...so that your humble author can get some extra sleep. (As the President's speech is sure to sap energy from the great ribbon of energy that provides all beings with life and happiness, I am going to need a little bit more shut-eye.)
Not much happened today, anyway--everyone sat around, waiting for the pearls of wisdom to drop from, well, somebody's mouth. (In this regard, Ted Kennedy had a goodish day, though one doubts whether his proposal is going anywhere fast, regardless of whether or not he's right.) Oh, and apparently we decided to bomb another country, and nobody really noticed. (The BBC had it as its third "other story" as of last check--that iPhone thing got bigger play. Doesn't make much sense to me, really. Steve Jobs has a new gizmo. BFD.)
But no Meter tonight. Apologies. It will return (with possible liveblog?) tomorrow.
Showing posts with label the meter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the meter. Show all posts
09 January 2007
08 January 2007
The Meter -- Past Interference
You back for more? OK.
Steny "100 Hour Man" Hoyer: 3. Wow. That five-day work-week thing lasted, well, not one week.
"[Q.] On the Tuesday schedule, I have had one Member come up to me during our discussion and wanted me to ask if there is any possibility that 3 to 4 votes could slip closer to 5 just because of a number of travel concerns that Members have, particularly west coast members.
"Mr. HOYER. We could try. But let me say in all fairness, our original intent was to meet and have votes at 6:30 on Monday. There is a very important event happening Monday night, particularly for those who live in Ohio and Florida."
Good. The business of the nation takes a back seat to a damn football game. And a contrived one too, so as to avoid the logical conclusion of an honest-to-God playoff system and to make the guys in the cream-colored coats happy.
The White House: 2. Cue the barf bags. The President will give his address at 2100 (ET) on Wednesday. What, pray tell, will he do the next day? Tony Snow--hit me, brother!
"Scheduling announcement: The President will travel to Fort Benning, Georgia, on Thursday. He'll visit with troops and make a statement to the press. We'll give you more details as they become available.
"With that, I'll take questions. Terry."
Actually, it's Tom, but thanks. Does the President think this photo-op is going to actually do anything to help his position? Or is it just to boost his ego?
"MR. SNOW: I don't know; ask me in four years -- or maybe two years. What you're asking is -- you're asking a look-back question, rather than a look-forward question --
"Q No, I'm asking you a look-forward question.
"MR. SNOW: Well, but a look-forward question is the President believes it's important to address the situation in Iraq in a manner that he thinks is going to be effective, that's going to make this country, our country, more secure in the war on terror, by addressing violence and uncertainty in the central front in the war on terror. Make no mistake, Iraq is it. Therefore, rather than saying, well, this is the last big speech -- this is the President's proposal for moving forward in a way that he believes is going to be conducive to producing the results."
Reason No. 47 Why Corporatespeak Sucks....
[Snip from press conference real, but taken wildly out of context. Which makes the match-up really freakin' scary.]
Steny "100 Hour Man" Hoyer: 3. Wow. That five-day work-week thing lasted, well, not one week.
"[Q.] On the Tuesday schedule, I have had one Member come up to me during our discussion and wanted me to ask if there is any possibility that 3 to 4 votes could slip closer to 5 just because of a number of travel concerns that Members have, particularly west coast members.
"Mr. HOYER. We could try. But let me say in all fairness, our original intent was to meet and have votes at 6:30 on Monday. There is a very important event happening Monday night, particularly for those who live in Ohio and Florida."
Good. The business of the nation takes a back seat to a damn football game. And a contrived one too, so as to avoid the logical conclusion of an honest-to-God playoff system and to make the guys in the cream-colored coats happy.
The White House: 2. Cue the barf bags. The President will give his address at 2100 (ET) on Wednesday. What, pray tell, will he do the next day? Tony Snow--hit me, brother!
"Scheduling announcement: The President will travel to Fort Benning, Georgia, on Thursday. He'll visit with troops and make a statement to the press. We'll give you more details as they become available.
"With that, I'll take questions. Terry."
Actually, it's Tom, but thanks. Does the President think this photo-op is going to actually do anything to help his position? Or is it just to boost his ego?
