First-ever Weekly Video

If they want this thing to be a YouTube hit….

If, on the other hand, they merely want to double the audience for the weekly radio address, then it’s probably a fine idea!

I think it could have used more cowbell.

Doing all this will require not just new policies, but a new spirit of service and sacrifice, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. [...] in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people. And that is how we will meet the challenges of our time — together. Thank you.

I love it when he says stuff like this. It’s so refreshingly NOT aimed at laying blame, but encouraging cooperation.

(especially when you edit out the “Main Street – Wall street part)!)

Pie charts. And PowerPoint animation doo-dads. My hope is that by the next time (after 20Jan, hopefully before) an “up-or-down” vote is scheduled in the Senate, Obama’s screenside chat will be leavened with enough data making the case FOR congressional action, to make the R-senators’ phones ring louder than they’ve heard before. Also.

I don’t understand why Bush would be resistant to some form of middle class aid/unemployment extensions. It’s not as if he has a problem with deficit spending and he could go out claiming that he did more than just help the wealthy.

On the substance: Part of the rescue plan should be loan guarantees for the auto industry. Wish he’d have said that explicitly.

Unemployment is a good thing (with limits) to Bush’s cronies. It depresses wages as people become desperate. Unemployment insurance has the same effect. With that and savings, you may not have to take $6 an hour less than you deserve.

PNNTO: Our local US Rep, Rogers(R)MI-8, suddenly decided that after 8 years of binging, gov’t spending was *not* a good thing and voted against the $700B bailout several times. I’ve noticed a number of midwest senators/reps voting the same way.
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I believe that their (the GOP) game plan is to dig, as deeply as possible, the hole that Obama, the new administration and congress have to climb out of.
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The bus driver hit a tree, slid into a ditch, and now the bus is burning…who’s going to notice that he’s slashing the tires instead of helping people out of the bus?

I think having the radio address on youtube will just about guarantee that infinitely more people who NEVER listen to the radio address will hear the message that Obama is trying to impart. I actually think low key is better because it almost comes off like his camapign ads where he was talking to the people directly and I think there has been some campaign withdrawal from a lot of people. Besides that I can pretty much guarantee you that every cable news program will run at least some of the youtube clip which again will get it wider circulation. And then maybe a consequence that even Obama’s people werent thinking of when they came up with this idea is that people from around the world will also be able to go on youtube and see what our president is talking about. So when Ahmadenijad is trying to whip up opposition to the “great Satan” maybe some Iranians will go on youtube and see that he is lying through his teeth. Not saying it will happen but if it does it could be a pretty powerful propaganda piece, no?

kbang, I think you may be right. The “screw things up so bad” philosophy has been a republican style of governing since Reagan.
The counter point, I guess I was thinking, is that Bush doesn’t care about anyone other than himself and so blowing off his party to help his legacy is a trade he would make in a Minnesota Minute.

As to the medium, I am pleased that we have moved passed 1930s technology.

By the way I want to post this video again via Sully, I want to know who this Schiff guy is and why he isn’t being considered for Treasury Sec
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http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/11/vindication.html

Man o man do I hope the rest of the GOP follows Jim Demint’s lead. The precise reasons he gives for saying McCain hurt the Republican brand are actually the only glimmers of hope they had for ever regaining support from moderates. The more Republicans say stuff like this, the more I think they will lose even more seats in Congress in 2 years until they become a pathetic shell of a party. My prediction for 2 years from now, the GOP will split and we will finally have a truly viable third party made up of mostly Moderate Republicans and some libertarians. I am serious about that. There is no way this Republican party will stay together as far as some factions in the party are from each other!
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http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/14/gop-senator-mccain-betrayed-republican-principles/

Pnnto: I hear what you’re saying about Bush, but I don’t see anyone on the red side of the aisle leading the rescue charge.
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What concerns me more, though, is the unwillingness of the Reid and the Senate Dems to bring *some kind of a comprehensive rescue plan* to the floor for an “Up or Down” vote (remember that phrase from 2000-2006?). Taking such action would throw a spotlight on the tire slashers and Rome’s fiddler-in-chief. Even if it doesn’t pass or achieve cloture, at least the hole will have a name.
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Sadly, it appears as though Reid has the vapours over the Lieberman issue, and is willing to fritter away countless hours getting his No-Joe going instead of using the lame-duck session to make the going smoother in 2009. *sigh*

I think I would trade off letting Lieberman keep his chairmanship if they would replace Reid.

