Feisty:

When he says he is going to defeat it does he mean he is going to stand up to the tea baggers or is he going to be in lock step with them and help McConnell take Hostages??

I'm not sure Navy -- we'll have to wait & see until after he puts on his cape & tights!

I'm thinking more 'Wonder Woman' style vs. 'Superman'!

Timid Timmy (I like that) doesn't know how to change his socks, let alone Washington. He couldn't stand up to that empty suit named Romney. Enjoy yourself Tim, your days on the campaign trail are numbered.

Clown timid Poorlenty..........naa you've got no cojons. you can't even trip flip flopping Mittens let alone Washington. Common, we all dream.

Seriously folks, look at the horrible quandary facing the Republican presidential candidates. They really have to cater to their illiterate right-wing base. The media influence is too powerful to ignore, and they are attracted to loud noises and shiny things. That's what the TEA Party does. They make noise. Pawlenty has to upstage Romney, Bachmann, and maybe Perry.

Perhaps it's Mitt's Mormon training that leads him to favor the missionary position - so to speak. Just lay there quietly and don't say anything. After it's over say, "Oh God". That'll eventually get him the Teabangelical vote because Perry and Bachmann are just too crazy - even for Republicans. Pawlenty? Well as Feisty says - when he goes Rambo we hear Elmer Fudd.

Navy: Here's the answer to your question: "When he says he is going to defeat it does he mean he is going to stand up to the tea baggers or is he going to be in lock step with them and help McConnell take Hostages??" HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE MEANS. Sheeesh, none of them do. Really, wouldn't you rather be pond scum than be a Republican? Oh, wait!

Yeah, lets be sure to keep focusing on the candidates. You know like First Read has decided to continue to do, and let's be real sure to ignore what's actually going on.

Like the stock market crashing down.

Like unemployment ticking down solely because so many people dropped out. We all know it goes up from here. Just look at the economic indicators [I like durable goods].

Like the fact that the Debt Ceiling cuts nly actually cut the increase in debt, not the debt itself.

Like we are still in 3 wars.

Like the real estate market, and the fact that Fredddie and Fannie are sucking billions every month.

Like energy costs keep rising.

Like the Federal Gov refuses to enforce immigration laws, but instead sues multiple states when they try to.

Like the fed gov has sued Boeing for building a huge factory in a non union state

like the federal gov gave assult rifles to drug cartel members that kill at least on American, and thousands of Mexicans.

Like no one has the balls to tackle entitlements and the debt explodes to $30 trillion in just 10 years.

Like, well, you all can play along. Bottom line is simple. Obama has failed. Our lives are worse now than when he came in, never mind he promised to make it better. He promised a lot, like all politicians always do.

Now I get that you here at FR are the front line cheerleaders and recognition has not set in yet. But elsewhere it has. Some time ago in fact. He is either not up to, or simply incapable of completing the task.

There is no way Obama will get re-elected. At this point [and it will unfortunately get worse from here] a broom handle with a wig could beat him.

Like your god-king always said: "It's the economy stupid." You all know that to be true, and no amount of fighting will make it less so.

Pawlenty (as quoted by FR):

Instead, he said, "I'm going to defeat it."

We should listen to this guy. After all, he sure beat up on Minnesota.

Just about the time you think the Tea-publicans can't out do themselves with crazy talk, here's T-Paw. He's not going to change Washington, "I'm going to defeat it." Defeat and replace it with what?

David, so true. They must cater to their far right tea-drinking base because they embraced them with open arms instead of distancing themselves and allow the Tea Party to be a third party.

''Forget Obamneycare, I want to know how Minnesota's health plan keeps Tim Pawlenty alive without a spine.'' —Stephen Colbert

Although Pawlenty doesn't have a chance, we make a mistake to entirely dismiss this kind of rhetoric. In fact, it reflects almost perfectly the underlying objectives of the far right. Their goal is to NOT govern - to reduce the Federal government to an impotent organ that doesn't regulate, pours public funds into a select few private businesses to contract to carry out the few remaining state programs, eliminate all national welfare and social service programs, and to eliminate virtually all Federal statutes in favor of allowing states to make and enforce laws.

