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Throw the Book at Him
June 13, 2013 | 196 comments
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Testimonial to a Great American
June 6, 2013 | 39 comments
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A Close Call at the Newseum
May 30, 2013 | 7 comments
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Obama’s Imbroglios
May 23, 2013 | 45 comments
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My Rahm Reunion
May 16, 2013 | 16 comments
The Current Crisis
Worse Than Carter
It is becoming apparent for all to see.
WASHINGTON — It is becoming apparent for all to see, that a man who made his name as a community organizer does not have the skills to be President of these United States. Maybe he could develop the requisite skills as a governor. Possibly, he could develop such skills were he to sit in the Senate for a couple of terms. Yet there are delicate sensitivities, the ability to listen, to stick by your guns, occasionally to remain reticent. These are the fundamentals of a leader, and President Barack Obama has demonstrated that he lacks all of them, most notably reticence. I now think it is clear even to Official Washington that President Obama is the worst president of modern times. President Jimmy Carter is redeemed.
The other night at a White House dinner solemnizing the opening of Ramadan he leaped right in to endorse the building a mosque at Ground Zero. He — a man who has shown no religious fervor during his time in the White House — let out a ringing defense of religious liberty and tolerance. Of a sudden, he was at the center of a national controversy that was growing. It put me in mind of his inability to defuse the controversy over healthcare. Any sensible president would have relented, as opposition to healthcare grew to the majority position. He would have settled for some sort of compromise, but not the community-organizer-turned-president. He wanted it all. He lunged on and created among the electorate a row over national healthcare that divided the nation, and put some of us in mind of a civil war that continues to rage. What is more, he imperiled his party’s margins in both houses.
Notwithstanding his apparent personal insouciance toward religion, he made it clear that the mosque should be built. Who cares about the sensibilities of the loved ones of the 3,000 victims? Or for that matter, of the 68% of the American people who according to a CNN poll oppose the mosque? It took him less than a day to make things worse. While on a swing through Florida, he claimed that he was not speaking “on the wisdom” of building the mosque. He was merely commenting on the Constitutional right to build the mosque and to practice one’s religion. A right “that dates back,” the prof allowed, “to our founding. That’s what our country is about.” Blah, blah, blah — the community organizer turned-lecturer at the University of Chicago could not resist.
Now he has a red hot national controversy on his hands. It is somewhat like the controversy he created over Professor Henry Louis Gates when he pronounced the Cambridge police’s reaction to Gates’s truculence “stupid.” Or when Mr. Obama barged into the Arizona immigration pother. He cannot resist showing the world how smart he is, but at what cost? Every Democrat battling a tight race will be called to answer questions about the mosque. It will become an issue even in remote places such as Nevada. There the Senate leader, Harry Reid, fighting for his seat against a Tea Partyer, Sharron Angle, has come out against the President. He announced that it is not a question of right but a question of prudence. He says the mosque should be built elsewhere. How many other Democrats will join him? This could develop into a major rebellion against President Obama’s leadership. It could be the beginning of the end of his presidency.
President Obama represents the leadership of a sterile elite. His weird lectures play at the University of Chicago or in the communities he has organized in Chicago, but not among the mainstream of the American electorate. He has brought it together and it is against this idiocy. As I said in this space two weeks ago, he represents the leadership of the Ruling Class. It is not the leadership of the consensus of the American people. Only the most extreme voices in this debate are speaking intolerantly about Islam and its right to build a mosque. Most of the American people are siding with the dread Sarah Palin who was quick to say, “Mr. President, should they or should they not build a mosque steps away from where the radicals killed 3,000 people? Please tell us your position. We all know that they have a right to do it, but should they? And no, this isn’t above your pay grade.”
Yet it is. It is above the pay grade of a community organizer. That is what our president is. Increasingly, it is clear that the Democrats brought down on the country a community organizer as president. Maybe in the future they will consider experience a qualification for the presidency. Possibly the age of charisma is behind us. Possibly Mr. Obama even lacks that dubious quality.
About the Author
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is the founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator. He is the author of The Death of Liberalism, published by Thomas Nelson Inc. His previous books include the New York Times bestseller Boy Clinton: the Political Biography; The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton; The Liberal Crack-Up; The Conservative Crack-Up; Public Nuisances; The Future that Doesn’t Work: Social Democracy’s Failure in Britain; Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House; The Clinton Crack-Up; and After the Hangover: The Conservatives’ Road to Recovery.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (709) | Leave a comment
More Articles by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.
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Tim*| 8.19.10 @ 6:53AM
Obama got no game.
drudge ette obama| 8.19.10 @ 7:06AM
But he sure knows how to vacation. That should count for something, shouldn't it?
saleboter| 8.19.10 @ 7:40AM
He also is REAL GOOD at partying.
Stephanie| 8.19.10 @ 9:01AM
And he's REAL good a flappin' those gums! The man does love to talk!
TheEnforcer| 8.19.10 @ 10:52AM
'
He did say during the race for President:
"Just words, just speaches".
What we did not know was, he meant it.
'
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 11:47AM
"speaches"!
I'm pleased to meet the sign painter for the Tea Party!
John| 8.19.10 @ 11:58AM
Funny. The same liberal mindset that opposes objective testing to grade teacher performance, and which argues that spelling doesn't matter as long as you understand what was meant, comes in here and criticize a minor spelling error as if it categorized intelligence as a whole. Not to mention the classification of a group of people by appearance or generalization - which is supposedly evil according to their dogma. So... which is it? Or is this just another double-standard?
Jonathan| 8.19.10 @ 12:11PM
@John: Double standards are a cornerstone of liberal thought: what is good for them, is not good for you, and so on. And it underscores a much larger issue with the fringe left, that being its lawlessness -- a lawlessness produced by its selective application of the Rule of Law. Wherever it suits the liberal agenda, you can count on a strict interpretation of the RoL; but wherever it is not expedient, you can expect mocking, and scoffing, and occasional outright dismissal. It is a type of anarchy that is dangerous to an ordered society; it is a type of anarchy that helps to explain the historical brutality of leftist regimes the world over.
john| 8.20.10 @ 10:45AM
"Lawlessness": that is about the one word that best characterizes the Left in this country for the last 70 years. May I suggest that because this lawlessness is INTENTIONAL, it is not merely incidental or accidental; and therefore, is better described as CRIMINAL. How long, O Left, will you try our patience? How long, before the silent majority rises to arrest these idiots -- from the President to the Speaker to the idiot/criminal Justices who are themselves petty dictators? NOT SOON ENOUGH!!
john| 8.20.10 @ 11:02AM
For those interested: "Quo usque tandem abutere, Catalina?" or, "... Baracke?"
Frank Provasek| 9.1.10 @ 6:07AM
Lawlessness? How about Bush's domestic wiretapping, calling the Constitution "just a G-d damn piece of paper, and needlessly causing the deaths of over 4,o00 American soldiers and 100,000 Iraqis?
Ferrari| 8.20.10 @ 1:50PM
Astute and well said.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 12:53PM
I didn't criticize standardized testing and I don't know what TheEnforcer looks like, so I can't help you there.
joe collins| 8.19.10 @ 7:00PM
I don't believe liberals are the only ones who can spell. The attitude that "it doesn't matter as long as you understand what was meant" is indicative of laziness and carelessness.
People object to the healthcare bill because by the time it got watered down by our legislators who must kneel at the altar of the insurance industry and big pharma, it became a joke. It was so convoluted that the average American did not understand it and therefore held up idiotic signs like, "Keep Government Hands off my Medicare!"
This country was founded on religious freedom. It did not include the words, "except for....". As distasteful as it is for the mosque to be built several blocks away from ground zero, the fact that it CAN be built speaks volumes about America.
katie webb| 8.20.10 @ 7:15PM
Freedom of religion is not the question...most Americans support it. What is not guaranteed under freedom of religion is where a church or mosque may be built. Those of us who are exhausted from "tolerating" and trying to be "sensitive" to whatever assinine ideas are thrown at us by the left are ready to start pushing back and saying, "No."
joli| 8.20.10 @ 9:44PM
No, people object to the healthcare bill because it will increase costs, reduce timeliness of care, reduce availability of care, put life-and-death decisions in the hands of bureaucrats, force those of us with a conscience to pay for the murder of unborn children... I could go on and on and on, but I don't know how many pages the Spectator allows for a single comment...
And yes, the mosque CAN be built there, but as everyone is asking, SHOULD it? Someone else pointed out, if it were being built by radicals who wanted to poke a thumb in the eye of America, exactly what would they do differently?
Jeff| 8.20.10 @ 2:30AM
Ask a republican about double standards. They defined the word a long time ago.
Larry in Iowa| 8.20.10 @ 10:46AM
Jeff,
I'll call you on that. You made the charge, now back it up. I'm sick of the left and their drive-by slurs. Give some example of Republicans not having their own standards applied to them or shut the hell up.
Fellow Iowan| 8.20.10 @ 3:25PM
Atta boy Larry - My thoughts exactly.
Jeff| 8.23.10 @ 2:46AM
You're only sick of it, Larry, because you know it's true. How many times over the past few decades have we heard about lies or scandals that the Republicans have gotten themselves into only to be excused by another Republican? There are sex scandals, there are corporate embezzlements, there is financial fraud, there is unwarranted warfare. Sure, I could give examples all day and you will (like any good Republican) try and turn the situation around to blame a Democrat. Guess what? No matter how many times you say it, it still doesn’t take away the facts. It only seems to be double standards when Republicans don’t like it.
Own up to your mistakes and the double standards. Until you do, “atta boy Larry” and his fellow Iowans need to shut the hell up.
Fed Up Moderate| 8.23.10 @ 9:09PM
Jeff, as a moderate I am as sick as any republican of the righteousness of the modern day democrat. I will no longer stand idly by and watch this joke of a party destroy America. You and your kind are a thing of the past...
Jeff| 8.24.10 @ 2:28AM
“…righteousness of the modern day democrat.” Another double standard coming from the Republicans (or in this case, a supporter of). Why is it that, everything a republican is guilty of, they like to try and blame a Democrat for being? So much of the name calling on here that the right-wing party likes to portray onto a Democrat is EXACTLY what they (Republicans) are guilty of themselves. It’s their signature way of arguing. Well, let me tell you something, you’re not fooling anyone just because you say it. The problem with the Republicans is that they honestly feel they are higher and mightier than anyone else. And they love to try and talk down to everyone – like we HAVE to listen to everything they say just like the oldest sibling in a large family. It’s so gross and arrogant and people just stop listening.
I am not a diehard Democrat by any means. I'm a little more middle of the road on most things. But, regardless, I'm a realist and I give credit where credit is due. And by the same token, I expect those that made mistakes, to own up to it and take the responsibility. What I'm saying, as are many others, is let's focus on solving the problems here. Everyone on here seems to be pointing fingers to blame someone else. In most cases, that does no good in trying to solve the problems. But in this case, it does one good for all of us – it allows the country to see who made the mistakes and what those mistakes were. Blaming the wrong people will get us nowhere. And that’s what so many of these posts are doing. To hold Obama and company responsible for the state that this country is in will not solve the problems that started way before his time. Whether you like the way he’s handling it is one thing. But you can’t blame him for things that aren’t his fault.
The heart of what has been lost in this country is the trust we have (or rather don’t have) in our politicians. As the general public, if I’m going to trust someone, it’s going to be someone who sees what the problems are AND what caused them. Until that someone shows he or she knows where they originated and not someone who will say what their party tells them to say, there will be no trust of anyone. This has been my point about losing credibility with you people. How am I supposed to believe you or listen to this crap, if I can’t trust the fact that you don’t even know where many of the problems started? Because guess what? Until Republicans take accountability, Democrats will not be a thing of the past. They will be here as a “pick-up-the-pieces” kind of hero that Americans will look to, once again, when another Republican loses their trust.
Billy| 8.19.10 @ 12:14PM
Stourley, Just wate till the electune in Novimbir.
:-)
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 12:57PM
Nice attempt at a trap, Billy.
Skogs| 8.19.10 @ 1:07PM
Liberals are smarter than you!
Just ask them.
theduke | 8.19.10 @ 2:13PM
Actually, it was a successful attempt at humor, but being a liberal (no doubt) you didn't recognize it as such.
SpiralArchitect| 8.19.10 @ 4:17PM
Trap? Are you trying to be clever or merely putting your paranoia on full display.
Billy was simply showing, clearly, that you were beat down, literally 'owned'.
No attempt at a 'trap'. Unfortunate that your ego could not have been apeased.
You may go, please close the door on your way out.
H Smith| 8.19.10 @ 9:34PM
It wasn't meant to be a trap. It was a joke.
Anthony| 8.19.10 @ 8:19PM
You bet Bill, Obama & his fellow Leftist Ds will take a beating in all 57 states, ain't that right Stourley?
Vernon Rosa| 8.19.10 @ 1:42PM
With all the important issues this article spoke of, you can only criticize a person who didn't correctly spell "speeches"? That in itself says a lot about the Left.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 2:31PM
"you can only criticize a person who didn't correctly spell "speeches"?"
I can do more, have done more, and will continue to do more, Rosa.
AMEBRO| 8.19.10 @ 3:45PM
FORK YOU STOURLEY do more while ya sit on that & rotate
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 3:47PM
Don't taze me, Bro!
SpiralArchitect| 8.19.10 @ 4:22PM
Impressive retort. Did you come up with that all by your lonesome?
Fortunate are we that we will not have to endure the 'more' 'more' & 'more' you so forcefully displayed here unto.
Your literary prowess is overshadowed only by your preponderance as a second rate troll.
dawsonkid| 8.19.10 @ 4:41PM
The poster signs and taser comments were both quick wit. Too bad that he has no foundation other than his wit to define him.defines
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 6:45PM
Thanks, dawsonkid. I would like to direct you to my other comments, some of which you may find more substantial. I have even agreed with conservatives on a couple of points.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 6:42PM
"Fortunate are we" is clumsily arch, and overreaching.
soljerblue| 8.20.10 @ 2:26AM
we're still waiting for that impressive display, Stourley
thomcat| 8.27.10 @ 7:40AM
Ref: "speaches" spelling, How about POTUS using the word "corpse" when refering to "Corps" like the United States Marine Corps, or that Barry thinks there are 57 states in America
Ken Roberts | 8.19.10 @ 2:11PM
Kareful you mite bea sujkt to skutiney on youre spellink , find sompin else to harp plese
wbheff| 8.19.10 @ 2:38PM
How sophmoric!
Brian | 8.19.10 @ 3:23PM
Stourley,
You're an idiot. Seriously. You're shallow, hollow, plain, simply an empty vessel waiting for someone like "His Oneness" to fill you with meaningless, pointless rhetoric and "ideas" best left to bumper stickers.
"speaches"! I'm pleased to meet the sign painter for the Tea Party!"
If that's all you've got, which I'm sure it is, don't even bother trying to compete with thinkers. You couldn't last for a minute.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 3:36PM
"If that's all you've got, which I'm sure it is..."
That says a lot. First, I ought not need to tell you that I've got much more. Second, your sureness reflects more on moribund state of mind than on my opinions.
AMENBRO| 8.19.10 @ 3:48PM
Got a PORT HOLE?
Bet that stinks toooo
Geechee| 8.19.10 @ 3:40PM
Yeah, Kracklite, perhaps next time we should get the erudite Maxine "Lunar Rover" Waters or the scholarly Sheila "North Vietnam-South Vietnam" Jackson Lee to check postings for spelling. That not being possible, maybe that fun-loving liberal news anchor, "Wolfman" Blitzer, could share his brilliance with us as he did when he came in dead last on recent episode of "Jeopardy" (behind a comedian and an actor, by the way.)
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 3:46PM
I think your quotation mark key is stuck, Geechee. You know how to take care of that, don't you? "You just put your lips together and blow."
AMENBRO| 8.19.10 @ 3:50PM
Ican smell yer blowin all the way over here Krackpot
Cause yer talkin outta yer PORT HOLE
Geechee| 8.19.10 @ 4:08PM
Check the copy of the "Associated Press Stylebook" you doubtless have and you'll discover (to your edification) that, absent the ability, as in this case, to employ italics, quotes are an acceptable way to denote nicknames as well as the titles of tv shows.
I must say I was surprised at your "stinging" retort using the Bacall line. It proves that you haven't limited your cultural awareness to the likes of "Jersey Shores" and "Dog, the Bounty Hunter."
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 4:19PM
The terms in quotations are aspersions. It is well known that the right over-uses quotation marks to cast aspersion, and, to spell it out for you, is what I was alluding to.
Geechee| 8.19.10 @ 7:07PM
They are political nicknames, much like "White Flag" Harry, or the late "Porkbarrel John". If you had any conservative friends, you'd likely know that.
As to "It is well-known that the right over-uses quotation marks..." please provide documentation for that rather laughable assertion (the fact that you personally believe it does not count as verification, BTW.)
And as long as you're going "...to spell it out for me...", perhaps you could do it in a grammatically-correct manner (i.e., "...and it is that to which I was alluding." (Didn't Miss McGillicutty warn you about ending a sentence with a preposition?)
As did you, I'll close this post with another cinema quote, directed at you and all the delusional Dems who continue to support this astonishingly inept administration while simultaneously telling us all in that patronizing, condescending manner for which liberals are famous that things are improving.
" Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining."
- "The Outlaw Josey Wales."
See ya at the polls in November. (Don't forget to bring your Seventh Cavalry flag.)
Stourley Kracklite| 8.20.10 @ 8:10AM
Here's a source for my claim:
http://www.tnr.com/article/pol.....yet?page=1
In the world outside the Platonic cave of conservative thinking there are other sources as well.
Your grammatical correction is rather school marm-ish. This "rule" is considered rather antique.
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 10:52AM
The "quotes" just mark the lies. "It's not a 'tax'." For example, Obama in an interview will say, "No. That’s not true, George. The — for us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase." The WSJ, not being stupid, will use quotes. Because any idiot knows what's coming next. "In order to protect the new national health care law from legal challenges, the Obama administration has been forced to argue that the individual mandate represents a tax — even though Obama himself argued the exact opposite while campaigning to pass the legislation."
I feel like I just told you there's no Santa Clause. Sorry about that.
Red Baron| 8.19.10 @ 8:20PM
I prefer my krack dark, lol...
gthog61| 8.20.10 @ 7:31AM
over-uses?
The Tea Party sign painter is on holiday (he says it that way because he is British) this week. Would you like to stand in?
tal Kepi| 8.24.10 @ 4:29PM
The sign painter crack was a good one, I'll grant you that. Still doesn't beat my favorite for this election season, the ever popular "I can see November from my house."
WAKE UP| 8.19.10 @ 6:25PM
Stourley, lissen up: REALITY BITE COMING.
RDN in Houston| 8.21.10 @ 11:12AM
Hey troll, is that your best shot? Go back to DU underground.
DesertFlower| 8.21.10 @ 3:09AM
Some of us knew he meant it.
Spoonman| 8.19.10 @ 3:43PM
And he loves to hear himself lecture the serfs even more!
Bruce | 8.19.10 @ 4:41PM
Only if his teleprompter is close by, Stephanie - without it Zero is incoherent.
fred| 8.19.10 @ 9:27PM
And he's black! (sort of).
vtwin| 8.19.10 @ 8:58AM
Yes the American people are an impatient bunch but despite what President Obama inherited from the disastrous Bush presidency, financial meltdown, rising national debt, growing unemployment, declining middle class, two failed wars, …, and a “loyal opposition” more concerned with regaining power than America’s future, the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, though faint, is visible to those without partisan blinders. God bless this “community organizer.”
JohnD| 8.19.10 @ 9:16AM
Still blaming Bush? Aside from whether the mortgage crisis resulted from the looting of Fannie Mae by Democratic operatives Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick) on the board, it has been almost two years, and this is Obama's recesssion.
How can you blame Bush for Obama "inheriting" deficits, when Obama has run up deficits 4-5 times as large? This is rank intellectual dishonesty.
Everything Obama has done has made things worse. Raising the cost of labor (Obamacare), raising the cost of capital (FinReg), creating economic uncertainty (pending tax hikes), nationalizing major industries (banking, investment, insurance, auto manufacturing, medicine, etc.), and so on.
No, Bush can't be blamed for the current economy unless you ignore the facts. This is Obama's recession.
LDT| 8.19.10 @ 11:27AM
I agree totally with you. This imbecile in the whitehouse has brought down this country. Hopefully he will depart soon. I request his resignation.
Stoptnenonsense| 8.19.10 @ 1:29PM
The office of the President had diminished Obama. He was unprepared and inexperienced.
He had no leadership qualities and his intellegence was oriented toward celebrity attainment and skills. This served him well in a campaign but this was his downfall as Presidenet.
Let us hope that he does not seriously diminish the Office of the President. The office itself has been assaulted since the Monica Lewinsky scandal. This loss of prestige in the office of POTUS costs us domestically and internationally
Ramonsanto| 8.19.10 @ 2:43PM
Amen
rochesternative| 8.19.10 @ 2:35PM
Yeah, but do you think Biden will be better? Isn't Pelosi after him. Argh! we are stuck!
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 11:54AM
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06.....hardt.html
Recessions or the business cycle (37%);
Policies enacted by President Bush (33%);
Policies enacted by President Bush and supported or extended by President Obama (20%); and
New policies from President Obama (10%).
Bush inherited surpluses and bequeathed deficits. Payment of interest on deficits should be accounted for by those who incurred the deficits.
Gary Allen| 8.19.10 @ 12:02PM
The NY Times is famous for the word-smiths that it employes, and since this media outlet still worships their community organizer / liar extraordinaire...they can only write accordingly.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 12:58PM
Your analysis of the article would be appreciated.
The EE| 8.19.10 @ 12:53PM
The poll cited was published on June 9, 2009. It's August 19, 2010. Methinks that the numbers have changed in the last 14 months.
WSK| 8.20.10 @ 2:23PM
BAM!!!!!!
danfromatlanta| 8.19.10 @ 1:18PM
The Kracklite is right, accountability should be for those that incurred the debt, and since ALL the deficit spending came from a Democrat run Congress, and only the House of Representatives (run by Democrats when all the money disappeared) can authroize spending, them i beleive Kracklite ought to turn the spotlight on Pelosi and her sick socialist party. I blame Bush to the extent he signed the spending into law instead of using his veto pen every time pork laden Democrat bills came across his desk. But then Dubya was trying to govern. The last thing true patriots should ever do is allow socialists to ever have the chance to run this country into the ground! Never trust a Democrat!
Ramonsanto| 8.19.10 @ 2:45PM
1000 % Right!
Ned| 8.20.10 @ 10:06AM
that's what did it for Bush with me... the sucker never vetoed ANYTHING! C'mon GW, there were LOT'S of bad bills presented, and you signed EVERYTHING? And, yes, the worst were the last couple of years with Nasty Nancy running the zoo
Skogs| 8.19.10 @ 1:21PM
I love the reference to inherited surpluses....
Do you remember that little incident of 9/11, Federal spending instantly ballooned. I.e the wars and all of the extra security.
True Bush's veto pen was flaccid, he never held spending in check. He never kept the wandering Repubs in line or the democrats, who have owned congress since the 2006 elections.
True, Obama inherited a wounded economy, he is simply applying the coup de gras!
rochesternative| 8.19.10 @ 2:38PM
But remember, even though Bush didn't veto anything, it was the Democrat Congress that kept coming up with the spending bills. Bush had an opportunity with 9/11 to be one of the best presidents and he squandered it because he wouldn't do what the conservatives elected him to do: Be Conservative.
BackToBasics| 8.20.10 @ 1:18AM
Because he's not a conservative and neither is Rove. I new he was in the mushy middle in 2000 when I voted for him and I did so only because I detest crazy-man/angry eyes Al Gore even more than I detest Obam.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 3:18PM
I think your analysis is accurate, Skogs.
Mark Boabaca| 8.19.10 @ 1:30PM
While not defending the increase of the federal debt under President Bush, it's curious to see Clinton's record promoted as having generated a surplus. It never happened. There was never a surplus and the facts support that position. In fact, far from a $360 billion reduction in the national debt in FY1998-FY2000, there was an increase of $281 billion.
Verifying this is as simple as accessing the U.S. Treasury ( http://www.treasurydirect.gov/.....ication=np ) website where the national debt is updated daily and a history of the debt since January 1993 can be obtained. Considering the government's fiscal year ends on the last day of September each year, and considering Clinton's budget proposal in 1993 took effect in October 1993 and concluded September 1994 (FY1994), here's the national debt at the end of each year of Clinton Budgets:
FY1993 - 09/30/1993 - $4.411488 trillion
FY1994 - 09/30/1994 - $4.692749 trillion $281.26 billion
FY1995 - 09/29/1995 - $4.973982 trillion $281.23 billion
FY1996 - 09/30/1996 - $5.224810 trillion $250.83 billion
FY1997 - 09/30/1997 - $5.413146 trillion $188.34 billion
FY1998 - 09/30/1998 - $5.526193 trillion $113.05 billion
FY1999 - 09/30/1999 - $5.656270 trillion $130.08 billion
FY2000 - 09/29/2000 - $5.674178 trillion $17.91 billion
FY2001 - 09/28/2001 - $5.807463 trillion $133.29 billion
Note the increase in the debt? So where's your mythical surplus?
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 2:42PM
You're confusing the national debt with the federal budget, Mark. It is commonly claimed that government budget ended with a surplus under Clinton:
http://www.factcheck.org/askfa.....deral.html
What is not claimed is that the national debt decreased. Actually, it's common knowledge that the national debt has been increasing for many decades:
http://www.google.com/imgres?i.....CD8Q9QEwBw
Blackwatch| 8.19.10 @ 11:22PM
"It is commonly claimed that government budget ended with a surplus under Clinton:"
Clearly since the national debt is growing each year "common claims" to the contrary are not worth repeating. Ruling Class media bias is no basis for a valid argument.
If some news organization claimed that the moon is made of green cheese would you believe it too?
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 11:46AM
You know, Joe, you just put your lips together and "borrow" from Social Security ;)
Mark in LA| 8.19.10 @ 3:10PM
I am no fan of the human garbage the Republican party has been giving us since "deficits don't matter and amnesty" Reagan was in office, however the loony left is constantly braying about Clinton's surplus. They negelect that most of it was because of two things, the stock market bubble and the payroll tax.
Taxes on stock options are ordinary income and subject to payroll taxes which do not do anything for the national debt. Payroll and income taxes ballooned due to the stock options and hugh salaries related to increasing tech stocks not anything related to Clinton. When the losses came they were capital loses and their write offs are severly restricted. Even if they occured under Clinton, the losses could not be recognized until well after he was gone.
It can only be a real surplus if the governmet does not need to borrow and can retire debt which would be indicated by a decrease in the national debt. This did not happen because the payroll taxes filled in the hole are are supposed to be spoken for via future Social Security payments, it is not a real surplus.
Nolanimrod | 8.19.10 @ 1:48PM
Bush didn't inherit a surplus. He inherited a PROJECTED surplus, said projections being based upon the continuance of the Dot-Com bubble. By the time Bush took office a recession was underway, probably triggered by the Dot-Com adjustment.
A reasoned discussion might be nice. Does it always have to turn into the textual version of a cranky toddler rushing about trying to put a booger on somebody?
Ricardo Pobre| 8.19.10 @ 2:40PM
I love the imagery. Another set of scary numbers is the proportion of our national debt held outside of our country. Japan has been incredibly indebted, relative to GDP, for over a decade but their bonds are at least held by their own people. We've mortgaged our country's future to foreigners and will have lesscontrol over how the US Treasury bubble unwinds once it does. An unstable future for the Euro has forced international investors into USD for the time being, but once that shelter is less needed, they'll be swiftly leaving.
Ramonsanto| 8.19.10 @ 2:48PM
" Remember whoever controls the Debt controls you"
JulianusRex| 8.19.10 @ 3:27PM
"Bush inherited surpluses and bequeathed deficits."
A little matter called "9/11" caused this, but, of course liberals can't fathom such things.
Bardley| 8.19.10 @ 5:46PM
I might remind you Bush inherited a recession and a democratically controlled congress. Question: Remember who appropriates spending? Answer: The same liberals we have in Congress now. The hint would have been "it's not Bush" but that would have been still too challenging.
zionisticamerican | 8.19.10 @ 10:49PM
We have had many recessions since the great depression(7 I think) never has one lasted so long. Bush was Presiding since 2007 without a majority in either house, a lame duck basically, not unlike what Obama will be after November. His last budget with a Republican house and senate was 162 billion in the red. Since then Dem's have owned the budget process and look what we have. One Barack H. Obama voted for the budgets in 2007 and 2008, or was he present? He voted for the bailouts and he voted for most everything he "inherited"
The guy just cant stand up to his responsibility and claim he really doesn't know what the hell he is doing. All these anti business policies are exacerbating the problem, look how we have gotten out of the last 4 or 5 recessions. Not with the policies enacted now.
tal Kepi| 8.24.10 @ 4:32PM
In which case we can write down the majority of the interest on the deficit, and the debt, to Mr. Johnson. BTW, nice use of data from a highly tainted source.
Rufus_T_Firefly| 8.19.10 @ 2:28PM
No, although much of it was Bush's fault and you apparently enjoy ignoring the facts which you insist everyone else follow, the problem actually began with Reaganomics and his trickle down moronism, then got worse with each successive Presidency. To blame the lion's share of guilt on Obama is, as you so cleverly put it, is 'rank dishonesty'.
Joe Oliva| 8.19.10 @ 2:56PM
Hey, if you can't fully blame Bush, there is always the old fall back, blame Reagan.
Now, from 1954 - 1994, which party controlled the House, where all spending originates?
Which President benefitted most from the peace dividend that came after Reagan pushed the Russians to the limit?
Which party, beginning in 1994, moved the then President Clinton into a balanced budget, including reductions in a variety of social programs?
What is the relationship between the DotCom boom and the eventual bust of said boom that was leading the nation into a mini-recession by 2000?
What was the effect of the 9-11 attacks on the U.S. in economic terms?
Which President ignored the rise and threats of Osama Bin Laden , thereby giving more impetus to the 9-11 attacks?
Which President has had more deficit spending in his first year in office than all of the combined deficits of Bush?
Which poster on this thread is being dishonest?
Deficet Deceit| 8.19.10 @ 4:27PM
The POTUS ( in name only ) MONTHLY budgets NOW are what were YEARLY budgets under the non spendthrift Bush.
Ouch...
bptr| 8.19.10 @ 7:33PM
Blaming Obama for spending too much is like complaining about firemen using too much water! Bush was a complete moron and Cheney was a completely venal Dick. EVERYTHING Bush did was designed to aid Big Business and his cronies along with the corrupt interests of DICK Cheney (actually he was far too dumb to make any real decisions and did as he was told by the a-holes around him). The only exception to this was his attacking Saddam Hussein to impress is daddy, and con the stupid american public that it had something to do with 911 ("they're all 'A-Rabs' ain't they"?). Only you stupid "Conservatives" who are so gullible and susceptible to idiotic propaganda like Faux (do any right-wing people even know that word?) News - and also constantly repeating the same tired catch-words like "Obamacare" that you are instructed to repeat by your cult leaders on the Coporate Mafia airwaves - can't seem to see anything as it plainly is. Bush was -an INSANELY bad President and did his best to ignore all intelligence and almost ruined the world.
Yes, Carter was ineffective as President. But he is a very highly intelligent man, and did much humanitarian good nafter his term in office. Whereas Bush is a complete and utter moron. If you can't see that, the YOU are probably a moron too.
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 11:49AM
I never heard an antisemite called humanitarian before. There's a first for everything. Thank Jimmy Carter for the Ayatollah Khomeni, too; that was a real testament to the man's intelligence.
Jeff| 8.20.10 @ 3:06AM
It's astounishing to me that anyone could not see the damage that Bush did...make that, the damage that Bush is still doing. What president, or for that matter, human being, could come in and clean up the mess that he made over 8 years?? Just the mess that Bush made in one year's time is going to take many, many years to clean up and Obama is doing the best that he can with the resources he has left to work with. Sure, he's not perfect, but he's a lot better than anything we've had in a decade. The fact that you or anyone could just ignore that, for that sake of your parties reputation is disgusting. Own up to that damage that was done and the time that it will take to clean up, and then republicans might earn back the trust that one of their own disgraced.
Has there not been enough proof, enough studies, enough reports to show the blatant disaster George W caused not only to this country, but the world as a whole? Are you conservatives really that proud and have that much of an ego that you can't admit to the wrong-doings and outright lies that Bush performed right in front of our faces? Until you can do that and stop hiding behind what you THINK is Obama's mess, you lose all credibility.
Larry in Iowa| 8.20.10 @ 10:58AM
Democrats NEVER take ownership of their mistakes. After eight years of disastrous New Deal policies FDR's cronies were still blaming Hoover for the depression.
If (God Forbid) the clown in the White House gets re-elected and continues to drive our economy towards third world status , we can expect the leftists to steadfastly blame Bush for the entire thing.
I can see it now, "Soylent Green is made of people, and it's all George W. Bush's fault!"
Jeff| 8.23.10 @ 3:10AM
Larry, your reaction is exactly my point! You and your republican followers can’t take responsibility for ANYTHING!!! How much more proof do you need to understand how Bush has messed up this country? You can’t even address the fact that he was a complete screw up. This is what I was saying earlier about losing all credibility by not taking any liability for our country being in the state that it’s in. If you can honestly sit there and say that we have to blame Obama for all of our hardships right now, then there’s no hope for you. I don’t need to site facts (as there’s too many to mention) of how horrible a president Bush was. This third grade mentality that you’re taking here by simply pointing the finger in the other directions, certainly does not give your case or yourself any more credibility.
No one has said that Obama hasn’t made mistakes. He even admitted at the beginning that he’s not going to be perfect at fixing everything. But at least Democrats can be open-minded about such issues. Republicans just want to wipe their hands of any responsibilities and throw the blame elsewhere. For God’s sake, wake and realize that Obama inherited a junk yard to clean up. Even during the presidential campaigns, BOTH sides admitted over and over how sad a state the country was in and how much of it needed to be revamped.
It’s amazing that you can so easily look the other way when needed. Of course, people blame the depression on Hoover. Because that’s when the depression started – during his term! Any idiot knows that. Did FDR add to the depression? Probably a little. But let’s not forget the many ways in which he helped this country get back on its feet– a lot more than what he did to hurt the country. I think winning 4 terms of a presidency speaks for itself. He obviously did something right.
Can we blame Bush for all the problems? Of course not. Just like we can’t deny that Obama has inherited an absolute mess. The fact is, in both of these situations, you have only shown how truly biased, arrogant, and narrow minded you really are by not taking accountability. You need to stop playing the “poor me” card and pull your head out of you’re a@& and wake up to reality.
Sam Vaughn| 8.19.10 @ 9:16AM
vtwin - When was it you realized that you hated this country? When did you decide the anybody who disagreed with you was a partisan, racist, bigot? or, as I suspect you are a socialist-statist intent on imposing your "religion" on the rest of us. I don't think you're stupid so selective elucidation of history is all you're got. The Democrats have controlled Congress since 2006. They all share, along with people like you, in the blame for spending our children and grandchildren into serfdom
maximumrandb| 8.19.10 @ 9:31AM
Let's also not forget that Congress has been in Democrat hands for almost four years now. Perhaps vtwin will hold Pelosi, Reid et al responsible? Nah, too much intellectual honesty would be required
Thinker Right| 8.23.10 @ 4:15PM
No, maximumrandb, the Congress has not "been in Democrat hands for almost four years now". If has been in Democratic hands for almost four years now. Please don't waste our time with your posts when you can't even get the basic facts correct.
