Author: Matt Margolis

Weekly Recap (2009-10-24)

Matt Margolis

Interview With Rick Lazio

Matt Margolis

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to sit down with Rick Lazio, currently the only GOP candidate for governor in New York. The interview is posted here.

Some of you might be asking, “Why bother? It’s New York.” But, recent polls suggest that a Republican can not only win for governor (thanks to David Paterson’s incompetence), but also for the U.S. Senate (Kirsten Gillibrand’s seat.) So I think it be worth your while to check out my interview with Lazio. I found myself quite impressed from our chat. He’s really knows policy and has a good mix of private and public sector experience.

Weekly Recap (2009-10-17)

Matt Margolis

Ouch. Only 43% Would Vote To Reelect Obama

Matt Margolis

Which means that that 43% aren’t paying attention to what a disaster he is.

In what may be the ultimate job rating, 43 percent of voters say that they would vote to re-elect President Obama if the 2012 election were held today, down from 52 percent six months ago, from April 22-23, 2009.

Obama’s job approval rating comes in at 49 percent this week. That’s down just one percentage point from late September, but it marks a new low approval for the president — and the first time the Fox News poll has measured his approval below 50 percent.

Moreover, the number of Americans saying they would vote to re-elect President Obama has dropped. If the election were held today the poll finds more voters say they would back someone else in the 2012 election than would back the president.

Have at it… It’s nice to see people realizing the guy is incompetent and in way over his head.

But in all seriousness, can we have the election again in November so we can fix the Great Mistake of ’08?

Weekly Recap (2009-10-10)

Matt Margolis

Together We Can Help Barack Obama Win The Heisman Trophy

Matt Margolis

Well, with Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize, there is no end to the awards he can win. There is an effort brewing on Facebook right now help Barack Obama win one award that is more prestigious than than the Nobel Peace Prize: The Heisman Trophy.

So, don’t throw in your lot with the terrorists, join the group on Facebook, and find out how you can cast your vote for Barack Obama to win the 2009 Heisman Trophy.


UPDATE, by Mark Noonan: Castro is cool with the Peace Prize. Lie down with dogs, come up with fleas, boys and girls.

Is Afghanistan Now Obama's War?

Matt Margolis

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Gates made an interesting comment.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with a seven-member bipartisan delegation of House members this morning as part of his new strategy of lining up support behind President Obama’s Afghanistan strategy — whatever that turns out to be.

“He said that when we do make a decision, Republicans have an obligation not to make Afghanistan “Obama’s war,” said Pete King (R-N.Y.), one of five GOP members to vote for a recent defense appropriations bill the party opposed over IMF funding.

Other attendees at the 8 a.m. breakfast in Gates’s private Pentagon dining room included: Reps. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), Ed Royce (R-Calif.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), Tim Walz (D-Minn.) and Vic Snyder (D-Ark.).

King, who supports Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s call for 40,000 additional combat troops, emphasized the need for Obama’s battle plan to be based on regional military and political objectives and not the vicissitudes of congressional opinion

I am not really sure what that means, or the implication. For one thing, today, it is Obama’s war. The final decisions are made by him. Republicans have supported Operation Enduring Freedom, and there has been no evidence to support the claim that Republicans have turned their back on it the way Democrats have turned their backs on Iraq for being “Bush’s War.”

In fact, the only politicization of Afghanistan seems to be coming from Obama, who appears to be conflicted over listening to commanders on the ground or left-wing anti-war activists oven how to move forward. Obama’s turned a blind eye to Afghanistan for nine months, ignoring requests for more troops. He does own the war now because he has let the situation deteriorate.

Republicans want success in both Afghanistan and Iraq. It doesn’t matter who is in office. But Obama needs to understand that the war in Afghanistan is his war now. This isn’t a political campaign now. Important decisions must be made. Soundbytes don’t matter. Winning does. Obama has to want to win.

Does he want to win?

I think it is clear that he doesn’t care one way or the other. He’s too busy trying to destroy our economy and wreck the American health care system to give a damn what is happening in Afghanistan or Iraq. He’s been watching Afghanistan turn into a quagmire without blinking an eye.

But, hey, that’s worth a peace prize, right?

If You Needed Proof The Nobel Peace Prize Is A Joke

Matt Margolis

…you got it.

Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama’s name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.

The man has done nothing in nine months. He’s had a ridiculously short career. If there are liberals out there who think he actually has done something noteworthy since January, I’ll give you the chance to make that case, but what did he do between January 20 and February 1 that makes him even remotely qualified to do anything or win anything?

I guess freeing captured terrorists earns you the Nobel Peace Prize?

UPDATE, by Mark Noonan:

Comment: absurd decision on Obama makes a mockery of the Nobel peace prize

The award of this year’s Nobel peace prize to President Obama will be met with widespread incredulity, consternation in many capitals and probably deep embarrassment by the President himself.

Rarely has an award had such an obvious political and partisan intent. It was clearly seen by the Norwegian Nobel committee as a way of expressing European gratitude for an end to the Bush Administration, approval for the election of America’s first black president and hope that Washington will honour its promise to re-engage with the world.

Instead, the prize risks looking preposterous in its claims, patronising in its intentions and demeaning in its attempt to build up a man who has barely begun his period in office, let alone achieved any tangible outcome for peace.

I doubt, however, that Obama is embarrassed – he probably thinks he’s earned it…

UPDATE: Cartoonists respond.

UPDATE III, by Mark Noonan: What the heck; might as well help Obama win the Heisman.

UPDATE IV, by Mark Noonan: Harvey over IMAO notes we’re being unfair:

Three dead Somali pirates.

When was the last time you read a front page headline about a Somali pirate attack on an American ship?

It’s more than Carter or Gore did.