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Subscribe to RSSLike sands through the hourglass, the latest in the Petraeus sex scandal… Will this reflect poorly on the military as an institution?... Obama meets with labor and progressive leaders at 11:30 am ET to talk about upcoming fiscal cliff negotiations… John Kerry as defense secretary?... Will Pelosi stick around?... And sifting through the exit polls: GOP lost on the issues, too… But there were two bright spots for the party (on role of government and health care).
*** Like sands through the hourglass…: Just when we thought the Petraeus sex scandal couldn't get any more bizarre, here are the new developments we’ve seen in JUST the last 12 hours: Last night we learned, via the Wall Street Journal, that the FBI agent who started the investigation that uncovered the affair between CIA Director David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell had apparently sent a shirtless photos to Jill Kelley. Kelley, you remember, is the woman Broadwell allegedly sent threatening emails to because she feared Kelly was a rival for Petraeus' affections. Then we learned that Gen. John Allen -- the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan who has been nominated to be head of U.S. forces in Europe and Supreme Allied Commander of NATO -- sent 20,000 to 30,000 pages of documents to Kelley (most of them emails). And then comes the news that Petraeus didn’t want to resign, at least until it became clear his affair with Broadwell would become public. Folks, you can't make this up; it sounds like "Young and the Restless," “Days of Our Lives" or an absurd episode of “Real Housewives.”
Handout / Reuters
General John R. Allen, left, incoming commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)/U.S. Forces- Afghanistan (USFOR-A) and General David H. Petraeus, commander, ISAF/USFOR-A, attend a meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan in this July 9, 2011 file photograph.
*** Will this reflect poorly on the military as an institution? The question is whether these are isolated incidents or something more systemic within the military’s culture, especially its top commanders. In our May 2012 NBC/WSJ poll, respondents rated the U.S. military as the institution they had the most confidence in -- a combined 74% said they either had a “great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence in it. That’s was compared with just 42% who said the same about the presidency, 33% who said that about the Supreme Court, 25% who said that about religious leaders and organizations, 17% who said that about large corporations, 16% who said that about the federal government, and 15% who said that about the news media. As we’ve said before, we’ve become a society that has lost faith in its institutions. Is the military the next to go? This scandal, if it continues to deepen, could do what the Iraq war did NOT: erode trust in the military, at least with the leadership.
*** Latest in the fiscal cliff negotiations: At 11:30 am ET, President Obama and Vice President Biden meet with labor and progressive leaders to talk about the upcoming “fiscal cliff” negotiations. A reminder: The actual talks have not yet started; everyone has to get their politics out of the way first, and that’s what today’s White House meeting is all about. The question: How much leeway is the left going to give Obama, especially when it comes to entitlements? That’s what today’s meeting is about for the president, find out what the left’s breaking point is on Social Security and Medicare, for instance. Here’s more fiscal-cliff reporting from the White House’s side: Team Obama says that its last offer in July 2011 is not even a remote starting point. Their starting point is what they outlined afterward: raising tax rates for the wealthy back to the Clinton levels. And from the GOP’s side: Their starting position is that they are open to changing tax code, but not raising rates. But what they REALLY want are changes to Social Security and Medicare. Politico’s David Rogers makes a very good point: What comes first in the negotiations -- locking down a revenue target or actual tax rates? You can’t really debate rates until a revenue target is agreed upon.
*** Kerry as defense secretary? As one of us reported on “TODAY” on Friday, defense secretary is an option for John Kerry – if the White House decides to have Susan Rice succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. And the Washington Post picks that up today: “President Obama is considering asking Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) to serve as his next defense secretary, part of an extensive rearrangement of his national security team that will include a permanent replacement for former CIA director David H. Petraeus. Although Kerry is thought to covet the job of secretary of state, senior administration officials familiar with the transition planning said that nomination will almost certainly go to Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.” But do note that tapping a new defense secretary might not be something we see for months, especially with the Petraeus/Allen news. The transition at State is expected a lot sooner. By the way, many Republicans, including South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, are promising a brutal confirmation fight if Rice is picked as they want to re-litigate her role in the Benghazi aftermath.
