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March 05, 2009

Comments

Jane

I'm aging two years for every month President Obama is in office. Once again he is stealing from me.

Porchlight

That sounds about right. Clinton and GW Bush both looked 20 years older, not 8, when they left office. It's amazing it isn't 5 years for every one, given the rigors of the job.

Obama, I predict, may not have this problem to the same degree, since he "takes time for himself" by going to Wizards games and throwing Wednesday night cocktail functions. Not to mention that he leaves the actual governing to others.

Porchlight

Ha, Jane. Ain't it the truth.

Soylent Red

Poor, poor Bambi. Only 1/41 of the way in and he's already showing the strain. By the time 2012 comes around he's going to look like Grandma Moses.

At least he'll still have his rock hard abs and glistening pecs.

hit and run

So that would mean Reagan was what, 85 when he left the White House. And if after leaving the WH, a President resumes aging at 1 year for 1 year, he was what, 101 when he passed away...

Old Lurker

Not aging fast enough for me...

bgates

It's nice the Times can finally run all those "we're so concerned for the President's health" stories they put together in October 2000.

Clinton and GW Bush both looked 20 years older, not 8, when they left office.

Clinton looked like he had the life sucked right out of him.

bgates

Wednesday night cocktail functions

I'm stealing MayBee's name, "Wednesday Night Austerity Parties".

bgates

Clinton and GW Bush both looked 20 years older, not 8, when they left office.

Clinton looked like the time in office chewed him up and spit him out.

bgates

Clinton and GW Bush both looked 20 years older, not 8, when they left office.

Clinton looked like he cheated on his wife by getting oral sex from an intern.

E. Nigma

I think Mr. Clinton had lost some of his vital bodily essences. Or maybe it was the flouridated water?

glasater

Clinton looked like he had the life sucked right out of him.

bgates--am on the floor with that one!

Wasn't Clinton mistaken for Bob Barker not that long ago--at some big appearance?

Extraneus

I hope everyone's had a chance to read Ann Coulter's takedown of Keith Olbermann's Ivy League education. If not, enjoy.

kim

We have the 'Picture of Dorian Obama' right here and now. Preserving his external looks, while his soul gets sicker and more corrupted by the hour. There'll be consequences.
=========================================

Sue

bgates,

LOL.

Ex,

I just read it and howled. I would love to see Olbermann's face when he reads it.

Sue

Seriously, if you hate Olbermann, don't miss Coulter's serious smackdown of him. Link in Ex's 8:58 post.

Ranger

Well, this is going to add a little grey to those temples:

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/moneyinvesting/news/cramer-my-response-white-house?page=1>Cramer: My Response To The White House

I liked this:

How much I wish it were true right now that stocks played less of a role in peoples' lives. But stocks, along with housing, are our principal forms of wealth in this country. Only the people who have lifetime tenure, insured solid pensions and rent homes but own no stocks personally are unaffected. Sure that's a lot of people, but believe me, they aspire to have homes and portfolios. If we only want to help those who have no wealth to destroy, we are not helping the majority of Americans; we are not helping the broader population.

And this is a clear warning to Obama and crew:

But these are issues that we have no time for now, on the verge of a second Great Depression. This is an agenda that must be held back for better times. It is an agenda that at this moment is radical vs. what is called for. I am proud to have voted for the Obama who I thought understood the need to get us on the right path, and create jobs and wealth before taxing it and making moves that hurt job creation -- certainly ones that will outweigh the meager number of jobs he's creating.

...

So I will fight the fight against that agenda. I will stand up for what I believe and for what I have always believed: Every person has a right to be rich in this country and I want to help them get there. And when they get there, if times are good, we can have them give back or pay higher taxes. Until they get there, I don't want them shackled or scared or paralyzed. That's what I see now.

If that makes me an enemy of the White House, then call me a general of an army that Obama may not even know exists -- tens of millions of people who live in fear of having no money saved when they need it and who get poorer by the day.

Hmmm... It almost sounds like he wants Obama to fail.

