QUESTION: Is there anything you can tell us about the bus tour the President plans to take -- where he’s going and why?
JAY CARNEY: Well, I can tell you that it will be from August 15th through the 17th, and that it will be through the Midwest. Further details will be forthcoming later. That’s all I have for you now.
QUESTION: But in terms of the --
CARNEY: I mean, he will get out -- very happily getting out in the country again, after a sustained period here in Washington. And he will -- he looks forward to talking to folks about growing the economy, creating jobs. And we’ll have more details, again, as I said, about the specifics of the trip later.
QUESTION: Did you say out of the country or out of --
CARNEY: Out in the country.
QUESTION: Oh, in the country. I’m sorry.
CARNEY: The Midwest.
QUESTION: I’m sorry.
CARNEY: Yes.
QUESTION: Is that a campaign event or --
CARNEY: Negative. It is an official event.
QUESTION: Okay, so it will be funded by taxpayers?
CARNEY: He’s the President of the United States.
Yes.
QUESTION: The bus tour -- it’s certainly a visual, but what are the tangibles?
CARNEY: Again, we’ll have more specifics about this trip itself. The air of cynicism is quite thick. The idea that the President of the United States should not venture forth into the country is ridiculous.
QUESTION: I didn't suggest that.
CARNEY: No, but you implied it in your question. And it is absolutely important for the President, whoever that person is, in the past and in the future, to get out and hear from people in different communities. And the President -- this is a trip that we’ve had on our books for quite a long time, and he very much looks forward to taking it.
Carney was extremely defensive.
He certainly has trouble maintaining his cool when he's trying to defend the indefensible. ___________________
Johnson Controls Inc. will host President Barack Obama next week at its advanced battery factory in Holland, Mich.
The factory was opened to make lithium-ion batteries for hybrid electric vehicles that were developed at the company’s battery laboratory in Glendale, as part of the company’s joint venture with the French battery developer Saft.
The visit will take place Thursday at the factory that Johnson Controls opened as part of its $598 million investment in advanced battery technology — half of which was funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The $299 million stimulus grant to Johnson Controls was the biggest project funded in 2009 by the Obama administration awarded as part of a $2.4 billion investment in advanced batteries, which the administration aims to help the U.S. reduce reliance on imported oil, boost fuel economy of vehicles and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
During a briefing to reporters at the White House Thursday, Obama’s press secretary, Jay Carney said, “While at Johnson Controls, the President will highlight the key role innovative technologies will play in helping automakers achieve the historic fuel-economy standards, establishing U.S. leadership in advanced vehicle manufacturing, spurring economic growth and creating high-quality domestic jobs in cutting-edge industries across America.”
Obama will be spending quite a bit of time in the Midwest next week.
Taxpayers will be spending a lot of money, stuck with paying the expenses for Obama's campaign events.
President Barack Obama will take a three-day campaign-style bus tour through the American Midwest this month, as he tries to refocus attention on jobs seen as vital to his chances of winning re-election in 2012.
The president will be on the road between August 15 and August 17 "listening" to the American people about jobs and the economy, White House press secretary Jay Carney said.
Obama's approval ratings have been dented by persistently high U.S. unemployment and acrimonious negotiations in Washington to raise the country's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.
"Listening"?
Very funny.
That reminds me of Wisconsin's former senator, Russ Feingold - the guy Wisconsinites rejected and threw out of office BECAUSE HE DIDN'T LISTEN. Feingold's listening sessions were a joke.
Obama's bus tour is a lame election stunt.
He has no intention of really listening to Americans.
I'm sure the audiences will be carefully screened to be friendly.
Good thing that debt-ceiling tussling is over. Now begins President Obama’s 50th-birthday week, with lots of fundraising fun and plenty of recruiting for the 2012 reelection campaign.
There is the gala fundraiser Wednesday night in Chicago at the Aragon Ballroom featuring stars from that city — maybe Jennifer Hudson , Herbie Hancock and others. There’s also a dinner fundraiser planned for some high rollers for only $35,800 a person. (Must be serving some really good grub.)
And the reelect campaign is working to have volunteers nationwide host 50-person house parties that night to recruit supporters and listen to Obama in a live-streamed “special conversation” with attendees. Who knows? Maybe he’ll give a little explanation as to why the market plunged after the great debt-ceiling compromise was reached.
The organizers have a detailed “House Meeting Host Guide” with “a few simple steps” so that you have a “successful event.”
First, “secure a location,” such as your home or a coffee shop or the like. Then you register your event at my.barackobama.com/birthday-host. Then you “invite people.”
There are recruiting tips, including “make it personal,” “think big” and “bring a friend.” And, as we’ve always said, “there are never too many reminders.”
Obama is reported to be coming back to Washington on Wednesday night and will be here Thursday afternoon for a fine Rose Garden celebration for what we hear will be a few hundred pals.
