Biden holds meeting on Transparency - but the meeting is closed

[Little-Acorn]

No, this is not a report from The Onion. It actually happened.

Vice President Joe Biden is holding a meeting today to discuss Transparency in Government, with the "Chief of Transparency for Economic Recovery".

The meeting is closed to the press. Only Democrats are allowed.

Someone said that we have to be careful whenmaking silly jokes about Democrats. The jokes have a way of becoming reality as the Democrats eventually do what seemed ludicrous only a short time before.

This time, they have managed to do it even before anyone made any jokes about it. I mean, who would make a joke about having a closed meeting on "transparency"? That's too silly even to bother joking about.

But, nonetheless, the Dems come through....!

-----------------------------------------

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/01/joe-biden-update.html

Joe Biden update: He meets on transparency today. But the meeting is closed
January 14, 2010 | 2:22 am

In fact, today's Biden schedule highlight is a meeting with the chief of transparency for economic recovery. But, unfortunately, the transparency meeting is non-transparent, closed to the press. (See his full schedule below.) Which makes it -- what? -- secret openness? Open secrecy?

(snip)

Here is the vice president's official schedule for today. Boldface was added in the interests of emphasis. Note especially that the vice president's meeting with the chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board is closed, meaning non-transparent.

The "pool spray" mentioned has nothing to do with aquatics. It's a coded message to media that a few select members will be allowed in to take pictures briefly -- possibly for only a few seconds -- as Biden and his guest pretend to continue their previously private conversation as if the meeting was open.

DAILY GUIDANCE FOR THE VICE PRESIDENT, Thursday, January 14, 2010:

(snip)

At 1:00 PM, the Vice President will meet with Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd al-Mahdi in the Roosevelt Room. There will be a pool spray at the bottom of this meeting; gather time is 1:45 PM in the Brady Briefing Room.

Then, at 2:15 PM, the Vice President will meet with Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board. This meeting is closed press. ###

 

[dogtowner]

you cannot make this stuff up even if you try

 

[TheFranklinParty]

The sad part is that the participants of this meeting really don't get it. Even if you sat there and explained the irony, they would just sit there scratching their heads.

 

[dogtowner]

The sad part is that the participants of this meeting really don't get it. Even if you sat there and explained the irony, they would just sit there scratching their heads.

well, Joe is not the sharpest knife in the drawer

 

[groupthink]

well barry did promise 100% transpericy... he promised to post EVERYTHING online for the american people to view before he votes on it....

YES WE CAN!!!! you racists!!!

 

[dogtowner]

well barry did promise 100% transpericy... he promised to post EVERYTHING online for the american people to view before he votes on it....

YES WE CAN!!!! you racists!!!

as Big Nancy pointed out, he promised lots of things

 

[chestnut]

Why should we be surprised at all?......
Maybe Obama's administration doesn't understand the word transparency?

They don't understand the Constitution.
They don't understand the difference between rights and needs.
They don't understand economics or free markets.
They don't understand the polls about people not wanting their health care crap.
They don't understand the dfference between War and man made disasters.

How can we expect them to understand such a large word with so many syllables?

 

[groupthink]

barry doesnt understand the constitution yet hes a constitutional lawer.. i guess that just means hes an expert in distorting it.. like when alberto said the constitution doesnt apply to everyone.

 

[always]

No, this is not a report from The Onion. It actually happened.

Vice President Joe Biden is holding a meeting today to discuss Transparency in Government, with the "Chief of Transparency for Economic Recovery".

The meeting is closed to the press. Only Democrats are allowed.

Someone said that we have to be careful whenmaking silly jokes about Democrats. The jokes have a way of becoming reality as the Democrats eventually do what seemed ludicrous only a short time before.

This time, they have managed to do it even before anyone made any jokes about it. I mean, who would make a joke about having a closed meeting on "transparency"? That's too silly even to bother joking about.

But, nonetheless, the Dems come through....!

