Mar 05 2009
Oh Lord, I Agree With Chris Mathews
While many political watchers are amazed that MSNBC’s Chris Mathews would turn on Obama and the dems for not keeping their campaign promises, I am intrigued about why Obama doesn’t take advantage of this low hanging fruit? Mathews is spot on in the piece below – Obama could easily instill confidence in the administration and the federal process over all by simply sending the Omnibus bill back to Congress with redlines on all the ear marks and pork.
As the liberal media apologists note in defending the indefensible, this is not a lot of money and was left over from the last administration. Two good reasons to use it to political advantage! Obama could blame Bush (again), could pretend to make good on cleaning up DC spending (though much more pork was in the Spendulus bill), and he would steal thunder from the GOP.
So why not do what Mathews says? And that maybe the elephant in the room. The only reason not to have a Sister Soldjah moment with the liberal Congress and gain a lot of PR points with little cost is because Obama is afraid of taking on Congress.
That has to be the answer – Obama has surrendered to the Democrat leaders in Congress. There has been a theory out there that he had the potential to be a weak and ineffective leader because of his lack of experience. The failure to take this easy win-win opportunity probably is the clearest indication to date this is theory is now becoming fact.
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crosspatch:
“But most Presidents also knew how to speak without one. This one doesn’t.”
That’s total crap, and you know it.
Just last week, when McCain made a crack about the cost of the Presidential helicopter, Obama came up to the podium right after him, and said:
“By the way, I’ve already talked to [Defense Secretary Robert] Gates about a thorough review of the helicopter situation. The helicopter I have now seems perfectly adequate to me. Of course, I’ve never had a helicopter before. You know? Maybe — maybe I’ve been deprived and I didn’t know it.”
Took the sails RIGHT out of what McCain was saying. Are you going to try and tell me that someone else wrote that up and handed it to Obama in the few moments he had before he said it?
And, really – after 8 years of Bushisms, you’re going to go after Obama on how he *speaks*? Really? They INVENTED A FREAKING WORD for the verbal screw-ups that Bush kept making over and over and over again over the years.
“Is our children learning”? “You can’t get fooled again”? “Can’t practice their love”? “Misunderestimate”? THAT is what you want to compare against?
Your total lack of self-awareness is staggering.
crosspatch:
“there is a problem we have where people are deciding that owning a home, having a job, and having medical care are some kind of “rightâ€. They aren’t.”
Yeah, I saw Rep. Zach Wemp (R-TN) say that on my TV earlier today. It was just as disgusting then, as when you type it.
So, the conservative opinion is: “If poor people get sick, fuck ’em.” Good to know.
(Oh, but wait – they can just walk into the ER, right? Okay – so, how are they going to pay for it? And if they can’t, who’s going to end up paying for it in the long run?)
Oh, forgot to clarify – I am specifically talking about medical care. The first two are indeed a privilege. But being treated when you’re sick certainly is not. And it’s a truly twisted, heartless mindset which thinks otherwise.
The Obumbler strikes again!
And GuyF … don’t your arms get tired hauling all that water day in and day out? But I am sure Obama needs you to stick up for him. He probably needs everyone he can get at this point.
crosspatch:
My arms feel fine. You, however, are still a cold-hearted, mean-spirited person who enjoys seeing poor sick kids stay sick.
Really – you should be ashamed of yourself by now.
No, my position is “if someone else gets sick, it is a darned shame and it is my moral duty to help out if I can but it is not a LEGAL OBLIGATION for me to have my pay confiscated under penalty of law to simply pay for their health care”.
I don’t have the slightest problem with assistance for catastrophic help. That is what a safety net is for. But when we start handing out “free” insurance to anyone who wants it, we end up with a hammock. And then we end up with a deplorable health system such as Canada and the UK have. THEY don’t want us to change ours because it would leave them with nowhere to get good care.
Canadians regularly travel to the US to get treatment and diagnostic procedures done because they might die waiting if they relied on their own system. The UK system is in even worse shape. Free health care is pretty much a death sentence if you get really sick.
