Bloodthirsty Liberal

I see President Obama is delivering the commencement address at the Air Force Academy today, and good for him.

I just wonder if he’ll make the fighter pilots also feel “stereotyped, simplified, and used”? Maybe come across as “paternalistic”?

Interesting how he picks his opportunities for maximum political benefit, isn’t it? A women’s college, a military academy… is there a gay school? Besides Sarah Lawrence, that is? By the time this is done, he may be begging for an appearance before Bob Jones University!

PS: That three fundraisers are tacked on to the trip—one in Denver, the other two in “nearby” California—is purely coincidental, I’m sure.

I’m thinking!

Barack Obama has already held more re-election fundraising events than every elected president since Richard Nixon combined, according to figures to be published in a new book.

Obama is also the only president in the past 35 years to visit every electoral battleground state in his first year of office.

The figures, contained a in a new book called The Rise of the President’s Permanent Campaign by Brendan J. Doherty, due to be published by University Press of Kansas in July, give statistical backing to the notion that Obama is more preoccupied with being re-elected than any other commander-in-chief of modern times.

Doherty, who has compiled statistics about presidential travel and fundraising going back to President Jimmy Carter in 1977, found that Obama had held 104 fundraisers by March 6th this year, compared to 94 held by Presidents Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Snr, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush combined.

Since then, Obama has held another 20 fundraisers, bringing his total to 124. Carter held four re-election fundraisers in the 1980 campaign, Reagan zero in 1984, Bush Snr 19 in 1992, Clinton 14 in 1996 and Bush Jnr 57 in 2004.

…

Vowing in 2008 to ‘launch the most sweeping ethics reform in US history’ Obama said that if elected he would ‘make government more open, more accountable and more responsive to the problems of the American people’.

In his State of the Union speech in January, Obama bemoaned the ‘corrosive influence of money in politics’. The following month, he reversed course and announced he was allowing cabinet members and top advisors to speak at big money events for so-called super PACs – unaccountable outside groups raising money for his re-election.

During the 2008 election, Obama abandoned a pledge to opt for public funding of his campaign, instead opting to raise an unlimited amount privately. He then raised and spent approximately $730million, almost double the campaign funds of Senator John McCain, his Republican opponent.

Boy, they almost say it: Obama is full of [bleep]. Almost, but not quite.

Of course, in libel law, truth is an absolute defense.

“Bite-me” sticks his foot in his mouth again!

Vice President Biden ordered supporters to “pretend you like me” after mocking them as “dull as hell” at a campaign fundraiser in Washington on Friday.

The vice president was speaking to Turkish and Azerbaijani donors about the potential of the region as a democratic and economic force when he noticed he wasn’t getting much of a reception.

“I guess what I’m trying to say without boring you too long at breakfast – and you all look dull as hell, I might add. The dullest audience I have ever spoken to. Just sitting there, staring at me. Pretend you like me!” Biden said.

The joke “drew big laughs from the crowd,” according to the press pool report.
Biden went on to extoll “Azerbaijan as country with tremendous potential.

Yes, but does it “punch above its weight”?

“I’m boring you as much as I’m boring myself,” Biden joked while exiting the stage.

You can always talk about the president’s “big stick”, Joe. They love it, none more than Chris Matthews.

When President Obama said he wouldn’t do business with lobbyists, it turns out it was only the Israeli lobby he meant:

Although Mr. Obama has made a point of not accepting contributions from registered lobbyists, a review of campaign donations and White House visitor logs shows that special interests have had little trouble making themselves heard. Many of the president’s biggest donors, while not lobbyists, took lobbyists with them to the White House, while others performed essentially the same function on their visits.

More broadly, the review showed that those who donated the most to Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party since he started running for president were far more likely to visit the White House than others. Among donors who gave $30,000 or less, about 20 percent visited the White House, according to a New York Times analysis that matched names in the visitor logs with donor records. But among those who donated $100,000 or more, the figure rises to about 75 percent. Approximately two-thirds of the president’s top fund-raisers in the 2008 campaign visited the White House at least once, some of them numerous times.

If it’s still not clear to you, let’s run it through the human translator:

Patrick J. Kennedy, the former representative from Rhode Island, who donated $35,800 to an Obama re-election fund last fall while seeking administration support for a nonprofit venture, said contributions were simply a part of “how this business works.”

“If you want to call it ‘quid pro quo,’ fine,” he said. “At the end of the day, I want to make sure I do my part.”

