Former Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court John Paul Stevens: "Repeal The Second Amendment"

NYT Opinion by JOHN PAUL STEVENS

"Rarely in my lifetime have I seen the type of civic engagement schoolchildren and their supporters demonstrated in Washington and other major cities throughout the country this past Saturday. These demonstrations demand our respect. They reveal the broad public support for legislation to minimize the risk of mass killings of schoolchildren and others in our society.

That support is a clear sign to lawmakers to enact legislation prohibiting civilian ownership of semiautomatic weapons, increasing the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 years old, and establishing more comprehensive background checks on all purchasers of firearms. But the demonstrators should seek more effective and more lasting reform. They should demand a repeal of the Second Amendment.

Concern that a national standing army might pose a threat to the security of the separate states led to the adoption of that amendment, which provides that “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Today that concern is a relic of the 18th century.

For over 200 years after the adoption of the Second Amendment, it was uniformly understood as not placing any limit on either federal or state authority to enact gun control legislation. In 1939 the Supreme Court unanimously held that Congress could prohibit the possession of a sawed-off shotgun because that weapon had no reasonable relation to the preservation or efficiency of a “well regulated militia.”

During the years when Warren Burger was our chief justice, from 1969 to 1986, no judge, federal or state, as far as I am aware, expressed any doubt as to the limited coverage of that amendment. When organizations like the National Rifle Association disagreed with that position and began their campaign claiming that federal regulation of firearms curtailed Second Amendment rights, Chief Justice Burger publicly characterized the N.R.A. as perpetrating “one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”

In 2008, the Supreme Court overturned Chief Justice Burger’s and others’ long-settled understanding of the Second Amendment’s limited reach by ruling, in District of Columbia v. Heller, that there was an individual right to bear arms. I was among the four dissenters.

That decision — which I remain convinced was wrong and certainly was debatable — has provided the N.R.A. with a propaganda weapon of immense power. Overturning that decision via a constitutional amendment to get rid of the Second Amendment would be simple and would do more to weaken the N.R.A.’s ability to stymie legislative debate and block constructive gun control legislation than any other available option.

That simple but dramatic action would move Saturday’s marchers closer to their objective than any other possible reform. It would eliminate the only legal rule that protects sellers of firearms in the United States — unlike every other market in the world."- JPS

Meat Puppet and Crew Completely Humiliate Author Michael Wolff Over Morning Coffee

The controversial author of the salacious tome "Fire and Fury" was kicked off the set of "Morning Joe" Thursday after refusing to back down from accusations he's spread that Nikki Haley is having an affair with President Trump. After making the little worm squirm in his seat, Mika abruptly ended the interview and booted him off the set.  Wolff soon took to Twitter, going on a rampage against the show. Here's a sample:

And watch a well deserved humiliation:

 

Thank You MJA for the Linkage!

Life Can Be Tough In DC During A Government Shutdown

Looks like the media may have to go to the emergency can goods and 

water from the White House rain gutters.........hang in there guys.  #SchumersShutdown

Huffington Post Contributor Reveals His Ignorance and Racism…...Gets Owned by Senator.

H/T Marshmallow Jones

Okay, Now That's Just Downright Offensive!

I know it was just a short three hour phony show of unity by democrats solely for media purposes, but seeing this lying leftist bag of bones wearing LSU Colors is disgusting. Not only a slap in the face to an Historic Southern University, but to the best sports conference in the country, The SEC. Whoever's idea it was to hand her that shirt needs a good kneecapping! Yeah, I said it!

Oh Shut Up Ya Snarling Old Bastard

Amy Schumer's Crazy Cousin Chuck

While the FBI was investigating Bill Clinton for the White Water corruption sandal, Clinton fired the FBI Director.  The media took the President's actions at face value. They did not question him. In fact, conservatives who raised red flags were dismissed. Today, we get to see what happens when a Republican does what Bill Clinton did. The reality is that many of those most critical of Trumps firing Comey were the same people demanding Comey be fired for his handling of Hillary Clinton's emails. 

We have a hyper-partisan environment in which all sides too easily and too quickly abandon intellectual honesty. It is notable that Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins, two of the GOP's most strident critics of Donald Trump, are okay with this firing.

