In an interview with ABC’s Chris Cuomo, Bill Clinton has proven himself to be the chief revisionist. He called himself a fiscal conservative and to make the point he stated, “You know I balanced the budget. I paid 600 billion down on the debt to the American people.” Technically he’s correct. What he left out is that he was forced to balance the budget by the Republicans who had taken control of both houses of congress based on their pledge to do exactly that. Clinton never had any intention of balancing the budget anymore than he intended to sign welfare reform into law. The one thing Bill Clinton knows is that many Americans have a short memory when it comes to such matters and he is counting on that by having the audacity to rewrite history.

On the issue of the housing bubble he gets more creative, “What I have disputed is that the conservatives are saying that I pressured the banks too hard to make loans in the community.  The banks that took money from their depositors and turned around and loaned money to their depositors -- genuine community banks -- came through this financial crisis much better than those that were branches of big national banks [that] took money from their depositors and put 'em in these shaky securities investments.” The shaky investments the large banks invested in were the subprime loans his administration forced community banks to make.

Regarding the “stimulus bill” Clinton had this to say, “"I think you will see some good economic news from the stimulus fairly soon, I think you'll start to see people express gratitude for getting the unemployment benefits, the tax cuts and the food stamps. And you'll see the money flowing through the economy. Then I think you'll see every state be able to quantify how much better shape they're in, because of the education and health money." Food stamps and 13.00 a week will resolve the economic crisis?

The final insult came when he expressed his concern about obesity particularly among America’s youth, “The solution to the epidemic, Clinton said, is for kids to eat better, eat less and exercise more. “ This from the man who jogged to McDonalds to fill up on Big Macs.

Clinton concluded by defending Speaker Pelosi’s provision in the stimulus bill for free condom distribution, “Promiscuity among our nations youth is of increasing concern and condom distribution will help to reduce the incidents of sexually transmitted diseases. I think abstinence education is something Democrats should take another look at rather than dismissing it out of hand.”

The Democrats are showing their true colors day by day. First, that they only value Bipartisanship when they are out of power, second, that a lack of Federal dollars for New Orleans is important only when it can be used to score points against a Republican and finally the contents of political cartoons only matters when someone they favor holds the reigns of power. Al  Sharpton was out in force today protesting against the NY Post for publishing a cartoon that depicted policeman shooting a monkey for writing the stimulus bill.

I do think this is unfair as the monkey could probably have done a better job. The point is the animal in question does not in anyway resemble the current occupant of the oval office. Further, given that Mr. Obama and his administration were not the authors of the bill, (he left that to Pelosi and Reid) one questions what all the hubbub is about?

In 1993, not long after taking office, Bill Clinton floated the idea of something called "imputed income tax". The crux of it was the government would calculate the potential of a given property's rental value and assess a tax to the owner based on that calculation. I had only caught the name of the concept while listening to Rush Limbaugh. The only other thing I heard was that a columnist for the Washington Post, someone by the name of David Broder, had written an article in the negative about Clinton's proposed plan. According to Limbaugh, the fact that Mr. Broder had gone after Clinton on this was surprising given that many considered him to be "the dean of liberal journalism."

I didn't have the means to get a recording of Limbaugh’s show for that day and the internet was not then what it is now.  So, I decided to contact the Washington Post to find out if they could send me a copy of the article or tell me where I might locate it and also find out what papers other than the Post might carry Mr. Broder's column. To say I was a neophyte in some respects would be an understatement.

I found the number for the Post and proceeded to place a call. A very pleasant woman answered and I explained my reason for contacting the paper. She listened patiently then asked if she could put me on hold. Surely I thought she was going to come back and ask for my address so she could send me a copy of the article which I had offered to pay for.

A couple minutes passed and someone did pick up the line but it was not as expected the woman who had answered, instead a baritone voice on the other end said, "David Broder". I was a little taken back but not as much as I should have been because at the time I really didn't know much about him or how well respected he was. I explained to him my purpose for calling and again asked how I could get a copy of his article.  He very politely responded, "Why don't you just ask me what you want to know?"

