Political Punch

“WHO IS PAYING?” Well, when it comes to security, it’s taxpayer money. Too bad they were told by the Bush administration that the extremely secure Blair House was “booked”. Bloomberg reporter Margaret Carlson reported today that ex-Australian Prime Minister John Howard was invited to stay AFTER the fact to justify it being occupied. Seems like the outgoing administration could have been more flexible and accommodating to prevent wasting taxpayer money.

I am amazed at the number of individual's who continue to wish President Obama to be a failure in order to assuage their deviant right wing behavior. And of course, the leader of the pack, the convicted drug addict, Rush Limbaugh, returned from his Christmas respite from Obama bashing, to resume right where he left off. It should be considered treason to wish the failure of the government of the United States. Who cares who pays for President Obama's temporary accomodations. I wish we could have paid him to be there starting on Nov. 4. I'm just amazed that not a single one of these individuals who are bashing President Obama on cost of his chosen accomodations didn't utter a peep when Bush decided to take a farewell tour on Air Force One at a cost of over $60,000 plus per hour.

How much is the yearly tuition at the Sidwell school and who is paying it?

I agree with "maryintampa" and quite a few others; WHO IS PAYING FOR HAY ADAMS????? And as far as Hawaii, that was his vacation, not our responsiblity. Did Bill and Hillary move Chelsea to Washington early?

Things will definitely start to get interesting....

oh what a great day it will be for america and the world when the evil that has sat in the oval office for the last 8 years.... the world will see america not as a hate and war machine but as a rebuilder and restorer. oh happy days

RMBarley says: “On November 4th, 2008 millions of Americans were shocked that a man of Barack Obama's limited experience, extreme liberal positions and radical political alliances could be elected President of the United States.” And you say it’s solely the media’s fault this happened? Voters simply did not care if Biden copied a speech or if Obama used political tactics to get where he is today. In the real world, the US Census shows the number of people living under the poverty line rose by 5.7 million since Bush first took office in 2000, to 12.5% of the population. And while this was happening, 15,000 families in the top 0.01% of the population drew 5.5% of the nation’s total income, an even HIGHER share than during the "Gilded Age". Meanwhile, manufacturing jobs declined over the past 8 years to become less than 10% of our workforce. For eight years our country’s assumption was Republican supply side economics would keep the economy chugging along with investment and more jobs. Even the least “intelligent” among us could tell that tax cuts for the rich gave largesse to the wealthy and were not creating new jobs. The economy is why the Republicans lost, not because of the evil liberal media.

Sorry, first paragraph in my comment below is a quote from Omentum.

It would also be interesting to know why you feel it is such a big deal that NOW all of a sudden THIS President-Elect gives you cause to pry in to his expenditures which will span the time of three weeks.

I mention it now because now is when a new President is coming in.
Obama has done some unprecedented traveling both during his campaign (Europe) and post-election (Hawaii). Now he's staying at the expensive Hay Adams. That's his choice, but it is expensive to have an SS detail accompany him all those places.

And yes, Bush will get a stipend for an office as well as Secret Service when he retires. Perhaps you don't remember, but Bill Clinton ran into some trouble when he first announced very expensive New York office space on the taxpayer's dime. He altered his plans due to public pressure. It isn't new to be concerned about what Presidents, President-elects, and former Presidents cost the taxpayers.

If GWB tries to push the limits, I'll complain about that too. My guess is he'll stay out of the limelight, and thus not cost us a lot, for the next few years.

And for many many other Americans the answer was simple too: We weren't going to put another bunch of corporate stooges back into the White House.

intelligent vote? LOL-On November 4th, 2008 millions of Americans were shocked that a man of Barack Obama's limited experience, extreme liberal positions and radical political alliances could be elected President of the United States. For many of these Americans, the explanation was rather simple... the news media, completely enamored with Obama, simply refused to do their job. 512 Obama Voters 11/13/08-11/15/08 MOE +/- 4.4 points

97.1% High School Graduate or higher, 55% College Graduates

Results to 12 simple Multiple Choice Questions

57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)

71.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)

82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)

88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing)

56.1% could NOT correctly say Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground (25% chance by guessing).

And yet.....

Only 13.7% failed to identify Sarah Palin as the person on which their party spent $150,000 in clothes

Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter

And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her "house," even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!

Only 2.4% got at least 11 correct.

