Fox News Channel

Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton And Buyer’s Remorse

In the midst of all of the economic problems we face, new polls indicate “buyer’s remorse” among Democrats and the general public regarding the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency, instead of Hillary Clinton, in 2008.

Hillary Clinton has become the most popular public figure in America, but as her husband Bill Clinton says, it is because she is further away from politics, and is regarded as having done a fantastic job as Secretary of State.

This is a smart assessment of the situation, as one when looks back on the Bill Clinton Presidency, and remembers the vicious attacks on Hillary Clinton as First Lady by the Right, can one really believe that a President Hillary Clinton would be gaining any greater cooperation from Republicans in Congress, conservatives on Fox News Channel, or radio talk show hosts?

Hillary Clinton may have her fans and supporters, but to think of her as having an easy time uniting the nation, is to dwell in fantasy land.

We are actually better off with Hillary Clinton doing a superb job as Secretary of State, helping to promote a foreign policy that is, overall, one of the strong points of the Obama Presidency!

Jeb Bush’s Advice To Republican Presidential Candidates: Stop Being So Negative About Obama And Offer Positive Alternatives Instead!

Jeb Bush, former Republican Governor of Florida, brother of former President George W. Bush, and son of former President George H.W. Bush, was on Fox News Channel yesterday, offering good advice to the Republican Presidential field: stop being so negative about Barack Obama, blaming him for everything, much of which is not his doing!

In other words, Bush said it is fine to criticize Obama on making the economic conditions worse, but do not use ridiculous arguments or attacks on Obama. Or as former Congressman Harold Ford, Democrat of Tennessee, said on MSNBC this morning, it is not appropriate to blame Obama for your coffee spilling or your children being sick!

Unfortunately, there has been too much reckless criticism of Obama since Day One, and all it has done is help make the opposition party look preposterous and lacking in substance. As Bush said, the candidates must offer POSITIVE alternatives and a real program of goals if they wish to be able to compete with Obama in the Presidential Election of 2012!

Without naming names, it seems obvious that Jeb Bush is sending the message of the Bush family that they are not happy with Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, not enthused about Mitt Romney, and most supportive of Jon Huntsman. This interview with Jeb Bush comes after his younger son, Jeb Jr, endorsed Huntsman.

And although he makes clear that he is not running for President himself, it still seems to many that Jeb Bush MIGHT enter the race if Huntsman cannot gain support, and if Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann seem likely to co-opt the race, since the Bushes clearly believe that either of them would be a disaster for the Republican Party!

As many have said, if Jeb did not have the last name of Bush, he probably would already have been running!

So his interview with Fox only adds more to the cauldron of Republican Presidential politics!

A Pitiful Republican Presidential Debate Sponsored By Fox News Channel In Ames, Iowa!

If a neutral observer was watching the Republican Presidential debate in Ames, Iowa, last night, sponsored by Fox News Channel, he or she would likely come away with the thought: Are these eight people competing for the Presidential nomination of the party of Lincoln, TR, Eisenhower and Reagan the best they can find to run for the highest office in the land? Are these candidates NOT a tremendous embarrassment to themselves, as well as the nation? Even if one is dissatisfied with President Barack Obama, why is it that the opposition party cannot find a candidate who matches the level of past candidates, including losers like Charles Evans Hughes, Wendell Willkie, Thomas Dewey, Bob Dole and John McCain?

When one looks at the eight people in the debate, the conclusions are the following observations:

1. None of the candidates was willing to commit to ANY tax increase at all, even with the theoretical deal suggested of ten dollars of budget cuts for each additional dollar of tax increases on the wealthy and corporations, an unbelievable commentary on the lack of financial responsibility of the Republican candidates who wish to be President of the United States!

2. The number of factual errors and miscues by all of the candidates is mind boggling, and demonstrates just how ignorant of economics, foreign policy, and civil liberties these candidates are!

3. Michele Bachmann came across as totally loony and whacky in her presentation, far weaker than her performance in the last debate which brought her to prominence in June.

4. Herman Cain proved that he should go back to running a pizza corporation, as he has no understanding of any issues, displaying total stupidity in just about everything he enunciated.

5. Rick Santorum surprised when he seemed to defend the rights of gays in Iran, but not in America, but also showed stupidity when he referred to the people of Afghanistan as “Afghanistanis”, rather than Afghans.

6. Ron Paul did his usual ranting and raving like a crazy man, with a total isolationist view that has zero chance to be adopted by the party which has promoted overseas engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq.

7. Newt Gingrich actually improved somewhat, but is already fatally flawed because of past blunders, statements, actions, and resignation of his staff members.

