Back to Basics

Last night, as part of his never-ending pledge to not rest one moment until the oil leak is plugged, President Obama hosted a fundraiser for Harry Reid in Nevada. You remember Nevada… the state you shouldn’t waste money taking a vacation in.

I wish the president from the political party that’s home to the legendary vehicularly-challenged Kennedy clan would stop with the “car in the ditch” metaphor, but Obama is still rolling with it:

They basically — they spent a decade driving the economy into a ditch. And now they’re asking for the keys back. (Laughter.) And my answer is, no, you can’t have the keys. (Applause.) You can’t drive. You don’t know how to drive. You drive in the wrong direction. You can’t have them back. (Applause.) We’re just getting the car out of the ditch. We can’t have you drive it back in the ditch. (Laughter.)

Harry Reid and I, we got mud on our shoes. We’re — we’ve been pushing and shoving — car is just kind of getting out, almost — almost on some pavement. (Laughter.) Some, they’re all, “no, no, we want to pull into reverse.” (Laughter.) Run right over Harry and me. (Laughter.) Get you back in the mud.
That doesn’t make sense.

I’m pretty sure that’s not mud on their shoes. Anybody who’s ever walked through a livestock pen at a farm knows what Obama and Reid have on their shoes, and it’s the same stuff they’ve been shoveling all over the rest of us.

And if the metaphor of “pushing a car out of a ditch” to get the economy back on track holds water, they could have saved the effort, called a tow truck driver, paid him $100 billion to pull it out of the ditch and we still would have come out ahead. Or better yet, leave the damn car in the ditch. I think I liked it better there.

West Point. In the rolling hills of New York on the Hudson river the long gray line goes on, only slightly sullied by the internationale tone of their Commander in Chief. Once again, Obama has used the Corps of Cadets as backdrop for advancing his political schemes.

He was received with polite (just barely) applause. These very bright young officers have, for the most part, figured out just about all there is to know about Mr Barack Obama. They know just how feckless and naive Obama’s ‘diplomacy and engagement’ policy will be, when examined in the light of Obama’s own first sixteen months.

The desk chair in the oval office hadn’t had a chance to warm up in January of 2009, when our prancing pony was out the door bowing and genuflecting his way across the world stage in globe trotting extravaganzas designed to awe the rubes of the world with his sagacity and magnificence. Didn’t work. Other nations listened to his comic-opera approach and applauded, as they applaud anything that diminishes the United States. That’s what Barack Obama does, he diminishes. He cheapens this country and I don’t like that feeling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nOvGOn3b2A

There are a lot of men in that long gray line. Going all the way back to 1778, when West Point was first occupied, through 1802 when the United States Military Academy was formally established, through to today. The weight of history is very much apparent in the valor and sacrifice of the men and women of that long gray line.

Balanced against the truth of the valiants that went before us, Barack Hussein’s rhetoric seems trite, petty and self serving. He serves it dished out a la carte to those desperate souls who require a Barack Obama or a Jim Jones to validate their existence. No, I don’t think Obama’s speech had much impact on the Cadets. It sure didn’t do much for us out here either.
Makes you want to go wash up good afterwards though.

John McCain’s Town Hall Meeting – August 26, 2009

John McCain's Town Hall Meeting - Aug 26, 2009

A very passionate crowed attended John McCain’s town hall meeting held at the North Phoenix Baptist Church.  Even while waiting for the doors to open for seating, people became engaged in discussion with others about the bill and other political concerns facing the US today.

The pastor of the church welcomed everyone and said a prayer for all.  Betsy Bayless, CEO of Maricopa Integrated Health System gave a brief speech and introduced Senator John McCain, who received a standing welcome.  After giving his thank you’s and covering the etiquette of town hall meetings, he started his introduction into the health care issue when a woman in the crowd started yelling out comments and Senator McCain politely asked her to be quiet or leave.  She was escorted out while the crowd applauded.  I was sitting only a few seats from her and couldn’t understand a word she said, so other than creating a public display, she did nothing to further her personal cause.

The meeting continued, with no further outbreaks, no riots, not even one picket sign that I could see.  Individuals were allowed to speak, often with the crowds’ applause.  Depending on which side of the fence they spoke on, they might also have faced a mixed response with applause and booing, but all remained civil. One young lady voiced her concerns on government spending and how it will affect her grandchildren, and told Senator McCain to give her 10 minutes of his time and she could tell him how to fix it.  She was about 10 years old and you have to give her a lot of credit for speaking up.  Maybe a political career is in her future!

Senator McCain showed the Senate bill, the equivalent of House bill.  He did not go into many details about the bill, but did state there are earmarks in the bill, one of which covers union pensions.  He said we have the highest quality health care in the world and we need to preserve it and make it affordable.  He stated the spending going on in the government today is generational theft and we cannot continue to expand without the ability to pay for it.

He shared the Congressional Budget Office reports which indicated the president and democrat’s bill expands government, does nothing to decrease medical costs, and will in fact increase costs over time instead of decrease them.  He indicated the Mayo Clinic also spoke out against the bill indicating it misses the opportunity and does the opposite of what was intended.  He also stated the drug companies made a deal with the White House.

Like the House, the Senate has some alternative bills, which resemble a similar philosophy to those by the House.  They include keeping patient choice, providing tax incentives for individuals and families who purchase insurance outside an employer-based plan, would create new risk pools to insure the high risk population (pre-existing conditions or chronic illness), would make health savings accounts more affordable, would support wellness and fitness programs and would allow the sale of insurance policies to cross state lines.