Who Needs A Balanced Budget Amendment? We All Do!

In a some times interesting, often times boring and repetitive debate on the floor of the United States Congress today, Louisiana Representative Jefff Landry chided President Obama, "We don't need a balanced budget amendment, but you do."

I would disagree to some extent with the honorable gentleman from the Bayou State. There's no doubt that Barack Obama desperately needs a balanced budget amendment.  He has no intention of reducing spending any more than absolutely necessary.  The fact that the budget has been more than a trillion dollars out of balance for three years in a row shows that The Anointed One isn't serious about balancing the budget.  No only has he driven the car off the road into the ditch, he's driven it onto another planet, no mean feat indeed.

Yes, Barack Obama needs a balanced budget amendment to control his natural impulse that government must be big brother or nanny state mama to all of us.  In one of his hectoring press conferences last week, Obama slipped into the truth, noting that how we need to get this debt ceiling issue behind us so we could go back to more spending on infrastructure programs like Broadband.

I kid you not.  He actually said that.

You just can't make this stuff up.

However, here is where Congressman Landry is wrong.  Republicans--remember the big spending when George W. Bush was in control--remember that prescrption drug plan we couldn't afford--remember No Child Left Behind which we couldn't afford--have proved that they can't control the urge to spend.

It's a question of degrees.  Your Juddgregg-like Republicans would not overspend quite as much as Obama Democrats, but let's be honest.  They overspent and will overspend in the future unless we have a balanced budget amendment.

So the answer to our headline question is that we all, Republicans and Democrats and Independents--we all need a balanced budget amendment.  It shouldn't be that way; our elected officials should be able to restrain their impulse to overspend, but clearly they cannot show such restraint.  Maybe it's something in the water in D.C., but more likely it's that politicians are simply responding to the people who say they want to spend less but in the same breath, people want government to more and more for them.

We can't have it both ways.  Politicians in D.C. are only people like the rest of us, and they--unlike our founders who realized governmenrt was not the answer to problems--cannot control themselves.

Only a balanced budget amendment will control them.  Admit it.  Sad but true, a balanced budget amendment will be lke methadone to a drug user and antibuse to an alcoholic.  It's not a good thing, but it sure is a necessary thing.

Again, sad but true, we all need a balanced budget amendment.

The fact that it came within one vote of going from the House and the Senate to the states (where 38 would be needed to approve) back when Bill Clinto was President says something. 

We need a balanced budget now much more than we did in the 1990s, but what are our chances of getting one?

Zero.

Democrats who accepted the need for one 15 years ago are buying the Obama line today that we don't need it.

As with so much else today, our nanny state big brother President is wrong, wrong, wrong.

The balanced budget is much like the amendment passed in the New Hampshire House earlier this year, the one whch would require a 60 percent majority to pass nex taxes.  We shouldn't need it--we should be able to elect people like me who are pledged to keeping spending and taxes under control--but sadly, we are not able to do what we should.

If you need just an iota of proof, look at how many Hillsborough County Republicans--those who are way up there in the HRA scoresheet--allowed Commissioners to overspend in their out of state travel line and then approved  $550 transfers for RINO Pappas and Becoming a RINO Ziehm, so they could continue their overspending ways.  Even with a balanced budget amendment, those pesky things called transfers plague county government--spend everything in every department, even if there's a penny left over.

A balanced budget is admittedly no panacea, but it's about the best thing we can ask for these days--all of us.

Marco Rubio For Vice President

Chances are close to zero that my choice for President, Ron Paul, will wind up in the Oval Office; I'm realist enough to admit that.  However, several weeks ago I announced on More Politically Alert that Florida Senator Marco Rubio is my choice for Vice President, no matter which Republican winds up with the Presidential nod.

Chances of that wish coming true appear to be pretty good.  Last night, Bill O'Reilly and Bernie Goldberg on Fox News were pushing Rubio for Veep, and for four very good reasons.  First, he's on the right side of most issues for conservative/libertarians like me.  Secondly, although only in his first year in the Senate, he's learned how to phrase issues and state cogent arguments.  His appearance on Face The Nation Sunday was A+ for sure.  He made quite clear what we all should know but need to be told over and over again, that while Barack Obama claims to be the adult in the room, seeking a "big dea" solution to the budget problem, in fact The Anointed One has offered no real plan whatsoever, and you cannot vote a speech into law.

Well said, Senator Rubio, who although only 40, toiled at the state level and learned fast as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.

