Political Hay
Inaugural Memories
Today, Democrats celebrate what they once protested.
Eight years ago today, I took my daughter Kennedy to see President Bush’s inauguration. The weather was miserable, a cold drizzle of sleet and rain falling for most of the day, but that was of little concern to a dad taking his 11-year-old to watch a moment of history.
Kennedy was homeschooled and, as part of her social studies lessons that year, she had followed the presidential election, assembling a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about the campaign. On election night, she stayed up to watch TV coverage of the returns, coloring each state red or blue on an outline map until sometime after midnight when it became obvious that “too close to call” was the closest to a decision there would be. Her scrapbook was extended with clippings about the five-week Florida recount until Bush was certified the winner by 537 votes.
Our journey downtown for the inauguration parade was sort of a field trip to culminate that project, but it was also an unexpected lesson for my daughter. The lesson was provided by the legions of anti-Bush protesters who showed up in an effort to spoil the fun for everyone.
“Hail to the Thief” proclaimed some of the signs held by these protesters, not all of whom were of the anarchist-scum variety who turned out for the 1999 anti-globalization demonstrations during the International Monetary Fund meetings. Many of those who turned out to boo and jeer Bush’s 2000 inauguration were middle-aged people carrying anti-Bush placards supplied by their labor unions.
“How lame,” my daughter said of the protesters. Standing for hours in the bone-chilling rain was unpleasant enough for those who supported Bush. What kind of madness would cause people to endure such conditions in order to express their contempt for the new president?
This wasn’t “dissent” — the protesters weren’t going to change the facts of the election, and they weren’t attempting to influence policy. Rather, it was merely tacky rudeness. Let us hope that no Republicans mar today’s ceremonies with similar displays of bad taste.
No such protests are likely today, of course. The Democratic and Republican parties are organized on different principles, appealing to different constituencies, and the politics of protest is not something the GOP does well. The 2000 election was one of the rare occasions when Republicans organized effective protests, with grassroots activists gathering outside the vice-presidential residence at the Naval Observatory during the Florida recount to chant “Get out of Cheney’s house!” — chants that reportedly unnerved Al Gore.
Protests are for the disempowered, and eight years of the Clinton presidency had left Republicans feeling sufficiently disempowered that, with the balance of power hanging like a chad in Palm Beach County, a few dozen of them were willing to turn out for those anti-Gore protests. It was an evanescent eruption, however, and once it was over, Republicans went back to acting like Republicans.
Under normal conditions, the typical Republican voter is politically inert. He turns out to vote in November, then goes back to working and paying taxes. Twenty years ago, conservative humorist P.J. O’Rourke went to cover one of the massive protest rallies that periodically fill the National Mall in Washington with indignant liberal activists. Returning from the rally, he was asked why Republicans never do anything similar. The answer was obvious: “Because we have jobs!”
That’s the simplest explanation for why there will be few if any Republican protesters at Barack Obama’s inauguration festivities. While TV news has spent the past week hyping the occasion as a moment of world-historical significance, for the typical Republican, it’s just another Tuesday. He will celebrate the occasion by waking up, taking a quick shower, getting dressed, grabbing a cup of coffee and going to work.
Politics occupies a smaller place in the conservative soul. The whole point of limited government is to restrict the sphere of politics, so that the regular routine of everyday life is beyond the reach of political influence.
By contrast, liberals ascribe to politics a mystical transformative power that adds meaning and purpose to life. This explains the liberal media’s breathless enthusiasm over the “Hope” and “Change” symbolized by today’s ceremony.
No one should begrudge liberals this occasion, but rather feel sympathy for them. Whether they are celebrating a Democrat’s inauguration or, as eight years ago, protesting the inauguration of a Republican, liberals seek in politics a transcendent meaning it can never really provide.
To quote my daughter, “How lame.”
About the Author
Robert Stacy McCain is co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party (Nelson Current). He blogs at The Other McCain.
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Rich| 1.20.09 @ 7:20AM
Wonderful! Thank you.
Deborah | 1.20.09 @ 7:36AM
I've thought over the past months that with what I think will be an oppressive Obama administration (I will happily admit to my error if proven otherwise) that Republicans and conservatives should invest in their own "rent-a-mob." That way they'd have a job like the low-lifes that populate the left-wing rent-a-mobs. Just an incoherent thought on Obama's inauguration day (not that I think this is an occasion for protest).
Great column, Mr. McCain.
Mille| 1.20.09 @ 8:02AM
I too was there eight years ago. What a dreadful .....and glorious day! Mr. McCain must have been near the corner of Penn and 7th near the Starbucks where my family had staked out curbside seating. At that corner were assembled the various anarchists with black bandanas covering their faces, the union thugs and the NOW loonies with their pro-abortion stickers plastered on to their babies' strollers. What a bunch of losers ---- tacky indeed!
I suppose Republicans could make the case for protesting this election ("selection"?) --- there is the issue of that birth certificate, after all, but we won't. In the end, it really just comes down to class --- who has it and who doesn't.
frost| 1.20.09 @ 8:21AM
The following is just the first 1 1/2 paragraphs of the London Daily Mail editorial:
Obama's victory?
A victory for the hysterical Oprah Winfrey, the mad racist preacher
Jeremiah Wright, the mainstream media who abandoned any sense of
objectivity long ago, Europeans who despise America largely because
they depend on her, comics who claim to be dangerous and fearless but
would not dare attack genuinely powerful special interest groups. A
victory for Obama-worshippers everywhere. A victory for the cult of the
cult. A man who has done little with his life but has written about his
achievements as if he had found the cure for cancer in between winning
a marathon and building a nuclear reactor with his teeth. Victory for
style over substance, hyperbole over history, rabble-raising over
reality.
