The Best Political Ad of the Year

Deficit of Trust

A new poll is showing what most people have known for years. Most American's don't trust their politicians. Politicians aren't trusted to tell either the truth or are believed to be corrupt.

“Americans are united in the belief that our political system is broken, that politicians are corrupt, and that neither major political party has the answers,” according to Scott Rasmussen in his new book, In Search of Self-Governance,

Additionally, when Mr. Obama stated that taxes had gone down for 95% of all Americans, a significan't majority believe that is false. just 21% of voters nationwide believe that taxes have been cut for 95% of Americans.

Most (53%) say it has not happened, and 26% are not sure. Other polling shows that nearly half the nation’s voters expect their own taxes to go up during the Obama years.

The president also asserted that “after two years of recession, the economy is growing again.” Just 35% of voters believe that statement is true, while 50% say it is false.

Obama claimed that steps taken by his team are responsible for putting two million people to work “who would otherwise be unemployed.” Just 27% of voters say that statement is true. Fifty-one percent (51%) say it's false.

Personally, last year, when I got a $2K per year raise...actually saw my net income go down as that put me into a higher tax bracket. You might say that sounds like a big raise, but when you consider that I was only making $38K AFTER the raise...to have a negative impact was significant. So, personally, I don't believe any politician when they say "your taxes are going to go down". I think they're lying.

Obama To Cap And Trade Taxes in 2011 Budget

Mr. Obama is going to use funds from taxes that don't exist yet in an attempt to fraudulently lower his budget deficit for 2011. Here's a report from the Washington Examiner,

"The White House told Sen. John Kerry's office that the president plans to assume revenue from the controversial climate policy approach. Kerry aides said they had assurances the revenue won't be designated for issues unrelated to energy policy and combating climate change.

"Obama last year proposed in his fiscal 2010 budget that a cap-and-trade program would raise some $650 billion over 10 years via a full auction of emission credits, with the money primarily going to pay for middle-class tax cuts and development and deployment of clean energy technologies,"

Barack Obama and Rules for Radicals

In Saul Alinski's "Rules for Radicals" he counsels that the first thing to do to an opponent after identifying them is to marginalize them. That is exactly what Mr. Obama is attempting to do with his charging members of the GOP's Congressional delegation portraying his policiess a "bolshevik" today.


President Barack Obama on Friday accused Republicans of portraying health care reform as a "Bolshevik plot" and telling their constituents that he’s "doing all kinds of crazy stuff that's going to destroy America." That is what Mr. Obama is doing, by making a ridiculous comment that he's being portrayed as a Bolshevik he is attempting to marginalize the GOP minority in Congress, and thus make passage of his agenda far easier.

No one has accused Mr. Obama of being a "Bolshevik". On the other hand, he is attempting to implement European style socialized programs in this country. That is something many people here just don't want. Case in point: the election of Scott Brown to the US Senate from Massachusetts. Mr. Brown's election according to polls was in answer to the nationalization of the American healtch care system. Voters chose him because he was specifically running against passage of the bills now pending in Congress.

But, Mr. Obama, if he can make his political opponents in Congress seem ridiculous, he can make their opposition to his policies seem ridiculous, regardless of how unpopular those policies are to the American people.  So, today's attack is the beginning of this administration's attempt to marginalize it's political opponents.  Mr. Obama and his supporters started this last summer when they branded those citizens who opposed the nationalization of health care as "tea baggers."  This is merely another step on the road to eliminating opposition to his policies.

Bumper Stickers

State of the Union

Mr. Obama let us know last night that we should brace for more of the same.  He's proclaimed that it's all Bush's fault and he's going to continue down the road he charted last February when he began to implement a socialist agenda by taking control of not just banks and investment firms but 2/3rds of the auto industry.

State of the Union: By The Numbers

From the Daily Caller web site...
What IS the state of the union?

Listed below are facts and figures that have changed over the past year.

Unemployment rate
2008: 7.6%
2009: 10%

Total number of people unemployed
2008: 11,400,000
2009: 15,267,000

Number of federal employees
2008: 1,900,000
2009: 2,229,000

Average federal employee salary
2008: $71,206
2009: $74,403

U.S. Median Income for a four person family
2008: $67,019
2009: $70,354

Total value of U.S. GDP
2008: $14.33 trillion
2009: $14.57 trillion

US Dollar vs. Chinese Yuan
2008 avg.: $0.15 to 1 Yuan
2009 avg.: $0.15 to 1 Yuan

US Dollar vs. Euro
2008 avg.: $1.35 to 1 euro
2009 avg.: $1.46 to 1 euro

Average spending per registered lobbyist
2008: $58,230.00
2009: $63,226.00

Cost of a barrel of oil
2008: $44.60
2009: $79.36

Average price for a gallon of gas
2008: $1.840
2009: $2.695

Guns sold in the U.S., ammo sold
2008: 12,709,023, 7-10 billion rounds
2009: 14,033,824, 12 billion rounds

Number of public-sector union members
2008: 7,832,000
2009: 7,900,000

Number of private-sector union members
2008: 8,265,000
2009: 7,431,000

Number of failed banks bailed out by FDIC
2008: 25
2009: 140

Total number of corporate bankruptcies
2008: 138
2009: 207

Number of personal bankruptcies
2008: 1,074,225
2009: 1,402,816

Average home price
2008: $292,600
2009: $268,733

Federal hate crime cases prosecuted by the Justice Dept.
2008: 23
2009: 25 (second highest ever, after 2001)

Divorce Rate
2008: 3.5 divorces per 1000 people
2009: 3.4 divorces per 1000 people

Number of movies watched, Total ticket sales
2008: 1,370,000,000 (tickets sold); 9,850,000,000 (revenue)
2009: 1,460,000,000 (tickets sold); 10,490,000,000 (revenue)

Visits to the White House
Total Visits by Banking and Finance C.E.O.’s: 31
Total Visits by Labor Union Bosses: 29
Total Visits by Energy C.E.O.’s: 15

Obama's "i" Count

from instapundit.com:

Others have probably done this already, but I just ran these numbers:


Obama SOTU 2010 First Person Singular Pronoun Count

I – 96 times
me – 8 times

Bush SOTU 2008 First Person Singular Pronoun Count

I – 39 times
me – 2 times

Think this may wind up correlating to their relative contributions to the national debt, when all is said and done?

Obama's SOTU Address Talking Points

From Powerline blog a copy of Mr. Obama's talking points for tonight:

Topline Points: Pre-State of the Union


**Not for Distribution**

Rescue, Rebuild and Restore

 

· President Obama took office a year ago amid an array of challenges unparalleled in our lifetime.

o Our economy was in freefall - gripped by the deepest downturn since the Great Depression and teetering on the edge of an even greater collapse.

o Job losses of more than 700,000-a-month compounded an ongoing assault on the Middle Class: a decade of stagnant wages, the impact of plummeting home values and the ever-rising costs of health insurance and educating their kids.

o A $1.3 trillion budget deficit, two wars and badly frayed global alliances also greeted the President at the door.

· Faced with daunting challenges, Obama took strong and politically-difficult steps to rescue the country from a potential Second Great Depression; to rebuild the economy for the long-term, so businesses are thriving, the Middle Class is growing and all our families are more secure; and to restore America's leadership in the world, as we wrestle with the global challenges of the 21st Century.

Rescue

 

Economic Issues
· Within one month of his inaugural, President Obama had shepherded the most far-reaching economic recovery plan in American history. It has brought our economy back from the brink of a second Great Depression and, one year later, we are beginning to see signs of progress.

 

o Job losses, while still too high have fallen to a tenth of where they were a year ago and the economy is growing for the first time in two years.

· The President also began the work to rebuild the economy for the long-term by laying a New Foundation for growth and prosperity - a prosperity that is focused on working families, small business owners and the economic competitiveness of our nation.