8. Tim Pawlenty also did a bit better, but still comes across as too weak, and often seeming more like a governor who had trouble defending his record against attacks by fellow Minnesotan Michele Bachmann.

9. Jon Huntsman disappointed tremendously, having an opportunity to stand out in the race as the one reasonable moderate centrist, and instead showed timidity, and even distorted what the Obama Administration has done in dealings with China, while he was Ambassador to China, contradicting positive statements about the President that he had made while working for him.

10. Mitt Romney, the theoretical front runner, at least until Rick Perry enters the race officially this weekend of the Iowa Ames Straw Poll, still can be considered the front runner, but he does not enthuse party members or the general public, and when one hears that he is worth $264 million, one has to say how in the world can he understand average Americans, and have the nerve to say that corporations are people, and joke that he is also unemployed!

What a sad commentary on the opposition to Barack Obama, and no matter how displeased many Americans may be with the President, it is very hard to conceptualize that they will vote him out in favor of any of these candidates, all of whom could rightly be condemned as LOSERS in every sense of the word!

A Celebratory Day In The Cable Media World: MSNBC 15th Anniversary And Fox News Channel-Rupert Murdoch Crisis!

Today, 15 years ago, MSNBC went online as the competitor of CNN, which had begun June 1, 1980. Within a few months, on October 7, Fox News Channel came along as a third competitor in the 24 hour news channel industry!

MSNBC has gone through rough times over its 15 years, but now it is thriving by having emerged as the strong progressive news channel, compared to the moderate approach of CNN and the right wing conservative views of Fox News Channel.

MSNBC has become a station with outstanding talk show hosts, including Chris Matthews, Lawrence O’Donnell, Rachel Maddow, and Ed Schultz, as well as outstanding coverage during the day by other anchor people.

It is a source of much what the author writes about, and it gives us a progressive view of events, which is sorely needed, so Happy 15th to MSNBC!

At the same time, Fox News Channel has misled, lied, deceived, propagandized, and become a Republican propaganda channel, including hiring many of the Republican Presidential field at some point of time.

Fox News Channel has NEVER been willing to cover the news fairly, and has made life miserable for Barack Obama, and has convinced an ignorant portion of the population to believe their myths, half truths, and distortions!

Its talk show hosts are disgraceful, having included Glenn Beck in the recent past, and still including Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, along with a whole group of unsavory characters who have questionable ethics, but end up on Fox News Channel!

Their employer, Rupert Murdoch, known world wide as one of the most despicable people in the news business, has now become involved in a hacking scandal that threatens to bring him and his news corporation to their knees, symbolically!

Nothing would be more contributing to the future of journalism than to have the downfall of Rupert Murdoch and Fox News Channel, but in reality, that is not likely! That channel is refusing to report the scandal in detail, part of their “managed” and distorted news coverage, figuring that their audience might remain unaware because they lean so much on the manipulated manner of news reporting on their channel!

Even if Fox News Channel survives, seeing Rupert Murdoch and the channel squirm is victory in itself!

Changes Coming In Cable And Television News!

As we enter the second half of 2011, and the Presidential race becomes ever more center stage, Fox News Channel is making every effort to legitimize itself as “mainstream”, just as Jon Stewart went after Fox News Channel on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace last week, as not being accurate or responsible in its coverage of politics and news!

Having “rescued” liberal commentator Juan Williams, after he was summarily fired by National Public Radio, with a reported $2 million a year five year contract, Fox News then went to hire CNN morning anchor John Roberts to be a national correspondent, and former Democratic Senator Evan Bayh to be a political commentator.

Now they have hired CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry to be their White House correspondent, and of course, for the past few years, they have had former CNN morning anchor Bill Hemmer on their station.

Will it work, to make Fox News Channel seem “mainstream”? With the leaving of Glenn Beck from his every weekday show through joint agreement, it might have some effect, although Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, John Stossel, Greta Van Susteren, Brit Hume, Bill Kristol, Liz Cheney, et al, make one wonder if that is possible!

Meanwhile, Keith Olbermann, who had a “divorce” from MSNBC, has now revived his “Countdown” show, following a similar format, on former Vice President Al Gore’s independent station, Current TV. For those who enjoyed his incisive coverage of politics, it is a welcome return, but the question is whether he can “steal’ the audience of MSNBC and Lawrence O’Donnell at the same hour, along with Eliot Spitzer on CNN. As it turns out, Current TV replays Olbermann’s show EIGHT times over the 24 hour cycle, so in theory, one can watch Spitzer, see O’Donnell in rerun at 11 pm, and then watch Olbermann at any three hour cycle up through dinner time the next day!

