Posts Tagged ‘GOP’
October 19th, 2011 by John Feehery
Newt Gingrich had the line of the night towards the end of the debate when he complained that the moderator encouraged a level of bickering that could only make it harder for the GOP to get the White House.
I don’t think Anderson Cooper was really trying to sink the Republican nominee for President in this debate. He was trying to make an 8-person debate interesting for television. But, if the bi-product is to make all the candidates look silly, well, mission-accomplished.
As Mitt Romney has tried to point out occasionally, we live in complicated times and sometimes the simplest answer is not always the best answer, but giving nuanced explanations in 30 second sound bites is damn near impossible, especially when you have a moderator asking your fiercest opponents to tear your ideas apart in a brief rebuttal.
Most avid Republican primary voters probably have heard that Mitt Romney has a 59-point plan to reform government and revive the economy, but I bet you only two people outside the media and Romney campaign have actually looked through it. Newt Gingrich has a new contract with the American people. Nobody knows anything about it and I am sure all of the other campaigns have their own plans, even Rick Perry. Read more...
Tags: Anderson Cooper, APEC, ASEAN, CNN, GOP, Herman Cain’s plan, immigration laws, Mitt Romney, Mormon, NATO, Newt Gingrich, OPEC, pre-primary debates, President Obama, Republican nominee for President, Rick Perry, White House
Posted in Contests, GOP, Government, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Promises, Theory, election | 2 Comments »
September 8th, 2011 by John Feehery
Rick Perry walked into an ambush at the Reagan Library last night, as he took hits on his record, on his rhetoric, and on his philosophy. John Huntsman revived his campaign with a sparkling performance. Newt Gingrich took on the role of Spiro Agnew by once again attacking the media for asking questions about the differences between the candidates (which I thought was the purpose of the debate). Michelle Bachmann joined Herman Cain in the irrelevance caucus. Rick Santorum scored a good hit against Perry, which eliminated his chance to be named to the ticket by the Big Texan. Ron Paul went where no Republican has gone before on the libertarian scale.
And Mitt Romney won the debate.
The line of the night was Perry’s Ponzi scheme claim, an utterance that will live in infamy in 30-second commercials from every anti-Perry organization on the planet for the next six months.
The second best line came from Romney: “I don’t want to eliminate Social Security. I want to save it.” Read more...
Tags: America, Democrats, GOP, Government, health care, Herman Cain, John Huntsman, John McCain, Jon Weaver, McCain, medicare, Michelle Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, political debate, Politics, Ponzi scheme, Presidential election, Reagan Library, republican party, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Social Security, Spiro Agnew, Tea Party Republicans
Posted in Economy, GOP, Government, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Theory, election, speeches, taxes | 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 »
September 2nd, 2011 by John Feehery
According to Wikipedia, Labor Day has traditionally been the last time it is fashionable for ladies to wear white. This weekend, it might be the time that President Obama starts waving the white flag of surrender.
Labor Day was born out of conflict. Grover Cleveland signed legislation making Labor Day a holiday in 1884 six days after the Pullman strike ended. Cleveland signed it as a peace offering to the labor movement, which was still pretty raw after the national strike where Federal troops were called in and 13 strikers were killed.
This history remains relevant today.
The Labor Department announced today that the American economy created zero jobs in August. Zero. That hasn’t happened since the end of the Second World War – September of 1945 – when people were so busy celebrating the defeat of the Japanese that they didn’t have time to create any jobs.
Some economists are saying that the dreary job numbers were caused, in part, by the debate over the debt ceiling. I find that hard to believe.
There are plenty of other reasons, including the actions of both this President and of the labor movement. Read more...
