The Sunday Political Brunch – Feb. 24, 2013
(Providence, Rhode Island) – I have an exciting movie project to tell you about, concerning an issue that has stirred a lot of political debate. More about that in a minute, but first I promised I would handicap the 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls as of now, just as we looked at Democrats last week. Here we go!
Bush v. Clinton – It's not outside the realm of possibility that we could see another Bush-Clinton "family feud" ala 1992. Right now Hillary Clinton is the Democratic frontrunner, and Jeb Bush has a realistic shot at being the Republican nominee if he chooses to run. Bush is a potential powerhouse for a number of reasons. He could put Florida (and its 29 votes) back in the GOP Electoral College column. Bush, who is fluent in Spanish, has polled well among Hispanic voters (his wife is Colombian). So he could help close that voter gap for Republicans. The bottom line, this race would just be plain fascinating to cover. It's the best headline maker among the possibilities.
Candid Camera – The outspoken and gruff Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, is also a good bet to run in the GOP primary. He's candid, quotable, colorful and spontaneous (which can be good and bad). The bottom line, he's a refreshing change from rehearsed speeches and canned sound bites that dominate American politics. He's the Forrest Gump "box of chocolates" candidate because you never know what you are going to get. People like his brash self-confidence and bravado. The fact that he was recently in the ultra-liberal San Francisco Bay Area for a fundraiser tells you he's serious.
Si Senor Rubio – Marco Rubio, who might be Vice President right now had Mitt Romney picked him, is a top-tier candidate. Then again he might be president of the Poland Spring water company after that awkward drink of water during the State of the Union response! I think they should call that controversy, "Watergate!" Ok, I'll stop with my stand-up comedy routine. But seriously, Rubio could be the Hispanic version of Barack Obama. He's young, energetic, and bright and has a compelling personal story. People like the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" stories. It's truly American! One caveat: if Jeb Bush runs, Rubio won't. The two are close and Bush is his mentor. In fact Rubio ran for the Senate at Bush's encouragement, after Bush passed on the race.
Ohio Rules – I seriously think we will have a contender from Ohio. Either Governor John Kasich or Senator Rob Portman will run. Why? Because the GOP cannot win the White House without Ohio – never has, never will. Both men are budget experts, and we will likely come out of the Obama years with a federal deficit in excess of 20 trillion dollars. I'm not saying the GOP can fix it either, but Kasich was House Budget Committee Chairman and Portman was Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. These guys are number crunchers, at a time when it's going to be an asset to have that experience on the resume.
There She Goes - A big problem for the GOP may continue to be the gender gap. Republicans don’t have to win the female vote; they just need to be more competitive. I don’t think Sarah Palin will run (because she can't win); and I don’t think Condoleezza Rice will run (even though she could win). Look for a female VP candidate to get serious consideration. Rice is plausible, as is Governor Susana Martinez of New Mexico. If Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee, a female Republican on the ticket is almost a certainty.
Longshots – Former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has the right mix of political and private sector acumen. He's a possibility. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky made headlines by teeing off on Hillary Clinton in the recent Libya hearings. He really skewered her, without coming off as a bully. But, he's too closely allied with the Tea Party, and its power is starting to wane. Paul may be viable someday, but I don't think that day is on the 2016 calendar. Paul Ryan would have to give up a safe House seat and the Budget Committee Chairmanship. Look, he could not even carry his home state of Wisconsin for the GOP in 2012, and the party needs to win the Badger State to get back into the White House. Like Paul, Ryan may be viable another year, but likely not 2016.
Amazing Ops: Siege at Benghazi – As mentioned at the top, I am doing some of the public relations work for a film now in production, "Amazing Ops: Siege at Benghazi." It is being produced by some friends at HistoriVision LLC (www.HistoriVision.com) and is an important film aimed at explaining what happened in Libya on September 11, 2012. If you've ever wondered about how special operations and intelligence forces operate this is the film to watch. Look at the movie trailer and click on the link if you’d like to help make it reality! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/historivision/amazing-ops-siege-at-benghazi.
