President Obama announces deal cut with Republicans to extend Bush Tax Cuts (Video)

A bad move, POTUS.



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The Caver in Chief

Sigh, just writing that makes me feel bad, but I deal with reality not fantasy and this is how I see things from the White House along with how I feel.

Extending the current Bush Tax Cuts (the name alone should make many cringe) is one of the most horrible decisions Barack Obama will do.

We have sat and saw this White House repeatedly negotiate many things away before a fight, along with witnessing this White House repeatedly run after the Republicans for votes they never got.

Well, we are witnessing the White House again wave their retrieval flag for the most basic promise of the Obama Campaign, repealing the Bush Tax Cuts.

There are plenty of diaries, blogging, newspaper articles with much discussion about a deal to extend the tax cuts 2-3 years in lieu of keeping the current unemployment extensions in tact.

The reality is that no deal should be cut or should have ever been thought of. With the unemployment rate inching to 9.8% in November, extending the current extensions is a non-brainer. But this White House is gutless and don't know how to fight.

Calling the Republicans scrooges to block any unemployment extension, along with creating a Tier 5 is a good fight to have, why? The people of this country understand this and get it because many know family members, friends in this very dire straight. The people of this country also understand that no tax cuts should be extended for the richest millionaires and billionaires in this country. In fact, if we are negotiating to keep the current unemployment extensions, why not demand a tier 5? Especially with the unemployment number ticking UPWARD not DOWNWARD.

I mean are we going to get ANYTHING OUT OF THIS DEAL? Does this White House know or understand the art of negotiating? Everyone must ask this because the way things are going my outlook on the White House is a bunch of dumb asses who are totally clueless.

Lastly, I agree with the former Reagan Budget Director, David Stockman who was on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, this past Friday. He very directly stated that extending the tax cuts to the richest individuals in this country so they can continue to shop at Tiffany's is damaging. He was not in agreement in 2001 for these tax cuts and is not in agreement now. Stating that Barack Obama should find a veto pen is correct. The argument is and was winnable to extend unemployment benefits, create a tier 5 with the unemployment rate expanding, and allowing the Bush Tax Cuts to expire. But, yet again, we have a White House which is always behind the 8 ball, not knowing how to frame a message and fight, and are a bunch of spineless politicians.



Many of us worked very hard for Barack Obama, but never imagined the continual caves. Sure, some will say they expected it but the majority did not. Fighting for basic democratic principles and moral obligations should not be difficult, but this White House makes it more difficult as the days pass on. And getting tough with Democrats is congress is laughable when you can't even get tough or call out the hypocritical Republicans.

So, in the end of this deal is no deal. We are not getting anything new on the table, but empowering the Republicans that they can punk this White House whenever they want to. And from the looks of it, the Republicans will continue to have it their way.

Cross-posted @ Daily Kos

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Unemployment's ugly number rose to 9.8%, bad news all around

Well, if the Obama Administration did not know that JOBS, JOBS, JOBS is what this country wanted and put them in charge to head, they know now.

This economy is not getting better and no amount of spin will help. Oh, U.S. just added 39K jobs last month and that is pathetic.

And extending unemployment is a non-brainer, including adding another tier. If congress, on both sides of the aisle, fail to do this, there will be hell to pay down the road.

Employers added fewer jobs than forecast in November and the unemployment rate unexpectedly increased, underscoring the Federal Reserve’s decision to pump more money into the economy to spur growth.

Payrolls increased 39,000, less than the most pessimistic projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, after a revised 172,000 increase the prior month, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The jobless rate rose to 9.8 percent, the highest since April, while hours worked and earnings stagnated.

Read more here
Bloomberg News

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Folks going off at unemployment offices

I knew this would happen and it is starting to.

Many who have been looking for work, unable to find work, now see themselves penniless and possibly on the streets due to the dick play in congress over folks lives.

As for the rich, must be nice to not worry about "those people" when you can shop, travel, count your money and assets without a fear or worry.

