Posts Tagged President Obama

Republican Mitch McConnell’s Twisted Logic on Taxes, Economics and Deficits

PARALLEL UNIVERSE by Steve Hester

Remember how “vibrant” the economy was at the end of the Bush Era? 

Recall that when Bush left office in January of 2009, the U.S. budget deficit was at an historical all-time high, roughly $1.3 Trillion .

So now Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell claims that the Bush Tax Cuts increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy.”

What an inexplicable disconnect between his statement and the foregoing facts regarding the economic collapse brought on by the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, and the deficits a majority of Americans agree that Bush hung around Obama’s neck; deficits that were unprecedented in relation to previous Administrations.  It’s patently obvious that McConnell operates from a parallel universe where the laws of basic math and logic don’t apply.  

As Ezra Klein of the Washington Post so kindly put it, “it’s enough to make you very, very sad.”

What’s even more unbelievable is how McConnell and the Republicans attempt to blister Obama and the Democrats on taxes, spending and deficits, all while ignoring the most blatant evidence of what the Republicans did after inheriting Clinton’s budget surplus.  To describe this behavior in terms of an hypocrisy is an understatement.

So now the country seems inclined to put these guys back in power?

That is utterly terrifying.

NOTE: the sublime painting by Steve Hester is an original watercolor for sale at this link.

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Fiscal Conservative Marco Rubio Points Fingers At Others, But Won’t Pay His Own Bills

You know all those people who many Fiscal Conservatives have blamed for the global financial crisis because they took out mortgages and then did not pay for them?  Or worse yet, they are still living in the house for free while refusing to pay the mortgage, and running up other personal debts on credit cards while the bank winds it’s way through an expensive and drawn out foreclosure proceeding?

Well let’s ask Marco Rubio - Florida’s Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, an avowed Fiscal Conservative, and political darling of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) what he thinks about all of this; because Rubio joined the ranks of such people, and stopped paying a mortgage he has on a house in Florida.  Of course, when news of the pending foreclosure recently surfaced, the past-due mortgage payments were miraculously brought current – including payment of all penalties and the banks legal fees – and the house was put up for sale

Maybe Rubio just happened to read the conservativefocus.com website’s post called ”Owners Stop Paying Mortgage . . And Stop Fretting About It?  Here’s what a mortgage expert had to say on the issue:

“From the lenders’ standpoint, people who stay in their homes without paying the mortgage or actively trying to work out some other solution, like selling it, are “milking the process.”

Oh, but it doesn’t just end there.  It also appears that Rubio likes to use his Florida Republican Party credit card for personal expenses – which is part of an IRS criminal probe into unlawful political expenditure reports filed by Florida Republicans.  But of course, that particular little “misunderstanding” was also miraculously paid up once it was discovered by the IRS. 

Furthermore, when he sets up Conservative political actions committees (PAC’s) to raise campaign money for other candidates, and then uses most of the money to pay his relatives as “employees” of the PAC’s, that can also be explained away as just paying employees to do their job.  So was the PAC established primarily to raise campaign funds, or as a “slush fund” to help his family pay their bills?  Wonder what the Federal Election Commission might have to say about that?  And how quick will that money be paid back to political donors when it also becomes a problem?

If you are Marco Rubio, being a Fiscal Conservative means only being critical of the spending habits of President Obama and Democrats – and not yourself.

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A Tragedy of the First Proportion?

No, the heading of this post is not a reference to the tragic deaths of the eleven men killed from the horrific explosion and fire on that Gulf oil rig.  Nor is that heading alluding to the environmental devastation being wrought upon Gulf coast region by the oil spill.  And it is not even a commentary on the hardships the people of the Gulf coast are experiencing.

Quite to the contrary.  

That statement was Texas Republican Representative Joe Barton’s characterization of the outcome of the meeting between BP executives and President Obama in the Oval Office on Wednesday – where BP voluntarily agreed to pay $20 Billion into a fund to cover legal claims for the oil spill.  Barton seems to think that BP had no choice in the matter – describing it as a political “shakedown” – and then openly apologized to BP’s embattled CEO, Tony Hayward, as more Congressional hearings got underway this morning.  Here is what Barton had to say:

“I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday . . . [it's] a tragedy of the first proportion, that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, a $20 billion shakedown.”

