Benghazi - Lies, Lies and more Damned Lies

I watched the hearing yesterday where Senators tried to get answers from Hillary Clinton.

 

Thanks to Senator John McCain and Senator Rand Paul.  They did a good job of trying to get to the truth.  The rest of those charged with investigating this tragedy were woefully inadequate.

 

4 good men died - Hillary Clinton and Obama lied.  That is the truth.

 

 

"The house is burning down, and the Democratic constituencies want free ice cream."

Jennifer Rubin from the WAPO puts it succinctly - The DEMS haven't got a clue and we need ADULT LEADERSHIP, not a President who acts like a petulant teenager on a spending spree with our national credit card.

Whistling past the graveyard at the Democratic convention By Jennifer Rubin - Washington Post

If you had been dropped from outer space into the Democratic National Convention, you would have thought that we enjoyed full employment, reduced poverty and stared down Iran, leaving us with deeply important issues like paying for birth control for grown women. You would have thought that a large majority of Americans weren’t sympathetic to Israel and weren’t religious. You’d have thought that the federal government had money to burn and no looming debt crisis. You would never have thought that Obama had signed a “historic” health-care bill. And you’d have thought that the political heavyweight in the Obama household was Michelle. (Well, you might have been right about the last one.)

But knowing that the America of 2012 is so very different than the convention portrait, it’s worth asking how the Democrats’ convention became so divorced from reality.

We saw a party in which the inability to tackle the monumental problems of our time ( entitlement reform, fiscal crisis, endemic high unemployment, a nuclear-armed Iran) has left a large gaping hole where its core should be. As our problems have gotten bigger, the party has gotten smaller, angrier and less grown-up. The house is burning down, and the Democratic constituencies want free ice cream.

So, how does it happen that days are spent on abortion on demand (which we essentially have anyway until the Supreme Court decides differently) and contraception, while big-ticket items are ignored?

The answer is twofold, I think. The current state of the Democratic Party is both the natural consequences of a longtime trend and the reflection of a president who is tragically unequipped to do his job.

Constituent politics is nothing new to the Democratic Party, of course. Ever since FDR strung together an alliance of urban blacks, Southern whites, labor and immigrants, the Democratic Party has been collecting interest groups like a girl collects charms for her bracelet. The groups have multiplied (gays, Native Americans, public employees), but the concept has been the same for 70 years. In exchange for votes the Democratic Party will give you lots of “free” stuff. To get free stuff you have to pay a lot of taxes and idealize government as the font of good deeds, so that citizens won’t mind an increasingly intrusive and expensive government. The point is not to solve problems or even measure success; the point is to keep the swapping (votes for free stuff) going strong.

A lot of the big-ticket items have already been doled out. So now we’re down to the really small beans ( free contraception!). Whether the giveaways are small or large (e.g., unlimited health care for all, free college education) the idea is propounded that the measure of a decent, successful society is how much free stuff you give away.

This phenomenon has been amply documented (most recently by Jay Cost in in his new book, Spoiled Rotten: How the Politics of Patronage Corrupted the Once Noble Democratic Party and Now Threatens the American Republic). But usually the itty-bitty items and the atomized nature of a party strung together only by the common desire to get free stuff are not so obvious. Usually, there is an overarching purpose that takes center stage, while the interest group plate-spinners carry on along the sidelines. What was so startling at this year’s Democratic convention was that there is nothing else but the interest group beg-a-thon.

And this brings us to the current president. In 2008 Barack Obama had big themes and big ambitions that gave the party coherence. Having failed to do the big things (curb the debt, stop Iran, jump-start the economy), he chose to ignore the biggest issues of our time. My colleague Michael Gerson aptly put it: “Obama made almost no mention of the continuing jobs crisis. He offered nothing new or creative on a fiscal and debt crisis that undermines economic confidence. Much of Obama’s agenda — lowering tuition costs, recruiting math and science teachers, ‘long-lasting batteries’ — sounded like a seventh-year State of the Union address, a collection of policy leavings and leftovers.”

So then it wasn’t merely that Obama let loose the rent-seekers (and birth control-seekers and free-education-seekers). No, he needed them to fill up the space and the airwaves, to promise that no matter what (fiscal crisis, recession) he will still be there to cater to the whims and demands of the constituent groups. Sure the economy is bad, but who’s going to give you free college tuition?

It’s ludicrous, of course. If the economy doesn’t improve and we don’t avoid the fiscal cliff, we’ll be taking away, not handing out stuff. This is the “austerity” against which the liberals inveigh. In fact, they are driving us ever closer to the point where we will will have to quickly and severely cut out the handouts.

It is, as conservatives have said for so long, the Western European syndrome. As we spend and cater to the demanding crowd, we push ourselves closer and closer to the point where both the excessive demands and actual needs will go unmet.

It is interesting that on Friday major financial institutions sounded the alarm about the state of the economy. James Pethokoukis quoted JPMorgan’s economist Michael Feroli:

Labor market activity was disappointing again in Aug . . . The more comprehensive employment-to-population ratio ticked down to 58.3%; this measure is a mere 0.1% above its cycle trough, indicating that once one takes account of population growth there has been essentially no progress in repairing the labor market after the recent downturn. In fact, if you go through the details it’s hard to find any redeeming aspects to this jobs report. In terms of the broader economy, today’s numbers should check any enthusiasm that the economy was gaining momentum toward the end of the summer. Instead, the economy appears to remain stuck in the mud.

“Awful,” “dreary,” weak” and “dismaying.” He sounds like the town crier straining to wake up the town. But in Charlotte the Democrats had their fingers in their ears, as if blocking out the noise would make it go away, or at least muffle others’ hearing. What’s that? The economy is near a recession? Hmm. Did I mention we’ll give you free birth control?

I like to say that the first side in a campaign to raise social issues is losing on everything else. In this case, the campaign spending three days on wedge issues and statist trinkets is getting clobbered on everything else.

Maybe the Obama cynicism is right and the public is willing to be coddled and distracted. But somehow I think not. At some point voters want to fix the big things; they might even be willing to forgo a lot of free stuff

The Real Story - Romney is winning and the MEDIA is baised against him

The shite has already started from those in the LIB Media who want to keep Obama in office.  The stories are like the one posted in Newsweek ( You mean they are still in business??) with a story title like " The Obama Landslide ??" - Puhleeeeeze.

This crap about Obama winning is just that - CRAP.

Pro Publica analyzed the news over the last few months and found that news reports written about Romney were 84% negative...... 84% !!  That is from a non-biased organization dedicated to providing the facts. 

People are hurting, unemployment is outta control, the economy is teetering on a 2nd recession and the media thinks people believe that the Village Idiot from Chicago is going to get re-elected ??? 

Bull.  That's what this it is  -  out & out BULLSHITE.

The Media think putting down a self-made millionaire is going to work with people who see that the President has never held a job in the private sector in his adult life???  I vote for the candidate who knows how to make money in the private sector. All Obama wants to do is print up and hand out more federal dollars out of our pockets.

Read this and get a fresh perspective of what the media are trying to do.....then Vote the Idiot in the White House out of office.  If you care about our country, don't give Obama four more years to continue the crap he has wrought upon our nation.  He is not worthy and we, the American people deserve better.


The Real Poll Numbers
By Dick Morris on August 6, 2012 

The media is trying to create a sense of momentum and of inevitability about the Obama candidacy. One benighted Newsweek reporter even speculated about a possible Democratic landslide.

On Friday, I saw the real numbers. These state-by-state polls, taken by an organization I trust (after forty years of polling) show the real story. The tally is based on more than 600 likely voter interviews in each swing state within the past eight days.

The trend line is distinctly pro-Romney. Of the thirteen states studied, he improved or Obama slipped in nine states while the reverse happened in only four. To read the media, one would think that Romney had a terrible month. In fact, the exact reverse is true.

Romney is currently leading in every state McCain carried plus: Indiana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Nevada, North Carolina, and Colorado. If he carries these states, he’ll have 228 electoral votes of the 270 he needs to win.

