Tag: President 2008 (Page 7 of 31)

Sensible economic policies

April 6, 2008 / Gerardo Orlando

Barack Obama talks about the economy and taxes with Maria Bartiromo. His proposals make sense. Some taxes will go back to the rates during the Clinton years, while many middle class Americans will get a tax cut. When asked about some of the tax increases, Obama has a great response:

Why raise taxes in a slowdown? Isn’t that going to put a further strain on people?
There’s no doubt that anything I do is going to be premised on what the economic situation is when I take office next January. The thing you can be assured of is that I’m not going to make these decisions based on ideology. I’m not a dogmatist. My opponents to the right would like to paint me as this wild-eyed liberal, but I believe in the market. I believe in entrepreneurship. I believe in capitalism, and I want to do what works. One of the problems with the Bush Administration has been its rigidness when it comes to economic policy. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, they’ll say tax cuts. Trade deficit? Tax cuts. Slowdown in manufacturing? Tax cuts. At a certain point, if you’ve only got one arrow in the quiver, you’re going to have problems.

Democrats, Economy, Liberals, Moderates, President 2008, Taxes

Cha-ching!

April 5, 2008 / Gerardo Orlando

$109 million over 7 years, and the Clintons still haven’t released their tax returns from last year.

This raises tons of questions. First, how much money is enough? With all the money they made on books fees trading off their political celebrity, why did Clinton have to push the envelope with so many speeches? What favors does he “owe” follwing these payments?

Also, what about the $15 million Bill Clinton earned advising Ron Burkle? Again, does he need to get mixed up in this stuff given how much money he was already making?

None of this even touches on contributions to the Clinton library and to Bill Clinton’s foundation.

Just like Rudy Giuliani, the Clintons have to answer for their business dealings. It’s one thing to cash in but it’s quite another to try for the Presidency AFTER cashing in.

Democrats, Liberals, President 2008

Democrats Liberals President 2008

Run Bob Run

April 3, 2008 / Gerardo Orlando

Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr might run for President as a Libertarian. If he decides to run, this could be a huge blow to John McCain.

Can a conservative former congressman who helped impeach President Clinton, is a board member of the National Rifle Association and has done contract work with the ACLU dent Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid?
That’s exactly what Mr. McCain would face if Bob Barr, the former Republican who joined the Libertarian Party two years ago, wins his adopted party’s presidential nomination.

Barr is one of many Republicans who are fed up with today’s Republican Party that has embraced the religious right and has abandoned the principles of small government and freedom. The Ron Paul candidacy showed that there is real support for traditional libertarian positions, and Barr could present a protest votes for conservatives who are fed up with the GOP.

Conservatives, Culture War, President 2008, Republicans

Conservatives Culture War President 2008 Republicans

Barack Obama raises over $40 million in March

April 3, 2008 / Gerardo Orlando

And he’s adding tons of new donors.

The campaign says he raised more than $40 million from more than 442,000 donors, more than 218,000 of whom were giving for the first time. It’s a well Obama’s barely begun to tap.

Democrats, Liberals, President 2008

Democrats Liberals President 2008

MIke Huckabee on the Wright controversy

March 19, 2008 / Gerardo Orlando

It’s statements like this that explain I always liked Mike Huckabee and why he was able to generate so much support. I don’t agree with many of his policies, but the man is a true Christian. He has empathy for other people and tries to understand their plight. He also understands that we’re all human and we make mistakes.

And one other thing I think we’ve gotta remember. As easy as it is for those of us who are white, to look back and say “That’s a terrible statement!”…I grew up in a very segregated south. And I think that you have to cut some slack — and I’m gonna be probably the only Conservative in America who’s gonna say something like this, but I’m just tellin’ you — we’ve gotta cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told “you have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus…” And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.

Reverend Wright said some very stupid things. They should be condemned and Barack Obama condemned them. But, it’s clear this man is very angry about the injustices that blacks have endured in this country. This does not justify his statements, and as Obama explained, this anger can cloud one’s judgement. Wright could not see the progress we have made.

That said, it was incredibly gracious for Huckabee to show some compassion and understanding, and to not kick Wright while he’s down. Here’s the video.