Mitch McConnell invited him for a meeting and Mr. Leadership says no. He's not even voting "Present" anymore.

White House press secretary Jay Carney, while not directly saying the invitation had been rejected, said Obama did not need to hear Republicans tell him what they would not support.

That, Carney said, was "not a conversation worth having."

To quote a suddenly wise-man, Obama is being "a dick".

Yesterday Obama dickishly pointed claimed he'd worked hard on this.

I met with every single caucus for an hour to an hour and a half each -- Republican senators, Democratic senators; Republican House, Democratic House. IÂ’ve met with the leaders multiple times. At a certain point, they need to do their job.

Oooh...he spent 4-6 hours on this. Damn, that deserves a round of golf or two. Maybe even a trip to Hawaii.

As far as who has done their job and who hasn't. Keep in mind that Obama presented a laughably out of of touch budget with so much spending even the the Democratic Senate rejected even debating by 97-0. He did give a speech about it but as the head of the CBO said, that's useless.

Republicans meanwhile have passed the Ryan budget in the House and most GOP Senators supported it when it came up for a vote in that chamber.

Where are the Democrats? The Democratically controlled Senate hasn't passed a budget in over two years. Where's Obama's actual plan, not some dickish speech?

It's almost as if Obama is not interested in doing something but would rather have
an issue to run on. Leading from behind indeed.

Obama did get one bit of action from his speech and press conference yesterday...the Senate is going to stay in session and forgo the traditional July 4th recess.

Meanwhile, August isn't exactly the drop dead date for the debt ceiling.

Posted by: DrewM at 09:39 AM | Comments (47)
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Via the always interesting Guy Benson, it seems Democrats have a patriotism problem after all. Of course, the Harvard social scientists couch it as Republicans having "appropriated" patriotic holidays, but if the Democrats were better than indifferent on the issue, I doubt that could have happened.

Democratic political candidates can skip this weekend's July 4th parades. A new Harvard University study finds that July 4th parades energize only Republicans, turn kids into Republicans, and help to boost the GOP turnout of adults on Election Day.

[...]

"The political right has been more successful in appropriating American patriotism and its symbols during the 20th century. Survey evidence also confirms that Republicans consider themselves more patriotic than Democrats. According to this interpretation, there is a political congruence between the patriotism promoted on Fourth of July and the values associated with the Republican party. Fourth of July celebrations in Republican dominated counties may thus be more politically biased events that socialize children into Republicans," write Harvard Kennedy School Assistant Professor David Yanagizawa-Drott and Bocconi University Assistant Professor Andreas Madestam.

The key findings of the study are that July Fourth celebrations (1) increase the likelihood of a youth identifying as a Republican by at least 2 percent if attended before age 18, (2) raise the likelihood that attendees will vote for a Republican candidate by 4 percent; and (3) boost the likelihood an attendee will vote by about 1 percent; and (4) increase the chances an attendee will make a political contribution by 3 percent.

Those are slight differences, but every little bit counts.

LATER: Top Ten Ways Democrats Can Re-"Appropriate" July Fourth
(A couple of these blatantly stolen from commenters or Guy.)

10. Include a disclaimer on celebration notices warning that displays of patriotism might endanger children's welfare.

9. Have the EPA require that celebrations use only fireworks that are environmentally friendly and greenhouse gas neutral.

8. Include a ritual apology to Great Britain after all readings of the Declaration of Independence.

7. Have the National Endowment for the Arts fund naked interpretive dance troupes at July Fourth parades. Also, drum circles.

6. Burn slave-owning Founders in effigy.

5. Have the NLRB require that all parade volunteers be unionized.

4. Serve soy chai lattes at July Fourth parades.

3. A free bong hits booth at every parade.

2. Require that children have a permission slip to attend signed by . . . their school principal.

And the Number 1 way that Democrats could re-appropriate the Fourth of July is
more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:23 AM | Comments (273)
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And he doesn't mean Lugar or Gephardt.

Joe Scarborough: Mark Halperin, What was the presidentÂ’s strategy? We are coming up on a deadline and the president decided to please his base, push back against the Republicans.I guess the question is, we know a deal has to be done. Is this showmanship? A lot of times you go up there and both sides and they act tough so their base will be appeased, then they quietly work the deal behind the scenes.

Mark Halperin: Are we on the seven second delay?

Mika Brzezinski: Lordy.

Halperin: I wanted to characterize how the president behaved.

Scarborough: We have it. We can use it. Go for it. LetÂ’s see what happens.

Brzezinski: WeÂ’re behind you, you fall down and we catch you.

