Donald Trump gets Koch blocked
May 4, 2011
Mark the day: April 29. It was the day Donald Trump officially became irrelevant to the GOP.
It seems the Kingmaker Koch Brothers aren’t fans of Trump. And none of Trump’s pretend billions will save him. From ThinkProgress:
“Donald Trump is exposing himself to a lot of attacks,” said Koch. “As much as I like Donald, he’s sort of asking for it.” He laughed again, then observed that “Donald’s political positions over the last 10 years have been highly variable and unusual. He’s a wonderful guy, but I don’t think he should run for office.
Noting Trump’s love of press, (David) Koch said the “Celebrity Apprentice” host is “getting more publicity than he ever dreamed about right now.” But, he added, “at some point I think he’s going to drop out of the race when he realizes that he’s really not qualified to be President.”
This doesn’t completely take Trump out of the national spotlight, of course. Because After thrilling Conservatives by becoming the world’s most famous Birther and then thrilling them more by questioning Obama’s educational accomplishments, Trump is still in the game. I mean, we still need to know if Lil’ Jon, Hope Dworaczyk, Meatloaf or other B-Lister will win Celebrity Apprentice. So he’s got that going for him.
Mind you, none of this matters to Trump. After all, he has never had any intention of running for any public office in the first place.
–WKW
Chrysler announces first profit since bailout – better than a bullet in the eye
May 3, 2011
As America celebrates President Barack Obama’s birth certificate as well as Osama bin Laden’s new eye hole, one bit of news managed to get by that will likely have a bigger effect on the U.S. – Chrysler announced a profit:
Chrysler has posted its first quarterly net profit since declaring bankruptcy almost two years ago, Reuters reports.
The Fiat-controlled brand’s first quarter net income came to $116 million, with a total increase in revenue of around 35 percent to $13.1 billion.
The company’s success can be traced partially to several redesigned vehicles, including the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Additionally, the overall vehicle price rose to $28,300 in the first quart, from $27,300 a year ago.
Chrysler has been posting operational profits, but the cost of high interest on loans the company owes from its 2009 bailout have damaged its ability to post a net profit.
For those of you struggling to recall, the bailout of Chrysler – according to Republicans - was more or less going to be the end of capitalism, if not the world in general.
“Just giving them $25 billion doesn’t change anything. It just puts off for six months or so the day of reckoning.” — Sen. Jon Kyl.
“[The bailout] was all about the unions. The unions didn’t want to have their very generous contracts renegotiated so we put $80 billion into both General Motors and Chrysler, and anybody believes that Chrysler is going to survive, I’d like to meet them.” — Sen. John McCain.
“We gave $14-$15 billion to General Motors and Chrysler, and both of them probably will end up filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.” — Rep. Dan Burton
“The government has forced taxpayers to buy these failing companies without any plausible plan for profitability.” – Sen. Jim Demint.
“This is an unprecedented takeover from the private sector by this administration…It is totally unconstitutional, it’s totally against freedom, it’s totally unprecedented, and it’s exactly the same thing that Hugo Chávez is doing down in Venezuela.” — Rep. Paul Braun.
What did Obama have to say about it?
“For the auto industry to completely collapse would be a disaster in this kind of environment,” Obama said. “So my hope is that over the course of the next week, between the White House and Congress, the discussions are shaped around providing assistance but making sure that that assistance is conditioned on labor, management, suppliers, lenders, all of the stakeholders coming together with a plan — what does a sustainable U.S. auto industry look like?”
It seems we may be starting to see what a sustainable U.S. auto industry looks like. Regardless, this has been what we pundit types like to call “A really good week for Obama.”
–WKW
Crossposted at William K. Wolfrum Chronicles
Will John McCain share his secret plan to get Osama bin Laden now?
May 2, 2011
While running the worst campaign for President in the history of campaigns for President, John McCain made one thing very clear – He knew how to get Osama bin Laden. He just wouldn’t tell anyone unless he was elected President.
John McCain says in almost every stump speech that he knows how to capture Osama bin Laden and that he’d follow the al Qaeda leader to the “Gates of Hell.”
So Washington Wire was wondering, what does McCain know that President Bush and the Pentagon don’t about how to sweep up America’s most elusive enemy.
“One thing I will not do is telegraph my punches. Osama bin Laden will be the last to know,” he said today while riding on the back of his bus between Florida events. In other words: he’s not telling. Why not share his strategy with the current occupant of the White House? “Because I have my own ideas and it would require implementation of certain policies and procedures that only as the president of the United States can be taken.”
Now that elite American forces have put a bullet in bin Laden’s head and dumped his body at sea, we will see if McCain is finally ready to share his plan with the rest of America, or if following bin Laden to the “Gates of Hell”meant a “mansion in Sedona. Maybe McCain will talk about it this coming weekend on his regularly scheduled visit to “Meet the Press.”
–WKW
Crossposted at William K. Wolfrum Chronicles
Donald Trump takes credit for killing Osama bin Laden
May 2, 2011
NEW YORK – On his way to the latest meeting of his multi-level marketing business, Donald Trump stopped and told reporters today he accepts full credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden.
“Let me just say this, when I came on the scene, Obama didn’t have a birth certificate and Osama was alive,” said Trump, standing on the head of a poor guy named Jim. “This has been the greatest week of my life.
While most experts have denied that Trump played any part in the bin Laden killing, Trump has been booked on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, C-Span, BET, ESPN and all the major networks to talk about the bin Laden killing.
“It’s about time I finally had a chance to say my piece on this issue,” said Trump, who once went bankrupt on a casino. “The American people are seeing results. Now, it’s time to attack China.
“And be sure to watch the finale of Celebrity Apprentice, airing soon on NBC!” Trump added.
–WKW