Furthermore, Barton attempted to insinuate that BP was denied it’s right to utilize the legal system by invoking the constitutional doctrine of  “due process and fairness” - thereby concluding that BP entered the agreement under duress, thus ostensibly elevating it to the level of “a tragedy of first proportion”; at least in Barton’s obviously warped world-view. 

If anything, Barton’s response is so remarkably disproportionate, it begs the question as to how he could reach such an extraordinarily nonsensical conclusion?  Want a not so little clue?

M-$-O-$-N-$-E-$-Y!

Barton – who is the top Congressional recipient of almost $1.5 million in political campaign contributions from the oil industry over the past 20 years – is just another shameless Big Oil shill in Washington, who is willing to do the bidding for their interests; all while placing the interests of average Americans at the bottom of the barrel.

Barton may be the only Republican brazen enough, or outright stupid enough, to say what he really thinks.  I guess money and power will do that to you.  Other Republicans simply insinuated that it was another Obama-style government takeover, of sorts.  Their “measured responses” are just a veil for the same manner of thinking. 

Meanwhile, as I am just finishing writing this post, Barton has suddenly issued a retraction of his earlier apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward – not so ironically, under duress from Republican leadership.  In Barton’s mind, that is probably compounding the “tragedy of first proportion”?  But even soul-less politicians have to compromise from time-to-time.

Nevertheless, don’t be fooled.  After all, defending Corporate America is the primary business of the Republicans.  Meanwhile, the small business owners of the Gulf Coast are cast afloat on a proverbial sea of oil, all going to Hell in a hand-basket together.

Let’s just hope the voters remember that come November.

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Sarah Palin: “Spill Baby Spill”

 

Hey Sarah “Drill Baby Drill” Palin?

About a month ago you called President Obama’s new energy proposal, “Stall, Baby Stall“.

Let me guess – you are working on your next great idea - putting a floating oil refinery in the Gulf of Mexico to process that crude oil spill out there?  That’ll fix it . . .

You betcha!

UPDATE:  Sarah.  Would you like to try some of our new Louisiana Cajun “Black Broth” Gumbo?  Oh, and do you and Todd need a fleet of used shrimpboats?   These guys cannot make the payments on their boats anymore due to some politicians’ defense of off-shore drilling policies.

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Republicans Suddenly “Get Religion” On Financial Reform?

Several weeks ago Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell and Senator John Cornyn, leader of the National Republican Senatorial Committee – a principle Republican campaign fund-raising organization – flew to New York City to meet with Wall Street.  Looming on the “dark horizon” was another long and bitter battle with President Obama and the Democrats over the proposed financial reform bill.  It was safe to assume that Republicans would drag this one out like they did health care reform so as to impact the coming Fall mid-term elections.

True to form, McConnell and Cornyn made their pitch to the money-changers sitting in the temple – which was 25 Wall Street executives and hedge fund managers.  The two powerful Senators made it very clear that in order for the Republicans to have any chance to take back control of the Senate and the House, they would need Wall Street’s assistance.  As one anonymous Wall Street executive in attendance so eloquently put it, “There was no arm twisting, but they did say that we should feel uncomfortable living in any country where one party has unfettered ability to pass anything [legislation] . . . President Obama dreams up.”

I hope I don’t have to spell out what the Republicans quid pro quo was?   $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ . . . and lots of it.

So upon the Senator’s return to Washington, McConnell immediately announces that the Republicans are united in their oppostion to the Democrats’ financial reform bill, and they will utilize every procedural move to block the proposed regulatory-laden legislation because it will risk future tax-payer bailouts.  That was just two weeks ago.

Fast forward one week, with one big freakin’ revelation about Goldman Sachs’ “gaming the system” to the $1 Billion detriment of several of their institutional clients, as well as proposals for much stronger derivatives regulation coming out of another Senate committee – and the Republicans are caught in a trap that they set for themselves.  

Yet, in spite of the fact that the Republicans suddenly reversed course and were quickly backing away from supporting their Wall Street financiers, appearing more conciliatory towards President Obama and the Democrats than they have in more than 14 months, Mitch McConnell would have you believe that he has the Democrats on the ropes.  

