Since the advent of YouTube, a number of politicians have seen their political careers derailed after some boneheaded comment was caught on tape. Rep. Phil Hare has outdone everyone though, by having TWO separate boneheaded statements caught on tape.

Given his terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad polling numbers and the fact his attempt at reelection has become a nationally targeted race, its no wonder he is trying to deny want we can see with our own eyes.

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So President Obama decided to engage in some high-profile symbolism and re-install solar panels on the White House roof (what, no windmill?), a la Jimmy Carter, and in an embarrassing reversal. Although the clumsiness of an obvious political- and panic-driven pander has caused heartburn on the Left, in a related reversal, Obama also used his weekly address to revive the risible and previously ditched claim that Germany is proof of a state successfully centrally planning the ‘green economy’.

Not to leave their man in Washington hanging, if by sheer coincidence, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology bought a full page ad in the weekend Wall Street Journal to further promote Obama’s plan of the U.S. adopting economically painful, environmentally meaningless ‘green economy’ laws designed to increase your electricity (and other energy) costs.

It’s almost like they are telling us to watch out for the lame-duck session.

Clumsy and unseemly though it may be, there’s also the little problem with a lack of accuracy.

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In today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss the unexpected unemployment figures, what the waiver of McDonalds and other companies from Obamacare means for our republic, and the latest in currency issues.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment.com and Stephen Clouse and Associates. We’d also like to let you know that we’ve set up a standalone site at CoffeeandMarkets.com for easier browsing of our past broadcasts.

You can subscribe to the podcast by following the links above, and if you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Employers in U.S. Cut More Jobs Than Forecast in September
Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment at 10.1% in September
China Investing Runs Into Dollar/Yuan Fund Conflicts
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From the Associated Press:

The die is cast, and it’s grim news for the Democrats. There’s nothing now that Congress or President Barack Obama can do to before the November midterm elections to jolt the nation’s stagnant economy.

Friday’s government report—the last major economic news before the midterm elections—showed the nation continued to lose jobs last month, reinforcing the bleak reality that it probably will be years—not months—before employment returns to pre-recession levels below 6 percent.

That tightens the pressure on Democrats ahead of the Nov. 2 elections. And it also casts a dark shadow well into the 2012 election season and beyond.

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Democratic operatives in New Jersey are turning on Congressman John Adler (D-NJ3). Due to “ethical qualms” they have revealed the Adler campaign is behind the bogus “NJ Tea Party” candidacy of Peter DeStefano.

In May, Geoff Mackler, Adler’s Campaign Manager, along with Democratic consultant Steve Ayscue gave a presentation outlining the “DeStefano Plan” at the Camden County Democratic Committee headquarters:

“The goal was to take 5 percent of (Republican Jon) Runyan’s vote,” said a Democrat with direct knowledge of the Adler campaign and CCDC operations.

“Steve Ayscue designed the plan with Geoff Mackler following his lead.”

DeStefano first emerged in an internal poll circulated by the Adler campaign in July that showed him getting 12 percent of the vote. Until then he  hadn’t announced he was a candidate.

He was immediately dismissed by Tea Party groups:

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The irony would be humorous if it weren’t so sad: The United Federation of Teachers, the New York City branch of the American Federation of Teachers, which pushed ardently for ObamaCare has now requested – and received – a waiver from its mandates.

The UFT is a member of New York State United Teachers (NYSUT).  In September 2009, the NYSUT’s website published “Health care reform: facts vs. myths.” Here’s an excerpt:

• Myth: Health care reform will force you out of your current insurance plan or force you to change doctors.
• Fact: You can keep your existing insurance; reform will expand your medical options, not eliminate them.

ObamaCare was such a great idea at the time - the AFT gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Healthcare for America Now, the leading organization pushing for the government takeover of health care.

It was announced Thursday that the UFT has requested and received an Obamacare-waiver after it discovered their members would end up losing their health insurance plans.  Uh oh.

