That the GOP considers this centrist proposal "a Bolshevik plot" only helps reinforce how fundamentally unserious they are about public policy.

Oh but they are serious about destroying all Dem public policy and undermining Obama. And on this score Repubs can say "Mission accomplished".

It's about making the federal government non-functional.

only helps reinforce how fundamentally unserious they are about public policy.

They don't do policy. They only do cover stories.

Just listened to NPR's coverage. Play the Republican question/accusation, say Obama "deftly" dodged it. Don't play the answer the clears up the lies of the question. Jeez, they're trying to be an upscale Fox.

Martin,
You betcha. I haven't been able to listen to NPR for a while now. And in Alabama, this is a deeply felt heartwrenching loss. They've either been bought out or the old folks need to leave. Let some fresh faces in that haven't yet been demoralized debt in keeping up with the Jones or fear of imaginary enemies.

I lament NPR with greater sorrow than Fox, because NPR once stood by what was right, not selling out to the Right.

It's SOP among Republicans to consider a "Bolshevik plot" anything with which they disagree. Look how some on the far right now are calling Sarah Palin a RINO because she chooses to support the Senate re-election of John McCain, the party's presidential nominee in 2008. In the modern GOP, if you are not 100% with the nutjobs on every single issue, you are a dangerous adversary.

Chris Mathews belongs on Fox..he actually concluded just now with the GOP leader there who sparred with Obama earlier today (Mike what's his name..?)

"I'm with you on the tax cuts" (say what????)

Completely igonoring inconsistencies and stupid asinine blanket broad hollowed out political assertions/ remarks that don't get even close to the important specifics and the core issues..as to what 'across the board" tax means "like Kennedy and Reagan did" --omg...

This guy says (cynically) the President said in essence he's glad the President was honest..that Obama is not for 'across the board tax cuts'..again, deliberately evading the real issue...like that IS the problem..that Obama is not for something...Yeah, you bet he's not for it.. Obama just made it clear that for folks like Buffet..that NO--that wouldn't apply and so we need to be clear.. And so now they are spinning this very balanced and careful response into a problem Obama has..

I'm going to be ill..

It's like a person of reason and intellect trying to talk to a wall of show and drama and Mathews enables it!

It's the difference between policy and politcs that Maddow and Fineman and Alter and all the ones with half a brain (like Steve Benen!) keep asserting and elucidating..sigh..it falls on deaf ears..

Can we find someone who can keep calling their bluff and then top them and put them on the defensive for once?

I sure hope so, as I'm exhausted watching this get spun and spun..

Maddow is the absolute BEST at calling it all out.
Sure hope someone in the administration is listening to her.

The goal is not to change the minds of the GOP, nor is it even to get the media to carry the Dem talking points. It is show (not tell) the American people that the GOP leadership is committed only to nihilistic obstructionism. 48 million watched the SOTU and the top-line sound off information was the the President is smart, reasonable and trying very hard, and a small bunch of mean looking white business men are not giving him an inch. Today's performance further drives that message. I just wish they had shown the audience more.
Does it matter what the media says? Yes, some, but less than we think. After all, it does not persuade us.
Obama is reclaiming the center again, and very visibly. He is isolating the GOP. Sooner of later, the GOP caucus will crack and Reps and Sens will start to make their own approach to the administration.

On the tax cut question, Mike Pence asked Obama, "Do you support across the board tax cuts like President Kennedy did?"

Obama responded by saying he wanted to know what Pence meant by "across the board tax cuts." Does it mean tax cuts for the wealthy? Tax cuts for banks? Tax cuts for industries that export American jobs? Pence did not respond with any specifics, just an ideologically-motivated call for broad, sweeping cuts.

The stimulus already implemented 10s of billions of dollars in what Pence characterized as "boutique" tax cuts -- which no Republican supported. So Obama has already met them half way.

But Obama also said, look if you're going to propose cutting taxes you also have to show how you're going to balance the budget. Obama is proposing Pay-Go, which built up the surpluses of the 90s uncer Clinton. But the Republicans oppose even that. They essentially haven't grown up since Bush's failures 10 years ago.

