In a world where the U.S. House of Representatives is controlled by hobbits who are hell-bent on preventing poor kids from attending college, only one man stands between the all powerful ratings agencies and a potential credit downgrade.
Unfortunately, that man, "President" Obama, is reluctant to use all of his Constitutional powers.
Perhaps his aversion to saving America from itself stems from his foreign background, or maybe it's the fact that he never belonged to a country club.
Whatever the case, the responsibility for staving off economic disaster now falls on a ragtag group of negotiators who've thus far proven to be rather pathetic.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: White House Senior Adviser David Plouffe; Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO); Sen. John Thune (R-SD); Roundtable: Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID), Jim Cramer (CNBC) and Tom Brokaw (NBC News).
Face the Nation: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
This Week: White House Senior Adviser David Plouffe; Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC); CEO of PIMCO Dr. Mohamed El-Erian; New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly; Roundtable: George Stephanopoulos (ABC News), George Will (Washington Post), Paul Krugman (New York Times) and Grover Norquist (Americans for Tax Reform).
Fox News Sunday: Director of the National Economic Council Gene Sperling; House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA); Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL); Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ); Roundtable: Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard), Charles Lane (Washington Post), Steve Hayes (Weekly Standard) and Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY); Director of the National Economic Council Gene Sperling; Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics Mark Zandi; Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R); Reliable Sources: Jonathan Martin (Politico); Nancy Cordes (CBS News); Michael Shear (New York Times).
The Chris Matthews Show: Andrea Mitchell (NBC News); Howard Fineman (Huffington Post); Michael Duffy (TIME); Nia-Malika Henderson (Washington Post).
Fareed Zakaria GPS: IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde; GM Chairman Daniel Akerson.
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: a report on the proliferation of gambling, and addiction to slot machines (preview); a report on Brazil's growing economy (preview); and, an interview with rapper/actor/producer Mark Wahlberg (preview).
On Comedy Central:
Jon Stewart diagnosed conservatives' victim complex.
The Daily Show
Monday: Actress Freida Pinto
Tuesday: Actor Jason Bateman
Wednesday: Chief Economist for the President's Economic Advisory Board Austan Goolsbee
Thursday: TBA
And Stephen Colbert listed some of the things that America should do before it dies.
The Colbert Report
Monday: Author Tony Hsieh
Tuesday: Al Hunt (Bloomberg)
Wednesday: Author Robert Wittman
Thursday: Celebrity Chef Anthony Bourdain
Elsewhere:
Compulsive gambler Bill Bennett laid the blame for America's impending demise with the Grammy Awards nominating committee, for their reckless decision to honor Amy Winehouse three years ago.
A good place to start learning the lesson is the Grammy Awards nominating committee. Did they have any problem or pause whatsoever in emptying their cabinet of awards for such a song or such a character?
Did one judge say: "Wait, I think we might be sending the wrong message here"? Or, rather, did they do everything they could to get her to the Grammy Awards even after she was barred from entering the United States? The answer is the latter -- and she appeared for her awards by video feed from Great Britain.
Meanwhile:
Thrice-bankrupted casino mogul and would-be presidential candidate Donald Trump was willing to bet that a credit default would be a boon to Republicans.
"Frankly the Republicans would be crazy unless they get 100 percent of the deal that they want right now to make any deal,” Trump said on "Fox and Friends" Monday. "If this happens, for instance if this stuff is going on prior to an election, he can’t get reelected. He possibly can’t get elected anyway. … The fact is, unless the Republicans get 100% of what they want, and that may include getting rid of Obamacare, which is a total disaster, then they should not make a deal other than a minor extension which would take you before the election which would ensure Obama doesn’t get elected, which would be a great thing." [...]
"I don’t care about polls," Trump said. "When it comes time to default, they’re not going to remember any of the Republicans' names. They are going to remember in history books one name, and that’s Obama."
And in other news:
Dr. Orly Taitz, Esq. was once again reprimanded by a judge for her inability to follow simple instructions.
But Taitz cannot seem to redact the right information from the number in question, according to an order issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth. Taitz keeps redacting the wrong digits in court pleadings — even after doing it correctly, according to the judge.
Local court rules state that people must redact all but the last four digits of social security numbers included in court filings. Instead, Taitz kept redacting the last four digits.
"There is no logical explanation she can provide as to why she is now wasting the Court's time, as well as staff’s time, with these improper redactions," he wrote.
That's all folks.
- Trix