They are already privatizing public education around the nation. In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott has redirected huge amounts of public money to private concerns establishing so-called "charter schools." Funding for ordinary public schools has been dramatically slashed.

The agenda has been in place for decades. One reason for the recent debt ceiling "crisis" manufactured by the right wing was a fervent hope they could leverage it to advance their agenda. Some here noticed some pretty sneaky stuff, including an off-the-radar bill to esentially eliminate the EPA.

How the agenda works, and how it has been developed, by whom, is told in chilling detail by Thomas Frank in The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves, and Beggared America. The underlying theories and techniques of chaos as the crucible of Libertarian capitalism is told well by Naomi Klein in The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

The fact that Pawlenty talks this way is by itself of little moment. The fact that this agenda is being promoted to the cheers of the right forecasts more divisive gridlock until at last the Tea Party ideologues and Libertarians are thrown out of office.

Michelle 'bat sh!t crazy' Bachmann has more b@lls then he'll ever have!

...and she has Pawlenty!

Hey tim you won't be able to use Federal dollars to balance the Federal Budget like you did Minnesota's. Well unless China is going to give you the money.

Pawlenty (as quoted by FR):

Instead, he said, "I'm going to defeat it."

We should listen to this guy. After all, he sure beat up on Minnesota.

How true!

"There is no way Obama will get re-elected. At this point [and it will unfortunately get worse from here] a broom handle with a wig could beat him."

And the truly sad part is- not O N E of the candiates the GOP is offering is one iota better.

[Yeah, lets be sure to keep focusing on the candidates. You know like First Read has decided to continue to do, and let's be real sure to ignore what's actually going on.]

Hey there Schpanky! Good to see you today...want to finally answer some questions that were addressed to you, or are you just going to "enlighten" everyone with your "opinion"?

[...a broom handle with a wig could beat him.]

Wow...what a thoughtful post...is this what you are made of? Maybe you should change your username to "Fluffernutter"...all fluff, and a nutsack to boot.

You gots urself some good qualities, dontcha! Well, at least you didn't just evade any topics and ask a question over a question...but i'ts early yet.

You all seem to forget that people have time on their hands because of being unemployed for more than two years, and have seen Congress in action and I for one is even more convinced that the GOP is doomed. They have given in to the radicals of their party which makes them unable to make any decision without consulting them, and not the American people. I refuse to think that our nation is as doomed as this group of insects are. I have more faith in the American people.

Someone should tell Pawlenty that the GOP is already trying to defeat Washington and the rest of the US. Anything they can do to destroy it they are trying. And, Spanky, people do focus on the candidates when they make stupid comments. However, I'm sure we are all aware of the beating the stock market took yesterday; the debt debacle (thank you GOP); the energy costs; etc. Most of us can think of more than one thing at a time. And, as for 2012 - President Obama will be re-elected. The GOP cannot field an intelligent candidate; has no suggestions except ones to block anything Obama proposes; AND, even though Obama's polling numbers are not great - Americans blame the GOP for most of the problems because they became obstructionists the day Obama walked into the White House. Pathetic little party the GOP!.

I wish I could understand why on earth people would want to elect people who hate America and hate government to run the country.

Since when is it RADICAL to want to adhere to the words and spirit of the Constitution, get government out of the way so that individuals can pursue their dreams and happiness, and return to the ideals of the founding fathers?

Short answer is: NEVER!

The Constitution has had the crap beat out of it all in the name of making the Tea Party look bad. BTW, the Tea Party was not started by the Republican Party, so get off it.

The only way to defeat hope and change is to continue to do the opposite of what almost all credible, noted economists say to do. Guaranteed to work.

Guaranteed to work.

You mean like the Dow currently down 167 and the NASDAQ down nearly 3 percent so far today?

Yeah, I get that. ;-)

The Dow Industrials...