A victory for Hollywood, the most dysfunctional community in the world.
Victory for Streisand, Spielberg, Soros and Sarandon. Victory for those
who prefer welfare to will and interference to independence. For those
who settle for group think and herd mentality rather than those who
fight for individual initiative and the right to be out of step.....
frost| 1.20.09 @ 8:26AM
- - - (an even More Important quotation) - - -
"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened." - - said Norman Thomas, American socialist
Michael L. Hauschild| 1.20.09 @ 8:51AM
My 56th Inauguration day memory will be marked by the erection of the ice sculpture of a shivering Al Gore in Fairbanks Alaska. Ladies and Gentlemen the "Cold Day in Hell" has dawned.
Robert Rosencrans| 1.20.09 @ 8:53AM
At this time in our history we should not rejoice in Obama, but rejoice in the individual. A good read for the day.
http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=21923&news_iv_ctrl=1021
by Aaron Brook
And the issue is wider than the financial crisis. Millions of Americans don’t have health insurance? Well, says Obama, that’s because we’ve left the health-care system to the free market. The solution: a complete government takeover of medicine. A few companies engaged in accounting fraud? It must be because we didn’t impose enough regulations on businessmen. The solution: rein in corporations with Sarbanes-Oxley.
But while capitalism may be a convenient scapegoat, it did not cause any of these problems. Indeed, whatever one wishes to call the unruly mixture of freedom and government controls that made up our economic and political system during the last three decades, one cannot call it capitalism.
Take a step back. In the lead up to the “Reagan Revolution,” the explosive growth of government during the ’60s and ’70s had left the American economy in disarray. A crushing tax burden, runaway inflation, brutal unemployment, and economic stagnation had Americans looking for an alternative. That’s what Reagan offered, denouncing big government and promising a new “morning in America.”
Under Reagan, some taxes were reduced, inflation was subdued, a few regulations were relaxed--and the economy roared back to life. But while markets were able to function to a greater degree than in the immediate past, the regulatory and welfare state remained largely untouched, with government spending continuing to increase, as well as some taxes. Later administrations were even worse. Bush Jr., often laughably called a champion of free markets, presided over massive new governmental controls like Sarbanes-Oxley and massive new welfare programs like the prescription drug benefit.
None of this is consistent with capitalism. As the economic system that fully recognizes and protects individual rights, including the right to private property, capitalism means, in Ayn Rand’s words, “the abolition of any and all forms of government intervention in production and trade, the separation of State and Economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of Church and State.” Laissez-faire means laissez-faire: no welfare state entitlements, no Federal Reserve monetary manipulation, no regulatory bullying, no controls, no government interference in the economy. The government’s job under capitalism is single but crucial: to protect individual rights from violation by force or fraud.
America came closest to this system in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The result was an unprecedented explosion of wealth creation and consequent rise in the standard of living. Even now, when the fading remnants of capitalism are badly crippled by endless controls, we see that the freest countries--those which retain the most capitalist elements--have the highest standard of living.
Why then should capitalism take the blame today--when capitalism doesn’t even exist? Consider the current crisis. The causes are complex, but the driving force is clearly government intervention: the Fed keeping interest rates below the rate of inflation, thus encouraging people to borrow and providing the impetus for a housing bubble; the Community Reinvestment Act, which forces banks to lend money to low-income and poor-credit households; the creation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with government-guaranteed debt leading to artificially low mortgage rates and the illusion that the financial instruments created by bundling them are low risk; government-licensed rating agencies, which gave AAA ratings to mortgage-backed securities, creating a false sense of confidence; deposit insurance and the “too big to fail” doctrine, whose bailout promises have created huge distortions in incentives and risk-taking throughout the financial system; and so on. In the face of this long list, who can say with a straight face that the housing and financial markets were frontiers of “cowboy capitalism”?
This is just the latest example of a pattern that has been going on since the rise of capitalism: capitalism is blamed for the ills of government intervention--and then even more government intervention is proposed as the cure. The Great Depression? Despite massive evidence that the Federal Reserve’s and other government policies were responsible for the crash and the inability of the economy to recover, it was laissez-faire that was blamed. Consequently, in the aftermath, the government’s power over the economy was not curtailed but dramatically expanded. Or what about the energy crisis of the 1970s? Despite compelling evidence that it was brought on by monetary inflation exacerbated by the abandonment of the remnants of the gold standard, and made worse by prices controls, “greedy” oil companies were blamed. The prescribed “solution” was for the government to exert even more control.
It’s time to stop blaming capitalism for the sins of government intervention, and give true laissez-faire a chance. Now that would be a change we could believe in.
Deborah | 1.20.09 @ 8:59AM
Great points all, Frost. I actually wrote to my Senators and representative (GA) to thank them for voting against the release of the second part of the TARP funds. I mentioned the slide toward socialism. I think we must reinforce good behavior on the part of our elected officials, especially now (what's the psychological term? Behavior Modification). Scary times are upon us.
Deborah | 1.20.09 @ 9:06AM
Wow, Mr. Rosencrans, thanks for posting the column from aynrand.org. Simply excellent, and a needed corrective to all the blarney being passed along as wisdom concerning the economy today.
Obama Rules| 1.20.09 @ 10:22AM
Bye, bye, Bush! Say Hail to the Real Chief!!
Nick in Virginia| 1.20.09 @ 10:25AM
Here is a link to the "Bill of No Rights", a somewhat humorous re-statement of the Bill of Rights that has been floating around for quite a few years now:
http://www.keelynet.com/humor/norights.htm
Regarding health care, this is my favorite line:
Free health care "would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care. "
My sentiments exactly, on MOST government programs, whether is is run by 0bama and the Democrats or by the Republicans.
