Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Let's Understand the Debt


Monday, July 25, 2011

Updates on the Debt Ceiling War

More Updates below.

We don't need a body language expert to decode this picture for us. The photo comes from the Saturday meeting--the one Obama issued an imperial command performance for to the leaders of the House and Senate. The meeting evidently went nowhere and lasted for all of 45 minutes.

I saw John Boehner on Chris Wallace's Sunday show yesterday where he said he hoped to have a deal by the time the Asian markets opened (4 p.m. Eastern time). Evidently that was the new, new "drop dead" deadline coming from Obama Team (TM)--August 2 evidently isn't soon enough for Barry to be guaranteed that he'll be able to go on his millionaires & billionaires vaycay to Martha's Vineyard.

Treasury Sec'y Timothy the Tax Cheat Geithner was all over the Sunday morning talking heads shows, using scare language about the apocalypse that will occur in the Asian markets if the 4 p.m. deadline comes and goes without a debt ceiling agreement. Timmy the Tax Cheat went on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace and accused Republicans of "praying for default." So did Tax Cheat Timmy at least have the guts to name the names of these Republicans praying for this fiscal disaster? Well of course that isn't a serious question.

White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley was on NBC's Meet the Depressed and called the Republican short-term plan a "gimmick." He also said that Obama will veto any plan that doesn't get the country past the 2012 election (well, actually he put it differently, saying any plan that "doesn't get the country through 2013). John Boehner was very clear on Fox News Sunday, saying in so many words that he believes Obama's refusal to consider a short-term deal is all about 2012: "The president's worried about the next election, but my God, shouldn't we be worried about the country?" And frankly, I don't think President Present has the balls to veto anything. When Obama walked out of the meetings last week, he hilariously said to Eric Cantor "Don't call my bluff"--well, I say go ahead and call it, because that's what it would be--a bluff. The petulant president might hold his breath until he turns blue, but he's not going to use the veto.

Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post has what she says comes from "sources familiar with the call" that Speaker Boehner made to House Republicans on Sunday. The whole thing is here. The money quote from Boehner: "We've seen this coming all year long. But here's the challenge: To stop him, we need a vehicle that can pass both houses." Rubin suggests that House Republicans will pass a bill, send it to the Senate, and let the Dems decide if they want to send the country into default. As Boehner is reported to have said to Obama: "As I read the Constitution, Congress makes the laws; you get to decide what you want to sign." Or not. Go ahead, Barry, make our day: Veto a debt limit bill. What a tool.

8:00 a.m. Eastern time, Monday. An update from Jennifer Rubin: "White House stokes debt-ceiling crisis." Rubin says that she's had an email from a Republican aide, saying that Harry Reid took a bipartisan plan to the White House and the President turned it down. If this is true, as both Rubin and HotAir's Ed Morrissey say, then Obama is playing with fire, plus, he now owns the debt-ceiling crisis and whatever happens because of it. Good luck with that, Champ.

Monday's opinion piece from the WSJ: "Toying With Default--The President isn't serious about real spending cuts"

Today's Rasmussen Presidential (Dis)Approval Index is back to the highest disapproval number, evah. Get a clue, Barry. The American people don't like what you're doing.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

What is this August 2 "drop dead date," really?

President Obama and his "team" have told us that if we don't increase the debt ceiling by August 2, all hell will break loose. It will have disastrous consequences, which Obama likens to Armageddon. August 2, huh? Is there anything else going on around that same time? Why yes, coincidentally, there is a big, big event coming in August: for the third year in a row, the Obama family will be spending August in Martha's Vineyard--at the swank Blue Heron Farm, to be exact.

So after panicking the oldsters that he can't guarantee they will get their August Social Security checks, Obama will head off in August for his relaxing, "casual" zillionaire's vaycay. Even some liberal columnists are begging this guy with the titanium ear not to go on yet another lavish vacation: "People are concerned, not about whether they can go to Nantucket but about whether they can put food on the table....The Obama family's third Vinyard excursion comes as 55% of U.S. adults said they won't be taking a summer vacation," according to a Marist poll.

So let's see, while the rest of us act like adults, enduring our staycays and staying within our budgets, which for most of us means SPENDING LESS, something Washington evidently will never understand, the Obama family will be spending their summer "break" and our tax dollars on a $20 million retreat, exclusive playground of the wealthy, where they will look out at 28 acres on the water from a pristine white Victorian farm house, the five bedroom "main house," which also features a guest house, swimming pool, and basketball court, and of course a golfing facility. It's a mere $50,000 a week to rent the house alone--in 2009, before the economy was facing "Armageddon," that sounded like pretty cheap digs to the MSM.

Here's a picture of the little white farm house.


Updates:

GOP says Obama must work, too. While Obama tells Congress to stay in town and get things done, almost at the same moment he announces his Martha's Vineyard vacation.


Obamas heading to Blue Heron Farm? it might be time to make an exception because Obama’s frequently stated top priority actually involves having him “in the room.” Hilarious, when you think of it: Obama scolding others for "walking out of the room" when there is still work to be done.

So where are you going on vaycay this year? Or, as it will be for some more accurately a "naycay"?

Saturday, July 16, 2011

No Budget, No New Spending

Wow, is it possible the Republicans in the Senate are growing a spine? Ten GOP senators took to the Senate floor yesterday to say they'll block any new spending bills until the Senate Dems agree to produce a budget, something they haven't done in over 800 days. Who knows why all of a sudden the Repubs have found religion, but I'll take better late than never at this point.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

POUTUS

On Wednesday Obama got huffy and flounced out of the debt ceiling negotiations after giving Eric Cantor a "dressing down" when Cantor told the president that "not a single proposal" on the table would be able to pass the House of Representatives. So much for speaking truth to power--haha. Insiders report that Obie also whined, "Ronald Reagan wouldn't sit here like this." Barry, you are correct--and you, sir, are no Ronald Reagan. What a child. If Big Zero can't even handle Eric Cantor, do we really expect him to be able to stare down--oh, Putin, for example...or China?

The Dems offered their own view of the meeting. Granny Pelosi (notice how ragged she's looking these days, now that she's out of the spotlight--that plastic stuff is just hell to keep up) said that she had never seen a president "more gracious" than Obama. They also accused Cantor of "not being productive." ROFLOL.

h/t FreeRepublic for the image

Update: From The NYT Blog: "Eric Cantor Is the Democrats' New Boogeyman." "Democrats appear to have settled on one thing: The person to blame is Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia."

Update #2. If someone depends on leftist NPR for their view of the world, then they will get a rather hilariously watered down version of what happened at the end of Wednesday's meeting. According to NPR's "news blog" (scare quotes appropriate), NPR has settled on the AP version, naturally couched in passive voice: "The AP says it's been told...that the climax came when Obama said 'enough is enough...I'll see you all tomorrow,' and departed." I like my word "flounced" better--I think it has a more realistic ring to it--ever noticed how Obama walks? Usually it's a prance, but I'm imagining that when he's in a huff, then it becomes a flounce.

Update #3: From one of the extremely excellent commenters at my favorite blog, Michelle Obama's Mirror's Blog:

On Ace a commentor, talking about the "don't call my bluff" comment, called BO "Bluffy, the Empire Slayer." And another said, "What will he do next? Threaten to kidnap himself?"