According to USA Today, “The waivers are effective for a year and were granted to insurance plans and companies (i.e. the union and its affiliated “UFT Welfare Fund”) that showed that employee premiums would rise or that workers would lose coverage without them.”

If the union thought ObamaCare would benefit the country, then why seek a waiver?  And can we now count the union as a partner in the effort to repeal it?

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In the last gubernatorial debate, Governor Strickland informed the viewers that “I’m happy to let the people of Ohio know tonight that according to the Federal Reserve out of Philadelphia, that Ohio now has the sixth fastest growing economy over the second quarter certainly.”

I am not sure if many people are assuaged by an uptick in an economic index that few people understand (for the record it is basically a complicated average of four labor market indicators), and the statement begs two further questions.   First, is this recent performance just the Ohio economy temporarily reviving from a terrible starting point, or what is known in market parlance as a “dead cat bounce”?  Second, do governors have any control over, and can they take credit for, month-to-month economic developments?

We will have to wait to answer the first question, but the answer to the second question is a resounding no.  What control the governor does have over the Ohio economy comes from his ability to influence the general economic climate—the tax, spending, and education policies, primarily, which don’t lend themselves well to short-term manipulation of the economy.

It makes much more sense to judge an executive’s economic policies by considering their results over a broader period of time—such as a four year term of office.  Here, the news is not so good.  Rather than construct a complicated index, let’s just look at two important indicators that citizens really care about – the growth in personal income and the change in the unemployment rate.  The table below shows that Ohio’s economy has struggled over the past four years.

*excluding Transfer Payments.  Sources:  Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis and Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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President Obama has asked Congress for an additional $50 billion in “stimulus” money to finance infrastructure projects. The theory is that the additional spending will cause businesses to boost production to meet this demand. Producers will add jobs, triggering increases in consumer spending that will ripple through the economy and fuel a stronger overall recovery.

Unfortunately, however, such government pump-priming hasn’t worked in the past, and there’s no reason to believe it will work now.

Sure, consumer spending accounts for approximately 70 percent of America’s gross domestic product, and increases in consumer spending would provide the economy with an immediate boost. But a drop in consumer spending is not what ails the economy. In fact, as a percentage of GDP, consumer spending actually increased during the downturn, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis reports—from approximately 69.2 percent of GDP in the fourth quarter (October-December) of 2007 to approximately 71 percent of GDP in the April-June quarter of 2009.

So the conventional wisdom—that a sharp decline in consumer spending caused the economy’s downturn—is wrong.

What did cause the downturn? The answer is: a sharp decline in private investment.

In fact, the ups and downs of the business cycle are always driven by investment spending, not by consumption spending.

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Today, in 2001, President George W. Bush announced the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. It is not a date for celebration.

UPDATE: At 6:22pm, the Los Angeles Times published an article titled “An associate of Jerry Brown calls Meg Whitman a “whore” over pension reform (AUDIO).’”  At 10:58 PM, the Times published another article with the headline “Brown or Aide Is Heard Slurring Whitman.” When the Times first broke the story, they had only reported that a Brown “associate” had used the slur, but now they are acknowledging the possibility that it was Brown himself who called the California GOP’s gubernatorial nominee a “whore.”  A third possibility still is that both Brown and an aide used the offensive language to describe Whitman.

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UPDATE II: Los Angeles’s KCAL9 news attributes the word “whore” to Brown:

A transcript of the conversation authorized by the LA Police Protective League and transcribed by a registered court reporter identifies the voice that said the word “whore” as “J.B.” for Jerry Brown.

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From the LA Times:

In a private conversation that was inadvertently taped by a voicemail machine, an associate of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown can be heard referring to his Republican opponent Meg Whitman as a “whore” for cutting a deal protecting law enforcement pensions as the two candidates competed for police endorsements.