So when you’re wrong admit it…not a huge sell off but…

Even a solid jobs report wasn't good enough to calm financial markets.

The Dow Jones industrial average turned lower Friday as traders focused on Europe's latest efforts to contain the region's debt crisis. The Dow had jumped as many as 171 points shortly after the opening bell on a report that U.S. hiring picked up last month. As of this writing it was down more than 120 points.

The U.S. economy added 117,000 new jobs in July, and hiring in May and June were not as bad as reported previously, the Labor Department reported. The unemployment rate inched down to 9.1 percent from 9.2 percent, partly because some unemployed workers stopped looking for work. Health care providers and manufacturers added jobs.

About twice as many jobs as that must be created every month in order to rapidly reduce the unemployment rate. That rate has topped 9 percent in every month except two since the recession officially ended in June 2009. Many economists still fear that the economy might dip back into recession. I had the same opinion in my post on First Thoughts earlier today

Italy's borrowing costs shot higher, escalating fears that Europe's third-biggest economy might need a bailout that the rest of the continent won't be able to afford. European leaders interrupted their vacations to consult on the debt crisis, seeking a way to keep the turmoil from pushing Spain and Italy into financial collapse.

I’m still looking for a late day rally today.

Anna Molly

See...that's what doing the opposite of what good common sense and noted economists gets you.

Now do the opposite of what we're doing now and see what happens.

Dow"s only down 65 but volatility is huge.

I could end up being right yet.

Ira did you see the Klein/Santelli discussion this morning.

Ezra is just fantastic - now he wants the Fed to raise interest rates.

What could go wrong?

But I loved his talk about "fairness" as it relates to the movement of money. What planet are the people from?

Oh, wait - planet libbie, home of unicorns, fairy dust and green fields.

Spanky..

Didn't see the discussion...at work...and I don't watch the news at all.

Was he talking about Treasury rates or a quarter point or more increase in the lending rate?

That last part I can't fathom...yeah lets make money tighter.

Treasury's are at Eisenhower era rates so lending costs are truly lower than they've been in over 50 years. It would be a great time to borrow if there were demand.

Also...I'm still for limited borrowing to stimulate demand and growth as I posted on First Thoughts today. Read it....it's not all crazy.

Hey Anna Molly...dow only down 19...now up 17..

I may be right yet...

The market - it's all about calling in your margins folks!

I tried to read your FR comments, but when I clicked on your name there was nothing.

Guess you are one of the cool kids now.

Spanky..

Just looked. Just tons of posts collapsed again.

FR needs to do something about improving the collapse feature....like remove it and let the world see the comments of all who post here.

People can use the ignore button to weed out whomever they want.

HINT TO MODERATORS...

I don't know what you are compaining about Spanky. We were warned that one of the side effects of the recent tea-crisis could be increased interest rates.

Didn't you want the tea people to get everything they wanted? This is just another gift from our born-again fiscal conservatives.

Kalispera ...Greek for good afternoon

Market up 105...

Let the rally begin.. sarcasm..

[I tried to read your FR comments, but when I clicked on your name there was nothing. Guess you are one of the cool kids now.]

So, Schpanky...can't seem to follow along? Or does hiding ones comments totally frost your ass...

Oh, by the way...you seem a bit...subdued...today...what gives? Nothing to say that you won't be actually asked to back up?

Spanky - and the far right - home of trolls, rotten eggs, hate and dishonesty.

How right you were, Ira.

Okay, you are my new guru, as long as you continue to speak Greek.

And Kalispera to you.

So, when do I get back in?

They recently drew 125 for a picnic near here.

Of course, they DID provide food with that, too.

In the past two weeks in my hometown, we've had Pawlenty, Bachmann and Santorum hold townhalls--none broke the 50 attendee mark.

Good one, dirp101. They made a real mess at the Dew Drop; had to hire cleaning and painting crews.

They want ever come to my city, except maybe Huntsman, because we are a Progressive city that only has 18% registered Republicans.

