entire generation to folly.
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 11:43:12 AM
Rip,
If you believe that Obama is the 'lesser of two evils' you certainly haven't been paying attention as he has taken over the American economy.
He now runs the banks, the auto companies , with the energy companies and health care soon to follow. And of course he has the willing servitude of the media, his toy.
We'll all be working on the Obama plantation soon.
What was it you were saying about believing in free soil and free men?
Yes, I knew before you told me that you were voting Democratic.
Just admit it. That's where you are. You're no Republican.
You're much too comfortable with Obama's socialist agenda to be called a Republican.
No way someone who claims to believe in 'smaller government' would support Obama. You'd have to be schizophrenic.
Posted by: rw | May 11, 2009 12:02:36 PM
Let's see: anyone hateful leave this blog recently? Do they share a DNS with "Joe" perchance?
Posted by: rw | May 11, 2009 12:06:49 PM
Hey JOe, yer an arse. I actually adore Dennis Leary even as I utterly fear his politics! He has me by the ephemerae because of his blazing delivery: dialed-in, speed-rap.... oy GOD gimme some!
But the "what" of his delivery... yecccccch.
Soooooo... some of us recognize pure heat and grit and love it for itself and can separate it from correctitude.
Try it some, Joe: it might help you with your fear.
Posted by: Admiral Naismith | May 11, 2009 12:08:02 PM
"Is it 'truth' that Rush is the '20th hijacker', Karol?"
I don't know, Joe. Is it true? It's the Republicans who spent the last eight years telling us that criticism of The President was tantamount to treason. And Rush has been nonstop criticism from day one. Does that mean he's a traitor? According to the Republicans, it does.
Did Republicans scream with outrage when their Messiah Rush hoped America would fail so that they could blame Obama for it? Do Republicans now put loyalty to their own leadership so far above loyalty to their own country that they value Rush Limbaugh's kidneys more than they value the United States of America?
Posted by: Rip | May 11, 2009 12:11:18 PM
I'm glad you're looking to me to answer that point. At my weekly discussion group a similar criticism was proposed. Have you ever rented a car and it was in pitiful shape? I mean, knocking sounds from under the hood, it pulls to the left (or right), and it's just not what you were expecting. That's what our country is right now. I support anyone whos is willing to say, "Hey, we need to work together as a nation and fix this." It always amazes me how many people criticize Obamas socialization of key economic hot-spots. What should he do? Allow them to continue failing and lie about it like the last administration? I don't believe that privatizing profits and socializing losses is the way to do it. We have had exactly that policy since George H.W. Bush left office. It was nowhere near as bad with Clinton in the White House as when Cheney/Bush were. All he's doing is securing a real interest in the eventual profitablility of these endeavors. Remember right after 9/11 when W. doled out hundreds of billions? That established the unfortunate precedent that current overspenders use to justify what you criticize. I don't agree with the current spending; I think it's a terrbile policy, the only worse answer is everytjhing else. We go through our lives with blinders on and blame Obama, but the guy has been in office less that 120 days. We have had 16 previous years of bad policy and idiotic spending to create the current quagmire. We must get out from under it or we will perish as a nation. Do I criticize the way they do it? OF COURSE! I have harsher criticism for Republicans who know beeter sitting back waiting for it to fail at our expense rather than joing forces with Democrat AMERICANS and proactively taking care of my interests. I am you. Who are they?
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 12:24:09 PM
RW,
Your paranoia is hilarious.
I can't tell you how many times I've posted on a blog or forum somewhere, only to have someone respond 'oooo, I'll bet he's (previous poster) using a new name. Check his IP.'
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 12:26:19 PM
Admiral N wrote:
"....Rush hoped America would fail....."
No, Rush hoped Obama would fail to implement his policies.
Do you not understand the difference?
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 12:37:58 PM
Rip,
The current problems were caused by overregulation.
Prescribing more of the same won't fix them.
The banks were killed off by Democrat policies to force banks to write subprime loans in specified zip codes.
It was a blatant vote buying scheme and worked wonderfully to re-elect Hilly and Billy in '96.
However, anyone could have told us that forcing banks to write bad loans was not good policy.
Nationalizing the banks is not the answer.
The same clowns who can't balance Washington's books and who caused the problem, now run the major banks.
The auto industry and the real estate industry are in the toilet because nobody can get a loan with the banks screwed up.
It all goes back to the money, Rip.
Now you've voted for the same idiots who killed the banks to also run your local hospital and doctor's office.
I hope you don't get sick anytime soon.
Newly hatched Democrat Arlen Specter (he's probably a hero to you) said that Jack Kemp would probably be alive if Congress had spent more tax money on health care.
