The Political Fish

“President Obama” goes after Harry Reid as well in the press conference on the healthcare bill. Reid “not the most intelligenic or charismatic guy around” acknowledges humbly that he may still lose. Check it out from HotairPundit.

Angry mob unpopular, couldn’t have said it any better myself!

Obama: “Now Senator Reid I’ll admit is in a different situation, he’s up for re-election this fall where health care is especially unpopular,I’m not sure why but it is, really, really unpopular, angry mob unpopular. Lets be frank, Harry Reid could lose this November but let me make something clear, I don’t think he will or at least it won’t be because this unpopular bill.

Health care could poll at 100% and Harry Reid would still have problems, I think even Harry would agree he is not the most intelligenic or charismatic guy around. Plus he has been hurt by some of the sleazy deals he cut with other Senators in order to get health care passed, I mean you have to acknowledge they were sleazy, I mean the cornhusker kickback, it just smelled bad”

No, this one is actually NOT straight from the lips of Joe Biden, I know I was shocked too.

No, even better. Nancy Pelosi today commented on her common views and common ground that she shares with the Tea Party movement in an interview with Elizabeth Vargas on “This Week” on ABC. You gotta see it to believe it.

From Newsbusters, here is the transcript.

ELIZABETH VARGAS, ABC NEWS: Let’s talk a bit about the coming elections in November. You had recently– and the Tea Party movement, do you think it will be a force to be reckoned with? You had said last summer that it was a faux grassroots movement. You called it the Astroturf movement.NANCY PELOSI, HOUSE SPEAKER: In some respects it is. Uh-huh.

VARGAS: Is the Tea Party movement a force?

PELOSI: No – No what I said at the time is, that they were — the Republican Party directs a lot of what the Tea Party does, but not everybody in the Tea Party takes direction from the Republican Party. And so there was a lot of, shall we say, Astroturf, as opposed to grassroots.

But, you know, we share some of the views of the Tea Partiers in terms of the role of special interest in Washington, D.C., as — it just has to stop. And that’s why I’ve fought the special interest, whether it’s on energy, whether it’s on health insurance, whether it’s on pharmaceuticals and the rest.

VARGAS: So, common ground with many people in the Tea Party movement.

PELOSI: Well, no, there are some. There are some because they, again, some of it is orchestrated from the Republican headquarters. Some of it is hijacking the good intentions of lots of people who share some of our concerns that we have about the role of special interests and many Tea Partiers, not that I speak for them, share the view, whether it’s — and Democrats, Republicans and Independents share the view that the recent Supreme Court decision, which greatly empowers the special interests, is something that they oppose.

You will remember this past summer the mouth foaming rage that Speaker Pelosi was engaged in at the mere mention of the Tea Parties that were going on across the country, yes even in her uber-liberal district in San Francisco. She accused the Tea Partiers of being shills for the Republican party (a line she still clings to in the interview) Nazis, that they were inciting violence, and of course the famous line that we are all just astroturf and not a real grass roots moment.

Somebody should inform the Speaker that she is the target of most of the anger coming out of the Tea Party movement. The Obama/Reid/Pelosi cabal is the front and center focus of the Tea party movement and the ire from within it.

Oh and I might add, shame on Elizabeth Vargas for refusing to be an actual journalist and challenging the Speaker on such a ludicrous statement. There is no common ground, and her assertion that we have common ground on special interest groups is moot since she is in bed with the special interests on every level.

Some of you may have heard, there was a football game last night. If you hadn’t yet heard, you need to come out from underneath your rock.

Since America cannot seem to get away from our narcissist-in-chief, I suppose it was to be expected that he would definetely have to be interviewed for his take on the Super Bowl. Katie Couric got the “honor”.

And then, it happened. President Obama went on the record with his pick to win. The Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Sunday that the Indianapolis Colts “have to be favored” in the Super Bowl, even though he has a “soft spot” for the New Orleans Saints.

Obama’s Super Bowl prediction was based on his opinion that the Colts have “perhaps the best quarterback in history.”

“Peyton Manning is unbelievable,” the president told CBS’ Katie Couric during a live pregame interview.

Still, Obama said he has a soft spot for New Orleans, “mainly because of what the city has gone through over these last several years” since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

Obama said he might be biased against the Colts since they beat his hometown Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.