It is not a constitutional crisis, nor is it a dark day for democracy. It is a President exercising his constitutional duties on the advice of his cabinet ministers. The timing is bothersome and may look bad, but the underlying rationale suggests the decision was made thoughtfully. However, the left will never believe President Trump nor believe anything other than the worst possible conspiracies about him. Russiaism is the new Birtherism.

Dilbert Says He'll Go all Medieval on Trump If He Turns All Hitler and Sh*t

Scott Adams has some notoriously weird ideas about women and sex, and how America is a matriarchy and something something Red Pill.   Adams, the creepy and weird guy who makes the Dilbert cartoons, is being creepy and weird again!  Adams has a promise to make to America.  He doesn’t think Trump is ACTUALLY Hitler, but if it turns out that he is just like Hitler, he will go ahead and murder Trump Hitler, because that’s what you have to do when you accidentally elect Trumpy Hitler as president, you assassinate them:

"My promise: If Trump gets elected, and he does anything that looks even slightly Hitler-ish in office, I will join the resistance movement and help kill him. That’s an easy promise to make, and I hope my fellow citizens would use their Second Amendment rights to rise up and help me kill any Hitler-type person who rose to the top job in this country, no matter who it is".

"As I often say, Democrats generally use guns to commit crimes. Republican use guns for sport and for self-defense. If you are a Republican gun-owner, and you value the principles of the Constitution, I’m confident you would join me in the resistance movement and help kill any leader that exhibited genuine animosity toward people because of their genitalia, sexual preference, or skin pigmentation."

So Donald, don't you be sayin' nasty things about gay black guys with no penis', you hear!

With loony Libertarians like Mr. Dilbert here, who see STOP and NO PARKING signs as government over-reach, we can only guess what constitutes a real Hitler-ish acts to them. But Scott Adams, valiant man-beast that he is, will kill him dead.  If Trump genuinely acts like he hates women or gays or racial minorities, Scott Adams will go ahead and maketh murder upon him.  Don’t worry America, Dilbert's has got your back!

The NAACP’s Monster Under the Bed

Taki'sMagazine 

The NAACP’s sole weapon is fear. The organization gets its way because many businesses and public figures live in fear of being slapped with the label “racist.” But what, if anything, frightens the NAACP? No, it’s not your conservative blog or podcast, so don’t flatter yourself.

However, there is one person who scares the bejesus out of the NAACP leadership, and he’s one of their own officials: an unstoppable, unkillable bugbear named Reverend Curtis Everette Gatewood.   NAACP leaders cower in his presence.

 Reverend Curtis Everette Gatewood of the NAACP 

Gatewood dislikes Jews, Israel, immigrants, and non-Christians. He’s damned Hillary Clinton supporters to hell, applauded the Baltimore rioters, compared black moms who stop their sons from rioting to white slave masters, co-organized a protest meeting at which Obama was repeatedly called a “nigger,” and pledged the NAACP’s support to an organization that opposes the NAACP, hurls racist bile at Asian immigrants and Jews, and calls Martin Luther King an “uncle Tom.”

And yet the national NAACP can’t, or won’t, get rid of the guy.

He pledged the support of his NAACP chapter to the African People’s Socialist Party/Uhuru Movement, a black separatist organization that seeks to foment a violent revolution to create an independent black nation on U.S. soil. 

The Uhuru militants have, in the past, called for the murder of Archbishop Desmond Tutu (in retaliation for him not ordering the mass execution of white South Africans following the end of Apartheid), and the expulsion of “parasitic” Asian immigrants and business owners. On a broadcast of the Uhuru radio program, Gatewood stated that his NAACP chapter stands 100% behind Uhurus’ goals.  

Read The Rest

This man is an ordained minster. It’s as good a time as any to remind Christians that some of God’s biggest enemies stand in pulpits and have many followers and advocates where you least expect them.   

Dems Losing Confidence in The Crisco Kid

DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shittz

"Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is in a behind-the-scenes struggle with the White House, congressional Democrats and Washington insiders who have lost confidence in her as both a unifying leader and reliable party spokesperson at a time when they need her most.

Long-simmering doubts about her have reached a peak after two recent public flubs: criticizing the White House’s handling of the border crisis and comparing the tea party to wife beaters.

