Potemkin Statesman

Skipper Kerry has a history of docking his $7 million yacht, the Isabel, in excise tax free Rhode Island. No doubt this millionaire one percenter's careful eye on his own finances earned him a spot on the recently defunct supercommittee. After all, the task of trimming our nation's accumulation of debt by $1.2 trillion over ten years is not the job for a spendthrift New Yorker. Surely, our sober senator and former nominee for president would rise to the occasion and save our republic by making the tough calls to cut projected spending of $44 trillion by a hardly draconian 2.7 percent? As we now know, it wasn't to be.

Post collapse, Senator Kerry took to the hustings placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of one man, Grover Norquist. The problem for our senator is that even a cursory look at the short and ignoble history of the supercommittee proves his charge false. Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania presented a plan that Mr. Norquist called "poison", but was hailed by Democratic Minority Whip Durbin of Illinois as a "breakthrough". The Toomey plan would have raised revenues by $500 billion and cut spending by $900 billion and was supported by all six republican members of the committee. This is exactly the type of balanced approach that President Obama claims to support, yet it went nowhere. As Senator Toomey told Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post "The Democrats insisted on a trillion dollars in tax increases and spending cuts to follow". If that negotiation position sounds familiar, it should. Both President's Reagan and George H.W. Bush took democrats at their word and raised taxes, but the promised spending cuts never happened. Knowing how the story ends republicans justifiably rejected a repeat performance.

While committee democrats never provided a detailed plan for cuts, they did propose more spending. In their proposed framework that entailed $4 in new taxes for every $1in cuts they included $430 billion in spending for Pres. Obama's stalled Stimulus II. Like junkies wanting one last fix they blew up the supercommittee because they just can't quit spending. They also scuttled the Toomey plan because it didn't fit in with President Obama's re-election campaign of running against a do-nothing republican congress. As the left leaning Politico put it "President Barack Obama prides himself on being a clutch player, but he sat happily on the end of the bench as the clock ran out on the supercommittee. Then he took his shot after the buzzer."

Maybe the next time Congress votes to raise the debt ceiling and it will happen sooner than you think; Congress can forgo the charade of a supercommittee and mandate every Washington politician join Spendaholics Anonymous. If the concept of doing right by the American people doesn't motivate them, maybe bruising their egos will. Just picture the next time Senator Kerry graces the set of Meet the Press to rip into evil republicans being compelled to say "Hi. I'm John and I'm a spendaholic".

Rep. Tierney: Myopia or Hypocrisy?

Never let a tragedy go to waste seems to be the Democrats' new mantra. With lightning and sickening speed Democratic politicians and their message machine have tried to pin Saturday's assassination attempt of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) on the tea party and Sarah Palin. If politicians like Rep. Tierney and their media allies are to be believed, our country is in the midst of an age of vituperation and hatred like no other in our history. Our good congressman took to the pages of this paper (1/10) to state :

"Part of that blame goes to talk radio, shock radio and television talk shows that spew "venom" into the political debate,".

Now, it's possible that Mr. Tierney is just forgetful instead of following the playbook of the “veteran Democratic operative” who told Politico that that he/she believes that President Obama should “deftly pin [the Arizona shooting] on the tea partiers.”.If that's the case, I would like to remind him of a time when passions were every bit as heated as todays.

During the Bush(43) administration Democratic activists and politicians used rhetoric and imagery that would put to shame anything the tea party has been accused of employing. Here's a small sampling of signs that were proudly displayed at anti-war rallies in New York, Chicago and San Francisco: "Save Mother Earth, Kill Bush", "Hang Bush For War Crimes", "Bush is the Disease, Death is the Cure", "I'm here to Kill Bush (Shoot Me)". Or how about the guillotine that some Obamabot created for some Halloween fun and dubbed the "Bush Whacker" and brought to a campaign rally in Denver(10/26/08) so others could enjoy in the merriment of seeing our president's severed head? Sadly, this bloodlust for a president wasn't confined to the nutroots. Senator John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president in 2004 fantasized of assassinating President Bush on the Bill Maher show (10/06). The transcript:

Maher: You could have went to NH and killed two birds with one stone.

