Lindsay Lohan just finished her house arrest. And what does it look like she was doing all cooped up in her house. Yes, there was that rooftop party. But it seems Lindsay was engaged in that favorite pastime of unemployed Americans stuck at home with nothing to do, watching Glenn Beck.
At least that is what I got from what she Tweeted (6/27/2011):
Have you guys seen food and gas prices lately? U.S. $ will soon be worthless if the Fed keeps printing money! http://spn.tw/t1exbE #ad
In case you thought this was just an add someone paid her to tweet, this came a little later:
@younghanky i actually do care about gas and food prices, so whether it's an #ad or no, it's important for people to be aware of it.
Or maybe she was watching one of those TV ads about how you can make millions of dollars by placing tiny classified ads from your one bedroom apartment.
Lindsay does not become eligible to run for President until 2021.
Congress got the "no Fourth of July recess unless you finish your homework" lecture from Barack Obama today:
And I've got to say, I'm very amused when I start hearing comments about, "Well, the president needs to show more leadership on this."
Well, hey, let me tell you something, that right after we finished dealing with the government shutdown, averting a government shutdown, I called the leaders here together. I said, "We've got to get this done."
I put Vice President Biden in charge of a process that, by the way, has made real progress. But these guys have met, worked through all the issues.
I met with every single caucus for an hour to an hour and a half each: Republican senators, Democratic senators, Republican House, Democratic House. I've met with the leaders multiple times.
At a certain point, they need to do their job, you know.
And so this thing, which is just not on the level, where we have meetings and discussions and we're working through process, and when they decide they're not happy with the fact that at some point you've got to make a choice, they just all sit back and say, "Well, you know, the president needs to get this done."
They need to do their job. Now's the time to go ahead and make the tough choices. That's why they're called leaders.
And I've already shown that I'm willing to make some decisions that are very tough and will, you know, give my base of voters further reason to give me a hard time.
But it's got to be done. And so there's no point in procrastinating. there's no point in putting it off. You know, we've got to get this done.
And if by the end of this week, we have not seen substantial progress, then I think members of Congress need to understand, we are going to, you know, start having to cancel things and stay here until we get it done.
You know, they're in one week, they're out one week, and then they're saying, "Obama's got to step in." You need to be here. I've been here. I've been doing Afghanistan and bin Laden and the Greek crisis and ... You stay here. Let's get it done.
We saw this on the health care debate two years ago. That time it was Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid who were getting lectured. This time it is Republicans John Boehner and Mitch McConnell.
First the President will demand they get the deal done before the July recess, then he will demand they get it done before the August recess. In this case the big deadline is August 2, but I'm sure John Boehner can show up in the last week of July with a piece of paper that tides things over a bit. Sometime in December, maybe, there will be an unsatisfactory deal.
President Obama says he is looking to reduce the deficits by $4 trillion over the next the next decade but seems to only have agreement on $1 to $2 trillion. But let's tote up his actual leadership:
(1) Put Joe Biden in charge.
(2) Met with the 4 caucuses for no more than an hour and a half each. That's six hours.
(3) Played golf with John Boehner.
(4) Met with "the leaders" multiple times, which could just be twice, including the golf match.
Now, if he comes out of these talks with $4 trillion in deficit reduction, that's leadership. If he comes up short, I guess we need to look to the other leaders.
Michele Bachmann says no to a mud-wrestling fight between herself and Sarah Palin. Still, a guy can hope.
Why can't two women with the same hair color run in the same Presidential primary? Just because it has never been done before doesn't mean there is anything wrong with that. Right now we have a bunch of men and one woman in the race. Why not two women? Why not a bunch of women?
According to Bristol Palin on Fox and Friends Tuesday morning, Sarah Palin has made her decision on running for President in 2012:
You know, she definitely knows. We've talked about it before. Some things just need to stay in the family.
According to Sarah Palin later Tuesday, she is still thinking about it:
I texted Bristol, I said honey what did you say this morning on some news program. She said, 'Oh, mom, you've got to watch the interview. You know how they take everything out of context.' I said you remember Bristol what we talk about on the fishing boat stays on the fishing boat. I don't know what she said. She said I have to watch it myself. I don't know what she said but still thinking about it.
I am still thinking about the decision and you know a lot goes into such a life-changing, relatively earth-shattering type of decision and still thinking about it.
But "what we talk about on the fishing boat stays on the fishing boat" sounds like a decision. And "I am still thinking about the decision" doesn't necessarily mean the decision hasn't been made. Sarah could be thinking about the decision she has made.
This matches the recent reporting by Robert Stacy McCain that Sarah Palin was going to be making her decision in this past week. Now we seem to have comfirmation, we just don't know the decision.
I will bet Sarah Palin is running. I didn't think she was going to run, but now I do. There will be more of her One Nation bus tour this July and August. The announcement will come around Labor Day.