Rebuild

 

Domestic Agenda
· Under President Obama's leadership, we have begun to confront challenges that Washington has ignored for decades and enact reforms meant to strengthen families, small businesses, and American economic competitiveness that lobbyists and special interests have worked to prevent time and again.

o We are closer than ever on real health reform, we're moving toward a clean energy economy, we've taken on the big banks and special interests to reform outdated and lax financial rules, and we've initiated far-reaching education reforms to demand excellence in K-12 and make college more accessible and affordable.

· President Obama has also signed historic legislation - from extending unemployment benefits to expanding health insurance for children to ensuring that women receive equal pay for equal work - that, for decades to come, will improve and strengthen the lives of everyday Americans and working families throughout the country.

· On issues large and small, the President has worked to rebuild the economy on a New Foundation so that middle class families, and those who aspire to the middle class, can enjoy the prosperity and economic well-being enjoyed by the special interests, the very wealthy and the well-connected.

· He's matched this leadership and advocacy for the American people by standing up to those very special interests and by beginning to change the way business is done in Washington by making government more accountable, accessible and transparent to all Americans.

o For the first time ever, every visitor to the White House - what they're doing and who they're meeting with - will be made public

o And we've limited the influence of lobbyists in government by preventing executive branch employees from receiving gifts from lobbyists, by prohibiting administration officials from lobbying the government for two years after they leave public service, and by removing lobbyists from government boards and commissions.

Restore

 

Global Relationships
· As he's worked to rescue the economy and rebuild it on a new foundation that will promote growth and prosperity for all Americans, President Obama has begun the hard work required to restore America's standing and leadership in the world.

o He's enhanced American safety and security by beginning the responsible drawdown of American combat troops in Iraq. Working with our allies, he's refocused the fight against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan while bolstering our relationship with Pakistan.

o He's also engaged our partners throughout the world to combat extremism, begun to rebuild frayed alliances, and reasserted American leadership on issues like climate and energy, financial recovery, public health and hunger

· After one momentous year in office, President Obama has governed as he said he would, making tough decisions instead of deferring them, thinking about the long-term well-being of the country and not just his own, short-term politics.

· On a whole range of issues, President Obama has remained faithful to the central commitments of his campaign and he has begun to deliver changes that the American people expect and deserve.

 

Ranking the Presidents

In February and March 2005, the Federalist Society and The Wall Street Journal asked an ideologically balanced group of 130 prominent professors of history, law, political science and economics to rate the presidents on a 5-point scale, with 5 meaning highly superior and 1 meaning well below average. Eighty-five scholars responded, and the presidents are ranked in order of mean score, adjusted to give equal weight to Democratic- and Republican-leaning respondents.

RANK NAME MEAN

GREAT
1 George Washington 4.94
2 Abraham Lincoln 4.67
3 Franklin Roosevelt 4.41

NEAR GREAT
4 Thomas Jefferson 4.23
5 Theodore Roosevelt 4.08
6 Ronald Reagan 4.03
7 Harry Truman 3.95
8 Dwight Eisenhower 3.67
9 James Polk 3.59
10 Andrew Jackson 3.58

ABOVE AVERAGE
11 Woodrow Wilson 3.41
12 Grover Cleveland 3.34
13 John Adams 3.33
14 William McKinley 3.32
15 John Kennedy 3.25
16 James Monroe 3.24

AVERAGE
17 James Madison 3.07
18 Lyndon Johnson 3.05
19 George W. Bush 3.01
20 William Taft 2.97
21 George H.W. Bush 2.95
22 Bill Clinton 2.93
23 Calvin Coolidge 2.77
24 Rutherford Hayes 2.73

BELOW AVERAGE
25 John Quincy Adams 2.66
26 Chester Arthur 2.65
27 Martin Van Buren 2.63
28 Gerald Ford 2.61
29 Ulysses Grant 2.57
30 Benjamin Harrison 2.54
31 Herbert Hoover 2.50
32 Richard Nixon 2.40
33 Zachary Taylor 2.30
34 Jimmy Carter 2.24
35 John Tyler 2.23

FAILURE
36 Millard Fillmore 1.85
37 Andrew Johnson 1.75
38 Franklin Pierce 1.73
39 Warren Harding 1.65
40 James Buchanan 1.31

I disagree on a couple of points here.  Jimmy Carter should rank below Harding because none of his policies had anything but a negative effect on the country.  In foriegn policy, we are reaping what he sewed.  Islamic Jihadism was given inpatus by his failure to react to the declaration of war by the Islamic Republic of Iran.  From that one act stems all of the present radical jihad in the middle east.

Krauthammer on Obama's "Spending Freeze"

Charles Krauthammer on President Obama’s proposed budget cuts:

“It’s not a hatchet. It’s not a scalpel. It’s a Q-tip. It’s a fraud. This is a minuscule amount. Remember it excludes defense, homeland security, veteran’s affairs. It excludes all of the entitlements which are 60% of the budget. And, it excludes stimuli past and future, the nearly two-thirds of the trillion dollar stimulus that has not been spent. All of that is excluded. It excludes the trillion that would have been spent on health care if it would have been passed. What it is is a $15 billion reduction in a year 2011 in which the CBO has just announced we’re going to have a deficit of $1.35 trillion. It’s a rounding error. It’s lunch money.”

The Flag Fights Back

An Obamabot In Action

This was this guy's first boat and he was taking it to the lake, but he wasn't quite sure of the correct procedure for launching a boat off a ramp.

However, he figured it couldn't be that difficult to do, so
he stopped by his Union Office for advice, and they just told
him...

"Don't let the trailer get too deep in the water when you're launching your boat".

Well later on, he couldn't understand what they meant by that, as he just could barely get his trailer in the water!

Here's a picture worth a "thousand' words! Your gonna love this guy!!! They walk among us, get married, have children and vote!   Sticker on back glass explains everything!!!

Shoe Bomber's Is Sentenced

Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber" who was apprended attempting to blow up, in flight, a commercial aircraft flying to the US from the United Kingdom.  His trial ended recently...where are the reports trumpeting that fact....[crickets chirping]...here is what the Judge who sentenced him had to say:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court, New York, NY

Before sentencing Mr. Reid, the judge, as judges are want to do, asked him if he had anything to say for himself,  Mr. Reid's response:

After admitting his guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his 'allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah,' defiantly stating, 'I think I will not apologize for my actions,' and told the court 'I am at war with your country.'

Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below:

January 30, 2003, United States vs. Reid.

Judge Young:

'Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you.

On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General. On counts 2, 3, 4and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutively. (That's 80 years.)

On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years again, to be served consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 that's an aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the government's recommendation with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines.

The Court imposes upon you an $800 special assessment. The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need go no further.

This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.

Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before. There is too much war talk here and I say that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court, we deal with individuals as individuals and care for individuals as individuals. As human beings, we reach out for justice.

You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether the officers of government do it or your attorney does it, or if you think you are a soldier, you are not----- you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists... We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice...

So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big fellow. But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I've known warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty of multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and the TV crews were, and he said: 'You're no big deal.'

You are no big deal.

What your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today?

I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing? And, I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but as I search this entire record, it comes as close to understanding as I know.

It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose. Here, in this society, the very wind carries freedom. It carries it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom, so that everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discretely. It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf, have filed appeals, will go on in their representation of you before other judges.

We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden; pay any price, to preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. The day after tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but this, however, will long endure.

Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America , the American people will gather to see that justice, individual justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done. The very President of the United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America . That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag stands for freedom. And it always will.

Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down.

I think that this should be required reading to many of those in the Obama Administration, to remind them what they are supposed to be doing.   I think that they've forgotten what its all about.

