Archive for April, 2009
Sometimes the universe brings you the wrong French toast
We are officially now the Susan Lucci of snarky political commentators.
For the last four days, FOX had us scheduled to do a segment with Neil Cavuto on the Chicago Tea Party and how moderate Democrats like us feel about the reckless, illiterate, woefully out of touch Pelosi/Reid Funhouse of Horrors that is the United States Congress at the moment.
But, we got bumped all four days in favor of various people who witnessed the CNN reporter’s complete and total meltdown and berating of the Tea Party crowd here in Chicago. It was disappointing and frustrating, as it would have been fun to take HillBuzz on the air for that segment (HillBuzz Coast to Coast!), but it was not meant to be.
But, sometimes the universe brings you the wrong French toast…so maybe it’s destined a spot in the big leagues like that is meant to wait until after we can get our new and improved revamped site up and running in June (hopefully, if we can pull everything we want together by then).
But, the little community that’s formed here at HillBuzz is something we treasure immensely — and were looking forward to the chance on FOX to reach out to all of you in a new, unique, and more immediate way. Maybe some day, as our video editing and other skills can improve, we could even do a little HillBuzz YouTube show of our own — and hopefully we wouldn’t get bumped off that like we were off FOX.
There’s no hard feelings, though, because we have to tell you that FOX treated us very, very well. They are incredibly professional and considerate: it’s just that the CNN reporter going nuts became the focal point of the Tea Party stories coming out of Chicago, and that eclipsed the opportunity for us to snark on Pelosi, Jan Schakowsky, and the other dangerous, wet Muppets we regrettably have in Congress.
But, like anything else in life, this was not the French toast we ordered in the way we expected it, but we’re confident some other opportunity will arrive in the future that will be even better than the four near-misses this week.
Nancy Pelosi is a Muppet that's been left out in the rain
Just when you think Nancy Pelosi can’t say and do anything more ridiculous than what she’s said and done (and written) in the past, she truly does top herself, the way only cartoon characters or felt-based lifeforms in a Jim Henson production typically can.
It’s absurd the Speaker of the House dares to attack Americans for peacefully exercising their Constitutional right to protest the madhouse Pelosi and Reid are running in Washington. Somehow, we just can’t imagine Tip O’Neil behaving this way, but then again, we could never imagine Tip O’Neil allowing trillions of dollars in spending to rush through Congress without debate in the dead of night.
It’s clear Rahm Emanuel or someone else at the White House was up very late Tuesday night writing the talking points for Pelosi and the other Muppets, like Jan Schakowsky, Claire McCaskill, and the other usual suspects, so happy to attack their own constituents and call them all manner of vile names for daring to question the recklessness of this Administration (in this, the supposedly Golden Age).
The fact that such coordinated talking points had to be employed, with such in-your-face nastiness from Pelosi, Schakowsky, and other Muppets really drives home the point that, while myopic and out of touch with reality, these people are rattled on some level by over 250,000 people nationwide coming out on Wednesday en masse.
The next round of events could very well have 500,000 poeple turn out.
What happens if this gets into the millions by the Fourth of July?
What lines will Emanuel write for Nancy and Jan then? It’s doubtful the people of San Francisco will ever wise up and vote Pelosi out of office any sooner than Chicago voters would send Schakowsky packing, but it’s also hard to imagine Democrats hanging onto Congress in 2010 if ordinary Americans who’ve never protested anything in their lives keep taking to the streets the way they’ve been doing.
Because it sure feels like for every person out there protesting at a Tea Party, there’s several more at home cheering them on, wishing they could have been there in person too…and maybe next time they will set out and do just that.
So go ahead and mock your constituents for daring to defy you, Nancy, and taking a stand against the reckless manner in which you squander our national resources…but at the end of the day, come next November, you very likely could find yourself on the receiving end of some pretty dramatic ballot box payback.
Friday Open Thread
What’s on your mind today?
What are the people you know saying about the Tea Parties that took place on Wednesday?
What do you think of CNN and the way its reporters seem to clearly be “activist journalists” instead of professional journalists, if you even feel comfortable calling them journalists at all?
What else are you thinking about today?
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky calls disgusting and shameful check-kiting bank fraud felon "husband"
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois is married to notorious check-kiting bank fraud felon Robert Creamer, whose crime spree in 2005 involved stealing over $2 million dollars from unsuspecting victims…before returning home each night to snuggle with the United States Congresswoman he was married to.
That would be Jan Schakowsky, who called people protesting wasteful government spending “disgusting” and “shameful”.
You know what she calls a disgusting and shameful check-kiting bank fraud felon?
Snookums.
Pooky-bear.
Husband.
