Wait. Now you’re complaining because I’m staying on topic? The topic of this thread is the decline of a once-great newspaper. Forgive me if I don’t leap at each and every one of your diversions.

As far as comparisons between BO and SP go, BO may not be God but I think he would at least be able to name a newspaper he looked at occasionally given two or three chances to do so.

I’ve lost count. How many Bush policies Obama ran against has he reaffirmed now? Detention, wiretaps, Guantanamo, spending…

J.

sure, as long as by “more secretive and dishonest” you mean “way more competent and honest”.

I think I’m getting the hang of wingnut dialect.

Quaker, I brought up two points at once — the lobbyist ban and the tax cheats. You can’t stop focusing, laserlike, on the slightest of details in your enthusiasm to avoid the whole issue — that the Obama administration is taking the lead of the Democratic congress to being far more secretive and dishonest than you are willing to admit, and more secretive and dishonest than their predecessors.

How pathetic…

J.

Anything else, Mr. Tea?

Another time, Mr. Tea. You’ve led us down more rabbit holes than I can count already. You still…er, STILL don’t want to address your own specious logic that seems to argue that the Washington Post marketing department runs our government.

Which is it, Mr. Tea? Was the rule set aside or did it have a loophole? You can’t have it both ways.

As opposed to the right wing’s belief that our American Nation should go into debt to foreigners to pay for the wars that Republicans lie US into and even then the right wing isn’t willing to invest in the planning for their stupid wars, the right wing isn’t willing to invest in American troops body armor or armored vehicles, right wingers aren’t even willing to invest in adequate medical facilities for returning injured American troops….

Why do you and other right wingers hate our American troops, “Jay Tea”?

Oh, that’s right, even during a time of multiple wars Republicans want tax cuts.

Treasonous.

This is news?

Yeah, good times…

And then it was discovered that Republican convict Jack Abramoff had 485 contacts with Republican President Bush’s White House.

I’d call it “meaningless.” And I’d call the person who made the promise, then chose to make that promise meaningless, a “liar.”

And you STILL don’t want to address the whole tax thing, I see.

I recall Joe Biden stating that it was everyone’s patriotic duty to pay higher taxes. That must make cabinet meetings a bit awkward… until everyone remembers that Biden is a chronic bullshitter who doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about most of the time, and a good laugh is had by all.

J.

Let’s look at my full quote again, huh?

Aw, “Newsy,” you figured it out. I am paid by a huge, multinational corporation.

This I do for fun.

At my day job, I’m a very, very small wheel in a very, very big machine that is listed in the Fortune 500. And it has absolutely NOTHING to do with blogging or politics or whatsoever, and in fact they’d probably fire my ass if I brought that into the workplace — it’s specifically spelled out as company policy.

But that doesn’t matter to “Newsy.”

What puzzles me, though, is whether “Newsy” is just that stupid, or just that dishonest.

What the hell. Could be both.

J.

Is that why you don’t have any patriotism for our American Nation?

You know, some Americans work for huge, multinational corporations and still have loyalty to our nation, so that’s really not an excuse for your disloyalty, “Jay Tea”.

We started out talking about your “inference” that the Obama administration had agreed to act as de facto fundraisers for Lally Weymouth’s little enterprise based on nothing more than a marketing executive’s bungled flyer.

Then we moved to an Obama campaign pledge.

Now, suddenly, we’ve arrived at an executive order issued the day after Mr. Obama’s inauguration.

Be patient. I’m doing my very best to keep up.

Why did Mr. Obama grant waivers? The executive order to which you refer allows the Director of the OMB to grant such waivers under the broad rubric of “public interest” defined as follows:

(b) The public interest shall include, but not be limited to, exigent circumstances relating to national security or to the economy. De minimis contact with an executive agency shall be cause for a waiver of the restrictions contained in paragraph 3 of the pledge.

Now I’ll even spot you William Lynn. As a top exec at defense contractor Raytheon, Mr. Lynn had lobbied the Pentagon on his employer’s behalf well within the 2 year limit. I won’t even trouble you to go look for the reason for the waiver. We’ll just tally up one point toward “replete with lobbyists.”

On the rest, I call shenannigans. Mr. Obama’s executive order quite clearly spells out the “Revolving Door” restrictions for lobbyists entering government:

3. Revolving Door Ban Lobbyists Entering Government. If I was a registered lobbyist within the 2 years before the date of my appointment, in addition to abiding by the limitations of paragraph 2, I will not for a period of 2 years after the date of my appointment:

(a) participate in any particular matter on which I lobbied within the 2 years before the date of my appointment;

(b) participate in the specific issue area in which that particular matter falls; or

(c) seek or accept employment with any executive agency that I lobbied within the 2 years before the date of my appointment.

Please be so good as to explain how these provision limit the eligibility of any of the others you mentioned.

So where are we now, Mr. Tea? As best as I can figure, your argument is:
Mr. Obama issued an executive order setting limits on lobbyists entering government, but
He allowed some (expressly permitted) waivers to the order, and that means
He backed down on a campaign promise that lobbyists “won’t find a job in my White House,” and that means
The White House is actually brimming with lobbyists, and therefore
The Washington Post offer to set up dinner dates with administration officials in exchange for corporate cash must be true!!

Is that what you’re saying?

Each to his own. Me, I’m off to the fireworks!

January 21 — Executive Order issued.
January 22 — waiver granted to William Lynn, former Raytheon lobbyist appointed to the Defense Department.

Waivers were also issued to Richard Verma (State Department), Jocelyn Frye (Office of the First Lady), and Cecelia Munoz (Special Assistant to the President), among others.

As in so many cases, the trick with Obama is to realize that his promises mean exactly what he wants them to mean, for as long as he wants them to last.

And nothing to say about the tax cheats? Rumor has it that was part of the reason Judd Gregg had to withdraw as Commerce Secretary — dumb bastard, he’d paid all his taxes. Obviously that made him unfit to serve.

J.

One year from now, we have the chance to tell all those corporate lobbyists that the days of them setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more to take on lobbyists than any other candidate in this race – and I’ve won. I don’t take a dime of their money, and when I am President, they won’t find a job in my White House. Because real change isn’t another four years of defending lobbyists who don’t represent real Americans – it’s standing with working Americans who have seen their jobs disappear and their wages decline and their hope for the future slip further and further away.

Have at it.