Halperin: I thought he was a dick yesterday.

Scarborough: Delay that. delay that. what are you doing? i can’t believe — Iwas joking. Don’t do that. Did we delay that?

Halperin: I said it. I hope it worked.

Scarborough: My mom is watching! WeÂ’ll know whether it worked or not.

The video is at the link.

If you read my post on Obama's presser yesterday, you'd know I agree with Halperin. It's just that since heis spinning madly for Obama or suggesting idiotic courses of action for conservatives that would help Obama, this is a bit out of left field.

I'm not sure what the hell Halperin was reacting to but maybe it was just the thin skinned, immature and peevish nature of Obama's grating personality was too much even for him. Whatever the reason, he's been suspended indefinitely by MSNBC and has apologized (also at the link).

Clearly he deserves to be suspended (and he said as much) but this is what "news channels" get when they try and do some sort of fusion of morning zoo radio and "news" talk programming. Every once and a while, someone is going to cross the line and take the format to its logical and absurd conclusion.

So yeah, inappropriate and unprofessional but also...accurate.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:59 AM | Comments (326)
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The past is like an ass. Everyone has one, but you're mighty particular who you show it to.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:21 AM | Comments (284)
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I meant to get to this earlier but...meh, stuff happens.

There were so many choice moments from today's presser, I wanted to highlight a couple.

First, on Libya....Obama basically questioned the patriotism of anyone who has any questions about his little adventure.

We have engaged in a limited operation to help a lot of people against one of the worst tyrants in the world -- somebody who nobody should want to defend -- and we should be sending a unified message to this guy that he should step down and give his people a fair chance to live their lives without fear. And this suddenly becomes the cause célèbre for some folks in Congress? Come on.

First...who is defending Gadaffi? No one.

Second...Remember when Obama demanded that Democrats like himself stop criticizing Bush over Iraq lest it send something other than "a unified message" to Saddam or al Qaeda in Iraq?

And finally...standing up for the constitutional role of Congress in matters of war and peace is a "cause célèbre". This is how the President of the United States views the constitutional responsibilities of a co-equal branch of government.

I bet that the day a Republican becomes President the MFM is going to rediscover their distaste for an "imperial President". Not until then though.

On the economy Obama has a sure fire way to solve the deficit...eliminate tax credits for "corporate jets". Obama used those words, "corporate jets" six times. I'm guessing that focus grouped well as the enemy du jour.

Nathan Wurtzel found a funny thing about that tax break? The Democrats and Obama put it in there so-called "stimulus".

Just a few months after lawmakers scolded auto executives for flying to Washington in private jets, Congress approved a tax break in the stimulus package to help businesses buy their own planes.

The incentive -- first used to help plane makers recover from the 2001 terror attacks -- sharply reduces the up front tax bill for companies who buy assets like business planes.

The aviation industry, which is cutting jobs as it suffers from declining shipments and canceled orders, hopes the tax break in the economic-stimulus bill just signed by President Barack Obama will persuade more companies to buy planes and snap a slump in general aviation that began last year.

Obama's tone was sharp and confrontational, espeically regarding Congress. Several times he challenged Congress to step up as he claims he has and lead.

And so thereÂ’s no point in procrastinating. ThereÂ’s no point in putting it off. WeÂ’ve got to get this done. And if by the end of this week, we have not seen substantial progress, then I think members of Congress need to understand we are going to start having to cancel things and stay here until we get it done.

They're in one week, they're out one week. And then they're saying, Obama has got to step in. You need to be here. IÂ’ve been here. IÂ’ve been doing Afghanistan and bin Laden and the Greek crisis. You stay here. LetÂ’s get it done.

Look, he did like 3 things, can't he finish his waffle? And just out of curiosity, how much time and effort did it take Obama to do bin Laden? It must have been the years of training to become a SEAL and weeks of mission prep plus a couple of days to fly over to Pakistan put a couple of caps in that SOB and fly back.

And he managed to fit that in between all his rounds of golf and 30 fundraisers around the country.

Here's Obama on how he demonstrates leadership (which is apparently lacking in Congress).

And IÂ’ve got to say, IÂ’m very amused when I start hearing comments about, well, the President needs to show more leadership on this. Let me tell you something. Right after we finished dealing with the government shutdown, averting a government shutdown, I called the leaders here together. I said weÂ’ve got to get done -- get this done. I put Vice President Biden in charge of a process -- that, by the way, has made real progress -- but these guys have met, worked through all of these issues.

Real leadership is...putting Joe Biden in charge.

And immediately after this presser, Obama got down to the series business of...holding a Rose Garden ceremony to honor the WNBA champs.

