It Depends on the Meaning of Campaigning
Jan 28, 2008 Political
The Democrats had an agreement not to campaign in Florida after the DNC stripped that state of its delegates because it moved the primary to before February 5th. Hillary is way in front in Florida but it does not matter because the delegates will not count even though Hillary is trying to get a new decision on this so they will. I am sure that she would not do that if Obama were ahead there.
Despite the pledge not to campaign, Hillary Clinton is in Florida and she is skirting the rules to have a presence there. After her stinging defeat in South Carolina she decided to visit the Sunshine State and make sure people knew who she was. Now there are no rules against fund raising there and Hillary supporters would point out that she is only doing just that. Perhaps, and if she is it would be kind of disingenuous because the message is, “I can’t have a real presence here and the DNC says your delegates will not count but your money is still good.”
The news reports are indicating that Clinton is there with a *wink* and that her presence constitutes campaigning. I guess that it all depends upon what campaigning actually means. Anyone who has a husband who can argue the meaning of “is” can certainly skirt the issue and argue the meaning of campaigning.
If the DNC has taken the delegates away then it should stay that way. A rule is a rule and a sanction is a sanction. I also think that if Hillary broke her promise not to campaign people should ask what other promises she would break.
Maybe folks will realize that the Clinton’s words mean nothing to them. Integrity is not a word in their vocabulary.
Sources:
Yahoo News
My Way News
Tags: broken promises, campaigning, Clinton, florida
Does Ted Kennedy’s Endorsement Matter?
Jan 27, 2008 Political
The news has been indicating that Senator Ted Kennedy will endorse Barack Obama tomorrow. This is an endorsement that Hillary Clinton has been courting and deals a blow to her while giving more credibility to Obama. The endorsement comes a few days after the daughter of JFK, Caroline Kennedy, endorsed Obama as a man like her father (quite similar to the endorsement she gave John Kerry in 2004). In anticipation of tomorrow’s announcement the Clinton aides downplayed the endorsement:
“She has a great deal of respect for Sen. Kennedy and is very proud of all the endorsements she’s received from her Senate colleagues,†said Doug Hattaway, a Clinton spokesman. “At the end of the day, the voters are going to choose a candidate on their merits, not on their endorsements.†The Politico
I imagine that this might have some smattering of reality to it but the truth is that Hillary coveted the Kennedy endorsement and it is so important that the Clinton campaign had union chiefs and constituents calling Kennedy trying to stop his endorsement. Bill Clinton himself has been on the phone a few times with Kennedy in an effort to stop this from happening.
If, in the end, voters are going to choose candidates based on their merits and not their endorsements, why did Hillary try to get the Kennedy endorsement and why did her campaign work so hard to keep him from endorsing Obama? Perhaps it is because Kennedy, who has been in the Senate for 47 years, is a liberal icon and is loved by a lot of moonbats. His endorsement gives credibility to people within the moonbat community. Hillary wanted the blessing of Ted Kennedy.
I don’t care for Obama and he has his own issues but I like to see him doing well in the primary because it gives the Clintons fits and it makes them reveal their true selves.
The Kos kids were talking about the disarray in the Republican Party but it seems to me that the Democrats are the ones acting like a dysfunctional family.
Tags: Clinton, endorsement, kennedy, Obama
Maryland Governor Lies Through His Teeth
Jan 27, 2008 Political
The history of Maryland politics is full of Democratic Governors. There have been 36 Governors elected since 1838 (the year the people began voting for them) and only 7 of them have been Republicans. In the last 41 years only two Republicans have held that office so it is fair to say that most of the policies and bad times have been the result of Democrats, especially since Democrats have ruled the legislature forever.
In 2002 the State elected Robert Ehrlich who inherited a budget that was in the red and a built in structural deficit. What this means is that the Democratic Legislature enacted spending bills that were signed into law by a Democratic Governor and those bills required that the state spend money on various programs. The bills never secured a funding source so the state was left with a structural deficit. Ehrlich eliminated the deficit and left 2 billion dollars in surplus. During his four years in office he tried to pass a slots bill that would allow gaming which would help reduce the structural deficit and this was soundly rejected by all the Democrats including current Governor Martin O’Malley.