Kerry: Or, I could have gone to 1600 Pennsylvania and killed the real bird with one stone.

I can't recall Rep. Tierney accusing his fellow delegation member of using hateful or dangerous language that could wind up with Kerry having the president's blood on his hands.

Perhaps Mr. Tierney also forgot that his own Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) put bullseyes on the districts of "targeted" Republicans when he blamed Sarah Palin for inciting violence by using similar imagery?

By Rep. Tierney's logic President Obama was responsible for nightstick wielding thugs from the New Black Panther party intimidating voters in Philadelphia because he said "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. Because from what I understand, folks in Philly like a good brawl" at a campaign event. And I suppose Obama's Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina was equally responsible for the savage beating of Kenneth Gladney at a town hall event by SEIU goons because he promised "If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard"? In fact if the left were held to the same absurd standard they are trying to impose on the right then our president would be complicit in every violent act committed by a hispanic because he implored them to go out and "punish their enemies".

The left telegraphed their strategy when veteran democratic pollster Mark Penn opined "

what President Obama needed to reconnect with the American people was another Oklahoma City bombing"

and journalist Mark Halperin of Time postulated

“No one wants the country to suffer another catastrophe. But when a struggling Bill Clinton was faced with the Oklahoma City bombing and a floundering George W. Bush was confronted by 9/11, they found their voices and a route to political revival.”.

By trying to gain political advantage from tragedy Rep. Tierney is reaching into the depths of depravity. The would-be assassin has been described by former friends as a "left-wing pothead" who enjoyed reading the Communist Manifesto. That sounds more like the profile of someone who submerged himself into the bile of the Democratic Underground or the Dailykos where none other than Markos Moulitsas "targeted" Giffords, on his descent into madness . Democrats like Rep. Tierney should remember the old adage about how those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

LiveShot Says "Only Peasants Pay Taxes"

From the Herald:

Sen. John Kerry, who has repeatedly voted to raise taxes while in Congress, dodged a whopping six-figure state tax bill on his new multimillion-dollar yacht by mooring her in Newport, R.I

Could the reason be that the Ocean State repealed its Boat Sales and Use Tax back in 1993, making the tiny state to the south a haven - like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Nassau - for tax-skirting luxury yacht owners?

Cash-strapped Massachusetts still collects a 6.25 percent sales tax and an annual excise tax on yachts. Sources say Isabel sold for something in the neighborhood of $7million, meaning Kerry saved approximately $437,500 in sales tax and an annual excise tax of about $70,000.

Plus

Isabel - Kerry’s luxe, 76-foot New Zealand-built Friendship sloop with an Edwardian-style, glossy varnished teak interior, two VIP main cabins and a pilothouse fitted with a wet bar and cold wine storage - was designed by Rhode Island boat designer Ted Fontaine.

Senator Kerry I get that you and the Mrs. wanted to avoid a hefty tax bill. Who wouldn't? But you ran for president demonizing companies that were "shipping jobs overseas" and you have your yacht built in New Zealand. You couldn't find a single shipyard in the U.S. that could build your pleasure boat and put some Americans to work? There is a reason that sailing trophy is called the America's Cup, we have a rich heritage of building the best boats in the world.

Now maybe the Herald is missing a major scoop here and you are planning to relocate to Newport permanently. After all, now that you lost the fight to keep Cape Wind from being built and the views in Nantucket sound will soon be despoiled, it's time to find a more pristine sailing locale. Or maybe you're growing bored coasting to re-election every six years and you believe a primary fight with "Big Sheldon" Whitehouse is just the ticket to get your mojo back?

However,if you plan on staying in MA pay your "fair share".