Ramonsanto| 8.19.10 @ 2:55PM
Sam your 100 # right.
Tom Myers| 8.19.10 @ 9:34AM
Disastrous Bush presidency? If you define disastrous like "worse than Carter Administration" then make your case with some data. I understand how an Obama fan would want to blame all economic problems on previous administration. However, I believe when Bush came into office he took ownership of the economy which was just right at the brink of recession. Dealt with the economic weakness, made worse by 9/11 and got the economy back on track. The "loyal opposition" that is "so concerned about regaining power" began the Obama presidency as limp as milk toast. The "opposition" part only started after Obama insisted on stuffing legislation the public didn't like down our throats and began his teaching moments lecture tour. The "loyal opposition" can thank President Obama for any good fortune that shines down on them this November. I can assure you they didn't have any grand plan. Finally, I share the sentiment of your last sentence. I just pray he learns the same lessons as our last Democratic president who bounced back from his early slump and regained the public's confidence through sucessful leadership.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 11:46AM
"I believe when Bush came into office he took ownership of the economy which was just right at the brink of recession."
Well, hold yourself to your own high standard for documentation.
Tom Myers| 8.19.10 @ 4:54PM
Stourley, in response to your comment. Q4 '00 GDP was 2.4%, 4.1% for full yr '00. Q1 2001 GDP was -1.3% and 1.1% for full year '01. S&P 500 on Jan.31 '01 was 1,366 by Feb.'03 it was 841.0 Unemployment rate in Jan.'01 was 4.2%, 4.7% by yr end '01, made a high of 5.8% at yr end '02. By '06 it was 4.6%. I seem to recall vividly that the Bush administration got full blame for the decline of the statistics mentioned above. Thus, Obama should be accountable for a least a little bit of our current economic situtation.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 6:55PM
Tom, I agree Obama and the Democrats should be held accountable. What ever happens on their watch is their responsibility.
And thanks for following through with the data.
Tom Myers| 8.19.10 @ 9:17PM
No prob, Cheers!
Dan Hirsch| 8.19.10 @ 9:41AM
Mebbe, Obama was sworn into something less than a bed of roses, but he has not made one single thing better. Not one. None. Nothing. Nada.
And yes we are impatient. We are impatient with a President who pretended to be one thing to get himself elected and then unveiled his true self to be the complete opposite.
We are impatient with a political party (the Democrats, in case you were confused.) who legislate clearly against the fundamental rights and freedoms in the Constitution and do so over the vociferous objections of most of the people. A party whose leadership thinks that those voicing opposition should be "investigated."
We are impatient with people who swear to uphold our Constitution and then proceed to trample it and us underfoot.
Be gone you stupid, insensate, troll.
George Bush, for whom I held little regard (but far more than Obama, Pelosi, Reid, or Durbin) was faced with the most serious physical attacks on our country in almost sixty years. At 18 months into his term, he had already assembled a response that made it clear to terrorists that this was not really a soft target.
Whose fault is it that the incumbent has spent this same time doing nothing but bowing, scraping, apologizing, and assisting the building of the enemy's celebratory "temple" within sight of the first attack on our soil since the Japanese invaded Alaska and dropped bombs (from balloons) on our western states.
VTwin, Why don't you man up and be an honest supporter of our enemies and LEAVE this country, you stupid, confused traitor.
Nolite me conculcare!
Ted| 8.19.10 @ 11:34AM
I am curious, Dan, about a contradiction in your thinking. You seem to think Obama is trampling all over the Constitution while assisting the building of a celebratory "temple" within sight of Ground Zero.
The first amendment seems pretty clear that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". With that set pretty clearly in stone, how can any branch of government uphold the Constitution and crack down on the practice of Islam, any where in the country?
By the same logic, we should prohibit anyone from building a Catholic church anywhere near the site of the Oklahoma City bombings.
joe the engineer| 8.19.10 @ 11:47AM
The Oklahoma City bomber was an atheist - look it up before you make a complete fool of yourself
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 11:59AM
I looked it up. McVeigh was raised Catholic. He later expressed agnostic views. He believed in a "universal higher power", something atheists don't believe in.
Religious freedom for atheists should be supported as well.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 2:04PM
McVeigh didn't commit his bombing in the name of Catholicism, Christianity or this "higher power" you mention so his religious beliefs whatever they were are irrelevant to his murderous actions. By contrast the 9/11 bombers made elaborate preparations including Islamic "purification" rituals and videos making it clear that they were undertaking jihad in the name of Allah and Islam. The same billion and a half co-religionists who have no trouble mobilizing hundreds of thousands to riot about cartoons and imaginary offenses such as swirls on ice cream and Teddy bears named Mohammed somehow could not be bothered to mobilize protests against the 9/11 bombers who aimed for much more than the 3000 they managed to kill. In fact, more Muslims were dancing in the streets cheering their great "victory" than have ever protested this attack. Contrast this to the universal abhorrence shown McVeigh and his actions by Christians who were unfairly tarred by the left for actions that were not carried out in their name.
Someone who drags out McVeigh's name ascribed incorrectly to the Christian column as morally equivalent to 9/11 let alone the thousands of Muslim attacks with hundreds of thousands of victims (half a million in Sudan alone) is a moral imbecile and shouldn't be allowed near a keyboard to spread his idiocy.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 2:48PM
I'm glad you agree that joe's claim is incorrect.
Blaming all Catholics for the actions of a few is very wrong, Laine.
Ramonsanto| 8.19.10 @ 3:15PM
I remember the Capitals of the Islam World dancing and cheering the 9/11 great victory; we should always remember that Day.
Moderate Muslums preach with the Left " please leave us alone we only want to study Jihid Guys"
Thats a Pun; Understantd Islam and you will wake up.
vtwin| 8.19.10 @ 3:21PM
“McVeigh didn't commit his bombing in the name of Catholicism [or] Christianity…so his religious beliefs whatever they were are irrelevant to his murderous actions.”
Really, McVeigh “murderous actions” took place on the second anniversary of Waco, no religious motivation?
Ok, but suppose McVeigh had kill in the name Christianity, maybe made “videos” calling Reno a Godless atheist and Clinton, well the antichrist, would you then call for denying Christians their Constitutional Rights? Would you support the blocking of building Churches in Oklahoma City?
Jmulcahy| 8.19.10 @ 9:34PM
First, McVeigh was not a practicing Catholic. Second, he did not claim to bomb the Murrah Building in the name of religion but rather because of Government's infringement on personal liberty in the case of Waco. Third, as a practicing Catholic, if McVeigh had blown up the Murrah Building in the name of Catholicism, I would be opposed to the building of a Catholic Church at the site. Just as I thought the Pope was right in getting the nuns to move their convent from Auschwitz. Fourth, this is not about religious freedom. There are 90-100 mosques in NYC, no one is saying they cannot build another one. The Cordoba Initiative is demonstrating extremely bad taste and insensitivity to the overwhelming majority of their fellow American citizens. Most evident of their bad taste is their unwillingness to listen to Governor Patterson who wants to offer them another site to build a mosque on. One has to start questioning their motives under such circumstances. Fifth, you are very boring and dull and that is the last time I will respond to your inane comments here.
Katie Carroll| 8.19.10 @ 2:57PM
Stourley: Your analogy fails, McVeigh did the OK bombing of a GOVERNMENT building to protest GOVERNMENT action against the Branch Davidians. While he may have been raised Catholic, he certainly did NOT commit his crime to protest something done against Catholics. I have heard other lefty pundits make this same analogy (is there a lefty pundit analogy website with the lefty pundit du jour???) The GZ mosque would be a monument to Islam in whose name the terrorists attacked the US. That most Muslims are peaceful and abjure violence is beside the point - the act was done in the name of Allah and the mosque will probably be funded by Saudi Arabia - birthplace of most of the 9/11 terrorists. Exactly how much more insensitive can you get??
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 3:40PM
I agree that McVeigh committed his crime to protest the government. I would be careful not to claim that all who protest the government are therefore to be thought of as being like McVeigh. Now with a little transitive thinking, you may understand my point of view.
Mar57| 8.19.10 @ 3:10PM
Atheism is not a religion. You have to beleive in in G-d.
blackwatch| 8.19.10 @ 3:34PM
"Religious freedom for atheists should be supported as well."
Non sequitar.
Atheists are free from religion. You can not support the religious freedom of someone who does not practice a religion.
Barack Hussein Obama II--worst president ever.
Your failure of a president is off for another vacation in Martha's Vineyard. What a loser.
Isn't there one Department in the Federal Government that he is interested in improving?
The man has no intellectual curiosity and no leadership skills.
I feel sorry for poor little Barry Soetoro. Never had a real dad and kook for a mom. No wonder he isn't up for the job.
Timothy McVeigh's Own Words| 8.21.10 @ 11:53AM
'I explain herein why I bombed the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. I explain this not for publicity, nor seeking to win an argument of right or wrong. I explain so that the record is clear as to my thinking and motivations in bombing a government installation.
"I chose to bomb a federal building because such an action served more purposes than other options. Foremost the bombing was a retaliatory strike; a counter attack for the cumulative raids (and subsequent violence and damage) that federal agents had participated in over the preceding years (including, but not limited to, Waco). From the formation of such units as the FBI's Hostage Rescue and other assault teams amongst federal agencies during the 80s, culminating in the Waco incident, federal actions grew increasingly militaristic and violent, to the point where at Waco, our government - like the Chinese - was deploying tanks against its own citizens.
Knowledge of these multiple and ever-more aggressive raids across the country constituted an identifiable pattern of conduct within and by the federal government and amongst its various agencies.
'For all intents and purposes, federal agents had become soldiers (using military training, tactics, techniques, equipment, language, dress, organisation and mindset) and they were escalating their behaviour.
Therefore this bombing was meant as a pre-emptive (or pro-active) strike against these forces and their command and control centres within the federal building. When an aggressor force continually launches attacks from a particular base of operations, it is sound military strategy to take the fight to the enemy. Additionally, borrowing a page from US foreign policy, I decided to send a message to a government that was becoming increasingly hostile, by bombing a government building and the government employees within that building who represent that government. Bombing the Murrah federal building was morally and strategically equivalent to the US hitting a government building in Serbia, Iraq, or other nations.
Based on observations of the policies of my own government, I viewed this action as an acceptable option.
From this perspective, what occurred in Oklahoma City was no different than what Americans rain on the heads of others all the time, and subsequently, my mindset was and is one of clinical detachment. (The bombing of the Murrah building was not personal, no more than when Air Force, Army, Navy or Marine personnel bomb or launch cruise missiles against government installations and their personnel). I hope that this clarification amply addresses all questions.
JeffW| 8.19.10 @ 1:57PM
This always seems to be a liberal defense and is often misused. The federal goverement can not promote or restrict a religion. Saying do not build on this site is not restricting a religion if another suitable site was offered. Which it was, and promptly turned down by this Iman.
In Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963), the Warren Court applied the strict scrutiny standard of review to this clause, holding that a state must demonstrate a compelling interest in restricting religious activities. In Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), the Supreme Court retreated from this standard, permitting governmental actions that were neutral regarding religion. The Congress attempted to restore this standard by passing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but in City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997), the Supreme Court held that such an attempt was unconstitutional regarding state and local government actions (though permissible regarding federal actions).
However, this whole argument is a straw man. No one is saying they should not be able to build a mosque or even practice their religion. The objection is to where they want to place it. A mosque broadcast "God is great" in Arabic over the site of 3,000 people killed by Muslim extremist is not exactly going to promote tolerance now is it?
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 4:27PM
Of course, you don't know that the mosque is going to broadcast "God is great" in Arabic over the Ground Zero site. But, you'd do well to remember who is the God of the Arabic people.
JmsA| 8.19.10 @ 5:50PM
What's the matter, Stourly, haven't you heard about calls to prayer from the minarets?
Anthony| 8.19.10 @ 8:26PM
Obama sure has; he has called the Muslim call for prayer one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. And our Muslim president ought to know!!!
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 11:57AM
Let's debunk the lie that Islam is an Abrahamic religion for good. A look at how Jews and Christians suffer terrible persecution and discrimination in the Muslim world should tell you whether or not we share the same values. Not to mention how women, children and gays are treated under sharia.
rochesternative| 8.19.10 @ 2:48PM
The purpose of government is TO PROVIDE FOR THE COMMON DEFENSE. America needs defending from those who are both Muslim and terrorists...not just muslims. Unfortuately, it is difficult to tell who the terrorists are. No one has suggested in all seriousness that the mosque not be built but this piece of real estate is not appropriate. There are other mosques so no one is blocking them from "free exercise therof". Besides no one suggested a Catholic church near the Oklahoma City bombing, furthermore, I doubt any Catholic would push the issue as is being done in this situation.
rochesternative| 8.19.10 @ 2:50PM
Furthermore, there is no tennet of the Catholic faith that suggests the killing of non-Catholics. I think the last time that sort of thing went on was in Ireland and before that with Bloody Mary.
Ms. Jones| 8.19.10 @ 3:22PM
Obama is trampling all over the Constitution with his Big Governmen policies. Under the Constitution, the powers of the federal government are specific and enumerated. Under the guise of the commerce clause, this administration has seized control of the healthcare industry, the automotive industry, banking, college loans, mortgage loans, and energy. And while POTUS supports freedom of religion for Muslims, he has been reticent (!) about the silencing of praying schoolchildren on the steps of the Supreme Court! Thomas Jefferson, the least "religious" of our Founding Fathers, worshipped every Sunday at services held INSIDE the halls of Congress. Similar church services were held inside the Supreme Court Building and Treasury Building. The First Ammendment has been turned on its head, but only as respects Christians and Jews.
ds80| 8.19.10 @ 9:51AM
vtwin will happily support the Marxist/Alinsky Community Organizer as he drives off the cliff.
"Inherited from Bush" is the catch-phrase of the intellectually bankrupt.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 12:00PM
Actually, "intellectually bankrupt" is their catch-phrase, judging from the comments in this thread.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 2:09PM
Someone who uses McVeigh who claimed no religious motivation to bludgeon Christians and equating one incident to thousands of attacks by Muslims with hundreds of thousands of victims around the world shouldn't use the words "intellectually bankrupt".
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 2:51PM
I've re-read my post on which you comment. I say that my research informs me that McVeigh was not an atheist. I go on to support religious freedom for atheists.
I did not make the equation you claim.
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 12:00PM
CNN reported, “McVeigh is agnostic. He doesn’t believe in God, but he won’t rule out the possibility. I asked him, “What if there is a heaven and hell?” He said that once he crosses over the line from life to death, if there is something on the other side, he will – and this is using his military jargon – “adapt, improvise, and overcome.” Death to him is all part of the adventure.
SpiralArchitect| 8.19.10 @ 4:37PM
You are akin to my drink I just finished.
I swirl the cup about and only hear the rattle of the left over ice inside. For any practical reasons; the cup is empty soon to be discarded.
You, rattle and nothing more. You are a hollow shell with no substance - the ice symbolic of what you say you once were...
Please, don't let the door hit you on your way out.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 6:49PM
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion...
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 6:49PM
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion...
RightWinger73| 8.19.10 @ 10:46AM
Inherited? Obama spent millions, campaigned all over the country, held fundraisers and debated to become POTUS. He inherited nothing that he didn't do everything in his power to take over. Aside from that, what exactly did he inherit and what did he do about it when he was a senator? Did he speak out against spending? Propose spending cuts? No, he didn't. The economy is a dynamic and multi-threaded entity: interest rates, GDP, business growth, investments, unemployment rates, stock market trading, purchasing, etc. So when you say financial meltdown, can you be specific in terms of what exactly caused it and what it was regarding? Rising national debt? Did Obama vote against spending in the Bush administration? Did any Democrats? Growing unemployment? And why exactly is it growing? Do you know? Define "middle class" and explain precisely why its declining. Can you do that? Two failed wars? By what measure did you determine that these wars have failed? I'd love to hear your answer.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 12:05PM
Osama bin Laden's plan was to turn Americans against one another over what constitutes patriotism and bankrupt America's economy by our nation's spending of hundreds of billion of dollars chasing a handful of insurgents in their own lands.
danfromatlanta| 8.19.10 @ 1:49PM
Kracklite, you really are an idiot! Did you come up with that ridiculous theory because you actually want OBL to righfully claim victory? You actually think OBL wanted US reaction to be as effective as it was in routing Al Quaida from Afghanistan and establishing a democratic government there, and overthrowing the Saddam? Stupid does not do justice to your idiocy!
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 2:21PM
For the sake of argument, grant Krackpot his theory. It is the Left and Islamists like bin Laden who have joined in an "Unholy Alliance" to bring down the obstacle to both their plans - the last bulwark against totalitarianism, a free and defiant United States. If they succeeded, the two scorpions would have to fight to the death as their actual agendas aside from their love of totalitarian means to impose them are diametrically opposed but in the interim, they are joined at the hip. In this theoretical scenario, Krackpot and his Lefty tribe will go down as their fearsome tongue lashings don't work vs. beheading by scimitar, stoning or hanging.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 2:55PM
I never said bin laden had the right to claim victory. I said that he hoped to turn Americans against one another with regard to what constitutes patriotism. However, I understand from Laine that the Left is conspiring with Islamists to bring down "a free and defiant United States."
Oops| 8.19.10 @ 4:40PM
It is 'KrackPot'?
All this time I thought is was 'KrackPipe' :o
RobLACa.| 8.19.10 @ 3:12PM
What you meant to say was that Osama bin Laden admitted their hopes for success was dependent upon the democrats opposition here at home and their chipping away at our resolve to continue to fight. Where is that non stop drumbeat and death count from the treasonous liberal Media today?
Oh that's right, their criminal party is back in power and in the complete MAJORITY.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 3:43PM
Actually, what I meant to say was that it was bin Laden's plan to get one group of Americans to say about another group of Americans that they were "treasonous" and "criminal."
Bruce | 8.19.10 @ 5:01PM
We didn't need OBL to have one group of Americans accuse another of treasonous and criminal behavior - the Democrats, via the DSA, have always been criminals and treasonous. We already knew that.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 6:51PM
As a famous New Yorker once said, "You keep plucking that chicken!"
Larry in Iowa| 8.20.10 @ 11:18AM
The leftists support the Islamists because they hate the same things and people. However, they better hope (we can be fairly certain they won't pray) the Islamists never take over, because the Islamists wouldn't be kind to a bunch of Godless, homophilic, blaspheming elitists.
I can see it now, Howard Dean explaining to the Taliban why he shouldn't be beheaded because he hated Bush too.
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 12:05PM
Our country was actually bankrupted by a decadent ruling class, a greedy constituency looking for a free lunch, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac corruption, as well as a lazy SEC and hedge funds and investment firms who knew the government would bail them out as they gambled with the world economy. Both our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cost peanuts compared to the bailouts and stimulus bills. Don't think for a minute OPEC isn't heavily invested in our FIRE industries. They knew to short airline stocks before 911, and they snatched up that real estate aat Ground Zero after years of persistence and palm greasing the Bloomberg administration.
DontHatePOTUS44| 8.19.10 @ 1:35PM
It doesn't take an idiot to know that you don't wage a war of choice and at the same time give out two tax cuts to does that won't spend it and expect the surplus you inherited to still be around. Every body should stop drinking the cool-aid the TEA party is serving. If Bush 43 hadn't bailed out wall street and if Obama didn't saved the state budgets with the stimulus we would all be in the second great depression with 16% unemployment rate. You should first thank the surgeon for saving your life before worrying about the scar from the operation.
George True| 8.19.10 @ 2:07PM
Such self-delusion! It is established, empirical, economic fact that reducing taxes INCREASES revenues. And it has also been established empirical fact that Keynesian economic policy has been an absolute failure every time and in every country it has been tried over the last 150 years (even before Keynes, in mid-nineteenth century France these policies were an abject failure). The stimulus was doomed to failure before it was even passed because no such government stimulus has succeeded ever, anywhere.
The best thing the government could have done in 2008-2009 is 1) stay the hell out of the way, 2) dramatically cut corporate taxes and capital gains tax, 3) make the tax cuts of 2001-2003 permanent, 4) stay the hell out of health care, while providing incentives for private insurance companies to create market based solutions to the high cost of health care. (See: Ludwig Von Mises, Austrian School of Economics.) These things would have worked because the empirical fact is they have NEVER FAILED to stimulate an economy anytime they have ever been implemented in a true free market economy.
Instead, Pelosi/Reid/Obama did the very things that were guaranteed to put the economy into the crapper. They broke it - they own it.
Don'thatepotus44, I suggest you educate yourself, rather than just coming here and parroting leftist talking points.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 2:29PM
Even Obama himself admitted to a rare non-obsequious interviewer that government income went up when taxes went down but said it was more important to increase taxes on the "wealthy" in the name of "fairness". There's a commie ideologue for you, more concerned with fomenting class war to solidify his power than actually improving the economy. Bet Lovepotus44 thinks exactly the same way. Leftists will eat hay as long as no one else gets anything better (except their control freak elites who wallow in regal privileges).
Ramonsanto| 8.19.10 @ 3:24PM
Every one and I mean every one should read the writings of
Ludwig Von Mises
bptr| 8.19.10 @ 7:41PM
No stimulus plan has ever worked? Japan was in a recession for about 10 years and is now recovering due to an historic stimulus package of 15 trillion yen ($150 billion)!!! Hello?????
RobLACa.| 8.19.10 @ 3:24PM
You got it wrong. The serial lying criminal fraud hates us and you are a willing accomplice to all the , fraud, lies and damage he has done to our Country.You are the idiot.
Bruce | 8.19.10 @ 5:04PM
Has there been a big sale on Kool-Aid lately? Would you mind running that opening sentence by us one more time - preferably in a manner that makes sense?
Larry in Iowa| 8.20.10 @ 11:39AM
"War of Choice" the leftist's latest slur. Of course every one of them forgets that almost the entire Democrat leadership voted for the war because they too thought is was necessary. Of course, they will eagerly grant themselves absolution for their votes while excoriating Bush.
As for the spending, Obama threw more borrowed money down the healthcare takeover and bailout rathole in one year than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost. By the way, we already have 16% unemployment, we just lie about the numbers to make it look better.
rochesternative| 8.19.10 @ 2:52PM
Yeah, actually now that you put it like that Obama's "inheritited" exactly what he voted for!
Too bad it has to include US!
Tim*| 8.19.10 @ 10:50AM
" Democrats got another bit of disappointing news when an Associated Press poll released on Wednesday showed President Obama receiving his lowest marks to date on his handling of the economy.
Whether or not the negative views of the president will translate to negative views of the Democratic Party as a whole are yet to be known. There are 11 weeks until the November elections take place, but chances are pretty good they will.
The poll showed 41 percent approve of the president’s handling of the economy while 56 disapprove, down from 44 percent approval in April – overall the president’s approval rating is 49 percent. To make matters worse for the president, 61 percent say the economy has gotten worse or stayed the same under Obama."
DatsunMark| 8.19.10 @ 10:51AM
Hey vtwin,
Let me put in terms you understand...your losing and you're a loser for supporting the messiah and his failed Keynesian econ policies.
Jeff| 8.19.10 @ 10:52AM
vtwin - the issues of his eligibility, his association with avowed and unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, his membership - his very wedding - at the America-hating church of Rev. Wrong, his utterly incomprehensible insult of our allies (coupled with his physical embrace of madmen)...and his takeover of our auto, banking, and healthcare industries - these are NOT partisan issues. These are AMERICAN issues. These are problems for all of us. Who is this man? Where are his records? Why is so much "unseen" from the person who claimed he would be the most transparent in history??? NOT partisan issues.
Impatient Independent| 8.19.10 @ 11:08AM
Yes he inherited problems. Every President does. It is what he does with them that is important here. What he has inherited, he has made worse: deficits, debt, unemployment. His entire approach of growing government (the only job sector that actually is growing), taxing our way to prosperity, stimulus, the first step to gov't healthcare... None of this promotes the private sector of job creation and economic competitive edge. We, independents, put this guy in office, and in 2012, we will turn him out. He can vacation 24/7 after that.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 12:09PM
As a liberal, I understand and agree with your criticisms, I.I. I hope you will read the comments on this thread and consider fire under the frying pan.
galison| 8.19.10 @ 1:43PM
Stourley,
You are not playing fair. You are using facts and logic.
Would you please resort to vitriol and hyperbole.
Mike | 8.19.10 @ 11:14AM
Nice try vtwin,
Bush, 52 consecutive months of sustained economic growth...failed wars?? Gee, O and Biteme have declared victory in Iraq, did ya miss it?
Meltdown caused by Dems Frank & Dodd pressuring Freddie and Fannie to make loans to folks who could not afford them. Bush advisors warned world in 04 this would not work or last. no one listened. Recessions are cyclical..how long they last is up to sound policy. We do not have it..
The debt has tripled in 18 mos. of your boy..Of course that does not bother you. That light you see is the people of this country finally standing up and saying they have had enough. But you just keep waitin for the "organizer" He may help when he gets back from his eighth vacation this year Yikes
Sam| 8.19.10 @ 11:31AM
It is good to see Vice President Biden commenting here on American Spectator.
Mark| 8.19.10 @ 11:35AM
The "inherited" trope yet again. Obama didn't inherit anything from Bush. Obama ran for the job, now complains about the job he spent 2 years and millions seeking. Is the left capable of anything other than whining and claiming victimization? Certainly not.
Clinton nee Publius| 8.19.10 @ 11:43AM
He inherited nothing waterboy. He asked for the job. He demanded the job. He laughed at us and said this was something only government could fix and it was all b.s. and now we come to the point in the road where objective measurements come into play and this when people like you step in with the excuses and the distractions because accountability is not in the cards for the liberal elitist - only the continued corruption of stealing money from people who earn it and parceling it out to the mob who helped in the caper.
After November, the only god who will bless this loser is your communist "New World Man" god, comrade.
If I were you, I'd think about emigration and get out while the getting is good.
Fredrick Ward| 8.19.10 @ 11:46AM
President Obama has increased the national deficit three fold over what the last three presidencial terms have. To think that Bush or any other president is at fault for this disaster of a man's decisions is just plain blind.
The major problems with the liberals is that they miss the ideal that this country was built to be a republic, and not a socialist state. The ideal was less government to free the reigns of each individual and community to grow and flourish. Yet, that takes control away from the Liberal elite, and they don't like that. People like you have swallowed the ideal that government can do it better, government needs to take care of me, government is god. You build your own prison in which you will soon be shackled to the wall.
bptr| 8.19.10 @ 7:47PM
"Liberal ELite"?? Are you smoking crack? The Government and all of the people of this country are controlled by Wall Street and big greedy corporations. These people call themselves "Conservatives" and brainwash all of you little "conservative" morons to fall for them. Who do you think own Fox News? News Corp. makes billions off of you gullible idiots who are hostile towards smarter people and easy targets for the rich corporate a-holes in power.
alice| 8.19.10 @ 11:56AM
May you and Obama and the likes of you move to the UAR and see how far he can 'organize'.
SamAdams25| 8.19.10 @ 12:58PM
Spoken like a true Kool-Aid junkie. The light at the end of the tunnel is January 2013 when Barry can go back to community organizing as a private citizen, and we can start repairing the damage he has caused.
charlie briggs| 8.19.10 @ 1:48PM
Unemployment when Dems took control of Congress: 4.6% and
Obama opposed the surge which salvaged the war effort
Ken Roberts | 8.19.10 @ 2:16PM
Yep! he inherited a pretty good economy, and then proceed to trash it so no one can fix it. I fared well under Bush and then I still do alright but it seems my neighbors are out of work and borrowing cups of sugar , Reminds me very much of another time when borrowing cups of sugar and a cup or two of milk, it was in Carters time. If you want to use something that is wore out try using your shoes.
rochesternative| 8.19.10 @ 2:24PM
Yeah, the light at the end of the tunnel is the train coming!
Wonder how long he'll be able to keep the troops out of Iraq before he has to send them back to finish the job
DonDuke | 8.19.10 @ 2:30PM
VT--- You are so lame, it's laughable. As I recall, it's the legislative branch of government that enacts laws. And lets see....... who's been in power in the legislative branch for ummmmm.... the last 6 years?
vtwin| 8.19.10 @ 3:37PM
Wow, 77 comments on my comment.
Are we feeding the troll today?
JmsA| 8.19.10 @ 5:54PM
vitwin,
Here's 78th: Have you learned yet about actuarial analysis, through which Medicare and Social Security projections are arrived at, consists of statistical analysis?
AMENBRO| 8.19.10 @ 3:53PM
You sir are an IDIOT.
I blame yer Ma fer yer BIRTH
Bad Choice
elhombre| 8.19.10 @ 4:29PM
Yeah, the Democrats were such patriots in opposition that they did all they could to help Bush succeed in Iraq. They never accused him of lying us into the war by saying the same things nearly 50 of their party's leaders had said about Saddam's WMD, and they recognized the success the troops were achieving even when it might have hurt their template of Bush is a fool. Right.
reen| 8.19.10 @ 4:48PM
Well, if the job was so tough, Obama should have allowed someone with more experience to take it, no? The fact that he, with barely 2 years of Senate experience and really nothing else, decided that he was qualified to run a country at this difficult point in time, really speaks for itself on his sense of self-grandure. He asked us to vote for him but now all we hear from him is complains about "the mess he inherited" and "THEM" who impede him. Basically, this is just the wrong time for the kind of grand plans that he's developed in his brilliant mind. Makes you nauseous. What did he think qualified him to be the president? Were there others out there who could have done a better job? Did he not know about the wars and the economy and the corruption and the political climate? One message for him: If you can't handle the job -- don't apply. Many of us thought he wasn't good enough, yet he insisted that he was. Apparently, the doubters were smarter and knew better. Have some dignity, be a man and stop complaining. Oh, and BTW, if the job is so difficult, take more time to actually do it instead of going on vacations and playing golf. When you're failing a class, you don't ask for more time on a break.
joe collins| 8.19.10 @ 8:25PM
Oh yeah. We would have been MUCH better off with Sarah Palin. Hahahahahahahahahaha!
reen | 8.19.10 @ 8:41PM
When did Sarah Palin run for President? And by the way, who knows? I'm not her fan AT ALL but maybe she would at least have the right priorities.
However, I do have to agree with the spirit of your statement: are choices are getting worse and worse from one election to the next and the fact that every 4 years we vote for "the lesser evil" is at the root of the problem... or maybe just an indication that this country outlived its glory.
Rick Tutt| 8.19.10 @ 11:19PM
George Bush looks real good right now!
katie webb| 8.20.10 @ 7:20PM
Do tell what the Messiah has planned, Vtwin, to bring us out of the darkness. I can hardly wait to hear it.
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 11:04AM
THANK YOU
factchecker| 8.19.10 @ 10:00AM
As of July 17: Obama has taken 65 vacation days during his presidency. At the same time in GWB's presidency, he took 120. (http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/2506288,CST-NWS-obama18.article)
RacerJim| 8.19.10 @ 10:13AM
Please tell Obama to take more vacations. The more time he spends on vacation the less time he would have to destroy America.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 1:00PM
Obama takes too many vacations, now he doesn't take enough. The right is Goldilocks lost in the woods.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 2:35PM
The Right is very clear. A good President is a hard worker and doesn't treat the job like an unwelcome interruption to his vacations. Obama is so toxic on the job that people prefer he be on vacation permanently. Easy to understand except for a lib who pretends there's a contradiction where there is none and wastes everyone's time with his distractions.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 2:59PM
Laine, it's very clear RacerJim says we'd be better off if Obama spent more time on vacation.
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 11:18AM
Golfed as much in Two Years as Bush did in Eight
Flown AF1 for Campaign Stops and Date Nights
Throw parties every Wednesday
Appeared on Leno, Letterman, The View,
Jimmy Kimmel and American Idol
Bailed out Banks and Car Companies
Stole Food Stamps for Union Pensions
Passed an Unpopular and Expensive
Healthcare Bill Despite Opposition
From a Majority of American Voters
Acted Week-Kneed and Indecisive
During the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster
Surrendered to Moscow on Third Site
Missile Defense and Bowed to Iran's
Fraudulent Election and Nuclear Program
Sided with ousted Marxists in Honduras
Replaced the "War On Terror" with an
"Overseas Contingency Operation" and
The Taliban are no longer Terrorists
Apologized For American Exceptionalism
Bowed to the Saudi king, Japanese Emperor
Pam "CAIR Day" Lorio, Mayor of Tampa
Endorsed a Monster Mosque at Ground Zero
Ran up Trillion dollar deficits with Greek style
Debt That Could Be 87% of GDP by 2020,
109% by 2025 and 185% in 2035
DESERVES RETIREMENT STARTING 1-20-13
HE CAN VACATION ALL HE WANTS THEN
Georgrue| 8.19.10 @ 2:13PM
Nice try! Bush spending weekends at Camp David or at his ranch clearing brush doesn't qualify as "vacation".
JeffW| 8.19.10 @ 3:05PM
You quote a liberal rag in Chicago, that helped put this guy in office and wonder why no one believes the spin? Gee try posting from Huffington post or Ko's next.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 11:12AM
He's got that chicken strut down pretty good!
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 11:21AM
He got that from Rev. Jeremiah Wright. "America's CHICKENS are coming home to ROOST -AH." Get him going at a party, I bet he does mean air hump of our Secretary of State.
WTF Guy| 8.21.10 @ 2:30PM
Was he "...riiidin Hilary dirrrty..."?
Bill Michael| 8.19.10 @ 11:42AM
He has had 50 something days of vacation so far to Bush's 242 at this point in his presidency. Think you might lay off this particular angle.
Andy| 8.19.10 @ 1:12PM
Bill Michael,
First, please think about what you wrote - "Bush took 242 vacation days at this point in his Presidency." After 19 months? Hilarious. Where did you get this number, at Media Matters? One thing liberal pukes do not point out is that Bush vacation days they count always include days spent at his White House office in Crawford, Texas, and at Camp David, where he always entertained foreign visitors. Bush wasn’t a good President (although he is George Washington compared to the disaster now in the WH) but he was certainly a much harder worker than President Chavez Obama.
Rob| 8.20.10 @ 11:11AM
I might add.... licking an ice cream cone is the money shot. Very icky to see them all licking da cones.
Pat| 8.19.10 @ 8:02AM
Don't compare Obama to Carter. Compare him to Bush. Bush is our Jimmy Carter. Worst president next to Carter. Obama is still better than Bush. Carter was still worse than Bush.
bull-gator| 8.19.10 @ 8:19AM
worst top five: 1) obama, 2) carter, 3) LBJ, 4) FDR, 5) wilson
vtwin| 8.19.10 @ 9:03AM
Worst three Bush Jr., Reagan, and Bush Sr.
JmsA| 8.19.10 @ 9:34AM
Folks, don't waste your time with vitwin. After all, he doesn't even know that Medicare and Social Security projections are arrived at through statistical actuarial analysis. Blaming Bush is all they got; after all, even Barney Frank said it was dumb to claim the stimulus would prevent unemployment from going over 8%. By the way, weekly jobless claims just reached 500,000. May the Good Lord help those folks, the One certainly won't.