DebinNC

One thing GWB didn't have to worry about was Laura Bush's role as First Lady. I found this account via Ace of Michelle's gift exchange with Sarah Brown very telling. I'd like to believe even ME-chelle has more class than to hastily send an aide to grab 2 $15 plastic models out of the WH gift shop, but the drive bys aren't interested in telling us where the models came from. If they were beautiful, hand-carved replicas from an American craftsman, why not tell us who that is?

DebinNC

then call me a general of an army that Obama may not even know exists

If Neal Cavuto feels similarly inclined to enlist, I hope he calls himself a foot soldier.

bgates

I am proud to have voted for the Obama who I thought understood the need to get us on the right path
This is not the Obama Cramer knew.

kim

"Who I thought understood the need to get us on the right path, and create jobs and wealth before taxing it and making moves that hurt job creation". It must have been hard for Rogers to admit being such a naive fool. Any idiot could have seen the disinformation campaign. And how about that birth certificate?
=================================

clarice

bgates, you ought to be writing for some late night host. Luckily I read this thread from the bottom up and had swallowed my coffee before I got to your contribution to it.

kim

Uh, Cramer, not Rogers. Don't know either of 'em, poisonally.
==============================

Thomas Collins

I hear that under Obama's rule, welfare recipients are expected to age ten months for every calendar year after the states take advantage of the "stimulus" bill incentives to expand welfare caseloads. And working stiffs will be aging two years and three months for every calendar year in their efforts to generate wealth for Obama's superstate.

Porchlight

I've never seen even one minute of Keith Olbermann's show, but that Coulter article is marvelous. And bgates is no slouch either.

Porchlight

DebinNC, good link. We already knew that the Zeros have zero class, but it seems to be news to some (thankfully not all) of the British press.

I suppose it could be argued that the WH snub is due to Brown's unpopularity at home, but should that really be the standard by which we host our allies? I thought we were supposed to be past pettiness.

DebinNC

I think Olbermann has a "worst person" of the day or week award which conservatives seem to covet. I wonder if reporters will now fight to be named a "butt boy" by Rush? Has CNN's Ed Henry responded to winning yesterday?

DebinNC

I want to know if the Marine One model given was even made in America.

bad

bgates, once again I bow in your direction many times --- after I pick myself up from the floor.

Poor Olby!!! That's got to hurt.

Michelle is supposed to have somebody to help with that sort of thing, isn't she? Or is this just the typical anti-American, British press?

RichatUF

Obama has a new Enemy of the State-Ken Lewis.

graf-

The CtW Investment Group works with pension funds sponsored by unions affiliated with Change to Win, a coalition of unions representing 6 million members, to enhance long-term shareholder value through active ownership. These funds, together with public pension funds in which CtW union members participate, are substantial long-term Bank of America shareholders.

So BoA has been force fed Countrywide and Merrill Lynch and now the vultures from SEIU and various other Obama supporters spot some rotted meat. Wonder what they are looking for-turning Countrywide's book into government slum housing, unionize the bank, termite more deeply into the financial markets?

Sue
I thought we were supposed to be past pettiness.

Bwahahaha! Emanuel/Carville/Begala have only just begun.

MayBee

Love bgates.

Porchlight

I want to know if the Marine One model given was even made in America.

DebinNC,

From the WH gift shop photo, it looks like the manufacturer is Daron Worldwide Trading. There is no info on their site as to where the toys are made, but I did notice that they have a Hong Kong showroom:

Daron Worldwide Trading Contact Info

Porchlight

"Wednesday Night Austerity Parties" is indeed awesome - that should be spread around ASAP. Send it to RUSH. :)

bgates

Thanks, I'll be here all week. Possibly longer.

DebinNC

Thanks, Porchlight. I thought it was lovely of Mrs. Brown to offer books by English authors. I hope the Narnia series were among them. Can you imagine the wonderful American books Laura Bush would have given? The idea of a plastic "made in China" toy instead is unthinkable to me.

Porchlight

Totally agree, DebinNC. The long tradition of diplomatic gift-giving is fascinating in and of itself and does not deserve to be cheapened by sending an aide down to the gift shop. Laura would have done American librarians proud, as she always has.

Matt

Having long ago been involved in the high level gift giving gig (i was the gofer who picked them up), there is almost always a manager with taste whose responsibility is to make sure the conventions are observed, especially gifts. This is high diplomacy calculated according to the rank and status of the recipients. If the Obamas did indeed perform so poorly, the diplomatic corpse will be electric with the news.

