Today's edition of quick hits:
* We're still getting a sense of the damage done to Louisiana and Mississippi after Hurricane Isaac made landfall late yesterday.
* My heart goes out to MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry, who New Orleans home was destroyed by the storm.
* Afghanistan: "The U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan says three of its troops have been killed by a man in an Afghan army uniform."
* The nation's GDP was revised up slightly, from 1.5 percent to 1.7 percent, for the second quarter of 2012.
* More progress in the housing sector: "Contracts to buy previously owned homes rose to their highest level in more than two years in July, an industry group said on Wednesday, suggesting the housing market recovery was gaining traction."
* Jonathan Cohn has a fascinating catch, explaining that Chris Christie accidentally condemned Romneycare during his keynote address last night.
* I'm kind of amazed President Obama hosted a "Ask Me Anything" session with Reddit today. It even overwhelmed the Reddit servers.
* Some excellent advice from Greg Sargent to news organizations: "Call out the lies right in your headlines."
* A brutal crime in Michigan yesterday, as men with shaved heads attacked a Jewish teenager and literally stapled his mouth.
* The New York Times' editorial board was not impressed with the first day of the Republican National Convention: "Voters looking for a few nuggets of truth would not have found them in Tampa on Tuesday."
* And the Obama campaign has some fun at Paul Ryan's expense, on the day of his national debut.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Leave a Comment:
I see some of Anne Romney's quotes have been getting attention on twitter, but I haven't seen this one yet: "I know what it's like to be the daughter of immigrants," she said.
Because her grandfather was a Welsh immigrant. I don't know that much about her life when she was growing up, but I'm pretty damn sure it was not all that comparable to the daugher -- not granddaughter -- of a recent Hispanic immigrant, let alone one without papers . . .
I would like more information on the Incident where the lead delegate from Puerto Rico was attempting to address the delegate assembly and was not able to because of the 'USA' chant that was started up.
Was it racism?
There are some good clips of it out there. Stunning actually.
As tempting as it might be to claim that it's the GOP showing their true colors, by all indications it was spillover from a Paulite "revolution" objecting to a previous speaker. The GOP is bad enough as it is; we don't need to add anything on that isn't true.
Apparently this racism claim, is racism on the part of the left, not the right.
http://politics.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981596553
Umm, no, Shooter, EVERYONE misunderstood it, not just liberals like you're trying to claim. Not even your link supports your assertion.
shooter242
June 11, 2012 at 6:54 am
I’d like to encourage more trollery on left wing sites. Specifically pushback on common memes such as identified by Jonah Goldberg as unchallenged cliches. It can actually work, and it can actually change the course of debate.
For instance, I always challenge “the rich take too much of the pie” meme. There is no pie, no one decides who gets what, and the “pie” is a measure of contributions to a total. Ergo the rich don’t take they contribute. It’s been gratifyingly effective.
Try it you’ll like it. Don’t curse and keep the personal insults to a bare minimum, don’t allow moving goal posts or distractions. Ignore trollish responders, and be four times more civil. They hate that.
http://moelane.com/2012/06/09/troll-hunting-101/
Lies, damn lies and Romney.
Close, but Ryan did a great job of lying too. He was very proficient at lying Wednesday night at the Convention. Maybe, that's to allow Romney to <gasp!> take the high road tomorrow night. Somehow I don't think Romney can do it, unless he has to follow the script like everyone else has so far.
House sales seem to be increasing. In a related note, a home builder I know says that despite the high unemployment rate he is having a hard time finding experienced workers. Maybe folks trying to flip repos are gobbling up all the skilled workers, or maybe the Mexican crews have all self-deported.
There are some indications that the increasing housing sales is due primarily to investors in the "big markets." There doesn't seem to be data supporting the idea that it's individuals buying homes, e.g. there isn't a corresponding spike in mortgage origination applications.
So it remains to be seen whether the housing market is truly recovering or whether this is an temporary spike. If you've followed this it seems like every story of housing market recovery is followed by "oops, not yet" and "we've finally hit bottom" as the market takes another downturn to a new low.
We also need to know how much those houses are selling for. If they're going for 50 cents on the pre-crash dollar, that's just more bad news. Any details on the prices being paid relative to pre-crash valuations?
While the image of bureaucrats getting in the way of getting “between an American citizen and her doctor” sends a conflicting message, Chris Christie appears to be on message. Gov. Romney's plan for health care was at the state level, and he's supported repealing the Affordable Care Act to allow states to create their own solutions. Chris Christie specifically mentions *federal* bureaucrats. Cohn's article makes a fair point; however, it seems inaccurate to characterize it as "condemning" Romney's health care law as governor.
I am so sorry to hear Melissa Perry-Harris's house. I hope she can rebuild soon.
