Open For Business

Our new blog; Political Sighs, is open for business and, on the day after President Obama's presser, has its first post up.

Go over and take a gander...

Please, don't make us beg. Cuz we will...

Political Sighs

It's getting closer...

Our return is getting closer and closer... join us soon at our NEW location;

"Political Sighs"

http://politicalsighs.blogspot.com/

All the snark, all the insight, none of the Bush... coming soon to a blogosphere near you.

We Are Coming....

Scott and I are planning our return to the world of political blogging... join us soon at our NEW location;

"Political Sighs"

http://politicalsighs.blogspot.com/

All the snark, none of the Bush... coming soon to a blogosphere near you.

WHOO-HOO!!!!!!!

Sigh...

Do you remember back in 2001 when "President" Bush vowed to get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive"?

Well, turns out he was bloviating;

President George W. Bush said he was unaware if, during his eight-year tenure, Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was ever close to being captured. [...] Asked if the September 11 mastermind ever came close to being captured since US forces went into Afghanistan looking for him in 2002, Bush said: "I don't know. I can't answer that." [...] Pressed by King, Bush replied candidly: "I really don't know. I'm not trying to hide anything."

Only six days left... only six days left... only six days left...

Holiday Break

We at TBWA will be taking some time off in the next 2 weeks to not only wind-down from a spectacular and at times odd political year, but to spend time with family & friends over the Christmas and New Year's Holidays.

We'll be back on January 1st with our annual Year End Rewind, a look back at the things that happened in the last 12 months.

Until then, continue reading past posts of our fine blog, and we'll be back in 2009 ready to sum up the Bush presidency while keeping tabs on an Obama Administration.

Thank you...

The Thursday ‘BushWhack’ing

Waiting for the ice…

• And the President-elect cabinet picks keep on coming…
• Rick Warren, seriously?
• Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has joined other Bush(whacked) Administration officials in granting legacy-saving, end-of-days interviews, covering a wide array of matters including her acknowledgement about “erroneous” assumptions about Iraq and labeling the inability to prevent the September 11 attacks as a “systemic failure.” (the interview revealed nothing new… she maintains the administration’s talking points about Iraq and the invasion while blaming faulty intel – rather than a faulty president – on the invasion of Iraq. Rice has had her reputation tarnished by being a member of this administration – as have others – but one has the feeling that she will bounce back more resiliently then say, Alberto Gonzales)
• “President” Bush is convening a plethora of ex-Presidents next month to discuss the transition. Expected to attend are former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George H. W. Bush along with President-elect Obama. White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said; “the gathering will be a chance for them to discuss life in the White House, politics, and domestic and world affairs.” (and that the toilet in the West Wing runs unless you jiggle the handle…)
• And have we mentioned? That Vice President Dick Cheney is going senile? At least that’s the only thing I can think of after reading that Cheney said in an interview with the Washington Times that Bush’s “place in history likely would grow during the next 20 to 30 years.” (Um… okay. Granted, no one can tell what the future holds or what history will say, but this sounds like forced. Bush’s failures are massive, and his successes minimal, so how his place in history can improve is anyone’s guess… so stay tuned)

The Wednesday ‘BushWhack’ing

Hump day is upon us, so let’s get a-humpin…

• Not surprisingly, Time magazine has named President-elect Obama as its “Person of the Year.”
• The Blagojevich saga continues… and will continue and continue and continue until we’re all so sick of the damned thing we tune it out. Much like we have the ridiculousness in New York to replace Sen. Clinton.
• Another day, another PE Obama cabinet pick…
• “President” Bush sat down with CNN’s Candy Crowley yesterday and spoke about the auto industry bailout, Iraq and so on. During the interview, Bush said about the auto bailout that it's important to make sure he doesn’t waste taxpayers' money… (Sure, NOW he starts saying that…)
• Yesterday NASA released a statement saying that the year 2008 was the ninth warmest year since 1880 and that “all of the nine warmest years have occurred in the past 11 years.” (Take from that what you will…)
• And have we mentioned? That Vice President Dick Cheney is living up to his name? In an interview with ABC News, Cheney said the administration “made the right decision” in invading Iraq maintaining that the “world is better off with Saddam [Hussein] gone” while also admitting that he shared “frustration” over faulty intelligence regarding WMD’s. (All fine and good… but we were sold on the invasion of Iraq based on them having WMD’s… NOT Hussein being in power. Yes, he was a tyrant and the world probably is better off with him gone, but that doesn’t change the fact that the electorate was lied to… 1/20/09 can not come soon enough)

What will The Fed do next for the economy?

The Department of Labor announced this morning that consumer prices fell in November by the largest percentage, 1.7%, in the 61 years that records have been kept, much of the decline being attributed to energy prices that have plunged drastically.

With inflation being rather minimal at this point (according to an AP story, the 1.7% decline in consumer prices was larger than economist’s forecast of a 1.2% drop) there is some good news on the financial horizon because, with inflation being rather low, the Federal Reserve has a lot of leverage and can pump money into the economy because they don’t have to worry (yet?) about fueling inflation. And that’s exactly what they’re doing; having the central bank print more money and then pumping it back into the economy, much like Japan did years ago successfully.

All of this is a more complex way to say that the Fed will probably reduce federal funds rate 50 basis points to 1/2% in the next few days.

Um... what?

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin spoke to Fox “News” yesterday about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich; “Now is the time, not just for governors, but, for all elected officials to try and start shoring up some trust with the electorate. […] You cannot be in this business to get rich...can't be in this business with anything but a servant's heart. I'm wondering how long the guy thought he was gonna get away with it.”

