I’m Baaaaaack

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Thank you everyone for the kind comments. To the couple of snarky commenters: You stink, too.

I am exhausted … didn’t sleep at all last night and eventually got up at 4 a.m. … so remembering what planet I was on was a major accomplishment. Now I hear they’re forcasting mondo snowfall tomorrow so I need to hit the grocery asap for the traditional pre-snowball milk-and-bread run. I’ll blog something later if my brain doesn’t totally shut down first.

117 thoughts on “I’m Baaaaaack”

  2. Discovering you. Well done! Afraid for a minute you were going to let the Alabama Reservist(?) from TX off the hook–but you handled it very deftly and NICELY TOO! No doubt–went over a head or two, but it doesn’t hurt to be nice.

  3. GGreat job on C-SPAN. I think Brian was even impressed. I think he is on to the flawed and total incompetence
    ll leadership of the Bush clan.

  4. Caught the end of CSPAN this morning, and was curious regarding comments about those who don’t read newspapaers don’t get the whole story. I agree in part, but also see this is two ways. First, I’m not sure which papers you refer too, but my local paper only serves two purposes, wrapping fish and for the bird cage. Second, with circulation and advertising dollars dwindling, where do we turn next.

  5. Dear Ms. O´Brien:

    Saw you (heard of you) for the first time on C-Span this morning; was very favorably impressed.

    I have a personal story to tell on the subject of Bush Administration Security Paranoia.

    I was violently ejected from our own Embassy in San José, Costa Rica, simply for voicing a personal opinion. My complaints have been unanswered (covered up?) thus far.

    If you would be so kind and provide me with an e-mail adress, I would like to forward to you copies of some documents relating to this case.

    Thank you in advance and kind regards,

    Don Huberty

  6. “I think Brian was even impressed. I think he is on to the flawed and total incompetencell leadership of the Bush clan.”

    If Brian Lamb even showed and or admitted that, C-Span would be off the air within days and good riddence. His job is to moderate, not to kowtow to political parties. C-Span is owned by cable subscribers from ALL political arenas. That’s what makes C-Span great. Dream on.

  7. Tuned in this morning and watched you stand up to “angry” Republican listeners. You were absolutely wonderful and very articulate. I also think that there is a “Conservative” message that is coined and promoted each morning, and I think it actually comes from Carl Rove. And Progressives are disorganized. Probably because we are “nurturing parent” types and not “strict parent” types. We march to our own drummer. It’s a bit difficult to get 200 million people all marching in different directions to march in one. Like herding cats, I suppose. Have found your blog and will start paying attention.

  9. Thanks to C-Span, I have discoverd you and your great site and want to compliment you on a super display of straightforwardness with the questions you answered.
    I have only known two Americans over the past few years that I truly admire for a job well done, one is Brian Lamb who can ride the center rail better then anyone and the other is Charley Reese who was an outspoken journalist at the Orlando Sentinel for many years. Both are men of integrity and honesty which is a rare commodity in the world we live.

  10. Thanks to C-Span from me too! You did a great job. I wish I had thought to tape it. Will look for it later today as it may be re-broadcast. I sure hope so. The Democrat Party needs you. WE need you. You answered every question and comment with such grace and confidence. Thanks!

  11. I look forward to watching it when I get home. However, I apparently haven’t been watching the same C-Span or the same Brian Lamb. They have been leaning rightward for some time. I saw several shows where Lamb hung up on Democrats before they even finished. They were being critical of Bush. Didn’t know until then that he could be that rude. Also, a report was done by some media watchdog and it turned out that C-Span also has overwhelming numbers of conservatives to liberals. Still, C-Span is better than the networks and cable cabals.

  13. Hi,
    I just discovered your blog through your appearance on C-Span this morning. Good overall job.
    I DO wish you had taken the opening that Brian gave you to discuss in more detail the allegations that Libby is now making against Cheney. When he mentioned that it was the lead story on your blog, you really didn’t talk about it much. It would have been great to point out that the Vice President of the United States is now being fingered by his former Chief of Staff of having violated criminal laws that could put him behind bars for many years. My own hometown newspaper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, had NOTHING about this story from the National Journal today. Thanks.

