A new ad raises an important point, do we really want to risk the possibility of a President Biden?
Author Archives: Martin M. McMartin
Obama leads like he plays basketball, we can do better!
In an exclusive interview with CNN, Reggie Love, the man by President Barack Obama’s side for two years in the White House, said the president leads like he plays basketball. It is a very interesting analogy but having never seen our president play basketball, I wasn’t sure if it was complimentary, insulting, or exactly what that meant. I have seen video clips of him playing golf and throwing a baseball and I know that was not pretty. Love himself offered little clarification citing only the president’s well documented cool demeanor and his competitive nature. Seeking further clarification, I sought to gain insight from some other reference, I than found a very recent article from Tucker Max. Tucker attended the University of Chicago from 1995 to 1998. This happened to coincide with the period that Barack Obama was a lecturer at the law school. During this time, Max claims that he played basketball with Obama probably 500 times. If anyone could tell us with specificity how Obama plays basketball, it was this guy.
Mr. Max did not disappoint. In his article “”What it’s like to play basketball with Obama”, he breaks down Barry’s game in detail. The Obama basketball scouting report states that;
“First thing: He’s a solid basketball player, one of the best professors who played with us. He’s not great, but he isn’t just out there for show. He can play a little.”
“But I didn’t fear him at all, not as a defender or an offensive player. I knew I could check him. I knew he couldn’t stop me. I couldn’t leave him as a defender and roam the perimeter for steals, but if I stayed close to him, I would shut him down without much problem, and that was true for most of the undergrads who were good.”
“I do remember that he had a good understanding of the game. He knew when to backdoor cut, how to pick and roll, when to take his man away so you could drive, how to block out for rebounds, etc. And he would hit open jumpshots if left alone. He was not some doofus out there trying to get exercise. He understood the basics of basketball very well, which is better than most people who play pick-up. Just this knowledge of the game made him fun to play with.”
“But the thing is, even though he knew the basics and could execute them, his performance wasn’t anything beyond that. He didn’t have what basketball players call ‘old man game.’ Old guys who have that know every trick, use every advantage, and kill your youth and quickness with their guile and strength. That wasn’t Barack. He would beat you if given space, but if you played even half decent defense on him, you could take him out of the game.”
“He played point guard a lot, but I don’t remember him as a dominant court leader, controlling the flow of the game. I cannot ever remember him being anything other than a solid player, someone who understood the game well and did most of the right things, but never did much of anything to stand out. I can’t think of a game winning shot he hit, or a game he just took over, or anything like that. Then again, I can’t think of him blowing a game either, or making some horrible mistake. He was just a very good role player to have on your team.”
So there you have it, doesn’t sound like the kind of person you want leading the most powerful nation in the world, does it? Sure. he would be fine as the mayor of some medium-sized city or even the dictator of some banana republic, but not the leader of the free world.
The funny thing is that Tucker Max then makes a statement that is eerily similar to the folks I have been seeing in the latest political ads. You know, the ones with various individuals, I think they are called ”switchers”, who had voted for Obama in 2008 but are now going to vote for Romney due to their disappointment in Obama’s performance and policies. Listen to how Mr. Max, like the “switchers”, anticipated much more from Obama than he ever delivered.
“Weirdest thing about him — I always thought he would be better than he was. I mean, here was this guy, in good shape, relatively young (mid 30s at the time, I think) clearly likes and knows the game, and is black (so there’s the quasi-racist assumption that he’s good at basketball)… but he was never that great. Even after I knew the limits of his game, I always half-expected one day he would just decide to turn it on and light everyone up, but it never happened. He had everything that you’d think would make him great, and he definitely looked the part, but he never really turned that look into serious production in an actual game. I saw so many people pick him first, and then get burned because he didn’t play up to that pick.
Obama’s staff members owe $833,970 in back taxes
Andrew Malcolm over at Investors Business Daily gives us food for thought the next time we hear the president pontificate on the unfairness of the tax rates paid by the most productive among us by pointing out that 37 members of Obama’s executive office staff owe the country $833,970 in back taxes.
How embarrassing this must be for President Obama, whose major speech theme so far this campaign season has been that every single American, no matter how rich, should pay their “fair share” of taxes.
Because how unfair — indeed, un-American — it is for an office worker like, say, Warren Buffet’s secretary to dutifully pay her taxes, while some well-to-do people with better educations and higher incomes end up paying a much smaller tax rate.
Or, worse, skipping their taxes altogether.
A new report just out from the Internal Revenue Service reveals that 36 of President Obama’s executive office staff owe the country $833,970 in back taxes. These people working for Mr. Fair Share apparently haven’t paid any share, let alone their fair share.
Read the whole piece here
Republican convention may open with a bang! Updated -a deal may have been struck.