This is the most selfish country around and leadership in this country is "meh". At this point, what is the difference if you are a Democrat or Republican, the outcome is all for the lobbyists, corporations and rich. Everyone else or the other 98%, fuck 'em. And that is called getting screwed by this government.

From Louisville, Kentucky, video clip inside link:

Unemployment benefits for more than 100,000 people in both Kentucky and Indiana could run out in a matter of days if Congress doesn't act.

Many people are filing for benefits, others are looking for jobs, but with the threat of benefits running out, tempers are flaring.

In the time that a WLKY reporter was at the Louisville Office of Employment and Training, at least two people were escorted out.

Behavior coming from the White House at a time when unemployment is still close to 10% in this country is bizarre, in the meantime President Obama calls for a pay freeze to federal workers with the exception of the military. Does this man understand what is going on out here, as in NO JOBS???? Does he get it that many are about to be cut with no safety net, at all???? Everyday it just gets worse instead of better in regards to the crap coming out of this White House. I guess they did not receive the memo from the midterm elections because their behavior has not changed, while the public is out here drowning.



Congress is dragging its foot while their citizens are drowning out here, Indiana has added armed guards at all its Unemployment sites. Yes, it is getting bad out here.

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development is beefing up its security ahead of the holidays, when officials expect a seasonal surge in unemployment claims and extra stress for long-term jobless who might miss benefits because of Congress.

If Congress doesn't reauthorize extended unemployment insurance, which expires at the end of November, the National Employment Law Project estimates that two million people will prematurely miss checks by the end of December.

"There's obviously increasing stress, especially among the long-term unemployed, and also the upcoming expiration of these federal extensions will add additional stress," department spokesman Marc Lotter told HuffPost.

Lotter said the agency is putting armed guards at each of the 36 WorkOne Centers that process unemployment benefits across the state. Lotter said that each center has already had security for the past two years; the agency is consolidating to one private contractor that will now handle security at each of the centers. It's part of a broader effort to prepare for the holidays, during which Lotter said Indiana sees more unemployment claims and also an effort to standardize services across the state.

It is a pity and a damn shame that we have Democrats in congress, which is still in charge that are doing very little to push for unemployment extension. Forget the Republicans, shit they said they will do nothing to aid President Obama the day after he was elected and they have been true to their word, stayed their course.

I am talking about Democrats. Who are we? What do we stand for? Because this shit show I am seeing out of Washington, D.C. is not what I voted for, period. I don't even recognize the Democratic Party anymore. These sold out thugs are no better than the Republicans, who we know are THUGS. This is the frustration out here.

We, as a party are walking in dangerous territory here. As long as the public views NO DIFFERENCE between the Democrats or Republicans, why should they vote for either? When that happens, well, we already saw what happens. It is called the midterm election. It is called, "What the FUCK!!! I am not showing up to vote for none of you!!"

And who got sent home packing?

Lastly, Kentucky and Indiana decided to keep Republicans in charge. But this is an opportune moment for the Democrats to stand with the common man and continue to REMIND them who is standing with them.

But if you don't know how to craft a message and sit on it, the public will continue to think you don't stand for anything.

From Rachel Maddow:



Cross-posted @ Daily Kos

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Barack Obama has a lot of work to do

2012 is WIDE OPEN for the Republicans.

Unlike 2008 when the sitting VP did not run, which made it wide open for both parties.

2012 is sizing up all the wannabee presidents on the Republican side.

While we watch that side show, we need to work on our own show.

It starts with Barack Obama re-energizing his base, period.

kos put on the front page, "Obama can side with Big Business, or the voters".

kos is right about what he wrote in reference to the Chamber of Commerce. Does anyone in their right mind actually believe that the Chamber of Commerce or those Banksters and Gangsters on Wall Street will give Barack Obama the time of day? It was their corporate money that was heavily invested in the 2010 mid-terms that helped to elevate the Republicans win. All the robber barons want is for the next two years to be destructive, convoluted as the first two years.

Yes, the first two years was convoluted and full of mixed messages that the public never understood. The GOP was not challenged on lies and given the bully pulpit to spread all the lies they wanted to, while our side sat back like crickets.