To win the election, Romney would then have to carry Florida where he trails by two points, and either Virginia (behind by two) or Ohio where he’s down by only one.

If he carries all three of these states and also wins all the others where Obama is now at 50% or less – Iowa, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey — he will get 351 electoral votes, a landslide about equal to Obama’s 363 vote tally in 2008.

The strong probability is that Romney does, in fact, carry Florida, Ohio, and Virginia and a share of the other states where Obama is below 50% of the vote.

So don’t believe the garbage being put out by the media. The attempt to portray Romney as not catching on and as dropping in the polls is ludicrous. It is, at best, the product of incompetent polling and, at worst, the result of deliberate media bias. But Romney is winning and expanding his lead each week. That’s the real story

In our lifetime....

Place this along the lines of " The beatings will continue until morale improves..."

IF we could have a mature competent person in the White House, instead of the present occupant who acts like a petulant teenager who is partying on his parent's credit card, we might see improvement on the economy sooner.

The Campaigner-In-Chief is NOT the person we need running our country for the next 4 years.  Time to go Obama, and take your Nanny-State Wife with you.....We have had enough of your brand of "do as I say, not as I do" crappola.....really.

Cratering

The enclosed picture shows the El Elegante Crater, part of the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve in northwestern Sonora, Mexico, and is about 1 mile in diameter and 800 feet deep.

Or it could be an accurate dicpictation of the re-election efforts and political aptitude of the Obama White House.

The Obama Political Machine is cratering.....in the fashion expected after 3 1/2 years of ineptitude, self absorbed BS and all the other things that we have seen from the idiot-in-charge and his gang of self proclaimed " smartest people" in Washington.

The wheels have come off the wagon and it has pitched over the cliff....

To quote Will Smith (one of Obama's biggest fans) from the movie " I Robot " -

" You know, somehow " I told you so" doesn't quite cover it..."

The capper to the past month of crappola from the White House was the recent interview when a reporter asked the President why he didn't go to Wisconsin to support the Democrat running against Governor Paul Walker - His answer was " The truth of the matter is that as President of the United States, I've got a lot of responsibilities..."

Yeah, like flying all over the country on the taxpayers dime to the hundred or more fundraisers you went to so far this year...more than the previous 6 Presidents held combined.

Cratering.....His career, our economy and his hopes of being taken seriously by anyone -

To say his administration is a " trainwreck " would be complimentary.  It is over.

Now we need to get to the business of electing his successor, and get the economy back on track - not with more public service jobs helping Obama's Union buddies, but with building up the American economy with decent jobs tied to helping all, not just those hacks who have connections to the DEMS.

Less government, more opportunity for all and less BS from Washington -

The American public has had enough from a White House full of delusional idjits that wasted Trillions of our taxdollars over the last three and 1/2 years.  This administration has cratered.


Pileup at the White House
By Dana Milbank, Tuesday, June 12, 3:53 AM
Washington Post

It has been a Junius Horribilis for President Obama.

Job growth has stalled, the Democrats have been humiliated in Wisconsin, the attorney general is facing a contempt-of-Congress citation, talks with Pakistan have broken down, Bill Clinton is contradicting Obama, Mitt Romney is outraising him, Democrats and Republicans alike are complaining about a “cascade” of national-security leaks from his administration, and he is now on record as saying that the “private sector is doing fine.”

Could it get any worse?

Early Monday morning, Obama learned that it could. His aides delivered the news to him that his commerce secretary had been cited for a felony hit-and-run after allegedly crashing his car three times over the weekend. In one incident, the previously obscure Cabinet officer apparently rear-ended a Buick, spoke to the car’s occupants, then hit the vehicle again as he left.

Thus did Jay Carney, the oft-besieged White House press secretary, have another briefing carjacked by bad news. And Carney, who either didn’t know the details of the bizarre episode or wasn’t at liberty to divulge them, had to execute a full range of defensive maneuvers.

“I can simply tell you that he was engaged, as has been reported, in a couple of traffic incidents,” Carney began, as if the secretary, John Bryson, had been photographed by a speed camera or two. Bryson “suffered a seizure, was hospitalized. But beyond that I’ll refer you to Commerce for the details.”

“Is the secretary healthy and fit to serve?” inquired Ben Feller of the Associated Press.
“I would refer you to the Commerce Department.”

Ann Compton of ABC News asked whether the White House chief of staff, who spoke to Bryson, considers the incident serious.

“I don’t have a specific response to give you,” Carney said.

CNN’s Brianna Keilar asked about “the timing of the seizure in relation to the accident.”
“I would refer you, as I said in the past, to the Department of Commerce,” Carney answered.

“I’ve been asking them for hours,” Keilar protested.
“I think I would refer you to the Commerce Department,” was Carney’s rote reply.

The former journalist informed the questioners that he “was not a presiding doctor on this case” and could confirm only that “the commerce secretary was alone, he had a seizure, he was involved in an accident.”

“He was involved in several accidents,” called out April Ryan of American Urban Radio.
“Thank you for the correction,” Carney said. He did not sound grateful.

Carney’s non-defense doesn’t suggest much job security for Bryson, who, depending on what caused the episode Saturday, has either a medical problem or a legal problem.
For the White House, it was just the latest entry in the when-it-rains-it-pours ledger. This has been one of the worst stretches of the Obama presidency. In Washington, there is a creeping sense that the bottom has fallen out and that there may be no second term. Privately, senior Obama advisers say they are no longer expecting much economic improvement before the election.

Carney had the unenviable task of confronting the full arsenal of gloom at Monday afternoon’s briefing.

The AP asked about the president’s unfortunate private-sector-is-fine remark. The Reuters correspondent asked about the economic “head winds” from Europe. Ed Henry of Fox News Channel asked about the looming contempt-of-Congress vote against Attorney General Eric Holder. Margaret Talev of Bloomberg News asked about the Supreme Court striking down Obamacare. Norah O’Donnell of CBS News asked about calls for a special prosecutor to probe leaks. Victoria Jones of Talk Radio News asked about the stalled talks with Pakistan.

Carney sought relief by calling on TV correspondents from swing states, but the one from Wisconsin asked about the failed attempt to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the one from Nevada asked about her state’s unemployment rate, the nation’s highest.
Mostly, though, questions veered back to the commerce secretary’s motoring.
AP Radio’s Mark Smith asked whether Bryson “is now on medical leave.”

“I would refer you to the Commerce Department.” (Eight hours later, Carney issued a statement saying that Bryson was indeed taking such a leave.)

Ryan asked about “mandatory physicals” for Cabinet nominees.
“I don’t have any details about that.”

A New York Daily News correspondent asked if Obama has confidence in Bryson staying on the job with a “felony rap.”

This one Carney answered — by not answering. “He is concerned about Secretary Bryson’s health and broadly about the incident,” the spokesman said — in marked contrast to the “absolute confidence” he said a moment later that Obama has in Holder.

Apparently Bryson will have to clean up his own wreckage. This White House has too many other pileups to deal with.

News and the story-behind-the-story / Healthcare Laws are only for those not politically connected

Here is a list of the Editors' Picks from the NY TIMES as given to me by Google News this morning...See If you can guess the "story behind the story" message that these have in common.

I have highlighted the actual headline and put in blue the real message

NY Times

Political Memo: Front-Runner Role Could Thwart Romney in New Hampshire By JEFF ZELENY (Taking Down the GOP Front Runner in any way we can)

Rick Santorum, Known for His Fighting Nature, Strikes a Calmer Tone By MARK LEIBOVICH (Split the GOP Voters to cause dissent)

Evangelicals Hurry to Find Alternative to Romney By ERIK ECKHOLM (Ditto)

Democrats See Signs of Hope in Election Battle for Congress By JENNIFER STEINHAUER ( Really ?? Democrats hopeful in taking Congressional elections ?? Putting Pelosi in charge again ?Really ?? What are you smoking?)

