To the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our great country, thank you. To the brave men and women who are currently fighting for the freedoms we so often take for granted, thank you…from the bottom of my heart.
Month: May 2010
BREAKING: White House Used Bill Clinton As Intermediary To Offer Stestak Bribe
Another Obama Friday news dump. They are calling it an “unpaid, advisory position” which can only mean one thing – they know they are up the creek and are choosing their words very carefully. And who better than Bill “It depends what the definition of is, is” Clinton to bite his lip for the cameras and deny any wrongdoing.
President Obama’s chief of staff used former President Bill Clinton as an intermediary to see if Representative Joe Sestak would drop out of a Senate primary if given a prominent, but unpaid, advisory position, people briefed on the matter said Friday.
Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, asked Mr. Clinton to explore the possibilities last summer, according to the briefed individuals, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the politically charged situation. Mr. Sestak said no and went on to win last week’s Pennsylvania Democratic primary against Senator Arlen Specter.
The White House did not offer Mr. Sestak a full-time paid position because Mr. Emanuel wanted him to stay in the House rather than risk losing his seat. Among the positions explored by the White House was an appointment to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, which provides independent oversight and advice the president. But White House officials discovered it would not work because Mr. Sestak could not serve on the board while still serving in Congress.
Mr. Sestak first mentioned publicly in February that he had been offered a job but provided no details, and the White House for three months has refused to discuss it, generating intense criticism from Republicans who accused it of trying to bribe a congressman and deep consternation among Democrats who called on the administration to answer questions.
Mr. Obama promised on Thursday to release an account of the matter, which White House lawyers have been drafting in recent days in consultation with Mr. Sestak’s brother, Richard, who runs his campaign. The White House plans to release its statement later on Friday. Until now, the White House has said publicly only that whatever conversations took place with Mr. Sestak were not inappropriate.
I did not offer that job to that man, Mr. Sestak…..
John Kerry Steps In It Once Again
My very own botched joke of a senator has an explanation for his party’s and Obama’s tanking poll numbers. According to John F-ing Kerry, we are just too darned stupid to see how good we have it.
Howie Carr tells the story like only Howie can.
Let them eat ketchup.
That in essence is what Liveshot Kerry recommends as his prescription for the little people suffering in the so-called economic “recovery.” That ketchup line, from an anonymous Internet poster yesterday, perfectly captures Kerry’s breathtaking smugness. As he intimated this week in D.C., the hoi polloi just don’t understand his greatness, nor that of his fellow national Democrats, from Barack Obama on down.
These all-time lows for Barack and the Congressional Democrats in various national polls – John Kerry knows what’s happening
“I think there’s a comprehension gap,” he explained to a breakfast of Beltway bumkissers.
Comprehension gap. In other words, you’re not smart enough to understand how wonderful he and the rest of his Democrat pals are.
Keep reading for a good laugh on a Friday morning.
Cadillac Deval: Attacks On Obama Are Approaching Sedition
The Devaluator made the comments at Suffolk Law School in response to a student’s question about how mean and nasty politics has become since The One was elected…because politics was all puppies and kittens when George W. Bush was president. Remember?
Patrick, a close friend and ally of Obama’s, said at a Suffolk University Law School event that he’s taken his share of criticism over the years, though not to the extent of what Obama is going through at the hands of Republicans.
“It seems like child’s play compared to what’s going on in Washington, where it’s almost at the level of sedition,” Patrick said.
The MA GOP was having none of it.
“Apparently our First Amendment rights are only guaranteed if we agree with the tax-and-spend policies of Deval Patrick and Barack Obama,” Massachusetts Republican Party chairman Jennifer Nassour said in a statement.
“So according to Patrick, are the 55 percent of Bay Staters who think he should not be re-elected bordering on sedition?” Nassour asked, referring to poll numbers showing Patrick with 45 percent support of likely Bay State voters. “The governor should focus on the critical issues at hand, like lowering property taxes and controlling rampant spending, instead of defending his buddy President Obama.”
Recognizing how stupid his comment was, Obama’s Mini-Me later backtracked.