Most folks know how gauche it would be to hang out there like a tourist snapping pictures, but just to be sure, our invite reminds: “Please, no cameras or photographs.”
There’s usually a deadline to reply to these things, but this one just asks for a response “at your earliest convenience,” giving the usual Secret Service info such as birth dates and Social Security numbers for you and your guest.
So Obama will be partying at his various birthday galas while the stock market tanks and the economy sinks deeper into the abyss.
A Senate vote to pass the debt ceiling plan on Tuesday may have averted the potential for the United States to default on its obligations, but it failed to lift investors’ spirits.
Within minutes of the news of the vote on the budget agreement, which had already passed the House on Monday, the three main indexes on Wall Street were down more than 1 percent.
Stocks had slumped since the morning opening as investors weighed recent data that drove home the challenges the economy faces. Their next step: weighing the debt limit agreement’s impact on the economy and whether it could possibly slow growth.
“As the macro data comes out, it seems like we may have more on our hands than just getting the debt ceiling raised,” said Myles Zyblock, chief institutional strategist and managing director of capital markets research at RBC Capital Markets.
"It SEEMS like we may have more on our hands than just getting the debt ceiling raised"?
NO KIDDING.
The Obama economy is an absolute disaster.
I can't take it anymore.
Obama has to follow in Jimmy Carter's footsteps. He has to be a one-term president.
U.S. stocks fell hard Tuesday, posting their longest losing streak since the heart of the 2008 credit crisis, on investor worries about upcoming federal deficit cuts and a likely stall in the recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/zigman/627449/delayed DJIA -2.19% fell 265.87 points, or 2.2%, to 11,866.62, its worst one-day loss since June 1. The eight-day losing stretch was the longest since October 2008, weeks after the collapse of Lehman Bros. and by some measures, the peak of the U.S. credit crisis.
The S&P 500 posted a new closing low for 2011 and turned negative for the year.
•Removes economic uncertainty surrounding the debt limit at a critical time and prevents either party from using a failure to meet our obligations for political gain.
•Makes a significant down payment to reduce the deficit -- finding savings in defense and domestic spending while protecting critical investments in education and job creation.
•Creates a bipartisan commission to find a balanced approach to continue this progress on deficit reduction.
•Establishes an incentive for both sides to compromise on historic deficit reduction while protecting Social Security, Medicare beneficiaries, and programs that help low-income families.
•Follows through on President Obama's commitment to shared sacrifice by making sure that the middle class, seniors, and those who are most vulnerable do not shoulder the burden of reducing the deficit. As the process moves forward, the President will continue to insist that the wealthiest Americans share the burden.
PIERS MORGAN,HOST: You said on immigration, "Elect Sarah Palin as President of the US in 2012 and we'll all leave voluntarily."
GEORGE LOPEZ: I agree. If Sarah Palin becomes president at any point, I will say allegedly, I will move to Canada.
MORGAN: Really?
LOPEZ: I will go further north. I've been south. I'll go further north.
MORGAN: You would literally leave the country?
LOPEZ: I would leave the United States of America.
MORGAN: Why would you be so drastic?
LOPEZ: I like my politicians to actually have a political background, to be politically -- to know politics, to actually have inherited something from working in the political world.
MORGAN: Why is someone like Sarah Palin so popular with so many people, do you think? How does she resonate with people?
LOPEZ: Well, she's --
MORGAN: What is she giving them they're not getting from conventional politicians?
LOPEZ: I -- is it that maverickness? Is it that homespun kind of Andy Griffith wink your eye, shift your imaginary gun thing? Maybe. Is it just that we've become a culture of personality? Of do we elect somebody by their smile instead of by their content? It's a little bit of all of that.
Morgan is a terrible interviewer.
Sarah Palin does have a political background.
Lopez is clueless.
When Lopez refers to a "culture of personality" and electing "somebody by their smile instead of by their content," it sounds like he's referring to Obama and his election.
As NewsBusters points out, Morgan promoted the show last night via Twitter using the Lopez statement about moving to Canada.
CNN and Morgan attract viewers with the idiotic bashing of Sarah Palin?
Lopez, Morgan, and CNN all look simply awful here.
Democratic Rep. David Wu admitted to a senior Democrat that he “did not use good judgment” during a sexual encounter with the teenage daughter of a family friend last Thanksgiving, although he claimed to have “done nothing illegal.”
Wu made the comment to Rep. John Larson (Conn.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, during a 40-minute meeting the two men had Monday afternoon.
...Sources close to Wu told POLITICO late Sunday night that he will not resign, although the veteran lawmaker has already decided not to seek reelection in 2012. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) have asked the Ethics Committee to investigate the incident, first reported by The Oregonian.
...Wu spent most of Monday huddled in the Democratic Cloakroom located off the House floor. Wu could be seen speaking to Honda and several other colleagues when he went on the floor to vote, but he quickly darted back into the cloakroom, which is off-limits to anyone but members and approved staffers.
