FDL praises Obama to the skies on student loan reform

[eridani]

So, just maybe, perhaps, FDL's criticism of HCR was based on actual policy analysis instead of "Obama hate"? Just sayin'.

Sallie Mae, CitiBank, Bank of America handed a stunning defeat!
Student loan reform couldn't have happened without you.


President Obama signed a progressive bill into law today, and it's not the one you're thinking of.

Attached to the health insurance bill fixes was sweeping student loan reforms that cut the banks out of the business of lending to students altogether. Here's what you helped accomplish:

Low-income students will have better access to education through increases in Pell grants.
More students able to afford college means more money for schools, which keeps costs down and improves the quality of our institutions.

Students will now borrow directly from the government, cutting Wall Street out of the picture and avoiding lifetimes of debt from fees and interest rates that banks use to milk students dry.
The passage of student loan reform literally could not have happened without your help.

It really looked like reform was going to be left for dead in the aftermath of health care. The banks fought back hard, deploying their powerful lobbyists to save their profits by crafting a phony compromise bill. Congress was prepared to kill student loan reform this year.

Firedoglake was instrumental in bringing attention to student loan reform as both an easy progressive victory after a long health care fight, and as a no-brainer fix to help the nation's budget. Thanks to you, we were able to keep the bank lobbyists at bay until the bill passed, largely intact, saving over $61 billion in student loan money from Wall Street.

Not only did we completely beat the banks on the issue, it was with your support and donations that we ran ads in North Dakota and single-handedly beat back a special deal put in place by Senator Kent Conrad.

This is an important victory for students, community colleges, and all progressive activists like you who worked tirelessly to make it happen.

With your help, young people across the country now have a better chance at affording a college degree. We definitely couldn't have done this without your support.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NJmaverick]

2. FDL has shown to be a poor source for news or opinions

They stake out a position and then bend the "facts" to fit it. Sort of like Cheney did to help get the Iraq war going.

[eridani]

3. Well, since she thinks the student loan changes are good, you are required to say they are bad

Correct?

[NJmaverick]

6. Nope, even a blind squirrel finds the occasional nut

[aquart]

4. Or they simply don't take the kneejerk positions.

They actually think for themselves? I mean, the main objection is the lack of blind, unswerving loyalty to Obama, isn't it? And now that they've shown some, the debate becomes do we forgive or forever reject?

Heaven forfend that liberalism be about more than a cult of personality.

[NJmaverick]

7. They hardly think at all, that's their problem

[jefferson_dem]

8. C'mon now...

If you want to read about "5 Lessons The Tea Parties Can Learn From The Anti-War Movement," FDL is just the place. Firebaggers Unite!

[NJmaverick]

15. Her love affair with the racist/terrorist teabaggers certainly dose

betray her glaring lack of good judgment

[rudy23]

29. Jane Hamsher = Dick Cheney. Good thing there's no bending on your part. n/t

[NJmaverick]

33. different sides of the same coin

[rudy23]

41. Explain how Jane Hamsher and Dick Cheney are on different sides of the same coin for your DU readers

We're listening. Go ahead--explain how Jane Hamsher from FDL and Dick Cheney are on different sides of the same coin. Be sure to include links, and other factual information to make your case that JANE HAMSHER AND DICK CHENEY ARE TWO DIFFERENT SIDES OF THE SAME COIN.

[Ikonoklast]

45. They have both allied themselves with Grover Norquist and the Neocons.

Made common cause against a Democrat in office.

[rudy23]

47. So, is Obama on two sides of the same coin w/ Cheney for allying w/ Neocons?

Robert Gates?

[Ignis]

46. "factual information"

:rofl:

Oh man, that's funny. You must have replied to the wrong post if that's what you're seeking.

[jefferson_dem]

5. "Firedoglake was instrumental in bringing attention to student loan reform..."

:spray: Shameless, unjustified self-promotion.

[Robb]

14. LOL

Ooo, what policies can we claim credit for? Dibs on jobs!! :rofl:

[DevonRex]

40. That is the most hilarious thing I've read all day.

Once again, FDL wouldn't know the truth or TELL the truth if their lives depended on it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. No, it's still Obama hate. This is the Grover Norquist crowd, after all.

Maybe they're trying to have their cake and eat it too. Maybe they're trying to walk it back.

Whatever it is, FDL's still a shit site.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

38. This reminds me of the Republicans claiming victory after the HCR bill passed.

Colbert had clips of DeMint saying that the Republicans really won by losing. This is the same thing. FDL failed to prevent the bill from being signed, so they take this tack. "We won! Because of us, students have loan reform!"