Obama even agreed to seriously consider a line item veto when one member brought it up.

Republicans got nothing, so they yell "Socialism" and "Tyranny" and get people so fearful and anxious they forget to do the Republican math. That's the Republican platform in 2010 in an nutshell. Get people to worked up they vote on GOP-stoked fears rather than rational analysis of the facts.

Latest thing I read: Republicans oppose Obama's jobs-creation tax credit for small business. I thought these guys loved tax breaks of any stripe.

Guess they only like tax breaks proposed by other Republicans.

"But if you were to listen to the debate, and, frankly, how some of you went after this bill, you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot. -- President Obama.

And there he goes again, using them big words to show off. That's not what they say; they say "socialist" and/or "fascist", plain and simple. I bet half of them know the word "Bolshevik" only passively (ie they recognise it and understand its meaning when they see it but it does not readily spring to mind for use), and the other half not at all.

I know that a good pedagogue challenges his students on purpose, to make them stretch a bit but in this case, he's wasting his time. None of the bastards will check a dictionary when they get home, because they don't own such fancy books.

Guess they only like tax breaks proposed by other Republicans. -- Harpo, @18:50

Well, sure. Repubs, with their "across the board" tax breaks take care of their primary constituents -- the big businesses (and big-time donors); anything that trickles down to small businesses is coincidental. But the problem is that there are more small businesses than huge ones; if Obama directs his tax breaks for them, *only*, Repubs lose. Small businesses might -- may the Lord forbid -- pull out of the Chamber of Commerce and stop paying the dues (which finance the lobbying campaigns). They might -- gevalt! -- actually figure out that Obama and his demonised Dems aren't as black as they're painted.

Can't have it :)

Just watched the PBS Newshour segment on today's forum. Can anyone explain why the clips from the session were followed by a seemingly endless interview with a bozo from Texas who repeated himself (and his talking points) over and over and over? I waited for the "balance" interview to follow. It never came. I thought I had turned on Faux News by mistake.

Think of politics as football- professional, because the players get paid, and, (taking a line from Men in Black) they are the "best of the best of the best".

Now think of the media as the play-by-play talking heads, the analysts, the monday morning quarterbacks.

Come to think of it, maybe a better analogy would be pro wrestling. . .

But is it really a moderate bill if there is a mandate without public option? I hate to be repetitious, but it matters.

Brains on the ground, brains on the ground, lookin' like fools with their brains on the ground!

Just watched the PBS Newshour segment on today's forum. Can anyone explain why the clips from the session were followed by a seemingly endless interview with a bozo from Texas who repeated himself (and his talking points) over and over and over?
Posted by: Tired liberal

I generally like the Newshour, but that coverage was pure shit. The video "excerpts" of the forum were edited and stitched together in a way that was very deceiving and showed no passage of time or evidence they were compressed. Edits are fine when done fairly and in-context without misrepresentation, but these edits were flaky at best and misrepresented the event. I especially thought the constant jumping to "audience shots" instead of focusing on the speakers lessened the impact of what was being discussed.

And I have no explanation for that horseshit with Jeb Hensarling or what his purpose was other than "he was there". If you'll notice though, he got the same amount of time that was devoted to that highly crafted hatchet job on the Q&A session. Jeb could've just said, "I respectfully disagree with everything the President said" and spared me the eight and half minutes of bullshit.

The Better Solutions Book (BS Book) couldn't have been more aptly named.
And hands down, the 5-minute msm coverage contest between network NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS was won by Katie Couric at CBS. And Keith and Rachel at MSNBC were amazing.

The GOP is getting boxed in. The President did a nice job today underlining that. GOP won't win over independent voters with the Tea Party looming on its right flank. And today's news of the litmus test continues to show that GOP is not about practical solutions. They're about ideological loyalty. Its the path to permanent minority status. The President set up the GOP'ers perfectly today. He knows that today's festivities did little to increase cross-aisle comity. But he also has a lot of ammo regarding the congressional obstructionism.

