Two trial balloons: first Ray Kelly for head of DHS, now Summers for Federal Reserve Chairman

[markpkessinger]

Last edited Wed Jul 24, 2013, 03:11 AM - Edit history (2)

Way to engergize the base, Mr. President!

[Autumn]

1. He don't need our votes now.

He can really be unfiltered now.

[PSPS]

3. No kidding. The house and senate need our votes but, like last time, Obama demoralizes the base.

[matthews]

16. Who he's pissing off are the younger voters who no one thinks are paying attention.

I have a 20-year old son. They are listening. They really object to the spying and the playing around with the interest rates on school loans, the erosion of freedom that they see they're going to have to live under, and the shitful way that Occupy was treated. I had to laugh the first time I saw my kid on the Occupy Facebook page. He is sooooo apolitical, or was.

I learned through my son that they are paying attention. I never thought he was. I was wrong.

[sabrina 1]

47. Ray Kelly, head of the vile NYPD and who will always be remembered for his attacks on

OWS in Zuccotti Square, good friend of the right wing Sarkozy in France, head of a dept that is riddled with scandals, including the spying on innocent citizens, and the now infamous 'stop and frisk' program, which btw, the other half of Ray Kelly in these matters, the Mayor of NY who can't make up his mind if he is a Dem a Rep or an Ind, he's been all three, just asked that the Stop and Frisk program NOT be curbed.

Shameful is too good a word for what these two advocates for Wall St have done in NYC.

And even more shameful to think that after 'electing Democrats' this is what we are getting.

The young in NYC and across the country who went out to peacefully protest against Wall St. corruption and were brutally beaten and jailed for doing so, will not forget Ray Kelly or Bloomberg as the symbols of the entire crackdown on behalf of the Wall St. criminals.

Way to lose Congress Mr. President, but frankly, I'm beginning to think he doesn't care.

[matthews]

55. Well said. They blamed the 2010 losses on the non-turnout of the young.

I think they'll really be shocked this time around.

I remember being that age and watching other kids being beaten and arrested for just wanting a kinder, fairer, non-warlike country. Of course what pushed the kids of my time was the draft. Too many were dying during an unwinnable war. Well, there's no draft now but young people are still being brutally treated.

It is a very big mistake. And the party that will suffer will be the the Democrats. The big irony? It's not even Democrats that are doing all this crap. It's Third Way neo-liberals, which have absolutely NOTHING in common with Democrats. Their political kin are Republican neo-cons. But they have to masquerade as democrats because they couldn't get elected hall monitor if they tried to run as the Republicans they really are. But once they get into office, they've sure shown a talent for resurrecting the most worthless 'talent' of the last few administration. And they sure as hell haven't been Democrats.

2014 won't be good. And I think 2016 will be worse.

[Nay]

69. I agree, mostly. My son, age 30, is a Dem and has always told me Obama is a Pub. He

voted for him while holding his nose. I had more hope, but now I'm totally disgusted. I expect 2014 to be bad IF the dems don't field or help Dems in local races. Since I have no hope that they will do a Dean's 50-state strategy to help local dems, it will be a rout between voter turnout and lack of dems to vote for.

2016 -- it all depends on who's running. If it's Hilary and Jeb, I, for one, won't give a shit who wins. In fact, if we're going to have RW, 1%er policies shoved down our throats, I'd rather a Republican do it.

[byeya]

77. My experience also

[suffragette]

62. Murdoch's also a big fan of Kelly

Speaks volumes, doesn't it?

[Eleanors38]

85. Murdoch is also a gun banner. Coming into focus? nt

[sabrina 1]

92. Yes, it does. Murdoch's NY Post, tabloid, propaganda and good friends of Ray Kelly. He uses

them well when needed ...

Hi suffragette,

[indepat]

91. Surely every action, policy, and appointment has its own purpose

[Eleanors38]

84. God, I hope you're right.

[Puzzledtraveller]

72. ^^this^^

[MotherPetrie]

2. It is a foul, disgusting choice.

[abelenkpe]

4. Whaaaaaaat!!??

Summers for Fed Chairman?

[markpkessinger]

5. Here's the link...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/23/right-now-larry-summers-is-the-front-runner-for-fed-chair/

[abelenkpe]

12. Thank you

Really disappointing though...

[roguevalley]

23. he doesn't have to pretend he cares anymore. He can do what he wants. Very disappointing

indeed. I don't know how the Boggers can explain this away as eleventh dimensional chess.

[nadinbrzezinski]

30. Well, you see...you don't understand politics....

Did I get it? Did I?

