Anywhooo…

Obama and McCain Debate - Click for bracelet comments

The first debate between the two Presidential candidates was on Friday.  This idiot watched very closely, which is why I am puzzled that the reviews are so mixed.  Although I am already proudly displaying my McCain sign on my lawn, (p.s.- almost a week and no egging or vandalism by my always open minded liberal friends and neighbors!) I know that debate performance is crucial, at least in the court of public opinion.  I knew what I was looking for ahead of time:  a strong performance citing wisdom, experience, and actual examples of what the candidates have accomplished during their tenure in the senate, and what they plan to do after they take office.

McCain’s performance was strong.  He cited his career  long crusade against wasteful spending, while highlighting Obama’s love of earmarks.  There is no doubt that Obama is an eloquent speaker, however, unless the job requires extensive knowledge of bumper sticker rhetoric, he brought nothing substantive  to the table.  This idiot is sure that Obama supporters thought he did a great job, but he didn’t offer anything new.  He did an excellent job of implementing his tried and true “it’s all of us against the angry, rich, GOP machine” strategy that seems to have served him well thus far among the wide eyed naive masses.   Although I did get a chuckle at the thought of Barry and Ahmadinejad sitting around a brightly decorated table making small talk over afternoon tea, the debate did nothing but reinforce my opinion that Obama would be a DISASTER for this country.

He talked about cutting taxes for 95% of Americans.  What he neglected to mention is that his plan is more of a government paycheck than an actual cut. A large percentage of those who would receive this “cut” actually pay very little or no taxes, because the current tax code does not tax below a certain threshhold.  To put it clearly, a large chunk of Americans, under Obama’s plan, will simply get government paychecks as a reward for their current economic status.

Available for purchase at PissOffTheLeft.com

Forgive me for being an idiot, but is this not governmental social engineering?  Is this not considered social redistribution of wealth- taking from the haves and giving to the have nots?  Is America willing to put a Robin Hood in the whitehouse whose socialist policies completely contradict the free market system that has, thus far, made this the greatest country in the world?

I have yet to hear a good explanation from anyone in the Obama camp.  As per Joe Biden, redistribution of wealth is “patriotic”.  Seriously?  Am I the only idiot infuriated by this?!  We all have conflicting views about foreign policy and social issues, but EVERY American (well, maybe every American not lined up for their free government paycheck) should be outraged and terrified that a socialist under the cloak of the Democratic party has an actual chance of becoming the leader of the free world.  Electing Barack Obama would be the death of the American dream.  We already have the largest governmental machine since the birth of our country, if Barack wins, it is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger says he is not in favor of negotiations with Iran at the presidential level.

Although Obama is wrong about so many issues of foreign policy, including his insistence during the debate that Kissinger himself supports meeting without precondition with the evil dictators of the world (Kissinger immediately responded post debate to refute Obama’s claims, saying that he supported low level talks, NOT meetings between the Commander in Chief and, for example, Iran), none of it even matters if he expands the role of the federal gov’t to include bail bondsman and social worker.  Obama supports a culture of reliance that is dangerous.  This idiot believes that the government should protect and encourage it’s citizens, not handicap them to the point that they cannot survive without governmental handouts.  What ever happened to hard work and accountability?  I agree that we are a compassionate nation with a history of holding up our fellow citizens in times of trouble.  But, over time, the mindset seems to have shifted from one of hard work and compassion to one without motivation to be productive.  People now expect the gov’t to shoulder the burdens of it’s citizens more than ever before.  The government should function as a support system for it’s citizens that encourages hard work and success, not a life support system that cripples it’s citizens by not requiring any responsibility or accountability.  Shame on us!

This idiot often feels like the smartest chick in the room when she hears her liberal friends speak so enthusiastically about Obama.  I think he preys on people’s  anger at the current administration (helped along in no small part by the liberal media machine which takes it upon itself to blame everything bad in the universe on GWB), which allows him to make grand, sweeping statements about his plans and intentions without really  explaining how such plans would be implemented.  I had no idea that standing in front of a teleprompter making bold, yet empty promises could get one so far in politics.  If I knew that a brain full of one liners and hollow rhetoric were all it took to be a candidate, I might have considered running for office myself.  Then again, I am still so young and fresh that I do not meet the required age minimum- at least now I have something to work towards- HA!