In 2006 the Democrats in Maryland exercised their strength (more than 2:1 in numbers) and removed Ehrlich from office replacing him with a slick talking liar named O’Malley. O’Malley has been running around saying that he inherited a deficit which is a lie. He inherited a budget surplus which he promptly spent paying off the people who bought him during the election. The deficit he actually inherited was the structural deficit that was the result of Democratic incompetence. O’Malley though, continues to tell people that the last Governor caused and left all the problems and this is a flat out lie.
O’Malley called a special session where he and his Democratic colleagues raised taxes in Maryland. They did not just raise a tax or two, they raised every tax imaginable in the largest all at once tax increase in the history of any state in the US. This was done, according to O’Malley. to address the deficit he inherited from the last administration. O’Malley made it sound as if Ehrlich had run us into the ground and he had to raise taxes to save the day when in fact he had to raise taxes to pay the bills incurred by the Democratic legislature.
Interestingly, the current Governor raised taxes to the tune of about 1.3 billion dollars to address a deficit of 1.8 billion but then he and his Democratic toadies in the legislature added 1.5 billion dollars in spending which, in effect, makes the tax increase a zero gain. We will still have a deficit.
And get this, part of the budget deficit plan is based upon the state getting, you guessed it, slot machines. However, instead of the legislature passing a bill and the Governor signing it, they have decided to put it to referendum on the 2008 ballot. This means slot machines will be voted on by the public and will, if passed, become part of the state constitution. If this does not pass the state will need to raise taxes again. I wonder if it would be too much to ask them to put tax increases to referendum. No, if it is an important decision they don’t actually want any constituent input. Remember, if your vote counted they would not let you do it.
For his part, Governor O’Malley has been playing the victim of a bad past administration (playing the victim is what liberals do best) and he has been acting as if he did all he could to fix this without raising taxes. He made a few symbolic cuts and decided not to fill about 500 vacant state jobs but the cuts are negligible and they are certainly not the best that cold be done.
Maryland will soon be in the doldrums of a recession because of the burden placed upon the citizens by the Governor and the Democrats in the legislature. There is a huge movement under way where many Marylanders (particularly Republicans) are moving to Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Others are shopping in those states to avoid Maryland taxes and still others are finding ways to invest money in a fashion that will prevent Maryland from stealing it. US Savings Bonds are not subject to state and local income taxes and smart tax advisers can provide valuable information.
Couple this with the number of businesses that are leaving the state r that have decided not to come here and Maryland is in for a real problem. O’Malley figures he will be part of a Clinton administration and is not worried about what he does to rape this state or the poor he claims to want to help. He is unaffected by what he does because his residence is paid for by taxpayers, his electricity is paid for by taxpayers, his groceries are paid for by taxpayers, his transportation is paid for by taxpayers and all his other household expenses are paid for by those of us who were raped by the Governor. He has no bills, he has no financial problems and he is able to live quite well off the backs of the citizens of this once great state.
Martin O’Malley is a poor leader, he is a cry baby who whines about everything and no matter what happens he never takes responsibility because it is always someone else’s fault.
Come to think of it, he would fit right in with the Clintons.
Tags: deception, governor, liar, Maryland, tax increases
What Will Bill Clinton Do Now?
Jan 26, 2008 Political
The votes are being counted in South Carolina and the only question remaining is how badly will Hillary Clinton be beaten by Barack Obama? The race was called for Obama based on exit polling which is not usually done unless there is a very large margin of victory. As of this post 98% of the precincts have been counted and Obama has more than twice the votes that Clinton has. The Clinton campaign tried to downplay this before th election but they worked hard to win the state nonetheless. Why is she losing so badly when the difference was only about 12% on pre primary polling?
Exit polling shows that the electorate, by and large, was displeased with Bill Clinton’s style of campaigning. This was true among the black voters but also true in about 68% of the white vote. These voters indicated that they believed that Bill Clinton had unfairly attacked Barack Obama and they let him now it with their votes.
