• Barack Obama,  President 2012

    President 2012: Obama Caves and Will Deliver “Jobs” Speech on Thursday

    I guess the political strategists in the White House determined that since NBC and Politico were not going to postpone the GOP Presidential debate on Wednesday the 7th that it would be better for the President to defer.

    “Today, the President asked to address the Congress about the need for urgent action on the economic situation facing the American people as soon as Congress returned from recess. Both Houses will be back in session after their August recess on Wednesday, September 7th, so that was the date that was requested. We consulted with the Speaker about that date before the letter was released, but he determined Thursday would work better. The President is focused on the urgent need to create jobs and grow our economy, so he welcomes the opportunity to address a Joint Session of Congress on Thursday, September 8th and challenge our nation’s leaders to start focusing 100% of their attention on doing whatever they can to help the American people.”

    Well, if anyone watches the President on Thursday since there are a few football games, including the NFL Packers Vs. Saints being played.

    What a poorly run Presidency.

    The LEFT must be going wild with Obama acquiescing to the Republicans again.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for August 31st on 17:48

    These are my links for August 31st from 17:48 to 17:51:

    • Coincidences don’t happen in presidential politics. Ever. – There are no coincidences in presidential politics.

      Strategists spend hours poring over every word a president utters, every policy position he takes and every state he visits, a level of attention to detail that makes happenstance virtually nonexistent.

      And so, when the White House announced today that President Obama would deliver his much-anticipated jobs speech on Sept. 7 at 8 pm — the exact same day and time that the 2012 Republican candidates are scheduled to debate in California — the idea that the timing was purely coincidental was, well, far-fetched.

      It’s clear that this White House saw an opportunity to drive a major — and direct — contrast between President Obama and his potential Republican rivals and took it.

      As to whether that’s a good idea, strategists — even within the Democratic party — are divided.

      =======

      Petty HardBall even for Chicago politics.

    • Google Quietly Rolls Out The Chrome Extension To Bring +1 To The Entire Web – You may recall that back in May, we spotted something in Google’s “Dear Sophie” commercial: an unreleased +1 Chrome extension. This was pre-Google+, when the +1 button still didn’t do a whole lot, so even I forgot about the extension over the past few months. But very quietly, Google actually launched it yesterday.

      There was no blog post, no featured placement in the Chrome Web Store — pretty much no fanfare beyond Google SVP of Chrome, Sundar Pichai, posting a link to it on Google+. But it has the potential to be a bigger deal than it seems on the surface.

      As the tagline indicates, the Google +1 Button extension allows you to “+1 a web page, anywhere you go on the web”. That’s important. You no longer have to rely on a site to implement the +1 Button, you can invoke the functionality through your browser. Imagine if Facebook made their own browser and offered an extension to “Like” any page on the web through it — same idea (and one that I still suspect will happen sooner or later).

      Right now, the +1 Button just shares content you like on the web. But eventually, the plan is to look at this data as a way to affect Google Search itself potentially. That’s huge.

      And while the +1 Buttons for websites just added the functionality to share your Google+ Circles, the extension doesn’t yet offer that — but I assume it will. It does offer +1 counts though already, which is nice.

  • Barack Obama,  John Boehner

    Boehner Asks for Thursday: Obama Schedules Jobs Speech to Joint Session of Congress on Same Day as GOP Presidential Debate

    U.S. President Barack Obama speaks next to AFL-CIO Richard Trumpka (R) in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, August 31, 2011

    Oh My!

    President Barack Obama intends to deliver his much-anticipated speech laying out his jobs agenda and plan to cut the federal deficit on Sept. 7 to a joint session of Congress. Mr. Obamas timing steps directly on a Republican presidential debate scheduled for that same evening in Simi Valley, Calif.

    The president sent a letter to congressional leaders Wednesday requesting time to address a joint session on Sept. 7 at 8 p.m.