RacerJim| 8.19.10 @ 10:19AM
Worst four: Barack Hussein Obama, Barry Soetoro, Barack Hussein Obama II/Jr. and Barack Hussein Obama Soebarkah.
stormyweather| 8.19.10 @ 11:47AM
vtwin: Since you seem to hate this country and everything it stands for, LEAVE. Crawl back from whence you came.
Albert| 8.19.10 @ 11:22AM
Vtwin is an idiot. He has no knowledge of history and no ability to assess facts. Every time he writes on these pages he embarrasses himself. In all of US history he can only come up with “Bush Sr., Reagan, and Bush Jr.” as supposedly the 3 worst presidents. Utter stupidity. I will not defend either Bush, but Reagan was one of America’s greatest Presidents. He turned a failing economy into a robust machine. To his everlasting shame, it was Bush Sr. who pissed it all away and set the stage for Clinton. Here is my opinion on the “top 5” worst Presidents. 1. Abraham Lincoln. 600,000 people died and countless lives were ruined by an unnecessary war that was fought just because Lincoln’s ego would not let him be the man to preside over secession. 2. Woodrow Wilson. It was not necessary for the US to enter World War I, but college professor Wilson thought he knew better. The result was the destruction of Germany and the oppressive Treaty of Versailles. Had Wilson minded his own business, Europe would have reached an armistice on their own, and without the conditions that led directly to Hitler’s rise and to World War II. Churchill called WWII the “unnecessary war” partly for this reason. 3. Franklin Roosevelt. FDR pissed all over the Constitution, gave us the Socialist Welfare State, and knowingly had Communist agents working in his administration. FDR was rolled by Stalin and gave away Eastern Europe to decades of oppression under the Soviets. 4. Lyndon Johnson. The “Great Society” was nothing more than reparations for slavery, it condemned generations of people to endless poverty, and it destroyed Black families en masse. Then there is his supreme mismanagement of the Viet Nam War. First he escalated the war, then he refused to give the military the means to win it. Stupid. 5. Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton took bribes in the form of illegal campaign contributions from the Communist Chinese and in return gave them nuclear weapons technology, guided missile technology, super computer and computer controlled machine tool technology, and many other strategic technologies. The Chinese are now using these to build the largest and most modern military in the World as a direct threat to US economic interests, something they could not have done on their own. Those are my top 5, although President Bozo is fast climbing the list. Certainly he is number 6.
rochesternative| 8.19.10 @ 2:32PM
Bush 41 was simply more of a moderate. THAT is how he set everything up for Clinton. Reagan was a true CONSERVATIVE. May God send us another SOON!
Gretchen| 8.19.10 @ 3:14PM
AMEN!
Ms. Jones| 8.19.10 @ 3:32PM
Were you even alive during the Carter years? Gas lines, skyrocketing interest rates which put home ownership out of reach, and a hostage crises (gee, weren't those Muslims holding the hostages?) Regean was BRILLIANT!
Ms. Jones| 8.19.10 @ 3:34PM
Oops, typo: Reagan
W.L. Barton| 8.19.10 @ 4:41PM
We never should have allowed women to vote.
This complete airhead bimbo Jones creature confuses NIXON, who started the Arab oil embargo, by sticking his nose in the Jew sqyuabble with the A-rabs.
Get an education, or get lost.
Nunya| 8.19.10 @ 5:38PM
Actually, she wsa right on the inflation/interest rate comment, Carter actually worsened the situation with his monetary policy with the Fed--I actually did a paper on this in college.
Anyway, as to your comment about women voting, it is a known fact that if women didn't have the vote, no Democrat would ever again be elected President.
reen| 8.19.10 @ 8:44PM
I'm sorry but would you please qualify who are "we" in the first sentence of your post?
George True| 8.19.10 @ 2:17PM
Worst three: 1) Obama 2) FDR 3) LBJ
Best three: 1) Washington 2) Lincoln 3) Reagan
RCV| 8.19.10 @ 10:14PM
Best: (1) Lincoln; (2) Jefferson; (3) Washington; (4) FDR; (5) TR
Worst: (1) GWB; (2) Harding; (3) Hayes; (4) Wilson; (5) Carter
Nick| 8.20.10 @ 1:22AM
Worst three: 1)FDR/LBJ/Clinton/Wilson/O'Bama 2) Nixon 3) Hoover
Best three: 1) Washington 2) Reagan 3) Coolidge
joe collins| 8.19.10 @ 8:28PM
You might want to consider studying history before making a ridiculous list like that. And no matter what you say about Obama, he didn't cause the senseless deaths of tens of thousands of people. George W. Bush did. And I believe the correct figure for his vacations was 997 days in eight years. That's not media spin - that's fact.
Rick Tutt| 8.19.10 @ 11:23PM
Tell that to the families of the American soldiers that died protecting your stupid ass!
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 11:26AM
It's hard to put them in order, but Carter was mild compared to FDR. I'm going to say 1. FDR 2. LBJ 3. Obama 4. Carter 5. Wilson
The best are 1. Washington 2. Jefferson 3. Lincoln 4. Reagan 5. Teddy Roosevelt (basically, Reagan should be on Mt. Rushmore)
Warren| 8.19.10 @ 8:29AM
Quantify your rationale for this, please.
Pete66| 8.19.10 @ 8:58AM
Pat, you must be about 20 years old I'm guessing. Go back to class.
NR1217| 8.19.10 @ 9:08AM
5) Millard Filmore, 4)Andrew Johnson, 3) James Buchanan, 2) Barack Obama, 1) Franklin Pierce
The 19th century can't get a pass on this one.
A Real Republican| 8.19.10 @ 9:41AM
1) Obama 2) Carter 3) Fillmore 4) Wilson 5) Buchanan
The 20th Century does not earn a pass.
kwinterkorn| 8.19.10 @ 11:33AM
Last 100 years: Worst
1. FDR
2. Hoover
3. Obama
4. Carter
5. Wilson
Hoover, though a Repub, massively raised taxes and signed the soot Hawley Tariffs that plunged the world into depression. Long before FDR, world trade, due to the trade wars Hoover helped start and sustain,was down by 30%.
Even the great O has not yet been that destructive.
KW
kwinterkorn| 8.19.10 @ 11:34AM
sorry, Smoot-Hawley tariffs
James| 8.19.10 @ 3:02PM
Bush was not great, but worse than Obama? The worst thing Bush did was to set up the perfect storm that gave us a 60 Democrats in the senate and a huge Dem majority in the house, and a vice president that did not want to be president. Obama is following FDR's playbook under the mistaken notion that FDR actually was one of our great presidents. Obama has followed many of the policies that kept us in the depression for all of his tenure. Obama is the most unprepared, least vetted president in my lifetime. His failures make me wish Bush was back, and I am no admirer of Bush.
joe collins| 8.19.10 @ 8:31PM
The worst thing he did?????? Are you serious? Did you completely forget the false pretenses that led us to invade and then occupy a country that had done us no harm? I'm assuming no one you love was harmed or killed in the Iraq war. Because then you would know the worst thing Bush ever did. Of course, senseless death can't POSSIBLY compare to the horror of having 60 Democrats in the senate. How DOES that kool-aid taste?
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 11:32AM
Democrats had the same military and diplomatic intelligence Bush had when they all voted in favor of the Iraq war. There were legitimate reasons besides Saddam Hussein's weapons program, such as the 17 UN violations and shooting at our aircraft. This is why the American public is sick of the Democratic party; they would rather point fingers than solve problems, and they refuse to accept responsibility for their actions, even when they are in a leadership position. Whining about Republican obstruction when they have a majority and will not build consensus comes to mind here.
Greg Scandlen| 8.19.10 @ 12:18PM
This is not difficult. The Muslims have a first amendment right to build the mosque. And we have a first amendment right to criticize it. If the criticism gets intense enough, they will likely change their minds about building it. This is the way it is supposed to work - no rights violated, no government intervention. Even a (supposed) instructor in Constitutional law should be able to figure it out.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 1:02PM
Ah, a conservative I can agree with! Thanks, GS.
James| 8.19.10 @ 2:49PM
At least he isn't governing by the polls, if only a conservative who could articulate our positions would do the same. Nice to see a ultra liberal who commits political suicide instead of obfuscating his position. Unlike Nov 2008, eveyone now clearly knows what President Obama is about.
Alan Brooks| 8.19.10 @ 3:13PM
You feel guilt-- those of you who are Repuglicans ran McCain two years ago.
You made your beds and now you are lying in them.
bahmi| 8.19.10 @ 3:25PM
No game? He's plenty gamey to me. Obama has the ability to deny the existence of most everything going on at the present. He's oblivious, completely out of touch. He thinks well placed palaver can get him off the hook. Trouble is, we're on to him now. He's an empty suit, a very vicious and malignant ideologue. Luckily for him, his accompanying congress sycophantizes at everything he says. Clearly, the American people are second rate and his ideology takes precedence. He is a horrible president, an airhead and potential destroyer of our country. Support this buffoon at your own risk.
dawsonkid| 8.19.10 @ 4:46PM
Before everyone gets caught in Stanley Blowhard's lunacy below, could we come up with some good ideas on what the October Democrats' crisis, which cannot be wasted by elections, will be?
Carol Ann Carelli| 8.19.10 @ 5:14PM
Dear Mr. Tyrrell:
I agree wholeheartedly with your remarks with one exception, "the dread Sarah Palin." I believe Sarah Palin is feared by the left and the right and is disrespected and her intelligence and capabilities sadly underestimated. "Dread?" How so?
Sincerely,
CAC
elhombrelibre| 8.19.10 @ 5:57PM
I'm certain that the use of the word "dread" before Palin is tongue-in-cheek to make fun of those who dread Mrs. Palin. Bob, I think, isn't a huge fan of hers but he knows she's more of a reasonable person than any liberal, and that the attacks on her are way over the top.
joe collins| 8.19.10 @ 8:33PM
Sarah Palin is an idiot. I don't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat, that woman doesn't have the brains she was born with.
katie webb| 8.20.10 @ 7:25PM
She's still smarter than the Chosen One.
Intrinsic| 8.20.10 @ 9:20AM
...and here I thought it was a reference to the dread pirate roberts from Princess Bride.
Robert| 8.19.10 @ 6:18PM
I hope people are willing to learn what is going on here. This is not a Republican vs. Democrat or conservative vs. liberal issue; this is a money issue. Obama is just their puppet...their monkey-boy...just like both Bush presidents, and Reagan, and Clinton, and Johnson, and Nixon, and every president since 1913 when the Federal Reserve Act was signed by Wilson.
Who controls the money and who are they?
The Constitution gives Congress the power and authority to coin money and to regulate the value. And the Constitution gives Congress the power to lay and collect taxes. If this is right, and it is, then what branch of Congress are the Federal Reserve and IRS? Are they the House or the Senate?
Our government has given the power to coin and print money to 10 independent and for-profit banks. A $100 bill costs 5 cents to make, yet it's "sold" to our government at full face value + interest. The debtor is ALWAYS servant to the creditor.
Banks take your deposits, say your paycheck of $2000. They can legally inflate that to 10 times that amount, it's called credit, to $20,000. Then Joe buys a car for $20,000. He pay the bank his car payment of $350 per month + 6%.
At the end of the loan he has paid, say $30,000 for that car. The bank uses your money, free money, loans it out and keeps the profit...and you sit back and are comfortable with a stupid 2% CD and think it's good??
As long as the Federal Reserve is printing money out of nothing, this is called a Fiat System of Currency, we we always be economic slaves to them.
You don't destroy a country using guns, bombs, and the military. You destroy a country through control and manipulation of the currency, causing the people to be taxed to death because the loans to the banks need to be repaid. And this is where your tax dollars are going..to pay the interest on the trillions and trillions of dollars your beloved Democrat and Republican politicians are receiving from the Federal Reserve. Both sides of the isle have a hand in ruining this country.
"They" get a ream of paper and a printer, print money, then sell it. With 500 sheets of paper, you can put 4 $100 bills, front and back, on each sheet.
WOW!! You just created $200,000 out of nothing!! Then you loan that out that $200,000 to a few people and collect the interest off your total investment of about $158. $8 for the paper and $150 for the printer. Multiply that times $4 trillion and your have America.
To whom do we owe 14 trillion dollars and where did "they" get this money to loan to us? Why was this allowed to happen? Because you think, because "they" want you to think, that the issues are Social Security, Medicare, education, etc...
"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes her laws."
Mayer Amschel Rothschild
You can go ahead and think it's Obama, or Bush, or anyone else.
But until you realize that it's not our money, but either we pay the interest or go to jail, you will always be servants and economic slaves of the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, and the like, talking about the "issues" and who is in office.
By the way, the Rockefellers aided Germany and the Axis powers during WWI and WWII by selling them gas and oil. Treason? Why haven't they been brought up on charges?
John| 8.19.10 @ 9:02PM
He's good at reading the teleprompter.
John| 8.19.10 @ 9:02PM
He's good at reading the teleprompter.
John| 8.19.10 @ 9:02PM
He's good at reading the teleprompter.
John| 8.19.10 @ 9:02PM
He's good at reading the teleprompter.
Robert| 8.20.10 @ 11:21AM
He's the worst President in U.S. history. We still have an uninformed electorate that, more often than not, chooses the wrong man.
Robert| 8.20.10 @ 11:21AM
He's the worst President in U.S. history. We still have an uninformed electorate that, more often than not, chooses the wrong man.
DB| 8.23.10 @ 7:20PM
Gosh he's no George W. Bush.....wow, that was an impressive presidency. You people have no patience or humility for running this country into ruin. I'm ashamed of the Republican Party more than ever. Enjoy your view from the Cheap Seats.
Kelly Staples| 8.19.10 @ 6:57AM
Jimmy is redeemed. . . what an indictment.
drudge ette obama| 8.19.10 @ 7:05AM
Obama is lazy. Plain and simple. He likes to blah blah blah but no work work work. There is no follow through with this punk.
Appleby| 8.19.10 @ 7:27AM
This is a man who has never had a job -- and who HATES having a job. This is a man acting like a college girl in her first waitress gig, or a welfare mom who hires on at Wal-Mart for the discounts and discovers that there is really boring work involved too. AND YOU HAVE TO DO IT EVERY DAY. And answer to people you do not like, and be nice to customers you despise, and lower your voice when you speak to your manager, and deal with the fact that lots of people either do not care about you personally or do not like you, and you cant do a thing about it.
That is what people learn when they go to work for a living. That is what Obama has never done a single day in his life.
The Presidency of the worlds only superpower is not a training position. Have we figured this out at last?
LWilcox| 8.19.10 @ 8:34AM
spot on. I think the Presidency is his first real job, and he is learning what a real job is all about. If I owned a business and had hired him, I would have fired him by now.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 2:50PM
In most socialist countries, it's not that easy. There is so much machinery in place to keep even the worst worker in his job for life especially if he's non-white or a she. An employer's only hope is avoiding the bad worker by not hiring him (unemployment is high in all socialist countries for this reason) and in these days of affirmative action pressure, even that's not an option often. If the employer makes a mistake, he's got an albatross around his neck for life or high costs in legal fees etc. As misnamed government funded "human rights" commissions are springing up like fungi, and it's often cheaper to settle with the fired worker who's suing, even in the USA, think twice before hiring because firing can be an onerous process.
rdman| 8.19.10 @ 5:12PM
I have owned business' and I would NOT have hired him.
Reggy| 8.19.10 @ 9:29AM
Excellent post. So very true...his smugness just oozes through to us in every press conference he calls, with his "teachable moments" and..... Sorry, I just threw up, where was I?
Rich| 8.19.10 @ 10:31AM
For some of us, the 2008 election was like watching the "emperors new clothes", only that the king was "wearing" virtually no experience for the job. That a well funded campaign, a slick talking nominee, managed by a very skilled team, unchallenged by most of the news media can hide a fundamental and critical shortcoming from enough of the electorate to become President . . . that's a question of deep concern.
Albert| 8.19.10 @ 11:24AM
Every time I see the TV ad that ends "Without Carl's Jr., some guys would starve" I think of Obama.
JmsA| 8.19.10 @ 9:35AM
He's not only lazy; he's a fraud.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 11:15AM
And to think a mere 18 months ago knuckleheads in Washington were seriously contemplating adding him to Mount Rushmore.
JmsA| 8.19.10 @ 12:02PM
WTF Guy,
Like the clueless socialist Nordics who awarded him an unearned, worthless Nobel Prize, they sought to enshrine him before he proved himself the empty suit and fraud he is.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 5:57PM
An epic fail by the Nobel Committee.
LaneyB| 8.19.10 @ 7:06AM
Obama is an empty suit with an empty soul. Sounds just like the liberal sheep who have infected this country for the last seventy years with disgust for tradition, repudiation of Western Civilization, and condescension for the wishes and sentiments of the citizenry. May November 2012 be a humiliating, resounding defeat of him and his arrogant cronies.
Pigletrios| 8.19.10 @ 1:35PM
Folks its important to remember all of the other pieces - I agree that the President is not qualified to run the United States for all the afore mentioned reasons - this wouldn't be so bad except for the fact Obama and his minions created a government within a government in the White House, staffed with personnel in powerful policy making positions who think exactly the way they do, ergo.......they don't know what they are doing either........then you have the leadership in congress on the other end to really help dirty the water.
There have been plenty of mistakes made by all parties in the past 20, 30 or 40 years, what is important is to know who we are electing and to make sure that they are QUALIFIED to run the peoples business. Qualified doesnt mean being in government service for the past 20, 30 or 40 years either - just a proven understanding of what it takes to make things work right. What are the qualifications of someone who wants to run for office - this is the 21st century and we need 21st century ideas based on sound historical successes.
There is more to say but another time perhaps
ggoblue| 8.19.10 @ 7:06AM
this president is a punk
Majito| 8.19.10 @ 7:06AM
Mr. Tyrrell, "charisma"? really? for who? the progressive mob?
Every time I take the energy to sit through one of his speeches, i just fall asleep...great medicine for insomnia...so in my sight he's not that great orator...just a delivery boy that can read a teleprompter but is incapable of giving any emotion to the words spoken...
I recall reading 'charm us oh orator, until the lion looks no bigger than a cat'...Barry is no charmer and it surely is not convincing anybody
stephanie| 8.19.10 @ 9:04AM
Speaking of teleprometers, did anyone see he had to have one when he and moochelle were in Florida for their 27 hr stop? He can't talk with out it!
new yorker| 8.19.10 @ 11:51AM
Stephanie, I think you do yourself, your gender and your party a disservice when you make remarks like that about the man's wife. Way to lower the tone.
Nelson H.| 8.19.10 @ 1:07PM
Bollocks, New Yorker. How could you criticize the Clinton Administration without vilifying in the most strident and intemperate terms Bill's 2-for-the-price-of-1 wife? Can there by any doubt that Michelle Antoinette and her strutting ways is one of the many lightning rods of the current Administration? She, like her husband, is a bounder.
New Yorker| 8.19.10 @ 2:45PM
You can criticize Ms Obama on the substance, Nelson dahlink. But as any one with two X chromosomes to rub together knows, "moochelle" is a epithet that refers to the prez's wife's body, suggesting she is bovine. Irrelevant, and perpetuating stereotypes that bedevil women, and probably your daughter or sister, every day.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 2:54PM
Personally, I took it as "Mooch"elle and that she most certainly is with a vengeance, mooching off the American people starting with her huge entourage whose most important function appears to be organizing her luxury vacations.
Bob| 8.19.10 @ 2:56PM
I suppose we could all refer to her as "the Klingon"... it's certainly not a gender-specific epithet, which, based on your opinion ought to be within bounds, right?
new yorker| 8.19.10 @ 3:04PM
She has 24 staffers right? Laura Bush had at least 18 and sometimes more. Hillary Clinton had 19. This is mooching?
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 4:56PM
Free clothes, nothing less than AF2, the Spanish trip is when I saw "Moochelle" come out, and I think it was because everyone remembered how much they hate her (she's kept a low profile after Haiti, only a couple outings with Sasquatch and Malaria) and the name stuck. Many called her a wookie, but bloggers put the kibosh on that. The double OO works for her, because she's nothing but a dumb consumer, no better than Patti Blago. She's certainly no Jackie O, as you idiots pretend.
new yorker| 8.19.10 @ 3:06PM
Bob, Meh. Seems like it could apply to anybody. She doesn't even look like Worf. You can try, but I don't think it will catch on.
Bob| 8.19.10 @ 4:34PM
it already has... if you google "michelle obama kl" - you don't even have to finish typing the word "ingon" - and you get around 17,000 pages. I think it's more clever/accurate than "Moochelle" or some of the others. You certainly couldn't mistake Laura Bush for one.
Ms. Jones| 8.19.10 @ 3:42PM
The term "moochelle" has nothing to do with cows; it was coined by Rush Limbaugh during Michelle Antoinettes $$$$$ vacation in Spain. I guess you're one of the folks who thought "niggardly" was racist, right? Cause that's what it sounds like, never mind the actual context or definition.
New Yorker| 8.19.10 @ 4:05PM
Damn, not up on my Rush epithets. And you're also right that i wouldn't use "niggardly" in polite company. There are so many other great words: cheap, mean, miserly, tightwaddish, parsimonious, mingy, chintzy, pinchfisted—why risk being misconstrued? But that's only if you care about the feelings of others. I still say Moochelle is mean and unwarranted and worst of all, not even funny. Michelle Antoinette, though, that's pretty catchy.
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 4:59PM
Shyeah, you wish. The Obamas are so not bling. No woman who lets her husband wear mom jeans can swan around like royalty. They're no better than the hillbilly trash Clintons (who worked to get to where they are, at least.) Snookie has more class than them.
InLineFour| 8.19.10 @ 1:29PM
"$helly" has become my personal favourite.
New Yorker| 8.19.10 @ 2:47PM
Bonus points of creative typing, but not funny or accurate enough to stick, I bet.
Possum Dearie| 8.21.10 @ 5:01PM
"Moochelle" FTW.
Lee| 8.19.10 @ 7:15AM
Lack of intelligence combined with supreme arrogance. Truly, Obama is a legend in his own mind.
Deborah D | 8.19.10 @ 7:51AM
Your statement reminds me of the way I've described liberals in the past with their disgusting arrogance. I called it the arrrogance of ignorance. And, boy does it apply the The I Won.
jack| 8.19.10 @ 7:21AM
What is really scary is how obvious all these Obama traits were before the election. Proper tire inflation? http://thelidlives.blogspot.co.....chive.html
Benita Canova| 8.19.10 @ 7:53AM
I know! I saw through it and I'm a democrat but I couldn't make a dent in convincing even one person that this was a big mistake. I felt like a Cassandra. His whole campaign was a massive brainwashing operation and unfortunately the majority are susceptible - but luckily the effects wear off...
notoobama| 8.19.10 @ 9:06AM
If he'd been white, he'd never have won.
Pete| 8.19.10 @ 10:55AM
It's obvious, but it needs to be said. Actually, he never would have won the primary.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 11:22AM
Ditto...No question about it!
Noone| 8.19.10 @ 1:53PM
I am a conservative Democrat (yes, we do exist) and I also thought this was a big mistake.
I had some “Democrats for McCain” T-shirts made up and went around to Obama rallies to try to give them away, I was cursed at, and had some of the t-shirts thrown on the ground and spit on.
If this is an example of what these so called ‘modern’ democrats want, they can forget about my vote.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 2:58PM
Yes, you and Benita Canova above were in bad company (Two Democrats who saw through Obama within a few comments of each other... that must be a record! It's like sighting a unicorn). The Democrat Party has left you for the far left. Unfortunately, you seem to be in the minority. Most Dems marched lockstep following the Pied Piper Obama.
Jeff| 8.19.10 @ 11:01AM
Bless you Benita - yours is perhaps the most honest post here. I identify as an Independent, and I also felt as though I were in a bad dream watching this sham unfold upon the American people. This hateful man has no patriotic affinity toward our nation, and neither does his hateful wife. God help us all.
Cheri| 8.19.10 @ 11:54AM
I agree.
Why, why, why are we even surprised? We knew that he didn't have the experience. We knew his dubious polital connections. However, consider that the majority of people who supported him couldn't even tell you which party he was with, or who is running mate was, that explains why we are in this mess.
Too bad you don't have to pass an intelligence test to vote.
InLineFour| 8.19.10 @ 1:33PM
..or have own real property, or have to pay federal income taxes...
RCV| 8.19.10 @ 10:23PM
Yes, the TAS crowd would love to go back to the good old days, when only propertied white male gentlemen could vote ... And own other human beings, too. The modern era is a pain, with everybody thinking they have the same rights. Cursed self- government!
Nelson H.| 8.19.10 @ 1:10PM
"...his hateful wife" -- bravo, Jeff! Detestable, execrable, contemptable as well!
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 2:24PM
To the people who read his history, this comes as no surprise. He grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia and only took (1) trip to our continent in his youth. It only makes sense that he would not have a natural affinity to North Americans.
I'm in no way questioning his citizenship or his muslim ties (I personally believe he is either atheist or agnostic), but I do believe he might as well be a citizen of another country because of the conditions in which he grew up.
In his mind, he is an outsider.
Maybe this should have been analyzed more by the mainstream media in 2008...YA THINK?
Ms. Jones| 8.19.10 @ 3:53PM
He's no atheist; he KNOWS he's God!
Jeff| 8.19.10 @ 9:14PM
This is, again, exactly what our founders had in mind when they prohibited "dual" or naturalized citizens from holding the office of President of the U.S. As a Kenyan native, Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by The British Nationality Act of 1948. That same act governed the status of Obama Sr.‘s children. Obama doesn't even argue this point. It is a fact that he is not a natural born citizen by definition. Period.
So again, you ask, why am I stuck on these "red herring" issues? Because they are germane to the issue at hand. This man by his very behavior (much less the facts of history), acts without patriotism, without love of this nation, without respect for the office he illegally holds. We are living a real life example of why our founding fathers put in the NATURAL born citizen clause. Look up the wording in the Constitution. It's really very straightforward and NOT open to oddball interpretation: No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 10:37PM
Trust me. If it were up to me, I'd say go for it and throw the nancy-boy out of office.
Unfortunatly, most people aren't as enlightened as you or me. They are only concerned with day-to-day, pocketbook issues.
The opposition has plenty of ammunition now - if used correctly - to dispose of him in 2012.
What you want pursued would require years of fighting in court and trust me the outcome would not be to your liking - can you say 9th circuit?
A.Men| 8.19.10 @ 7:27AM
Part-time lecturer and Afirmative Action student, Inman Obama is a pathetic tragedy. Impeach Barry Soetero now.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 11:25AM
All we can do is hunker down and weather this storm called the Obama presidency. I say IMPEACH THE MEDIA who were the primary offenders in all this.
Cheri| 8.19.10 @ 11:55AM
Amen to that!
Stephanie| 8.19.10 @ 7:30AM
what an embarrassment this community organizer presidential imposter is.
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.19.10 @ 7:30AM
Mr. Tyrrell,
You are being too kind.
Jack Frost| 8.19.10 @ 7:32AM
"...It could be the beginning of the end of his presidency." The beginning of the end started about a month after he took office when his incompetence was shown to all that voted for him. Obama is a petulant, self serving, self important narcissist.
And no, he is most definitely not fit to run this great country of ours.
Nunya| 8.19.10 @ 10:57AM
Excellent description.
I actually described him as an egocentric narcissistic idiot to a Democrat relative of mine the other day. I guess great minds think alike. :-)
Brian Mc| 8.19.10 @ 7:49AM
I won't be satisfied until the alien is lead away in cuffs.
Mark| 8.19.10 @ 9:10AM
Why do you write stuff like that? It does not help our cause. Please stay out of the conversation if you truly want to be of service.
Jeff| 8.19.10 @ 11:06AM
Mark, why is this such a problem for you? He is not born of two parents of US nationality (a constitutional requirement), he has never provided his long form birth certificate (the one you and I and every other natural born citizen possess - you know, the one with the baby footprints and doctor's signature), he has shielded his college records, his Harvard papers (he was, after all, the editor of the Law Review, right? So where are all the published pieces???), and he has engaged in the most heinous corruptions and influence peddling we have seen at this level - Romanoff, Specter, Blago, et. al... What's the problem with admitting this is an issue? He most definitely SHOULD be led away in cuffs. He is an illegal USURPER.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 11:31AM
I agree with Mark. Why go down this road when we have countless other ways (and much more important) to attack him? ... give it a rest!
Jeff| 8.19.10 @ 12:15PM
I understand your point, but you seem to be missing mine. His behavior is due to these very facts. Why not consider his past? Why not ask for the documentation? What, pray tell, are you suggesting impeachment proceedings be based upon?? His bad judgement? His lack of experience? His likeness to Carter? It is precisely his past associations, his appointment of radicals, the illegal manner in which he holds office (due to his constitutional ineligibility), that make him what he is. This is all part of the same narrative. He believes he is above the law precisely because he has managed to rise to the highest office in the land despite his ineligibility to do so. You're just as bad as the left-wing press! Why are you so quick to dismiss and even indict these facts ?? Have you bothered to check into any of them for yourself?? A simple google search might enlighten you on some of these things you're so quick to dismiss. Unless these issues become a part of the narrative, we're doomed to another term, or perhaps worse, from the illegal usurper. By the way, do tell, what are your reasons, what is the case you would make to impeach? You must have some "legitimate" concerns of your own...
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 1:08PM
We impeach at the polls...my friend we more than likely are headed for a DEPRESSION, not recession. I've never lived through one but I'm sure it will not be pleasant. The stories my grandmother told me about living through one were memorable.
The point is if our opposition leaders spend time investigating Barry's citizenship or speculating what religion he belongs to while our country goes through this historic economic transition, THEY should be impeached on grounds of gross negligence.
Citizens don't and won't give a rats as# about these side issues.
If we go down this road you can say hello again to Barry in 2012 and our country will simply be finito; put a fork in us.
Jeff| 8.19.10 @ 3:17PM
I get it... and I apologize if my responses have lacked respect. Here's one I think will resonate with you in light of all the wealth redistribution/destruction going on....
It's called Black Liberation Theology, and it is what The One practiced as his "Christian" religion. It's really a distortion from what you or I might interpret as pretty generic "Christian" beliefs. Among them is the concept of "Collective Salvation", which preaches that we have to not only pay reparations for wrongs done to blacks, but we have to "give up everything" (direct quotes of Rev. Wright - google James Cone/Karl Marx, "liberation theology", "collective salvation") as the ONLY path to salvation. This means that you and I and every other "non-African" person on the planet must give up EVERYTHING in reparation for wrongs done to blacks. This is the church he attended for over 20 years... can we really say this is unrelated to the utter destruction being wrought upon us by his policies/actions? This man is fulfilling his "destiny" to re-form our country based on his strongly-held *beliefs*... it is critical that more people learn about this stuff in order to truly understand the sinister nature of this administration. This is all happening right before our eyes. Look a little deeper - the origins of Liberation Theology tell a pretty clear story of who we're dealing with here.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 3:41PM
Not a problem, AP accepted...
...I've read a little on the subject and, yes, I believe everything you mentioned is correct. The problem I have is how it's presented to Joe six-pack in Keokuk Iowa...
...You have to admit this is alot to handle for most Americans who are currently suffering from SERIOUS buyers remorse, but many are in denial and will not accept what you wrote. This might cause some to dig in deeper in support of Obama in spite of their instincts telling them its true.
I want to appeal to them in other, more digestable ways, so that they can rationalize parting ways from this dictator and take action at the polls.
I dunno, this could all be psych mumbo jumbo and I could be all wrong but I'm leaning this way for now.
Brian Mc| 8.19.10 @ 5:38PM
Why do I want to go down 'this road'? Because I'm damned tired of whimpering to these bastards. We're in the fight for our lives; the country is on the brink or irrecoverable collapse into despotic socialism and I'm tired of playing fair as we're told to be tolerant by those who hold themselves to be above us. I'm sick and tired of being tolerant of the intolerant. To hell with that, I will say it again: I will not be satisfied until the alien is led away in cuffs...gosh, it's so lonely, being alone in this.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 6:25PM
I never said anything about whimpering or cowering. I'm just questioning the wisdom of paying attention to these red herring issues.
alice| 8.19.10 @ 12:03PM
I've always felt he was a 'plant' from Chicago to change the way we do things and eventually to bring this great nation down. He and his gang have no restpect for the wishes of the populice and mocks everything good about this country. Let the gang go where they belong and that is very deep down in hell.
alice| 8.19.10 @ 12:03PM
I've always felt he was a 'plant' from Chicago to change the way we do things and eventually to bring this great nation down. He and his gang have no respect for the wishes of the populice and mocks everything good about this country. Let the gang go where they belong and that is very deep down in hell.
alice| 8.19.10 @ 12:03PM
I've always felt he was a 'plant' from Chicago to change the way we do things and eventually to bring this great nation down. He and his gang have no restpect for the wishes of the populice and mocks everything good about this country. Let the gang go where they belong and that is very deep down in hell.
Lagiusmeatius| 8.19.10 @ 12:20PM
Bush violated the constitution when he was in office by implementing criminal force in Iraq, when "war" was was never officially declared by Congress. This is an impeachable offense, but we as a country just "let that one go"...it was also a violation of the UN charter as the war was not approved by the security council...again we as a country just "let that one go"...
Under Bush's unconstitutional "Patriot Act", thousands upon thousands of Americans have been arrested without a charge and were denied their habeas corpus rights as well.
Under Bush, there were also many citizens of this country that were spied on without the necessary judicial approval. This is a violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). It just happens to be a felony offense carrying a 5-year prison sentence for each act of violation. Bush even admitted to these violations, and we as a country just "let that one go"...
Under Bush, he issued the greatest number of "signing statements" of any president in U.S. history...presumably to use them as a means of precluding himself from having to follow the laws that he signed...in fact, the American Bar Association condemned Bush's use of signing statements, calling them a violation of the separation of powers, once again defined in the constitution, which only allows the president to either sign or veto a bill...when he did this, we as a country just "let that one go"...it is clear that Bush should have been impeached during his presidency for a few reasons, but wasn't...now why is that? Why are we surprised, if we see our current president committing any act that seems criminal, and not arrested? We are merely keeping the status quo, of allowing the president, any president for that matter, to bend the rules for their agenda. It has been done before, and will be done again in the future, no matter who is in office.
So, unfortunately...what I see in office is another president trying to tailor the country around his agenda. However, this has been going on for many, many decades with every other president as well. So, it seems that very little has changed, regardless of the president in office. So let's not act so shocked. All of the name calling I see going on in this forum is not helping you (those doing the name calling)...it seems rather immature, and nothing more than elementary school tactics. I admire those that at least refrain from name calling...lets be adults here, so people can take any of our words seriously...
Peace and love to you all!
-Lagius
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 3:03PM
Signing "peace and love" to a big pile of excrement doesn't make it smell sweet.
