Time To Be Bold
Posted by Michelle Moquin on December 3rd, 2012
Good morning!
Alycedale: I didn’t realize it but it appears you were days ahead of me when I blogged about the house committee being all white men. Thanks for keeping it current. I HOPE all is well with you.
Λάχεσις: Sometimes it is challenging posting to me blog. I assure you as I have assured my readers in the past…I do not censor my blog. As far as blocking anyone from posting, are you kidding? It’s challenging enough for me to keep up with all of you, to even consider taking the time to block readers. Why would I? This is an open forum for all.
Dee: I love what you wrote about Obama. It is how I feel about him as well. But now it is time for him to be bold and kick some ass. This one’s for you. And you too Ruth, SM:
Obama’s Second Term: The Chance to Unleash the Audacity
Appearing on CNN, retiring Senator Joe Lieberman gave voice to the conventional wisdom: “In my opinion the last two years, 2011-12, have been the least productive and most partisan and uncompromising in my 24 years here.” For Lieberman, like much of establishment D.C. — both political and media — being a “moderate” or a “centrist” or a “pragmatist” is synonymous with the ability to “get things done.” Yet,according to the AP, this year’s election resulted in “a thinning of pragmatic, centrist veterans in both parties,” and that “among those leaving are some of the Senate’s most pragmatic lawmakers, nearly half the House’s centrist Blue Dog Democrats and several moderate House Republicans.”
As William Hoagland of the Bipartisan Policy Center put it, “This movement away from the center, at a time when issues have to be resolved from the middle, makes it much more difficult to find solutions to major problems.”
It’s the sort of boilerplate quote that’s found in virtually every piece about our current political landscape, a sentiment so common that we barely even notice it anymore. But we should, because it’s also the real problem in a nutshell: the assumption, unexamined and taken as gospel by most of Washington, that the solutions to our major problems are somehow to be magically found by splitting the difference in the middle. It’s the result of an old left-right way of thinking that is increasingly outdated. Arthur Schlesinger, who coined the phrase “the vital center” more than half a century ago to describe the common ground between fascism and communism, later lamented that the phrase had been reduced to signify nothing more than the “middle of the road.” In fact, many of the problems we’re facing were created by just the sort of bipartisan compromise rhapsodized about by much of the media. For instance, as proof of how much less “moderate” — and thus further away from “solutions” — the Senate is supposedly going to be, the AP cites the victory of “one of the most liberal members,” Elizabeth Warren, over “moderate Scott Brown.”
But moderates like Scott Brown are why we’re still looking for a way to ensure that no banks are too big to fail, and that taxpayers will never again be on the hook for the gambling of our financial institutions. In fact, after burnishing his “moderate” credentials by voting for the 2010 Wall Street reform bill, “moderate Scott Brown” set about weakening its provisions and opening up loopholes for the banks. It’s why Simon Johnson wrote that Brown was sometimes referred to as an “ATM for the bankers.”
It’s just one example of many, from the Iraq War to the repeal of Glass-Steagall, of how dangerous it is to equate bipartisan agreement with good policy. All those “moderates” whose departure Lieberman and many in the media are now mourning were there in the last Congress, and yet, as Lieberman notes, it was the “least productive and most partisan and uncompromising” Congress he’d ever seen.
What we need isn’t faux pragmatism, but real principles — like being devoted to protecting taxpayers instead of being devoted to ensuring that the banks can continue to act like casinos. And yet, somehow, it’s Elizabeth Warren who represents a threat to finding solutions? The bold leadership we need from Harry Reid is to resist being browbeaten by the financial industry and its well-funded lobbyists (many of whom will no doubt be former “centrist” colleagues), and to put Elizabeth Warren on the committee where she can do the most good: the banking committee.
