GOP's Hypocrisy Continues At Bush Press Conference

At his news conference on December 20, Mr. Bush threatened to cancel earmarks (pet projects) that Congress passed in legislation.  He claimed that he ordered his budget chief to review options for not implementing them.  This is the same President who signed every single earmark legislation by the Republican controlled Congress for the first 6 years of his administration.  It is a phony issue by a President who is so small of a person, he still can not tell the truth.  

 

The Democrats, who took over control of Congress, said they would reduce earmarks and they did exactly that in this bill Bush referred to.  A count by "Taxpayers for Common Sense", a group that fights earmarks, reported that the bill sent to Mr. Bush has 25% less earmarks and is less costly than the all time high set by the Republican Congress and Bush in 2005.  Regardless what the subject is, this President just can't tell the truth.

 

Ever since the invasion and occupation of Iraq over WMD that did not exist, Mr. Bush has sent his own earmarks to Congress and outside the budget process at that.  As of this writing, his Iraqi earmarks have totaled close to a half trillion dollars.  Not only is Bush's deficit spending paying for those earmarks, but so is the money borrowed to pay interest for the dramatic increased in the national debt that he has run on the taxpayers.

Once again, President Bush and the Republicans have demonstrated why they are hypocrites.  They utter not one word about their own, record-high earmarks, but when the Democrats cut earmarks by 25%, they cry foul.  

Hillary Still Strong

The media, as of late, has been really hitting Sen. Clinton hard and presenting only one side of a very complex story.  But I'm not into the game of "blame it all on the media".  Rather, I like to look for facts, and quite frankly, the facts show that Hillary is still a very strong candidate, both nationally and in the early states.  The media has been highly critical of the Clinton campaign, focusing on what they want you to think is a huge, sudden downfall for her in the polls.  The polls that show Hillary looking strong are all but forgotten.  So here is the most up to date polling available and, as you'll see, Hillary isn't in all that bad of shape after all.

First, let's take a look at the national race.  The two national polls that keep being shown over and over again on CNN and MSNBC are the two that show Obama very close to Hillary.  A Hotline poll from 12/10-14 has Obama trailing Clinton by just 5 points, while a Zogby poll has Obama just 8 points behind.  But here are the polls that aren't getting play, mainly because they don't make for as interesting of a story.  The very latest poll from Fox (12/18-19) has Clinton with a staggering 29 point lead over Obama.  An ABC poll from earlier this month has Clinton with a 30 point lead.  A NBC poll conducted just this past week has Clinton with a 24 point lead.  As you can see, Clinton's national lead is still strong.  Her peak was 30 points over Obama back in October.  Still, despite what the media would have you think, that lead is still very much in place.

Next up is Iowa.  Just today I heard talk on CNN and MSNBC about how dangerous Clinton is to coming in a distant third in Iowa and how horrible she is doing there.  Here is a fact: the last 3 out of 4 polls from Iowa have Clinton in the lead.  The American Research Group and Rasmussen give Clinton a 4 point lead.  CNN gives her a 2 point lead (interesting how CNN doesn't even report on their own poll).  Real Clear Politics, a great website that averages recent polling, indicates that Obama and Clinton are tied in Iowa with 28.3% each.  Does Clinton have Iowa locked-up?  Of course not.  But she is certainly doing better than the media lets out.

Another poll which has been given a ton of airplay today is the USA Today/Gallup poll from New Hampshire which shows Clinton and Obama tied.  What the media fails to mention is another poll which was conducted during the same time frame as the Gallup poll and gives Clinton a 14 point lead.  The latest CNN and Fox polls give her a 12 and 9 point lead respectively.  Real Clear Politics averages that Clinton has a 6.2 point lead; certainly not great, but far from horrible.

Clinton may not be at her peak, but no one realistically expected that she would be right now.  It is a historical fact that the closer to the primaries a Presidential election gets, particularly on the Democratic side, the more the race tightens.  Again, my point in writing this is not to attack the media, but rather to get the other side of the story out there.  It seems that over the last few months the MSM has turned violently against Clinton and is doing everything possible to pump up Barack Obama.  But facts are facts.  This is a very close race, but Clinton is still the frontrunner and is either winning or tying for first when you average the most recent data.   

Future Iraq Funding

If President Bush asks Congress for more money for Iraq next year, other than what has already been approved, here is how the Democrats need to handle any such request.

