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   During a recession, should college presidents face the same pay cuts as CEOs?
 Forty years of writing from Taylor Branch, James Fallows, Katherine Boo, Marjorie Williams, Joshua Micah Marshall, and more.
 With help from Washington, the for-profit college industry is loading up millions of low-income students with debt they'll never pay off.
 The best recent memoir from republican Washington is a hoax. That should tell you something.
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June 26, 2009
TYING IT ALL TOGETHER.... We learned yesterday, by way of Rush Limbaugh, that Mark Sanford's sex scandal was President Obama's fault. If it weren't for the administration's economic policies, the argument goes, Sanford would have been more optimistic about the future, wouldn't have cheated on his wife, and wouldn't have secretly left the country to see his mistress. Who can argue with air-tight logic like this? Today, Limbaugh's right-wing colleague, Michael Savage, takes this one step further. Obama didn't just inspire Sanford to betray his family; the White House conspired to make this scandal happen in the first place. "The fact is, Obama's team is taking out potential [2012] rivals, one after another," Savage argued. "Just last week, the media jumped on the story of Sen. John Ensign (R) of Nevada and his infidelity. He was considered to be a possible Republican presidential candidate in '12. Now Sanford, who had similar ambitions, caught in a similar situation. "This is politics at its worst, brought to us by the worst administration, the meanest administration, the most closed administration, the most incompetent administration in American history." Now, listening to the clip, it's a little unclear to me whether Savage thinks Obama made Sanford and Ensign have sex with these other women, or whether Obama was spying on Sanford and Ensign, learned of their adultery, and brought it to public attention. Sure, either way, this is all painfully stupid, and not to be taken seriously. But even from the perspective of a twisted right-wing worldview, I'm curious about one thing: how does an incompetent administration pull off a feat like this? Wouldn't it take an enormous amount of competence to secretly hatch such an elaborate conspiracy? —Steve Benen 2:00 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (121)Comments
"Obama made me cheat on my wife! It was a trap!" Wow. Posted by: winner on June 26, 2009 at 2:06 PM | PERMALINKYeah, the guy who is so over the top that he was officially banned from entering Great Britain is sure qualified to comment on the Obama administration. You betcha. Posted by: Curmudgeon on June 26, 2009 at 2:07 PM | PERMALINKNo wonder Obama personally ordered the Census Bureau to add "mental stability" questions to the census form G. Posted by: Luke Coley on June 26, 2009 at 2:08 PM | PERMALINKThis is politics at its worst, brought to us by the worst administration, the meanest administration, the most closed administration, the most incompetent administration in American history." What does Bush have to do with this? Posted by: ckelly on June 26, 2009 at 2:11 PM | PERMALINKSo how can Obama be considered incompetent if he can get two potential challengers to have affairs in a week??? Posted by: ThatTallGuy on June 26, 2009 at 2:12 PM | PERMALINKEspecially as both of these affairs started before Obama was even the nominee, let alone the President. He must have a pretty impressive crystal ball! Posted by: kathy on June 26, 2009 at 2:13 PM | PERMALINKIn the words of Flip Wilson, "The devil made me do it." Posted by: Art Hackett on June 26, 2009 at 2:13 PM | PERMALINKThey're still working on creating a Huckabee affair. And no one will volunteer to seduce Romney... But don't worry, Republicans, his tactics are bi-partisan, Obama managed to take Edwards out pretty effectively in the primary. Posted by: danimal on June 26, 2009 at 2:13 PM | PERMALINKI cheated on my girlfriend, robbed a liquor store, sold some dope to children, and vandalized a public place today. Goddamn that president Obama, why does he make me do such things?!?! Posted by: citizen_pain on June 26, 2009 at 2:13 PM | PERMALINKWell, we just learned it from the Republicans, who obviously hired Monica to entrap Clinton. Posted by: Jon on June 26, 2009 at 2:14 PM | PERMALINKFinding corruption among Republican leaders after an eight year time-out is like shooting oak barrels in a bodega. And the whine is delightful. Posted by: Danp on June 26, 2009 at 2:14 PM | PERMALINKI'm waiting for El Rushbo to blame Obama when Michele Bachman makes her big announcement that she "Hiked the Appalachian Trail" with Ralph Reed. Posted by: pj in jesusland on June 26, 2009 at 2:20 PM | PERMALINKThank you for today's segment of Great Moments in Assholery.