That brings us to point number three in the Rubio for Veep scenario.  He's from Florida, and a spot on the ticket will virtually guarantee that swing state for Republicans in November, 2012.

Finally, although reluctant to play the race/ethnicity card, we need to acknowledge that it's out there.  Repjublicans have been losing the ever-growing Hispanic vote in alarming numbers, and lest we forget, Rubio is an Hispanic American, of Cuban heritage for sure, but that's Hispanic, and Senator Rubio should neutralize the Democrat advantage in that area, if not turn it around.

Whether it's Romney, Bachmann, Perry, or anyone else at the top of the ticket, Florida Senator Marco Rubio should be a no brainer for the number two spot, and don't listen to him if he says he's not interested.  No one turns down the nomination for V.P, and after eight years in that job, Marco for President at age 49 has a great ring to it!

Media Watch--Disgusting, Shameful, Graceless Coverage

When the history of American media is written, one of the saddest chapters will most assuredly center on coverage of the Casey Anthony trial in Orlando, Florida.  Headline News (Channel 202 on the Dish) is the most blatantly biased and offensive, especially Nancy Graceless, but other media have shamed themselves as well.

Who would have thought that 12 days after the trial ended, HLN would be granting it around the clock coverage?  That's what happened last week.  They covered a sheriff's press confernce at the very same time President Obama was honoring a war hero!  Over the weekend, it was all about Casey's release from prison and nothing about raising the debt ceiling.

HLN has hit ratings gold.  We know reality programming is cheap to produce, and when it comes to a news story filling the reality programming, it doesn't get any cheaper.

One good thing has come of this.  I'm no longer the only one calling Nancy Graceless on her smarmy over the top pathetic coverage.  She still tries to defend her "Tot Mom" terminology--last week she had the gall to tell O'Reilly she uses the term because the six letters fit neatly onto a graphic (as if Casey or Anthony would not fit just as well).

Former drug abuser Jane Velez Mitchell (she constantly boasts of her past use, so don't blame me for outing her) has found a new drug.  For HLN, she's not addicted to Casey Anthony, and the dose is nearly as lethal as the one Graceless gives us each night.  Mitchell actually said over the weekend that Casey Anthony went free because she had "mesmerized" the jury, sitting so close to them.

You just can't make this stuff up.

HLN even has a quack shrink, Dr. Drew, in the game.  As if his pseudo-scientific approach weren't enough, his contention that trial pains him (talk about masochism!), he actually dragged out a bottle of Pepto Bismol last week to prove how sad he is.

What crap.

Fox loses out in the race for most disgusting, but Judge Jennine Pirro (nearly in tears herself in the quest to get Justice for Caylee--really sickening) comes close as does Kimberly Guilfoyle who'll raise her voice and shout down anyone with even a shred of defense for the defense. 

Perhaps worse of all was when someone on Fox, the network which constatntly features its female anchors wearing as little as possible, remarking how shameful it was that Casey was wearing a low cut pink blouse as she left jail.

What's really shameful is coverage at almost every level.

Now the media is desperately trying to find where Casey went.  What for?  So they can lure some person with a screw loose into going to that location and taking a shot at this woman who was judged not guilty.  Should ill come to Casey Anthony, book will be on the well manicured fingers of the likes of Nancy Graceless, Micthell, Pirro, and Guilfoyle.

A Hack Sighting At Last--It seems like it's been months since we did our duty and had to report a Harrell The Humorless Hack sighting here in New Hampshire.  Harrell, of course, is the paid Democrat spokehack who was making it into the lame stream media on a weekly basis throughout most of the past winter. After he refused to comment on Anthony Weiner, the media stopped quoting the Hack for a while, but he was back this week.

The guilty reporters were--you're way ahead of me here--the Union Leader's Tom Fahey who seems to be paid to carry water for Democrats on a regular basis--no surprise there--and even the Monitor duo of Karen Langley and Matt Spolar who were compelled to quote the Hack, albeit briefly, in their Sunday column...something about him being outraged over a comment by Speaker Bill O'Brien and welfare mothers. 

As we all know, outrage is about the only thing Harrell does, but like a tree falling in the forrest, would anyone hear Harrell's outrage if the Drive By Media stopped quoting this buffoon.