[bvar22]

10. K&R for FDL and Obama.

I join FDL in applauding this move.

[mike_c]

11. I wish he would do something for those of us ALREADY saddled...

...with a lifetime of debt. I suspect we're the ones thrown under the bus to keep the banks at least somewhat mollified-- they'll be wringing us dry for the rest of our lives. I've been paying off my loans since 1995 and will still owe about half of them when I retire ten years from now, presumably to homelessness because the rat bastard banks will garnish my pension (if it still exists) and social security to get their blood money.

[Robb]

12. What the hell's an FDL?

...Is what most of America would say. A DU or FR would garner the same response.

FDL is only marginally more self-important, but to anyone on the outside the margin would be too small to notice.

[mzmolly]

13. It's also possible that they didn't have time to dig into critique mode

on student loans and make demands for a perfect fix.

[amborin]

16. unsurprising that FDL elicits this kind of rage: its insistence on the truth is unsettling to many

[NJmaverick]

19. If only that were the case

One would have to suffer from delusions to think Jane and FDL are the sources of any sort of "truth".

[amborin]

24. Fail! clearly FDL's pursuit of the truth is upsetting to many

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. Doesn't look like anybody's falling for it, except the FDL dead-enders.

I love the smell of comeuppance in the morning.

[DevonRex]

39. The truth is that they tried to kill the bill that contained student loan reform.

This is more like pursuit of hypocrisy and they certainly found it. Truth? Not so much.

[rudy23]

30. Especially those in the DLC.

That's why you're seeing this particular brand of rage directed towards FDL. The DLC does not rage lightly.

[berni_mccoy]

17. Wait, the same legislation FDL FOUGHT TO KILL... they now praise? Looks like Norquist/Teabaggers

didn't get their way and have abandon poor little Jane. Now she's pandering to the real progressives so she can try to fill her coffers again.

[Captain Hilts]

18. He certainly deserves it here. Kudos to the president for making this long-ignored issue a priority

[tridim]

20. I was going to say Jane is a fair weather Democrat..

But that's really being too generous.

She and her site are "piss on my leg and tell me it's raining" Democrats. AKA, make up shit and use that made up shit to trash Democrats at every opportunity.

Predictably, they're now in emergency CYA mode using a safe issue that everyone already agrees with.
Fool me once, shame, shame on. Don't get fooled again.

[NJmaverick]

21. completely agree

[jefferson_dem]

25. I used to have FDL bookmarked and follow Hamsher on Twitter.

But I bailed on last year when she called the President a liar, without a shred of substantive argument for why that would be the case. Ever since, Hansher has made shark-jumping a routine exercise. Now she's saddled up with the teabaggers. Wonder if that makes her apologists here proud.

If I wanted mouth-breathing Obama-hate, I would plug into Hannity.

[eridani]

27. The problem with supporting Dem policies when they are populist

--and opposing them when they are not is what, exactly?

[jefferson_dem]

28. I'm not convinced she is a Democrat at all.

Just sayin...

[frazzled]

22. Nah, it's about "sticking" it to the banks

And about self-promotion--as if FDL did this themselves. For christ's sake, Obama has been talking about getting rid of the middlemen on student loans for more than a year. So no, FDL was NOT "instrumental." It was part of the health care reform bill they tried to kill.

It's a fundraising appeal for the naive.

[NJmaverick]

36. Well said

:thumbsup:

[namahage]

23. I wouldn't call this "praising Obama to the skies."

More like attending a ribbon-cutting for a project they voted against.

[DevonRex]

31. Just like repuke lawmakers who want credit for bills they voted against.

When they do it, it's hypocrisy. When FDL does it, it's hypocrisy.

[NJmaverick]

34. ding! ding! ding! You win the prize!

[DevonRex]

35. Is it a trip to Hawaii????

:hug:

[Nikki Stone1]

32. FDL looks at policy and advises accordingly

That's why I trust them.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

37. LOL, is this a fundraising letter for FDL? It reads like one.

This reform was attached to the bill FDL worked very hard to kill. For them to take credit for it is simply stunning. The only reason it is law now is because people DIDN'T listen to FDL.

And what in your mind constitutes "praising Obama to the skies"? Mentioning his name? In that case, Fox praises Obama to the skies every day.

[Radical Activist]

42. Are we all supposed to know who "FDL" is?

[grahamhgreen]

43. Kudo's for Obama's first peice of progressive legislation!

[DFLforever]

44. FDL trying to regain credibility

I think they're a little late for that. Jumped the shark with their anti-HCR campaign.