As to Olbermann, he was a smarmy 2nd rate sportscaster on one of the local channels in LA back in the early 1980's and I will never forget the disrespect of him I witnessed by the ballplayers. They really didn't like the guy.

DebinNC

bgates, once again I bow in your direction many times --- after I pick myself up from the floor

...what bad said.

Late night comedy in the era of Obama. LUN

One example: Leno’s block of Obama jokes claimed that the Obamas new dog will actually be the second dog since the first had tax problems; that he was the first black guy Canadians ever saw, and that Tickle Me Elmo was more analytical than George Bush. He also mentioned that Wall Street gave Obama an F, to which George Bush replied, “That’s easy, try maintaining an F for eight straight years!”

Lies aren't funny.

Rick Ballard

"there is almost always a manager with taste whose responsibility is to make sure the conventions are observed, especially gifts."

Matt,

We're talking Michelle here. Mrs. Brown is lucky she's not trying to figure out what to do with a $5 gift certificat to Omar's Tent, Awning and Haute Couture Shoppe. I'm sure we'll get used to Chicago Flash Trash as time grinds on.

RichatUF

I really hope the Obama Administration wasn't that tacky with the PM.

And the Obama Green Market Report:

Today the Obama Administration has created another 600 thousand have joined the happy ranks of the green collar employed. They'll be able to reduce their carbon footprint and spend quality time thinking of better ways to serve the Obama Administration. In other market news the Obama Administration has created or saved 6,662 points on the DOW and 687 points on the S&P 500. The Obama Administration says these created or saved points are strong measure of the confidence the markets-and the entire world- is placing in his Administration.

RichatUF
George Bush replied, “That’s easy, try maintaining an F for eight straight years!”

Leno is stale, how was it possible that global markets and the DOW and S&P 500 set records during the Bush Administration and they didn't start breaking down untill the political winds in the US shifted radically left? An F indeed.

Bill in AZ

Ric, You're looking at it all wrong. From the DOW high of approximately 14100 during the extravagant Bush years to the current 6662, President Zero has saved 7438 points. All those extra points probably carried a significant carbon footprint, and they're gone now. The earth is already cooling.

Bill in AZ

sp - Rich

narciso

Yeah Deb, the joke is lost on me too, who kept the country safe, for 7 1/2 years, prevented atrocities like the Library Tower
attack in L.A, and who seems determined to
make such things possible by inquiries into
the people who did the tough work, the real life versions of Jack Bauer and Mitch Rapp
(by the way, they ripped off this story arc from Vince Flynn's second book) Whocontinued
to encourage economic growth and who was talking it down, three guesses the first two don't count.

PeterUK

"So I will fight the fight against that agenda. I will stand up for what I believe and for what I have always believed: Every person has a right to be rich in this country and I want to help them get there."

Sounds like the trade union leader who wanted everybody to be above the average wage.

PeterUK

"Thanks, Porchlight. I thought it was lovely of Mrs. Brown to offer books by English authors."

Mrs Brown is said to have said,"Gordon Dear,what does jive assed mofo mean"?

DebinNC

OMG, did y'all hear Rush just describe the gifts exchanged between BO and Brown?

bgates

Mrs Brown is said to have said

You can understand how disappointed Michelle was after she was told Britain was sending its most important Browns to meet her, and next thing she knows she's talking to Gordon.

DebinNC

Gift exchange disparity

This is incredible.

Soylent Red

We hear so much about Mrs. Brown's sons, but it's my understanding she's got a lovely daughter.

Ahem...

I'm surprised they're not passing out Obama commemorative plates and coins, to celebrate the historicalliness of it all. That's the kind of self-aggrandizing boors we're dealing with here.

Maybe this is the special "Barack Obama Commemorative Pimpin' Prezni-dential Heli-sizzle Playset". Complete with Greek columns, a dent in the helicopter door, and a check from the US Treasury for a billion dollars.

Soylent Red

Mark my words...

In the next four years, some visiting dignitary is going to get a set of steak knives.

Just you mark my words.

