Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

The Era of the Idiot- Open Thread

My mother, my aunt and my sister had an interesting conversation where they decided Obama should step down as President, or we should vote Republican, so that Republicans will just stop being assholes and let the government function again.

My aunt asked me what I thought of it and I got two words out before she and my mom went on a tirade about how Obama sounds too smart, and people who talk well often can’t get anything done and we need someone who talks like a normal person to be President. Also, too, Hillary.

The final verdict. “If this is what Republicans want, give it to them. We need the government to function again”  

If Canada had palm trees, I’d so be there already.

What’s going on with you?  


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 45 Comments

45 comments

  1. Chris Blask

    I haven’t heard an undue amount of angst recently, but I haven’t been listening for that. I chat it up with the coffee shop crowd when I skate across the lot for a cuppa and they don’t seem too despondent.

    My guess is that most folks are ignoring most of it most of the time, these days.

  2. jsfox

    And have been talking with Dems, Indies and a few Republicans (very few ) I am sensing some frustration and anger, but 85%  of is directed at the Republicans. Most cannot remember a Republican party so hell bent on destroying a country just to get back in power.

    Yes some would like to see Obama pound the Republicans at every turn, but even they realize this isn’t a solution it’s just optics.

    And as to your Aunt and Sister. Give them what they want so the government functions again!? Good grief their memories are short. The Republicans do not want government to function, except for a very small segment of the population.

  3. John Allen

    I’m hearing something similar from people that don’t pay quite as much attention to politics. They see the dysfunction in government and think Obama is ineffective. This is the “Black Jimmy Carter” meme. He’s a good person, but not very good at being president. The only way to counter it is to make sure people understand that it is Republican intransigence that is causing the gridlock and to also point out all of the things the President has already accomplished despite that intransigence.  

  6. Shaun Appleby

    Which amendment is that?  Free speech, grammar, spelling and sanity all take a hammering here:

    Click through for the small print if you can stand it.  Seems a compelling argument against community rehabilitation of at least some mental health disorders.  Does the notion that this citizen is very likely armed, locked and loaded strike anyone as disturbing?

  7. fogiv

    I’ve just learned that I’ve been added to the roster of one of my favorite local bands, The Spillit Quickkers.  Out of the blue, I get a text message:

    Junior: Have any interest in being the guitarist for TSQ?

    Me: OMFG, SRSLY?

    Junior: You’re at the top of the list.

  8. janicket

    Apropos the President’s speech on Thursday to the joint session:

    I predict that during the President’s speech there will be a Joe Wilson/”You lie!” eruption — only this time it will be an orchestrated group explosion of disrespect for Obama; a herd of House TPers chanting “Where are the jobs?” perhaps, or a mass walkout.  Something rude and contemptuous and dramatic to disrupt the event, to make the story all about them and overshadow whatever the President tries to lay out in his speech.

    You watch; something nasty and rude and vicious is going to happen during the speech.  And the MSM will fall all over themselves to report that and ignore Obama’s speech itself.

    Oh, and the whole episode will be Obama’s fault, of course.

  11. fogiv

    U.S. Department Energy Secretary Steven Chu and U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today announced nearly $17 million in funding over the next three years for research and development projects to advance hydropower technology.  Sixteen projects in 11 states were selected through a competitive grant process for their ability to contribute to the development of innovative technologies that produce hydropower more efficiently, reduce costs and increase sustainable hydropower generation. The funding will help advance the Obama Administration’s goal of meeting 80 percent of our electricity needs from clean energy sources by 2035.

    Sacramento Municipal Utility District will be awarded $5 million in Department of Energy funds for the Iowa Hill Pumped Storage project and $1.5 million for a new small powerhouse at Slab Creek Reservoir.  Palo Alto-based Electric Power Research Institute will receive up to $1.5 million in Department of Energy funds to deploy and test the fish-friendly Alden Turbine in Brookfield, New York to generate electricity while allowing safe fish passage. Natel Energy of Alameda will be awarded $300,000 in Department of Energy funds to develop a new type of powertrain for the Schneider Linear hydroEngine and $746,000 jointly funded by the Departments of Energy and the Interior to deploy and test the technology at a Bureau of Reclamation facility in Madras, Oregon.

    These projects will advance sustainable renewable energy generation from small (less than 30 megawatts) hydropower resources, spur deployment of pumped storage hydropower, enhance environmental performance of hydropower, and test innovative, cost-effective technologies for hydropower development at low-head (less than a 30 foot drop) sites such as irrigation canals and non-powered dams. By allowing utility operators to pump water up to a dam or impoundment during periods of low electricity demand and release water during times of peak electricity demand, pumped storage hydropower improves the reliability of electric grids and helps increase the use of variable renewable energy resources such as wind and solar power.

    “By improving and deploying advanced hydropower technologies, we can maximize our use of this proven clean energy resource, create jobs, and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels,” said Secretary Chu. “Hydropower can be used to store energy to help utilities better integrate other sources of renewable energy like wind and solar into the grid, improving our energy security and diversifying our clean energy resources.”

    “This Administration is supporting innovative development of hydropower – one of our largest renewable energy sources – with an emphasis on reducing or eliminating environmental impacts on ecosystems,” Secretary Salazar said. “These research and development dollars will help make hydropower technology more efficient and cost-effective as we continue to promote clean energy resources and build an American renewable energy economy in an environmentally responsible manner.”

  12. Shaun Appleby

    From Jonathon Chait, an adventurous yet insightful pundit:


    The Republicans pursued a strategy that torpedoed the economic recovery, and, indeed, may well bring about a double-dip recession. Voters may punish House republicans at the polls in 2012, but they’re at least as likely to punish Obama. That Republicans may gain the White House on the shoulders of a Republican-induced recession offers lessons about the incentive structure of our divided system of government that are frightening to contemplate.

    Jonathan Chait – Obama’s Katrina Was Also Boehner’s Katrina TNR 6 Sep 11

    Frightening because democracy clearly fails when citizens cease to vote in their own best interest.  Cue “end-of-empire” theme music…  Then John Philip Sousa and torchlight parades.

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