"MR. SNOW: I don't know; ask me in four years -- or maybe two years. What you're asking is -- you're asking a look-back question, rather than a look-forward question --
"Q No, I'm asking you a look-forward question.
"MR. SNOW: Well, but a look-forward question is the President believes it's important to address the situation in Iraq in a manner that he thinks is going to be effective, that's going to make this country, our country, more secure in the war on terror, by addressing violence and uncertainty in the central front in the war on terror. Make no mistake, Iraq is it. Therefore, rather than saying, well, this is the last big speech -- this is the President's proposal for moving forward in a way that he believes is going to be conducive to producing the results."
Reason No. 47 Why Corporatespeak Sucks....
[Snip from press conference real, but taken wildly out of context. Which makes the match-up really freakin' scary.]
04 January 2007
The Meter -- Below the Fold
Man, twelve-hour days suck. You don't know where you are for a while, but you do know that you shouldn't be at work. Ugh.
Anyways: it was too big a day to go through and hand out marks for the usual suspects. Nancy Pelosi? Yay. Harry Reid? Yay. Robert Byrd? Yay--and drink all the Red Bull you can get your mitts on. [Hat tip, again, to Wonkette.] Haters, like the folks at RedState, who still think that red-baiting is funny? Boo. So let's go off the board, with something incredibly boring--yet telling!
David Dreier: 3. He used to be king of the sandbox--chairman of the Rules Committee, gatekeeper for every single piece of litigation that went through the House. Now? The dude (R-Cal.) is not happy.
Thing is that he's got a beef, to a point. H.Res. 6, the package of House rules that was debated today (and will be tomorrow) includes a provision that fast-tracks four bills, moving them around the normal committee process and blocking amendments. The bills: implementing the 9/11 commission recommendations, raising the minimum wage, promoting embyronic stem cell research, and allowing negotation for lower prescription drug prices--all part of the Longest 100 Hours.
Now: Democrats, in the minority, cried foul whenever the GOP pulled stuff like this--dropping bills with only an hour's notice, not allowing amendments on the floor, and so on. And it looks like the Dems are now doing the same thing they decried.
Still, it came across, from Mr. Dreier's lips, as a plainitive whine. And there is a part that rings hollow from his words, as he was the gatekeeper for a Congress widely regarded as one of the worst, in terms of actually getting stuff done, and also for blocking attempts at Dems at getting clean (in their eyes, of course) bills to the floor for an up-or-down vote. Now the Dems are stepping on the gas, and Dreier's screaming bloody murder. It all seems so unconvincing, to me.
Boil it down, and it just sounds like Dreier's pissed that he doesn't run the show now. Understandable--but I'm not going to put the sackcloth on just yet, if you don't mind.
Anyways: it was too big a day to go through and hand out marks for the usual suspects. Nancy Pelosi? Yay. Harry Reid? Yay. Robert Byrd? Yay--and drink all the Red Bull you can get your mitts on. [Hat tip, again, to Wonkette.] Haters, like the folks at RedState, who still think that red-baiting is funny? Boo. So let's go off the board, with something incredibly boring--yet telling!
David Dreier: 3. He used to be king of the sandbox--chairman of the Rules Committee, gatekeeper for every single piece of litigation that went through the House. Now? The dude (R-Cal.) is not happy.
Thing is that he's got a beef, to a point. H.Res. 6, the package of House rules that was debated today (and will be tomorrow) includes a provision that fast-tracks four bills, moving them around the normal committee process and blocking amendments. The bills: implementing the 9/11 commission recommendations, raising the minimum wage, promoting embyronic stem cell research, and allowing negotation for lower prescription drug prices--all part of the Longest 100 Hours.
Now: Democrats, in the minority, cried foul whenever the GOP pulled stuff like this--dropping bills with only an hour's notice, not allowing amendments on the floor, and so on. And it looks like the Dems are now doing the same thing they decried.
Still, it came across, from Mr. Dreier's lips, as a plainitive whine. And there is a part that rings hollow from his words, as he was the gatekeeper for a Congress widely regarded as one of the worst, in terms of actually getting stuff done, and also for blocking attempts at Dems at getting clean (in their eyes, of course) bills to the floor for an up-or-down vote. Now the Dems are stepping on the gas, and Dreier's screaming bloody murder. It all seems so unconvincing, to me.