The Colts were doomed from that point forward.

In possibly related stories, Obama also picked a Martha Coakley victory, a Creigh Deeds victory, and a Jon Corzine victory. Add the Colts into the mix and we seem to have a trend.

There has been no confirmation thus far of any statements coming out of the White House blaming Bush for the inaccurate pick by the President, but we will stay vigilant. It shouldn’t take long.

Just an observation, you decide!

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints!!

At what point does MSNBC (shameless as they are) get embarrassed by continuing to trot out Chris “Tingles up my leg” Matthews to offer up political analysis…and believe me, I use the term analysis very loosely in this sense. What makes it worse, is they continue to trot him out live…and in front of a camera. The only thing MSNBC has working in their favor is the fact that nobody really watches their channel, because well…they are all nuts. But I digress.

In the aftermath of the State of the Union address, Matthews apparently “forgot he was black” speaking of President Obama, and continued on with that theme for entirely too long. Apparently the rest of the country has become color blind, except for the leftists that can’t seem to stop bringing it up.  Just watch the video…it actually will do the soul some good to see Tingles Matthews embarrass himself…AGAIN.

Politico’s Micheal Calderone put together a list of some of the reactions that came flying out of the blogosphere and internet. Quite comical really.

Still, that single line quickly bounced around Twitter and the blogosphere, along with widespread criticism of Matthews on the left, on the right and in between.

“The tingle appears to be back for Chris Matthews,” wrote Noel Sheppard on NewsBusters. The headline on Wonkette read: “Chris Matthews Has an Apology on the Way.” And on ThinkProgress: “Matthews’ comment seems to imply that a man who is too ‘black’ still can’t become ‘a leader of this country.’”

The Matthews comment was met immediately on Twitter with both confusion and contempt, and later “Chris Matthews” became a top trending topic.

The New Republic’s Michael Crowley wrote: “Huh?” with The Huffington Post’s Jason Linkins asking, “W to the F?”

Meanwhile, The American Prospect’s Adam Serwer offered a terse response to the Matthews line: “F— You.” The Washington Independent’s Spencer Ackerman wrote that the MSNBC host should “get off the air.” And from the The Joshua Blog: “He needs to be gone from @MSNBC for good. Enough already

I guess the left isn’t quite as color blind as they purport themselves to be.  Tingles was only able to forget he was black for an hour. Must not have been using that negro dialect right Harry Reid?

Michelle Malkin gives us a great line.

Who says such a thing? And they call Tea Party folks RAAAAAACISTS? Is there a more race-obsessed motor-mouth on TV than Chris Matthews?

Nope.

What does America’s Most Trusted Newsman have to say about all of this?? Jon Stewart, go ahead and weigh in sir!

Perfect.

Oh good grief.

I realize he is really bad when he is off-script, but come on!!!

The event took place at the Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church VA this past Tuesday, where he spoke to the 6th grade class.  No this is not a photoshop job, AP has plenty of pictures from the Obama appearance on Friday to corroborate the story. This is just…I don’t know…sad.

UPDATE:

Apparently the teleprompters were used for the media and not for the kids, according to the Weekly Standard.

And the beginning of the video posted on the White House website shows that there are no kids between Obama and the news media during the remarks he makes using the teleprompters.The White House confirmed to TWS that the teleprompters were used for his remarks to the press, not with students.

Remember that President from the ’90s that was plagued with sex scandals?  No, not this guy.  Think the 1890s.  This guy, Grover Cleveland.

In any event, when Cleveland was running for the Presidency, he had a bit of a… ummm… paternity problem on his hands.  Opponents derided him with chants of “Ma, Ma, Where’s Pa?”  According to Wikipedia (so it must be true), Cleveland responded as such:

Cleveland’s instructions to his campaign staff were: “Tell the truth.^“ [He] admitted to paying child support in 1874 to Maria Crofts Halpin, the woman who claimed he fathered her child named Oscar Folsom Cleveland. Halpin was involved with several men at the time, including Cleveland’s friend and law partner, Oscar Folsom, for whom the child was also named. Cleveland did not know which man was the father, and is believed to have assumed responsibility because he was the only bachelor among them.