There’s something I should be saying here… something regarding a pot, a kettle and the color black… but I'm laughing so hard I can’t think of it at this moment.

The Tuesday ‘BushWhack’ing

We at TBWA are waiting for the other shoe to drop…

• The 538 members of the Electoral College gathered in all 50 states and the District of Columbia yesterday and exercised their constitutional prerogative and cast their votes for president and vice president… officially electing President-elect Obama and Vice-president Obama.
• The Secret Service is getting flak for allowing two shoes to be thrown at “President” Bush…
• President-elect Obama is poised to announce more cabinet posts today, including Chicago Schools CEO Arne Duncan as Education Secretary.
• JFK’s daughter Caroline has made it public to anyone that will listen that she wants Sen. Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. According to Sen. Chuck Schumer, there are twelve other people also interested in the post, though no other names have been publicly announced. (I am torn about this… while I appreciate the historical aspect of it, putting someone who has little political experience other than being around politics is a tad disheartening. New York Governor David Paterson has the power to appoint the replacement that will face a special election in 2010.
• PE Obama and VP-elect Biden will be taking a train to the inauguration…
• 70% of Americans say President-elect Obama should “fulfill his campaign promise to withdraw U.S. forces from the country within 16 months.” (All fine and good, but I have a radical idea. Let’s allow Mr. Obama to actually, you know, take office before demanding he fulfill campaign promises…)
• And have we mentioned? That someone took a poll asking if Obama should get a new dog from a breeder or a shelter? That’s a good use of money and resources…

The Monday ‘BushWhack’ing

Another week begins…

• “President” Bush made a visit to Iraq over the weekend and his appearance prompted one Iraqi reporter to throw his shoes at Bush and call him a “dog”... I guess he wanted Bush to… ‘heal’…
• The Blagojevich saga continues… and it’s obvious that he’s living in his own world as he continues to go about his business despite calls for his resignation or impeachment.
• President-elect Obama is poised to name his energy team today or tomorrow… may I suggest “The Obama PowerUps”?
• And have we mentioned? That Sen. McCain is unsure about backing a possible Palin presidential run? Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” yesterday, McCain said that he would not necessarily support Palin if she decided to run for president, saying; “I can’t say something like that. We’ve got some great other young governors. I think you’re going to see the governors assume a greater leadership role in our Republican Party.” (This is probably the largest sign that McCain and Palin did not get along well, and his refusal to support her, even four years early, is a slap in the face to Palin. Tee-hee.)

I'm gonna say 'ow' for Mr. Vitter

Louisiana UAW Local 2166 official Morgan Johnson responds to republican Louisiana Sen. David Vitter's vote against the auto bailout; “I don't know what Sen. Vitter has against GM or the United Auto Workers or the entire domestic auto industry; whatever it is, whatever he thinks we've done, it's time for him to forgive us, just like Sen. Vitter has asked the citizens of Louisiana to forgive him. [..] He'd rather pay a prostitute than pay auto workers.” Pwnd!

The craptastic McPalin campaign mistakes continue

One wouldn’t think it possible, but weeks after ending one of the most poorly-strategized and poorly-ran presidential campaigns in recent memory, the McCain-Palin campaign is STILL making mistakes;

Private information at bargain prices. It was a high-tech flub at the McCain-Palin campaign headquarters in Arlington when Fox 5's Investigative Reporter Tisha Thompson bought a Blackberry device containing confidential campaign information.

The hottest item? Blackberry phones at $20 a piece. There were only 10 left. All of the batteries had died. There were no chargers for sale. But people were snatching them up. So, we bought a couple.

And ended up with a lot more than we bargained for.

When we charged them up in the newsroom, we found one of the $20 Blackberry phones contained more than 50 phone numbers for people connected with the McCain-Palin campaign, as well as hundreds of emails from early September until a few days after election night.

Smoooooooooth…

An Autobailout Theory

I am not, as a rule, a cynic. I’m a realist, evened out with a healthy dose of cynicism and optimism that gives me a nice balance… but something about the way the auto bailout is unrolling is giving me pause.

Was this whole scenario designed to give “President” Bush an opportunity to ride in on his white horse and save the day – thus helping his ‘legacy’ and numbers?

Part of me thinks not, as the gop – evidenced in how they ran some of their campaigns this season – is NOT that calculated and coordinated…

But then I think, perhaps it was.

Consider that Senate republicans assured UAW President Ron Gettelfinger that the Senate would pass the auto loan bill, only to renege on their agreement to the UAW and kill the bill.

Then during this morning’s UAW press conference on the failed Senate bill, an announcement from the Treasury Department is released that says it will open TARP funds because Bush will not let the auto industry fail.

More indicative is that during Gettelfinger’s presser, he spoke about the manner in which he was mislead by the gop, saying the gop had lied to him and killed the loan guarantees bill. It was then that a reporter informed him that the Treasury Department, on Bush’s urging, had just pledged support from the TARP funds for the auto industry because the Senate had failed to reach an agreement.

Hmmmmm… interesting.

Granted, no one that has a brain and uses it is going to think better of Bush for “saving” the auto industry, they’re rightfully going to place the blame at the feet of the gop for sinking the rescue package, and the rust belt knows that.

Having said all that, if in fact there is collusion between Senate republicans and the White House, I think it still scores very few points for Bush.

But still… it’s ‘interesting’ to say the least.