2010 Voter Prioirities

Public's Top 10 Priorities for 2010:
Economy-83%, Jobs-81%, Terrorism-80%, Social Security-65%, Education-65%, Medicare-63%, Deficit Reduction-60%, Health Care-57%, Helping the Poor-53%, Military-49%.

Pew Research Polls has released it's top priorities of voters as polled for 2010.  The economy and jobs are first and second.  So of course, the Democrats have wasted most of a year trying to ram through government seizure of health care as their top priority.  That makes perfect sense.  Move the 8th most important thing to the public to the top of your agenda....

Here's a chart that shows what voter's priorities have been year by year back 10 year.   While they've changed, it's not bee a hugely dramatic change.  Even last year the economy and jobs were considered by the public to be more important than health care.  Yet again more evidence that the Democratic leadership is just as out of touch with what the public really wants as is the GOP.  But, the public still trusts the  GOP far more on dealing with the economy than the Democratic Party.

Hillbuzz Bloggers Under Attack By Chicago/Obama Machine

Hillbuzz.org a group of Gay bloggers in Chicago who were originally supporters of Hillary Clinton in the 2008 election cycle are now under attack by the Chicago/Obama political machine. This link will take you to their blog post about the attack. They have slowly morphed over the past 2 years from committed Democrats to Libertarian/Moderates who support Sarah Palin among others who are most assuredly NOT liberals.

They are being slurred across the 'net as being racists, and having their identities exposed (they blog anonymously). While I choose not to be anonymous, I fully support those who blog so because of their particular situation...as long as they don't hurl invective around that is...but these guys are paying a very heavy price for using their 1st amendment right of free speech. Do what ever you can to help them...

Thanks,

Rich

crossposted at conservativefirestorm

Tea Party To Become Majority of GOP?

Rep. Michele Bachmann told Bill O’Reilly on his show tonight that the tea party movement will become the dominant movement within the Republican Party.

She added that if the Republicans are smart they will embrace them.

Yep...I'm much less conservative on social issues (more libertarian that is...I don't give a damn what you do as long as you don't impinge upon me while I'm doing mine), but fiscally, I'm very conservative. I'd like to see those federal departments that are just jobs programs masquerading as "something important" were eliminated (education, "Homeland Security"-isn't that what DoD is for?, labour, just to name a few) and those people put to doing something productive, like working for a living, instead of sucking off Uncle Sam's hind tit.

But Instapundit.com reader, Reader Paul Lee has a great suggestion:

Regarding your link about whether the Tea Party becoming a dominant force in the Republican Party, I offer this suggestion: when giving money to any candidate going forward, make sure you to accompany the cash with a note that says, “Tea Party strings attached to this contribution.”

If enough people do it, politicians will begin to understand that fiscal conservatism isn’t something they can give meaningless lip service to.

If enough people do that, maybe the damn politicians will actually begin to pay attention. The best suggestion I've heard is simply don't send money to the RNC...send it directly to the politician...with the above note. That way, pol's will REALLY know what you think.

Federal Spending Is Out Of Control

This is from a column in the De Moines Register by Tom Quimer. Our government is spending money like a drunken sailor. The national debt is now 98% of the GDP. We cannot sustain spending like this even for a few years.

* In 1980, the federal government spent an average of $2,498 per citizen.
* In 1990, the federal government spent an average of $4,943 per citizen.
* In 2000, the federal government spent an average of $6,138 per citizen.
* In 2010, the federal government will spend an average of $11,640 per citizen (estimated).

If we adjust for inflation using 1980 dollars, federal spending has climbed 79 percent, from $2,498 per person in 1980 to $4,470 today.

Democrats and Republicans have collaborated in this dramatic expansion of spending. In fact, the most frugal period was the decade of gridlock when Clinton, a Democrat, and Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican, helped keep the other party's spending habits in check.

And yet, even with the modest restraint of the 1990s, federal spending has increased more than twice the rate of inflation since 1992.

We have a spending problem, not a tax problem.

The national debt is $14 trillion, about 98 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

We must as a country, regain control of our spending. Its bad enough that mandatory spending now takes up a substantial majority of the federal budget. But now, with the initiatives that Mr. Obama and his handlers in the Democratically controlled Congress has decided that in a time of economic recession, that they must enact record spending programs that will literally destroy the economy in under 20 years. If they are intent on wiping out America economically, they're doing it in a grand fashion.

President Obama; President or Celeberity?

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: CELEBERITY OR PRESIDENT
This is very short and sweet and to the point.
The following is the definition of a celebrity:
ce·leb·ri·ty
n. pl. ce·leb·ri·ties
1. A famous person.
2. Renown; fame.
ce·leb ri·ty·hood n.
Synonyms: celebrity, hero, luminary, name, notable, personageThese nouns refer to a widely known person: a social celebrity; the heroes of science; a theatrical luminary; a big name in sports; a notable of the concert stage; a personage in the field of philosophy.
celebrity [sɪˈlɛbrɪtɪ]
n pl -ties
1. a famous person a show-business celebrity

President:
pres·i·dent
n.
1. One appointed or elected to preside over an organized body of people, such as an assembly or meeting.
2.
a. The chief executive of a republic.
b. The chief executive of the United States, serving as both chief of state and chief political executive.
3. The chief officer of a branch of government, corporation, board of trustees, university, or similar body.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin praesid ns, praesident-, from present participle of praesid re, to preside; see preside.]
pres i·dent·ship n.
president [ˈprɛzɪdənt]
n
1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) (often capital) the chief executive or head of state of a republic, esp of the US
2. (Business / Commerce) (in the US) the chief executive officer of a company, corporation, etc.
3. a person who presides over an assembly, meeting, etc.
4. (Social Science / Education) the chief executive officer of certain establishments of higher education
[via Old French from Late Latin praesidens ruler; see preside]
presidential [ˌprɛzɪˈdɛnʃəl] adj
presidentially adv
presidentship n
The following are date and times and venues for “President” Obama:
TV Credits - Guest Star(56)
show
role
episode
CBS Evening News
Self
March 27, 2008
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Himself
March 14, 2008
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Himself
September 8, 2008
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Himself
September 9, 2008
Face the Nation
Himself
January 14, 2007
Face the Nation
Himself
March 12, 2006
FOX Saturday Baseball Game of the Week
Himself
MLB All-Star Game 2009
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Self
Barack Obama, Wilco
Late Show with David Letterman
Guest
Show #2279
Late Show with David Letterman
Guest
Show #2982
Late Show with David Letterman
Guest
Show #2728
Late Show with David Letterman
Guest
Show #3182
Late Show with David Letterman
Guest (cameo)
Show #2858
Meet the Press
Himelf
December 30, 2007
Meet the Press
Himself
May 4, 2008
MLB Tonight
Himself
July 14, 2009
NBC Nightly News
Self
April 30, 2008
NBC Nightly News
Self
February 4, 2008
NBC Nightly News
Self
May 1, 2008
NBC Nightly News
Self
May 8, 2008
NBC Nightly News
Self
April 4, 2008
Saturday Night Live
Himself
Brian Williams/Feist
Saturday Night Live
Himself
Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash 2008
The Colbert Report
Himself
Rep. Patrick Murphy
The Daily Show
Guest
Sen. Barack Obama
The Daily Show
Himself
Senator Barack Obama
The Daily Show
Self
Barack Obama
The Daily Show
Self
Sen. Barack Obama
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Himself
Barack Obama/Jimmy Fallon/Kelli Williams/Trace Adkins
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Guest Star
Reese Witherspoon, Barack Obama, Jim Cramer
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Himself
Barack Obama, Sabrina Bryan & Mark Ballas
The Rachel Maddow Show
Himself
October 30, 2008
The Tavis Smiley Show
Himself
Barack Obama, Jim Belushi
The Tavis Smiley Show
Himself
Barack Obama, Al Sharpton, Donna Brazile, Arianna Huffington
The Tavis Smiley Show
Himself
Barack Obama, Isaac Hayes
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Guest
Barack Obama; Maggie Gyllenhaal; Taylor Hicks
The View
Himself
Ford/Obama
This Week
Himself
May 13, 2007
This Week
Himself
June 10, 2007
This Week
Himself
August 19, 2007
TMZ on TV
Himself
Episode #2.050
Today
Himself
May 1, 2008
Today
Himself
September 12, 2007
Today
Himself
January 9, 2008
Today
Himself
February 5, 2008
Today
Himself
April 22, 2008
Today
Himself
June 2, 2009
Today
Himself
October 20, 2008
Today
Himself
February 2, 2009
Today
Himself - video excerpt
January 8, 2009
Today
Himself
March 12, 2008
Today
Himself
April 1, 2008
Today
Himself
March 5, 2008
Today
Himself
October 19, 2006
Today
Himself
April 8, 2008
WWE Monday Night RAW
Himself
King of the Ring
TV Credits - Other(1)
show
role
episode
Channel One News
Cameo
August 18, 2008
Movie Credits (From MovieTome)(0)
film
role
released date