The press have been in full force putting out positive political stories for Obama since his return to Washington from his vacation. This will continue in full force through to election day as the majority of the press wants him in. The GOP candidate will not be perfect but we have to get Obama out of office before he further injures our nation.

Then there's this...The kind of news that let's you know what is going on when new laws are put in place for the commoners, not those who are favored politically by our President.

Obama has to go. This cannot be the way our country is governed.


Labor unions primary recipients of Obamacare waivers
By Paul Conner
01/06/2012 dailycaller.com

Labor unions continued to receive the overwhelming majority of waivers from the president’s health care reform law since the Obama administration tightened application rules last summer.

Documents released in a classic Friday afternoon news dump show that labor unions representing 543,812 workers received waivers from President Barack Obama‘s signature legislation since June 17, 2011.

By contrast, private employers with a total of 69,813 employees, many of whom work for small businesses, were granted waivers.

The Department of Health and Human Services revised the rules governing applications for health reform waivers June 17, 2011, amid a steady stream of controversial news reports, including The Daily Caller’s story that nearly 20 percent of last May’s waivers went to businesses in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s district in California.

The labor unions receiving waivers include those that are monitored under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, and those that are not. The waivers granted since June 17 are valid until 2013, but recipients must make sure their employees understand the “limits of their coverage,” according to HHS documents.

HHS granted waivers on a year-by-year basis under its initial application process, but waivers granted after June 17 are valid for a maximum of two-and-a-half years.

By and large, unions backed the health care overhaul, a law from which nearly a half million of their workers are now exempt.

Vacationer-in Chief runs up a $ 4 Million + dollar tab for 17 day holiday to Hawaii....It's only the little people's money.

Yes, I know that some will see this info as a "non-story" but in the interest of stressing that " Leadership by example " is seriously missing from the White House, this becomes a prima-facie case of the hypocrisy of the Obama and the First Lady. Obama signed an executive order that directed limiting excessive travel expense or increasing costs needlessly but rules are for the "little people" after all.

Here's what the local press in Hawaii has to say about it. When you are making the locals unhappy in Hawaii, you are obviously doing something wrong as Hawaii is one of the most laid back places anywhere....Kinda tells you where things stand even in a place where he has support.

With More Vacation Days and Separate Travel, Price of Obama’s Annual Hawaiian Holiday Rises BY MALIA ZIMMERMAN - KAILUA, OAHU - www.hawaiireporter.com

The U.S. Secret Service has arrived, street barricades are in place, and the U.S. Coast Guard has stationed itself in the waters surrounding Kailua, Oahu. That is a sure sign President Barack Obama’s security team is preparing for the first family to arrive in the small beachside community as early as Friday night for what is expected to be a 17-day vacation.

The President and his family are traveling separately to Hawaii because he wants resolve the payroll tax cut issue before leaving Washington – and his wife does not want to wait.

But the advanced trip and the cost that comes with it – as much as $100,000 (flight and security) – adds to an already expensive vacation for the taxpayers.

Hawaii Reporter research shows the total cost for the President’s visit for taxpayers far exceeded $1.5 million in 2010 – but is even more costly this year because he extended his vacation by three days and the cost for Air Force One travel has jumped since last assessed in 2000. In addition, Hawaii Reporter was able to obtain more specifics about the executive expenditures.

The total cost (based on what is known) for the 17-day vacation roundtrip vacation to Hawaii for the President, his family and staff has climbed to more than $4 million. Here's why.

TRAVEL: $3,651,626

The biggest expense is President Barack Obama’s round trip flight to Hawaii via Air Force One, a cost the GAO office estimated at $1 million in the year 2000. Contacted today, the GAO confirmed there is no report the independent office affiliated with Congress has prepared since 2000 to operate Air Force One and Air Force Two.

However, the U.S. Air Force provides the most current numbers of $181,757 per flight hour. Travel time for Air Force One direct from Washington D.C. to Hawaii is about 9 hours or $1,635,813 each way for a total of $3,271,622 for the round trip to Hawaii and back.

The cost for USAF C-17 cargo aircraft that transports the Presidential limos, helicopters and other support equipment is not available to the public. However, the flight time between Andrews Air Force Base and Hawaii is at about 20 hours roundtrip, with estimated operating cost of $7,000 per hour (GAO report) for a total of $140,000 per roundtrip. The United States Marine Corps provides a presidential helicopter, along with pilots and support crews for the test flights, which travel on another C-17 flight at $140,000 for a total of $280,000.

Mrs. Obama’s early flight to Hawaii costs about $63,000 (White House Dossier), but add security and personnel for a total of about $100,000.

HOUSING: $151,200

The President and his family pay for their own beachfront rental (they are not staying in the Winter White House this year but rather a house on the same street further to the ocean point).

The Kailua rentals are fronted by the ocean and backed by a canal. So, the taxpayers must cover the costs for housing U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard and Navy Seals in beach front and canal front homes in Kailua.

That costs about $1,200 a day ($200 allocated per bedroom per day). Since security arrives one day early, homes are rented for 18 days.

That is about $21,600 per home for approximately 7 houses rented at a total cost of $151,200 for security to stay nearby.

HOTEL: $72,216

The President’s staff and White House Press Corps stay at one of Hawaii’s oldest and most elegant hotels, the Moana Surfrider. Hawaii Reporter confirmed they are again staying there this year. Besides its stunningly beautiful view of Waikiki, and its traditional architecture, it is one of the most pricey hotels in the state.

Government rates are $177 per night, but that only is available during certain times a year.

Rooms typically start at $250 but can cost on average as much as $450 a night, and are even higher during the holidays. A hotel spokesperson did not return calls to confirm the rate the White House received.

A conservative estimate with rooms at the government rate of $177 per day (excluding a 9.25 percent Transient Accommodation Tax and a 4.712 percent General Excise Tax on each bill, meals, internet charges and other charges) means the taxpayers are covering more than $72,216 in hotel bills for an estimated 24 staff.

LOCAL TAXPAYER COSTS: $260,000

Local police over time for the president’s visit has historically cost Oahu taxpayers $250,000 but may be more expensive this year with the extended vacation.

The city ambulance the accompanies the president 24 hours a day through his entire visit is $10,000, according to city spokeswoman Louise Kim McCoy.


UNKNOWN COSTS

There are several costs the White House annually refuses to release, citing security.

■For example, the president’s security usually rents an entire floor of an office building in Kailua on the canal during the president’s stay.
■There are security upgrades and additional phone lines to several private homes where Obama and friends are staying. That includes bullet proof glass installed, home security systems disabled, new security measures put into place and additional phone lines added.
■There is the cost for car rentals and fuel for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel.
■And there are additional travel costs Secret Service and White House staff traveling ahead of the President.
The total cost (based on what is known) for a 17-day round trip vacation to Hawaii for the President and his family and staff and security is an estimated $4,135,038.
Hawaii Reporter annually has requested details on the cost of the President’s trip, but the White House will not release any figures, citing security concerns. A spokesperson has maintained the costs are "in line" with other presidential vacations.

Hawaii Reporter has sought to determine the cost of vacations for the current president and last two presidents but the Government Accountability Office was able to provide those costs and referred Hawaii Reporter back to the White House spokesperson.

The President takes credit for end of Iraq War...a war he opposed.

Some may forget what was said in the past, but others hold people to their words.

The President likes to take credit for the efforts of others....this is a prime example....Enclosed is what he said in 2002....You be the judge. The only reason why we are leaving is Iraq asked us to leave...But Barry takes credit as if he did the heavy lifting.

What a poser.

Barack Obama's Anti-Iraq War Speech (2002)http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Barack_Obama%27s_Iraq_Speech

" That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.

Now let me be clear — I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity.

He’s a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.

