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Obama Touted Website is Lame
In his remarks earlier this morning about his stimulus plan, Obama touted Recovery.gov as a website where Americans "will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars." Actually the site is empty pending the passage of the bill. Basically, it's a placeholder for after the bill is passed. Shouldn't there be something in there about the competing proposals? The options? Etc. It seems kind of lame for such a techno-savvy White House. Besides after the bill is passed how quickly are they really going to be able to update how Topeka spends it's sewer money?
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Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
Seriously, this is your post?
January 28, 2009 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing. This is way below TPM's usual standards.
January 28, 2009 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Me three. Very strange post. Of course they would only create the website when the bill is finalized and enacted. Why waste the money and expense of going through all the drafts and such? Very weird.
January 28, 2009 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
And the full text of the bill itself is available on thomas.loc.gov so reporters like Matt can go look it up.
January 28, 2009 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
"The website is lame becuz there's no boobies or light-sabers on it!!!!!"
January 28, 2009 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
It seems to me a less lame reporter would actually find the content of the bills being proposed and post them himself/herself.
January 28, 2009 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly, whatever happened to investigative journalism?
TPM isn't about speculative reporting, Matt.
January 28, 2009 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Screw you Cooper. You got nothin? Then just step away from the keyboard.
January 28, 2009 11:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Cooper, this is really scratching for an article. R U being paid by the word published?
January 28, 2009 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
TPM Touted Cooper is Lame
Get a job.
January 28, 2009 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is it not lame to complain that site designed to track the spending of a bill will have no content until the bill has passed.
Maybe all the alternatives projects that are not in the bill should be listed, whether or not there is a competing bid. Just troll every comment in every blog in the universe for any suggestion
Shouldn't it currently list of all the taxpayers who could potentially get a benefit from the bill. Names and address would be fine. Maybe last years tax liability.
How about list of all the places to possibly spend those tax credits. Some might spend on boxes, other on pet fish, some on baloney. I would like to see all the alternatives listed now so I can prepare.
In this economy aren't there a lot of more smart people, some who may even also have journalistic training, who have something more interesting to say looking than Matt Cooper?
January 28, 2009 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is just the sort of ginned-up phoney nit-picking "issue" that Time trains its monkeys to write. Oh, wait...
January 28, 2009 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seriously ? This guy used to work for Time ?
January 28, 2009 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hard to believe, isn't it?
So did Ana-Marie Cox.
Judging from this post, I'd be hard-pressed to tell their work apart.
Except that AMC admits to occasionally enjoying gin and anal sex.
January 28, 2009 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cooper is clearly a virgin who drinks alone.
January 28, 2009 3:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought for a minute there you meant Anna Nicole Smith.
January 28, 2009 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
They should spell out where, when, how, who, what is going to be spent at least in the initial phase before the final bill gets signed into law to give the public some confidence that this would be a good bill.
A starting place should be to post their recently released Recovery Plan Metrics Report on the recovery.gov site.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/Documents/Recovery_Plan_Metrics_Report_508.pdf
Oh and yes, Matthew Cooper, you can do a better job with the title of your post. TPM has better standards than this.
January 28, 2009 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, lets criticize them for not posting a report that is already on their website, and that apparently people can locate, in some other place that is designed for a different purpose. Yikes.
January 28, 2009 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm ok with the placeholder. There is so much nonsense being tossed around and changes being made that I think putting that all on a website at the moment would be a mess.
In the end it will do what it was designed to do.
January 28, 2009 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cooper is only a placeholder? Good news!
January 28, 2009 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ugh.
January 28, 2009 12:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please don't turn this place into Swampland or Politico. I come here for news, not ridiculous comments about a website design when the adminstration isn't even 10 days old.
January 28, 2009 12:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
i thought the preferred term was "physically challenged". next, cooper, are you going to tell us the stimulus package is soooo gay?
a little more substance, a little less schoolyard. ktnxbai!
January 28, 2009 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Besides after the bill is passed how quickly are they really going to be able to update how Topeka spends it's sewer money?
Its, not it's. And I guess we'll find out, won't we?
January 28, 2009 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Matt Cooper, there's a thing called thomas.loc.gov, where you, well, can look up the full text of the bill itself, and also cbo.gov, where you can look up their actually released and existent report on the stimulus bill.
January 28, 2009 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
This post might suck a little less if Mr. Cooper bothered to make an argument for what specifically, other than the actual stimulus bill content and the CBO report which are both available elsewhere, the Obama Administration could and should post on their website. Without such an argument, this post is pointless and, uh, lame.
January 28, 2009 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
It isn't lame. The bill is still be changed.
Once the bill has been passed, I am sure that everybody will be able to read where your money is going.
January 28, 2009 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree that, base on the comments above, they should at least rediredt people to sites where preliminary information is listed (i.e., "for a text of the bill currently under consideration, please visit xxx.xxx.gov").
That said, Matt, maybe your time would be better spent contacting your friends in the Republican Party and getting them to answer some of the questions raised in Josh's "dumb jocks" post on the main site.