I don't want to hear all that President Obama and the Democrats did because in actuality for many Americans it was minimum, not enough and many did not know about it.

I am looking at 2012 and if Barack Obama continues to coddle up to the same folk that basically gave him an "F and U" then he is going to have a hard 2012.

President Barack Obama emerges from a bruising midterm election with uncertain prospects for the next one in 2012, according to a new McClatchy Newspapers-Marist poll.

Nearly half of his own base - 45 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents - want someone to challenge him for the Democratic nomination, according to the poll.

And, assuming he wins re-nomination, barely more than 1 in 3 voters, or 36 percent, said they'll definitely vote for him, while nearly half, 48 percent, said they'll definitely vote against him.

"There's some serious electoral jeopardy and his position is very tenuous," said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., which conducted the national post-election poll.

There are some angry folk in the Democratic Party. Many who wanted this administration to concentrate on the economy and jobs, when in the end it was the economy and jobs with the perception that the White House did not do anything that led many to just say forget it when it came to going to the polls.

That is what happened.

And we can sit around here and argue with each other or look at this in the reality it is.

2 million individuals are about to be thrown off unemployment in December, right around the holidays. An extension is needed, while we are still the majority in power, seems like very little is being done.

Paul Gilbert lost his job managing a restaurant in Phoenix in May and said he's had a terrible time finding a new one.

"I have put out at least 25 resumes a week and have only had two interviews," Gilbert told HuffPost. "I want to work. I love to work. I'll do anything, someone please give me a job."

Now he's worried he'll lose the $240 a week he's been receiving in unemployment insurance. Despite a historically bad job market, two million people could be cut off from their unemployment benefits during the holidays if Congress fails to reauthorize federally-funded jobless aid that expires at the end of the month. Gilbert said the Arizona Department of Economic Security told him he's in the cutoff boat.

"It's going to be a long December for a lot of people," Gilbert said.

What kind of fucked up party are we in? I don't get this. Are these millionaire Democrats in congress (yes, many are that) so far removed that they don't get what is happening out here? Don't you see? This is why the voters don't see a difference between the Democrats or Republicans. Especially, since we continuously have Democrats acting and voting like Republicans.

In the meantime, The Robber Barons had corporate RECORD PROFITS, while the rest of America (mostly middle class) is struggling harder than ever. This coming from gangsters and banksters who have funneled massive amounts of money to Republicans, have smeared President Obama (who has been generous to these greedy fucks to the hilt), and continue to whine about not enough tax breaks, etc. When is this going to stop?

This is what the public is upset about. And it can not continue. Not if we want to win in 2012. Many here forget that we were losing over 700K jobs a month when Barack Obama assumed the presidency. What the public wanted and demanded was to fix this economy and create jobs. This did not and has not happened. When the average Joe and Josetta are sitting at their kitchen table or on their computer in Quick Books balancing their checkbook, they do not want to continue to hear about how you stopped the bleeding in the economy because their bleeding has not stopped. These are the same folks who are taking continuous hits on their wages, hours cut, and many lost jobs, barely existing on unemployment, losing their homes. Along with these challenges, they have children who must be taken care of, many who want to go to college and frankly can not because it is too expensive. And let's not talk about how the poverty rate has grown in record number. The only focus the Obama Administration needs to work on is the one with the public and what they want, not big business who has made massive amounts of money off of our backs. President Obama can not continue to coddle big business and do nothing for the ordinary man. If he continues this, he will be a one term president.

Obama's political weakness helps explain why so many Republicans are thinking of running for their party's nomination against him. That race is wide open, the McClatchy-Marist poll showed, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney the early leader, but several others are competitive.

With politics about to pivot toward the presidential campaign, the poll underscored that Obama's standing will be a major factor.

He enters the second half of his term with his approval rating holding steady at 45 percent, 48 percent disapproving and 7 percent undecided.

"The good news for Obama was that, after the midterm, there wasn't any greater desertion," Miringoff said. "That's the best news. The bad news for him, people are still very tenuous about him."