 

Since Bush has always requested money for Iraq outside of the budget process without any plans to pay for the war except to continue his deficit spending, the Democrats should handle it as a separate item and not mix it with any other legislation.  Bring it to a vote and let the Congress vote.  The Republicans can't muster the 60 votes needed in the Senate so the legislation would fail.  Bush will then go into his self serving statement about Democrats not supporting the troops.

 

The Democrats need not be afraid of that any more and should repeat over and over it is Bush who does not support our troops; he sent them off to fight a war and occupation in Iraq over WMD that did not exist.  The reason Bush's approval rating is between 29-30% is because the people understand the way Bush has lied to the country and that it is his own actions that does not support our troops and in fact he is using our troops as pawns to play God in the Middle East. 

 

Keep in mind, if neither Republican or Democrats in the Senate can reach 60 votes, the measure is dead.  There is enough money in the pipe line to bring our troops home safe.  No more funding.

Change Can Only Happen With Experience

Chris Dodd: American Patriot

Senator Chris Dodd's threatened filibuster against proposed legislation supported and asked for by George Bush and the Republicans in Congress to shield telecommunication companies against prosecution for cooperating with NSA on wire taps without a warrant and make it retroactive was the American thing to do.  Senator Dodd, with his threatened filibuster, showed the Democrats how to handle Bush concerning his reckless behavior.  The Republicans do not have enough votes to break a filibuster and Democrats in Congress need to use that tactic more.

 

As an American, one would think the telecommunications companies would be against this legislation because it opens up their networks to spying on their customers.  They should be mobilizing their people and industry to tell Congress to stay out of the people's private communications.  They should be totally opposed to having government spy on their customers without proper cause and authorization from a proper court.

 

It is so un-American for a President to have such a secret agenda.  To give telecom companies immunity from prosecution amounts to a bribe by this administration.  The terrorists successfully attacked us on 9-11 because Mr. Bush's mind was on Iraq instead of the threat bin Laden posed. Bush, like all Americans, knew bin Laden wanted to strike the United States.

 

The Democrats in Congress may not have enough votes to pass all their legislation and override all of Bush's vetoes, but they do have other means to deal with this President.  The filibuster is one means.  The other is to forget about being called "unpatriotic" by Republicans and do the right thing for the American people, especially concerning Iraq.  If Democrats do the right thing, the American people will stand behind them.  Senator Dodd did the right thing when he left his campaign in Iowa to come back to the Senate and let his voice be heard.  I salute Senator Dodd for his actions.

Israel's Sad Excuse For Leadership

The Associated Press has reported that one of Prime Ministers Olmert's ministers warned that the U.S. NIE report on Iran could trigger a war.  It also reported that an Israeli intelligent delegation is in the U.S. to press Israel's case that Iran is still working on a nuclear bomb.

 

The leaders of Israel and those ministers who have clout will not be satisfied until the U.S. supports an attack on Iran.  They supported the war against Iraq even though Israel's own intelligence knew Iraq had no WMD.  Israel wants to be the only power in the Middle East who has nuclear weapons and other WMD.  

Israel's leaders want to be the only ones to have these weapons because they want to be able to continue the use of their military power with impunity.  If anyone is not sure what impunity really means check the dictionary and you will understand how unstable and reckless Israel's leaders are.

 

The American people can not trust Olmert and leaders of Israel.  They agreed long ago to a U.N. resolution not to occupy land belonging to Palestine and instead continue to build settlements on those lands and Bush has let it slip by.  Now they are in Washington trying to convince Bush that our NIE was wrong. 

 

Mr. Olmert also complained that Iran is building long range missiles that could reach Israel.  Of course it is okay that Israel has had missiles for many years that can reach Iran.  There is much talk about the bible and armageddon in the Middle East.  If there is a war of armageddon in the middle east, it will be the leaders of Israel who will start it.  Our President and future presidents should realize what Israel's leaders really are and how they try to use the U.S. as their patsy.

Senator John McCain: To Torture or Not To Torture

Senator McCain spoke at a Columbia, S.C. campaign stop Saturday and said he wanted to create an Army Advisory Corps of 20,000 soldiers to act as military advisers and a new office of Strategic Services to fight terrorists.  He would put them in a crash program in civilian and military schools to have more experienced speakers in strategically important languages to create a new specialty in interrogation.