President Obama; President or Celeberity?
You decide.

Moderates/Independents Hold the Majority--And Are Losing Confidence In Dems

This chart gives an indication of the make up of the majority parties in the United States over the past few years. Starting 2006, when the GOP began to really lose focus on party ideology and evolved into "Democrat Lite". This in turn led to a change over in parties.

The mistake that Democrats have made, first after the 2006 election, and more recently after the national election of 2008 is that the country had shifted left. Nothing could be further from the truth. This became evident after Mr. Obama began to put forth his economic policies early last year.
Once the contents of the "stimulus package" became know to the public at large, the tide began to turn against the very far left liberal policies of the Obama Administration. While Mr. Obama ran as "pragmatic moderate" and won over huge numbers of independent voters, once he was sworn in shifted to the hard left. Mr. Obama was convinced along with the rest of the Democratic leadership in Congress that they had a mandate to fundamentally "change" American way of life. Thus, they believed that by greatly expanding the role of government in everyday life was what the voters wanted.

Nothing could be further from the truth. America is and has been a centre/right country politically, from its inception more than 234 years ago. This graph shows this to a significant degree, at least for the past several years that voter's have remained static in their political alignment. It has been much the same way for decades at least.

Unfortunately, the record spending that the Democratic majority has implemented in an attempt at a Keynesian solution to the current deep recession hasn't had much affect on anything other than public opinion. A sigficant proportion of those funds were targeted at propping up insolvent states such as California, New York and New Jersey in an effort to stave off those states pending bankruptcy. That merely postponed the deep, fundamental fiscal problems of those states . The majority of the funds went earmarked to public spending programs that liberals prefer, instead of tax cuts that even moderate Democrats and Republicans would have liked.
Even the Associated Press has admitted that the huge sums that have been spent have had zero impact on unemployment levels. Indeed, public opinion has reached the point where 73% now prefer that the unspent sums from the initial, pork laden "stimulus package" be returned to the treasury.

But, instead of curing the economy, the "stimulus package" that was forced through Congress by Harry Reid in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi in the House, it has had the effect of siphoning off the credit desperately needed by businesses. This occurred as investors bought up government bonds instead of loaning the funds to business via banks and investment firms.

Additionally, the government took over the largest auto manufacturer, then bilked stock and bond holders by turning over a majority share of the company to the United Auto Workers Union. This has done nothing to reassure the stock market as well as the public that this administration and Congress are interested in reversing the downward trend of the economy. Then, instead of reassuring the country at large by tackling the issue of jobs, the Democratic majority spent the next 9 months attempting to pass a seizure of the health care industry. That industry makes up one sixth of the economy. All the while, unrest in public opinion has done nothing but grown.

Recent polls have shown that independent voters are abandoning support of the Democratic agenda in droves. The first rumblings of this occurred last summer at the height of debate of the misnamed "health care reform" bill pending in the House of Representatives. That bill was eventually passed by only 5 votes, 220-215 with zero votes from GOP members. This is the first time in our history that a major piece of legislation that would fundamentally alter the Americana economic system has been passed along strictly partisan lines. This has led to the rise of the Tea Party movement, a genuine grass roots movement that is independent of party affiliation.

Further signs of the Democrats loss of support of independents came last November when Democrats lost elections for the governorships of "blue" New Jersey and "purple" Virginia, when those candidates were strongly favored to win. Then came the earth shattering loss in Massachusetts this past week, when independents voted more than 60% for a Republican to fill the Senate seat left open when Ted Kennedy died last fall. Loss of the governorships set off a wave of retirements by Democrats in seats that are in tossup districts, but now more are expected in the next few weeks as more politicians make the decision to retire rather than risk losing close races.

One recent announcement was by Arkansas Democrat , Marion Berry (AR-1) who said in an interview with Politico.com, that Mr. Obama's comment on the big difference between the upcoming election and 1994, when Republicans took control of the House of Representatives for the first time in nearly 50 years, was that he (Obama) is now President. Traditionally, American voters tend to turn against such arrogance in droves.

In the mean time, Mr. Obama has made plain his intent to continue to push his agenda, planning on a vote in the Senate on a huge new tax increases, both direct and indirect, hidden within the "Cap & Trade" bill that is intended to cap and then reduce CO2 emissions. This bill will put at least a $1700 per year increase on energy costs per households. Additionally it will dramatically raise the costs of gasoline by implementing significant new taxes. All through the campaign Mr. Obama reiterated his intention to force coal companies out of business, this bill will do so within 10 years. Unfortunately it doesn't, at the same time, encourage the construction of nuclear power generation plants, instead preferring much more expensive means such as wind mills farms and solar power.

The immediate effect of these initiatives has been to paralyze both large and small businesses. Small businesses are afraid to hire new workers, first because they can't obtain the credit, and secondly because they are afraid of massive tax and overhead increases that are inherent in Mr. Obama's agenda. The lack of credit when tied to possible significant increase in the cost of doing business has created a great deal of uncertainty across the country, and that uncertainty is mirrored by the loss of confidence that independent voters have in the ruling majority party.

Obama: Election 2010

Mr. Obama claims that the real difference between 2010 and 1994 is him! At least that's the claim of retiring Dem Congressman, Marion Berry (AR-1)

Berry recounted meetings with White House officials, reminiscent of some during the Clinton days, where he and others urged them not to force Blue Dogs “off into that swamp” of supporting bills that would be unpopular with voters back home.

“I’ve been doing that with this White House, and they just don’t seem to give it any credibility at all,” Berry said. “They just kept telling us how good it was going to be. The president himself, when that was brought up in one group, said, ‘Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.’ We’re going to see how much difference that makes now.” [snip]

“I began to preach last January that we had already seen this movie and we didn’t want to see it again because we know how it comes out,” said Arkansas’ 1st District congressman, who worked in the Clinton administration before being elected to the House in 1996... "I just began to have flashbacks to 1993 and ’94. No one that was here in ’94, or at the day after the election felt like. It certainly wasn’t a good feeling.”

Need less to say...we live in interesting times. I wonder if Bill Clinton thought the same thing?

Putting America In Debt

The sign on the bottom has been corrected. Look closely at it...notice the differences.

Obama Claims He Didn't Explain Policies Enough

Mr. Obama, in yet another of his interminable interviews, this time with Democratic operative, George Stephanoplous, who is presently masquerading on ABC as a "journalist", claimed that he just hasn't explained his policy initiatives well enough. This is from a president who in his first year in office has given (according to CBS News’s Mark Knoller) 158 interviews and 411 speeches in his first year.

