LEE RODGERSTOO MUCH EXPERIENCE POLITICALLY FATAL?
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DEBBIE'S ENTITLEMENT NOT FOR PEASANTS ...
JOE VS. BARACK ON GAY MARRIAGE
DEBBIE'S ENTITLEMENT NOT FOR PEASANTS ...
JOE VS. BARACK ON GAY MARRIAGE
If longtime Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, who hasn't lived in his "home" state in decades does lose his primary race today after six terms (36 years) in office, it may indicate --as did McCain's loss to Obama and Bob Dole's pathetic run against Clinton -- that there's such a thing as too much "Washington experience." Some such experience may be valuable for a candidate, but linger longer and a pol may acquire what voters perceive as a sort of unsavory Washington disease.
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"For me, but not for thee" pretty well summarizes a liberal elitist's viewpoint, as illustrated by the Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
During a speech to healthcare workers, when she was asked if the average person should have access to the same healthcare benefits as a member of Congress, she retorted that she'd "earned it."
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It's such a simple question. "Mr. President, are you for or against gay marriage?" But he refuses to answer, yet VP Biden has answered in the affirmative. Perhaps Obama should consider something dramatic to secure the gay vote ... like announce that he's leaving Michelle to marry Joe.
Just trying to be helpful ...
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It is apparent that no one ever counseled the Vice President of the wisdom in the old saying, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."
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Now that enough frustrated, simple-minded and short-sighted French voters have chosen to install a Socialist president, it will be interesting to see just how many investors from either France or abroad will be willing to put money into business ventures that would result in more jobs and economic growth. Unlikely, since the new leadership is openly and avowedly hostile to business and capitalism, i.e., investment.
The same applies to Argentina, which just stole the big oil company that belonged to investors in Spain. I use "stole" even while realizing that it sounds so much harsher than "expropriated," but means exactly the same thing.
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I have a high regard for Scott Rasmussen's polling technique. However, as in all polling, the responses to some questions are irrelevant. This is an example: 39% of Likely U.S. Voters believe that most Muslims view the United States as an enemy. Nearly as many (35%) disagree, 27% more are not sure.
It is irrelevant because the vast majority of Americans have no idea whether most Muslims view us as either a threat or not a threat. And beyond that fact, it really doesn't matter, any more than it mattered whether most Germans or Japanese in 1941 viewed us as an enemy, because the dictators in charge of the military in both countries were going to attack us, whether or not the average citizen viewed us with hostility.
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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for VP? While he has admirable qualities and real accomplishments on his scorecard, he shares with Joe Biden a tendency to shoot from the hip and provide spur-of-the-moment quotes that could be used by the opposition in a presidential campaign. Also, another northeastern governor on the Republican ticket may not be a winning formula. And in any case, it's highly unlikely such a move would win New Jersey for Romney.
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The blessing: Oil prices down slightly. The curse: They're down because of the continuing economic sickness.
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The erudite Victor Davis Hanson at PJ Media ...
"We have had 38 months of 8% plus unemployment. We are setting records in the numbers of Americans not working and the percentage of the adult population not employed. GDP growth was a pathetic 1.7%. The borrowing hit $5 trillion under Obama, who between golf outings and campaign hit-ups of wealthy people, adds $1 trillion plus each year in more debt. To question how to pay it back is to pollute the air or abandon the children. In 2005, Paul Krugman was writing why Bush’s spending was going to crash the economy; in 2012, Paul Krugman is writing why Obama’s far greater deficit spending, on top of Bush’s debts, is not going to crash the economy, given that we need to borrow far more than our paltry $3 or $4 billion a day.
"In 2004, the media’s 'jobless recovery' was the description of George W. Bush’s 5.4% unemployment rate. 'It’s the economy, stupid' referred to George H.W. Bush’s 1992 annual 3.3-4% GDP growth rate. 'Unpatriotic' was W’s $4 trillion in borrowing in eight years, not $5 trillion in three. If Obama right now had 5.4% unemployment, 3.4% economic growth, and a budget deficit of about $400 billion, what would the media call it—a job-full recovery, 'it’s not the economy, smarty,' or patriotic borrowing?"
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Yet another -- and more depressing -- measure of unemployment: 14.5 percent. Known as the U-6 unemployment rate, this includes those counted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as unemployed, plus those known to be marginally attached to the workforce (could-should be working, but have no job), and those who are working part-time because they cannot find full-time work.
Other measures put the real unemployment figure at upward of 20%. Let your own observations of the economy guide you.
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Reminiscing ...
Remember the good ol' days of $2 gasoline? Remember ONE dollar gasoline? But we mustn't drill for more of our own oil, lest we prompt a hissy-fit in some airhead at the EPA.
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There's little doubt that higher education is a major factor in the pursuit of career success, but it's no guarantee. Especially in the Obama economy. As The Daily Caller points out ...
"According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, between 2007 and 2010, the percentage of people with a graduate degree who were on food stamps or were receiving another kind of federal aid more than doubled, reaching 360,000.
"In 2007, 9,776 people with PhD’s were receiving some kind of aid. In 2010, that number had more than tripled to 33,655. For people with master’s degrees, the number spiked from 101,683 to 293,029."
And that degree in "Womens' Studies" or "Art History" is more likely to be a ticket to an entry-level job at McBurger. If that.
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John Hayward of Human Events received this item from a Georgia
newspaper ...
"A woman said she noticed her purse missing from her car just before 5 P.M. Sunday. The car was parked at her residence on Hornet Drive. The woman said the car had been locked, and the purse was in the back seat.
"The purse was valued at $400, her wallet was valued at $200, and she said there was $800 cash in the purse, according to the police report. ALSO MISSING WERE THE WOMAN'S FOOD STAMP CARDS."
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A major breakthrough in global warming research in word from British scientists that dinosaur flatulence may have been a significant factor in warming that occurred during the Mesozoic era 150 million years ago.
Al Gore is expected to press for retroactive legislation prohibiting the giant beasts from expelling gas, pending development of a time-machine so that other creatures of that era can be warned not to indulge in "pull my finger" games with the Big Guys.
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Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Dan Sorking presents! -- a classic ...
WIFE: "What would you do if I died? Would you get married again?"
HUSBAND: "Definitely not!"
WIFE: "Why not? Don't you like being married?"
HUSBAND: "Of course I do.."
WIFE: "Then why wouldn't you remarry? "
HUSBAND: "Okay, okay, I'd get married again."
WIFE: "You would?" (with a hurt look)
HUSBAND: (makes audible groan)
WIFE: "Would you live in our house?"
HUSBAND: "Sure, it's a great house."
WIFE: "Would you sleep with her in our bed?"
HUSBAND: "Where else would we sleep?"
WIFE: "Would you give her my jewelry?"
HUSBAND: "No, I'm sure she'd want her own."
WIFE: "Would you take her golfing with you?
HUSBAND: "Yes, those are always good times."
WIFE: "Would she use my clubs?
HUSBAND: "No, she's left-handed."
WIFE: Takes a .38 Smith & Wesson out of her purse ...
"...and now, if you'll excuse me..."