Sunday, March 1, 2009

I can't believe I agree on even one point with Rush Limbaugh

I listened to Rush Limbaugh's speech at CPAC this year. Don't ask me why, maybe I am a sucker for punishment ;)? But there were a couple of points that I actually agreed with him on. I was truly shocked.
The first is fanning the flames of class warfare - it really feels true. Check out the message boards of any newspaper. Based on numbers, according to an article in the LA times, which quoted Brian M. Riedl, a budget analyst at the Heritage Foundation,
"currently 20% of the top tax payers pay 80% of the taxes and 40% of families pay no taxes. Under the Obama plan, the top 20% of tax filers would pay 90% of all taxes, and the number of families who owe no tax would climb to near 50%." Does any one see anything wrong here. Canada is supposed to have a high tax rate, and its highest tax bracket is 29%.
America was proud of its successful sons and daughters at one point but now it really is out to vilify them. Everyone who is considered "rich" is looked on as having stepped on down trodden folks on the way up. The assumption that maybe they worked hard to get where they were and got a few lucky breaks on the way is being overlooked.
The second point was Barney Frank and Chris Dodd trying to pretend they were just innocent by-standers and starting to ask all the tough questions. That really sticks in my throat.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

What happened to Bobby Jindal last night?

By now, its already old news. The overwhelming opinion was that Bobby Jindal performed poorly last night and everything from his message to the delivery was criticized. I was a bit disappointed as his reputation was one of an intelligent, insightful scholar and I was looking forward to hearing him speak, even if I did not agree with his politics. Many folks actually wrote him off and some comments on news sites actually state that he will never become president.
I thought that the true mettle of the man was demonstrated more ably in the Today show interview. He was sharp, to the point and extremely articulate. And contrary to President Obama's remarks of putting politics and political ambition first, he appeared to be perfectly willing to work with the Democrats and put America and its people first. He did make some valid points about why he would not accept certain portions of the stimulus payments and made a small dig stating that the Senators did not know all the details of the bill. A valid criticism.
I think it is unfortunate for hime that this short 5 min interview did not become viral. Is he viable candidate for 2012? I think that to some extent it depends on how the economy fares but a large extent depends on which Jindal dominates the airways.