This is the time for both Congress and the White House to be bold. The beginning of a new Congress, right after an election and as far as we can be from the midterms, is the best time to go big. After the 2004 election, in which President Bush was reelected with almost exactly the same margin and vote totals as President Obama, Bush declared, “I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.” Unfortunately, he happened to spend it on many wrong things (helped out, of course, by many “moderate” Democrats). But that was exactly the right attitude — and one President Obama should adopt. As Bill Maher put it, “There’s no third term, Mr. President, so you may as well throw caution to the wind, ’cause it’s not like we’re using it to produce energy.” Because “if not now, when?”
President Obama still has the opportunity to be a transformational president, but only if he spends his second term finally unleashing the audacity that propelled his presidency in the beginning. With Obama’s final campaign now over, whatever excuses the cautious, thinly-sliced political calculations provided for inaction on many important causes no longer apply. For example: gun control. After each mass shooting, the president always speaks beautifully — but very generally — about the issue of violence. “We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence,” he said at the memorial following the Tucson shooting. “We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of violence in the future.” But there have been more than 60 multiple shootings since Tucson.
And yet, the only major thing Obama did regarding access to guns in his first term was to actually increase it, signing a bill to allow people to bring loaded firearms into national parks and on Amtrak trains. During the campaign, the issue was only brought up in the second debate, in which the president said, “Part of [the solution] is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced.” Which, of course, caused the NRA to go into overdrive, running ads about Obama’s Supreme Court appointments. But, as HuffPost’s Jennifer Bendery wrote at the time, “the fact that the NRA is bashing Obama on his court appointments, and not on his legislative record, reflects the reality that he has done next to nothing on gun control since becoming president.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, sponsor of the 1994 assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, plans on reintroducing it in the new Congress. Support from the White House would be one way to “lessen the prospects of violence in the future.”
Another issue on which it would be great to see stepped-up second-term leadership is the drug war. Back in July, Marc Ambinder wrote that, according to his sources, President Obama was going to “pivot” to the drug war in his second term. “From his days as a state senator in Illinois,” wrote Ambinder, “Obama has considered the Drug War to be a failure, a conflict that has exacerbated the problem of drug abuse, devastated entire communities, changed policing practices for the worse, and has led to a generation of young children, disproportionately black and minority, to grow up in dislocated homes, or in none at all.” If that’s true, the president has been pretty successful at keeping his beliefs about the drug war to himself. As HuffPost’s Nick Wing wrote in July, Obama’s “recent policy moves have not shown a particular interest in reflecting that worry” — policy moves like a Justice Department crackdown on medical marijuana and continued prosecutions for possession.
But now that Colorado and Washington state have legalized pot, the president will have a significant opportunity to “pivot” to acting on his belief that the drug war has been a failure. “Since those anti-drug war principles are now enshrined in Colorado’s constitution, only the feds can stop this Rocky Mountain state — if they so choose,” writes David Sirota. “But will they?” Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette recently introduced a bill that would exempt states from the federal ban on possessing or using small amounts of marijuana. Presidential support of this bill could be the beginning of the end of America’s disastrous drug war that has destroyed so many lives.
In fact, President Obama has it in his power to stop the ongoing destruction of many of those lives. In the past, he has spoken out against mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes and the disparity between sentences for crack and cocaine. These policies have helped increase the number of federal prisoners to over 200,000, and the number of Americans under some form of correctional supervision to six million, which Adam Gopnik calls ”the moral scandal of American life.”
And yet President Obama has pardoned only 22 people so far, as Melissa Harris-Perry noted in an open letter to the turkey Obama pardoned for Thanksgiving. “Cobbler,” she wrote, “maybe you can scratch out a letter to the White House asking the president to show as much mercy to humans in his second term as he has shown to poultry in his first.” And of those few Obama has pardoned, only one was actually still in jail at the time. At this point in his presidency, George W. Bush had pardoned 37 people. FDR pardoned 600 by the end of his first term and 2,800 over his three terms.
