Saturday, April 30, 2011

Cheap Political Points

Seizure
Mr. Obama seized on the opportunity to try to deflect some of the heat he has been feeling as gas prices have steadily climbed. He noted wryly at a political fund-raiser last weekend that his poll numbers tend to go up and down with pump prices, even as he admitted he had no “silver bullet” to bring those prices down in the short term. But he found ammunition in the tax breaks the oil industry has enjoyed for decades, portraying the industry as undeserving of them at a time when government needs all the revenue it can get. (NYT, 4/30/11)

Obama and the Dems had the numbers to ram through health care reform. If they are now so outraged by tax breaks for oil companies, why didn’t they do something about that when they had the chance?

Deplorable
A group including former White House officials, union leaders and one of Hollywood’s biggest producers have joined forces to start an outside effort to help President Obama and Congressional Democrats in 2012 by using the very sort of anonymous, unlimited donations from moneyed interests that the president has so deplored. (NYT, 4/30/11)

Later in the article we learn that the president’s opinion on this matter “has not changed.” Which leads to the inevitable conclusion that Obama deplores the actions of Jeffrey Katzenberg and the SEIU. You think?

Fuming
Union leaders in this traditionally labor-friendly state are fuming over a plan passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives this week to curtail bargaining rights for municipal workers, a highly unusual move by Democratic lawmakers. (NYT, 4/29/11)

Later in the article we learn that the Wisconsin Republican Party congratulated Mass Governor Deval Patrick and proclaimed him “an ally.” True! No word yet on whether Mass Republicans were planning to leave the state and go into hiding…

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