McConnell seems to think he should get credit for forcing the Democrats to negotiate.   Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and author of the pending legislation, responded to McConnell’s baseless bragging, saying this:

That is like a rooster taking credit for the sunrise.”

YEP!

UPDATE:  Now after two days of filbustering and holding up floor debate on financial reform, McConnell got those Democrats to negotiate again – or was it get the voters to forget about the GOP’s siding with Wall Street by November?

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Sarah Palin Nuked Her Own Brain

It’s obvious Sarah Palin must have put her head in the microwave oven somewhere along the way.

In her most recent comments regarding President Obama’s nuclear weapons policy, Palin tried to belittle Obama by claiming that his only knowledge of the topic was gained through “his vast nuclear experience that he acquired as a community organizer and as a full-time candidate.” 

Excuse me?  Palin sees a full-time candidate every morning when she looks in the mirror.

But more to the point.  What Palin obviously does not even know is that as a first-term junior U.S. Senator with a coveted seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Obama introduced his first major piece of legislation in 2005 with Republican co-sponsor Senator Richard Lugar, Chairman of the committee.  Known as the  Lugar-Obama proliferation and threat reduction initiative, it was designed to limit proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), as well as expand the State Department’s ability to find and interdict weapons and materials designed for this purpose – particularly nuclear weapons.  

Betcha didn’t know that one, Sarah?!?

Moreover, when she stated that the Obama Adminstration “treated the Afghan President poorly”- referring to President Obama’s direct and unambiguous criticism of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s unwillingness to root out corruption and fraud within his own government – she explicitly ignores the fact that his government is financed by and exists only with the support of the United States taxpayer; that Afghanistan has virtually no Gross Domestic Product – as in an economy, Sarah; that Afghanistan’s largest export – opium - directly provides the world with an unending supply of heroin, while simultaneously financing the Taliban and Al Qaeda; and last, but not least, there is strong evidence that President Karzai’s brother is heavily involved in this game of drug trafficking and revenue-sharing with the terrorists organizations.

Yet she maintains that we should continue to finesse Afghanistan, but not Iran.  She thinks we should finesse Pakistan, but not North Korea.  She believes we should “quit coddling our enemies”, and that we should “respect” our allies –  in spite of their unwillingness to respect our own national security interests.  Sarah, here is what happens when you coddle an ally too much:

1)  As you keep throwing more and more money at them – $21 Billion to be exact, in U.S. foreign aid given to Pakistan from 2001 through 2008 - you perpetuate their willful impotence and institutional corruption.  The Bush Administration kept former Pakistani leader General Musharaff propped-up with U.S. taxpayer’s money for seven years with a promise from Pakistan that it would root out and pursue terrorists operating in its own territories.  They did little or nothing.  It was only after the Democrats had taken back control of Congress in 2006 and then threatened to pull the plug on Pakistan’s foreign aid, that Bush reluctantly decided it was time to “get tough” with Musharaff.  

2)  You cannot allow your ally’s sovereignty to be paramount to your own national security.  Republican Presidential candidate John McCain – do you even recall who his V.P. running-mate was, Sarah (?) –  stated that he (McCain) would not violate Pakistan’s sovereignty by going after terrorists in it’s territory if elected President.  In deep contrast to that “coddle your friends” policy, President Obama made it clear on numerous occasions while on the campaign trail that if Pakistan would not do the job, he would!  Shortly after President Obama took the oath of office, he made good on his word.  And guess what, Sarah?  Our terrorist enemies in Pakistan do not sleep well at night anymore – as this blog noted some 90 days ago.  

3) When the U.S. taxpayer funds $21 Billion in foreign aid under the pretense that it is going to make our country safer, they want a President who is going to make sure that the recipients give us our money’s worth.  President Obama immediately recognized that Pakistan’s government was full of graft and corruption, and that it was doing nothing about ousting the terrorists, so he pressed them very hard on the issue - unlike Bush and Cheney – and Pakistan has demonstrated a whole new attitude about going after the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Moreover, they have kept their damn mouths shut about the U.S. “violating their sovereignty” with our incessant and terrifying drone attacks – thus giving the terrorists a taste of their own medicine after seven years of U.S. impotence.