[Dragonfli]

33. You got it "close enough for government work" as the old saying goes

And there certainly appears to be some government work to do judging by all those that do such work.

Pollish it a little bit Nadin, and you can work for the big time rather than just being an "objective reporter" and therefore a "loser" unlike the sharper tacks like that Russert kid and David Gregory....

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. Yeah, but I have that thing called morals

They get in the way

[Dragonfli]

37. Morals are an impediment to success, you appear to be doomed to a life of honest reporting

In other words barred from any success in this brave new world...

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. I know...

[roguevalley]

45. Edited. I get it now. :D I am tired tonight from all the bullshit going on in the country.

Have a good evening.

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. Parody

Of the 8th dimensional chess types.

How many times have we been told that?

[nadinbrzezinski]

52. You too...I must hit bed myself.

It will be another day of chasing the local scandal

[morningfog]

6. No surprises any more.

[NRaleighLiberal]

7. I think the game has been rigged for a long, long time. The "joke" is on we, the people....

[Rex]

11. +1

nt.

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. Oh good God, he's a pure plutonomy shill...

"Summers worked in the Clinton administration as a protege of Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin, and helped lead the effort to deregulate Wall Street. Rubin, a long time Goldman Sachs trader and executive, moved to Citigroup after his time in the Clinton administration."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/23/larry-summers-fed-chairman_n_3641737.html

-Deregulated the monsters who nearly gave us the 2nd great depression
-Goldman Sachs...hopefully anyone who hears those words already fully understands.
-Citigroup...has everyone read the three Plutonomy memos leaked by Michael Moore? Monstrosity at its worst.


Read the three leaked Citigroup Plutonomy reports (the very rich speaking to each other in their own words)

http://our99angrypercent.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/download-citigroup-plutonomy-memos/


Goldman Sachs:

Goldman Sachs Aluminum Scheme Cost American Consumers $5 Billion Past Three Years
http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/07/22/goldman-sachs-aluminum-scheme-cost-american-consumers-5-billion-past-three-years/

Goldman bankers get rich betting on food prices as millions starve
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/goldman-bankers-get-rich-betting-on-food-prices-as-millions-starve-8459207.html

Voila! Greek Gov't Appoints Ex-Goldman Exec As New Debt Chief
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/02/19/838682/-Voila-Greek-Gov-t-Appoints-Ex-Goldman-Exec-As-New-Debt-Chief#

Arrest the Criminals at Goldman Sachs and in the Greek Government (video: Greg Palast)
http://www.v2load.com/videos/aQp22WN0cpg/

Goldman Sachs own Italy's Prime Minister; the former attorney general of Ireland during the bailout; the head of the European Central Bank; and more:
http://acampadabcninternacional.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/what-price-the-new-democracy-goldman-sachs-conquers-europe-acampadabcn-takethesquare-acampadasol-15m-occupy/


Obama recently gave us legendary workers' rights abuser Billionaire Penny Pritzker; this is just another brick in the "billionaires in government" wall.

Wake the fucking hell up people. You've been sold out!

[Zorra]

17. I feel kind of like someone just spit in my face. nt

[Nay]

70. He did. nt

[Dragonfli]

19. There are those of us that know the players, the history, the neoliberal views

The destruction policies implemented based on such views have caused and continue to cause, people that have followed this for 40 years now know how absurd this us.

Then there are the clueless hopium addicts that have no idea how this addiction will harm them and the rest of us.

What does one do with a group of moths that die flying into the false sun that will burn them and their peers for such misguided and ill-informed obsession with an illusion of true light that is a death trap?

Watch them be burned I suppose with the rest of us that are dragged to the fire while trying to warn the stupid moths that will all be burned by the flame they are dragging us into.



I apologize for the "poetic rhetoric" used, I don't know how else to put it however, as I am a carpenter and not a scholar.

[kath]

24. "Hopium addicts"! love it!

[villager]

86. Me, too. Entirely accurate explanation....

...of all the apologetics.

[dionysus]

81. your bitter tears are nectar to my soul.

[Dragonfli]

89. That's nice, I do suggest you learn about these people however

They have a history and it is one of very bad economic policy that was/is devastating to most Americans.

[deurbano]

90. "Hopium Addict": great turn of phrase!

[delrem]

48. Yes, as your name says - I'm OK with what you write.

It's beyond unbelievable at this point.

[octoberlib]

9. Don't forget , Summers also thinks women are genetically inferior

to men in math and science. This is disgusting.

[tblue]

10. He's just not that into us.

Even if some of us are seriously into him. Seems there is nothing he could do to shake that faith. I never could understand unconditional loyalty to someone I'm not related to.

