Part 2:



This was clearly one of the most passionate speeches Obama has given since arriving in the Oval Office, and we’d just like to point out the absence of script, teleprompter, or notes written on the president’s hand.

It’s not new car money unless it’s a really crappy car. It’s not the most money I’ve ever made or anything. I made more from merchandise than from the comedy tour deal. They [Conan and Co.] are giving me a check and then some royalties on the merchandise. I can’t say no to these guys — they allowed me to make some money for myself and it was a fair deal. They just licensed the image for the tour — I still own the rights.

Let’s just hope that the quick thinking individual who registered the URL “deemandpass.com” has already sold the rights to that domain, because it looks like one of the biggest news buzz phrases of last week has, well…come to pass.

I think The Republicans have a level of energy but inside that energy they have their own problem and fissures. They’re basically at the behest of a fringe group that’s taken control of their own party and their own leaders are scared of it.

That’s a little bit of extreme rhetoric, don’t you think? Armageddon is a giant meteor heading for earth, not 19 million Americans being able to have government-subsidized health insurance.

The tip-off for why Jon Voight is one of the few famous actors that support the rally (as opposed to Tom Hanks and the rest of the smoking/drinking Hollywood liberals)? When he asks the Fox News reporter what she knows about his career and her response is “I’ve seen you on 24!”

The San Jose Mercury News reports on Jobs’ speech:

“I was very fortunate,” the notoriously private Apple icon shared with an audience of doctors, transplant patients and media. A Tennessee donor was a match — and Jobs had a jet available to rush cross-country within the four-hour window needed for successful surgery. “Many others died waiting to receive one.”

While we applaud Jobs coming forward to support the governor’s bill, we wonder if his story wouldn’t better be used to talk about the real health care crisis facing America, not just the one facing California organ donor recipients (though that certainly plays a part). All those people that died on the waiting table because they weren’t Steve Jobs and didn’t have a private jet to usher them a new organ cross-country in the nick of time? That’s not just an issue of Jobs being “lucky,” that’s an argument for what’s wrong with health care today: those who have it and can afford treatment get to live, while many others have to take out second mortgages on their houses just to wait in the hospital hooked up to a dialysis machine, with no guarantee that their spot on the donor list will come up before their number does.

‘Now, it would be nice if we were just kind of examining the substance, we were walking through the details of the plan, what it means for you. But that’s not what the cable stations like to talk about. (Laughter.) What they like to talk about is the politics of the vote. What does this mean in November? What does it mean to the poll numbers? Is this more of an advantage for Democrats or Republicans? What’s it going to mean for Obama? Will his presidency be crippled, or will he be the comeback kid? (Applause.) That’s what they like to talk about. That’s what they like to talk about. I understand. One of the things you realize is basically that a lot of reporting in Washington, it’s just like SportsCenter. It’s considered a sport, and who’s up and who’s down, and everybody’s keeping score. And you got the teams going at it. It’s Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.

Nice one with the Rock ‘Em Sock’ reference, Mr. President. If there is one things college kids love, it’s analogies to 80s nostalgia.

(h/t Politico)

With over $6k being spent on clothing alone in 2004/05, which Williams tried to write off as a business expense, she argued to the tribunal that “she would be prepared to read the news without clothes and only wears the clothes because her employer requires it”. Which wouldn’t be the first time Euro-television has shown news programs like that: but usually they are reserved for the evening time. Suffice to say, the tribunal rejected her plea, saying, “The tribunal does not accept as realistic that she could perform her duties without wearing any clothes at all if she were not required by her employer to do so.”

Yeah, realistically the only job its acceptable to come to work without any clothes on is blogging.

Shuster, you may recall, rather famously did battle with Andrew Breitbart and James O’Keefe over the latter’s arrest for his alleged involvement in an attempt to “maliciously interfere” with the telephones at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office. In this preview of our interview, I asked Shuster for his take on the position of people like Andrew Breitbart, Matt Drudge, and James O’Keefe in journalism. His responses were rather surprising.

