* These idiots never learn: "Wells Fargo & Co., which received $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money, is planning a series of corporate junkets to Las Vegas casinos this month."

Actually, while corporate largess may be inherently distasteful, Wells Fargo is really getting screwed by the media on this by getting banner headlines and being lumped in with BOA and AIG.

I have yet to see any of the major MSM web sites that are trumpeting this story tell a very important, critical truth:

Wells Fargo was never bailed out.

When Wells first made a play for Wachovia, their big argument was that they were the best puchaser because no tax money would be involved. They didn't ask for federal money, and didn't want federal money -- they were forced to take federal money.

Yep. Paulson didn't want a run on the "critical" banks. So he didn't want customers knowing which were in trouble and which weren't. So the 9 largest retail banks in the country were forced to take bailout funds to obscure who was and wasn't really in trouble and thus avert a run.

Wells protested, but ultimately was strongarmed into taking the money.

There was no bailout. Its one thing to not like splashy corporate retreats. Its another to slander Wells as if they are no different than AIG. They are.

(I should clarify - I'm not saying Benen was engaged in slander, I'm saying the MSM at the root of the story is.)

Zeitgeist, I get your point but in this environment for a bank, any bank, to have junkets to major gambling centers is horrible PR. If the wealthy must hide their jewels and watches from view, bank junkets should be to places like Kansas City or Cleveland, places where there is some aura of working being done.

No, the GOP is no worse than it ever was. Shame that Obama set himself up for this.

I have lived in Las Vegas for over 40 years, and our economy is in the tank like everyone else.
You can get good rooms for $35.00 a night. They are giving away show tickets to the locals just to fill in the show rooms.
So, they are probably getting a good deal. I don't know if the common Wells Fargo worker get to partake, but if they do, then let them have fun. If not, well.... than it is business as usual.

Obama has nominated Tammy Duckworth to be the Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Good call.

Seconded.

Is it me, or is the GOP is getting worse as the process unfolds?

I think Dennis Green said it best and with exactly the right tone.

'They are who we thought they were. And we let 'em off the hook.'

These idiots never learn...

I fail to see what they're not learning. They got some free money. Now it's time to par-tay. If there's not consequences, how can there be a lesson?

Daschle is done, but the prospects for healthcare reform live on.

I'm inclined to believe the prospects have risen like a phoenix from the fires of a tax dodging lobbyist.

I was sorry to learn that Rachel Maddow is dropping her Air America Radio show...

I am as well. Partially because I won't get to hear Steve on the Radio anymore, and also because Ron Reagan spent the first 23 minutes of his expanded three hour show talking about how he now had a three hour show. I think later he also talked about the total non-story that Michael Phelps was caught smoking marijuana but I had already tuned out by then.

I will miss my news from Iraq and life during war time, since she's the only one who still covers it, and Ask Dr. Maddow.

Here's hoping Duckworth paid all her taxes!

I will miss . . . life during war time

You can always break out "Stop Making Sense" :)

doubtful wrote: "I will miss my news from Iraq and life during war time, since she's the only one who still covers it ..."

Rachel Maddow is not "the only one who covers it" and Air America is not the only "liberal" radio network.

Listen to Amy Goodman on the Pacifica network's Democracy Now! program for hard-hitting investigative journalism and coverage of Iraq (among many other things) that goes far beyond the commercial-clogged infotainment of Air America Radio.

I'm inclined to believe the prospects have risen like a phoenix from the fires of a tax dodging lobbyist.

Even without knowing who the next nominee will be?

I'm not snipin' at you or disagreein' with you. I'm just wondering, waiting and watching.

Even without knowing who the next nominee will be?

Indeed. after the Judd Gregg thing, the next nominee might be Dr. Bill Frist!

But enough of my cynicism. You gotta give doubtful this - "the prospects have risen like a phoenix from the fires of a tax dodging lobbyist" - has a certain poetry to it.

Hopefully Congress will declare a "War on Error" and stop making concessions to the Reawfuls.

How do you conserve your wy out of a fiinancial crisis?

Yeah Steve, I work for Wells Fargo. We didn't want the damn money, didn't ask for the damn money and didn't need bailing out. And still don't. So please, stop lumping us in with B of A and Citi.

Why do reporters and politicians think that the government can't run a bank? John Harwood just repeated it on 1600.

Here's the thing: the FDIC regulates banks and takes them over all the time when they fail to maintain a healthy capitalization. So the government actually has more experience managing banks which are under distress and fixing them.

FDIC does this before the banks become insolvent, so it is even legal to do it right now with any of these banks. Why are we not doing this?

