Posts Tagged ‘Bill Clinton’
November 1st, 2011 by John Feehery
“This is not an opportunity to talk about difficult matters privately or in a closed environment. This is a circus. It’s a national disgrace. And from my standpoint, as a black American, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the U.S. Senate rather than hung from a tree.”
That was what Clarence Thomas said to the Senate Judiciary Committee as it investigated what the future Supreme Court Justice said and did to his colleague Anita Hill when they worked together at the Department of Education and at the EEOC.
I was working for House Minority Leader Bob Michel at the time, and the tension between the male and female staffers was, to say the least, about ready to explode. The men thought that Anita Hill was crazy. The women thought Thomas was a pig.
That Clarence Thomas was a black conservative who was replacing a black liberal on the Supreme Court only added to the combustion on the Hill. Read more...
Tags: Anita Hill, Bill Clinton, Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Paula Jones
Posted in Theory | No Comments »
October 24th, 2011 by John Feehery
Politicians in Washington rushed Nevada into Statehood in 1864 to assure Abraham Lincoln a comfortable margin in his bid for reelection smack dab in the middle of the Civil War, and ever since then, the Silver State has played a unique role in American political history.
Nevada is mostly desert, so it has always been a bit creative in how it has looked at its growth potential. In the early 1900’s, it went the libertarian route, allowing prostitution and gambling, as way to draw more settlers from California. It worked, and Nevadans found a formula that has kept it growing for most of its relatively short history. That is, up until the Obama years.
It was Bugsy Siegel who first thought of building a strip in Las Vegas and the mobsters that followed him gave the city its well-deserved moniker of “Sin City.” An ad campaign that ran a few years ago – “What Goes In Vegas, Stays in Vegas” – helped cement that reputation.
Las Vegas is not necessarily family-friendly. You drive into the city and you see ads on the billboards that would make you blush if you were going with your inquisitive five-year old, for example. In fact, it has one of the highest crime rates in the country, although most of that is attributed to boorish behavior by out of town visitors. Read more...
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Bugsy Siegel, Civil War, George W Bush, Las Vegas, Mitt Romney, Nevada, Silver State, Sin City
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Gambling, Government, History, Politics, Religion, Theory, bad news, election | 2 Comments »
October 14th, 2011 by John Feehery
Never assume.
I usually get in trouble when I make assumptions and then challenge them.
I have been assuming for some time that the Republicans will easily beat Barack Hussein Obama.
I have been assuming that for some very good reasons.
For example, Obama is just not a very good President. He doesn’t have a clue how the private market place works. He is not much of a leader. His neo-Marxist philosophy is all out of step with our free-market system.
Even if you do like the President personally, it is still hard to make the case that he deserves to be re-hired. The economy is in terrible shape. Our country is “this close” to going completely broke. He has failed to take on entitlements in any serious way.
He has had some successes in the war on terror, but unfortunately for him, this election won’t hinge on Mr. Obama’s ability to give the order to kill terrorists.
That is what we all know, and that is why he is cracking 50% in his disapproval ratings.
But the Republicans can still screw this up. Here are a few ways BHO could still win: Read more...
Tags: 9-9-9 plan, afghanistan, American economy, Barack Hussein Obama, Bill Clinton, Dodd-Frank regulations, economic growth, Freedom Works, Hermann Cain, Hispanic voters, Immigration, Libertarian, Matt Kibbe, Mitt Romney, neo-Marxist philosophy, Obamacare, Republicans, Rick Perry, Super Pacs, Tea Party, Unemployment
Posted in GOP, Government, Politics, Presidential election, Theory, election, spending, taxes | No Comments »
October 3rd, 2011 by John Feehery
In 1977, Randy Newman had a hit with his song, “Short People”, with the immortal line, “short people, short people, short people have no reason to live.”
Newman later said that the song was about prejudice, but if you were a short person, that distinction was probably lost on you.
Substitute fat people for short people, and you have the campaign song against Chris Christie. That’s because many liberal commentators have already said that the New Jersey governor is too fat to run for President. How’s that for insightful and penetrating analysis.
Christie is a big guy with a big personality. And should he run and then become President, he would be the biggest guy to be President since William Howard Taft.
Taft was the fattest President in United States history, but his girth didn’t necessarily hold him back. In fact, Taft was simply the fattest in a string of fat Presidents, including Grover Cleveland, William McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt. (Yes, despite his reputation as a great adventurer and outdoorsman, T.R. weighed in around 230 pounds.
Taft and Roosevelt were also the last two Presidents to have mustaches. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Read more...