I have no sympathy for anyone who built in a city that never should have been inhabited. Why should the government support an area subject to flooding and hurricanes?
You sound like such a kind and compassionate individual, Tom. Keep spreading the love.
Is it the one she bought that was already half gone from Katrina? or a different one?
RE:
@xenophrenia, it was the home that had been damaged by Katrina but not yet repaired that was further damaged by #Isaac.
As Melissa had explained (and showed) this past weekend, on either her Saturday or Sunday show (sorry, but I don't recall), the house which she and her husband had just purchased happens to be a "heartbreaking eyesore" across the street from their house that they live in, with the intent of repairing it, so that it could be lived in again and allow property values in the neighborhood to increase.
Melissa has since shown a picture of that Katrina-damaged house across the street after #Isaac further damaged the house. At this point, it looks like it would be cheaper to raze that damaged house then build a new house there.
Most importantly, Melissa and family are safe!
RE: @Tom-3671033, (Comment #6.1)
When New Orleans was first built, the Barrier Reef Islands were still intact, the various Wetlands were still functional at absorbing what floodwaters there were. That was before the Army Corps of Engineers hubristically attempted to outwit Mother Nature by building NoGo and concrete-lined canals to direct the flow of water, and effectively destroying the natural defenses against hurricanes, wind surges, and floodwaters in the process. NoGo built a wind tunnel where none had previously existed, greatly exacerbating wind surge driven floodwaters in the lowest-altitude, below sea level, parts of New Orleans.
Unfortunately, at the time ACE destroyed what remained of the natural protections against hurricanes, wind surges, and floodwaters in and around New Orleans, it was far too late to relocate New Orleans to safer grounds. New Orleans was already a natural historical place, especially in the cultural sense, with the French Quarter, Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras, along with being an irreplaceable multicultural hangout.
The most critical mistake made with New Orleans was the misguided attempt to transform New Orleans into a big enough seaport to compete with Houston. That's what lead to largely destroying the barrier reefs that acted as a wind barrier to protect against hurricane-force winds and to channelizing wind wurges & waterflow into the low-lying areas, preventing the wetlands from effectively and efficiently absorbing wind-surge-driven floodwaters, thereby causing the low-lying areas to get flooded worse than they ever had before.
Hurricane Isaac sounds like a bad storm, so glad the Republicans "prayed it away" from their convention in Tampa.
Please listen carefully to Romney's recent interview w/CBS where he says that the abortion question "WILL BE" decided by the Supreme Court, and not that it "HAS ALREADY BEEN DECIDED by the Supreme Court. . . which implies, of course, that he will (as he has said elsewhere) appoint conservative justices, if elected, to overturn Roe.
Anyone who is thinking about sitting out this election should seriously consider who they want appointing 1-2 Supreme Court Justices in the next 4 years. Will the government control YOUR uterus? or will you?
k
Before retiring last evening, I scanned through TV stations and came upon your show on MSNBC. I was quite surprised at your constant criticism and dislike you directed toward the Conventions speakers as well as Mitt Romney. Not just verbal, but also your facial expressions. But then, it seems like the majority of the news media are one sided... but is that good for the position that you hold? Many thanks
I would like to know in what universe is it not a hate crime for two apparent skin heads to attack a Jew and staple his mouth shut. I mean WTF! I hope they find whoever did this to this young man persecute them to the full extent of the law. Appalling!
I'm so sorry Melissa, I pray for all good things for you...
8-28-12
The false prophets will pray for the RNC be spared from the wrath of Hurricane Isaac, this so they can drink, party and engage in deviant sexual acts. (ask Larry Craig or Mark Foley, lol)
They don’t care that the storm surge will head toward an area that already had Katrina and a massive oil spill. The suffering of the people so a very few silver spoon trust fund babies can SIN in the extravagant, selfish lifestyles they’ve grown accustomed to… that’s what the GOP is all about. jinnbad.blogspot.com
The POTUS campaigned in 3 seperate states during the hurricane...is that OK or should everything polically be on hold? Seriously asking this question. Not sure if you should continue while a national emergency is occuring.
skip
Whose response was better during a hurricane Bush or Obama?
Bush
http://thinkprogress.org/report/katrina-timeline/
or Obama
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-isaac-threatens-obama-keeps-one-eye-on-the-coast-the-other-on-the-campaign/2012/08/28/906335f8-f13b-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_story.html
Man oh man, I can't wait for the new season to start! I've already seen "repeats" like this too many times... o.O
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-(
Ha, Mitt Romney made a courageous VP pick? COME ON!
