A must-read account of how the Obama team bullied Chrysler’s creditors out of their preferred standing in bankruptcy proceedings. But this is a doozy: “‘You don’t need banks and bondholders to make cars,’ said one administration official.” Yeah, if you don’t want capitalism you don’t need capital.
From the “they know how to kick a guy when he’s down” file: “Biden set to help launch Corzine’s general campaign.” Well, VPs are supposed to have funeral duty.
A compelling study: High union density = low job growth. Heck of a time to bring up card check, isn’t it?
In case you were getting optimistic: “You can have a jobless recovery, but you can’t have a profitless recovery. Consider: Earnings are subpar, Treasury’s last auction was a bust because of weak demand, the dollar is suspect, the stimulus is pork, the latest budget projects a $1.84 trillion deficit, the administration is berating investment firms and hedge funds saying ‘I don’t stand with them,’ California is dead broke, health care may be nationalized, cap and trade will bump electric bills by 30% . . . Shall I go on?”
The USA Today editors aren’t impressed with Obama’s fiscal approach: “When it comes to federal spending, there’s a pattern emerging with President Obama, and it’s not a flattering one. The president says all the right things about the importance of getting the deficit under control, but his actions don’t come close to matching his rhetoric.” Check out the very helpful chart on deficit spending.
If the story about John Edwards’s staffers devising a plan to blow up the campaign if he “got close” is true, they need to return every dime to Edwards’ campaign donors who were defrauded into giving money to what they thought was a real campaign.
Liberal Democrats not enamored of Arlen Specter have stirred up some online support for Joe Sestak. It seems we will have a boisterous Democratic primary in Pennsylvania.
And Specter gets no help from his state’s senior senator: “His junior colleague from Pennsylvania, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), told CNN’s John King Sunday that leaders in the Democratic party should not be telling candidates whether or not to challenge Specter.’I don’t think anyone in our party should ever dictate to a candidate,’ Casey said on CNN’s State of the Union. ‘That’s really up to that candidate, to run or not run.’”
Rick Santorum’s ad for Arlen Specter (in 2004) really isn’t out of date — Specter still is with Republicans on key issues (e.g. no on the budget, cram down mortgages and card check).
Speaking of politicians who aren’t winning friends and influencing people, Michael Steele is in trouble again.
Meanwhile, how’s he going to pay for all the spending and healthcare “reform”? Well $58B in taxes to make up for “errors” is a start.
The Washington Post editors were not bowled over by the healthcare show yesterday: “None of the interest groups signed up for a specific number; no one is saying who will sacrifice what, or how much. All are promising to ‘do our part,’ but the actual share of the $2 trillion that would fall on each pair of shoulders was not laid out. What would make up the substance of the plan? That remains to be seen. How would the private sector be held accountable for this promise to reduce costs? That, too, remains to be seen.”
Robert Gibbs thanks the Iranians for their “humanitarian” gesture in releasing Roxana Saberi. Michael Ledeen says humanitarianism has nothing to do with it.
