John Murtha passes away

By East of Eden

Filed Under Congress on Feb 8 Comments (2)

Just saw this: Congressman John Murtha has passed away from complications from a gallbladder surgery today at the age of 77. More to come I’m sure

Our Social Security

By Troy La Mana

Filed Under Congress, Domestic Policy, Policy on Feb 6 Comments (6)

Just in case you are not aware of the history of Social Security let me inform you of the facts.

Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security Program (FICA) and promised:

1.) That participation in the Program would be completely voluntary.
The program is no longer voluntary.

2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual incomes into the program.
Now you pay 7.65%. (plus your employer pays 7.65%)

3.) The money the participants elected to put into the program would be deductible from their income tax each year.
This money is no longer tax deductible.

4.) The money the participants put into the independent ‘Trust Fund’ rather than into the general operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program.
Under Johnson the money was moved to the General Fund to be spent.

5.) The annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.
Under Clinton and Gore, Up to 85% of your Social Security can be taxed.

Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month, only to find out that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to ‘put away’, you may be interested in the following:
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It’s tough out there for a Prez

By Cordeiro

Filed Under Races 2010 on Feb 5 Comments (12)

Over the course of my professional career I’ve had my share of “tough” jobs. I’ve worked at desk jobs, landscaping jobs, and even a railroad job. All of them had their unique challenges and were “tough” in their own way. I’ve also worked with a wide variety of people and come across more than my fair share of whiners.

For the record, I have little patience and less tolerance for whiners. Just ask my daughter.

This past Wednesday, The One assembled Dusty Harry’s Band of Senate Democrats for a pep rally. I watched, or rather read, some of the video footage from this meeting as I abused myself on an elliptical machine at my local gym. In my final analysis, The One spent the better portion of two hours whining about obstructionist Republicans blocking his agenda since January of last year.
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A little OJT for the Commander in Chief

By Neil Braithwaite

Filed Under Military on Feb 5 Comments (15)

OK Chief – One is a corpsman and one is a corpse. Hint: The corpsman is wearing a uniform

The President is no team player

By Neil Braithwaite

Filed Under Domestic Policy on Feb 4 Comments (4)

A big thanks to Rush Limbaugh for reading this on his show today!

After losing a close game, the coach put his arm around the young rookie quarterback who came off the bench to try to spark a comeback for his team. In an unsettling retort to his coach’s encouragement, Tom Brady said, “I gave it my best shot coach, but remember, I inherited that situation.”

A young relief pitcher was called in with the game tied in the bottom of the 9th inning with a runner on third and no outs. As he takes the ball from the manager, Mariano Rivera looks into the manager’s eyes and says, “I’ll give it my best coach, but remember, I inherited this situation.”

These two scenarios seem unimaginable in the world of sports. In fact, if they had really happened, you may not have expected these two players would have ever become superstars.s

Any player with that attitude would be toxic to a team. And that kind of attitude would not be tolerated for an instant from any coach, teammate, or fan for that matter. Their selfishness and egotism would always upset the balance and continuity of team play, making it very difficult to win. As a detriment to the team, they would be eliminated as soon as possible. (Contracts not withstanding)

However, there have been instances of players like this. Take Terrell Owens for example. He never took responsibility for a loss and always made sure any blame landed on someone else. He was shuffled from team to team and always with the same result – he didn’t last. Owens has great talent, but because he’s not a team player, he’ll always exit early.
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‘R word’ debate is getting pretty ‘r’

By Jason Wright, Editor

Filed Under Latest News, Palin News on Feb 4 Comments (28)

Am I the only one who thinks this ‘r word’ debate is getting a little ridiculous? First it was Potty Mouth Rham in the White House using the ‘r word’ (with an ‘f word’ added for a little extra dazzle). Now it’s an aide to Governor Perry in Texas being accused of using the ‘r word’ twice on a conference call. Is this really what we’ve come to? Resignation calls? Front page stories?

Look, unless you’re willing to have every word you’ve ever said transcribed and posted online for all the world to see, can we please put an end to the vocab gotcha games? It’s not the single, individual words people use that should offend us, it’s the way they string those words together to actions that actually affect us. Maybe I’m alone here, but personally, I find the ‘r word’ much less offensive than Obama’s infamous 2008 phrase, “I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

If Palin is reading this, and why wouldn’t she be, right? I’d want her to be reminded that other people can’t offend us, we only allow ourselves to be offended. Just because someone calls you an ‘r word’, an ‘i word’ or a ‘butt head’, doesn’t make it true. If it did, I wouldn’t have this fantastic head of hair.