Tanned--Really Tanned--And Ready--Either he fell asleep in a tanning salon; he fell into a vat of make-up powder; or the venerable Channel 9 anchor Tom Griffin is about three months early in celebrating Halloween.  He was so orange one night last week that I for one couldn't follow anything he was saying on the 11 o'clock news.  All I could think of was how his fellow anchors paled in comparison to him and everyone in the news clips paled as well.  Consider it a bad make-up day, and yes we forgive Tom.  What's it been, more than a quarter century that he's hung around Channel 9?  He succeeds because he doesn't offend us; he doesn't stand in a crowd of news readers--and that's high praise indeed.  At least, he didn't stand out until he went orange last week.

You Know, I Lost Count--Speaking of Channel 9, can anyone tell me how many times in an eight minute segment Close-Up guest James Foley Sunday used the phrase, "You know...yeah, you know...but, uh, you know...so you know...you know, you know."  I lost track at around 40, but not before I noticed that the malady seemed to be catching.  Josh McElveen, usually at least acceptably glib, started "you know"ing us as well.  It was not one of Close-Up's finer moments, nor was the interview with Congressioanal candidate Joanne Dowdell who kept the "you knows" to a minimum but came out with enough weird sighs to scare viewers (and voters?) away.

The Best Close-Up--Our policy here is that when we criticize, we also offer praise when deemed appropriate.  The best Close-Up is undoubtedly when UNH pollster Andy Smith is on as he was two weeks ago.  Four reasons--One, unlike party hacks, Andy has no vested interested; in other words, he does not spin.  Two, his numbers are usually pretty accurate.  Remember that late last October he warned that Republicans could end up capturing 300 seats in the New Hampshire House.  Three, he has an uncanny knack to extrapolate usuful trends from those numbers.  Four, the man can speak the language...no uhm, "you know"s and other cluttering distractions which detract from his main point.  Hey Josh, you want a winning Close-Up, have Andy Smith on more often.

Define Closely Contested--Back to the negative side.  I've been particulary unimpressed with Channel 9 weekend anchor Audrey Cox.  Most recently, in reporting on Thaddeus McConnell's entry into the Republican presidential race two weeks ago, she described it as a closely contested field.  Well, that adjective may be intended to grap viewers interest, but the field, especially here in New Hampshire, is hardly closely contested.  In fact, Mitt Romney is two to three times ahead of his nearest competitor.  I know that; you know that; apparently Audrey Cox (or her copy writers) does not know that.  By the way, as a 3 a.m. Red Eye viewer, I'm a big fan of Congressman McConnell (hope I spell his name right).

Cain Slips Into "Will Not Support" Category

After taking in his interview with Chris Wallace yesterday, Herman Cain has been moved from number five on my support list (following Ron Paul, Gary Johnson, John Huntsman, and Mitt Romney) to  the "I could never support him" category.

While a self-made man and free enterprise capitalist, Cain has been giving me the heebie-geebies on social issues for several weeks now, but yesterday was the last straw.  Not only would he not support a Mosque at ground zero; not only would he not support a mosque in Tennessee; but Cain says that people in any community in this country should have the right to veto a mosque being placed there.

Oh really!?

What a bigoted statement!  If we're going to say an opinion poll can prevent a mosque from being built anywhere, what's next for us to deny by a simply majority whim?  A Catholic church?  How about a black Baptist church?  There was a time in this country when a majority would have kept blacks out, and as an African American running for President Herman Cain should remember that.  It was wrong then just like it would be wrong today for people to say no Moslems better even think of worshipping here. 

I trust Cain would not want a gay church in his neighborhood either.

The extent of his bigotry is undetermined, but for me bigotry is a disqualfier when it comes to holding any office, certainly the Presidency.  Herman Cain has proven himself to be a bigot.  Sad to say, but I now must confess--I could never vote for him.

The verdict is still out on Michelle Obama.  While I wholeheartedly agree with her fiscal policies, her radical right wing social agenda may get her placed on the "never could support" list as well. 

In case you're wondering, Cain is now the fifth person on that list for me.  He joins Trump (for other reasons), Huckabee, Santorum, and Gingrich. 

Palin?  I'd prefer not to have to vote for her, and I really don't think I'll have to decide--she's teasing us but when push comes to shove, she won't run.  She's already been shoved aside by Bachmann, and she's purely delusional in her comments that she could win if only she wanted to run.  Self-delusion is never a good thing at any level.

The Week In Polls--July 18--Don't Ever Raise That Debt Ceiling--Gallup

Wednesday update--Obama continues to fall like a rock.  He's down to minus six with Gallup (42-48), minus ten with Rasmussen (44-54), and worst of all, he's down 2.7 in the Real Clear Politics average, 45.9-48.6

It's never necessary but it's always reassuring when I go out on a limb and find that Americans, by nearly a two to one margin, are right out there on the limb with me.  Last week, I posted a lengthy piece on why Congress should not raise the debt ceiling, not now, not ever, on how we're not about to default on our debts or fail to send out 70 million checks.

