Posts Tagged ‘Ted Kennedy’
September 29th, 2011 by John Feehery
It used to be that waivers were a bad thing.
It was bad to be put on waivers if you were in the NFL or played Major League Baseball. That meant you were out of a job.
Now, waivers are a good thing.
The Obama Administration announced that it was going to give waivers to the states of No Child Left Behind.
Too many states can’t meet the requirements of NCLB, so they are begging the Feds to give them a break.
If there is one thing that Mr. Obama and all the Republicans running for President agree on, it is that they don’t really love that landmark law legislated by John Boehner and Ted Kennedy and signed into law by W.
It’s too hard. Let’s give the states a waiver.
That, of course, begs the question: If the law is so bad, why don’t you just repeal it. Good question.
Mitt Romney promised that the first thing he would do if elected President would be to give waivers to all 50 states to the health care law signed by Mr. Obama. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Congress, Congressional laws, Democrats, Government, John Boehner, Major League Baseball, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, NFL, No Child Left Behind, Obama Administration, Obamacare, Republicans, Rick Perry, Social Security, taxes, Tea Party, Ted Kennedy
Posted in Bad Decisions, Bailouts, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, Laws, Presidential election, Promises, Theory, election, taxes | 1 Comment »
September 28th, 2011 by John Feehery
I was talking to a Democratic friend of mine this morning, and he told me to expect the President’s people to go after Mitt Romney on the jobs issue. “There is a lot more that hasn’t come to the surface,” he told me confidently.
I’m sure there is. There is always more on just about everybody. I wish we knew more about Obama before the American people elected him three years ago.
The issue that my friend talked to me about had to do with Romney’s time at Bain Capital.
Bain Capital is a private equity firm that buys undervalued companies and turns them around so they can become profitable. They have had a lot of success. You can wake up with a Bain Capital company (Sealy), check out the weather (they own the Weather Channel), get a cup of coffee and a donut (Dunkin Donuts), go to the store and buy some running shoes to work off the donut (Sports Authority), buy some office supplies (Staples), grab a burger (Burger King), buy a present (Brookstone), catch a movie (AMC Entertainment), and then get home in time for dinner (Domino’s Pizza). Read more...
Tags: America, Bain Capital, Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, Economy, election, Government, Mitt Romney, Politics, Presidential election, private sector, public sector, Republican, Republicans, spending, taxes, Ted Kennedy, Washington, White House
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Laws, Politics, Presidential election, Promises, Theory, election, spending | No Comments »
July 20th, 2011 by John Feehery
I love when the Senate comes up with a grand bargain. It gets all the Washington insiders excited. The pundits love grand bargains. The media goes crazy over grand bargains.
I remember when the Senate came up with a grand bargain on immigration a couple of years ago. Ted Kennedy and John McCain came together to hammer out a comprehensive approach to fixing our borders and allowing illegal immigrants to apply for citizenship. Mel Martinez (a good guy and my wife’s former boss) went around town talking about how they were going to jam this agreement through the House.
The House balked on immigration and my guess is that they will balk on this latest grand bargain.
It is rare that the Senate can completely jam the House on issues as big as entitlement spending and taxes. As much as it might disdain the lower body, under our Constitution, the Senate cannot unilaterally impose laws without getting the House to pass them too.
Now, on the merits, I think a grand bargain sounds grand.
I agree with the President that we have a unique opportunity to do some common-sense things to cure our debt problems. Read more...
Tags: afghanistan, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, Government, grand bargains, health care, House Republicans, John Boehner, McCain, Media, Mel Martinez, Obama, Politics, spending, taxes, Ted Kennedy, war
Posted in Bad Decisions, Bailouts, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Theory, national security, spending, taxes | No Comments »
August 13th, 2010 by John Feehery
Dan Rostenkowski, former Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee
This has been a bad year for old school politicians.
This week, in particular, has been devastating for those of us who have great affection for the political professionals of the past.
Ted Stevens died in a plane crash and a day later, Dan Rostenkowski, the former Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, died of natural causes.
Stevens and Rostenkowski were mirror images of one another. Both were gruff, both were powerful, both were effective advocates for their constituents, and both counted close friends on either side of the political chasm.
And, of course, both ran afoul of a changing ethics landscape.
Stevens and Rostenkowski are only the latest of the old guard to die this year. Robert Byrd, Jack Murtha, and Ted Kennedy, all legendary figures of the Congress also passed on to their greater reward.
These old school politicians not only represented a different era in the Congress. They represented a different era of the country. Read more...
Tags: Congress, Dan Rostenkowski, Jack Murtha, Robert Byrd, Ted Kennedy, Ted Stevens
Posted in Government, Politics, Theory | No Comments »
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