One More Broken Promise… Just Add It To the List

 

Yup, yup, yup… Does the following sound familiar?

“I will finally end the abuse of no-bid contracts once and for all,” the senator told a Grand Rapids audience on Oct. 2. “The days of sweetheart deals for Halliburton will be over when I’m in the White House.”

That was from an Oct. 2nd speech in Grand Rapids from none other Barack Obama. Well… It’s no great surprise that he broke this promise too… From Michelle Malkin:

“No corruption-scented no-bid contracts…except for Barack Obama’s own cronies, that is…”

So let’s just add that to the list (I know I’ve forgotten a few items):

• POTUS promised not to sign a bill until folks had five days to read it… Not so with SCHIP and so many other initiatives
• He promised to stop torture, but continues to use rendition
• What happened to transparency and C-Span?

Back in April 2009, the White House claimed that Obama was unaware of the Tea Parties… You have got to be kidding.

And so it goes. Hey liberals of the nation… Is this the change you were expecting? Liberals, if you could go back to early November of 2008, before the presidential elections, and gaze into that crystal ball and see the stuff above, would you still have put Obama in office? FWIW… You might be wise to follow our lead here in Massachusetts in the future.

Alan Speakman

That’s Got To Hurt!

 

From Joe Fitzgerald in today’s Boston Herald:

Do we look at Janet Napolitano and feel safe? No.

Do we look at Tim Geithner and feel prosperous? No.

Do we look at Eric Holder and feel united? No.

When we look at our borders, our economy, our troops in harm’s way, do we then look at this president and the people who surround him and feel we’re in good hands? No.

It’s finally dawning on him that we can no longer be appeased by the turning of a clever phrase.

He [Obama] came here a week ago yesterday expecting to sweep us off our feet in behalf of Martha Coakley, only to find that for the third time in recent months – four if you count his failed Olympic plea – his endorsement meant nothing.

Truth be told, when it comes to political coattails, this president’s now wearing a tank top. [emphasis mine]

Well, even if the MSM isn’t up to actual reporting, it’s good to see a writer get in a bit of snark every once in a while.

Stoutcat

H/T: Commenter Josie

Doing The Job The MSM Won’t Do

 

Bloggers: doing the job the mainstream media won’t do.

Today’s Inside the Beltway column at the Washington Examiner reports that in 2009, mainstream media outlets proved to be far more interested in protecting President Obama from criticism than actually reporting on his policies and decisions.

“Instead of acting as government watchdogs holding the people in power accountable, the nation’s broadcast news networks deliberately suppressed and de facto censored embarrassing scoops — at least until President Obama or Congress took action and made them impossible to ignore,” says Tim Graham of the Media Research Center, which publishes a lengthy study of the trend Monday.

“This resistance to real news extended even to newspapers like the Washington Post and the New York Times, which are supposed to be more substantive and thorough than highly paid TV news talking heads or unpaid bloggers,” Mr. Graham says. “The news was not only slow in arriving, it was fast in disappearing.”

And so it fell to the bloggers to report on news like communist Van Jones, the weird science of ClimateGate, ACORN’s assistance to pimps and prostitutes, and the cult of Mao admiration in the White House.

And now in 2010, bloggers continue to push stories that the mainstream media won’t touch, beginning with the Ellie Light Astroturf story which broke last week, and has been covered in depth so far only by blogs, whose astute readers and commenters have added reams of information to what was originally simply an odd story published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

An army of Davids have been busily looking for Ellie Light, and while they haven’t found her in person, they have found her identical pro-Obama letters to the editor in newspapers in 31 states; in each case Ms. Light claimed to be a resident of the circulation area of the newspaper to which she wrote.

And while they were looking for Ellie Light, they also found Mark Spivey, Lars Deerman, Jen Park, and Jan Chen, among others, all of whom have had identical letters published in various newspapers around the country.

