On matters like HR 3590 and other healthcare bills, Eisenhower gave good advice

Most political junkies know about President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warnings about the “military-industrial complex.” But the Republican president’s farewell speech in 1961 was quite visionary. The speech was broader in scope than is popularly realized.

The federal government is mortgaging the future not only for these recent graduates, but also for their children. [Photo by Kay B. Day]Lesser known passages from Eisenhower’s speech speak directly to what we are confronting today. Though he could not know it, his statements go to the core of all that is wrong about HR 3590, the Senate healthcare bill and its spawn, and for that matter, the House healthcare product HR 3200 or for another matter, HR 4872. Not a single bill is framed in a proper perspective and neither bill rests on a vision of what 10 years down the fiscal road will really bring.

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Palin joins NCNA, more fodder for political herds

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and University of Alaska President Mark Hamilton both spoke at the new Lena Point fisheries facility dedication in Juneau on April 28, 2009.The message arrived late Monday afternoon just as I was about to close the laptop—Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) joined the National Council for a New America. House Republican Whip Eric Cantor also said in the announcement more “local and national leaders” would be added. I pondered the fascination with Palin, especially in pomp media.

I coined the term ‘pomp media’ for self-congratulatory, puffed up media organizations whose brands are experiencing declining profits but whose control of messaging the populace is stronger than ever. Katie Couric is a great example—a newscaster who calmly listened to a vice-presidential candidate make an extremely stupid statement yet is too uninformed to question the candidate’s political gaffe. The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan wrote about Palin on Sunday. He said, “[G]iven this blog's coverage of governor [sic] Palin's various strange stories about Trig, and her continued refusal to provide any medical records to confirm her account…” What about those strange allegations describing Vice-President Joe Biden’s daughter’s recreational habits? Will Andrew ask him? I mean if children are fodder for political herds, can we be inclusive?

And then I happened across words of wisdom in a baseball blog.

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Another TV station zapped by Obama-Biden

Oh, what a tangled web media has woven with its Obama-Biden love affair.  When journalists ask tough questions, the Obama-Biden team just can't take it. However, as anyone with half a brain knows, Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have been grilled, drilled and tossed on the flames since the Democrats announced their official team, eliminating Sen. Hillary Clinton as a favorite target. This video came to light after WFTV Orlando had the nerve to ask Sen. Joe Biden some real questions.

So at least two TV stations have been blacklisted. Ask yourself how an administration will handle tough questions (if they're asked) once one party controls all of Washington. That's happened before you know. When an inexperienced John F. Kennedy took the presidency (some say literally), in short order we had totally screwed up with Cuba and found ourselves in the most unnecessary war in American history. It took 25 years for a reporter to tell us the whole White House was bugged (Oops! They still can't find those tapes).

Two TV stations actually did the job media should do: shine a hard light on candidates. That's what every media outlet in the nation has done with the GOP candidates. But 'progressives' have a hard time forgiving and now another station goes on the Democratic no-can-interview list.

Journalist asks Biden real questions, Obama campaign blacklists station

In the video below, WFTV's Barbara West conducts a real interview with Sen. Joe Biden, the first real interview any journalist has done with the Obama campaign.

Sen. Joe Biden faced the only real interview he or his running mate have faced anywhere on Planet Earth. WFTV Channel 9 (Orlando) reporter Barbara West asked real questions and it’s obvious Biden is rattled. It’s hard to tell how long this video will be available—it’s a real look at a campaign whose strategists have played directly to media, creating an illusion that leaves many voters clueless about what they’ll get if Democrats win the White House and gain even more control of Congress in the November election.

At one point, Biden snaps, “I don’t know who’s writing your questions.” West had asked Biden about Obama’s “spread the wealth” response to Joe the Plumber, likening that approach to Marxism. Joe the Plumber had asked Obama about his plans to raise taxes on higher incomes when the Democratic presidential candidate strolled through Joe’s neighborhood with a film crew. For asking that simple question, Joe the Plumber was investigated and subsequently filleted by media. And The Columbus Dispatch reported on Friday, “Public records requested by The Dispatch disclose that information on [Joe the Plumber] Wurzelbacher's driver's license or his sport-utility vehicle was pulled from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles database three times shortly after the debate.”

ABC’s Good Morning America asked Obama if he regretted using the term “spread the wealth.” He said, “Not at all.”

Biden was so angry about West’s questions his campaign canceled a scheduled interview with his wife. The Orlando Sentinel said Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama campaign, told WFTV: "This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election."

WFTV’s West stands out as the only reporter to ask tough questions of anyone affiliated with the Obama campaign. Mass media have grilled both Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin relentlessly for months.

Anchor does Rodney King as Townhall Presidential Debate approaches

There’s a wistful tone in an article at the CNN blog by anchor Campbell Brown as she asks our presidential candidates to stop the negative campaigning. You can tell she’s earnest, and there’s an echo of Rodney King’s famous, ‘Can we all just get along?” But the truth is the presidential election of 2008 is a race that has not only drawn record voter registrations. This race, beginning with the primaries, has evoked a verbal bullet spray of tipping points, from accusations of gender bias, media bias, age bias, racial bias and a governor from Alaska who reminds me very much of the enduring lead female character in the drama ‘Fargo.’ Toss in another vice president who thought Franklin D. Roosevelt talked to America about the stock market crash of 1929 on TV and you begin to feel a bit like you’re in a Woody Allen movie. On the top of one ticket and on the bottom of another are two basically unknown quantities in politics on the federal level. To ask for kindness may be a laudable goal, but to expect it is naïve. This election has as many twists and turns as a backcountry road during a blizzard and really isn't very different from past elections in that regard.

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Biden says taxes ‘patriotic’, but Obama supporters outsource fundraising

As the US economy struggles, Sen. Joe Biden repeatedly says paying taxes is ‘patriotic,’ but isn’t it unpatriotic to outsource fundraising? And how about all that carbon released from plane trips?

Sen. Joe Biden comes up with some whoppers, but he loves to tell us it’s patriotic to pay taxes. But isn’t it also patriotic to spend money in the U.S., especially if you’re hosting a chic-chic “do”? Consider this. Supporters of Sen. Barack Obama hosted fundraisers in Geneva and London. Those events would likely require caterers, servers, flowers and/or other decorations, wine and alcohol and possibly party favors. Guests could've spent money on cabs or more likely limos. Guests would more than likely shop at businesses in the area. Are you beginning to understand what I’m saying?

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Trio of winners as Palin reclaims her brand, Biden sticks to his and Ifill does her job

Issues surrounding the Vice-Presidential debate at Washington University held potential for controversy—Gwen Ifill’s objectivity, Gov. Sarah Palin’s newcomer status and Sen. Joe Biden’s habit of exaggerating stories. That last is somewhat understandable. Biden is an excellent speaker and a great teller of tales. I don’t think last night’s debate had a single winner; in fact, all three participants were winners. The pitfalls for Palin and Ifill however were far riskier than Biden’s.

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