The President is Your Pre-Game Show? Go NFL! 9/9/11

I’ll start with this and I will keep it simple…Everyone here in New York City or any one anywhere else that was affected by the events of September 11^th, 2001 has earned the right to commemorate the 10^th anniversary as they see fit. I have chosen not to “commemorate” at all. In a history class, it is crucial to examine these events, or they may be repeated. But at home, I have certainly earned the right to reflect in my own way, and watching ten year old footage of one of the worst days of my life is not how I wish to honor anyone’s memory.

NEWS & CURRENT EVENTS

President Barack Obama’s job creation speech was the first time I had seen him fired up since he won the election. Now to their credit, even Republicans who are usually terrified of any good idea coming from the big black president who wants to take away their guns and bibles have been mildly supportive. Then you have the Teabagger maniacs saying that his ideas are just a re-hashing of the 2008 government bail-out of the banking and auto industry. Actually, they are right, it was a re-hashing of old ideas; infrastructure spending was a big part of Franklin D Roosevelt’s  “New Deal” and that worked out pretty well. And for a group that seems to love to invoke Ronald Reagan’s presidency when attempting to revise history (see below), I am surprised that they failed to notice elements of the 1986 Tax Reform Act in Obama’s plan to give tax breaks to those who deserve it-small businesses and the middle class. I guess even Republicans realize that sometimes you just have to listen to the smart guy.

Did you see that Republican Presidential debate on MSNBC? I am actually glad that Obama decided to move his speech up an extra day, or we would have missed a carnival of clowns worthy of Ringling Brothers, right on cable TV without actually having to pay for the circus. Other than attacking the president and sticking to typical Teabagger talking points, there was really nothing new here, but it was still fun to see these people ramble about how we need a wall all along the Mexican border to keep out illegal aliens. Yeah because the ones in China and Berlin worked out so well, didn’t they? Let’s see...one is a tourist attraction and the other one no longer exists. It was incredibly creepy to hear cheering and applause after the moderator pointed out to Texas Gov. Rick Perry how many people the state of Texas had executed (Yeee Haaa!).

And of course, no Republican debate would be complete without Ron Paul bringing the crazy, saying that government should not be regulating anything at all. I guess he likes to pay outrageous credit card fees. Maybe his plane won’t crash into another one after he becomes president and abolishes the FAA, and I’m sure a little mercury and lead in his tap water probably sounds tasty right about now; about as tasty as cow feces in his now unregulated cheeseburger.

Newt Gingrich, after a rough start to his campaign actually looked like a moderate (I can’t believe I just wrote that, but its true). Only after he brilliantly accused the moderator of trying to get the candidates to “fight each other,” (Ahh…Newt, it’s a debate, so that’s kinda the idea) he actually came across as even-handed and intelligent. Well, in this group that bar wasn’t exactly set that high to begin with, but still.

One candidate that does scare me a bit is former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman. For a Mormon, this guy actually came across as the most level-headed and intelligent one of the whole bunch. If his party were not currently being hijacked by redneck yahoos, he would have a real shot not just at the nomination, but of actually beating Barack Obama. This man was by far the most truthful speaker. He didn’t reject science, didn’t advocate anything too extreme and touted his experience in World affairs, all while not directly attacking anyone else on stage. It is that last part however, that makes him way too reasonable and intelligent to be nominated, and his poll numbers show that. 

THIS WEEK’S REASON WHY TERRORISTS WANNA KILL US

Our seemingly blind adoration of Ronald Reagan due to revisionist history and the fact that Republicans have no great president in the past 100 years of American history  to hang their hat on. One thing I kept hearing during the Republican debate was “Ronald Reagan would have done…” or “Just like Ronald Reagan I would…” Look, to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, I knew Ronald Reagan, I lived through Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan was my President…Teabagger nitwits, you are no Ronald Reagan!

Let me give you a history lesson…When you say “Ronald Reagan never would have raised taxes.” You are, as always, wrong; he raised them 11 times during his presidency.

When you idiots say “Ronald Reagan would have been tough on terrorists and wouldn’t have ducked and ran,” you forget 1983 when 300 US Marines were killed in a bomb attack on their barracks in Beirut, and Reagan responded by pulling them out and never retaliating.

“Ronald Reagan would be tough on immigration.” Really? Tell that to the 3 million illegal immigrants who entered this country before 1982 that he signed an amnesty bill for.

During the debate, whenever those GOP morons challenged their opponents on stage with “I can’t believe you are standing in the Reagan Library saying…” I thought my head was gonna explode. The response should have been, “I can believe it, and so would Reagan!” Seriously, if Reagan were alive today and standing on that stage, besides not being able to remember who the fuck he was, he would also be the most leftist candidate standing there, which is a harsh testament to how little progress this country has made.