As always, if you have opinions, questions or disagreements, just click the comment button at www.MarkCurtisMedia.com.
Jack Baillargeron
11:50 am on Monday, February 25, 2013
Somehow; I do not see the point of "Siege at Benghazi". So much is still not known about what exactly happened there and for me to have a movie that will have to rely on assumtions, and opinions not based on facts (since the facts are still not know), seems a little crass and disrespectful to those that died and their families who have yet to get the facts also.
When you have the person who was the Head of the Department ie Hillary say "what does it matter", one of the most disgusting thing she has ever said in my opinion. Only made the argument even more paramount of what is this administration covering up. Not to mention it being used currently by the administration as a bribe to Congress to get buget concessions. Now if that does not make one wonder what kind of corruption is going on, I don't know what does.
Mark Curtis
5:42 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Jack: "Amazing Ops" is being done with the technical assistance of a career Special Ops veteran and a Navy SEAL. It is not being done to be a "movie," it is being done to explain the operation and it's aftermath, based on good information that is available from knowledgeable sources. I think it's worthwhile.
Jack Baillargeron
6:33 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Mark@ I still disagree with it. When I watched the trailer I had to ask how they can even think of doing this with so much misinformation and lack of facts surrounding what happened.
The trailer looks like a movie to me. They are asking for money to finish a film. That to me is a movie ;-}. As for the operation itself there, I can't see how it can be done. Even Congress does not yet have the names of the people rescued, the families have not been told details other than smoke an mirrors of meaningless misinformation.
Have to disagree on this being made at this time. Sorry not my cup of tea ;-}.
Thanks for replying.
Leave RI
4:48 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
If you think budget cuts are effecting us well then.....
http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/02/facing-mass-layoffs-taliban-protests-against-automatic-us-budget-cuts-from-sequester/
Jack Baillargeron
12:01 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
To the Bush senario, Don't see it. When you still have the continued push and blame game of everything GB. Don't think his brother is that stupid to do a run at this time.
Christy, though in the news and out spoken, his policies for many things are not mainstream conservative at all. Well the media may push him, because they know he cannot get the even close to the full backing of conservatives. It is wishful thinking by some "East Coast Conservatives" that he would even come close to having a chance at a nomination in my opinion.
Ohio? May have something there, but way to early to tell.
Not sure if the woman thing will be tried again, lot of brusing still healing there.
Longshots are well longshots and agree those are.
"Benghazi" See above ;-}.
Leave RI
2:01 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
"He's candid, quotable, colorful and spontaneous (which can be good and bad)...."
..again, Vermin Supreme has it all.
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/01/10/vermin-supreme-the-presidential-candidate-who-promises-free-ponies/
Jack Baillargeron
7:04 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Know all about Mr. Vermin he a NH institution lol.
Anyone who wears a Firefighters Boot on his head has to smarter than whats in Washington now.
. .
Leave RI
1:36 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Candid Camera –
It would be pretty cool to be able to say "my President can eat your President"
Amazing Ops: Siege at Benghazi -
I spent 04-05 in AFRICOM with a JSOTF TACON to us...at Camp Lemonier. This could be interesting in the "BS Flag throwing" department. Can't wait to break out the red tipped pencil.
Leave RI
1:51 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Holy crap!..do they even make red tipped pencils anymore?
Jack Baillargeron
7:06 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Yes to Red tip pencils, they sell them at the Vermin Campaign Headquarters, HaleBop botique, and all Pork Fat deli's across the US.
Leave RI
7:36 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Thanks Jack but I think Vermin and Arthur are calling their pencils "candy" and have been chewing on the lead..thanks for the deli tip..
Joe Sousa
7:20 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
The mid terms will have an effect on the Presidential Election. The US dollar is shrinking as prices escalate. Reminding me of the Carter years. I really don't see either party fixing the problem .
Benjamin Franklin quote: When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.
BD
7:23 am on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Did you just cut and paste this comment from four years ago? It would have been just as useless then. Not that you are interested in facts, but the the inflation rate has been at about 1.5% for the last two years.