Interloper| 1.20.09 @ 11:40AM
I am watching the inauguration activities on television while perusing this thread. The contrast is revealing. You all need to leave the dark cave of ignorance and bigotry in which you dwell and join us in the radiant light of a new era. Pretending that history is not being made is cowardice. Happy Inauguration Day!
Jeremiah| 1.20.09 @ 12:08PM
Interschlepper & ObambiRules, you're still alive and not choking on your intolerance and ignorance? Have a seat and watch Day One of USA Decadence. We'll pass the Lexomil after the mid terms, we were strong enough not use it after all.
Jeremiah| 1.20.09 @ 12:22PM
Interschlepper, I notice you don't use a capital H for history; deep inside you perfectly know all this is just a freak accident, an irrational twist of events. We know History when we see it, because we make it happen. You jerks from the Babble Belt are just barely able to surf the waves of this one of a time opportunity. In 2010 we won't get mad, we'll get even. And we won't celebrate in such an indecent way.You see: we have real jobs.
Interloper| 1.20.09 @ 12:46PM
NOT Jeremiah, 'history' is not a proper noun.
Happy Inauguration Day!
True American| 1.20.09 @ 1:03PM
Did you guys see that Obama used a Bible, not the Koran! Yikes! I thought he was Muslim!! He is trying to fool America, but not me he won't!
Alan Brooks| 1.20.09 @ 1:05PM
not oppressive. but certainly, smarmy.
Oprah smarmy.
you can bank on it.
Nick| 1.20.09 @ 1:10PM
"the one" has been president for an hour now, where is the change? Why is the Dow down 180? Why isn't the economy fixed? Why isn't there peace in the middle east?
I've decided to give Obama as much slack and respect as you stinking liberals did to president Bush.
Why isn't there a cure for cancer yet? I'm waiting.
Louis Jenkins| 1.20.09 @ 1:21PM
To Frost- Amen!! To Rosencrans-good background and conclusion. Could never have said it better. And there were no words of "hate mongering." There is a difference! Not just gainful employment, but civility.
Alan Brooks| 1.20.09 @ 1:27PM
hate?
well i dont like Michelle,
"dearie, me. our souls are broken. heavens to betsy"
eight years of it.
Deborah | 1.20.09 @ 1:33PM
"You all need to leave the dark cave of ignorance and bigotry in which you dwell and join us in the radiant light of a new era. Pretending that history is not being made is cowardice."
Let's see how many offensive remarks one person can put in two sentences. You win, Interloper, for being the least uplifting with the most bigotry in two sentences.
I guess I can say, "I am rubber. You are glue. Everything bounces off of me and sticks to you." Sounds just about as adult as what you just said.
You, sir, should enter the "radiant light" of truth.
Congratulations to Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States. A president I will not hate with the red-hot hate of those liberals who frothed at the mouth for eight years at President Bush. I will do what you all describe as patriotic: Dissent. I will do it with facts, logic and common sense, not by calling him names in hatred and anger.
Perhaps now your side of the political spectrum can leave the "dark cave of ignorance and bigotry" as it applies to conservatives. I won't hold my breath.
PolishKnight| 1.20.09 @ 1:38PM
I chuckled at the "we have jobs" jab. A white male liberal friend of mine came to DC for the inauguration and, coincidentally, he's unemployed. Good luck to him waiting for Obama to save him. I read Rev. Joseph Lowery's prayer on Drudge bashing whites. Looks like seperate but equal is back, in reverse!
c| 1.20.09 @ 1:40PM
Two whole hours of Obama in charge and still no terrorists strike. I guess Bush wasn't the only thing standing between us and the terrorists.
PolishKnight| 1.20.09 @ 1:42PM
Nick asks: Why isn't the economy fixed?
Nick, Obama's already managing expectations and promising us FDR: 10 years of depression and a world war. The question now is whether enough Americans really want to go down that route for the Obama Kool Aid. I predict a very short honeymoon for Obama's new godhood...
Nick| 1.20.09 @ 2:21PM
PolishKnight,
I predict your prediction will come true. I just can't decide if it will be Obama selling out and retarding the ambitions of Pelosi\Reid. Or will his handlers\advisers crush all his plans, telling him if he wants a second term, he had better drop all his socialist schemes. Ala Dick Morris.
But more importantly, where is my check. I was promised a check? Why isn't there free, nonpolluting electricity?
Forget the first hundred days, it's been over 100 minutes! I want change now!
Tim| 1.20.09 @ 2:28PM
As tradition dictates, I watched the swearing in of the new 44th President. I watched and listened to his speech.
Granted I didn't vote for Obama, nor am I going to drink his coolaid.......
But I have always appreciated and acknowledged the magical and spell-binding speeches that Obama has become known for and the smooth lawyerly politician that he is and the God given charasmatic talent that he has.
So it is with real surprise that has me stunned at the rather plain spoken matter of fact every day speech that was delivered today by the king of "Speak"
I was expecting Obama to out class both JFK's 1961 Inaugural speech and MLK's I have a dream speech.
I just don't get this one.....and I am being serious......no disrespect to our new President intended but he could have and should have knocked the socks off of JFK and MLK......
and should have delivered the speech of speeches.
JoshFranklin| 1.20.09 @ 2:55PM
Among the happy tears of unity and bipartisanship at this kitsch-laden event, were throngs of "Arrest Bush" placard carriers. It will not be soon forgotten that President Obama did not win the White House through any calls to unity, but rather a wave of unfettered and unhinged hatred for President George W. Bush. Hope and change be damned. We can rest easy that events and inexperience will inevitably take this arrogant clown down a peg in the months ahead.
c| 1.20.09 @ 3:03PM
It turns out Bush was a uniter after all.