On the first real day of the Republican National Convention it sounds like there may be a good old fashioned floor fight between the establishment wing of the Republican party and the grass roots members who deserve most of the credit for the gains of the last three years. Mitt Romney and his legal team have over reacted to the Ron Paul phenomenon and proposed rule changes that Virginian conservative stalwart and former Reagan aid, Morton Blackwell called “the worst-ever changes in this Rules Committee’s Report” and “could fundamentally change our Republican Party — and not for the better.”
Blackwell, a longtime RNC member and founder of a conservative training academy called the Leadership Institute went on to say, “If the Rules Committee Report were to pass without adoption of the Minority Reports, it would amount to a power grab by Washington, D.C. party insiders and consultants designed to silence the voice of state party activists and Republican grassroots by:
*** Handing national party officials the power to change national party rules adopted by state and grassroots leaders at the Republican National Convention. For generations, the prohibition of manipulated changes in the national Rules of the Republican Party between national conventions has served as one of the crown jewels of our party. It’s a power grab which opens the door to many future power grabs.
*** Stripping state parties in all states with binding primaries of the power of choosing who will represent their states as national delegates and alternate delegates.
This outrageous change would empower presidential campaigns to disapprove and remove delegates and alternate delegates selected by rules adopted by state Republican parties. Rather than grassroots activists who won delegate and alternate delegate slots by following state party rules, a large majority of positions would be handed to top donors of the winning campaign.
*** Gutting the great and successful reform adopted in the current election cycle to stop the dangerous trend to front-load the selection of national convention delegates. Our party would move again toward a national primary which would deny grassroots Republicans the opportunity to vet presidential candidates in a nomination contest of reasonable length. This reform must not be abandoned.”
You can read the letter Blackwell sent to the delegates here.
UPDATE:
The Houston Chronicle is reporting that a deal has been struck on rule 15
Republican leaders moved Monday to quell an uprising by Texans and Ron Paul supporters that threatened to steal the spotlight from GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and expose rifts in the party right as its nominating convention got under way.
Under a compromise reached late Monday, Romney supporters and GOP leaders agreed to back down from a proposed rule change that effectively would have allowed presidential nominees to choose what delegates represent them at national conventions.
…Under the deal, delegates who are bound to a presidential candidate that hasn’t bowed out of the race or released them to vote for another contender are barred from casting a vote for a different person. During this convention, the change effectively would mean a delegate bound to Mitt Romney could not instead opt to throw his or her support behind Ron Paul, who has not freed his delegates.
Any vote for another candidate would be voided and the delegate would lose his or her position.
But under the compromise, states would still able to select individual delegates under their own laws and party rules. GOP leaders agreed to remove the rule change provision that would have allowed state-party-selected delegates to be disavowed.
Spokesmen for the Romney campaign and the Republican National Committee did not respond to requests for comment.
More on the late night negotiated deal here from Texas on The Potomac
The passing of Neil Armstrong and an America that could put a man on the moon.
Yesterdays passing of Neil Armstrong is symbolic of the passing of an era, an era in which the the USA was exceptional and extraordinary in it’s ability to accomplish things that no other nation could. In 1961, when John F. Kennedy charted the course for America to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, this country was a different place. It was an America in which the role of the Federal Government could and did tackle lofty, enormous projects like building a National highway system or large dams and canals. It was a much simpler time when Americans relied on themselves and their family or local community. The social safety net was provided by churches along with charitable organizations like Kiwanis, Masons, Shriners, Knights of Columbus, and numerous others to help meet the challenges that life sometimes brings and the state and local, not federal government was called on to help educate our children, provide local law enforcement and fire protection.
Absent from this America were Food Stamps and Pell Grants, there was no Head Start program and Medicare and Medicaid had yet to be enacted. Americans in the various states could take care of their everyday needs and the Federal Government in Washington was relied upon for that which required a national effort. They by and large stuck to those tasks that they were empowered to as prescribed in Article 1 Section 8 of our constitution.
Today, due to our nanny state priorities, our federal government is now incapable of funding and achieving the equivalent of the moon landing.
The federal government that was able to put an American on the moon has been traded in for a federal government that is all controlling and all providing. Whether it be education, health care, transportation, unemployment and disability payments, food, or housing, the federal government is, if not by mandate, than certainly by coercion, in control.
This decision has led to an America that is so bogged down in supporting the welfare state that it can no longer set and achieve those mega goals that have defined our country. We have come to a point where NASA’s highest priority is not exploring our solar system or some other galactic achievement but, “to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science … and math and engineering.”
It has been well documented that even absent some lofty project equal to that of our manned space program, our federal government’s current rate of spending is unsustainable. If we, as a nation, choose to stay on this course we will forever be incapable of great achievements, there are not enough resources to both accomplish lofty goals and projects while providing cradle to grave security for all. The Soviet Union tried to do both and did neither well and eventually collapsed.
As we mark the passing of Neil Armstrong, one of the most accomplished men in history who served the most accomplished nation ever let us remember that our current president once promised to fundamentally transform our country, let me be the first to acknowledge that he has accomplished his mission and if it is not already irreversible, given another four years of Obama as president, it will be.