-----------------------------------------

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/01/joe-biden-update.html

Joe Biden update: He meets on transparency today. But the meeting is closed
January 14, 2010 | 2:22 am

In fact, today's Biden schedule highlight is a meeting with the chief of transparency for economic recovery. But, unfortunately, the transparency meeting is non-transparent, closed to the press. (See his full schedule below.) Which makes it -- what? -- secret openness? Open secrecy?

(snip)

Here is the vice president's official schedule for today. Boldface was added in the interests of emphasis. Note especially that the vice president's meeting with the chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board is closed, meaning non-transparent.

The "pool spray" mentioned has nothing to do with aquatics. It's a coded message to media that a few select members will be allowed in to take pictures briefly -- possibly for only a few seconds -- as Biden and his guest pretend to continue their previously private conversation as if the meeting was open.

DAILY GUIDANCE FOR THE VICE PRESIDENT, Thursday, January 14, 2010:

(snip)

At 1:00 PM, the Vice President will meet with Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd al-Mahdi in the Roosevelt Room. There will be a pool spray at the bottom of this meeting; gather time is 1:45 PM in the Brady Briefing Room.

Then, at 2:15 PM, the Vice President will meet with Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board. This meeting is closed press. ###

I,M sure JOE was just DRUNK!!

 

[ASPCA4EVER]

Intesting reading: a year in review about the transparency issue...didn't the republicans just shoot themselves in their collective FEET?

*****************************************
http://www.newsweek.com/id/184771/page/1

BETWEEN THE LINES Jonathan Alter

Poof Goes the Purple Dream

The American primary system allows a handful of activist voters to determine who runs the country.
Published Feb 14, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Feb 23, 2009

Say sayonara to "kumbaya." Bipartisanship is all but dead in Washington. President Obama cut a deal to win passage of his necessary—if not sufficient—stimulus bill with the last three moderate Republicans in Congress. But his effort to put a true conservative, Judd Gregg, in his cabinet turned out to be a bridge too far. While Obama wins points for coming across as a gracious and accommodating leader, his dream of a less polarized politics has been deferred—at least until he builds a new mass movement of independent voters with the help of the Terminator.

Before I explain what California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has to do with the detoxification of Washington, let's briefly review how the purple dream went bust. After the economy tanked last fall, every sentient economist, including the top economic advisers to Ronald Reagan and John McCain, knew that we needed a large stimulus to avoid a depression. It looked like the new president would get at least a handful of GOP members of the House and as many as 20 Senate Republicans.
Then, before even listening to Obama's pitch, House Minority Leader John Boehner sent out the word: no. Even after the president readily agreed to take out controversial "cable bait," such as money for contraceptives and seeding the grass on the Mall, the Republicans shifted to new bogus arguments and examples of tiny programs that weren't pork but could be made to look that way.

Republicans made up a story that they had no chance to voice their views (the bills were, in fact, marked up in public sessions) and claimed that tax cuts are a better stimulus than government spending, which is demonstrably false. When the deal was finally cut, the new GOP chairman, Michael Steele, put out a press release that perfectly captured his party's vacuous argument. His lead example of what was wrong with the bill was that it contained $200 million for AmeriCorps. As it happens, AmeriCorps is an almost perfect vehicle for stimulus because it's set up to create jobs instantaneously.
The big question is: even if they think the stimulus is a rotten piece of sausage, why wouldn't more of them want to help their ailing constituents? Why not team up with a honeymooning president whose popularity is three times that of his predecessor?
Part of the answer is baldly political. Republicans hope to break the new president's momentum—make him "fail," as de facto GOP chairman Rush Limbaugh urged—so they can say "I told you so" in November 2010.
Part of the answer is principled. As Obama said at his press conference last Monday, some are just philosophically opposed. He was too gentlemanly to add that they are also economically and historically ignorant. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell even claimed that government spending didn't get us out of the Great Depression. What does he think did? Tax cuts? New Deal programs reduced unemployment nearly in half (if you include government jobs) and the Depression ended when the government intervened heavily in the economy at the onset of WWII.
<more on page two, well worth reading>