The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

If the GOP and majority of talking heads in the media (especially of the cable-news variety) could have earned a degree in taking-quotes-out-of-context, they would have passed with flying colors. Arguably the two worst such occasions over the past couple of years were the following: 1) GOP's version of a Barack Obama quote: "If you've got a business - you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen." The full quote: "There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me - because they want to give something back. They know they didn't - look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. Thee area a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something - there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. If you were successful, somebody along the line gav...

Joe Bush: "Do you see that building over there, little Joey?" Joey Bush: "Yeah..." Joe: "I built that." Joey: "Really? All by yourself?" Joe: "That's right!" Joey: "How long ago was that?" Joe: "Well, your great-grandpa is the one that started it, so it's been around for a while now." Joey: "...and you built that?" Joe: "You betcha. ...and someday, when you're my age, you'll get to tell people the same thing - that you built that." Joey: "Wow. I'm gonna build a lot of things, aren't I, dad?" Joe: "You bet you are! You already have!" Joey: "I have? Like what, dad?" Joe: "That backpack you wear every day to school - you built that!" Joey: "Really?" Joe: "Yeah - you put it on your back and made it work, right?" Joey: "That's right!" Joe: ...

Remember when President Barack Obama was taken out of context when he uttered the words "You didn't build that"? Remember how speakers at the Republican National Convention mainly focused on that quote? Well, in a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that was just released today, it found that in light of Obama's before-mentioned quote, 36% of the public said it made them feel more positive about the president, 32% said more negative and 26% said that it didn't make much of a difference. On the quote the Republican Party spent so much of their time on - throughout all three nights of their convention and to read that Obama was actually viewed more favorably (+4) in light of said quote, it must be quite the sensation they're feeling right now. The poll tells a different tale regarding Mitt Romney's 47% comments, as 23% felt more positively about the Republican presidential candidate, 45% more negatively and 24% said there wasn't much of a difference in ho...

As much as I like the guy, Vice President Joe Biden makes more gaffes than I wash my hands and for the record, I'm a little anal-retentive about that. During a speech in Charlotte, North Carolina yesterday, Biden said the following: "This is deadly earnest. How they (Romney/Ryan) can justify...raising taxes on the middle class that has been buried the last four years? How in the Lord's name can they justify raising their taxes and these tax cuts? We've seen this movie before - massive tax cuts for the wealthy, eliminating restrictions on Wall Street, let the banks write their own rules. We know where it ends. It ends in the catastrophe of the middle class and the Great Recession of 2008. Folks, we cannot go back to that. The president and I have a different way forward." Of course, the only words Romney, Ryan and other Republicans are focusing they're attention on are "...the middle class...has been buried the last four years..." Granted, cou...

On July 17th of this year, President Barack Obama made a campaign stop in Roanoke, Virginia and it appeared to be like any other campaign stop - one where the president attempted to rile the base and persuade undecided voters that he was the superior of the two main options come the November election. However, according to the Romney team, this speech was unlike any other, as it was the shortest in recorded history - lasting all but fourteen words. Yes, according the Romney team, the president said only the following: "If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen." One can only imagine how perplexed and irritated the Roanoke crowd was, some having waited for several hours to hear the president speak and only receiving five seconds of his time in return. It reminds me of an Alice Cooper concert I attended where the band played "School's Out" and then left the stage. No, that didn't happen and neither did Obama...