"Wouldn't it take an enormous amount of competence to secretly hatch such an an elaborate conspiracy?" And please don't forget the fact that both Ensign AND Sanford started their affairs BEFORE Obama was even elected POTUS. Limbaugh & Savage = Delusional A**holes! Posted by: mrspeel on June 26, 2009 at 2:21 PM | PERMALINKDon't you know, Obama went back in time and hooked up Sanford and his Argentinian lady via the Intertubes 8 years ago? Wouldn't it take an enormous amount of competence to secretly hatch such an an elaborate conspiracy? Come on. You're talking about the liberal conspirators who were so organized they covered up Vince Foster's murder, faked Obama's birth certificate in 1962 and wrote his autobiography for him, and who have been grooming Sotomayor for the Supreme Court since she was 6. Framing two conservative politicians is child's play by comparison. Posted by: vanya on June 26, 2009 at 2:23 PM | PERMALINKActually, Ensign and Sanford are particularly dopey. If Obama was so exceptionally Machiavellian he'd have secretly promoted their candidacies helping them further imbecilify the gop. Posted by: alan on June 26, 2009 at 2:24 PM | PERMALINKWhen my conspir-theory friends claimed the Bush Admin was respoinsible for 911 I laughed and pointed out the Bushies were never competent enough to pull off such a well timed and horrifically precise stunt. This type of ligic always falls apart under the scalple of Okham's Razor. Posted by: rawls on June 26, 2009 at 2:25 PM | PERMALINKThose that were in Nixon's dirty tricks squad would hold this alleged Obama dirty tricks squad in awe even if they were only 1/2 as good as Savage suggests. Thanks - this one made me laugh out loud! Posted by: pgl on June 26, 2009 at 2:26 PM | PERMALINK"Imbecilify" is my absolute favorite new word of the year. Thanks, Alan. Posted by: Skepticat on June 26, 2009 at 2:28 PM | PERMALINKRush Limbaugh and Michael Savage are dicks. Posted by: David Bailey on June 26, 2009 at 2:30 PM | PERMALINKWell, someone had to have released those emails and told Doug Chapman about his wife and the good Senator Ensign. Trust me. They're not doing a census for nothing. Posted by: Michelle B. on June 26, 2009 at 2:32 PM | PERMALINKJon Stewart has it right Ensign and Sanford are just another example of Conservative politician, liberal penis.! Posted by: ML Johnston on June 26, 2009 at 2:34 PM | PERMALINKYou are overlooking the most obvious way to square this circle. Barack Obama is Maxwell Smart. If the media didn't have a liberal bias, they would show us a picture of he phone in his shoe. Posted by: bluewave on June 26, 2009 at 2:34 PM | PERMALINK"The fact is, Obama's team is taking out potential [2012] rivals, one after another" -- Michael Savage Which, inevitably, brought to mind the punchline of an old, old joke: There's one (of 1,000) problem with the argument. The State newspaper is not at all liberal. I know people who work there and this is a conservative paper for sure. It endorsed McCain. Bit of a problem with the whole theory there, Michael. Posted by: NHCt on June 26, 2009 at 2:38 PM | PERMALINKWow, could the paranoid delusionals get any more paranoid? Posted by: johnnymags on June 26, 2009 at 2:39 PM | PERMALINKAlso "99" is a way better Secret Service code name for Michelle than "Renaissance". Posted by: bluewave on June 26, 2009 at 2:40 PM | PERMALINKFor Savage (and his listeners), this is all about FEELING and REACTING as opposed to logic. They FEEL these things to be true about Obama. So there is no need for them to do the work of resolving reconciling the opposites. In fact, repeating these FEELINGS over and over in a litany or a mantra just reinforces them for these guys. Don't think! Feel! REACT! I'd say legalize 'pot,' apparently the pills they are using aren't working. Posted by: annjell on June 26, 2009 at 2:41 PM | PERMALINKlegalize pot, they don't need no more gin and juice. Posted by: annjell on June 26, 2009 at 2:43 PM | PERMALINKThese kinds comments are rather like those of the