Tag Archives: News

Quote of the Day: Rick Santorum admits he isn’t qualified to be President.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Finally, there’s something about which he and I agree.

Yesterday in Phoenix, at an event sponsored by the Maricopa County Republican Party, candidate for President Rick Santorum made the following statement:

“I am not a manager. I am not a visionary. I am a guy from a steel town who grew up understanding what made this country great.”

As for the last of these three sentences, the fact that he grew up in steel town is irrelevant and that he understands what made this country great is nothing special, nothing that he doesn’t have in common with many, many millions of Americans, including his competition.

More to the point, his first two sentences immediately and unequivocally disqualify him as a candidate. Mr. Santorum freely and, apparently, enthusiastically denies that he has the management skills and vision which are essential for effectively run our government as its Chief Executive Officer.

So would he please drop out already? If he has any sense of what running the government entails, of what we so desperately need in The White House, he needs to prove his unselfish commitment to our country and stop running for President. He needs to either endorse Mitt Romney who does have the requisite skill set or someone else more competent. It’s the patriotic thing for him to do.

As voters – I’m an independent, by the way, registered for neither party. – can any of us in our right minds honestly vote for a candidate who insists, who boasts, “I am not a manager. I am not a visionary.”? For exactly what position does Rick Santorum think he’s running?

Here’s the video of his statement from CNN Politics.

-wf

Dork Discrimination

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

We all discriminate. I, for example, favor blondes – more specifically, women who look exactly like my wife in case she’s reading this. We all have our favorite colors. Mine is red. Fortunately, these types of discrimination are benign in that they don’t cause any material harm to ourselves or others. They have no detriment.

In politics, it can be different.

Chris Christy is fat. There. I said it. Would you have preferred “morbidly obese”? Too depressing. Personally, I prefer “fat.” He’s fat, and yet tons of people, no pun intended, are willing, even anxious to vote for him were he to run for President.

President Obama is black. Nobody cares. Not really.
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Politics and the “Last Call” Theory of Public Opinion

Thursday, February 16, 2012

President Obama and his crew are very excited by recent polls showing that 50% of the people have a favorable opinion of his performance as President. Only in the wacky world of politics would a 50% approval rating seem like good news. Put another way, the other 50% of the American people think the President sucks at his job. ..Okay, “sucks” may be too strong a term, but I’m trying to make a point. It’s the old half full, half empty dilemma. How would you feel if your employer or lover gave you a 50% favorable rating?

The sad news is that the President may actually think that he’s gaining popularity in recent polls because the economy is getting better, and that it’s getting better because of his programs. Really? Careful, Mr. President, that you don’t succumb to the tendency of all politicians to believe their own hype.
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How pathetic: Nitpicking President Obama

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The other day, Mitt Romney made a comment about his not caring about poor people. His words were not only taken out of context in the literal sense, they were stripped bare of any technical or intellectual content and subsequently refashioned into something he did not mean or actually say.

Mitt’s words – the specific words about the poor that were excised from his statement – got lots of airtime, not because they were significant or meaningful, but because the media has lots of airtime to fill and it costs more to do real reporting than to ride the sound bite of the day until that wave hits the beach and another big one shows up on the horizon. (That, “Dude,” was as surfing analogy, for those of you who didn’t get it.) Likewise, Mitt’s competitors for the nomination, and President Obama, have so little real stuff to talk about they made a big deal about it too. The media and politicians tend to play off each other that way in a mutually self-serving love-hate-love relationship that we, the people who watch and read all this stuff, really need to do something about.
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Dear Newt: Donald Trump? Really? 3:17 PM ET: Apparently not.

Thursday, 3:19 PM ET. Well, NBC is now reporting that Donald Trump is going to endorse Mitt Romney in a few minutes. So much for earlier reports that he was going to endorse Newt Gingrich, which is when I wrote the piece below. What difference does it make? Zero. Nobody but the media cares a wit about who Mr. Trump endorses.

Thursday morning, February 2, 2012

Hey, Newt. Sorry about Florida. ..Buck up. You’ll always have South Carolina, but we need to talk. You need to be more careful whose endorsements you accept.

