Combs Spouts Off

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Posts Tagged ‘chutzpah’

Slaughtering our form of government

Posted by Richard on March 12, 2010

Just when you think Congressional Democrats can't get any more brazen, contemptible, and outrageous in their effort to cram government-controlled health care down our throats despite overwhelming opposition by the American people, along comes the "Slaughter Solution." Mark Tapscott explains (emphasis added):

Would House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow House Democratic leaders try to cram the Senate version of Obamacare through the House without actually having a recorded vote on the bill?

Not only is the answer yes, they would, they have figured out a way to do it, according to National Journal's Congress Daily:

"House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill, the chairwoman said Tuesday.

"Slaughter is weighing preparing a rule that would consider the Senate bill passed once the House approves a corrections bill that would make changes to the Senate version.

Each bill that comes before the House for a vote on final passage must be given a rule that determines things like whether the minority would be able to offer amendments to it from the floor.

In the Slaughter Solution, the rule would declare that the House "deems" the Senate version of Obamacare to have been passed by the House. House members would still have to vote on whether to accept the rule, but they would then be able to say they only voted for a rule, not for the bill itself.

Why don't the Socialist Democrats just drop the fig leaf of representative government entirely? They could save a lot of time and pointless posturing and pretense if the President simply deems the bill to have passed both Houses of Congress and immediately signs it into law. Come fall, Reid and Pelosi could shepherd through rules deeming all the incumbent Democrats to have been reelected. Then the President could deem the Constitution to have been amended and declare himself President for Life. 

I deem these people to be enemies of the Constitution, our liberties, and our way of life. 

Go here right now to quickly send an email to your congresscritter and to the 58 members of the Blue Dog Democrat coalition. Tell them how angry you are and how adamently opposed to this outrageous attempt to rule against the will of the people and impose government control of health care on us. 

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Outrageous revisionism

Posted by Richard on February 12, 2010

In an exercise of historical revisionism that takes my breath away, on the Larry King show Wednesday night, Vice President Joe Biden took credit for the victory in Iraq (emphasis by The Weekly Standard):

I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer.

You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government. I spent — I’ve been there 17 times now. I go about every two months — three months. I know every one of the major players in all the segments of that society.

It’s impressed me. I’ve been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.

Unbe-frickin-lievable. This is the administration whose mantra is "we inherited that."

Upon returning from Iraq in 2007, Biden told Tim Russert

There was a big disconnect between the truth of the matter and the reality. I mean, the truth of the matter is that, that the-America's-this administration's policy and the surge are a failure, and that the surge, which was supposed to stop sectarian violence and-long enough to give political reconciliation, there's been no political reconciliation. …

… 

The fact of the matter is that there is—that this idea of these security gains we’ve made have had no impact on the underlying sectarian dynamic.  None.  None whatsoever…  And can anybody envision a central government made up of Sunni, Shia and Kurds that’s going to gain the trust and respect of 27 million Iraqis?  It’s not going to happen. 

There’ve been some tactical gains, but they have no ultimate bearing, at this point, on the prospect of there being a political settlement in Iraq that would allow American troops to come home without leaving chaos behind…  The central problem is a sectarian war.  If every jihadist in Iraq was killed tomorrow, we’d still have a major civil war killing thousands—wounding thousands of Americans and killing hundreds of Americans just since the surge began.  

It took less than a minute to find the above and scores of others about Obama, Biden, and associates insisting in 2007 that "Iraq is lost" and opposing the surge that ultimately won the war. Here are some examples from this post

“I opposed this war from the beginning. I opposed the war in 2002. I opposed the war in 2003. I opposed it in 2004, and 2005 and 2006. I introduced the plan in January to remove all of our combat brigades out of Iraq by next March. And I am here to say that we have to begin to end this war now – not tomorrow, not the next day, not six months from now, but now.”
–Barack Obama, September 12 2007

“It’s time to turn the corner in my view, gentlemen. We should stop the surge and start bringing our troops home. We should end a political strategy in Iraq that cannot succeed and begin one that can.”
–Joe Biden, September 11 2007


Petraeus’ report, and the notion that the surge was working, was attacked throughout the day by a Murderer’s Row of Democrats: Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid, Rahm Emanuel and the Democrat presidential ticket of 2008, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Harry Reid also led the charge to the rear for the Democrats, beginning in April.

“Now, I believe myself that the secretary of State, the secretary of Defense – and you have to make your own decision as to what the president knows – that this war is lost and that the surge is not accomplishing anything, as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday.”
–Harry Reid, April 19, 2007 press conference.

Despite the Democrats' denials, declarations of defeat, and determination to derail the Petraeus plan, the surge worked and we won the war in Iraq. 

And now this poltroon and his pals are prepared to pat themselves on the back for their "great achievements" in Iraq? Mr. Vice President, have you no shame, sir?

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Bureaucrats party on our dime

Posted by Richard on July 16, 2009

The financial situation of Social Security has dramatically worsened recently. A few years ago, it was expected to run a surplus until 2025. That was recently revised to 2017. Now, thanks to the recession, it looks like the fund will go into the red this year.

So what's the Social Security Administration doing to cope with this grim news? Well, they just treated hundreds of SSA executives and managers from all over the country to three days in Phoenix at the posh Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa and a nearby casino. It was an "essential" conference for helping these bureaucrats learn how to relieve stress. 

