The Scanner-Politics: March 25, 2009 (G-20; Glenn Beck’s “The One Thing” Segment on the Dollar [Video]; “The Big Takeover”; Al Gore Releasing New Book on Election Day 11/3/2009; Augie the Dog Sends a Deposit to the U.S. Treasury)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

We looked at the upcoming G-20 meeting in yesterday’s post (See: The Scanner–International Edition, March 24, 2009: Say Goodbye to the Dollar? China, Russia Proposing a New World Currency for “Non-Credit” Based Economies, Echo G-20 Agenda of Expanding IMF; China Will “Consider” Buying IMF Bonds; 10th China Develpment Forum Underway), and lo and behold, a few times during the day, I began picking up some items on the TV discussing the meeting, which will be held in London April 1-2.

I caught a few moments of Shepherd Smith on FOX during the afternoon, interviewing a woman who ticked off all the reasons why the dollar wouldn’t be replaced as the world’s reserve currency at the meeting. The discussion was in the context of how it would affect the U.S. economy and how complicated it was, and that’s why it wouldn’t happen. China’s worries about its investments in U.S. Treasury bonds was mentioned and their desire for the dollar to be dropped as the reserve, but the EU was supporting the U.S. There was absolutely no mention of Russia and its release suggesting what China suggested.

Apparently, Glenn Beck wasn’t so circumspect during his morning radio show or his FOX TV show later in the afternoon.  I didn’t hear either but my mother said he sounded EXACTLY like what we had written in our post yesterday.  Since I had printed it out for her to read, she knew what was in it.

Well, what he opined wasn’t EXACTLY what we wrote about, but he touched a whole bunch of bases in giving a general “history” of how we have gotten to where we are today.  It’s like “From Biggest Lender to Biggest Borrower 101.”  Apparently Glenn Beck and IA are on the same page, at least on this one topic.  That’s a bit weird for us, since I think Beck is pretty insufferable, to say the least, but I think the “The One Thing” segment he did yesterday evening was pretty darned clear. This is a very short segment, so do watch it all! (Note: I had trouble inserting the video from the FOX site, so I found it on YouTube. The “title” comes from FOX, however.)

The One Thing

— By Glenn Beck

The incredible shrinking dollar: Where’s the outrage?

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A big hat tip to Uppity Woman who posted about the story by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone which actually comes out and talks about the “revolution” that is underway courtesy the big insiders.  Go to Uppity Woman to catch some of the excerpts of note.

And here’s the direct link to the piece:

The Big Takeover

The global economic crisis isn’t about money – it’s about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution

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Well,  just in time for the 2009 election is…Al Gore, who issued a press release yesterday about a follow-up book to An Inconvenient Truth.  I loved the film and got a copy of the book as “payment” for my efforts in the not-so-long-distant past at a certain Chicago-based website that went crazy last May.

From the blog, Al Gore:

Our Choice March 24, 2009 : 1:07 PM

From the Press Release:

Today Vice President Gore announced that his next book, Our Choice, will be published by Rodale in the US and by other publishers internationally on November 3, 2009. Picking up where An Inconvenient Truth left off, Our Choice utilizes Mr. Gore’s forty years of experience as a student, policymaker, author, filmmaker, entrepreneur and activist to comprehensively describe the real solutions to global warming. A co-recipient of the Nobel Peace prize in 2007 for his environmental work, Mr. Gore continues to make sense of the pressing issues we face and Our Choice will unquestionably inspire and rally those ready to fight for solutions that were deemed impossible only a short time ago.

I was really ticked when the guy who delivered those stirring speeches about the press and the Constitution during the Bush years turned around and chose to endorse Obama instead of remaining a statesman for the world by staying neutral–the same Obama who took all that money from Exelon and rewrote a nuclear safety bill to please his donors and the Republicans.

So now, Gore will inject himself into the 2009 elections as all the PR push for his book in the period leading up to its Election Day release.  He’s been pretty quiet since the Inauguration and hasn’t talked about energy policy at all, although he’s supposed to be some sort of adviser to the Obama Administraiton.  Elections for governor will be held in Virginia (where Terry MacAuliffe is currently running for the Democratic nomination) and New Jersey (where Democrat Jon Corzine may be facing re-election troubles).  Frankly, I view this “book business” as manipulative and cheesy. And so damned obvious…

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Finally, on a lighter note…

Augie the Dog and his owner make a statement of sorts about money.  I think it’s appropriate that the bag displayed near the end of the video will be going to the Treasury…Follow this  link and enjoy!

