“Talking Points” believes it is fair to say that many Americans are rightfully angry about the recession. Once again, we the people did nothing to cause this awful situation. The entire mess was driven by corrupt mortgage lenders, greedy investment houses, and a federal government that did not aggressively police financial corruption. Both political parties are to blame.
Now, that’s the truth. If your ideology will not allow to you accept the truth, that’s on you. But the recession is everybody’s problem, and now fear is turning into anger.
Congressman James Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, is defending President Obama’s stimulus package by using the race card. This isn’t the first time Clyburn has gone off the rails. Listen to this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES CLYBURN, D-S.C.: It’s kind of interesting because there’s some — there’s a common thread that ran through that. The governor of Louisiana expressed opposition. Louisiana has a highest African-American population in the country. The governor of Mississippi expressed opposition. The governor of Texas and the governor of South Carolina. These four governors represent states that are in the proverbial black belt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Now, any sane person knows the stimulus package has nothing to do with race. Clyburn is misguided and has been for years.
On the other side, a conservative group has produced this commercial:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Congress just spent nearly $800 billion of your money. How much is that? Well, suppose you spent $1 million every single day starting from the day Jesus was born and kept spending through today. A million dollars a day for more than 2,000 years. You would still have spent less money than Congress just did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Now, the rest of the ad goes on to say the stimulus package is wrong because there’s too much pork in it and it might harm the economy in the long run. But what good does that do now? The package is law. It was debated for weeks before Congress passed it.
“Talking Points” believes most Americans simply want the economy to improve and they don’t have much faith in anyone right now, because things are so screwed up. Going forward, the press should be watching for abuses in the way the government spends the money. That’s what we should be doing.
Advocacy groups can do whatever they want. It’s their money. But again, it doesn’t seem to be real constructive to continue an ideological debate at this point. As we’ve stated, President Obama is taking a huge gamble. If it works and the recession is blunted, he’ll get another term. If it doesn’t work, he’ll have a lot in common with Jimmy Carter.
And that’s “The Memo.”
Pinheads & Patriots
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is running around Asia and appeared on the Indonesian version of “American Idol,” a program called “Awesome.”
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the question is, what is your favorite music and artist?
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: For me, it’s really the old stand-bys, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Awesome.
CLINTON: Oh, good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
After that, FOX News correspondent James Rosen caught up with Secretary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES ROSEN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Are you more partial to the irrepressible melodies and hand clapping of the “Please Please Me” era or to the world-weary, drug-fueled existentialism of their later work?
CLINTON: I have to confess, since I am older than you, that the hand-clapping mode was what I first was captured by. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was an anthem, as you might imagine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Well, since I, too, like the Beatles’ early stuff, I am making Ms. Clinton a patriot.
On the pinhead front, shades of the late ’60s. Hundreds of NYU students in New York City protested inside a cafeteria yesterday. Nobody quite knows why, or what they want: something to do with labor justice and spring break. But who knows? Police confronted the students; nasty stuff happened. This was all ridiculous and unnecessary, so those far-left students at NYU are pinheads.
— You can catch Bill O’Reilly’s “Talking Points Memo” and “Pinheads & Patriots” weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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