His political problems start with his own base.

Months ago, I laughed at any Republican running against Barack Obama, but I am not laughing now. Why? The Republicans kicked our ass in the communication game, the message game and the framing game. They did not do SHIT to deserve taking the House of Representatives back, but look what happened. If we continue to concede everything to them, not stand up for what our principles are, we are going down. And if Barack Obama does not start standing up and speaking in frank, lay man words so the voters GET IT, he is going to have some real issues in 2012.

Remember, of the polling out here from the populous, they don't like either party. That means that they see no difference between the two parties, which means why should they vote. And these are the voters we need to come back to us, not the shilling at each other on Daily Kos, but that voter we touched in 2008. We need them badly in 2012 because right now, they are just not into us.

Finally, the continuous argument of not criticizing this administration is weak. Millions did not show up for us on November 3rd for a reason and it surely was not because they read some diary on Daily Kos that made them stay home. They stayed home because we have not done anything for them that they can see tangible here and now in their lives. The bottom line is this; there are way more poor folk, middle class folk, than rich folk. Continue to not do anything for your own people out here and they will continue to sit on that couch and not vote for you.

Cross-posted @ Daily Kos

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President Obama on 60 Minutes AFTER the 2010 Mid-Term Elections

For me, lack of leadership and like that press conference, well, you decide....

Part One



Part Two




60 Minutes Overtime (70 minutes of interview not shown on 60 Minutes)



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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all about making Obama a one termer

I was not shocked nor surprised after Tuesday.

Barack Obama and the Democrats have a lot to do. They were handed a mandate and squandered it, simple as that.

But if President Obama does not get, nor understand that these bastards will NEVER be his BFF, never had intention of working with him, will not vote on anything with his name attached, then he is totally naive.

Here is the full Mitch McConnell speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. Unsympathetic about making Barack Obama a one-termer and all about repealing the health care bill.

The time has passed a long time ago to run around for Republican support or votes. The White House has been very late to come to the realization of this. Which is also part of the problem from the Tuesday fry-fest of the Democrats.



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President Obama's Press Conference on Mid-Term Election Defeat (video, transcript)

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Democrats ran away from themselves

I stated this in another diary a couple of days ago:

The message and communication is the Democrats fault.

The GOP could possibly win on NOTHING. Doing NOTHING. We have Democrats running from their own damn record and that is atrocious ENOUGH!! Running from Fin Reg, HIR, Lilly Ledbetter, running away like dogs with their tails between their legs.

What message does that create!!

The Obama White House better get its act together for part two if they plan on winning in 2012 and it better start with COMMUNICATING with the public.

People don't know shit unless it is pounded in their heads. And we all KNOW BETTER because we worked 2 years straight making sure folks knew the deal on Barack Obama.

Instead of running behind the GOP with olive branches and constantly getting spat upon, it has BEEN TIME that this White House say fuck em. And I am serious about that.

If the public is clueless about the accomplishments of the White House, Dems whose fault is that? Hell, the Democrats sat back and let the GOP demonize health care, HEALTH CARE of all things and that lying shit stuck with the public like glue to paper. The communication better get cleaned up and some firings need to come from that White House because the next day meme if the GOP wins huge is, "The Republicans won by doing nothing and the Democrats lost by running away from what they did."

And that is how it will play out.

Running away from what you did. That is what happened here.

The reality is this; the White House and the President don’t like the campaign mode, while trying to govern. Understood, but the fact and reality is that we live in a media age that you must do both. You can not sit in the White House; laugh off the GOP and their weak message in your mind, without RESPONSE. That is what happened last summer with the health care bill. The Democratic response was so weak it was laughable. They really thought the GOP would not go after health care and they were wrong. As WRONG as the GOP and the faux astroturf Tea Party components were, what they said started to stick and the public started to believe it. In this day and age, if you do not respond the lies will start to stick. The Republicans message on health care was so strong that by the time the bill was made into law, many Americans did not understand what they were getting thus constantly suspect to it. While we were supposed to have a huge media blitz on the health care law, it just went out with a whimper. And when President Obama was on The Daily Show, this exchange said it all.