[roamer65]

13. Summers...

[markpkessinger]

14. Summers' history of bad calls . . .

1. He was one of the chief movers and shakers in the Clinton administration who pushed to deregulate financial markets. (That alone should have disqualified him for a place on Obama's economic team in the first term, and should disqualify him now.)
   
   
2. As president of Harvard, calling Cornell West an embarrassment, prompting West's return to Princeton.
   
   
3. Also as president of Harvard, gave a speech in which he said women are innately, genetically inferior to men in areas of math and science. The ensuing outcry led to his resignation.
   
   
4. Gave terrible advice to President Obama concerning the stimulus, arguing for a smaller stimulus more comprised of tax cuts.

The definition of "failing upwards."

[byeya]

79. Thanks for the list and lesson. I suspect that this is only the most obvious of his errors.

[kath]

15. Obama's not a Trojan Horse. Really. He's not. honest.

he's the best President ever!

[markpkessinger]

18. I remember watching an interview with Gore Vidal . . .

. . . shortly after the 2008 election. Vidal was asked what his biggest fear was concerning then President-elect Obama. Vidal responded, "That he's a wolf."

[wilsonbooks]

26. Oh and what big teeth you have

the better to eat you with.....

[LuvNewcastle]

58. I remember that. We sure could use some of his wisdom now.

[markpkessinger]

59. +1 nt

[byeya]

80. I really miss Gore Vidal. I think he was the finest essayist of the 20th century. Smart man & witty

[markpkessinger]

82. Indeed! n/t

[forestpath]

20. As Michelle Obama once said, being president reveals who you are.

And Obama's vile choices say it all about him.

[MinM]

21. Ray Kelly & Larry Summers star in "Change We Can Believe In"

@firetomfriedman: Coming to a theater near you: Ray Kelly & Larry Summers in "Change We Can Believe In"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3324534

[hfojvt]

22. would we prefer Janet Yellen?

I kinda doubt it.

But maybe so, now that I read about her - considered to be a "dove" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Yellen

[cthulu2016]

44. I think most would. I stated that preference as an OP earlier this week

and certainly didn't get any Summers boosters in the thread

[bigwillq]

25. Awful choices.

So was Hagel.

[markpkessinger]

27. How does a man who has been so spectacularly wrong so often . . .

. . . even come up for consideration for such a post? I'm sorry, but I have to seriously question President Obama's judgment if he is willing to nominate this guy.

[progressoid]

28. That's changalicious.

[Triana]

29. Well lookie there. The dirtbag "women can't do math" prick

may be back.

Brooksley Born was right. And she is a woman. Summers, Greenspan were wrong. They silenced her. What she said would happen did happen. And we're living with the consequences. And the President wants HIM back?

Unforgivable.

[hrmjustin]

31. Not inspiring choices.

[taught_me_patience]

32. A complete and total tool for big banks

Obama punked us, hard, again.

[markpkessinger]

35. Not to worry . . .

. . . before long the Amen Chorus will be here to tell us how progressive a choice Summers really is.

[Nay]

73. That's the most frightening thing of all -- that there can be any dem who could

try to whitewash this godawful nomination.

[Brewinblue]

36. Change? Yeah, screwing the 99% out of every last nickel, that change.

But imagine how much worse it would be if Obama had an R after his name.

Where is the Kenyan Socialist I voted for?

[dtom67]

39. another blatantly "bought and paid for" appointment...

The obvious corruption in our goovernment just makes ya wanna hang your head and cry.
I 'm guessing we have a great big crash in 2 or 3 years; whenever they finally have to stop QE or nterest rates rise. Then its Massive Austerity Time.....

[JDPriestly]

41. I have been reading a couple of books about the history of China during and after WWII.

You know, from what I read, it seems pretty clear that the Maoist takeover of China was partly due to Maos charisma, but mostly due to the complete corruption and lousy government of Chiang Kai Shek.

The corruption in our government is a really bad sign. It does not bode well for our ship of state.

I can't express how sad this makes me feel.

Summers? Obama is completely out of touch.

[JDPriestly]

40. What??????? How sad!

It's getting creepy. Who is telling Obama to put these creeps into high positions? What a huge mistake.

[geek tragedy]

43. Neither has been named to anything. OP is making shit up. nt

[JDPriestly]

49. I hope!

[geek tragedy]

50. Both would be awful choices. nt

[markpkessinger]

56. I didn't say they had yet been named, so no, I'm not "making shit up"

I didn't make up the comments the President made about Ray Kelly just a few days -- comments that were obviously floated as a trial balloon. And as for Summers, he's clearly under serious consideration (and that fact in itself is beyond comprehension), and the Washington Post seems to think he's a front runner (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/23/right-now-larry-summers-is-the-front-runner-for-fed-chair/ ). So accuse the Washington Post of "making shit up" if you want to.