Check out this preview of Mediaite’s interview with David Shuster, and watch for the full interview, coming soon.

No word on what inspired the timing of this piece; maybe the Times got tired of reporting on the Obamas proper? Which is not to say it’s not interesting. It is! Court intrigue as only the NYT can provide it (how else would we know President Obama offered Chelsea a White House wedding?). That said, the short version appears to be that while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is putting on a good face, President Obama is pretty tight-fisted when it comes to sharing power.

Mrs. Clinton has proved to be an eager team player, a tireless defender of the administration, ever deferential to Mr. Obama and careful to ensure that her husband, the former president, does not upstage her boss.

Mr. Obama has been solicitous of Mrs. Clinton, yielding to her at times in internal debates, even showing signs of adopting some of her more hawkish world views.

They now joke about their “frenemies” status and have made gestures toward each other’s families.

And yet.

Mr. Obama has jealously guarded his prerogatives as the architect of American foreign policy, concentrating decision-making on crucial issues like Iran, Iraq and the Middle East in the White House. And Mrs. Clinton has yet to stake a claim to a core foreign-policy issue, the kind of signature role that would allow her nascent partnership with Mr. Obama to become a truly historic alliance.

Well there’s still time, I guess. Plus, apparently Obama is in the process of forgoing the cool factor so perhaps this will be included in the thawing.

Whit sharp-tongue and strong point-of-view, O’Donnell has long been considered a syndication favorite. Speculation right now is that it will be more like her current radio show than her old daytime TV talk show.

Gossip Cop sources say it’s a done deal.

Suffice it to say, the images are gorgeous.

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Having watched the Democrats collect the required number of votes to pass their highly contested health care reform bill, Sanchez asks Toobin whether the two major legal options the Republicans have before them to defeat the bill outside of Congress– suing against the bill itself and suing against a “deem and pass” vote– have any possibility of keeping the bill from becoming law. On the first option, he noted that “they can certainly sue; anyone can sue, this is America. But I think it is extremely unlikely this [health care] law will be declared unconstitutional.”

And as for the indirect “deem and pass” vote, he called it “clearly constitutional” and pointed out that Democrats have tried in the past to overrule Republicans similarly. “What happened when the Democrats tried it? They lost.”

Our sources indicate that the House will use deem and pass to get the bill through because they lack the votes to do so without it, and while all precedents point to a legal battle over “deem and pass” leading nowhere, the chances Republicans will let this go quietly are slim to none.

Toobin’s commentary below:

And they did it right next to each other in the same courthouse.

First, here’s some Bloomberg backstory:

Bloomberg, majority-owned by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, sued after the Fed refused to name the firms it lent to or disclose loan amounts or assets used as collateral under its lending programs. Most of the loans were made in response to the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Lawyers for Bloomberg argued in court that the public has the right to know basic information about the “unprecedented and highly controversial use” of public money.

FBN’s FOIA win was similar. It was filed in January and the ruling ordered the Fed disclose documents identifying which institutions borrowed money and the details of each loan.

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» Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter

All this after Fox News’ Brett Baier spent a good chunk of his POTUS exclusive grilling President Obama on whether he supports the maneuver. Just to be thorough, I took a shot at the question with First Dog Bo Obama. Not surprisingly, he agreed with the President.

Here’s my brief interview with Bo.

Obviously, Bo doesn’t care about “Demon Pass.” After a week of grilling Robert Gibbs and President Obama about it, it should be obvious that they don’t care about it, either. It would be like asking them, “Do you support stir-fry or saute´?” Gibbs and Obama are saying “Just get the food on the plate.”

That might not be the answer most people want to hear, but it’s the one they’ve been giving all week. If I had to guess, I’d say that Obama and Gibbs probably have the same view of the House Dems’ attempt to insulate themselves from GOP attacks in the midterms: it’s stupid, it won’t make a difference, and who cares? The net effect is the same either way.

