Political Discussion

[Logan]

Sarah Palin was the governor of Alaska. I would think that is a greater achievement than Law Review editor.

She has talent, she is literate, she is accomplished.

When she speaks she might as well be running her finger tips down a chalk board.

This woman didn't get a passport until 2007. This world gets smaller everyday and the last person we need running this country is someone without any experiences outside of Alaska.

If you notice she never really says anything. She makes fun of the current president for using a teleprompter yet she writes her notes on her hand. She talks about the need to drill for oil and gas simply because it will help Alaska. Never any mention about Wind, Solar, geothermal power or any other energy source that Alaska would not benefit from.

I am not a fan of our current government but Sarah Palin is not the answer. And why do people call her Governor? She quit!!! She does not have the right to be called governor.

Also, if Sarah Palin runs for president in 3 years Obama will be around for the entire 8. She is not the answer to this countries problems.

[Logan]

Imagine how boring life would be today if everyone was fooled into thinking Obama was the political savior he proclaimed himself to be while on the stump.

Much like people are fooled that Sarah Palin is our savior.

What is the fixation?

[OhioFiler]

Obama was elected because George Bush was a moron.

Not according to the exit polls. What leads you to your conclusion that Obama ran against Bush anyway? And further, what is the basis for your claim Bush was a moron?

Had the media scrutinized Obama the way they did any other candidate he'd have wilted under the microscope. Obama was given a free pass by the media. He was The Chosen One and the media elite made certain the public knew not who he was. His association with criminals (Ayres and Dohrn and the Chicago machine under Mayor Daley) and extreme radicals like the Reverend Jeremiah Wright would have been used to bring down any other candidate. For some reason the major media outlets and major newspapers chose to ignore these associations. Even Hillary Clinton was shocked by the kid glove treatment the media gave The Obama.

Meanwhile, every stone in Wasilla, Alaska was overturned in an attempt to find something to use against Sarah Palin.

[OhioFiler]

Much like people are fooled that Sarah Palin is our savior.

What is the fixation?

I believe middle America finds Sarah Palin refreshingly different than the usual political fare we're served. She represents so many people's views and attitudes who haven't been tainted by the elitism so prevalent on the coasts of out great country.

I won't disagree that Sarah may not be the correct choice for president but I know for certain she would have been a better choice than Barack Obama has shown to be.

If Sarah Palin were president she would have surrounded herself with adults not radicals who have been waiting since 1969 to have their chance at power. Obama's Czars and Cabinet positions are filled by fools. Anyone who thought Janet Reno was a joke need only look at Eric Holder and dream for Reno's return.

[Logan]

Not according to the exit polls. What leads you to your conclusion that Obama ran against Bush anyway? And further, what is the basis for your claim Bush was a moron?

Had the media scrutinized Obama the way they did any other candidate he'd have wilted under the microscope. Obama was given a free pass by the media. He was The Chosen One and the media elite made certain the public knew not who he was. His association with criminals (Ayres and Dohrn and the Chicago machine under Mayor Daley) and extreme radicals like the Reverend Jeremiah Wright would have been used to bring down any other candidate. For some reason the major media outlets and major newspapers chose to ignore these associations. Even Hillary Clinton was shocked by the kid glove treatment the media gave The Obama.

Meanwhile, every stone in Wasilla, Alaska was overturned in an attempt to find something to use against Sarah Palin.

Cause and effect. GW only beat Gore because Clinton got a BJ. No republican was going to win after GW.

Did I ever say they would find something on Sarah Palin? I'm sure she a stand up person. She's just GW with lipstick.

[Logan]

I believe middle America finds Sarah Palin refreshingly different than the usual political fare we're served. She represents so many people's views and attitudes who haven't been tainted by the elitism so prevalent on the coasts of out great country.

I won't disagree that Sarah may not be the correct choice for president but I know for certain she would have been a better choice than Barack Obama has shown to be.

If Sarah Palin were president she would have surrounded herself with adults not radicals who have been waiting since 1969 to have their chance at power. Obama's Czars and Cabinet positions are filled by fools. Anyone who thought Janet Reno was a joke need only look at Eric Holder and dream for Reno's return.