Naome Lixes
7:30 am on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Two things; that quote is so frequently bollixed by twits of a conservative bent that is has become an internet meme - neither Franklin, nor Alexis de Touqueville said it,
that was originally attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler from Scotland and there are no citable references. This gets trotted out by the losing side after every election. Newly energized "political activists" are like a puppy that just discovered
their peter, overly excitable. "Look what I found, Ma!"
Secondly, anyone with a rudimentary grasp of economics understands that increased demand drives prices up. It might surprise some of our more cloistered neighbors to discover their are people outside the US buying the same stuff.
Joe, don't you get tired of being wrong so often?
Here's a quote that has a known source,
"It is better to have people think you a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
-- Mark Twain
(or was it Abraham Lincoln at the opening of the first WalMart?)
"Education is the cheap defence of nations."
-- Edmund Burke (he advocated paying teachers well, natch)
Small Change
9:04 am on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
=JS wrote-Benjamin Franklin quote: When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.
Naome replied-Two things; that quote is so frequently bollixed by twits of a conservative bent that is has become an internet meme - neither Franklin, nor Alexis de Touqueville said it,
that was originally attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler from Scotland and there are no citable references.=
This is not true. It is in fact by deTocqueville (sic) and he said it in many slightly different forms. Here is one -
The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.
Alexis de Tocqueville
This has always been the case, of course, but what was so startling since the last election was the gloating, particularly by the likes of NL, that the 'losing' party did not 'get it', and particularly did not properly appeal to the 'changing demographic' by understanding that the way to win elections is to give people stuff without any thought of paying for it.
Joe Sousa
7:21 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Buy Gold !
Leave RI
7:41 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
I do but I'm afraid the weird guy on TV wants to touch it too.
The Parrot
7:47 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Have you no shame?
Leave RI
9:17 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Indeed
Tom
7:11 am on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Investing camo t-shirt production. We'll all be wearing camo when the revolution starts.
Jack Baillargeron
10:30 am on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
A paraphrased derivative of a quote is relevant as long as the meaning and intent of the paraphrase is understood. This constant derision by people who know full well what the poster meant is merely a way to deflect the reasoning for the quote in my opinion.
Does it make a difference as long as you got the context and meaning of it? Of course not. So why argue about it? Because you have lost the argument is usually the case with that.
The seriousness of the subject at hand is the debate, not the posters imperfections, which every poster has at one time or another. Utopias do not exist, nor does the perfection in humans. That is a fact. Our founders spent 4 months locked up together to come up with the Constitution and Bill of rights words. They argued over every single word that was written, in order to make documents that would stand the test of time.
If your only answer is too deride or try and correct something you clearly knew the meaning of in the first place; well then you have no argument obviously to what the poster wrote and are wasting space on a nonsensical reply. This goes for spelling errors and grammar also. Again it matters not as long as the thought of the poster is understood. If you do not get it, the thing to do is ask the poster to clarify not deride them for errors.
Also the some words used 200 years ago have slightly changed, which must also be taken in consideration. It is the meaning of the words then, not now. My opinion anyway.
Naome Lixes
5:31 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
"Also the some words used 200 years ago have slightly changed, which must also be taken in consideration. It is the meaning of the words then, not now. My opinion anyway." So, you do or do not consider the Constitution a living document?
Can't have it both ways, skippy.
PS - Neither Ben Franklin nor AdT ever said this, as is frequently claimed.
Here's something AdT DID say -
Democracy in America begins:
AMONG the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of condition among the people. I readily discovered the prodigious influence that this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society; it gives a peculiar direction to public opinion and a peculiar tenor to the laws; it imparts new maxims to the governing authorities and peculiar habits to the governed.
I soon perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less effect on civil society than on the government; it creates opinions, gives birth to new sentiments, founds novel customs, and modifies whatever it does not produce. The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that this equality of condition is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated.
How was this influence derived?
Tax and spend
Naome Lixes
5:40 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
"A paraphrased derivative of a quote is relevant as long as the meaning and intent of the paraphrase is understood."