Lagiusmeatius| 8.20.10 @ 12:08PM
My signing peace and love, is because I believe in peace and love, and love you all as well. Even though some of you (not all) may be misguided, I still love you all because you are human beings. I also wish peace upon everyone in the world, as peace eliminates hatred, and makes the world a better place. You calling the facts that I mentioned "a big pile of excrement", with nothing to back it up is nothing more than a kid saying "I know you are, but what am I?". Again, lets be adults here...if you disagree with these facts about Bush (regardless of if the intent of his law-breaking was to "counter terrorism"), then prove me wrong...I'm all ears. Otherwise, please refrain from posting here, as some other people in this forum at least have some constructive things to say with evidence to back it up, and don't need you wasting valuable space.
Peace and love to you Laine,
-Lagius
danfromatlanta| 8.19.10 @ 4:13PM
I see, so what you are saying is the near unanimous vote in Congress to provide Bush the lattitude to respond to terrorist threats with military force somehow makes Bush guiltyof some high crime or misdemeanor? You are probably one of those morons that thought Clinton's perjury was not impeachable because it was only about sex! What libs like you cannot handle is that you voted for the least qualified, least experienced, most radical anti-American president in history simply because he condemned Bush policies and he was BLACK! You thought it would be a great idea to cast that "history making" vote. Well, your success has been to the paramount detriment to the country. You and the rest of the fools that voted this clown into power owe the country a sincere apology. As a result of the 2008 elections, a basic civics test should be required to be passed before the ignorant and insane be allowed to vote!
Lagiusmeatius| 8.20.10 @ 12:35PM
Daniel,
Congress did not pass a unanimous vote until AFTER troops were deployed. This is my point. It was not until AFTER the war was started by Bush's authority, that Congress passed a unanimous vote, which violated a due process that we can't ignore. You can't bend the rules whenever they are convenient, even if your motives are pure. That is why we have laws, and the constitution, etc., which are to be followed always (unless amended or changed). This makes an imperfect government and legal system, but it is the best we have. So some good people suffer in the process, but we the premise that more would suffer if we didn't "stick to our guns" and follow the law.
Again, with the name calling, you call me a "moron", when you know nothing about my character or background. I refrain from name calling because it is futile and immature (and generally unjustified). This is why I'm not going to call you any "name" because I respect you as an individual entitled to his/her opinion and don't have a reason to. I find it ironic that Bush was never impeached for his offenses, yet Clinton was impeached as a result of perjury relating to a sexual incident affecting several people. Bush's incidents affected thousands upon thousands of people and it was all forgotten. Does this mean I think that Clinton should not have been impeached, Daniel?? Not at all Daniel, so your assumption there was false as well. I believe he committed an act of perjury and therefore was justly impeached.
I also like how you assume I am a liberal because I believe that everyone should be held up to the same standards and follow the law? Is that not something that conservatives strive for as well? Your statements make that implication, which is demeaning to any and all conservatives. I hold beliefs on both sides of the fence for certain issues, and do not consider myself strictly conservative or liberal, despite your hopes to dis-credit me...I'm sure you believe that women should be allowed to vote, right? That was a liberal movement, passed in Congress during the Wilson administration...were you aware of that? If you think that women should be allowed to vote (I hope so, but I can't be sure you do), then you believe in at least one liberal idea/movement. Does that make you a liberal? No, just partially..which is why I don't classify anyone as a strict liberal or conservative because every single person I've ever talked to believes in political issues from both sides (if even one at least).
I did not vote for Obama either, which was another false assumption of yours. Do you see how easy it is to make foolish assumptions about someone you don't know? That is why you should refrain from name calling as well as your assumptions, as I've just proven them all incorrect. I totally agree with you about one thing though, everyone should be required to take a basics civics test before voting. Those that are illiterate would take a verbal test. Couldn't agree more with that, as most people vote for someone because of their indoctrination in their family and with like-minded friends instead of thinking for themselves and actually analyzing the political issues.
P.S. Saying that Obama was voted as president merely because of the color of his skin is not only ignorant but also an insult to all black people in this country. Our representative democracy voted him in, and there were only two popular candidates for the democratic party (Obama and Clinton). Many voters in this country, no doubt at least included in their decision, a question like: "should we vote in a woman, or a black man for the first time in history"...either would have made history in terms of the gender/race of the president. There is no doubt though that those that voted for Obama also considered his political positions. Saying otherwise is foolish.
The possibility of Obama being voted in was a result of the representative democracy that we hold dear to us as Americans! It is always a risk that we take by having that representative democracy in place, as when the number of blue and red states reach an equilibrium, the race can go either way. Tis' just a property of our voting system.
Peace and love to you Daniel,
-Lagius
WTF Guy| 8.20.10 @ 9:22PM
My friend. Colin Powell voted for him because of his skin color. Anyone who follows politics knows this to be true.
Like many poor souls, he miscalculated Barry would govern from the middle, thus, providing him cover. An epic failure in judgement.
On the bright side:
Because of his actions, he exposed himself for who he really is - a self promoting political hack with stands for nothing and has no problem using race to promote him or a pet cause.
Love and peace
WTF Guy,
Lagiusmeatius| 8.24.10 @ 10:54AM
WTF Guy,
Although you state that Colin Powell voted for him because of his skin color, does that mean that everyone else did this? Of course not...nor does it prove that Colin Powell did this himself (even if it has been implied in some way through the media).
Although you might think that race was the only reason someone might vote for Obama, you'd have to be pretty ignorant to accept that as fact. I'm not disputing that SOME people voted for him based on the color of his skin (just as some people voted for McCain because of his skin color), but it is clear that many liberals voted for him because of the liberal principles he stands for (McCain wasn't going to satisfy most liberals with his positions--I think we can all agree on that). I'll bet there were also people that voted against Obama because of the color of his skin, but does that mean that all people that voted for McCain should be accused of voting for him because of HIS skin color, or that they are racist? Not at all...some doesn't imply all. Just as there are radicals on both sides of every political issue...does that mean that everyone involved with the issue is also a radical? No, but it certainly affects the picture we paint of all parties involved...
It was either Obama or Hillary Clinton that would be voted in, had a democratic candidate won, and Obama happened to win this race. I guarantee you that if Hillary Clinton would have won, there would be numerous similar policies to Obama, coming from her administration instead.
I also agree with you in the sense that politicians still use the "race" card to promote certain agendas, which in itself is racist. However, its not the only factor that people look at when determining a candidate they want to vote for.
Especially for those voters that aren't racist.
Lagiusmeatius| 8.24.10 @ 10:56AM
I almost forgot WTF Guy,
Peace and love to you friend!
-Lagius
Tom Myers| 8.19.10 @ 6:12PM
You have got to be kidding. "Bush violated the constitution when he was in office by implementing criminal force in Iraq, when "war" was was never officially declared by Congress." Even Wikipedia includes Iraq War under "Military engagements authorized by Congress." Officially -- H.J. Res. 114,
October 16, 2002...
Lagiusmeatius| 8.20.10 @ 12:43PM
The question was not whether or not Congress EVENTUALLY declared war in Iraq. The issue was that was was only declared by Congress after some troops had been sent (and after the war began). So yes, you are correct, Wikipedia (not the best source for information, but correct in this case) will say that the war in Iraq was declared, because it was. The offense that was committed during the Bush administration, was Bush sending troops to Iraq to engage in War, prior to this Congressional declaration of war. You must get these facts straight here...The fact that Congress eventually declared war, does not disprove that the war was started before that declaration. That is my point here...
Peace and love to you all,
-Lagius
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 1:14PM
http://www.factcheck.org/elect.....e_usa.html
TennesseeVolunteer| 8.19.10 @ 7:58AM
As a former high school and college basketball player, I knew he didn't have "game" when I saw him play hoops. No defense, no boxing out for rebounds, shoots three pointers from his chest..beating players like him is childs play. He plays hoops like he treats the Presidency..All flash, no substance.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 11:46AM
I find it amazing how the state run media portrays him as "America's number one sports fan" when in reality this is just another prop-job, based on nothing! The reality is:
* his throwing motion indicates he never learned to throw as a boy. Probably because he never did throw as a boy
* he couldn't name one player from his alleged favorite baseball team
* that hacking motion he calls a golf swing indicates he took up the sport well into adulthood
* that basketball shooting style is weak. (granted, my knowledge of the sport is limited)
He clearly is not an athlete, natural or otherwise, yet the media feels compelled to portray him as one.
Overcompensation for something?...just saying.
This was never an issue with G.W.
Jeff| 8.19.10 @ 12:27PM
so these are your important reasons for not liking him as your President? Wow... I guess I should have read down the page a bit before replying to you earlier. We need to be talking about how he offered Romanoff a job in exchange for not running against Bennett in Colorado (and what he must have received from Bennett in terms of promises to cooperate with his agenda in exchange for such ardent support), but you want to talk about golf swings... go figure. I'm out.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 1:16PM
Jeff, I never said hold hearings or impeach him because he might be a pouf. Come on, put things in perspective.
Nelson H.| 8.19.10 @ 1:21PM
But Jeff, his golf swing and especially his shockingly unmanly throwing motion are affronts to the nation and reflect a kind of American sclerosis and palsy! Compare to Bush, who could fling a strike dead in the zone at a pretty good clip with good form. You don't think such things matter? Consider Putin's scarily skillful judo demonstrations. If you haven't got game you should not put your ineptness on display. One of the definitive moments of the Carter Administration was when Carter idiotically visited the Pirates locker room after they won the 1979 Series, and stood next to 6'5" Willie Stargell. Talk about diminishing the office!
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 1:31PM
I'm laughing :)...you forgot to mention Michael Dukakis wearing that silly helmet while in that tank or John Kerry in that hunting getup when the sport was clearly an affront to him.
When your out of your element, it becomes laughably obvious.
Jeff| 8.19.10 @ 3:21PM
LOL... Dukakis in the helmet... freaking hilarious!
RobLACa.| 8.19.10 @ 3:56PM
The party of democrats are a party of perpetual frauds.
Beer for My Horses| 8.19.10 @ 7:59AM
Is it constitutionally permissible to force a recall election ( a la 2003 Gray Davis / California)? With the deficit in the stratosphere and Iran about to go nuclear, I sincerely doubt whether the country (or the planet) can endure this colossal mistake until 2013.
Dan Hirsch| 8.19.10 @ 9:48AM
There is no recall process in the Constitution other than impeachment. Which, if we all get busy and get Constitutionally responsible individuals elected to the next Congress might not be too big a stretch. Patrick Fitzgerald could actually squeeze something meaningful out of Blagojevich yet.
Talk, work, donate, vote them out!
Nolite me conculcare!
Red Bubba| 8.19.10 @ 8:00AM
During the pre-election part of the campaign the critic's refrain "another Jimmy Carter" showed a lack of imagination. 0bama is much worse even than Woodrow Wilson.
Africanus| 8.19.10 @ 8:00AM
We are not a banana republic so Mr. O should not be led awway in cuffs. Like Idi Amin DaDa he should go on permanent vacation in Mecca.
Average Infidel| 8.19.10 @ 8:11AM
One could almost, and that's an almost, give a person a pass who lacks common sense and does not understand the reaction (s) to his actions but, this punk puts a new level of patients to this fact.
I can hardly go a day when I am not screaming bloddy words out of my mouth after having listened to the words of the "won". This godaweful punk is strtaight out of the bowels of hell when it comes to truth, justice and the American way. IMPEACHMENT papers are in the making mr. "I won". You asked for it, you dared us to it, and by GOD we are going to see to it you are every bit as unconfortable for it as you have made us during your lets see how uncomfortable I can make the electorate daily rampage. You fricken moron. IMPEACHMENT is the answer to what ailes you, a good ole pair of handcuffs and a walk through the electorate districts you have destroyed will do more good for this Country than all the likes of which you have failed at so far. Hell has no fury like a pissed offf electorate mr. "I won." You have earned it, we are going to give it to you and you do deserve it
Gabe| 8.19.10 @ 9:38AM
Loon.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 8.19.10 @ 8:11AM
If there were any journalists left in America they would have a field day with the many lies and inconsistencies of Barack Obama.
While in California speaking to a group of liberal elitists he dismissed the citizens of Pennsylvania as bitter gun toting racists. The dumb asses in Pennsylvania still voted for his sorry ass.
Obama has a history of 20 years of sitting in a racist church where anti-American anti-white hate speech filled the air. His immediate family also attended that church.
I can guarantee you that if a child asked to pray in school you wouldn't hear anything about religious freedom then, it would simply be shut down with Obama leading the way.
But it isn't just Obama's leadership which has been revealed in this situation. Many liberal political pundits are having a field day lambasting Republicans who are against it, while glossing over the fact that Harry Reid is against the mosque. And Obama states that it's OK for Harry Reid, a big liberal, to oppose it. Reid is in a close election and if he came out for the mosque, which is most likely the truth, then that alone could have tipped the election. As usual, the dearth of journalists in the USA has provided Obama, Reid and the ever stammering Nancy Pelosi an escape hatch of fictions encouraged by liberal echo chambers.
To complete the triumvirate there's no leadership from Nancy Pelosi as evidenced by her request for investigations into sources of funding for those who oppose the mosque when there isn't any evidence of any such funding. Basically, Nancy Pelosi would be launching federal investigations into 9/11 families who lost family members. Isnt' she a peach?
The whole Democratic party structure suffers from a lack of leadership because dictators are only leaders by fiat and force, and that describes the whole lot of them.
TexasStomp| 8.19.10 @ 8:42AM
Bill,
Unfortunately Obama only won the election because of the collusion of our so called press. Some 130+ comprise membership in the JournOlist...a crew who conspired to pave the way for Obama and other Dems, to shape debate on a number of issues, to coordinate their attack against anyone opposing Obama and the Dem party.
We have no press in America in the sense of years past. We have activist journalists...I call them JournOlistas who even today suppress vital information, delay publication, distort and in some cases tie themselves into knots fancy enough to impress a sailor in order to avoid stating the simple facts of any news story told, the simple who, what, where, when, how of 90% of the information occurring today in and out of gov't.
Sadly we have no press. Apparently, having been bought off with a pass on tort reform in the HC Bill, we have no real lawyers either. They are all taking this administration off in Tahiti as Obama, under the erroneous guise of H1N1 state of emergency, EOs programs into law with the stroke of a pen, and congress turns its collective head as Federal Agencies circumvent the process of legislation and enact administrative policies that are frankly killing this nation.
JournOlistas will not tell us until these "laws" are already in effect. And lawyers will not challenge them in court.
So long as congress continues to abdicate it's duties, Fed agencies continue to regulate policy as law, and Obama continues to EO law out of whole cloth behind closed doors, and our absent press continues to not inform us of all of the above....
We are quite frankly on our own.
We are apparently on our own.
Nunya| 8.19.10 @ 11:14AM
The progressive agenda has been in action for over 100 years, it has taken them this long to get to where they are now. Unfortunately, they are like vermin who have infested both parties, as well as our news agencies, schools, and colleges. Our children are not taught to think critically, are essentially told that Socialism/Marxism are the saviours of the world, and are put out into the streets to be "worker bees" for those in power. Remember, this is ALL about power at the federal level.
There are only two ways to overcome the situation in my opinion: First, long-term planning to retake the country over the next 100 years, back to what the founders originally intended. This seems unlikely to me. Second, a revolution of some sort--not necessarily violent, but akin to secession of several states from the union. This also seems highly unlikely, but it might be a way to stand up for state's rights.
Unfortunately I don't think either will happen, and the end of our country as we know it seems imminent.
Lagiusmeatius| 8.19.10 @ 12:51PM
I must say that your enthusiasm for the "intent" of the founding fathers, raises a couple of questions...
Did you forget that the founding fathers lived in a time and with the intent of: not allowing women to vote, slavery, exploitation of land and resources from native Americans, and surrounded by a rising mono-cultural environment? Lets not forget the number of ammendments that have been made to the constitution via conservatives and liberals...
Progressivism has changed these things so now woman can vote (as they should be allowed to do), slavery could be abolished (under Lincoln), and we've learned that many cultures can co-exist within the same country, sharing skills, knowledge of humanity, etc.
Of course there are some things that haven't changed such as exploitation of land and resources, but we have made some progress over the years. These facts I bring up are not to undermine or completely discredit some of the good intentions that our founding fathers had, but merely illustrate the fact that they were far from perfect, and they've been modified for the good of the nation.
There is no perfect form of government or economic structure. Marxism and socialism do have their advantages as does capitalism, but they all have disadvantages. Generally someone's opinion on the former or the latter are largely dependent on how they've been indoctrinated over the years (conservative vs. liberal parents/friends), as well as how they value those dis/advantages. People generally vote for the candidate that keeps things the way they want it, i.e. whats best for themselves. Rarely do people vote for the candidate that will be best for the majority (after they realize they will lose personal gain in the process)...it takes a courageous person to do that. Everyone thinks that their way is the right way, and we must understand that. It is impossible to satisfy everyone's wants, as one man's "God" is another man's "Devil".
Peace and love to you all!
-Lagius
George True| 8.19.10 @ 2:51PM
Wow! More self-delusion, combined with leftist prevarications and straw-man arguments.
First, at the time of our founding, it was not the custom in any society on earth for women to have the vote. So because our founders were not "progressive" enough to write that into the Constitution that somehow makes them evil conservatives or something. But in any case, so-called "progressives" did not win the day for women. Rather, American men and women of ALL political and cultural pursuasions agreed that it was an idea whose time had come.
Second, Lincoln was a Republican, and it was the Republicans of that day who championed the fight against slavery, not the "progressives".
Next, American society has always been an ethnically diverse culture, while at the same time being a mono-culture. That is, people were taught to cultivate allegiance to the idea of America as a nation where individual rights came first. Today, we are taught that allegiance to foreign countries and cultures should trump allegiance to American ideals. We have fallen far.
Finally, Marxism and Socialism ultimately have NO advantages for the masses, only disadvantages. Disadvantages such as having your labor and your goods stolen by the state, or even having your freedom or life stolen from you for not being a compliant peasant. True free market enterprise, on the other hand, involves no coersion whatsoever. Everyone is free to enter into agreements, or not, as they see them to be in their best interest. Disadvantages? Sure, equality of outcome is not guaranteed. Thus, the grasshoppers in our society would have to actually work, instead of being a financial drag on the rest of us. But it is still a vastly superior system over anything else, warts and all. Only "progressives" would think otherwise.
The candidates who would be the best for the majority are those who would get the yoke of government bondage off our necks. The very candidates that so-called "progressives" despise.
Lagiusmeatius| 8.20.10 @ 1:37PM
George,
First of all, the fact that other cultures also didn't allow women to vote during the time of our founding fathers, does not make it any more right for America to do the same thing. You have no argument here, other than that if others are doing it already, then it makes it ok for us to do it too.
My point here is that the founding fathers practices and ideals included some things that have changed over the years for the better (like women being allowed to vote)...if you believe that going back to the founding fathers ideals on women's voting rights, I'll bet any women on this post would beg to differ with you--as they should have the right to vote. Also the suffrage bill for women that was brought before Congress was voted against until after Wilson (a progressive) made a strong appeal against that decision. Later on when the president called another important session before Congress in 1919, and pleaded to have it passed, then it was finally passed, and thus became the 19th amendment of the U.S. constitution (keep in mind, an amendment to the original founding father's constitution).
Second, you are correct that Lincoln was a Republican and started the anti-slavery movement, but that was a progressive movement. Need I define what progressive means George? Progressivism is a political attitude favoring or advocating changes or reform. What do you think the abolishment of slavery was? That was a significant change to the ideals of the country at that time, and was hence an example of progressivism (despite your implied belief that progressivism means non-Republican).
I said that the founding fathers lived in a time where a mono-cultural environment was favored. This is true. One of the main reasons why we've had so much progressive reform over the years is because of the increased cultural diversity of the years, and thus people's opinions and feelings towards certain ideals were greatly influenced by those other cultures. Just the mere fact of embracing new cultures means that people are more willing to be open to new ideas...
To say that Marxism and Socialism have no advantages whatsoever is purely ignorant. You do not need to have successful Marxist or Socialist societies in the past to prove that they have advantages. It is true that corruption has been unavoidable in all forms of economy, and just as well with Marxism and Socialism. Since you may be unfamiliar with the ideas behind these economic philosophies, I'll share some. The ideals behind Marxism with advantages include a sympathetic mentality towards the working class proletariat (the main economic class in any nation). Materialism is given second priority over this sympathy. Since we live in a country based on Capitalism, this may be hard to imagine (not caring as much about material things)..although it is difficult, if performed, can provide a number of advantages. When materialism is no longer a strong mentality, there is less incentive to exploit the resources and people around you to gain materials (because you no longer care about them as much as someone in a capitalistic society). Think of Jesus, Buddha, etc., these noble human beings who taught that materialism is unimportant, and brings about more suffering in this life or the next. More desires equals more suffering, as when you desire more, and do not have it, you suffer. When you do have some desires met, you want more...
As for socialism, it provides a measure of compensation that takes actual labor and time into account, as opposed to capitalism, which compensates based on how much money you can generate for a company. So socialism provides the most "fair" compensation when the only thing taken into consideration is how much work, effort, and labor you actually put into your job. As well, there is socialized health-care and other programs that in theory should be provided to everyone so all are taken care of. Trying to implement socialism in a capitalistic country such as our own is no doubt an impossibility. Capitalism would have to be changed first, globally, since we live in a global economy, which won't happen in our lifetimes. Nevertheless it has some advantages over capitalism. The truth of the matter is, since we have corruption, and a materialistic greed in the world, capitalism provides an incentive to fill that void, even at the expense of creating poverty or just enough to make ends meet (very many people) while still having a far higher class of wealthy people (very few people) at the same time. So all in all, with Capitalism, there is a majority of wealth and power held by only a few percent of the population, with the small remainder of wealth and power held by the majority. This is not to say that capitalism does not have advantages, as it does, and thus was not my argument. I merely stated that the other economic philosophies have their advantages as well, if implemented correctly (particularly in a non-materialistic world--which we don't have at this time nor have we in the past, hence the lack of success).
So there you have it George, plain and simple.
Peace and love to you all,
-Lagius
danfromatlanta| 8.19.10 @ 5:20PM
Please give one example of a nation in which Marxism or socialism has ANY advantage over capitalism as has been practiced up until the obamanation has purposely tried to destroy our economy? You can't because it does not exist! American capitalism uses immutable human nature to the advantage of society as a whole! This is the genius of our system! Marxism and socialism is simply a naive denial of the immutablitiy of human nature, and thus fails whenever and wherever it's tried!
Lagiusmeatius| 8.20.10 @ 1:42PM
Daniel,
See post above (My reply to George).
Peace and love to you all!
-Lagius
RCV| 8.19.10 @ 2:53PM
Ironically, Nunya, your critique of our system -- "children are not taught to think critically... and are put out into the streets to be 'worker bees' for those in power" -- is identical to the radical marxist critiques of capitalism.
And, if you and yours harbor any thoughts of secession, here's a tip: The American people settled that issue 150 years ago with the blood of our ancestors, and we will fight just has hard again to preserve our union. WE love our country; if you don't, leave.
Nunya| 8.19.10 @ 5:25PM
RCV, you obviously didn't understand my point. My point is that I love my country, just not the idiots that are running it.
We are being led down a path that ultimately leads to our own destruction--e.g., hyperinflation is a serious possibility within the next couple of years. Our Federal government is out of control, and our States rights are being completely ignored by those in power. It is unsustainable, and I was commenting on how we could potentially save our country.
Greg Schmidt | 8.19.10 @ 8:16AM
Obama is not and will never be a successful president, by most standards. He is an activist hack intent on destroying the productive class, because their success is somehow unfair to the less successful. He will do his best to remake America in a socialist image, however, and for him, that would define success. http://theillinoisguy.com/2010.....-the-team/
carnot| 8.19.10 @ 8:16AM
maybe so. maybe so.
but I'll give the Libs/Obama one piece of credit: except for real wars/National Defense...these people fight. and they will fight dirty if they have to.
and the opposition? pffttttt. spitballers.
Betina| 8.19.10 @ 8:21AM
His laziness, his yearning for the basketball court, the livin' large on someone else' dime, his affirmative action career where he rose quickly to his personal worst, playing the race card at every opportunity he gets, his covert and not so covert racism, his dislike of work and love of public acclaim and adoration, his weekly entertainments and specialty foods flown in so he can feast while America burns. Hate to say it folk, but he sure resembles every ghetto stereotype I ever read about.
RCV| 8.19.10 @ 2:46PM
Hate to say it, Betina, but you sure resemble every ignorant redneck stereotype I've ever read about.
George True| 8.19.10 @ 2:56PM
Hate to say it, RCV, but everything Betina says, underneath the stereotype, has the ring of truth to it.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 4:13PM
You have to admit, he is "living large" while every economic report released indicates we are headed for the unfathomable.
Maybe it's not really a good time for a 10 day vacation, huh? And no, please don't give me the running Bush VS. Obama vacation count. Not applicable. That is very childish. Leadership means LEADERSHIP, self sacrifice; which means forgoing extended vacactions because it looks bad.
Obama today said the economy is a very sick patient which is slowly healing. I don't know about you but if I'm very sick and in a touch-and-go condition and my doctor takes a 10 day vacation, I look for another doctor.
bluecollarbytes| 8.19.10 @ 8:24AM
Tyrrell: "Increasingly, it is clear that the Democrats brought down on the country a community organizer as president. Maybe in the future they will consider experience a qualification for the presidency. Possibly the age of charisma is behind us. Possibly Mr. Obama even lacks that dubious quality."
Obama is doing what he knows from his life experience- rabble-rousing, dividing, and organizing us into more easily controlled 'units'. The Obama we see now will likely look the same 2 years from now, only worse due to his firmly-set ideology and devotion to personal glory.
As for Obama's 'charisma', I always thought that was only there for those willing (even eager) to receive it. ...like Bill Clinton's much rumored 'unprecedented political talent'.
davelnaf| 8.19.10 @ 8:31AM
The only good thing that will come out of the Obama fiasco is that people will be looking more critically at future presidential candidates, particularly at the really flashy ones with resumes you could put on a postage stamp.
Anthony| 8.19.10 @ 8:32AM
Anybody seen V.P. Biteme recently during this Summer of Recovery? I suspect the next time we see V.P. Biteme will be during the ceremonial first shovel of the new mosque at ground zero.
Yes, change we can believe in!!!
Stephanie| 8.19.10 @ 9:19AM
I saw him on with @#%ches from the View. When asked about Palin running in 2012, he was so clearly uncomfortable and there was a slight bit of anger on his face. Oh, he's around, making the rounds llike his boss, denegrating the offices of the president and vice president.
Anthony| 8.19.10 @ 9:35AM
Thanks for the update. I thought Biteme might still be in Spain with Michelle Antoinette.
Lwilco| 8.19.10 @ 8:37AM
there is good to come out of Obama presidency. Progressive liberals have been exposed to the country for who they really are. The stealth dismantling of America is now going to be more difficult, assuming we can survive until 2012.
Ned| 8.19.10 @ 11:54AM
... assuming that the 20-somethings that put this idiot in office are capable of remembering what the Dim-O-crats have done to the country... recall the post-election video interviews of Obullshit voters, who were lucky to remember their own names, but were all excited about all the loot they were planning to receive...
greg| 8.19.10 @ 8:43AM
His speeches remind me of me. I'm a salesman. Have a great voice. I was asked to read from the bible at church and even though I could speak the words, I had no idea what I was talking about. He could be a good salesman, POTUS, No.
Stourley Kracklite| 8.19.10 @ 3:05PM
"I had no idea what I was talking about."
Indeed. But, to change the subject, tell us about your conservative ideas...
R Hunter| 8.19.10 @ 8:56AM
It is apparent that you are a looney and your readers are both racists and nut jobs. All of the old statements from the birthers, the Palinites, and the other yahoos that appear here are both cruel and unbelievable... Why not be patriots and hope the President succeeds? Every time I see your smug, vapid face on TV I can only say "Shame on you.." You who brought us Bush , Palin, Backman, and Tate!
Mike| 8.19.10 @ 9:08AM
Who is "Backman"?
Stephanie| 8.19.10 @ 9:26AM
Hey Hunter, you can turn that filthy talk around to Nancy Pelosi, eah? You obviously have the disease called "progressive-ism" so your comments here are not taken seriously. This president has done more to divide this country with his racist and antiamerican rhetoric so we support oneanther here until the he is gone.
Take YOUR hatred for American and slink back over to the HuffPo.
Nunya| 8.19.10 @ 11:22AM
I AM a patriot, to my core. Our President is NOT a patriot, he doesn't believe in the greatness of this country, nor does he have a CLUE
Nunya| 8.19.10 @ 11:28AM
{Sorry, hit the wrong button and didn't finish my thought...}
...nor does he have a CLUE about what makes this country great. Frankly, wishing this idiot-in-chief success is the OPPOSITE of being a patriot, as he is INTENTIONALLY TRYING to destroy thsi country.
Call me whatever names you wish to, I am none of them.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 3:14PM
Yes, it takes a patriot to recognize a patriot and Obama and his apologists don't qualify, especially the ones like Hunter who spew false charges of racism at his opposition.
rochesternative| 8.19.10 @ 3:16PM
Hope he succeeds??? At what?? Certainly you don't think that he has actually done anything to help Americans or fix any of the issues that need fixing? I'm not a racist. BO doesn't belong at 1600 Penn. Ave. There were so many of us who saw this stuff coming but no one listened in their rush to put the first black man in the white house. Please, I could name at least 4 blacks that would have been far better.
jaydee| 8.19.10 @ 9:03AM
All things considered, keep clearly in mind that Obama was reading his teleprompter and telling us what he believed.
Harry Reid is also reading, he's reading the writing on the wall, and my not be telling us his true position.
Purpleguy| 8.19.10 @ 9:04AM
"I now think it is clear even to Official Washington that President Obama is the worst president of modern times. " - What a ludicrous statement following on the heels of the Bush administration. Are you kidding me, really?
With 2 ill-advised wars, run completely incompetently, growing government on the borrow and spend principle, complete ineptitude regarding Katrina rescue and rebuild, squandering of American standing in the world, destroying the economy and leaving it on the brink of collapse - all under George W Bush. And, the author has the ridiculous notion that anyone other than GW Bush was the worst President in history? Really?
On the other hand, rescue and recovery of the economy, passage of healthcare and financial reform legislation, ending of combat in Iraq, restored standing in the world community, and a 100 other accomplishments for the Obama administration and there is no comparison. Obama far outshines GW Bush in all areas except one - GW Bush was much better at bastardizing the English language.
AJD| 8.19.10 @ 9:23AM
Thanks for the laugh.
AJD| 8.19.10 @ 9:23AM
Thanks for the laugh.
Sam Vaughn| 8.19.10 @ 9:27AM
Man, you're really grasping at straws to defend your misplaced vote. We can argue about Bush till the cows come home. Republicans and Democrats all share in the blame of spending this country into serfdom. Only an idiot would wake up in the morning and say to himself. Gee, I'm in debt I think I'll spend my way out if it. And while I'm at it I'll spend the fruits of neighbors labor and everybody else on the block, and if they don't like it I'll send some goons (government bureacrats) by to enforce it. Nothing like a few cracked skulls to get the sheep to pony up. Gee isn't life grand spending others people's money.
George S| 8.19.10 @ 10:12AM
Spot on!!! Which explains why Democrats far and wide drop whatever they're doing to appear in photographs next to Obama when he comes to town to campaign for them.
Oldefarte| 8.19.10 @ 11:59AM
At least Bush wasn't a BASTARD like the one we now have [both literally and figuratively speaking]!!!!!!
Purpleguy| 8.19.10 @ 3:16PM
No, Bush was astronomically worse ... !
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 3:18PM
Mr. Corpseman is second to no one in bastardizing the English language and more importantly facts when he's not reading off the teleprompter. He starts everything off with "To be perfectly clear" and then meanders around long enough for everyone to forget whatever the question was he was supposed to be answering.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 7:24PM
I'll check back with you in a few years when you're standing in a soup line because of your boy barry. Good luck chief!
Steve A| 8.19.10 @ 9:18AM
Hey Purple, Newsflash for you. Your man, BO , has absolutely no shot at 8 years, no shot. The mask is off for all to see & it aint pretty. Bush knew how to do 2 things, spend $$ & kill bad guys, admittedly that's it but your man is so out of touch with reality it defies logic. Impossible for him to pull it off again.
Purpleguy| 8.19.10 @ 10:11AM
Luckily, you're in the 10% lunatic fringe that wouldn't vote for him if he walked on water and performed miracles every day ... !
Steve A| 8.19.10 @ 10:20AM
Well he did promise to heal the Earth & lower the seal level & I'm still waiting on that one. He is making the economy dissapear so I suppose I should reconsider his magic touch. He is also a pro at vacationing.Yeah, you have convinced me.
Purpleguy| 8.19.10 @ 3:32PM
Hmmm, the Stock Market is up 30% since he took office, BP is paying for the spill to the tune of 20Billion +, unemployment has dipped some, u will have healthcare regardless of your station in life, the worst financial practices have been reined in, Iraq combat mission is ending, Nuclear arms reduction with the Russians, improved standing in the world ... Magic, no, hard work and tough decision making ... NOW THAT;s a GREAT PRESIDENT - OBAMA !
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 7:31PM
The guy's a NAIF. Plain and simple.
Oldefarte| 8.19.10 @ 11:53AM
But HE does walk on the water........OF BULLEXCREMENT!!!!!!!!!
Tim*| 8.19.10 @ 11:55AM
Oh Yeah , Purplepuss !
Aaaand , you're in The 10 percent fringe ,who still thinks Obama Walks On Water and Performs Miracles Every Day .
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 3:20PM
Purple's Messiah Obama IS walking on water - in the form of thin ice!
Anthony| 8.19.10 @ 8:35PM
He sure is on thin ice, and in all 57 states!!!
Purpleguy| 8.19.10 @ 3:24PM
Ooooh, what a comeback ... not
Ned| 8.19.10 @ 11:58AM
actually, according to the polls, I think that's more like the 60% fringe that wouldn't vote for him... and he just THINKS he can walk on water...
Purpleguy| 8.19.10 @ 3:23PM
Polls mean nothing except to give the media something to hype for a story. How many times have you heard from your side that "we govern by principle, not polls" ? And, then, you throw polling into the argument. Useless misdirection and talking points. Stay on point.
Bush was bad and killed the economy along with 1000's of soldiers and untold numbers of Iraqis and Afghanis, and his buddies in Congress say no to everything that would make a positive difference in this country - because of polls?
Kinda why you all are the lunatic fringe, huh?
CathyMac| 8.19.10 @ 12:23PM
In that case call me a Lunatic! I was a Dem until 2008 and knew the Socialist in Chief was bad news for the Country! Open your eyes! Open your ears or would that not make you feel the warm and fuzzie Utopia, you so want.
Purpleguy| 8.19.10 @ 3:19PM
There is no socialism here in America... just different degrees of using government to better American life. Democrats want to better our lives through government and Republicans want to better their own lives .. pigs at the trough of corporate largesse.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 3:28PM
The pigs at the trough are the government bureaucrats too many of whom are underworked and overpaid to the tune of up to 40% more than for the same job in the private sector. The fervor with which Purpleguy and co. believe in the ability of these mediocre bureaucratic minds to order and improve his life is the best demonstration of how dumb the average Dem voter believes himself to be. Dems who earn instead of mooching should empty their pockets and give all their money to the nearest government worker to manage for them.