Schakowsky, like Nancy Pelosi, Claire McCaskill, Harry Reid, and the rest of the all-muppet-band in Congress are so out of touch with reality, it’s ridiculous.
First you have Chris Dodd pretending to be shocked and outraged over the AIG bonuses, when he’s the one who wrote the legislation that secured those very same bonuses.
Now you have haggard, loathsome Muppet Schakowsky disgusted and shamed by Americans calling her out for her own intense stupidity in voting for bills without reading them, when she was never smart or decent enough to realize her husband Robert Creamer was stealing millions of dollars, expecting no consequence or punishment because of who his nightly snuggle buddy is — Congresswoman Schakowsky.
We’re sure there are many creative words you could use to describe one of the most Terrible People in the House of Representatives.
But, hypocrite sums it up pretty well.
Damn fool is also a good one.
Or, if you are Robert Creamer, or some other felon, “Snookums” will do.
Video from Chicago Tax Day Tea Party
Photos from the Chicago Tax Day Tea Party
Here are some of our photos from the Chicago Tax Day Tea Party:
5,000 at the Chicago Tax Day Tea Party
It’s been a busy few days for us, and we have a lot to say about not only our meeting with Michael Steele on Tuesday, but about the Tax Day Tea Party yesterday. The event was a phenomenal success: 5,000 people by Chicago Police Department’s estimate. From what we could see, that sure sounds about right. There were people everywhere — and the Navy Pier Tea Party later in the day was packed as well.
Some of us even got to meet some of you, which was a wonderful surprise. We’re really flattered and humbled by that, to be truly honest. It inspires us to work even harder, if what we do here matters enough for people to come up and say hello and tell us to keep dishing up that political snark. That’s probably the greatest compliment of our lives…and we are very grateful for it. It always strikes us that something we started a year ago to rally Team Hillary in Chicago evolved into something we never dreamed possible — and as of today, it’s become a real community we actually interacted with in person in some cases. That’s pretty amazing, and makes us realize how much we can all accomplish moving forward if we keep building on the things we all have in common, from both sides of the aisle.
The Steele event and the Chicago Tea Parties deserve full essay treatment — and we have literally hundreds of photos from yesterday to post. CNN, MSNBC, and other clowns keep trying to downplay the importance of the Tea Parties, but we don’t know how you pretend 5,000 people didn’t come down to the middle of Chicago in the middle of a work day and assemble to raise their voices against wasteful spending and elected officials who think they have no public to answer to.
We have a lot to say, in particular, about what the CNN reporter did in Chicago. We were very close by when it happened, and it’s the sort of thing CNN and MSNBC have made themselves into. They no longer teach journalism in school — they teach activist journalism. The difference is that journalists report on stories, and activist journalists become the story. You’ll no doubt hear about the unprofessionalism of CNN all day. Or, maybe not, because the American media long ago ceased to be in the business of reporting the truth. And that’s okay, in a sense, because a good many media outlets will be out of business in general before long. Wonder if there is a coincidence.
More later, but first some much needed rest.
Wednesday Open Thread
Last night, we met RNC Chairman Michael Steele. We’re working on a larger piece for you about it, but here’s the Cliff’s Notes for you:
(1) Steele is seriously one of the most amazing and personable people we have ever met. We don’t say this about people often, but he’s a very cool guy. And he’s as easy to talk to for us as Hillary Clinton is — and there is no higher compliment from us than that. We felt so comfortable around Steele and were able to tell him exactly what we thought and had a few conversations with him over the course of the day, just like we’ve had with Clinton. And Steele really listens. We are officially very impressed with him (and part of us felt like we just me our next Vice President…or even a future President someday).
(2) We brought ACORN up to Steele — and wow, he HIT THAT OUT OF THE PARK. At dinner, there were about 40 people in the room, and Steele asked us what’s a concern we have here in Illinois, and we related to him our experiences with ACORN/Obama’s tagteam in not only Iowa, Texas, and other states in the primaries, but during the General Election as well. We told him how important it is to take ACORN on, and to basically treat it like the cancer that it is for our democracy. ACORN, in our opinion, is practically a terrorist group. Well, Steele blew us away, because he said the first thing he did when he became Chairman was to tell the RNC’s lawyers that they need to stop waiting around to defend against frivilous lawsuits crazy people file against the GOP every day and start attacking ACORN in court in every single state until ACORN is completely dismantled. Steele reminded everyone that Obama taught ACORN a lot of its tricks when he was a community organizer, and he used ACORN as a defacto arm of his campaign in 2008. Republicans have never fought back — and have allowed Democrats to use ACORN to do nasty, rotten things that the DNC can’t directly do. It is time to strike back and put ACORN on the run. Steele is outraged that Obama wants ACORN to run the US Census. It was crystal clear he plans on doing what should have been done years ago: putting ACORN out of business.