Tags: America, American Small Business League, ASBL, Barack Obama, Boeing, Catholic school, Congress, Conservatives, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Gibson Guitar, GOP, Government, Grover Cleveland, job creation, Jobs, John Boehner, Justice Department, Labor Day, labor movement, National Labor Relations Act, National Labor Relations Board, NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, Politics, President Obama, Pullman strike, Republican-controlled House, Republicans, spending, St. Xavier University, The Labor Department, the Obama Administration, Verizon, Washington Examiner, World War II
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Politics, Promises, Religion, Theory, Unemployment, bad news | 1 Comment »
September 1st, 2011 by John Feehery
There is a difference between these two statements.
“I am coming over to your house to watch the football game.” AND
“Hey, can I come over to your house and watch the football game?”
President Obama opted for the first statement when he invited himself over to John Boehner’s house to give a “big speech” on jobs and the economy.”
Usually, a President asks for an invitation from the Speaker before he announces he is giving an address to Congress.
Why is that? Because Congress is co-equal to the executive branch. The President doesn’t run the Congress, although many tend to wish that the Congress would just go away after giving them a blank check.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Boehner eventually agreed to a better date for the President to use the Congress as a prop for another urgent speech meant to jump start his flagging campaign for re-election.
Sadly for NBC, that date coincides with opening night of the national football league, an event that will garner far higher ratings than the Presidential address, should the President choose to compete with Aaron Rodgers. Read more...
Tags: Aaron Rodgers, America, Barack Obama, Democrats, election, GOP, Government, House Republicans, John Boehner, NBC, NFL, Politics, President Obama, Presidential election, Social Security, spending, The American people
Posted in Bad Decisions, GOP, Government, Politics, Theory, election, speeches, sports | No Comments »
August 31st, 2011 by John Feehery
Hurricane Irene blew in to Washington over the weekend and the biggest casualty was the Martin Luther King Memorial ceremony.
It turns out that the weather was pretty nice on Sunday afternoon, and the event could have still occurred, but it is hard to predict the weather.
It’s also hard to predict the future.
Are we as a country moving forward on the whole concept of racial harmony or are we moving backward?
Congressman Andre Carson said today that certain members of the Tea Party want to see black lawmakers “hanging on a tree.”
I wonder if Alan West and Tim Scott, two of the most influential Tea Party members of Congress (who coincidentally happen to be black), want to hang their fellow Congressional Black Caucus members up a tree.
I doubt it.
Carson believes that the Tea Party is to blame for the fact that unemployment is so high in the black community.
I find that hard to believe.
I guess it is far easier to blame a bunch of white conservatives than it is to blame the nation’s first black President.
The Tea Party hasn’t really had much of an impact on the President’s policies, not yet anyway. Read more...
Tags: affirmative action, African-Americans, Al Sharpton, Alan West, America, Barack Obama, Congress, Congressman Andre Carson, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, election, first black President, George W Bush, GOP, hurricane Irene, Martin Luther King Memorial ceremony, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn, Msnbc, Obama, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Politics, racism, raising taxes, Republicans, spending, taxes, Tea Party, Tim Scott, Washington
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Religion, Theory, bad news, election, poverty, spending, taxes, terrorism | No Comments »
August 30th, 2011 by John Feehery
John Wayne is still my favorite Hollywood star.
No matter which one of his movies comes on the television screen, I will stop what I am doing and watch it.
The Quiet Man is perhaps my favorite, but Rio Grande, The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, all are very close in my estimation.
Another favorite is The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. I watched that classic western with my brother-in-law. It co-starred Jimmy Stewart as the intellectual lawyer who thought he could conquer the wild West and Lee Marvin as the evil and deadly Liberty Valance.
This is a great movie on many levels. John Wayne, of course, plays the tragic hero figure in the flick. He is the one who actually shoots Valance, but loses the girl. Stewart gets credit for killing Valance, wins the girl and ultimately becomes the successful politician who actually brings civilization to the lawless territory.
In real life, Jimmy Stewart was a hero in the Second World War. He flew multiple bombing missions against the Germans as a Captain of a B-52 squadrons, and he retired a general. John Wayne never killed anything in his life, except maybe a few bottles of tequila. Read more...