Onto the current wall street clusterfu@*.  There is no doubt that greed and corruption contributed in no small part to this mess.  Greedy CEOs who did not have the individual investor’s best interests at heart, and loan sharking sub prime lenders are largely to blame.  But there is another very serious element to this disaster that seems to be getting very little airtime or newspaper attention.

In 1992, Congress mandated that Fannie and Freddie increase their purchases of mortgages for low-income and medium-income borrowers.  Pressure to force social engineering of lower income populations by the Clinton administration encouraged Fannie Mae to buy more loans with very low down payments–or with mortgage payments that represent an unusually high percentage of a buyer’s income.  That’s what made banks willing to lend to lower-income families they once might have rejected.  Fannie and Freddie were required to devote almost 50% of their portfolios to loans for low- and moderate-income borrowers, under targets set by HUD.  Ironically, Fannie and Freddie might have forseen their own imminent collapses when     they warned  that a higher target would only produce more loan defaults by pressuring banks to accept unsafe borrowers. HUD accused Fannie Mae of resisting more low-income loans because they were not as profitable.

How much money has been lost because lenders were essentially forced to lend to unqualified loan candidates under social engineering pressure from our own government?

In an effort to bring class warfare on behalf of the underprivileged, the government, under Clinton, played a huge  part in the current financial mess.  It is easy to place the blame solely on the backs of CEO s with Greenwich country homes, but let’s not under estimate the negative effects brought on by our own government’s failed social experiments.

This idiot is no economist, but even I know that banks offer loans based upon the risk level of the applicants.  How could we have ever expected Fannie and Freddie to remain solvent when they were expected to purchase loans that no other institutions would be dumb enough buy?  Should it matter that a particular loan, high risk though it may be, will increase minority homeowner stats in a particular region?  It doesn’t really matter which underprivileged segment of the US population gains homeowner stats if the mortgage simply doesn’t get paid.  The free market was successful when it offered loans based upon financial criteria, not race or class quotas.  Even THIS idiot knows that and I need a calculator to handle any figures beyond my finger and toe capacity.

And now for your viewing pleasure, take a look at this awesome Sarah Palin Corn Maze.

Ok- now back to real life and all the laundry and craft projects therein.

I’ll have to check amazon.  His flowery prose is still relevant today.  That man is a Shakespeare!

First- old news.

Chris Matthews, left, and Keith Olbermann will only contribute to MSNBC’s election night coverage as commentators, according to a network spokesman. Washington correspondent David Gregory will man the anchor desk instead.

Congrats to MSNBC who (probably due in no little part to my rant on media bias) removed Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews from any further anchoring or moderating duties due to their Obama fever.  It really makes this idiot wonder what would have happened had the powers at MSNBC taken this step BEFORE Barack got the nomination.  Let’s not forget that both Olbermann and Matthews had a huge crush on Obama during primary season.  Maybe Hillary would be on the ticket now had the mainstream cable dudes not shown such scorn for her…  Now I guess we’ll never know (until at least 2012, that is)…

Congrats to John McCain for his official endorsement from the New York Post.  The Post cited McCain’s lifelong commitment to service and his Washington outsider status among the many reasons for the enthusiastic endorsement.  The Post doesn’t mince words, referring to Obama’s resume as “paper- thin” in comparsion.

On to the VMAs.  Congrats to Britney on her comeback (we’ll see but this idiot IS rooting for you, Brit!!).  The highlight of the evening was when British Comedian Russel Brand implored viewers to “please elect Barack Obama. Please! On behalf of the world.”  Seriously?  Who the hell is this no talent ass clown?  Is he a representative of Parliament sent on behalf of the British empire?  Two things disturbed me here:

1.  You can’t even vote here you jackass.  Save your comments for your own constituency.

2.  The audience actually applauded this statement.  Is the whole TRL generation stupid enough to take the endorsement of some clown who isn’t even a citizen?  Does Brand REALLY care about the American economy, gas prices and national security? He pays in Euros. I don’t mean to be cynical, but does this dude even know a thing about American politics?  Seriously?!  The world will have collective belly laugh in November should the idiotic masses do Brand’s bidding.  Then again, Madonna is Britishy and  equally politically savvy.  She looked extremely well educated about global politics when she flashed McCain’s picture alongside Hitler during a concert in England.  Maybe MSNBC should consider an evening co-anchor combo of Madonna and Russel Brand…I smell an Emmy, MSNBC…I had better get the credit in your acceptance speech.