The comment came after Brown called the Los Angeles Police Protective League in early September to ask for its endorsement. He left a voicemail message for Scott Rate, a union official. Brown apparently believed he had hung up the phone, but the connection remained intact and the voice mail machine captured an ensuing conversation between Brown and his aides.

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As an attorney and perpetual student of the law, I have never been comfortable with the idea of litigating constitutional issues.  Courts represent the last resort for citizens oppressed by their own government.

As Jonah Goldberg noted at National Review, many progressive journolists [sic] and constitutional “experts” seem nonplussed at the idea of anyone examining the constitutionality of legislation that is not a judge or justice.  The problem with that mentality is that the Constitution does not identify the Supreme Court as the sole arbiter of constitutional meaning.

The concept of judicial review came about in Marbury v. Madison.  Essentially, actions of the political branches would be subject to review and possible invalidation by the Supreme Court.  Mind you, this case revolved around a political dispute between the outgoing Federalists and the incoming Jeffersonian Republicans.  Chief Justice Marshall, an ally of the Federalists, ruled in favor of the Jeffersonian Republicans to garner support for the new role he had carved out for the judiciary.  Ever since, the Supreme Court has assumed the final say on constitutionality with few exceptions, though no explicit authority exists.

This decision provides the basis for progressive belief that the Supreme Court represents the only means for decisions on the constitutionality of legislation, and it is outright wrong.  This is the fall-back for progressives on the constitutionality of Obamacare.  “Shouldn’t we wait until the Supreme Court presents its opinion?”  Heck no! (more…)

Most pundits agree John McCain ran at best a lackluster and at worst a completely feckless 2008 presidential campaign. Yet if the GOP does in fact gain control of one or both chambers of Congress this November, its members should fall prone upon the earth and thank their lucky stars that McCain—and not Huckabee, Romney or any of the other 2008 Republican candidates—won the Republican Party nomination.

Why?

Because McCain did the one thing that none of those other men would have dared to do. And in so doing he unwittingly introduced kryptonite into the presence of Barack “Superman” Obama. In 2010 political lingo, kryptonite is spelled in the form of ten other letters: Sarah Palin. When McCain astonished with his choice of Palin as vice-presidential running mate, a chain of events unfolded that created the arch-nemesis of Barack Obama, the one force that would torment the would-be Social Justice-draped crusader more than Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh combined could ever do.

Make no mistake, DC comics readers: Sarah Palin is the agent of paralysis that is now crippling Democrats in the 2010 midterms. “Ah, but the Democrats brought it on themselves,” you cry in rebuttal. “They passed Obamacare and the stimulus bill and cap-and-trade and Cash for Clunkers, all bills that the American people overwhelmingly disapprove of. That’s what’s behind the imminent Republican rout.”

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We hear a lot about “vested interests” in America these days.

Here in California – it is the cry of Global Warming alarmists who are opposed to proposition 23 that is to be voted on in the November election.

Prop 23 will suspend a “Global Warming solutions” act that will push up energy prices and drive even more jobs out of the state during one the biggest recessions in living memory.

Understandably there is a lot of opposition to the Global Warming Act and Prop 23 is proving surprisingly popular in a state that practically invented the Green movement. Two Texan oil companies are supporting the campaign which has allowed the environmental movement to keep shouting about “vested interests” who are behind the campaign.

But as usual for environmentalists they are being selective in their concern. Just as they want the rest of us to stop flying but they seem have no problem with the Green aristocrats such as Al Gore and James Cameron flying around the world.

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With less than a month to go before Democrats across the country face their fate, one would hope that they are reflective enough to ask themselves where they went wrong and how their out-of-touch liberal policies have failed the American people. According to a recent poll by Gallup, Congress has an 18 percent approval rating, and CNN/Time has President Obama’s disapproval rating at 54 percent. It seems the tide has changed since the 2008 election. At the end of September, Congress left Washington without passing a budget and failed to even address the largest tax increases ever to hit the American people that will come in January.