*** Will Pelosi stick around? Politico: “House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will meet with top Democrats on Tuesday night — followed by another leadership-only session early Wednesday as she prepares for a meeting with all House Democrats — but it is still unclear whether she will stay or go after nearly a decade in power. Pelosi has declined to discuss her plans since Democrats picked up as many as eight seats on Election Day. During an interview Sunday with San Francisco-based reporters on Sunday, Pelosi wasn’t giving anything away.”
*** Sifting through the exit polls: GOP lost on the issues, too: For all the talk about how Romney and the Republicans lost when it came to demographics, the turnout, and the tactics, the exit polls also show that they lost when it came to a slew of issues. For years, the GOP has branded itself as the party that supports low taxes (especially for the wealthy) and opposes abortion and gay marriage. But according to the exit polls from last week’s presidential election, a combined 60% said that tax rates should increase either for everyone or for those making more than $250,000. Just 35% said the tax rates shouldn’t increase for anyone. What’s more, 59% said that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. And by a 49%-to-46% margin, voters said that their states should legally recognize same-sex marriage.
*** But two bright spots for the GOP: Even on comprehensive immigration reform -- a subject that some Republicans (like George W. Bush) once supported, but most no longer do -- 65% said most illegal immigrants should be offered a chance to apply for legal status. (And since the election, GOP senators like Lindsey Graham and John McCain are now signaling renewed support of comprehensive immigration reform.) But there were two bright spots for Republicans on the issues: A majority of voters -- 51% -- indicated that the government is doing too many things better left to businesses and the individuals. By comparison, 43% said government should do more to solve problems. That’s a reversal from 2008, when 51% said the government should do more and 43% said it is doing too much. And a plurality of voters -- 49% -- said all or some of the health-care law should be repealed, versus 44% who said it should be expanded or left alone. So even with this pro-Obama electorate, the president cannot claim a mandate on health care or role of government.
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Stick to your guns and click your heels together there’s no place like home there’s no place like home!
Thank God Bengasi is behind us, two down and how many to Go! Good luck Kerry hope your sheets are clean!
I hope the appointment is not offered to Sen. Kerry because he is an honorable man who would not refuse the President's request that he serve his country as Secretary of Defense. If he leaves the Senate a safe Democratic seat will be placed at risk. Recent history confirms that Republicans who run for Senate do not do so for the good of the country. There are other well qualified persons to whom the appointment can be offered.
Kerry honorable?? HE LIED ABOUT HIS MILITARY SERVICE...and it cost him the presidency.
This whole thing stinks! Don't try to tell me Obama didn't know all about this. But the people who voted for him will put on their blinders and defend him until the bitter end. Go right ahead - you get what you deserve.
Obama did not know and no matter how hard you wish you cannot make it so that he did know.
Blinders anyone?
@ Husker girl:
You're probably right. The President probably did know about this. But you better hope he limits the damage to your undeserving Party to a minimum. You better brace yourself Babe. Because the more we find out, the more damage will likely point at GOP crimes trying to fix and steer an election. Don't gloat so fast. Less you end up on your a.s.t!
yes, I hear obama was watching petraeus have sex in a hotel room, and videotaping it! lol.
You seem to have all the blinders. Take them off .
If President Obama didn't know about the affair and investigation prior to Nov 7th, then someone needs to be fired now. According to a time line from AP today the FBI was contacted in May 2012. FBI started an investigation and FBI Director Robert Mueller was notified in Summer 2012 (no exact date). Late Summer 2012, AG Eric Holder was notified (no exact date). By this time, FBI has determined there was no national security breach, but continued investigation into whether Petraeus had any role in the harassing emails sent to Kelly.
Also of importance was, according to the AP, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was notified on Nov 6th, and Clapper urged Petraeus to resign. The White House was notified on Nov 7th. Petraeus meets with President on Nov 8th and submits resignation. Obama accepted resignation on Nov 9th.
I can not believe that AG Holder, who was told about the affair & investigation, did not inform the President or the Director of National Security immediately. Further, why didn't FBI Director Mueller not immediately notify AG Holder? Also why wasn't the Senate and House Intelligence Committees not notified as required when an investigation of a very high official is being conducted?
I believe President Obama and Dir Clapper were notified by either AG Holder in late summer and the information was withheld for political reasons due to the upcoming election. A lot of questions need to be answered.
Incompetence..... OOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRR Cover up....