Mr. Kennedy visited the White House several times to win support for One Mind for Research, his initiative to help develop new treatments for brain disorders. While his family name and connections are clearly influential, he said, he knows White House officials are busy. And as a former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he said he was keenly aware of the political realities they face.

Is this hope—sorry, Hope? It’s clearly not Change (at $100,000 per audience, not chump change anyway). If this is what you voted for, fine. But don’t tell me he’s anything but a charlatan and a carnival barker. Don’t wast your breath and my time.

So, what’s on the agenda for today, Mr. President?

9:10 am || Departs White House
11:45 am || Arrives West Palm Beach, Florida
1:15 pm || Delivers remarks at fundraiser; private residence, Palm Beach Gardens
2:55 pm || Delivers remarks on the economy; Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
6:00 pm || Delivers remarks at fundraiser; Westin Diplomat Hotel, Hollywood, Florida
8:05 pm || Delivers remarks at fundraiser; private residence, Golden Beach
9:20 pm || Departs Hollywood, Florida
11:45 pm || Arrives White House

Ah well, you say, the man is running for reelection, after all. It costs money.

Yes, but whose?

Presidential trips devoted to politics but largely paid for by taxpayers usually have at least the veneer of an official purpose, with an actual policy event cynically thrown in so that the president can say he’s doing the people’s business.

Other presidents have done the same thing, though none to quite the extent this one has. With an official event in the mix, the campaign pays some, but taxpayers pick up most of it.

But today’s trip to Florida, which will be billed largely to you and me, is so nakedly and completely political that I have to laugh – laugh all the way to the bank to withdraw funds to pay my taxes so Obama can proceed with his plans.

First of all, Obama is going to Florida. FLORIDA. Ring a bell? Hanging chads? Most important presidential swing state in the country.

Second of all, he will be attending THREE FUNDRAISERS. He’s headed to the beaches on the southeastern coast. Not Miami, he already cleaned out Miami during a previous trip. Boca, West Palm, and Hollywood.

And the official event? THE BUFFETT RULE.

…

What’s really going on here is that the highly politicized White House economic team, which has given you two percent growth and eight percent unemployment, is participating in Obama’s reelection campaign instead of making serious proposals to fix the economy.

And you’re paying for the travel.

I think calling Obama a Marxist is giving him too much credit. Marx was a pig, but he was a thoughtful pig. Obama is just a huckster.

Really, John? You really want to wade in that Mekong Delta of charges and countercharges?

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) has lent his name to a fundraising solicitation that raises the specter of millionaires and billionaires funding an outside effort against President Obama.

“When I was the Democratic nominee for president in one of the closest and toughest elections in history, a group of billionaires did something unprecedented,” Kerry wrote. “They wrote million-dollar checks to fund lies about my service on what were called “Swift Boats” in Vietnam — and in so doing, they turned the boats my crewmates and I served on into a new political shorthand for the most vicious smears imaginable: ‘swiftboating.’”

In 2004, an anti-Kerry 527 group formed to raise questions about his war record and air ads against the senator, then running as the Democratic nominee for president. Its’ spokesman, Jerome Corsi, would go on to become one of the leading proponents of the ‘birther’ conspiracy that falsely suggests Obama was born in Kenya or elsewhere.

Kerry points to a $3 million dollar donation to a pro-Romney super PAC by Houston construction magnate Bob Perry as the next round in an outside effort against Obama.

“One man. Three million dollars. And that’s just the start,” Kerry writes.

“I know all too clearly that these guys will do or say anything to win. They’ll stop at nothing. But forewarned is forearmed. Their multi-million dollar smear tactics were new in 2004; in 2012 we know their playbook, and shame on us if we don’t tear it into shreds. Join me and we will stop the ‘swiftboating’ of President Obama,” Kerry emails.

Not really true, John. Your fellow senator, John McCain, a Republican and Bush supporter (who by the way served in Vietnam), condemned the Swift Boat campaign as “very, very wrong”. But then, how would he know, strung up as he was in the Hanoi Hilton throughout the war?

And isn’t it a little bit, heh, rich to complain about fundraising when Obama has outspent all the Republican candidates combined?

Not to mention complaining about fundraising in a letter seeking to raise funds.

But that’s our senior senator. He not only looks French, he speak nuance as well.

It’ll cost you big bucks to find out how:

Could you pass the Grey Poupon?

The White House extended state dinner invitations to more than 30 of President Barack Obama’s top fundraisers, including a handful of donors to an independent political group backing his re-election effort, an Associated Press review has found.

