Quote of the Day - New York Times Editorial Edition

The Senate will return from Easter vacation with nuclear options on its mind. Republicans seem determined to change the rules so Democrats will no longer be able to stop judicial nominations with the threat of a filibuster. If they're acting out of frustration, it's understandable. In the past we've been frustrated when legislators tried to stop important bills from passing by resorting to the same tactic. The filibuster, which allows 41 senators to delay action indefinitely, is a rough instrument that should be used with caution. But its existence goes to the center of the peculiar but effective form of government America cherishes.

The New York Times March 25, 2005 talking about Senate Republicans and President Bush wanting to use the "Nuclear Option"   

I hope to see this same type of write up over the weekend.  I take that back, I expect to see a full frontal attack on this being actually implemented, not just talked about.  

Oh, wait.  They like these guys.  

$172,000/Yr is a Modest Salary?

“We’ve been on this ride together since I won my Senate primary in 2004,” Mr. Obama said. “He’s had a six-year stretch now where basically he’s been going 24/7 with relatively modest pay. I think it’s natural for someone like Robert to want to step back for a second to reflect, retool and that, as a consequence, brings about both challenges and opportunities for the White House.”

President Obama to The New York Times on press secetary Roberts Gibbs leaving his post at White House.

I am simply stunned by how obtuse this president is.  While I am sure that there was a time that Gibbs did make a modest salary, like when he was working for the campaign for senate.  Once those days ended, Gibbs has made a decent living (that I paid for, mind you).  Staffers in the U.S. Senate have a pretty good pay scale once you go above the lower level positions.  Many of which also pay six figures.  On top of which you have very good benefits package for yourself and your family.  Roberts Gibbs is now making a salary of $172,000/Yr there is nothing modest about that.  Especailly when you consider how many people in this country live on far less. 

Gibbs slaved away with President Obama for the past 6 years on his modest salary, and now has put himself in the position to make about $30-50K per speech.  Again, a haul that gives him more money in a day that some earn in year.  Gibbs also is not really leaving the Obama circle, he will be repositioning himself to gear up for the upcoming re-election campaign, which will give him another "modest" salary. 

Has President Obama failed to grasp the fact that we still have 10% unemployment and many many more that are underemployed and not counted in that unemployment level because they have given up?  This is a party that is constantly attacking the "rich", saying that they don't do their fare share as far as taxes are concerned.  Yet, they seem to have no problem being the people that make that money and take every possible tax write off that they can find.  All the while lecuturing people on how they should be paying more of their hard earned salaries to the government treasury that is chock filled with ineffiencies and fraud.  I guess we need to send more money to the treasury so we can pay the "modest" salaries of people like Baghad Bob Gibbs. 

Funniest Line of the Day - The Delusional President Obama

The body of Mr. Obama’s writing and experiences before he became a presidential candidate would suggest that he is instinctively pragmatic, typical of an emerging generation that sees all political dogma — be it ’60s liberalism or ’80s conservatism — as anachronistic. Privately, Mr. Obama has described himself, at times, as essentially a Blue Dog Democrat, referring to the shrinking caucus of fiscally conservative members of the party.

Matt Bei New York Times

I don't even know where to begin with this statement.  President Obama thinks he is blue dog?   What writings is he referring to?  While at Harvard Law he didn't publish one single paper, even though he was editor of the law review.  I suppose he is referring to his two autobiographies.  Now, I can't honestly say that I read both, but I did read one of them.  I didn't find anything in "Dreams From My Father" that would qualify him as a blue dog.  Which is really besides the point, one needs to look no further than his voting record to see that their is nothing in his political life to suggest that he is anything other than a progressive who tries to pass himself off as only a tax and spend liberal. 

Maureen Dowd and the Mean Republicans Girls

Aah, I just love waking up early on a Sunday morning and being insulted by someone I have never met.  Maureen Dowd can always be counted on.  The uber liberal columnist is spewing her usual nonsense that republicans are just downright nasty people; especially if you are woman. 