There were certain issues on which, as Jonathan Turley put it, the administration went into “radio silence” in the hope of solidifying the support of his base, only to backtrack after the election. One of these is privacy. Last year, Sen. Patrick Leahy introduced a digital privacy bill that would protect people’s email against warrantless intrusions by authorities. But soon after Election Day, the Justice Department massaged the bill to allow for 22 federal agencies to access your email, Facebook content, tweets and more, all without a warrant. These changes have led Leahy to say he won’t support his own bill, scheduled to come up for a vote this Thursday.
Whatever happens with the bill, the changes don’t bode well for the idea that the administration, now freed from reelection fears of being called “soft on crime,” might want the creation of modernized civil liberties safeguards to be one of its legacies. “The control of the security establishment over both White House and Congress appears now completely unchecked and unabashed,” writes Turley. “After securing reelection, President Obama wasted no time in returning to his prior record of disregarding privacy and civil liberties concerns.”
Technology is, of course, changing our political landscape. And as the fight over digital privacy shows, old left-right paradigms like being “soft” or “tough” on crime are inadequate for the challenges we face in this new frontier. This is true in foreign policy, as well, as the issue of how and where to use drones becomes more and more important. This is yet another issue where a second term presents Obama with the opportunity to lead. Clearly, the ability to attack using unmanned weapons and without putting American personnel in harm’s way isn’t going away. But without bold leadership, some of our core principles might — at the same time that we are undermining our long-term security.
According to the New York Times, in the weeks before the election, the White House was hastily writing ”explicit rules” for targeted killing, just in case Romney won — since the administration didn’t want a Republican to enjoy the same unaccountable power it has given itself during its first term. “There was concern that the levers might no longer be in our hands,” said one source.
However, mounting evidence shows their confidence in their own use of “the levers” might be unwarranted. For instance, because of the use of drones in Yemen, “Al Qaeda is actually expanding” there, says Gregory Johnsen, author of The Last Refuge: Yemen, Al Qaeda and America’s War in Arabia. As one Yemeni told Johnsen, “Each time they kill a tribesman, they create more fighters for Al Qaeda.”
To James Traub, “there is a real danger that around the world drone warfare will come to be seen as the dark arts of the Obama administration, as torture and ‘rendition’ were for President George W. Bush.” He suggests that, as a New Year’s resolution, Obama “level with the American people about what it is that drones should and should not do, who they do and do not target, where they should and should not be used.”
Obama has ended one war (Iraq) and pledged to end another one (Afghanistan) by the end of 2014, but to Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations, this expanding and seemingly limitless use of drones represents “America’s Third War” — one that, unlike the other two, Obama has greatly expanded. This one is his, not Bush’s. And it’s one that has killed nearly 3,400 people so far, 13 percent of whom are civilians. “What was once considered an immediate response to an exceptional threat to the United States,” writes Zenko, “is now a permanent and institutionalized feature of U.S. foreign policy.”
Obviously, there are many challenges facing our country today, but they are not going to be solved through middle-of-the-road, split-the-difference compromises. That’s how many of the challenges were created, or allowed to grow unfettered, in the first place. Big problems require big solutions. I’m not suggesting that compromise is never needed, but compromise is the final step in a negotiation, not the first one. The first one is for leaders with strong convictions to fight for them. If gun violence is an issue you’re passionate about then, like Senator Feinstein, you’ll be more likely to keep at it until you find allies across the aisle. Same with Senator-elect Warren’s passion for creation of a banking system that doesn’t take advantage of the middle class.
The starting point for the incoming Congress and the returning president should be rooted in principle. The pragmatic solutions will follow.
********
Thoughts? Blog me.
George, WN: As I can see…some things never change.
Rose: Another sickening story of a law that allows one to murder. I have said it before and I’ll say it again. If more white people were killed because of this law, believe me, the law would change.
Bert: You’re kidding right?
Linda: Ahh…I am assuming you were talking to our resident racist George, WN. If so, you said what was on my mind.