    Our Nation faces unprecedented economic challenges, and millions of hardworking Americans continue to look for jobs, Mr. Obama wrote. It is my intention to lay out a series of bipartisan proposals that the Congress can take immediately to continue to rebuild the American economy by strengthening small businesses, helping Americans get back to work, and putting more money in the paychecks of the Middle Class and working Americans, while still reducing our deficit and getting our fiscal house in order.

    It is our responsibility to find bipartisan solutions to help grow our economy, Mr. Obama continued, and if we are willing to put country before party, I am confident we can do just that.

    Good for the GOP Presidential contenders?

    NBC and Politico will call the shots, but a GOP debate after the President’s speech would be a full two hour prime time television rebuttal of the President.

    Of course, the debate is only being carried on MSNBC.

    My bet is the debate will be cancelled and rescheduled until a later date. Now, agreeing on that date may be problematic.

  • Polling,  President 2012,  Sarah Palin

    President 2012 Poll Watch: Should Sarah Palin Run? GOP Outsiders Say No

    An interesting poll over at the Huffington Post and the Patch.

    Last week, our HuffPost-Patch Power Outsiders poll of influential Republicans in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina found two thirds satisfied with the current crop of candidates and only 8 percent offering Palin when asked who else they would like to see run in a follow-up question.

    This week, we decided to dig deeper into evaluations of Sarah Palin, starting with a more straightforward question: Should Palin run or not in 2012? We received responses back from 151 of our influential Republican leaders — 35 in Iowa, 48 in New Hampshire and 63 in South Carolina. Just 15 percent said yes, Palin should run, while 81 percent said she should not.

    And, these GOP Primary state outsiders are split on whether Sarah would make a good President. But, they make one thing clear – Palin could NOT beat Barack Obama next year.

    This really is nothing new. Most of the polling from PPP and others  for over a year have demonstrated Palin’s lack of electability in a general election.

    Now, with a deadline looming, will Sarah decide to shoot her wad and go for it?

    Well, will ya, Sarah?

  • Christine O'Donnell,  Sarah Palin,  Tea Party

    Christine O’Donnell Bouncing Around With The Iowa Tea Party

    Dang, make up your mind.

    The organizer of the Tea Party rally in Iowa this weekend told NBC News he had to cancel Christine O’Donnell’s speaking slot again — after she was re-invited — “after a conversation with Sarah Palin aides — and is now hopeful Palin will attend the Saturday rally.

    I can understand Sarah Palin’s concern.

    Obviously, someone in the Iowa Tea Party is not happy with Sarah Palin’s demands.

  • Mitt Romney,  President 2012,  Rick Perry

    President 2012: Perry Panic Grips Romney Campaign?



    If not now, then when?

    Politico leads off its home page today with this headline: “Romney Camp Not Panicking — Yet.” The story that follows describes how the Romney campaign plans to respond in the coming months to Perry’s remarkable surge.

    Taegan Goddard (who edits the excellent Political Wire website) neatly summarizes the Romney campaign’s stop-Perry plan: “1)…Sarah Palin jumps into the race and pulls Tea Party voters away from Perry, 2)…. Michigan moves up its primary in the GOP calendar, and 3)….Perry (makes) a mistake in the series of post-Labor Day debates.”

    I don’t think Mitt Romney will wait for Sarah Palin or Michigan.

    He will start after Rick Perry in South Carolina on Labor Day. The anti-Perry mail will start in Iowa and Florida.

    Romney is a brutal campaigner and he is not going to have this nomination stolen from him.

  • Barack Obama,  President 2012

    President 2012: Obama Schedules Jobs Speech to Joint Session of Congress on Same Day as GOP Presidential Debate

    U.S. President Barack Obama speaks next to AFL-CIO Richard Trumpka (R) in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, August 31, 2011

    Oh My!

    President Barack Obama intends to deliver his much-anticipated speech laying out his jobs agenda and plan to cut the federal deficit on Sept. 7 to a joint session of Congress. Mr. Obama’s timing steps directly on a Republican presidential debate scheduled for that same evening in Simi Valley, Calif.