After the event, Patrick was specifically asked about his criticism of Republicans and the “sedition” remark.
“I think the number of people who, in the Grand Old Party, who seem to be absolutely committed to saying ‘no’ when (the president) says ‘yes,’ even if it’s an idea that they come up with, is just extraordinary,” he said.
Pressed again about his “sedition” comment, Patrick responded, “OK, all right. It’s a flourish. That was a rhetorical flourish.”
Another day, another Democrat villifying Americans who don’t agree with Obama’s policies.
Rasmussen: Support For Repeal Of ObamaCare Now At All-Time High
Queen Nancy told us rubes that we would have to wait to for her and her fellow Democrats to ram through the “health care” bill to see what is in it. Now that we have been afforded the opportunity to see what ObamaCare is all about, support for getting rid of it has spiked to an all-time high.
Support for repeal of the new national health care plan has jumped to its highest level ever. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 63% of U.S. voters now favor repeal of the plan passed by congressional Democrats and signed into law by President Obama in March.
Prior to today, weekly polling had shown support for repeal ranging from 54% to 58%.
Currently, just 32% oppose repeal.
The new findings include 46% who Strongly Favor repeal of the health care bill and 25% who Strongly Oppose it.
While opposition to the bill has remained as consistent since its passage as it was beforehand, this marks the first time that support for repeal has climbed into the 60s. It will be interesting to see whether this marks a brief bounce or indicates a trend of growing opposition.
Remember all of the Obama Zombies promising us that the more we learned about the bill, the more support it would garner?
Technical Difficulties
WordPress has been acting wonky for days so if this post actually goes ‘live’ it will be a miracle.
I’m trying to work out the kinks and will hopefully get something meaningful (or not!) up by the end of the day.
Thanks for your patience.
~loppyd
AP Gets To Use Its Favorite Word To Describe Jobless Claims As Stocks Freefall
New unemployment claims spiked by 25,000 last week.
WASHINGTON — The number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week by the largest amount in three months. The big surge was a setback to hopes that layoffs were declining.
The Labor Department says that applications for unemployment benefits rose to 471,000 last week, up by 25,000 from the previous week. It was the first increase in five weeks and the biggest jump since a gain of 40,000 in February.
The forecast had been for claims to fall by around 4,000 from the previous week. The unexpectedly large rise in new claims underscored that even though the economy is growing, improvements in the labor market are coming in fits and starts.
Meanwhile, the Dow is down almost 300 points. It’s a damn good thing the Democrats passed that stimulus bill last year, huh?
VFW Leaders Outraged At Blumenthal’s Vietnam Lies, Use of VFW Hall For Presser
Holding the press conference in a VFW hall was his first mistake. Not owning up to his lies was his second. Having another Vietnam imposter standing behind him was the pies de resistance.
The commander of Connecticut’s Veterans of Foreign Wars organization blasted Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal Tuesday, referring to his prior statements of service in Vietnam as “outrageous.”
“Mr. Blumenthal was considered one of the best friends a veteran could have in Connecticut. It is a true shame that he let a false claim of Vietnam service change that,” said Richard DiFederico, in a statement. “Those who served in uniform during the Vietnam era also deserve our gratitude, which makes Mr. Blumenthal’s claim to be something he is not so outrageous.”
DiFederico’s statement came after Blumenthal’s dramatic and defiant press conference Tuesday at a VFW hall in West Hartford, an event which took place in response to a New York Times report that the Connecticut attorney general had on more than one occasion said he had served in Vietnam, although his time in the Marine Corps Reserve was in fact spent in Washington and Connecticut.
Blumenthal is not a member of the VFW, and national leaders noted that he wouldn’t meet the eligibility requirement if he tried to join because he didn’t actually serve in a theatre of combat. The group’s bylaws also do not allow any level of the organization to endorse political candidates.
Jerry Newberry, the director of communications at the VFW’s Kansas City headquarters, said that the national leadership “did not sanction and was not, in fact, aware that the press conference was going to be held at a VFW Post.”
“This decision was made at the Post level,” he told POLITICO in an email.
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that having this guy (second from right) appear behind him can’t be helpful:
The POW HALL OF SHAME winner, William Joseph Trumpower, is second from the right.