Tags: America, Bill Clinton, Chris Christie, Conservatives, Eugene Robinson, fat people, Grover Cleveland, Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, Mike Kinsley, Obesity, over weight, Politics, Presidential election, Randy Newman, Teddy Roosevelt, too fat to run for President, William Howard Taft, William McKinley
Posted in Bad Decisions, Government, History, Politics, Presidential election, Theory, election | No Comments »
September 7th, 2011 by John Feehery
Ev and Gerry started the whole response thing.
Everett Dirksen and Gerry Ford, the former Senate Republican leader from Illinois and the former House Minority Leader (and later President) from Michigan used to have a radio show broadcast from the Capitol.
They turned that radio show into a televised rebuttal to President Johnson’s 1966 State of the Union Address.
Dirksen, with his mop of white hair, and Ford, with his bald pate, must have been quite a sight in the years leading up to the Age of Aquarius. Dirksen was the one who famously said, “a billion here, and a billion there, and pretty soon you are talking real money.”
I could understand the frustration of the two Republican (and minority) leaders. Lyndon Johnson wasn’t much to tell the truth, and Republicans at the start of 1966 didn’t have any legislative power. Dirksen, a genius when it came to the political communication innovation, probably dreamed up the idea of a joint response, and a new idea was born: Let’s tell our side of the story. Read more...
Tags: Age of Aquarius, America, Ames Straw poll, assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Bob Livingston, Bob McDonnell, Bob Michel, Bobby Jindal, Congress, Denny Hastert, Dick Armey, Everett Dirksen, Gerry Ford, GOP, Government, House Republicans, Jennifer Dunn, Jim Wright, John Boehner, Lyndon Johnson, Michele Bachmann, Mike Mansfield, Mitch McConnell, Newt Gingrich, NFL, Obama, Paul Ryan, Politics, President Johnson’s 1966 State of the Union Address, President Obama, Presidential election, Republican, Richard Nixon, Robert Byrd, Ronald Reagan, Senate Republican leader from Illinois, spending, Steve Largent, White House
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Politics, Theory, election, speeches | No Comments »
July 27th, 2011 by John Feehery
John Boehner is doing an exceptional job as Speaker under extraordinarily tough times.
When I first started working in Congress, Tom Foley had just taken over from Jim Wright as Speaker of the House. Unlike the dictatorial Wright, Foley ran a decentralized process that gave too much power to Committee barons like Dan Rostenkowski, Jack Brooks and John Dingell.
Foley could never quite get the Chairmen to work together enough to overcome their jurisdictional squabbles, and Democrats faltered under the House Bank scandal, the Post Office debacle and a series of other damaging revelations about a Congress that was out of control.
When Newt Gingrich came to the Speaker’s Office, he leap-frogged over the gentlemanly Bob Michel (my former boss) who unfortunately announced his retirement before he could see the promised land of a Republican majority. Gingrich learned the lessons of the ineffective Foley, centralized power in his chambers, and bull-rushed an ambitious Contract with America legislative agenda. Along the way, Gingrich alienated some of the new Freshmen, his committee Chairmen, and some key members of the leadership, so much so that a few of them launched a failed coup against the embattled Speaker. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Bob Michel, Congress, Conservatives, Dan Rostenkowski, Democrats, Denny Hastert, Dick Armey, George Bush, GOP, Government, Grand Bargain, House Republicans, Jack Brooks, Jim Wright, John Boehner, John Dingell, Mark Foley scandal, Nancy Pelosi, Newt Gingrich, President Obama, Republican, Republican Conference, Republicans, Speaker of the House, spending, taxes, Tea Party, the Iraq War, Tom DeLay, Tom Foley, White House
Posted in Bailouts, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Media, Politics, Promises, Reviews, Scandals, Theory, election, speeches, spending, taxes, war | No Comments »
July 19th, 2011 by John Feehery
There are two kinds of politicians.
Fixers come into office to fix things. They seek to fix problems for their constituents, fix the legislative process and fix government.
Breakers come into office to break things. They seek to take down the political order, break up the status quo and destroy icons.
Fixers occupy the political middle on both the left and the right. They like to work within the system, they don’t demonize their opponents; they tend to be workhorses who find the media a necessary, but tedious evil.
Breakers occupy the political fringes on both the left and the right. They hate the current system. They hate their opponents. They tend to be show horses who use the media to carry their message.
Breakers can become fixers, but fixers rarely become breakers.
Newt Gingrich was a breaker. Denny Hastert was a fixer.
John Boehner is a fixer. Nancy Pelosi was a breaker.