Additionally, Norah O’Donnell of MSNBC and NBC, who had been a chief Washington correspondent, is now moving to CBS as their White House correspondent. Always pleasant and appealing in her manner of reporting and commenting, CBS has staged a major coup by gaining her employment!

So cable news and TV news in general has become ever more personality driven, and adds interest to the coverage of major political events!

Tim Pawlenty And “Co-Conspirators” Mitt Romney And Barack Obama

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is striking out in his Presidential campaign, rapidly becoming the second Republican in the race to implode, after Newt Gingrich.

Pawlenty was critical of Romney on “Obamney Care”, as he calls the former Massachusetts Governor’s health care plan, in a Fox News interview.

But then, in the New Hampshire Presidential debate, when given an opportunity to say the same thing to Romney face to face, Pawlenty came across as weak and ineffective, as he refused to do just that.

This past few days, Pawlenty has been trying to undo the damage, but instead he has made things worse.

His new statement is that Romney and Obama are “co-conspirators” on health care!

What a ridiculous and preposterous statement, and all it does is make it ever harder for Pawlenty to make progress from the depths of public opinion polls, where he resides, and is unlikely to emerge from!

The Fading Of Tim Pawlenty As A Presidential Candidate And The Rise Of Michele Bachmann!

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty was clearly the loser in yesterday’s New Hampshire Republican Presidential debate.

Coming off a Sunday interview with Fox News Channel host Chris Wallace, in which he made a poor defense of his economic plan for 5 percent growth every year while cutting taxes further and cutting the budget dramatically, Pawlenty came across as insecure, defensive, and unwilling to challenge the man seen as his greatest rival, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Having called the Romney health care plan in Massachusetts “Obamneycare” on Fox News Channel, he refused to look Romney in the eye and repeat that strong attack he had just issued on Sunday.

Already seen as bland and dull, Pawlenty is in deep trouble now, particularly by the fact that his own Minnesota colleague, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, put on a masterful performance, greatly improving her own image as a serious Presidential candidate!

Not only did Pawlenty decline in stature, but Sarah Palin now knows she has a REAL competitor, a woman who far outshines her intellectually and in accomplishments in Congress, as compared to her meager record as a partial term Governor of Alaska. If anything, Bachmann’s performance is likely to keep Sarah Palin from entering the race, and if that is the case, America is better for it!

Evan Bayh: Not His Father, Birch Bayh! The Abandonment Of Principle!

Former Indiana Senator and Governor Evan Bayh, the son of the highly reputable and liberal Senator Birch Bayh (1963-1981), has demonstrated that he is NOT his dad in any way, shape or form!

Birch Bayh, a close friend of Senator Ted Kennedy and other liberal champions, including Frank Church of Idaho, George McGovern of South Dakota, and Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, was a Senator who the author greatly admired, and wished for the success of his Presidential candidacy in 1976, which unfortunately was a flop!

His son Evan became regarded as his heir in so many ways, and served two successful terms as Indiana Governor at a very young age, followed by two terms in the Senate.

Like his dad, he was considered a possible Presidential candidate, and even was on the short list for Vice President in 2000, 2004, and 2008.

Seen as “principled”, he decided that he did not want to be part of Washington DC politics anymore in 2010, after the Citizens United Case of the Supreme Court, giving corporations free rein to contribute to political campaigns, including the infamous Chambers of Commerce, which proceeded to work actively to elect GOP candidates through raising of inordinate amounts of money. The result was the biggest switch in seats in the House since 1938 for a midterm election.

So Bayh quit the Senate, after having worked to undermine Barack Obama’s agenda in 2009-2010, gaining an image as one of the most conservative Senators in the Democratic Party, as unreliable for his President and party on important votes.

And what has Evan Bayh done since? He has gone over to the “enemy”, the Republicans and the conservative business interests!

First, he joined Fox News Channel as a commentator, raising the eyebrows of many progressives.

Now he has agreed to work for the Chambers of Commerce itself as a lobbyist for big business!

Birch Bayh is still alive at age 83, and one wonders in his heart of hearts, how he feels about what his son, Evan, has done!

What is certain is that Evan Bayh is a turncoat to the progressives and liberals who once believed in him and his leadership, as they did with his father Birch 30-50 years ago! This is indeed a sad moment!

Should America Care If Sarah Palin Runs For President? NO!

We are in the silly season again, but not it is not Donald Trump playing games with us about running for President. Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC correctly predicted early on that Trump would NOT run for President, and that lots of media time was being wasted on him!

