A quick trip around Hannity's America...
You Go, Graham!
Tension was high on the Senate floor this past week as they battled over the spending bill. And things got a little testy, as Lindsay Graham decried the Democrats' lack of bipartisanship, saying, "This bill stinks, and if this is bipartisanship, well, count me out."
Count California Senator Barbara Boxer, as less than pleased by Mr. Graham's vocal frustration. She accused the notoriously independent-minded Republican of political hackery and showmanship.
Let's take a look:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARBARA BOXER, D-CALIF.: I find it really rather amazing that the Senator is holding up the bill, hoping up a bill is theatrical. Did you ever do that when George Bush was president, and he sent down a bill twice as big as that? Did he ever do that? Did — because you can do that. That's theatrics. You could do that.
SEN. LINDSAY GRAHAM, R-S.C.: I will put my ability to speak my mind to my party up against anybody — including you, Senator. I have been on this floor many times arguing with the past administration about policies I disagreed with.
I don't recall you doing that a lot, but I don't question your motives as to why — why you're doing what you're doing.
BOXER: Let me go and ask you another question.
GRAHAM: I'm here today — no, it's my time. I'm here today to point out the fact that this is not bipartisanship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Now I only hope that the rest of the Senate Republicans were taking notes during that performance.
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Meanwhile, speaking in Virginia at a Democratic congressional retreat Thursday night, President Obama put his foot down with Republicans, calling their resistance to his trillion-dollar spending bill "inexcusable and irresponsible."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I don't care whether you're driving a hybrid or an SUV.
LIBERAL TRANSLATION: Uh, I mean hybrid! Hybrid is way better. (I hope none of my green supporters heard that.)
OBAMA: If you're headed for a cliff, you've got to change direction. That's what the American people called for in November and that's what we intend to deliver.
LIBERAL TRANSLATION: Come on, people, work with me! I can't give 37 percent of Americans who still support this bill what they want if you keep refusing to fall in line!
OBAMA: And the American people are watching. They did not send us here to get bogged down with the same old delay, the same old distractions, the same talking points, the same cable chatter.
LIBERAL TRANSLATION: What? Our pork projects aren't distracting. Gibbs NEVER recites talking points, and I am NOT spending more time on TV than I am attending to this bill.
OBAMA: You know.
LIBERAL TRANSLATION: Wait, we're guilty of doing every one of those things, aren't we? Maybe a more accurate platform would have been "MORE OF THE SAME you can believe in."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Mr. President, I'm sorry if you feel the GOP has been wasting your time with their petty concerns and amendments, suggestions on how not to waste billions of taxpayer dollars, but if you're going to get frustrated with Republicans every time they refuse to vote exactly the way you want them to, it's going to be a very, very long four years.
No Hard Questions
These days there's probably no question that the least favorite of the White House for press secretary Robert Gibbs is the briefing room.
It's been a very tough first few weeks behind the podium for Mr. Gibbs, who has been pounded with questions on the president's failed nominees and the reckless spending bill now before the U.S. Senate. And it didn't get any easier Thursday, when Mr. Gibbs was pressed by Jake Tapper of ABC News on whether the White House will release the waiver forms that they have been forced to issue in order to permit lobbyists to hold high-level positions in the administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Jake?
JAKE TAPPER, ABC NEWS: I have two questions. One is a housekeeping one. In the name of the transparency that you and the president herald so much, is there any way we could get the copies of the waivers that the OMB issues to allow certain Cabinet posts or deputy posts to be free of the ethics constraints you put up.
GIBBS: I'll certainly check.
TAPPER: He doesn't believe in transparency? OK.
GIBBS: Do you have another more pertinent question?
TAPPER: I think that's pretty — that's fairly pertinent here, Cabinet nominees on whether or not they have paid their taxes and whether or not they have speaking fees with all sort of industries they're supposed to regulate. I think that's fairly pertinent. You don't?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Now that's courage under fire. It's evident that the president and his team, they're used to taking really tough questions from the press, aren't they?
Piling on Palin
A hearing in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York took an unexpected political turn earlier this week when a judge viciously attacked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
According to The New York Daily News, who had a reporter in the courtroom, the case involved the family of an autistic child who were fighting for a ban on large dogs at their New York City apartment complex.
A stunned courtroom looked on as Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, a Clinton appointee, criticized the former vice-presidential candidate for holding her son, who has Down syndrome, on a stage following a debate. Buchwald stated that, "The kid was used as a prop and that to me as a parent blew my mind."
Your honor, with comments like that, you dishonor your bench.
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