People are less motivated to expend energy at obtaining something that is available “free”. If you are given a home, enough food to eat, medical care, and a job from which it is nearly impossible to be fired, what motivation is there to put out any effort to succeed? All of this is given in exchange for their vote. It is basically just bribery.
These programs do not improve people’s lives, they trap them in poverty. They bring up a generation under them who don’t have any concept of a work ethic. Who believe it is the responsibility of “the government” to give them what they need to be comfortable and if they become uncomfortable, they take to the streets.
The programs trap generation after generation in poverty because they enable the behaviors that lead to low income such as illiteracy, for example. People CHOOSE to be illiterate and they can CHOOSE to be literate. It is simply a matter of a decision one makes about where they are going to invest their energy.
Detroit’s newspapers are dying. Know why? It isn’t the Internet … Detroit, Michigan has an adult functional illiteracy rate of 47%. Detroit’s median home price is $7500. And yet we ship BILLIONS of dollars there in programs that simply drive those people further into oblivion. It doesn’t help them, it hurts them. Promise a man free fish for life and I guarantee you he won’t waste much time or effort learning how to fish. In the meantime as you confiscate more and more of the catch of people who ARE feeding themselves, they give up AND you make it harder for people to BECOME rich so they can be taxed.
The programs help nobody and hurt everybody.
GuyF, I get the impression you have never raised children. I can’t imagine having an attitude of “oh, just give it a go, son, and if it doesn’t work out, that’s ok, the Government has to take care of you”.
The one thing that was driven in to me since I was a child was “The world does not owe you a living.”.
crosspatch:
I have two sons. The older has epilespsy and ADHD. The younger has autism. I deal with their conditions every day, all day. I literally cannot leave either of them alone for more than a few minutes. This has been my life for 8+ years.
So shove your lectures straight up your ass, okay?
I am lucky to live in Delaware, one of the few states to take the Autism issue very seriously: with the Delaware Autism Program (DAP)
They got ahold of him when he was almost 3, did some evaluations, and determined that: yes, he did qualify for this program. So, even when he was too young for a “usual” pre-K program, they put him into school, with people that were uniquely qualified to help him along.
And help they have: the difference in this kid between last year and this is INSANE. Last year, he would not care if someone else was in a room with him. Now: he talks to people, looks them in the eye, tells stories, asks for people to tickle him, etc. He comes up to me, and asks me to play”The Alphabet Game” – this is a game where we call out letters, and take turns coming up with words that start with that letter.
Do any of you get this? I am ecstatic that my child is starting to act NORMAL. And why? Becuase he has gone through a state government-run program that taught him how to do that.
None of this was even REMOTELY possible before the DAP got ahold of him. They are freaking miracle workers. They have saved my damn family.
And now.. you all are arguing against measures that would increase spending for programs like DAP?
Why do you hate families?
What? I love families. Tossing money at them doesn’t help them. We have been throwing billions at Detroit every year, and it just gets worse.
MONEY doesn’t solve problems. PEOPLE do. You can’t solve these problems by budgeting money and initiating “programs”. “Programs” don’t make kids do their homework. “Programs” don’t make someone decide to quit spending all day hanging out on the corner and enroll in a class to learn to read. “Programs” don’t work, for the most part.
The best thing that ever happened to welfare in the US in my lifetime was when Clinton put a lifetime cap on benefits. As a result, welfare rolls dropped 85% and violent crime was cut in half.
You know, you never hear the Asian immigrant whining. Know why? They bust their rear ends getting a good public education. They arrive here without a penny, work their butts off, make sure the kids do their homework and stay in school and they succeed. Same is true with Indian immigrants. They work their way out of poverty in a single generation in many cases. Why do we have entire cities that have been in poverty for DECADES? I say it is because they aren’t held personally responsible for their own situation. A kid born in Detroit is likely to end up living just like their parents. Move that same kid to Montana and they might have a shot. Not because they are a different kid, and not because there are more “programs”. Poverty is CULTURAL in some areas. It is a way of life. People don’t know any different and pumping more money will just lead to more people on the dole. It doesn’t get them off. ENDING the gravy train is what causes people to get motivated to improve themselves.