The perception of critics is that Wasserman Schultz spends more energy tending to her own political ambitions than helping Democrats win. This includes using meetings with DNC donors to solicit contributions for her own PAC and campaign committee, traveling to uncompetitive districts to court House colleagues for her potential leadership bid and having DNC-paid staff focus on her personal political agenda.

She’s become a liability to the DNC, and even to her own prospects, critics say......"

KEEP READING 

"Chocolate City" Ray Nagin Indicted on 21 Corruption Charges

NYDailyNews

"Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was indicted Friday on 21 corruption charges including wire fraud, bribery and money laundering, filing false tax returns and conspiracy.  The charges come from a City Hall corruption investigation that already has resulted in guilty pleas by two former city officials and two businessmen."

Ray Na "school bus" Nagan

"Hurricane Katrina elevated Nagin to the national stage, where he gained a reputation for colorful and sometimes cringe-inducing rhetoric. During a radio interview broadcast in the storm’s early aftermath, he angrily pleaded with federal officials to “get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans.” In January 2006, he apologized for a Martin Luther King Day speech in which he predicted New Orleans would be a “chocolate city” and asserted that “God was mad at America.”

 "Strong support from black voters helped Nagin win re-election in 2006 despite widespread criticism of his post-Katrina leadership. But the glacial pace of rebuilding, a surge in violent crime and the budding City Hall corruption investigation chipped away at Nagin’s popularity during his second term."

[SNIP]

With no George Bush to blame or democrat party to shield him from criticism for inaction and imprisonment for negligence in the death of hundreds of people, I want to see this low life shyster talk his way out of this one!  Ray-Na faces 10-35 years in Federal Prison. Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

It's Time to Fire John Boehner

The Left Coast Rebel

We've made no bones here about our disgust with GOP leadership, especially statist Speaker of the House, John Boehner. At every single point, even when he had the upper hand, he folded like a moth-balled 20-dollar suit.

He handed Obama everything he wanted and more in every single three-ring-circus "negotiation" we had the misfortune of witnessing. And his recent promise to exact reform or deep budgets cuts as the debt ceiling increase creeps up before the election?

Please, give us a break...

As independent conservatives and libertarians, we shouldn't be surprised.

If you inspect his big-government record, like a trained seal, you'll find he's doing exactly what he was trained to: he's just a slimy Good Ol' Boy backroom-dealing big-government Republican charlatan.

How did he ever get the speakership? Answer: because the Good Ol' Boy big-government Republican back-scratching statist network is alive and well - even as America burns.

They don't give a crap that America is deficit spending untold billions per day. They could care less that we are bankrupting our children and our children's children. They don't give a flying rat's ass or a rolling donut that their acquiescence to the every Democrat pet program (including national bankruptcy) means the nation's certain failure.

Keep Reading

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"I'm not sitting here – some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette." - Hillary Clinton 1992

When toeing the party line overrides your personal integrity,

you have officially become useless.

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The 10 Grooviest New Obamacare Taxes

It's a tax! It's a penalty! It's a mandate!

"...Obamacare will impose higher taxes totaling $4 trillion between now and 2035, with substantial hits on working Americans. That works out to more than $1.7 trillion over a decade—more than triple the original 10-year score."

Doug Ross has the details here...

Alec Baldwin Focus of a Criminal Investigation.

 Mr. Congeniality Strikes Again

“He was like crazy, you know?” said witness Goren Veljic, a photographer who snaps wedding pictures outside the building. “There was an eruption of mad. I think something’s wrong with him.”

Baldwin later compared the incident to the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin:

“I suppose if the offending paparazzi was wearing a hoodie and I shot him, it would all blow over.” The actor added that people like the photographer “need to be deported to some island.”  

What a Liberal Class Act! 

Read More Here

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Hey Vintage Media: Investigate This..........

Diogenes - Tuesday 6/19

Last week was the 40th anniversary of Watergate and the media have taken a look back at the state of investigative journalism; they're not happy with what they've found. They're shocked, shocked that investigative journalism has gone the way of the 8 track player! Sure, there are a handful of little-known sources they've found, but they're the exception, not the rule. "We need investigative journalism!" they cry from their Ivory Towers!

Let me ask you big-time mainstream vintage media advocates of investigative journalism a simple question. Have you looked in the mirror lately? As much as you whine about the lack of investigative journalism, you fail to see the reason for its alleged decline is, well, you.