President Obama is now sending the same message to Afghan President Karzai  – PUT UP, OR SHUT UP!

HMMMMMMMMMMM . . .

Amazing how that all works, eh Sarah???

If Palin thinks – and I use the term “think” very loosely in her case - that she has any standing to criticize President Obama’s foreign policy experience, let’s look at the facts.  In the previous Presidential election campaign, Palin couldn’t even identify the Bush Doctrine when asked by Charlie Gibson of ABC news - damn those “gotcha journalists”, Sarah.  Moreover, that she is not even aware of President Obama’s own prior nuclear proliferation legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate back in 2005 speaks for itself.

Here is the reality for Sarah Palin’s political supporters:  well-timed platitudes and folksy quotes are not going to make this country more secure.  To the contrary.  And our enemies would be more than happy to exploit such blatant foreign policy inexperience and unprecedented ignorance of publically available information.  The information contained in this post is not rocket science, and easily accessible to even a 5th grader, Sarah. 

Most glaring though, is The Anchorage Daily News’ – as in Alaska’s largest newspaper – recent acknowledgement that “she has little or no foreign policy experience.”.  If  she cannot even get an endorsement from her own home state newspaper on this very important issue . . . well, that speaks volumes.

Which all leaves no doubt that the terrorists are just drooling at the prospect of her being elected President in 2012.

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Top Strategy in Fox News’ Playbook Exposed By Republican Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK)

 

Re-elect Republican Senator Tom Coburn.

That’s right.  I said it.  Vote for a Republican.  Even one I often disagree with.

You know why? 

Because Tom Coburn has shown the courage of his convictions to not allow his constituents to be misled, or operate under false assumptions regarding misinformation that Fox News regularly feeds it’s viewers.  Nor have them be deluded into believing that Nancy Pelosi is somehow loathsome merely because she is the Democratic Speaker of the House.

In a recent Town Hall meeting back in his home state of Oklahoma, Senator Coburn summarily dismissed a statement by one of his supporters that you could be put in jail for not buying health insurance under President Obama’s newly-passed Health Care Reform Bill, and openly criticized Fox News for its irresponsible dissemination of this kind of nonsense to it’s viewers:

 “The intention is not to put any one in jail. That makes for good TV news on FOX but that isn’t the intention . . . [w]hat we have to have is make sure we have a debate in this country so that you can see what’s going on and make a determination yourself.”

When mentioning Speaker Pelosi by name, the crowd began to hoot and make personal attacks against her.  In response, Senator Coburn admonished his supporters, lecturing them on the finer points of civility by saying this:

“Come on now. She is nice – how many of you all have met her? She’s a nice person . . . [j]ust because somebody disagrees with you doesn’t mean they’re not a good person . . . I’ve been in the senate for five years and I’ve taken a lot of that, because I’ve been on the small side –- both in the Republican Party and the Democrat Party . . . [s]o don’t catch yourself being biased by FOX News that somebody is no good.”

The context of his speech was the current debate over extending unemployment benefits, and his opposition to Speaker Pelosi’s policy of not providing current funding for the proposal – thus increasing the deficit.  Whether you agree with his position on this – and I do not – I respect his willingness to not personalize the issue.

WOW!

A Republican teaching his constituents to think for themselves?  To not take everything they hear or read at face value?  That is both laudable and courageous.  And it earns my respect as much as any Democrat’s position on policies.  Especially in the current political environment.  Senator Coburn seems less interested in pandering to Fox News’ liberal use of the most common form of invalid argumentation:  Argument Ad Hominem, otherwise known as attacking the speaker instead of addressing the issue.  

Under the rules of formal debate, it is an unacceptable technique designed to appeal to emotion rather than logic.  In other words, Coburn correctly is calling out Fox News for it’s unconscionable attempts to persuade its viewers with labels and shameful lies, rather than with valid facts and reasoning.

Argument Ad Hominem is the most misused form of argumentation in American politics – and one that when elevated to irrational and vicious proportions, can lead to violence.  Simply put, if you do not agree with one of my arguments, address it directly.  Do not try and divert attention to my politics by attacking me personally, insinuating or saying that I am a Socialist, or a Liberal, or a lawyer.  That does not make my argument any less valid, and in fact, completely invalidates your response.

