Month: May 2010

Palin Used Teleprompters to Deliver NRA Keynote Speech

Jon Ponder

Palin at NRA in convention in Charlotte with two teleprompters in view
Palin at NRA in convention in Charlotte on May 14, 2010, with two teleprompters in view
After sneeringly referring to President Obama as “a charismatic guy with a teleprompter” in February, Sarah Palin apparently required two of the prompting devices when she delivered the keynote address to the National Rifle Association convention in Charlotte yesterday.

It’s unclear whether she has used teleprompters in the recent past, and if so, how often — but in February, during her appearance before a tea party conclave, she was caught red-handed, so to speak, with crib notes written on the palm of her hand. Around that same time, during a Fox News softball interview, she said she didn’t want to be the leader of the tea bagger movement because, “It’s much bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter. It is the people’s movement. It’s about the people and I’m proud to be a part of this.”

During the 2008 presidential campaign, when she was the Republican vice presidential nominee, Palin was a serial user of teleprompters. We posted a gallery of photos of Palin using teleprompters at about 20 separate events on Pensito Review’s Facebook page .

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Obama Signs Bill to Freeze Congressional Pay Raises

Jon Ponder

AZCapitolTimes.com:

President Barack Obama signed legislation May 14 to freeze the automatic pay increases for members of Congress…

“To raise Congressional pay at a time when so many families are still struggling to make ends meet would be unconscionable and glaringly out of touch,” said U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell, a Democrat representing Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District. Mitchell co-sponsored the measure with Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah.

U.S. Sen. Russell Feingold offered companion legislation in the Senate.

HR5146, which stops a $1,600-pay hike in fiscal 2011, received bi-partisan approval in the House and Senate last month.

Verbatim

Jon Ponder

Alan caters to them. He’s the darling of the left in this country. He doesn’t play well with others.

– Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, in Orlando, Fla., for a fundraiser to oust the local congressman, Rep. Alan Grayson, a Democrat.

According to Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Pete Sessions is one of the most corrupt members of Congress. He fits in well with the Republican culture of corruption here in Florida. A year ago, he got a $1.6 million earmark for a blimp company. He should take all his hot air and go back to Texas.

– Rep. Grayson responds.

It’s Possible That Obama Could Create More Jobs in 2010 Than Bush Did in Eight Years

Jon Ponder

Ron Brownstein:

If the economy produces jobs over the next eight months at the same pace as it did over the past four months, the nation will have created more jobs in 2010 alone than it did over the entire eight years of George W. Bush’s presidency.

That comparison comes with many footnotes and asterisks. But it shows how the economic debate between the parties could look very different over time — perhaps by November, more likely by 2012. More important, the comparison underscores the urgency of repairing an American job-creation machine that was sputtering long before the 2008 financial meltdown.

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Verbatim

Buck Banks

I’m very happy. I really am. Listen, I don’t know if I’ve ever enjoyed being a public servant as much as I have the past few weeks because I feel really in touch with where the people are … It sickens me to watch cable TV and see these people argue all day long. I think to myself, what in the world are they doing? Do they care so much about their party first that they’ve forgotten about their country and our people?

— Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (NPA), sharing the bliss of not having a political party affiliation.

You Cut: House GOP Lets Tea Baggers Vote for Budget Cuts à La ‘American Idol’

Jon Ponder

Prospective House speaker, John Boehner, left, with majority-leader-in-waiting, Eric Cantor
Prospective House speaker, John Boehner, left, with majority-leader-in-waiting, Eric Cantor
House GOP Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia — who will likely be majority leader under Speaker John Boehner if Republicans take control of the House in November — has a new website up that allows tea party types to vote for federal programs they’d like to cut or eliminate. Dubbed “You Cut,” the idea here is part “American Idol”-style direct-democracy and part gimmick — but clearly much more of the latter than the former.

David Weigel at WaPo’s “Right Now” blog says Republicans came up with the idea after Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, lost his bid for a fourth term when tea baggers at the Utah GOP state convention drubbed him out of office because he voted for George Bush’s bailout bill:

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Polls: Obama’s Approval Holds around 50%, Higher Than Reagan’s 45% in May ’82

Jon Ponder

chart-obama-approval-gallupGallup:

Obama’s 50 percent approval average among all Americans for the week ending May 9 continues an extended run of stable ratings for him. Since mid-November, Obama’s approval ratings have narrowly ranged between 47 percent and 51 percent …

Although his second-year ratings have been highly stable, he is on pace to follow most other presidents in seeing a significant drop from his first-year to his second-year average. Obama averaged 57 percent approval his first year in office — mainly because his job approval scores during the initial months of his presidency were in the 60 percent range — and has averaged 49 percent thus far in his second year.

By comparison, at this same point in Ronald Reagan’s presidency, May 1982, Reagan’s approval rating was 45 percent, according to Gallup. Pres. Clinton’s equivalent rating, in May 1994, was 51 percent. (In May 2002, George W. Bush had a whopping 76 percent approval, which was an artifact from the “rally around the flag” effect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He went on to break all previous records for low approval ratings in his second term.)

A new survey from Public Policy Polling produced similar results:

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Maniac Predicts Palin Will Declare on Reagan’s 100th Birthday

Buck Banks

Conservatives4Palin

The wingnuts over at Conservatives4Palin.com (there’s no Liberals4Palin.com, I checked) believe that Sarah Palin will announce she’s running for president of the United States Feb. 6, 2011.

Because that’s the 100th anniversary of the nativity of Ronald Reagan, the Jesus of Conservatism, silly.

The brains behind this prediction belong to Kevin DuJan, founder and editor of HillBuzz.org, who attended two recent speeches by Palin in Illinois, and provided some “analysis” that is nothing if not trenchant. But first, we should qualify DuJan as an analyst with this excerpt from his analysis:

Todd’s there, in a sharp suit with colorful tie, standing behind dark, heavy curtains. He’s off to the side, out of the way backstage, watching his wife fire up the awesome on all cylinders before enthusiastic crowds hanging on her every word. There’s a twinkle in his husky blue eyes and the first twitch of a smile on a crisply-goateed impish face straining desperately to remain serious, surrounded as he is by burly men in suits with ear pieces, cell phones, iPads, and itineraries aplenty. Though the Palins are very much in the national big time now, and will be for the rest of their lives, Todd’s seemingly still very much “just Todd” — a regular, huntin’, fishin’, snowmachinin’, g’-droppin’, dude from Wasilla, married to an incredible woman he still can’t believe he was lucky enough to sweep off her feet. That smile’s a “I can’t believe we’re doing this” smile, married perfectly to a “What did I ever do to deserve a woman as awesome as this?” grin. It’s a match as natural, easy-going, and honest as the Palins themselves.

Bit gushy, ain’t it. What are “husky blue eyes?” And I never thought of Todd Palin as having an “impish face.” He just looks like another none-too-bright shit-kicker to me.

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