Not when it's a fabrication. Attributing something bogus to one of the most influential architects of America's democratic institutions to support a current political point of view is beneath contempt and deserves derision.
"This constant derision by people who know full well what the poster meant is merely a way to deflect the reasoning for the quote in my opinion."
You mean, that constant demand for facts, proof and attribution? Pesky, innit?
"Does it make a difference as long as you got the context and meaning of it? Of course not. So why argue about it?"
I suppose we should just read your latest encylical, kiss the ring and accept fate.?
Does the Tea Party have a Pope? Shaman? Wizard?
Please.
"Because you have lost the argument is usually the case with that."
Umm... no, not so much. When you start from an assertion that's demonstrably
biased, and intentionally applied to someone we all consider respectable you've got
a pious fraud. We went to war with Iraq over one of those, if memory serves.
If the Tea Party offers any benefit to America, it will be this; our tolerance for this kind of truthiness has dropped to the point of instant detection.
This assertion didn't pass the smell test, and the poster is rolling in this stuff.
Jack Baillargeron
10:36 am on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Something to consider by a man we would never have though was a "Prophet"
“You Americans are so gullible. No, you won't accept communism outright, but we'll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you'll finally wake up and find you already have communism. We won't have to fight you. We'll so weaken your economy until you'll fall like overripe fruit into our hands.” Nikita Krushchev, 1959"
Naome Lixes
5:25 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Here's a newsflash, in case you missed it;
The CCCP dissolved in 1991. There followed a brief experiment with Libertarian theology when those with power and connections managed to buy all the public property they could get their hands on.
http://www.historyorb.com/russia/intro.php
Jack Baillargeron
6:14 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
NL@ What does that have to do with his prediction for this Country? That is by the way happening before our very eyes for those that don't hide their head in the sand.
Naome Lixes
9:30 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
You can't back up the Kruschev quote because it's yet another Conservative trope ginned up to rile up white people. Sort of like the Joe Sousa spam, above.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2008/11/13/bogus-khrushchev-quote-makes-the-rounds-again.htm
You were right about one thing, SOME Americans are gullible.
Perhaps you could, in fact, detail concretely what Communist actions are taking place in this country before our very eyes?
I doubt that, but G'Head Chief Sitting Bull-oney.
Naome Lixes
5:21 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
@ small change
De Tocqeville never said this, although it sounds as if he may have done.
This is a pious fraud, and points to the swampy ground beneath so much of what passes for Tea Party "thought" - fiction.
http://www.tocqueville.org/pitney.htm
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/11/sorry-conservatives-de-tocqueville-did-not-call-2012-election/58839/
It's used to put on what looks like a learned, studied response to the opposition
when, in fact, it's a simmered load of snakeoil.
If you're going to hold up a fictitious quote as support for your case, at least use a fictional character as your source;
"We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking 'in reality.' And reality has a well-known liberal bias."
- Stephen Colbert at the 2006 WH press correspondent's dinner
"Does it make a difference as long as you got the context and meaning of it? Of course not. So why argue about it? Because you have lost the argument is usually the case with that." Jack, patron saint of the bogus
When the originating quote is both misattributed and false? Nope.
If you're going to step out in public, and lay claim to what amounts to lies that are intended to undermine the factual underpinnings of a fragile democracy, you deserve neither sympathy, support or paraphrasing.
http://liberalbias.com/
The Tea Party adherents have promulgated lies and fraud, long enough.
Jack Baillargeron
5:53 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
I rest my Case. When you lost the argument this is the type of replies (nonsensicle) lol.
Naome Lixes
9:20 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
"I rest my Case."
You made one?
" When you lost the argument this is the type of replies (nonsensicle) lol."
Perhaps you should find a neighbor that owns a dictionary, to help with big words.
Small Change
11:47 am on Thursday, February 28, 2013
Fair enough.
When I have been shown to be in error I am happy to doff my cap. This is how we learn.