Does this remind anyone of the almost miraculous instance of over 200 newspapers publishing articles with nearly-identical headlines within a 24-hour period that occurred last April? Yep, more astroturfing not covered by our stalwort mainstream “journalists”.

One can only wonder what other stories are being ignored by our third-rate fourth estate. What do you say we try to find out?

Stoutcat

The Revolution Will Be Photographed

Here in Massachusetts, the revolution continues to bubble. While most Coakley signs are gone from yards, a few Scott Brown signs remain. This one is from a yard down the road that, back in October of 2008, had an Obama sign proudly planted:

Rest assured, Massachusetts (and by extension, America) is not resting on its laurels. Flushed with victory, the grassroots movement has learned its power and is ready to flex its muscles. Give us more good candidates and we will support them in every way we can. It’s not just a Massachusetts thing. By November, perhaps President Obama will get the message:

“…this man doesn’t really understand what the public is telling him. He just thinks we’re “angry.” He’s wrong – we’re furious and we’re furious because he blames everyone but himself and seems psychologically incapable of taking responsibility.

How on earth does such a popular president who has majorities in both houses of Congress (including a supermajority in the Senate) manage to so alienate so many people that the mid-term elections this year are likely to be a disaster for him and his party? Rhetorical question, no answer necessary.

Good people of both parties have had it. There are plenty of places where we can channel our anger constructively — by voting out some bad guys and voting in some good ones. There are a lot of seats at stake here, and some really good contenders. Now that Mr. Brown is going to Washington, we’re looking for a few more good men and women to support.

If you can’t hear us now, you will in November.

Stoutcat

So Bad (Good) on So Many Levels…

Stoutcat

H/T: Confederate Yankee

Scott Brown Doesn’t Get It Either

Yeah, great, a “conservative” from MA is going to take “Teddy’s seat”. Everyone, including Charles Krauthammer, thinks that the whole issue with Obama, Pelosi, Reid, et al is that they’re too left of center, blah, blah, blah. So, now a Massachusetts conservative is going to foul up the leftist health care bill and turn DC on its head. Yup, sure looks that way. But I still don’t think that addresses the real problem.

As I see it, the real problem is that we’re in deep, deep fiscal trouble, and all we keep doing is electing smiling, back-slapping politicians instead of leaders. Here’s what really worries me… One way or the other, we have to do something with health care in this country. If we don’t do something radical, the constitution-based, federal republic of the United States of America is doomed. Period.

We need leaders who will tell the bleeping truth at each and every turn, be it health care, or the company they keep. We need someone who will step into the sewer that is Washington and refuse to refer to people like Larry “Foot Tappin’” Craig and John “Flip Flop” Kerry as their “esteemed colleagues”. To borrow from Glenn Beck, we need people who say what they mean, and mean what they say. Until we have leaders like that, the fiscal cataclysm that is health care just keeps building and building and building. As for “conservative” Scott Brown… Here’s what he had to say about John Kerry yesterday…

“I’ve always had great respect for Sen. Kerry, always. We have worked together on other issues and we’ll work together on issues on the future…”

Ummm… Yeah. Sounds to me like we have just one more politician in Washington who just doesn’t get it. All we’re looking for is a few honest people, and those are the only people who can face this 100 trillion dollar debt. Instead, we got conservative Scott “Drop Trou” Brown.

Wow… Just wow… Party it up fellow conservatives, because this party isn’t going to last forever.

Alan Speakman

Dear Leader Is No Leader in Charity

 

One might think that a $15,000 donation to charity for victims of Haiti’s earthquakes is a generous response to a terrible tragedy. In general, one might be correct.

In particular, this $15,000 donation came yesterday, more than a week after the 7.0 magnitude quake decimated the small nation. It came from our President and First Lady, out of their personal bank account. And it came for the following reason:

“[T]he Obamas were inspired to give upon seeing the response of millions of Americans who have given generously during tough economic times.” [Link]

Not the day of the earthquake; not the day after, nor the day after that. It was over a week later that the Obamas decided to donate. Not because they realized that the cause was worthy, but because the generosity of the American people was showing them up.