Jeff| 8.19.10 @ 3:30PM
there you go with the typical demonizing of those "mean" and "evil" corporations... the very ones whose success means you get to have a job. Go figure. Just answer this for us (I'm sure I'm not the only one curious to hear your answer): just where does all the money to support all the "government to better American lives" come from once you've killed the corporations??? You think we can all just sit around and collect a government check? Do tell... just how and when do we arrive at your utopia where the government is so very helpful??? Also, how do I get my share?
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 3:22PM
Another sensible Democrat! I wondered where they had all gone. Apparently they read American Spectator. That makes three on this thread so far. Will welcome wonders never cease.
Nelson H.| 8.19.10 @ 1:32PM
I don't agree with your "no shot at 8 years" assessment. You must not dismiss unconstitutional maneuvers as a way to prolong time in office. But apart from that, even if you are right, that does not preclude the Democrats from easing him out and putting up HRC, who could potentially win, because unlike all other candidates she is capable of doing literally anything without any limitations to achieve victory. Watch for the S0S to resign soon after the next election. That will be the signal that he's not going to be the 2012 Democratic nominee.
LaQuantrelle | 8.19.10 @ 9:25AM
Anyone know which mosque O'Bama is going to be praying at in Martha's Vineyard?
I saw him loading his prayewr rug onto the helicopter this morning.
Oldefarte| 8.19.10 @ 11:56AM
Me thinks they call them things.....QURANS
Purpleguy| 8.19.10 @ 3:26PM
Your comment says more about you than the President... and I'm guessing you don't get it.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 3:44PM
The only person who doesn't get it is you. Bet you know nothing about either Islam or Obama's history with it.
Both his father and stepfather were Muslim. Obama was taken to the Muslim country of Indonesia at a young age and enrolled in a school that took only Muslim students where he attended religious classes and memorized the Koran in Arabic. Once a Muslim, always a Muslim according to Islam's own rules. There's no way out except apostasy and that can be punished by death. However, a Muslim is allowed to in fact encouraged to lie about his true religion to gain strategic advantage for Allah, say the White House. Obama's "Christianity" was 20 years of attending a hate whitey church of black supremacism that bore no relation to Christianity and venerated converted black Muslims like Malcom X of Nation of Islam. Obama still doesn't worship at any other church. In an early speech he said he would defend Islam wherever required and has done so at every opportunity, including speaking for the 9/11 mosque proposal and downplaying both Fort Hood and Detroit as Muslim attacks. He bowed and scraped to the Saudi King, the "pope" of Muslims. He slipped during an interview and said "my Muslim religion" and was corrected by the helpful interviewer. He said America was not a Christian nation. He said America was one of the biggest Muslim nations (not even in the top 20). He skipped the National Day of Prayer. He hosted a Ramadan dinner at the White House. There are dozens of more examples of his Muslimophilia. His actions could not be more helpful to Muslims than if he were a declared Muslim so it's a moot point.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 7:35PM
I dunno if that's your real name but I love it. He He.
Arch| 8.19.10 @ 9:27AM
Too bad, Barack Obama was never a US military officer. He might have picked up some valuable leadership and organizational skills. Ensigns and Second Lieutenants quickly learn to listen to their NCOs. Eventually, they move into command and staff positions where the learning does not stop.
Obama needs to learn these rules of being a staff officer:
Rule One: Never pass up an opportunity to keep your mouth shut.
Rule Two: Never fail to speak up if it is necessary for you to do so.
Rule Three: Never confuse Rule One with Rule Two.
On the mosque controversy, Obama blew Rule One. The Constitution prohibits the government from establishing a state religion or interfering with the individual's right to practice his faith. There is no movement afoot to shut down mosque construction. The U.S. Constitution does not confer the right to build a house of worship anywhere you want.
On the BP well blowout, Obama blew rule Two. Government inspectors gave BP, a major Obama contributor, waivers and ignored the safety rules. The Coast Guard did not take control of the disaster because Obama, their Commander-in-Chief, was asleep at the switch. So, fifty days in, the Obama Administration begins to meddle as compensation for their initial deer-in-the-headlights stance.
On the Gates situation, Obama blew Rule Three. Admitting he did not have the facts, he should have applied Rule One but jumped to the conclusion that his pal had been the victim of racial profiling by Cambridge Police. The whole affair culminated in the beer summit and Obama's tiresome race speech.
Of course, Obama's admitted drug use would have barred him from receiving a commission. Perhaps we should impose a rule that any candidate for the Oval Office should be qualified to serve as a Second Lieutenant before we let him take the job of Commander in Chief.
Purpleguy| 8.19.10 @ 11:07AM
If you're really concerned about military experience, than General would be the rank that would provide the needed level of command experience - not a lowly Lieutenant. In that case, almost all previous Presidents would be disqualified. Not a good case, son.
Nunya| 8.19.10 @ 11:33AM
Obama has NO experience whatsoever, that's what Arch is saying. Good grief.
Do you need someone to help you stay within the lines when you color, too?
Oldefarte| 8.19.10 @ 11:55AM
Does military expenence in Al Quida's army count????????????????
Tim*| 8.19.10 @ 12:01PM
What ?
The Supreme Leader & Fuhrer For Life , Obama Was Never A General ?
Well Damn!
Don't That Beat All !
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 7:50PM
As I recollect boy obama was in some sort of Indonesian para-military youth movement. There's your military experience.
Ned| 8.19.10 @ 1:08PM
No, not just "qualified"... I think that to be President you should have to HAVE BEEN a Second Louie... if nothing else you'll learn humility (damn quickly, too), which is something nearly all of our political class is sadly lacking...
after all, look what the experience did for me! I hardly notice the limp these days....
sick of it all| 8.19.10 @ 9:28AM
did the dog go a separate plane again? Did he put moochelle on it too?
Dave G| 8.19.10 @ 9:31AM
The man is a trained seal who can read a speech on a teleprompter and that is about it. He has no idea what he is reading most of the time.
Gabe| 8.19.10 @ 9:45AM
We are not like you. And there are more of us than there are of you. Go quietly into the night. No vote you cast will stop the advance of Liberalism and Progressivism. Social Security is permanent. Medicare is permanent. A pluralistic society, freedom of religion and President Barack Obama -- you can't take any of it back. So you're just pissing into the wind if you think whining about it or articles like the above are going to change anything. But get angry. Get very angry. Because that's all you can do. We here on the Left, we'll just smile. Because we're happier people.
It isn't about Conservative ideology. It's about Old America vs. New America. The Americans who came here before 1950 and the ones who have come here since. And President Obama shows you who won. The future belongs to the young. Keep this up and we'll cut your Medicare benefits.
Dan Hirsch| 8.19.10 @ 10:00AM
Gabe,
You betcha you won. And you betcha the future belongs to the young.
And Barack Obama has basically destroyed any hope and any chance of that future being anything but a hopeless economic morass in which the US becomes a second-rate world nation ala Britain or Greece.
So if you are a youngster thinking that anything that you do is good, remember your teachers have been telling you you are better than you actually are for your entire education. The real world cares not one whit for you or your efforts. Obama is making a bed of hell for you and you are relishing it.
Fool!
And those older and more worldly than you recognize the dangers and you refuse to listen.
FOOL!
Purpleguy| 8.19.10 @ 11:23AM
The real problem for you righties is that the America you grew up in was created by FDR, Eisenhower, JFK and LBJ. What you long for is THAT world - not the world we live in today left to the young ones from Reagan, Clinton and the 2 Bushes. Long ago Democrats were labelled the tax and spenders, but the Republicans for the last 30 years have been the borrow and spenders - and NOW you are concerned. Look in the mirror - you people put the idiot Republicans in power with their corporate buddies and lobbyists like Jack Abramoff, etc. This economy was left to Obama by the Greenspans, the Bushes and, and for his part Clinton removing the last bulwark against wild financial speculation. And worst amongst them all was Baby Bush. The man was an unmitigated disaster. I mean, he was a partier until he was 40 .. couldn't hold a job without Daddy helping him out and then read "My pet goat" while America was under attack - for 7 minutes! 7, Really? He was the President, right?
So, yes, economic times are hard ... and Obama could be a little bit more progressive and communicative, but he stands head and shoulders above any Republican serious contender for 2012. You want Mama Grizzly - bring her on .. You want Newt "sanctity of marriage" 3 time loser Gingrich - bring him on. You want Tim "wake me up when he's done" Pawlenty - bring him on ... or how about Haley ' there's no oil here' Barbour...
Yep, folks, a great crop to compete with President Obama.
Warrior | 8.19.10 @ 11:44AM
I guess you never heard the quote, “It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
Clinton nee Publius| 8.19.10 @ 11:46AM
At least we can say this for you: like all liberal-progressives, there is no delusion too big for you to not maintain a hold upon to support your embrace of corruption and failure.
Oldefarte| 8.19.10 @ 11:50AM
Yes, moron, Ryan, Pawlenty, Barbour, Ginguich, Palin, Romney, etc all are/will be superior candidates and/or presidents to your preferred EL CHOSEN ONE. I will not mince words here----you and your radical, extremist, domestic terrorist politicians/friends have now seen their mountain peek [and have been out of the closet exposed] by your COMMUNITY ORGINIZER/HARVARD LAWYER/MUSLIM SYMPATHIZER TURNED PRESIDENT. The cat is now out of the bag, so to speak. There are no more dilusions, masquerades, slight-of-hands possible. We now see you people for who/what you truly are, thanks to BARRY EXPOSING HIMSELF. Bring on November 2010 and 2012, we can't wait [it can't get here soon enough]. You and your liberistic domestic terrorists are toast politically, and will be forced to retreat to your progressive closet [hopefully never to show yourselves in public again]. HAVE A NICE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ned| 8.19.10 @ 1:55PM
Gabe - above - REALLY gave me a good laugh with his version of the "I won" speach... what a hoot! So, Gabe... you know all that "unemployment" talk on the news? Who do you think it is that's out of work? Here's a hint for ya... unemployment among '20-somethings' is THREE TIMES the national averages, and it's worse if you're a male. So, you're right on that the future belongs to the young, provide Dad will loan you the car.
Idiot.
Sam Vaughn| 8.19.10 @ 10:11AM
Gabe, there is nothing about the so-called left that offers inspiration for the future. Instead of trying to win people over... well you just threaten them. We know who you are,,, you belong to the same set of people throughout history that shove the state down other people's throat.
Gabe, go ahead and believe if you will that all we do is get angry. You should ask yourself why people who have never gotten involved or angry over politics suddenly are? We're the ones that work for a living so you can live on the dole. The "left" has chosen the path of bigotry, insensitivity and intolerance. When we take back the country you can start to have fun again. Because the "left" is never happy and you'll have plenty to complain about once again...
Louis Jenkins| 8.19.10 @ 10:20AM
"We'll cut medicare off." Go ahead. It will hurt you much worse than it hurts me when the time comes to vote. As far as being happy, that's great. I'm glad you're the happiest people in the world, and I'm pretty happy too. Old America vs New America? Well, I've never heard it called that. I thought it was America, but if it makes you happy to delinate the difference, then go ahead. Yes Obama won, but the populace was asleep at the wheel. No more. We've awoke a sleeping giant, and the future belongs to all of us, not just the young.
Steve A| 8.19.10 @ 10:36AM
Gabe, You need to take a step back & recognize that without the capitalist system you despise, your beloved SS & Medicare programs would have no funding. If it were not for the vast majority of those like the ones who post here, you would have nothing to threaten to take away & you & all of your happy pals would be screwed as you would no longer have my wallet to reach into. Get a grip.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 4:02PM
Medicare and Social Security are "permanent" until the money runs out. Even Gabe knows it as he admits with his threat of "cutting off Medicare" to what he imagines are all conservative seniors. That might be the first attempted cut with many more to follow. However, long before that transpires the young are going to notice they have no jobs and no income. Are they going to murder their parents so they can move up from their basements? How can a supposed bleeding heart liberal like Gabe justify that? He presents himself as so much nicer and happier but then threatens to withdraw Medicare for the elderly first. Such a smiley face pasted on a black hearted control freak. When socialist policies bring the shortages they have always brought everywhere, leftists will be red of claw eliminating their competition. Between the Soviet Union and Mao's China, leftists managed to slaughter 100 million within living memory, imprison millions more and they STILL failed. But their followers are "happier" so one concludes they feed on force and inflicting harm.
hayek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 9:53AM
Man you "conservative" wishful thinkers are HILARIOUS. This place is like a Star Trek convention that only speaks Klingon. Wake me up when the current president lies us into a war, funds it off-budget, says every American should own a home, and then we suffer the worst stock market crash in US history.
Sam Vaughn| 8.19.10 @ 10:16AM
You may choose to succumb to despair.... Many on this board will not. You may choose to succumb to tyranny, most will not. So go ahead and believe if you will that all is lost. It is not. There are some on this board who remember times that were rough, rougher than this. So as they say "when the going get's tough, the tough get going"
Bob Miller| 8.19.10 @ 10:43AM
Our most current President has no concept of what a budget is, except as a vehicle for transferring taxpayer funds to those he favors.
Ned| 8.19.10 @ 2:02PM
Pull your head out once in a while so you can breath - that oxygen depravation kills brain cells quickly...
"lies us into a war" - so all the Dims that voted for the Gulf war were too stupid to read the same intelligence information and draw their own conclusions?
"funds it off-budget" - AND the Dims who voted for the funding didn't realize what they were paying for?
"says every American should own a home" - and what's wrong with that? It's how you get there that's the problem - via CRA, Clinton's expansion of same, and Fannie & Freddie.
"worst stock market crash in US history" - you really are only 20, aren't you?
hayek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 2:37PM
"so all the Dims that voted for the Gulf war were too stupid to read the same intelligence information and draw their own conclusions?" No. The Bush administration did not present all the countervailing facts they had. Ergo, Congress -- Democrat and Republican -- did not vote on the same intelligence the President had.
"AND the Dims who voted for the funding didn't realize what they were paying for?" Way to dodge your boy Bush's responsibility there.
"and what's wrong with that? It's how you get there that's the problem - via CRA, Clinton's expansion of same, and Fannie & Freddie." The problem with the goal of universal home ownership is that it's unaffordable. And when that goal blows up in everyone's face, gullible people like you succumb to plutocratic misinformation campaigns that blame everything on the government.
"you really are only 20, aren't you?" facts, meet Ned, a shameless blowhard. Ned, meet the facts: September 29, 2008, witnessed the single greatest drop in the Dow in U.S. history--778 points. http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/2.....tm?cnn=yes
I suppose that's Obama's fault though, right?
Pub2010| 8.19.10 @ 3:59PM
"No. The Bush administration did not present all the countervailing facts they had. Ergo, Congress -- Democrat and Republican -- did not vote on the same intelligence the President had." -- show me the proof of that. The heads of both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, and EVERYONE in Congress that was briefed except Nancy Pelosi has stated that they received the same intelligence - as required by law. No one is disputing the intelligence information.
"Way to dodge your boy Bush's responsibility there." This requires no response - see above.
"The problem with the goal of universal home ownership is that it's unaffordable. And when that goal blows up in everyone's face, gullible people like you succumb to plutocratic misinformation campaigns that blame everything on the government." This one is good. This was the position of Frank and Dobbs, not Bush. Bush actually warned AGAINST the Fanny/Freddie sub-prime mortgages, but his people were called bigots by not supporting homeownership for those that couldn't afford it.
"September 29, 2008, witnessed the single greatest drop in the Dow in U.S. history--778 points." So what? That drop represented a 6.9% reduction in market cap. The October 29, 1929 crash was a 22.8% loss of market capitalization - nearly a quarter of the value of the market in one day vs. a mere 7%.
Facts, meet Hayek; Hayek, facts.
hayek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 5:30PM
I'll just take your last one there. You're so eager to defend Bush that to a 6.9% reduction in market cap you say "so what?" -- and then go back eight decades to qualify your shrug. 778 points! That's a lot of money! But it happened under Bush, so so what, right?
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 4:10PM
How ignorant do you have to be to ascribe the deadbeat home owner policy to anyone but the Dems? They started it under Clinton, kept it going with a Dem Congress with Barnie Frank poohpoohing Republican warnings when Bush sent his Treasury Secretary twice to warn that Fannie and Freddie were ruinous and unsustainable.
But then hayek and roll's ignorance was revealed with "lies us into a war" when every senior ranking Democrat who had access to the same materials drew the same conclusion as Bush and are ON RECORD saying so. Were they all in on the lie? Or were they outwitted by what Dems insist was a moronic POTUS? And that would make Dems sub-moronic? That sounds about right, especially when someone thinks 2008 was the worst stock market crash in history.
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.19.10 @ 10:07AM
A fascinating column over at NRO today.
http://www.nationalreview.com/.....bert-costa
Tony V| 8.19.10 @ 10:09AM
Thank you glassy-eyed Obama personality cult followers. I want to congratulate you for electing your cool, handsome, ready for MTV president. I put the entire catastrophe of this President on your head, and your stupidity. Thank you Obama voters, for using your Jersey Shore standards to elect a glorified church picnic organizer to be CEO of the largest most complicated corporation in the world, and commander in chief of the most powerful military the planet has ever seen. AND HE IS MISMANAGING BOTH.
THANK YOU STUPID OBAMA VOTERS, SEEING AS YOU PROBABLY DON'T HAVE A JOB AND ARE SITTING AT HOME READING THIS IN YOUR UNDERWEAR, I HOPE YOU ROT IN YOUR POVERTY.
hayek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 11:09AM
"I HOPE YOU ROT IN YOUR POVERTY"
I know a fellow named Jesus who might take issue with a sentiment like that.
Nunya| 8.19.10 @ 11:37AM
I sincerely doubt that you know anything about Jesus or what He taught.
hayek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 11:57AM
blessed are the poor, nunya, and the meek shall inherit the earth. i recall reading that a few times
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 4:20PM
Jesus' poor were the unfortunate who nevertheless tried their best to "help themselves". Liberals' poor are able bodied drones who sit at home in their PJ's instead of putting in effort getting an education or a job and vote for governments to steal the fruits of other people's labor on their behalf, a form of slavery. Hardly "blessed" but manifesting several vices.
hayek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 5:26PM
Laine, it is sacrilegious to misrepresent the word of the son of God like you just did. Jesus didn't say, "Blessed are the conservative poor, not the liberal poor." He said "Blessed are the poor," full stop. It is impossible to be a Christian and to hate the poor. To feel otherwise is to be the modern-day equivalent of a Pharisee.
Brian Mc| 8.19.10 @ 6:10PM
I'm sorry, I thought it was "...the poor in spirit".
Don't know it all| 8.24.10 @ 5:55PM
The apostle Paul said "is it not the rich who opress you" , and withholding that which was due", along iwth "you were not chosen from the rich, and "those who love to be saluted in the marketplace", and too many more to waste time here with. Zoom's right over the blinded, endless chattering one's heads.
Amazing what you can find, if you blow the dust off the token Bibles most of the blabbers here claim to know, and actually read it.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 8:32PM
Hardly seems worth while replying to someone too stupid to understand possessives. That's not Liberal poor, that's Liberals' poor as in the people Liberals and their asinine policies create and call poor. And it's only Liberals who call criticism of their crappy policies "hate". Liberals with their LBJ War on Poverty spent trillions to create a permanent underclass and in the process destroyed the black family that up until then was rapidly closing the economic gap. So get off your high horse. Lib intentions if they were good to begin with (doubtful since they're unashamed of their gruesome results) have led to hell exactly as predicted by the late and great Senator Daniel Moynihan. If you go by results, it's Lib/Dems who "hate the poor". In fact, since Dems perpetuate failing public schools by sucking up to teachers' unions, thus removing the main key to escaping poverty - a good education, they really do despise the poor.
Conversely, it is not hating the poor to disagree with destructive Dem policies and say that most of the poor would be better off following the conservative model of hard work, strong family supports and independence from government handouts. This is the formula every cultural group who has arrived in America with the shirt on their back and the additional handicap of not speaking English follow and they have all left poverty behind them within a generation. Dems and their multi-generation Welfare clients are just pushers of an addictive dependency. Don't you dare invoke Jesus' name in this travesty nor use the word sacrilegious to cover your own deep ignorance of both Christian principles and grammar.
Tim Singleton | 8.19.10 @ 2:05PM
Christ told Christians to help the poor. He did not tell the Obamas, the Pelosis nor the Reids of the world to go out and steal from the productive in society and distribute as they see fit.
Robin Hood was an @$$hole too lazy to work and ran around in the woods from the perspective of those who worked their fields.
City Jim| 8.19.10 @ 10:24AM
During the 2008 campaign, I asked my company's owner that considering Obama's resume', would the owner allow him to run his small company? His answer was simply, "No way in Hell." My followon question was ,"Then would you let him run our cuntry?"
Mark| 8.19.10 @ 10:30AM
How can you be so obtuse in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary? He did not " leap right in to endorse the building a mosque at Ground Zero". He defended the constitution, a job he swore an oath to. If you do not support religious freedom for everyone in this country then you do not support the religious rights of anyone in this country.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 4:29PM
If freedom of religion is going to include being able to build a house of worship anywhere you want with no interference by the state, why is the Christian church damaged by the 9/11 bombing still tied up in red tape oh libs who can't stand any obstacle to Muslim wishes, not matter how tasteless?
Secondly, most of the opposition is merely critical of Muslim insensitivity and pig-headedness, not disputing their constitutional rights. Clearly the imam heading up the project is a bald-faced liar when he pretends it was to encourage understanding among religions. Understanding of what? That Islam gets to be offended by cartoons but everyone else is not allowed to be offended by building what according to Islamic tradition is a triumphalist mosque at the scene of their victory? Why didn't Obama say they have a technical right to build it, and everyone else has the right to criticize what I also consider an insensitive decision?
Sandra| 8.19.10 @ 10:30AM
Jimmy Carter allowed his "ethical standards" rule him, he was less likely to use force, not because he was weak (well maybe he was in some ways) but because he was a "Christian" trying to run the country in a totally ethical manner.
He was a also a socialist in the Christian-Socialist manner, not the Marxist (Saul Alinsky Brand) of Socialism.
PBO is an Alinsky/Marxist Socialist, just like Hillary is an Alinsky/Marxist Socialist.
Bob Miller| 8.19.10 @ 10:48AM
Is the next step a Groucho/Marxist?
http://www.filmsite.org/duck.html
Sandra| 8.19.10 @ 12:54PM
Oh I love Groucho! But Night at the Opera is my favorite.
Thank-you Dr. Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce for introducing me to him
Pete| 8.19.10 @ 10:36AM
I haven't even read the article yet, but the title says what I have been saying for months now. Now to read this thing.
Steve | 8.19.10 @ 10:40AM
I've been checking out the commentary on this issue and I am amazed that liberals are pretty much uniformly labeling those who oppose the mosque as bigots. A lot of articles have the word in the title. I have to say that I really have nothing in common with these kind of people. I don't think there is any chance of the two sides reconciling somehow. When you use that word to describe the motivation of those who disagree, even on an issue of common decency such as this one, you identify yourself as a low-life. It is frightening to realize that pretty much all of the Left in this country coalesces around low-lifes.
Dai Alanye | 8.19.10 @ 11:02AM
Tyrrell: "He cannot resist showing the world how smart he is, but at what cost?"
I fell for the Obama-real-smart propaganda during his campaign, even though his policies were plainly wrong and his executive experience nil. Didn't vote for him, of course, since Palin was superior in almost every way.
For some time it's been clear he's NOT particularly smart, merely "above average." It was the teleprompter all along that gave the illusion of intelligence.
Benton Cook| 8.19.10 @ 11:03AM
From community organizer to the penultimate affirmative action hire. Well done America!
Ned| 8.19.10 @ 2:06PM
"penultimate" means 'next to the last' - so what job is Barry Obullshit's going to fail at next?
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 8:42PM
Well he keeps acting like he's auditioning to lead the 57 state OIC Organization of the Islamic Conference that has the UN under its sway considering anti-blasphemy laws to protect Muslim sensitivities so I'd say he's aiming to be "King of the World", dragging the remade and bleeding Socialist America as his qualification.
Enlightened| 8.19.10 @ 11:07AM
vtwin and your idiot box friends,
You stated that Obama inherited:
"financial meltdown, rising national debt, growing unemployment, declining middle class, two failed wars"
The financial meltdown was caused by the Carter Era policy (encouraged by Clinton and Cisneros) of FORCING banks to make loans to people who could not repay them.
The rising national debt was caused by the inability of both parties to reign in entitlement spending (Bush at least tried).
Declining middle class has to do with the move of history across nations (not Bush).
Two wars were caused by Islamist terrorists. What would you have done?? Let them bomb us again.
You idiot. You child.
Obama inherited a nation in crisis and... is spending MORE to try to fix it!! How does that fix anything? It just makes things worse! A new health care $1 trillion commitment? New regulations which make it harder to create jobs? He inherited a crisis and is turning it into a meltdown.
The worst thing about our country right now is people like you who just watch TV and parrot progressive opinions as though they are reality.
It's disgusting.
Nunya| 8.19.10 @ 11:40AM
Very well said. Thank you.
Joe Doakes| 8.19.10 @ 11:16AM
Dear President Obama,
As I have watched for any positive results in the economy from your stewardship, I have been unable to detect any. GM has produced a car, no one will buy, that runs on electrical power that liberal democrats are hell bent on stopping the efficient production of. Thanks to you, we have debt, and deficits in the trillions that are growing by the billions on a weekly basis. The United States military has zero leadership, and is being pushed from an overt mission into a covert one, leaving the public sphere to be filled with Islamic Radicalism in that part of the world fed daily from Al Jazeera and CNN. Finally, Mr President you are playing the race card, the class card, and any other card you can stick up your sleeve prior to the game on November 2, 2010.
You and I both know the numbers and the stakes, we know the safe zone and the loss zone of numbers and polls. With 96 days to go you are now all set to hit the ground on the taxpayers dime, and try to move beyond the hard 20 to help those in safe districts to keep their seats to avoid veto proof majorities in the house and the senate that the last President faced in 2006. Politicians and prostitutes share erie similarities. Give either enough money they’ll do just about anything - you are no different. Republicans are a little better looking then liberal Democrats, though, they tend to bathe more. But that was then, and as they say, this is now. Now America has been awakened, the American Eagle is on the move, and ready to strike at the ballot box, it is about damned time.
Why is this happening now in our political system when other systems would just collapse and die? The Soviet Union died in the space of one week. That success of freedom and liberty occurred because of a failure to promote achievement and a lack of competition. For instance, in the Soviet Union, if you failed miserably at your job but you believed the party line and promoted it, even though it was a lie, you were promoted to positions of more responsibility where you could do more damage. Kind of like you Mr. Obama. Communists and Socialists parading as liberal democrats promoted you based on a lack of character and ability, to a position of power, watching the Clintons try to fend you off was even more humorous, they likened you to a drug dealing terrorist and the panty waste liberals thought that this would matter to a guy like you or your core supporters. In their ears you were a “man of the people,” and they were paying you a complement.
In as much as the speed bumps to your fascistic dictatorship have been bulldozed, by Republican and Democrats alike, each in their own times, the smallest core of our system still exists, an election every two years for the House and 1/3 of the Senate. The more I think about it the more I realize Americans haven’t had a real choice between liberty and tyranny since the early 90s and in 1980. Every so often Americans get lost in the weeds, led there by liberal hacks posing as journalists. That has come to an end with Congressional approval in the sewer and yours circling the drain with the pubic hair once again; whether or not this movement back to liberty over your tyranny has the power to last, and undo the damage liberals have done prior to the United States of America’s dissolution, is anyones guess.
On this November, though, we will be voting for liberty, we will be voting Republican as our only defense. We will not fail, we must not fail, to beat you Mr. Obama.
Joe Doakes
Steve Horth| 8.19.10 @ 1:12PM
Absolutely Brilliant!
Two minor notes: No one here is a fan of Bush 44 but the opposition insists his sins make up for BHO's. (For you on the left, google "Straw Man.)
Second, BHO doesn't "keep us safe." That job belongs to the brave men and women of our military, police foces, and fire departments - people BHO clearly resents.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 8:48PM
Thank you for an excellent summary, Mr. Doakes. One hopes the sleeping giant has awakened and will not go back to sleep again. Even if Republicans are elected, they will have to be closely supervised, especially those co-opted by years in Washington.
renato williams| 8.19.10 @ 11:16AM
Perhaps you are right that he is worse than Carter but he is certainly better than Bush 44. Most importantly President Obama has kept us safe, praise Jesus.
Joe S| 8.19.10 @ 11:48AM
Kept us safe? By kowtowing to people who hate us? By belittling our allies? By refusing to acknowledge that we are at war with Islamic Fundamentalism (or at least that Islamic Fundamentalism is at war with us)? By refusing to enforce immigration laws and control our border? This is your idea of keeping us safe? It sounds to me more like sticking your head in the sand.
By the way, Clinton kept us real safe too. So safe, they couldn't grab Bin Laden because it might violate his rights. How'd that work out for us? Before you blame Bush (who does get his share of blame for not "connecting the dots"), remember, he "inherited" that problem, so it's not really his fault...
Jose| 9.6.10 @ 5:42PM
We're not talking about Carter being better than President George W. Bush. We all know that Carter had always been considered the worst President of the United States, but now he has been supplanted by Urraca Obama.
hayek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 11:17AM
"The financial meltdown was caused by the Carter Era policy (encouraged by Clinton and Cisneros) of FORCING banks to make loans to people who could not repay them. "
No it wasn't. The financial crisis was caused by the financial deregulation that allowed banks to increase their leverage from 12-1 to 30-1 in the years immediately preceding the crash of September, 2008. President Bush's repeated statements that every American should own a home did not help matters. You are the idiot and child who grasps at straws, blaming Carter's policies from the '70s, when the truth of the recent past is plain and simple, it just contradicts your ideological preferences, so you cannot process it. Wake up and stop spreading disinformation.
Nunya| 8.19.10 @ 11:47AM
Hayek, please stop regurgitating the spoiled rhetoric of the DNC.
Do some research, and you will see that it was indeed Carter's program that laid the groundwork for the economic failure. It was pushed by Clinton through ACORN and other organizations, which resulted in millions of people buying homes that they could not afford, with interest-only and other specialty loans.
Nearly two years into the administration, Obama continues to fail, and his acolytes and sycophants continue to blame Bush. Wonderful strategy, hope it works out for you.
Purple Lips| 8.19.10 @ 11:56AM
No it wasn't. The financial crisis was caused by the financial deregulation that allowed banks to increase their leverage from 12-1 to 30-1 in the years immediately preceding the crash of September, 2008.
Actually, the legal underpinnings of the Crash occured during the 1970s, and then again during the 1990s. And the mantra of "Home Ownership" began with the Dems in 1968 and continue to this day (See Barney Frank). Bush was only repeating a 35 year old talking point.
The amount of debt concerning high risk mortgages was focused on 2 GSEs: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These 2 institutions became a revolving door of Wall St executives and the Beltway ( a vertiable Who's Who of Libs made fortunes there (ie Jaimie Gorellick, Rahm, etc...). Wall St wrote the mortgage securities that in turned spread the risk globally. Wall St is in New York. The last time I checked, the New England Correigdor is about as Blue as you can get. Obama's got Wall St executives on speed dial.
hayek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 12:02PM
Spin all you want, Fox News dupes, but the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 was irrelevant to the subprime boom, which was overwhelmingly driven by loan originators not subject to the Act. The housing bubble reached its point of maximum inflation during the mid-00s. During those same years, Fannie and Freddie were sidelined by Congressional pressure, and saw a sharp drop in their share of securitization, while securitization by private players surged. It's convenient to blame Barney Frank; but it's also stupid.
Danny Flucke| 8.19.10 @ 1:56PM
H & R do you actually research anything before you post - Or do you prefer to just grab liberal "facts" as gospel.
Google "CRA Mortgages".
CRA / Community Reinvestment Act.
The DEMOCRATS - REQUIRED lenders to fund mortgages to low credit/low income renters.
Not advised. Not reccomended. REQUIRED.
Here is an interesting approach you obviously have not tried: Do some research on a subject and come up with your own position - Instead of simply regurgitating the first piece of liberal opinion that you can find...
No wonder it's so easy to do business in CA - I'm competing with liberals...........
DannyInSoCal
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.19.10 @ 11:19AM
Ouch!
I just got up from my swivel chair ...only to discover an Obama on my butt...sorry, I meant a 'pimple' on my butt.
...it hurts, too. :~)
hayek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 11:22AM
Hey, Ken, isn't there a mosque being planned in Manhattan you should be screaming about?
hayek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 11:21AM
"we will be voting Republican as our only defense"
Keep it up! Somehow the Republicans keep exploding the deficit and the size of government and, worst of all, presiding over failures in the financial industry. But nevermind that! Anything but Democrats! (who balance the budget, and don't preside over epic failures of the financial industry)
Doctor Right| 8.19.10 @ 11:49AM
You're a total ass...And DUMB, too.
You have no grasp of recent history, so I guess we shouldn't expect you to grasp world history.
Let's examine your idiocy:
"Somehow the Republicans keep exploding the deficit and the size of government"
WHAT????? Hate to tell you, dumbass, but the Democrats have controlled both houses of Congress since 2006. During that time, and especially since O-dumbo was elected in 2008, the massive, out-of-control spending emanating from Washington is ALL DEMOCRAT. O-dimwit has spent more money than all other past Presidents COMBINED. Yet somehow, you persist in the mistaken belief that simply because the Republicans stopped being spendthrifts under Bush, somehow they're responsible for our current economic crisis.
NEWSFLASH: You're 1000% wrong. Big surprise...
And how about this chest-nut:
"[Republicans were] presiding over failures in the financial industry."
More total stupidity. The current economic crisis stems DIRECTLY from the collapse of the Housing market, which stems DIRECTLY from the absolute, criminal mis-management of FANNIE-MAE and FREDDIE-MAC by the Democrat Party, specifically Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, who actively blocked an investigation of both. Maybe the fact that the disgusting Barney "Fagg" (as Dick Armey called him) was playing hide-the-salami with the CEO of FANNIE -MAE had something to do with it?
So we have established:
1. The current economic crisis is the fault of the Democrats.
2. The Democrats are enacting out-of-control spending with no regard for the consequences.
3. You're as dumb as they come.
Sheeez...With idiots like you on the Democrat side, it's amazing that the Republicans have trouble in national elections...
Jordan| 8.19.10 @ 11:54AM
The spending has been all Democrat? What are you smoking and where can I get some?
Who pissed away $3 trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan? - Bush.
Who spent that money while giving away another $1 trillion to the wealthiest and most able to pay? - Bush.
Who bailed out Fannie May and Freddie Mac? - Bush.
Who bailed out AIG? - Bush.
From 2001 to 2008 the Republicans spent money like it was going out of style - AFTER Clinton left them a surplus I might add... Why?
Because if you bankrupt government then they can't spend money on programs that actually HELP people. That's the Republican ideal.
hakyek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 12:07PM
Your insults are very effective. But still, you're wrong, Dr. Right. "simply because the Republicans stopped being spendthrifts under Bush, somehow they're responsible for our current economic crisis."
