Defcon 5 doesn't mean what this guy thinks it means.

Ladies and gentlemen, your Republican party: no self-awareness, no memory, no knowledge of history, no ability to govern, no clue.

But they've sure got PR, and they own the media, so who'll ever know?

Jeez, didn't this guy ever watch War Games?

When he goes to 'DefCon 5' on the economy and says that we're on the brink of catastrophe, it's absolutely insane." - Blakeman

OK, Who's accusing whom of using scare tactics? It's only a matter of time before he brings out the F bomb.

Seemingly, ever since the American people showed what they wanted in November of 2008, the Republicans have been against it!

Also, where were the media back in '03 when the Bush administration was using over the top rhetoric to sell its war in Iraq and its terror policies. I didn't see any of it allowing such access to Americans who opposed Pres. Bush then, yet now it seems the media is granting easy access for Republican obstruction even when such obstruction can't find a cohesive argument to bring to the table! -Kevo

There was no lack of scare rhetoric when it was a matter of coming up with $700B to bail out investment banks. Media pundits almost uniformly fell in with the demand that it had to be done immediately.

So where was Brad Blakeman late last year when his president claimed we had to bail out the banks or face catastrophe? The whole world watched as a rabid free market capitalist turned the United States into a socialist country. I suppose we were supposed to chalk his conversion up to schizophrenia and assume things really weren't so bad.

But then because Bush wore that sport coat, we were all much relieved. And when Andy Card was poking John Ashcroft out of his sickbed, he was wearing his jacket, which made it much less disgusting.

"Bring it on."

"Dead or alive."

Like Jon Stewart said ," Ufortunately they don't erase all the C-Span tapes when a new administration takes power."

Well, we're going to have partisanship, aren't we? And it's been clear for some time that pubs are delusional, so this sort of stupidity is only to be expected. People who bother to think about such things will see through it.

who cares what this haley barbour-"freedom's watch" lying, unethical, cynical greedy slimeball says?

jeebus keerist... didnt this guy criticize obama for visiting his dying grandmother?

brad fucking blakeman is a turd. just a turd.

TARP= speed of light passage

Obama's stimulus = slower than sludge

One gives banks bucks, the other more bangs for (our) bucks.

We handed over untold billions, with little over-sight, to the gods of Wall Street last year. Now we are quibbling about Food Stamps.

I think there is another way to look at this. Brad Blakeman et all are more than anything else reminding us just how out of touch they are with reality. By us bringing up Bush's fearmongering we risk false equivalences. But if we point out that most of the conservatives/Republicans claimed we weren't even in a recession for 9 or 10 months then its easy to show WHY they say its fear mongering. Because in their elitist world where they are still making money hand over fist its not really all that bad out there. They don't think losing almost 600,000 jobs last month is a reason to act swiftly. I mean who cares if 600,000 more people lose their jobs before we pass a bill. At least they get to go home for the weekend instead of working on the bill right?

Framing is everything in these arguments. Barney Frank gave us a great framing yesterday by saying Republicans want teachers, cops, and firefighters to lose their jobs. The framing for this, because you know it will be repeated, should be that the Republicans are still out of touch. They can't fix the economy because they don't think its broken. Michael Steele yesterday said the jobs in the private sector just magically come back. These people don't have a clue what average people are going through.

"The fundamentals of our economy are strong" Thats still the mantra of the Republican party and they should be hung by it.

jeeze, this is the Washington Times fer cripes' sake... what do you expect? It's owned by Moonies and staffed by Christofascists. Now if it was a responsible organ of political criticism, like the Post....

"Three months after their Election Day drubbing, Republican leaders see glimmers of rebirth in the party's liberation from an unpopular president, its selection of its first African American chairman and, most of all, its stand against a stimulus package that they are increasingly confident will provide little economic jolt but will pay off politically for those who oppose it." (Cue picture of Rush Limbaugh with his mouth open.) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/08/AR2009020802344.html?hpid=topnews

They say it, the MSM picks it up and makes it the truth for the ignorant.

It's simple really. Republican = good, everyone else = evil. It's occam's razor, held to the throat of the world.

It really is an alternate-universe mentality. People who want Obama to be wrong talking about how wrong Obama is to a receptive audience in the hopes that, every day they keep at it, they'll woo & sway a few fence-sitters. It's worked before, but it's all contingent on never backing down, always digging in. We saw it in the Stephanopoulous (sp?) - Steele interview ("the stimulus doesn't create jobs, it only creates work...no, YOU'RE wrong!") They are more serious, more responsible, and certainly more patriotic. The line that divides those that want America to succeed, and those that ONLY want America to "succeded" on their own terms otherwise let the motha burn, has never been more obvious. But it's not a stationary line, not concrete. Like yard markers on a televised NFL game. You can see the line, but the GOP have a looong way to go, and they're all defense, they can keep the Dems from scoring, but they can't move forward. But since they own the field, the franchise & the concessions, that means they're winning.

Steve,

I think Bill Moyers had a good segment relating to media and political elite view of the world last Friday. If you hadn't seen the bit here is a link to it. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02062009/watch.html

Both Glenn Greenwald and Jay Rosen make an excellent case for why the media coverage has and will continue to be so toxic and disconnected from reality.

Gee - I can recall about 8 years and 2 months ago, Dick Cheney spreading fear that we were headed towards a recession. To be fair to Darth Vader, we were. We are now in a much deeper recession than the 2001 one was, but President Obama is supposed to act like an economic cheerleader?

Brad Blakeman, a senior aide to Mr. Bush from 2001 to 2004, said the new president's language is immature.

I saw Blakeman on an MSNBC panel on Road To The White House (the 6pm show at the time) maybe 8 months ago. I forget exactly what his point was now, but it was so stupid and hypocritical that the host and other panelists actually laughed out loud at him for maybe 5 seconds. That is the only time I have ever seen that happen on cable news. He might be the worst of the worst among Republican talking heads, willing to say absolutely anything in the talking points regardless of how idiotic it is.

Bush also used some scare language to get his enormous tax cuts passed. We 'needed' his cuts to rescue our economy.

And he wasn't facing the worst economic calamity in a century.

Bradman is a paid shill for obfuscating. He never answers any question directly, but, attempts to change the direction of the argument. Yes, many of his comments are idiotic, but, his purpose is to disrupt. The only answer I have ever wished to hear from him was why he was forced out at Freedom's Watch, the AIPAC group funded by a right wing zealot Las Vegas casion owner. FW has folded, but, something was very fishy in why other AIPACers jettisoned one of their own.

Oh... and don't forget that Bush wasn't pessimistic about the economy at all last year.

He didn't think we were in a recession
He hadn't heard about the $4.00 gas over the summer.
This downturn is just a little bump in the road.
etc...

So... is that preferable to conservatives and republicans? Just pretend it's not happening and hoping it will go away?

You forgot one Steve...

When Bush was firm and defiant he was "confident."

When President Obama is firm and defiant he is "arrogant."