Such coveted seats for Wednesday’s event honoring British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife went to about two dozen supporters who each raised $200,000 or more for Obama’s campaign. Those included film producer Harvey Weinstein, New York financier Orin Kramer and Miami public-policy consultant Joseph Falk.

Indeed, it is not uncommon for presidents to reward major supporters with access to dignitary dinners: President George W. Bush invited dozens of his “pioneer” supporters to state dinners, and President Bill Clinton did the same. But Obama previously has criticized Washington’s pay-for-access privileges, and even donors themselves complained early in his presidency that they were kept at arm’s length.

The AP’s review also found some of those same donors, including Kramer and Falk, have written big checks to Priorities USA Action, a “super” political action committee run by former White House aides. Both donors contributed more than $10,000 to the group, which has struggled to raise the kind of big cash that Republican-leaning super PACs have banked on.

The nearly three dozen top donors who mingled with the dinner’s 360 total guests are also known as “bundlers” — the high-profile fundraisers who collect campaign checks from friends and business associates. Since federal campaign rules cap individual contribution limits — $2,500 each for the primary and general elections — bundlers have become significant figures for Obama’s campaign.

All told, bundlers at Wednesday’s event raised more than $8 million for his re-election efforts, records show.

No wonder Clooney works so much! Carrying Obama’s a** across the finish line takes big money.

Obama encouraged his supporters last month to donate to Priorities USA Action, a decision that drew criticism from campaign-finance watchdogs and Republicans who said Obama flip-flopped on his earlier stance assailing super PAC money. For their part, Democratic aides said they were playing by the same rules as everyone else, but also conceded they would not be left at a disadvantage in November.

An Obama campaign spokesman declined to comment for this story.

You know, I think this might qualify as a random act of journalism. It takes no stand, but merely reports both sides. (How old must the reporter be, 97?)

Just an intimate little gathering of close friends (with deep pockets):

He’s logged more flight hours than Sully Sullenberger:

President Obama jets to Florida today for a mix of official and political business that will steal some headlines in the Sunshine State and line his campaign coffers with at least $4 million.

The act of presidential piggybacking — coupling official duties, in this case a speech on the economy, with political fundraising — was not pioneered by Obama but is prominently on display this year.

Obama has taken four trips outside Washington, D.C., since Jan. 1, including 18 re-election fundraisers interspersed with various activities related to his duties as president. Most recently, Obama concluded a three-day, three-state swing when he attended eight fundraisers and two official events.

The president’s jet-setting has drawn the usual criticisms from his political opponents but also raised the curiosity and questions from taxpayers about who bears the sky-high costs.

…

As a rule of thumb, an incumbent president’s campaign is expected to reimburse the government the cost of a first class commercial airline ticket for each person riding Air Force One to or from a political event, campaign finance experts say.

But that amount doesn’t come close to covering the proportional operating cost of Air Force One, or the army of Secret Service agents, White House advance teams, the fleet of Air Force cargo planes transporting the presidential motorcade or the helicopters that often ferry the president from an airport to a remote site.

Air Force One – known in the military as VC-25 – costs $179,750 per flight hour alone in fiscal year 2012, Maj. Michelle Lai of the 89th Airlift Wing told ABC News.

…

His three-day, three-state swing that included two official events and eight fundraisers, netting more than $8 million last week, incurred flight costs of $2.1 million, based on the Air Force figure and flight times gathered from press pool reports.

As for how the proportion of that bill is broken down for Obama campaign to pay, experts say the law is murky and the practice of reimbursement somewhat “on your honor.”

That’s it, we’re [bleeped].

After a speech on his 2013 budget proposal at the University of Miami, Obama will attend three fundraisers for his re-election campaign.

He’ll attend a reception with 450 supporters at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, where DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Sen. Bill Nelson would also join, and singer Deborah Cox will perform. General admission tickets were $1,000 apiece, a campaign official said.

Then Obama will hobnob at a private residence in Coral Gables with 100 donors, who each paid at least $15,000 for a chance to meet the president.

Obama will fly Air Force One from Miami to Orlando for his third event of the evening, at the Windermere home of NBA star Vince Carter. Each of the 70 guests cut a check of $30,000, according to the Obama campaign.

All proceeds benefit the Obama Victory Fund, a joint account of the Democratic National Committee and president’s campaign.

I count over $5 million in campaign appearances for one lousy speech (and I do mean lousy). And how much golf will he fit in, I wonder? Plenty, I hope, since we’re paying for it.

Sorry! Mum’s the word!

