A Plague On Both Your Houses

A Plague on Both Their Houses

Congress is filled with petty, polarizing, prevaricating, putrid little pukes.  They need to grow up and learn the art of compromise.  The Republicans whine about Pelosi and about Wall Street giveaways in the most disingenuous display of election year lying we have seen.  The Democrats, in the midst of a national crisis requiring compromise, lambaste the Republicans in public in a gratuitous and obviously calculated and counterproductive speech by the Speaker.  Grow up.  I want a list of everybody who voted against the bill yesterday so I know who cost the American public 1 trillion dollars.  I want to hear from these “principled” geniuses why they thought it better to throw away $1 trillion in one day than loan $700 billion over time?  Kick the bums out.  A plague on both their houses.

Tags: politics, bailout, republicans, democrats, Congress, Pelosi, Wall+Street, economic, economic+crisis

Lose $800 billion rather than Lend $700

Pure genius.  Our brilliant Congress has made a brilliant move.  We don’t want to lend $700 billion to “bail out” those Wall Street hucksters.  Oh no.  It’s much better to have Americans lose $800 billion (as they just did with the market down 7%) from their pension funds and 401k accounts in one day than to loan $700 billion over time, with strings attached and probably with at least most of it actually being paid off.  With such geniuses running the congress I wonder how we could possibly have gotten here in the first place.

Tags: economy, bail+out, congress

Bailout fails. Irresponsible Idiots Lack Leadership

Check out the stock market after the Congress decided to succumb to their constituents lack of understanding the seriousness of the situation.  Do you think that down 6% does not affect “Main Street?”  How about when it really hits the fan?  Tomorrow.  The next day.  What happens when the credit dries up and the market is down 10, 15 or 20%, what will “Main Street” say then?  How about when Companies can’t make payroll because there is no cash, will Congress be rewarded then?  Irresponsible idiots.

Tags: economy, bailout, politics, democrats, congress, republicans

Senator Biden can only lose this Debate

Joe, you have a tough job this week. Aside from keeping your foot out of your mouth you have to go up against Sarah (the genius) Palin.  You haven’t got a chance.  Why?  Because expectations are so low for her that the only thing that can happen is that you lose.  You probably can’t “win” this debate.  Here are a couple of ideas for you and your advisors:

1. During the lead-up you should emphasize that expectations are so low for her that you probably can only hold your own. That will paradoxically change the dynamic in your favor.
2. During the debate call her “Governor.”  Anything else will be viewed as condescending. 
3. Again, paradoxically, you do not want to look like you are as head and shoulders smarter than she is but you want to emphasize how smart she isn’t.  I would start most sentences with “What Governor Palin fails to recognize is…..”
4. You really need to say, but only once, “Governor Palin, you are no Hillary Clinton.”

Good luck Senator, you will need it.  This is going to be a minefield and, repeat after me “Expectations are so low for her, I can only hold my own, I probably don’t have a chance.”

Tags: politics, democrats, republicans, debate, Biden, Palin

McCain - Not a Leader, Just another Politician

Over the last week John McCain has proven he is not a leader.  He came to Washington and suspended his campaign as a political ploy.  A ploy it seems has backfired.  He looks like a fool.  He says nothing.  More importantly however, progress went south the minute he arrived. 

It used to be that I felt that McCain would be a good president and that I could potentially vote for him.  The last week has made my mind up completely.  I don’t think you can trust McCain, just like you couldn’t trust Bush, to rise above the fray and do what is right for the Country.  More importantly his judgment is flawed. 

He and others do not seem to realize that the crisis is real.  The largest savings and loan in the country just failed and was seized by regulators.  The federal reserve has for the last month been propping up the financial system, but it can not do so forever and not without the aid of Congress.  If it goes, it will go fast and people will be left wondering “Why didn’t somebody do something.”  By ignoring the reality of the problem and providing support to those who would de-rail a good deal, McCain plays politics – badly – with our future and ruins progress that was made before he arrived.

Finally, after seeing Sarah Palin with Katie Couric, I wouldn’t vote for her to be within a mile of the White House, let alone a heart beat away from the Presidency.

Tags: politics, McCain, Palin, Democrats, Republicans, Bush, Congress, Bailout

Here's quarter - Call your Mom

I am glad to see that Obama is finally on the attack.  Since Palin was nominated I have come to two conclusions – First there is no way I will vote for McCain and Second, McCain’s strategists are a lot smarter that Obama’s.  The Obama camp fell smack into the trap and succomed to the strategy that Rove et al had clearly devised.  We want a surprise, female, unknown, ultra conservative.  Why? Because she will mobilize the base, attacks on her will be perceived as sexist, and she will draw attention because she is unknown.  The trap was that they knew the Obama camp would make to stupid mistakes – attacking her lack of knowledge and experience and reacting to her and the medias attention on her.  That they did.

They failed to be patient or to understand what is clearly true – if you ignore her she must come to the media and when she does she’s cooked.  Do you think she is avoiding the media by chance or mistake?  Of course not.  They don’t want her near the media.  If you heard her last night at her town meeting you would know why.  She doesn’t know what she’s talking about when it comes to Foreign affairs.  What the Obama camp should have done was essentially ignore her.  Biden should have come out and said something simple like “Sarah, you’re no Hillary Clinton” and left it at that.  The art of silence seems to be lost on everyone but Rove and his minions.

So, I have felt for sometime to tell all the whiners in the democratic party what that famous professor told the student in the movie the Paper Chase.