When Obama said his administration has done things people don't know about, Stewart said: "What have you done that we don't know about? Are you planning a surprise party for us?"

Sorry, President Obama that is not good enough. If the Democrats did so much and they did, why is the public clueless on this? This is a serious communication flaw and it must change going forward. It is the responsibility of voters to know the issues and this is the rational way of thinking. But, guess what? It does not happen that way. For example, in some of the polling many voters believed the stimulus package was part of the bailout; this is a serious problem since the TARP (bailout fund) was setup under the Bush Administration and just continued to be administered by the Obama Administration. Voters also believed that they did not get tax breaks, especially the middle class. This is a monumental failure of the Democratic Leaders and the White House for not communicating the obvious to the voter. President Obama can be frustrated but the losses tonight is due primarily to lack of communication to the public. We are paying a price for doing good things but leadership failed to make sure the public knew it.

Next, who ever kept the President’s strategic calendar should be shown the door. Ever since Barack Obama became President he has always played catch up to just about everything. That has to change. I liked that the President was out on the stump tirelessly this past month, but for me, it felt too late. There was never a cohesive message from the White House to the Democratic Leadership in congress on how anything was going to be sold to the American public. Which is why we get snafu’s like Robert Gibbs going on Meet the Press stating we will probably lose the House of Representatives. Does the White House understand conflicting messaging? If you want your voters to vote for you, we need some damn optimism here? Talk about shooting the messenger.

Next, who are the Democrats? I have to ask this because in blackwaterdog’s diary she has a Rachel Maddow video montage up on what the Democrats did in the last 21 months. This is great, but it is LATE!!! (and the Democrats should have been pumping this for months) The Democrats and leadership in D.C. ran away from their record. These people ran away from the legislative victories they won. These same people continue to fall into the GOP framing, thus ran away from everything they did and ran away from the President. If you can not stand up for what you did, run on your record, be not afraid, what do you expect from us? People gave the Democrats a mandate and in response they gave the public back tepid legislation. Whether you agree or not, look at the votes tonight. Something happened and it is not because people are fired up for Republicans. They hate them worse than Democrats, but they are angry at the Democrats for not doing what many voted for. If the Democratic Party can not stand together as a whole, people are going to continue to not stand with them. Right now we have an electorate that does not like either party and believe there is no difference between the two, which is a major problem.

Next, misreading the public anger on the bailouts and the economy. Massive fail on the White House part. Whoever was or is in charge of knowing how folks feel on the ground, MISREAD the American Public. First off, the health care debacle should have been wrapped up last year, not this year. It took too long and people did not like the sausage making along with deals and double dealing. That health care bill should have been rammed through with reconciliation in 2009 (which eventually after over a year it was), but instead we watched the White House running after Republican votes. (which they NEVER GOT) After all this, I hope the White House understands that the GOP had a plan and said so the day after the 2008 election. The plan, “They were not going to vote on anything for Barack Obama.” Too much time was wasted playing footsie with the Republicans. While all this was going on, jobs losses in this country continued to mount, the unemployment rate continued to rise, wages continued stagnate or were cut, many were getting hours cut from their jobs, homes were still being foreclosed on at record rate, and the bad list of things for the average American is endless. Many saw Wall Street and the Banks getting bailed out, but no help for anyone living on Main Street. The economy was always going to be the single issue for many Americans and the perception is that the Democrats dropped the ball. And they did. Like everything else, communication is key. This economy should have been wrapped around the heads of the same Republicans who put us in the position we are in, but the White House and Democrats did a piss poor ass job on this, as well. People don’t care about the stimulus package saving hundreds of jobs, unless it is their own. People wanted to know what the administration and Democrats would do about job creation in this country. People are still waiting to see if this administration will do something about the foreclosure rate in this country. See, people care about what is happening to them now, what they see in front of them now, how they are making it now. Kitchen table issues were not center from this administration and the Democrats are taking a hit on something that was left by the Republicans. Can someone explain to me how we fucked this message up so badly?