As it turns out, Cleveland won the election (twice!).  And supporters of Cleveland turned the “Ma, Ma, Where’s Pa?” chant into a taunt of sorts, adding the classic rejoinder, “Off to the White House, ha ha ha!”

Well, I couldn’t help but think of that little tale of American lore today when one of the worst kept secrets in politics.  Former VP Candidate John Edwards announced he fathered a child from an affair:

“I am Quinn’s father,” Edwards said in a prepared statement, referring to Frances Quinn Hunter, the toddler he fathered with the videographer, Rielle Hunter. ” . . . It was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter and hopefully one day, when she understands, she will forgive me.”

Dad?

I find it amusing that he apologized for denying his paternity, yet didn’t exactly apologize for, you know, cheating on his wife.  Who had cancer.  To think, this guy twice campaigned for the highest office in the land, and, more recently, was gunning for a position in the Obama White House.  Now?  His political career is toast.  He’s forever tarnished as a world-class slimeball (which, oddly enough, makes him perfectly suited for his old career: Tort Lawyer).  And his marriage is probably finished, too.

So Mr. Edwards’ story won’t end with a dashing young Presidential hopeful “off to the White House, ha ha ha!”.  Maybe the “off to the Dog House” is a little bit more appropriate.  Ha ha ha!

(Although, you have to admit.  When you live in a place like this… that dog house is probably pretty nice.)

I will start by saying that this is not really a fair attack on the President of the United States, but then again the malicious, vitriol laced attacks on Sarah Palin are anything but fair. Try and have a sense of humor about this, but I give to you now Barack Obama off teleprompter.

Beware of the stuttering President.

Hat tip to Moonbattery on this video.

Jay Leno aired this ACORN “commercial” tonight. Funny stuff.

HA. Thank you ACORN!!

I still cannot get over the fact that Jon Stewart was voted as Americas most trusted newsman, since he is not a newsman…shows where our culture has come. However, Stewart absolutely skewered the main stream media in a mocking rant on last nights Daily Show with Jon Stewart for its lack of attention to the ACORN scandal that has erupted. More on the ACORN story in a minute, but enjoy this clip from the Daily Show.

ABC,NBC,CNN,CBS,MSNBC – its a sad day for your organizations. Today, you have been shown to be completely inept and outdone in your job by non-journalists, or as Stewart stated “you got scooped by two kids straight out of the cast of High School Musical II”

Just wondering how many people thought this was “mean-spirited and dangerous“. (Hat Tip SH)

Ironically, this sketch was published in Vanity Fair almost exactly one year ago.

How about all of the soft porn pictures that popped up on the internet of Sarah Palin? (all photoshopped I might add) Are those not mean spirited? Dangerous even?

Quit whining…this is not a big deal.

Before I get ripped on for being a “birther” and called every name in the  book, have comments talking about my mother, and basically derided as a right-wing loon…check out my ACTUAL position on the whole birth certificate controversy, and realize that I’m just stoking the fire a little bit, and having some late night blogging fun! Check ‘em out here and here.

As I browsed the internet tonight, I stumbled across some interesting information. Of course the world now knows about the Kenyan document which allegedly verifies the birther claims, and curiously enough, it seems that according to the Department of State website, Hillary Clinton is on her way to Kenya right now. Curious timing to say the least. With the ink not even dry on the Kenyan document, Hillary is heading straight over, some might say to pick it up for her boss. Just a thought!! No posted agenda is on the State Department website to confirm her mission to Kenya, so let the conspiracy theories fly!!

Now, of course I am joking here…and merely stoking the flames of the conspiracy theory that nobody wants to acknowledge. But seriously for a moment, given that this conversation is even going on, let alone reaching a fever pitch, does it not seem odd to send your top diplomat over to Kenya? It did to me, and I don’t buy into this “birther” stuff. I am a doubter, who needs to see proof in a court of law, not on the web. Until it is proven legally, I don’t buy it. But are the Beltway folks that insulated that they do not even see the serious irony in this?

Bring on the hateful comments, I am ready and expecting them! But I hold on to my belief that the President can very easily make this go away. In fact, politically it may even be the wise thing to do, soften up the public on the healthcare issue, if he shows the people that he is actually listening to their concerns. I would respect him much more than I do if he would be as transparent as he said he would be, even if only on this issue.

