You Can’t Fix Stupid December 20, 2011

 

 

My blogging friend, Rutherford Lawson, is a flaming liberal with zero intellectual integrity.

 

He’s a nice guy, and I like to debate him, but he has no mental backbone whatsoever. A recent exchange at his place has forced me to whip out the paddle and lay on a smackdown.

 

In a recent exchange at his place, I pointed out yet another clear demonstration of this Administration’s Epic Failure.

 

Michelle “Let-them-Eat-Cake” Obama- affectionately known as ‘Mooch’- has decided to fly off to Hawaii ahead of her husband because, well, she doesn’t want to wait. I pointed out to R the following White House press conference exchange:

 

QUESTION: The First Lady is going to be leaving in a few hours for Hawaii, obviously she isn’t able to go with the President. But I wanted to ask you, isn’t it quite an extravagence? Four people to go in two jets to Hawaii, particularly given, the state of the economy the state of the budget, and also given the directive that was just put out about limiting air travel by the adminstration?

Carney’s responce: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zLMh9JJ8OiU

 

 Rutherford’s response- hilarious denial.

 

Oh please Gorilla … give me a f*cking break. If Obama flew off to HI with his family you’d be crying foul that he’s vacationing when he should be governing. Now you want the First Family grounded to save money. There’s no winning with you.

Stop tossing the petty sh*t out there and focus on something meaningful like whether or not you think the payroll tax reduction should be extended.

Hmmmmmm, an interesting deflection, considering that the two-month extension passed by the Senate won’t work. What’s worse, it is this mentality that Obama is entitled to a nice vacation because he is, well, Obama. I pointed out the obligation Obama has to manage the resources of the government wisely, and the fact that this is not the first time Mooch has vacationed on our dime, to which R opines:

 

So Gorilla, you don’t buy Jay Carney’s assertion that previous First families have flown to their destinations on military jets without the President?

I’m still wondering … if Obama doesn’t get to Hawaii at all because of congressional masturbation, is the First Family supposed to cancel their vacation plans?

I suffer under no illusion that the First Family and my family get to live the same lifestyle. Being President carries some perks. It always has in recent history.

 

Some perks. Indeed. 

 

What R doesn’t seem to understand is that those perks come with some responsibility. Like Michelle Obama leaving early to go to Martha’s Vineyard because she didn’t want to wait four hours. Four hours! Separate aircraft, separate crews, separate security details- is it really too much to ask for Mooch to cool her heals for four hours? She has reportedly spent more than $10 million dollars in the last year alone on vacation. Vail. Colorado? Spain? Really, is this woman worked that hard?

 

And how much do you think all those concerts at the White House cost? Even if you managed to get Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder or Paul Simon to play for free, these are black tie affairs and there are plenty of entertainment costs, like food and beverages, security, staff support, etc. How much does this cost?

 

And this doesn’t even account for the 88 rounds of golf so far. But this is all in the face of the fact that Obama just signed an Executive Order titled Promoting Efficient Spending that says:

 

 Sec. 3.  Travel.  (a)  Agency travel is important to the effective functioning of Government and certain activities can be performed only by traveling to a different location.  However, to ensure efficient travel spending, agencies are encouraged to devise strategic alternatives to Government travel, including local or technological alternatives, such as teleconferencing and video conferencing.  Agencies should make all appropriate efforts to conduct business and host or sponsor conferences in space controlled by the Federal Government, wherever practicable and cost effective.  Lastly, each agency should review its policies associated with domestic civilian permanent change of duty station travel (relocations), including eligibility rules, to identify ways to reduce costs and ensure appropriate controls are in place.

 

(b)  Each agency, agency component, and office of inspector general should designate a senior level official to be responsible for developing and implementing policies and controls to ensure efficient spending on travel and conference related activities, consistent with subsection (a) of this section.

 

 

Now Rutherford will go on and call this “bad optics”. That all White House’s entertain and that all President’s vacation. But there has never been a bigger lie wrapped in a thread truth than this. Does it matter whether previous President’s held concerts or traveled on extravagant vacations? We’re talking about this pResident, who is asking the people to vote for him a second term. Obama has gone on and on about how he inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression, yet he has been by far the worst custodian of the people’s money in the history of the nation.

 

• ·         $5 trillion dollars worth of deficits since Obama took office, accounting for 1/3 of the $15 trillion dollar national debt.
• ·         8.6% Unemployment with 20+% Underemployment millions exhausting 99 weeks- nearly two years- worth of unemployment.
• ·         No National Budget since 2008.

 

This Administration has been the poster child for incompetency. Even when wasteful spending has been identified- by government agencies no less- this Administration has failed to address it. For instance, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified $125 billion in improper payments. Remember when we needed to find a trillion dollars over the next ten years to prevent sequestration? Well here it is: $125 billion x 10 years = $1.25 trillion dollars. Or how about the $200 billion identified on duplicate federal programs? $200 billion x 10 years = $2 trillion dollars.

 

Hmmmmm, in about three minutes, I just found $3.25 trillion dollars in savings over the next ten years.

 

But this requires a simple recognition that the money of the people actually belongs to the people and that it is a finite resource. Obama and Dems in general have demonstrated absolutely zero ability to recognize that fact, which is why you see them blow $500 billion on failing pet projects like Solyndra, or just the total disregard that comes with flying two presidential aircraft four hours apart because someone can’t wait. How can Obama make the argument that he cares about fiscal responsibility when he has been anything but fiscally responsible?

 

But back to the more important issue here- Rutherford.

 

I said this on December 13^th:

 

 

Instead, Obama and the left are focused on deflecting the election away from the Administration’s record and towards ‘ideas’. The reasoning is obvious, Obama- contrary to his own narcissistic analysis of himself- cannot defend his record, so he needs to focus on rhetoric and platitudes. Just like 2008, Obama is going to focus on nebulous ideas that vilifies one segment of our society while victimizing the other.

 

And Rutherford, right on cue, is proving me exactly right. Can’t defend Mooch, so he attacks me for expecting Obama to… save money? OH MY GOD!!! The horror! The travesty! How DARE one have such expectations!

 

Rutherford, pull you head out of your ass, scrape the shit from your eyes, and look at what you hold up as an example. Clearly, you can’t fix stupid.