Americans have been giving at what could be a record pace. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, as of Saturday, $150 million has been donated by Americans.

That’s more than the U.S. government has committed so far…

Not that this lack of generosity is unusual for the Obamas. As the Huffington Post reports:

Up until recent years when their income increased sharply from book revenues and a Senate salary, Obama’s family donated a relatively minor amount of its earnings to charity. From 2000 through 2004, the senator and his wife never gave more than $3,500 a year in charitable donations — about 1 percent of their annual earnings. In 2005, however, that total jumped to $77,315 (4.7 percent of annual earnings), and to $60,307 in 2006 (6.1 percent).

Among those charitable donations, the Obamas listed “a $13,107 contribution to the Congressional Black Caucus as a charity gift”, HuffPo states.

Americans are arguably the most generous people in the world. Whenever there is a need, Americans donate tens and hundreds of millions of dollars almost instantly. Regardless of the economic situation or the state of our bank accounts, we donate whatever we can. Not only in emergencies like Haiti, but also on a regular basis, we donate to food pantries, soup kitchens, orphanages, church outreach efforts. We are Americans. We give.

It is unfortunate, then, that our nation’s leader only gives when it becomes politically expedient.

Stoutcat

Uh, Mr. President? Let’s Re-Visit That “B-Plus”

America Celebrates Obama’s First Anniversary As President
But For A Very Different Reason

"Good, Solid B-Plus"? Not From THIS Writer.

Well, it’s been exactly a year since President Obama took office as I write this. And, as an anniversary present Tuesday night, Senator-Elect Scott Brown (R-Massachusetts – and doesn’t that sound good?) gave the nation a real present: “Change” that brings us real  “Hope” for the future.

But today, it’s time to look at Obama’s first year in office. Recently,  Oprah Winfrey interviewed President Obama (re-defining the term “softball interview”) in which she asked the President how he would grade himself on his first year.  Here (with corrections where appropriate) was his response:

POTUS: Good solid B-plus. I think that we have inherited the biggest set of challenges of any president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Uh, Mr. President, the truth of the matter is, you have done little more than created the biggest set of challenges of any other president… since George Washington. Consider the following:

Brown Fires First Shot Of Second American Revolution

First and foremost, Grand Rants wishes to congratulate Scott Brown in his victory over Atty Gen. Martha Coakley in yesterday’s Massachusetts special election. We salute Sen. Brown, his staff, and his supporters state-wide for running a clean campaign. While a smug President Obama cruised into town last weekend to downplay the Brown threat, mocking Scott’s pickup truck, it was Brown who used his the truck to skillfully navigate through Coakley’s negative campaign, taking only the high roads. Obama and Coakley just didn’t get that this is what America wants and desperately needs at this time. Let them wallow in the gutter, Scott’s a class act.

However, amidst the joy of victory, there comes some sobering realities and points that need to be acknowledged:

• The election victory may be the end of the campaign, but it’s only the beginning of Brown’s work. And he seems eager to get going.
• This was not just Scott Brown’s victory… it was America’s victory. In one of the bluest states in the country, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans came together to vote for the candidate that best reflects the mood of the country.
• The voters of Massachusetts restored the meanings of the words “Hope” and “Change” to their original definitions.
• This was nothing less than a vote of “No Confidence” for the President and the Democrat-controlled Congress for virtually their entire agenda of the past year.