Michele San Pietro| 1.20.09 @ 3:18PM
Of course, Republicans would never make such displays of bad taste like those seen four and eight years ago from the Democrats' side (in particular, it was disgraceful to burn the American flag, and I will never get tired of saying this should be an offense in my opinion). But this is something everybody knows. Let's hope Obama will really be the President of all Americans, not only of those who voted for him.
n| 1.20.09 @ 3:36PM
Will republicans drop the lawsuits and take down the signs regarding O's citizenship and eligibility to run for office, or are those considered tasteful?
Tim| 1.20.09 @ 3:59PM
I think publically continuing going after Obama over the "fact" that he was born in Kenya is a waste of time and energy especially after he has now been sworn in as President.
Let the man serve.....
The fact remains that even if it becomes crystal clear to the power brokers that he was born in Kenya, by the time the Supreme Court would rule on it would be five or so years from now and more importantly is it worth putting the country through that mess?
I think what will happen is that the powers at hand will let him know that they have the goods on him and cut a deal with him that goes something like this........
Mr. president, as long as you fly straight and do our bidding your origin of birth secret is safe with us.....but if you don't .......
....well you get my point.
Bob| 1.20.09 @ 4:13PM
Here we are, small minded "conservatives" eschewing ideology over reason and fact. Quin does not want criticism and RSM home schools his child for indoctrination and non-exposure to contrary fact. We have the reactionary effect of looking backwards at the Reagan administration not even looking at the fact that Reaganomics did more harm to this country than help -- it grew the debt and didn't grow the economy more that any other administration. When confronted with fact, the people here respond with platitudes.
I listened to Obama's speech and agree with some of it and disagree with other parts. I certainly agree that both sides are plagued with small minded dogma and a lack of rigorous analysis and reason. That is evident here. However, I disagree with the notion that government can solve everyone's problems -- it has a limited function and we must fight every day to keep it limited.
So, guys, it is time to look forward, rather than backward. It is time to forget Reagan and develop solutions for the future. It is time to forget ideology and find things that work. It is time to get serious about entitlement reform. It is time go get a fairer, simpler tax system. It is time to push specific religions out of the public square and keep it in the domain of the individual. It is time to recognize that our best and brightest need to lead our country. It is time to support the acquisition of knowledge and education and discourage ideologues who dumb down issues. It is time to recognize that we will be a minority country in 30 years and that our policies should make sense to Hispanics, blacks, and the young. It is time to get away from a tax cut policy and pay attention to the bottom line.
So, will you live in the past like most of the posters here or develop plans and ideas for the future? Will you only complain about Obama or will you develop strong ideas? Will you accept what is good or is your hate so strong you will only pay attention to what is bad?
Remember that Republicans chose George Bush and John McCain as leaders of the party -- neither very bright nor good at management.
Interloper| 1.20.09 @ 4:15PM
If the seething hatred of President Barack H. Obama seen on sites like the American Spectator is evidence of good manners, fairness and dedication to democracy we have entered the Twilight Zone - one in which the plain meaning of behavior is flipped to its opposite. Your behavior is loathsome, the snarling and spitting of persons with no sense of decency whatsoever. Your parents and grandparents peopled the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizens Councils. You rely on sites like these and the Council of Conservative Citizens, Sons of the Confederacy, League of the South, National Vanguard nee Alliance or whatever they're calling themselves today. The fruit has not fallen far from its trees. It is indeed rotten fruit.
Happy Inauguration Day!
Interloper| 1.20.09 @ 4:27PM
I meant to make an exception for the few rational people who comment here in my statement above. They try so hard to inject some reason in a site dedicated to demagoguery. That kind of willingness to wade into the dark caves of ignorance and bigotry is part of what has made this nation great.
However, more needs to be said about those who continue to believe the most foolish of the smears against our new president. Anyone who is still promoting claims that our very American president was born in Kenya, that he is some kind of Manchurian candidate or that his proven abilities are not possible because he is black needs to stop and look not at President Obama, but at him or herself. Any of us could die tomorrow. Is that the kind of legacy you want to leave of your lives?
Interloper| 1.20.09 @ 4:28PM
Happy Inauguration Day!
Tim| 1.20.09 @ 4:29PM
Hey Interloper,
My parents were born in Europe and came to the USA as the Nazis and Facists were taking over the country side.
I have a deep appreciation for people who come to the USA seeking a better life.
I will respect Obama's policies when they help our country and tear them down when I feel that they will hurt our country.
I will assume for unity's sake, that Obama was born in the USA although I have my doubts that he was....
I will respect the office of the president but I will not loose any sleep bashing him if his policies take us down a dark path.
I don't care if he is black, white, or a combination of both......When he's right I will applaud him, when he is wrong I will protest him.
It's just that simple........
It's what the founding fathers would have wanted
us to do.
Happy Inauguration Day to you as well!
trotter| 1.20.09 @ 5:01PM
"If the seething hatred of President Barack H. Obama seen on sites like the American Spectator"
Hmm, am I missing a different Spectator website? The only examples of what you state are typically coming from the left. Oh well, enjoy your delusions.
And "n", the original lawsuit regarding Obama's birth certificate and citizenship was filed by a democrat. Next.
Baz| 1.20.09 @ 5:06PM
I'll admit to hating Bush for one simple reason: he's criminally incompetent. In eight years, I never once saw him demonstrate any depth of knowledge, managerial skill, insight, or motivational speech (I found his speech at ground zero smarmy and manipulative, thank you). Oh, and the man can't parse an English sentence to save his life. That's just insulting.
And criminal? Yes. Several legal authorities say that he could be prosecuted for war crimes under the Geneva conventions. Won't happen, but it could.