$500,000 of stimulus cash spent to air Obama ads during Olbermann, Maddow shows
The Washington Times is reporting that some of your hard earned tax dollars, about $500,000 was doled out to the Presidents favorite cable channel to run ads promoting the Obama administration’s “green training” job efforts on two MSNBC cable shows.
The commercials ran on MSNBC on shows hosted by Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann in 2009, but the contract didn’t report any jobs created, according to records reviewed recently by The Washington Times.
Spending reports under the federal Recovery Act show $495,000 paid to McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations LLC, which the Labor Department hired to raise awareness “among employers and influencers about the [Job Corps] program’s existing and new training initiatives in high growth and environmentally friendly career areas” as well as spreading the word to prospective Job Corps enrollees.
The firm ultimately negotiated ad buys for “two approved spots” airing 14 times per week for two months on “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” and “The Rachel Maddow Show,” according to a project report, which listed the number zero under a section of the report asking how many jobs had been created through the stimulus contract.
Obama’s Iowa Bud Light photo-op costs Beer Tent owner $25,000
From the Des Moines Register
Was the beer cup half full or half empty?
President Barack Obama’s impact on what is arguably the Iowa State Fair’s most storied watering hole has become a morning-after mini-debate over the breakfast bacon thanks to a tweet from Sen. Chuck Grassley, as well as fairgrounds chatter.
Obama’s fair stop Monday evening required shutdown of the popular Bud Tent, the heart of fairgrounds nightlife at the intersection of E. 33rd Street and Grand Avenue. Fairgoers eager to greet the president were ushered inside, screened and scanned by the Secret Service and penned in by yellow caution tape. The entire production required at least two hours, and the president’s sleek black coach bus pulled away from the Bud Tent by 8:30 p.m.
His Bud Tent was shut down at the most lucrative time of day, with a popular rock cover band, Hairball, about to perform at the Susan B. Knapp Amphitheater next door with legions of thirsty fans.
“I was in a position to make a campaign donation against my will,” said Cunningham, a Republican.
A tweet from Grassley Monday evening, in the senator’s trademark abbreviated social media lingo, was one of the first signs of disgruntlement: “How does PresO justify havin secret service shut down the bud tent @ the state fair nd the owner told me he loses 50,000 n 1 nite.”
Cunningham said that the more accurate figure for what he likely lost in sales Monday night is $25,000.
Romney/Ryan are now on offense
The Romney/Ryan campaign brandished brass knuckles and released an excellent ad today. The 30 second spot highlights how president Obama is redistributing $716 Billion dollars that seniors have paid into their Medicare account to pay for Obamacare for non-seniors. It is a simple message, you paid into Medicare your whole life and now, just when you need it, Obama has taken a large chunk of the money you paid for your guaranteed health care plan to fund a massive new government program that is not for you.
In contrast, the Romney/Ryan plan will protect Medicare Benefits for today’s seniors and it strengthens the plan for the next generation.
Obama 2nd term economic plan – Federal Government to bail out and take equity positions in all U.S. manufacturing!
Yesterday, in two separate speeches, the President of the United States of America announced a bold and frightening plan to turn the Obama directed, flaccid economy around. In a second term, the Democrat nominee pledged to further transform this nation by taking extraordinary measures. Referring to his unprecedented action of bailing out, replacing management, and taking an equity position at General Motors and Chrysler he said, “Now I want to do the same thing with manufacturing jobs, not just in the auto industry, but in every industry.”
The former inner city community organizer cited the manufacturing flight to China as a justification for this extreme policy change. In other words, in his opinion it is preferable to nationalize the manufacturing industry to keep them in the U.S.instead of reforming our current inhospitable business environment of over-taxation and over-regulation. This is right out of the Chavez/Castro playbook and it is alarming.
This shouldn’t be surprising coming from the same President who told the successful entrepreneurs that it was the government, not those individuals, that is responsible for that success and achievement. What is surprising is that this announcement comes right after the Office of Special Inspector General charged with safeguarding American taxpayers’ funds, while going after those that are defrauding the U.S. government, announced that Obama’s auto industry bailout resulted in taxpayer losses of $4.3 billion from General Motors Company and $1.3 billion from Chrysler Group LLC. These losses are directly connected to the governments equity position and the poor price performance of the stock. Apparently Wall Street is not as bullish on GM as Obama.
Palin calls on Obama to fire his spokesstaff en masse.
Sarah Palin, disgusted with the despicable lies from the Obama campaign called for the president to fire Stephanie Cutter, Jay Carney, and Robert Gibbs. Citing their part in the lies surrounding the current ad from former Obama deputy press secretary Bill Burton’s pro-Obama super PAC linking Mitt Romney to the cancer death of an Indiana steel worker, whose job was bought out by Bain Capital years after Romney ceded control of the private equity firm.