You ask whether the Petreaus affair will reflect on American's trust in the military. Haven't you reported on all the military sexual trauma (MST) that's come to light during OEF/OIF? Reporting about the general now being investigated for forcing female subordinates to have sex with him? An extra-marital affair is way too common among men in powerful positions, and that includes men within the military ranks. I have greater outrage that the military has been slow to address MST than that one retired General cheated on his wife.
Except that he happened to be the head of the CIA, with access to all U.S. intelligence information. Minor details.
Check out Boston.com article "After the Assaults" from May 14, 2012.
I don't minimize that horrendous situation at all. It should be addressed with the greatest possible consequences for the perpetrators. I am just apalled by the number of times I have heard in the last few days, "It's just an affair." If Petraeus is just a private citizen, he can break whatever commandments he chooses to. If he is head of the CIA, he had better have an ounce of integrity. Our country has enough problems without his pillow talk and emails about national intelligence.
With All the French benefits isn’t good to be king or head of the CIA all that foreign tail! KERRY should have a good time or a better time than what he’s already having
The military never had the trust from a Democratic admin
How can Susan Rice possibly serve as Secretary of State? No leaders of other countries would believe a word she says, after she lied to the citizens of her own country about Benghazi. No credibility.
Her statements were based on information provided by the intelligence agencies you know those same agencies that were supposed to have provided George W. about WMDS in Iraq. Did they lie to Bush or did they lie to Rice. If they lied to one they probably lied to the other.
But we all know now that it was known by the White House to be a terrorist attack several days before she went on 5 Sunday news shows. Middle East countries won't care about the details of who lied to whom. The issue is "Does the United States have integrity? And can we trust what the Secretary of State tells us?" Is this position being dangled like a carrot because she went along with the deception? Because we don't know, we can't trust.
This country healed from many things after its conduct in Vietnam but George W. destroyed any integrity that this country had and made enough new enemies to last this country another 500 years and all this is unfinished business left over from the disaster that was the Bush administration.
You're out of your mind. Grow up.
Hey America! Go to todays Programming Notes posted earlier this morning to read another "Bone Chilling Episode" of. "Darth Rove!" AKA. Karl Rove. The GOP/RNC "Master Of Madness and Misinformation. Enjoy this very 'special' episode. So the Tea Begger's in the US Senate and the US House Of Representatives. Are still refusing to talk about their "Caucus Conspiracy." Read the book by Robert Draper America. It is called. "Do Not Ask What Good We Do." Then let your representatives know that justice must be served on the Fourteen Tea Begger Felon's. America will find out that there is a very 'treasonous' slow moving GOP Elephant in the room.
If the American people can accept a great military being turned into a mercenary force by George W, and not complain about then they can accept almost anything. Our military now functions along the lines of the French Foreign Legion.
Think campaign ads are over? Think again.
Tomorrow, President Obama will meet with industry leaders to lay out his fiscal proposals and you can bet that industries, such as oil and gas, are not going to like losing their pet deductions and credits - such as the oil depletion allowance.
In response, we will now be subjected to another barrage of bs touting why industry "A" should be allowed to continue using accelerated depletion schedules while industry "B" should be permitted to write off huge R&D expenses - especially important to Big Pharma.
The US Chamber of Commerce, which complains daily about big government and wasteful spending, will be leading the charge to maintain exemptions, credits and deductions for its members. Hypocrisy on parade!
What a joke! Two army generals being exposed for getting a little "fringe" benifits , on the side. Look at your present president, who has been exposed to those girls in Colombia who the secret service was lining up those babes for Obama, and The Obama stripteaser in Florida that makes $85,000+ , stripping, had $9,000 worth of "enhancements", done on the taxpayers dime, and charged with stealing $24,000 from the Obama welfare , and food stamp program, What a disgrace to ALL Americans! This worthless parasite should have been impeached years ago! Looks like this is one-sided, the generals step down, but Obama continues to do more of the same!
You're crazy. Get back on your meds and lock the doors.
I am going to have to disagree with Chuck Todd on his thesi. This whole deal with the generals and the women reads more like a James Bond movie than a soap opera. I mean "Broad Well." Really? Who makes this stuff up?
The two things that bother me the most are first, how the United States must not be fighting (or winning for that matter) any wars if our generals, and top military graduates from West Point, behave like such losers.