Want to know where the best schools are in a district? Look for the ones that get the least government funding. Increasing government funding to a school does not improve things. In fact, it probably makes things worse by subsidizing failure. That is all we are doing … subsidizing failure and the more we subsidize it, the more we get of it.
You can’t fix these problems by throwing money at them. You have to fix it culturally. We have to stop tolerating illiteracy, for example. It should go like this … go to school and we will pay you for X months. If you do not pass the test, the money stops. If you pass, we will pay you a smaller amount for some period while you look for work and then it stops altogether.
The reason unemployment is so high is that illiteracy is so high. Who is going to hire someone who can’t read a sign or fill out a time card? And nobody can put literacy into one’s head with any amount of money. The people have to do that themselves.
Guy,
Congrats on how well your child is doing – that is great news.
And here is where you and I agree 100%. When Malkin and others went after the CHIPS program it probably ended any hope of me joining the GOP.
I believe in the job based, free market medical system. But Government does have a role in investing in the hard cases as well.
It actually is no different than the space market. Commercial satellite operators make money on providing global communications (something that has changed the face of humanity). But government funds exploration and science and the technology of space (actually, applying terrestrial technology to space missions). There is no profit (right now) in space science data, so no companies will invest or build in that area, so government funds it.
But commercial space gets advancements in technology, and the government learns how to operate efficiently from business – it is a very symbiotic relationship which benefits this country greatly.
Medicine is the same way. You can have government participate (just not control). That is one reason I applauded the prescription drug benefit for Medicaid/Miedicare. It helped numerous people live better lives, is primarily self funded (those who can afford to buy in do so like any medical insurance benefit, which covers much of the cost of those who need the government safety net subsidy), and it is open market – commercial companies compete to get the customers, which drives them to offer competitive services.
The far right is too simple minded at times (again, Malkin jumps to mind). As you know I have had it with both partisan sides. It is time to listen and learn from each other, not berate each other. Even when they are wrong.
Your personal example is a great lesson for the right on why their extreme views of conservatism are wrong.
Cheers, AJStrata
Thank you, AJ. Believe it or not, that bit of empathy does mean something to me.
Guy,
No problem! Hope things continue well. I too have a child with some issues and understand completely.
AJStrata
GayF: a couple things you said:
And Dubya wrote every single word he ever spoke in a speech himself.
Are you actually trying to zing me with the oh-so-stunning fact that the White House employs speechwriters?
They have saved my damn family.
Thank you, AJ. Believe it or not, that bit of empathy does mean something to me.
I didn’t say anything about speech writers. I’m talking about people that can’t talk without a prompter.
Your ‘damn family’ wow, I’d never describe my family that way.
and that ‘thank you’ was phony, that whole bit you wrote about your ‘family’ (notice I left out the ‘damn’) was solely to get sympathy.
And you know ADHD is not really an ‘illness’ it’s a created thing for active children that their parents don’t want to deal with so they drug them to dumb them down, it causes many more problems down the line.
and before you get on my case:
Here’s the rest of it:
http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com/adhd/disease.asp
For all of you laboring in love for your children, my heart goes out to you. We may or may not disagree on politics but I deeply respect the energy and effort it takes to endure and succeed with your children.
I trust your analysis on health issues about as much as I’d trust Rush Limbaugh with weight-loss advice.
While you’re at it, would you like to insult my children some more and insist that the epileptic seizures were just cries for attention?
You are a despicable human being.
GayF, since you asked:
Here’s the next paragraph. And I wouldn’t say much if I had referred to my family the way you did yours.
GayF
You do realize you said this:
You are a despicable human being.
after just having said this: They have saved my damn family.
despicable? you define the word.
Ah, right – despicable, functionally illiterate *and* unbelievably stupid. Sorry, I left those last two out.
I shudder at how sad, lonely, and pathetic your life must be.