My hope when you arrived was that you would beef up the investigative side of the reporting on this site, which seems to be where Josh's heart really lies (see the Attorney Firing Scandal for the best example).
If we want snark based on a review of other news sources, we have plenty of other places to go for that.
January 28, 2009 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. I'd like to hear more about why no one in the media is actually rebutting the tax cuts nonsense that the Republicans are spewing, and why the Democrats aren't mounting their own talking points offense on this point?
January 28, 2009 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
From his TPM:
"Cooper moonlights as a stand-up comedian and was named "Washington's Funniest Celebrity" in 1998"
So maybe he thinks he is being funny
January 28, 2009 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Shouldn't there be something in there about the competing proposals? The options? Etc.
I... don't know, should there? Couldn't you get at least some of this information from govtrack.us? :/
January 28, 2009 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does the bill, as it stands now, allow us Americans to see how and where we will spend taxpayer dollars? No? Because it hasn't passed? Then why is it lame?
If you were interested in the actual topic rather than just complaining, you could have given several links to educate us as to the bill as it stands today. Or maybe you didn't even know about the links.
Most of us hoi palloi spend more time on our blogs than you seem to have. And our paychecks are woefully lame!
January 28, 2009 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now that you mention it, it seems like the kind of website Mr. Cooper is asking for:
the competing proposals? The options? Etc
It seems like the white house is in a singularly bad position to set up such a website, since such a website as Mr. Cooper asks for would be basically describing the internal negotiations within Congress about the state of the bill and the White House is in fact a party in those negotiations. Their position is complicated.
However it seems like the kind of website that, say, TPM would be in a great position to set up, using at least the publicly available information about the different proposals. Hell, it seems like a site TPM readers could set up. I could go throw up a page on WetPaint if anyone wants to give it a go? :P
January 28, 2009 1:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Glad I'm not alone here. Its a good thing you renamed this section TPMDC, because this isn't even remotely close to the good old days of TPMEC.
Who knew losing Greg would basically destroy TPM's unique ability to cover political news.
January 28, 2009 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
And also (as bwak would say). (Not speaking for bwak, of course.... Just suspecting!)
January 28, 2009 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wait a second, Eric and Elana are doing a superb job.
January 28, 2009 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree.
Elana has been doing an excellent job providing actual commentary and data on the stimulus fight and Eric's work on the MN Senate mess has remained a highlight for me.
January 28, 2009 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I join in this chorus. These two are more in the tradition of TPM writers.
January 28, 2009 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly, and I've really appreciated Elana's writing to this date.
January 28, 2009 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
She's a great addition!
January 28, 2009 2:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eric and Elana are both awesome. Cooper is what you get when you change the name of the place to have "DC" in it: the token fat mess with no attention span or intellectual curiosity who likes to gossip.
January 28, 2009 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes Matt, Lame.
Rhymes with Plame.
Which rhymes with Dickhead.
January 28, 2009 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm going to term this thread: Readers Revolt!
January 28, 2009 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll get the torches, you get the pitchforks!
January 28, 2009 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well.... I'm not joining a mob. But I think we need to raise our voices in every possible way. If we're here for Justice sake, then we need to pursue it justly. Very important to live by our ideals.
January 28, 2009 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
My ideals are in the wash. Can I live by yours?
January 28, 2009 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Be my guest. :)
January 28, 2009 2:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is this post a joke? Josh is this what you are paying Cooper for?? Seriously. For Jeebus sake, I have come to count on TPM for a certain level of quality. If this is the direction TPM is trending with the employ of Mr. Cooper then count me among the very disappointed.
January 28, 2009 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
WTF ? Who is this clown ? A Ben Smith clone ?
January 28, 2009 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well screw you guys, I thought recover.gov was lame and I don't have a problem with Matt Cooper's post!
I certainly think the Obama administration could be doing more to solicit public input on the recovery bill and its various constituent points as well.
January 28, 2009 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's not open for business yet so how can it be lame?
The proper place for public input is your Congressperson's office. I don't remember where anyone said this website under discussion is designed to get your opinion. It's meant to provide you information.
January 28, 2009 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bring on Judith Miller! That'll bring some dignity to this site!
But seriously, folks -- Come to think of it, I'd love for Ambassador Wilson to blog here. I think he might teach us all a thing or three.
January 28, 2009 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cooper is doing a bang up job.
Maybe Josh can also bring in Judith Miller to round out the staff.
January 28, 2009 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dang it CVille Dem, stole my line.
Lemme try another:
Matt is a poopie-head!
January 28, 2009 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bring in Judith Miller? No need. She and Matt are probably joined at the roots.
January 28, 2009 3:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
CVille and Peaches - the idea of the day!
January 28, 2009 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
This post is written more like a reader comment about an article, rather than an article.
"Its" is possessive, and "it's" means it is.
January 28, 2009 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, the site talks about an oversight board. That's a hell of a lot more substance than we're accustomed to.
January 28, 2009 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink