Our ‘Marxist in chief’ and the state of our union
Let’s be honest: There is no discernible difference between those who insist that Barack Obama is disqualified by birth from serving as president and those who claim that he is a Marxist or socialist. Both are equally absurd.
Neither group has any factual ground on which to base its inane charges; in their rhetoric, both groups tell us far more about their own internal psychology than they do about the president.
Consider, for example, this portion of last night’s State of the Union address from our “Marxist in Chief”:
First, if you’re a business that wants to outsource jobs, you shouldn’t get a tax deduction for doing it. That money should be used to cover moving expenses for companies like Master Lock that decide to bring jobs home.
Second, no American company should be able to avoid paying its fair share of taxes by moving jobs and profits overseas. From now on, every multinational company should have to pay a basic minimum tax. And every penny should go towards lowering taxes for companies that choose to stay here and hire here in America.
Third, if you’re an American manufacturer, you should get a bigger tax cut. If you’re a high-tech manufacturer, we should double the tax deduction you get for making your products here. And if you want to relocate in a community that was hit hard when a factory left town, you should get help financing a new plant, equipment, or training for new workers.
There were other steps announced as well: “a Trade Enforcement Unit that will be charged with investigating unfair trading practices in countries like China;” a “Financial Crimes Unit” of highly trained investigators to crack down on large-scale fraud; a new education initiative aimed at improving work skills among 2 million Americans; a policy that will reduce federal funding to colleges that allow tuition to rise too quickly, putting them out of reach for many in the middle class.
And then of course there’s this:
“As I told the Speaker this summer, I’m prepared to make more reforms that rein in the long-term costs of Medicare and Medicaid, and strengthen Social Security, so long as those programs remain a guarantee of security for seniors.
But in return, we need to change our tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of members of Congress, pay our fair share of taxes.
Tax reform should follow the Buffett Rule. If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes. And my Republican friend Tom Coburn is right: Washington should stop subsidizing millionaires. In fact, if you’re earning a million dollars a year, you shouldn’t get special tax subsidies or deductions. On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families, your taxes shouldn’t go up. You’re the ones struggling with rising costs and stagnant wages. You’re the ones who need relief.
Now, you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.
We don’t begrudge financial success in this country. We admire it. When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it’s not because they envy the rich. It’s because they understand that when I get a tax break I don’t need and the country can’t afford, it either adds to the deficit, or somebody else has to make up the difference — like a senior on a fixed income, or a student trying to get through school, or a family trying to make ends meet.
That’s not right. Americans know that’s not right. They know that this generation’s success is only possible because past generations felt a responsibility to each other, and to the future of their country, and they know our way of life will only endure if we feel that same sense of shared responsibility.”
That last point is critically important. Those who oppose the president’s tax-reform policies condemn them as divisive and complain that he is pitting Americans against each other. But those complaints are born of a philosophy that rejects the concept of shared responsibility in the first place. That philosophy envisions each of us as separate and isolated units, without obligation to each other or the greater good. It assumes that we are stronger when each of us is selfishly pursuing our own goals without concern for each other or future generations.
I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that this country would have achieved all that it has achieved to date had that philosophy been allowed to determine public policy. As Obama suggested last night, that’s not how we got to where we are; it is not how to get to where we need to be.
If that makes Obama a Marxist, well, then I’m a Marxist too.
– Jay Bookman
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488 comments Add your comment
Stevie Ray
January 25th, 2012
9:06 am
JAY,
What happened to all his “suggestions”, hope et al during first term that would lead us to believe he can get anything done beyond the pale of the desires of his campaign bundlers? He can’t as you indicate, “do what’s necessary” being devoid of a spine and completely owned by the same folks who owned previous adminstrations…
I’m not a republican and don’t think he is a dictator to be clear. He is simply a dreamer with a better than average public speaking skillset. Heck, he sure is having fun with those drones some as those before him wouldn’t you agree?
gm
January 25th, 2012
9:06 am
Lets see who is in the 21st century and who is not, President Obama wants to train out of work people with tech training, Newt want to train them to be Janitors.
Has anyone during any of the rep debate ever hear Mitt or Newt mention equal pay for women? yet these submissive rep conservative women go out and support a womanizer and rich tycoon who has never spoke out or pass a bill for women, go figure these women
Keep Up the Good Fight!
January 25th, 2012
9:07 am
This is the absolute worst country in the world-that is until you look at every other country and realize our MO was little different from anywhere else
The sound of retreat from the American Exceptionalism and the self-reliance greatness nonsense……about face!
Bruno
January 25th, 2012
9:08 am
So he wants to create 3 more federal agencies, FORCE children to stay in school until they are until 18, force states to chip in and spend for his ideas on education, etc.
The bottom line, Ross Perot, is that Obama and the Libs know what’s best for us, and they’re completely ready and willing to save us from ourselves. Ameritopia, where no one has the cahnce to fail because we will make all your decisions for you. Yep, aparently we’re too dumb to negotiate our own mortgages, choose our own lightbulbs. Not to worry, Big Brother will take care of it all for us.
Midori
January 25th, 2012
9:08 am
Interesting. Soon after I post that it was a state of the campaign speech, I came across:
epic fail.
and did you feel that way about PREVIOUS presidents? or are you saying this is something you want to assign to Obama alone?
which is it Shawny?
and i’d like to know where you picked up that “state of the campaign” nonsense. it was repeated here last night and yesterday several times.
Did Rush throw you guys that bone? Or was it Boortz?
Steve - USA (I support "None Of The Above")
January 25th, 2012
9:10 am
Corey,
You could change the names in your post and read every day here “It’s Bush’s fault”.
The fact of the matter is that each President doesn’t have a clean slate when they are elected, every President inherits some good and bad baggage.
TaxPayer
January 25th, 2012
9:10 am
Newt, you need to speak up. I can’t hear you from way back there! — Bill
Misty Fyed
January 25th, 2012
9:11 am
I’m glad Jay finally admitted it….He’s a Marxist too.
That said, It’s hard to disagree with the protection of American jobs. The Buffet rule isn’t bad either. I’d go one step further and simply do away with ALL deductions. Just let everyone pay the same rate no matter what you make. That way everyone, including the POOOOOOOOOOR are paying their FFFFAAAAIIIIIRRRR share.
Steve - USA (I support "None Of The Above")
January 25th, 2012
9:12 am
Gut Incognito@8:24 “Stop wussin around and seize the 1% assets. Enough already. You tigers cannot change your stripes”
Take their money, this already wins the most open and honest Liberal post of the month.
Paul
January 25th, 2012
9:12 am
“Let’s be honest: There is no discernible difference between those who insist that Barack Obama is disqualified by birth from serving as president and those who claim that he is a Marxist or socialist. Both are equally absurd.
Neither group has any factual ground on which to base its inane charges; in their rhetoric, both groups tell us far more about their own internal psychology than they do about the president.”
Well, Jay, that’s what happens when people create their own reality an definitions. We see it here all the time.
You just have to understand what ‘socialism’ and ‘Marxism’ mean. First, ‘socialism’ invokes images of Europeans while ‘Marxism’ invokes images of the two-decades gone Soviet empire. Second, they’re used together for maximum effect – ‘’socialist Marxist.’ Third, they define it as ‘they want to control what I want to do. They think others should have the same chance of success I do, especially if I was born into a better station. They think I have a responsibility to give back to the country. They think if I’m really successful I should give back the same share as those who aren’t as successful. They think I should not be able to exploit the environment for my own gain. They think we should not pay for our allies’ defense needs. They think our servicemen and women should not be killed and maimed so I can waste as much energy as I want. They do not understand their place, which is to serve the interests of their betters.”
Leastwise, that’s what I infer from what I read here.
Richard
January 25th, 2012
9:13 am
You know what I heard in that speech? Spending, spending, and spending. No cuts, only increased taxes which may or may not bring increased revenue (and probably not enough to cover the new spending, much less reduce the deficit).
TaxPayer
January 25th, 2012
9:13 am
Citi is getting sued. A billion dollars! Fraud regarding their mortgages or something like that. Bad investment.
Ross Perot
January 25th, 2012
9:16 am
Gordon?
Tax increases don’t even begin to close the deficit gulf? Details.
Inflation adjusted education spending doubled in last 40 years with no results? Details.
Absolutely no plan on tens of trillions in unfunded entitlements? Details
It all sounds good, and that’s what matters. Get with the program, man!
Have your President put a cost to all that he proposed last night and produce a budget so it can be reviewed as to how it pertains to reducing our national debt. Have him figure in at least 1 more downgrade during his next term in his budget. Or would you prefer to give him an open check book with no accountability? It worked real well for the Energy Department investments into companies like Solyndra.
mm
January 25th, 2012
9:16 am
Truth Man,
You are the first whiner to post a rightwing chain mail in it’s entirety on the blog today.
poison pen,
“Well then why in the hell doesn’t he get it changed, he is the President and he could have done it in his first year as President.”
That’s what is so amusing about you righties. You don’t even know which branch of the government is responsible for legislation.
Misty Fyed
January 25th, 2012
9:17 am
Be careful Ross Perot….If you stump them with common sense…They’ll call you names.
Gordon
January 25th, 2012
9:17 am
Jay,
BS to your 8:59 post. Obama had 2 years of a Congress controlled completely by Democrats. Why didn’t he do any of this then? He was too busy trying to expand government by forcing Healthcare down our throat (even then he just turned it over to Congress and didn’t get invovled in the details), and the American people gave their verdict on that in November 2010. When Clinton went from the same situation to a Congress completely controlled by Republicans, he negotiated and things got done. Obama takes positions he knows are not acceptable to Republicans, then trys to say “I’m doing all I can but these mean Republicans won’t do anything but protect the rich.”
He has shown ZERO leadership in the area of deficit reduction, because those decisions are hard. Sound bytes in a SOTU speech like “I’m prepared to make reductions….” don’t count, because they have no detail and never get to the point where there is an actual budget reduction.
He is nothing but a speech maker. I can’t believe all the people that fall for this over and over again. Do actual results matter to anyone?
Misty Fyed
January 25th, 2012
9:18 am
MM…
Amen….Every good liberal knows the judicial branch is responsible for legislation.
Paul
January 25th, 2012
9:19 am
Did I just read we have a country in which we have compulsory primary school attendance laws and Republicans oppose specifying how long that primary school attendance should last?!!?
Talking Head
January 25th, 2012
9:19 am
I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch SOTU last night. I have seen clips and read some points. My impression is that he really focused on himself without setting a vision for the country or laying out specific plans (can you blame him in an election year?). Also I heard the reoccurring theme of equal outcomes, which is not what America is about. Equal opportunities yes, equal outcomes no.
Gordon
January 25th, 2012
9:20 am
Ross Perot,
You misunderstood my post. I completelly agree with you. When I said “Details”, I was trying to say “Those are just details, they don’t really matter.”
I’m sorry I didn’t express myself well enough.
Mary Elizabeth
January 25th, 2012
9:20 am
“He is simply a dreamer with a better than average public speaking skillset.”
======================================
Anyone who listened to the President’s speech last night, and who missed all of the realistic specifics that he laid out for creating more jobs (among other specifics), while still promoting the larger vision for our nation – as it was originally designed to be – has been unduly prejudiced.
Quagmire
January 25th, 2012
9:20 am
@Bruno – so stop making statements with broad brushes. I don’t have to sit on a pulpit and tell the world how much I love my country. Even when my Father and Uncles fought for their country(60’s & 70’s) and came back to the country they love and had to sit at the back of the bus, treated like a 2nd class citizens, called boy and the N-word so-called Christians, watched my cousin get lynched in Tennessee, could only buy homes close to landfills, given a 3rd tier education, just to name a few. I love my country but I will call it out when it’s in the wrong.
If anything, you should be ashamed of being a republican. All of this mess started on your watch….W……….NOT OURS!!!!
Now go get a quote from fatboy on the radio
Granny Godzilla
January 25th, 2012
9:20 am
“Obama had 2 years of a Congress controlled completely by Democrats.
Gordon
ah, nope.
Jay
January 25th, 2012
9:21 am
Which of the “first president who” list is wrong, Stevie Ray? I just glanced briefly at the list, but both of them I noticed were absurdly wrong:
First President to have a social security number from a state in which he never lived.
Social Security numbers are not assigned by states in the first place. This is tin-foil hat birther stuff, which tells you about the quality of every other charge to follow. The fact that it was posted by someone calling himself “Truthman” only makes it more ridiculous.
As Social Security itself says: “Thus, the Area Number does not necessarily represent the State of residence of the applicant, either prior to 1972 or since…. One should not make too much of the “geographical code.” It is not meant to be any kind of useable geographical information. The numbering scheme was designed in 1936 (before computers) to make it easier for SSA to store the applications in our files in Baltimore since the files were organized by regions as well as alphabetically. It was really just a bookkeeping device for our own internal use and was never intended to be anything more than that.”
First president to ever violate the War Powers Act.
Oh please. It’s a poorly written, constitutionally questionable law that has been “tested” by almost every every president who has served since it was adopted. If Obama violated it, impeach him.
Paul
January 25th, 2012
9:22 am
mm
“You are the first whiner to post a rightwing chain mail ”
Please, a little civility this morning, okay? It’s not ‘rightwing chain mail.”
It’s “the real true news and facts the liberal lamestream media tries to keep hidden from right-thinking Americans that exposes the illegitimate Marxist-socialist dictator in the White House.”
iRun
January 25th, 2012
9:23 am
@Whatever re %income to charity.
With a sample size of two, each with two time points, the only conclusion you can begin to draw is that the relationship between income and charity resembles an growth curve. Meaning that as your income rises, so does the % you give to charity but you reach a certain “saturation point” where growth slows or stops (flat).
You can’t really compare Romney vs Obama. They’re in waaaaaaaaay different socioeconomic classes. You would need to take a sample of people in each of those classes to make any real comparison.
Go Fish.
ty webb
January 25th, 2012
9:24 am
Jay,
if obama does get reelected, are your knee pads going to hold up for 4 more years?
Paul
January 25th, 2012
9:24 am
Talking Head
That’s the impression disjointed clips can give.
If you’d like to read the speech, it’s here:
http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/24/full-text-of-president-barack-obamas-2012-state-of-the-union-address/
TBone
January 25th, 2012
9:24 am
Here’s the deal; profitable manufacturing will not be coming back to the US. The business environment has been made unprofitable by unions, regualtions and taxes. Any talk about establishing a sustainable manufacturing base is a lie. Apple went to China to produce the new iPhone because we could not do it in this country in a Steve Job’s timeline. So prepare for living in the third world USA as our teleprompter in chief promised us. He is most definitely fundamentally changing this country. Why do the political class elites always seem to get a pass when debating the economy that they have ALL contributed? They screw it up and then come to the rescue with more fixes. We are the dumbest nation on earth.
kayaker 71
January 25th, 2012
9:25 am
Separating the classes in our society and pitting one class against another….. being an ardent enemy of anything capitalistic or anything to do with a free market economy….. increasing the size of government more than any other recent president in our time…… supporting unions and their goals more than any other president in memory….. growing up with an avowed communist father and mother…. attending Muslim schools in Indonesia where I am sure that they have a lot of free market economy courses…… ignoring the Constitution when saying that he will “do what has to be done despite Congressional disapproval”……. If it walks like a duck, my friends, it probably is.
Gordon
January 25th, 2012
9:25 am
Granny,
It is very rare when one party has such a large majority in both houses of Congress as the Democrats did in 2009 and 2010. But even with that kind of advantage, you still make excuses for him and whine about Republican obstructionism, so I guess the whining now is completely understandable.
Steve - USA (I support "None Of The Above")
January 25th, 2012
9:26 am
ty@9:24
That really isn’t necessary. I don’t agree with many things Jay says but that is uncalled for.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
January 25th, 2012
9:26 am
Bruno Yep, aparently we’re too dumb to negotiate our own mortgages, choose our own lightbulbs
Ahh yes some of the ultimate stupidity of the Republican response…… and absolute nonsense from the dishonest poster who starts “let’s be honest”. Bush set a standard for the output and energy usage of lightbulbs, American manufacturing determined how best to meet that and NO one’s choice has been limited. American’s remain free to choose the mortgage they want, however, the government will require that those lenders properly disclose certain information so that Americans can make informed free choices without deceptions, hidden fees and other tricks.
This is the great debate from the conned and those who are dishonest? Light bulbs?
Jay
January 25th, 2012
9:26 am
A real classy political discussion there, Ty.
Your mama would be so proud.
Andy Dufresne (from St Simons)
January 25th, 2012
9:27 am
everybody knows he’s not a marxist, that’s just a code word
like uppity,
like kenyan,
like acorn
like community organizer
like man-child
(wink wink)
Ross Perot
January 25th, 2012
9:28 am
No problem Gordon, still working on my second cup here,getting fired up for work! Oops I used the “W” word here…
ty webb
January 25th, 2012
9:29 am
I meant knee pads for praying at the “Alter of Obama”…sheesh people, get your minds out of the gutter.
Granny Godzilla
January 25th, 2012
9:30 am
Gordon
I made excuses? Pardon me son…..You lied.
P E R S O N A L R E S P O N S I L I T Y
Ross Perot
January 25th, 2012
9:30 am
Hey, did anyone else but me notice him performing the Clinton lip bite at least 3 or 4 times in the speech last night? It triggered something subliminal in me, i have the urge to stain a blue dress today…
Granny Godzilla
January 25th, 2012
9:31 am
ty
so it wasn’t a peverted sex joke it was a tawdry faith joke
yes, your mamma is shamed
Paul
January 25th, 2012
9:32 am
Steve – USA 9:26
“Profanity is a sign of a weak mind trying to express itself.”
Granny Godzilla
January 25th, 2012
9:32 am
Oh and throw a B and an I in there….
Who put these keys so close together anyway?
Andy Dufresne (from St Simons)
January 25th, 2012
9:33 am
Newt up 7-8 points over Romney in da F-L-A
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
gooooooooooooooooo Newt!
As A Man Thinketh So Is He
January 25th, 2012
9:34 am
I agree, what people think about Obama tell us far more about their own internal psychology than they do about the president.
A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.
A man is literally what he thinks,
As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
Example, If you think a man is playing the race card, you might be a racist.
Jay
January 25th, 2012
9:34 am
And then you compound it with a lie, Ty.
joe
January 25th, 2012
9:34 am
He gave a great speech, but the same old same old talking points rhetoric has been done to death. He “says” he wants jobs, but rejected the pipeline. He says he wants to develop “all” forms of domestic energy, yet we cannot drill for oil in Alaska or the Dakotas that would lessen our dependence on foreign oil…and he sends taxpayer money to so-called “green” companies that fail miserably in a matter of months…then get bought out by foreign companies.
He continues to say the way out of HIS economic mess is more government and more spending. He never mentions we are mortgaging our children’s futures in the process.
He’s got to go…vote for the GOP nominee in November.
Adam
January 25th, 2012
9:35 am
Jay: The first 3 paragraphs of your last excerpt are words that were practically echoed by Mitch Daniels, only he pretended Obama said none of that, wanted social security and medicare to remain the same, and that only Republicans want tax reform.
These guys are disconnected from reality.
Paul
January 25th, 2012
9:35 am
Morning, Granny Godzilla
er… I mean…. Morgan….
stands for decibels
January 25th, 2012
9:35 am
the woefully low % of Americans who travel outside their borders
point taken (and made, myself, oftimes in the past), UnU.
However, over the past ten years the US has made the passport procurement process a f—load more expensive than it used to be, AND they’ve required them for passage between the US and Canada/Mexico. So I don’t entirely fault ordinary Americans, when considering their vacation travel options, who elect to stay within the USA.
Thug
January 25th, 2012
9:36 am
Let’s see what Jimmy Carter on steroids looks like…
…all for it!
WOODSTOCK MIKE
January 25th, 2012
9:36 am
Why don’t Democrats give to charity??
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle gave $10,772 of the $1.2 million they earned from 2000 through 2004 to charities, or less than 1 percent, according to tax returns for those years released today by his campaign.
The Obamas increased the amount they gave to charity when their income rose in 2005 and 2006 after the Illinois senator published a bestselling book. The $137,622 they gave over those two years amounted to more than 5 percent of their $2.6 million income.
Wealthy Republicans consistently show that they are willing to give much more of their money to charities, this has been proven time and time again…
But I thought Democrats were all about giving to the less fortunate??
Watch the response to the comments above, Democrats will make something up about how Republicans are giving to charities just to help themselves?? Isn’t that a sad joke?
Donovan
January 25th, 2012
9:36 am
Last night’s speech was just more of the same. Government, government, and more government. Damn the rich, Congress is the fault, and I will do it “my way”.
Hugo Chavez couldn’t have said it better.
Thanks Jay, but we all knew he was a Marxist from day one. The country now knows it and that’s why it is in gridlock. The forth coming elections will dispense with this presidential experiment.
Gordon
January 25th, 2012
9:36 am
Adam,
What are the details of Obama’s plan to change social security and medicare? I know he is taking money out of Medicare to help pay for Obamacare, but I haven’t heard anything else. What is the plan?
Finn McCool (Class Warfare = Stopping Rich People from TAKING MORE of OUR MONEY)
January 25th, 2012
9:37 am
Ack!
Mel Gibson is at it again?
Scots Begin Bid for Vote on Independence
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/world/europe/scots-launch-bid-for-vote-on-independence.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Where’s Edward Longshanks when you need him?
WOODSTOCK MIKE
January 25th, 2012
9:37 am
It’s interesting how the Romney tax returns are the focus right now of the Democratic party…
Don’t you fools know that Romeny paid exactly what he was supposed to pay? Don’t you fools know that wealthy Democrats are paying back the least amount of taxes they legally can get away with, just like Romney?
Granny Godzilla
January 25th, 2012
9:38 am
Paul
It could happen.
Talking Head
January 25th, 2012
9:39 am
joe @9:34,
couldn’t agree with you more
Welcome to the Occupation
January 25th, 2012
9:39 am
Bruno: “Whatever–Apparently you missed the post yesterday in which Welcome explained how private charity is self-serving and therefore worthless. Only government charity has the people’s best interests in mind.”
Absurd. That’s not what I said.
I said that the right wing campaign to collapse taxation into charity is an odious ideological distortion of reality.
0311/1811
January 25th, 2012
9:40 am
Part of being a true Marxist is being deceptive.
Obama doesn’t want equality of a starting point or a fair playing field ……….. he wants equality of outcome …….. which world history shows is always dangerous to freedom and true liberty.
As A Man Thinketh So Is He
January 25th, 2012
9:41 am
@Anger
January 25th, 2012
8:17 am
Roll over from previous post….
I wonder why Mitch McConnell and John McCain seemed so angry last night! Ole Mitch looked like he wanted to explode!
***************************************************************
The world got to see the demons in the crowd.
The look on McConnell’s face SAID IT ALL.
The look on McConnell’s face showed that the devil is loosing this battle against Obama.
Did anyone see the lights shining from above on the president?
It was angels encamping around him and protecting him from the demons and his enemies.
0311/1811
January 25th, 2012
9:41 am
Note that Franklin was never rich and considered himself a trandesman of the middle class:
“On the Laboring Poor” 1768 (The Gentleman’s Magazine)
“In the above essay Franklin chastised writers who stirred up the rabble by claiming that the poor were oppressed by the rich.
‘The condition of the poor in England was the best in Europe because in England there was legislation to help the poor. The legislators were men of fortune ……. they voluntarily subjected their own estates, and the estates of others, to a payment of a tax for the maintenance of the poor.’
These laws were compassionate. But he warned that they could have unintended consequences and promote laziness. ‘I fear the giving of mankind a dependence on anything for support in age or sickness, besides industry and frugality during youth and health, tends to flatter our natural indolence, to encourage idleness and prodigality, and thereby to promote and increase poverty,
the very evil it was intended to cure.’
Not only did he warn against welfare dependency, but he offered his own version of the trickle-down theory of economics.
‘The rich do not work for one another …. everything that they or their families use and consume is the produce of the laboring poor. Our laboring poor receive annually the whole of the clear revenues of the nation’.”
Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson
Butch Cassidy
January 25th, 2012
9:41 am
kayaker 71 – “Nothing but grandiose ideas given in a campaign speech at the expense of the American electorate.”
I agree, but why bring Newt Gingrich in to the conversation?
Granny Godzilla
January 25th, 2012
9:42 am
WOODSTOCK MIKE
Did Romney pay any taxes in 2008?
Paul
January 25th, 2012
9:42 am
Woodstock Mike
“Why don’t Democrats give to charity??”
Why don’t Republicans use current data?
stranger in a strange land
January 25th, 2012
9:45 am
mm @ 0917 to ross perot at 0916 – if no one else will, allow me:
ross – you are a) racist, b) a xenophobe c) a hater, d) intolerant.
Multiple choice – you pick.
godless heathen
January 25th, 2012
9:45 am
The arguments of the left here are:
1) The President can’t fix anything without Congress because the legislative branch makes the laws
2) The President has fixed everything he has touched despite not having a Congress that will work him.
3) The President will fix everything else despite not having a Congress that will work with him.
As A Man Thinketh So Is He
January 25th, 2012
9:45 am
@0311/1811
January 25th, 2012
9:40 am
Part of being a true Marxist is being deceptive.
Obama doesn’t want equality of a starting point or a fair playing field ……….. he wants equality of outcome …….. which world history shows is always dangerous to freedom and true liberty.
***********************************************************************
Where in world history?
Give us your source.
If this is what you BELIEVE stand by it, don’t try to be “DECEPTIVE.”
Bob
January 25th, 2012
9:46 am
Jay, you just don’t understand. We true blooded Americans are for “sane” economic and defense policies. It is perfectly “sane” to eliminate almost every job in our country AND have big corporations get tax breaks for it because corporations are people too, according to Mitt Romney. It is also perfectly “sane” to project our military power in every little corner in the world while going broke in the process and ignoring the “narco terrorism” just next door.
Clearly anyone who disagrees with this “sane” economic policy must be a Marxist, like Barack Obama, and anyone who disagrees with the “sane” defense policy must be crazy, like Ron Paul. From the comments on this forum it seems to be that many people agree with me.
Oh, I’m also going to start a movement called “corporate suffrage”. Since Corporations are people too they deserve to be able to vote and clearly each corporation should get the same number of votes that any other group of people do. If you employee 300,000 people worldwide why shouldn’t they get 300,000 votes? Even better how about letting a corporation run for office? Wouldn’t be a wonder world if each seat of Congress and the President were being run by each individual corporation? I bet it would be interesting to see the Presidential Ballot in 2040. It would be a tough choice. Vote for Republican nominee AT&T/Comcast/Time Warner or the Democrat nominee GE/Hotpoint. I wouldn’t be able to decide! Both would be impressive candidates but both would’ve taken now major legal bribes..er…gifts from Monsanto/Archer Daniels Midland, IBM/HP/Dell/Intel, and Exxon/Texaco/Chevron/BP/Shell. The third party candidate GM/Ford/Chrysler/Toyota/Honda/Kia might take the states of US Steel and Consolidated Edison, formerly PA/WV/VA and New England & NY respectively.
Unfortunately for me I would not be able to vote in that election. I would be out of the country or dead by then…hopefully!
0311/1811
January 25th, 2012
9:46 am
By Joseph Curl
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
There is one person — one American among the 300 million of us — who is not to blame for the state of the union. Everyone else, each of you, in some small or large way, bears some share of the blame, but not this guy. Not one little bit.
This guy is Barack Obama. He is not the least bit to blame for the dismal state of the U.S. economy. George W. Bush is, for sure, and that evil Dick Cheney, oh, no doubt. House Speaker John A. Boehner — evil, too — is, of course, to blame. But guess what? So is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and every Democrat in the House and Senate.
Now, President Truman made it very clear: The buck stops with him. No passing the buck for that guy. But Mr. Obama blames everyone but himself. Mr. Bush, he says, left the nation in a ditch, a deep ditch, and he’s been digging out since he took office. And Congress? Those guys are just plain awful, he says. So mean. Wah, they won’t do anything I want done! Mr. Obama feels so sure about it that he’s basing his re-election campaign on bashing Capitol Hill.
But with the president delivering his State of the Union speech to Congress Tuesday night, let’s pause here to take as hard look at the real state of America, by the numbers, using only cold, hard facts.
The unemployment rate when Mr. Obama was elected was 6.8 percent; today it is 8.5 percent — at least that’s the official number. In reality, the Financial Times writes, “if the same number of people were seeking work today as in 2007, the jobless rate would be 11 percent.”
In addition, there are now fewer payroll jobs in America than there were in 2000 — 12 years ago — and now, 40 percent of those jobs are considered “low paying,” up 10 percent from when President Reagan took office. The number of self-employed has dropped 2 million to 14.5 million in just six years.
Regular gasoline per gallon cost $1.68 in January 2009. Today, it’s $3.39 — that’s a 102 percent increase in just three years. (By the way, if you’re keeping score at home, gas was $1.40 a gallon when George W. Bush took office in 2001, $1.68 when he left office — a 20 percent increase.)
Electricity bills have also skyrocketed, with households now paying a record $1,420 annually on average, up some $300.
Some 48 percent of all Americans — 146.4 million — are considered by the Census Bureau either as “low-income” or living in poverty, up 4 million from when Mr. Obama took office; 57 percent of all children in America now live in such homes.
Since December 2008, a month before Mr. Obama took office, food-stamp use has increased 46 percent. Total spending has more than doubled in just four years to a record high of $75 billion. In 2011, more than 46 million people — about one in seven Americans — got food stamps. That’s 14 million more than when Mr. Obama took office.
Median household income has dropped nearly 7 percent in the last six years, taking inflation into account. What’s more, nearly 20 percent of males age 25 to 34 now live with their parents.
Low- and middle-income Americans 65 and older now hold more than $10,000 in credit card debt, up 26 percent since 2005. The average age of the American car is 10 years; in 1990, it was 6.5 years old (by the way, in 1985, Americans bought 11 million cars; in 2009, less than half that, 5.4 million).
On the macro side, America’s annual budget has jumped to $3.8 trillion — and yet the United States brings in only about $2.1 trillion in revenue. The U.S. trade deficit for 2011 was $558 billion. America’s total public debt stands at $15.23 trillion; in January 2009, the debt was $10.62 trillion. Mr. Obama is on pace to borrow $6.2 trillion in just one term — more debt than was amassed by all presidents from Washington through Bill Clinton combined. The debt is rising by $4.2 billion every day — $175 million per hour, nearly $3 million per minute.
So, America, that is the State of Your Union. But remember, Mr. Obama had not one thing to do with it. So don’t blame him when you go to the polls. Blame everyone else, especially yourself.
Ross Perot
January 25th, 2012
9:46 am
Romney was on Fox News explaing that prior to the earnings on the income on his tax statements from investments, it was already taxed once when he earned it AND then put it into his investments. Funny how that is never mentioned. I guess no one is used to a politician working to earn money, that it is all given to them through lobbyists and insider trading? I’m really starting to like Romney, he is a classy, articulate guy.
Welcome to the Occupation
January 25th, 2012
9:47 am
(Repost)
Here’s what a desperate campaigner sounds like:
Tonight, we’ll also be treated to more divisive rhetoric from a desperate campaigner-in-chief. It’s shameful for a president to use the State of the Union to divide our nation. And someone ought to tell him: In order to put the economy back to work everyone needs to be working.
And this from a man whose tax returns show zero dollars in earned income from wages, from actual work, for last year.
Funny how that works.
0311/1811
January 25th, 2012
9:47 am
As A Man Thinketh So Is He :
It’s called Communism.
By the way, remember all of the “Hippie – Dippie” communes of the 60’s and 70’s ? How did that work out for you ?
Paul
January 25th, 2012
9:48 am
godless heathen
“The arguments of the left here are:
1) The President can’t fix anything without Congress because the legislative branch makes the laws”
Did you miss the post at 9:59?
[[the core principle of leadership is to accept responsibility, get things done despite obstacles and take full responsibility instead of laying blame to get votes.
And that’s exactly what he is doing. As he suggested last night, if Congress will not act, he will do everything within his power as executive to do what’s necessary. And for that the Republicans condemn him as a dictator.
In fact, judging from the comments there seem to be two dueling critiques on the right concerning Obama:
“If he were a real leader he would just go out and get things done”, contrasted with bitter complaints that “he’s a dictator who’s just going out and doing things on his own.”]]
or is this just another case of making stuff up?
Tall
January 25th, 2012
9:49 am
…”Now, you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.”….
This is the best the President of the United States can do? You can ridicule the Republicans all day, but this was a speech by an incompetent amateur. He will lose in November.
Finn McCool (Class Warfare = Stopping Rich People from TAKING MORE of OUR MONEY)
January 25th, 2012
9:49 am
(By the way, if you’re keeping score at home, gas was $1.40 a gallon when George W. Bush took office in 2001, $1.68 when he left office — a 20 percent increase.)
LOL, this guy conveniently leaves off the average price during the intervening years.
Paul
January 25th, 2012
9:49 am
Scout
“Obama doesn’t want equality of a starting point or a fair playing field ……….. he wants equality of outcome ……..”
I trust you have a cite from Pres Obama from which you pulled that?
independent thinker
January 25th, 2012
9:49 am
Here is pure socialism from the high saint of the right wing conservatives – Saint Ronnie; He and the GOP passed EMTALA in 1986 that requires all hospitals to provide emergency room care to anyone who crawls in the door regardless of ability to pay or citezenship. Thus the rich and insured pay for the uninsured and illegals even of they are just suffering from a cold or the flu.It has bankrupted many hospitals. I have yet to hear anyone other than Gingrich ( in a previous moderate life) espouse a solution to this form of pure socialism. Of course Paul and the GOP audience when the question was asked at a debate for a fairer system said to kick the patients out on the street and let them rot. So who is the true socialist- Reagan or Obama?
Another unfunded mandate was passed by George W and creates communist style standardized education for the entire nation despite the restrictions on federalism and states rights to regulate education- No Child Left Behind and mandatory national testing and regulation of schools and teachers. Is this not Marxism?And it is an abyssmal failure.
I could go on about other unfunded mandates by the right that border on socialism and Marxism – but the Obama haters do not want to argue about reality and the GOP track record on socialism.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
January 25th, 2012
9:49 am
or is this just another case of making stuff up?
rhetorical question?
Mary Elizabeth
January 25th, 2012
9:49 am
Gordon@ 9:36
“What are the details of Obama’s plan to change social security and medicare? I know he is taking money out of Medicare to help pay for Obamacare, but I haven’t heard anything else. What is the plan?”
==================================
What you are hearing is propaganda, by omission. Separate in your mind regular Medicare from Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage is a variation of Medicare, in which the government subsidizes private “for-profit” insurance companies to implement Medicare. The “money” Obama plans to “take out of Medicare” is, in large part, the governmental subsidies given to private health insurance to implement Medicare.
In other words, Obama will cut out the “middle man” delivery of Medicare and save money while continuing an excellent medical plan, i.e. regular Medicare, for seniors.
Finn McCool (Class Warfare = Stopping Rich People from TAKING MORE of OUR MONEY)
January 25th, 2012
9:51 am
average gas prices by year:
http://zfacts.com/p/35.html
my look at those rising prices from 2000 to 2009. Goodness
Quagmire
January 25th, 2012
9:51 am
Why do Neo-Cons think the Pipeline is the only Job source creation the President can do? I forgot, Oil lobbyist is pushing for it. My bad
Ty – you never complained when Bush had you bent over for 8 years.
That’s right, cheney was hold a shotgun while he watched
Union
January 25th, 2012
9:52 am
we need to start teaching our children how to think “fairly” i propose that we start the process in middle and high school. simple process.. you take all of the students grades and average them out. if susie has an a average and bobby has a c.. then they both get a b.. thats only fair as susie studies more and turns in her homework on time.. while bobby has an xbox to play..
funny thing.. was doing a class on “personal fiscal responsibility” to a class of college students.. they were all about equality.. until it came to their grades.. oddly.. some students felt that if they worked hard for their grades they should be able to keep them..
Jefferson
January 25th, 2012
9:53 am
You can tell when the GOP is pushed into the corner, they squirm and squeal like fat little piglets the are and aspire to be.
Welcome to the Occupation
January 25th, 2012
9:53 am
There’s a bit of a conservative crackup going on over at the Washington Post. It’s rather amusing to watch, must admit.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-legitimize-obamas-reelection-rhetoric/2012/01/19/gIQA5pB5BQ_story.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/romneys-time-to-rally-himself-against-gingrich/2012/01/23/gIQAy4FULQ_story.html?hpid=z3
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/conservatives-need-to-get-a-grip-and-pick-a-candidate/2012/01/24/gIQA5Dh5NQ_blog.html
Paul
January 25th, 2012
9:53 am
Quatmire
“Why do Neo-Cons think the Pipeline is the only Job source creation the President can do?”
They don’t.