Lets see how this Lieberman stuff plays out. Some pretty heavy hitters are lining up against him-Schummer, Durbin, Leahy. And his support seems to be coming from lightweights like my senator Klobuchar.
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SG, that clip is amazing. The dude was right and watching Ben Stein make a fool out of himself never gets old. The republicans on Faux don’t make predictions they make wishes.

KT:

What are you talking about?

This is fantastic!

There’s so much more that they can do with this format, e.g. visuals of the data or situations Obama mentions. I can also watch this again and again to make sure that I understood what was said, and view the address per on my own schedule (which is key).

I’ve never understood the whole “weekly radio address” thing, but if Obama wants to call me and my neighbors to action, or to reassure us with respect to his plans, this format is exactly what’s needed. Even if this were an administration that I wanted to kick out of office, and couldn’t stand the sight of, I’d be watching this.

I love it, actually.

@SG: Wow. Just. Wow. Great clip! Peter Schiff == Voice in the Wilderness. Faux: Dow 16000! No housing bubble! Invest in GS, MER, WaMu! I hope they all took their own advice…big time!

kbang
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There won’t be a rescue package in the lame duck and pretty much everyone knows it. The republicans are already blaming McCain’s loss partially on the fact that he voted FOR the last bailout package. Combine that with how Paulson is totally phucking up the current set up while AIG is sipping lemonade in the shade and still getting paid on the tax payer dime and its GUARANTEED that the repubs are going to block this legislation. And there is something else to consider. With Obama giving up his Senate Seat tomorrow we no longer have a majority in the Senate if I understand it correctly. To be honest with you I think the most we can hope for from this lameduck congress is for the Dems to offer a plan and then make each and every Republican vote against it so that the nation will be once again outraged that the Republicans are playing politics instead of trying for solutions. But I honestly think we have 0 chance of passing an kind of stimulus package or rescue bill. And even if it gets pass Bush would NEVER sign it. Did you hear that dumbazz trying to still promote his free market principles during this G20 pow wow. He is a frikking joke now. Even Hugo Chavez is clowning him saying Bush is more of a socialist than he is. We are going to have to wait till next year to get anything done and just hope the Auto makers can make it till then. By the way Sully has the reasoning behind why we can’t just let the Automakers go into bankruptcy up on his website. I am having problems posting links right now though. What it comes down to is that normally in chapter 11 businesses like the airline companies could continue to operate because they could take out loans to hold them over while they had restructuring going on. But now there is no money there to be lent to the Auto makers and therefore they would end up in chapter 7 bankruptcy whereby they would have to start liquidating assets and making layoffs immediately

Oh and to give me early 2 minutes hate on LIEberman how about Rachel Maddow calling him out last night??!! Im going to send her a love letter (email) today for that. Joe must go!
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SG,
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*sigh* You’re right. Guess I was jus’ hopin’ that the Dems would grow a…backbone and at least bring *something* up to a vote to make the GOP go on record as opposing relief. I really don’t think that Reid even has the…guts to do that.
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I’m heartened that cooler heads are calling for Big3 aid. Let’s hope they prevail.
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I’m heading outside now to cheer up…to rake leaves…in the rain…*sigh*