Chris: I think it’s funny that you commented on people making comments that are off topic and then you go ahead and do the same same thing.
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:
Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129
Thank you for your loyal support!
All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012
“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream
" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"
December 3rd, 2012 at 6:47 pm
Hi Mischa, just in case it’s one of those days when I just happen to open the gates for the comments…you never know around here : )
Hope you’re well.
Been busy with biz/fun this weekend/today/night, will get caught up on reads/comments later.
Luv, Zen Lill
December 4th, 2012 at 4:57 am
Thanks Zen Lill for opening it up for the rest of us. Great article, Michelle. As much as I love Obama, we must keep him honest and true to progressive values.
December 4th, 2012 at 4:59 am
Don’t u people get it? The reasons for gridlock is that Obama wants to tax & spend, a free hand to borrow without accountability. He has no plans to reduce spending or dealing with entitlements, that is the crux of the many financial problems. Get off your partisan butts and think. This is an American problem that Obama is not dealing with.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:02 am
I don’t expect much because the republicans are going to continue obstructing anything Obama wants to do to help the poor and middle class. I hope to be surprised. However, with expectations like mine, breathing without aid would likely be considered a success.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:04 am
I doubt that much will be accomplished in the first two years until the 2014 elections shake up the republican hold on the House. For the last two years I have not seen a spirit of America in the High and mighty Congress..and to amass more problem’s the republican’s want their own Country or secede from the union. I’ve seen rats compromise in better situations and i’m slowly with a large amount of disbelief think we as a nation as falling below the standers of RATS.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:04 am
I understand that President Obama has been doing his homework. He has been reading and having historians visit the White House for dinners to discuss how past presidents left a legacy and how they achieved those legacies. I hope that means he is going to try to leave a legacy. I hope one of his legacies is a high- speed rail.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:05 am
I wanted Obama to win because I thought he was the most rational. Don’t make me regret it by pulling a bunch of crazy leftist horseshit and proving the right wing was right about you all along.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:06 am
I hope Obama goes after the hospitals, insurance companies, education companies, and the Federal Reserve.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:07 am
Sad that your cage opened Delon, now you can go back to it.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:09 am
Delon, There’s a back woods militia just waiting for your call…
yet you come here to bash Obama, which truly means nothing to anyone but you.
Enjoy Obamacare, gays getting married and the end of two wars…and much much, more…
December 4th, 2012 at 5:11 am
Obama isn’t destroying America, assholes like Delon are. yknow, small minded people who hate anyone who isn’t white and racist.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:14 am
Thanks for opening this blog up Zen Lill. I tried all day to get in. I have high hopes. We can only go up, hopefully. The last two years the republicans have used every trick in the book to keep him from succeeding.
I hope he has learned something about attempting to compromise with that bunch.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:21 am
Michelle, l really do hope the president listen because it seems to me that he always carves in to the GOP. For the life of me why should UN Ambassador have to bear the blame for libyan invasion, what silly rhetorics are these men playing.
Obama seems to always have time to take in their nonesense. The worst of them all is McCain. He is a bitter sore loser if ever there was one. He’s on every channel that will entertain him, engaging in pitty talks, attacking a woman.
What is that foolishness? Although to a certain degree I am glad that the piece of shit donald trump has gone quiet for a while, l hope McCain follows his lead.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:22 am
Clyde, you left out one more thing, and stupid. Even Jindal is asking when will the Republicans stop being the party of stupid.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:26 am
Michelle, Will you all please do something old fashioned? Get a life! Move on from this election.Talk is cheap do something to better yourself this nation and the world
December 4th, 2012 at 5:29 am
You libs continue to tout Obama getting out of Iraq, I said this to you before: replacing US troops with higher paid mercenaries is not an end to war.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:35 am
All I hear from my relatives is Obama is ruining the country. I finally spoke up and declared myself for Obama(thanks for encouraging me Michelle), they seemed aghast. Me, white, from an old long standing anti – “N” family voting for Obama?
