Gettin' Our G-Walk On

I'm referring to gunwalking here, obviously. A couple facts about the Fast and Furious scandal that Republicans need to be made cognizant of:

• This was a Bush-era program. Obama let it perpetuate, he didn't establish it.
• If you subscribe to the idea that "if we outlaw guns, then only criminals will have them," with gun ownership being important to defend yourself against criminals who will find ways to acquire firearms regardless of their legality, then we have to acknowledge these crimes probably would've happened anyway. The weapons involved just would've originated elsewhere.

Conversely, what I would like to remind Democrats of:

• See bullet #1 - your boy was responsible for perpetuating the program. Also, this administration has been a bunch of dicks about it.

This country seems to have a problem with supplying weapons to people and having the supply come back and bite us in the ass. Look to Afghanistan, look to the Contras, just look somewhere (yes folks, Reagan sent a lot more bullets to outlaws down in Central America than anyone who's held the office recently). When you purposefully let terrorists acquire instruments manufactured for the sole purpose of killing people, don't act surprised if it occasionally comes back to bite you in the ass; at the end of the day, you're still dealing with terrorists.

The next paragraph is where I offer my own insightful analysis on how to bring down higher-level traffickers and the cartels they supply without having to rely on gunwalking:

 

Gimme Money (I've an Election to Win!)

Following Neil Munro of the Daily Caller's interruption of Obama and the gleeful support of a segment of 'conservatives,' I've given up on the prospect of civility ever returning to the national political arena. Maybe the answer is for Obama to start taking questions from the press. Actually, scratch that, I gave up when Joe Wilson became a fundraising champion after interrupting the State of the Union (did you know his wife actually admonished whoever yelled out at the President... before she found out it was her husband?). No, scratch that one too - I gave up when liberals squealed with glee after someone threw a shoe at Bush in Iraq. Well, whenever all my hope was supplanted with absolute cynicism, it's time to stop swimming against tide. There's more money to be made as an Olberman or Brit Hume than trying to promote something that isn't harmful to our democracy. So here's my media offering:

I'm willing to make inflammatory remarks about any political party or politician someone else believes is evil because their policy desires don't converge. Now someone give me a radio talk show to blather bullshit for a couple hours every afternoon.

I'm Not Crafty Enough to Make This Graph Look Good: Put If You Click it, Looks Nice

The recent criticism du jour against Obama is how he's responsible for high gas prices. Such rants must be somewhat tempered with the fact that we've actually expanded domestic drilling operations over the past four years. Potential geopolitical instability is also insanely high right now (yes, moron, the futures market does impact current prices. Also, moron, the futures market is driven by what people think will happen in the future. Stop saying talk of war with Iran in the future doesn't impact oil prices, moron). So that has something to do with it. Let's look at a couple of other things. The first is that our oil reserves are pretty high right now, and much higher than we ever saw under Bush (to see a nifty, interactive version of the graph, click here!):
Oil refineries are sitting on a lot of petro right now, it's just not being turned into gas. That's one reason you're seeing record high gas prices even though the price per barrel isn't historically that bad: oil is available. Gasoline is not.

Semi-related note: gasoline prices increase every Spring as refineries convert operations to blend a different fuel mix. Summer and Winter demand different fuel compositions. The price will usually stay high until after July 4. This happens every year. It's historical fact - look it up.

Another item to consider is that the economy has been doing well recently. This brings us to a supply and demand argument: when the economy went in the shitter, there was no demand and gas prices fell. We weren't building things, transporting things, visiting things, or otherwise engaging in activities that caused energy demand. Now we are. Simple economics tells us that this heightened demand will increase the price. Ergo, you can blame higher gas prices on the economy. You can even say that high gas prices are an economic indicator; a symbol of success.

This isn't a roundabout way of saying high gas prices are Obama's fault because he's helped the economy springboard and the trajectory of gas prices are a function of this springboarding. Obama doesn't really deserve that much credit for our economic improvement. But blaming him for current gas prices is stupid too. Moron.

Obama's Victory Lap

I've got no problem with Bush not attending Obama's victory lap in NYC today. The former President has refused to be goaded into criticizing the current one, and thus shouldn't be expected to endorse him either. This event would simply be too politicized, and staying home shouldn't necessarily be construed as bitterness.

What I do take issue with is the notion that Bush was 'snubbed' for his efforts. A 'source' stated that: Obama gave no credit whatsoever to the intelligence infrastructure the Bush administration set up that is being hailed from the left and right as setting in motion the operation that got Bin Laden. It rubbed Bush the wrong way.

Boo hoo. Obama has publicly thanked 'the tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals.' But as far as the 'intelligence infrastructure' Bush put in place? No one should ever, EVER, be thanked for the clusterfuck that is the Department of Homeland Security. Spending billions on things that fail to increase the safety of the American people is not a laudatory action. Bush did things deserving of praise. This wasn't one of them.

Bush on Katrina

"It's always my fault. I mean, I was the one who should have said: 'A) Don't take my picture, B) Let's land in Baton Rouge, La., C) Let's don't even come close to the area.' The next place to be seen is in Washington at a command center. I mean it was my fault."

George Bush has described this picture as a huge mistake, which caused him to appear "detached and uncaring," according to Huffpo:

I have no recollection of this photo damaging his reputation. Maybe it did, and I simply wasn't paying attention. Personally, it doesn't bother me. If anything, it's the image of a man deeply troubled by the disaster that took more American lives than any given year of the Iraqi invasion. He's now personally confronted with this destruction and its implications. But really, I don't care much for pictures.






Attempting to encapsulate a man with one picture can be telling, but is rarely fair. I don't care about the photo. I also don't think much of photos used against politicians for having hugged unpopular Presidents - you don't snub the President. If papa wants a hug, you give papa a hug.








The saddest part of this is that Bush said he was hurt when the public reacted poorly to a picture and Kanye stated Bush didn't like black people. If you want to demonstrate remorse, this is about the most insubstantial thing to regret. Politicizing a once important and effective program by putting Brown in charge of FEMA - now that's the decision you should regret. Because people died. The pathetic, delayed reaction was directly responsible for the death of Americans. And human life is infinitely more precious than public perception of a fucking picture. Memoirs are put up or shut up time; man up and accept fault for something more substantial than a superficial portrayal.