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I assume you are just being facetious, Karen. He is talking to Americans as if they were adults, laying out what he wants to do and sounding a serious but optimistic tone.
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This is a good way of bypassing you in the MSM, particularly TV, who would slice out a couple of irrelevant and misleading sound bytes, throw them out in the standard three-window screaming-heads format, the roladex Republican spouting nonsensical talking points and the roladex Democrat arguing with the roladex Republican, not addressing the substance of the message.
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And then the MSM print media mulling and pondering snarkily over the lack of puppies and writing up a piece on the process: how many views, whether the desk conveyed “Presidential!” and who he was REALLY addressing!!!one!!! Pelosi??? The UAW???? What does that say to Wall Street????? SNARK!!!! WOULD YOU HAVE A BEER WITH THIS FELLOW????
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So in that sense, it was a big success.
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A word of caution about the bailout:
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While it might be this or that, one thing is certain and that is that the auto industry represents the core of our shriveled manufacturing base.
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Rhetoric aside, the consequences of an entitiy like GM going under will have severe consequences, and I’m not sure that “the principal of the thing” is a good enough argument against saving it.
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It is already bad enough, so maybe we need to get past the rhetoric, and ask what might happen if we don’t do the bailout.
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Life isn’t fair, but I don’t think that “volunteering” our country into a depression is exactly the smartest move we could make right now. Oversight, yes, but rhetoric?
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Toss it out like yesterdays’ garbage, and, oh yeah, the GOP…

Is this signs of that backbone?
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/14/congress.automakers/index.html

Is this signs of that backbone?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/14/congress.automakers/index.html
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BTW, the mad mod won’t let me post the http part…

Ok, figured the mad mod out.
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To post a link, don’t include the http part. It’ll do it for you…

By the way at 11 am on a saturday the youtube radio address clip already has over 20,000 views.

I liked it. Nix the puppies.
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I want information, not spin.
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Eight years and a campaign filled with rhetoric and spin has kind of turned me off, y’know?

BTW, at least KT has given us alternatives to the Micheal Scherer fluff…

There’s so much more that they can do with this format, e.g. visuals of the data or situations Obama mentions.

I was just grateful they had a transcript. ASCII is your friend!

Looking forward to “Leave Hillary Alooooone!”

Getting my daily Rachel Maddow fix…

I really think Arianna Huffington’s suggestion of saving the GOP has some merits.
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I think, however, we should approach it more from the perspective of endangered species legislation and ecological impact.
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GOPers should be listed under CITES, making it illegal to transport them across state lines, or making pets of them (without getting permission).
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We could set up reserves where they can be free to run wild and reproduce, but I think it would be best to remove sharp metal objects and most certainly ban any guns or other weapons inside the reserve.
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Inside the reserve, the 2nd Amendment can be revised to apply to pillows…

James: “I assume you are just being facetious, Karen. He is talking to Americans as if they were adults, laying out what he wants to do and sounding a serious but optimistic tone.”
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Come on now. Serious is good, but serious with puppies would be fabulous.
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53_3 on getting a Maddow fix. No kidding. I don’t get MSNBC but I’ve been watching her show just as soon as it is up on the web for weeks . Did you see the deadly serious and far ranging interview with Boston University’s Andrew Bacevich about the limits of American power and the vast and increasing challenges facing Obama even before he enters office? One of the reasons the Maddow show is so important is that she brings on actual experts, as opposed to media stars like O’Hanlon, to consider issues.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/27726834#27726834
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And her surgical dissections of Holy Joe have to be making it harder for the Dem caucus to let him keep the HS/gov’t oversight chair.

KT here–

Can somebody tell me how to imbed a link in a comment? It looks like I missed some traffic on this earlier, and the way I do it–adding the link–looks so amateur.

The Obama YouTube is at 97,369 as of this moment.

“If they want this thing to be a YouTube hit, they are going to have to add music or puppies or something.”
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Actually….no. See in the real world people are scared KT, they need reassurance that someone in power is doing SOMETHING. This will be huge and a great way to bypass the establishment media. The best part? No pundits.
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“I want to know who this Schiff guy is and why he isn’t being considered for Treasury Sec”
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sgwhiteinfla, because Schiff believes there shouldn’t be any govt intervention and thinks the whole thing should be allowed to collapse and fix itself. I should note that I saw this collapse as soon as 2004, 2 years prior to Schiff apparently, when I began to consider day trading as a vocation. Even my cursory study of the economy lead me to believe we were heading for a collapse. Seriously, you guys didn’t think for a sec that an economy based on credit and people selling each other their houses, and with no manufacturing base was gonna last did you? Believe me, if it was obvious to a novice like me, it should have been obvious to anyone. As for Treasury Sec, I would have to give up my profligate lifestyle, and I absolutely refuse to give up the chronic.
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If it’s prescience you seek, I like this guy better than Schiff:
http://www.chrismartenson.com/

Karen, various people have posted directions, but there are also pages of directions like this one.
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http://www.ahfb2000.com/tagslistlinks.php
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Hope it helps. I lack the patience to deal with the embed. Maybe for the New Year!