So, what will Mr. Obama actually say in yet another series of interviews?

“The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office,” said Obama. “People are angry and they’re frustrated, not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years but what’s happened over the last eight years.”

Got it. People are so angry and frustrated at George W. Bush that they’re voting for Republicans. In Massachusetts. Boy, I can’t wait for that 159th interview..

Does he really think that Americans are THAT stupid? Or is this man that arrogant enough to believe what he says? Of course, there's a picture floating about showing his recent speech to a classroom full of 6th graders...where he uses a teleprompter! Really. As dumb as we're told that George Bush was...at least he didn't need a teleprompter in a class room!

The real problem is, this administration has no clue just how much Americans are tired of his spendthrift ways. In a recent CNN poll, 56% of those polled said they wanted the unspent "stimulus package" funds to remain...unspent! That's a huge turn around from when the pork filled package was passed when 54% said that it would work. But then this is also an administration who's talking heads this morning said that the pork package had created from "thousands upon thousands of jobs saved", up to 2 million.

Another Dem Retires From Congress

A Congressman holding AR-6 seat, Marion Berry will announce his retirement tomorrow. I expect that this will be the first in a wave of announcements following the shocking victory by Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts this past week. Mr. Berry is the sixth Democrat in a competitive district to make this announcement in the past two months.

"The message coming out of the Massachusetts special election is clear: No Democrat is safe," said National Republican Congressional Committee communications director Ken Spain.

Berry, first elected in 1996, had been noncommittal about his re-election bid for months although, privately, his allies insisted he was planning to run for re-election.

While Mr. Berry hasn't been effectively challenged in the past 10 years, his district voted for John McCain in the last presidential election by 59%. This is just another indication that for the first time in a generation, nearly all of the seats in the House of Representatives is in contention.

It's been estimated recently by Michael Barone, of the Washington Examiner, that there are only 103 safe seats for the Democrats in the upcoming election. That means that nearly 176 seats in the House are virtual tossups. I believe that if Mr. Obama continues to push his socialist agenda, that as many as 100 of those may change hands in November, as well as many as 16 of the 17 Democratically held seats up for reelection in the Senate this year.

Obama Sign's Order Closing Gitmo

Mr. Obama, in a misguided attempt to appease Al Qaeda, has signed the order closing the detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This is a terrible idea as that is one of the most secure areas in the world. Now Mr. Obama is setting up American cities that are forced to host these terrorists to attacks. I am betting that within a year, there will be at least one attempt to attack the prison that will hold these terrorists.

A Good Sign: Obama and the 7 Dorks

A friend of mine is a journalist (a good one...he feeds me info) and has seen this sign in a couple of variations all across the country.

You Think Conservatives Are The Only Ones Pissed At Barack?

This unbelievable...it's from a far left site that I found this morning...the vitriol is scathing and absolutely hysterical! Any and all emphasis in this is mine...and not the original author's.

Published on Friday, January 22, 2010 by CommonDreams.org


How to Squander the Presidency in One Year

Hey, Conan Obama: How About Now? Can You Hear Us Now?
by David Michael Green

There's only one political party in the entire world that is so inept, cowardly and bungling that it could manage to simultaneously lick the boots of Wall Street bankers and then get blamed by the voters for being flaming revolutionary socialists.

It's the same party that has allowed the opposition to go on a thirty year scorched earth campaign, stealing everything in sight from middle and working class voters, and yet successfully claim to be protecting ‘real Americans' from out-of-touch elites.

It's the same party that could run a decorated combat hero against a war evader in 1972, only to be successfully labeled as national security wimps.

Just to be sure, it then did the exact same thing again in 2004.

It's the same party that stood by silently while two presidential elections in a row were stolen away from them.

How ‘bout dem Dems, eh?

One year ago today, there was real question as to what could possibly be the future of the Republican Party in America. That's changed a bit now.

And, speaking of ‘change', the one kind that Barack Obama did actually deliver this year was not that which most voters had in mind after listening to him use the word incessantly, all throughout 2008. Obama and his colleagues have now managed to bring the future of the Democratic Party into question, just a year after it won two smashing victories in a row.

Personally, I'm not real bothered by that. Today's Democrats are, almost without exception, embarrassing hacks who deserved to get stomped a long time ago.

What really upsets me, however, is what these fools have allowed to be done to the name of progressivism, and to the country.

Barack Obama has now, in just a year's time, become the single most inept president perhaps in all of American history, and certainly in my lifetime. Never has so much political advantage been pissed away so rapidly, and what's more in the context of so much national urgency and crisis. It's astonishing, really, to contemplate how much has been lost in a single year.

It was hilarious, of course, when Michelle Bachmann invoked the Charge of the Light Brigade at a rally against "Obama's" (has he ever really owned it?) health care "initiative" (isn't that too strong a word to use?), quite oblivious to the fact that the actual historical event was one of history's greatest debacles. Obama, on the other hand, seems to be actually reliving the famous cock-up in the flesh. Except, of course, that he doesn't really "charge" at anything. He just talks about things, thinks about things a real long time, defers to others on things, and waits around for things to maybe happen.

This week, though, something actually did happen. Alas, not precisely what the president had in mind, however.

But the election in Massachusetts was only slightly less inevitable than the sun rising in the east each morning. It was the product of an amazing collection of abysmal choices and practices over the last year that has produced a meltdown of equally amazing proportions for this president and his party. It is fitting that it comes on the anniversary of the president's inauguration, a moment filled with so much hope for so many just a year ago.

What has Obama - this Conan O'Brien of presidents - done wrong in order to produce this devastating outcome? The short answer is: Just about everything imaginable.

More specifically:

* He does not lead. Americans, especially in times of crisis, want their daddy-president to pick a point on the horizon and lead them to it. Often - especially in the short term - they don't even care that much which point it is. They will happily follow a president whose policies they oppose if he will but lead.

* And if he will demonstrate some conviction. I have never seen a president so utterly lacking in passion. This man literally doesn't even seem to care about himself, let alone this or that policy issue. He doesn't seem to have any strong opinions on anything, a sure prescription for presidential failure.

* He has therefore let Congress ‘lead' on nearly every issue, another surefire mistake. Instead of demanding that they pass real stimulus legislation - which would have really stimulated the economy, big-time, and right now - he let those dickheads on the Hill just load up a big pork party blivet of a bill with all the pet projects they could find, designed purely to benefit their personal standing with the voters at home, rather than to actually produce jobs for Americans. And on health care, his signature issue, he did the same thing. "You guys write it, and I'll sign the check." Could there possibly be a greater prescription for failure than allowing a bunch of the most venal people on the planet to cobble together a 2,000 page monstrosity that entirely serves their interests and those of the people whose campaign bribes put them in office?

...

* Another possible strategic move even stupider than deferring to Congress to write major legislation is to cozy up with the least popular people on the planet - including, in fact, the real-life granny killers. Got an economy that is so raw it's leaving thousands in literal peril of losing their lives? Why not draft some legislation to bail-out the people who created that mess and guarantee that they retain their multimillion dollar bonuses?!?! You know, the same folks who are always talking about how great capitalism is and how important it is to take risks! The same ones who are always telling us how awful the government is - the same government that saved them from extinction. Those folks. That's right, bail out with outrageous bonuses the very people who need it least and who caused billions of people around the planet to suffer, while leaving everyone else to fend for themselves! That'll raise your presidential job approval ratings every time! And while you're at it, bring in the much beloved health insurance and pharmaceutical corporate lobbyists, and negotiate a deal with them to craft your high profile health care legislation! What voter can't get behind that?