(3) Steele basically said it’s time for everyone to get off their tushies (his word) and start working hard to take back this country from the spendthrifts and loons who pass legislation without reading it. Steele noted that Democrats plan who’s going to run for election years in advance (like the DNC picking Obama in 2004 and then forcing his nomination this year). Republicans end up with crazy people in many races (like Rosana Pulido in the 5th Congressional race last month) because they seem surprised by elections. Democrats are already looking at 2014 and 2016. Republicans don’t know what’s going to happen in November. Steele said that Republicans win an election and then say, “Whew, we won. Let’s rest”. Democrats just maintain a perpetual campaign. Obama is already running for re-election in 2012. This needs to change. Pronto.
(4) We told Steele he needs to make the GOP about controlling wasteful spending, not dividing people on social issues that remain continuously unresolved over 35 years later. Let’s get the country back on track and stop wasting so much money. THEN, when we’re safe again, maybe we can all be crazy people again and fight over Roe v. Wade and “gay marriage” some more, because we all love fighting the same ridiculous fights the media encourages over and over and over again. But, first, let’s just all be Americans, and get off our tushies and work hard to fix the mess we are in. When the roof’s patched and the water stops leaking, we can go back to fighting over the interior decorations like idiots. But nothing else will matter much unless we get our current act in gear.
(5) After Steele told us he would go after ACORN, and talked for about 20 minutes on what he wanted to do to clean their clock, we told him there are three people in politics we’d do anything for: Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, Sarah Palin, and now Michael Steele. And we mean every word of that. Taking ACORN down is one of the great goals in our lives: that, and eliminating the caucuses. We think ACORN’s demise is a first step to scrapping the caucuses. Rooting out the corruption that’s oozing out of the Obama Trillion Dollar Spending bill is another area in which moderate Dems and Republicans can agree. If we keep focusing on what we have in common, when it matters more than ever, then we can always fight those other social battles another day. Steele and the other Republicans all agreed.
(6) We told Steele there needs to be a new Pecora Commission to investigate what the banks, George Soros, and other villains in the world did to crash our economy in September and cause the current mess we are in now. How involved was Obama’s team in this? What was ACORN’s involvement? What did Geithner do at the Federal Reserve? What’s REALLY going on at the private Federal Reserve that answers to no one? What did Greenspan do all those years? In 1932, Republicans began the Pecora Commission to investigate what caused the Depression. FDR then backed it and let it do its work. Since Obama loves copying other presidents, maybe this could paint him into a corner that would force him to launch a new Pecora Commission when we need it most. Steele and his team listened, took notes, and agreed this is something that merits more research. It was very encouraging.
(7) In general, Steele hammered home that Republicans had a bad 2006 and 2008 and will have a bad 2010 unless they get in gear and start standing up for average Americans who work too hard to have their tax dollars dunked in the toilet by Obama/Pelosi/Reid. Republicans need a solid narrative. They need to communicate better. They need to tell Americans what they are about. STEELE GETS IT. He really, really gets it.
More later, as we have more time to relate it, but have a very busy Tax Day in front of us. We’ll be at both the afternoon Tea Party in Chicago and the Navy Pier Tea Party from 430-10pm at the Billy Goat Tavern as well. It’s going to be a busy, busy day.
We hope you are out at a Tea Party near you today too. As soon as we can, we’ll post photos, reports, and hopefully video from today’s events as well.
What's Hillary Clinton Doing Today? April 14th, 2009
745am – Delicious breakfast with Vice President Biden (Will he have the Coco Puffs? Will it be the Fruit Loops instead? Does he really call Cheerio’s “Biden-O’s” and make his staff paste his own picture right on the box? Who watches Biden when Clinton’s out of the country? These are things breakfasts like this make us wonder).
900am – Haiti Donors Conference, Intra-American Development Bank
345pm – Bilateral with His Excellancy Grigol Vashadze, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia
415pm – Meeting with State Councilor Liu Yandong of the People’s Republic of China
Go, Hillary, Go!
Gearing up for the Navy Pier Tea Party Protest tomorrow
Here are some of the signs and Tea Crates we made to prep for tomorrow’s Tax Day Tea Party at Navy Pier in Chicago.
The Tea Party will be held from 430pm-9pm at Navy Pier, just outside The Billy Goat Tavern. Navy Pier is located at 300 E Grand Street — The Billy Goat Tavern is towards the end of the pier, passed the USO office, passed the Shakespearean Theater, but before you reach the banquet space at the very back. You can’t miss the tall ship docked on the Pier next to the Billy Goat.
Many thanks to everyone who helped collect wooden crates to be turned into Tea Crates for the event. A few of them are above in their freshly painted glory.