But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars"

The SEIU supports re-electing the President, allowing them greater access to taxpayers $$$ and more waste

Birds of a feather flocking together...It is no secret that President Obama has provided Billions of tax dollars to his union pals. Money that didn't create jobs, only fattened the coffers of his political allies. The same unions that support the OWS crowd who wants to " redistribute wealth", i.e. take it from others who earn it. The Unions have been doing that for years.

While the idea of bonuses for failing banks offends many, the idea of the unions getting more control over workers is equally offensive. Union membership is down to 12% of all workers because the Unions are there to only support the union, not the workers. The Union Leaders are no different than the businesses who they rail against. They take union dues and spend it to prop up feckless pols like President Obama, who by all measures is a failure. In that manner, they spend workers money to fund political campaigns for Pols who supply access to larger shares of our tax dollars.

The President doesn't deserve re-election and his Union thug pals need to be sent a message at the same time. Voters know that the system has been rigged in the union's favor and that's why the POLS that the unions support will be voted out. Unions served a purpose in the past, but now only exist to take taxpayers money, fatten their own coffers and drive the cost of good & services up.


Service employees union to boost efforts for Obama
By SAM HANANEL, Associated Press – 17 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Service Employees International Union endorsed President Barack Obama's re-election bid on Wednesday, saying it would deploy its formidable political machine earlier and on a wider scale than it did four years ago.

SEIU President Mary Kay Henry said the union plans to reach out to all 2.1 million members by Labor Day and focus on getting more Hispanic and black voters to the polls.

"We're trying to do it on a scale that we've never done before," she said.

The politically powerful union is the latest labor organization to jump in with an early endorsement of the president, following the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the National Education Association. It could signal even broader campaign spending by labor groups, which poured about $400 million to help elect Obama in 2008.

The SEIU is starting early, in part, because of reports that some Obama supporters are less enthusiastic than they were four years ago, Henry said. But while some union leaders have expressed disappointment with Obama's commitment to create jobs and willingness to back the union agenda, the SEIU has remained a steadfast supporter.

One of Obama's earliest backers in 2008, the SEIU spent about $60 million to help him win the presidential race. That led the union to become an influential voice in forming administration policy, particularly on Obama's health care overhaul plan. Former SEIU president Andy Stern has been one of the most frequent White House guests and is a member of Obama's debt commission.

Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, welcomed the endorsement, saying the SEIU and Obama "share many common goals,"....

Straight talk from Senator McCain to the President - “It is time the President came off the campaign trail..."

Straight talk......and spot on. Senator McCain might not always be right about issues, but he will tell you why he believes in an issue, instead of the "BS" we see from the present administration, no matter what the issue.

President Obama has been in " campaign mode " for far too long, and when you add that to the time he has been on the golf course and on multiple vacations, it is little wonder why his performance is dreadful......He is a part-time President who wants all the things that go with the office except the work.

Obama's political goals matter more to the Empty Suit in the White House than the fate of the nation.... and it shows.

McCain to Obama: Get off the campaign trail
POLITICO.COM

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) thinks President Barack Obama is doing too much campaigning and not enough policymaking.

McCain claimed that Obama, his 2008 opponent, was engaging in “demagoguery” on the issue of job creation as he’s traveled the country to pitch his jobs proposal.

“It is time the president came off the campaign trail, sat down and negotiated and talked with us and see areas of common ground,” McCain said Sunday on “State of the Union.”

McCain – who helped introduce the Senate Republicans’ jobs plan – instead called for more regularly relief and tax reform that would lower rates and close tax loopholes.

CHRISTIE/GIULIANI 2012 - The best team the GOP could hope for in the upcoming Presidential election

Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey has been busy assessing his chances for a national run for President and been assisted by operatives of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani’s 2008 campaign.

To the GOP, I would feel this represents the best team they could field...one that would wipe up the floor with Obama in a Presidential election.

CHRISTIE/GIULIANI 2012. The Straight Shooter from NJ and America's Mayor.

That would put the DEMS into an absolute fit. It would also relieve us of having to endure more of PERRY, SLICK MITT, BACHMANN, NEWT et al. The GOP would be wise to get behind the Man from NJ as the rest of their crowd of candidates are about as exciting to the electorate as watching paint dry. True, almost anyone would be better than Obama, but America needs the BEST Candidates for the job and as far as I can see, CHRISTIE/GIULIANI 2012 would be the ticket.


Christie Team Assessing How Fast a 2012 Campaign Could Be Mounted
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR, DAVID M. HALBFINGER and JIM RUTENBERG
Published: October 1, 2011 - NY TIMES

WASHINGTON — Chris Christie’s political advisers are working to determine whether they could move fast enough to set up effective political operations in Iowa and New Hampshire in the wake of a relentless courtship aimed at persuading Mr. Christie, the governor of New Jersey, to plunge into the race for the Republican presidential nomination, according to operatives briefed on the preparations.

Mr. Christie has not yet decided whether to run and has not authorized the start of a full-fledged campaign operation. But with the governor now seriously considering getting in, his strategists — many of them veterans of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s 2008 campaign — are internally assessing the financial and logistical challenges of mounting a race with less than 100 days until voting is likely to begin.

Those challenges include not only raising money, but also spending it effectively in the crucial states with early primaries. That would mean meeting filing deadlines, hiring staff members, recruiting volunteers, putting together a travel schedule and devising a media campaign.

“They’re getting their arms around what’s going to be required,” said a political operative who has been briefed on the deliberations among Mr. Christie’s team. “What does an operation look like? What are the requirements in each of the states? What are the things that need to be done before we talk about people and résumés and office space?”

Mr. Christie’s advisers said on Saturday that no formal planning for a campaign would begin unless the governor made a decision to run. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, they said current efforts are nothing more than “due diligence” should Mr. Christie decide to make a bid. One senior adviser said no campaign is under way but expressed confidence that one could be started in 24 hours if needed.

The high-level advisers also said the flurry of political activity around Mr. Christie includes unsolicited strategic advice and offers of help from potential donors and consultants who are eager to see him run but are not part of the governor’s inner circle. Friends say that only Mr. Christie can decide what is right for him.

“This is a very smart guy who can figure this out for himself, and I think that’s all that needs to be said,” said William Palatucci, a close confidant of Mr. Christie. He played down any immediate campaign planning, saying that his own weekend plans included “going to pick up my daughter from her sleepover and going to get my cleaning from the cleaners.”

Those pushing Mr. Christie to run include the media mogul Rupert Murdoch, former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, Nancy Reagan and the conservative columnist William Kristol.

If the odds of a campaign were very low just weeks ago, they are increasing.

A hastily put together campaign would upend what two of Mr. Christie’s advisers said was his original plan: to consider running for president in 2016. But with President Obama looking more vulnerable, and with dissatisfaction among some voters and influential party leaders with the current Republican field, Mr. Christie is said by those close to him to feel that his best opportunity to run might be now.

“They have to run a billion-dollar operation, which they weren’t prepared to do,” said a second political operative who was briefed on the deliberations among Mr. Christie’s team. “For the first time, they are actually considering it seriously.”

The pressure on Mr. Christie has come from just about every direction. It came at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California last week, where everyone from members of the audience to Mrs. Reagan urged him to reconsider his refusal to run.

It came when Mr. Christie stopped by a breakfast of conservative columnists at the Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington. Mr. Kristol said he told Mr. Christie that day that he was “a big man for a big job.”

At a fund-raising event in SoHo this year for New Jersey Republicans, with Mr. Christie as a host, Mr. Kissinger showed up. A person who was there quoted Mr. Kissinger as saying: “At my age, I have other things to do than to spend a Thursday night at a fund-raiser — but this guy is so important to the future of our country that I came here to tell you that you have to support him — and now I have to go.”

Mr. Kissinger was also among the guests at a meeting of dozens of top donors and other prominent Republicans convened by Ken Langone, the Home Depot founder. Mr. Kissinger surprised some of those there, according to a person briefed on the meeting, when he spoke up and urged Mr. Christie to run, saying that he would best represent United States interests abroad.