If You Don’t Take Care of Women in Your Party (and Don’t Respect Those in the Other Party), How Can You Be Trusted with Issues Affecting Women–Or Anything Else, For That Matter? (It’s the Loss of Credibility, Stupid!)

It’s the LOSS OF CREDIBILITY, STUPID!

That’s all I have to say now.  The Democratic Party has ZERO credibility with me now.

Oh, it was hanging by a thread even before this primary season.  In 2005, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were going to “Drain the Swamp.” Except that the Democratic Party itself turned into “The Swamp.” on their way to achieving the lowest Congressional approval ratings ever in Gallup poll history . The first 100 hours went by in a flash with nothing much happening.  Harry Reid kept mailing me about how he was “giving them hell” but I never saw any flames.

And my criteria for “results” was pretty low. Did I expect a wave of programs sailing through and a rollback of the Bush agenda? No! All I expected were a few signs of life and SOME FIGHT!!  Did I get any? None that stick with me.

I wasn’t a Hillary Clinton supporter in the beginning. The only one who appealed to me was John Edwards, because he was mentioning corporatism and how its tentacles affected every aspect of American life.  The media ignored Edwards out of the race, which turned out to be a good thing as his pants had been unzipped unbeknownst to us who really were hoping for a fighter.

Obama never really made a great impression on me. From the get go, I didn’t trust him.  He had no experience and I knew early on about his questionable connections.  Being an old hag, I wasn’t buying all the hopey dopey stuff.

I saw a book event by Obama biographer Shelby Steele in Berkeley, California and listened to his discussion of Obama’s life and how his followers would be disappointed.  It sure made a lot of sense to me.

Once Obama opened his mouth saying that the Viet Nam war held no lessons to be learned and then launched into his admiration for the operating system of the Reagan Era (all in the same interview) he was pretty much over for me.

His version of “change” didn’t look like change to me as he voted for FISA and it was revealed that he was going to vote for John Roberts for the Supreme Court but was advised otherwise because it wouldn’t look right.  He caved on his nuclear safety bill and accommodated the GOP. Well, he also accommodated himself since Exelon was one of his biggest donors. His flip flops would later come at such breakneck speed that I couldn’t figure out when he had the time to stick his finger into the wind to even see which way the wind was blowing.

Then there was the crap he started dishing out to Hillary Clinton.  “You’re likable enough,” uttered with his head turned down and away from her, was a complete turnoff. His strutting around the stage like a bad imitation of a nightclub comedian bugged me.  When he flicked Hillary off his shoulder and gave her the “street finger” I was appalled at his cocky arrogance. With this behavior, you knew he and the Party weren’t about to stand up to the misogyny being dished out to Hillary by the media.

The man swung between intoning platitudes with forced gravitas and acting like a street thug.  It was like he couldn’t make up his mind whom he was talking to.  One minute he was talking like a preacher, the next he was posing for a “crotch shot” for women reporters on his plane. And, oh, that plane. Just the type of plane that Sarah Palin would love to put on Ebay…

But the crowning achievement of Barack Obama was to re-create Bill and Hillary Clinton as a racists.  It took all of his own talents as a whiner and faux victim, coupled with the same qualities in his wife, to accomplish this.  The surrogates waved paper around on Meet the Press and off they went, leaving the wreckage of Bill Clinton’s legacy and the old guard of the civil rights movement behind.

I didn’t like the people he hung out with.  Rezko, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Nadhmi Auchi, a boatload of “mega-pastors, ” William Ayers…but not too many real people.  And Axelrod…the guy who cleverly gave Obama Deval Patrick’s speech to read and was emulating every Rovian trick in the book.

You know what really appalled me? That comment about women and late-term abortion: “”Now, I don’t think that ‘mental distress’ qualifies as the health of the mother,” said Obama.   And NARAL and even Planned Parenthood are still on board. Was it the money promised or the threats of no money that got them there?