Both Bush’s were fixers, as was Bill Clinton. Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama started as breakers. Franklin Roosevelt campaigned as a fixer, became a breaker when he took the White House (his Hundred Days was a prime example of how the breaker operates) but became a fixer during the Second World War. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, budget amendment, Democrats, Denny Hastert, Economy, election, Franklin Roosevelt, George W Bush, George Washington, GOP, Government, Haley Barbour, Hermann Cain, John Boehner, Jon Huntsman, Media, Michele Bachmann, Mitch Daniels, Mitt Romney, Nancy Pelosi, Napoleon, Newt Gingrich, Patrick Henry, politicians, President Bush, Republican Conference, Republicans, Robespierre, Ron Paul, Sarah Palin, Second World War, Tea Party Caucus, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Tim Pawlenty, White House
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Promises, Theory, election, spending, taxes | 1 Comment »
July 13th, 2011 by John Feehery
It was Karl Marx who first wrote about class warfare in The Communist Manifesto. Marx believed that the exploited proletariat would eventually rise up against bourgeoisie, overthrow them and then seize their property. In the Marxist view, only communal ownership would eliminate class conflict.
Marx clearly believed that class warfare would be directed upward, from the masses against the rich.
Conservatives and other commentators have been on the look-out for class warfare warriors ever since.
In an interesting twist, Democrats are now accusing Republicans of class warfare because they have resisted the urge to raise taxes on rich people.
In other words, Democrats are accusing Republicans of class warfare precisely because they won’t go along with the Democratic efforts to foist class warfare on rich people. Read more...
Tags: America, Bill Clinton, class warfare, clinton, Congress, Conservatives, Cultural Revolution, Dee Dee Myers, Democrats, Economy, GOP, Government, Karl Marx, luxury tax, raising taxes, Russian Revolution, Senate, taxes, The Communist Manifesto
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Politics, Promises, Theory, taxes | No Comments »
July 6th, 2011 by John Feehery
Nonsense. The President’s position on taxes is complete and total nonsense.
He has made a big deal out of taxing corporate jets. I remember when Bill Clinton made a big deal out of taxing yachts in the mid-nineties. He called it a luxury tax. Result? The normal schmucks who manufactured yachts found themselves out of work.
What does Barack Obama have against corporate jet manufacturing workers?
Probably nothing, but his uncareful rhetorical and his silly policy positions, if implemented, will cost some their jobs.
This whole debate about taxes is unbelievably cynical. If the Democrats truly believed that taxes should be increased, they would have done it seven months ago, when they had control over the entire legislative process.
They extended the Bush tax cuts for two more years because they were afraid that raising taxes would stunt economic growth. Has the economy all of sudden improved dramatically in the last six months? No, of course not.
What has changed is that Republicans are now in charge of the House.
And what Mr. Obama and his allies want to do is try to smash the Republicans politically against their base. They are using the crisis of the debt ceiling to achieve that political goal. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, boehner, Bush tax cuts, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, Government, health care, House Republicans, John Boehner, McConnell, President Obama, reform, Republicans, spending, tax reform, tax welfare, taxes
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Politics, Promises, spending, taxes | No Comments »
June 21st, 2011 by John Feehery
Midway through the first debate, I got an email from a reporter. “What do you think of Michele Bachmann’s performance?” she asked. I missed the first portion of the debate because I was putting my son to bed, so I replied, “What do you think?” She told me, “Frankly, I think she is kicking butt.”
I was astounded. I immediately tuned in, and I watched closely. Bachmann held her own, but she was no Rory McIlroy. She didn’t completely embarrass herself, but in my mind, she didn’t suddenly reinvent herself to become presidential material.
The next day, the press reaction was universal. Bachmann and Mitt Romney were the winners, while Tim Pawlenty was the big loser. Immediately, the pundits were declaring Bachmann a serious presidential contender, one who would probably win Iowa and would surely contend in South Carolina. Pawlenty was toast.
But how could Michele Bachmann suddenly become a serious presidential contender? Certainly she has become a ubiquitous presence on cable news, but she has no executive experience to speak of, no deep congressional experience, no notable accomplishments. She hasn’t shown herself to have any policy depth, nor any historical perspective, nor any really good ideas about how to move the country forward. She is attractive, undoubtedly, and she has mastered the art of the sound bite, but in this complex and increasingly dangerous world, a serious presidential contender must have more to offer than good looks and a sharp tongue. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Democrats, Ed Rollins, election, Jon Huntsman, Michelle Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Obama, republican party, Republicans, Romney campaign, Rory McIlroy, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, Tim Pawlenty
Posted in Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Theory, election | No Comments »
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