I sincerely hope the President thinks carefully about both choices, and makes different ones. I'd rather not wait until it is a fait accompli, however, before raising objections.

[geek tragedy]

65. You were blaming him for media speculation re: Summers?

The commenters in this thread seemed to take these developments as proof that Obama is an evil Trojan horse.

[markpkessinger]

71. The Washington Post, Bloomberg and Chris Hayes all seem to think this is more . . .

. . . than idle speculation. Time will tell.

[geek tragedy]

74. I agree Summers would be a terrible pick, especially since he would need Senate confirmation.

Not only on his merits, but confirmation hearings would be a debacle.

[markpkessinger]

60. Neither has yet been named . . .

. . . but the fact that they both appear to be under serious consideration is, in itself, appalling.

But then, I'm just "making shit up," as someone here has said.

[geek tragedy]

42. The base doesn't soil their undies based on interview questions and media rumors. nt

[delrem]

51. You speak from the favored benches of those who haven't been disappointed.

For the rest of us, we don't want to know all the ways we're getting screwed by "hope and change", we wish it hadn't happened and we wish there could be some stop to it.

It is a sad, sad, fucking sad thing that we've come to expect the worst, even though we know that however bad it gets there will be people who embrace it.

[geek tragedy]

53. I have been disappointed with some regularity by the president.

But, I do not choose to be disappointed by speculation in the media about what he might do.

If he nominates those jackasses, then yes that will be a really awful disappointment.

[delrem]

54. I see. You don't see a fuckin' pattern.

[woo me with science]

61. That's the MAGIC of the Third Way.

Like in Groundhog Day, we're expected to retain no memory or awareness of the relentless, horrifying pattern of betrayals unfolding before us, day after day after day after day after day. Each betrayal is presented as an aberration, a "special circumstance," or perhaps gazillion-dimensional chess on our behalf, that we couldn't possibly understand.

We are merely to smile and treat each one, again and again and again, as merely an aberration. We are to drift from betrayal to betrayal in hypnotic belief that our corporate Democrats share the same heartfelt principles and policy goals we do...even though their actions repeatedly, relentlessly pursue the opposite....

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Drone Murders are Legal, Ethical and Wise
Chained CPI is Superlative and Protects the Poor
Obama put Social Security Cuts on the table because he Opposes them.
Health Care is Affordable.
Edward Snowden is the Traitor.
Bushes made the world a Kinder and Gentler Place.

[markpkessinger]

63. Nailed it n/t

[bobduca]

78. Enforced ignorance

takes a village of DLC trolls to keep us deep in a state of amnesia.

[geek tragedy]

66. Get back to me when the actual nominations happen. nt

[markpkessinger]

57. Yeah, far better to wait until it's a done deal . . .

. . . and then be disappointed, than to raise an objection while there might still be a slight chance he could reconsider!

[matthews]

75. That's pretty much been the MO since January 2009. nt

[Nay]

83. Don't forget, if we don't raise objections now, way before actual nominations, it will be

OUR FAULT Summers and Kelly get in, cuz dontcha know, we have failed to "make
Obama do [whatever]!" (trademark)

It's always our fault. We didn't hold his feet to the fire. We didn't "make [him] do it." We didn't have enough faith. We can't figure out 11-dimensional chess.

It's never the fault of the person who nominates these fuckwads.....wonder why that is?

[JoePhilly]

68. Bwahahaha .... thanks for a good laugh this morning.

I'm not sure how President Obama will get re-elected now.

Maybe the disgruntled folks can find a primary challenger for him.

But they better get busy ... 2016 will be here before they know it.

[woo me with science]

64. K&R

[Le Taz Hot]

67. Those aren't trial balloons,

those are announcements.

[bobduca]

76. Upgrading Clipboards.....

Please await instructions while blue links are being collated and indexed.

A pragmatic defense of these trial balloons is being downloaded as we speak!

[Eleanors38]

87. Unregulated capital & gun bans in one package. Makes sense.

[Blue_In_AK]

88. Same old, same old,

the more things change, the more they stay the same, and probably a bunch of other cliches. It's kind of sickening actually how entrenched these power brokers are.

[Bolo Boffin]

93. Ray Kelly was never on the short list.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/17/exclusive-jeh-johnson-tapped-to-lead-department-of-homeland-security.html

Never even interviewed.

[geek tragedy]

94. you better believe it nt