The Republicans have always been spendthrifts. Ronald Reagan TRIPLED the national debt. Bill Clinton, not George Bush I, got it under control. Then Prince George comes along, and whoah! When Obama leaves office in 2016, the deficit he'll hand to his successor will be much lower than what Bush handed to him. And the workforce won't be shedding 800,000 jobs a month, either.
Danny Flucke| 8.19.10 @ 2:02PM
You are both delusional.
"When Obama leaves office in 2016, the deficit he'll hand to his successor will be much lower than what Bush handed to him. "
I will put $50,000 into escrow tomorrow if you wanna make that into a bet. Hell - I'll even give you 10 to 1 odds.
You put up $5,000 against winning my $50,000 - Put your money where your mouth is...
Unless you don't have the balls to back up your statement.
And just because you "think" something - Doesn't actually make it true. Just a helpful tip from a fiscal conservative to a delusional liberal...
DannyInSoCal
Doctor Right| 8.19.10 @ 4:45PM
You're an idiot.
Bush did not spend $3 trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan. And even if he did, it was to finance a war. We're at war, by the way...against Islamic nut-jobs. Maybe you noticed?
And $3 trillion is peanuts compared to what Obama is spending. Obama has committed to $20 trillion in debt...DEBT!!!
Now please, liberal moron...Go away. You're as stupid as they come, and you wouldn't know a fact if it hit you.
Doctor Righht| 8.19.10 @ 4:47PM
Hey, Idiot-boy!
You forgot: "Who controls spending?" - Congress!
Who controlled Congress in 2008? - DEMOCRATS!
Now shut the hell up, you ignorant, liberal dumbass.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 8:59PM
Only a statist can call letting productive members of society who create jobs keep more of THEIR earned income as "giving away another $1 trillion to the wealthiest and most able to pay? - Bush."
Dumbos like Jordan can't comprehend that governments don't make money. They take money from the people who make it. Socialists take a big cut to overpay themselves, then redistribute the rest to buy votes from various constituencies. They always get greedy, and eventually they always run out of other people's money to redistribute, crashing the economy.
Government can't give anyone anything it hasn't first confiscated from someone else. Confiscating less is not "giving" the "confiscatee" anything.
Oldefarte| 8.19.10 @ 11:38AM
Tyrrell's editorial is by far, one of the most intelligent, precise, description of the facts of a situation that I have ever read in my entire lifetime. Lacking the beautiful prose/working that he possesses, I would have crudely stated that Obama is simply a COMMUNITY ORGINIZER WITH DUBIOUSLY FINANCED COLLEGE DEGREES FROM COLUMBIA AND HARVARD. Tyrrell's piece defines Obama for what he is [and more importantly, for what he is not]. I've questioned many, many times why America and her taxpayer-citizen-voters could be so stupid as to elect someone of Obama's character/nature, and I will go to my grave seeking asnwers to that very question. Maybe we are just a nation of PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING, AMERICAN IDOL, MINUTE-TO-WIN-IT DUMBARSSES!!!!!!!!
TexasMom| 8.19.10 @ 11:39AM
Dear God in Heaven, when will we be finished with these narcissistic babbling progressives?
Progress what? Was it the diet cokes, the Oprah show, Katie Couric? We are brain-dead 'idiots to have let this happen!
RCV| 8.19.10 @ 2:34PM
We had to put up with your brain-dead village idiot for 8 years.
new yorker| 8.19.10 @ 11:43AM
And here was I thinking being a leader really meant getting things done that you believe in, like health reform and a stimulus plan, even knowing that it would make you unpopular, especially among those who disagree with you, as most do here. All the arguments advanced in Mr Tyrrell's spirited bromide seem to be about politics, not achievements. They're criticisms of his style, not the substance of what he's done. Can we not elevate the debate and discuss the real issues, not the circus?
George True| 8.19.10 @ 3:26PM
I would consider bankrupting the health care system of our nation to be a rather dubious "achievement". When 80% of the American people tells The One that they are satisfied with their current health insurance and level of health care, and he goes ahead and rams through a government takeover of it anyway, I would not call that "leadership".
Furthermore, when all the empirical evidence over the last 150 years says a stimulus not only will not work, but will make the problem worse, and the American people are opposed to it by a margin of 3 to 1, and he does it anyway, I would not call that "leadership" either. More like ideologically blind stupidity.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 9:05PM
Most "leaders" would be somewhat humbled and give their ideas a rethink when 70% of the electorate rejects them as in the Health Control Bill. Someone in a position of power who steamrollers over a large majority of citizens claiming he knows better than them what's good for them is a thug and demonstrates dictatorial tendencies, not leadership. A leader sells his ideas, doesn't have to strong arm, bribe and get them through the back door.
PFFlyer| 8.19.10 @ 11:46AM
He is now being called Jimmy2 or Jimmy II in the U.K. after the BP behaviour. Sounds like they may be correct. Shame really the U.S. needs leadership now and it isn't getting it!
Paevo| 8.19.10 @ 11:46AM
Doesn't he look like a combination between Mr. Rogers and a Sunday school teacher in that photo?...
Nicholas Wind | 8.19.10 @ 11:47AM
Yes yes yes Ben.
You nailed it...this guy's an idiot for sure.
I've been watching from Toronto Canada
as this elitist Marxists/socialist community organiser destroys your country.
I am in business online and off with many well to do Americans.
6&7 figure folks.
Some are my mentors.
I love Americans as a whole and knew this was coming within a month of this idiot being elected.
To a person and we are talking dozens of hard working big achievers...you know the type Obama takes from...for redistribution of wealth..they want this guy gone.
And he will be.
Thank God.
His idiocy of course is loved by our socialist media here in TO of course.
Alfred| 8.19.10 @ 11:46AM
Gentlefolk: I do not ask you to change your opinion about Mr. Obama, but I would like to ask you to hear that I have the highest regard for him. (I also, by the way, think that George W. Bush was a person of good will.)
Mr. Obama appears to understand that everyone matters--rich and poor, white and black, educated and uneducated. He wants a community that lifts up everyone, a community in which no one is left out, no one is forgotten, no one is overlooked. And just as he believes that everyone matters, so, too, does he speak and act as if every voice mattered.
Yes, I know, many conservatives feel that health care reform was passed "over their dead bodies," but when I review the record, the president tried many times to bring everyone into the conversation. For instance, he dropped the demand for a public option, but the Congressional Republicans chose not to engage in the give-and-take of politics and decided merely to try to stop the Democratic proposals. They failed, and the Democratic majority (through thoroughly constitutional means) voted their proposals into law. That's not choking legislation down anyone's throat. That's simply the way majoritarian rule works--especially when the minority party refuses to offer any proposals acceptable to the majority.
And then there's the stimulus package passed a few weeks after the president was inaugurated. Because the Republicans wanted much of the stimulus in the form of tax cuts, the president agreed to a much larger share of the bill going to tax cuts than he needed to, given his economic philosophy and the political advantage he then enjoyed.
This president does reach out. His instincts are to look for a solution that is at least acceptable (if not preferable) to everyone in the room. And for his troubles, he is being excoriated by the Right AND the Left. Yet he doesn't get nasty. He doesn't resort to ad hominems. He doesn't give way to self-pity. He, instead, conducts himself with dignity, grace, and eloquence.
For me, he represents what is best in American history and culture. He embodies the best of American pragmatism: Instead of believing that the truth is all on this side or the other, he knows that no one is completely devoid of the truth but also that no one has a lock on it. Therefore, he tries to bring everyone to the table and to foster discussion which results in each person's getting something he or she asked for but nobody getting everything. And surely this predilection for negotiation and compromise is a good thing! It's the only way that people of different ideologies, values, and vision can live together fruitfully and prosperously.
I confess: I love our president. He inspires me. He makes me want to reach out to those who disagree with me. He makes me want to listen, to understand, and to find some way to make something beautiful of our differences.
Okay. I know. I'm going to get hammered for having said what I just said, but that's okay. I just want you folks to know that there's at least one person who is deeply moved by this young president.
Purple Lips| 8.19.10 @ 11:49AM
Alfred,
Return to the Land of Koz.
renato williams| 8.19.10 @ 11:59AM
Purple lips,
Excellent well reasoned counter argument to Alfred. OLDEFARTE, BTW a white guy and of course not a racist, would be very proud of your reasoning and grasp of the facts. Now your article is the best one he has ever read in his life.
Maybe many of you got this article off Realclear politics like I did. From your writings most of you must have skipped this article. Why don't you read the link below. It will be difficult but try. http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....06811.html
Doctor Right| 8.19.10 @ 11:53AM
Alfred:
The fact that you're "deeply moved" by this President is EXACTLY the problem.
Stop thinking with your emotions, and your heart. Think with your brain.
Then you'll realize how incompetent and unqualified this man is to be President of the USA.
Liberalism is about emotion, and emotions are not reliable. Emotions are not trustworthy. Emotions lie.
Facts never do.
New Yorker| 8.19.10 @ 11:55AM
Problem is, Alfred, you're appealing to reason and civility. I don't think those are the go-to senses round these parts. I salute the try, though. Anybody know where you can actually debate the issues on the merits?
hayek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 12:12PM
Alfred, your post is very thoughtful, but it is just pissing in the wind around these parts. All most of the commentors here know how to do is curse people out and echo Fox News talking points. But still, I say, keep it up! Maybe some among them are reasonable enough to get that not everything in this country that's wrong can be blamed on the people they won't vote for.
JmsA| 8.19.10 @ 12:13PM
New Yorker,
Try the voting booth come 11/02/2010. Though I suspect you and your kind will come out the losers.
JmsA| 8.19.10 @ 12:15PM
New Yorker,
Try the voting booth come 11/02/2010. Though I suspect you and your kind will come out the losers.
hayek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 12:13PM
Alfred, your post is very thoughtful, but it is just pissing in the wind around these parts. All most of the commentors here know how to do is curse people out and echo Fox News talking points. But still, I say, keep it up! Maybe some among them are reasonable enough to get that not everything in this country that's wrong can be blamed on the people they won't vote for.
RCV| 8.19.10 @ 2:33PM
Well said, Alfred.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 9:17PM
I despair of people like Alfred who are blind, deaf and dumb to Obama's actual history and deeds and instead project their own fantasy of him onto such an unworthy vessel. Unlike Alfred's fantasy uniter and pragmatist who sees both sides, the real Obama had the farthest left voting record in the US senate, attended a black supremacist church for 20 years of "hate whitey" sermons by his mentor Wright, has close ties he lied about to domestic terrorist Ayers and a dozen other documented factual indications that he is a hater of the United States above all, not a uniter. Alfred can't possibly be ignorant of all this evidence despite media one sidedness so he is deep in his own little fantasy world, unswayable by facts. The communists were masters of this kind of irreversible brainwashing.
Paul in Colorado| 8.19.10 @ 11:52AM
Religious tolerance is not a one-way street, and it is a right that is normally granted only by democracies. The question here is whether democracies should extend freedom of religion protections to religious organizations that do not themselves believe in freedom of religion. To enjoy the protections afforded by a democratic society it seems reasonable to insist that the religion must first be compatible with democratic values, starting with respect for the rights of non-believers, particularly their right to ignore, mock and, if they choose, grossly insult their neighbor’s gods, beliefs and practices without fear or consequence. Not all religions meet this test, and one in particular fails very badly.
new yorker| 8.19.10 @ 11:57AM
But then it wouldn't really be "freedom of religion" would it? It would be "freedom of religions we like." Any old dictatorship offers that.
Paul in Colorado| 8.19.10 @ 12:20PM
The First Amendment does not create freedom of religion, but rather freedom from religion. It protects Americans from the imposition of a particular state-sanctioned religion, but does not create a right to do whatever we please so long as we call it a religion. Polygamists, tax evaders and peyote enthusiasts often attempt to claim religious protection, but no one takes them seriously. The question stands - should we extend our democratic protections to organizations that neither acknowledge or respect your rights?
New Yorker| 8.19.10 @ 12:37PM
I'm not a huge fan of Islam, but I think we can not deny it is a major world religion, unlike those you cite. Some of its adherents use it to do execrable things, but that's not exclusive to it: lots of christians so things "in the name of Christ" that make other christians wince. And if it's a major religion, we can't treat it differently from the way we treat other major religions, right? That would be un-democratic and profoundly un-American, IMHO.
New Yorker| 8.19.10 @ 12:41PM
And Paul, What does the phrase "...or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." mean, in your understanding?
RCV| 8.19.10 @ 10:43PM
Paul - try reading the First Amendment before you speak. The religion provision has two separate clauses to it: the "Establishment Clause" which, as you correctly note prevents government from imposing religion on us, and the "Free Exercise Clause", whic guarantees to each of us the right to freely practice our faith.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 9:33PM
Pretending that Islam is only a religion like the others and not a duality with an ideological face is suicidal. There is no separation of religion and state in Muslim countries (Turkey the sole and temporary exception). Both sides of the Islamic coin, religion and totalitarian ideology insist on promotion of religious/sharia law by its followers which is incompatible with Western law.
While in a minority position, Islam uses Western law to advance itself as purely a religion, when it is a totalitarianism bent on ultimate destruction of as many non-Islamic states as fall for this wolf in sheep's clothing act. Even the stupidest lib should be able to figure out what the end point is of prolonged tolerance of the intolerant. For the really slow, Egypt (end stage) and Lebanon (past the point of no return) should be ample demonstration of the process by which Muslims remove more and more land from the control of non-Muslims. Islam is a supremacist religion and ideology. It calls the land belonging to Muslims dar al Harb, Land of War and by hook and by crook they are determined to bring it back to dar al Islam, Land of Submission (Islam does not mean peace as so frequently mistranslated in the western sense of the word but the peace of total submission to Allah).
RCV| 8.19.10 @ 2:31PM
The test would also exclude the Catholic Church, and the Puritans who founded New England.
Dan| 8.19.10 @ 11:53AM
You are "moved" by this arrogant, incompetent, corrupt president? I can only assume that you mean you were constipated, but he's brought on a bowel movement for you. I can understand that.
helen| 8.19.10 @ 11:54AM
and what really burns is that he continues to be referred to as intelligent...........and he keeps shooting himself in the foot........Intelligent???..........I think not!
Rogers| 8.19.10 @ 11:55AM
With all the problems and the short comings he has. He is much better than his predecessor (Bush and Cheney). Don’t forget that they took us to Iraq with false evidence, which they don’t deny, and drained us to the biggest depression since1930s. What Obama is trying to do is clean the mess they have created. Even with this pressure, he succeeded to mend the gap with Europe and achieved a better global public opinion towards America. Obama is also much better than the Republican alternatives like Ms. Sarah Palin, who doesn’t have the knowledge and ability to be a governor, let alone lead a great nation like America.
George True| 8.19.10 @ 3:34PM
Just continue to let the Democrat talking points do your thinking for you, because it is evident that you cannot think for yourself. If you would ever actually research any of the aforementioned issues for yourself, you would discover that the truth (reality) is far different from your parrot-like talking points.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 9:36PM
It is actually scary reading Rogers and other Obamabot posts. It's as though they're in suspended animation, unable to digest or understand a single thing their false god has done.
Jordan| 8.19.10 @ 11:57AM
Why does the Right continue to blather on about a Mosque which is neither a Mosque (it's a faith center, not a proper Mosque) nor at Ground Zero (it will occupy the hallowed ground of a vacant Burlington Coat Factory Outlet)?
Oh yeah, it's all a distraction to keep people from noticing how you morons voted down a bill that would provide health care to the first responders on 9/11.
Republicans make me SICK! Unfortunately they won't be satisfied until everyone is sick as well, including those who sacrificed their health on 9/11.
SocialistsNeverProsper| 8.19.10 @ 12:23PM
I hope you're planning to stockpile a large supply of barf bags, because you're going to need a lot of them for the evening of Nov. 2 and Nov. 3.
Can you say, "bitter, humiliating rebuke?" Sure... I knew you could!
new Yorker| 8.19.10 @ 3:26PM
Now don't you be badmouthing the Burlington Coat Factory, Jordan. I've got some amazing deals at the one in Chelsea. More than just coats, you know.
Stacey| 8.19.10 @ 12:01PM
It is unbelievabe that Americans have allowed an individual like Obama to become our President. Even more unbelievable is the fact that we haven't started impeachment proceedings. If today's reality had been a movie script 20 years ago the Prez would have been the bad guy that we were all waitng for the good guys to catch and lock up. My my how times have changed.
hayek & roll| 8.19.10 @ 12:23PM
"Even more unbelievable is the fact that we haven't started impeachment proceedings." Hear hear! And why stop at impeachment proceedings? And why stop with him? I say we round up everyone who's ever voted Democrat, extract all their fillings, and sell them to pay for the war in Iraq!
Jay| 8.19.10 @ 12:23PM
This is a terrible article filled with innuendo and ad hominem attacks, but I do agree with the initial premise--that Obama does not know when to be silent and when to speak. With controversies like the Gates mini-drama, Obama should not have said anything at that time because any substantive response that he gave was going to cause un-needed controversy, especially because it was given at the end of a speech in which he was attempting to make the focus healthcare legislation. On the mosque/religious center debate, Obama should speak on the issue because it speaks to a major social and moral dilemma connected to the largest domestic terror attack in U.S. history.
What Obama does not talk about enough are the huge legislative achievements that he has made and how he moved aggressively to bring the c0ountry back from a recession. Agree or disagree with Obama and his agenda, his achievements in passing healthcare where so many others have failed and in passing the largest financial reform since the Depression. I would enjoy a well reasoned, honest critique of Obama from a conservative POV instead of the cheap attacks and petty claims with no support or reasoned analysis.
George True| 8.19.10 @ 3:38PM
Again, bankrupting the best health care system in the world is hardly an "achievement" to brag about. And the reason that Obamboozler or any of the Democrats are not talking about it is because two-thirds of Americans polled recently want it to be repealed. To talk about it during this election season would only hurt the Democrats' prospects even more.
Jay| 8.19.10 @ 12:23PM
This is a terrible article filled with innuendo and ad hominem attacks, but I do agree with the initial premise--that Obama does not know when to be silent and when to speak. With controversies like the Gates mini-drama, Obama should not have said anything at that time because any substantive response that he gave was going to cause un-needed controversy, especially because it was given at the end of a speech in which he was attempting to make the focus healthcare legislation. On the mosque/religious center debate, Obama should speak on the issue because it speaks to a major social and moral dilemma connected to the largest domestic terror attack in U.S. history.
What Obama does not talk about enough are the huge legislative achievements that he has made and how he moved aggressively to bring the c0ountry back from a recession. Agree or disagree with Obama and his agenda, his achievements in passing healthcare where so many others have failed and in passing the largest financial reform since the Depression. I would enjoy a well reasoned, honest critique of Obama from a conservative POV instead of the cheap attacks and petty claims with no support or reasoned analysis.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 8.19.10 @ 12:45PM
There’s a link on today’s Drudge to a Reuters story posted at CNBC [ http://www.cnbc.com/id/38768328 ] that “(n)ew U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-month high last week, yet another setback to the frail economic recovery. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 500,000 in the week ended August 14, the highest since mid-November, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast claims slipping to 476,000 from the previously reported 484,000 the prior week, which was revised up to 488,000 in Thursday's report.” Didn’t your anointed won say something about we had to have his stimulus plan krammed up our lower digestive tracts to keep the unemployment rate below 8%. That these are “initial claims” suggests that there just might be a slight possibility that he, just maybe mind you, might have misrecalculated.
Bill Clinton left office, January 20, 2001, and so signed the 2001 Budget. At the end of that year, the National Debt was $5,807,463,412,200.06, the GDP was $10,286,200,000,000 for a Debt:GDP ratio of 56.46%. The first budget THE EVIL BUSH signed was for fiscal 2002. At the conclusion of that year the National Debt was $6,228,235,965,597.16, the GDP was $10,642,300,000,000 and the Debt:GDP ratio was 58.52%. Bush’s last budget was for 2009. More on that in a moment. kon-grrs is responsible for all budget legislation. It was the intention of the framers of OUR Constitution that the federal legislature have the power of the purse. The dumb-ocrats took control of both legislative bodies in 2006. The first budget they controlled was fiscal 2008. Here’s a year-by-year starting with the 2006 fiscal year of the important numbers:
2006 - Debt = $8,506,973,899,215.23, GDP = $13,398,900,000,000; Debt:GDP% = 63.49%.
2007 - Debt = $9,007,653,372,262.48, GDP = $14,077,600,000,000; Debt:GDP% = 63.99%.
2008 - Debt = $10,024,724,896,912.40, GDP = $14,441,400,000,000; Debt:GDP% = 69.42%.
2009 - Debt = $11,909,829,003,511.70, GDP = $14,256,300,000,000; Debt:GDP% = 83.54%.
I’m sorry, I must read different history books than the many fans of the incompetent won who rush to his defense at the sound of an opposing keyboard, but I notice which gang of corrupt political hacks had full control of gum’mint during fiscal 2009 when the Debt:GDP ratio exploded by almost 20% and OUR GDP actually declined. Using the numbers I record nightly from the National Debt Clock people by first making a screen capture, last night at 4:20 ET, OUR Debt was $13,341,175,065,444, OUR GDP was $14,478,852,119,741 and the Debt:GDP Ratio climbed to 92.1425245%. This budget and spending is the sole responsibility of hairy red, nanny botoxic and their complicit komrades in their Federal Assembly. It cannot be blamed on THE EVIL BUSH. Yes, he was fiscally irresponsible, but he is not in charge and has not been for 576 days. This kommie krew was hired to fix all the THE EVIL BUSH’s mistakes. Instead, they have simply poured gasoline on his flames. I might give these clown impersonators a pass if anyone could tell me which W overspending bill your golden calf voted against - other than to hurt our brave warriors in the muddled east. The first budget he got to vote on was for fiscal 2006.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
Don’t Tread on Me.
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“Balanced budget requirements seem more likely to produce accounting ingenuity than genuinely balanced budgets.” - Thomas Sowell
Only 885 days to go
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 8.19.10 @ 1:06PM
I swear I only hit the submit key once. It certainly was not my intention to post such a wordy reply twice. I noticed that AmSpec’s computers were a tad sluggish and also that a number of other commentators’ thoughts were doubled. Don’t know if there’s a connection, but I apologize for any part I played in this morass.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
Don’t Tread on Me.
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't." - From Top 50 Funny Computer Quotes [ http://www.junauza.com/2010/02.....uotes.html ]
Only 885 days to go
Danny Flucke| 8.19.10 @ 2:09PM
OBAMA S_CKS
Wanna buy a vowel for $14 Trillion Dollars...?
DannyInSoCal
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 8.19.10 @ 12:46PM
There’s a link on today’s Drudge to a Reuters story posted at CNBC [ http://www.cnbc.com/id/38768328 ] that “(n)ew U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-month high last week, yet another setback to the frail economic recovery. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 500,000 in the week ended August 14, the highest since mid-November, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast claims slipping to 476,000 from the previously reported 484,000 the prior week, which was revised up to 488,000 in Thursday's report.” Didn’t your anointed won say something about we had to have his stimulus plan krammed up our lower digestive tracts to keep the unemployment rate below 8%. That these are “initial claims” suggests that there just might be a slight possibility that he, just maybe mind you, might have misrecalculated.
Bill Clinton left office, January 20, 2001, and so signed the 2001 Budget. At the end of that year, the National Debt was $5,807,463,412,200.06, the GDP was $10,286,200,000,000 for a Debt:GDP ratio of 56.46%. The first budget THE EVIL BUSH signed was for fiscal 2002. At the conclusion of that year the National Debt was $6,228,235,965,597.16, the GDP was $10,642,300,000,000 and the Debt:GDP ratio was 58.52%. Bush’s last budget was for 2009. More on that in a moment. kon-grrs is responsible for all budget legislation. It was the intention of the framers of OUR Constitution that the federal legislature have the power of the purse. The dumb-ocrats took control of both legislative bodies in 2006. The first budget they controlled was fiscal 2008. Here’s a year-by-year starting with the 2006 fiscal year of the important numbers:
2006 - Debt = $8,506,973,899,215.23, GDP = $13,398,900,000,000; Debt:GDP% = 63.49%.
2007 - Debt = $9,007,653,372,262.48, GDP = $14,077,600,000,000; Debt:GDP% = 63.99%.
2008 - Debt = $10,024,724,896,912.40, GDP = $14,441,400,000,000; Debt:GDP% = 69.42%.
2009 - Debt = $11,909,829,003,511.70, GDP = $14,256,300,000,000; Debt:GDP% = 83.54%.
I’m sorry, I must read different history books than the many fans of the incompetent won who rush to his defense at the sound of an opposing keyboard, but I notice which gang of corrupt political hacks had full control of gum’mint during fiscal 2009 when the Debt:GDP ratio exploded by almost 20% and OUR GDP actually declined. Using the numbers I record nightly from the National Debt Clock people by first making a screen capture, last night at 4:20 ET, OUR Debt was $13,341,175,065,444, OUR GDP was $14,478,852,119,741 and the Debt:GDP Ratio climbed to 92.1425245%. This budget and spending is the sole responsibility of hairy red, nanny botoxic and their complicit komrades in their Federal Assembly. It cannot be blamed on THE EVIL BUSH. Yes, he was fiscally irresponsible, but he is not in charge and has not been for 576 days. This kommie krew was hired to fix all the THE EVIL BUSH’s mistakes. Instead, they have simply poured gasoline on his flames. I might give these clown impersonators a pass if anyone could tell me which W overspending bill your golden calf voted against - other than to hurt our brave warriors in the muddled east. The first budget he got to vote on was for fiscal 2006.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
Don’t Tread on Me.
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“Balanced budget requirements seem more likely to produce accounting ingenuity than genuinely balanced budgets.” - Thomas Sowell
Only 885 days to go
Amused AmeriKan| 8.19.10 @ 12:15PM
The clown president's lack of spine and maturity is daily revealed.
Jokebama
O'Vomit
O'Icarus!
Spinnin' Outta Control| 8.19.10 @ 12:08PM
A couple of terms as mayor of Wasilla, AK, with a few years as governor of Alaska would have been a huge boon to our community-organizer-in-chief.
And he might have developed at least a teeny bit of empathy for real Americans, along with a touch of their common sense, if he had matriculated at a state college rather than in the insulated, mind-closing, elitist environment of one of those poison ivy institutions where the almost daily ritual is to insult and spite those out in the boonies as being too ignorant and xenophobic to live their own lives successfully without a goobermint nanny and the priceless gift of a lecture-a-day from the community-organizer-in-chief.
What is it now? 75 days? Less? Every day that goes by is one day less of this trainwreck. Grid-lock will then be the saving grace to get us to the next presidential election. Hallelujah!!!
Spinnin' Outta Control| 8.19.10 @ 12:08PM
A couple of terms as mayor of Wasilla, AK, with a few years as governor of Alaska would have been a huge boon to our community-organizer-in-chief.
And he might have developed at least a teeny bit of empathy for real Americans, along with a touch of their common sense, if he had matriculated at a state college rather than in the insulated, mind-closing, elitist environment of one of those poison ivy institutions where the almost daily ritual is to insult and spite those out in the boonies as being too ignorant and xenophobic to live their own lives successfully without a goobermint nanny and the priceless gift of a lecture-a-day from the community-organizer-in-chief.
What is it now? 75 days? Less? Every day that goes by is one day less of this trainwreck. Grid-lock will then be the saving grace to get us to the next presidential election. Hallelujah!!!
Steve| 8.19.10 @ 12:31PM
Truce! Forget the parties for now. Both republicans and democrats each have strengths. Our problem right now, right here is "Obama". He is inept. Millions are hurting. Something has to change.
Steve| 8.19.10 @ 12:32PM
Truce! Forget the parties for now. Both republicans and democrats each have strengths. Our problem right now, right here is "Obama". He is inept. Millions are hurting. Something has to change.
Nomad| 8.19.10 @ 12:33PM
Well said, Alfred. If conservatives removed the blindfold of partisan politics, they would see that blocking this President at every turn and then pointing fingers at his "incompetence" serves only the interests of political expediency. At the same time, I do agree with the author that President Obama would be better served by sticking to his guns - say, as with the healthcare debate where he immediately took the public option off the table in the hopes of encouraging support from Republicans, a hope that was pre-ordained by party politics never to materialize.
Another point I'd like to make is this. Despite our love of the concept of "majority rule", there have been notable times in our history where the majority was simply wrong. Had the majority view prevailed over the centuries, we would still have slavery, women in this country would still lack the vote, and children would still be working in slave shops and mines. Sadly, most people are sheep, following the loudest voices in forming their opinions. This is no more evident that in polls reflecting attitudes toward health care. It was only after the loud voices of Republicans began shouting nonsensical and inaccurate "sound bites" that public opinion shifted.
Finally, I would offer this thought to all conservatives. If you want better governance and policy, it's better to join in the solution instead of adding to the problems with obstructionism engenered by the basest of party politics.
Nomad| 8.19.10 @ 12:34PM
Well said, Alfred. If conservatives removed the blindfold of partisan politics, they would see that blocking this President at every turn and then pointing fingers at his "incompetence" serves only the interests of political expediency. At the same time, I do agree with the author that President Obama would be better served by sticking to his guns - say, as with the healthcare debate where he immediately took the public option off the table in the hopes of encouraging support from Republicans, a hope that was pre-ordained by party politics never to materialize.
Another point I'd like to make is this. Despite our love of the concept of "majority rule", there have been notable times in our history where the majority was simply wrong. Had the majority view prevailed over the centuries, we would still have slavery, women in this country would still lack the vote, and children would still be working in slave shops and mines. Sadly, most people are sheep, following the loudest voices in forming their opinions. This is no more evident that in polls reflecting attitudes toward health care. It was only after the loud voices of Republicans began shouting nonsensical and inaccurate "sound bites" that public opinion shifted.
Finally, I would offer this thought to all conservatives. If you want better governance and policy, it's better to join in the solution instead of adding to the problems with obstructionism engenered by the basest of party politics.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 9:56PM
A real Republican and certainly a conservative cannot join in a "solution" that is antithetical to American exceptionalism and turns it into just another failed backwater of socialism. All you libs/progressives whatever you call yourselves take credit for what you haven't done (passed the Civil Rights Act) and shirk responsibility for your crappy results (atomization of the black family thorough the War on Poverty). Your statist solutions have not worked wherever they've been tried around the world nearly as well as American style free markets to bring the greatest good to the greatest number. When you add the butchers' bill of a hundred million slaughtered by the Soviet Union and Mao's China, death by leftist government, then it is a form of insanity to keep trusting that government control of the citizenry whether through brute force, coercion or dependency is a good thing. This failed world view is like a zombie that will not die, promoted by elites who want mindless sheep, equal in their poverty while the elites live the life of royalty. And why do they think they deserve to live like royalty? Because they have made everyone else equal at a low standard of living. It is a duty of every conservative to put a stake through the heart of this ridiculous zombie. Any compromise, mixing the crap of socialism with the system that works, a free market republic, ends up tasting more like crap.
ncatty| 8.19.10 @ 12:35PM
What brand of cigarettes does the President smoke? I want to invest in that manufacturer.
ncatty| 8.19.10 @ 12:37PM
What brand of cigarettes does the President smoke? I want to invest in that manufacturer.
Jay| 8.19.10 @ 12:35PM
This is a terrible article filled with innuendo and ad hominem attacks, but I do agree with the initial premise--that Obama does not know when to be silent and when to speak. With controversies like the Gates mini-drama, Obama should not have said anything at that time because any substantive response that he gave was going to cause un-needed controversy, especially because it was given at the end of a speech in which he was attempting to make the focus healthcare legislation. On the mosque/religious center debate, Obama should speak on the issue because it speaks to a major social and moral dilemma connected to the largest domestic terror attack in U.S. history.
What Obama does not talk about enough are the huge legislative achievements that he has made and how he moved aggressively to bring the c0untry back from a recession. Agree or disagree with Obama and his agenda, his achievements in passing healthcare where so many others have failed and in passing the largest financial reform since the Depression were important. I would enjoy a well reasoned, honest critique of Obama from a conservative POV instead of the cheap attacks and petty claims with no support or reasoned analysis.
Steve A| 8.19.10 @ 1:41PM
Jay, If you are on board with the healthcare legislation then you have simply not done your homework. I appreciate your desire for a sensible critique. 2 things on the healthcare legislation spell sure doom for the private insurance industry: 1) Insurers must accept pre-existing conditions at standard rates. Goodbye private insurance risk pool stability. Rates MUST rise dramatically. 2) 85% of collected premiums must now be paid in the form of claims or "care". Small insurers will be crushed by this mandate. If you seek to destroy the health insurance industry, this is your ticket.
Rockyspoon| 8.19.10 @ 1:03PM
Before the election, I was pointing out to everybody who would listen or read that Obama had ZERO experience and could not/would not be a decent president. Why did those of you who voted for him not consider the POTUS is a CEO position; that his resume is essential in determining what he would do; and that somebody that only talked incessantly about Hope and Change had nothing substantive to offer? Thanks a bunch, people! You've cost America dearly! You've been blinded by the MSM and have unfortunately believed the words of the most dishonest president I've known, and I distinctly remember Ike!
Lori | 8.19.10 @ 1:19PM
So we have a president who doubles as a travel agent?
Josh| 8.19.10 @ 1:23PM
Now we'll have to start comparing Obama with Robery Mugabe. Fortunately for Obama, that comparison will be more favorable to him, unfortunately for us, that may change.
Nelson H.| 8.19.10 @ 1:40PM
I own a $100 Billion bill issued by the Bank of Zimbabwe. Value: worthless, apart from what I might get for it on EBay. Pray Obama doesn't do the same thing to our currency.
Tim*| 8.19.10 @ 1:35PM
Oooor , We should be comparing Obama To Baby Doc Duvalier .
Tim Singleton | 8.19.10 @ 1:36PM
THIS JUST IN: Obama is the President.
Any cries of it is ALLLLL Bush's fault results in immediate cessation of reading your blather.
No, I don't like Bush, either. He is either Obama Lite or Obama is Bush on meth.
Danny Flucke| 8.19.10 @ 1:41PM
It's really pretty simple.
Google "PBS Obama Speaches" and you will find links to Obamas Senate speaches where he preached Hope/Change.
The speaches were successful and he won. He didnt actually accomplish anything - But lets put that aside.
Obama rode the anit-Bush wave into the white house through great marketing and the ability to give a good speach.
Personally - I think he is a disaster. I also beleive that for all his empty rhetoric - He still refuses to back down from his socialist agenda even after learning all the facts.
Explain how his tune changed about Iraq after he was president. Is it possible he LEARNED something he was not privy to earlier...?
Kracklite expounds with liberal hype regurgitated from other people - Using outdated "facts/data" to support her agenda.
It would really be refreshing if Kracklite actually had an original idea or thought - Instead of having someone elses hand shoved up and working their mouth.
But then again - Her mentor is the PuppetHead President...
November will end his socialist agendas. Fiscal conservatives will cancel the liberal slide. And our next president will be a Republican...
DannyInSoCal - One of only 6 conservatives :)
TheSnipe| 8.19.10 @ 1:44PM
Oh, Emmett, still angry after all these years... Actually, the only president worse than Jimmy Carter is George W. Bush. Barack inherited a friggin' nightmare from Bush and it's going to take ten years to clean it up.