The pressure has also come during calls Mr. Christie has received or as he has bumped into influential Republican supporters, among them Mr. Murdoch, according to people close to both men who would discuss the subject only on the condition of anonymity.

In private conservations, several Republican governors have suggested that Mr. Christie consider running, as well.

One of them was Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio, who has publicly praised Mr. Christie, saying in a recent Bloomberg View forum that “he has a certain magic about him.”

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin said he believed that Mr. Christie would bring “intelligent straight talk” to the race but conceded that he was mixed about whether he should jump in.

“Do I think Christie should run? My heart says without a doubt — with that passion and because of his excitement,” Mr. Walker said. “My head looks at it, though, and thinks anyone who is in their first term as governor needs to run for re-election first. It’s tough to be ready to be a candidate and to be well versed, particularly in foreign policy, and to have an organization.”

As recently as three months ago, Mr. Christie’s advisers had few doubts that Mr. Obama would be re-elected.

That changed with polls showing steep declines in the public’s assessment of Mr. Obama’s leadership and with a Republican upset in a special election for a House seat in the Democratic bastion of Queens.

“Sometimes the man can’t choose the moment,” one of the political operatives said. “That discussion has been part of the last 10 days.”

Those last 10 days have largely been spent assessing the practical questions of conducting a campaign in what one operative described as a “very low-key, very hush-hush” way.

“It’s not a lot of time,” the operative said. “It’s a fair thing to say that they’re aware of that. But it’s not impossible. And there’s lots of people, financial and otherwise, who are still on the sidelines. There’s going to be personnel there if he decides to go.”

President Obama preaches to friendly crowd of Union Supporters....both are clueless about what the rest of the country needs....

The President goes to Detroit to speak to Union supporters...One of his core constituencies and those who have the most to win if the feckless fool stays in office. This is the political equivalent of " preaching to the choir." There is a reason why Union membership is down nationwide....because in the end, the average worker loses and only the Union Leaders gain.

The pics from this rally won't mean spit to those who know that the President squandered 2 1/2 years on his clueless social agenda and forcing programs on America that no one wants and no one needed. His request that the " GOP must put their country ahead of party..." is his way of saying, " You have to let me do what I want " for us to accomplish anything. That is a sign of his intolerant immaturity as being the President doesn't mean the other party stands aside no more than it did during the last administration where the DEMS were the party opposing everything President Bush wanted....The fact that he thinks he can stamp his feet and get his way is further evidence of his cluelessness.

The union fools were chanting " four more years " at this rally. NO ONE in America needs four more years of this hapless incompetent in the White House. We need LEADERSHIP, a word which is a total mystery to Barry from Chicago.


Obama says GOP must back US first, create jobs
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE - Associated Press AP – 38 mins ago......

DETROIT (AP) — President Barack Obama said Monday that congressional Republicans must put their country ahead of their party and vote to create new jobs as he used a boisterous Labor Day rally to aim a partisan barb at the GOP.

In a preview of the jobs speech he will deliver on Thursday to Congress, Obama said there are numerous roads and bridges that need rebuilding in the U.S., and over 1 million unemployed construction workers who are available to build them.

Citing massive federal budget deficits, Republicans have expressed opposition to spending vast new sums on jobs programs. But Obama said that with widespread suffering, "the time for Washington games is over" and lawmakers must move quickly to create jobs.

"But we're not going wait for them," he said at an annual event sponsored by the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO. "We're going to see if we've got some straight shooters in Congress. We're going to see if congressional Republicans will put country before party."

Obama's remarks came as he has been under heavy criticism from the GOP for presiding over a persistently weak economy and high unemployment. Last Friday's dismal jobs report showed a net job change of zero in August, and the unemployment rate held steady at 9.1 percent.

Congress returns from its summer recess this week, with the faltering economy and job market promising to be a dominant theme of the session. The economy is all but certain to also be the top issue of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.

Throughout the speech, the union crowd kept chanting "four more years."

Obama also said lawmakers should extend the temporary reduction in the payroll tax that workers pay, a cut that will otherwise expire on Jan. 1. Many Republicans have opposed renewing the payroll tax cut, saying it would increase federal red ink and do little to create jobs.

"You say you're the party of tax cuts," Obama said of the GOP argument. "Well, then prove you'll fight just as hard for tax cuts for middle class families as you do oil companies and the most affluent Americans. Show us what you've got."

In the speech to Congress, Obama is expected to call for a mix of individual and business tax credits and public works spending. He will also press lawmakers for swift action on those proposals.

Underscoring the political dueling on the economy under way, Obama plans to visit Richmond, Va., the day after his address to Congress as the first of several trips he will make to encourage support for his job creation plan. Part of Richmond is represented by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., one of the president's fiercest critics.

The president's broader goal is to make a sweeping appeal for bipartisan action on the economy, speaking not only to the members of Congress who will assemble before him, but to the larger American public. In that sense, the speech will mark a pivot point from a fall and summer spent dealing with long-term deficit reduction to a fall campaign devoted to boosting a foot-dragging recovery.

Aides say Obama will mount a campaign throughout the fall centered on the economy, unveiling different elements of his agenda heading into 2012. If Republicans reject his ideas, the president and his aides want to enlist the public as an ally, essentially using the megaphone of his presidency to pressure Congress and make the case for his re-election.

"People will see a president who will be laying very significant proposals throughout the fall leading up this next State of the Union," Gene Sperling, director of Obama's National Economic Council, said in an interview with the Associated Press..

While Obama has said any short term spending proposal will be paid for over the long-term, aides say the speech will not offer details on what deficit reduction measures would be used to offset immediate spending measures. The speech also is not expected to include a detailed plan for resolving the nation's housing crisis, a central cause behind the weak economy that White House aides and administration officials have been struggling to resolve.

"A lot of what will be discussed in greater detail in this economic proposal that he will be making on Thursday night will focus on many things that will have a more immediate, positive effect on getting the recovery to take hold, getting stronger growth , spurring job creation, spurring the private sector to invest more," Sperling said.

Asked specifically about housing, he said: You will also see him throughout the fall talking about other issues that are also at very much the heart of this economic agenda."

Last week's disappointing jobs report sparked new fears of a second recession and injected fresh urgency into efforts by Obama to help get millions of unemployed people back into the labor market — and help improve his re-election chances.

Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce on Monday surfaced its own jobs plan. In an open letter to Congress and the White House, the Chamber called for measures designed to immediately increase employment, including stepped-up road and bridge construction, more oil drilling and temporary corporate tax breaks.

Polls show the economy and jobs are the public's top concerns. Public approval of Obama's handling of the economy hit a new low of 26 percent in a recent Gallup survey.

The unemployment report also gave Obama's Republican critics, including those who want to challenge him in next year's presidential election, fresh ammunition to pound him with.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney called the report disappointing, unacceptable and "further proof that President Obama has failed." Romney is scheduled to outline his own job-creation plan in a speech Tuesday in the battleground state of Nevada.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said Monday that both political parties should get behind Obama's efforts to improve the hiring picture.

"We do need everyone to be on board," she said on NBC's "Today" show.

Solis said Obama "is very mindful of what the needs and concerns are of those individuals who have been out of work for so long." But she also said the jobless have a responsibility to seek training in new skills, if necessary, to better prepare themselves for the kinds of jobs available in today's economy.

Obama spent part of the holiday weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland "putting the finishing touches" on the proposals and the speech, said spokesman Jay Carney.

Obama won Michigan in the 2008 presidential election and the economically challenged state is crucial to his re-election prospects. The state unemployment rate was 10.9 percent in July, above the national average for that month. The Detroit-area jobless rate was even higher, at 14.1 percent in July

The American People didn't drop the ball. The feckless President did and it is about time he takes responsibilty.

The NY TIMES is such a repository of self righteousness, it's amazing that the smell coming from their HQ isn't mistaken for a Pig Farm.

Exhibit A - OPED by Nicholas D. Kristof titled " Did WE Drop the ball on Unemployment?"