    The president sent a letter to congressional leaders Wednesday requesting time to address a joint session on Sept. 7 at 8 p.m.

    “Our Nation faces unprecedented economic challenges, and millions of hardworking Americans continue to look for jobs,” Mr. Obama wrote. “It is my intention to lay out a series of bipartisan proposals that the Congress can take immediately to continue to rebuild the American economy by strengthening small businesses, helping Americans get back to work, and putting more money in the paychecks of the Middle Class and working Americans, while still reducing our deficit and getting our fiscal house in order.”

    “It is our responsibility to find bipartisan solutions to help grow our economy,” Mr. Obama continued, “and if we are willing to put country before party, I am confident we can do just that.”

    Good for the GOP Presidential contenders?

    NBC and Politico will call the shots, but a GOP debate after the President’s speech would be a full two hour prime time television rebuttal of the President.

    Of course, the debate is only being carried on MSNBC.

    My bet is the debate will be cancelled and rescheduled until a later date. Now, agreeing on that date may be problematic.

  • President 2012,  Rick Perry

    Rick Perry: They Called Reagan Dumb Too

    Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry gestures while addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars 112th National Conference, Monday, Aug. 29, 2011, in San Antonio. Perry was invited to speak on behalf of Texas before he formally entered the presidential race

    Actually, they called Ronald Reagan worse, as I recall.

    Texas governor Rick Perry called into the Sean Hannity radio program Tuesday afternoon, where he responded to questions about his intelligence first raised in a Politico article with the blunt headline: “Is Rick Perry Dumb?”

    Perry, who has surged in the polls since he announced his candidacy just over two weeks ago, shrugged off the speculation that has become fodder for cable news.

    “It’s kind of the same old attacks that they made on President Reagan,” he said. “The better we do down here in Texas, my bet is the more they’re going to attack us and that’s fine. I think my record is going to stand the scrutiny of time across the country.”

    Perry, who made many C’s and D’s as a student at Texas A&M, turned the attack on the Harvard-educated Barack Obama — whose transcripts have not been released to the public.
    “What’s dumb is to oversee an economy that has lost that many millions of jobs, to put unemployment numbers – over his four years will stay probably at 9 percent, to downgrade the credit of this good country, to put fiscal policies in place that were a disaster back in the ’30s and try them again in the 2000s — that’s what I consider to be the definition of dumb,” he charged.

    Who cares about the grades.

    What does Perry stand for and what is his record?

    Obviously, the three time elected Governor of Texas is NOT dumb.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for August 30th through August 31st

    These are my links for August 30th through August 31st:

  • Jon Huntsman,  President 2012

    President 2012: Jon Huntsman Promises a Chicken in Every Pot



    In desperation to save a failing campaign, Jon Huntsman goes back to the tried and true of pandering – the tax code.

    Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) will propose sweeping tax reforms Wednesday in a speech outlining his plans on job creation.

    Huntsman will lay out his plans for tax and regulatory reform, energy independence and free trade in a New Hampshire speech that’s being billed as perhaps the last best chance for Huntsman, who stands far behind the GOP frontrunners in polls, to establish himself as a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination.

    “Meeting our challenges will require serious solutions, but above all, it will require serious leadership – a quality in high demand in our nation’s capital, and among my opponents on the campaign trail,” Huntsman will say, according to excerpts released by his campaign.

    The centerpiece of the plan is a proposal to reform tax rates. The Huntsman plan would eliminate all loopholes, deductions and tax exemptions in exchange for establishing three individual income brackets, taxed at eight, 14 and 23 percent. The Huntsman plan would also eliminate capital gains and dividend taxes, do away with the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and reduce the corporate tax rate to 25 percent.

    The details of the Huntsman plan are really not important. Nobody believes Huntsman anyway.

    Today’s exercise is a last gasp and Huntsman should be packing it in soon. He probably should have stayed in China working as Obama’s Ambassador.