And then his crew got to humiliate Hillary Clinton at the RBC Meeting and the Democratic Convention and the next week, stood by as Obama followers trashed Sarah Palin.

Threats. Intimidation. Lack of respect. Acceptance of misogyny. Divisiveness. That seems to have replaced reaching out…especially to many in his own Party!

I’m recalling the lovely black woman whom CNN caught on tape…She wept as she expressed what Hillary Clinton represented to her.  Beside her was a young man, whom I thought was a guard of some sort.  Well, it turned out he was…an enforcer from the Obama camp, who spoke sharply to her as she finished speaking.

The hallmark of the Obama campaign has been the lack of caring for anybody but Obama. I don’t see much evidence of his really caring about much else…and that includes the people in Rezko’s slums

Last night I caught a rerun of “The Best Man” on TCM. The older Secretary of State (played by Henry Fonda) confronts the ruthless Joe Cantwell (Cliff Robertson) with this hard truth:

“You have no sense of responsibility to anyone or anything…and that is a sad thing for a man and a disaster for the country.”

Seems to sum it up perfectly.

Pundits, Pollsters and Should We Be Getting Ready for the Next Play of the Race Card? (Clues in the latest Zogby survey I received?) (Updated 1X)

A nice, quiet Sunday became a test of my patience, already in danger of being lost, as I was drawn into “the fog” of what this election season is shaping up to be.  I never watch the mainstream anymore, so seeing what was being dished out by CNN yesterday morning on the gym TV made me nuts.  And the current interactive Zogby poll is another thing that has made me aggravated and apprehensive.

Since I don’t watch CNN anymore, I have no idea who the guy was who was hosting the pundits as I was on the Wave.   Out of the studio,  Bill Schneider had a straw hat on and Gloria Borger’s hair was blowing, as was the hot air. In studio, I recognized Chris Cillizza, the Washington Post’s blogger who writes “The Fix” but didn’t know who the other man was who seemed to be the one doing the all commentating on McCain.

The first bit was about Biden as the VP nominee. Cillizza quoted decades of history about how it probably won’t make much of a difference. McCain’s age, according to Cillizza, might make his choice more important, perhaps, but in the long run, it’s still the top of the ticket that matters…Nothing we haven’t heard before…

The next topic that came up was the ad war and a clip was shown from an Obama ad in Nevada, with the discussion focused on how Obama was “targeting” areas in the “all politics is local” mode of operation. The ad was about how McCain supported storing nuke waste at Yucca Mountain.  Asked how McCain should counter, the other commentator said that McCain would need to present a “comprehensive” plan.  Really? My first thought would be that McCain should pull out Obama’s Exelon ties and how he rewrote his nuke safety bill to suit the Republicans, which really ticked off his constituents in Illinois. I would assume the Republicans will get to that in places like Nevada–if they don’t, they’re stupid.

Then they showed a clip of the McCain “housing ad” which mentions Tony Rezko. They cut it short, of course, so the full impact was lost.

Like many others, I’ve found McCain’s recent ads very successful in rebutting Obama and managing to drop into the conversation issues that the media has ignored.  McCain has basically gone around the media to “report” what they have largely ignored.

These McCain ads have shifted the polls but from what I heard today on CNN, you wouldn’t know it.  The discussion was like watching “news” people in reruns, because the conversation seemed out of date.  Or, more likely, there was a deliberate effort to ignore the most recent shifts in voters’ minds.

I listened to the CNN anchor say that McCain had trouble with his base and the pundit duo talk about how he really needed to get independents and conservative Democrats to win.  The way the conversation went, it sounded as if Obama was in a much stronger position than McCain and that McCain hadn’t made a dent with these groups.  During this entire segment I didn’t hear ONE reference to any polling trends to support the discussion.  The average viewer would think that Obama was in the catbird seat.

