Two political pictures are worth 20,000 bad political words! (actual word count is much less)

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Heading into today's Florida Primary, the picture below depicts President Obama reflecting on his potential opponents in the 2012 presidential election!

And, for all of you political scientists out there, this is a perfect although not very timely lesson in what two somewhat flawed candidates should not be doing!

In what can only be described as a disgusting display of me-first politics, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are seeking to destroy each other both from a personal and political perspective in order to win the nomination.

While winning this nomination may serve to feed one of their ego's and agenda's while hurting the others, in effect what they are actually doing is their level best to hand Barack Obama a second term in the White House.

As Obama sits back doing his best impersonation of looking presidential, Gingrich and Romney present themselves to the nation as the equivalent of two teenagers running for president of their high school class.

Rather than attacking an extremely vulnerable incumbent, they instead viciously attack each other while at the same time providing the Obama campaign with reams of quotes for the general election.

Once a nominee is selected, how can the other ever be a credible supporter of the winner?

Therefore, here's a crazy thought!

Instead of putting personal ambitions first, why not instead have Romney and Gingrich put country first and do what needs to be done to take back the White House in November!

Two political pictures, 20,000 political words!

Obama photo credit: AP

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Job market PSA: How to tie a Windsor Knot! (EyeHandy video)

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After 3 years of the Obama administration the job market has certainly not improved very much, particularly in groups such as new college graduates!

And these newbies to the interviewing process don't need the added anxiety that comes from not knowing how to tie a Windsor Knot.

That where Ashley of EyeHandy comes in!

Other EyeHandy videos at TPC:

Sex and guns: Cleaning a Glock here.

Politics and alcohol; Making a Mojito here.

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Very funny video of how one bankrupt EU nation will have to bailout another bankrupt EU nation!

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Did I say funny? It's actually very sad! Very true but very sad!

This video is in perfect sync with an article this morning that spoke about how, assuming that the Greece sovereign debt crisis is in some way resolved, there are other EU PIIGS waiting in line for debt restructuring as well. A country like Portugal comes to mind!

As true today as it was when Clarke and Dawes made it!


H/T The Daily Bail

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Once Greek debt is dealt with, which of the PIIGS will be next?

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In the not so distant future there will be a resolution of some kind in the Greece government debt crisis!

As the EU leaders meet in Brussels for the first summit of 2012, the Greece debt restructuring is apparently reaching an endgame as private investors seem to be on board with a 3-4% coupon and a 30-year maturity.

Once the debt swap is completed Greece will be provided with another round of bailouts from the EU and IMF totaling 130 billion euros, if it meets certain other conditions including budgetary oversight.

So assuming that Greece and the EU buy some time until another crisis in that country reaches a critical stage, will all then be well in Euro-land?

Not exactly! Remember the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain)?

Unfortunately Greece is only one sick domino in a line of sick domino's with the next one to potentially require a debt restructuring being Portugal.

The anecdotal evidence? The Portugal 10-year bond yield has passed 15% (see chart below) and the cost of Portugal credit default swaps (CDS) is at a record high as well.

Conclusion? The EU debt crisis is unfortunately a story whose end will not be reached for some time to come!

(click to enlarge)

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• Marshall Auerback: Anschluss Economics - The Germans Launch a Blitzkrieg on the Greek Debt Negotiations (nakedcapitalism.com)
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Politically incorrect humor Monday!

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The IRS sent my tax forms back! AGAIN!

I guess it was because of my response to the question : "List all dependents?"

I replied -"12 million illegal immigrants;"3 million crack heads;

"42 million unemployable people on food stamps,

"2 million people in over 243 prisons; "Half of Mexico ; and "535 fools in the U.S. House and Senate.”

Apparently, this was NOT an acceptable answer.

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The Sunday funnies, interpersonal relationship style!

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As the kids like to say I LOL'd at this one!

The wife told me to go to the doctors and get some of those tablets
that “help” get an erection...


You should have seen her face when I came back and tossed her some diet pills !
I am still looking for a place to live.