This was the shot across the bow, telling the democrats in Congress — specifically Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Barney Frank — that the second American Revolution has begun.  And the enemy is our own Congress which has steadfastly refused to listen to the will of the people they supposedly represent. Last night, it was only one state, but Massachusetts spoke for tens of millions of Americans, with a unified message:

• “We’re done with your games. You promised accountability and have given us none.”
• “You assured us of a transparent and ethical Congress and have delivered everything but that. We will fix that this November.”
• “We will NOT be dictated to by a bunch of elitist frauds. You work for us and it’s about damn time you remembered that.”
• “Did we stutter?  We reject the healthcare bill, categorically.  It’s about damn time you respected the will of the people.”
• “Read our Lips: No more new taxes.”
• “Cap & Trade? Not in this country!”

And finally, to  President Obama and his peanut gallery of tax cheats, pedophile supporters, and outright communists/socialists:

• “You thought you could implement your agenda to convert the United States to your socialist goals, circumventing the entire political process set up some 235 years ago. You were wrong. We will remember this.”
• “You thought you had the right to destroy  the free enterprise system and capitalism as we know it. You tried, but again: You were wrong. This, too, we will remember.”
• “You are not more powerful than the Constitution. It’s just the opposite. Your job is to support and defend it, not circumvent it. That’s part of your oath of office and it’s about time you start doing that. To date, you have done far more to harm it than protect it. We notice. You were wrong. This, too, we will remember.”
• “You thought America would stay sleeping while you bypassed the normal vetting process, surrounding yourself with ‘Czars,’ many of whom would not pass a background check to drive a school bus. You were wrong. This, too, we will remember.”
• “You thought you could ‘divide and conquer’ and destroy our society by creating a caste system between union workers and non-union workers. You were wrong.  This, too, we will remember.”
• “Perhaps most important: You were elected President, not dictator. Any — and let me make myself clear — any continued attempt at circumventing the appropriate political process for implementing any changes will be met with challenge. You work for us. Not the other way around. And, with all due respect, Mr. President, it’s about time you learned that.”

Gerry Ashley

The Scott Heard ‘Round the World

Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA)

From the pundits to the polls, it looks like patriots in Massachusett(e)s have upset the world order all over again. Absent any untoward shenanigans from SEIU, ACORN, or dead voters, Scott Brown has won the special Senate election in Massachusetts.

A few thoughts:

• If Dems had let well enough alone back in 2004, they wouldn’t be in this predicament now. Prior to their rule-changing in ’04, the governor was allowed to appoint a replacement if a Senate seat was vacated. But since  they actually thought that Sen. John “Why the long face?” Kerry had a shot at the presidency, and since in 2004 there was a Republican governor in Massachusett(e)s, the rules just had to be changed, lest Mitt appoint a Republican to the seat.
• If Coakley hadn’t been such a dire candidate, this special election might have turned out differently. But given her elitist mentality, her bizarre gaffes, her determination that she was entitled to the seat, and, quite frankly, her disinclination to mingle with the hoi polloi, she was a disaster waiting to happen. Call her what you will, at least you won’t be calling her Senator Coakley.
• If Scott Brown hadn’t been such a dynamic and engaging candidate, with the right message, a picture-perfect family, and a flair for campaigning, Coakley might not have seemed so awful by comparison.
• If Massachusetts voters — arguably the bluest in the nation — hadn’t been so fed up with the  massive doses of hope and change they’ve been receiving at the hands of Obama and the Democrats in Congress, this whole election would never have become an issue.

BUT… It’s not Coakley. It’s not Brown. It’s not even Massachusetts. It’s not Democrats or Republicans. Those are just indicators. Symptoms. The bigger picture is this: There’s a real and growing dissatisfaction with the status quo in American politics; with the lies, the deal-making; the lobbyists; the lawyers; the special interests; the unions; the midnight legislative meetings; the shady quid-pro-quos; the outright buying of votes. All of this (and more) is contributing to the enormous unrest in the country.

Sen. Brown (R-MA) is the bellwether for 2010. Incumbents in both parties who continue to disregard the will of their constituents do so at their peril. Because we the people are getting sick and tired of being ignored. After all, we’re the ones with the real power, and we just proved it. Can you hear us now?

Stoutcat