The NY TIMES lists the following on Mr. Kristof's Bio -

"Mr. Kristof grew up on a sheep and cherry farm near Yamhill, Oregon. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College and then studied law at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, graduating with first class honors."

Well I am unsure what he learned at either Oxford or Harvard BUT I can tell you this -

WE (as in the American People) didn't drop the ball on unemployment, HE (as in the feckless idiot in the White House) dropped the ball. The average working man had the ball dropped on him.

While the fool that was elected in 2008 spent the better part of the last 2 1/2 years diddling around with Nancy Pelosi's vision of America, the average American has been taking it in the neck...The PRESIDENT dropped the ball. CONGRESS dropped the ball.

One of the key tennants of LEADERSHIP is when you are in charge, you take RESPONSIBILITY for what happens when you are in charge. RESPONSIBILITY is a word that has never been in the President's dictionary as he is CLUELESS about what needs to be done. That is why we are in the mess we are in. He and his minions wasted 2 1/2 years blaming everything on anyone else. Mr. Kristof is one of those media cheerleaders that propped up the President in getting elected, and he was wrong then, and he is wrong now.

Mr. Kristof, with all due respect, get a clue. WE (the American people) didn't drop the ball. The feckless & ineffective pol sitting in the White House screwed up and he needs to be adult enough to own up to it. And he DOES NOT deserve a 2nd term to further muck things up. He can go back to Harvard or Chicago and charge $100K a speech for anyone dumb enough top listen to whatever comes out of his empty head.


Op-Ed Columnist - NY TIMES
Did We Drop the Ball on Unemployment?
Nicholas D. Kristof

WHEN I’m in New York or Washington, people talk passionately about debt and political battles. But in the living rooms or on the front porches here in Yamhill, Ore., where I grew up, a different specter wakes friends up in the middle of the night.

It’s unemployment.

I’ve spent a chunk of summer vacation visiting old friends here, and I can’t help feeling that national politicians and national journalists alike have dropped the ball on jobs. Some 25 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed — that’s more than 16 percent of the work force — but jobs haven’t been nearly high enough on the national agenda.

When Americans are polled about the issue they care most about, the answer by a two-to-one margin is jobs. The Boston Globe found that during President Obama’s Twitter “town hall” last month, the issue that the public most wanted to ask about was, by far, jobs. Yet during the previous two weeks of White House news briefings, reporters were far more likely to ask about political warfare with Republicans.

(I’m an offender, too: I asked President Obama a question at the Twitter town hall, and it was a gotcha query about his negotiations with Republicans. I’m sorry that I missed the chance to push him on the issue that Americans care most about.)

A study by National Journal in May found something similar: newspaper articles about “unemployment” apparently fell over the last two years, while references to the “deficit” soared.

When I’m back on the family farm in Yamhill, our very closest neighbor is one of those 25 million. Terry Maggard worked on a crew detecting underground gas, electrical or cable lines, and after 15 years on the job he was earning $20 an hour. Then at the outset of the recession in late 2008 his employer fired him and the other old-timers, and hired younger workers — who earned only $9 or $10 an hour.

Terry has been knocking on doors everywhere, including at McDonald’s, but nobody wants a 56-year-old man. “The only call I got in two years was one asking if I could be a French chef,” he recalled, laughing. “I said ‘Oui.’ ”

Mais non, the chef’s job did not come through. So although Terry earns some money breeding Pomeranians, his wife is now the main income earner. She worries that her job at a community college may be in jeopardy as well, and their standard of living has plummeted.

“It’s been a 100 percent change in my lifestyle,” Terry said. “I used to grill rib-eye steaks on the barbecue. Now I grill hot dogs. And I can’t tell you the last time I went out for a meal.”

My next neighbor beyond the Maggards is Elmer McKoon, 64, who used to work full time in construction, and more recently as a janitor. His company slashed the staff in 2008, but a kind boss kept Elmer working one night a week so he could keep his health insurance.

Another friend, Jeff, who was fired this year after 28 years in his job, notes that the biggest impact isn’t the economic hit but the psychological one. Jeff, who didn’t want his full name used for fear it would hurt his job hunt, said he wakes up and feels a stab in his gut as he realizes that he has nowhere to go that day — and has lost his family’s health insurance as well.

“I don’t have the career that I know, and if someone gets sick then I’m homeless as well,” he said.

Unless more people are working, paying taxes and making mortgage payments, it’s difficult to see how we revive the economy or address our long-term debt challenge. While debt is a legitimate long-term problem, the urgent priority should be getting people back to work. America now has more than four unemployed people for each opening. And the longer people are out of work, the less likely it is that they will ever work again.

President Obama is saying the right things lately about creating jobs. But he is saying them far too meekly, and his jobs agenda seems anemic — while the Republican Congress is saying the wrong things altogether.

There are no quick fixes to joblessness, but Washington could temporarily make federal money available to pay for teachers who are otherwise being laid off. We could increase spending on service programs like AmeriCorps that have far more applicants than spots.

We could extend the payroll tax cut, which expires at the end of December. Astonishingly, Republicans in Congress seem to be lined up instinctively against this basic economic stimulus. Could the Tea Party actually favor tax reductions for billionaires but not for working Americans? Could we have found a tax increase the Republican Party favors?

Mr. Obama, with 25 million Americans hurting, will you fight — really fight! — to put jobs at the top of the national agenda?

The President of the United States needs to " Man Up " as his failure is an embarrassment to the citizens of our great country

The tantrums coming from the White House and the non-stopping stammering are the signs that the Obama Administration is toast.

No one believes them and the markets showed that to the world.

Be a MAN Mr. President and take a lesson from HARRY TRUMAN who had a sign on the same desk you sit at each day that said " The BUCK stops here !"

Obama is unworthy to even think he should sit at that desk as he is only keeping the chair warm for the next occupant of the Oval Office. He needs to MAN UP, accept that his failing as President is his responsibility and admit it to the voters. To continue to deny what is obvious to the rest of the world is both immature and delusional.

Let us PRAY that it is someone with more sense than this embarrssing poser that was elected in 2008 who has been a national embarrassment since day one.


Ron Hart: Stop the blame. Do something!
By RON HART - Orange County Register

As they always do, our representatives in Congress raised the debt ceiling and said they were going to make cuts later. Then they fled Washington to go on a long vacation. Why not address this now? Why the suspense? Congress has not left so many things dangling in front of so many Americans since Anthony Weiner left.

They called what they did a "two-step deal." It looks like both were side steps.

Remember, Obama kept using the word "bankrupt" and threatened not to pay Social Security checks. The country was not nearly bankrupt; he just used the word as a scare tactic to get his way. Obama blames everything on someone else: the Tea Party for forcing budget cuts or Japan for having an earthquake. I guess he is blaming God, too.

Blame and threats are not a strategy.

The Democrats called those wanting to cut the spending "terrorists" who were holding the country hostage. Obama might want to be careful; being unable to negotiate the release of hostages invites even more comparisons to Jimmy Carter.

It is getting more dangerous in the Obama administration. Last week a man hopped over the White House fence and made a run for it. Then the Secret Service caught him and told Mr. Geithner he had to finish his term as Treasury Secretary. It turns out it is much easier being the problem than the solution.

After months of indicating that he might leave his post as Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner said he would stay. In the end, he decided to keep his safe government job since he determined there is no way of finding a good job in this economy.

Interestingly, last week it was also reported that Washington, D.C. has the highest use of cocaine, pot and alcohol. That explains a lot. The S&P downgrade was not a decision; it was more like an intervention.

It is like Obama and the Democrats were called into a room to find S&P, Moody's, the U.S. dollar and the stock market, who told them, "We love you, but you have a spending addiction." I don't care if they have a drug problem; it is their spending that is hurting others.

If Obama wants to borrow again soon he is going to have to get his financier buddy, George Soros, to co-sign for him.