Gallup is just out today with a poll which shows that by a 42-22 percent margin, Americans don't want their Cogresspeople to vote to raise the debt ceiling.  So much for the scare tactics from both the Obama left and the Juddgregg right that the sky will fall if we don't raise the ceiling.  35 percent expressed no opinion on the question.

So much also for Obama's weekend lies that 80 percent of the people want increased taxes to help with raising the ceiling.  So much for Democrat claims (including Juan Williams on Fox) that this "crisis" is helping the President and his party.

NOT.

In a race against a generic Republican, Rasmussen has Obama down five, but Gallup now has him down eight points (47-39).  It was only minus five last month (44-39), so that's what you call trending the wrong way for the Anointed One.

In today's Gallup poll, Obama has slipped to negative four, 44-48.  He's down 9 in the Rasmussen poll, 45-54, and he's down a full point an continuing to fall in the Real Clear Politics average, 46.3-47.3.

For the second week in a row, Republicans enjoy a six point lead in Rasmussen's generic Congressional ballot, 44-38, and those who want Obamacare repealed are up by 15 percent, 54-39.  52 percent believe Obamacare will end up increasing the federal defict; 17 percent (mostly braindead people) think it will reduce the deficit; 18 percent say it will have no impact.

ARG is out with three Republican primary polls this week, for New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Iowa.  Last week, Michelle Bachmann had moved ahead of Romney by three (32-29) in a Mason-Dixon Iowa poll and by a whopping 13 (29-16) in a Magellan poll.  ARG's numbers are closer to Mason Dixon.  In Iowa, ARG has it:  Bachmann 21, Romney 18, Ron Paul 14, Gingrich 8, Santorum 5 (those famous Iowa social conservatives apparently), Huntsman 3, and Pawlenty (the funeral dirge please) 2, Cain 2, and Perry 2.

For New Hampshire, ARG has Romney ahead of Bachmann by 17.  It's Romney 29, Bachmann 12, Giulani 9, Palin 8, Gingrich 7, Pawlenty 5, Ron Paul 4, Cain 4, Perry 2, and Santorum 2.  This is particular bad news for my candidate, Ron Paul who has begun running TV ads here this week.  Let's hope ARG has it wrong.

For South Carolina, ARG surprises me with Romney up 12.  It's Romney 25, Bachmann 13, Cain 10 (remember, there's a big African American voting block in this state), Perry and Giulani 6, Gingrich 3, Ron Paul and Santorum 2.

Here's an interesting match-up for the general election from an outfit called Civitas.  Perry leads Obama 45-42.  I predict he will run; Palin will not run.

Democrats are gloating over the negative numbers for Congressmen Guinta (24-30 for minus 6) and Bass (28-39 for minus 11) in the latest UNH poll, but what they don't tell you is that in the same poll,  As noted in the Sunday Monitor, Guinta still leads Carol Shea Porter by 7 and Bass edges Ann McLean Kuster by one, and that's before the CDs are redistricted, presumably to make CD2 better for any Republican including Bass (Anyone for giving Bedford to CD2 and moving those Custer-friendly Concord suburbs into CD 1?  To quote a line from the B-52s, "I'm just asking!")

The Monitor also shows us just why Raybo and kathythes are begging John Lynch to run again.  While he leads all Republicans by considerable margins (Sununu by 11, Ovide by 18, Bradley by 19, and Stehen by 21), three other Democrats (Maggie Hassan, Steve Who Am I Marchand, and Mark Connolly) don't do so well.  They all lose to all four Republicans mentioned (except Connolly ties Stephen). 

It's a PPP poll, so I don't trust it all that much, but the gist is clear, and I'm not surprise.  After all, I was one of the few Republicans who didn't give John Stephen much of a chance against Lynch (I actually thought it would be a 10 rather than an 8 point margin), and I wouldn't give any Republican much of a chance next year either.  Lynch does so well because he's not your typical left wing loonie.  How many other Democrats support the death penalty and oppose medical marijuana?  Not many--that's why Democrats spend much of their time privately bad mouthing him but publicly begging home to run again and again. 

Larry Sabato is out with projections for next year's Congressional races (more on that later this week).  He ranks only seven seats toss-ups, three currently held by Dems and four currently held by Republicans (including Bass).  Google sabato and check out his fascinating numbers.