H/T Theo Spark

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Video (Rated R for frontal nudity) as Ukrainian women protest the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

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If there has to be peaceful protest, let it all look something like this!

These women are protesting the fact that women have an extremely small share of the representation at the table both at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos and at the table in governments around Europe.

Ukrainian feminists protesting at the WEF (Warning: some frontal nudity)


H/T Theo Spark

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Click here to watch a 3-minute video and learn about First Class travel at below Coach prices along with the opportunity to creat a solid 2nd income stream!

Video of college students voting for a change...Nobama

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They were drawn in by the promise of change and are now saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of debt!

College students voted en masse for Barack Obama in 2008, taken in by his smooth delivery and promises of change that the American public could believe in.

For many the 2012 presidential election will be a different story as the massive growth of the US national debt since Obama took office has this college-age constituency reevaluating its options.

Now it's up to the Republicans to stop cannibalizing each other and give them a viable option to vote for.

The Debt Generation

H/T Common Cents

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Is this video death threat worthy?

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Apparently for some this video satire called "Do the Burqa" achieves that level!

The video was created by Danish satirist Johan Vlemmix for carnival and it spoofs the burqa that has been outlawed in the Netherlands.

Vlemmix had offered an alternative, the burqa shirt, on his website but since the death threats he has taken them down.

In a world where nothing is off limits from satire or spoof are death threats for creative license an overreaction?

That's a rhetorical question!

Video: "Do the Burqa"

H/T Creeping Sharia

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In a debate, would John King ask President Obama about this...? (Video)

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No, not about crushing the Keystone Pipeline project although that certainly would be an important one to ask! It's the following two debate questions that the mainstream media will likely not present to President Obama!

The first question is one that should not be asked while the second is one that needs to be asked!

This assumes of course that once the Republican candidate for president is known President Obama will commit to a series of debates.

That won't ever happen, but hypothetically speaking what types of questions would Barack Obama be asked by a John King, Wolf Blitzer or any other representative of the mainstream media?

Would they be gotcha questions or would they be substantive questions concerning what the President has actually done or not done in office that offers an explanation to the American people of why it is that he deserves a 2nd term in the White House?

First a South Carolina debate recap!

First a look at one of the non-substantive questions that the Republican presidential primary candidates have been asked.

In one of the South Carolina debates moderator John King of CNN asked Newt Gingrich this:

“As you know, your ex-wife gave an interview to ABC News and another interview with The Washington Post and this story has now gone viral on the Internet. In it she says that you came to her in 1999 at a time when you were having an affair. She says you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. Would you like to take some time to respond to that?” (Source)

I suppose that John King would somehow justify this question regarding an unsubstantiated accusation from a woman with an axe to grind against her ex-husband by saying that it spoke to the integrity, character and moral fiber of the candidate.

If that is the case, and that rather than asking substantive policy questions debates should move in the direction of unsubstantiated and mostly unverifiable character assassinations, then would this be be the opening question from (insert mainstream media moderator name here) to President Obama during a debate with the ultimate Republican nominee:

Hypothetical Presidential Debate Question #1

MSM moderator: Mr. President the American public needs to examine not only the policy decisions that a candidate has made in the past but also the character of that candidate.

Please watch the monitor and then please tell the American people how you would respond, sir, to these allegations by Larry Sinclair that you used crack cocaine in his presence and that you and he had a sexual encounter in the back of a limousine?

How do you respond to this, sir?

Of course this question will not be asked and nor should it be, in the same way John King should not have asked the question that he asked Newt Gingrich.

Hypothetical Presidential Debate Question #2

The following question, however, would be critical for the American people to have an answer to when making a decision in November. It is another question that would also most likely never be asked of President Obama either:

MSM Moderator: Mr. President, the following question speaks to one of your foreign policy stances that ultimately proved so very wrong.

The question concerns the "Arab Spring" in Egypt and your position at the time Hosni Mubarak must immediately step down so that the demands of the Egyptian people for change could run its course.