I screamed the facts to them. “do you understand how the democratic process works? nothing in this country can really get done without Congress acting on it. Who’s in charge of the house? Republicans. Who keeps filibustering a record number of times in the senate? Republicans. Just because the president is a democrat, doesn’t mean that his party is in charge.”
December 4th, 2012 at 5:37 am
Come on Michelle, you know niggers are scary. I live in Macon County Georgia. Niggers are every where. I am always packing when I leave home.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:39 am
John, …..what? who said mercenaries are being sent there by Obama? I believe that whole blackwater crap was a Bush push.
either way, there will still be “non combat” troops there rather than a full force.
but let’s not get off topic.
No matter what, the republican party needs to pull a 180 and regroup if they want to be relevant again anytime soon. Its pretty bad when hardcore conservatives say that the current democratic party is now the new mark for conservatism.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:40 am
And the past 4 years have been so productive because of Obama? Give me a break! Unemployment at an all time high since the 30′s, the dollar taking a huge dump, and everyone wanting a handout. Blame the Republicans all you want, but Obama hasn’t done a thing in the past 4 years. What should we expect for the next 4?
December 4th, 2012 at 5:43 am
Lynn, I guess you weren’t in the room when Ellen #17 spoke to her relatives. Let me repeat if for your dumb ass. “do you understand how the democratic process works? nothing in this country can really get done without Congress acting on it. Who’s in charge of the house? Republicans. Who keeps filibustering a record number of times in the senate? Republicans. Just because the president is a democrat, doesn’t mean that his party is in charge.”
December 4th, 2012 at 5:44 am
Lynn, Apparently you are of the mindset that you think that just because he’s president he can magically make things happen without Congress, of which is controlled by Republicans who block and gridlock everything.
And your Fox News fed assertion that everyone wants a handout is false. Did you know that gullible isn’t a word found in the dictionary?
December 4th, 2012 at 5:45 am
we all know george W bush did so much in 8 years.. i mean cmon he was a two term REPUBLICAN president… you guys got your shot… and you f*** it up badly.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:46 am
I will take a george bush over your socialist Hussain Barrack Obama any day. The communist cant even supply a birth certificate let alone run a country.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:47 am
republicans I hear that if you guys block everything he tries to do, it’ll be all the dem’s fault in 2014 and 16, and you’ll keep voting red.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:48 am
unleash more going around congress, using executive privelege and orders to stymie congress, and lying about foreign affairs? GEE! I CAN’T WAIT!
December 4th, 2012 at 5:49 am
Richard, really? this crap again? First, birth certificate was provided. Couldn’t even run for the office without. So enough of that. Next, you clearly have no clue what the definition of socialist or communist is. Hitler was a socialist. Soviet Russia was a communist country and socialist gov’t. If you think Obama is anywhere near on par with that, then that clearly isn’t your biggest issue that needs addressing.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:50 am
Ooops! We got a birther, folks!
December 4th, 2012 at 5:51 am
Yes, we do. The fever hasn’t broken.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:52 am
LLoyd, If you are going to make statements like that, back it up. Executive privilege? What has Obama done that was so terrible where he used executive privilege? What about foreign affairs has he lied about? Back up what you say with something more than fox news talking points.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:52 am
Unleash what, his audacity of incompetence?
December 4th, 2012 at 5:55 am
Go away back to Fox noise LLoyd. you are nothing more than a troll.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:58 am
Michael, You are not a very competent bore but you are audacious! However still extremely boring with your post election party hack routine. You should sacrifice some Happy Meals for a good bottle of scotch it might improve your extremely dull existence of criticizing those who have suceeded in life!
December 4th, 2012 at 6:00 am
LLoyd, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul
December 4th, 2012 at 6:00 am
Just hoping for gridlock. Looking foreword to the fiscal cliff. I will never relinquish my liberty and freedom for a paycheck or government cheese.
