Friday, May 01, 2009

Random points to ponder

- The press conference on Wed. was laughable. Fox refused air time, and I’m sure the other networks will do the same next time Obama asks for time. The American press has become a caricature of false objectivity.
- “What has enchanted you the most?” – That one will go down as perhaps the most ridiculous question ever asked at a Presidential press conference, and it was asked by the New York Times.
- No one asked Obama about the NYC flyby, or the worse-than-expected decline in the economy this past month. But at least we know what enchants him.
- When is someone going to muzzle Biden? His comments yesterday morning were absurd. But not nearly as absurd as Robert Gibbs later trying to tell us all what he “meant” to say. It amazes me how much the White House underestimates the intelligence of the average American.
- Congrats to the GOP for beginning the purge of their party. It’s people like Arlen Specter that turned conservatives like myself away from the party. If the GOP is going to comeback, they must get rid of those pseudo-conservatives who take conservative money and vote with the liberals. Hopefully, Specter won’t be the first.
- Specter said the party had become too right-wing for him. Too right-wing? That one had me laughing. Again, he must think we’re pretty stupid. Specter has been with the GOP since the Reagan years and yet he wants us all to think that the GOP – the same party who ran up record deficits the past 8 years – has become more right-wing than they were in Reagan’s time? This guy needs to find a rocking chair and a front porch where his nonsensical mumbling would be more appropriate.
- Kalid S. Muhammed was interrogated by the CIA and the only info they got was “you will soon find out…” This sounds like a threat of an imminent attack. It was only then that Bush ordered the waterboarding, and apparently more information was yielded, perhaps even thwarting a major attack. Yet, Obama says there are better ways to get this sort of information. Seems to me those ways failed with KSM.
- Someone needs to ask Obama that – if faced with a similar KSM situation – would he order waterboarding? In other words, suppose all other methods failed and the prisoner clearly had knowledge of an imminent attack on the US. What would Obama do? Instead, we get “what enchants you the most?”
- Obama said that Roe v. Wade was correctly decided. This tells me a lot about his understanding of the Constitution. Regardless of your opinion of abortion, if you have a good grasp of the Constitution as it is written there is no way you can make an argument that the Constitution provides a federally protected right to an abortion without having to make the same argument for rape, incest, pedophilia, domestic violence or even murder.
- John Kerry recently said that newspapers are so important to the American people that a federal bailout of failing papers should be considered.
- Obama’s treasury will lend Chrysler $8 billion in taxpayer dollars. That’s an $8 billion loan to a company in bankruptcy. Sounds like good fiscal policy to me.
- At the same time, Obama ripped Chrysler’s lenders for not forgiving enough of their debt, as though these people were greedy or something. Yeah, shame on you all for loaning money and actually expecting the borrower to pay it back. If lenders would only be as reckless with their money as the government is with our money, perhaps the world would be a better place. After all, we just “loaned” a bankrupt company $8 billion.
- And remember, we ALL need to be more responsible with money…and don’t forget to wash your hands or – as Biden puts it – stay away from any form of public transportation whatsoever.

7 comments:

Dan Trabue said...

re: Purging the GOP...

At some point, doesn't one have to wonder if the Small Tent approach to political parties is prudent?

If "HE" isn't one of us and "SHE" certainly isn't and, well, "THEY" are all on the wrong side of righteousness and "ALL THOSE OTHERS OVER THERE" are questionable and out to just get out... at some point, who will be voting for your party?

Reminds me of that scene in The Jerk where Steve Martin is working as a Carnie and explaining to the game players what prizes they can win, saying...

"Uh, anything in this general area right in here. Anything below the stereo and on this side of the bicentennial glasses. Anything between the ashtrays and the thimble. Anything in this three inches right in here in this area. That includes the Chiclets, but not the erasers."I fear that soon those three inches will be the GOP. I don't fear it much, though...
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(CNN) Several members of the Republican National Committee are miffed at Newt Gingrich for claiming that they’re a small bunch of egomaniacs who need to be coddled by the party chairman.

John Washburn said...

Dan, what you don't understand is that the GOP has failed because of phony politicians like Specter. Remember, this guy was voted into office despite being pro-choice. So the "little tent" argument doesn't hold. There is plenty of room for moderates in the GOP.

Specter left because he had no chance of winning the primary. He had no chance of winning the primary because of his vote for the stimulus bill. He is the first victim of the grassroots movement that was on protest on tax day.

The GOP nominated John McCain - a moderate - and he was narrowly defeated in the general election. The tent doesn't get much bigger than that. Yet, when Joe Leiberman supports the Iraq War the Dems kick him out. So which party has the little tent here?

The grassroots movement is open-minded. We will tolerate differing views on social issues like gun control, abortion and immigration, ie Guiliani and McCain. What we won't tolerate is waste. We're tired of wasteful spending and oppressive taxation and that's something that truly is bipartisan. The GOP was brought down because of it and the Dems will no doubt learn the same lesson. Specter is just the first of many.

The "little tent" argument is nothing more than a political talking point meant to ignore the primary concern of MANY voters. I thought you'd be wary enough to see that.

Dan Trabue said...

I made the little tent argument not because I'm given to political talking points or because I'm a Democrat or know what they're thinking or anything like that.

I made the point because the GOP is shrinking. Their numbers are getting smaller and they're regularly saying, "HE is a RINO" "HE'S not really one of us," etc.

I made the point because increasingly, the GOP is a party of older white folk and the older white folk demographic is continually shrinking.

John McCain is a moderate only by comparison. He is not that different than Bush (whom I know many on the far Right consider to be a raging liberal, but still...) and Bush was no moderate. McCain is Right, middle Right perhaps but Right wing in his positions.

I think having a reliable second party is a good thing and I would like to see the GOP offer a valid alternative. I fear, though, that they will go the way of the whigs, what with changing demographics and their own internal brittleness.

Check with me in a year or two and we'll see if their numbers have continued to dwindle or if they've pulled themselves together.

I DO see that many voters (maybe 20%? 30%??) are put off by Obama's direction. But 20-30% is not enough to offer a valid alternative.

SNAKE HUNTERS said...

Big tent, little tents, a loud and naive crowds holding hotdogs and paper cups of beer, and 25c cotton candy (a heated spoonful of sugar) all describes the fluff without substance, and the political hacks that peddle their left/right slum nightly in the mainstream media.

Who knew then...it was all slick ledgerdemaine, an elaborite CHANGE routine, orchestrated by the Master Puppeteer of Open Society Institute; and darn few know his name. reb

Dan Trabue said...

Could it be... "Satan"??

Wry Mouth said...

i get the gist of the post: too much, too fast, can't keep up with all the lunacy. maybe that is the plan? ;o/

SNAKE HUNTERS said...

Satan? Well, I can't say.

The church-lady next door sez that ol' Beelzebub is the Master of Deception, and the Author of Chaos;
and that fits.

But this 79 yr old dude is probably
just a wild-eyed International Monster-Man that enjoys turning a fast billion in Europe, plus a few more here, and spending a vast fortune demonizing opponents, and endorsing people with no military experience to be our Commander-In-Chief so he can begin down-sizing and dismantling our military-industrial complex, and that 'arsenal of democracy' in Detroit. He bought a big chunck of Halliburton in 2008...and he staches a big wad of his loot in the Caymen Isles, where Uncle Sam can't get at it. A slicker all right.

Mebbe Satan made him do it! reb
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