Political Ruminations

Quote of the Day: Rep. John Lewis

“I think the scars and stains of racism are deeply embedded in American society. Some of the things that you hear people saying about this president… in religious terms, this president has been called everything but a child of God. And as, and I’ve been around a while -- I have never, ever seen the type of hostility that exists in America; we didn’t have this type of hostility during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.”

- The formidable civil rights icon, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), talks about President Obama and race in response to a question from David Gregory.

Watch:

Another Stupid Quote From Rick Santorum

“He's making the world a much more dangerous place as he continues to pull America back and allow those who seek to do harm to freedom, those who seek to oppress -- yes, evil forces around the world.”

- Rick Santorum bashed President Obama today, lamenting, apparently, the end of the two wars, and the drawing down of the American military presence in parts of the world.

Of note, Santorum the hawk has stridently defended the use of torture on our enemies.

Recent GQ Interview of Russ Feingold on President Obama

The interview by GQ of former Wisconsin senator, Russ Feingold (D), is an interesting read, but I have to admit that I found his comments about President Obama to be of most interest:

GQ: Do you think that Obama has been the president he promised to be?
Russ Feingold: The expectations for him were absurd. And they were wrong. They expected him to be something he couldn't possibly be given his level of experience. It was impossible to ask him to be all the things that people poured into him.

GQ: He said he would try to reach across the aisle. "To those whose support I have yet to earn, I will be your president, too" and all that jazz.

Russ Feingold: Yes, he was not being cynical about that. He wanted to do that even more than maybe I would have wanted him to, but the truth is he tried.

GQ: And then he was essentially crucified for it. Too quick to make concessions, too weak—pick your insult.

Russ Feingold: Which is ridiculous. Look, I don't want to use the word 'patriotism' too much, but the right likes to use it all the time. It is not patriotic to decide to destroy a new president who was duly elected by an overwhelming margin. It is un-patriotic to resolve to destroy that presidency. If you care about this country, you help him. Before Obama, we had an opportunity after 9/11 to make a transition as a people to come together and try to figure this thing out and become a part of the world in a way that we never had. But for cynical reasons, both domestically and internationally, the situation was exploited by the Bush administration and others for political gain. And it's left us weaker. So I see these as a couple of chapters in modern history where America has been grossly disserved by people who wanted immediate political gain to the detriment of the country and it endangers our lives and it endangers our economy and if we're going to have this type of system, we're not just going to get downgraded by Moody, and Standard & Poors. We're going to be a dysfunctional country because some people care more about their immediate political and economic interests than they do about the betterment of our whole nation. The American people deserve better. And then you have the interests like the Koch brothers who see this as a golden opportunity to destroy not only this presidency but to destroy unions and to destroy the institutions that have created some balance between the haves and the have-nots in our country. They want to destroy any balance, to go back to the Gilded Age, or something worse.

GQ: Do you think it's that malicious?

Russ Feingold: Yes. Yes. There is something wrong. I don't like to say this but it is malicious, it is intentional, and it is unprecedented.

The Most Charitable Candidate is........

President Obama, and First Lady Michelle Obama.

The Washington Post:

The wealthiest couple, Mitt Romney and wife Ann, finished slightly ahead, giving 13.8 percent to charity — most of it to the Mormon church. Of course, Romney also made far more than anyone else in 2010, at more than $21 million.

But when you calculate charitable giving based on adjustable gross income, Obama actually takes a lead. He and Michelle gave 14.2 percent of their AGI, while the Romneys gave 13.8 percent.

Santorum and Newt Gingrich, by comparison, gave very little of their income to charity.

Gingrich and his wife, Callista, gave 2.6 percent of their $3.2 million income in 2010.

By the way, most of Romney’s charitable funds went to the Mormon Church.

Santorum Attacks President Obama’s Faith

Ya know, there is always a lot of mud slinging in politics, but modern Republicans have gone way off the edge with the stuff they’re slinging since the black man took office.