Here was a man who certainly had better things to do than talk to a complete stranger who had called on a whim, but instead he went on to explain in great detail the concept and why he was opposed to it. He called me by my first name and treated me with complete respect. In fact we had a very involved discussion. Never at any point did he say, "Well I hope that answers your question, I need to go now", after twenty minutes or so it was I who was feeling guilty about taking up so much of this man's time. I thanked him profusely for speaking with me and said I would let him go as I'm sure he had other things to attend to.

While Mr. Broder and I disagree more often than not on issues of the day, I will never forget the kindness and respect with which he treated me. If more people with a liberal mind set, particularly those in the media elite, would follow his model of civility rather than the model established by people like Keith Olbermann and Frank Rich, the nation might not find itself quite so polarized.  In fairness the same can be said of many on the right. After sixteen years I would like to take this opportunity to publicly say, Thank you Mr. Broder for being so gracious with your time.

In an AP piece released today titled “The Recovery plan: Shock and Awe for a Nation”, staff writers Nancy Benac and Calvin Woodward in what is clearly an editorial once again masquerading as news extol in detail the virtues of the so called “stimulus bill.” According to them the plan is “fast cash, and lots of it, but with a strategic view to the future.” How much of this fast cash is going to reach the average consumer which will ostensibly rekindle our economic furnace, according to the dynamic duo “Lower- and middle-income taxpayers will get an extra $13 a week in their paychecks this year, and about $8 a week next year.” Is an anemic 624 dollars a year enough to kick start the consumer engine? Common sense, which these two demonstrate a total lack of, says no. Neither will it save families from foreclosure as they predict, and it is dubious that this 13 dollars a week will allow people to maintain “COBRA” once they’ve been laid off. Let’s assume for the moment though that they are correct and the disease that would otherwise not have been diagnosed in fact is. Then what? Will they be denied care if they are too old or require cutting edge treatment due to restrictions imposed by the Health Czar created in the bill?

Apparently neither the authors nor some of the individuals they interviewed know anymore about the bill then those who wrote and passed it when they make statements like the following “If there is no effect and in six months we are talking about the same economy or a worse economy, I think it would be a devastating blow to the president, Democrats, and to liberal claims about what government can do." The bulk of this bill doesn’t take effect for months and in some cases years, don’t they understand that the term “government quick fix” is an oxymoron? However if money for “green jobs”, broadband service for rural areas and billions for the expansion of free condom distribution are the keys to reversing the economic downturn, then I guess the Messiah has finally come.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090214/ap_on_go_pr_wh/stimulus_stakes

After watching NBC political director Chuck Todd gush about the administration's abilty to get the so called stimulus bill out of congress "in only three weeks" I can't help but wonder what qualifications this network required for the post. Certainly a basic knowledge of history wasn't one of them. What the American people witnessed this past week was nothing less than the transformation of the Congress into a modern day "Politburo." Using Stalinist tactics the house leadership permitted no amendments, no debate, no input from the opposition party and none from the American people as they kept the final bill hidden until just before the floor vote in the "House of Representatives" which has become the latest oxymoron in the lexicon of government, right up there with "military intelligence."

How could anyone with even a modicum of intellectual honesty be amazed by such an "accomplishment." Is Mr. Todd also shocked that there is gambling and prostitution in Nevada? In addition to this nonsense we have leftist economist Paul Krugman crying like an unsatisfied lover that the "stimulus" isn't big enough, while Mr. Obama, the ringmaster of this "three ring circus" continues to maintain that he is acting in a bipartisan manner.

Here's the truth about Judd Gregg's decision to resign from the commerce dept. Hispanics and the Obama administration want to include illegal's and those with temporary visas in the new census which if allowed would dramatically shift the balance of power in many states including Florida and Ohio. Mr. Gregg is justifiably opposed to this which is why the administration removed the census from the Commerce Dept where it has always been. The next step no doubt and one that Democratic members of congress have been chomping at the bit for is to grant these illegals amnesty, giving them the right to vote. No doubt if in fact this does come to pass who they would vote for. Newt Gingrich said today that "If Republicans stand for this they are committing political suicide." If we as Americans allow this to stand we are committing national suicide. There are 47 million Americans who voted against this administration, it is past time for the "silent majority" to find it's voice.