So let’s take a deep breath everyone. Words only hurt if you let them, but congressional budgets? Well — those hurt like heck.

Three 2010 flashpoints in U.S. politics

By David Kaiser, Editor

Filed Under Domestic Policy, Foreign Affairs on Feb 3 Comments (11)

While I know the New York Times is not held in high esteem by most of the readership here, they do produce provocative op-eds on a fairly regular basis. This one was sent to me by a colleague, and it analyzes three economic issues that could lead to political craziness in the next 12 months.

No question, the world’s major economies badly need 2010 to be another quiet year politically and geopolitically, but that will require, at a minimum, that three major struggles — the banks vs. President Obama, China vs. Google & friends, and the world vs. Iran — can be defused with win-win compromises rather than win-lose confrontations.

What seems the most likely to you?

The Phil has spoken

By Red State Eddio

Filed Under Congress, Contests, Domestic Policy, Humor, Race for White House 2012 on Feb 2 Comments (2)

Punxsutawney_Al
Well, the truth is out. Indisputable. Inevitable. Indubitable. Irrefutable. Incontrovertible.

The verdict is in.

Earlier this morning, Punxsutawney Phil took one look at the proposed new federal gov’t budget, saw the shadow this debt-riddled monstrosity cast over him, let out a shriek, and quickly scampered back into his hole.

His last words were, “What the #@$% is THAT?” …or something to that effect.

So there you have it – six more years of recession. Have a nice day.

I wonder if someone could slip him a copy of the latest Derby rankings and see if he could give a few thoughts on it?

I suspect he’ll go for Paw-lenty over Mittens…by a hair, of course.

Using Organizing for America’s machine yet again

By Troy La Mana

Filed Under Races 2010 on Jan 31 Comments (0)

Today I received an email from our good friend Mitch Stewart, Director for Organizing for America in which he wanted me to write to all my local newspapers telling them that I support the Obamanation. Obviously, that just wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I once more used their own machine against them.

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2012 Power Rankings: January 28, 2010

By Jason Wright, Editor

Filed Under Power Rankings Only 2012 on Jan 28 Comments (50)

Welcome to the sixth edition of PoliticalDerby.com’s 2012 Power Rankings. We were the first to rank the horses for the ‘08 race, and now the first to rank the horses that will vie for the GOP nomination to challenge President Obama in 2012.

The rankings will be updated only sporadically until after the 2010 midterms. But make no mistake, race fans, the battle for 2012 is underway.

Republican Horses

1. Mitt Romney – Forget what you’ve read, Mittens is the real winner in the Scott Brown Cinderella Story. Romney and Romney’s operatives played a major role in Brown’s campaign, and what could look better for Romney than the hottest young Republican in the party standing up a year from now and saying “I support Mitt Romney for President”. Right now, only the endorsements of Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater’s creepy Avatars would be a bigger coup for Willard.

2. Sarah Palin – The good news for Palin is that she now has a major platform on FoxNews and hours and hours of face time with voters between now and 2012. The bad news is that she now has a major platform on FoxNews and hours and hours of face time with voters between now and 2012 — and every single minute of every single hour will be on video. What are the chances she doesn’t say something bizarro that will sink her campaign before it starts?

3. Tim Pawlenty – What can you say about Paw? He’s still a guy people seem to like, but he really isn’t doing much to shake the perception that he’s just too – uh – vanilla. Not that there’s anything wrong with vanilla. But half-a-bottle of chocolate sauce and some crushed nuts really livens up a scoop of the stuff. Pawlenty needs to find his chocolate sauce and nuts before a candidate like Butter Pecan or Rocky Road make him an afterthought in the back of the freezer.

4. Mike Huckabee – Huck’s no longer got the market cornered as candidate-turned-Fox-News-Host-turned-potential-candidate, not with Palin’s new contract and incredible visibility with Fox. True, Huck is leading the way in a lot of the early polls, but there appears to be an enthusiasm gap. Need proof? Google ‘Huckabee 2012′ and you’ll find 809K results. But Google ‘Pants on the Ground’ and you’ll find over 40 million. That’s the kind of analysis you just don’t get from Rove or Sabato.