KT, I tried to post a link to a page, but my comment disappeared. Not even in moderation. I’ll try again.

http://www.ahfb2000.com/tagslistlinks.php

kbang
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Looks like that backbone won’t be coming this time and evidently I was right about the impact of Obama resigning his seat tomorrow
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/14/AR2008111403948.html?hpid=topnews

KT, I can’t seem to post this help page as a link, so I’ll try it in an odd format. If it works, assume you can figure out.
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www. ahfb2000.com /tagslistlinks. php

Thanks for that WaPo link, sgw. I want Reid replaced. Few people will read his whiny, I understand the Republicans aren’t going to support this, so I’ll give up. Arrgh. At least make them stand up and do it on the floor.

ivb, I agree. Reid reeks of conciliation when he needs to exude toughness, or at least a strong sense of purpose. I’m sure the opposition is quaking in their boots:
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“I understand that you currently oppose such a package and that Senate Republicans are prepared and able to block such legislation. This is disappointing and I hope you will reconsider.”

ivb
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He has whipped dog syndrome. He is still acting like the Repubs are in charge. He is SO scared to lose on any issue that he would rather tuck tail and run than fight it out! I swear if Lieberman keeps his chairmanship I will do whatever I can to support Reid’s opponent in 2010 as well as call for his ouster from leadership IMMEDIATELY. Its a wonder that the WingNuts ever mentions his name because he would seem to be playing for their team more than the Dems. Even without having Obama in the Senate he should be pushing the agenda forward and then making the Republicans vote against helping mainstreet so its on the record. That way if the economy tanks again and as more people lose their homes and jobs they will know exactly who to blame. I can promise you two years from now the Republicans will claim they wanted to help people but the Democrats never offered any bill for them to vote on. Such a wuss I tell ya

OT, to the extent that is possible in this thread, but The Journal was excellent last night. Deb Amos was guest host. My favorite exchange in the segment on foreign affair challenges:
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DEBORAH AMOS: But we are in the middle of a financial crisis, the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetimes. That will take up a certain amount of oxygen, brain cells, whatever you want to say, in the way that Iraq did in the beginning of the Bush administration. It sucked all the air out of diplomacy, as Richard Haass who worked for the White House at that time, has said. You haven’t factored that in, in that list.
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FRED KAPLAN: Well, I would say one thing. Maybe we’ll have a secretary of state who doesn’t have to look over his or her shoulder every two minutes to make sure that the vice president isn’t sabotaging whatever he’s trying to do.
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ELIZABETH RUBIN: That’s a really good point.

FRED KAPLAN: You know, even the entry of Bob Gates, the Secretary of Defense, has changed the dynamics of national security decision making in the White House profoundly. You don’t have people running in and of the Oval Office trying to be the last person to convince the president of something. No, you have actual debates going on in front of the president. It’s much more systematized. You know, I really do think that if that had been going on, even though the Bush administration, even with all the other problems, things would be a lot more manageable at this point.”
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Oh, and ivb, be careful with your arrrggghhhhs. There be pirates about.