They say that the "chicken sh*t falls from the top down." If this is the way our highest and most decorated generals are behaving, like petty little sex-craved dictators, then just how bad must the whole mess smell at the very bottom of the chain of command.
Second, lately it has been just one sex scandal after another. Not just men on women either, if we keep the disaster at Penn State in mind. Women don't have parity with men in equal occupation of high and powerful positions in society so when they mess up, it somehow really hits home, mainly in how badly this kind of behavior reflects on all women.
Paula Broadwell has betrayed her country, the miltary and West Point, academia, the institution of marriage, her children, and her husband. She should be brought before some hearing (along with Petreaus) and humiliated. Talk about the "grand slam" of affairs. But there have been disgraceful behavior like this showing up everywhere lately. In the media by people like Lara Logan. There has been the sickening nonsense over at NASA with the Lisa Nowak affair.
Chuck Todd would have us view it as just another episode of the "As the World Turns" but it is my world, and yours too. and I am suffering from illegal motion sickness. Don't you just get tired of the stench of how sexualized everthing has become? Unfortunately, people like Chuck Todd have plenty of company. The whole thing is relative for them. However, I believe that the whole thing is cumulative. One thing doesn't just lead to the next and next, and the one after that. But my opinion doesn't really count according to people like Chuch Todd. My opinion isn't sophisticated enough.
I mean, look at the latitude we gave to Lara Logan. I’m just a decadent Western guy, but her behavior as a journalist was amazing. If we have to send someone into the Middle East did it have to be a woman who represented everything our enemies hate most about decadent Western civilization? Or maybe I just didn’t see the memo that went out about keeping Lara Logan away from any Afghan soccer stadiums.
Maybe the poor sexually un-liberated Afghani, Iraqi and Pakistani women can't wait until they too can use the rights so easily flaunted by Lara Logan – like exploiting the institution of marriage for an address in the
United States, or exploiting her sexuality with a competing news journalist over at CNN, while having serial affairs when she was a married woman, and even having time to contribute to the destruction of another married woman's marriage by having an affair with that poor woman's husband -- all while supposedly
reporting the war in Iraq so expertly -- and then watching as Lara Logan got herself knocked-up by the poor woman's husband. I know there is crying need to scream out about how "The West is the Best" and all that, but did CBS really have to stick it to all these poor Middle Eastern men by having Lara Logan reporting on their failings?
This is becoming an old saw but once again (with most people yawning), I had to ask what happened to the principals of morality, professionalism, decency, fair play, patriotism, honesty, integrity, and others
-- like discretion -- in our journalists? This thing was just so awful, on so many levels. Maybe Lara Logan can do a report on this, and another about being another foreigner behaving badly in my country.
Would we have heard this type of nonsense about Walter Cronkite, or Mike Wallace, or David Brinkley, or Chet
Huntley, or John Chancellor, or Tom Brokaw? How about from CBS's great god Edward R. Murrow? Oh yeah, CBS gave Lara Logan the award. Well, then let’s not ask what these pillars of the news industry and womanhood would say? Except that Glamour Magazine gave Lara Logan the "Woman of the Year" award. Well, I must be just completely missing the point.
You know what people like Chuck Todd and others know about Lara Logan? Only that she got allegedly raped while reporting the civil war in Eygpt . . . in a country that had ejected her just weeks earlier, telling her in no uncertain terms to come back to Eygpt or else. CBS tried telling here, too. But off she went, where she became the news she was supposed to have been reporting.
People don't really forget. They like to say so, but they really don't. Some part of them absorbs these affairs into themselves, covers the failure of society to live by principles. They cover themselves with a bit more cynicism before moving on, demanding only that that the next scandal be somehow juicier than the last. And in this we are wonderfully rewarded.
Just look at what the very young 22-year-old starlet Kristen Stewart managed to pull off, having an affair with her married 41-year-old director that not only betrayed his wife, but the woman who played her mother in the movie her husband directed. Try holding all that in you mind for a moment. Kristen Stewart learned her lessons early and well.
I can't wait to see how much lower we can go? Can you?
If the republicans used half the energy it takes to create conspiracies and half the energy it used to cause problems for this country to help the country instead we would be well on way to a great recovery from the Bush disaster.
You are one STUPID little being. . .
Hold on to your hat, the trouble has not yet begun.