This is very good, and shows a path into the future. The State of the Union presented a man unafraid to call-out everybody (and call-out himself too,) and who reminded everyone of the full narrative of events over the last year.

But this address to the House Republican conference is something new.

The President has found a practical rhetorical path to make the Republicans meet him halfway, and to call them out, if they ask for too much. If they don't comply, some of them are going to face the voters' wrath. This is exactly what most people want -- a functioning government.

Along the way, voters get an education in the facts.

The mIssing ingredient was right there in front of everyone, yet almost no one saw it: We don't need townhalls with the citizens, at least until campaign-time. And we surely don't need the Sunday talking heads with their own scheduled agendas.

What we need is unmoderated discussions between lawmakers and the President -- televised.

The President ought to try an hour of this, every month or so. That is a lot of work, but it will pay enormous dividends to the country, and be a rousing political success.

(Note that if they meet him half-way on healthcare, the Congress will pass a reform pretty much like the existing bills. It is already bipartisan, of course. Maybe with a public option. Just discussing it in detail will bring almost any voter to that conclusion. And it will end all phony protestations about "transparency.")

The Republicans are unlikely to make this mistake again, however. Indeed the report is that the Fox Propaganda Network ended the broadcast early.

So? In another month, invite Reps. Pence, Ryan, Chaffetz, Blackburn, Price, Roskam, Hensarling to the White House for cookies and coffee and a roundtable discussion, ON CAMERA. Not only are these politicians unlikely to resist, you could also start to drive a wedge between them and their leadership. It could get interesting.

And from there on out, keep changing the venues and the circumstances. Keep it fresh and unusual.

In just two speeches the President has taken the initiative, has reminded everybody of the full story, and has now invented a way to start to use "bipartisanship" to be a leader and to put lawmakers on the spot where they have to get things done. This is a remarkable turn, and it shows a strong strategy for the way forward.

Obama not only has Reagan's narrative ability and Clinton's command of the facts. In addition he is a teacher, and he is entertaining. He may become one of the great Presidents.

"That's not what they say; they say "socialist" and/or "fascist", plain and simple."

No shit. :-) Go read the Newsvine discussion about the Q&A on msnbc.com, if you can stomach it. One person literally says:

"On health care he listed all the good republican ideas that are in the bill and chastised them for not supporting it. Yet, in a lie of omission, he did not mention all the pure fascist portions of the bill that his socialist cronies put in."

Got that ? The socialists are back, and they are planning to throw some fascism down on our asses.

At least the poster gets points for getting the spelling correct.

It will be hard to find ANY Republican willing to engage in public debate with the Pres. Obama again after this amazing performance. I was thrilled it got as much coverage as it did, and I hope this is a strategy Obama will use more of (and Democrats can learn from).

In the Q&A there was a moment where the Pres. defended the Stimulus against ridiculous assertions that it had been full of frivolous liberal nonsense; Obama says, well a major portion of the Stimulus was tax cuts that you guys support, and another big chunk was unemployment benefits and COBRA subsidies so people would have a floor under them, "and by the way, so they'd have enough money in their pockets so businesses would have some customers. Does anyone in this room think that was a bad idea?" (long pause)... *crickets*. (I didn't think so, bitches!)

This moment (and many others just as good in the Q&A) was powerful because he forced them to respond publicly to a fair question. (I wish Harry Reid would take note and apply this concept when Republicans threaten to filibuster a popular bill and use his discretion to require a traditional stand-on-the-floor-and talk-til-you-drop filibuster.) If I were them I'd avoid a repeat at all costs. OTOH I think Obama should pursue many, many repeats.

It would be great if the Republicans would agree to future televised Q&As like this, not necessarily for another smackdown, which was a pleasure to see because it was so well earned, but for some actual good faith policy debate. I'd sincerely appreciate seeing some real persuasion, just like in a functioning democracy. But let's be real. Even if the most reasonable Republicans wanted to, they'd be punished their own party I'm sure.

Even so, Pres. Obama can still benefit if he invites them repeatedly and publicizes their refusal, or announces unilaterally that he'll hold monthly Q&As; whether they show up or they don't, it'll be a good thing.