  15. I’ve always thought that Brian Lamb, like Jack Cafferty, went running back to his basic conservative roots whenever he (they) felt challenged, but I guess Brian didn’t feel threatened by you. I especially liked your answer to the clown who made the absurd assertion that conservatives were more logical than liberals, more manly and less emotional. Your reply was, “well maybe that explains why we don’t get into barfights”. What a dork. I used to trade insults and rebuttals with the local self-appointed conservative in our local paper, but it was too easy and after a while it wasn’t fun anymore fighting the same stupidity. Keep up the good work, lady – you manage to hit them where it hurts.

  16. I’m wondering if anyone out there knows how I can get my hands on the book “Rogue State” by Blum (sp?). He was on C-Span several weeks back because Ben Laden mentioned his book in the last “message.” I immediately ordered the book from Amazon. At first they said I would receive it mid-February, now they are telling me it is not available from the publishers at all and they are cancelling my order.

  17. Great going on C-SPAN today! I now have you saved on my ‘favorites.’

    As an aside, I wanted to comment on leadership, in general. All of the comments I caught today on C-SPAN concerning leadership and what makes a good leader somewhat missed the boat. My take on the difference between ‘leadership’ and ‘leader’ is this: Leadership is a function of someone ‘in charge;’ that is to say, that anyone can be positioned to be the person who provides guidance, direction, make decisions, gives orders, etc. A ‘leader’ is someone who inspires others and inculcates in them the “willingness” to follow; the desire to willingly, gladly, to want to do or perform in a manner indicated or requested by that person (leader). A true leader must exude a certain charisma and character that intrinsically motivates those around him/her to ‘want’ to follow. Such a follower wants to perform in a manner that does not “let down” the leader. I served 30 years in the military and knew only a few true leaders, perhaps only three, people who I wanted to follow; who I would gladly do anything for to help them achieve the desired goal. A true leader motivates and inspires because of who they are; they generate profound admiration, perhaps a hero worship kind of thing, maybe even something akin to love. A true ‘leader’ always provides great ‘leadership.’

  18. Loved watching you on C-Span this morning simply because you once again showed why the left cannot be trusted to run this country. Aside from the “entitlements” they have given us over the past 60 years which has made the country almost exclusively dependent on the fed you clearly demonstrated the delusions that the left suffer from.

    Here are a few examples of how you demonstrated that.

    1. The warnings of terrorists using jumbo jets as weapons first came about in 1996 when the Philipine Govt. captured a terrorist that was trainign for just such an attack. Clinton then assigned Gore to the Airport Security Commission who then declined to require hardened cockpit doors, and sky marshalls, on aircraft in spite of the recommendations of two Congressional Committees. That alone could have prevented 911, however, since you want to blame Bush you choose to ignore that fact, and force yourself to believe that Bush could have done something in the 7 months, and 22 days, he was in charge while Clinton had in excess of 5 years to do something, and did not.

    2. Next, you referred to the Minutemen as “right wing militia”. Nothing could be farther from the truth yet it shows how flawed your position is on border security.

    3. You then went on to say that you were not afraid of terrorists, and that Bush was using it as a “fear factor” to gain support for his agenda. First off, the Democrats have used fear as a political tactic for decades. I remember the charges of how the GOP would allow children to starve, or the elderly to die, back in the early 90’s. We all know there are terrorist cells here in the States waiting to act, and if that does not scare you wait till they kill more.

    4. Cable news has gone “right” because for years the only source of info was the lies of the left. People are tired of the lefts dishonesty, and misinformation. Even now they refuse to report on the successes in Iraq dwelling on the negative instead. As Cable Facts show FoxNews is number 4 of ALL cable channels, and MSNBC is 33rd. on the list. CNN doesn’t even show up.

    I appreciate it every time one of you comes on C-Span. It offers yet another example of why people like Cindy Sheehan, Michael Moore, Belafonte, Dean, and Al Franken, are your spokepersons

  19. Kudos, Ms. Barbara! Hope you didn’t hide under your desk too long, and that you get to catch a nap today. You did a great job this morning.

    Hopefully a lot of other DUers stop by and give you encouragement. 🙂 You made a lot of sense this morning, without sounding angry or strident. If you saw yesterdays’s WJ, they talked about us angry liberals. Speaking of liberals thanks for making the point that the word liberal has been turned into a cuss word. BTW, blogs are half as vitriolic or divisive as RW hate radio, so any other bloggers who go on WJ need to let Brian know.
    Blogs and Air America Radio are pretty newand the divide started with Rush Limbaugh and his ilk, and the impeachment of Clinton.