Remember how Tucker Carlson of the Daily Caller put in the high bid for the auctioned dinner with Bill Ayers and Bernardette Dorn? I think he invited the Koch brothers and Gen. Curtis LeMay as his fellow guests.

Aggie, it would almost be worth it to spend two bucks “or whatever we can” to get this invitation:

Friend –

Tomorrow night, we’ll pick the first of four supporters who will sit down with me for dinner. I’m hoping you’ll take me up on the invitation. Donate $2 or whatever you can today to be automatically entered for the chance to be my first dinner guest.

These meals are one simple thing that sets this campaign apart. The seats at our table don’t belong to any Washington lobbyist or powerful interest. These seats are yours. Donate $2 or more today and be automatically entered to win:

[url deleted]

Hope to see you,

Barack

Before we shell out out money, who’s preparing the menu? If it’s Barack, I’m in; if it’s Michelle, you’ll have to pay me to eat it.

PS: As HotAir notes, the price started at $5, then dropped to $3, now $2—or “whatever you can”. They even threw Joe Biden into the pot, which is a Big Effing Deal!

Thanks to White House Dossier for keeping up with the president’s date book:

Obama Schedule || Wednesday, February 15, 2012

9:45 am || Receives the Presidential Daily Briefing
10:30 am || Departs White House
11:35 am CT || Arrives Milwaukee
Noon CT || Tours Master Lock
12:40 pm CT || Delivers remarks at Master Lock
2:05 pm CT || Departs Milwaukee
4:00 pm PT || Arrives Los Angeles
6:10 pm PT || Delivers remarks at fundraiser; private residence
7:50 pm PT || Delivers remarks at fundraiser; private residence

Obama Schedule || Thursday, February 16, 2012

10:05 am || Delivers remarks at a fundraiser; Corona Del Mar, Calif.
11:45 am || Departs Los Angeles
12:50 pm || Arrives San Francisco
2:00 pm || Attends a fundraiser; San Francisco Intercontinental Hotel
7:10 pm || Delivers remarks at a fundraiser; private residence, San Francisco
9:00 pm || Delivers remarks at a fundraiser; Nob Hill Masonic Center

That’s one token appearance (in a swing state); otherwise all fundraising (among Masons, no less). Will there be a single red cent left in California when he leaves?

No wonder the economy sucks. How can a command economy work when the commander in chief is AWOL?

We covered this yesterday, but the WSJ is so sulfuric, we just have to post it:

It may create a little “psychic dissonance” to denounce big money and then beg for it, as one Soros acolyte was quoted Tuesday as saying. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

The better way to understand this decision is that it is Mr. Obama’s second in-kind contribution to the demise of the campaign-finance reform movement. In 2008, Mr. Obama was so flush with cash he voluntarily dropped out of the presidential public-funding system that limits the amount a candidate can raise and spend. John McCain, trapped by his own history of favoring spending limits, played the sap, obeyed the rules, and was heavily outspent. You may have noticed he lost.

The liberal goo-goos want to ban money from politics, but now their political hero has made them look like fools—twice.”

…

So the President is now anointing certain Administration officials to be able to speak directly on its behalf—though apparently not actively to solicit checks.

So let’s see: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will be able to speak at an event that is expressly a Super PAC fund-raiser, but because she won’t be stuffing the checks in her purse she will not violate federal rules against coordination between a candidate’s campaign and a Super PAC. After the election, and especially if Mr. Obama wins, the President will switch one more time and become a reformer demanding limits on money in politics. And good liberals will praise him for it.

“Good liberals”? That makes no sense. The only good liberal is a… Bloodthirsty Liberal.

Must be election time: Obama has turned two-faced on fundraising.

Again.

According to several participants on a conference call with major bundlers late Monday night, Barack Obama’s re-election campaign encouraged donors to fundraise for a Democratic super PAC supporting the president, marking an about-face on Obama’s position toward outside spending groups.

Obama has been an outspoken critic of current campaign financing laws, in particular a Supreme Court ruling that allowed the creation of super PACs. Until now he has kept his distance from the group, Priorities USA Action.

But in the wake of the group’s anemic fundraising, made public last week, the campaign changed its position. Earlier Monday, it announced to members of its national finance committee that it will use administration and campaign officials as surrogates at PAC events.

On the call, a campaign official made clear that after donors contribute the maximum amount allowed to the Obama campaign, fundraisers should encourage donors to give to Priorities USA, according to a source who was on the call.

Didn’t see that one coming! Just because he broke his word to John McCain about public financing, who would have figured he’d reverse a “principled” stand again? What are the odds?