Funny how you so-called "Republicans" only seem to care about the deficit when a Democrat's in power. We never heard jack out of you during Reagan's MASSIVE deficits, or Bush's transition from a surplus to the biggest deficits in history. Barack has only added to the deficit to clean up after Bush's pile of dog**** he left behind.
So, get a grip, little Republicans and stop whining. None of you cried about your constitutional rights being "trampled" during the Patriot Act. You all seemed happy to have your phones tapped. Now, that Barack's passed health care, you sound like junior high kids crying that he took recess away.
The truth is that your party is a dying breed. I do not mean in the short term. The GOP will most likely take over the House. But that's not because you have any new ideas. You are quickly losing moderates over social issues. You are also about to permanently lose Hispanics b/c of all your race-baiting. You have lost the popular vote in 4 out of the last five elections. It's becoming apparent that you will become a Southern regional party. I guess that just means more anger. Right? Bring it on!
George True| 8.19.10 @ 3:52PM
Nothing you just said is actually true. You are the quintessential leftist as described by Ronald Reagan. It's not that you're ignorant, it's just that you know so much that isn't so.
So, let's get this straight..... In Obama's first 12 months in office, he racked up a deficit that exceeded ALL of the deficits for ALL of the years that GWB was in office. Oh, that's right, it's Bush's fault. That's as lame as it gets. Nobody will take you seriously when every mistake Obama makes is somehow Bush's fault. WHy, I even heard that the BP oil well blowout was Bush's fault.
It is you leftist, Marxist/socialist, so-called "progressives" who will end up on the ash heap of history. You will join your "progressive" predecessors such as Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Chairman Mao, Pol Pot, et al. You so-called ideas are morally and intellectually bankrupt. Your idea of government is coersion, theft, and brute force. You will ultimately fail.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 9:24PM
George, when you write of theSnipe that "Nothing you just said is actually true" . . . you're lying! You know that this is true: "We never heard jack out of you during Reagan's MASSIVE deficits, or Bush's transition from a surplus to the biggest deficits in history." Does lying come that easily to you? No wonder you fall for the Fox News/GOP party-line!
Tim*| 8.19.10 @ 3:52PM
Oh Really , Snidely !
" Independents who embraced President Barack Obama's call for change in 2008 are ready for a shift again, and that's worrisome news for Democrats.
Only 32 percent of those citing no allegiance to either major party say they want Democrats to keep control of Congress in this November's elections, according to combined results of recent Associated Press-GfK polls.
Other groups that supported Obama but show less fervor include young whites, unmarried women, people who live in the West, people earning under $50,000 a year, college graduates and urban whites. The falloff shows that Democrats have work to do with blocs the party hoped an Obama presidency would cement into dependable supporters.
There's even erosion among minorities. While 8 in 10 voted for Obama, fewer than two-thirds want a Democratic Congress, and 1 in 9 don't care which party controls."
SocialistsNeverProsper| 8.19.10 @ 1:47PM
The Candidate With the Golden Tongue has become the President With the Size-11 Loafer in His Mouth.
Harrison | 8.19.10 @ 1:51PM
Would a mosque there be in poor taste? Yes. Would many be offended? Yes. Do we as a nation have the right to tell someone where to build their house of worship? No.
Danny Flucke| 8.19.10 @ 2:12PM
I say let them build it.
It will make a very pretty $250 Million pile of rocks when some "terrorist" blows it up.
I wonder how long it will take the first-responders to arrive...?
I'm betting green money it takes about a week...
DannyInSoCal
panther| 8.19.10 @ 1:59PM
this article is right on, worse than carter. who would've thought someone would show up who would be worse than carter and yet here is obama who is easily ten times as bad as the carter administration. bowing to our enemies, disrespecting our old allies, and spending everything in sight.
theres no point in debating the liberal trolls who plague this comment section, you guys believe what you want, but in november us little republicans are going to have just a LITTLE tiny bit of power and with that the disaster will be slowed, and that will be a huge victory.
Fivish| 8.19.10 @ 2:00PM
The Left always get it wrong. No mater what they do, it will always be the wrong thing to do. The Left have no morals, no grasp of history and no respect for democracy. You voted for this Loony Left cretin and you are suffering for your foolishness. Next time vote Republican!
Purple Lips| 8.19.10 @ 2:12PM
It appears there are some here who believe the recession is over. Paraphrasing Clinton, it depends on how you define "over". The last 2 weeks saw a total of 600,000 new claims for unemployment benefits. When Obama took over unemployment was at 6.8%; six months later it was at 10%. And now (again depending how you do the numbers), unemployment is at 9.7% (with 20 million unemployed -8 million additional since the Hope and Change was inaugerated.
And we are told by our Masters that things could be much worse (no one every really said waht "worse" looks like). But we do know that The Anointed One and his collection of Congressional Misfits have borrowed over $3 trillion (the total amount the Bush borrowed in 8 years) to give us 10% unemployment. But, the Federal Master Himself, Bernecke says that is not enough. He presses for continued QE (Quantitative Easing) indefinitely. In the meantime, Wall St banks are having even better quarters than they did under Bush. That my friends is where much of the GDP "growth" is going. The remainder has gone to those intelligent firms who began to increase thier overseas operations (yes, some parts of the globe are doing fine -for now, that is) at the expense of thier North American operations. The Chinese firm who assembles and manufactures for Apple is building a $200 million facility which will emply some 180,000 workers. Intel, Motorolla, Oracle, Buick, and Alcoa all have increased thier overseas operations. In just 20 months all of the action has shifted to places like Hong Kong, Delhi, South Africa, and Signapore. Even small businesses are getting in on the action.
President Obama wasn't kidding when he said he was a World Citizen. The rest of the world is doing fine. Of course, all good things must come to an end. And if and when our currency crisis arrives, no one will be immune to the cold we will all catch.
Have a Happy Recovery Summer.
TomB| 8.19.10 @ 2:18PM
I think the best term is "roody-poo." You can look it up, it's sort of an obscure colloquialism, but an example of usage would be "He made like he was all that and then some, but he was just roody-poo."
Edmund Onward James | 8.19.10 @ 2:20PM
Is Obama that naive or diabolical? It seems if he can do what he likes and the mainstream media, his politcal activists that helped him get elected, do not care either.
http://onwardjames.blogspot.co.....-plan.html
valwayne| 8.19.10 @ 2:37PM
After the mid-terms the Democratic party will have no choice, but to start thinking immediately about 2012, and they will have to turn to Hillary. Hillary is the only one in the party that can possibly sweep aside the disaster that Obama has become, and give the party a chance to recover! Hillary 2012!!!
permabear| 8.19.10 @ 2:45PM
Actually Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush are the worst presidents of the past century. The national debt problem started in Ronald Reagan's presidency. Reagan deregulated industry, including the financial industry, which eventually led to the 2008 collapse. Reagan reversed Jimmy Carter's attempt to wean the U.S. off of foreign oil and now look what that idiotic policy has brought us. Reagan began the whole neocon foreign policy approach, which brought us Afghanistan and Iraq. Republicans gave us the Great Depression of the 1930s. Republicans have given us the financial collapse of 2008. Republicans have destroyed the country and our prosperity, and Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush lead the list of the culprits most responsibe for our demise.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 8.19.10 @ 3:20PM
Ronald Reagan was saddled with the mess left by a certain Georgian peanut farmer. Gee, what great days those were. Lines for gasoline stretching for blocks, inflation around 20%. and American Citizens held prisoner in Iran. Clinton’s imagined prosperity coincided with the dot com bubble. It popped and was soon followed with escalating gas prices which led to a recession which did not give a whit as to who won the 2000 election. In less than a year after taking office, Bush was faced with an event potentially just as world changing as was Pearl Harbor. Reagan’s policies set in place the collapse of the Soviet Empire, and increased Federal Tax Revenue by 28%. Unfortunately, in order to pass his tax cut legislation, he had to compromise with the lefty kon-grrs and agree to a massive increase in non-defense social spending. It was this spending which primarily fueled the budget deficit. I posted the numbers pertaining to the Bush years earlier, and do not wish to regurgitate them here. But it’s imperative to note that once the dumb-ocrats had control of both the legislative and executive branches of gum’mint the Debt:GDP ratio surged by 20% and the National Debt has become too massive that without serious cuts it will cripple OUR country forever. It really does not matter which bozo was or is the worst president ever. It’s a long list of incompetents. What matters is just how do we get out of OUR current quagmire without a civil war? the-lord-of-flies is clearly not up to the task, or else there would be significant non-gum’mint hiring, and there’s not.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
Don’t Tread on Me.
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.” - Ronald Reagan
Only 885 days to go.
HanniBarca| 8.19.10 @ 8:10PM
Gill:Excellent retort to the clueless Obamaton's commie world view on recent American history.
Larry| 8.19.10 @ 2:45PM
I think this mosque should be built in hell along with all muslims.
new yorker| 8.19.10 @ 2:58PM
Lovely Larry. So glad you shared. You'll be so proud of that in a few years.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 2:49PM
If you think Barack Obama is the worst president since Jimmy Carter, I've got some WMDs in Iraq I want to sell you. Cheap!
Curtis Rasmussen| 8.19.10 @ 3:21PM
BDS
Redstateboy| 8.19.10 @ 4:26PM
that argument is so week - my 4 year granddaughter could rip it apart. Now I KNOW you've seen the dozens and dozens of firey quotes from the Liber-ul standard bearers of the Democrat Party being the same if not More Hawkish than Dubbya was on the other Hussien
luz| 8.19.10 @ 2:50PM
Well, the funny thing is If I am not forgetting I recall the American Spectator was Obama, supporter on 2008 election.
dw| 8.19.10 @ 3:10PM
We are in a time when so called independents and conservative democrats need to take a stand and get off the fence and realize that while everyone is hitting on the pretender, he needed and got significant help from the entire democratic establishment. It took all of them to produce these disastorous policies and with the collusion of the media complex, coupled with an ignorant populace, they have succeeded. This is socialism, period and is designed to ruin American capitalism and install the democratic party as the perpetual rulers of our country.
Those of you that, for whatever reason, have nuanced your political standing in describing yourself as "conservative democrats" or "independents" must once and for all understand we are in an absolute ideological war for the future of are country. You better decide what you want for that future and get out of the illusionary middle. Obama has put that choice in black and white and there is no gray left. And realize this is not going to be decided by the next two election cycles but will continue for an indefinite period of time.
Take a position and stand by it. For me it is the destruction of the democratic party as it is presently constructed. The democratic party has left many of you long before you may decide to leave it.
Redstateboy| 8.19.10 @ 3:16PM
Yesterdays' brilliant piece of the "Petulant" Presidency of Hussien the Manchurian Candidate was spot on... He was harmless as 1 of 100 Senators.. Now he's got a Job - one of his first Real Jobs!! and it's the freek'n Presidency of the United States!! Unbelievable the American Voter could be sooooooo stupid and so easily swayed by a syncophantic Liber-ul Media " Hope and Change"?? Really? When this Creten lost me at Rev. Wright. 20 Years?! sitting in a Pew, listening to the rantings and ravings of a lunatic?
Kurt| 8.19.10 @ 3:30PM
To all liberals that "THINK" that new America will be better then old America, may I suggest a one year fact finding mission in southern Mexico. Go to live there and restrict yourself to $200 a month to live on and stay there at least one year. Find yourself a hut(Palapa) to live in with NO running water and secure yourself 4-5 5 gallon buckets to collect water in, because you will need them to wash your cloths, take showers and wash your dishes. This is what life will become here in just a few more years for the serfs at the rate things are going! I will never forget the PRI party handing out pots and pans to the poor in Mexico to buy their votes in 2000. When NAFTA was passed it was touted that it would bring Mexico up to our standard of living but has brought us closer to theirs! Liberals, like VTWIN that embrace socialism, marxism, communism and Odumbo are nothing more than gullible FOOLS!!!
Nicole| 8.19.10 @ 3:33PM
I'm wondering what people here think about Muslims holding services in the Pentagon? (one of the other locations attacked on 9/11) How do you think this is different/similar than a mosque being built a few blocks away from Ground Zero?
Steve A| 8.19.10 @ 3:54PM
No problem with it as long as a radical Imam does not seek to erect a monument within 500 feet of where the plane struck the side of the building.
Gary Brisbin| 8.19.10 @ 3:48PM
I think that when people say that it was wrong in some way to stand up for freedom of religious and where a church can be that is just not what this country is all about. The vast number of the people that go there did nothing wrong and are here because they want to be free, just like everyone else. I want him to say what he thinks far to many people like Tyrrell Jr. wants him to not say anything just go along with everyone else. I dont beleive that walking softly and carring a big stick is always the right thing to do. Sometimes walking up and telling someone what you think and having a big stick works better. If we are a FREE country then act like it
Randy| 8.19.10 @ 3:55PM
Why aren't any liberals upset about the Greek Catholic Church not being allowed to rebuild a churc that was already there? Why isn't the media all over this? It couldn't be due to their love of Islam and hatred for all this Christian could it?
AMENBRO| 8.19.10 @ 3:56PM
BEAM ME UP SCOTTY
Steve A| 8.19.10 @ 3:58PM
Gary, I swear I read your post 4 times & still have no idea what the hell you are talking about. Are you wanting to send Buford Pusser from Walking Tall to defend the Mosque??
Pub2010| 8.19.10 @ 4:36PM
Thanks, Steve - I thought it was just me having a minor seizure or something. I couldn't understand anything in that post, either.
Redstateboy| 8.19.10 @ 4:00PM
I am completely at a loss to understand the mind of your typical Democrat voter. Are these people blind or just stupid? Example: 15.6% Black unemployment in this country (40% for Blacks 18-24) yet? Support for the Democrat Party (the Party of Slavery) among Blacks? 80%. Examine their Democrat controlled Cities: Detriot, Buffalo, Kill-a-delphia, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles.. Crime and violence ridden, Bankrupt cess pools. Their States: The People's Republics of California, New York, Michigan - all failing... and ALL run by Democrats for Decades! Again... are Democrat voters blind or just stupid?
Pete| 8.19.10 @ 5:30PM
Dems want blacks unemployed so they can pay them via social programs. Dependency = votes. It's all part of their plan.
George True| 8.19.10 @ 4:02PM
Is it just me, or is there an unusually high number of leftist trolls on here today??? Did the DNC, or Kos, or PuffHo give their drones marching orders to come over here with their talking points to stifle the free exchange of ideas?
Here's a note to all the lefists here today. If you come here willing to earnestly debate in the arena if ideas, you are welcome. But if you are here to just spout the usual talking points for the purpose of stifling real discussion and debate, then you will be shot down in flames by reason, fact, and logic.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 5:01PM
Debate this -- Here are facts: George Bush lied the country into war (or was he misled -- what's worse?), never captured OBL, presided over the only two terms in modern history when the per capita income DECREASED, the Dow suffered its worst crash in history in September, 2008, and when Bush left office, we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. George Bush was worse than Carter, and claiming Obama is worse than Carter is a way for Bush supporters to cope with how poor their political judgment is, at the expense of the country having an honest dialogue about how to solve its problems.
George True| 8.19.10 @ 6:12PM
Is that the best you can do? Everything is Bush's fault? Is that all you've got??
As for the state of the economy, the Democrats have been in charge since 2006, which is something you leftists conveniently ignore.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 9:19PM
Is all you got "Is that the best you can do? Everything is Bush's fault? Is that all you've got??" Do you ever consider addressing the mistakes Bush made that still affect us? Or does blaming everything on Obama really soothe the GOP-voting sucker's ego that much?
Steve A| 8.19.10 @ 4:10PM
Just occurred to me that Jimmy Carter should be most offended by this article. He is probably sitting in Atlanta cracking some dry roasteds saying to himself, "no freakin way I was worse than this guy."
Tim*| 8.19.10 @ 4:11PM
The leftists see the polls and many are cursing Obama and the Democrats for failing their agenda.
duck| 8.19.10 @ 4:21PM
Maybe he should go back to Ohio and be their governor. He would be in his own element........
Cain| 8.19.10 @ 4:21PM
With Obama and the Dems tanking poll numbers and dismal chances to hang on to their seats, does anyone else have a sick, sinking feeling about how desparate yet fantastic this year's October surprise could be to distract away from all of these other losing issues?
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 4:50PM
Obama's current approval rating of 44 percent beats Clinton, Carter and Reagan. All of them were between 39 percent and 41 percent at this point in their presidencies.
steven| 8.19.10 @ 4:59PM
Thats what happens when the other side relentlessly attacks the other side, with some truths , huge amounts of misleading statements and outlandish lies. For the first time in our history, we have an entire communications network dedicated to lies rather then reporting the news. Other then FOX, no other network has deliberately spread lies, falsehoods, rumours, and innuendo.
But of course those who can't stand him WANT to believe the lies and half truths.
Still waiting for that law that the right said he was going to pass, that outlaws home gardens.
Still waiting for the proof he's a Muslim which there isn't any.
Still looking for those concentration camps are right around the corner.
Still wondering when he's going to outlaw those guns.
But It's the DEMS fault for being wimps and defending him , the way the repubs stood up for Bush, right or wrong, mostly wrong.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 5:10PM
But Steven, "conservatives" are the courageous clear thinkers ones among us. We "liberals" are too scared to face the "reality" of death panels and terror babies!
George True| 8.19.10 @ 6:28PM
Oh, pulleeeze!! The DNC attack machine is the one that relentlessl attacked Bush for eight years, coming up with one outlandish smear after another after another. And yet, all the right has to do is quote what your mimrod leaders actually said, and you huys consider that smearing. You guys truly live in your own bizarro world, where up is down, white is black, truth is attacked, and deception is considered virtuous.
It must really chap your hide that your leftist mainstream media (CNN, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, Time, Newsweek, NYT, WaPo, etc) can no longer get away with their outrageously leftist biased propaganda anymore. What a joke, to hear you complain about Fox News, when CNN and MSNBC spout pure leftist propaganda 24/7/365.
I never heard about the law to outlaw gardens. And who cares if your lord Obama is a Muslim. Most on the right consider that a sideshow at best. And it was you guys on the left who were convinced that it was Bush who had all the FEMA concentration camps waiting in the wings.
Every time you guys get caught in you lies and BS, your response invariably is, "Look, over there! A squirrel!"
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 7:10PM
Bush lost the popular vote by 500,00o in 2000 but the Supreme Court seated him as president . . . why again? Then 9/11 happened and Bush and Cheney lied us into a war against a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, while being the first administration in US history to lower taxes during war time, all while failing to capture Osama Bin Laden as they drove the deficit into levels never before seen. And then lo and behold . . . the economy tanks, too! But the reason Bush had the lowest approval ratings ever is because . . . the media is mean! Look, over there! A squirrel!
George True| 8.19.10 @ 6:09PM
Last time I checked, Obama was not on the ballot for this November.
Victory4SC| 8.19.10 @ 5:33PM
Please liberals explain how a President and an administration full of individuals who have never had a job in their lives taking hard earned dollars away from achievers and redistributing it to losers or union workers is going to improve the private sector economy.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 6:10PM
Since the scenario you're describing has never happened, I don't feel obliged to explain how it could. Please stop recycling elitist innuendo about how government work isn't real work. I support our troops, our police force, our nation's teachers, our nation's fire fighters, and other state and federal employees, and tire of the envious poison of those who lack the guts and work ethic to serve in the military or the classroom.
Victory4SC| 8.19.10 @ 5:37PM
Do you libs/socialists really think that the Wizards of Smart in DC (Obama, Pelosi, Dodd, Reid, etc.) can do a better job centrally planning the US economy than american entreprenuers? How many times does central planning need to fail before you libs wake up and realize the true greatness of the American experiment?
Ralph Averill| 8.20.10 @ 4:02AM
Funny how the "greatness" of the American experiment seems to go to the very few at the cost of so many. the "American experiment" started out with slavery and the genocide of Native Americans. Unregulated, it was a series of boom and bust, with child labor, 16 hr work days in unbelievably dangerous conditions, cruelly destroying many people. It was 8 yrs of of non-regulation "go git 'em, boys" policies of Bush II that got us into the current mess. Funny how your glorious American entrepreneur turns into a greedy blood-sucking bastard when there aren't any rules.
Ralph Averill| 8.19.10 @ 5:48PM
"'That's what our country is about.' Blah, blah, blah "
The wisdom and philosophy of the "Founding Fathers" that conservatives constantly enshrine, is now reduced to so much blah blah blah when cited by Mr. Obama. How about private property rights to buy and sell property and do with it as you please? What happened to that pillar of American conservatism?
How is questioning the wisdom of building a mosque near WTC turned into a "ringing endorsement"?
Hypocrits!
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 6:21PM
Guess what, Ralph? The "mosque" in question (it's not really a mosque) is two blocks from Ground Zero. And there are already two real mosques nearer to Ground Zero. And when people in New York want your opinion about to do with their city, they'll ask you. And the next time you pretend you're patriotic, remember that one of this country's founding ideals is freedom of religion.
Ralph Averill| 8.20.10 @ 3:40AM
I think you need to re-read my post. You apparently didn't get it the first time through.
George S| 8.19.10 @ 5:53PM
I try to be a clear thinker but I just can't get one thing: if FOX news is able to pull more than half the people against Obama with all those lies and distortions, how come they had such a hard time pulling GW Bush out of the mid-thirties?
So how do they manage to fool all those people? Wait... I'm getting a thought...
Double digit unemployment? No... that's a distortion, we are in a Recovery Summer (or is it global warming, I can't tell).
People losing their houses? No... Obama fixed that with his laser-like focus on jobs.
The Health Care bill? No... all those town hall meetings people were getting fingers bitten off because they were in favor. Heck, even the Tea Party was spitting on black Democrats for not having the guts to put in a public option.
The threat of Cap and Trade? No... we all understand the necessity of our electric bills skyrocketing and bankrupting the coal industry.
The royal vacations? No... we understand that two people who never worked a day in their lives shouldn't have to change anything. Besides, who are we to say anything with all those unemployment checks piling up. Plus, we love cake.
Maybe the support for the mosque? No... 9/11 never happened (or else the non-FOX media would have a record of the event) so all those so-called 9-11 families are just bitter clingers to pieces of gypboard and DNA dust.
Because he's black? Yes!! That explains it. All those racists out there who are criticizing him is what's driving his poll numbers down. And to think they all voted for him. Such gratitude, I tell ya.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 6:16PM
Let's see, where to start? What job did George Bush ever have? And didn't he take the most vacations in presidential history? Is the strategy of so-called conservatives to accuse the people they are too blinkered to vote for of what the people they vote for actually did? It's like you people are battered spouses, always making excuses for the people who beat you, eager for opportunities to redirect to others the misery you suffer due to the delusions you live with.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 8.19.10 @ 7:47PM
THE EVIL BUSH was governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. He served in the Texas Air National Guard from 1968 through 1973 which included two years on active duty. After graduating from Yale in 1968 with a degree in History, he attended Harvard Business School, where he earned an MBA in 1975. He is the only U.S. President to have earned an MBA. He was working in the oil industry when he decided to run for The House of Representatives in 1978 but lost to Kent Hance. Returning to the oil industry, he began a series of small, independent oil exploration companies. He created Arbusto Energy, and later changed the name to Bush Exploration. In 1984, his company merged with the larger Spectrum 7, and Bush became chairman. The company was hurt by a decline in oil prices, and as a result, it folded into Harken Energy. Bush served on the board of directors for Harken. In 1988 he moved to dee cee to work on his Dad’s presidential campaign. Returning to Texas afterwards, he purchased a share in the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in April 1989, where he served as managing general partner for five years, actively leading the team's projects. And as far as that bogus WMD argument others have brought up. The then dictator of Iraq had them. He used poison gas on Iraqi citizens who happened to have committed the grave crime of being born Kurdish. He also used this weapon against the Iranians during a war between those two pillars of islamic peace and love. So the question is not whether or not he had them, but what happened to them. Keep in mind that starting almost immediately after the conclusion of the first gulf war, saddamn stonewalled UN inspectors which at minimum raised grave suspicions of his adherence to the termination of hostilities agreement. Feel free to look all this up on Wikipedia. I did.
Comment posted as Gill O’Teen ✝✡$ 8.192yo @ 11:59AM ET gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com:
stuff
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
Don’t Tread on Me.
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.” Ronald Reagan 1987
Only 885 days to go.
George True| 8.19.10 @ 6:41PM
Since when did weekends at Camp David start being counted as "vacation"?
And besides, I thought the subject of this article and debate was Obama. But you leftist trolls, rather than have a real debate or a meaningful exchange of ideas, just revert back into your ridiculous Bush=Hitler or Bush=idiot mantra. I have rarely heard any of you leftist trolls on this or any other forum make a cogent argument about anything, let alone back up anything you say with known, empirical facts. All you ever so is go off into your familiar rant. No facts, no reasoned argument, no attempt at persuasion using logic, reason, and information. Instead, what you guys do is attempt to stifle any real exchange of ideas by just spouting your tired old talking points and ad hominem attacks. In so doing, you display a breathtaking level of ignorance. You are trolls.
And b
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 7:05PM
The subject of this letter to the editor is that Obama is a worse president than Carter. The commentors you're calling "trolls" dispute this, mainly by pointing out that Bush was worse than Carter, and that Obama is not as bad as Bush. To recap: George Bush lied the country into war (or was he misled -- what's worse?), never captured OBL, presided over the only two terms in modern history when the per capita income DECREASED, the Dow suffered its worst crash in history in September, 2008, and when Bush left office, we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. Obama is not perfect, mind you, but Bush's track record is something else!
Skep41 | 8.19.10 @ 7:12PM
This whole uproar is political correctness writ large. The Demos actually believe all that guff about sympathizing with our enemies being more patriotic than supporting our country. That attitude has roots reaching back to Academe's support for Lenin and Stalin, has continued through the Cold War, Vietnam and The War On Terror. Now, in a way that the most simple person can understand Barak Obama stood up at an Islamic religious event and stood squarely behind people whose demeanor links them solidly with the people who brought the towers down. The only people who are dumb enough to believe the slimy CAIR-type obfuscators are anything but enthusiastic accessories to the Terrorists are people with degrees from the 'best' universities. The average truck driver watching this on TV knows better. He's also seen his rulers apologizing and covering up for real crimes (Ft Hood for example) in an attempt to suck up to these Saudi-funded 'moderates' and out of fear of the ignorant atavistic xenophobes that they know us in Flyover Country to be. You'd think these New Age media geniuses like Axelrod would have kept Obama out of the shot with the Imams; played over and over on 10 second newsbreaks between episodes of 'America's Biggest Loser' it has only one effect---Obama And His Arab Friends Want The Mosque.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 7:51PM
America stands for freedom of religion. If you hate America so much why don't you move? Stop pretending you speak for the average truck, and study up on the facts. The Constitution guarantees the right of the Cordoba Initiative to construct a house of worship on private land without any interference from the government, "Muslims" as a whole did not attack "us" on 9/11, Feisal Abdul Rauf is a well-respected, progressive imam with a history of performing outreach for the Bush administration, and even if the project was a "ground zero mosque," celebrating its construction would demonstrate an admirable commitment to the founding ideals that we are supposedly fighting for Over There.
Skep41 | 8.19.10 @ 10:02PM
The fact that Rauf did 'outreach' for the Bush Administration doesnt mean a single thing. The entire Washington DC spineless PC culture grovels to these fake moderates. There is nothing moderate about Sharia Law. There is nothing moderate about supporting Hamas. There is nothing moderate about taking Wahhabi money and building a mosque on this site. Everybody knows this and it defines Obama as the left-wing PC type that he is. Yes, the Cordoba Initiative has a right to build a Mosque wherever they like but this insult to a large majority of their neighbors shows how much the members of the Cordoba Initiative, AND the Democrats, care about being tolerant of their neighbor's feelings. Its the kind of selfish arrogance and total bad manners that we have come to expect of radical loudmouths of all stripes.
Liberal Reader| 8.19.10 @ 7:13PM
Of course he is worse than Carter. I think we need to determine how he compares with Mussolini or Chavez in Venezuela. I feel he is not as bad as Mussolini yet and is more in the mold of Chavez but not as smart.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 7:18PM
One of the reasons the GOP/Fox News types keep pushing this "Carter is the worst" is because 2) Nixon! (remember him? he really was the worst!) and b) Reagan rode it all the way to a 1984 landslide. Watch what happens in 2012, when Bush's greatest hits get paraded before the electorate again. If you guys are this sore of losers now, what's 2013 going to be like for you?
Liberal Reader| 8.19.10 @ 7:19PM
By the way I don't think he is totally bad. He has kept gitmo open and has used drones to kill Pakistanis and Afghans without warrants. You have to respect that. Also his administration has taken credit for the victory in Iraq. You can't sneeze at that. If he keeps Bush's tax cuts there will be one more good thing to put on his resume.
Liberal Reader| 8.19.10 @ 7:27PM
I almost forgot another attribute. The way he jumped ship on the climate legislation was very skillful. He managed to let it die while keeping the morons that support him from realizing that he was the reason it died. Very impressive. None of these things take him close to Carter but they keep him out of the Mussolini territory for now.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 7:34PM
Right, the President of the United States is comparable to Mussolini. That's patriotism! No wonder you guys lost the last election by 10,000,000 votes.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 8:10PM
He's very much like Mussolini.
A corporatist to the marrow.
Please read Andrew Codevilla's piece from last year titled: From Citizens to Stakeholders
Very prescient.
David - economist| 8.19.10 @ 7:37PM
Please don't blame Obama for bringing down the US; you guys were already down in the gutter well before he took office. Bush got you in there, and I do believe Obama is TRYING to get the US back on the right track but it's not so easy. There's not ONE simple solution to the mess the Bush administration has created in the US. It's not black and white, and to be very honest, forget your position as a superpower in the world. It's gone, bye bye. Second, Obama can't fix it. I think the guy really wants to, but this is a mess of epic proportions. It's not like he's playing Tic Tac Toe and needs to make just one or two good moves. Anyone who doesn't understand this, simply does not understand the complexity of global economics, or politics. This will take at least 5 years based on my humble opinion, to course correct. Lastly, BUSH lied and committed to a war on false evidence. It's been proven, it's not a theory, it's not a leftist mumbo-jumbo, IT IS FACT. If you have any ounce of humanity running through your veins, whether you are Dem or Rep, you know that is simply wrong and unjustified.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 8.19.10 @ 9:13PM
Well then, if you are really an economist, you are fully aware that kon-grrs has the power of the purse. Way back at 12:45 & 12:46 PM, my reply to Jay’s 12:23 remark included some economic facts about the stupids running kon-grrs since 2007. Since you have paid such close attention, I will repeat these here:
2006 - Debt = $8,506,973,899,215.23, GDP = $13,398,900,000,000; Debt:GDP% = 63.49%.
2007 - Debt = $9,007,653,372,262.48, GDP = $14,077,600,000,000; Debt:GDP% = 63.99%.
2008 - Debt = $10,024,724,896,912.40, GDP = $14,441,400,000,000; Debt:GDP% = 69.42%.
2009 - Debt = $11,909,829,003,511.70, GDP = $14,256,300,000,000; Debt:GDP% = 83.54%.
Using the numbers I record nightly from the National Debt Clock people by first making a screen capture, today at 4:23 PM ET, OUR Debt was $13,345,556,743,820; OUR GDP was $14,479,913,909,136 and the Debt:GDP Ratio climbed to 92.1660327%. Certainly, wherever you studied economics pointed out the inherent problems whenever a nation allows its Debt:GDP Ratio to exceed 80%. Note that after two years of dumb-ocrat control of the purse this ratio exploded almost 20% from the disaster of THE EVIL BUSH. Gee, I wonder what your child prodigy did, other than campaign against the policies for which he voted, to stop the transfusion of OUR money into the veins of Asian economies.
Using the Debt Clock numbers, last June 4 the number of folks counted in OUR work force peaked at 140,658,480. Today only 138,861,305 were counted. That’s a drop of 1,797,175 workers. On those same days OUR population was given as 309,422,558 and 310,032,034 persons respectively, a gain of 609,476. Put another way we are shedding jobs faster than we’re adding people. If this trend continues, just where are these newcomers going to work - the welfare office? I also track what I call OUR employment rate. Unlike the official Unemployment rate which is seasonally adjusted and only counts as not working those bothering to file an unemployment claim, by the way there were 500,000 new applications this past week, my computation simply divides the number in the work force by the population. Respectively the corresponding rate on June 4 was a peak of 45.458% and today it was 44.789% a drop of 0.669%. There are 9 significant digits in the population number and in the work force count. That means at minimum a change of 1% impacts at least a million of your fellow Americans. Now you should also consider that helicopter benny, and as an economist, I’m sure you understand how the fed chair earned that nickname, recently announced that he intends to start using fed money to buy treasury debt. There is also some anecdotal evidence that somebody with gum’mint deep pockets has been buying well placed long dated call options in order to game the DOW. Besides propeller beanie and tiny timmie only George Soros has that kind of cash. Nelson H.@ 1:40PM posted that he owns a $100 Billion bill issued by the Bank of Zimbabwe. Being an American, I’m rather confident that tax-cheat timmy will proudly print us $100 Trillion bills for buying a pack of gum. This would greatly simplify paying off the Chi-koms, you know. just give ‘em one and tell them to keep the change. To paraphrase late night funny guy, Jay Leno, our gum’mint’s motto will soon be “Waste all you want, we'll print more!”
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
Don’t Tread on Me.
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“The budget is like a mythical bean bag. Congress votes mythical beans into it, then reaches in and tries to pull real ones out.” - Will Rodgers
Only 885 days to go.
Henry| 8.19.10 @ 7:41PM
The general population was duped. America became aware of the "Ignorant Class" which has nothing to do with race, religion, or income level. Americans were blind sided. Hugo Chavez, the Marxist dictator of Venezuela is slapping his knee saying "I can't believe he pulled it off!" Oue President, a Puppet and "Gofer" of George Soros, has merely been following the playbook of Chavez. At the same time the Democrat Party has been hijacked by the hard core left-wing. They have been firing at gattling gun speed their radical agenda. The currency printing presses have been running at lightning speed to pay for trillions of worthless projects.
America is not exempt from history. Those in power who gain ever more so by making sure there is a Dependent Class always having chains around their lives as the pitance they receive through endless Goverment programs suffocates any attempts to flee to independence. Truly a modern day slavery!
The take down of America for the benefit of Socialist, Marxist, of which obama is a dedicated disiple, is weakening America economically. Anyone who thinks unenployment rates at the ongoing levels are the true representation of the unemployed. Actually rates are closer to 15%. Actually unemployment for black teens is about 45%.
The next major step in America's transition into a Socialist or worse, a Marxist State, will be complete Anarchy. By the way, gasoline prices of well over $5.00 will only add to the fire. One would think the the recent meltdown in Greece is merely the size of a postage stamp compared to what could happen in America.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 7:55PM
No, Henry, what's weakening American is gullible people like you who are cowardly besides and jump when Fox News says "Boo!" If you think America is all of a sudden weak because Obama and not a Republican is president, I cannot imagine what other demons keep you up at night. But here's a suggestion -- take a deep breath! And try prayer! It works. Then read and listen to "the other side" occasionally -- reasoned and balanced thinking feels really good once you get the hang of it!
George Samuels| 8.19.10 @ 7:58PM
The 8/19/10 Letter is wrong. The opposition percentage doesn't relate to building any Mosque. It relates soley to the Mosque's location and relects only the thoughts of New Yorkers. While I may agree with the Magazine's political views, the Magazine must still maintain the truth of its statements or the statements of those who get them printed.
