Capital Falls to Extremists

I don’t think Saigon is the best analogy. The best analogy is Neville Chamberlain. When we look back at this presidency what we’re going to see is 4 years of “Munich Agreements,” with the President continually ceeding bits and pieces of the middle class’ health and wealth to the GOP and their moneyed backers in hopes that they’ll be satisfied with that and not ask for more. I’m convinced that the only reason the GOP doesn’t just take everything in one fell swoop is that they obtain too much enjoyment from squeezing the President and extracting concessions. “Don’t be greedy,” I can hear them say, “save some for later. If you eat the whole birthday cake today you won’t have any left tomorrow.”

@Serolf Divad: Yep. He’s shown weakness under pressure. Next time, the teabaggers will ask for more. Wouldn’t you?

In other news, The Dude’s cottage in Venice is for sale.

Oh dear lord. I agree with Ross Douchehat on something: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/opinion/the-diminished-president.html

Alcohol poisoning is looking pretty good to me right about now.

@Mistress Cynica: I think the term he’s looking for isn’t “failed presidency.” It’s “failed state.” Somalia, here we come.

@Mistress Cynica: And I agreed with Tom Friedman yesterday. If I find myself nodding along with David Brooks’ column tomorrow, it will be a true sign of the cannibal apocalypse.

@SanFranLefty: Paul Krugman is pretty good today.

@Mistress Cynica: I was more or less with him until the end, when he sprung the false equivalency of “yet another failed presidency.”

@Dodgerblue: Poor Paul. He’s like Cassandra (in the Iliad–not the Stinquer): he sees the disaster looming, he’s screaming warnings, and no one will listen.

@mellbell: He let Bammerz off too easy. He’s not a milquetoast, as some people are trying to rationalize. The man simply has no morals or principles. He’s a politician in the worst sense in that he bases his actions solely on marketing.

@Serolf Divad: I think you win on points, but my first thought was Jimmy’s choppers in the Iran desert (because he was desperate from being egged on by Ted Koppel), and then I liked insurgents ransacking the capital. Maybe I should have swapped the chopper for an ark.

@Mistress Cynica: I’ve been thinking for a long time now that Krugman IS Cassandra. He’s been right about everything since he began writing in the NYT in 2000, and he’s been warning us twice a week since then. The disasters just keep piling up anyway.

@¡Andrew!: Oh how I hope you’re wrong, but we’re getting very near the last reel and he doesn’t have much time left to redeem himself.

@lynnlightfoot: Imagine if he was the president in the movie “Independence Day.”

“I believe we can reach an accommodation with the aliens based on our mutual interests and individual strengths. They want to invade us and we have a planet they want. They want to eat us and we taste good. This won’t be easy. There will be some sacrifices.”

@redmanlaw: Not in a Roland Emmerich flick.

Gabby Giffords has returned to the House to vote on the sellout.

Alas, you don’t want to know which way she voted.

@nojo: Photo here: http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2011/08/01/house-passes-debt-limit-deal-269-161-rep-gabby-giffords-returns-to-vote-yes/

@nojo: She was one of the first recipients of the New American Retirement Plan.

@redmanlaw: I’ve been laughing all afternoon imagining the scene you painted there. Thanks for the lift.