Honda told Fox News that Wu shared “very personal things” during their conversation.
In an interview, Larson said he told Wu “to take care of your family, then yourself, then the institution, in that order.” While other top Democrats have privately urged Wu to resign, Larson said he had not done so. He called resignation “an option” for Wu.
Wu, though, admitted that an encounter with the girl occurred, potentially making it more difficult for his defenders to stand by him as the scandal unfolds. Wu reportedly told some of his staffers that the sex was “consensual,” The Oregonian reported.
The longer the scandal drags on the worse it is for Democrats.
It would be best for all involved if Wu would just step aside now.
By hanging on, Wu is giving Republicans a gift, just like Anthony Weiner did.
TIME FOR ANOTHER THRILLING INSTA-POLL: So, Sarah Palin and Rick Perry aren’t included in the Ames straw poll, but you can vote on the complete field, plus them, right here. And discuss alternatives in the comments.
That approach entails "not [voting] to raise the debt ceiling unless Congress votes to drastically cut spending, [imposing] a cap on future spending, and [approving] a balanced budget amendment."
On yesterday's Meet the Press, Treasury Secretary and tax cheat Timothy Geithner warned that economic recovery won't feel like recovery for a long time.
Wonderful.
It's going to be unlike we've ever experienced in our lifetime.
DAVID GREGORY: When do you think recovery is actually going to start feeling like recovery?
TIMOTHY GEITHNER: Oh, I think it's going to take a long time still. This is a very tough economy. And I think for a lot of people...
GREGORY: Yeah.
GEITHNER: ...it's going to be--it's going to feel very hard, harder than anything they've experienced in their lifetime now, for some time to come. And that--but that is because that is the tragic effects of a crisis this deep and this bad caused by a long period of lost opportunities to do things to make the country stronger.
Geithner didn't say it, but he was blaming President Bush.
What a load!
He completely dismissed all the talk about last summer being the "summer of recovery." Now, there's no recovery in sight.
The fact is this is Obama's economy. Period.
One thing sure to make the country stronger, economically and otherwise: Do NOT reelect Obama.
Here are five ways that President Obama’s actions have directly contributed to Friday’s dismal jobs report, which included a rise in unemployment to 9.2%, the news that only 18,000 jobs had been created in June in a country of 300 million people, that wages have declined and that 250,000 people left the job market entirely.
• Stimulus package— The nearly $1 trillion boondoggle failed to stimulate, as we all now know, but made government grow beyond its means. Most of the stimulus bill was filled with the usual government pork or repeating failed policies of the past such as “shovel-ready” projects. Very few provisions were pro-growth and worked to encourage companies to create new, permanent jobs. Some provisions, such as increased unemployment benefits, unfortunately increase the duration of unemployment. The bottom line is that the stimulus bill was based on the flawed economic assumption that governments can spend their way back to prosperity and growth. The government stimulus bill did not create jobs; instead it filled job creators with fears of future tax hikes or more borrowing, and thus future artificially high interest rates.
• Obamacare— It took the Administration and the Democratic-held Congress a year and half to ram this piece of legislation down the throat of the American people, time that could have been spent fixing the employment picture. Worse yet, Obamacare imposes vast and expansive new regulations and made labor costs uncertain. Many businesses have said that they are not going to hire permanent workers until they understand exactly how much Obamacare is going to cost their business and raise employment expenses. Other businesses are not sure how the new Obamacare regulations impacts their bottom line, which means they are going to sit tight instead of expanding.
• Frank-Dodd Financial Bill— The heavy-handed Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill not only placed needless burdens on small as well as large financial institutions, but has deterred investment by imposing ill-defined restrictions on those who want to invest in the economy. And it did so without addressing the real causes of the financial crisis.
• Environmental Protection Agency regulation— Unable to get Congress to pass Cap and Trade, with its skyrocketing electric rates, the Obama EPA is skinning the cat another way—mandating costly regulation. The EPA is implementing a lineup of electric-industry regulations, including the already in-force, but-as-yet-unspecified new CO2 rules, that promise higher rates, less reliability, and a sketchy future business environment. It’s no great surprise that firms haven’t turned up the throttle on hiring and expansion.
• Regulatory Assault on Employers— The Administration’s enforcement agencies view employers as lawbreakers who need to be brought in line. Within the Department of Labor the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Wage and Hour Division (WHD) have ramped up enforcement spending while cutting back programs that help employers understand and comply with the law. Obama’s Solicitor of Labor emphasizes the Labor Department’s focus on litigation against employers. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is twisting the law into pretzels to facilitate union organizing, going so far as to file charges against Boeing for creating jobs in a non-union state. Obama’s message to employers has been clear: “We suspect you are breaking the law and we will get you.” Small wonder they are not hiring.
Bottom line: Obama has to be defeated in 2012, before his brand of hope and change does anymore damage.