Rahm Emmanuel is actually kinda funny
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/15/rahm-emanuel-roasts-steph_n_144081.html

wvng:
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Yup! I saw Bacevich’s commentary, but his reasoning that Bush won’t try some of these dirty little tricks is shakey at best. He seems to think that his image is more important than his skin.
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I think that Bush, Rove, Cheney and others have a lot of stuff to hide, and I honestly think that they well throw the legal kitchen sink at the problems they face once they are out of power.
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The worst:
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Katrina (despite the claims)
Torture
Iraq
Energy Policy
DOJ
The 2000 and 2004 elections
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There’s probably quite a bit longer list, but I’m thinking those “millions of emails” that the RNC lost weren’t lost for just any old reason…

Assault pillows.
Anti-Tank pillows.
Over the horizon pillows…

Anyone else happen to notice that Obama makes absolutely zero mention of immediate changes to tax policy?
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It was a key element to his stump speech and closing argument.
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Anyone?
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Is this thing on?
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(PS – I know the Decider will get brandish his veto crayon if tax code changes were included in any lame-duck session economic stimulus package, so it’s not as if a tax cut for 95% of us would make it into law…I’m just sayin’…)

53_3. On Bacevich’s commentary/interview. I must have missed his comments on “his reasoning that Bush won’t try some of these dirty little tricks is shaky at best.” He talked about he limits of power and “asking the right questions instead of chewing on the wrong questions.” Did he actually talk about Bush’s forthcoming actions at all?

Cavett’s “The Wild Wordsmith of Wasilla” was possibly the best stream of consciousness snark I have ever seen.
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Also seeing if I can embed the link right.

I can’t hear the address, but from reading the transcript it sounds like he is not only giving information, but trying to be dull. He must be sort of alarmed at the growing paparazzi, cover of every magazine because they sell, adulation. He might figure he can manage once he’s POTUS, but for the moment it presents a problem for his “there’s only one POTUS” strategy.

KT,

(a href=”paste your link between the quote marks”)Type your text here (/a)

Replace the parentheses with the equivalent angle brackets.

Donut, wrong, bro’

First, we need a rescue plan for the middle class that invests in immediate efforts to create jobs and provides relief to families that are watching their paychecks shrink and their life savings disappear.
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Then, we’ll address the spreading impact of the financial crisis on other sectors of our economy, and ensure that the rescue plan that passed Congress is working to stabilize financial markets while protecting taxpayers, helping homeowners, and not unduly rewarding the management of financial firms that are receiving government assistance.
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Finally, we will move forward with a set of policies that will grow our middle-class and strengthen our economy in the long-term. We can’t afford to wait on moving forward on the key priorities that I identified during the campaign, including clean energy, health care, education and tax relief for middle class families.

wvng thanks for the Cavett.

James – thanks for the instructions. I’m going to see if I understand it, here:

Excellent cartoon for whoever suggested Reid needed “http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/pulling-the-chair-out-from-under-joe-lieberman/”a spine

kathy, I agree. Well, maybe not dull. But calm, calming, and glitz free.
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I’m not sure any politician has ever faced greater expectations than this one. Donut above asks why isn’t he talking about tax policy already. The world is expecting him to come in and turn it all around. Maybe not on a dime, but he is seen as the guy who can do it.
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On a related point, how remarkable is it that the whole world is hoping a black man can provide the leadership to save us all from ruin. And much of the world is judging him by the content of his character, not the color of his skin.
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How remarkable is that!

Um, no, evidently I don’t understand the instructions, James. I was supposed to do something with href, wasn’t I? I preceeded the quote with left caret a right caret, then inserted the link, ended the quote, typed a spine, and ended with left caret /a right caret. Can you tell me what I need to do differently?

wvng:
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He mentioned the issue of exectutive privalege being excersized after Bush leaves office, and conclued that he wasn’t likely to exercise it because it would put him in a situation where an “ex president trumps a sitting president” on such issues. He felt that since it probably wouldn’t hold up in court (the Supreme Court), he wouldn’t be likely to try it.
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I think Bush would. I think Bush will do anything and everything he can to avoid exposure and prosecution for him and his minions.
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A number of arguments like these.

kathy, like this, replacing the parenthesis with angle brackets as James said
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(a href=”http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/pulling-the-chair-out-from-under-joe-lieberman/)Pulling the Chair Out(/a)

wvng – I heard Laura Bush interviewed about her meeting with Michelle Obama. She was asked what her thoughts were on Obama being elected, and she said something to the effect of how wonderful it was that a black man could be elected, that there were many leaders of other countries who told her that they didn’t believe America would elect a black man, and she was (pleased? don’t remember her words) that this showed the world what kind of a democracy we are. (I’m paraphrasing heavily here. It was a very positive statement).