Guillermo| 8.19.10 @ 8:21PM
Truly it is a sad thing that all of you are hoping and wishing that things go wrong for your president. Any way you look at it he is YOUR president. And remember when you wish that he fumbles your hoping that another American looses their job. I get it you want a republican in office. But use your vote to accomplish that. Use your voice to spread confidence in economy. If all the naysayers just kept quite just maybe companies and the American consumer might come out and get this stalled economy going. All you who think your pessimism doesn't hurt anything are culprits in the stalled economy. Think before you write.
Liberal Reader| 8.19.10 @ 8:37PM
We can't criticize our President. Wow. He is moving closer to Mussolini. His followers are abandoning the right of free speech with associations of patriotism and no criticism of the President. Yikes. If they get some kind of race angle we may have to graduate them to Nazis. Wait they already have that. They really have made some progress in the last two years.
Liberal Reader| 8.19.10 @ 8:40PM
Are Guillermo and Prince George really the ones we have been waiting for? I am not convinced. They seem more like some brown shirt wannabes.
Guillermo| 8.19.10 @ 9:57PM
What in the world is a Brown Shirt?
Really Obama is moving closer to Mussolini? Please go back and read what atrocities Mussolini was guilty of. When you make comparisons like this it really lets me know your level of conversation I can have with you. Are you really convinced of this comparison or are you just trying to shock?
Liberal Reader| 8.19.10 @ 10:42PM
A brown shirt were some of Hitler's boys that tried to intimidate and break up the opposition. They were guys like you. Well they weren't wimps but they were kind of like you.
WTF Guy| 8.19.10 @ 8:46PM
How dare you!!!...
...to what website are you referring? I see alot of people here from all aspects of this great country who are deeply concerned about the direction of our country...
...MO, trust me. In a few years when all of us (democrat and republican) are suffering the full effects of this traitorous legislation, you might not be so hateful of the opposition.
George S| 8.19.10 @ 8:40PM
Bush lied us into war with Iraq? Sleight of hand... it was a War on Terror and Iraq was one battlefield. Quick... what did Nazi Germany have to do with Pearl Harbor? Or Tunisia? Or Sardinia?
If only Bush didn't have to lie... then the war would have been okay?
If only Iraq had attacked another mid-east country, threatening the world's oil supply, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only Iraq had violated UN Resolutions, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only Iraq had violated No-Fly zones, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only Iraq attempted to assassinate a former US President, AN ACT OF WAR, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only Iraq had blocked access to weapons inspectors, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only Iraq captured and refused to repatriate American civilians and soldiers, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only Iraq had shown a barbaric willingness to use weapons of mass destruction, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only Iraq harbored Al-Qaeda and other international terrorists, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only Clinton and Congress passed an Iraq Liberation Act back in 1998, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only Bush took his case to the UN, where the General Assembly (especially France) would have fallen all over themselves to help us, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only Bush went back to the UN repeatedly for the coalition the UN was prepared to give, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only Iraq had a paper trail of trying to obtain nuclear materials, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only the British, French and Israeli intelligence services didn't come out and warn 'whoa, cowboy, ain't no there there', Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only the CIA had Democrat sympathizers in its ranks, say someone named Valerie with a husband named Joe, to leak contrary information to the media setting all of us straight, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of a Joint Resolution Authorizing Use of Armed Forces Against Iraq, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only Congress was forceful about making a point to go to war by voting a SECOND time, Bush Wouldn't Have Had To Lie.
If only we were attacked with thousands of dead Americans, Bush Wouldn't Have Been Misled.
Somehow I cannot see why humanity would have to run in my veins to acknowledge that the resolution to go to war never mentioned Iraq had anything to do with 9-11 nor mentioned the WMD's were in fact there. It was all about the potential to escalate the attacks based on history or aggression and weapon usage, and the friends they kept. It was preemptive. If you don't agree with that, then be a man and say so -- don't hide behind an upturned nose saying it was all lies. But you can't, for it takes away the case for making GWB the worst president when history will show otherwise.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 8:55PM
And yet Bush DID lie, you silly moral relativist, you. And you're still at it, with your "If only we were attacked with thousands of dead Americans," conflating the 19 Saudi hijackers with Iraq for some reason.
Ken (Old Texican )| 8.19.10 @ 8:52PM
IAROTFLMAO !
PS: I popped the Obama on my butt.
I bled a little bit...but I'm over it.
I just ran down through the comments and got a laugh.
Soros trolls are out in force here today aren't they?
Oh well, go to daily KOS and you will see where the comments were copy/pasted from. Heh.
You Soros guys do a pretty good job at minimum wage.
Now...for all the adults here...
A .22 cartridge is the best barter currency. A grown-up can feed his entire family for a week with a couple of .22 cartridges.
Oh...you fools squatting in a tenement...or mommy's basement....
...That won't work so good.
...First you gotta' shoot a rabbit. Then you gotta' gut and skin him. (you need a sharp knife for that).
...then you gotta' cook him.
...steal your neighbor's grill for that....and hope HE doesn't have a .22
God bless
Adults here...just feel sorry for the poor bastards.
They are toast.
cclusn| 8.19.10 @ 8:57PM
Ken,
The Soros trolls mush spend all day responding to the truth (which they find so painful) about Obama and the other "progressives" (aka radical socialists) in government. I like what you said. A country boy will survive, even if society breaks down because of these fools!
cclusn| 8.19.10 @ 8:54PM
It is more than apparent that Obama is in way over his head and, sadly, he appears to be among the few who don't know it or choose to ignore the fact. Every action he has taken has been to the extreme prejudice of the people of the United States. Much of what he has done has provided aid and comfort to our adversaries. How much more of his foolish nonsense will people take until they wake up? If he gets a second term, it is likely our nation will go past the tipping point and will no longer be relevant as a major world power.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 8:58PM
It is more than apparent that Bush was in way over his head and, sadly, he appeared to be among the few who didn't know it or chose to ignore the fact. Every action he took was to the extreme prejudice of the people of the United States (he lost the vote in 2000 by half a million!). Much of what he did provided aid and comfort to our adversaries. How much more of his foolish nonsense did it take for people to wake up? When he got his second term, our nation went past the tipping point and became irrelevant as a major world power.
Ron Hyatt| 8.19.10 @ 9:13PM
Idiot.
Laine| 8.19.10 @ 10:01PM
Oh mygosh, even a banger on about Bush losing the election! The left has sent a veritable brigade of morons to lay bags of smelly debunked leftist talking points on the Am. Spectator porch. Probably better just to walk around them instead of engage dolts this far gone.
Guillermo| 8.19.10 @ 10:05PM
cc so you think that we will loose major world power status if Obama gets a second term. You must be out of your mind
U.S. GDP 15,000,000
China 5.000,000 (next closest)
Get your facts stratight. GDP goes along the line of power. STOP with the mindless verbal diarrhea.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 8.20.10 @ 12:01AM
Amazing, an obumerrhoid actually attempting to use facts to defend his lord and master’s incompetence. However, beavisbud did absolutely nothing to build the US economy before he was elected, unless you think a tapeworm is a simple weight loss technique, and has done nothing to improve it except for his gang of cronies since. Just a minor point, according to the numbers posted by the CIA, China’s 2009 GDP was an estimated $4.814 trillion and OUR’s was $14.43 trillion, so you’re close enough for gum’mint work. Interesting that in order to sustain OUR economy we are dependent on their charity, don’t you think? So it should be of some concern that China is already increasing its positions in the Eurozone, you know the folks who barely evaded a total meltdown of the Euro thanks to a bankrupt Greek economy. Yep, the Chi-koms think that a bankrupt Europe is a better investment than the good ol’ USA. The National Debt Clock folks post a list of the Debt ratios for 10 world economies. According to this list, this afternoon at about 4:23 ET the Debt:GDP ratios for these countries were as follows:
United Kingdom 422.5220542%
Portugal 250.0683342%
Greece 176.5908374%
Spain 162.2421162%
Germany 145.9269009%
Italy 105.7125415%
USA 94.4485688%
Japan 43.4757264%
Saudi Arabia 16.2747513%
China 8.2227716%
Ponder that list and notice how fragile are the economies of the European Union member states the United Kingdom, Portugal, Greece, Spain, Germany and Italy. Then ask why on earth would the Chinese think those are a better bet than us. Possibly it has something to do with when the horse fertilizer hit the Euro windmill a few months back and those socialists were on the brink of finally running out of other people’s money, the gum’mints over there attempted to bring their out of whack spending under control. Britain is even thinking about an attempt to privatize its vaunted state controlled healthcare. A strange concept far too complicated for OUR fools in dee cee to comprehend, proving beyond all doubt that they are not smarter than a fifth grader.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
Don’t Tread on Me.
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“I never agree with (kommienists) or any other kind of kept men.” - H. L. Mencken
Only 885 days to go.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 8.20.10 @ 12:12AM
Oops. I erred. When I clicked [submit] I thought it was yesterday. When my reply appeared, I discovered it was after midnight. That means there are only 884 days to go.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
Don’t Tread on Me.
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
Calvin, “People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world.”
Hobbes, “Isn't your pants' zipper supposed to be in the front?” - ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ by Bill Watterson
Only 884 days to go.
Guillermo| 8.21.10 @ 12:47AM
Gill You have to be kidding. You and your kind (Capitalists) hand over to Obama a burning bag of dog poo and he puts the fire out keeps the poop contained and keeps the poop from hittng over 10% unemployment for a country of 326 million. Damn I want that guy on my team! Let me guess your still under the impression Free Markets self correct right. Newsflash your God (Alan Magoo Greenspan) is on record denouncing your way of life. You write "we are dependant on their charity" its becuase your people leveraged us to the HILT! The only way we will get our power back is if we take our medicine and bring manufacturing back. Tax companies who want to drive operations oversees. give tax breaks to companies who keep manufacturing here. And close tax loopholes.
BTW Chinas DTI ratio may look AWESOME but ask almost any chineese worker how much they got for the 14 hours they worked today.
BTW again you cant lump the EU together. the PIIGS countries are the issue out there Germany is doing fairly well for itself unfortunately it is paying for the glutony of other EU countries.
Well 11:43pm and we have 2344 days to go. Then HOPEFULLY Elizabeth Warren will run.
Warren 2016!
Guillermo| 8.21.10 @ 6:10PM
Well looks like Gill O Teen hurt his wa-wa. I sent him an email and he reponded in such a way that I must have hurt his feelings so I dont think that he will continue this conversation. But that is okay because he was so off base that only his name calling skills is what I respect. Anyways we now have 2343 days so lets keep the conversation going.
Guillermo| 8.21.10 @ 6:12PM
By the way why would someone leave their email address and then become a bitch once you contacted them? makes no sense.
Baldemar Huerta| 8.19.10 @ 9:13PM
Obama is a farking maroon.
permabear| 8.19.10 @ 9:39PM
Conservatives love to mislead, exaggerate and just plain lie. But numbers and facts don't lie. The charts below show how Republicans have destroyed the American economy. It's easy to blame Obama, but the reality is he inherited the mess from Bush, who exacerbated the problems began under the Ronald Reagan administration.
Here's the charts which show how badly the Republican party have created an economy built on debt and bubbles. Supply side economics is responsible for our demise.
http://www.lafn.org/gvdc/Natl_Debt_Chart.html
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2.....y-economy/
http://www.google.com/imgres?i.....CDcQ9QEwBQ
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 10:20PM
Noble effort, permabear, but "conservatives" are allergic to facts. To them, Ronald Reagan balanced the budget, and Jimmy Carter is responsible for the 2008 stock market meltdown.
Liberal Reader| 8.19.10 @ 10:47PM
Thanks for raising morale around here. Your screeching is music to our ears.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 11:26PM
No problem! I have sympathy for you sad sack dead-ender types.
Ted| 8.19.10 @ 9:45PM
Lest we not forget the genius gifts given to Prime Minister Brown during his first visit and to the Queen during his first visit to GB. DVD's to a nearly blind PM and an iPod full of speeches...wow. It has only gotten worse from there. It's either the kool-aid down the drain or the Country...choose wisely.
PCP Smoker| 8.19.10 @ 9:56PM
He needs a mosque in NYC. That way when he goes on his Midtown dates with Moochelle he will never be too far away from the prayer calls
Dull| 8.19.10 @ 9:58PM
Obama reminds me more of an Andrew Johnson in his way of governing than Jimmy Carter, i.e. a President who started out with such great hopes as a unifier but moved completely to the opposite direction to a rigid divisive figure by his second year in office. Johnson's opponents in Congress won an overwhelming victory in the mid term elections of 1866. Obama is going to face the same outcome in the mid term elections of 2010.
Brian A| 8.19.10 @ 10:07PM
Great contest coming up!
Team Obama vs We the People
Are you awake yet America?
The High Priest of Atheism says it's a toss up but refuses to toss the coin until 'In God We Trust' is filed off. Shows absolutely no concern for collateral damage to the Eagle either.
He's one of the cheer leaders for --- well guess?
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 10:23PM
How are you part of "Team America" when the guy you oppose won the popular vote by 10,000,000? Being "conservative" means your numbers never have to add up, do they, whether in budgets, anti-tax tall tales, or triumphalist voting fantasies.
Liberal Reader| 8.19.10 @ 10:53PM
You are living in the past. Your way is not sustainable. Lets look forward with hope to a world without leftist perverts. Thanks for dropping in.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 11:07PM
"Liberal reader," your Lee Atwater way -- imputing vague moral weaknesses on those you consider opponents -- is a thing of the past. You guys tried that with Clinton, who left office with the best presidential approval ratings in US history. Then you called those of us who were right to oppose the Gulf War "un-American" for some undefined reason. You've got nothing on Obama, and you're going to find that all your death panel/Marxist/Saul Alinsky/William Ayers/Kenyan birth/Reverend Wright/socialist smears aren't going to work.
Laine| 8.20.10 @ 12:20AM
You seem to have a lot of problems processing observable facts about your Dem donkeys. Vague moral weakness was "imputed" to Clinton? And the high approval ratings for the proven sexual harasser accused rapist-in-chief simply prove that Dem voters are utterly indiscriminate and never ever punish their sleazebags (Ted Kennedy, Barney Frank, Stubbs, Rangel, Waters, every Dem mayor of every city run into the ground, the list is endless). In fact, corruption appears to be a recommendation in the minds of Democrats. Also "smear" is when you say something untrue about a person, like the recent exposure of the leftist media Journolist cadre recommending picking any effective conservative and smearing him as a racist. Obama's ties to the disreputable people you list are well established and strong, twenty years or more strong in many cases. Even the birth controversy can't be designated a smear until Obama shows his actual long form birth certificate. Guess they still haven't been able to manufacture one that would pass scrutiny unlike Dan Rather's counterfeits. Remember, the problem area could be something other than place of birth, like father's name.
In the topsy turvy Dem world, "smear" is telling the truth about a Dem and high approval ratings for a lying and corrupt Dem mean he was innocent. Guess Ted Kennedy didn't leave the unfortunate Ms. Kopechne to drown after all. That's in the same parallel universe that Obama didn't sit for 20 years of Sundays listening to hate whitey sermons.
Marc Jeric| 8.19.10 @ 10:39PM
All these discussions are well and good - but one has to remember how Lenin came to power: by organizing local soviets, in factories and in the army. In English "soviet" means "community organization". And Abu Hussein al-Mombassa is our Community Organizer-in-Chief; he has ACORN, SEIU, AFL-CIO, NEA, ASCME, and a host of local protesters, agitators, perpetrators of voting fraud, commie judges, eco-nazis...
RCV| 8.21.10 @ 12:29PM
And Barack Obama came to power because we, the American people, elected him with a sold majority. You lost the election. Get over it and stop whining.
Fred McKinney| 8.19.10 @ 10:54PM
Speaking of vacations, why doesn't he take a PERMANENT vacation?
Tim| 8.19.10 @ 11:08PM
Fred:
I thought he already was on a permanent vacation from reality?
It's the only way to explain this insanity.
Bucky| 8.19.10 @ 11:27PM
I beg to differ on one point.
I do not believe that Mr. Obama would benefit from the growth of a term or two as governor or senator. Rather, his arrogance would not let him learn. He is a lost cause.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 11:29PM
Wait, I have another explain. The Dow tanked almost 800 points at the end of September, 2008, while millions of people were losing their houses and their jobs, the wages of decades of voodoo economics finally coming due. How you could continue to support the GOP, who sponsored all that evil, is your lookout.
Brian A| 8.19.10 @ 11:31PM
By golly Prince George - 10,000,000? I had no idea! Gee whiz, I - I - just don't know what to say. Except that - well - I've been keeping track and I conceded months ago that Team Obama, has won hands down, the contest on the number juggling statistics and mathematical and political smoke and mirrors.
But what is really sad is that Team Obama seems to have lost interest in the American way of doing things and is looking 'eastward' for wisdom and advice. and challenges to our glorious Constitution.
However I'm excited because an impressive number of Americans have also been keeping score over the past couple of years and I'm telling you George - it looks like a big chunk of that 10,000,000 is experiencing a rude awakening and the future is looking brighter for this country that we love.
Prince George| 8.19.10 @ 11:42PM
Another explanation for your "conservative" wishful thinking, Brian, is that a gargantuan 10,000,000 vote blowout leaves the winners satisfied, while sore losers like you huff and fume on the sidelines, venting your poisonous and destructive fantasies. I know it's hard for you to accept, but the stock market has recovered somewhat, we aren't shedding 750,000 jobs a month anymore, and there hasn't been a major terrorist attack, thank God, not on this president's watch.
Deborah Peetersen | 8.20.10 @ 12:29AM
What about the other religious building - St. Nicholas a church that was destroyed as it was next to the towers and still has not received the necessary permission to re-build.
RCV| 8.21.10 @ 3:44AM
Another right-wing canard. As the Port Authority of NY confirmed in a written release, the church can rebuild any ti me it wants. What's been holding up the project is that they want more taxpayer money than the $60 million the PA has offered them
Enlightened| 8.20.10 @ 12:57AM
Hayek and Roll:
You are an absolute tool and almost everyone on this comment list knows it.
Yes, of course financial deregulation allowed for higher leverage and higher risk, but it was not the chief cause of the crisis. Bad policy (CRA) was. And I am speaking as someone currently getting an Ivy League Masters in International Finance.
I must confess that I supported Bill Clinton's presidency and voted for Obama. But damn, do I regret that!! I am so sorry! W, I hate to say, is looking better every day.
And don't attack Reagan. He's the best President since Truman. His tax cuts increased tax revenue. The failure was that spending was never cut. Clinton's balanced budget came because of political gridlock combined with a tech boom. If the boom had continued and gridlock had continued, the balanced budgets would have continued, which logically supports the Jeffersonian notion that the government that governs best, governs least.
hayek & roll| 8.20.10 @ 7:41AM
Let's say that you're an Ivy Leaguer and I'm an absolute tool, and let's even say that CRA is the cause of the financial collapse -- I've never been president, and neither have you, but the GOP has controlled the White House for 20 of the past 30 years, and both houses of Congress for most of the time between 1995 and 2007. Aren't they then in some way responsible for failing to address the horrible CRA policy that ended up eating the economy? Or were the evil Democrats, who won the White House only twice between 1980 and 2004, and lost their majority in Congress, nevertheless somehow so savvy that they kept the GOP fooled into keeping CRA, even while capitulating to cutting welfare? Do you see how your arguments fall apart when examined, and why the rest of us are tired of your smug and destructive self-serving ideology? But go ahead, keep blaming Carter for the failure of voodoo economics, and see how far that gets you. See you at the next election.
Yosemeti Sam| 8.20.10 @ 2:26AM
Love it, love it - love it.
Per some of the posts:
To observe Leftoids wrangle, in concert, about Bush, while injured voters in contrast have got the Democrats' number down pat.
Marshabar| 8.20.10 @ 3:33AM
Oh my goodness. I like this article so much. What a total loser droid and he can't help it.
"Plug the damn hole!!!" Duffer in Chief lookin' for a hole to fill. Hoop, golf ball hole. Whatever. As long as it's fun.
IntelliQ | 8.20.10 @ 8:29AM
The only reason this intolerant, insensitive, bigoted, homophobic, gender-biased, Sharia-style mosque is even being considered is because the importers of this barbaric theology views America as weak and easily susceptible to destroy from within during this very soft phase of leadership.
RCV| 8.21.10 @ 3:46AM
No, it's because, thanks to the wisdom of Madison et al., we have a First Amendment.
William W. Wexler | 8.20.10 @ 9:56AM
Your piece is filled with inaccurate and outright false assertions on several points.
First, your assertion that "experience" is somehow lacking for Obama to President is laughable, at least it is coming from an unabashed Bush supporter. How was "The Decider" more experienced than Obama? Don't be silly. He had a number of failed business ventures, an AWOL from the National Guard, and Governor of Texas, which anyone who knows anything about Texas knows is a figurehead position with next to no political power. Obama was a US Senator. Who do you think knew more about how the US government works, the drunken playboy from Kennebunkport or the hardscrabble US Senator from Illinois?
Your sentiments on the "mosque at ground zero" issue have no legal merit and as a rag that likes to rant about The Constitution you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for printing this condescending BS about whether or not there ought to be some kind of "sacred zone" around "Ground Zero" where the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 are not allowed to build a mosque. If you can establish a 2 block limit, why not a 2 mile limit, why not a 2000 mile limit? Idiots. It doesn't matter what 68% of Americans think about the mosque. 100% of lemmings think they can swim to Greenland. Stop trying to steal the point with ad populum crap.
If Obama lacks anything in leadership, it's his failure to call out inaccurate, unfair, and untrue charges and smears from fish wrappers like this one and of course, Faux "News". If he had any sense he would instruct the FCC to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine and put rags like this and shit-for-brains wannabe demagogues like Limbaugh and Beck out of business.
But then who would you turn to for your talking points?
-Wexler
PS to posers. I only post once in each thread on this rag because it doesn't ban you. Any further posts in this thread under my name are assholes who would be banned in any real discussion thread.
Jason| 8.20.10 @ 3:42PM
OK tough guy - This is the kind of nonsense that is going to keep your kind out of power forever after 2012. After conservatives regain power liberal heads are going to be exploding with conspiracy theories galore. You just can not comprehend that 60 to 70% of the good citizens of this country do not want what you and your kind are selling. See ya wouldn't want to be ya.
fantum| 8.20.10 @ 4:16PM
PS Mr. William W. Wexler... I agree...
All those here who disagree with you should be banned, may I suggest you start your own blog so you can ban them all.
Even better, don't allow any comments but your own, that way you can publish your drivel and then follow up with a number of reply posts in complete agreement and telling yourself how smart you are.
That will have the additional benefit of far fewer people finding out that you are a huge asshole.
Billboards...
http://usataxpayer.org/htm/vids.asp?A=27913787
Tim| 8.20.10 @ 10:44AM
Mr. Wexler:
Obama was a community organizer.
Big Deal!
We all know that like most Union Organizers,
all that job requires is a silver tongue, fuzzy numbers and no conscience.
A used car salesman with a smile.
You tell people what they want to hear and create an enemy that you can have them rally against.
The reason Obama can't lead is because he has always been an adgitator in the classic sense.
Now that he is "The Man" that program can't work for him.
He is the guy who starts the fire then runs ahead of the flames having no clue on how to put the fire out. This is classic!
But what makes him worse than a business man who fails is that Obama and people like him have a method to their madness and their goal is to keep people in poverty so they can continue to use them to stay in power.
Bush may have failed at some business ventures because he may have been inept, Obama is letting the Country Fail so that he can keep people in poverty and on a leash.
That my good friend is a big difference and is what Normal A-Political Americans are waking up to.
Obama has actually succeeded in waking up the sleeping giant in ways that the NRTWC only dreamed of doing.
That will be his legacy and most rational Democrats and private sector union leaders know it.
Frank| 8.20.10 @ 12:24PM
Prior, to the Hopemonger's election,I placed little time or effort in contemplating about conspiracy.
Something hidden,however,beyond corporate interest and the left wing of the democrat party(contradiction?) has propelled this guy to the WH? I fear we will get our answer soon.
Peanut Farmer/Philosopher King| 8.20.10 @ 1:57PM
MUCH worse then Jimmah Carter!
Brandon| 8.20.10 @ 4:39PM
Dumb guy Dumb question, maybe im reading The Bill of Rights wrong!?
When will it be ok to practice freedom of religon? When you want to build your BULLSH** Protestant church, or your money laundering, little boy touching Catholic church (Sorry to anyone else I'm offending, but COME ON!). I'm in the military living (not deployed) in a Muslim country, all Muslims are not terrorizing, extremist like everyone thinks. Most everyone I run into on the streets here are the nicest people I've ever met. Quick to offer me food, a place to stay anything that they can afford to give me. Bottom line: Whats the problem with a mosque? Are you scared because you dont understand it? Are you that ignorant, pig-headed american that doesnt want to learn and just wants to bitch. I guess you still want to uphold freedom of speech because you have no problem defaceing our president's abilities and name. Then again, you would be out of a POINTLESS job, huh? Keep Picking and choosing what amendments of the constitution should be upheld, and YOU sir will be the demise of our country.
Brian A| 8.20.10 @ 6:33PM
Brandon! What a breath of fresh air! Finally a southpaw willing to admit he's reading The Bill of Rights -- wrong. Ditto the Constitution obviously.
By the way how long have you been wandering the streets in a Muslim country surounded by nice people willing to feed and house you so generously?
Your absentee American status is well noted - in more ways than one - and your gutter mouth even more revealing. Your new residence in that distant land) is welcome news. Can we here at "home" count on it being permanant?
Brandon| 8.20.10 @ 9:30PM
Brian,
First; what is the purpose of your post. You did not contribute to the argument at all. Nothing constructive. Thanks!
Second; Your little stab does not offend me. I realize it was a faulty attempt at an insult because you couldn't think of anything better to say.
Third; I figured most people could decifer that I'm not in a Muslim country on leisure, but not you, Huh? I am stationed here accomplishing the mission that your last president sent us on. Thanks for the support!!!!!!!
Fourth; (and fifth) you cant read very good can you, and are you a protestant?
In conclusion, on your next post please try to write something intelligent. Lets maybe have a debate, maybe even an educated yelling match.
HAHA absentee American HAHA, thanks for the laugh Bri.
And please don't reply if you not going to say anything.
Brandon| 8.20.10 @ 9:38PM
Oh! Brian, don't forget to vote Dem November 2nd!
Lecia | 8.30.10 @ 2:57PM
Really Brian, did you finish the third grade? Can you come up with at least one intelligent sentence that even remotely mimics an rebuttal. This is a kid who fights daily for your right to speak. If you are going to go after his open mindedness please do it in a manner that would make the young republicans proud. You probably hung out with Jane Fonda in the 60's and perhaps dodged the draft. Salute this young man and thank him for your freedom, and the ability to see people for who they are and not by their creed race or religion. I am proud of him. Go to confession for absolution because I thi.nk you need it
Oso Politico| 8.20.10 @ 8:09PM
Here is the money quote:
'He cannot resist showing the world how smart he is, but at what cost?'
Laine| 8.21.10 @ 12:38AM
The world got over its crush on Obama much faster than lefties at home and don't think he's smart at all. Putin has treated him with utter contempt and squeezed out one sided concessions. But then how smart was it of the Europeans to nominate the pig in the poke Obama for the Nobel Peace prize two weeks into his Presidency?
Joe| 8.20.10 @ 9:24PM
He may be worse than Carter but still no where as bad as Bush II or Reagan.
Laine| 8.21.10 @ 12:47AM
Reagan was head and shoulders above any Democrat president in recent memory. He had done his own research, thought and wrote about it in great depth and was absolutely right to confront the Soviet Union instead of pander to it as had been done before and now again with childlike Obama sending secret mash notes and a mistranslated gimmicky Reset button as well as lavishing Putin with outrageous gifts in the form of unnecessary one sided concessions on the defense umbrella in Poland and decreasing the American advantage in nuclear arms. But Putin's just not that into boy blunder Obama who got nothing in return, no help with Iran. Just Putin thumbing his nose at him.
Guillermo| 8.21.10 @ 6:34PM
Laine,
Please lets not give credit to reagan for taking down the bid bad communist Russia single handed. I WENT BROKE! I cant believe how you guys always give Reagan credit for it. Thanks to Reagan Bush Senior did not get re-elected. Why because Bush senior had to "Read my Lips" RAISE taxes. Reagannomics was the beginning of this crap cycle that the american consumer has finally woken up (I hope) and realized that spending above your means causes HUGE issues. Reagan brought in None other that Alan (Magoo) Greenspan. Mr "Markets self correct" oh really how well did that go? Have you ever seen Wall Street the movie Gecko is what Reagan allowed to happen. Bush Senior, Clinton, Little Bush all let it continue creating what I have coined a Fakeconomy. We fell for it hook line and sinker. We all over spent we took our DTI ratio through the roof and when there wasnt anything left Bankers make it almost a no brainer to suck up the equity from our homes. Now Obama stands up and says "guys we have to do something about it" and Republincans and others call him a socialist. Here is the funny part all of your people believe in Free Matkets yada yada yada. They feel like someday I too can get rich and look down on people. Chances of us getting rich are slim to none. So lets make laws that protect our less than $100,000 jobs and our assets. Lets stop kidding ourselves that we will be at that table someday. I personally am happy earning 80 a year I can take care of my family I can produce something that people use. I can save for retirement I can go on vacation. I can buy my 2 kids what they NEED (not want, maybe once in a while) . People need to start asking how much is enough lets get back to basics and for Gods sake lets create a High School Money proficiency course that must be passed with a B+ or better. Lets stop sending our kids out into the world clueless as to what Bankers willl do to them.
Joe| 8.23.10 @ 8:35PM
Why would anyone think Reagan was a strong President? He was the orginal" cut and run" guy in the middle east. You do remember the marine barracks bombing and then Reagan pulling out the troops don't you? He had nothing to do with the downfall of the Soviet Union. They just went broke because of a bad economic system. Reagain is undoubtly on of the worst Presidents ever in American history.
johm| 8.21.10 @ 7:20AM
Obama reminds me of Nero from anceint Rome.
don| 8.21.10 @ 10:32PM
Great article. Fantastic analysis of who's really in the White House.
Allen Johnson| 8.22.10 @ 11:02AM
Let me share another analogy. Should Andrew Jackson be on a $20 bill. Say you are a Cherokee Indian whose ancestors were forced from their titled land, against the directive of the U.S. Supreme Court, by Andrew Jackson, who caved into his bigoted and greedy supporters who coveted the Cherokee's land. Again, I ask, should Andrew Jackson be on the $20 bill?
And should we have Columbus Day? And cities named after one who initiated and had a hand in the genocide of the natives of Hispaniola?
Is it appropriate for a mosque to be built a few blocks from the site of the World Trade Towers? Answer my questions above, first.
--Allen Johnson
Dunmore, West Virginia
Guillermo| 8.22.10 @ 11:28AM
Allen,
No.
No.
Appropriate or not it is personal property. You choose when you want to adhere to the constitution or not. Al Queso (Queda) attacked us not Muslims. Personally I think all churches and Mosques and Synagogues need to be closed until we learn to treat each other with respect without having to hide behind a God that allows children to be harmed. People worry about the afterlife to much they forget the here and now.
So appropriate well I dont care how you worship what I do care is if you dont create monetary vehicles that break the backs of american workers just trying to get ahead. A mosque doesnt even come into play for me. I will honor the 9/11 murdered by answering the call to hunt down Al Queso. The sad part my old body just wont allow it anymore. But I can support my troops.
Known as: Okkaiser on twitter | 8.22.10 @ 1:29PM
If you get a fortune cookie message stating "you should run", the first thing to ask ones self is the context, because if you have a sprang foot, you might not be in a prime position physically. However, that doesn't place one into politics instantly either, maybe the message is about simply getting away from it all.
So, one might be behooved to conclude that "run" is flexible, so weigh the options of the move before you do.
Kaiser
Rowdy Boots| 8.22.10 @ 1:37PM
Incompetent? Obama is the most incompetent person I have ever seen in a public office.
He is a disaster and the LIBERALS ARE TO BLAME.
But if FELT GOOD FOR THEM FOR A MOMENT. That is their mantra: "If it feels good, do it!".
WELL, THEY DID IT!
FOOLS.
Rowdy Boots
Michele San Pietro| 8.22.10 @ 5:39PM
In my opinion, he isn't worse than Carter and Clinton, but he's definitely a very bad president.
Tony in Central PA| 8.22.10 @ 9:36PM
I went to church early today and was home in time to watch a bit of the Sunday AM news review shows. Now that Obama has been in office 18+ months and has passed significant legislation one might think the Democratic / Administration talking heads would be making their case on their accomplishments, but no. Today, I learned everything is still George W. Bush's fault. Yes, the boogeyman of 2008 looks like he'll be around for a while. I'm sure we'll get a repeat of the 2008 strategy this fall and beyond. Before long, Bush will morph into some phantasmagoric mythological being - - an antiChrist for the American Left - - whose existence and evil influence spans all of human history. Unemployment ? Bush's fault. The deficit ? Bush too. The Crusades ? - Bush's fault. The JFK assassination ? Bush here as well ( he also did Lincoln before he became a Republican ).
Its painfully obvious the Left has nothing to offer anymore but excuses and vitriol.
Joe| 8.23.10 @ 8:39PM
The Republicans have not offered any solutions to the problems since Obama took office. Just saying not to everything he suggests is not going to cut it for the upcoming election. People want to know what they will do. And right now they have no ideas.
emo| 8.22.10 @ 10:44PM
The problem isnt Obama, it is the morons who put him in office. Theyll be more of them in 2012 than in 2008
JB| 8.24.10 @ 6:34PM
I am weary of the detailed rebuttals of ObamaCare and other liberal policies. Whatever happened to the simple concept of freedom. We are a nation of free people, free to succeed and free to fail. Freedom only exists where men take responsibility for their own lives.
Guillermo| 8.24.10 @ 7:50PM
JB,
I cannot understand what where you are tying freedom to health care. Please I beg of you expand on what you mean. Wehreever you live you enjoy the fact that if you dial 911 guess who is coming to help. That is a tax placed directly on you to provide a service. Health Care reform has to do with Insurance Companies taking advantage of us. For years Isurance Companies have made billions off of us denying us when we paid our premiums maxing us out. Even with what you call Obamacare Isurance Companies are forcasted to make record profits. BTW there is not "Public Option" and grandma will not be unplugged. Liberal policies this is to general you cant make blanket statements to shcock. Simple freedom means being able to compete on a fair playing field, but for years Big Business and theyre trolls (lobbyists) have hijacked the rule book and changed it to rape the regular joe. Your freedom has been usurped by them making us slaves to their ways. Yes we are at fault we should have spent less, we should have lived within our means but why not take the rulebook back and change it to better protect us. Few of us (less than one percent) will ever reach that multi millionaire status so since we are more in the 99% percent of americans lets change the game to benefit us.
sepal | 8.25.10 @ 9:16PM
Worse than Carter? The dumb majority public is only interested in instant gratification not future. Reagn read it well. Carter has the foresight to see the importance of new energy technolodies which Regan called malaise speech