* Another brilliant presidential tactic is to be such a Mr. Happy Nice Face that you acknowledge no enemies for the country, or even yourself. Not the health care corporate vampires who suck the blood out of Americans from San Diego to Bangor, providing absolutely no value-added health service whatsoever, while denying treatment to deathly ill human beings at every opportunity, all to rake in billions more in profits. Not the reckless pirates on Wall Street who bet all our money on insane gambles that wrecked the global economy, took government bail-out money to survive, and yet are still drowning in bonuses as rewards. Not the Republican Party who spent three decades downsizing the middle class, plunging the country into wars based on lies, deregulating every protection in sight, fattening up corporate cronies, wrecking the environment, trashing the Constitution and polarizing the country politically. And not even a catastrophic climate disaster speeding toward the planet with relentless determination. No! We must all be happy and talk nice! No bad guys. Not even the bad guys can be bad guys.

...

* A related brilliant move is to mobilize a giant army of passionate volunteers dedicated to putting you in the White House, and then do nothing with them once you get there, other than taking them completely for granted and never calling upon them to do anything in support of your agenda. Be sure to deflate their enthusiasm in every way possible.

* Even more importantly, if you're trying to run your presidency into the ground you'll definitely want to avoid mobilizing the general public behind your agenda. To make sure that you don't repeat the great legislative victories of FDR or LBJ or (unfortunately) Reagan or (really unfortunately) Little Bush, never use their method of appealing directly to the people. Never express your legislative program as a moral imperative, a great calling to the nation. Never attempt to rally the public behind your cause. Never express any urgency. And never call upon them to demand that Congress pass your bills. Then, you can rest assured they won't!

* And let's take it up a whole ‘nuther level, while we're on the subject. A successful president is one who articulates a strong and compelling narrative for the nation. So, in your quest to avoid rising even to mediocrity, be sure to leave a great big gaping canyon where that whole narrative thing is supposed to go. No New Deal, no Great Society, no New Frontier or War on Terror for you. Nope! Just a thousand little projects with little non-solutions to big problems. Hey, why not inject yourself into Cambridge, Massachusetts community police politics while you're at it! Or the New York State Democratic Party gubernatorial primary! Or you could deliberate for weeks about which breed of dog to get for your kids! That's a great use of the president's political capital!

...

* Another great trick for crashing a presidency is to pick all the wrong priorities to ‘fight' for. Imagine, for example, if FDR had substituted for his ‘Day of Infamy' speech right after Pearl Harbor a ringing call for an American revolution in cobbler technology! Yes, that's right, in response to the devastating surprise attack by the armed forces of the Empire of Japan, what if the president urgently called upon us all to start making really amazing shoes?! Before it's too late, and we all get blisters on our feet! Similarly, Mr. Obama, your spending the last year on (jive) health care and jetting around the world dipping your toes into foreign policy problems while Americans are losing their jobs and their houses is a fine way to kill your presidency. Guaranteed to work every time.

* And, finally, perhaps the most important thing one can do - and the thing that helps explain many of the other items above - is to adopt really, really pathetic policies. If you're doing a stimulus bill, for example, make sure that it's too little money, not targeted at real stimulative levers in the economy, costs a lot, doesn't kick in for a year or two, gives away about a third of the money to ineffective pet projects for Republican while none of them vote for it anyhow, and leaves the unemployment rate stuck at a miserable ten percent. Or, if you're doing a bail-out of the banks for the purpose of producing the liquidity essential to restarting the economy, let them take bonuses as big as they want, and don't actually require that they loan out to anyone the money you've given them. Or, how about spending nearly all your political capital on ‘health care' legislation, which is really an insurance company boondoggle bill instead? That's really what the people want, eh? No wonder Obama's not out there writing the narrative, fighting the good fight or crushing his enemies. Even he can't get excited about his own priorities, so extraordinarily abysmal are they.

All of this represents the best prescription I can imagine for wrecking a presidency, and Obama has followed it with exacting precision. Indeed, doing so would appear to be his only real passion. It's almost as if he were a Republican sleeper politician in some party politics version of the Manchurian Candidate, planted to arise on cue and destroy the Democratic Party from within.

And thus - while anything's possible, of course - I am hard pressed to see how the Obama administration is anything but finished.

...

Moreover, by blundering during the only chance he'll ever have at introducing his presidency, he's now created an additional set of problems for himself which may well be insurmountable, even if he were to now try to live up to his campaign billing. He needs Democratic votes in Congress to do much of anything, but they're all focused on the looming tsunami of next November. The very same people who might have swallowed hard and reluctantly followed the lead of inspirational new president Obama one year ago, today will join everyone else in the world and spit in the eye of useless, feeble, washed-up Barack. He's got zero leverage over his own party in Congress now. As for the public, it's gonna be pretty hard to now market himself as the great enemy of the people's enemies, when he's just finished a year of making secret sweetheart deals that benefit Wall Street bankers, health insurance pirates, and pharmaceutical predators, all while leaving his own base and the public he's supposed to be serving out in the rain. Politicians can reinvent themselves, but you need time and there are certain limits of plausibility that cannot be ignored, any more than you can ignore the laws of physics.

Of course, I don't give a shit about Barack Obama anymore, other than my desire that really ugly things happen to him as payment in kind for the grandest act of betrayal we've seen since Benedict Arnold did his thing. But what about the country?

...

I don't think those questions really require a response. I think we all know pretty well the answers.

This is the country that Obama - the great Hope guy - is bequeathing us.

Dante said "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality".

Better stock up on the mist sprayers, Barack.

David Michael Green is a professor of political science at Hofstra University in New York. He is delighted to receive readers' reactions to his articles (mailto:dmg@regressiveantidote.net), but regrets that time constraints do not always allow him to respond. More of his work can be found at his website, www.regressiveantidote.net.

Obamanomics, Explained

A very good video on Obamanomics and crony capitalism, Democrat style.

Obama and the Mob

Ummm...them's the wrong folks with the pitchforks...just look at "Massachusettes".

Poll In MA Heralds Election Disaster for Dem's in November

The Washington Post's new poll shows just how angry middle class voters are. They are pissed that the Obama Administration has utterly ignored the recession and attempted to ram through a government seizure of health care that only the far left of the Democratic Party desires. The "stimulus package" that was supposed to keep unemployment down below 8% has utterly failed, and is now recognized as being a political pay off of Democratic Party constituencies. A significant majority in the most liberal state in America now believe that the direction this government has chosen is the wrong one.

Voter remorse has increased among moderates to an extraordinary degree. Conrad Black, in a scathing column, calls Mr. Obama, incompetent and says that many are recognizing this as well.

Peggy Noonan, Ronald Reagan's leading speech-writer, and now one of the leaders of the Obama Buyers' Remorse Movement, wrote, 'cold and faux eloquent.' He is fluent and sonorous, but rather vapid. And now, Maureen Dowd, foxy doyenne of New York Times columnists and pin-up girl of the D.C. Democratic establishment, niece of FDR's top fixer, former co-leader, with Michelle, Caroline Kennedy and Oprah Winfrey, of the Obama massed, synchronized cheerleaders, has apostacized and reviled the president as a nasty egotist.

A poll taken this week and sponsored by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University's School of Public Health shows just how significant voter anger is, and how it has turned against Democrats in Washington, D.C. as well as demonstrating how dramatically the political landscape has fundamentally shifted during Mr. Obama's freshman year in office.

The findings do not provide a political portrait of the entire country in the opening weeks of the 2010 election year. But given that Massachusetts has been reliably Democratic in presidential elections, the results of Tuesday's special Senate election and the reasons voters sided with Brown over Democrat Martha Coakley speak to broader shifts that have taken place across the country over the past year.