Case in point, here’s the whiny little evangelical nightmare, Rick Santorum, questioning Pres. Obama’s faith as if we’re supposed to believe that Santorum’s repugnant remarks are anything more than yet another dogwhistle, words which might make us think that the black man is simply different from “us” [white folks].

Think Progress:

The “president’s agenda” is “not about you,” he said. “It’s not about you. It’s not about your quality of life. It’s not about your job. It’s about some phony ideal, some phony theology,” Santorum said to applause from the crowd. “Oh, not a theology based on the Bible, a different theology, but no less a theology.” [...]

Although Santorum criticizes the president daily on the campaign trail, this is the first time he has used this rhetoric or said the president has a “different theology.”

In a statement, Santorum’s campaign said the candidate was not actually talking about Obama’s religion but rather his belief in secularism, adding, “The President says he’s a Christian and Rick believes that and has even said so publicly many times.”

Santorum appears to be on a mission to be a one-man Council of Trent, the 16th Century Catholic ecumenical council that defined Protestants as heretics. In a 2008 speech rediscovered this week, Santorum said Mainline Protestants — about 45 million Presbyterians, Lutherans, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Methodists and others — are “gone from the world of Christianity as I see it.”

As conservative Presbyterian blogger John Schroeder wrote, Santorum’s “truly intolerant comments concerning Obama pretty well disqualify him from holding office. It is simply not the president’s job to be judging whose theology is correct and whose is not.”

John Schroeder is right. Rick Santorum is unqualified to be president. Not just for the reason cited by Schroeder, but for others as well. In fact, Santorum shouldn’t even be wasting our frickin’ time and taxpayer money by running.

Latest Pew Research Poll Shows Obama With Increasing Support

Behind closed doors, Republicans must be having hissy fits after the results of the latest Pew research poll came out, because those results would seem to indicate that  three years of constant obstruction, conspiracy theorizing and promoting, and a complete and utter renunciation of former conservative principles, such as tax cuts, etc., are not going to pay off for the GOP after all:

In 2008, Obama won 49 percent of men; Pew finds him with 45 percent against Romney. Against McCain, Obama won 56 percent of women; Pew finds him drawing 59 percent against Romney. Among white men, Pew finds Obama's support slipping from 41 percent in 2008 to 36 percent now (with all of the decline coming among white men without a college degree, the toughest audience throughout his presidency.) Among white women, though, Pew finds Obama rising from 46 percent in 2008 to 52 percent against Romney—and recording gains among both college-plus women (whom he carried last time) and the working-class "waitress moms" who strongly preferred McCain.

We have a long way to go until November, but at this point, I’m cautiously optimistic.

Morning Quote: President Obama on Insourcing Jobs

“First, if you're a business that wants to outsource jobs, you have that right, but you shouldn't get a tax deduction for doing it. That money should be used to cover moving expenses for companies like Master Lock that decide to bring jobs home. Give them the tax break.

Second of all, no American company should be able to avoid paying its fair share of taxes by moving jobs and profits overseas. So we've said, from now on, every multinational company should have to pay a basic minimum tax. And every penny should go towards lowering taxes for companies that choose to stay and hire here in the United States of America. Give them a bigger tax break.

Third, if you’re an American manufacturer, you should get a bigger tax cut. If you’re a high-tech manufacturer, creating new products, new services, we should double the tax deduction you get for making products here in America. If you want to relocate in a community like this one that’s been hard hit when factories left town, you should get help financing a new plant, financing new equipment, training new workers.”

- President Obama talks about tax reform and  insourcing jobs at Master Lock in Wisconsin yesterday.