If the CBO is so unreliable, then these bloggers wouldn’t cite it uncritically when it favors their positions, right?

Let’s see:

BEFORE

This only comes as news to people who haven’t worked in the private sector, of course — which means the entirety of the Obama administration and most of the Democratic leadership in Congress. It takes a CBO analysis for them to understand that increasing costs on businesses means increasing costs on their customers — or forcing them out of business altogether. This time, the CBO explains the impact of raising fees on financial institutions to the clueless.

– Hot Air, 3/5/10

They insist that people will not see a reduction in benefits in the future in Medicare, and that these cuts strengthen the system for the future. The CBO’s letter shows that cuts to the budget will have to result in cuts to the system and benefits if Congress intends on using the money to pay for other efforts.

– Hot Air, 12/23/09

AFTER

The Washington Post comes closer to the real problem with any CBO analysis, which is that the bill attempts so many changes that a comprehensive analysis becomes almost impossible to make. Analysts start having to make a compounding series of assumptions that could well prove false, which would result in unpredicted outcomes.

– Hot Air, 3/19/10

***

BEFORE

On Wednesday of this week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirmed Butler’s analysis, writing about Democrat claim that Obamacare strengthened Medicare.

– Heritage Foundation blog, 12/24/09

AFTER

The Congressional Budget Office admits its fiscal evaluation is “preliminary,” and others call the numbers “phony.”

– Heritage Foundation blog, 3/18/10

***

BEFORE

CBO: Two Cheers For Trickle-Down Economics

A new analysis of potential stimulus options from the Congressional Budget Office concludes that cutting employer payroll taxes would provide a bigger boost to GDP and employment than a similar cut in employee payroll taxes.

– Investor’s Business Daily, 1/14/10

The result of the narrow age-rating band in the House would be to raise costs for the young and healthy and make them less likely to sign up. CBO also finds that the House bill’s greater subsidies for out-of-pocket costs would be more attractive to less healthy individuals.

– Investor’s Business Daily, 11/2/09

AFTER

Five Reasons The CBO Figures Are Phony

The Congressional Budget Office’s preliminary “score” says the health care overhaul will cost $940 billion over the first 10 years, saving $138 billion over that time. But the CBO must assess legislation as written, rather than whether it will actually be carried out. Or, as the Economist put it, “The CBO is required to pretend to believe many impossible things before breakfast.”

– Investor’s Business Daily, 3/18/10

***

BEFORE

My syndicated column today torches President Obama’s fiscal freeze follies. A new CBO reports says the year-old Porkulus will now cost $75 billion more than originally estimated. Which is why the White House is scrambling to de-emphasize its spending discipline pose and talk about something else.

– Michelle Malkin, 1/27/10

Related news from the CBO this morning [she then block quotes a report that states, "The latest congressional budget estimates due Tuesday predict a $1.35 trillion deficit for this year, a top Capitol Hill aide says."]

– Michelle Malkin, 1/26/10

AFTER

The poor number-crunchers have been working overtime as Speaker Pelosi and the Dems have re-jiggered and re-jiggered to meet farcical fiscal discipline goals. It’s Enron-style accounting and everyone knows it.

IBD’s Ed Carson outlines “Five Reasons The CBO Figures Are Phony.” Spread the word.

Update: At a press conference to trumpet the preliminary numbers that Dems are treating like definitive Scripture, Pelosi proclaims: “I love numbers. They’re so precise.”

So. Precisely. Bogus.

– Michelle Malkin, 3/18/10

If you cannot trust government’s numbers, you cannot trust government’s words. This is the lesson of the House Democrats’ desperate promotion of a phony-baloney, Congressional Budget Office analysis of their latest health care takeover package.

– Michelle Malkin, 3/19/10

Simon Owens runs Bloggasm, a blog “that focuses on the media, with an emphasis on online media and journalism.” you can follow him on Twitter here.