5. Scott Brown and Rick Santorum (tie) – The once and future senators seem to be opposite ends of the spectrum. Santorum was a leader in the GOP during much of Dubbya’s administration, but was cast aside in the backlash of 2006. Brown is the current darling of the Republican party, winning a seat that just two months ago seemed un-winnable for any Republican. Ricky has baggage, but at least has actually admitted to considering a run. Scotty has no experience on the national stage and no apparent interest, but more buzz than a Kennedy Boys Night Out and the look of a GOP centerfold. Nevertheless, if forced to split horse hairs, Ricky gets a slight edge because one would surmise that Brown won’t bite the hand that helped feed him a seat in the Senate. At least not in 2012.

Other horses receiving votes: Haley Barbour, Eric Cantor, Newt Gingrich, Bobby Jindal, Bob McDonnell, John Thune

Let the debate begin.

How about Bob McDonnell?

By Alaina Segovia

Filed Under General on Jan 28 Comments (6)

We’ve heard an endless number of opinions on Obama’s performance while giving the State of the Union Address and the scrunity will go on for days, as it should given the garbage that spewed out of my hotel television.

It’s certainly no suprise that our regular PD readers are less than enthusiastic about our government’s “focus” for the coming year, but what I really want to know is how you felt about Bob McDonnell’s performance giving the GOP response.   Was he a Jindal repeat or a breath of fresh air for the GOP?

State of the Union via Twitter

By East of Eden

Filed Under Humor, Outside the Track on Jan 28 Comments (0)

I didn’t watch the State of the Union (SOTU) last night. Instead I followed what people were saying on twitter. Because let’s face it, twitter was more entertaining than the speech. Here are some of my favorite lines from the #SOTU feed:

• Barry: Reading a teleprompter and trying to not appear as an out of touch, stubborn elitist is a “complex” issue
• Obama Declares “I Don’t Quit” in #SOTU (but he should)
• The Nation Demands More Obama: At least that’s what Obama thinks
• I’m unable to make HCR [healthcare reform] happen while presiding over the largest Congressional majority in 35 years. But I sure do talk pretty
• I didn’t need as much whisky as I thought I would to get through the #SOTU last night.
• And how can Obama act like he’s a Washington outsider? He’s been in Washington since 2005!!!!
• “He gives a great speech doesn’t he, but do you believe it?”
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Sabato’s crystal ball crashing down on the Democrats

By Stephen Fountain, Editor

Filed Under Races 2010 on Jan 28 Comments (2)

From Larry Sabato’s crystal ball where the current projections stand at +7 GOP for the Senate, +27 GOP for the House and +4 GOP for Governorships:

For Democrats, it is officially time to worry. The party’s gubernatorial losses in Virginia and New Jersey last fall could be partially explained away as the states’ usual off-year swing to the “out” party.

But Republican Scott Brown’s come-from-behind victory last week in the special Massachusetts Senate election for Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat is something else – a harshly delivered slap in the face from voters in one of the most loyally Democratic states in the country.

In short, what we have right now is not an aberration, but a trend – and a very negative one for the Democrats. The enthusiasm gap that favored Barack Obama and the Democrats in 2008 has shifted to his opponents. The independents that buttressed Democrats in the last two election cycles have moved in large numbers to the other side. And President Obama has been unable to stem the tide, even with the investment of his political capital into each losing campaign.

Read the full analysis.

First Thoughts?

By Red State Eddio

Filed Under Domestic Policy, Foreign Affairs, Obama News, POTUS, Policy on Jan 27 Comments (12)

So what did you think about the President’s first SOTU address? Was it as pleasurable as root canal?

Weigh in, PD gang, with what you heard and saw. We know he gives good speeches; but did he “ring the bell” yet again?

Contest winner and Power Rankings coming soon!

By David Kaiser, Editor

Filed Under Races 2010 on Jan 27 Comments (9)

Jason is still in book-writing mode and deputized me to pick a winner for this little contest.

Therefore, I pick… ME!

I guess I can’t do that, even though my caption sparked a debate over communism.

TOP THAT!

Anyway, after several seconds of deliberation, I’ve decided that the winning caption comes from Red State Eddio: “Billy, if you don’t stop interrupting the president, you will have to clean the teleprompters after class.”

RSE, just send me your address and your book choice in an email and I’ll make sure the slacke… er… Jason sends it to you.