He lost money in the oil industry before becoming Governor of Texas -- how do you lose money in the oil business?!?! By most accounts, he simply bled the company to pay for his own extravagant lifestyle. His wealth comes *entirely* from the tax hike used to pay for the Rangers' new stadium, and Texas has been un-doing his legislative agenda for the past eight years.
His team pioneered the morally reprehensible practice of "push-polling."
The lack of terrorist attacks means nothing; I haven't had any problems with Rhinos in my yard ever since I brought my cat home. Therefore, my cat keeps Rhinos away? No.
But the big example of incompetence is that for eight years, the opinions of people like me (i.e., people who voted for Obama, more than 50% of Americans) were ignored, belittled, refused a seat at the table, and labeled as traitorous. That's not America. That's not democracy.
Baz| 1.20.09 @ 5:12PM
Oh, and Sarbanes-Oxley is designed to prevent breach of contracts through fraud, so how does that jive with Ayn Rand (who, BTW, I've always thought of as working way too hard just to philosophically justify narcissism) wanting only a government that protects individual rights against such things as fraud?
Baz| 1.20.09 @ 5:24PM
And the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson in particular, were very much in favor of government assistance to the needful, especially where the greater economic interests are concerned. It's well-documented.
ruth| 1.20.09 @ 5:27PM
The only snarling and spitting I see on this site is coming from (as usual) Interloper. And this liberal clown won. Liberal change we can believe in.
Interloper| 1.20.09 @ 5:48PM
Baz, I would not say I hate Bush, per se. What is most objectionable about him is his sheer mediocracy. Just about anyone of moderate intelligence could have done a better job. Rarely have even asleep at the wheel leaders failed so memorably in so many ways. We have many intelligent, talented and giving people willing to serve. America can do so much better when it comes to choosing leadership than George W. Bush and his cronies. I believe that it has.
Happy Inauguration Day!
Michigan-Matt| 1.20.09 @ 6:08PM
Interloper: "Just about anyone of moderate intelligence could have done a better job."
Hmmm, I wonder if all 57 United States sent representatives to the Swearing In of Our New Messiah, Interloper? Wasn't your guy the one who thought there were 57 states in the US?
It seems even people of practiced intelligence and great skills at being a teleprompter reader can look good as long as they don't swerve from the script.
Give it a rest; Obama will make more than his fair share of "ummms" and "uhhhs" and "We'll get back to you on that" in his first 100 days.
I hear his first international step will be to appoint Blago as head of campagin fund recruitment... although I doubt even that sleazebag pay4play pol can out do the Big O in the art of political shakedowns, campaign corruption and Chicago styled politics writ large.
America could have done much better at choosing its leader... but we got stuck with the idiots showing up at the polls in record numbers.
Alan Brooks| 1.20.09 @ 6:38PM
Blagojevich too is of moderate intelligence but he has great lines:
"I only regret that i have but one life to give for my country"
" 'tis better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all"
ruth| 1.20.09 @ 6:39PM
I think Obama has been a smashing success. No terror attacks yet.
stmichrick| 1.20.09 @ 6:49PM
Interloper and Baz;
Everytime you you use the words 'hatred,' 'bigotry' and 'ignorance when referring to criticism of leftist politics,' you confirm the credibility of the least articulate conservatives you find here and put yourselves in the same league as those birth certificate-challengers and middle-name -obsessors.
It is my fondest hope that President Obama and Secretary Hilary appoint you two to staff their new Hamas/Taliban/al Quida/Iranian negotiating team, in charge of cannon fodder placement.
FacetheFacts| 1.20.09 @ 7:06PM
Interesting how "capitalists" are now turning to the government to save them! Isn't that called hypocrisy?
FacetheFacts| 1.20.09 @ 7:10PM
Or is it, selective socialism. Welfare for big business.
Scott A Joseph, MD| 1.20.09 @ 7:14PM
Interesting how the two biggest screwups in American Healthcare are government inspired: Medicare does not pay 100% of the costs of care, forcing hospitals to be unable to provide charity care and shifting the cost of providing care onto private insurers. Now the AARP notes that there aren't going to be enough providers for the baby boom's geriatrics, after years of bashing MDs over compensation (and supporting Congress in its efforts to underfund Medicare).
Hmmm, I wonder why.
Managed Care gets away with savage restrictions on care because Congress protects them against liability suits for denial of care. It does not protect MDs in that way. Many private practice MDs would not encourage their kids to be MDs.
Thanks, Congress! And thank you, Democrats!
Bob| 1.20.09 @ 7:16PM
Michigan, I assume you are smart enough to understand the difference between misquoting a number we all know or thinking that you understand foreign policy because you can see Russia from your state.
Furthermore, you should listen to Peggy Noonan -- Reagan's speechwriter -- when she says that Obama is one of the best writers she's ever seen -- and she knows he writes most of his own speeches as the one we heard today.
It is idiotic to assume that a Harvard graduate who graduated at the top of his class (unlike Bush and McCain who graduated at the bottom), would not be highly intelligent. Your statements to the contrary only make you look dumb and incompetent.
Instead being anti-intellectual, Republicans should be looking for smart, educated people with a viewpoint that leans towards fiscal restraint and individual responsibility.
Bush was incompetent, McCain and Palin were not smart enough, and that's what you guys voted in. Push for higher standards. Find more bright, successful people like Romney and Jindal. Stop being so small and vindictive -- and not looking objectively at data.
If you don't, you are looking at the continuing decline of the Republican party.
FacetheFacts| 1.20.09 @ 7:24PM
What do you say we just end the "two" party system. How about opting for doing the right thing, rather than the republican or democratic thing?