I haven't listened to Rachel's radio show since she started TV, because it's at a bad time for me, and when I did tune in it seemed to be an audio broadcast of the TV show. I hope they give Seder her timeslot.

Publicus, who's that "we"? You got Wells Fargo's board of directors in your pocket?

Zeitgeist may be right, but Jen F is more right.

Besides, re the Wachovia takeover, I thought capitalism's bottom line was caveat emptor?

===

Yep, that would be William "former lobbyist" Lynn, right after two Obama nominees withdrew.

===

Steve, "Dr. Rendition" wasn't that funny, wasn't 100 percent enlightening, nor 100 percent accurate.

SocrticGadfly:

A snarky response is probably appropriate, but I'll pass. I'm not offering up idle speculation. Just first hand knowledge. We didn't want the money. We don't need the money.

"Is it me, or is the GOP getting worse as the process unfolds?"

No, they're just reverting to the mean.

The coverage of the stimulus debate on "Morning Joe" has been hopelessly misguided.

Copy this;

Morning Joe, along with Mika clearly has a goal with a bonus plan.

It is all developed to hate and confuse the electorate handing out stupid idiotic issues.

Go to this site; http://translation2.paralink.com/

Try this translated in French then try Russian at this site it is fun…copy and past don’t forget to hit the bull horn to get to hear what you want.

This is Russian
Утро Джо, нар�ду � Mika ��но имеет цель � �и�темой премировани�.

Это в�е развито, чтобы ненавидеть и �мутить �лекторат, раздающий глупые идиотичные проблемы.

French
Le matin Joe, avec Mika a clairement un but avec un plan de prime.

Il est tout développé pour détester et troubler le corps électoral distribuant des éditions idiotes stupides.

German
Le matin Joe, avec Mika a clairement un but avec un plan de prime.

Il est tout développé pour détester et troubler le corps électoral distribuant des éditions idiotes stupides.

My point is, wonder what the European people think about Joe in the Morning?

I so agree about the dubious coverage of the stimulus bill on Morning Joe. In fact, if I had not been running out to work very early, I would have emailed the station before I left today. Yesterday Mika Brezinski practically sniffs that she wants the "social spending" cut from the package, and today she condescendingly references "the welfare" spending. I thought--you spoiled person, Mika. So far removed from the rest of the world. How out of touch, and pitifully elitist. And Joe similarly snarling about caring for the disadvangaged, and Mark Halperin nauseating me further.
It has become a Republican Talking Points Program.
I have stopped watching Morning Joe

On a day when we seem to be seeing everyone talking about taxes on TV, does anyone know if Ms Palin ever paid all the taxes she owes on travel for her family, per diem payments while living at home etc?

Palin is so marginalized after posing as a moose hunting hockey mom wearing Saks Fifth Avenue frocks paid for by the Republican National Committee. What a major screw up. She doesn't look so hot now. There was a segment televised where she was in her kitchen back in Alaska cooking in her designer suit...what woman doesn't change her good clothes when she gets home--how disingenuous --more deception and show boating...even the conservative end timers here in Pennsylvania thought that that showed her a poser, a joke, a fraud.

Go strong to the hole...

ckelly said on an earlier thread:

To hell with interviews, Obama should do an address to the nation carried by all these dumbass networks. He circumvents the inane questions and controls the message.

1) 5 State parks to close.
2) Az. universities to make drastic cuts and furloughs.
3) 450 miles of waterlines under Tucson may only last ten years. No money. Expect broken mains and patched roads...

WTF?
This is happening ALL OVER.
Is this a third world nation?
Is this the kind of shit services we deserve?

The time is NOW to invest in our schools and our infrastructure. The argument is a slam dunk. Barack needs to get off his ass and get the fuck after it.

Furloughs looming in each state...jobs lost on a daily basis. 401 K losses each week.
Don't blame Obama. Dubya and Paulson ran away with the Treasury. Just like the Iraq war--the sky is falling. In the form of mushroom clouds. Oh, we must give trillions to the bank by Monday or the whole economic system will collapse tomorrow.
What a freak show. How do they sleep?

On the other hand...

850 billion...

And we won't be able to boast about walking on Mars...
Or having built some wonderful national mag-lev train...
Or having conquered Alzheimer's or Malaria...

I mean come on:

Even the Grand Solar Plan that would liberate us from Arab oil by 2050 only costs 420 billion!

I expected more vision from Barack. Something to show. Something to define an era and a generation.
Not an 850 billion bill that lends itself so easily to being stamped PORK...

Barack has to contend with these neutered Republicans who will try to negate him at every turn, this white man's club, hung over from their years of empowerment, but now bitter and ruined,
day after day. Give it some time, Koreyel, it is new. So much time that it took to ruin things;
give it time to improve.