I wonder if Hillary Clinton will lose her mind and throw ashtrays at Bill since he is being blamed for the rout? It would be interesting if she does because she was more than happy to have Bill attacking Obama while she campaigned elsewhere. Regardless of how she feels about the affect of Bill this loss must be particularly stinging because in addition to the majority of the black vote Obama picked up about 25% of the white vote. Additionally, only about 20 people showed up at the place they booked for a post primary party. It will also be interesting to see if the Clintons hit even harder or if they switch tactics. She might have to muster up a few more tears. She certainly did not waste time leaving South Carolina for Tennessee…
I also if race will play into this even more. Bill made a remark that Jesse Jackson won the state as if it were no big deal that a black guy won it. I imagine if a white Republican had sad that Jackson would be gathering the Rainbow Coalition for an old fashioned protest and it is still possible that Clinton’s remarks will be seen as patronizing and incur backlash. Regardless, the Clinton campaign is going to have to be more careful because every word they utter now will be scrutinized for perceived racial content.
This might not mean much and Hillary will probably split the Tsunami Tuesday states with Obama. Since February 5th will not decide the candidate, the decision could come down to the Democratic Convention and there might be a real fire fight there.
I do wonder though, if these candidates will pick the other to be a running mate. Given how they have attacked each other it would seem to me they are less than credible in their beliefs if they picked each other. Of course Democrats wold not look at it that way so long as their party wins.
However, if Obama selected Hillary he would never have to worry about someone taking him out…
Sources:
MSNBC
CNN
Washington Post
Others with interesting posts:
Outside the Beltway, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Nuke Gingrich, A Blog For All, 123beta, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Stuck On Stupid, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Dumb Ox Daily News, A Newt One, Right Voices, Pursuing Holiness, and OTB Sports, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Tags: billy blowback, blowout, Clinton, Obama, racial tension, rout, south carolina
Economic Relief Package is Socialism
Jan 25, 2008 General
The economy is in a downturn right now with some saying we are headed for or in a recession and others saying that things will be better by the third quarter of the year. The White House and Congress have drafted a plan to stimulate the economy, a package that has rare bipartisan support. The problem with the package is that it is a redistribution of wealth.
The plan calls for rebate checks for people who did not earn enough money to pay income taxes and caps the rebates at income levels of $75,000 for single taxpayers and $150,000 for married taxpayers. The rebates completely phase out at $87,000 and $174,000 respectively. The word rebate in this plan is misleading because a rebate is the return of something a person has paid. When one buys a camera with a rebate then part of what the person paid is sent back. If the economic plan were applied to the business world then one person would buy the camera and the company would send the rebate to a person who did not buy one.
The Democrats are not completely on board with the plan because it does not include more benefits (such as unemployment) along with the redistribution of wealth from those who pay the taxes to those who do not. In other words, they like it but feel it is has enough socialism built into it.
The government likes this plan because it will put money in the hands of people who are likely to spend it. If they gave the money back to the people who actually paid it then about 70% would be invested. Instead, the money will go to those who will run right out and spend it instead of putting some of it away for the future. The plan is short term as well as short sighted and since the government is slow with these kinds of things the money is likely to hit people’s hands about the time the economy starts to get better (depending on what economists one listens to). Additionally, this plan will do absolutely nothing to fix the part of the economy that is causing most of the problems, the housing crunch.
I know one thing that can end with this so called rebate and that is the mantra that our tax policies only help the rich. In this case, the rich are sending their money to the poor. There are some who will say that we are borrowing the money (which increases the deficit) so it is not coming from the rich. In reality, the government will have to get the money from some place and that place is from those who pay taxes.
If we want to stimulate the economy how about we cut taxes across the board so people will have more of their income to spend? How about we make other countries pay tariffs on the items they export to our country. How about we force our elected leaders to limit spending and force them to balance the budget? How about we force them to stop adding pork to bills and end the earmark practice? We could start drilling for our own oil and drive the costs down?
Of course these things are unlikely to happen because our elected officials are short sighted. The only reason they came up with this plan is because it is an election year and they all want to be able to say they helped the poor. While they like to pretend there are enough rich to tax into oblivion, they realize that the middle class and poor make up the lion’s share of our population. They will have far more votes than those who will foot the bill.
Socialism is the way of the left and they will certainly expand upon it should a Democrat be elected to the White House and the Republicans are so fragmented they are going along with it.
Sources:
Washington Post
The Politico