Remember a few months ago when the Prez, Congress, and their PR mouthpieces (AKA the mainstream media) were chiding corporations for their "unseemly" conferences at lavish resorts and "junkets" to Las Vegas during these grim economic times? Apparently, the same standards that apply to private businesses and investors don't apply to government bureaucrats. 

They're not "public servants" anymore. They're the ruling class.

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Hypocrisy of the month, with a union label

Posted by Richard on March 22, 2009

The SEIU is one of the most vocal and powerful labor organizations promoting "progressive pro-labor" causes and policies. They spent tens of millions to elect Obama and lots of pro-union congressional Democrats.

Now they're spending staggering sums promoting the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (or "card check"), supposedly to strengthen workers' voices against management (a more accurate name would be Employee Coerced Choice Act, since it denies workers a secret ballot and enables union goons to intimidate them into supporting the union).

So how does the SEIU treat its own employees? Apparently, not in a "progressive pro-labor" manner (emphasis added): 

The Service Employees International Union, considered the most influential union in the nation, has notified the union that represents about 220 of the SEIU's national field staff members and organizers that it is laying off 75 of the employees.

In return, the workers union, which goes by the somewhat postmodern name of the Union of Union Representatives, has filed charges of unfair labor practices against the SEIU with the National Labor Relations Board. The workers union's leaders say that the SEIU is engaging in the same kind of practices that some businesses use: laying off workers without proper notice, contracting out work to temporary-staffing firms, banning union activities and reclassifying workers to reduce union numbers.

"It's completely hypocritical," said Malcolm Harris, president of the workers union. …

Fewer than half of the workers at SEIU chapters are unionized, and Harris's union's contract with SEIU forbids it from trying to help organize SEIU employees in local chapters.

The SEIU's national office has been contracting out more and more work to a staffing agency, Harris said, including advocacy for card check. He said it looks as though SEIU is trying to phase his union out of existence.

SEIU spokeswoman Michelle Ringuette said the contracting is limited and denied that SEIU is trying to undermine the workers union. "That would be the cynical way of looking at it," she said.

You can't make this stuff up.

(HT: Don Luskin )

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Clinton rewrites history again

Posted by Richard on November 28, 2007

Stumping for his wife in Iowa, Bill Clinton claimed he'd always opposed the war in Iraq and complained about not paying enough taxes (emphasis added):

On Iraq, he told the crowd that wealthy people like he and his wife should pay more taxes in times of war. "Even though I approved of Afghanistan and opposed Iraq from the beginning, I still resent that I was not asked or given the opportunity to support those soldiers," Clinton said, according to The Washington Post

I suppose for Bill Clinton, whether he opposed Iraq depends on what the meaning of the word "supported" is (emphasis added):

In a June 2004 article in Time magazine, Clinton also suggested that he would have acted the same way Bush did.

"So, you're sitting there as president, you're reeling in the aftermath of (Sept. 11), so, yeah, you want to go get (Usama) bin Laden and do Afghanistan and all that. But you also have to say, 'Well, my first responsibility now is to try everything possible to make sure that this terrorist network and other terrorist networks cannot reach chemical and biological weapons or small amounts of fissile material. I've got to do that.' That's why I supported the Iraq thing," he is quoted telling the magazine.

As for his resentment for not being "given the opportunity" to pay more taxes: Bill, nobody's stopping you! You can pay more quite easily. For starters, just stop taking all those deductions you usually take (like the used jockey shorts you donate to charity and write off at an inflated value).

If that doesn't increase your tax bill enough to abate your resentment, Bill, you can simply make a voluntary contribution to reduce the public debt (money is fungible, so reducing the public debt is functionally equivalent to buying the Army a Humvee — they can buy their own Humvee by borrowing back what you contributed). The IRS tells you how in most of its tax form instructions: 

If you wish to do so, make a check payable to “Bureau of the Public Debt.” You can send it to: Bureau of the Public Debt, Department G, P.O. Box 2188, Parkersburg, WV 26106-2188. Or you can enclose the check with your income tax return when you file. Do not add your gift to any tax you may owe. See page 60 for details on how to pay any tax you owe.

I suspect Slick Willy won't be foregoing those itemized deductions or making any voluntary donations to the government. He doesn't really resent the fact that he wasn't "given the opportunity" to pay more taxes, he resents the fact that you and I and millions of other Americans were allowed to keep more of what we earned, instead of being forced to turn that money over to the "public servants" who can spend it so much more wisely.

Asshat. 

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Chutzpah cubed

Posted by Richard on August 23, 2007

Today's news contained two such unbelievable examples of chutzpah, of brazen effrontery and unmitigated gall, that they took my breath away:

  •  The Chinese government complained about the quality and safety of U.S. imports and expressed concern about the safety of Chinese consumers and the environment.
  • Democrats angrily objected to President Bush's comparison of Iraq and Vietnam in his speech to the VFW.

How dare anyone compare Iraq with Vietnam! The nerve!

UPDATE: Bush Derangement Syndrome reigns at ABC News, and Ace has preserved the evidence. He also helpfully pointed out that Bush didn't compare Iraq to Vietnam, "he said it would be like Vietnam were we to surrender. Apparently the high-nuanced folks at ABC have not mastered the nuances of the subjunctive or conditional moods." Good point.

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