Time to update former Senator Bob Kerrey’s line about Bill Clinton I think. I’ve said from day one that when it comes to Barack Obama you have to focus on the difference between his words and deeds.
Candidate Obama’s words,
“We need earmark reform, and when I’m president, I will go line by line to make sure we are not spending money unwisely.”
President Obama’s words,
President Obama’s deeds,
US News & World Report
President Obama Earmark Hypocrisy on the House Omnibus Spending Package
Yesterday, the House approved an omnibus spending package—nine different spending measures bundled together for a total of $410 billion—and the Senate is expected to vote on it today. Democrats are hoping to get it to the White House for the president’s signature by Friday, because otherwise the government won’t have enough money to make it to the end of its fiscal year.
This bill is quickly becoming a credibility problem for the Democrats. A big one.
Politico reports that the 1,132-page behemoth contains over 9,000 earmarks covering more than a dozen cabinet agencies. But because it was first negotiated last fall by the House and Senate (under far different economic circumstances, I’d point out), the Obama administration has called it “unfinished business”—just a little $400 billion sideshow we should all ignore. A top White House aide said that Obama would change the “rules” for future spending bills, but only after this bill clears the Senate. We thought the administration believed in cutting back on congressional earmarks, but as Peggy Noonan would say, it’s time to suspend our belief.
Is that the “fundamental change” Obama keeps talking about? Sounds like same old, same old. Politics as usual. Chump change is what we are getting.
Welcome back, Straight Talk Express
“We need earmark reform and when I’m president, I will go line by line to make sure we’re not spending money unwisely,” McCain quoted a campaign promise Obama made on the trail. “That’s the quote, the promise of the president of the United States made to the American people in a debate with me in Oxford, Mississippi. So what is brought to the floor today, 9,000 earmarks. So much for change,” McCain added.
RNC Chairman Michael Steele
December, 2007
NY Times columnist David Brooks on candidate Obama
“He pursues liberal ends in gradualist, temperamentally conservative ways”
March 3, 2009
NY Times columnist David Brooks on President Obama
“Barack Obama is not who we thought he was”
October 2008
Christopher Buckley, Sorry Dad, I’m Voting For Obama
“Let me be the latest conservative/libertarian/whatever to leap onto the Barack Obama bandwagon. It’s a good thing my dear old mum and pup are no longer alive. They’d cut off my allowance.”
March 2009
Christopher Buckley, The Audacity of Nope
“One feels almost unpatriotic, entertaining negative thoughts about Obama’s grand plan. But it is far from clear that spending oceanic sums of money is the right corrective.”
October 2008
Jim Cramer on candidate Obama
“And while any president will be an improvement over the current one, there is a growing belief on Wall Street that Barack Obama has the capacity to lead us out of this wilderness while John McCain does not. I’ll go a step further: Obama is a recession. McCain is a depression.”
March 2009
Jim Cramer on President Obama
“”Hey it’s amateur hour at our darkest moment.”
The so-called Gore Effect happens when a global warming-related event, or appearance by the former vice president and climate change crusader, Al Gore, is marked by exceedingly cold weather or unseasonably winter weather.
For instance, in March, 2007, a Capitol Hill media briefing on the Senate’s new climate bill was cancelled due to a snowstorm.
On Oct. 22, Gore’s global warming speech at Harvard University coincided with near 125-year record-breaking low temperatures. And less than a week later, on Oct. 28, the British House of Commons held a marathon debate on global warming during London’s first October snowfall since 1922.
Well, the Gore Effect has struck again.
March 2 Weather for Washington, DC
WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 2 PM EST MONDAY
Tonight…Snow. Snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches. Brisk with lows in the lower 20s. North winds 20 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph. Chance of snow near 100 percent.
At some point, Al Gore should start to be worried. The big guy upstairs doesn’t seem too pleased with The Goracle!
What an honor for me to be joined by Bruce McQuain and to get the opportunity to say thank you to Retired Lt. Col. Michael Strobl and Gretchen Mack, the mother of Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps.
Chance was a decorated, respected 19-year old Marine when he was killed in Iraq. In April 2004, Lt. Col. Strobl’s account of escorting Chance’s remains from Dover Air Force base to his final resting place in Dubois, Wyoming was published in its entirety on Blackfive. As I told him tonight, I’ve never read anything that made me more proud of my country. Today, Taking Chance the most popular HBO original movie in five years, with more than 2 million tuning in for its debut last Saturday evening. Tom Shales of the Washington Post wrote,
Rendering honor is one of the film’s themes, and also one of its singular accomplishments.
Joe and Marilyn from CA sent an email that summed up how many feel,
We’d like to thank Gretchen and Chance’s family for sharing their loss with us – a self-sacrifice for the greater good on top of the ultimate sacrifice that Chance made.
Michael Strobl and Gretchen Mack on Pundit Review Radio
Taking Chance: Conversation with Gretchen Mack
Taking Chance: Conversation with Lt. Col. Michael Strobl and Kevin Bacon
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking†by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Warren Buffett is out with his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. The letter is eagerly anticipated every year. This year even more so as it comes following Berkshire’s worst year ever. Business Week has published some good excerpts.
Buffett didn’t have a great year personally either. After finally authorizing a biography and selecting Alice Schroeder, an insurance industry analyst and writer who was a managing director at Morgan Stanley, to write it. He told Schroeder to write a warts and all account and she did. It is a great book. Now he seemingly regrets that decision.
Here is my interview with author Alice Schroeder,
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Tonight we welcomed back one of our favorites, James Pethokoukis, the Capital Commerce columnist for US News & World Report magazine. We discussed Obamanomics and the simple fact that America is getting what we they voted for. We discussed everything from the implications of Obama’s cap and trade scheme to the tax changes and the lack of ideas coming from the Republicans. For some reason, the 1930’s came up a few times as well.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking†by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Bruce McQuain from QandO joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match.
Tonight, Bruce told us about Army Sgt. 1st Class James Brasher,
“Army Sgt. 1st Class James Brasher’s daring acts of intrepidity and gallantry in the face of a numerically superior and determined force, have earned him a Silver Star according to the citation that accompanied the medal.
Those courageous acts occurred on Dec. 8, 2007, when Brasher was serving as platoon sergeant for 2nd Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The company had been tasked to participate in Operation Mar Kararadad, during which Brasher repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to keep his soldiers out of danger.”
The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Bruce McQuain from QandO does an incredible job with the series every week.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.