Mitt Romney the pathological liar, spoiled silver spoon, trust fund baby and elitist social Darwinist. No one likes a liar so Mitt was going down hard and getting desperate. So the best plan Mitt the twit (and his merry band of campaign elves) could come up with was to allow the Cheney/Bush Neo-Cons make the VP decision for him. Think about this now… if that evil mofo Cheney says he worships at the feet of Paul Ryan… THEN Ryan must be some kind of Wisconsin Antichrist or something… lol. (jinnbad.blogspot.com)
Paul Ryan wants to be known as a responsible deficit cutter… of course Ryan also wants voters to conveniently forget he voted for Iraq War, Bush tax cuts, TARP, deregulation, Medicare Part iDiot and all the other Bush/Cheney spending that led to the outrageous debt in the first place. Ryan says he’s a good Catholic but the Catholic Bishops called the Ryan budget IMMORAL! (taking from poor Peter to pay rich PAUL, right?) Hey Paul Ryan… you can’t follow Ayn Rand and JESUS at the same time… (ya dumb@$$,
silver spoon mofo)
I’ll bet you $10,000 right now that Paul Ryan has his nose so far up the asses of Sheldon Adelson and the Koch Bros that he’s can smell the money in their wallets and at their beck & call(girl) lol
Paul Ryan hates government except when it for him and people like him. Paul Ryan has actually spent his entire life on the government dole. He got SSI survivor benefits until he was 18... THEN through his rich family (from government funded infrastructure projects & Defense Dept contracts) connections got his first government job and has been sucking off the government teat ever since. HOLY @!$%# what a @!$%#’n hypocrite. I can’t stand it!
That’s the dark, dirty secret Conservative wackos wants to keep from the American PEOPLE, They want to cut most Americans out of the government monies loop so there is MORE FOR THEMSELVES. (proof of this is how the freshman Tea Partiers in Congress have wasted tax dollars on extravagant lifestyles and expensive luxury rental cars)
With low grade thought processes like these I MUST QUESTION the judgment of Rep. Paul Ryan and FEAR any thought of both Ryan and Romney being anywhere NEAR the White House
I guess Conservative wacko groupies didn’t have enough of getting screwed over by the Bush era rich guys, NO, these morons want to elect MORE lying, silver spoon, trust fund babies Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan.
A man who LIED on SEC filings and refuses to release his tax returns…
A man who ravaged manufacturing plants in the USA, STEALING PENSIONS, then sending JOBS and MILITARY component TECHNOLOGY to India and COMMUNIST CHINA…
A man who takes credit for saving the Salt Lake City Olympics even though it was actually a government bailout that saved the Games from Mitt Romney. (lot’s of that going around)
A man who pissed off our two greatest allies, the British and Israeli peoples. (only former Solidarity union thug and affirmed racist Lech Walesa, in Poland, gave a thumbs up to the Romney campaign)
A campaign staff who thinks it’s above the questions the news media has for Mitt Romney (“kiss my @$$”, “shove it“? COME ON!)
A MAN, who if elected President, will take an oath with his hand on the Book of Mormon!
No Ann Romney… IT’S the long suffering PROGRESSIVES TURN! A chance to bring common sense, rational stance, dignity, reason and a repudiation of tyranny, ignorance, poverty and corruption…
© 2012 by FGE, I am somebody who fights a Class War during the 2012 election spoact.blogspot.com
I think this was my favorite exchange from Obama's AMA:
I hope he washed his hands. ;~)
on isaac, this is wierd but i feel like im seeing a politcal slant on the weather channel, bain owns a big portion of the weather channel, the la. gov is republican, last nite i kept seeing personal reports that seemed much worse than what the weather channel was reporting, look at plaquemines parish, they are just now starting to report on that, just sayin
rnc speechs, pathetic, and they all had aunt jamima pancakes
ryan goes south in three seconds flat
Paul Ryan just said: You have not failed – your leaders have failed
you. Isn't he a leader in the republican party? Yes, I agree - he and his cronies have certainly failed us.
venture capitalists are like a chop shop, first they steel your car, then they strip it down and sell it in parts, they make a big profit and you have no ride
schmidt is rediculous, ryans speech was like he was running for grade school president
Really folks....did anybody really LISTEN to Ryan's speech? Can you honestly continue to live the sham that you have been living under for the past 3 1/2 years uner Obama? Really? If so, this confounds most people.
really, republican no, stopped any chance of a good recovrey
condy is something, sadam was a big threat , with three old planes and a lame camel
DEMOCRATS.....as always.....Keep On Drinkin' the Kool Aid that Obama is feeding you. Oh, yeah!
Hey, "don, ne, ohio"...what exactly did you mean"? Complete gibberish from what I can tell.
OHIOANS!! Please teach Don to spell!
i dont drink koolaid from obama or anyone, and if you could think you would know what i meant, most people did, and it is not spelling that counts, it is fact checking and vote checking and reality like for example the 716 billion medicare money, saved the taxpayers that much, took nothing from medicare reciepients it went to other areas, not billionairs, mabey ill activate my spell checker, maybe i wont, see ya