He actually did mention tax policy as part of a list of prioritizing, but he rolled it up into fixing up the economy – his first priority – and making it not an independent issue, but a subordinate one.

wvng,so am I supposed to have 4 angle brackets? There are 4 parentheses in your instructions.
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Pulling the Chair Out

thank you thank you thank you. I’m such a pathetic nontechie. I feel liberated.

kathy, arrrrgggghhhhh, I missed a quote on the backside of the url.
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(a href=”http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/pulling-the-chair-out-from-under-joe-lieberman/”)Pulling the Chair Out(/a)
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Pulling the Chair Out

wvng – only partly successful, I see. When I point to the blue link I made it only underlines it. Do you know why?

Pulling the Chair Out
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Terrific. You’ve no idea how elated I am.
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(hope you go check out the cartoon)

kathy, I have a website with over a hundred pages and all kinds of tricky bits but I am also a non-techie – at far as html goes. I use FrontPage, which means I can be pretty darned ignorant, and figure out the unusual tricky bits one at a time.

I love the cartoon! However, I wish it wasn’t true.

wvng-
You’d think that with the current majorities they’d acquire one. We’ll maybe find out when they vote on Lieberman and Dingell.
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I’ll check out front page. I’ve been using this page for text tags, but I couldn’t figure out links:
http://www.pageresource.com/html/textags.htm
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Here’s the link for wordpress smileys for anyone who needs it:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Smilies

53_3, Bacevich literally uses none of the words you list, and doesn’t talk about Bush at all except in passing. He talks about limits on use of power, specifically in Afghanistan and Iraq and on the response to Al Qaeda.

wvng – oh, and I’m such a thorough Democrat I couldn’t figure out the cartoon at first!!! lol. I was dumber than the (donkeys) in the cartoon.sigh

kathy, Front Page is Microsoft’s website builder, not really relevant to blogs. Here is a nice quickie link for html tags.

kathy,
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Good try! Sorry my instructions weren’t that clear. You know what though, are you using Firefox browser? Because Firefox has a nifty little add-on that lets you right-click on any page and it makes a nice little labeled link for you and puts it on your clipboard, so all you have to do is paste it into the comment box (like right here).
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It’s called Make Link 8.0.7 here Make Link :: Firefox Add-ons
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After it is installed, just right-click on the page you want your link, and the menu will have an option Make Link -> click on the HTML and come paste the link in the comment box. Of course, you can touch up the label text to anything you want. Voila!
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Woops. I think I might have gotten two interviews confused. There were a couple interviews as I remember in that particular peice.
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I’ll go give it another listen…

James – that is cool! Trying out the new gadget:
Swampland – TIME.com » Blog Archive First-ever Weekly Video «

wvng:
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Talk about a relentless blunder on my part!
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Anyway, I Bacevich is right in his azzezzment of our military power. The use of the miliatary alone isn’t going to cut it. Afghanistan could easily turn into another quagmire if Obama doesn’t handle it correctly.
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I’ve mentioned some time ago that police action, counterintelligence and covert operations as a way of combatting Al Queda.
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I owe you one big time. Major blunder!

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Cool, wv! I use it *all* the time!
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53_3. If one is to blunder, it is best to be relentless about it.
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I see you are trying to bypass the “ss” filter? I think that has been addressed. or Addrezzed.
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Substantively, it is clear that the Obama administration will be seeking a regional solution that uses all the levers or persuasive and power at their disposal. I hope Rachel has Bacevich back on for regular interviews as policy is implemented.

Since this seems to be an open thread at this point, thisis very cool. Maybe under the next administration the USDA will start providing this kind of information again.
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Yes, James, I used the add on again.
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Oh, and KT, the Obama Saturday morning address has now been viewed 214,257 times.
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Still no puppies.

james LA – yes, I do use Firefox. I’ll do that.