POW Network.org reported on Trumpower earlier:
WILLIAM JOSEPH TRUMPOWER
aka Elliott Storm
* CLAIMING BRONZE STAR w/VALOR device.
* Claims 2nd Lt, Claims
* Wears 3 Purple Hearts, 2 Bronze Stars w/V.
The jacket in EARLIER pictures boasted 8 ribbons.
This NEW pic has more and includes V device on Bronze Star and 2nd Lt bars..
* Claims he worked with Ollie North.
What is it with Democrats lying about their service in Vietnam?
Shocka. Obama’s Auntie Z. Granted Asylum, Will Remain In US On Taxpayer Dime
As if the judge was going to ship her back to Kenya and face the wrath of Barry & Co.
A jubilant Zeituni Onyango celebrated in South Boston today after learning a U.S. immigration court granted her asylum – a decision her neighbors speculated was probably helped by her nephew, President Obama.
“It’s obvious her nephew helped,” said neighbor Marion Swain. “She’s a very nice person – very well spoken. That’s life.”
Onyango faced being deported to Kenya by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but a judge ruled she can now apply for a work visa and green card
Work visa? Pu-leeze. Why work when she can mooch off of the hardworking taxpayers of Massachusetts until the day she doesn’t come down for breakfast.
NYT Columnist Laments Resurgence Of Conservatism In America
If it’s Saturday, it must be time for another Tea Party/Conservative/Republican bashing column, courtesy of Charles M. Blow. Today, Blow laments the resurgence of Conservativism in America as shown in recent polls:
For example, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey released this week found that a majority of Americans supported Arizona’s hostile new immigration law, even as most allowed that the law is likely to lead to more discrimination against legal immigrants. Apparently, for some, there is an acceptable level of collateral damage.
Don’t blame the people, blame your hero in the White House for not enforcing the laws of the land. This is what happens when people are fed up.
A May 7 Gallup poll found that 42 percent of people wanted a Supreme Court nominee who would make the court more conservative, as opposed to only 27 percent who wanted a nominee who would make it more liberal. That was before Elena Kagan was nominated. Afterward, 40 percent rated her as a good or excellent choice, but that was the lowest such rating in recent history, even 4 percentage points lower than Harriet Miers’s.
Call me crazy, but perhaps the people recognize that it is the Court’s duty to apply the Constitution to cases before them as opposed to empathy and life experience a la the Wise Latina.
An Associated Press-GfK poll released this week found that a plurality of people still favor increasing drilling for oil and gas off the coasts even as an unprecedented natural disaster unfolds in the Gulf of Mexico. Environment be damned.
Sorry, Charlie. The people are smart enough to fugure out that the spill in the Gulf was an exception, not the rule and aren’t down with driving clown cars or paying $10.00 per gallon for gas.
And Gallup released a poll on Friday entitled “The New Normal on Abortion: Americans More ‘Pro-Life.’ ” It buttressed the finding from last summer when, for the first time since the question began being asked in 1995, more people self-identified as “pro-life” than as “pro-choice.”
This string of bad news has only compounded an already palpable sense of loss and longing on the left, an enveloping fear of the inevitable: rejection. The right, and most importantly, the middle, unnerved by spending in a recession and unhinged by Obama in the White House, have not bought into the liberal vision of a new America. In fact, they’re increasingly weary of it, if not hostile to it.
Blow’s analysis of the abortion question explains why more people identify with conservative values than liberal. In his world it’s “bad news” that more Americans have taken a pro-life stance. How this can be seen as bad news is beyond me and many others, I dare say.
Never one to disappoint, Blow opines that one of the biggest factors in America’s center-right values is the mere fact that Obama is in the White House. In case you need me translate: Americans can’t stand the thought of a black man in the White House so they are becoming more conservative…because all conservatives are racists. Got it?
What a lazy, predictable argument. If Blow had the desire to look beyond his race-obsessed reasoning, he would discover that Americans have been center-right for much longer than the last 16 months. But he won’t let the facts get in the way of his narrative.
SPITFIRE MURPHY 