  21. Ms. O’Brien, I caught your appearance on C-Span this morning, and I’d like to make a few points in response to some of the views you presented.
    On of the first items you touched upon was your view that the executive leadership is focused on advancing an agenda as opposed to serving the nation. I see this as something of a misunderstanding of the nature of our political system –of course the administration has, and seeks to advance, an agenda. Every administration does so, and the root of an administration’s agenda is serving the nation in what they believe is the best possible fashion. And politicians run on an agenda, and are elected to enact that agenda. At least that is the theory.
    Of course the agenda and the goals are shaped by the ideology of the president and his/her party. And it is here that I think you take issue. I don’t think I’d be mistaken is saying that you disagree with the president’s agenda ( 😉 ), and of course you’d want to voice your opinion and make your arguments. And of course that’s good, its how America works. But I do believe that you weaken yourself by coming at it from the direction you chose.
    I must also take issue with your perspective on your ideological opponents. You made statements along the line that the Right in the various media and the political leadership are closely tied, perhaps to the point of unity. Something akin to a well orchestrated network of political operatives marching in lockstep (if I properly understood your point). This rather clearly implies that the behavior is synthetic, rather than the natural result of ideological consensus. I think that there are fewer behavioral differences (as related to your point) between the sides than you suggest. There might be more ‘internal’ disagreements on the left due to a greater diversity in ideological perspectives, but they are not at all uncommon on the right. When Rush disagrees with the president, he lets you know. So what you are seeing as a broad and unified organization is just the result of concurring opinions and, from an external perspective, the situation on the left is almost exactly the same. People with similar views say similar things, right?
    Oh, and your stated distaste for a one party system, though appropriate, may not be applicable to the current situation. The Republican Party does control the White House and maintains a slight legislative majority, true, but the phrase “one party system” implies that there is only one party. I agree that we are probably best served (generally) when the government is divided, maximizing the ability of each party to check the behavior of the other –and therefore hindering the natural tendency of government to expand and infringe upon our freedoms. But the Republican majority in the Senate is slim, and the Democrats are far from powerless in either house. The balance of power shifts over time, and that it is now leaning to the right should not be a cause for such pejorative language. Since the time of FDR the power had generally been in the hands of the Democrats, possibly longer than would be the norm. But now it has shifted right, and in the future it will shift back to the left, and so on and so on. In this we can see that the center is not found in any one year, or even in any one presidency, but over the long term. Describing the situation as a “one party system” though implies a fascist system; which, quite honestly, is neither a realistic assessment or technically feasible. I have noted a tendency in some circles on the left to say that this is the case, just as there are those on the right who call every Democrat administration communists. And that is just plain foolish; showing a complete misunderstanding of such totalitarian systems as well as utter irrationality.
    Which, Ms. O’Brien, I am not accusing you of. I make no accusations. I’m just suggesting that you may be mistaken.

  22. Wow, maha, for the first time ever, I’m sorry I don’t have cable! Looks like you’re going to have an even wider readership now…. Congratulations on what sounds like some awesome face time on behalf of the good guys.

  24. GREAT JOB on Cspan this AM:))) Yes, BL was totally impressed. I’ve been watching Cspan for years now, and he gets this certan look on his face when he is impressed with one of his guest. You got that expression today:))) You have a special quality about you that is the “girl next door”, sitting at the kitchen table just having a well inrmed conversation etc., and I hope to see more of you in the future. Stay strong. Kitty (not so cranky:)))

  25. Joanr16 is absolutely correct. Matt you do need to get your own blog, but I have a feeling Maha wouldn’t mind debating you at any time or place. :))) Kitty

  26. Maha Barbara! You should have a radio show. We need an AM broadcast that counters those fundamentalist Limbaughasa’s.

  27. Debating Matt — Nah, he still sees the world the way it’s supposed to be instead of the way it is. I might have written that crap 20 years ago, before I caught on. We’d just be talking past each other.

    Also Ken (comment #18) — Dave Niewart at Orcinus is the go-to guy for debating what’s a right-wing militia and what isn’t. I defer to him on the subject.