Interloper| 1.20.09 @ 7:44PM
Stmichrich, I don't take it personally that you wish me dead. I'm sure you feel that way about most of the American population. Indeed, that is one of the core problems of conservatives. You all have so many reasons to hate other people (virtually all of them false) that contempt is your raison d'etre.
Happy Inauguration Day!
Michael L. Hauschild| 1.20.09 @ 7:56PM
How smart and successful could you be to spend forty million dollars and come in third to Huckabee and McCain? Jindal yes, and anyone who can see Russia from her house for sure, but good Lord, Bob, Romney could have not done worse if had run on the campaign slogan "Elect me and you can have two wives."
FacetheFActs| 1.20.09 @ 7:59PM
Yes, republicans are notorious for not wanting to face facts. For distorting the truth, another word for lying. Or is it that they are just incapable of perceiving reality, another word crazy.
Tim| 1.20.09 @ 8:02PM
Last time I checked, Bush gave "Colin Powell"
a seat at the table....as Secretary of State
and he was an Obama supporter and thanked Bush by shoving it up McCain's torn up body.
But really, had the USA been attacked over and over after 911.....but Bush still refused to go to war would the left be saying kind things about him....today?
I don't think so.......His speaking style wasn't the problem.....
The 2000 vote and his strong Christian belief system was the problem for the "far left"
Granted the wars haven't helped.
So let's see what Obama does and we will respond accordingly.
Kat| 1.20.09 @ 8:12PM
No terroist attacks all day. Obama's a smashing success!
BreathingWell| 1.20.09 @ 9:01PM
To Deborah,
Please hold your breath for a few days without exhaling. I'll be reading about the embarrassing boos and nah, nah, nah, . . . chanted at President Bush as he arrived and left.
I'll also try to forget the viscous, hysterical, and totally unhinged behavior of the Democrats and their hand maidens.
lila| 1.20.09 @ 9:42PM
Obama had a great day, but he did have that moment where he couldn't remember what his lines were. I felt so sorry for him. Hey, I wish him well, even though I cringe just a little bit each time he speaks without it.
The Republican party was the party that pushed legislation for civil rights, and Democrats the party that defended slavery, segregation and had the terrorist left wing gang called the KKK. And they are the first to cry racist even when there is no trace of it, and the first to mock conservative black men and women by calling them Aunt Jemima(Condi Rice) and Uncle Tom(Michael Steele), real class.
The London Daily Mail article is great. I guess the rumor that everyone in the world hates Bush or America is greatly exaggerated. Seems they see this love fest going on and just shake their heads.
As far as the intelligence of Obama, no body seems to know, he won't release anything, which seems a little strange doesn't it. Be proud Obama, oh but he doesn't have to release it, he can just tell people he's smart and they believe.
Many people in history were called names just like Bush; Einstein was called an idiot, Lincoln was too. and let us remember too, Jesus was hated by the elite of his day, they spit on him, called him names and crucified him. So much for good judgement.
OpChaos| 1.20.09 @ 9:49PM
You name your daughter "kennedy"? WTF, dude?
S.L. Toddard| 1.20.09 @ 9:50PM
"I think Obama has been a smashing success. No terror attacks yet."
I guess that makes George "9/11" Bush a dismal failure, no?
lila| 1.20.09 @ 9:53PM
By the way, good job President Bush. I agreed with you most of the time. Thank you for being a decent man and keeping us safe. God bless you and your family.
S.L. Toddard | 1.20.09 @ 9:57PM
"Thank you for being a decent man and keeping us safe"
*cough*
nineleven
*cough*
Kat| 1.20.09 @ 10:13PM
Wasn't easy cleaning up after Clinton's feckless crap. The last 7 1/2 years have been secure, let's see how long Obama can keep it up.
Tim| 1.20.09 @ 10:20PM
Lila,
The fact that Bush is a decent man was made very clear by Obama himself much to the dislike of the wacko left Bush haters.
One can be wrong on issues from time to time but give me a decent person any day of the week and twise on Sunday!
Time will tell if Obama will be decent for the long haul.......but showing geniune class towards Bush in their final moments together was a good start and I applaud him for it!
ruth| 1.20.09 @ 10:29PM
Only a leftwing wacko would deny the decency of the Bush men and women. All of them. I think they were too decent in some respects and it doesn't always play out so well in politics.
Interloper| 1.20.09 @ 11:34PM
A hearty thank you to 'Lila' for her performance as caricature of far Right Right ignorance. Suffice it to say that people who have no understanding of history are unlikely to understand the present.
It has been a great day. I almost regret that it must end.
Happy Inauguration Day!
Kat| 1.20.09 @ 11:49PM
Now the real work starts for Obama. The buck stops with him. He's got no experience and his liberal beliefs stink--God help us.
Interested Conservative| 1.21.09 @ 12:05AM
Baz and Interloper seem to be exhibiting some of the withdrawal symptoms of BDS - as another commentator put it - where will the hatred go now that W is out of office?
The crudest comments in this string don't begin to compare to the depth and breadth of invective of the past eight years, even beyond that to the glory days of the VRWC.
Much as I disagree with Pres. Obama's policies (and many on the far left will likely disagree more now that he has to choose and govern accordingly), he's a very engaging person, much like Pres. Bush. Another Pres. Clinton would not necessarily have been.
But there are many slight indications that Pres. Obama, or his team, don't have the skills which W and his team brought into the office - witness the Bidens and how Obama discussed Hugo Chavez. Very small matters, and one wishes they are not indicative of future events.
Regardless, Obama's biggest problems will come from his supporters, not from the GOP.
Kat| 1.21.09 @ 12:10AM
Or Islamic terroists.
Deborah | 1.21.09 @ 5:17AM
Hey BreathingWell -- Not sure I understand your post. I was responding to a post by Interloper (who is a wacked out left-wing hater of Bush and conservatives). Just FYI.