John King hosted a trial run of the program today on CNN.com/live, which gave a sneak peek at what the show will be, but also gave viewers a chance to give their take on the first look.

Let’s start with the show. Because it isn’t scripted and was almost exclusively about politics, it takes on a bit of a Morning Joe feel (TheLoweDown came up with the name “Evening John”). The difference is King isn’t as strong a personality of Joe Scarborough, and while the show is based around some big personalities (like RedState’s Erick Erickson and FireDogLake’s Jane Hamsher) the reporter Q&A’s are a spotlight as well (including Dana Bash – King’s wife – in the very first segment).

Also, while the show may be more conversational than other hard news programs on CNN, it is significantly more structured than Morning Joe. An interview with Rep. Ron Paul (video on next page) is “One On One.” Other segments including “The Pulse,” “Wall To Wall” and “Pete On The Street,” a man-on-the-street segment with comedian Pete Dominick. Each segment comes with its own logo, and are packaged in almost obsessive detail.

The decision to preview the show online is an interesting one – and led viewers to interact with the show’s staff and each other. Facebook comments streamed in, and commercial breaks streamed live, so viewers could see what happens behind-the-scenes. After the hour-long runthrough, King, his Executive Producer Michelle Jaconi and other CNN staffers went through a post-mortem to discuss what had just happened.

It was a unique viewing experience, and for those already looking forward to the launch, it allowed them to see what they’d be watching beginning Monday night. Will it bring in new tech-savvy viewers as well? We’ll find out next week.

>>>NEXT PAGE: Screenshots from the test show and an interview with Rep. Ron Paul from the rehearsal.

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Well, the show has gone four weeks in a row where African American men were featured on the show. This week’s show will actually go one better: an African American guest and an African American journalist on the roundtable.

On Feb. 28, the show featured National Urban League president Marc Morial and Nancy-Ann DeParle. The next week, March 7, the show featured former Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.).  Ford has a contract with NBC to do commentary and it was his first week back after ending speculation that he was running for the Senate.

This past Sunday featured House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and on tap for this week are Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele and Public Broadcasting System’s Tavis Smiley.

The month is a good showing for MTP, which has and up-and-down history with diversity on its shows.  While the shows have mixed it up–a little–in terms of race, the show is overwhelmingly male in terms of guests. DeParle, who has Chinese ancestry, was the only Asian-American.  There were no Latinos. Katty Kay of the British Broadcasting System is the only female journalist who has been featured.

MTP’s diversity pledge came after NBC’s Jeff Zucker was beat up in Congress over diversity issues at the network.  Following the criticism, an NBC spokeswoman declared the network was  “committed to having a more diverse group of voices on the show whose opinions and expertise reflect, not just the news of the day, but the cultural, economical and political landscape of our country.”

As for the rest of the Sunday shows, Fox News Sunday continues to outshine the competition largely because of regular panelist Juan Williams from National Public Radio.  On a Sunday when Williams was gone, Fox had no non-white guests of panelists.

For this week, Face the Nation will feature Clyburn.  CNN will have Donna Brazile. ABC This Week–which just announced the addition of Christiane Amanpour as host–will have no non-white guests or analysts.

First, Jon Stewart’s much-talked about “epic” parody of Beck on his show last night, which I actually didn’t find that funny, primarily because, as I’ve said before, Beck is really the only person who can do justice to Beck’s unpredictable theater/buffoonery. But I digress. This was followed (in real life, also) by Stephen Colbert’s utterly terrific and hysterical takedown of Beck’s recent, controversial advice to churchgoers (video below). When was the last time anyone warranted a Comedy Central double-hitter, as it were?

Then I came across a random Peggy Noonan reference to Beck in her column this week (she’s long thought him insane). Then there’s Matea Gold’s feature on Bill O’Reilly in this week-end’s LA Times, much of which pivots on O’Reilly in relation to Beck. Meanwhile, I caught Gail Collins on Brian Lehrer’s WNYC talk show, during which Lehrer made reference to Beck in terms of health care reform voters.