The people on here must not realize Broadwell had inside info on CIA affairs because of the good General your defending. Why is it Heads of CIA, another General involved and our secret service get passes for chasing skirts when there are jobs to be done and peoples lives at stake.
I am going to have to disagree with Chuck Todd on his thesi. This whole deal with the generals and the women reads more like a James Bond movie than a soap opera. I mean "Broad Well." Really? Who makes this stuff up?
The two things that bother me the most are first, how the United States must not be fighting (or winning for that matter) any wars if our generals, and top military graduates from West Point, behave like such losers.
They say that the "chicken sh*t falls from the top down." If this is the way our highest and most decorated generals are behaving, like petty little sex-craved dictators, then just how bad must the whole mess smell at the very bottom of the chain of command.
Second, lately it has been just one sex scandal after another. Not just men on women either, if we keep the disaster at Penn State in mind. Women don't have parity with men in equal occupation of high and powerful positions in society so when they mess up, it somehow really hits home, mainly in how badly this kind of behavior reflects on all women.
Paula Broadwell has betrayed her country, the miltary and West Point, academia, the institution of marriage, her children, and her husband. She should be brought before some hearing (along with Petreaus) and humiliated. Talk about the "grand slam" of affairs. But there have been disgraceful behavior like this showing up everywhere lately. In the media by people like Lara Logan. There has been the sickening nonsense over at NASA with the Lisa Nowak affair.
Chuck Todd would have us view it as just another episode of the "As the World Turns" but it is my world, and yours too. and I am suffering from illegal motion sickness. Don't you just get tired of the stench of how sexualized everthing has become? Unfortunately, people like Chuck Todd have plenty of company. The whole thing is relative for them. However, I believe that the whole thing is cumulative. One thing doesn't just lead to the next and next, and the one after that. But my opinion doesn't really count according to people like Chuch Todd. My opinion isn't sophisticated enough.
I mean, look at the latitude we gave to Lara Logan. I’m just a decadent Western guy, but her behavior as a journalist was amazing. If we have to send someone into the Middle East did it have to be a woman who represented everything our enemies hate most about decadent Western civilization? Or maybe I just didn’t see the memo that went out about keeping Lara Logan away from any Afghan soccer stadiums.
Maybe the poor sexually un-liberated Afghani, Iraqi and Pakistani women can't wait until they too can use the rights so easily flaunted by Lara Logan – like exploiting the institution of marriage for an address in the
United States, or exploiting her sexuality with a competing news journalist over at CNN, while having serial affairs when she was a married woman, and even having time to contribute to the destruction of another married woman's marriage by having an affair with that poor woman's husband -- all while supposedly
reporting the war in Iraq so expertly -- and then watching as Lara Logan got herself knocked-up by the poor woman's husband. I know there is crying need to scream out about how "The West is the Best" and all that, but did CBS really have to stick it to all these poor Middle Eastern men by having Lara Logan reporting on their failings?
This is becoming an old saw but once again (with most people yawning), I had to ask what happened to the principals of morality, professionalism, decency, fair play, patriotism, honesty, integrity, and others
-- like discretion -- in our journalists? This thing was just so awful, on so many levels. Maybe Lara Logan can do a report on this, and another about being another foreigner behaving badly in my country.
Would we have heard this type of nonsense about Walter Cronkite, or Mike Wallace, or David Brinkley, or Chet
Huntley, or John Chancellor, or Tom Brokaw? How about from CBS's great god Edward R. Murrow? Oh yeah, CBS gave Lara Logan the award. Well, then let’s not ask what these pillars of the news industry and womanhood would say? Except that Glamour Magazine gave Lara Logan the "Woman of the Year" award. Well, I must be just completely missing the point.
You know what people like Chuck Todd and others know about Lara Logan? Only that she got allegedly raped while reporting the civil war in Eygpt . . . in a country that had ejected her just weeks earlier, telling her in no uncertain terms to come back to Eygpt or else. CBS tried telling here, too. But off she went, where she became the news she was supposed to have been reporting.
People don't really forget. They like to say so, but they really don't. Some part of them absorbs these affairs into themselves, covers the failure of society to live by principles. They cover themselves with a bit more cynicism before moving on, demanding only that that the next scandal be somehow juicier than the last. And in this we are wonderfully rewarded.