KT here–

Speaking of puppies, in case you aren’t already addicted to this:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shiba-inu-puppy-cam

KT here–

Or rather this.

(Way too much work. And I don’t have a right click on my Power Book.)

KT here–

Also, it doesn’t appear that that worked. Sigh. I’m really a technopeasant.

Karen, you sure you don’t have a right click? Unheard of! I don’t use a Power Book, so can’t help you out. But *surely* you *must* have a right click.

For the labeled link syntax, the trick it to keep the thing handy on a little notepad on your start bar, then copy/paste the link, type the label, and voila! It’s this whole thing
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(a href=”paste your link between the quote marks”)Type your text here (/a)
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except with angle brackets. Replace the ( before the first a with < and so on. there are two left angle brackets and two right ones. Or try this (if it works)

Type your text here
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Take the spaces out as in <a
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Meh. that didn’t work.
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Here’s a better idea. Ask the High Sheriffs to give us cool HTML buttons like John Cole at Balloon Juice has. That’ll fix it.

KT here–

JLA: I’ve got an easy way to do it when I’m writing a blogpost, but not in the comments section. Will talk to the High Sheriffs. Also, check out the puppies. And I don’t even like dogs all that much…

KT,

Puppies cute. I notice that Obama’s weekly video got 10 times as many views as the pups. Already. Heh.
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Back in the olden days of blog commenting, we HAD to learn how to make a labeled link, because, long links would “break” the comment window and everyone would shun you and/or call you an idiot. You newbies have it easy. They invented a way to keep columns intact with a long link. Still, it’s classy to have nice labeled links. Looks nicer, easier to read, AND a good way to use your snark. So keep trying until you master the art!
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KT:

A really easy way to make a link (without knowing too much about the code-y stuff that makes up a link) is to go to Daily Kos, make a bogus reply to a random post there, and use their “add link” feature. Once their stuff adds the link code to your fake post for you, you copy it, then cancel the post, and come back here to paste it into your real post.

It’s just going back and forth between web pages, and copying-n-pasting.

Pretty soon you’ll even get familiar with what the “Add Link” feature leaves behind for you to copy, and you might be able to type it in somewhere yourself without using it.

All right, not necessarily “pretty soon”, but eventually it will happen.

Here’s a link to Daily Kos (and a pretty interesting piece about a possible Obama Ag Dep pick).

James, LA @ 50. – I stand corrected. Thanks! Still, it’s kinda buried in the laundry list.

In the wee hours, writing comments that won’t be read, this address kinda sucked. He’s using his speaking to 50,000 cadence, which doesn’t work in the intimate venues of radio or three minute video. This is not a trivial issue. The FDR parallels are manifest, and he needs to find a Fireside Chat voice.

Hi jay, I read your post. Seems to me he used his 2-minute infomercial voice, which seemed to work pretty well. I suspect as he eases himself into the office he will loosen up a tad, but remain sober and serious.
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The thing I thought the video lacked was a better set. It was pretty sterile. A nice leather chair, a bay window in the background – kinda like the Oval Office, would work just fine. Then the media will label him as pretentious again.
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So he also needs a puppy too. Everyone loves puppies.
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btw, the You Tube is over 500k views, in 24 hours. I guess people want to hear from this good man in whatever voice he chooses to use.

wvng and jay
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I believe that Obama is all about appealing to the widest swath of America as possible. In that I think he is willing to slightly disappoint a section of his supporter who will still support him in order to not offend people who did not initially support him but might still come around. His tone comes off as smooth and soothing to try to tamp down the whole “radical” notion of him. Now I am not saying its what I would do or what should be done but I think he has a pretty good track record so far of doing it his way and having it work out. I am willing to wait and see on this one especially since there probably havent been 500,000 people to hear a presidential radio address on a saturday ever unless it was immediately after a major crisis. Lookit he is never going to please all of us all of the time but I am good as long as he doesn’t deliberately go back on his campaign promises or do anything puposely shady under the guise of executive priviledge