Having a disagreement with you, however, does not make me a Tea Party adherent. I am not. I am somewhat rabidly moderate. I realize the Democratic party is currently all about division - pitting black and Latino against white, gay against straight, union vs non union etc. This 'us against them' mentality may be good for the party, but tearing the country apart by creating artificial divisions is not good for our society. I can actually believe that irresposible spoending is irresponsible and not be pigeonholed as some sort of fanatic.
Speaking of apocryphal misattributed quotes, my favourite Ben Franklin quote he never said is astoundingly prophetic about our two parties, one wedded to public sector unions, the other to big business, and their resulting predatory attitude toward the rest of the citizenry-'Democracy is like two wolves and a sheep trying to decide what to have for dinner.'
Naome Lixes
12:10 pm on Thursday, February 28, 2013
"I am somewhat rabidly moderate."
That's an oxymoron.
"I realize the Democratic party is currently all about division - pitting black and Latino against white, gay against straight, union vs non union etc."
Are you SURE you're not a Tea Party member, that's straight out of their playbook.
"This 'us against them' mentality may be good for the party, but tearing the country apart by creating artificial divisions is not good for our society."
Where, exactly, does the Democratic party encourage this? Cited examples would
be good, if only to define your terms.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lets-just-say-it-the-republicans-are-the-problem/2012/04/27/gIQAxCVUlT_story_2.html
"I can actually believe that irresposible spoending is irresponsible and not be pigeonholed as some sort of fanatic." Most of those screaming loudly about profligate Government waste and "handouts" are on the dole, themselves.
In particular, the cost of elder medical care is passed along (by borrowing) to be paid at a future date by young people unlikely to receive the same generous benefits in their retirement. These beneficiaries did not defend the jobs these
young people can only dream about - sold out.
Perhaps not, but it does sound a great deal about what we've heard before.
(Not from moderates, rabid or otherwise.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/us/08iht-letter08.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Those born before the Regan years got a better deal than those born after.
Small Change
12:31 pm on Thursday, February 28, 2013
="I am somewhat rabidly moderate."
That's an oxymoron.=
No it is not.
I first heard it from the ever admirable Chrissy Todd Whitman, who would have been the best choice for Pres I have seen in my lifetime. (I beleive she used 'radical' instead of rabid'.)
The vast majority of the American people want a centrist government. Neither a Bush-Cheney (accent on the last two syllables) nor an Obama administration.
Thanks to our bizzare primary system, where the special interest fanatics can be far overrepresented, we never get that oppotunity.
The zealots at both ends of the spectrum are destroying this country (see under 'Fiscal Cliff.') I appreciate that you will not understand this, but one can be as ardently desirous of reason and moderation as of radicalization and polarization.
jim halsband
2:08 pm on Saturday, March 2, 2013
Naome, brilliant submissions, thank you! But as Einstein stated and it loses nothing in paraphrase.....'the stupidity of mankind has no limits' as our elected officials discuss fried calamari!
Naome Lixes
2:20 pm on Saturday, March 2, 2013
@ JH
Thank you for the kind words, but I'm barely average - my IQ test says 100.
(Three times over 4 years - same score, AND I've lost a step since then...)
That makes a good deal of what gets posted here all the more unnerving...
jim halsband
2:54 pm on Saturday, March 2, 2013
Naome, those numbers mean less than nothing, as is more than apparent considering mine. It is not how deep the well, it's how you dangle the bucket! And you bring extraordinary insight to the discussion, a bucket full of refreshing intellectual truth! Good going, these discussions rely on exactly what you bring to it!
Jack Baillargeron
6:12 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
On the other hand there is this quote.
"They are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase not as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please which may be good for the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless. It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please...Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect." --Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on a National Bank, 1791
Naome Lixes
9:33 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
M'kay? The General Welfare clause... your point being?
Apologies to the OP, we're WAY off the reservation on this one.
Chief Whatta Paila Hooey got us here...
Leave RI
9:43 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
I had to...much like the "don't stare at my cousins' birthmark"..it's almost impossible to resist..my apologies to Mark Curtis and of course Naome for the copy write of her image.
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/pics/close2hm.jpg
Naome Lixes
10:14 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
At least they captured my best side...