The topper, however, has to be this article, which was chatted to me earlier, about how Glenn Beck is the Lady Gaga of cable news. Admittedly, I did remark to a colleague a few days ago how awesome it would have been if Gaga’s telephone hairdo had been replaced with the Mao phone!

So! What’s the conclusion here beyond the fact Glenn Beck is certainly very zeitgeisty? I wrote back in January that is was starting to look like Beck was being taken seriously by the mainstream media. And I think that’s probably true to some extent — ratings talk. But I also suspect Beck has two viewerships: the people who watch him and take what he says to heart (and although that generates great ratings, it’s still a relatively small slice of the population…about 3 million on average), and the media “elites,” who I am starting to suspect are secretly a bit in love with him.

I use the word love loosely (obviously) but there’s definitely an emerging general recognition on the part of the media that he is a genius at what he does (we mock because we love!). But also because he is by far the best content provider out there. The fact very few people in the media would admit to agreeing to his views appears to be taking a backseat to the chalkboard/Mao phone phenomenon. Something which became clear during Beck’s interview with Eric Massa one journalist on my twitter feed noted that it would be a good time for burglars to target journalists houses since every one of them was watching the “tickle fight” spectacle. There’s something to that. Beck has captivated the media as much (or more!) than he has the country at large — the 5pm time slot also jibes well with office hours — and I suspect a lot of his recent success, and the increasingly frequent mention of his name in mainstream places may be as much the result of that fascination as it is the result of Beck’s mass appeal.

Video of Colbert’s spot below. In my opinion, so much funnier than Stewart, specifically because he wasn’t trying to be Beck. Also, best line: “Jesus was a trustafarian…you just knew is dad was loaded.”

Related: Your Moment[s] of Glenn

I love technology and man is it helpful. But it also means you’re always on. Always findable. Always available to “just take five minutes” to answer an email, tweet a link for someone, check in quickly on FourSquare. And our reflexes have developed accordingly. (This I know well after a week of SXSW!) So that’s why I’m strangely pumped to embark on the National Day of Unplugging, to take some time away from tech to celebrate life IRL. (That’s “in real life” for those of you who don’t speak nerd, yo.).

From the New York Times:

But if Moses were redelivering his theophany today – the assembled crowd furiously tweeting his every sound bite – one imagines the frustrated prophet’s taking a moment to clarify what God meant, exactly, by a “day of rest.”

For starters, how about putting down the iPhone? Easier said than done in an age when careers rise and fall on the strength of one’s Twitter prowess. But that’s exactly what a group of Jewish tastemakers is trying to promote this weekend with its first annual National Day of Unplugging.

The experiment, which lasts from sundown Friday, March 19, to sundown Saturday, is the brainchild of Reboot (rebooters.net), a nonprofit think tank of hip, media-savvy Jewish professionals, based in New York, with staff members in Los Angeles and San Francisco. It was founded in 2003, and its members include television executives, Web developers, writers, filmmakers and C.E.O.’s: people for whom the act of “unplugging” could well be most difficult – and most needed.

Disclaimer: I am one of those Reboot Jews, though not quite at the CEO level yet, eh? And to be honest, I’ve been a passionate advocate for the value of tech to help us connect to people in real and emotional ways – and stick up for myself when people say, “Sklar! Stop tweeting!” But I tweet to share about the things I find important in life, and I berry to give me the flexibility to do those things. Even so, I appreciate the value in the DOING (which is why you’ll read my SXSW coverage now that I’ve finally left). Tonight, I will be joining Reboot-sponsored groups across the country in ceremoniously dropping the berry at the door, turned off and silent and left behind, as I go celebrate what happens when you re-immerse IRL.

But maybe before I do that…I’ll check in on FourSquare. L’chaim!