Only .5% got all of them correct. (And we "gave" one answer that was technically not Palin, but actually Tina Fey)

amazing how much we love to blame all of our problems on one person and forget to mention the 435 in congress. Obama's "baseball catcher look" gang hat appearance was a classic

center one -----so true and that is why mccain lost. had mccain been the guy he was in 2000 and had he picked a vp that was sane,he would have won but he became everything bush was and he picked palin and that was teh straw that broke the camels back. palin lost teh independents and teh right leaning democrats and guess what even a bunch of republicans.

molly ----how can you condem obamas chances before he even takes office i hated bush when he got elected in 2000 but i wished him luck and hoped he would do good. if mccain ahd won i woudl be wishing him luck i guaratee you i woudl because we all depend on the job teh president is going to do. an dyes you can say i dont like obama but i hear so many republicans and non-democrats wishing him ill and saying he will fail.i think it would be better to say i dont agree with him but i hope he does good and i wish him well. but that doesnt happen from republicans.

Sorry Molly, it wasn’t an “emotional” decision or the liberal media that drove voters to another Party. The Republicans dug their own grave after 8 years of failed “trickle down” economics and an expensive unpopular war. McCain also sold his sold to the devil by allowing his campaign to continue Rove style attacks – voters were weary of the divisiveness; it made his “experience” look distastefully like Bush. Not to mention the stupid choice of Sarah Palin, pandering to Evangelical zealots and far fringe right. Even my extremely conservative 86 year old neighbor voted for Obama, simply because she knew the risks of an elderly President and Palin scared the bejesus out of her.

T...why shouldn't the folks that don't like obama express it? This is suppose to be a free country, at least until January 20. The folks that express the dislike for obama is feeding the Bush haters out of the same spoon they have been fed for so long. Guess those folks that love "the chosen one" are just going to have to 'grin and bear it'.

molly--- i voted with my brain not my heart. in 2000 and 2004 alot of christains voted with there heart and look what we got. and i have nothing to apoligize for in voteing all across and up and down democrat. anyway why is it that anybody that didnt vote for obama wish him bad? because in doing so you are wishing america bad.

molly---so who was better then obama? maybe kucinich,clinton,biden. there was no good independent. and all republicans were just more buhs ideas. so tell me who would have been better.

Posted by: T | Jan 2, 2009 3:16:08 PM
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Let's just say, I voted with my brain and not my heart, I had nothing to apologize for. When I say apologize, you can figure out what I mean by that: it doesn't take a rocket scientist. As I said before, there is no one, then or now, that was worth risking our future and safety to put him or her in the most powerful position in the nation.

molly---so who was better then obama? maybe kucinich,clinton,biden. there was no good independent. and all republicans were just more buhs ideas. so tell me who would have been better.

My comments.

First, most of us who voted for Obama are highly intellectual. In other words, we see past the forest and the trees. We arent blinded by a man's past which in Obama's case did not impact our lives. Secondly, the fact that OBama and Blago were politicans in Illionis suggest they are two peas in the same pot. Well, my friend "not", If you and I were in chicago, and went to the same college, I guest that mean we both are intelligent....... "Not". You see people with "brains" analytically know the difference between whats important and whats unimportant. Again, Obama's past associations, or lack their of, did really feed us. Why would they? We all have family members, friends, even pastors, or coworkers who have said and done things that we cannot control. Let me stop..... you dont get want I am saying........ you would follow a fat, pill popping idiot like Rush limbaugh........ SMH!

The mere fact that Bush will no longer occupy the white house should have you dancing in the streets.

We all won. Get over it.

Posted by: Zimee | Jan 1, 2009 3:16:40 PM
I agree, with the egotistical comment. How people overlook this man's past and his character is beyond me. What has he actually DONE other than running for office?

Blago and Obama...two peas in a pod.

It would be interesting to know who is paying for the Hay Adams for the Obamas- not to mention the secret service detail.
He's done a lot of expensive traveling during the campaign and his vacation, and we have to pay for his SS whenever he decides to go anywhere or stay somewhere exclusive.

Posted by: MayBee | Jan 2, 2009 12:04:23 PM

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It would also be interesting to know why you feel it is such a big deal that NOW all of a sudden THIS President-Elect gives you cause to pry in to his expenditures which will span the time of three weeks.

Might I remind you that the President Elect don't have the time or convenience to travel back and forth from Chicago and to get his family settled and transition in to what will be the toughest job of his life. We have dubya to partly thank for that.

Might I also remind you our current president, in just a span of 8 years DOUBLED the national debt from 5 trillion to over 10 trillion.
Where is your interest??

One last thing? Since the current President has been ducking a lot of shoes lately, I feel that he is going to need extra protection for the rest of his life which is going to require more money. Are you concerned about our tax dollars in that regard?

Interesting