I am prepped and ready, let the bumpy ride begin.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:02 am
Obama will continue to destroy this country, finishing the job he started in his first 4 years. Your opinion means nothing Michelle, go back into your liberal hole where you belong.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:03 am
Great. So more unnecessary spending and taxes. What American doesn’t love this? Now go be a good consumer and don’t ask questions.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:07 am
i have to say, for all the libtards shouting at people who have the gall to disagree with Michelle, and calling them trolls. When I check in on Rachel on MSNBC to see what is new from you shit eating libs, i see this pig and her dumb ass douchery is plastered on my wall like a turd thrown by a chimp.
so if i say i dont like it, i’ll get some dumb as fuck deadhead who needs to bathe and get a job telling me i’m the moron, some dimwit calling me a racist hater cause i dont want Obama to fuck me in the ass, or some dipshit telling me about a militia that misses me.
what happened, all you stoned shitheads, to “question authority
December 4th, 2012 at 6:08 am
i get it, its really just dont question what you want authority to be
December 4th, 2012 at 6:09 am
You tell’em Ellen. For those of you who think that the Republicans aren’t obstructing….just look at the filibuster rule and the Senate. In the past four years it has been used 386 times alone. That’s more times than in the entire history of the rule.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:12 am
Vickie, executive privilege? You mean like Eric holder and fast and furious?
December 4th, 2012 at 6:14 am
Mike, Its not a matter of having a differing opinion. The issue here is with posters like you who can’t seem to have a civil debate without using words like “libtards” or making personal attacks against someone you don’t know.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:15 am
I agree with Kathy, Mike #38. But hey, thanks for stopping by to not contribute constructively to the conversation. Thanks for playing.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:17 am
LLoyd, Please…do a lil fact checking… That program was started well before Obama’s first term.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:18 am
your assertion is irrelevant as holder asked Obama to bail him out using executive privilege and he did. Something he condemned the previous administration for. You deny this?
December 4th, 2012 at 6:20 am
Michelle, my ex left with a nigger because she has no self respect.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:21 am
You libs are apparently unaware that there is a place in the jungle for your boy obama.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:22 am
Lloyd, And Bush didn’t use the same privilege to “bail out” anyone? Pot, meet kettle.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:23 am
wow…look at that folks… Someone on the right who can only make hateful, personal attacks…
December 4th, 2012 at 6:23 am
Democrat=Blame Bush for every damn thing that happens!!!
December 4th, 2012 at 6:24 am
Wow…the know-nothings trolling this thread are particularly frothy…yikes…
December 4th, 2012 at 6:30 am
Kathy, first, YOU need to do some fact checking. FAst and Furious was started ONLY under your messiah, B.H.Obama, which began on October 26, 2009. thats like, TWO THOUSAND NINE. yea. “do a lil fact checking”. ten months after Bush was retired and living on a ranch in Texas. 10/26/09
did Bush do a gun walking program? yes, indeed his admin did, but it was called Operation Wide Reciever, it was in 2006, ENDED in 2007, and EVERY GUN involved was miccrochipped, tracked, and the Mexican govt was fully involved.
fast and furious? not so much. dead border agent, killed by guns the administration forced gun shops to sell, even when they said someone is gonna get killed, this is out of control and a really bad move. B.H.O claimed he knew absolutely nothing about fast and furious, and then claimed executive priviledge so he didnt have to testify to that.
you see, “high crimes and misdemeanors” is grounds for impeachment. and that is what perjury is.
second, idiots spouting off, and saying “do a lil fact checking” when they have no idea, well thats why they are called libtards
regarding making personal attacks against someone i dont know, i mentioned a deadhead who needs to bathe, in response to his saying a person with a different opinion that him needed to “get back to your cage”.
libtards are all for free speech, so long as it is theirs.