Watch:

Moronic Quote of the Day: Rick Santorum

Santorum warns that Obama will lead us to execution of the religious via decapitation:

Rick Santorum continued to rail against President Obama’s so-called war against religion during a town hall in Plano, Texas Wednesday night. The former Pennsylvania senator — who has spent the last several days criticizing the government’s requirement that insurers provide contraception coverage and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision striking down Proposition 8 — accused the administration of “crushing” religion and setting the United States on the path towards executing religious people by decapitation:

SANTORUM: “They are taking faith and crushing it. Why? Why? When you marginalize faith in America, when you remove the pillar of God-given rights, then what’s left is the French Revolution. What’s left is the government that gives you right, what’s left are no unalienable rights, what’s left is a government that will tell you who you are, what you’ll do and when you’ll do it. What’s left in France became the guillotine. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re a long way from that, but if we do and follow the path of President Obama and his overt hostility to faith in America, then we are headed down that road.”

And, according to the latest polling, this guy is the new favored leader of the Republicans. Seriously.

Morning Quote: President Obama on Iran

“My goal is to try to resolve this diplomatically.”

- President Obama responds to a question from Matt Lauer (Feb. 5 interview) on whether the President would use force to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Video: Clint Eastwood’s Super Bowl Commercial (I hated it)

This is, beyond doubt, a great commercial.

But for whom?

To the best of my knowledge, Clint Eastwood is a Libertarian (a Republican). As such, he has, in my opinion, no right to make that ad.

After all, the ad implies that we’ve overcome such things as the Detroit auto crisis together (lest we forget, Republicans wanted to let Detroit “fail”.) Together, Republicans and Democrats.

The truth is something else entirely.

The Republicans have done everything in their power to cause this country to literally fail, in the service of their stated mission to make President Obama a one term president.

To that end, the obstruction, the willful, wanton obstruction and destruction of everything which could help us to overcome the economic crisis we faced in 2008, has been mounted by one party. The Republican Party.

This commercial would be a great ad, but only if it were an Obama 2012 ad. No Republican has a right to pretend that they contributed anything to any success this country has had since 2008.

Not a damn one of them.

Via Bob Cesca

Quote of the Day: President Obama

“I actually think that is going to make economic sense, but for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus's teaching that ‘ for unto whom much is given, much shall be required ’.”

- President Obama promotes economic justice while speaking to leaders at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning, explaining the Christian version of  ‘why we need to stop allowing rich people to skate on paying their fair share of taxes’.

President Obama on Class Warfare & Tax Reform

During his third State of the Union address on January 24, President Barack Obama called for millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes:

“Tax reform should follow the Buffett rule: If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes…Now, you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.

We don’t begrudge financial success in this country. We admire it. When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it’s not because they envy the rich. It’s because they understand that when I get tax breaks I don’t need and the country can’t afford, it either adds to the deficit, or somebody else has to make up the difference – like a senior on a fixed income; or a student trying to get through school; or a family trying to make ends meet. That’s not right. Americans know it’s not right.”

Full Text Transcript: 2012 State of the Union Address

Watch President Obama deliver the SOTU here.


Both images are screenshots.

Read the full text transcript of the 2012 State of the Union Address:

As Prepared for Delivery -

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:

Last month, I went to Andrews Air Force Base and welcomed home some of our last troops to serve in Iraq. Together, we offered a final, proud salute to the colors under which more than a million of our fellow citizens fought - and several thousand gave their lives.

 

We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made the United States safer and more respected around the world. For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. Most of al Qaeda's top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban's momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.

Full Video: President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union Address

Watch President Obama deliver the 2012 State of the Union(SOTU)Address:

Read the complete text transcript of the 2012 SOTU.

President Obama on the 39-year Anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Decision

In a statement he wrote yesterday, the 39-year anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade, President Obama defended the landmark decision:

“We must remember that this Supreme Court decision not only protects a woman’s health and reproductive freedom, but also affirms a broader principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose and this fundamental constitutional right.  While this is a sensitive and often divisive issue- no matter what our views, we must stay united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, support pregnant woman and mothers, reduce the need for abortion, encourage healthy relationships, and promote adoption.  And as we remember this historic anniversary, we must also continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.”