DrJ

No way, Soylent. That would be *tofu* knives. Or maybe arugula knives.

Porchlight

Wow, those gifts from Brown to Obama sound beautiful. DVDs in return, that is just pitiful.

Okay, I'm a little obsessed with this story today. But I was perusing the Michelle-gift-snub thread at Ace's, and this comment stuck out:

You're all missing a big one here.

Just recently, there was serious consideration of replacing the Marine One helicopter fleet. There were two leading contenders for the contract. One was British.

Obama made a big joke out of not needing a new helicopter. So the Brits won't get a shot at that business. And the toys are a way to rub that in.

See the nuance involved? This isn't a moment of thoughtlessness. It's a shot across the bows in a trade war. A god-damned international incident.

Posted by: comatus at March 05, 2009 10:49 AM (jfJmZ)

I don't know if I can give that much credit to MO, but it was interesting.

PeterUK

"No way, Soylent. That would be *tofu* knives. Or maybe arugula knives."

It's that Roman emperor again.

As for gifts,it could have been a dime bag.

Amused bystander

This gift business betrays a level of incapacity and incompetence in the WH that one can scarcely believe.

This is something that a "protocol manager" would adroitly manage. There are scores (hundreds?) of people like this in Washington alone. Some come from money and will do it just for prestige. Most multi-nationasl that deal with governments have samll departments just for this "protocol" function (including gift giving). There is nothing very mysterious about it at all; it is a common place matter in these circles. It is as old as diplomacy itself, one imagines.

It should have been on the transition list to hire such staff. It is no different than making sure you have a proper chef.

This is such mechanical workaday stuff that it literally boggles the mind that they would have such a screw up. Granted that it is relatively trivial and that good will could easily be recovered if responded to quickly, it just really shocks. You would have thought that at least Hillary would have piped up about it. It seems like we get a shocker out of the WH almost every day.

It is a real pity that it had to happen to our UK friends to, particularity now when they are getting a lot of pressure out of the EU about the Pound.

Completely stupid. Really out of touch wuth the world. What an incompetent, narcissistic buffoon. What an embarrassment.

This one has to be shaping up to be the worst president ever.

Heaven help us all.

......
And to be so silly to have someone like Cramer put them in his sites--what ineptitude. (I am sure that they will find some way to patch it up with him and turn it him to their side, but still, why even cause this to happen in the first place?). Still it is a good sign, maybe the tide wil turn soon.

PeterUK

"Wow, those gifts from Brown to Obama sound beautiful. DVDs in return, that is just pitiful."

One is "Blazing Saddles".

bgates

For the first time in my adult life, I'm deeply embarrassed on behalf of my country.

On the other hand, this is who most of the Brits were rooting for, certainly including Brown himself. Well, congratulations, fellas, you won the prize: a Presidential term for Barack Obama.

Second prize would be two terms.

PeterUK

"On the other hand, this is who most of the Brits were rooting for, certainly including Brown himself."

That was the liberal left melanin vote.

bad

I never paid much attention to the Britsh papers. Were they this snarky about George and Laura, Hill and Bill?

DebinNC

Imagine how many "sermons" on the evil wrought by British imperialism in Africa that Obama heard over 20 years at the Afro-centric TUCC. This sounds like vintage Wright.

PeterUK

bad,
They aren't being snarky about the O Man,Brown is the target, his trip to America was trumpeted as the "Second Coming".This was a turd polishing visit to get some of the O Man's luck to rub off on Crash Gordon.No chance,he and his miserable,incompetent dirigiste party of Fascists are electoral dead meat.

bgates

the liberal left melanin vote

Take that out of the British electorate and they'd be left with no one but you and Mrs Thatcher.

Not a bad idea, actually.

Jane

For the first time in my adult life, I'm deeply embarrassed on behalf of my country.

WE need a bumper sticker business.

PeterUK

"Take that out of the British electorate and they'd be left with no one but you and Mrs Thatcher."

Not true,Labour was elected by a minority and a gerrymandered voting system.Without the Scottish Labour Party,it requires fewer votes to elect an MP in Scotland than England,Labour would never get elected in England. Except for a few inner cities and socialist fiefdoms Labour could not win without the system whereby Scottish MPs can sit in Westminster and vote on English legislation,but this is not reciprocated by the Scots.
The next election is going to see changes.