    Regarding what Clinton did in two terms versus what Bush did in 7 months — One can argue that the Clinton Administration didn’t do as much as it could have done. But the Bush Administration actually UNdid much of what the Clinton Administration HAD done to fight terrorism. By the summer of 2001 we were MORE vulnerable to terrorism because of Bushie idiocy than we had been the year before. That’s a fact.

    We all know there are terrorist cells here in the States waiting to act, and if that does not scare you wait till they kill more.

    Jeez, what a sniveling, pathetic weenie. I’m the one who witnessed the collapse of the WTC towers and who rides NYC subways and commuter trains frequently — likely targets. What do you want to bet this guy lives 500 miles from anyplace likely to be an al Qaeda target?

    I don’t believe I said I’m not afraid of terrorists, but I did say we can’t let fear control us and how we run out country and our lives. Big difference. If you want to give in to fear and tear up the Bill of Rights to make you “safer,” why don’t you move to a nice totalitarian country to do it? Thanks much.

  29. bet you wont post this one…..I saw you on CSPAN today and you are the type of person that is a great danger to this nation. One comment in particular you made about the release of info yesterday about the 2002 planned attack on LA… You said that the President uses this type of thing when he is in trouble…you also said that the Mayor of LA didn’t know anything about this so called plan….you did not listen to the Mayor’s press conference yesterday when he had to admit that he knew about the plan, (it was outlined in the 9/11 Report for God’s sake) but that what he didn’t know was that the White House was going to release the info on the plan…which was proved to be WRONG with proved info from the White House that his office was informed that the info was going to be released…the problem with people like you is that you only give half the truth in order to further your political agenda….try for once telling the whole truth and if you are going to spew your garbage, maybe you learn ALL OF THE INFORMATION before you give out half truths and all out lies….like I said, I know you wont post this …..

  30. Kudo’s for your professional behavior on cpsan.. i coudn’t have done it.. i want to see cheney and bush hang. period.

  31. forgot to mention, i also surf other blogs and as for female bloggers.. i think there’s more of us out there than people think or know.. afterall you can’t tell by most blogs who the writer represents!

  32. Ken–get a grip, man! Next, you’re gonna tell me that the Republicans haven’t fulfilled their promises to let children starve and the elderly die. Haven’t you been paying attention to what the Bushies have done to the nutrition program budgets, and what do you think Medicare Part 4 (the pharmaceutical plan) is doing? Be proud of your accomplishments, man! That’s what I call being effective at keeping promises!
    Charles

  33. If George W Bush had not made the threat to invade Afghanistan in July 2001, the 9-11 attacks most likely would not have happened.

    Republicans do better than Democrats on National Defense? That myth EXPLODED with the first plane that hit the world trade center on Sept 11, 2001.

    I hear alot of Republicans blame Clinton for 9-11. That appears alot of trash. Under Clinton no attack on America occurred from 1994 until Jan 2001 so Clinton kept Al Qaeda from attacking us again for 7 years. Also the Towers did not fall under Clinton.

    They fell under Bush and Buish failed to defend us oin Sept 11,2001. We cannot trust Republicans to keep us safe and defend America.

    Next time you fax, email or call a senator or representative, include this in with your demand:

    Until the legislation or action I demand gets done I will boycott products from Republican contributors Walmart, Wendy’s, Outback Steak House, Dominos Pizza, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Eckerd, CVS and Walgreens, Curves for women health clubs, GE and Exxon/Mobil.

    Hold Republican contributors accountable for their officeholders opposition to progress.

    So you say that a boycott will take time or will not work?
    Nonsense.

    Idiot conservatives called CBS 3 or 4 years ago in droves to protest the airing of a Reagan movie they did not see but heard that it would not portray Reagan well. They threatened a boycott of CBS and the advertisers.

    That did not take long to get CBS to shift the movie over to showtime which had a much smaller viewership.

    Many progressives called Sinclair Broadcasting in droves before the 2004 election threatening a boycott of them and their advertisers if they would not take a movie smearing John Kerry off the air. It worked quickly.

    If we can get a movie off Sinclair stations then whey can’t we call companies in droves that give money to the Republican party and their candidates and Republican senators and representatives and threaten them with a boycott in order to get a comprehensive progressive agenda passed?