Just look at what the very young 22-year-old starlet Kristen Stewart managed to pull off, having an affair with her married 41-year-old director that not only betrayed his wife, but the woman who played her mother in the movie her husband directed. Try holding all that in you mind for a moment. Kristen Stewart learned her lessons early and well.
I can't wait to see how much lower we can go? Can you?
Just another lying cover up from the LIAR IN CHIEF...Obama and his entire administration...are all SCUMBAGS
yawn. sex scandals happen. Obama's fault? lol.
Seems Obama has had his own fair share of sex scandals...
Vera Baker
Kal Penn
Reggie Love
Larry Sinclair
list goes on and on...but it's the way liberals do it.....lie and cheat and steal their way through...
Another prime example...JESS JACKSON JR.
down town- just by your atitude and you wonder why you lost the election. You have Proof of this or is this just another drudge report bs anti dem piece of s**t?
Yet not a thing was done about Clinton when he had his fling. You all deserve whats coming your way with your new dictator in charge. Maybe he can get rid of the rest of the generals with more charges then he can appoint who he wants. Its really laughable when they all screw around ,yet they hand pick the ones they want to get rid of.
One of Obama's greatest mistakes was continuing these Bush people in their jobs it is just hard to find anything that Bush touched that was nit tainted in some way or other. He should have terminated al Bush's men and policies on day 1. Any military leader under Bush should have been relieved of his command for no other reason than to enter the Middle East to conduct a war that could not be won.
Bet ol Slick Willie is kicking his butt all over for evading the draft with all of this fornication going on.
prog.1
You are absolutely correct..........now that Obama has been re-elected lets round up all the republicans and get them out of office. While were at it lets put laws in place that prevent all Christians from holding any office of authority in any business in America. I am convinced now that being a leftist extremest is much better than being a conservative. Let's forgo capitalism and jump right to socialism and depend on our government for everything so we can all live in a euphoric state of Utopia.
Kattakara, FORWARD! On to Marxism. . .
Hey, this is nothing new. During the War Between the States, women followed both armies. The girls that followed Gen. Joseph Hooker's army coined a term and voila' we have Hookers.
Blah blah blah Republican sore losers! I'm with Chris who said earlier....I love it when I wake up in the morning and Mr. Obama is our president!!
If you look at the us map and who voted for Obama. He might have carried states ,but only big cities in those states. Pull up the voting map. We will look at Ohio for an example. Only the large cities like Toledo,Cleveland and Columbus voted Obama. The rest of Ohio's counties are red except Athens county. So the big cities elected Obama not the majority of Ohio who was red. So you can say after looking at the whole U.S. map,Most of the country is red and only the big cities were blue. So he carried the big cities that is all.
Forward!: Obama Meets With Labor and Progressive Leaders Over Small Businesses
President Obama is scheduled to meet with labor and progressive leaders today at the White House to discuss the fiscal cliff and overall economic strategy moving into his second term. The meeting will take place behind closed doors and the press isn't invited. Exactly who will be there?
For those who have said Obama will shift closer to the middle in a second term, this move indicates he's going to do the opposite. Obama has prioritized meeting with far left leaders before meeting with small business owners, who he will meet with tomorrow.
While meeting with the above socialists, you can bet on what that conversation will look like. They will be discussing how government can best get control of these businesses.
Pretty funny...how NOT one of them..is a business owner...they are all just leeches off the wealth redistribution society.
And they are all MUTLI MILLIONAIRES....go figure.
Liberals always want to redistribute someone else's wealth..just not their own.
son, where is your list of corporate CEO's Obama is meeting with tomorrow?
The similarities with 1972 are eerie. Just prior to the election, the first hints of lies and coverups started to surface. The president won reelection, but the issue didn't go away. Finally after a year and a half (and a dedicated investigative reporter) the proof became overwhelming and the sitting President resigned, sparing the nation further turmoil.
At least Nixon had the grace to resign. I don't think Obama does.
... who cares about the sex scandal ... didn't we just vote on keeping the politicians out of our bedrooms ! ... so he got laid ... who really cares ... gawd ... the only one i see in any pain here is the wife (spouses) ... spreading and prolonging the gossip is not gonna help her (them) .... STAY OUTTA OUR BEDROOMS .....