These changes were echoed in national polling and helped elect Republican governors in Virginia and New Jersey in November. Democrats have been put squarely on the defensive. Obama and Democratic leaders are looking for ways to alter the political dynamics in the hope of heading off potentially sizable losses in their congressional majorities in this November's elections

--63% of Massachusetts special election voters think the country is seriously off-track.
--Brown got two-thirds of them.
--Almost two-out-of-three Brown supporters intended their vote as an opposition message to Democrats in D.C.
--47% say the federal government is doing too many things better left to individuals and business.
--75% of Brown voters want him to work with both parties.
--58% of Tuesday's voters don't like what Republicans are doing either, whatever that is.
--43% of Massachusetts' Tuesday voters like the Obama-congressional healthcare bills. But 48% don't..

Yet Mr. Obama insists that he will "double down" on his agenda and continue to try and ram though an increasingly unpopular health care bill. Furthermore, he has signalled that he will have the "Cap & Trade" on his desk by fall, no matter how much damage that bill will do to an already distressed economy. If Mr. Obama continues with his attack on the US economy, Democrats in may see the loss of more than 100 seats in the US Congress as well as the loss of 16 of the 17 Senators up for reelection.

Michael Barone, in the Washington Examiner has echoed this prediction with some statistical evidence that show only 103 Democratically held seats in the House can be considered "safe." His research shows that,

there’s a pattern here: Coakley carries districts where Obama got 65% or more of the vote and runs essentially even in the district where he got 64%, and Scott Brown runs ahead in districts where Obama got less than 64% of the vote.

Let’s extrapolate those numbers to the nation as a whole and assume that a district that voted 64% or more for Obama is safe for Democrats even under the most dire of circumstances. How many such districts are there? Answer, according to this source: 103. The other 332 districts voted 63% or less for Obama. Interestingly, there are more 64%+ Obama districts in the West (36) than in the East (27) and more in the South (21) than in the Midwest (19).

All but two of the 103 Obama 64%+ districts are represented by Democrats. The two exceptions are Louisiana 2, where Republican An Joseph Cao beat Democrat William “Cold Cash” Jefferson in a December 2008 runoff, and Florida 19, whose incumbent Robert Wexler resigned and a special election will be held in April...
So that means that 101 of the 256 House Democrats represent 64%+ Obama districts and that 155 House Democrats represent districts which might, according to the Massachusetts metric, be vulnerable in some circumstances to Republican capture. No wonder so many House Democrats refused to vote for the Senate health care bill—enough to prompt Speaker Nancy Pelosi to say publicly that “unease would be a gentle word” to describe their attitude toward doing that.

So it would seem that Mr. Obama is intent on political suicide and desires to take the Democratic Party with him...

Meet Rand Paul in Louisville, KY Next Saturday

via a friend of mine...

Join us in Louisville next Saturday

The Rand Paul for U.S. Senate campaign is off to a great start thanks to strong and faithful supporters like you. The polls continue to indicate that victory is a real possibility and the experts who wrote us off only a few months ago are now all singing a different tune.

The freedom movement has made great strides recently as more Americans wake up and join our cause. The movement is growing because the message is right and the need is so great right now. As you know, Rand has crossed Kentucky many times in his car finding hard-working Americans alarmed by the sharp turns taken by our government and ready to return to a steadier course.

On Saturday, January 30, Congressman Ron Paul will join Rand in Louisville, Kentucky.

Rand and Ron will meet at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center Entrance B, Room 101 at 4:00 pm ET at 937 Phillips Lane in Louisville. Those who join them will hear the latest news from both men about the battle for freedom in America and how one U.S. Senate campaign in Kentucky will usher in the next stage of the fight. Admission is just $25 per adult at the door and there is no charge for children. So bring the family and encourage all your friends to come, too. And come early to get a good seat!

A smaller gathering of supporters will join Rand and Ron at 3:00 pm ET at Entrance A, Room 100. Admission for this gathering is $500 per person. Please RSVP for this event to Ryan Hogan at ryan@randpaul2010.com.

And if you have time, help kick our campaign into high gear by joining us at the Wal-Mart parking lot at 7101 Cedar Springs Blvd in Louisville on the morning of the rally. Join Rand and his family as we collect voter data door-to-door from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm.

All donations will be accepted at the door. If you can't make it on Saturday but would like to support the effort, please click here to donate.

Thanks again for all you do to support Rand and to support the freedoms we value so much.

Sincerely,

David Adams
Campaign manager
Rand Paul for U.S. Senate

Jon Stewart Bitch Slaps Olbermann

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Special Comment - Keith Olbermann's Name-Calling
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Hat Tip, Instapundit.com

A New Plan For America

A New Plan For America
By Richard A. Vail
Over the past several weeks there has unfolded in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts something unprecedented in recent American politics. A Republican victory in blue/blue Massachusetts in which a Republican has won a seat in the U.S. Senate is something that hasn't occurred since 1972. However, the real significance of the victory of Scott Brown in Massachusetts is that the GOP will have the opportunity to update the party platform. Rather than maintaining "Compassionate Conservatism" or "Democratic Lite" which has guided the party for the past 8 years an opportunity has arrived to change this to a more comprehensive message. The current "Dem Lite" platform, has cost the party dearly, and is politically a dead end. By readopting a less intrusive small government, lower tax platform, the party can recapture the excitement that's been lost since 2002.

A number of dire issues face this country. By adopting conservative solutions to these problems, the party can show the country the relevance of its principles, by providing genuine alternatives to the Obama, Pelosi, Reid triumvirate currently reigning in Washington, D.C. These policies that they have enacted in a strictly partisan fashion over the past year have deepened the recession and added untold numbers to the unemployment rolls. They have given rise to a genuine populist, grassroots movement in the Tea Party.

The largest lesson of the past several decades isn't that the existing major political parties are the only alternatives, but that independent voters are equal in size to all the registered party members. Mr. Obama was able to ride a tide of independent voter dissatisfaction to the presidency, he has made one key mistake. He ran as a moderate, and then immediately after the election ran hard left and has attempted to radically remake the American economy and governmental system. Over the course of the past year, that has cost him most, if not all of the independent voters he courted so successfully. The key to victory in the future will be to successfully regain the trust of those great mass of independent voters, many of whom lean to the right politically, and maintain that trust. Thus, while the Tea Party movement isn't Republican; at its roots, many of its basic tenets ARE. These can be adopted and offered as an alternative to the socialist, big intrusive government solutions being offered by the Democratic Party.

I. Tax Code. Beyond high unemployment, there are several fundamental issues that now face this country. First of all, the tax code is an utter mess. It's so complicated that no one can figure it out, least of all the IRS advisors on the help lines sponsored every year by the government. The complete Internal Revenue Code is more than 24 megabytes in length, and contains more than 3.4 million words; printed 60 lines to the page, it would fill more than 7500 letter-size pages. Or in book format, 16,845 pages in FY2006.

My suggestion would be to simplify it to this extent. If you make more XXX dollars per year (above the poverty line, depending on size of household), then you pay XXX dollars, up until you reach a maximum rate of 20%. No other exemptions would be allowed.

The same rate would apply for business...and NO exemptions. That way the tax is spread all the way across the board, EVERYONE pays exactly the same rate. So if you make (for simplicity sake) $10,000.00, you pay $2,000.00. If you make $1,000,000.00, then you pay $200,000.00. Is it fair certainly, everyone pays the same percentage. Let's call it the Fair Tax Plan for America. Additionally, until the national debt was paid off, a national sales tax of 2% could be implemented. The funds from this tax would be put solely against the debt. No other diversions would be permitted. Once a balanced budget is achieved and the debt paid off, then the income tax could be reduced to a significantly lower level. A pledge that is near and dear to every taxpayers heart.