Feel free to heckle him on here to get the Power Rankings posted too!

Previewing the SOTU

By Cordeiro

Filed Under General, Humor on Jan 26 Comments (1)

The Daily Beast’s Chris Buckley has an alleged “early draft” of The One’s “State of the Union” speech scheduled to be delivered tomorrow at 9:00 PM Eastern. Due to the ever increasing size of the deficit and the newly loosened restrictions on corporate contributions to political candidates, Team Obama has been searching for a corporate sponsor for the prime time address. Finalists are rumored to include the newly independent Southern California ACORN chapter and the SEIU’s gentle persuasion division.

But I digress. Some key graphs from Buckley’s copy of The One’s SOTU draft:

A year ago, I inspired the nation to have the audacity to hope that I would change the political culture in Washington. Now, a year later, it turns out I’m another hack politician—from Chicago, where, believe you me, we know a thing or two about hack politics.

I was going to set a new standard. Now I’m just a complicit bystander as Harry bribes, among others, a senator from Nebraska who wants his state to get a free pass on Medicare—in return for his vote on a health-care reform bill that would make the Founders weep, or throw up. Or both.

[snip]

I can further report that Secretary Napolitano has come up with an ingenious plan to prevent a recurrence of the Christmas bombing attempt. From now on, all planes flying into the United States will carry not air marshals but Dutch artists. For we now know that when it comes to disabling well-born Nigerians attempting to detonate their underpants, Dutch artists are proven first-responders.

Read the whole thing.

Send California inmates to Mexico

By Troy La Mana

Filed Under Domestic Policy on Jan 26 Comments (1)

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested California could ease its crowded prison system by sending thousands of undocumented inmates to specially built jails in Mexico.

“I think that we can do so much better in the prison system alone if we can go and take, inmates for instance, the 20,000 inmates that are illegal immigrants that are here and get them to Mexico,”

Sounds like a great idea. While I don’t like paying Mexico to build a prison and hold their citizens who shouldn’t even be here, I do like the idea that if they escape they are in Mexico and not here.
Read More Here

Photo of the day

By Neil Braithwaite

Filed Under Photo of the Day on Jan 26 Comments (4)

Belittling the opposition

By Red State Eddio

Filed Under Congress, Domestic Policy, Humor on Jan 25 Comments (4)

In a surprisingly display of legislative chutzpah, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi introduced legislation today that could potentially crack the logjam on health care and finalize its completion. Speaker Pelosi unveiled HR2345, which basically states that Massachusetts would no longer be viewed as a whole or complete state, but instead be reduced to a “dwarf state” categorization.

Massachusetts would no longer receive full states rights, but instead be proportioned according to a 3/5th measure, making it unable to maintain both US senators. This move would effectively nullify the recent election of Scott Brown, the first republican senator from Massachusetts since the model-T was offered in black.

“I can do anything I want. I am Speaker, you know. I honestly should have thought of this back in December. But the drama was too good to pass up,” said Speaker Pelosi. “I knew I was a history making speaker, but this is just incredible, even for me.”

“As a side benefit, this will allow me to finally relax my facial muscles and let my plastic surgery settle into place.”

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An ill wind blows?

By Cordeiro

Filed Under Races 2010 on Jan 25 Comments (3)

I’m not one to make idle prognostications about the November elections just yet. I’ll leave that to those who pay more attention to the inner workings of individual campaigns than I do. From what I read of NRO’s Jim Geraghty and the Washington Examiner’s Michael Barone, the tea leaves do not bode well for Team Obama. Just today came the news that the heir-apparent (at least according to the MSM) to the SlowJoe senate seat in Delaware has decided not to seek the job after all.

The Cook Political Report now has SlowJoe’s seat as a “Solid R”. The One’s former senate seat – though he can hardly lay claim to it as it wasn’t his for very long – is listed as a “Toss Up”. No matter how one tries to spin this data, none of it foretells a reason for Team Obama to make mid-term victory party plans.

Evidently, The One has not gotten the memo regarding the possibility that 2010 might look a lot like 1994. The hubris shield currently enveloping the Oval Office has rendered the current occupant oblivious to any such prognostications. How is this possible? Well, according to retiring blue dog Congressman Marion Berry (D-AR), The One believes his very presence in the Oval Office will prevent history from doing what it so often does – repeating itself. According to Berry, thus saith The One:

Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.

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