Citizens United Production’s latest documentary, “Battle for America” with Dick Morris, examines why Americans have such disdain for President Obama and his imperial Congress. The American people are angry. With an unemployment rate hovering around 9.6 percent and our national debt exceeding $13 trillion, Americans want real change… not the kind of change they were duped into believing two years ago. In 2008, the American people voted for what was sold as moderate and pragmatic leadership. Americans were in desperate need of a government that would focus on jobs and our troubled economy. Unfortunately, the Obama-Pelosi-Reid machine decided to pass the rest of Lyndon Johnson’s social welfare program instead.

During the 2006 election, Nancy Pelosi proclaimed that the Democrats would “drain the swamp” that is Washington, D.C. However, it looks as if her “swamp” is as polluted and infected as ever as evidenced by the backroom deals made during the health care debate and the ethics troubles facing former Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and other House Democrats. The truth is that Nancy Pelosi’s swamp can’t be drained because it is the bloated and (nearly) bankrupt government created by her and her colleagues that keeps it filled. Our country is drowning and suffocating in an out-of-control bureaucracy.

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Here is a prediction: Across the country, there will be races that some candidates will lose even though poll numbers, right now, indicate otherwise.

As you read this, at present, you should know that there are only seemingly disconnected anecdotal dots that are starting to connect. However, if the dots do fully connect, we may not know until well after the November 2nd election if, in fact, America’s democratic election process will have become the victim of the biggest fraud in our nation’s history. What’s worse, with early voting beginning this week in many states, it may already be too late to do anything about it.

In order to break this down, here are the disconnected dots that are detailed below:

• First Dot: The SOS Project
• Second Dot: The SEIU’s Shenanigans
• Third Dot: 11 Million Illegal Immigrants
• Fourth Dot: The Fake ID Industry & Meg Whitman
• Fifth Dot: Voter Registration
• Sixth Dot: Union GOTV Strategies
• Seventh Dot: Early Voting
• Connecting the Dots

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Big banks have been under fire for using improper documents to foreclose on homes. Well, Congress stepped in to help, quietly passing a bill that could shield the banks from liability. From Reuters:

The law, the “Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act,” requires all federal and state courts to recognize notarizations made in other states.

The law specifically includes “electronic” notarizations stamped en masse by computers. Currently, only about a dozen states allow electronic notarizations, according to the National Notary Association.

“CONSTITUENTS” PRESSED FOR PASSAGE

After languishing for months in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the bill passed the Senate with lightning speed and with hardly any public awareness of the bill’s existence on September 27, the day before the Senate recessed for midterm election campaign.

The bill’s approval involved invocation of a special procedure. Democratic Senator Robert Casey, shepherding last-minute legislation on behalf of the Senate leadership, had the bill taken away from the Senate Judiciary committee, which hadn’t acted on it.

The full Senate then immediately passed the bill without debate, by unanimous consent.

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On October 3rd 2010, during an Illinois Democrat ‘Get Out The Vote’ pep-rally, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky defied her own party’s demand for an end to ‘Hate in the Debate’ by comparing Republicans to Stormtroopers. And the Democrat audience roared with cheers for the message.

The Democrats offer nothing outside of the one-dimensional narrative that Republicans are evil and must be destroyed. This from the party that once criticized Bush 43 for his black and white terror policy towards our allies (‘you’re either with us or against us’).

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From Politico:

House Republicans have drafted a go-for-broke blueprint for the final weeks of the midterm campaign that will bring them to $45 million in television ad spending, with spots reserved in 62 congressional districts across the nation.

POLITICO has learned that the National Republican Congressional Committee will take a bank loan of at least $6.5 million — but likely more — to expand its ad buys into seven additional districts beyond the 55 where the committee has already reserved time.

According to an NRCC source familiar with the effort, the newly added targets include five Democrats whose districts, until recently, were thought to be out of reach this year: Reps. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Sanford Bishop of Georgia, Phil Hare of Illinois, Zack Space of Ohio and John Salazar of Colorado.

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