Boil it down, and it just sounds like Dreier's pissed that he doesn't run the show now. Understandable--but I'm not going to put the sackcloth on just yet, if you don't mind.
03 January 2007
The Meter -- Wooooo! Sabbath Rules!
Pat Robertson: 2. So I guess this means that, if I want to go to Vegas, blow a grand at the craps tables, find some high-class hookers (plural!), and go on a three-day bender, I should get it in before August. Geez, Pat, that's awful helpful of you. Thanks! And I always knew you had a little devil in you. [Hat Tip: Wonkette.]
Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) / Library of Congress: 10. For those of you who have followed this story, apparently it is still going. Usually, when somebody sticks his foot in his mouth, as Virgil Goode (R-Va.) did last month, you get a climbdown in a few days. (See, e.g., Kerry, John.) But yet Goode persists. And so the glorious news comes that Ellison will not only use a copy of the Koran at his (unofficial) swearing-in photo op, but will use one owned long ago by Thomas Jefferson.
Virgil Goode: 0. I believe the Library of Congress has just unpimped your auto.
(In order to atone for resetting the VW commercial, bold prediction time: Virgil Goode will not keep his trap shut tomorrow and will do something stupid, along the lines of prior statements. Perhaps handing out Bibles. Perhaps entering a motion requiring the use of Bibles during the official swearing-in on the House floor. Perhaps holding a Bible aloft has he takes his oath, as a taunt. I may be wrong, but I think I'm going to be closer in my prediction than Pat is on his.)
James S. Robbins: 0. Yo, dude. Rep. Goode doesn't need any help. And yet here you are, helping him:
"The Bashaw of Tripoli’s justification for war on American trading ships in the Mediterranean two hundred years ago, according to Thomas Jefferson, was that 'it was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners.' By all means let Keith Ellison swear in using Jefferson's Koran, maybe afterwards he can look up the passages that discuss smiting the infidels at the neck and make great slaughter among them. Probably underlined."
OK. One last time. Keith Ellison is from Minnesota. The closest thing he has gotten to criminal activity (since moving from Detroit, natch) was being an extra when they shot Fargo. Or maybe on a tour of Paisley Park when somebody gave Prince a hamburger, and he went apeshit.
Look: Minnesota Nice is not a stereotype; it is a way of life. Just try to think of one notable guy from Minnesota who is mean. And not theatrical mean like Jesse Ventura was back in the day. Honest-to-God mean. Minnesota is the home of Spam, Scotch Tape and (insofar as the U.S. is concerned) curling. Curling, for God's sake--as bland and unoffensive as it gets.
Point is: get off Ellison. Let him have a nice first day, because the next two years, as a House freshman, are going to be painful.
01 January 2007
The Meter Extra -- Memo to Sooners
The University of Oklahoma Marching Band: 3. Just saw them during the halftime show. They were playing "Bohemian Rhapsody." Badly. But somebody forgot to tell The Pride of Oklahoma that Freddie Mercury was, well, a queen. Somewhere, Tom Coburn is softly weeping, for no good reason. (Score subject to change. If they change their name to University of Oklahomo Marching Band, they go to 10 for sheer style points.)
The Meter -- Tournament Of Noses
The rules are simple. Ratings from zero to ten. Ten, good. Zero, bad. Five, right down the middle. Ready? Go!
George W. Bush: 2. Nice to see you get back from vacation, eh? Come on: state funeral outside the U.S. means that Cheney shows up. State funeral within the U.S. means that you show up. Period.
Nancy Pelosi: 2.1. You too, ma'am. Betty Ford flew from California, and she has thirty years on you. You get a little bit of extra consideration only because you would have had to fly commercial, which apparently is a bit of a mess at the moment. But, then again, there are direct flights from San Francisco to D.C.
Gerald Ford: 8. Good news: your death has reminded everybody that you can be decent with each other and still operate politically. Bad news: you aren't around to kick everybody in the ass when they don't. And if there are people who deserve ass-kickings, it is this crowd. Sorry to see you go.