Footnote This leaves me with a moral dilemma: Do I delete all the Madonna from my iPod to protest her stupidity? I’ve always been much too lazy to boycott anything and I really do like a couple of her songs. But what if I got into an accident and American Life was playing while they removed my battered body with the jaws of life? I would be embarassed (and probably a bit bruised).

Ok now onto Don Cheadle.  He’s now saying he’ll move to Canada should McCain win the election.  My advice is  to stay safe and healthy- we all know how long those lines are at the “free” doctor’s office.  Might I suggest he and Barbra Streisand go halvsies on a Canadian condo (they’ll need to save their dough to pay the taxes that provide all that fab “free” healthcare).  I’d also suggest at least maintaining a dual citizenship just in case any really serious health problems arise.  We all know what it is like to have to wait four months for an MRI appointment if we have a brain tumor…oh wait…no we don’t.

Question of the day:  Has the mainstream media been unfair to Sarah Palin?  While even THIS idiot is getting sick of hearing about it from the cable talking heads, there is some truth to the accusation.

Harry Potter

One of the most recent rumors is that Palin tried to have  books removed from the library in her town when she was mayor of Wasilla, AK.  This alleged list includes books that were not even on the shelves when Palin became mayor in 1996.  This  list highlights  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban, and Harry Potter and the Goblin of Fire all by J.K. Rowling.  Seriously- I will freely admit to not being the sharpest crayon in the caddy, but how stupid does the media think we are…SERIOUSLY!!! sheesh

My advice to the smear campaign would be to chose an old standard like Uncle Tom’s Cabin the next time you create a fake list to scare potential voters away.  At least it was published before she was mayor- and that makes it believeable

Next time, your pundit delves into the political double standard for women:

Can a female GOP politician be taken seriously if her platform differs from the NOW platform?  Are Palin’s conservative values enough to qualify her as a legit politician?  Is she just some chick puppet working on behalf of the dastardly old GOP boys club.  Would we even have asked these questions of Hillary?  Just some food for thought (and I’d suggest you stock up on some Tums before swallowing).

Your idiot is off to the domestic bliss of laundry town and clean kitchen village.

Who Wants To Be A Superhero?

To further cement my reputation as an idiot, I am spending this sunny day indoors- working on my white pallor and watching the FRC marathon of “Who wants to be a superhero”.  Seriously- this is the dumbest show ever.  The show originally ran on the Sci-Fi channel, which explains why it eluded me until now.  It challenges your brain to do as little as possible while still staying awake.  It makes “I Love Money” look like Meet the Press.  I love this show.  It is my new favorite (except 3x a week when Big Brother is on…)

On this show, idiots who think they are superheroes wear costumes and participate in ridiculously stupid competitions to win the honor of becoming an actual comic book character and action figure.  I know so many people who could audition for this show.

Hygena

My favorite contestants are Hygena,  whose costume is combo french maid/ middle age spread mid 80′s Madonna and Mr Mitzpah- who wears what looks like a Barry Manilow meets the Gladiator ensemble.  It’s super fun!

Mr. Mit It is fabulous!

I know for sure that my IQ is measurably lower now than before I watched this show.  I feel dumber with each passing episode…my toes are a little numb.

I heart TV

Oh..and if you enough brain cells left to turn on the tv ever again, might I suggest “Reality Binge” also on the crappiest network ever.  If you’re into a low-rent underwhelming fake Joel McHale extolling the virtues of all the other crap on reality tv then this is definately your show.  It’s like The Soup sans the wit, sharpness and humor.  Really hard to watch- really really bad tv.  Not even this idiot can make it past the 5 minute mark. yeesh.

I love watching the angling, the maneuvering, the positioning and snarking that are such a huge part of the election process.  No matter your political beliefs and values, it is always a thrill to watch the process (OK maybe a thrill is too dramatic if you have a life outside of potty training and laundry, but just roll with it for the sake of my narrative).  Every once in a while, one team makes a gaffe, and the other team gloms onto it, turning a passing political comment into one of the soundbites of the season.  Ok…so remember that old “clinging to guns and religion” fiasco that Obama’s people worked so diligently to smooth over?

