To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...
to leave the world a better place...
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Blog Comment of the Day
[On Obama's recent appearance at DisneyWorld:] Obama has ears like Dumbo, Mickey Mouse policies, Goofy advisors, and lies like Pinocchio so Disneyworld fits him quite well.. - Lefty
Kudos to Congresswoman Gabby Giffords
The Congresswoman, one of the victims in a tragic shooting rampage in Arizona early last year, realizing the physical demands of an upcoming reelection battle and the difficulties in juggling rehabilitation with the rigors of the life as a Congresswoman, has decided to resign. She has put the interests of her constituents and her own health over those of her own political ambitions. I was saddened by the last several months of two senators (Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy), whom continued to cling to their seats even while their health was deteriorating. I'll withhold comment on Senator Kirk (below) until we get more information, but we've had precedents (e.g., Johnson), with similar challenges and have continued a productive tenure in public service.
Best Wishes for a Speedy Recovery
to Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL)
The senator, who holds the seat formerly occupied by Barack Obama and my former Congressman before moving to Maryland, suffered a stroke over the weekend (a carotid artery split at the right side of his neck); doctors suggest, from a mental capacity standpoint, a full recovery is expected but he may have residual physical impairment on the left side of his body.
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| Photo of Johnson and Kirk from Johnson Senate office |
"Today’s news regarding Senator Kirk is very concerning for all of us on Capitol Hill. My thoughts and prayers go out to Mark and his family for a quick recovery and return to the Senate. As chairman and ranking member of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, we’ve worked side by side over the last year to provide for our veterans. I look forward to redoubling our efforts when he returns to Washington." - Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD).
NOTE: In 2006 Senator Johnson suffered a brain hemorrhage during a media interview.The Gloves Are Off: Romney vs. Gingrich
Those who have been reading my ad libs in the Political Humor section won't be surprised if I start out this commentary with my latest lines on Gingrich. You know, Newt Gingrich has been talking about (Washington Post) Pinocchios on the Romney PAC ads so many times, he must think another part of his anatomy is growing. But the only packages Callista Gingrich is interested in come gift-wrapped from Tiffany's...
I am now officially annoyed. Newt Gingrich is like the GOP version of Barack Obama: both of them exaggerate their "accomplishments"; both of them refuse to accept responsibility for their wrongdoings; both of them think they are better debaters and speakers than they are; both of them are divisive politicians; both of them lack genuine administrative experience in either the private or public sector. And both of repeatedly say something that's demonstrably not true or inherently unknowable or repeatedly take credit for something they had at best modest effects on. I coined an expression (nobody else seemed to have picked up on), calling him the "Pied Piper of Failed Liberalism". At that time, I am lampooning this over-the-top, pretentious, nebulous "we are the ones we've been waiting for" type nonsense that seemed to have a hypnotic effect and exaggerated expectations that even if Obama was competent would be hard to live up to. So I think it's only fair, given how "hot non-Romney"
I have no connection to the Romney campaign, but let me point out a few things, because hardly anyone else is discussing them:
- Gingrich claims that he was not a lobbyist for Freddie Mac, but a consultant "[Gingrich] worked directly for Mitchell Delk, Freddie Mac’s chief lobbyist from 1999 to 2008." Talk about Obama-like putting lipstick on a pig! Consulting a lobbyist on what to say to these conservative Republicans on Capitol Hill so they won't crack down on the GSE's writing checks on taxpayer backs! No, sir--I'm not the lobbyist: I simply aid and abet the lobbyist. Everyone knows that's a substantive difference...] WHAT HUBRIS! There are a number of legitimate management consulting companies, public administration academics, former government staffers, etc. available at a fraction of the cost Newt Gingrich was billing Freddie Mac on retainer. It's very clear what Freddie Mac got from the Gingrich gig:
Freddie Mac executives told Bloomberg [Gingrich] was never critical of its business model [Gingrich's talking point in trying to justify getting $1.6-$1.8M over 10 years.] "Former Freddie Mac officials familiar with his work in 2006 say Gingrich was asked to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s [crony capitalist GSE] public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it."
And from Gingrich's own website: "The Gingrich Group stressed that [read: lip service] Freddie Mac must be open to reform of their lending practices but that by [read: justify crony capitalism] stressing the historical success of public-private partnerships in achieving public goods at a minimum of taxpayer money and bureaucracy." Apparently an enlightened conservative knows how to intervene in the free market, but Obama and other progressives can't be trusted to intervene in a particularly competent way... "After Gingrich left Freddie Mac's payroll, [Gingrich] quickly turned into one of its most vocal critics, writing...that the companies "are so thoroughly politicized and preside over such irresponsible lending policies that they need to be replaced with smaller, private companies operating without government guarantees, whose leaders focus on making a profit, not manipulating politicians.” That's what happens when you stop paying Gingrich $160K a year, you ungrateful so-and-so! Let that be a lesson to other lobbyists I'm working with...
- The Lying Ads? GIVE ME A BREAK. Let's get back to Gingrich's cherry-picking that well-known "conservative" newspaper the Washington Post (can you say "Watergate"?) talking about "lies" and "distortions". What in particular he's referring is the discussion of the $1.6-1.8M payments made by Freddie Mac to Gingrich after he resigned as Speaker and from Congress: Gingrich was paid on a flat-fee retainer, not invoiced by the hour. There may have been some months (I'm not saying it happened, but it's the nature of a retainer) where Gingrich did no work but still collected his fee.) So someone tried to estimate how many hours he worked and divided it into the aggregate retainer fees. SO WHAT if the ad implied he was submitting monthly invoices at a huge rate per hour or a flat fee that added up to the same amount. All the ads cared about was showing Gingrich made a boatload of money just months before they collapsed, with the taxpayer being left to bail them out. Lies? Distortions? Nobody forced Gingrich to pose in a spot with Pelosi. Nobody put Gingrich in a position of being brought up on charges facing ethics charges. OF COURSE, GINGRICH DOESN'T LIKE ROMNEY PUTTING A NEGATIVE SPIN ON THINGS. That doesn't make them lies and distortions.