As a retired congressman, Kemp had access to the gold plated Congressional Retirees' Health Plan.
But apparently that wasn't enough for Sen. Specter (D-The Moon).
Posted by: rw | May 11, 2009 12:40:38 PM
Sorry BO kids, I do agree with Joe on the ridiculous contention you are all promulgating that the Right Wing hatemonger Limbaugh was saying he wanted America to fail.
He just wants the left, and, specifically, Obama to fail.
It's best if we don't indulge the same tainted polemics as our worthy adversaries, eh?
Posted by: Bill McDonald | May 11, 2009 12:42:24 PM
Joe,
Here's the part I wish the right wing would get. President Bush took this country so far over the edge of the cliff that we are now in a position where we could collapse economically if the next President fails. I'm talking about the dollar going to zero. Civil unrest. Maybe even a dissolution of the Union. Serious stuff, Joe. That's how badly Bush/Cheney hurt this country. We have a very limited window to pull back from the edge. In fact, there's still a chance that we won't be able to - that's how tough our financial position is.
Normally, wanting the President to fail is no big deal. But in these times - given this situation - a failed President means a failed country.
Now, ordinarily, your point would be quite reasonable. But what is so annoying is that the same people who are currently hoping President Obama will fail, were the ones who made our situation so precarious to begin with. They're the ones that screwed up so badly that we have to succeed. Do you see how obnoxious that is?
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 12:56:21 PM
Bill,
The economy under the Bush administration was remarkably good, especially considering the impact of 9/11 and needing to finance two theaters of war against terrorists.
Check the stats. Low unemployment, low inflation.
The crisis that abruptly showed up last fall prior to the election is easily traceable to Democrats.
Let's start with Sen Chuck Schumer causing a run on Indy Bank late last summer, followed by Democrat Warren Buffett talking down the bond rating of a major operation.
They kicked the legs out from under the banks which had already been overextended by the Democratic subprime scheme.
It was an 'October surprise' a bit early with the purpose of swinging the election.
Add to that Democratic intransigence on drilling for American oil causing the per barrel price to hit the roof last summer.
Bush didn't see it coming because as a loyal American, he wouldn't dream of purposely destroying the economy to win an election.
But Democrats did.
So now they have stolen Chrysler from the individual stockholders and given it to the UAW as a gift.
And you think that's the path to success?
Posted by: Rip | May 11, 2009 12:57:05 PM
Your inference that i am naive duly noted; please respond to this assessment: Economic ebb and flow is generational. True economic change must be measure in decades, if not longer. I truly believe that the Reagan-Era brain trust had the right idea economically but not the longevity to see it through. It is naive to suggest that total deregulation will do anything but absolve corporations of any resposibility whatsoever to the common people. If I have to choose between govt taking over failing corporations and corporations taking over failing government, what should I choose? One of those scared the hell out of me, the other sees me packing my bags and heading for the moon. Are we so stupid that we'll really entertain the idea that national healthcare is not in our best interest? Private industry has had its shot and failed miserably. I believe that we have brought about a national climate where carpetbaggers can swoop in and profiteer monetarily and idealogically off our misfortune. I know for a fact that we have a slim window of opportunity before some charismatic Democrat (not Obama, someone farther down the line) renders smaller-government hard workers obsolete, if not extinct in politics. You can call me a Democrat if you want, but I refuse to follow the mad piper into the sea. I believe that if we return to our core values and modernize our system, we will serve the common good. That's all. To quote the REAL Clinton (George Clinton, of Parliament Funkadelic), "One broke sucka ain't got no business hating another broke sucka." It's time for us to stop allowing ourselves to be used by those who know we want to be wealthy like them, but fundamentally believe they are of a different class than the common man. Moder neo-conservative supply-side economists use the concept of wealth similarly to the way Southern Democrats used the perception of race to control the middle class for over a hundred years. Are we that stupid?
Posted by: Bill McDonald | May 11, 2009 1:06:47 PM
Joe,
Just when I thought I had heard every talking point on this you brought something new. President Bush didn't see this financial crisis coming because he's too much of a loyal American?
Nice. And I thought Wanda Sykes was hilarious.
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 1:09:33 PM
Rip wrote:
"Are we so stupid that we'll really entertain the idea that national healthcare is not in our best interest? Private industry has had its shot and failed miserably."
Are you kidding me?
Government purchases half of the health care in this country.
That's not 'private industry'.
Medicare and Medicaid do not pay full price for what they purchase.
They pay what they want and the balance gets cost shifted onto the rest of us.
Imagine that you were GM and you manufactured 1 million cars to sell them at $10,000 each.
The government comes to you and says 'I am buying 1/2 million of your cars, but I am only paying $7000 each, and there is nothing you can do about it'.