The journalism profession has become little more than a public relations firm working for the Left and any cause it deems vital, no matter how apathetic the public is about it. While media sources spent precious minutes on Mitt Romney's stupid behavior in high school, barely a passing mention or time spent doing a serious story about the national security leaks coming out of the Obama White House. Remember the story about Obama bullying a student in school? No? Not surprising because you guys didn't think it was important enough to address. But Mitt Romney, he's fair game!

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), bloggers are doing what Woodward and Bernstein were doing during Watergate. I know you media types don't consider blogging to be legitimate journalism because of the lack of accountability when a story is factually wrong (by the way, has the New York Times recovered from the Jayson Blair fiasco?). However, the blogosphere is proving you don't need to go to Columbia to point out corruption in the world around us. And given the state of what passes for mainstream journalism these days, the blogger sitting at home in his PJs is out-hustling the big name reporters you rub shoulders with at dinner parties where the topic of the so-called death of investigative journalism is discussed over Brie and Chardonnay.

Maybe the reason the media are lamenting the "death" of investigative journalism is because you're afraid to dig into their own side's misdeeds. After all, it's always much more fun to try to take down the high and mighty when you have a personal vendetta, right? Ah, but when you realize your side, the one you've put so much personal stake into, is no better than the side you hate, it's not so fun, is it? There was a time when investigative journalists would put their feelings aside and go after the crooks, letting the chips fall where they may. But when you can't separate the personal from the professional, you're going to play favorites and, in doing so, help to kill investigative journalism through politically blind neglect.

If you really give a damn about investigative journalism, stop playing favorites and start sending out reporters to shine a flashlight into the dark corners of the Left. Sure, you may not get invited to as many dinner parties with those Leftists, but at least you won't get scooped like the National Inquirer did on the John Edwards story. Or are you just in it for the big bucks and the shrimp cocktails?

Maybe you in the media could take a short lesson on how to go about it here. 

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The Commencement Address That Won’t Be Given

Diogenes - 5/25/2012

By Robert Reich

Members of the Class of 2012,
As a former secretary of labor and current professor, I feel I owe it to you to tell you the truth about the pieces of parchment you’re picking up today. You’re f*cked.

Well, not exactly. But you won’t have it easy.

First, you’re going to have a hell of a hard time finding a job. The job market you’re heading into is still bad. Fewer than half of the graduates from last year’s class have as yet found full-time jobs. Most are still looking.

That’s been the pattern over the last three graduating classes: It’s been taking them more than a year to land the first job. And those who still haven’t found a job will be competing with you, making your job search even harder.

Contrast this with the class of 2008, whose members were lucky enough to get out of here and into the job market. Almost three-quarters of them found jobs within the year.

You’re still better off than your friends who didn’t graduate. Overall, the unemployment rate among young people (21 to 24 years old) with four-year college degrees is now 6.4 percent. With just a high school degree, the rate is double that.

But even when you get a job, it’s likely to pay peanuts.

Last year’s young college graduates lucky enough to land jobs had an average hourly wage of only $16.81, according to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute. That’s about $35,000 a year.  The typical wage of young college graduates dropped 4.6 percent between 2007 and 2011, adjusted for inflation.

Presumably this means that when we come out of the gravitational pull of the recession your wages will improve. But there’s a longer-term trend that should concern you.

Don’t get me wrong. A four-year college degree is still valuable. Over your lifetimes, you’ll earn about 70 percent more than people who don’t have the pieces of parchment you’re picking up today.

But this parchment isn’t as valuable as it once was. So much of what was once considered “knowledge work” – the kind that college graduates specialize in – can now be done more cheaply by software. Or by workers with college degrees in India or East Asia, linked up by Internet.

For many of you, your immediate problem is that pile of debt on your shoulders. In a few moments, when you march out of here, those of you who have taken out college loans will owe more than $25,000 on average. Last year, ten percent of college grads with loans owed more than $54,000. Your parents have also taken out loans to help you. Loans to parents for the college educations of their children have soared 75 percent since the academic year 2005-2006.

Outstanding student debt now totals over $1 trillion. That’s more than the nation’s total credit-card debt.

The extraordinary rise in student debt is due to two related facts: the cost of a college education continues to increase faster than inflation, and state and local spending per college student continues to drop – this year reaching a 25-year low.