"Smile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget;
For we are the people of England, that never have spoken yet."
GK Chesterton

DebinNC

Rep Congressfolk should be forced to place their hands over their hearts and recite in unison daily:

Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
Sir Winston Churchill, Speech, 1941, Harrow School
British politician (1874 - 1965)

Matt

I'll call your Chesterton and raise ya, Peter....


"modern man is staggering and losing his balance because he is being pelted with little pieces of alleged fact which are native to the newspapers; and, if they turn out not to be facts, that is still more native to the newspapers"

1923

Matt

Soylent...those would be Wagyu steak knives, perhaps?

centralcal

I remember the day of the Innaugural when the Obamas arrived to be greeted by the departing Bushes. ME-chelle was carrying a gift which she gave to Laura.

Knowing, now, how thoughtless they are in gift giving, I am really curious what was in that box.

DebinNC

LUN: ABC's Charlie Gibson just reported, "Mrs. Obama gave Mrs. Bush a pen and a journal for her memoirs which she will be soon to write." What a small but telling detail... To me, the gift says that care, consideration, and thoughtfulness will be a hallmark of First Lady Michelle Obama's time in the White House. That gracious behavior - as exemplified by the hostess gift to Mrs. Bush - will be important to this family.

Amused bystander

Here is a great GKC blog for those of you that do not know of it.

Amused bystander

oops

clarice

I'm baking like a fiend to put all this dreck out of my mind:
mini brioche a tete; a deli rye bread; a chocolate ganache filled brioche; three onion breads; a boule. I take a break, check in, and The Won is still driving the economy into the crapper and behaving like a jackass.
ARGH!!!

Sue

Bush gifts (my short list):

Following the meeting the US First Lady Laura Bush presented Princess Haya with a gift of a horse blanket. The horse blanket, which is decorated with the emblems of both countries as well as Princess Haya’s name, symbolizes the friendship of the two countries through one of the great unifying factors in world history, the horse. The horse blanket also recognizes Princess Haya’s individual sporting achievement. Princess Haya was the first Arab woman to compete in equestrian at Olympic, world and continental championship level. In 2007, the International Olympic Committee elected Princes Haya as a Member of the IOC. On 1 May 2006, Her Royal Highness was elected as President of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) and therefore became the first Arab to occupy this international position.
Bush: 'And, plus, as you all know, it's become quite well-known that we're going to visit Graceland tomorrow. He's an Elvis fan. Laura and I gave him a jukebox as a gift, and I can't -- what was the first song you put on? It wasn't Hound Dog', it was --

Koizumi: 'I Want You, I Need You, I Love You'.

Bush: 'See, he loves Elvis, and I couldn't think of a better way to honor my friend (than) by going to Graceland. But it also sends a signal about how close our relationship is'.

Man, what a difference.

Porchlight

Sue,

Wow, that sure is a difference. Thanks for finding that.

Amused bystander

Sue: Sure is.

Two more months of this and much the country will be remembering Bush quite fondly.

(we will never hear about it though)

Sue

You know, you would think that the country would start to notice, on their own, even without the MSM covering for him. Somehow, I don't think they want to know. You really never want to admit you made a mistake, if you don't have to.

clarice

Well, it's not as if Michelle were getting paid for being First Lady so why should she work at it?

glenda

Press? Pfft.....Butt boys and girls as Rush says--The enablers of Obama need to be taken down, first--then all the other (congress, WH, state & Local) dominoes will fall!
At least the British are pushing the Protocol faux pas!
Clarice--I can always count on your "food talk" to lift my spirits and appetite!

Amused bystander

Sue: I just meant privately, in their own hearts. It has to pop into people's minds whether or not they admit it to anyone else, at people who are not kids.

But then I never disliked Bush. I liked him and I was thankful that he was president. He was a source of amazement and inspiration to me.

I flew off the handle about a few things--immigration, Meyer, Dept.of Ed stuff--but I never caught the conservative strain of the BDS bug.