I will not agree to any of this however until Republicans agree to roll back taxes on millionaires and billionaires.
Reagan knew it was wrong for a millionaire sipping umbrella drinks on a yacht to pay a lower tax rate than the person cleaning his toilet. Why do Cantor, Ryan, Boehner, McConnell, the rest of the Congressional Republicans hate Reagan so much?
I, being a staunch conservative....would accept a tax hike...on all Americans...making over 2 million dollars a year. We cannot allow tax increases on small businesses at this time. Not when America needs more jobs than ever right now. Most small business do no make over 2 million a year.
Obama just wants to hike taxes on everyone. He doesn't really care about much else. And if he gets those increases....you know and I know..that the money WILL NOT BE PUT TO THE DEFICIT. It will just go into Obama coffers to spend more money on redistribution of wealth.
I would accept these tax hikes..as long as...the law is written where this money cannot be spent on anything but reducing the debt. PERIOD..END OF DISCUSSION.
We all know that was Obama's plan to begin with. He need had any intentions of reducing our debt. We all know that when he rejected Simpson Bowles. And now our debt is going to grow another 6 trillion under Obama.I would also accept provisions of NO deductions of any kind on all Americans making over $10 million dollars a year. As long...as once again..the monies are put to reducing OUR DEBT ONLY!!
Blaming Bush is over....this is NOW Obama's debt...and he'd better deal with it.
Obama has said he will veto any tax increase for those earning less that $250,000 per year, but you knew that didn't you?
Govenment out of Control
Who gives a Rats A$$ about Betrayus. This sex scandal is just more smoke and mirror Bull$hit that has nothing to do with the lack of transparency in our government. Its a ploy to avert the attention of America from their failure to fix the economy and unemployment. All of our leaders, both Republican and Democrats will continue to screw the middle class, however they would serve it up as a necessary evil and define it as a legitimate RAPE.
Americans continue re-elect our governmental leaders, who make a career out of exploiting the middle class and suppressing the poor. Our government does not have the best interest of middle and lower income citizens on their agenda. They feed just enough crumbs to the middle class to keep them from revolting and ensure they carry the mother load of this country. Our government corruption and failure to resolve Americas problems is approaching a point of no return, and all we can do is sit back and watch the show.
so when people were asked if the rich should pay more taxes, the 98% of those not in this range said yes. Is that a big surprise? If asked if everyone's taxes should go up but not theirs they would have said yes also.
Dumb questions don't give good data. Picking on the minorities always gets you votes, and fixing things is never looked on as being good if people must make some sacrifices. Looks like votes can be bought by picking the popular sides of things and not addressing the crux of the manner
Obama’s layoff bomb goes BOOM!
This is just the beginning.
In case you missed it, Boeing announced massive layoffs and facilities closures yesterday. More: Small business owners are dropping the axe as they brace for the costs and burdens of Obamacare.
In case you missed it, I reported on Obama’s layoff bomb last week.
In June, a diffident and self-deluded President Obama claimed that “the private sector is doing fine.” Last week, the private sector responded: Speak for yourself, buster. Who needs an “October Surprise” when the business headlines are broadcasting the imminent layoff bomb in neon lights?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last Tuesday that employers issued 1,316 “mass layoff actions” (affecting 50 workers or more) in September; more than 122,000 workers were affected overall. USA Today financial reporter Matt Krantz wrote that “(m)uch of the recent layoff activity is connected to what’s been the slowest period of earnings growth since the third quarter of 2009.” Some necessary restructuring is underway in response to the stagnant European economy. But more and more U.S. businesses are putting the blame — bravely and squarely — right where it belongs: on the obstructionist policies and regulatory schemes of the blame-shifter-in-chief.
Last week, Ohio-based auto parts manufacturer Dana Holding Corp. warned employees of potential layoffs amid “looming concern” about the economy. President and CEO Roger Wood specifically mentioned the walloping burden of “increasing taxes on small businesses” and the need to “offset increased costs that are placed on us through new laws and regulations.”
Case in point: Obamacare. The mandate will cost Dana Holding Corp., which employs some 24,500 workers, “approximately $24 million over the next six years in additional U.S. health care expenses.” As Ohio Watchdog blogger Maggie Thurber reported, the firm’s Toledo area corporate offices laid off seven white-collar employees last Friday; company insiders told her more were on the way. They are not alone.