lastly, trolling michelle douchebags post? hardly. that pis slop was on my computer when i came home and discovered that my wife of 17 years has been following this shit. i only got on to give my piece of mind after i settled with her traitorous nigger loving ass.
when she heals, you can bet that bitch won’t be reading this shit any more or the next time i will close her fucking eyes forever.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:32 am
Hitler was a socialist
no really???
and just because a terrible person is a socialist doesnt mean Americans can’t be to ik quite a few people whom I have argued with that have publicly sed that they are socialists and want socialism and it really doesnt matter how socialistic u r if ur a socialist then ur a damn socialist no matter the extremity
December 4th, 2012 at 6:33 am
And, I love how Democrats tell people to stop getting there facts from Fox news the most conservative news station while they are getting there facts from MSNBC the most liberal news station on the air.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:33 am
And, Id like to remind everyone that there is this new government office called the Senate which has been around since like 1788 and that even if we have a Republican Congress we have a Democratic Senate so stop calling everything on the Republicans because it’s not like the dimwit senates getting anything done either and u can’t make something a law without the Congress and Senate voting for it
December 4th, 2012 at 6:36 am
The democrats and republicans alike are all criminals using their positions to avoid what would be prosecution. The two party system is broken and is fucking everyone over in one way or another. Everyone and their high and mighty “I’m smarter than you” attitudes are only making it worse.
The government is too damn big for shrines good, and neither side wants to change that. A vote for the lesser of two evils is no vote at all. Now that you fucktards have had your minds blown with a little truth, how’s about we get back to freedom in this country eh? Real freedom.
If it doesn’t hurt or kill anyone than it’s all good kind of freedom. Out is everyone here to stupid to realize that we haven’t lived in a “free country” in a long damn time? Both sides need to open your eyes and see that your not right, and you’re not convincing anyone that you are by patronizing anyone who doesn’t agree with you.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:36 am
Noah…who has used a record 386 filibusters to block what the dems do? Republicans. Explain why they’ve abused that rule just to try to hinder progress in the Senate? Exactly…you can’t. They’ve used to rule more in a single session of Congress than has ever been used in the rule’s history.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:37 am
Memo to Obama voters – The country is broke (that means we’re out of money). Audacity won’t fix that!
December 4th, 2012 at 6:38 am
Lucy, lets see maybe because everything Hussein Barack Obama wants to do will ruin the country
December 4th, 2012 at 6:40 am
As they say in the Navy, “steady as she goes!”
POTUS just needs to stay the course and adapt to change as necessary.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:41 am
Wow…an ignorant and bigoted statement all in one shot…not bad…but expected. And before you deny it, putting his middle name first was blatantly meant to stir up anti-muslim sentiments… which is sad because he is Christian.
Keep your hate to yourself.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:43 am
he is not a christian. a christian professes his love of god, christ and his faith. too many examples of B.H.Obama dropping any reference to god. no christian would do that. i’m not religious at all, but i know that.
“”do a lil research”
December 4th, 2012 at 6:44 am
No way on earth he is a Christian.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:47 am
What’s with the constant references to Obama’s religion? Even here in China we know that you republians are not supporting Obama because he is black. His religion doesn’t matter.
Qiu
December 4th, 2012 at 6:48 am
anyone else notice how, when lil ol Kathy’s argument was blown out of the water, she ignored the facts that showed she was clueless, changed subjects, and kept on spouting off?
libtards…..
December 4th, 2012 at 6:50 am
Kathy, because im so ignorant explain what Obama wants to do that will help the country?
December 4th, 2012 at 6:51 am
Mike, Oh, so because he doesnt publicly push his religion then he isnt a christian? Who knew there was a religious litmus test. Guess him going to church is all part of his ruse to fool america.
Again with the personal attacks…shame.
The program in question was given that name under obama, but was initially started, pushed and backed by the previous administration.
