Rahm and Eric and the Bear Raiders of Lost Minds.
Nicholas Sarkozy arrives at the Court of Obama to campaign for the French presidency in the same town as his rival, IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and the opening remark for the day's PR is that Sarko will defend the euro against the rascal speculators and their running companions, the bear raiders. Meanwhile, Greek President Papandreou comes to Washington for a meeting with POTUS on Tuesday, and he has already announced that the evil speculators are under investigation by the heroic US Department of Justice. This conspiracy theory dates from a February 8 dinner in New York attended by 23 represetatives of hedge funds in which shorting the euro was discussed. What is also fun to report is that Squawk Box, the tool used by sober captains of capitalism while they trade markets around the globe, reported live Sunday 7 with almost simultaneity to its vast audience of sharpies that the John Batchelor Show (Jon Weil, Simon Constable, Jim McTague and me) was discussing the dinner. It is a delight to learn that I am reporting to the traders -- and to have the report confirmed by the Greek and French presidents within hours. The conspiracy theory grows, and it lacks a name like Truther or Birther. Perhaps Shorter, or Hedger, or Whiner.
Ivan's Court Games.
The latest episode of Rahm Emanuel vs. Ivan's Court promises many more episodes and likely more video. The turn here is that Rahm is now part of the news story of Eric Massa's news story that Massa was bullied and ejected from the House because he is against the healthcare vote. Massa will now do the media tour and retell his tale with many pertinent details, and we can only guess that he will make his way to Oprah to speak of his "salty" conduct. Nothing about Massa's story is credible so far, and yet the man is strangely thrilling in the way a dam break is thrilling if you are back far enough from the flood. The tale about Rahm without a towel in the House men's locker room is bizarre to the point of delusional, and yet there is an element of certitude. Massa has thrown a stink bomb into the Democratic caucus. Grabbing towels is the least of it. Need handholds to climb out. What this does for POTUS is wreck the narrative and establish the Obama administration as an IPO in laughingstock. Worse to come? Speaking Tory Newmyer, Roll Call, and John Fund, WSJ, on Monday 8 re the road ahead with and without towels.
Nothing is credible? You can't see Rahm doing that? I can. Although not to me, I could see and heard him do that. Remember JB, it's Chicago politics.
there is only one man who could figure this mess out. send for Clouseau!
the humor comes and goes. i chuckle and shake my head but then think of the Kremlin and Tehran and Caracas and Beijing and Karachi and ...
what must serious men, our friends and our enemies, think of our condition as a nation today?
if i were undecided, trying to plan the future of a nation, and i looked at these clowns, these bunglers, how could i not dismiss them and seek allies elsewhere or go it alone?
i start to despair but then Clouseau returns.
there is a saying in crash times on trading desks -
What should I buy now? Canned goods and small arms ammunition.
Back when my son was a small child, he used to be very good at catching frogs. None of us could do it, but Ian would approach the animal and invariably come up with it. One summer, Ian and I took a trip out west. One of our stops was Arches National Park in Utah. On our trek up to the ‘Delicate Arch’ we encountered many small lizards scurrying among the red rocks. True to form, Ian set out to catch them (by their tails). To our amused surprise, the tails would immediately detach from the body, the lizard would escape as the tail continued to writhe between my little boy’s fingers. We were told that the lizard would go on to grow a new tail within a matter of days. No one would confirm that the tail too would go on to grow a new body, but (in our innocence) we clearly suspected as much
Today, in our haste to promote the Republican brand, we may well have missed something even more potentially significant: that which comes after the implosion of the Democrat Party. When something like a party implodes, it doesn't just disappear. Its disparate parts continue to writhe in the political vacuum like the detached tails of common lizards. We see the Dems coming apart; uncooperative; speaking out; challenging their leadership. From all this may yet emerge a new, and more acceptable animal for the American voter to embrace.
Clearly, Obama’s socialist version is not acceptable to the American – or even the Democrat – voter. Would Hillary’s version of same, for instance, be more acceptable? Certainly, the press would play up a Hillary dominated Democrat Party to the hilt; much more so than, say, the Palin Tea Party types. We could very easily be lulled into an acceptance of socialist lite under the stewardship of a known, as of yet unsullied, potentially political powerhouse.
http://peterkoelliker.blogspot.com/
Madame Secretary has been VERY quiet recently, as her husband. You know she is ready when BJ Clinton starts talking about unemployment and jobs.
If one Congressman on the Hill reports a similar encounter in the House or Senate Gym, it is over for Rahm.
Chatters mentioned Massa will go on Oprah, not unless he wants to live! She is BHOs biggest supporter. Not unless Obama approves the hit on Rahm.
I grew up in Chicago, as most of you probably know by know, and I don't have fond memories of the place, primarily because of the frigid winters and these really nasty centipedes that seem to infest all the older buildings, that I was terrified of. Freezing cold and centipedes on steroids, that's what I think of when I think of Chicago. Even so, I cringe when I hear somebody call POTUS' cabinet "Chicago-style". The first Mayor Daley would be rolling over in his grave if he ever heard the comparison. Chicago style politics is about getting the job done, behind the scenes, quietly and efficiently and with the use of threat when necessary. Nothing at all like the current Administration. It takes a pretty serious insult to bring me to the defense of Chicago, but this one qualifies.
They've been too quiet. Expect madame secretary to resign in a year and a half or so to prepare for 2012 and watch the brick bats fly.
Well Peter, Nature abhors a vacuum. If the dem party implodes, something will take it's place. Look at the resurgence with the tea party, although I am sad to say I bet it will be short lived as the GOP will co-opt them as they did the socons in 2000. It's the tea party's fault for not having leadership and if anyone could have stepped up it was Palin, who seems to be more politically motivated than at first blush. So, who will step in and save the dems in 2012? Hard to say. I don't think it will be HRC. Too old school, but Obama has proven youth and inexperience do not work.
Read my post under 'Brief: Unmoved', Jim. I actually made some headway today in terms of figuring out what this guy (Obama) may be up to. Hillary will be in there for sure. So will Romney. Some kind of leadership (Palin?) will emerge from the Tea Party movement. They'll all be used as cover for what Obama is planning to do. One thing's for certain: Vacuums are simple. There won't be a vacuum - guaranteed.
Read it and responded. Vacuums don't last.