late Pat Robertson which were said only for shock value and to raise funds; ergo the more media repeats them, the more money from Robertson received from the gullible. You can be certain some random Republican is using Rush's comments in a fundraising letter right now. And will receive lots of money using them. As the face of the Republican Party unless he is caught with a live boy or a dead girl Rush has a secure future. Posted by: Kurt on June 26, 2009 at 2:44 PM | PERMALINKI thought that Jacqui Smith was being stupid when she banned Mark Savage from the UK. Now that he has demonstrated how paranoid he is, I think she was right to do so but it should have been on mental health grounds rather than political view grounds. Posted by: blowback on June 26, 2009 at 2:47 PM | PERMALINKDear President Obama, I hereby announce my candidacy for the Republican nomination for President. If you'd like to "contribute" to my campaign, let's just say that, although I am happily married, I do find Parker Posey extremely attractive. Thank you. ...sits back, waits for fantasy to come true... Posted by: seriously on June 26, 2009 at 2:58 PM | PERMALINKYou know, in a previous era, like 20 years ago, these sorts of ravings would be considered a symptom of paranoid schizophrenia. But so would a president saying that God spoke to him. How do psychiatrists diagnose severe mental illness when guys like this are earning millions on the radio>? It's too scary to imagine the millions of theoretically normal Americans who think things like the president who kind of already has a lot on his plate conspired months before he became president (years, with Ensign) to-- what? Introduce these guys to their girlfriends? Make them fall in love? Wow. That's one impressive president we've got! I think maybe it must be time travel. But do we actually have so many citizens who are functionally insane? Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage are dicks. -David Bailey Correction, Machael Savage is a Weiner. Posted by: doubtful on June 26, 2009 at 3:01 PM | PERMALINKIt's obvious that conservative demands for "personal responsibility" has always meant being able to blame other people for everything. Posted by: Doctor Biobrain on June 26, 2009 at 3:03 PM | PERMALINKI'm surprised that Fred Hiatt at the Washington Post hasn't snapped up Michael Savage to write a column, especially after WaPo's firing of Dan Froomkin. Hey, the WaPo even got Wolfowitz to write a column, and Savage definitely displays the same conservative mindset and conservative "logic." Of course, Savage is a little more "out there," even by conservative Republican standards, so his addition to the stable of columnists at the WaPo would actually benefit people like Charles Krauthammer, making him appear somewhat saner. Posted by: The Oracle on June 26, 2009 at 3:13 PM | PERMALINKOnce you accept that President Obama has a functioning time machine, everything begins to make sense... Posted by: Bernard Gilroy on June 26, 2009 at 3:30 PM | PERMALINKNow if it turns out that Barack Obama actually is a Vulcan, or Superman, he could go back in time and change history so that these Republican hypotheses might actually be true. Hmmmmmmmm... one does wonder. Posted by: Hmmmmm on June 26, 2009 at 3:38 PM | PERMALINKIt's hard to even comment about these people anymore. I just don't have the comprehension to think anyone can be that stupid and feckless. Posted by: Gandalf on June 26, 2009 at 3:50 PM | PERMALINKLet's start calling Michael Wiener by his real name, so people know who and what is spouting this crap. I hear Mr. Wiener doesn't even believe what he says, he just says it as schtick, to get a paycheck. I wonder if Mr. Wiener drives around in a Wienermobile? We still have one here in Los Angeles if he's looking to buy. BTW - if you really want to smack Mr. Wiener, his son owns RockStar energy drinks. Horrid-tasing crap, so it shouldn't be hard to excise it from your diet and your budget. Posted by: TCinLA on June 26, 2009 at 3:51 PM | PERMALINKOh, and