First, Herman Cain, a self-promoting egotist if there ever was one, comes to your rescue, one serial philanderer endorsing another. And yet, somehow, people continue to vote for you. Not enough people, but some people nonetheless. And now, here comes the poster boy for shameless self-promoting, “The Donald.”
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“Hellooo.” A Note to Republican Conservatives

Friday, January 23, 2012

Hi. I’ll be brief. And I’m going to whisper this in the hope that you’ll pay attention. Come closer to the screen. ..Not too close. There. Perfect.

“Newt Gingrich isn’t the second coming of Ronald Reagan. At best, he’s the second coming of Richard Nixon!!”

Thank you. Have a nice day.

-wf

Breaking the Law: FYI Newt

Dear Newt:

Hey.  How’s it going?

FYI, The following is an excerpt from a publication by the Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives.  I believe you’re familiar with the organization. The use of bold print was my doing.

Lobbying Disclosure Act Guidance
Effective January 1, 2008
Reviewed/Last Revised December 15, 2011

Section 12 – Penalties
Whoever knowingly fails: (1) to correct a defective filing within 60 days after notice of such a defect by the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House; or (2) to comply with any other provision of the Act, may be subject to a civil fine of not more than $200,000, and whoever knowingly and corruptly fails to comply with any provision of this Act may be imprisoned for not more than 5 years or fined under title 18, United States Code, or both.

The law they’re talking about is the “Lobbying Disclosure Act;”, PUBLIC LAW 104-65-DEC. 19,1995 109 STAT. 691, Public Law 104-65 104th Congress, 109 STAT. 691, which opens with the following text:

An Act

To provide for the disclosure of lobbying activities to influence the Federal Government, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995”.

Hmm?  1995.  If my memory (Wikipedia) serves me, you were in the House from 1978 until you resigned effective January 3, 1999, after having been disciplined for an ethics violation in January of 1997 and a less than stellar performance by House Republicans in November of 1998.  You were Speaker of the House when they passed this law.  An Historian and avid reader such as yourself must have been keenly aware of its contents.

So Newt, tell me.  Why didn’t you just register as a lobbyist when Freddie Mac hired you?  Why risk the fine or imprisonment?  Com’on, just between you and me..  Nobody reads my blog anyway.  ..what in the world did Freddie Mac’s Director of Public Policy, Craig Thomas, a registered lobbyist, hire you to do?

-wf

Breaking the Law: Newt’s Other Contract With America

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Well, Newt has released his January 1, 2006 contract with Freddie Mac which pays his company, The Gingrich Group, $25,000 per month for 12 months, a total of $300,000. (The full text of the contract can be seen at The Washington Post’s “The Fix,” in an article by Rachel Weiner posted yesterday evening. There were other contracts covering 1999 through 2008 that, including this 2006 contract, paid Newt’s firm in excess of $1.6 million, but this 2006 contract is the only one the Gingrich campaign has released so far.

According to the contract, Newt’s company was hired by Freddie Mac’s Director of Public Policy, Craig Thomas, a registered lobbyist. By “hired,” I mean that Mr. Thomas represented Freddie Mac and executed the contract on Freddie Mac’s behalf.
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Message to Mitt: You’re missing your own point.

Monday, January 23, 2012

“Mitt, Mitt, Mitt.” I’m shaking my head and sighing while I say that. From one dork to another, let me tell you that you don’t get it.

Later tonight you’re going to participate in another debate with Newt, this one being a prelude to the Florida primary. Newt plays well to the audience, in the studio and on their couches across America. The thing is, he’s a jerk, an ethically challenged jerk at that, who’s only claim to fame is that he’s perhaps the best possible example of what’s wrong with politicians in general and Washington in particular.

Again and again, we keep electing politicians President, and again and again we’re disappointed with their performance. It’s no wonder. (See “Voter Insanity” for elaboration of this last point.) What we need in charge of our government is a “Manager,” with a capital M and in quotes, a senior executive with demonstrated management capabilities who has achieved, in multiple private and public sector venues, success at a very high level. ..Know anyone like that?
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Voter Insanity

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

It’s said that one definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome. By that standard, the American electorate is, plain and simple, nuts.

Our Founding Fathers were not professional politicians, certainly not by today’s definition of the concept. They were businessmen and professionals with political skills, acting politically. They were also forming a government, not running one and that’s a big, very significant difference.
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