But this can’t go on. If unemployment stays high for many years, if the wages of young college grads continue to fall, if the costs of college continue to rise, and if the college debt burden therefore continues to explode – well, you do the math.

At some point in the not-too-distant future these lines cross. College is no longer a good investment.

That’s a problem for you and for those who will follow you into these hallowed halls, but it’s also a problem for America as a whole.

You see, a college education isn’t just a private investment. It’s also a public good. This nation can’t be competitive globally, nor can we have a vibrant and responsible democracy, without a large number of well-educated people.

So it’s not just you who are burdened by these trends. If they continue, we’re all f*cked.

[Snip] 

Yes, Mr. Secretary, you may be right of the plight of the Class of 2012. But you fail to mention your part in the situation they face.....like your administration, the Clinton administration to be exact, with your blessing partook in the largest transfer of American (military and industrial) high technology to the world, costing us high wage jobs needed to remain a world leader. And your guy Obama's economic policies have stifled growth and do nothing to create jobs of any kind here for highly educated graduates, much less a common man. Yes Mr. Secretary, we're all F*ck as you say, as long as debt continues to pile up, and we spend more as you recommend.

As for the price of an education, there's not enough room here to rant about expensive universities paying stables of  professors absorbent amounts of money to write books and columns instead of the teaching they were hired to do.........  

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The Reason

Want to know the reason Leftists are trying to say Mitt Romney wouldn't have given the order to kill Osama Bin Laden?

 Because they know Barack Obama didn't.

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Democrats Call for Bill Maher to Apologize

From the New York Times:
To the Editor:

Re “Please Stop Apologizing,” by Bill Maher (Op-Ed, March 22):

 We’re both women who have worked in Democratic politics and the media for decades and find Bill Maher’s misogynist treatment of women candidates deeply disturbing. Coincidentally we both hail from Alaska — where women are treated as equals — so perhaps our threshold for this kind of behavior is less than here in the Lower 48.

 Mr. Maher has implicitly attempted to tie his own demeaning attacks on women to the unrelated issue of partisan-motivated fake outrage, which we agree is tiring. While others have been held to account for their sexism, Mr. Maher remains unrepentant for his attacks on women in public life.

 How can we expect women to run for office when they are essentially told to “lighten up about” and accept misogynist attacks? The Women’s Media Center has found that such attacks on women candidates have a measurable negative effect on how voters view them.

 Our message to Mr. Maher and his ilk is: Please start apologizing.

PENNY LEE

KIRSTEN POWERS

Washington, March 23, 2012

Ms. Lee is the former executive director of the Democratic Governors Association. 

Ms. Powers is a political commentator who worked in the Clinton administration.

[snip]

Mahar has a history of going far beyond the normal satire people open themselves up to by being part of public life. His ugly, sexist and misogynistic attacks on women don't entitle him to hide behind comedy or large contributions to political campaigns.

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What He Said vs. What He Meant

WHAT HE SAID: For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. Most of al Qaeda’s top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban’s momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.

WHAT HE MEANT: I’m commander in chief, and I’ve done a damn good job at it, despite what those presidential pretenders in the other party are saying. And I’m talking about this in the first eight sentences of my speech, so even people who are rushing to change the channel will remember that I took down bin Laden and got us out of Iraq.

WHAT HE SAID: These achievements are a testament to the courage, selflessness, and teamwork of America’s Armed Forces. ... They’re not consumed with personal ambition. They don’t obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together. Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example.

WHAT HE MEANT: Grow up already, Congress!


WHAT HE SAID: Think about the America within our reach … An economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded.

WHAT HE MEANT: Our country needs to return to the value of fairness and the durability of GM trucks, which were once marketed under the slogan “Built to last.” And by the way, I saved GM.


WHAT HE SAID: Let’s remember how we got here … In the six months before I took office, we lost nearly four million jobs. And we lost another four million before our policies were in full effect.

WHAT HE MEANT: I inherited this mess, so don’t blame me.


WHAT HE SAID: In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005. American manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s.

WHAT HE MEANT: I did not make the recession worse. It’s just the opposite -- my policies are helping end it. So don’t believe anything you hear from Mitt Romney.


WHAT HE SAID: I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place.