Doesn't matter. Palin will never be president.

[banca rotta]

Palin is more of the same.

2012 will be a third party candidate for certain.

After 8 years of Bush, 4 years of obama, the unemployed people with their free low quality healthcare and while watching the big bankers getting bigger will see that both parties are the same.

I actually cannot believe some of you on this thread still debate the whole D & R thing as if it matters.

Enough! They are both out for Wall Street and not YOU!

[momisery]

I agree with you Banca that both parties are not in it for the American people. Just looking back since Reagan I would say should represent that to anyone. I can not say if this was the presidents fault (from then up to now), or if it is the whole party line that is at fault. I think the pres. has little to do with it all. Bush had the whole party behind him on all issues, but maybe it was because he was a puppet who knows. Obamas party does not seem to get together in lock step, but none the less they are not doing a thing for the working class people. We need big changes in washington and Palin is just more of the same.. so is McCain so is another term with obama or Hillary.

[banca rotta]

Obama Doesn't `Begrudge' Millions in Bonuses for `Savvy' Blankfein, Dimon

Here's your proof on who his real friends are. They are NOT savvy businessmen. Real businessmen go out when they fail. These gangsters get bailed out and get bonus's as a reward for failure and he agrees with it because they bought him.

He's actually calling this the "free market system" GIVE ME A BREAK!

He is very anti-business otherwise he would have plugged up the bailout spigot and would lift the heavy tax burdens on real productive businesses. It's better for a business to leave the US and he just added to this problem.




Obama Doesn't `Begrudge' Millions in Bonuses for `Savvy' Blankfein, Dimon

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said he doesn’t “begrudge” the $17 million bonus awarded to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon or the $9 million issued to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein, noting that some athletes take home more pay.

The president, speaking in an interview, said in response to a question that while $17 million is “an extraordinary amount of money” for Main Street, “there are some baseball players who are making more than that and don’t get to the World Series either, so I’m shocked by that as well.”

“I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen,” Obama said in the interview yesterday in the Oval Office with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which will appear on newsstands Friday. “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free- market system.”

Obama sought to combat perceptions that his administration is anti-business and trumpeted the influence corporate leaders have had on his economic policies. He plans to reiterate that message when he speaks to the Business Roundtable, which represents the heads of many of the biggest U.S. companies, on Feb. 24 in Washington.

Blankfein and Dimon took their bonuses in stock rather than cash, which Obama encouraged other corporations to do. Such compensation, he said, “requires proven performance over a certain period of time as opposed to quarterly earnings.” He said that’s a “fairer way of measuring CEO success and ultimately will make the performance of American businesses better.”

Record Profits

His comments come just days after 2009 bonus packages were announced for Dimon and Blankfein. Dimon, 53, led New York-based JPMorgan, the second-biggest U.S. bank, to a profit during each quarter of the financial crisis. Blankfein, 55, was at the helm when New York-based Goldman’s shares doubled last year as profit soared to a record high. The two banks were among those that repaid the bailout money they received from the federal government during the financial crisis.

Obama said compensation packages over the last decade haven’t always been commensurate with performance and reiterated his call for shareholders to have a say in CEO pay.

“That serves as a restraint and helps align performance with pay,” he said. “Shareholders oftentimes have not had any significant say in the pay structures for CEOs.”

Compensation Master

Blankfein’s payment of 58,381 restricted stock units, valued at $9 million at the Feb. 5 closing price of $154.16, compares with the Wall Street record $67.9 million he received in 2007. Dimon, who got a $27.8 million bonus for 2007 and a $1 million salary for 2008, received restricted stock units and options and no cash bonus for last year.

Joseph Evangelisti, a spokesman for JPMorgan, said the company would have no comment. Lucas van Praag, a spokesman for Goldman Sachs, also declined to comment.

The Obama administration named Kenneth Feinberg special master on executive compensation in June after a political outcry over bonuses paid to employees at American International Group Inc.

