Month: April 2011

Sorry, Haters – Stock Market Surging Under ‘Socialist’ Obama, Recovering from Decline under ‘Free Market’ Bush

Jon Ponder

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According to Rachel Maddow in the clip above — and according to the chart from Jed Lewison at DailyKos below — the stock market certainly is doing well under the socialist jackboot of Pres. Obama’s anti-capitalist policies.

Corporate profits grew 36.8 percent in 2010, the biggest gain since 1950.

As Maddow said, referring to the chart on her MSNBC show last week, if you focus on the line going up after the inauguration of Pres. Obama, “Regardless of how you personally are doing, this part of our nation is living large. Despite what you hear about the economy at home, the stock market is in tall cotton.”

Maddow pointed to this article from McClatchy to explain why middle-class families and small businesses find themselves relegated to the short cotton while mega-corporations and the stock marketeers are availing themselves of the tall rows:

[…]

Boos for Bozo: Rick Scott Strikes Out with Ceremonial Pitch

Trish

A movement was spawned last month, after boos erupted for Florida Gov. Rick Scott at a Florida spring training camp game between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays. Floridians who still haven’t totally given up on the idea of a recall election found a shorter-term strategy: boo at the governor every chance we get.

And so a Facebook page was born. “Boo Rick Scott on Opening Day (even if you’re not going to the game)” had 1,211 likes before Scott took the field to throw the opening pitch at the first regular season game for the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.

Scott was throwing the ball a day after announcing devastating cuts to services to the developmentally disabled that will force many out of group homes and into much more expensive — and depressing — nursing homes. It also came the same week that consumer advocates and industry experts called for an investigation into Scott’s dismissal of nursing home ombudsman Brian Lee, widely seen as a payback to the nursing home industry for its deep pockets in support of his campaign.

[…]

Gingrich Should Re-Read His Own Book

Buck Banks

The idea of a grand showdown on spending had long been a staple of conservative analysis. Even before Reagan’s inaugural, he had been approached by one prominent conservative who urged him to force a showdown over the debt ceiling and simply refuse to sign on to one until the Democratic Congress reined in its spending plans. Reagan rejected this idea with a comment I wish I had understood better at the time. The conservative activist who told me that story was convinced that Reagan would have won such a showdown. For fifteen years I agreed with him, but I was to learn something about the American people that too many conservatives don’t appreciate. They want their leaders to have principled disagreements but they want these disagreements to be settled in constructive ways. That is not, of course, what our own activists were telling us. They were all gung ho for a brutal fight over spending and taxes. We mistook their enthusiasm for the views of the American public.

— From Newt Gingrich’s 1998 book, “Lessons Learned the Hard Way.”

Obama Makes the Case for Clean Energy

Trish

There are many things I love about this video, but the best part is that it shows something we all know. Obama is one of us, a normal person, who understands you might have to go pick up a package if you miss the delivery driver, or that Armour-All can do wonders for your dash. It’s hard not to remember the first Pres. Bush’s discovery of supermarket scanners, or the privileged cluelessness of his son in almost every area except aimless brush-clearing.

Oh yeah, and saving energy is a good thing too.

Check This List Before Addressing the Florida Legislature

Trish

censorhship

We could not possibly let this one go by. When Florida Rep. Scott Randolph (D-Orlando) was scolded by Republicans for using the word “uterus” on the House floor, the push-back was inevitable. In Randolph’s words:

I always say their philosophy is small government for the big guy and big government for the little guy. And so, if my wife’s uterus was incorporated… maybe they (Republicans) would be talking about deregulating. It’s not like I used slang.

Randolph’s wife contributed the analogy, to illustrate how to get Republicans to stop trying to restrict access to abortion. Randolph said Republicans voiced concern about young pages hearing the word.

The Democratic Underground has come up with a list of acceptable euphemisms to use around state legislative pages. We quote:

Women’s Body Parts

Uterus – Baby Bed
Vagina – Hoohoo or Cooter
Clitoris – Little Man in Boat
Crotch – Swimsuit Area
Buttocks – Cushions
Breasts – Gazongas
Ovaries – Egg Crates
Nipples – Pacifiers

Men’s Body Parts

Penis – Whopper or Peewee (as the case may be)
Testicles – Family Jewels
Scrotum – Jewelry Bag
Foreskin – Turtleneck
Crotch – Swimsuit Area
Buttocks – Rear End

Remember, if you’re a Republican, outlawing abortion is the decent thing to do. Discussing it like grownups is just bad taste.

What It Would Take for Obama to Lose

Buck Banks

First, the economy in 2012 has to be either stagnant or in decline in the 10 or so key electoral states (especially the ones in the Midwest) as he heads into the election … Second, no new major international crisis arises that causes people to rally behind Obama because of his competent handling of it … Third, a Republican nominee has to emerge who is charismatic; is a very good communicator; is in touch with the country’s economic and social needs; and is a new brand of GOP leader whom many younger voters can connect with.

— GOP strategist Matthew Dowd, on the three things that must happen — simultaneously — for Obama to lose in 2012, because the historical odds heavily favor the president’s re-election.