Now, maybe I’m wrong, but hasn’t Obama been bleeding lately?  Among independents? Even among young voters?  Even Zogby has found the trends shifting!  As for McCain’s base, doesn’t he have a higher rate of commitment as compared to what is going on within the Democratic Party?  You’d never know it from the conversation I heard yesterday morning…

As for those “targeted” ads, I think this post by Bud White that appeared at No Quarter on Saturday, August 23,  should be check out for a different perspective:

Obama “Adjusts” Ad Buys

“Follow the money,” is the famous advice from Deep Throat, Woodward and Bernstein’s key Watergate source. The Associated Press is reporting, in an article titled “Obama Adjusts Ad Strategy During Convention,” that Obama is pulling ads from certain Red States. The key word, of course, is “adjust.” This is a familiar euphemism for pulling ads from states where those ads cannot move the numbers, and the media advisers always say it’s temporary.

And it goes on to detail how Kerry played the game in 2004 and how this relates to what the Obama campaign is doing now.  It sounds like the 50 state strategy has been ditched.  Remember how Hillary Clinton was taken to task about her focus on those large industrial states?  That was the “old” way, of course.  But now that Obama is facing reality, we’re supposed to see things differently according to his campaign machine.

Meanwhile, I got an invitation to participate in the the current Zogby “interactive poll”  a few days ago. I didn’t get to it right away, and, in fact, had decided I’d probably skip it.  With everying “sewn up” in DNC-land, I didn’t feel any compelling desire to do it.  Sunday morning, a “reminder” appeared in my inbox, which I found rather unusual since I’ve never gotten one before.  My first thought was, “Are they having trouble getting their full quota of respondents?”

Aside from the standard questions about whether the “American Dream” exists and the usual “are you a NASCAR fan?” question, the survey this time was really heavily about race. The questions seemed to be coming from the DNC; if so, it appears that Team Obama must be trying to figure out more ways to inject race into this election…

Take a look.

One group of questions was framed by asking:

“Over the last 12 months …do you feel you were treated worse than, the same as, or better than people of other races?”  The questions included a questions involving the respondents’ feelings in terms of the specifics of how people felt “on average,” “at work” and in connection with “healthcare.”

Another set as asked if the respondent had felt “emotionally upset” (specifically suggested by Zogby as including, for example, being “angry, sad, or frustrated”)  as a result of how they were treated during the past 30 days.

There were a couple of questions on affirmative action (basically trying to find out about attitudes which included the “separate but equal” concept) as well as how a respondent would feel if a close family member were dating a person of another race.  Then there was an immigration question which asked if immigrants were need to fill jobs or if there were plenty of Americans who could be trained to fill those jobs.

Perhaps the most interesting question asked how the respondent would consider Obama in terms of his race. The choices were:

White

Hispanic

African-American

Asian-Pacific

Other/mixed

Not sure

If this is the DNC/Obama polling on race, you have wonder what the plan is. I wouldn’t put it past them to try to sell him as every race to targeted groups, although I’m not sure how they would turn him into an Hispanic…  Maybe the Obama camp is looking to for an excuse to replay the victim card.  Or, perhaps they’ll link the “feelings” about racial experiences with the affirmative action answers and turn it into another manipulative, sleazy string of innuendos or outright attacks that will turn McCain into the biggest racist of all time.

Whatever they do, when I saw this string of questions my heart sank, because I think race will be leveraged somehow…they just don’t want to let it go.

I expect to see the worst coming out of the Obama campaign.  And, if the media continues to embrace him, we’re in for a disgusting and disheartening few months.  I can’t believe that I’m actually hoping that McCain can handle all this.  That’s how turned-off I’ve become with the Democratic Party and their chosen path to force Obama on us.

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Tidbit….Last night, Turner Classic Movies chose to air “The Best Man,” the 1964 film based on Gore Vidal’s play starring Henry Fonda pllaying the Secretary of State and Cliff Robertson playing the brash, young conservative Senator. It’s about “power struggle for the Presidential nomination.”  It was almost “deja vu all over again,  to quote Yogi Berra, as neither candidate had enough delegates on the first ballot and the favorite…well…you have to see this movie!  You’ll see how little has changed  in 44 years and please note the the depiction of women….that hasn’t changed much either, apparently…

UPDATE

I did another Zogby survey today (Funny, when Hillary was running, they seemed to stop coming to me…guess I was “old”)….

This one was all about the role of government, questions about Social Security, values, etc. Lots of stark  questions with very sharply delineated choices, many of which I answered with a lot of “Not sure’s”…