Feinberg, 64, ordered the seven companies whose pay he supervised, including Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., to emphasize long-term stock compensation rather than cash payments. Citigroup and Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America repaid their federal bailout funds in December, leaving Feinberg with five companies, including AIG, under his supervision.

Heeding ‘Prescriptions’

Feinberg told Bloomberg Television on Feb. 8 that Goldman Sachs heeded his “prescriptions” even as he called Blankfein’s $9 million total pay excessive. “I don’t believe there are more than one or two” executives making as much among the 700 he has had under his jurisdiction, Feinberg said.

Goldman Sachs said in December that the top 30 employees would receive all their year-end incentive pay in stock that they can’t sell for five years. Blankfein’s bonus, which he gets on top of his $600,000 salary, is subject to that restriction.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aKGZkktzkAlA&pos=1

[Logan]

Palin is more of the same.

2012 will be a third party candidate for certain.

I hope you're right but I doubt it. The problem I have is there are many things important to me from the right and the left. I have never understood why the parties have to be split on everything.

[backtoschool]

Doesn't matter. Palin will never be president.

If Palin ever got elected President, then I would declare myself a refugee and move to Canada.

[OhioFiler]

If Palin ever got elected President, then I would declare myself a refugee and move to Canada.

I am willing to stick it out through the attempted destruction of my country by the Obama Pelosi and Reid debacle. In fact, I love my country enough that i am actively participating in whatever ways I can to see to it they are unsuccessful. Fleeing would be cowardly on my part.

[backtoschool]

Not according to the exit polls. What leads you to your conclusion that Obama ran against Bush anyway? And further, what is the basis for your claim Bush was a moron?

Had the media scrutinized Obama the way they did any other candidate he'd have wilted under the microscope. Obama was given a free pass by the media. He was The Chosen One and the media elite made certain the public knew not who he was. His association with criminals (Ayres and Dohrn and the Chicago machine under Mayor Daley) and extreme radicals like the Reverend Jeremiah Wright would have been used to bring down any other candidate. For some reason the major media outlets and major newspapers chose to ignore these associations. Even Hillary Clinton was shocked by the kid glove treatment the media gave The Obama.

Meanwhile, every stone in Wasilla, Alaska was overturned in an attempt to find something to use against Sarah Palin.

I agree with some of this post and disagree with the rest of it. I do agree OF that Obama was given somewhat of a free pass with the media during his campaign, but I do not agree that he was given a free pass on Jeremiah Wright. That topic was discussed endlessly during the campaign to the point where I had to turn the television to HBO or other non commercial channels a lot of the time just to escape the endless reruns of Wright's sermons.

And as for Palin, well she was going to be impeached for fraud so she resigned. Stones were overturned, and slugs and icky stuff were found under the stones.

[backtoschool]

I am willing to stick it out through the attempted destruction of my country by the Obama Pelosi and Reid debacle. In fact, I love my country enough that i am actively participating in whatever ways I can to see to it they are unsuccessful. Fleeing would be cowardly on my part.

I didn't say you were going to flee to Canada OF. I said I was going to flee to Canada if Palin ever became president.

[OhioFiler]

I agree with some of this post and disagree with the rest of it. I do agree OF that Obama was given somewhat of a free pass with the media during his campaign, but I do not agree that he was given a free pass on Jeremiah Wright. That topic was discussed endlessly during the campaign to the point where I had to turn the television to HBO or other non commercial channels a lot of the time just to escape the endless reruns of Wright's sermons.

And as for Palin, well she was going to be impeached for fraud so she resigned. Stones were overturned, and slugs and icky stuff was found under the stones.

You're spending too much time huffing on the Huffington Post.

Not one of the alleged ethics violations were found to be true. In fact Democratic legislators clearly agreed that the claims were merely politically based harassment. Fraud?

Obama got a pass on Wright. Had McCain or even more so Palin, been associated with Wright or some clown of his ilk the coverage would have been relentless with all the networks(excluding FOX) and the major newspapers calling for him/her to step down. I guarantee it!