By the way, nice of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declaring today that he would not give one minute of time in the Senate to the birth certificate issue. Only one problem Senator Reid, you just did by making that statement and putting into the Congressional Record. Brilliant I tell you!!

Funny video from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Enjoy!!

I believe it was Mark Twain who said these iconic words “It is better to remain silent and appear stupid, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

Words to live by in todays political debate for sure. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said that tonights primetime Obama press-conference will be an opportunity for the President to give himself a pat on the back for the brilliant rescue of the floundering United States economy. Also of course it is well known that Obama will take to the airwaves to pitch the highly controversial and socialist takeover of the US healthcare industry, as part of this brilliant rescue. Emanuel may be taking his cues from Larry Summers, the Presidents chief economic advisor who said last week that the economy is getting better because ” Google searches for economic recession have decreased to normal rates”. Ahhh, the Google recovery….

Apparently, Mr. Emanuel has never been to Michigan. The unemployment rate in this state currently stands over 15% and gets worse month by month. The same goes for 12 other states who have unemployment rates over 10%, with Michigan leading the way by far. Jobs continue to be shed, citizens continue to not spend what money they do have. All economic indicators show this statement to be ludicrous, as the economy continue to tank, with the recession lasting longer than any other recession since the Great Depression. The unfettered spending of tax dollars on short term government projects has failed to stimulate any kind of job growth. All this is happening without the passage yet of two major agenda items for the President. Cap and Trade, by the majority of economic analysis will be a major job killer, with the losses in the unfriendly carbon energy industry taking substantially more of a hit than the “green job” boom that is being purported as the major goal of this legislation. The big 3 car companies continue to struggle mightily, even though the government “rescued” them as well, and will be decimated once again by Cap and Trade which will effectively take aim at all manufacturing and industrial activities, all the while solving nothing as far as the worlds pollution unless China decides to go along as well, which they have said they will not.

Healthcare reform will be the main crux of the Presidents address tonight. Here is the email from the White House (which I might add does not allow response), and the President will lay out in his own words what he hopes to accomplish tonight.

Dear Friend,

As you read this, we are closer than ever to passing comprehensive health insurance reform that benefits American families and small businesses. Despite all the back and forth in the news right now, it is important to understand just how far we’ve come in this challenging process.

That’s why I’m holding a press conference tonight at 8pm ET, and writing to let everyone know where we are, what’s ahead, and why health insurance reform is so important.

Let me be clear: although Congress is still debating parts of the legislation we have achieved critical consensus on several key areas:

If you already have health insurance: reform will provide you with more security and stability. It will limit your own out of pocket costs and prevent your insurance company from dropping your coverage if you get too sick. You’ll also have affordable insurance options if you lose or change your job. And it will cover preventive care like check-ups and mammograms that save lives and money.

If you don’t have health insurance: you will finally have guaranteed access to quality, affordable health care, and you can choose the plan that best suits your family’s needs. And no insurance company will be allowed to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition.

Now, I realize that the last few miles of any race are the hardest to run, but we can’t stop now. There’s no dispute about it: we cannot control our long-term fiscal health as a nation without health insurance reform. American families and small businesses understand that the health insurance status quo is taking away those things that they value most about health care. The stability and security that comes with knowing that you can get the treatment you need, when you need it. Without reform, we are consigning our children to a future of skyrocketing premiums and crushing deficits.

We have to seize this opportunity and pass health insurance reform this year. You can help by forwarding this email to your family and friends and letting them know what’s at stake in this debate.

Thank you,
Barack Obama

Critical reading of the bill HR 3200 will undoubtedly refute all of the spin and vagueries that the President will put forward tonight, and he will never answer one critical question. If this government takeover is such a great idea, why is it that Congress, the President, and the majority of federal employees will not have to take part in this “revamped” system? The clause is in the bill, neatly tucked away since the majority of Americans will not even attempt to read it. Beware of the propaganda, rhetoric and spin from the President.

Funny cartoon which is sadly pretty accurate. Find more here.

A pretty funny cartoon from Townhall contributer Henry Payne

I got a good laugh out of this one…