Let's be as clear as we can. Federal spending has gone to $3.8 trillion per year and tax revenue remains at $2.1 per year. We run annual losses of $1.7 trillion – and climbing – and Geithner and Obama are blaming S&P and the Tea Party for the downgrade? Wow.

The $14 trillion dollar debt is not so much the problem; we are projected to have a $27 trillion debt in 10 years. For Obama and Geithner to blame S&P for it is like being late for two years on payments for their big screen TV and then shooting the repo man who comes to get it.

Their new stall is the "Super Committee" to be appointed to cut the budget down the road. They are just so delusional that they will call on Superman, Captain America, Green Hornet, Iron Man, Superwoman, Spiderman and Batman to cut the budget. I presume Barney Frank will be Batman; he spends his time with Robin, who spends a lot of time on the bat pole. Only those egomaniacs in Washington could call themselves "super" anything. I still snicker when they are called "The Honorable...."

Obama used his media arms, NBC, CBS and ABC, to make political points in prime time and told people to call their representatives. The "post-partisan president" was surprised that few called to support his spending on entitlements and that the vast majority favored spending cuts. Voters do not wait on hold for an hour to talk to a congressman's intern in order to leave the message "Just compromise."

The dysfunction of Washington is such a disaster that al-Qaida is claiming responsibility for it. The good news is Obama will soon be making taxpayer-funded visits to swing states in the Midwest, and he will be trying to save jobs – mainly his.

Ron Hart is a syndicated op-ed humorist, award-winning author and TV/radio commentator. Email Ron@RonaldHart.com or visit www.RonaldHart.com

Political Reality - "It's a performance-based job.." - The only people cheering for Obama are his " kool-aid drinking fools"

A basic principle of LEADERSHIP is that when there is an issue, as the Leader, you are responsible. Just like the Captain of a ship, it doesn't matter whether you were on the bridge, or down below in your quarters, when the ship runs aground, you are responsible. No arguments, no rationalization. It is your responsibility.

This basic principle is lost on President Obama and his minions. They desperately want to be able to pin the blame on someone else. OBAMA is PRESIDENT and he can't accept the responsibility for his poor performance. He pathetically is trying to find someone else to fault when the fault is his and his alone.

The Congress has not distinguished itself and will be held accountable for their actions BUT the ultimate fault for what has occurred over the past 2 1/2 years and the decisions that were made falls to the Chief Executive. HE will be the one held responsible, no matter how desperately Obama's Kool Aid Drinking fools think they can sidestep the avalanche that the 2012 election will be for the feckless fool that was elected in 2008.


Analysis: Economy dealing blow to Obama's 2012 hopes
By John Whitesides

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With every gloomy economic report, debt crisis and mood swing on Wall Street, President Barack Obama's fight for re-election in 2012 gets a little tougher.

The recent rash of bad economic news has deepened a sour public mood and threatens to turn a re-election campaign that Democrats once hoped would be a cakewalk into an unpredictable brawl.

"The economic head-winds Obama faces are extraordinarily difficult," said Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion analyst at the American Enterprise Institute think tank.

"The level of public pessimism and the duration of the negativity is something I haven't seen before," she said. "It's a performance-based job, and people want to start seeing the economy turn around."

Polls show at least two-thirds of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction, consumer confidence is hitting two-year lows and majorities disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy.

His job approval was slumping even before last week's global stock sell-off and twin debt crises in Europe and in the United States, which featured a U.S. credit rating downgrade and chaotic talks on a deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.

In the last week of July, Gallup put Obama's approval at a weekly low of 42 percent.

A Quinnipiac University poll taken after the debt-ceiling deal last week found a majority in the battleground state of Florida did not think Obama deserved re-election. His approval among independents in the state plunged from a 47-45 percent split in May to 61-33 percent disapproval now.

"Elections with incumbents are always referendums on the incumbent, and the first question for voters is 'does he deserve another term?' At this point, these numbers show the answer is not necessarily yes," Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown said.

The president's slump gives new hope to Republicans, who saw several potential contenders pass on a 2012 White House race earlier this year amid speculation Obama would be too strong and too well financed to lose re-election.

Republicans plan to remind voters often of the job losses, stalled economic recovery and stagnant housing market on Obama's watch. They stepped up their criticism of the president after Friday's U.S. credit downgrade.

'OBAMA NOT WORKING'

"Barack Obama has been in office for three years and what he's done hasn't worked. It's time for him to go," Republican contender Tim Pawlenty said while campaigning in Iowa.

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has signaled a potential general election strategy, shadowing Obama's travels around the country with targeted criticism of the president's economic record in those regions.

When Obama returned home to Chicago to celebrate his birthday last week, Romney aired a Web ad slamming Obama's economic leadership and saying Chicago had seen a 48 percent increase in unemployment under Obama.

In recent speeches, Obama made clear he wants to focus on spurring job growth now that the debt-ceiling talks are done. He welcomed Friday's jobs report showing the unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 9.1 percent but said more was needed.

He will need to show significant improvement in the jobless rate to ease public worries, and he will need to do it early enough in 2012 that it sinks in with voters.

Obama also faces a tougher political map next year, with his approval plunging in traditionally Republican states he captured in 2008 like Indiana and North Carolina and in critical Rust Belt states like Ohio.

"I'm a Democrat but there is no sugar-coating it, things aren't good," said Democratic consultant Dane Strother. "The only thing on Obama's side right now is time. A week is an eternity in politics and we have 15 months."

Polls show Obama remains personally popular, and Democrats find hope in 2004. That year many voters unhappy with President George W. Bush's performance were reluctant to oust him amid the Iraq war and economic challenges.

"When people are frightened, they are more likely to stick with the guy they know than take a chance on the guy they don't know," Democratic strategist(read kool-aid drinker) Karen Finney said.

"They still like Obama. As long as people feel like he's trying and he's making some progress, that matters," she said.

Republicans, beset by internal battles between conservative Tea Party movement activists and a more moderate pro-business faction, also must provide a viable challenger. Romney trails Obama in polls and faces a challenge winning over his party's own conservative base.

"At the end of the day it's two people, one on one, and it will be a new dynamic," Strother said. "But there is no question if 15 months from now the economy is in the tank, the election will be tough for Obama. Doable, but tough."

(Editing by Vicki Allen

This is not working....

During the 2008 Presidential election, I supported the best candidate for the Presidency, Senator John McCain.

I live in Massachusetts and always was supportive of the men from Massachusetts who made a difference - President John Kennedy, his brother Bobby Kennedy and House Speaker Tip O'Neill. They were LEADERS. Since there are no longer people of that character in Massachusetts, (with an exception of US Senator Scott Brown) I became "unaligned", which means I do not follow party dogma, I vote for the candidate that I feel best represents my ideals of a good and honorable Leader.

After the 2008 Election, my son asked me if I was taking my "McCain for President" bumperstickers off the back of my truck. I said " No, as I want people to know where I stood." I am glad to say I was right then, and I am correct now. America elected the wrong man for the job. We should have elected a Combat Veteran who was tried and tested in the toughest conditions instead of listening to the simpletons in the media who supported a "community organizer" who voted "present" 130 times purposely to ensure he would not have a record that we could judge.

To anyone who would state differently, I question your version of reality, judgment and sanity. Look at the state of affairs in our country and get a grip as this "empty suit" that was elected is an abject failure.


August 5th, 2011
This is not working
by Holly Robichaud - Boston Herald

So much for retiring early.

Don’t you love this era of Obamanomics? It is going so well. Is this the hope and change you liberals wanted? Quite frankly, I knew this was going to be bad, but not this bad. Yikes.

I think it is clear to everyone, except the Kool Aid drinkers, that Obama is now the worst President we have ever had. Never elect someone who voted present 130 times.

This economy is not going to turn around until we elect a new President who wants to end the uncertainty. Businesses don’t want to expand or add jobs when they are going to get hit with Obamacare. They are no fools. Smart business people have looked at what happened to the cost of health insurance costs here in Massachusetts under Romneycare and they don’t want to pay 70% increases.