Obama wrapped up his presser by talking about a company he recently visited in Iowa.

I was in Alcoa, in Iowa, one of our most successful companies. They took a big hit during the recession, but they still invested $90 million in new equipment in a plant that makes airplane wings and parts for automobiles. And theyÂ’ve bounced back. TheyÂ’ve hired back all their people and are increasing market share because they made those investments.

Well, I hope they don't make wings for those evil corporate jets.

This was just a taste of what President Wonderful had to say today. It was his usual mix of arrogant, misleading and petulant. He can't get tossed out of the office soon enough.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:59 PM | Comments (167)
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Hey at least Ace got my name right last night. So I got that going for me.

America's Best Actor is... John Ratzenberger?

Yep that's right. If you look at the RottenTomatoes scores of his movies, Cliff 'Ratzenberger' Claven has the highest cumulative average score of all American actors. Of course a lot of this comes from the fact that he's voiced a character in every Pixar movie to date. Plus he must have an awesome agent who gets him into successful films.

For comparison here's the graph of Tom Cruise versus John Ratzenberger. Tom seems to bounce around 70% while John's scores are either near zero or 100%.

And you can create your own graph here. more...

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:08 PM | Comments (548)
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Even the slowest boat eventually crosses the river.

Nerves Show on Team Obama

Recent scrambling by the presidentÂ’s political advisers indicates theyÂ’re very worried about his reelection chances.

Honestly, I love the headline, but the tea-leaves offered up aren't great. This one's okay:

4. Raising the stakes in the upper South. ObamaÂ’s strategists are raising the stakes in the two battleground upper South states, North Carolina and Virginia.

TheyÂ’ve never been critical cogs in a presidential strategy. If Team Obama sees them as such in 2012, it suggests the campaign is struggling in states that were comfortably on its side in 2008, particularly those in the Rust Belt.

But of course he'd go after any state he previously won. Fundraising problems aside (that's point 3), he's going to have as much money to field a campaign as anyone in history.

...except, perhaps, for his challenger.

You know who might not be hitting the kitty too hard? "New York Money Men," as General Wesley Clarke terms Jewish people.

Some of these traditional Democrats now say, to their own astonishment, that theyÂ’ll consider voting for a Republican in 2012. And many of those who continue to support Obama said they find themselves constantly on the defensive in conversations with friends.

“I’m hearing a tremendous amount of skittishness from pro-Israel voters who voted for Obama and now are questioning whether they did the right thing or not,” said Betsy Sheerr, the former head of an abortion-rights-supporting, pro-Israel PAC in Philadelphia, who said she continues to support Obama, with only mild reservations. “I’m hearing a lot of ‘Oh, if we’d only elected Hillary instead.’”

Well, every two years we hear this and every two years it's about the same 75-80% voting Democratic.

It's messhugeneh.

Posted by: Ace at 04:02 PM | Comments (118)
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You can play with the language here to make it a little less strident, but isn't it true either way? more...

Posted by: Ace at 03:33 PM | Comments (104)
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The polls say he can't blame Bush any longer, so he's got a pair of new scapegoats:

1. Congress. Pretty good!

2. The American working public. Ummm... more...

Posted by: Ace at 01:34 PM | Comments (457)
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Of course, Hansen's use of the cameras was for a good purpose (well... it was for ratings, but still, it was for a good purpose as far as a secondary benefit).

And catching him cheating with an adult woman isn't the same as him catching determined pedophiles.

But there's some kind of impossible-to-miss connection here.

Hansen, 51, has allegedly been having an affair with Kristyn Caddell, a 30-year-old Florida journalist, for the last four months.

Last weekend he was recorded taking Miss Caddell on a romantic dinner at the exclusive Ritz-Carlton hotel in Manalapan, before spending the night at her Palm Beach apartment.

Hansen, who has two young sons, was caught in an undercover sting operation arranged by the National Enquirer.

Secret cameras filmed the couple as they arrived at the hotel for dinner and then drove back to her apartment - where the pair left, carrying luggage, at 8am the following day.

Hansen lives in Connecticut with his wife Mary, 53, but he has been spending more and more time in South Florida investigating the disappearance of James 'Jimmy T' Trindade - and allegedly sleeping with Miss Caddell.

Why did you bring wine? And condoms?
What did you think was going to happen here?
You thought we were going to have sex?
What gave you that idea?
Oh, I told you to bring wine and condoms.
Right, I remember now.

I really don't think this is karma, but it's either this or "Isn't It Ironic?," and I'm not linking that.
more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:47 PM | Comments (186)
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