Let’s just say that hillbillies with corncob pipes who cling to guns, religion,  and Waylon Jennings albums will love THIS story!  Like or Loathe McCain, but give credit where credit is due- the campaign staffer who came up with this gem deserves a prize (Might I suggest dinner for 2 at TGI Friday’s- the middle ground restaurant of choice for everyone who is rich enough to eat at a restaurant that doesn’t have a drive thru, yet is not sophisticated enough to avoid American chain dining- HA!  Brilliant!)

Footnote: the Obama camp claims the flags were stolen as part of a  nefarious plot by the McCain camp.  If this is the case, kudos to the McCain team for your sophisticated use of Veterans and Boy Scouts in your evil, evil scheme.  Muwa-ahaha-ahaha.

Oh… and what’s up with Oprah.  I mean I know that it’s a national understanding that her people will handle the gift bags and luxury suites at an Obama inaguration, but what’s with the Palin snub?

No politics for Oprah.

She says she will not use her show as a political platform for either candidate, although Obama has been a guest on her show twice in the last two years.  To be fair he, has not been on since announcing his candidacy.  However, every idiot (including this one) knows that an Oprah endorsement of dog poop would make it the hardest commodity to find.  The Oprah seal of approval is as good as gold.  The idiot pundit knows that Oprah is aware of this.  She doesn’t want to expose Palin to her entire demographic because she knows how many people tune in every day.

Hey Oprah- how about just saying- No thanks, Palin.  I have already decreed that Oprah watchers shall vote for Obama and no other.  Dissenters will be shot on site- love it!!

Can you imagine if Gayle King were a Repub on the DL…HA!

Foxnews covers the story

NPR Logo

The Idiot Pundit has been accused by her pals of having a bias towards particular media outlets- especially and particularly when it comes to covering politics.  This is true.  After years and years of following politics on the big mainstream cable news giants, your pundit was frustrated and angry over the bold and blatant bias towards a mainstream and liberal point of view, almost to a fault.  The idiot pundit sought out a new cable news experience and chose Fox for its refreshingly more balanced point of view.  Now, the idiot pundit surely is no idiot.  I am well aware that Fox News chooses to cover MANY news stories that simply never make it past Reuters or the AP to every other cable news channel.  I guess one might find it biased that Fox covers many political stories that other networks make the choice to ignore.  One might also have the opinion that Fox is biased because the pundits who represent the conservative POV on the Sunday morning punditry hour talk shows actually have brain cells and arguable opinions, as opposed to say most of the complicit tongue wagging idiots that are meant to bring balance to an otherwise official talking points convention of the DNC on cable news giants like MSNBC and CNN.  (The exception to the above rule is Alan Combs – seriously- does he feed on the brains of the living?!  He looks like a waxen Zombie who is propped up beside Sean Hannity every evening at 10PM to give the desk a better balance.  Fox would do well to hire a potted plant or, for that matter, the idiot pundit’s own dog to represent the liberal point of view on that show.  At least the aforementioned plant might be able to offer some witticisms.  Alan Combs- seriously.  Okay CNN/MSNBC viewers, you’ve got me on that one.)

John McCain Acceptance Speech

Ok, so back to my soap box.  So, taking the advice of one of the idiot pundit’s non idiotic friends, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and listen to Sen. McCain’s acceptance speech and post game on NPR to prove that my complaints about the liberal media are not just hot air.  Mr. idiot pundit watched the speech and post game on the TV in the living room with our old standard, Fox news.  Thankfully, NPR didn’t go so far as to air the speech on a delay and edit the actual content.  As far as the post game was concerned however, I was shocked.  The commentary on the same speech from two different rooms in my house was amazing.  If I didn’t know any better, I surely would have assumed I had listened to two different speeches.  SERIOUSLY!  I was encouraged to hear the voice of Matthew Continetti as an NPR analyst that night.  However, it seemed as though he had already taken his NPR elixir before the commentary started.  He seemed to follow merrily along with the opinions of the pottery making/ vegan cooking  NPR crowd as they talked in unimpressed monotone voices about what they had all just seen.  Meanwhile, folks like Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes (of the same magazine that employs Continetti) and Juan Williams (ironically, of NPR fame) were providing the post game for Fox on the idiot box in my living room.  While the NPR crew and the Fox crew were all in agreement that McCain’s strongest assets are not his oration skills nor his natural public speaking cadence, the disagreements over content were remarkable.

