Brief and punchy, laying blame where it belongs. more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:53 AM | Comments (23)
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Nothing funny about this president. Except the official seal of the Teleprompter of the United States.

Peggy Noonan discusses it as she retreats from her former cheerleading.

The president seems everywhere and nowhere, not fully focused on the matters at hand. He's trying to keep up with the news cycle with less and less to say. "I am angry" about AIG's bonuses. The administration seems buffeted, ad hoc. Policy seems makeshift, provisional. James K. Galbraith captures some of this in The Washington Monthly: "The president has an economic program. But there is, so far, no clear statement of the thinking behind the program."

This in part is why the teleprompter trope is taking off. Mr. Obama uses it more than previous presidents. No one would care about this or much notice it as long as he showed competence, and the promise of success. Reagan, if memory serves, once took his cards out of his suit and began to read them at a welcoming ceremony, only to realize a minute or so in that they were last week's cards from last week's ceremony. He caught himself and made a joke of it. One was reminded of this the other day when Mr. Obama's speech got mixed up with the Irish prime minister's. Things happen. But the teleprompter trope has taken off: Why does he always have to depend on that thing?

Thanks to LauraW., found in the comments of the TOTUS blog.

Posted by: Ace at 09:25 AM | Comments (8)
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And this is just the deficits -- nevermind the trillions in guarantees and printed-up money injected into the economy.

President Barack Obama's budget would generate deficits averaging almost $1 trillion a year over the next decade, according to the latest congressional estimates, significantly worse than predicted by the White House just last month.

The Congressional Budget Office figures, obtained by The Associated Press Friday, predict Obama's budget will produce $9.3 trillion worth of red ink over 2010-2019. That's $2.3 trillion worse than the White House predicted in its budget.

Worst of all, CBO says the deficit under Obama's policies would never go below 4 percent of the size of the economy, figures that economists agree are unsustainable. By the end of the decade, the deficit would exceed 5 percent of gross domestic product, a dangerously high level.

The latest figures, even worse than expected by top Democrats, throw a major monkey wrench into efforts to enact Obama's budget, which promises universal health care for all and higher spending for domestic programs like education and research into renewable energy.

The dismal deficit figures, if they prove to be accurate, inevitably raise the prospect that Obama and his allies controlling Congress would have to consider raising taxes after the recession ends or paring back his agenda.

But without referencing the figures, Obama insisted on Friday that his agenda is still on track.

A $1.8 trillion deficit this year alone.

Deteriorating economic conditions will cause the federal deficit to soar past $1.8 trillion this year and leave the nation wallowing in a sea of red ink far deeper than the White House had previously estimated, congressional budget analysts said today.

And we're going to spend a couple or four trillion on universal health care, too, huh?

Thanks to Anti-Harkonen Freedom Fighter Geoff.

Posted by: Ace at 09:16 AM | Comments (1)
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The smartest man ever claims he didn't know about the bonuses being paid to AIG employees until March 10th. Problem is, Congressman Joseph Crowley knew about them and even included the information in a question to Timmy on March 3rd. If you watch the video at the link, the mention of the coming payments is at about the :45 second mark.

Now, I'm not a super-genius like Timothy Giethner but I am fairly certain that March 3rd is before March 10th.

So, what did Timmy know and when did he know it?

This isn't about the chump change of $165 million in bonus money, it's about the most competent and scary smart administration ever being a bunch of idiots who can't keep their stories straight.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:23 AM | Comments (3)
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President Obama has reached out to Iran in a spirit of friendship and the milk of human kindness. I hope this works out and Iran decides to follow him onto the welcoming arms of the community of nations. I also hope that he had someone check and doublecheck that bit of Farsi at the end there to make sure he didn't just call them Persian dogs. Since not everyone shares the President's optimism that Iran will forego it's nuke building, terrorism supporting and oppression of it's own people I thought I should add a quick hello from the rest of us.

Posted by: Uncle Jimbo at 07:08 AM | Comments (1)
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Thankfully the TelePromtoer was there, so the potential damage was limited.

For those of you who can't stomach the full Obama experience, here's a rundown.

Video below the fold. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 06:36 AM | Add Comment
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Friday!

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:14 AM | Add Comment
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What's more retarded? Making a Special Olympics crack or saying Geithner is doing a heck of a job?

Gabe had the White House spin in his thread below but in case you missed it, here it is.

"The president made an off-hand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics," White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton said.

Anybody but brain dead Democrats and members of the JurnoList (there's a Venn Diagram with perfect overlap) buying that crap?

This is so disgusting. It's not healthy for a republic to have a pop star as President.

In fairness, Leno asked a good question...isn't it wrong to pass a tax bill aimed at a group of unpopular people. Obama kind of ignored it and went on to talking points about raising taxes (the idiots in the audience clapped).

Then he asked something stupid about sending people from Merill Lynch to jail.

Oh well.

Another Retard Joke [ace]: Two retard jokes in one night. Brilliant.

h/t Someone.

Below...about the only thing John McCain got right last year. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 06:53 PM | Comments (9)
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This post is bound to be controversial (not to mention a little earlier than usual), but I think the linked video should be viewed, even if you donÂ’t agree with the political group behind it. ItÂ’s a 10-minute comparative analysis of various political systems by John McManus, president of The John Birch Society.

I wasnÂ’t aware that they even existed anymore, but McManus turned up on a local Seattle radio talk show today. The organization has certainly had their share of controversies over the years, well-deserved or not, and are typically viewed by many as a radical right-wing, paleoconservative group.

I disagree with much of what the group stands for, such as isolationism, and they seem to be way too closely aligned with the views of people like Ron Paul. So why am I posting this? Mainly because the video doesnÂ’t stray into those areas, but does a pretty good job of explaining the differences between a republic and a democracy. It also illustrates how the latter can easily turn into an oligarchy, along with how democracies tend to end up committing suicide, intentional or not.

You can view the video here courtesy of the Dori Monson radio program. If youÂ’d like, you can also listen to the radio interview with McManus here. Click on the March 19th show, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. hour to listen to the mp3 file. IÂ’m not sure exactly when the interview starts but I think it takes up most of the hour. The synopsis:

”President of the controversial John Birch Society John McManus talks LIVE with Dori about Congress, Obama, economy, AIG bonuses, bailout and the heart of American government.”

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips to xgenghisx@gmail.com. Otherwise send tips to Ace.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:21 PM | Comments (1)
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More Obama p-shop fun (including with the Teleprompter) at Mock Barack.

Sorting out the credit: DrewM. Heather Radish came up with the gag, which Cromagnum then created a Twitter feed for, leading Mock Barack! to use the joke for a book-cover.

Whoops: Cromagnum told me it was DrewM's gag -- DrewM just told me "Not mine, wish it was."

So someone is owed some credit.

DrewM found what he thinks is the first mention, from Heather Radish.

Posted by: Ace at 04:10 PM | Add Comment
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