Tags: America, American history, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, election, GOP, Government, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Mitt Romney, Politics, Presidential election, Republicans, Rick Perry, Rio Grande, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, White House
Posted in GOP, Government, History, Hollywood, Politics, Presidential election, Theory | 2 Comments »
August 17th, 2011 by John Feehery
“I mean, printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history, is almost treacherous, or treasonous, in my opinion”.
That was Rick Perry’s comment about Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve.
Karl Rove said that the comments “went too far.” Others called them unpresidential. The current President, Mr. Obama, said it was a sign that Mr. Perry wasn’t quite ready for prime time.
From an historic standpoint, the Texas Governor’s statement was more than a little bit interesting. Perry has positioned himself as a conservative populist. A hero to social conservatives (witness the National prayer service thing he hosted). He also fancies himself to be a populist, fighting against Washington and New York banking interests.
Historically speaking, though, his fight against Bernanke’s easy money policy is a fight for New York banking interests. This was most notable in the fight in the late 19th century between interests that wanted a bimetal system that would expand the money supply by basing the currency on both silver and gold, and those who wanted to constrict the money supply by basing it purely on a gold standard. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, Conservatives, Cross of Gold speech, Democrats, Economy, election, Federal Reserve, GOP, Government, Presidential election, Republicans, Rick Perry, spending, William Jennings Bryan
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Politics, Presidential election, election | No Comments »
August 16th, 2011 by John Feehery
The first thing you notice when you walk into the Best Buy in Sarasota, Florida is how smart the employees are. Bob, a former Marine and probably retired from something else, was a tech nut who knew all about televisions and could recite chapter and verse about the differences between a plasma screen and LED television.
Bob probably didn’t envision himself working at age 65 at a Best Buy, but in Florida – as in other parts of the country – getting a job wasn’t much of an option. We didn’t talk much about his personal life, but my guess is that he saw the value of his nest egg go down and he decided that retirement was something to be put off later.
Bob’s fellow employees weren’t in his age bracket, but they seemed bright, motivated and well-educated. They probably didn’t envision spending all that time in college to end up at Best Buy, but a job is a job when the economy sucks.
Florida has been ground zero when it comes to the lousy economies. The real estate market is still in the doldrums after a terrible crash (talking about best buys, there are plenty of good deals to be had), and despite Florida’s many natural advantages, it still has a way to go before it starts feeling healthy again here. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Conservatives, Democrats, Florida, GOP, Government, Politics, real estate market, Republicans, Washington
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Politics, Theory, housing crisis | No Comments »
August 11th, 2011 by John Feehery
So why are so many political reporters traipsing to Iowa this August?
Well, it must be the Ames Straw poll, a tradition like no other.
The Iowa Republican party plays host to this political beauty contest that has little actual bearing on the actual race for the White House.
Since the straw poll was first started in 1979, it has picked exactly one candidate who went on to become President, George W. Bush.
In fact, since 1980, the Iowa caucus system itself has picked exactly one candidate who went on to become President.
If that is the case, then why should we care what Iowans decide at the Ames Straw poll?
Who cares if Michele Bachmann wins? Who cares if Ron Paul comes in second?
Well, to be candid, we shouldn’t care.
Unless, of course, you are Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty probably needs to do pretty well if we wants to raise enough money to stay in.
But Pawlenty has bigger problems than Ames, Iowa.
Right now, he doesn’t look like he will be able to compete long-term even if he was able to convincingly sweep the straw poll. Read more...
Tags: America, Democrats, Economy, election, George W Bush, GOP, Government, House Republicans, Iowa caucus, Iowa Republican party, Michele Bachmann, Politics, President, Presidential election, Republicans, Ron Paul, The Ames Straw Poll, Tim Pawlenty, Washington, White House
Posted in GOP, Government, History, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Promises, Theory, election | No Comments »
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