No wonder there is such a political divide in this country.  The snarkiness on NPR covered topics from convention floor music choice (the NPR crew seemed ticked over the choice of Heart’s Barracuda over, say, some college town jam band extolling the virtues of ethanol while screeching about the exploits of the evil Bush machine and his best friend, Big Oil) to the ridiculousness of the ideas McCain put forth in his speech.  It was almost as if the Obama folks provided a list of counterpoints to help the commentary along (the being said, I am going to go out on a limb  and assume that most of the NPR folks will be lining up at the polls for Nader or whoever the “Legalize Pot Now” party is putting up for consideration).  On the scale of liberalness (your pundit has decided that “liberalness” is a real word – if any one who is an official representative of the OED is reading this, please feel free to add it to your next edition), by NPR standards, even Obama should be considered a stodgy member of the old boys network( although, in Obama’s defense, at least the cable news pundits actually cheered and high fived after his sermon on the mount-esque speech at the DNC- let’s hear it for journalistic impartiality!!  GO TEAM!!) .  I mean seriously, he probably isn’t even endorsed by Mumia, and anyone who can’t get that endorsement is waaaay too establishment for the likes of most of the NPR crowd.  Sorry Oprah!  Meanwhile, on Fox, the commentary was critical, sharp and highlighted both the strong and weak points of McCain’s effort.  For lack of a better cliche- Fox news let ME decide.  While your idiot pundit was aware of the political leanings of the discussion panel that evening (mostly from knowing the publications they write for), there simply was not a polarized left and right so blatant and palpable that is made it impossible to disagree without looking like, well, an idiot.  (Please forgive your pundit’s verbosity- she was never known for her smooth and to-the-point delivery).

NPR is more than a “news” outlet.  It is almost a necessary accessory to the “I’m so refined, worldly and educated that I must type something important on my apple laptop inside a  Starbucks and display a ‘Bush’s last day’  bumper sticker on the back of my hybrid” crowd that to call it anything other than a propagandist tool of leftist politics is ludicrous.  To call Fox news biased is debatable (challenge yourself to one nightly news broadcast to make up your own mind).  To say that NPR is NOT biased is to say that Rush Limbaugh has no real political agenda and just likes to read his personal musings on current events to his equally unbiased audience of millions of listeners.  Sounds ridiculous, right.  People tune into Rush to hear the opinions of a like minded conservative in the same way that people tune into NPR to hear like minded liberals discuss the issues of the day.  Let’s call it what it is.  Let’s be honest.

The HUGE issue with this topic is that both Fox and Rush (even MSNBC and CNN for that matter) have one big thing in common.  Neither one is funded by YOUR TAX DOLLARS.   All cable news networks generate their incomes through advertising.  If you don’t like the content of the cable news you are currently watching, you can simply change the channel.  You are not compelled to support them financially, even if you disagree.  Therein lies the problem with National PUBLIC Radio: we ARE compelled to financially support it, regardless of whether or not we agree with content.  A Government subsidized medium, such as NPR, should be subjected to the same system of checks and balances that are required of all Government agencies.  While your pundit is happy to allow a few of her hard earned dollars to support “Candle making hour” or the “music of the Brazilian Rainforest ” performance, she is outraged at being forced to support such blatantly partisan nonsense cloaked under the umbrella of PUBLIC radio that is unaffiliated with a particular cause or agenda.  Are you kidding me?!  Placing such editorialized content in the category of “news” is questionable at best.  Aren’t all the idiots in the world smart enough to hear the facts, events and general goings on in the world and then make their OWN opinions?  Do we really need to fund an opinion making machine with our tax dollars?  The folks at NPR seem to think so, but aside from my continued involuntary donation to their cause, THIS pundit has chosen to change the channel.

The beauty of this country is that bow tie wearing oil company execs and dread-locked baristas can live in harmony on the same giant piece of earth.  Diversity makes the USA interesting.  No one is paraded out back to the firing squad for disliking the current administration, or hypothetically,  for  expressing concern and disgust over our do nothing congress.  Call me crazy, but this idiot has enough faith in Americans to think that they can make their own opinions, independently of what taxpayer funded media tells them they should think.

But what do I know, I’m an idiot.

Next time on the idiot pundit, your idiot discusses the real meat and potatoes of the upcoming election: Vice Presidential hair: plugs or circa 1985 librarian hair.  The power is in OUR hands!