All that he had against him, and yet he stood his ground, and did so graciously and without rancor or bitterness. We are going to find out that with idiots like Obama, Hillary and this new Rice at the UN, that he was just amazingly adroit at diplomat and foreign policy too. Mr. "Citizen of the World" Obama and "the smartest woman in the world" Hillary are not going to accomplish much but make public fools of themselves, embarrass us and hurt the country.

We could have had a "financial crisis" as bad or as worse after 911, but we did not. If Gore would have won, we would have. We would have gotten a depression out of it.

I sure hope that some day Bush gets the credit he is due. I hope he is alive to hear it.

I know things would be a lot different if he were in the Oval Office now.


Obama is going to be so unpopular that terrorist are going to attack us anyway. If there was a notion to hold off during Obama's term in order to help him along, this will fall by the wayside soon.

I bet the country is ready to revolt by June if this idiocy and duplicity keeps up.

Ranger

You know, you would think that the country would start to notice, on their own, even without the MSM covering for him. Somehow, I don't think they want to know. You really never want to admit you made a mistake, if you don't have to.

Posted by: Sue | March 05, 2009 at 03:35 PM

This is very true, and Clinton benifited much from this. But that only holds true if the mistake does not cause you much personal pain. I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be shocked when they realize how little money is in thier retirement accounts and their pension funds by mid summer.

When union members start getting told they are going to have to contribute 200 or 300% of what they are paying now to get half the benifits when they retire, even they will have to reconsider their attitudes about Obama and company.

Sue

And when everyone's energy prices skyrocket and taxes go up when the Bush tax cuts expire, yeah, I think Obama will have a revolt on his hands. But not until then. For now, he can rock on because he's cool.

Amused bystander

Well I think much before that...maybe it is wishful thinking.

I am hearing a lot of people complaining, democrats, that is.

We will not hear about it in the media, of course.

A 5K DOW, Cap and Trade, Card Check, 9 to 10% unemployment. Just you wait.

Obama will lose whatever political capital he had by the end of the summer, maybe sooner.

At least that is what I think.

To have a liberal like Cramer lambaste him like that not even 60 days into his term? I realize that that it is a small audience that he speaks to, but still...pretty amazing.

The regular MSM and the true believers, of course, will never break with Obama. I am talking about the rest of the country.

PeterUK

I'm terribly sorry,but Gordon Brown has left his library ticket in one of the books.If we send you a stamped addressed envelope please would you return it?

sbw

I feel a tad uncomfortable with Rush's characterization of the media sleazeballs around Obama.

But, then, when I was growing up, one could not suggest that something sucked without a parent reaching for a cake of Ivory soap.

Greg Toombs

Tom, are there any theories or calculations you're aware of regarding a President's rapid increase in wisdom and maturity? That's what Obama, and the country, need right now.

At 47, Obama can handle the physical aging with room to spare.

Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet

I am glad I read this thread from the beginning because bgates got it off to such a roaringly hilarious start with her riff on Bubba's wanton waste of his precious bodily fluids. It fit right in with sbw's 4:38 comment.

Stock market down another 5% (in round numbers) today.

BHO is really on a roll.

hit and run

Well look at that.

bad

Hey Hit!!

hit and run

Did you close the italics tag, bad?

I intentionally left the italics open because in preview it looked like all open tags got closed automatically. But since my name is in italics, I'm not sure my theory is right.

I came back a few threads to do so, but perhaps I should have gone back further -- I really didn't want to mess up an active thread.

Then again, what are ya gonna do, fire me?

bad

Yeah Hit, I closed the tags. My deepest apologies for interferring with experimentation. (not that there is anything wrong with that)

But I did notice it took 2 "refreshes" before anything changed.

bgates

"bgates got it off to such a roaringly hilarious start with her riff"

Hm. How can I mix gracious acknowledgement of a lovely compliment with a subtle hint to correct an error?

I've got it:

Jim, I'd like to thank you from the very bottom of my scrotum.

bad

LOL bgates

But is it a bright blue scrotum?

Bill in AZ

Ya'll are being too hard on President Zero and the pile of movies he gave to Gordon Brown. Walmart usually has microwave popcorn next to those bins of $9.99 movies, and he prolly threw a couple of those in there too.

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Wilson/Plame