Stu Blog

From ABC News:

“OMB Director Peter Orszag indicated that while 98% of the budget mark-ups in the House and Senate are on par with the administration’s budget blueprint, some campaign trail promises, like middle class tax cuts, may get left on the cutting room floor.”

No.  Way.

Glenn has been called a lot of “ists” over the years: Racist and fascist being the two most popular. But the latest batches of people calling him “populist” are particularly amusing.  

Jon Stewart ran a segment featuring Glenn’s “populist rage” on The Daily Show, and it’s been a much repeated critique of Glenn lately from sources of all sides, including some sources that I generally like, and also MSNBC’s favorite republican David Frum.   (Could there possibly be a last name that better matched the dullness level of its owner?  “What did you do this weekend?”  “Ahhh, nothing.  Slept in, didn’t shower, watched CSPAN.  Basically just frummed around the house in my Slanket.”)* 

Populism is defined as “the political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite.”  I suppose that puts nearly everyone into the populist category.  It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone overtly advocating for the rights of the “privileged elite” at the expense of the “common people” (other than maybe Mr. Burns.) 

I would admit that occasionally everyone, including us, use the “xxx elite” as a bit of a rhetorical crutch.  But, I’m pretty sure up until, like, last week Glenn was supposed to be the guy who only loved rich and powerful people and wanted the commoners to starve in the alleys of early 1900’s squalor.   How exactly did the idea that Glenn is a populist become so popular?

Yeah, Glenn is saying we should step up and take our country back. So what?  Does saying that Washington is as pathetic as David Frum (can you imagine including the words “George W. Bush speechwriter” on your resume?) make him more populist than anyone else in the universe? 

Glenn is a guy who has a chapter in a New York Times bestseller saying we shouldn’t have a federal minimum wage, another that explores the idiocy of complaining about income inequality and another on how we overstate the problem of poverty in this country.**  Not exactly what I would call populist positions.     

And in perhaps the most absurd example, on the same day Stewart ran his “populist rage” segment, Glenn was on the air saying that the executives at AIG should keep their $165 million in bonuses.  How easy would it be to vilify those “privileged elite” to win over the “common people?”  Ask nearly every politician on both sides in Washington.

The bottom line is that we’ve got a long record of caring only about the wealthiest one percent, and we’re proud of that.  We’re evil conservatives; that’s what we do.  Don’t try and take our yacht-club-cred away. 

(* I realize the “populist” reference would have been “Snuggie.”)

(**We just found out An Inconvenient Book is coming out in paperback in May by the way.  Remember, this book is only for the privileged elite.) 

I have a “great depression calculator” to see how far along we are to greatly being depressed which I had to update this morning because of the awful new job numbers.  At some point I’ll do another post explaining it, but my fancy excel sheet says we’re 27.4% of the way to the depression.  That’s of course, if everything starts turning around today.  Fun times.  

So, let’s be more happy, and talk about television.  Here is my pick for the most underrated couple on television today:

Selma Blair and Mikey Day from Kath and Kim.  Dude! They are so solidly stupid on this show.  And Selma Blair eats like Glenn.  

Speaking of which, watch Glenn on Fox News tonight, as he will reveal the War on Chins.  It’s important television.  Trust me.  

Also, don’t forget to check out the season 3 premiere of Not Just Another Cable News Show featuring stupid comments from me.  Here’s a clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0fya9R3vxk