While at the time this was an extremely popular political stance particularly in light of your domestic support for the Occupy Wall Street movement, the soundness as a policy position was roundly questioned.

Many were of the opinion that this was going to be a door that the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups were going to walk through resulting in a Sharia Law based system of government that would be destabilizing for the region and for Israel in particular.

Ultimately, as we have recently witnessed, Islamists have won control and we are already beginning to see the beginnings of the implementation of Sharia Law.

My question to you, sir, is whether this ultimate result in Egypt and your strong support for the Arab Spring uprising was simply a failure of your administration to understand, as so many others did, that this was very likely to happen?

Or, was an Islamist takeover of the Egyptian government and the resulting and potentially extremely negative impact on Israel, the rest of the Middle East and the world your desired endgame in the first place?

How do you respond, sir?

Why debate?

Because the ultimate and true purpose of these debates are to offer the American people insight into how the candidates would govern the country or in the case of President Obama have been governing the country. They offer a look at the candidates philosophy and more importantly a look at their records.

Theoretically then if the people of the country were making informed and thoughtful decisions at the ballot box, and not decisions that are molded by 15 second sound-bites, these debates would go a long way in helping them to do that.

Some if not most will go the 15 second sound-bite route, but for the others why not try to make the debates serve the purpose that they were designed to serve!

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Who is this weeks champion of the Watcher's Council?

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Congratulations to this weeks winner, The Mellow Jihadi!

The Watcher's Council nominations for the week of January 23th were presented, the votes were cast, and the winners will now be announced!

For those of you who who may be reading about the Watcher's Council for the first time, it is a group consisting of some of the top conservative minded bloggers from around the world.

A group that The Political Commentator is extremely proud to have been asked to be part of!

Each week members select and submit an article of their own creation in addition to one article from a non-council blog they find to be particularly topical and important.

While you may not always agree with what you read, that alone may make the experience that much more valuable!

Once the submissions have been received at an undisclosed location in secret ballot form, the Watcher's Council members then individually vote for their favorites.

Those votes are protected and held by outside auditing firm Arthur Andersen until such time as they are counted and a winner named for the Grand Prize.

This Grand Prize consists of the appreciation of our peers.

In the end though, we all win because of the range of information and important analysis received on the critical issues of the day.

In a nutshell, the Watcher's Council is the ultimate conservative blog aggregator!

So without further ado, the winners of this weeks Watcher's Council are...?

Council Winners

• *First place with 3 2/3 votes! The Mellow Jihadi – Lance Corporal Donald Hogan, Marine Hero
• Second place with 3 1/3 votes – The Right Planet- Are We a Democracy?
• Third place with 1 2/3 votes – Joshuapundit- Obama’s State Of The Union – The Hollow Man
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey-What the Gingrich South Carolina victory could mean
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – The Glittering Eye-You Be the Judge
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room-Revolution Moves Into The Overton Window
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Razor-A Tale of Two Disasters: The Titanic and the Costa Concordia
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Bookworm Room –War is not, and should not be, sporting
• Sith place *t* with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Going All The Way
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote –Simply Jews – Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey vs FUKUS
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Rhymes With Right – Am I Wrong To Be Troubled Here?
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Political Commentator – Doing away with the Electoral College! One man, one vote and majority wins!

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 2/3 votes! –Family Security Matters- Muslim Children in America are Being Taught to Hate submitted by The Political Commentator
• Second place with 2 votes – Mark Steyn – The Sinking Of The West submitted byJoshuapundit
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Sultan Knish So You Want a Revolution… submitted byThe Noisy Room
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes - Yourish.Com–TANSTAAFL submitted by Simply Jews
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes - Right Wing News –The Worst People In Politics Aren’t Racists submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote - The Foundry –1,000 Days Without a Budget: Facts on the Senate’s Failure submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -The Compass – An Iran Attack Would Succeed, Then What?submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Gay Patriot –SOTU: Obama’s last chance to change tonesubmitted by Right Truth
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The New Atlantis –The Global War Against Baby Girlssubmitted by The Watcher
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -James Taranto/Best of the Web–The Genetic Fallacysubmitted by The Glittering Eye
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Zero Hedge –Obama Puppetmaster Warren Buffett Biggest Winner From Keystone Pipeline Rejectionsubmitted by The Razor
  
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Cabinet –The Behavioral Sink submitted by The Watcher
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Polipundit –Why Newt should not be the nominee submitted byRhymes With Right
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote - Accuracy In Media –The FOX News Feminists submitted byNew Zeal

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Is this some kind of a trick by the Secret Service?