    Why?

    People must CALL their senators and representative AND these companies in droves making the connection between a boycott of these companies and a demand that they want a progressive agenda passed in congress.

    Do you want to increase the minimum wage?
    Write your senators and representative and demand they increase the minimum wage.

    Browse http://tinyurl.com/bl2fa

    Do you want to scrap the current meager Medicare Part D discount and replace it with 80 percent medication coverage under Medicare Part B?

    Write your senators and representative.

    Browse http://tinyurl.com/7zj69

  34. Saw you on TV. Just another bitter, losing, liberal-left rag session. NO President (or administration is perfect, and hind-sight is always 20/20) Clinton certainly didn’t do much either (if Osama was a woman, Slick Willy surely would have found her). Sounds like you just hate Bush. Maybe his religious beliefs, power in office and one man-one woman marrige stance has something to do with it? Give you credit for going in front of cameras, but discusted with your message and back-stabbing of our commander in chief.

  35. Great job on C-Span.

    As far as parallel universes are concerned this is the reason I feel we have this divide in our country now: RELIGION and Bush and Co. made sure they entwined our government & religion
    People of faith, have faith. This must be GWB’s message to his faithful.

    My Prayer for the governed

    I shall wrap myself in the flag of my
    country and hold a Bible high in my
    hand. My songs of privatization, reverence
    and traditional values will be heard
    throughout the land.
    I will align myself with those of power
    and wealth, forsaking the downtrodden
    and unfortunate and proclaim my actions
    to be in the best interest of all. I will divert
    funding from education of our youth,
    saying to critics that no child will be left
    . behind. I will repeal legislation that protects-
    the citizenry from environmental
    pollution and deny them redress through
    the judicial process.
    I will call it necessary.
    I will invade foreign powers, categoriz-
    ‘ ing them as evil, and imprison and
    torture their people. And this, I will say,
    is justified in that we bring hope, freedom
    and democracy to the conquered. I uiill
    take from the impoverished, the elderly
    and the infirm and they will believe that
    this is right and good. For it is by their
    faith, rather than their understanding,
    that I have been entrusted with the
    power to lead them. And they will not
    readily admit the fallibility of their beliefs.
    Let us pray.

    vlup2es

  36. I am watching you on C-Span now. Consider me a faithful reader from here on out. I also loved the right brain /left brain parallel universe remark.

  37. Saw you on the rerun of CSPAN, you did a great job.
    Talk about hitting the nail on the head, every time Bush is implicated in a scandal, he does one of his fear mongering speechs.
    This whole administartion is nothing more then a sick, demented joke.
    I’ve looked at a lot of websites debunking the whole 9/11 story, and I now believe there is more to it then we are being told.
    I want to know what Cheney was controlling when he was playing “war games” on 9/11.
    It would not surprise me if he was behind the “plane” crashing into the Pentagon. I feel it was not a commercial aircraft, but a drone carrying a missle. Rumsfeld accidentally said it was a missle in a public statement.
    But I just want to say, I love your site.

    Thanks for your efforts..
    Gregory D. Kramer

  38. Just watching you on CSPAN. Great to listen to you. Very interesting. When Bush was reelected, I got so depressed I stopped writing. It’s encouraging to know that you’re out there still plugging away. Thanks. I’ll be visiting your blog now. Regards,

  41. Hello Barbara!

    Just checked you out on C-Span’s “Washington Journal”. I’m really feeling you speaking truth to power and Republican lunacy! I’m bookmarking your blog! Keep doing the thing!!

    Take Care!

  42. Great to see you on C-Span. Didn’t know about you before.

    Especially interesting what you said about “two separate realities” much akin to the two halves of the brain. It does seem that we are hard-wired with a dualistic psychology. That is why we need to discipline our minds and hearts (wisdom ?) to determine the objective reality. When we drop a rock on our toe, it is pretty clear that is the objective reality. Later, it can get distorted.

    Was it Max Dupree that expressed that leadership IS the definition of reality. . . I agree with that statement. Perception is NOT objective reality like so many spinners have convinced many of this generation. Perception is subjective interpretation of reality.