Lastly, Barack Obama hired many D.C. insiders, conventional wisdom types. These individuals were supposed to be the smartest and brightest out there, well from me they get an “F”. The economic team either misread much or was always going to let the Wall Street and the Banks get away with much. I believe the latter is correct. Hiring Rahm Emanuel was a bombastic mistake. He fractured the Democratic Caucus more than help and it is his precious Blue Dogs that are going down the most, tonight. Mr. Emanuel calling part of the Democratic base, “fucking retards”, does not help anything. Especially, when many of these people got the vote out, gave massive money and like the Blue Dogs have a right to voice an opposite view. It fractured the base, again look at the numbers when this is all said and done. This needs to be fixed; it should have been fixed a long time ago, but was not. Now, Mr. Emanuel is trying to be Mayor of Chicago. Good luck with that one. In the end, the conventional wisdom types did a poor job. Poor job in strategy, messaging, communication, and marketing, practically everything. Now they are looking at themselves and I really hope they are LOOKING FOR A NEW JOB.

For all the good that the Democrats did, they just could not get it together. Out of all of this, I will miss Speaker Pelosi. Nancy Pelosi stood and walked lock step with President Obama and always GOT THE VOTES. She will be MISSED. Personally, I think bolder leadership is needed in the Senate, one of the most fucked up chambers in government that we the people have had to witness.

Yes, the Republicans won tonight on absolutely doing NOTHING and we lost by running away from what we did. In the end, it is, what it is. Pitiful.

p.s. On a personal note, I deal with reality, facts not fantasy. Everything that has happened to the Democrats is on the Democrats. They made these decisions and have to deal with the decisions they made. Who the Democratic Party wants to be is critical going forward. If they plan on bringing back that DLC noise, per kos’s diary, well they will loose millions in support. Trying to emulate a Republican will not bring you votes at the ballot box, not when the voter has a choice to vote for a real Republican. And if we have not figured THAT OUT by now, we need to continue to lose. Finally, Ed Schultz said tonight on MSNBC, "...the public option will come back to sting a lot of people..."

Looking at these results, that statement may be right.

Cross-posted @ Daily Kos

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President Obama's Conference Call to College Journalists

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President Obama's Weekly Address, "Crossroads on the Economy"

In this week’s address, President Barack Obama broke with Republicans in Congress who are putting special interests ahead of the American people and offering only a rehash of the very same economic policies that led to the financial crisis. When the GOP asked the American people, through a website, for ideas, one that drew great deal of interest is ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. But when the administration closed one of the most egregious loopholes for companies creating jobs overseas, Republicans were almost unanimously opposed. Rather than offering a path to a better future, their plan is an echo of a disastrous decade the country cannot afford to relive.



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President Obama addresses the United Nation

The President outlines his Administration's vision for American leadership in the 21st century and calls on the world to help realize a future built on freedom and human rights in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. September 23, 2010.



President Obama at Millennium Development Goals Conference, United Nations

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President Obama's Town Hall Meeting on CNBC

Some questions were tough to the President, but a worth while watch. The event was held in Washington, D.C., September 20, 2010. And if you have any doubt that the November mid-term election is NOT about this economy, you are truly living in la-la land.



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President Obama's remarks at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Phoenix Awards Dinner

President Obama need the African American Community to come out hard in November, we will see.

President Obama speaks of his Administration's work to deliver on his campaign promises and reaffirms his Administration's commitment to restoring the economy and creating new jobs during remarks at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Phoenix Awards Dinner. September 18, 2010.



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President Obama's remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus 2010 Gala (Video, Transcript)

President Obama speaks to members and guests at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's 33rd Annual Award Gala in Washington, D.C. September 15, 2010.

Money quote: "..you have every right to keep the heat on me and keep the heat on the Democrats..."



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President Obama's "Back to School" Speech

And of course, the rabid right don't want their children "indoctrinated by the President of United States". Funny, this surely did not happen on any other president's watch, so why this one? Gotta ask that.....



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