II. A Balanced Budget Amendment. However, to make a plan such as this to work, Congress would need to have the discipline to NOT spend beyond the country's ability to pay. What I mean by that is that Congress would not be permitted to execute any more deficit spending. All increases in spending in one area, must be offset by cuts in another area. Thus, by supporting a Balanced Budget Amendment, the party would be able to justify real reductions in the size of government. Under this system, as well as real reform in the tax code, within a period of 50 years, this country could eliminate the national debt.

Additionally, by placing real limits upon the size of government, many of those who are unfruitfully working in the public sector, could be returned to the productive, industrial side of the economy, thus reopening our fast fading industrial sector. American workers are the most productive workers in the history of civilization. Most important of all, earmarks must end NOW. We cannot afford to have spending outside of the budget. That defeats the purpose of fiscal responsibility. Additionally, it is a huge reason for the loss of the GOP majority of 2006, the country at large could see no difference between Republican's spending habits and those of the Democrats.

III. Terms Limits. By adopting term limits as well as limits, more people would have the incentive to become active within the present political frame work. No citizen of the United States shall be elected to the House of Representatives to more than four (4) consecutive, two (2) year terms to office. No citizen of the United States shall be elected to the United States Senate for more than two (2) consecutive, six (6) year terms of office. No citizen of the United States shall receive any retirement benefits from serving in either the United States House of Representatives or the United States Senate. Congress shall not exempt itself from any laws of the United States of America, in whole or in part. (this is a huge part of why the present attempt to seize control of the American health care system is so unpopular, because our "ruling class" is specifically exempt from its provisions!) Congress shall be in session for a period of not less than 90 consecutive days in the Spring, and 90 consecutive days in the Summer of each year. Each sitting of Congress may be extended by the President for a period not to exceed 30 days. The Spring session shall start on the first Monday of March. The Summer session shall begin on the first Monday in June. An additional 45 day session to begin on the 2nd Monday of November shall be called by the President if so deemed necessary, this session may not be extended unless a period of National Emergency is formally declared by the President. {This section I think is necessary to basically force Congress to actually work...in the past decade they generally only spend 2 1/2 days per week actually working in Washington, DC. Most often only from Tues afternoon to Thurs afternoon!}

IV. Establish A Modern Industrial Plan. This is something this country has been lacking for at least four (4) decades. We have lost more industrial jobs overseas than have been created. We must in order to remain at the top of the world's economic summit, return to being an industrial nation. We have the ability to produce heavy industrial machinery of the highest quality, that very few countries can match. We need to encourage this with official policy. In addition, we need to divest the government from holding stocks, bonds or any direct interest in any corporation. Government exists to govern, not invest in business directly.

V. A Realistic Energy Plan. Whether you believe the world is warming due to man-made causes or not, it is time to develop a realistic plan to exploit our natural resources. It makes absolutely no sense not to begin drilling domestically for new sources of oil. Saying that it's ok to do so in Saudi Arabia or Nigeria is disingenuous at best and at worst hypocritical.

We have vast shale oil deposits that stretch from Colorado well north into Canada. We as a country in order to stop the steady bleeding of our financial future overseas to those countries who produce oil, take our money, then steadily work to destroy us (Saudi Arabia is the major indirect source of funds for Al Qaeda) is to commit slow suicide. Nor does being "green" mean that we must destroy our economy either. Simply by exploiting those natural resources that we directly control, we will immediately begin to wean ourselves away from a dependence on foreign sources of oil. In addition, we must begin to seriously search for alternative fuels.

We need to increase the funding for alternative sources of energy especially geothermal , wind and solar (including methods of obtaining same from space) in addition to alternatives to hydrocarbon fuels (oil/coal). In addition, we also need to reinvest in nuclear power . France and Japan both use nuclear power plants for 75% or more of their electrical energy needs.

VI. Real Health Care Reform.
1) Break the monopoly. Allow competing health care organizations. If doctors can’t lose their licenses, they are free to provide solutions they know work, but that the AMA won’t allow.
2) Tort reform. Most of the tort lawyers are parasites, and oddly enough, like John Edwards many are Democrats. They add no value, except to keep some doctors honest, but their role should be far more limited. Limit damages to actual loss, and only with gross negligence. Loser pays the winner's legal bills.
3) Make health costs 100% tax-free. Better, eliminate the 16th amendment (the income tax system). Then establish a national sales tax system. Additionally, allow portability between states and permit ALL of the health insurance organizations to provide insurance regardless of state lines. The moment you do this, people go out and join co-ops and get great rates.
4) Pharmaceutical Costs. Force the Pharmaceutical companies to sell to other countries at the same rate as they charge their biggest customers here. They will then pay more, and we’ll pay less, as we will no longer subsidizing them.
5) Fix SS/Medicare. Decree that those now under the age of 50 will no longer be eligible for benefits upon early retirement. Move the retirement age back a couple years, since people are living far longer (I would move the age to 65 as a minimum for eligibility for Medicare). Prosecute all the fraudulent disability claims vigorously.

VII. Controlling The Size of Legislation. Another issue that is beginning to irk the country is the sheer size of bills being presented to Congress for passage. The "Stimulus Package" was more than 1300 pages and concealed pork and payoffs to a degree never seen before in America. The plan to seize control of health care (Mr. Reid's version) topped 2200 pages and contained even more corrupt political deals. Formerly, bills presented to Congress were written in a concise manner that actually made sense while still having an important impact upon America. Now we have a Congress that not only doesn't ever actually read the those bills they vote on, but often "shop" out the construction of bills to those so called "special interest" groups so that they don't actually have to do the work of reading them.

It's so bad, that Arlen Specter (D PA) admitted in a town hall last summer that he doesn't read them at all, he has his staff do it. Basically, Congress only writes huge complicated bills when they want to hide pork and special interest preferences...How can I make that statement? Easy...

Homestead Act (1862) 9 pages.
National Labor Relations Act (1935) [aka "Wagner Act"] 25 pages.
Social Security Act (1935) 82 pages.
Civil Rights Act (1964) 74 pages.

These bills are of tremendous historical importance to our country. They changed fundamentally how things are done. What this proves is that it's not really necessary to write a hugely complicated bill to change the way things are done in America unless you're trying to hide pork.

IX. Secure Borders/Immigration Reform. This is a very contentious issue to pursue, but in times of extreme economic recession will favor citizens and legal residents. First of all, we must have reasonably secure borders. While the Canadian border is not often the source of contention, the southern border with Mexico is another matter altogether. Both need to be reasonably secure, while permitting the free flow of goods in both directions. On the Mexican border, we must interdict the crossing of not just of illegal workers, but the possible movement of terrorists as well as eliminating illegal drug traffic.

It will be physically impossible to deport the millions of illegal workers back to their home countries, but what can be done is the vigorous enforcement of laws already on the books. Additionally, by adopting heavy fines for first offense followed by loss of business operating licenses as well as extreme punitive fines for additional offenses will discourage employers from hiring illegal workers in the first place. Ideally this can be pitched in a time of great economic distress as being measures to favor unemployed citizens and legally resident aliens.

To conclude, By showing the country that the Republican brand has returned to its fiscally conservative roots, the party can begin the job of wooing back all of the right leaning independent voters that have been lost since the 2006 election cycle. Additionally, it will wrest control of the party from social conservatives who have been driving the party since the early 1990's. In 1992, when George H. W. Bush allowed the socially conservative (the so called "moral majority") far right minority to gain control of the party many independents turned away from long term support of the party. These voters have upon occasion returned to voting for GOP candidates (1994, 2002), but they have not supported the party with any regularity. This can be avoided by returning the party to being the champions of fiscal conservatism while leaving social conservatism to state and local governments.  By establishing a long term Plan For America, and adhering strictly to it, the GOP can regain control of first the House of Representatives in 2010, and then the White House and US Senate in 2012 and thus be able to enact all of the facets of this plan.

This has been posted on searchwarp.com as well.