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Peder DeFor

Mpls, MN
Commenter for
5 years 23 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 09/09/11 at 01:12 pm in response to Obama channels his inner FDR in jobs speech

The whole 'ideas Republicans have supported in the past' thing is a bit too simple by half. I personally am fully in favor of a two week Mediterranean cruise for my family and have been for some time. But if I look at context, specifically whether it can be afforded or not, I really can't support it anymore. Does that make me a hypocrite?
Which isn't to say that some of the ideas might be good. The targeted tax cuts for hiring long term unemployed could do some good. And I'm not...

Posted on 08/30/11 at 12:34 pm in response to Bachmann and Perry have a lot of constitutional explaining to do

"...nor prohibited by the states..." Doesn't that suggest that the states should be able to reject Federal directives? Isn't that what Perry tried to do in Texas in regard to Medicare? (If I've got that wrong, someone please correct me.)

Neal #1, I'm certainly not going to defend everything that Bachmann has said but she pretty clearly was joking about the hurricane and earthquake. If you've watched the video, it couldn't be clearer. She's laughing and so is the crowd.
And...

Posted on 08/31/11 at 07:36 am in response to Bachmann and Perry have a lot of constitutional explaining to do

Ok, let's take a look at this: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Bernice #17, I did mistype it but I don't think the meaning is changed. It looks like the word 'it' refers to the United States, not the Constitution. Which means that the states do have some power of resisting Federal laws. The tenth amendment has always been read as a declaration of...

Posted on 08/31/11 at 07:46 am in response to Bachmann and Perry have a lot of constitutional explaining to do

#12 Neal, I said that I won't defend everything she said so I don't want to be dragged too deeply into the woods here. Is it tasteless to joke when DC has an earthquake and a hurricane in quick succession? Even if the hurricane causes deaths elsewhere? I didn't get the sense that she was going out of her way to make fun of the dead but your mileage may vary. You can look at it as reason #4002 why you won't vote for her.
If she wasn't seriously saying that this was a Message From...

Posted on 08/26/11 at 12:21 pm in response to What if Obama gave FDR's 'I welcome their hatred' speech?

Obama and the Dems have absolutely hammered the 'blame Republicans' arguments out there and it hasn't really helped them. Why? Two reasons. The first and most important is that the Dem solutions haven't worked. Unemployment is higher than we were told it would be. The housing market is still a mess and they keep looking to reinflate the bubble. Obamacare, the signature achievement, remains very unpopular and hardly anyone thinks it will fix the problems in the health care sector....

Posted on 08/12/11 at 08:30 pm in response to Why Stu Rothenberg will skip Ames

His reasons make sense to me. I think we're just beginning to see the impact of social media and dispersed communications on the electoral process. It wouldn't surprise me if the results are fairly radical for each party. No prediction what they'll be, only that we'll look back on the last few cycles as quaint.

Posted on 08/08/11 at 11:26 pm in response to 'What Happened to Obama?' Provocative NYT essay offers skewed view

There are a number of problems with blaming Obama's problems on a failure to communicate the right narrative. The biggest is obvious. He simply cannot stand up and say, 'We told you that Whatever-Whatever bill would wipe out regulations that would keep traders from being too risky'. He can't do that because it didn't happen. He can make blanket claims about lack of regulation but he can't point to the ones that caused the meltdown. And he certainly can't claim that Dems tried to fix it...

Posted on 08/09/11 at 08:30 pm in response to 'What Happened to Obama?' Provocative NYT essay offers skewed view

The stimulus arguments somehow remind me of people praying for rain. If you prayed and it rained then obviously it worked. If you prayed and you didn't rain, then you should have prayed harder.
Nice work if you can get it.

#35 Paul, do you remember Dems arguing against mortgage derivatives prior to 2008? I don't but I may have missed it. Nor do I remember them arguing against many of the things that created the housing bubble, like interest only mortgages and the like....

Posted on 08/09/11 at 08:37 pm in response to 'What Happened to Obama?' Provocative NYT essay offers skewed view

Jon #38, so the stimulus wasn't Keynesian? Can you explain philosophy it came from then?
From what I can tell Krugman did indeed believe that it was too small. He thought it would bring unemployment levels to around 7.5%, a number that the Obama administration would dance in the street for today. If he has explained why it underperformed so much, I can't find it.
The bottom line is that Obama wildly overpromised and is now paying the price.

Posted on 08/10/11 at 07:20 pm in response to 'What Happened to Obama?' Provocative NYT essay offers skewed view

Paul, I'm not changing my point at all. The meltdown would have happened under a Gore administration, or at least that is my belief because there was no one at all looking to plug the holes that were there. Frankly, I'm not convinced that we've plugged them yet.
If your argument is that regulations of some sort could have prevented this and Republicans are usually opposed to regulation, therefore Republicans are at fault here, well, maybe you should take a logic refresher. You...