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Frank Rich, The New York Times, January 27, 2008

In the wake of George W. Bush, even a miracle might not be enough for the Republicans to hold on to the White House in 2008. But what about two miracles? The new year’s twin resurrections of Bill Clinton and John McCain, should they not evaporate, at last give the G.O.P. a highly plausible route to victory.

Amazingly, neither party seems to fully recognize the contours of the road map. In the Democrats’ case, the full-throttle emergence of Billary, the joint Clinton candidacy, is measured mainly within the narrow confines of the short-term horse race: Do Bill Clinton’s red-faced eruptions and fact-challenged rants enhance or diminish his wife as a woman and a candidate?

Absent from this debate is any sober recognition that a Hillary Clinton nomination, if it happens, will send the Democrats into the general election with a new and huge peril that may well dwarf the current wars over race, gender and who said what about Ronald Reagan.

What has gone unspoken is this: Up until this moment, Hillary has successfully deflected rough questions about Bill by saying, “I’m running on my own” or, as she snapped at Barack Obama in the last debate, “Well, I’m here; he’s not.” This sleight of hand became officially inoperative once her husband became a co-candidate, even to the point of taking over entirely when she vacated South Carolina last week. With “two for the price of one” back as the unabashed modus operandi, both Clintons are in play.

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Dan T., January 26, 2008

Once again the democrats have impaled themselves on Bush’s dick. This, most stupid of economic stimulus plans, should convince everyone that Nancy Pelosi is in a job that is over her head. She is either unable or unwilling to stand up to Bush. Pelosi is acting like Bush’s pet monkey and every democrat should be filled with revulsion at her for becoming Bush’s latest Tony Blair. This so called stimulus legislation throws a few peanuts to the peons and is a massive giveaway for business. It is a huge Reagan style trickle down plan and everyone already knows the only thing that tricked down from Reagan came from his weak bladder.

I won’t pretend to have a great grasp of economic principles but, like the run-up to the Iraq war, I know bullshit when I see it. First of all, the stock market is NOT the economy. It can be an economic indicator but, historically, the market likes a repressed, unemployed labor market, because what’s bad for the worker is good for the nouveaux robber barons. The stock market is just a very large betting parlor that is unrelated to the actual value of the company. The corporations are, for the most part, worth a fraction of their market ‘value’. When the recession is in full swing you will see the market begin a correction.

If you want to see a real indicator of the economy, look at value of the US dollar on the international scene. I mean, we are heading for parity with the peso and you know what? Giving more money to the Exxon/Arab cabal is not going to help. (Unless you are a member of the Bush crime family, which derives a large percentage of it’s largess from their cozy relations with the Saudi scumbags.) When Bush traveled to Saudi Arabia and got a big hug from the prince, you could see the bulge in his pants. Don’t worry, it was probably just a big wad of cash. I’ll go off on a tangent here to point out that Saudi Arabia is probably the most vile, disgusting, brutal, repressive and undemocratic government in the world. Plus, most of the worlds terrorism, including 911, was financed directly with Saudi dollars, yet they were protected by Bush. The best way to stop worldwide terrorism would be to incinerate the Saudis. The Saudis are a bunch of evil, religious fanatics and every act of terrorism that can be traced back to their money should earn them a cruise missile. Thanks for listening.

The economy is going in the toilet because Exxon, et al, is vacuuming up the spending money of all of the American middle class. A $600 tax rebate will cover my energy costs for nearly a month. Yippee! Of course the rich are not effected by the price of gasoline so the Bush supporters think the economy is booming. They can pocket the barely taxed profits of their market gambling and then redirect it to the latest offshore investment. If you drive into the wealthier neighborhoods you will see one house after another being remodeled and expanded. You sure don’t see that in my neighborhood. In my neighborhood we are sitting in living rooms that are much cooler than we’d like so we can afford to buy some groceries after paying the heating bill. The people in my neighborhood are invisible to the Bush administration. In Bush world, your value as a human is determined by your wealth. Fascism is less concerned with racism than with classism but they are happy to use racism to rally some people into voting against their own best interests.

The real economy is driven by small businesses and by leaving the middle class with a few bucks left over after the monthly bills so we can buy a new car, take a trip, get some new furniture or go to a strip club. Those things all fuel the economy far more than when one of Dick Cheney’s friends goes to Portugal to take delivery of his new yacht. Yet those yacht buyers are the people who are going to profit from Pelosi’s legislation.

If you are looking for Barack, Hillary or John to rescue you, forget it. They have not uttered a word against Pelosi’s Bush nuzzling. Welcome to fascism.