Moreover, this is the most anti-business administration. The only jobs they want to create are politically correct green jobs.

Finally, Obama has failed to tackle the housing market problem. The only thing we hear coming out of Washington is a desire to kill the home mortgage deduction. That’s just plain nuts. It is a recipe for making this recession a depression. If they were serious about fixing the housing market, they would repeal the new rules that penalize middle class investors. Right now, only the rich can invest in real estate. Obama has wiped middle class real estate investing.

I don’t like this summer of recovery part II.

Paranoid & Pathetic - Looks like the White House went after Fox News in 2009 after all

A local blogger from the hometown accused me once of "regurgitating FOX News" simply because I have a low opinion of the President. I have rarely, if ever, highlighted a FOX News story here. I like to write about issues, provide some newstype as the basis of what the discussion is about and leave the analysis of my POV to you the reader.

Some of us are old enough to remember the infamous NIXON Administration and the " Enemies List" that President Nixon had in a paranoid delusion that he could control the opinion of others by excluding his "enemies" from access to the White House (which in reality belongs to the PEOPLE).

Well flash forward to 2009, and the juveniles in the Obama Administration were accused of doing the same thing with FOX News, a charge which they dismissed as baseless......Seems as the TRUTH (something the White House has no clue about) was that YES, THEY DID make a concerted effort to exclude FOX News from the access given to others who were Obama's Cheerleaders.

I'm sorry, but when you start having to utilize NIXONIAN style tactics to defend your actions, you've pretty much shown that whatever you were doing is wrong....and then to LIE about it only further repeats the mistakes.....Paranoid & Pathetic - Very telling behavior from the worst President we have seen since NIXON.....

TIME TO GO BARRY....back to Chicago where you belong.


Looks like the White House went after Fox News in 2009 after all
By Joe Pompeo -Media Reporter
Yahoo News The Cutline – 16 JULY 2011

As the U.K. phone-hacking scandal continues to engulf News Corp's British segment, one of the company's top-performing assets in the U.S. is enjoying a bit of unrelated vindication.

Rewind to October 2009: Fox News Channel and the White House were at war. In one particularly heated incident, Fox claimed the Obama administration had tried to oust the "fair & balanced" network from an interview with Treasury official Kenneth Feinberg, when the other four news nets in the TV coverage pool had been offered access. In the end, Fox was included, and a Treasury Department spokesman snarled: "There was no plot to exclude Fox News, and they had the same interview that their competitors did. Much ado about absolutely nothing."

Emails that surfaced last week, however, through a public records request by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, suggest otherwise.

"We'd prefer if you skip Fox please," a White House broadcast media staffer advised a Treasury Department public affairs secretary ahead of the interview. In other emails during the same time frame, deputy White House communications director Jennifer Psaki called Fox News anchor Bret Baier "a lunatic" and boasted that "I am putting some dead fish in the fox cubby--just cause." In yet another email, another White House press officer wrote: "We've demonstrated our willingness and ability to exclude Fox News from significant interviews …"

Proof of an anti-Fox agenda in the Oval Office? Judicial Watch thinks so.

"These documents show there is a pervasive anti-Fox bias in the Obama White House," said Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton in a statement. "The juvenile Mafioso-talk in these emails has no place in any White House. For the Obama administration to purposely exclude a major news organization from access to information has troubling First Amendment implications."

But current White House press secretary Jay Carney pushed back on the revelation during a briefing Thursday.

"It is well known that at the time there was a dispute between Fox News and its coverage and the White House and its feelings about the coverage," he said, according to CBS News. "I mean, that was then, and we obviously deal with Fox News regularly. ... We regularly engage with every network and every news organization here, including Fox, and give interviews to Fox, and respect the reporters at Fox who are reporters and do their job."

Birds of a feather....

You are judged by the company you keep.....Obama wants to hang with Al Sharpton.....

Need I say more ??? If you don't get a *cringe* moment when you think about a President of the United States aligning himself with a gutless, unethical idjit like Al Sharpton, I would worry about your moral compass.

The President has shown his true colors and how low into the gutter he is willing to go just to get votes......This shows that Obama has no care about what's right or wrong as no public figure worth anything would want to be seen with a fool like Sharpton.

The United States needs a President that will show true leadership and ethical conduct......Obama has epicly failed.



OBAMA TO APPEAR WITH AL SHARPTON

By MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL - Wall Street Journal

Two days after officially launching his re-election campaign, President Barack Obama plans to travel to New York City Wednesday to deliver remarks at the 20th anniversary of the Rev. Al Sharpton's organization.

While the White House said there is no connection between Mr. Obama's 2012 campaign and his decision to attend the National Action Network's annual convention, some of the president's supporters and political observers said the visit marks the beginning of a series of events designed to shore up support among Mr. Obama's base, specifically African-Americans.

"Anytime you run for re-election, the first places you go are your base and your foundation of support—you try to make sure that's tight," said Assemblyman Keith Wright, chairman of the Manhattan Democratic Committee. "If your base and foundation are not solid, there's a chance there could be some chinks in the armor."

The visit also comes amid a bruising Capitol Hill budget battle with Republicans.

By sharing the stage with Mr. Sharpton at the outset of his reelection campaign, the president is sending a signal that the reverend has become a key ally, both in terms of policy and politics, observers say. That marks a stark contrast from the 2008 campaign, when Mr. Obama's aides initially viewed any partnership with Mr. Sharpton, who has been accused of inflaming racial tensions, as potentially damaging.

In an interview, Mr. Sharpton said the president's appearance for his organization's anniversary is a "good thing for us."

Mr. Sharpton said Mr. Obama shouldn't take the black community "for granted" in his re-election bid, but added that he doesn't believe the president faces any significant weakening of support among African-Americans.

"Are there people that are concerned and want to see more? Yes," Mr. Sharpton said. "But there always are."

The reverend said the event with the president will focus on policy, specifically education. "It's not about politics," he said. "You know how nonpolitical I am," he joked.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, voters nationwide disapprove of the job Mr. Obama is doing by a 48% to 42% margin, and by 54% to 41% say he does not deserve to be re-elected next year. Both are all-time lows for the president.

Among black voters, 89% approve of his job performance, the poll showed.

In New York City, the president's support is robust. City voters by 70% to 26% approve of the president's performance, and among black voters his job approval is 91%, a Quinnipiac survey from last month showed.

Still, there are some signs that members of the African-American community are unhappy. A headline about the president's New York fund-raising trip last week in the Amsterdam News, a Harlem newspaper, read: "Obama returns: Harlem gives president mixed reception."

Nellie Bailey, a 65-year-old Harlem activist, said she believes many disenchanted African-Americans will stay home on Election Day.

"The blinders are off," said Ms. Bailey, who doesn't plan to vote for Mr. Obama. "Black America is no longer willing to accept the president symbolically without any substantial platform and programs to address the crisis of rising homelessness and joblessness."

Costas Panagopoulos, assistant professor of political science at Fordham University, said the economic meltdown has had a "disproportionate effect" on African-Americans. "The president has not lost sight of that, and he's kicking things off by reaching out to that core constituency," he said.

The president's administration will be well represented at Mr. Sharpton's convention.

In addition to Mr. Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan are slated to attend. Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to the president, and David Axelrod, who recently left the White House, are also on the schedule.

Kevin Lewis, a White House spokesman, said the president agreed to attend Mr.. Sharpton's convention prior to deciding to launch his re-election campaign this week. Mr. Lewis said "there's no connection" between his re-election effort and his attendance.

"The president has a positive relationship with Rev. Sharpton," said Mr. Lewis. "The president seeks guidance from various places, but he values the guidance that he gets from Rev. Sharpton."

State Sen. Bill Perkins, a Harlem Democrat and one of the president's earliest New York supporters in 2008, praised the president for returning to New York. "He's going back to the base, to mobilize the base, to excite the base, to be accountable to that base," he said. "It's very smart."

Write to Michael Howard Saul at michael.saul@wsj.com