110th Congress: 10. You go in with the goodwill of the nation. You want to get stuff done in the first 100 hours. We are going to be charitable and give you a full week. And then we go in with the dogs. The clock starts Wednesday at noon. Be careful.
Eliot Spitzer: 7. Day One, everything changes. OK. So you signed a bunch of executive orders taking on nonsensical stuff going on in the Executive Branch. The problem with Albany is the legislature. Good luck in changing them. [And your inaugration ball is headlined by (excuse me) James Taylor, Natalie Merchant and Ben Vereen. They are gonna have to chain you down if you keep on like this. You are a wild man!]
People who are convinced that The Big Fella is coming back this year: 5 (to 1). Some people who responded to an AP poll forgot to eat their Wheaties, apparently. One in four Americans believe that it is "likely that Jesus will return in 2007." Evangelicals are, obviously, more insistent; just under half say that it is at least "somewhat" likely; one in five say it's "very" likely. The way I figure it, these numbers are pretty static over time; the same folks who predicted the End of Days this year probably have said the same thing for years, and decades. So, it's money-where-your-mouth-is time. I am taking bets--at a very favorable 5:1, given the national breakdown of 3:1 against. (Beauty part: if He doesn't show by the end of the year, I get rich. Fools and their money are soon parted, of course. If He does show up, then the faithful will be so overcome that they forget to collect their winnings. I can't lose!) A fiver a play, guys. I say Jesus doesn't show. Pony up.
War on Christmas Warriors: $2.99. The secular progressives hadn't stopped Christmas from coming! It came! Somehow or other, it came just the same! And all the blowhards! They all began to wear frowns. And the snark-attackers exclaimed, "see you next year, clowns." [But, for the love of God: wait until Thanksgiving next year. Let the end of the creeping holiday season begin with you.]
George W. Bush: 2. Nice to see you get back from vacation, eh? Come on: state funeral outside the U.S. means that Cheney shows up. State funeral within the U.S. means that you show up. Period.
Nancy Pelosi: 2.1. You too, ma'am. Betty Ford flew from California, and she has thirty years on you. You get a little bit of extra consideration only because you would have had to fly commercial, which apparently is a bit of a mess at the moment. But, then again, there are direct flights from San Francisco to D.C.
Gerald Ford: 8. Good news: your death has reminded everybody that you can be decent with each other and still operate politically. Bad news: you aren't around to kick everybody in the ass when they don't. And if there are people who deserve ass-kickings, it is this crowd. Sorry to see you go.
110th Congress: 10. You go in with the goodwill of the nation. You want to get stuff done in the first 100 hours. We are going to be charitable and give you a full week. And then we go in with the dogs. The clock starts Wednesday at noon. Be careful.
Eliot Spitzer: 7. Day One, everything changes. OK. So you signed a bunch of executive orders taking on nonsensical stuff going on in the Executive Branch. The problem with Albany is the legislature. Good luck in changing them. [And your inaugration ball is headlined by (excuse me) James Taylor, Natalie Merchant and Ben Vereen. They are gonna have to chain you down if you keep on like this. You are a wild man!]
People who are convinced that The Big Fella is coming back this year: 5 (to 1). Some people who responded to an AP poll forgot to eat their Wheaties, apparently. One in four Americans believe that it is "likely that Jesus will return in 2007." Evangelicals are, obviously, more insistent; just under half say that it is at least "somewhat" likely; one in five say it's "very" likely. The way I figure it, these numbers are pretty static over time; the same folks who predicted the End of Days this year probably have said the same thing for years, and decades. So, it's money-where-your-mouth-is time. I am taking bets--at a very favorable 5:1, given the national breakdown of 3:1 against. (Beauty part: if He doesn't show by the end of the year, I get rich. Fools and their money are soon parted, of course. If He does show up, then the faithful will be so overcome that they forget to collect their winnings. I can't lose!) A fiver a play, guys. I say Jesus doesn't show. Pony up.
War on Christmas Warriors: $2.99. The secular progressives hadn't stopped Christmas from coming! It came! Somehow or other, it came just the same! And all the blowhards! They all began to wear frowns. And the snark-attackers exclaimed, "see you next year, clowns." [But, for the love of God: wait until Thanksgiving next year. Let the end of the creeping holiday season begin with you.]
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