WHAT HE MEANT: Remember those recess appointments I made to two agencies you absolutely hate, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Labor Relations Board? The ones you are probably going to challenge in court? There’s going to be more of that unless you cut deals with me, and there will be vetoes if you try to turn my administration into George W. Bush’s third term.

WHAT HE SAID: On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of collapse. Some even said we should let it die. ... Today, General Motors is back on top as the world’s number one automaker.

WHAT HE MEANT: Did I mention that I saved GM and the whole car industry? Oh, the “some” who said let it die? One of them was Mitt Romney.


WHAT HE SAID: We’ve brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate as the last administration – and it’s made a difference. Over a thousand Americans are working today because we stopped a surge in Chinese tires. ... Tonight, I’m announcing the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit that will be charged with investigating unfair trade practices in countries like China.

WHAT HE MEANT: I’m tough on China. Remember that the next time Republicans bash me in a debate for letting China eat our lunch.


WHAT HE SAID: We can’t just keep subsidizing skyrocketing tuition; we’ll run out of money… So let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down.

WHAT HE MEANT: I’m on your side, middle-class families. Now that Rick Perry is out of the presidential race, I can own what could have been one of his signature issues.


WHAT HE SAID: I believe as strongly as ever that we should take on illegal immigration. That’s why my Administration has put more boots on the border than ever before. That’s why there are fewer illegal crossings than when I took office. The opponents of action are out of excuses… if election-year politics keeps Congress from acting on a comprehensive plan, let’s at least agree to stop expelling responsible young people ..”

WHAT HE MEANT: Have I mentioned that I’m tough? I’ve cracked down big time on illegal immigration. But I have a heart – especially when it comes to kids brought here illegally by their parents. And with Rick Perry out of the race, I’m going to own not only this issue but the Hispanic vote in November.


WHAT HE SAID: Most new jobs are created in start-ups and small businesses. So let’s pass an agenda that helps them succeed. Tear down regulations that prevent aspiring entrepreneurs from getting the financing to grow. Expand tax relief to small businesses that are raising wages and creating good jobs.

WHAT HE MEANT: I dare you Republicans to oppose this agenda. And have I mentioned that I love capitalism?


WHAT HE SAID: Some technologies don’t pan out; some companies fail. But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy.

WHAT HE MEANT: Solyndra, schmolyndra. Success and failure are all part of capitalism. Which we love. Right, Gov. Romney?


WHAT HE SAID: Rules to prevent financial fraud, or toxic dumping, or faulty medical devices, don’t destroy the free market. They make the free market work better. There is no question that some regulations are outdated, unnecessary, or too costly. In fact, I’ve approved fewer regulations in the first three years of my presidency than my Republican predecessor did in his. I’ve ordered every federal agency to eliminate rules that don’t make sense.

WHAT HE MEANT: I love the free market and I want it to work! And I don’t love regulations! Just like the Republicans. So moderates and independents, you don’t have to flee me. I get it. I really do.


WHAT HE SAID: But I will not back down from making sure an oil company can contain the kind of oil spill we saw in the Gulf two years ago … I will not go back to the days when health insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy, deny you coverage, or charge women differently from men. And I will not go back to the days when Wall Street was allowed to play by its own set of rules.

WHAT HE MEANT: Have I mentioned I’m on your side? All this free market stuff can only go so far. So liberals and progressives, you don’t have to flee me. I get it. I really do.


WHAT HE SAID: We need to change our tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of members of Congress, pay our fair share of taxes. Tax reform should follow the Buffett rule: If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes.

WHAT HE MEANT: You may remember that Mitt Romney makes more than $20 million a year and pays a 15 percent tax rate. You may not know that under Newt Gingrich’s plan, Romney would pay no taxes at all! Have I mentioned that polls show two-thirds of the public agrees with me on this issue?

WHAT HE SAID: Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal. But a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better.

WHAT HE MEANT: Do you really want a president who is chomping at the bit to start a war against Iran? Then vote for a Republican. I might start that war, but I might not.

WHAT HE SAID: America is back. Anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about. … America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs. And as long as I’m president, I intend to keep it that way.

WHAT HE MEANT: I am not a wimp or a failure on the world stage, or an apologist for America, or a manager of our decline. And I don’t lead from behind. So all that stuff you’re hearing in these endless GOP debates? Forget about it.
Transcript source: nationaljournal.com

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