You would raise the price on the other 1/2 million cars to make up the balance, would you not?
This is the situation health care providers are in.
The solution is to get government OUT of the health care market, not further in.
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 1:16:26 PM
Rip wrote:
"It is naive to suggest that total deregulation will do anything but absolve corporations of any resposibility whatsoever to the common people."
I haven't suggested anything like 'total deregulation'.
I've called for an end to overregulation.
Do you deny that the subprime crisis is a classic result of overregulation?
Do you think that 'regulators' such as Chuck Schumer, member of the Senate Banking committee should act as he did, causing a panic in the case of IndyMac? http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/07/feds-cite-schum.html
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 1:26:08 PM
Rip wrote:
"...please respond to this assessment: Economic ebb and flow is generational. True economic change must be measure in decades, if not longer. I truly believe that the Reagan-Era brain trust had the right idea economically but not the longevity to see it through...."
I agree. Clinton benefited from many of the changes that were begun under Reagan and GHW Bush -- low taxes, a strong military, the Cold War ended.
We have recently reaped the poor results of changes made by Clinton to buy votes in the mid 90's -- the subprime crisis killing off industries that depend on credit (autos, real estate).
If you can see the long term impact, don't fall for a guy like Obama who tells you he's the quick fix.
Posted by: Bill McDonald | May 11, 2009 1:35:54 PM
Joe,
Here's some advice for the GOP: Your latest strategy will not work because there are not enough dumb people in the United States.
I hate to reveal that to you - because I don't want your side to self-correct.
Besides I'm enjoying the rhetoric. The switches between trashing the Constitution and now suddenly being for it again? Priceless.
How about saying President Obama thinks he's the messiah when your guy spent 8 years telling us he listened to a Higher Father who gave the green light in Iraq?
I just wonder why God didn't tell George that the derivatives thing was out of control? You claim W was too loyal an American to notice 600 TRILLION dollars in exposure, but why didn't Jesus tell him? Perhaps you can explain it for me.
The problem the GOP has is that anyone anywhere near a clue has seen through your BS. That leaves you with the dumbest of the dumb, and there just aren't enough of them to make this work for you.
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 1:36:52 PM
Bill wrote:
"Just when I thought I had heard every talking point......"
The talking points you get on the fax each morning from the DNC bear little resemblance to the truth.
You blamed Bush for taking the country to the brink.
I countered that the stats for the economy under Bush for eight years were remarkably good but that the current problems are ones that abruptly materialized in the latter half of his last year in office.
If you think you can make your case, do so.
I won't hold my breath.
Go ahead, defend Chuckie Schumer for starters.
Tell us how the Democrats who ran Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are blameless and that all the money they gave to Obama means nothing at all.
Explain why subprime loans really were the best thing to force down the banks' throat.
Weave your story how the failure of the auto industry and the collapse of the real estate/construction industries has nothing to do with the bank crisis.
Posted by: Joe White | May 11, 2009 1:45:53 PM
Bill,
Your logic is devastating. Who can answer it?
'you guys are dumb' wow what a comeback.
'your guy was a bad President because he was religious' whoa what a zinger. Lumping Bush in with the 90% of Americans who believe in God. Great ad hom Bill. You'll win friends and influence people with that.
Brilliant stuff. Now I believe that you are a professional comedy writer. (I kinda doubted before. Sorry about that.)
Posted by: Rip | May 11, 2009 1:50:12 PM
Joe:
I couldn't say it better myself. It seems you stop one step short though: Where were our beloved Republican leaders when some economists pointed out years ago that there would be a crisis? They were lining their pockets in the real estate game. The last 20 years have seen more of a migration of wealth into the hands of an increasingly smaller group than any other era in American history. We are all responsible. I have no confidence in our banking system, and anyone who looks into the corruption that is at the heart of the industry will see what I mean. We have lain down with dogs too long and now we can't get rid of the fleas. The solution has to be unprecedented, and the cynicism at the heart of our elected officials' resistance to fixing the problem is an insult if not an outright treasonous trend. Earlier I said that we are on the eve of the collapse of our way of life. Who cares which party's fault it is if it happens?
Posted by: Steve Nelsen | May 11, 2009 1:57:31 PM
Wanda Sykes can suck on my big white 10"
Posted by: Rip | May 11, 2009 2:07:24 PM
Steve:
Wouldn't that wake you up?
Besides, I think Wanda is more likely to be sexually attracted to your wife or girlfriend than you. She is a lesbian.
I'm at a loss why guys with nothing to say resprt to abject stupidity.
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Posted by: Travis Dailey | May 10, 2009 5:35:40 PM
The abstinence joke is good, but the Limbaugh joke starting around the 12 minute mark is far better.