They just favor stimulus programs that cost $1,400,000 per job -
As A Man Thinketh So Is He
January 25th, 2012
9:54 am
@gadem
January 25th, 2012
8:19 am
I call it fear mongering…a little of xenophobia mixed with racism. I believe those that are opposed to the position of the President or Democrats in general don’t believe in helping others. But helping others is the foundation of Christianity so I don’t know how they cope when they are opposed with the foundations of their faith…
******************************************************
James 1:26
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
Finn McCool (Class Warfare = Stopping Rich People from TAKING MORE of OUR MONEY)
January 25th, 2012
9:55 am
How many jobs will the pipeline add?
Among the list of jobs that would be created: 51 dancers and choreographers, 138 dentists, 176 dental hygienists, 100 librarians, 510 bread bakers, 448 clergy, 154 stenographers, 865 hairdressers, 136 manicurists, 110 shampooers, 65 farmers, and (our favorite) 1,714 bartenders.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/keystone-pipeline-jobs-claims-a-bipartisan-fumble/2011/12/13/gIQAwxFisO_blog.html
Granny Godzilla
January 25th, 2012
9:55 am
Finn
Great Link….that went into the “save” file.
Gordon
January 25th, 2012
9:55 am
Mary Elizabeth,
Thanks for trying, but neither you nor Adam have mentioned anything that Obama has proposed that will significantly alter the self destructive trajectory that entitlements (especially Medicare) are on. It was really a rhetorical question, because I know and you know that no such plan exists.
Butch Cassidy
January 25th, 2012
9:55 am
kayaker 71 – “Separating the classes in our society and pitting one class against another….. being an ardent enemy of anything capitalistic or anything to do with a free market economy”
True, but I still don’t understand why you keep bringing up Gingrich.
ty webb
January 25th, 2012
9:56 am
Quagmire,
I don’t think you knew me “when bush had me bent over for 8 years”…oh, and careful with the “profanity” and “peverse”(granny’s word, not mine) imagery, resident lefties, jay included, just may have a little poutrage left in reserve.
0311/1811
January 25th, 2012
9:56 am
Paul:
Do you think he would actually “admit” that? He wants to win in November ……….. and then he would go wild.
“If it walks like a …………………………….”
Got to run. Everyone be nice.
Jefferson
January 25th, 2012
9:58 am
The folks in Nebraska should have more of a say in the pipeline deal than business and money, they opposed the proposed route, that’s the deal, but if you want to be fooled you may.
Paul
January 25th, 2012
9:58 am
Scout 9:56
I was just headed out myself and I always like to leave laughing.
Thanks!
jconservative
January 25th, 2012
9:59 am
Nice speech to start off the Democrats portion of the 2012 election for the White House.
Nice speech because it clearly defined the Democratic agenda. The Republican agenda is being defined by each of the 4 remaining candidates. But the differences in the suggested solutions by each could not be more clearer. Totally different directions.
It would be wonderful if we could conduct the campaign just on the issues outlined in the Obama speech. That way the American voter by his vote could clearly indicate the direction he wanted the nation to take.
But I suspect that this will not be an agenda driven election. Like usual it will be driven by the many lies told about the opposition candidate.
Talking Head
January 25th, 2012
10:01 am
Obama needs to focus on creating an environment that is pro-entrepreneurial and pro-development who’s by product is jobs and wealth, rather than focusing so much on the rich paying their fair share. Focusing on the rich will do nothing to improve the state of the union, and the voters know this to be true.
kayaker 71
January 25th, 2012
10:01 am
Dividing the electorate into waring classes that resent each other is a favorite ploy of Marxist philosophy. The plight of the “unfortunate” is a rallying cry for those intent on taking over. If you can get enough people pissed off at each other, they forget that the one initiating this idiocy is incapable of doing much of anything constructive but, if given long enough, they forget that he is just an empty suit, fanning all of these fires for just one purpose….. to change the system. Nothing much constructive comes of this insane philosophy except to win elections or win over the populations of countries who don’t know any better. Look what it did for Germany, Spain, the USSR and numerous other countries throughout history. Most of them ended up in the tank…… not one to my memory survived the onslaught. Americans with half a brain realize this is taking place in our country and they don’t like it. Most do want to live in an Obama America. The majority resent his dismissal of our country as just another misguided Republic where 1% controls the other 99%. They don’t want government making decision about their health care or what kind of light bulbs they use….. they can make these decisions very well on their own. Most potential Marxists and their supporters are on a power trip, intent on changing the system to some kind of ideologic utopia where everyone is taken care of and we are all “equal”. They have all failed and their populations have paid a huge price in the end and taken generations to right the wrong.
Jefferson
January 25th, 2012
10:02 am
98% vs 2% is not class warfare, the GOP is just a catchy phrase outfit, no substance and it was their policies that caused most of the problems the country is recovering from.
Common Sense
January 25th, 2012
10:02 am
“When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it’s not because they envy the rich.”
I just love how Obama has elevated himself to the rich. Yet he is not rich because he has produced something of value. He is rich because he has ridden the government gravy train to a position where he can sell books and make speeches.
What was his income before he “won” his first uncontested position? What has his income done since that point?
Yeah, that’s what I thought. The President of the United States’ income has grown faster than anyone outside of professional sports.
Aquagirl
January 25th, 2012
10:03 am
funny thing.. was doing a class on “personal fiscal responsibility” to a class of college students…. some students felt that if they worked hard for their grades they should be able to keep them..
Was that the 1994 class, the 2002 class, or the 2009 class? Or are you going to admit you just read a forwarded e-mail and are lying?