Because why would you send your daughter out to do this if you weren't running for President:
Bristol Palin did a very good job, both at promoting her new book and at humanizing the Palin family.
Michele Bachmann announced her Tea Party candidacy Monday for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination from the steps of the old Waterloo Women's Club in Waterloo, Iowa.
Some have labeled her gaffe-prone and Fox's Chris Wallace went so far as to ask her Sunday morning, "Are you a flake?" I imagine that Wallace's wife threatened to feed him Corn Flakes for a couple of weeks. He did apologize.
Michele was interviewed by another Fox reporter on the eve of her announcement speech:
Michele told Fox, "Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too."
Problem: American actor and icon John Wayne was from Winterset, Iowa. Serial killer John Wayne Gacy was from Waterloo, Iowa. And which spirit of John Wayne is Michele channeling? The one from Waterloo!
In her announcement speech, Bachmann was doing great, rejecting the usual labels and party affiliations and reaching out to the spirit of pragmatism:
Americans agree that our country is in peril today and we must act with urgency to save it. And Americans aren't interested in affiliation; they are interested in solutions, and leadership that will tell the truth. And the truth is that Americans ARE the solution and not the government!
...
I am here in Waterloo, Iowa to announce today: We can win in 2012 and we will. Our voice has been growing louder and stronger. And it is made up of Americans from all walks of life like a three-legged stool. It's the peace through strength Republicans, and I'm one of them, it's fiscal conservatives, and I'm one of them, and it's social conservatives, and I'm one of them. It's the Tea Party movement and I'm one of them.
Back up the tape, let's count the legs on that three-legged stool:
(1) peace through strength Republicans
(2) fiscal conservatives
(3) social conservatives
(4) the Tea Party movement
Now I wouldn't call that flaky, but it is hard to not to think Michele Bachmann is a little stupid. It's one thing to be hit with an unfair stereotype. It's another thing to validate that stereotype.
Michelle Bachmann is not ready to be President. If she's not a flake, what is she doing in the race?
(1) She wants the exposure that comes from running. She's now in the #2 slot following Mitt Romney, so that is working.
(2) She is really running for a seat in the Cabinet or for Vice President. Joe Biden has said dumber things.
(3) She wants to speak for the Tea Party in the debates. I think participation in the debates is the only reason Newt Gingrich is running.
(4) Her job is to help marginalize Ron Paul, who has a prior claim to the Tea Party vote. Ron Paul is a fiscal conservative but no social conservative or peace through strengther.
(5) She is keeping a seat warm for Sarah Palin, in case Sarah wants to make a late announcement.
Not flaky or stupid, any of those reasons. But not necessarily to be taken seriously either. Michele will have to earn that. Here's what she told Sean Hannity on Fox Monday evening:
"He fears me. He sees me as a serious, substantive competitor. I think he sees that I have a very clear path to victory for the nomination. And, I think that he wants to do whatever he can to diminish me, because he thinks he will have to see me in the debates."
Who fears her? Chris Wallace, maybe, although I'll bet the Gacy-gaffe got him a reprieve on the Corn Flakes. Mitt Romney, maybe, he may lay awake at night with visions of what she might say as his Vice President. Barack Obama, no, I imagine he sleeps very well with the prospect of facing Micehele Bachmann.
Update 6/29/2011: What Michele told the Charleston, South Carolina Tea Party today about the prospect of Sarah Plain entering the race gives support to reason #5 above:
"They want to see two girls come together and have a mud-wrestling fight, and I'm not going to give it to them. I've got a lot of great respect and admiration for the governor," Bachmann said in the early primary state of South Carolina. "I appreciate her and I wish her well, and I think that this race is wide open."
It was a mistake for you to walk out of the deficit talks. You should have stayed in the room, that's what we're paying you for. And if you take the view that you work for Virginians and your Virginia constituents want you to secede from the deficit talks? Stop drawing your salary.
It only makes sense to get up from the negotiating table if you don't need the deal. But the country desperately needs a deficit reduction deal.
Yes, the Democrats want tax increases. "You want tax increases, we want constitutional amendments" is how I would play that. What amendments?
(1) Balanced budget - that may be subject to accounting tricks but still highly symbolic.
(2) Line item veto - time to correct our founding fathers who erroneously thought our representatives would be reluctant to spend our money.
(3) Spending override only by popular vote - the real check on Washington spending will have to come directly from the people.
I like that last one best. You want to increase spending more than 2%, you have to ask us first. No war or recession exemptions either, you ask us. Worried about your spending power being eroded by inflation? I guess we better not have any inflation. Want to make more room for entitlements by leaving more discretionary items to the states? Good.
You see, if we the people have to pay more taxes, we the people should get something in return. A popular veto on excessive spending increases will do it for me.