Michael L. Hauschild| 1.21.09 @ 6:09AM
Take a break from the site pests and and go read Greg Pierce this morning. Wow, talk about insight.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/staff/greg-pierce/
Bob| 1.21.09 @ 7:11AM
I agree with your criticism of Romney -- but he was a lot better choice than McCain or Palin as a person who had the capacity to deal with the issues and manage the government. His weakness is that he does not come across as religious enough for social conservatives and he is too quick to please -- especially on social issues which makes him look weak.
That said, he was so much better than McCain and Palin....
Jeremiah| 1.21.09 @ 8:25AM
SLT you should cough a little more and choke on you bestial stupidity: the first muslim attack on our Land was barely 2 months after Clinton's Inauguration. To the other liberals: spare us your crap re KKK and white supremacists, you perfectly know their ranks were filled with democrats exclusively, just as Lincoln was a Republican. You're a sorry bunch of pathetic liars and we just tolerate you on our blog because you make decent punching balls!
Jeremiah| 1.21.09 @ 8:26AM
You're so fat! Work out or work. Period.
Baz| 1.21.09 @ 10:01AM
I see no one has offered any substantial response to my critique of Bush (calling me a hater doesn't count).
As for Bush people being "decent," I'm not sure how outing a CIA agent, defying Geneva conventions, multi-billion-dollar no-bid contracts, sending billions of dollars in cash into a war zone with no accountability (Paul Bremer still can't account for half of the money he was given), allowing a great American city to crumble in the wake of a disaster, bullying our Congress, press, and allies counts as "decent."
There are really solid conservative blogs out there that are smart, thoughtful, and substantive. This is not one of them.
Baz| 1.21.09 @ 10:04AM
How is push-polling decent? I'd really like to know. How is defending the fraud of Ken Lay decent?
ruth| 1.21.09 @ 3:05PM
The Iraq war has been won and many terroist groups have been destabilized--thanks Pres. Bush. Will Obama's leftists keep us safe? The jury is out on that one. One terroist attack and Obama is done. Baz, leave the AmSpec site, we won't miss your stupid posts anyway.
Appleby| 1.21.09 @ 4:44PM
I cheerfully admit that I took the day off work yesterday, shut off the teevee, took my computer in to the shop to be tuned up and cleaned, and spent a useful and profitable day. I did two hours of volunteer work first thing in the morning, including covering a shift for someone who did not show up; I went to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; I went to the library for a few good books and chose a restaurant that was not showing the Obama Orgy on their teevee. Then I went home and spent a peaceful afternoon untangling a socialist Order regarding rent control that neither the bureau that issued it, the resident manager nor I with my 21 years of legal experience could understand (that I believe will prove in the end not to apply to me anyway), reading a great book on Pope Benedict XVI and the future of the Catholic Church, and finished the day at Mass.
All in all a nice quiet day, while Kanukistan wept, shrieked, fell to its knees and generally behaved like a 14 year old girl at a Jonas Brothers concert.
And by the way, did anybody else notice that Mrs. Obama was wearing an outfit bought in the wardrobe room of The Blues Brothers, last worn during the scene that can be watched on YouTube under the title "The Blues Brothers: Jake Sees The Light"?
Or as Dorothy Parker once observed, "A goosegirl in ermine is a goosegirl still, and geese will gabble everywhere she goes."
Enjoy the ridicule when Paris gets a load of her Filene's Basement Taste.....
Interloper| 1.22.09 @ 3:12AM
Appleby, did you drop in at Ku Klux Klan meeting, too? Considering your ignorance and bigotry you would certainly be at home there. And, no, a pretext of being pious will not fool God into considering you a worthy person. If there is a Hell below, you are definitely going to it.
Baz, you will not get a substanttive answer. These folks make a bag of hammers look intelligent.
Jeremiah| 1.22.09 @ 9:00AM
Interschlepper you certainly know more about the Klan than we do, after all your party created and maintained it for decades, dumb fake of a life form.
Baz, you symbolize the failure of our school system, you can't even THINK in a normal way.
That stupid bit about cats and rhinos is an example: when was the last time rhinos hijacked airplanes? You know what, greased butts? You spend so much time getting an education on this blog, that your irrational reactions betray a desperate rejection process from your subconscious ("Oh nooo Baaaz! You're becoming one of them! Say something dumb as usual, quick!") But you'll get used to it and one day, if you're not busy seducing little boys, you'll be able to surf through this blog without choking.
Michigan-Matt| 1.22.09 @ 2:37PM
Bob, the problem with your analysis of the difference between Bush and Obama making mistakes is that your hero-worship of the Messiah is stunting your capacity for insight or realism.
Palin didn't say you can see Russia from her backyard; Tina Fey did.
Gheez, Bob. Maybe YOUR sense of honesty and credibility is the issue at hand --not my intelligence.
Or maybe it's that you've been drinking the Kool Aid so long you can't think independently. Even the DailyKos-sicks aren't repeating your mistake.
Baz| 1.22.09 @ 2:57PM
I was demonstrating the faulty syllogism of the "he kept us safe" logic. Look it up. I learned about logic errors like that in my public junior high school.
You can look up "irony" while you're at it.
ruth| 1.22.09 @ 3:52PM
Prove that he didn't, knucklehead.
ruth| 1.22.09 @ 3:54PM
Liberals are trailer trash and always have an excuse for their boorish behavior. If Bush broke the law then why won't your Obamassiah support his prosecution? Libtards.
Jeremiah| 1.22.09 @ 8:14PM
Dear Lady Ruth, actually they are trash trailers, running amok. They are so bored with in-breeding that they haunt clean blogs like ours with the hope of stealing fresh air without being spotted, but they just can't help belching and passing gas. They're more like filthy vampires, sucking blood and leaving feces. They are another proof of the existence of evil, just in case you had doubts about the existence of God.