Apparently some cant stay on topic and only have personal attacks, ignorance and hate to offer.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:53 am
Roger, The country is not broke. We just have too many greedy people refusing to pay their fair share. All we need to do is to work together and respect one another.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:53 am
I hope for the best. We all know if US goes down the entire World Economy would go down with it.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:55 am
Fair share is proportional to income. The tax rates already compensate for that. If you’re going to let the tax rates expire then they need to expire for everyone. Everyone in this country has the opportunity to make of themselves whatever they want to.
This “fair shake, fair shot” crap is nonsense. What happened to working hard for everything you have and not depending on the government to plow the way for you? There are plenty of opportunities out there for everyone to be a success story, go find it and live it. Cut the damn regulations on business that are choking the very thing that make this country great and give us back our freedom and dignity.
Earning a good wage will never happen again if Uncle Sam keeps regulating everything to death. I still have not heard one thing Obama has proposed for job growth, not one. He wants to get rid of the debt ceiling and has no intentions to ever have a balanced budget passed.
More “revenue”, another tax word, is all he’s about. Tax more so we can spend more. Not a word about cutting spending.
The audacity started when he started running for President, what makes you think it’s going to get any better?
December 4th, 2012 at 6:56 am
Noah, How about republican ideas like universal, single payer healthcare and marriage equality. Both pioneered and pushed and enacted by republicans…like….oh…Romney?
December 4th, 2012 at 6:57 am
We were f*cked before. Now we’re really f*cked.
December 4th, 2012 at 6:59 am
Mike, How is Obama not christian? Does he not use the word God? He does. Does he not go to church? He does. Did he not lay his hand on a bible when sworn in? He did.
Since when does anyone need to prove their faith? What is this, the Spanish Inquisition? Lemme guess…his name…you think that because his name is different or because he looks different then he cant possibly be christian.
December 4th, 2012 at 7:05 am
Uhh.. using Executive Privelege to keep holder from having to testify (in contempt of congress), and lying about Benghazi. We can throw in enacting the DREAM act, which Congress voted against, as an executive order for giggles.
December 4th, 2012 at 7:09 am
no Wayna and Kathy, he does not regularly go to church, or any services. he did not thank god as recently as his thanksgiving address, less than a week ago, for a sweet, recent example (if only you did “a lil research”).
thanks for the fall back postition of it must be his name, or skin color. typical liberal. cant stand facts, so it must be bigotry.
no, Kathy and Wayna, look up the word “Christian” as defined by websters. he absolutely does not fit that description. the church he did attend, when he went to church, and which he was quoted as saying he could not disavow, did not preach a christian doctrine of peace, love, fellowship of man, and a worship of jesus as mankinds savior.
it preached black liberation and racism
you still are hiding from that fact that you know nothing about what you speak. i wanna hear it. admit it. you were wrong about Fast and Furious.
if you cant do that, then you are full of shit, in denial, everyone who has read these posts knows you are wrong, and if you cant admit it, then you are absolutly not worth any further debate.
in short, YOU LOSE
December 4th, 2012 at 7:10 am
Why do people think the president is a king? it’s career politicians like McCain the do most of the damage to this country
December 4th, 2012 at 7:11 am
Uhh… ok so now that u lay your hand on the bible and swear an oath ur a christian??? Yeah right
December 4th, 2012 at 7:18 am
Matt, because they bought into the rhetoric and lies. Because they fell for the cult of personality. Because they don’t understand the political system, at all, and yearn for a true one party system where a 51% majority means the opposition is silenced and steamrolled “for their own good”.
December 4th, 2012 at 7:19 am
Kathy, im still waiting for u to tell me what obama wants to do that will help the country
December 4th, 2012 at 7:22 am
Michelle, you need to take a pill. Dedicated dem doesn’t even begin to describe you. You don’t seem to be supporting a president, you seem to be supporting a lover.
December 4th, 2012 at 7:23 am
John, “keep your hate to yourself”? I’m going to use you as an example of American haters in my next class.