Junior Wiener is also a member of the Far Radical Wrong, so you won't be taking it out on an innocent to drop RockStar from the menu. Posted by: TCinLA on June 26, 2009 at 3:52 PM | PERMALINK"This is politics at its worst, brought to us by the worst administration, the meanest administration, the most closed administration, the most incompetent administration in American history." Quit an accomplishment in 157 days. In a week it will be 233 years or exactly 85,096 days if you include leap years. At that pace he will not only hold the same records for the whole world, he might break them for the entire Universe. Fricken Awesome. Posted by: ScottW on June 26, 2009 at 4:39 PM | PERMALINKOne of these days, I expect to see some sort of slithery creatures emerging from the backs of the necks of Savage and company. Afterward, they will look around, dazed, exclaiming: what have I been saying, what have I been thinking, what have I been writing ??? I feel so strange ! Posted by: rbe1 on June 26, 2009 at 4:54 PM | PERMALINKBTW - if you really want to smack Mr. Wiener, his son owns RockStar energy drinks. Horrid-tasing crap, so it shouldn't be hard to excise it from your diet and your budget. Well, since "energy drinks" don't provide energy, and RockStar is horrid tasting, it would be very hard to excise it from my diet and budget, just as it would be very difficult for me to, say, stop reading the WSJ editorial page. Posted by: cmdicely on June 26, 2009 at 5:14 PM | PERMALINKSavage is even worse than Rush. He is a psychotic asshole who says anything nasty about liberals he can; however idiotic, contradictory, and hypocritical. For a "conservative" to bitch about Obama being responsible for repukelikkkans' infidelity ... BTW you can boycott "Rockstar Energy Drink" which maker is owned by Savage wiener etc. Posted by: demoraptor on June 26, 2009 at 5:15 PM | PERMALINKOne of these days, I expect to see some sort of slithery creatures emerging from the backs of the necks of Savage and company. Afterward, they will look around, dazed, exclaiming: what have I been saying, what have I been thinking, what have I been writing ??? I feel so strange ! You better look out for the Slithery Creature Anti-Defamation League; they'll get you for comments like that. I cheated on my girlfriend, robbed a liquor store, sold some dope to children, and vandalized a public place today. LOL ROFLMAO Can you imagine how much trouble the Republicans would be in if he were competent. Heh. Wouldn't Obama have had more fun if he had made Ensign and Sanford sleep with each other?? Now that is a scandal worth the GOP having! Posted by: Mike on June 26, 2009 at 7:00 PM | PERMALINKSavage is just jealous that Obama hasn't forced him to have sex with anyone. Posted by: qwerty on June 26, 2009 at 7:03 PM | PERMALINKNote to Kurt: Pat Robertson is still with us, opining on the Christian Broadcasting Network. Posted by: vhh on June 26, 2009 at 7:55 PM | PERMALINKGod I hope this is true. Finally, a Democrat willing to do unto others before they do unto him. All this seems a bit far fetched, but Gov. Ryan went down on a sex scandal, too, and from what I've heard, Obama's been real careful to keep his pants on. Attack them in on a field where they can't attack back. Posted by: Boronx on June 27, 2009 at 12:39 AM | PERMALINKIf Obama is the evil genius that Savage claims, shouldn't Savage be careful about what he's saying? He might go missing, if you know what I mean *wink*. Those evil geniuses dont like people who snitch. Posted by: Brian on June 29, 2009 at 10:36 AM | PERMALINKMike Savage is not an idiot just ignorant and greedy. He needs to say stuff like this so idiots will listen to his show and think that they are in on something. BTW if you listen closely to the recording he acutally says "competent" not "incompetent". Freudian slip, I think so. Posted by: libfib on June 29, 2009 at 3:55 PM | PERMALINKIf you have to do it, you might as well do it right. 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