Heading to the DDI now. It's been a long week :)

Of course, they DID provide food with that, too.

Hey I would listen to that clown for a free lunch. What are they having? Probably Pawlenty of baloney.

DBO,

How dare you insult Dick...when you know Poorlenty's got no cojons. Is it the Dick fault?

LMAO1 You guys are to funny!

So true, kate. Too bad someone didn't ask him if Washington is the seat of American democracy and power, why would he want to defeat it?

You're right, Kate.

Our Teapublican governor, Paul Lepage, has been waging "war"on numerous sectors of the Maine populous since he was elected in 2010. War on reporters for publishing his rants, war on previous governors, war on the EPA, war on labor unions, public workers, artists, environmentalists, poor people, young people, and the city of Portland. He's gone through two press secretaries and four commissioners in six months. Throwing tantrums seems to be the Tea Party's preferred governing style.

Amy,

sounds like you just threw a tantrum, actually...

Dare to oppose the leftists, and you are at "war"?

Hyperbolize much?

You are at "war" with common sense and civility.

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=166399

Bob, you need to get caught up on the doin's in Maine under Tea Party rule.

www.kjonline.com/news/Olsen-releases-statement-on-resignation.html

Here's the resignation letter for the latest employee to leave our Teapublican governor's administration.

But they wear "flag" pins, you know; makes up for all that anti-American, anti-Government chatter.

Ahhhhh Jody - one of my favorite subjects from 2008! Of course no one ever noticed that 90% of the time McCain did not wear a flag pin. Go ahead and do some reruns on Youtube!

I'd forgotten about the flap over who was or was not wearing the flag pin.

The flap focused on candidate Obama of course.......

Hi Jody--many of them carry bibles as well! Fake patriots, fake "christians"!

But you yourself slam Obama for things he said during his campaign. Just how many sides to your face are there?

Hey Bob-ster, it isn't First Read's fault that T-Paw said he plans to "Defeat Washington". He said it, they didn't make it up. BTW, it sounds as anti-American without the headline as it does with the headline. That's why you are annoyed, it is easier to blame FR for the stupid comment made by a conservative presidential candidate which paints the Tea-publicans as unAmerican.

Yep Bob, the tea people who are bringing us the new 2012 tea-cession are even more un-american than they sound. We come not to serve but destroy.

Any party that would base its platform on never raising taxes on the richest again and then pretend to be christians deserve to be called the domestic terrorist they are.

I guess we can all feel safe and comfortable knowing that no rich person will go hungry tonight or give up their 10th home or 18th car.

What do you expect a Presidential candidate to say? Such a snarky headline could be manufactured daily from the doofus White House Press Secretary's blatherings.

Well, Bob, he could have said something like " I'm going to return Washington to a functional system of government" or "I'm going to work to re-establish consensus building and bipartisan dialogue in Washington" or how about "The American people want a divided government, not a dysfunctional government" (wait - that's been used already!) It's oxymoronic to want to be elected President if you don't believe in the American system of government!

Nicely said, Charolet.

And what happens to thieves in this country?

They join the GOTP. So what else is new?

Nice post Charolet92

Charlotte do you smoke crack all day? Do the math on what Americans are actually paying for SS and Medicare compared to what they and others are taking out. Guys like Cantor wanted to get that program back to a self supporting model. You should imdediatley call his office and appoligize (then start saving more of your own money to pay for your health and retirement expenses) VOTE FORE A BETTER FUTURE IN 2012!

UAWPee, The only one smoking crack is you. Lets put SS and Medica into the stock market for secure earnings. Right is that why the market is tanking right now, how secure is your money or did you already remove it.

Say it isn't so - and we need to focus on the marriage act, why? Perhaps he should focus on jobs creation, the economy, etc., instead of sticking his nose into people's personal lives!

Stevis - Obama has a bigger set than you and all the GOP combined!

Four personalities, that explains a lot. Now its clear why he can not make up his mind, he is always arguing with the "others".

does he believe in the book of mormon ? texas would not be a good place for him !