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Tag: critical

Clinton Calls Perry “A Good-Looking Rascal”

Former President Bill Clinton told a New York firefighters conference on Monday that he was “tickled” by watching Rick Perry announce his Presidential candidacy, and that he thinks that the Texas Governor is “a good-looking rascal.”

Clinton went on to criticize Perry’s disdain for the federal government.

“And he’s saying ‘Oh, I’m going to Washington to make sure that the federal government stays as far away from you as possible — while I ride on Air Force One and that Marine One helicopter and go to Camp David and travel around the world and have a good time,’” Clinton said. “I mean, this is crazy.”

Clinton seems rather amused by “Governor Good Hair.” Many politicians and pundits believe that Perry is a serious challenger for the White House, but Clinton does not seem to be among them.

Mitt Romney And Michele Bachmann Slam Debt Deal

Apparently averting an unprecedented default didn’t make the deal sweet enough for their taste. From the frontrunner:

“As president, my plan would have produced a budget that was cut, capped and balanced – not one that opens the door to higher taxes and puts defense cuts on the table. President Obama’s leadership failure has pushed the economy to the brink at the eleventh hour and 59th minute. While I appreciate the extraordinarily difficult situation President Obama’s lack of leadership has placed Republican Members of Congress in, I personally cannot support this deal,” said Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor.

And his Tea Party opponent occupying the populist right, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, isn’t a fan either.

“Mr. President, I’m not sure what voice you’re listening to, but I can assure you that the voice of the American people wasn’t the ‘voice that compelled Washington to act.’ It was you that got us into this mess, and it was you who wanted a $2.4 trillion dollar blank check to get you through the election. Everywhere I travel across the country, Americans want less spending, lower taxes to create jobs, and they don’t want us to raise the debt ceiling.”

Unfortunately, as with the bailout of banks in 2008 (officially TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program), what was necessary for Wall Street here was also a good thing for Everyone Else.

New RNC Ad Attempts To Use Obama’s Words Against Him

The Republican National Committee is out with its latest national TV spot, hanging the economy around Obama’s neck in the context of promises made during his acceptance speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver:

Only problem here is that most Americans, according to polls–even if they disapprove of the president’s handling of the economy–still attribute significant blame to Bush. Almost all of the horrendous economic statistics in the ad reflect the anemic period from January-March 2009, when Obama inherited the Bush economy in a tailspin.

Key to his reelection hopes is a positive message that things are improving but that also acknowledges the immense pain still being felt. Obama managed, despite journalists’ fretting to the contrary, to connect with the economically fearful in the fall of 2008; he needs to do so again in 2012.