 

He says by having this new group we will never have to feel motivated to torture anyone ever again.  Then when asked if he knows our forces had engaged in torture, he said he did not know because he does not have that kind of information.  What is going on here?  He wants a special group so we don't have to torture but he does not know if we do torture under our present system.  Is this the real "straight talking express" candidate?

 

Our country has done well interrogating the enemy over the years without torture.  We are parties to the Geneva Convention, which prevents torture.  We don't need another layer of our military who is supposed to make sure we don't torture and then have a President who thinks he can do whatever he wants to do and approve torture.  We are in this water boarding and torture game now because of this President's reckless behavior. 

 

If McCain becomes our next President then all he has to do is set the example and policy so that it will be clear: The United States does not get involved in torture, period. Everyone in the world needs to knows it.

Climate Change - Rebuke In Indonesia

The Washington Post reports that at the Global Warming Conference over the weekend in Indonesia, delegates from over 190 nations, including the United States, came to an agreement that both the industrialize nations and those developing nations would commit themselves to measurable, verifiable steps for facing the global warming problem.  That was a first.

 

The U.S. was represented at the conference by Paula Dobriansky, U.S. undersecretary for democracy and global affairs.  She told the delegates that the U.S. was not willing to accept language calling on industrialized nations to deliver measurable, reportable, and verifiable assistance.  That comment brought about boos and hisses from the delegates and sharp rebukes.

 

The U.S. relented and changed its opposition after several other nations blasted the U.S. position.  Kevin Conrad, Papua New Guinea's ambassador, told the U.S. that if you can't lead, get out the way and leave it to the rest of us.  The South African minister of environmental affairs and tourism said Dobriansky's comments were unwelcome and wanted to know why Washington was not doing more.

 

Leaders of developing nations accused Washington in blunt terms of pressing them for commitments while refusing to make its own.  The U.S. tried all week to scuttle the conference with rigid demands and had to back down in the end.  Former V.P. Al Gore took the Bush administration to task for not supporting the conference and not doing its part.

 

Mr. Bush continues to think he is King of the World and can push other people around.  The leaders in Indonesia took their stand and let their voices be heard.  Our Congress should take note and bring Mr. Bush under control here at home before he makes any more reckless decisions that harm the U.S. and its people.  Seven years into his administration and Mr. Bush still can't lead the world on important issues as did past Presidents.

Enough Is Enough----Stop The Spin!!!

As I was watching my usual afternoon/evening lineup on MSNBC, I was outraged at the coverage that both Chris Matthews and Tucker Carlson gave to the following Bob Kerrey statement:

"It's probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim. There's a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal." 

Chris Matthews and Tucker attempted to spin this into somethings it's completely not.  Bob Kerrey was COMPLIMENTING Barack Obama, saying that his background was a plus.  Somehow, the MSM, and even some Obama-bloggers, took this to mean that Kerrey, taking direction from the Clinton campaign, was attacking Obama because of his background.  How they got an attack out of the above statement is beyond me.  If anything, Kerrey was saying that Obama has experience, something that one would think Obama supporters and the Obama-loving-media would be pleased with.

But no, of course not.  It seems that everything and everyone connected with Hillary Clinton can't just make a comment without being pounced on.  Even the nicest, most positive statements somehow become twisted into racism or discrimination or just plain meanness.  Seriously, enough is enough.  You don't have to support or even like Clinton, but to go after Kerrey for this is absurd.  Kerrey was giving his sincere opinion on Barack Obama, one that happened to be positive.

To twist the facts just to make Sen. Clinton look bad is ridiculous.  This has gone too far.  Not only does it falsely represent the Clinton campaign and their thoughts on Sen. Obama, it distorts Sen. Kerrey's opinions, who has proven to be one of the most honest, straight-shooters around.   This was not a negative attack meant to, in any way, criticize Barack Obama for where he grew up and what religion his relatives practiced.  Let the facts be the facts and then give analysis and opinion on those facts, but don't make something into something that it's not just for "good television" or "good reading".  Thats my message and plea to the MSM and bloggers who took this WAY out of context and made it into a story that it's simply not.

Kerrey Endorses Clinton

Hillary has received another major endorsement.  Former Nebraska Governor and Senator Bob Kerrey had this to say:

"At a time when our nation faces serious challenges, it will take a leader with Hillary Clinton’s strength and experience to bring the real change we need.  Hillary is tested and uniquely capable of restoring America’s standing in the world."

1 "Kerrey" Down, 1 "Kerry" to go!