And another thing...

This email arrived from President Obama the other day:

You can help restore confidence in our economy by making sure your friends, family, and neighbors understand how the recovery plan will impact your community. Sign up to host or attend an Economic Recovery House Meeting and submit your question for the video now: http://my.barackobama.com/recovery

Er no.

The model that got you elected: outreach and networking and tons of small donors is not proving itself equally adept at selling an economic recovery plan.

Suggestion: There is another model that has proven effective. It is called the Bully Pulpit. The country is having an economic heart attack:

After tumbling by more than a third last year, stock markets managed to fall even further last month, posting their worst January ever.

It is way past time for a national address on the economy. Way past time for some vision. Way past time to define a new ear and a new generation. We want some change we can believe in...

nice summary of recent wind energy developments:

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/US_And_China_In_Race_To_The_Top_Of_Global_Wind_Industry_999.html

U.S. now has the most total installed capacity of all nations (but not more than E.U. combined), and installed the most in 2008. China is closing to second place.

koreyel: Even the Grand Solar Plan that would liberate us from Arab oil by 2050 only costs 420 billion!

Maybe somebody should let Obama and the Democrats know this. If they are going to suck an additional $850 billion of investment money out of the economy, perhaps they could build infrastructure that will have national value when completed. They could build some alternative energy generation in every state and every congressional district and have a better long-term impact than what they are doing.

* The coverage of the stimulus debate on "Morning Joe" has been hopelessly misguided.

the stimulus is "hopelessly misguided". the coverage merely reflects that.

Woohoo! Tammy!

Ahem.

Sorry, I think she's the awesomest.

If they are going to suck an additional $850 billion of investment money out of the economy, perhaps they could build infrastructure that will have national value when completed

Why do you always lie about this stuff???

The wind and solar industries are suffering tremendously because there is little private investment money to keep them going. In fact, lending through investment banks is it is down 75%.

Obama's stimulus package not only devotes tens of billions of dollars of direct federal funding in loans and grants to these industries, it frees up credit so banks can begin lending to them again as well. And no, the stimulus doesn't "suck money out of the economy." By definition, it blows money into the economy.

And yes, I have the data, and yes, I have the links, and if you lie about this again I'll go into this topic in great detail and we'll all have a teachable moment together.

And btw, it is the Republicans who have been reflexively objecting to spending on green infrastructure, as usual. You may remember them as the oil guys you've been supporting unwaveringly.

My Deep Thought: maybe the stimulus/cabinet rat-race is Obama chewing gum. Where is he walking as we obsess over his chewing style?

My sense is that the Obama Administration is going to resemble the Hawaiian surf waves...constant, huge and unforgiving.

Or maybe compare it to a good defensive football team. The second half will kill the weak, physically by wearing them down and mentally by giving them a false sense of victory.

Only time will tell, but my sense is that Obama is using the stimulus to whip the Democrats into shape and allowing the Republicans to show their true intentions.

So far what I have seen is that the Republicans are pointing out that Congressional Democrats aren't living up to the Obama call for change. Unfortunately I would have to agree.

This is just a grander version of Obama getting the last word. First everyone must show their cards, then Obama deals his own hand. Very unfair, but he keeps getting away with it.

"Personal vehicles (like cars and light trucks) consume 63 percent of the total energy used for transportation, .."

From the US DOT.

Also, 535 representative members of congress derived from the constitution.

Result, more highways fewer mass transit.

It is you, Steve, you have not yet figured out that ultimately we live in a democracy.

But enough of my cynicism. You gotta give doubtful this - "the prospects have risen like a phoenix from the fires of a tax dodging lobbyist" - has a certain poetry to it.

Absolutely. I loved that.

the coverage merely reflects that.

Bullshit, Marler. As Steve has paitently documented, the coverage is factually wrong, and not merely inasmuch as it uncritically conveys the Republican lies you parrot here. The so-called "liberal media" simply is not reporting facts accurately.

If the stimulus is so misguided, Republicans shouldn't need to lie to defeat it. Yet here you are. Shame on you, Marler.

"What woman doesn't change her good clothes..."

Well, my role model was Beaver's mom.

Well, my role model was Beaver's mom.

In terms of cuisine, Sarah's was apparently the Vicki Lawrence character on Mama's Family. I saw that news segment. Palin took 10 minutes to throw some Velveeta slices on a bunch of hot dogs with daintily manicured fingers. The accompanying dish was moose chili and there wasn't a vegetable in sight. She knows nutrition like she knows good government.

But, I loved that garish green dress in one of St Sarah's interviews. Of course, there was no explanation of the missing drape in the window.