Instead, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who has never finished any political office she was appointed or elected to, is playing games with the American people, announcing a bus tour of historic sites in the Northeast, including Antietam, Gettysburg, Philadelphia and ending up in New Hampshire, the site of the first primary in the Presidential Election of 2012.

Lawrence O’Donnell has again told us to stop wasting our time speculating about Palin, as he says, just like Trump, she will NOT run for President in the end. This is excellent advice from a wise commentator, and makes total sense.

As the author has stated in earlier entries on this blog, Palin does not have the intellectual capacity to take on the burdens of becoming President, and it is likely that were she to occupy the Oval Office, the country would be put into great danger, and she might very well get up and leave suddenly, fulfilling her life story of quitting when things get tough or the criticism becomes heavy.

This woman is a mental case, who should never have been given a platform by John McCain in 2008. She is mediocrity at its worst, an example of an ignorant, stupid, petty, lazy woman, with a sense of entitlement, who exploits everyone around her, as shown by two recent books about her.

As O’Donnell stated, if Fox News Channel really believed Sarah Palin was planning to run, they would have removed her from the channel, as they did with Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, but failed to do with Mike Huckabee, who ended up not running, and Palin. She is not about to give up a regular network show and the money that she makes doing it, and getting lots of exposure to boot, which she craves.

Also, she can make speeches all over the place and have a reality television show and publish two books, and become wealthy in just a few years, enough to afford a mansion in Arizona, meaning the “good life”!

Why would she want to subject her family to the exposure that she herself has condemned as unfair to their happiness and privacy?

Why would she wish to run and face defeat and repudiation, and lose some of her magic hold on the one third of the nation which adores her?

If she runs and loses the nomination, she is damaged goods, and will never have the same allure as someone who MIGHT run!

Why would she run when she has shown she is extremely sensitive to criticism or analysis, and refuses to be interviewed by the mainstream media?

Would she wish to be blamed for the destruction of the Republican Party, and go down in history as having caused its demise?

By hinting she might run, she can exploit the situation and make loads of money and get attention, but eventually, just as with Trump, she will decide that she has milked it for all it is worth, and it is time to trim her sails and go back to the “good life” John McCain has given her by putting her on the map of politics!

It is clear that Sarah Palin will NOT run, but if she does, she will destroy the Republican Party, and be condemned in history for what she has done! Don’t hold your breath that she is running, because you will die first!

Barack Obama And Israel: Is He Abandoning Israel? NO!

Listening to Republicans and Fox News Channel today, one would think that Barack Obama is ready to destroy Israel in his quest for good relations with the Islamic world.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

Obama, in his speech at the State Department yesterday, and in his meeting with right wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today at the White House, made it clear that the United States does not expect Israel to negotiate with Palestinian leadership which refuses to recognize the right of Israel to exist.

Obama also said that the Palestinian leadership cannot expect Israel to accept their dealing with and uniting with Hamas, the terrorist government in charge of the Gaza Strip.

Also, Obama said that the United States would back up Israel in the United Nations against any move to delegitimize or isolate it by vote in that body.

Also, Israel cannot be expected to endanger its own national security and safe borders, and that America would back its steadfast ally in its desire to remain a secular, democratic nation.

The controversial part of the Obama speech yesterday dealt with the proposal to return to pre 1967 borders with some mutually agreeable land swaps to stabilize the territorial boundaries of Israel and a Palestinian state. This is, Obama said, a beginning point for negotiations. Notice, the words are BEGINNING point for NEGOTIATIONS! It is NOT settling the final boundaries and terms of a settlement.

This idea of promoting negotiations and making concessions on both sides is nothing new! It was promoted by all of our Presidents since Israel was created in 1948, but always with the guarantee of protection of the security interests of Israel, our traditional ally!

To believe that President Obama is abandoning Israel is simply wrong thinking, and it must be recalled that earlier Israeli governments under other Prime Ministers were willing to make concessions for peace, but without handing over the security and sovereignty of Israel to Palestinians and terrorists.

The main point here is to help promote negotiations at a time of the so called “Arab Spring”, when so much turmoil and possible democratization is occurring in an area that has seen such harsh dictatorial regimes for so long.

It turns out that President George W. Bush had called for return to pre 1949 boundary lines when Israel was first created, as recently as a speech in 2008, while Obama referred to pre 1967, which in most respects is the same statement, but when Bush suggested it, his party endorsed it, but when Obama suggests it, he is bitterly condemned by Republicans.

What it comes down to is that the Republican party, as always, will simply come out against anything Obama says or does, even if it follows earlier Republican principles or stands.

So an appropriate term for this might be that the Republican Party has a disease–Obama Derangement Syndrome!