On Tuesday, Consol Energy issued a federally mandated layoff disclosure announcing its “intent to idle its Miller Creek surface operations near Naugatuck, W.Va.” The move will affect the company’s Wiley Surface Mine, Wiley Creek Surface Mine, Minway Surface Mine, Minway Preparation Plant and Miller Creek Administration Group, all in Mingo County, W.Va. Despite state approval, cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and myriad other agencies, and a stellar safety record, Obama’s EPA dragged its feet on the permit approval process. The impasse has forced layoffs of 145 Consol Energy employees that will hit at the end of the year. They are not alone.
In August, Robert E. Murray, founder and CEO of Murray Energy Corporation in Ohio, blasted the White House anti-coal agenda for the layoffs and closure of his company’s mine. He told Obama water-carrying CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien that “the many regulations that (Obama) and his radical appointees and the U.S. EPA have put on the use of coal, there are dozens of them and collectively by his own energy administration, have closed 175 power plants.” As O’Brien barked at her guest about purported environmental objections, Murray explained that “we cannot get permits for these mines. They are delaying the issuance of permits. If you can’t get the permit, you can’t have the mine. … I created those jobs, and I put the investment in that mine. And when it came time to lay the people off, I went up personally and talked to every one of them myself to lay them off. It’s a human issue.”
And it’s an innovation issue, too. As I reported in February, Obamacare’s impending 2.3 percent medical device excise tax has already wrought havoc on the industry:
Stryker, a maker of artificial hips and knees based in Kalamazoo, Mich., is slashing 5 percent of its global workforce (an estimated 1,000 workers) this coming year to reduce costs related to Obamacare’s taxes and mandates.
Covidien, a N.Y.-based surgical supplies manufacturer, recently announced layoffs of 200 American workers and plans to move some of its plant work to Mexico and Costa Rica, in part because of the coming tax hit.
Mass.-based Zoll Medical Corp., which makes defibrillators and employs some 1,800 workers in the U.S. and around the world, says the medical device tax will cost the company between $5 million and $10 million a year.
This July, Indiana’s Cook Medical Inc. shelved plans to open five new plants because of the imminent medical device tax hit. They are not alone.
The heads of Koch Industries, Westgate Resorts and ASG Software Solutions have all separately informed their employees of prosperity-undermining Obama economic politics. Left-wing groups have lambasted the executives for exercising their political free speech.
But they have remained silent while the White House corruptocrats bribed federal defense contractors into delaying federally mandated layoff disclosures before the election. In a memo now being investigated on Capitol Hill, Obama promised to cover the legal fees of Lockheed Martin and other defense contractors if they ignored legal requirements to inform workers in advance about so-called sequestration cuts to the military’s budget scheduled to kick in next year.
Truth suppression is a time-honored Obama tactic, of course. Remember: The administration and its Democratic allies on Capitol Hill attempted to punish Deere, Caterpillar, Verizon and ATT in 2010 for disclosing how the costs of Obamacare taxes were hitting their bottom lines — even though they were simply following SEC disclosure requirements. The White House also tried to silence insurers who dared to inform their customers about how Obamacare was driving up premiums.
Not this time. The administration’s bully boys don’t have enough whitewash and duct tape to cover up the past, present and future devastation of the president and his economic demolition team.
sonmanvb, NO SURPRISE. Those that didn't receive bribes from Hussein to delay their layoffs until after the election, do so because they dread the election outcome and what it will do to their businesses.
Just received my "benefits package" from my employer today. How sad. Premiums almost doubled and benifits cut in half. WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF OBAMACARE.
Maybe we should do what every other industrialized nation in the world does and that is keep insurance companies out of health care. I just got notice of my Medicare Part D policy going up 29% next year. Why do I have to have a private insurance company in order to get Part D benefits from Medicare? And why can't Medicare negotiate prices for prescription drugs?
Answers: Because Part D was written by the insurance lobby and Big Parma!!!
Our government is a real comedy of errors and America's resolve is under attack
In order to get the Trans-Continental railroad built the govt. gave millions of acres of land to the railroad companies. Was this socialism? Was it communism?
prog.1, you REALLY are IGNORANT of how this country got great.
prog.1, If I had known there was going to be a test I would have skipped reading your post.