Jeremiah| 1.22.09 @ 8:26PM
SlimeflowerLies gives us the very justification for showing those turds no mercy. Everything goes if we believe it is needed. You need to learn to write English without crippling this beautiful language, you trisomic bastard. You also need a kick in the face. And considering your fat butt and the trash you associate with, you would also need... but never mind, you must already get it on a regular basis.
ruth| 1.22.09 @ 10:10PM
You're danged funny, Jeremiah! Who are you? You'll never tell, huh? Hilarious.
Jeremiah| 1.23.09 @ 12:08PM
Just the usual self, Lady Ruth. I'm a little concerned about you. What with all those coke snorting liberals cruising this blog in search of pure souls. I guess your Joan of Arc spirit wielding the mighty sword of your immaculate keyboard will help you defeat those brainless perverts. This is gonna be a long night. We will have to wait for a certain morning of November 2010 in order to watch the wicked living dead fading away as the sun rises on vanishing stinky poodles of liberal slime.
ruth| 1.23.09 @ 3:37PM
Don't worry about me, Jeremiah, I've got Someone riding shotgun with me. Always have. Thanks for your kind words, you've really touched my heart. Sniff. You're smart, articulate, and best of all, you're good. I dig you.
ruth| 1.23.09 @ 3:39PM
And you're hilarious. Guys have always made me laugh the most.
Jeremiah| 1.24.09 @ 10:04AM
Thanks for the kind words too, Lady Ruth. I'm not used to them. Join my forum haussedecombat before Sarkozy and his muslim jackboots shut it down.
Take care and slaughter some dems before dinner.
ruth| 1.24.09 @ 12:25PM
I know if we allow liberals to define us, if we let their lies about us go unopposed, their fiction will become fact in peoples' minds. They do not argue on merit because they have none; they just demonize the opposition. I just challenge their premises.
ruth| 1.24.09 @ 12:51PM
I've joined your site, Jeremiah. Interesting.
Jeremiah| 1.24.09 @ 10:22PM
A good idea, Lady Ruth.
Baz| 1.25.09 @ 12:53AM
Ruth:
"Prove that he didn't, knucklehead."
The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. I don't have to prove anything; you all have made the assertions, so you have the burden of proof. I say there is none. Prove me wrong.
"Liberals are trailer trash and always have an excuse for their boorish behavior."
I'm totally within the usual rules of civility and debate (go ahead, look them up. I'll wait.) You all who resort to name-calling, and haven't mustered any substantial response beat me by a mile in the boorish race.
ruth| 1.25.09 @ 6:10AM
You claimed that President Bush didn't protect us from another terroist attack and I said prove it. Prove it.
ruth| 1.25.09 @ 6:10AM
Boorish knucklehead.
Michele San Pietro| 1.25.09 @ 5:18PM
I think President Bush did all he could in order to protect America from another terrorist attack. And the fact there has been no other attack on U.S. soil after 9/11 is proof of that.
ruth| 1.25.09 @ 9:22PM
These trolls are not interested in reasonable debate, they're just trying to sow discontent. Of course the President was hugely successful in preventing more terroist attacks and I will always be most grateful to the President for protecting our country after 9/11. Liberals hate these great results, that's why they are dismantling President Bush's programs. If we get attacked again the liberals are done.
ruth| 1.26.09 @ 2:52AM
Baz, it takes a big man to admit he's a fool. But I accept your admission.
Baz| 1.26.09 @ 10:16AM
Someone thinks they're just too clever pretending to be me, but I'm a better writer than that post -- and I never talk about "luck." I'm looking at you, Ruth.
Ruth: "You claimed that President Bush didn't protect us from another terroist attack and I said prove it. Prove it."
I've claimed no such thing, and therefore have no burden of proof. I've simply questioned your assertions. You've made the claims that require supporting facts.
I will throw these facts out there, though:
- Bush has not claimed credit for the Department of Homeland Security because the plan was actually drafted under Clinton's administration, and could have been implemented in time to prevent 9/11 if the Bush administration had followed through.
- It is public record that the under Clinton, we prevented two terrorist plots targeting the domestic U.S.
- One domestic terror plot was prevented during the Bush years: a couple of teenagers with M80's targeting a military base.
Of course, it's impossible to prove he *didn't* keep us safe, because there were no serious terror plots after 9/11 to prevent.
That's my point: in the absence of proof, one cannot responsibly make any assertions about the effectiveness of our anti-terror work since 9/11.
ruth| 1.26.09 @ 7:52PM
Well, keep looking, Baz. What are you talking about? No one's posting under your name because no one else is moronic enough to spew your garbage. Tinfoil hat time. President Bush kept us safe for 7 1/2 years and I'm thankful to God for Bush's leadership. You'd better pray that you liberals keep Bush's safety record up or you dummocraps are toast.
Nick| 1.27.09 @ 2:45PM
Baz,
The reason President Bush deserves alot of credit for keeping us all safe for 7 1/2 years is because he fixed our defences; which bubba pervert, commander-in-sleaz, broke after 8 years of non-leadership.
But just keep calling a lie a fact and living in your fantasy land.
ruth| 1.27.09 @ 6:25PM
Clinton, pervert in chief, caused 9/11 because of his reckless and feckless behavior. UGH!
Michele San Pietro| 1.28.09 @ 3:58PM
Clinton made America unsafe with his misguided policies.
Bush the IDIOT| 1.29.09 @ 2:50PM
Memories don't leave like people do, unless you live in America.
DAPHNE LOVES W| 2.25.09 @ 7:49PM
I love Georgie W.
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