In the legal arena, there is an old saying:

“If you don’t have a case, abuse the witness.”

RIGHT, FOX NEWS?

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Teabagger Teabonics: Ur the Reel Amerikens

TO MEMBERS OF THE TEA PARTY:  If a picture is worth a thousand words, let me try and help you now understand why this country is in so much trouble . . .

 Against New Tax's

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

America's Only Lanaguage is English

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't Mortage Children's Future 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't Take My Rights - I'm Still Useing Them & Repeel Congress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illegal Alliens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep the Tea - Dump the Polititions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lier in Chief

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lobbyest Payoffs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 One Hugh Mistake America

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Repeel Congress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Respect Are Country - Speak English

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sactity of Marriage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Scholiast Policies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Taxed Enoungh Already

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank You Fox News for Keeping Us Infromed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get a Brain Morans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

. . . oooohhhhhHHHH, Never Mind!?!

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Obama and Democrats Played Republicans on Healthcare?

karma1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the blame game begins about how Health Care Reform got passed. 

You are just going to love this one . . .

William Saletan reports today in Slate.com that the Bipartisan Health Care Summit organized by the Whitehouse and attended by the President and party leaders on February 25, 2010 , was in fact a total ruse orchestrated by President Obama to set-up the Republicans; Saletan cites accounts from four different media outlets who quote anonymous Democratic aides that “paint a picture of deception” as follows:

“Obama never believed he could persuade Republicans. He had already decided the shape of the bill. He called the meeting to create an illusion of outreach, put Republicans on the spot, discredit their ideas, and embolden Democrats.”

Oh, Horror of Horrors!  How sinister of  President Obama.  You know they say he is one Hell of a poker player.  Republicans should have known just how shrewd and conniving this beast was when they sat down at the table with him.  Obama went “all in”, and the Repubs folded.  How could he do this to them?

 The Republicans spent over a year trying to play Obama and the Democrats like a fiddle, and in the end, it was the Republicans who got played?  Hee Hee Hee.

KARMA BABY.  KARMA. 

Hey Repubs:  I think God does have a sense of humor.

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What’s the Big F@%King Deal Fox News? V.P. Biden Did Not Tell Anyone “Go F@%K Yourself”

Cheney_GoFuckYourself3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So Joe Biden speaks honestly with President Obama today when congratulating him over the passage of the Health Care Reform bill after the President signed-off on it today at the Whitehouse.

BFD!

Well, keeping in line with their usual hypocrisy, Fox News is all a “twitter” - YES, the pun is intended – over the “party-like” atmosphere surrounding the celebration of the President and the Democrats in achieving a step towards reforming the U.S. health care system.  According to Fox and friends, you would think this was a drunken frat party.  And from reading their viewers’ responses, you would think Biden’s comment was a blasphemy to the image of the Office of the President.

So how did Fox News treat Dick Cheney’s admonition to Senator Patrick Leahy to “Go F@%K Yourself”, while standing on the floor of the Senate Chamber in 2004? 

Like no BFD . . .  

In fact, on The O’Reilly Factor, Karl Rove and Bill O’Reilly rationalized away Cheney dropping the “F’ Bomb on Leahy because the Senator had previously called for an investigation of Bush Administration ties to Halliburton after the company was granted a “no-bid” contract for the re-construction of Iraq after the U.S. invasion in 2003.   Cheney was the former CEO of Halliburton from 1996-2000.  

Yeah, Cheney, there was certainly no appearance of impropriety there.  WTF???

However, Rove and O”Reilly NEVER referenced the rest of the story regarding Leahy’s attempt to address prior accusations  – a veiled smear tactic – by Cheney and company that he (Leahy) was a bad Catholic.  When Leahy approached Cheney in very a gentlemanly manner to inquire about that, Cheney gave his infamous response.

So where was Fox News’ indignation?  Or their readers outrage?

Fox News is a F@%King Joke!

Having the final word over today’s meaningless flap, Whitehouse Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said it best when questioned about Biden’s comment:  

“And yes Mr. Vice President, you’re right.”

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