After all, how can we be anything but if we are criticizing the "one"?  It seems she is just as thin-skinned as her dear leader is:

...the Mean Girls have replaced Hope with Spite and Cool with Cold.

I hate to break it to you Mo, but I never thought Obama was "Cool".  But, then again I am just another mean "Mama Grizzly".  Although you have decided to go all those years back to my high school years to describe me;

We are in the era of Republican Mean Girls, grown-up versions of those teenage tormentors who would steal your boyfriend, spray-paint your locker and, just for good measure, spread rumors that you were pregnant.

I don't know about you Mo, but in high school I was pretty shy, didn't date very much and the last thing I did was spread rumors that someone was pregnant.  I would have to think that you seem to have some experience with the mean girls.  Somehow I get this feeling you were actually one of them, how else would you have turned into the mean woman you are now? 

So, I will pass your bff a note in study hall to let you know, that yes, we mean republican women, don't think that federal government should decide what your health insurance should cover, as we are smart enough to know if we need coverage for infertility treatments or that with no history breast cancer in our families we don't need to pay for mammogram coverage when we are 21 years old.  It is added expenses that we would rather spend on other things that our important to our lives not what Nanny Pelosi or you think we need.  We would rather that we find market based solutions to fix the costs issues with health care and not create another boondoggle of an inefficient government program that steals my money and then attempts to run my life. 

Frank Rich and the Tea Party Movement

I really enjoy reading New York Times’ Frank Rich. Why you may ask? He cracks me up when he tries to write about the “conservative” mindset. Today was no exception. He has an op-ed piece on the tea party movement and how it relates to the man who committed suicide by crashing his plane into an IRS building last month. I guess this is his way of wishing Happy Birthday to the Tea Party Movement.



He goes into the usual liberal talking points about Joseph Stack and his anti-government views and his hatred of the IRS; and how this is the same platform of the Tea Party Movement. He seems to be especially upset with Glen Beck, not that is all that unusual for him. He continues his diatribe using as reference an investigative piece that was written by David Barstow. Barstow, an award winning journalist for The New York Times, did a piece on the tea party movement.


Barstow went to such places as Sandpoint, Idaho. An area of the state that is close to areas that have a claim to fame. Ruby Ridge, where members of Randy Weaver’s family were shot and killed in 1992, and the home of one the largest Aryan Nation groups in the country. He also travelled to such places as Waco Texas, the home of The Branch Davidians. Now, I have never been to Waco or Sandpoint. I am sure that some very nice people live there, but let’s be honest here; they are not exactly every town USA. Barstow even went as far to involve the LaRouche movement. Not exactly the same mindset of conservatives.


Frank Rich left out the part of the “manifesto” of the sicko who crashed his plane was the lines about communism. Mr. Stack didn’t seem to have any coherent political mindset. His thought process was all over the map. Friends of the pilot have said that they never heard him bring up politics or the tea party movement. Rich goes further to bring up Timothy McVeigh. The supposition being made by Rich is that if McVeigh were alive today he would be a member of the tea party movement, simply due to the fact that it is “anti-government”.

I have been involved with the tea party movement for not quite a year now. I have been to meetings based on the 9-12 principles put forth by Glen Beck, and have been to quite a few tea parties as well. I posted plenty of pictures of the 9/12 march on Washington last summer, and I had a great time that day. I am not saying that there are not some “out there” ideas from some that go to the tea parties, but it is not the majority.

 Rich and Barstow completely miss the fact that everyday people have joined the tea party movement because they are seeing an out of control federal government. They are seeing a government that is spending money at unsustainable levels that is endangering the future prosperity of this country. They also are missing the fact that some of the people that go to these protests are not all republicans, let alone conservatives. Obama voters attend tea parties. The more moderate and conservative members of the democratic party are just as appalled at how the government is behaving. You need to look a further out than your own liberal mindset, and then maybe you just might get it.