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Send in questions you would like President Obama to answer? It almost feels like a set-up by the Secret Service or FBI to entrap overzealous conservatives.

Or is that just being paranoid?

(Click to enlarge)

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Whose side are the MSM RNC debate moderators on?

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If the MSM carries the water of the Democrat Party and is the rooting section for the reelection of President Obama to a 2nd term in the White House...

Why in the hell would you line-up an already weak and wounded crop of Republican candidates in front of one of their moderators like doomed men facing a firing squad?

Particularly because we know that like everything else in politics and society today, decorum and respect is largely a thing of the past.

Add to the mix that many if not most of the MSM moderators have private (or not-so private) political agendas consistent with the outlets they work.

Giving them the opportunity to ask debate questions that they select is providing them the opportunity to attempt to shape public opinion and is a recipe for potential disaster.

Which they will gladly do!

Is there any better way to make the current already weak crop of Republican candidates look like non-presidential buffoons than to smugly open a debate with a question that forces them to look like little children fighting with each other or that forces one of them to respond to the debate moderator regarding the stupidity and irrelevance of some question.

That will play well once, maybe twice but will soon get very old.

All while President Obama sits on the sidelines with at least the appearance of being presidential.

Of the 20-odd RNC debates that have either taken place or are scheduled it appears that well over half are being sponsored and moderated by MSM outlets that have historically been loyal to the Democrat Party.

This includes CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and NBC.

My question to the RNC is why you would allow the "enemy" to have this outsized opportunity to affect the election in November in the first place? And now it is too late to do anything about it!

File this under fool me once shame on you but fool me ___ times and there may be something wrong with the leadership of the RNC!

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TGIF: The Frequent Flier Edition!

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Today's libation comes straight from the 2012 presidential campaign of President Obama, now in full swing!

On Tuesday night the President gave a campaign speech to the country that went by some other very official sounding name. I believe he and the pundits in the press and on T.V. used the name State of the Union Address.

In it he told the country all kinds of interesting things, a great many untrue or that stretched the truth, and he made all kinds of great promises.

Promises that caused some of us wonder why he would be able to accomplish them in a second term when he failed so miserably at them in the 3+ years he's already been in office.

As an example he spun some great yarns about the need energy independence when ironically just days before he had killed the Keystone Pipeline. This project would have gone a long way towards accomplishing that independence along with the added kicker of creating lots and lots of jobs.

I believe that's called poetic license.

On the road again!

The morning after the SOTU the President took off on a 5-state campaign swing that in some way is supposed to pass as "official business" but that in reality is a very expensive, taxpayer funded junket.

The President's schedule!

The President left the White House Wednesday morning hitting Iowa and Arizona before spending the night in Nevada.

Bright and early Thursday he attended to some "official business" in Nevada before heading off to a day of some additional "official business" in Michigan where he would be spending the night.

The drink of choice chosen for a long and hard presidential week of travel and "official business" for the people of the country!

With a schedule like this there could be only one logical choice to present to President Obama as the "official business" cocktail of the week.

The TGIF beverage ... the One Night Stand!

5 ounces of Remy Martin Cognac

3.5 ounces of Mountain dew

3.5 ounces orange juice

Shake well and serve in a highball glass. (Source)

Prior TGIF honored politicians!

Barney Frank and the Super Fruity Sangria here.

Ted Kennedy and the Irish Car Bomb here.

Marion Barry and The Dirty Hooker here.

Enjoy, and next week don't work so hard!

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