Comments on: NY Times Carries GOP Water. Again.

By: Daniel Doyle

Daniel Doyle — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:00:19 +0000

What a weak piece. Looks like somebody needed to file copy and indulged a (former?) flack, all for the sake of getting out of the office for the weekend. One word sums up reporters like this one: fireable. Now more than ever, too.

By: Wilbur

Wilbur — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:54:45 +0000

It’s not even that Obama is on FOX/CNN/MSNBC all day…

It’s his near-constant presence on ESPN, Oprah, Access Hollywood, E!, ABC primetime

Wow, some people sure watch a lot of TV.

By: Frank DiSalle

Frank DiSalle — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 05:43:55 +0000

First of all, I don’t see that Pres Obama is always enjoying himself in public, but I only think of him as President, not Messiah.
As for Pres Bush, he was as good at pressing the flesh as any other politician.
I was not referring to either President’s social calendar, but rather to their need to take to the airwaves with everything that crosses their minds. That is something Pres Obama does far more often than Pres Bush ever did.
And not because Pres Obama good; Pres Bush bad.

By: Repack Rider

Repack Rider — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:21:25 +0000

What SQ said. Bush never wanted to meet people in any but a controlled environment. Obama likes to mix with, what do they call them…?

Regular people.

He always looks like he’s enjoying himself in any public setting, unlike Bush’s obvious discomfort in front of anything but hand-picked crowds. Obama has a genuine, charismatic smile, compared to the transparently phony Bush smirk and grimace.

It makes better images than staged and rehearsed Rovian fantasies about how regular people are, when in fact Rove has never met one.

By: Frank DiSalle

Frank DiSalle — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:21:09 +0000

S Q .. Read SaveFarris’ comment of 7:40 PM. Big Brother would envy Pres Obama his face time.

By: Southern Quaker

Southern Quaker — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:51:49 +0000

if you don’t think he gets more coverage than Pres Bush got – especially in his second term — you’re not paying attention,

Yes, Frank, but at that point President Bush was hiding.

By: Repack Rider

Repack Rider — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:36:00 +0000

What high approval ratings?

The @61% approval in any number of polls. That would be ten points higher than Bush at the same point of his presidency. One would think they would go down after Bush’s inaction allowed an attack on our soil, and I still don’t understand why they didn’t.

Do you remember that by this point in the Bush presidency there was already a show on Comedy Central mocking him, called “That’s My Bush!”

Anyone doing that for Obama and making money at it?

By: SaveFarris

SaveFarris — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:01:21 +0000

What high approval ratings?

By: Repack Rider

Repack Rider — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:37:01 +0000

It’s his near-constant presence on ESPN, Oprah, Access Hollywood, E!, ABC primetime that’s what causing the general public to burn out so quickly.

What evidence do you have that this “burn out” is taking place? Obama’s high approval ratings?

By: SaveFarris

SaveFarris — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:40:28 +0000

It’s not even that Obama is on FOX/CNN/MSNBC all day. They’re 24 hour news channels. (Well, MSNBC is a 12 hour propaganda/12 hour prison documentary channel, but que sera sera.) You’d expect Obama to be featured, heavily.

It’s his near-constant presence on ESPN, Oprah, Access Hollywood, E!, ABC primetime that’s what causing the general public to burn out so quickly. Not to mention he’s on the cover of Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, People, Spider Man, Cigar Afficianado, and Modal Car Enthusiast Monthly every single week.

By: Frank DiSalle

Frank DiSalle — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:58:44 +0000

I can’t say whether Pres Obama is on television too much to be effective, but if you don’t think he gets more coverage than Pres Bush got – especially in his second term — you’re not paying attention, I sometimes do my show with FOX News on with the sound off, and Pres Obama is on all day, and yes, I am noting the re-broadcasts of the same clip (BTW, there were re-broadcasts of Pres Bush’s clips, too).

By: Repack Rider

Repack Rider — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:56:31 +0000

O-Dub, don’t forget mountain biking, which was what he was up to while his family and staff were evacuated from the WH. As I recall, they didn’t interrupt his ride with that information.

Somebody please explain to me what “clearing brush” is about. Is that what you do when you have a “ranch” but you are afraid of large animals?

By: Indeed

Indeed — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:37:05 +0000

Bush did not spend his presidency going on stupid game shows, he spent his presidency watching football games and eating pretzels, playing golf, falling off segways clearing brush, and spending more of his time on vacation than any other president before him…

…ignoring Presidential Daily Briefings entitled “Bin Laded Determined to Strike in U.S.”

True or False: Oliver had already declared Bush to be a lame duck 15 months before this photo was taken.

In O-Dub’s defense, Bush, Jr. was an inept, incurious buffoonish child who liked to play dress up and wasn’t the de facto President in any event. So you should give Oliver that.

By: Wilbur

Wilbur — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:28:03 +0000

Fair point, SF, Bush did not spend his presidency going on stupid game shows, he spent his presidency watching football games and eating pretzels, playing golf, falling off segways clearing brush, and spending more of his time on vacation than any other president before him (and that’s not counting the time when he was actually in the oval office but out to lunch mentally).

By: SaveFarris

SaveFarris — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:21:10 +0000

When did Bush appear on Deal or No Deal?

A) During the debate over tax cuts
B) During the runup to the Iraq War
C) In the middle of the public debate on Social Security.
D) Right in the middle of hammering out No Child Left Behind
E) In April 2008 during the middle of the election to replace him.

True or False: Oliver had already declared Bush to be a lame duck 15 months before this photo was taken.

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:53:49 +0000

THE PRESIDENT: “Because the — all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases.

I begin to see why the Quittah from Wasilla resonates. They’re the only ones who can understand her.

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:51:17 +0000

“Honest question: Is there a point when the president knows too much about an issue?”

Jesus fucking…NO!

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:48:21 +0000

and it was her who allegedly

S/B “it was she”

/nitpick

thanks for the deal or No Deal pic, Oliver. Exactly what I was thinking. there was a President who WANTED to be overexposed.

By: Oliver Willis

Oliver Willis — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:33:17 +0000

George W. Bush, hard at work being president.

By: jr

jr — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:10:37 +0000

“Let’s make the rest of the paper like Ross Douthat’s column”-NYT