  43. #18 Ken needs to wake up to the future + not the past. He clearly blames all Bush failures on President Clinton-Which are many. I can tell he gets his distorted info. from Fox. Ill bet he loves Hanity+Rush+ Bill- some of the time. He clearly takes notes on anyone HE FEELS is picking on P.Bush. Dont blame his party! How dare you!!!!!!

  44. Nice job today on C-SPAN; you were very composed. I’ll be sure to stop by here more often.

    And very sorry to see you’re drawing fire, but it comes with the territory. Like “Ken” above, very misguided but probably following talking points. Ditto for “Joan”. Nothing like a public appearance to spawn attacks.

    Rebuttal for Ken:
    1) FAA issued (4) warnings in spring-summer of 2001 regarding potential for hijackings; 06-AUG-01 PDB also cited imminent threat by OBL. Tenet and Clarke were “hair on fire” for months in advance of 2001. This data and more was far more current than that you cited.
    2) “Minutemen”, “right wing militia”…to-may-toe, to-mah-toe. Armed individuals acting in concert under vigilitantism. Better?
    3) “…GOP would allow children to starve, or the elderly to die…” Ever heard of Hurricane Katrina? Darfur? Medicare D?
    4) Cable news has gone far right because its owners are far right. Roger Ailes, GE, pick an individual or corporation that owns media, then check their donations in FEC reports. Additionally, highest concentration of news consumers are older conservatives; why create products for young folks that don’t vote who’d rather watch reality television?

  45. #18,,,,, just a few things

    1.Our CIA trained bin laden , so thank reagan/bush sr for creating the monster to start with, before you complain Clinton didn’t clean up the mess others created, lets be honest about it.

    2.One doesn’t need a clue to know, with regard to the minuteman issue , minute men are like putting a bandaide on a gun shot wound.One only need look around the country to see that minute men are not the solution.

    3. I love the arguement “but the democrats do it too”., it always make those saying it seem almost child like…But since you agree that the democrats do it too,that means at least you see that Bush IS doing it and I guess you don’t mind fear being used as a tool to control you.

    4 you claim the left lied for years, without any specific lie…common among the rights way of thinking, and you go on to say how wonderful and sucessful faux (s)nooze is, , but here is the part where your logic falls flat on it’s fat behind: you say the media refuses to show the good news in Iraq.YOU have Faux , mouthpiece for the Administration ,you claim they are so right,and free from leftist lies and the liberals who tell them, why is it they are not the 24 hour good news in Iraq station?How do they find time to report anything but all that good news?Why is there not a faux (s)nooze reporter on every Iraqi corner, waiting to report, on how terrific we are to rebuild schools after we bomb them?Why no reporters in the homes of candy and flower bearing Iraqis to see their electricity work, or their clean water run?I hear the phrase “the good thing happening in Iraq ” often, but those words are never followed by a huge list of acheivments.The lack of substance really makes the case you wish to make fall sadly short.

    I suggest you take a field trip to Iraq. Go there and SEE all that GOOD news first hand, and please report back to us here, we would love to hear all the wonderful things you see walking down the streets of Bagdad.Take a few faux news reporters with you to o, it sounds like they are missing a fantastic story!!! Maybe you should call them now and give them the scoop.How could you get away with letting faux (s)nooze of the hook ,it is , after all, the government propaganda channel,,,so how is it they are missing all this good news???

    Thanks for your comments,, they remind me of the old saying “If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything”..I love old sayings

  46. I just discovered your site by C-Span. It s great to see so many step up to the plate. I am glad to see the media (C-Span) looking forward for a change. Left or right without a middle we would all be chasing our tails to the right or left, we still would be running around in a circle and getting nowhere. Hope this circus will change and our American Ringmasters will redirect attention more to the middle and stop treating the people like animals.
    Thanks Barbara, great Job!

  47. Congratulations on your spot on C-span. Blogs are democracy in action.No small feat considering the fact that America resembles more of a plutocracry than a true democracy. KUDOS

  48. Saw you on C-Span this morning and really appreciated your comments. It’s nice to know we Dems have well spoken and informed people on our side.

    Time to “Throw the Republican Bums OUT” come November,,,stay focused,,,,,,stand strong and lets take back our Country from the Treasonous Thugs in Power now.

  50. great job on cspan….especially the comments on how important to the health of our political system TWO parties are….i would add that i think another party would even be better

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