There was a reason Bachmann went up and down, Perry went up and down, Cain went up and down--and Gingrich went up and down. Gingrich is the best-known candidate in the group. When Gingrich's campaign imploded several months back and Gingrich was a fringe candidate, he had the same strengths and weaknesses he has now. Gingrich has had lousy numbers against Obama since day 1; the only reason the votes came to him at all is because they ran out of other candidates against Romney. It's absolutely insane that you slam the media or Obama in a couple of debates and your support all but doubles in literally a matter of days. There's only one politician in this race whom has a steady relationship with the GOP voters.... Let me make the point in verse about the difference between a crush and real love:
- There's a mediocre Townhall blogger whom posted a column with a title implying Mitt Romney was a crony capitalist. I was curious: is he saying Bain Capital was targeting companies with ties to Washington? It turned out to be yet another anti-RomneyCare rant. I think Romney should speak for himself, but I think the arguments by Gingrich and Santorum are unconvincing because Congressional Republicans in 1993-1994 tried to co-opt HillaryCare with an ObamaCare style package which DID include employer mandates AND AN INDIVIDUAL MANDATE TO HANDLE THE FREELOADER PROBLEM. Luckily, HillaryCare soon collapsed on its own and the Republicans, of course, pulled their counter-measure. But there were over 20 GOP senators signed on to support. Romney was faced with HillaryCare v. 2.0 in Massachusetts and Romney simply adapted the same type approach that Republicans were using 10 years earlier for the same reason. And as for Santorum, he helped push through the unpaid-for Medicare prescription drug benefit. So that "pious bologna" that Gingrich was blaming Romney for? There's plenty of pious bologna to go around here. Today's conservatives upset with Romney fail to recognize that the heavily Democratic state of Massachusetts wanted a far more radical solution than they got. It's not that Romney necessarily wanted to implement the bill. Note that Romney wasn't proposing a vast new bureaucracy or looking to fund subsidies with new taxes or money. As to that blogger writing about the the moral hazard of federal government funding of Medicare reimbursements based on too many freeloaders in the Massachusetts pre-RomneyCare system, let's keep in mind that the states and feds split Medicaid funding
I saw Romney FINALLY take the gloves off and ask for a full release of the House investigation into Gingrich's activities that resulted in his humiliating rebuke by a BIPARTISAN House vote. He FINALLY started mentioning Gingrich's erratic behavior. You don't have to look far: with all the things to attack Obama about, he decides to talk about his "Kenyan anti-colonialist" viewpoint? I mean, he didn't even know his Kenyan father growing up... It's Jerry Brown-crazy space cadet stuff... That's one-off thinking--I'm too disciplined to even think in those terms. Then there was the anti-capitalist Bain critique against Romney which betrayed a core belief in the free market system, Gingrich's political judgment that he had all but mathematically clinched the nomination shortly after the Cain collapse, his vow to follow Reagan's 11th commandment in not speaking ill of a fellow Republican, but he blew his top at even measured criticisms from Romney and Ron Paul--and even though he demands that Ron Paul commit himself to endorsing the GOP nominee, he openly says he would never vote for Ron Paul. I MEAN, AT LEAST OBAMA IS SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW WHEN TO KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT AND GIVE HIS OPPONENT ALL THE ROPE HE NEEDS TO HANG HIMSELF. I can't believe that many GOP voters want to vote this guy to be PRESIDENT. I mean, what's he going to do or say if and when Putin calls him the Pillsbury dough boy? I don't want that guy within 100 yards of the red button; he can't even handle mild criticism. It comes with the territory; you need thick skin; you got to shake it off like water on a duck's back.
I was listening to a Dennis Miller podcast the other day, and Dennis was saying something to the effect that what Newt should have done is give back the $1.6M from Freddie Mac, and the nomination would be his for the taking. I DON'T THINK that Miller was trying to be funny, but if that was a joke, it wasn't funny. Gingrich has far bigger problems than his corrupt relationship with a GSE. If you think influence peddling is something you like to see in a President who'll need to ask all Americans to make sacrifice... I bet any number of colleges would have given him an endowed chair to serve on their faculty--a big deal to a former academic whom got turned down for tenure. Don't ask me how Sarah Palin's mind works--she prides herself as being a "reformer", taking on the establishment--and how her mind leaps across the Grand Canyon and lands on Gingrich...
Political Humor
"Gingrich is lining up impressive endorsements. Todd Palin, Gary Busey, and now, Chuck Norris. I'll tell you, his endorsements could beat up Mitt Romney's endorsements." - Jimmy Kimmel
[Add President Obama, the DNC, and all Democratic Congressional candidates this fall. Nancy Pelosi is so thrilled that she even made a voluntary appearance in one of his TV spots a while back...]
"Scientists announced that they have detected a brand new subatomic particle. This particle is so tiny it is actually smaller than the income tax rate paid by Mitt Romney." - Jay Leno
[But greater than the cuts Obama has made in a bloated federal budget and that corporate income tax paid last year by GE, headed by Jeff Immelt, Obama's job czar, a proud member of the zero-percenters (along with half of American workers). And the primetime ratings for GE's progressive cable subsidary, MSNBC.]
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Queen, "Killer Queen". Yesterday marked the last selection in my series covering the Doors. Today I start a new series on the 70's/80's British supergroup Queen.
