John Bolton's Book, "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir

Tiny - I might suggest that to be a "Politician" - particularly a Congressperson/Senator - is to be able to Take the money, then stab the donor in the back with no conscience.
An "honest " politician - One who -when Bought - stays Bought.


Thanks to Captain Midnight.

Remember all the discussion in 2007 of ending the tax break for carried interest?


Kudos to anyone who can name the two well-known, influential Senators that privately -- but quickly -- killed stone dead any talk of the idea going any further in committee discussions.


(And one of them was arguably the most outspoken public figure with regard to advocating for elimination of that tax break!) Originally Posted by CaptainMidnight

Is there a statute of limitations on political hypocrisy?

https://www.eccie.net/showpost.php?p...4&postcount=21

Does anyone remember Jimmy Carter's infamous " malaise" speech of 1979? He told us we were all just going to have to do with less.

Today's Democrats seem eager to take us back to those days. Originally Posted by CaptainMidnight

.For the record, here is the text of Carter's 1979 speech:

https://www.americanrhetoric.com/spe...confidence.htm Originally Posted by CaptainMidnight

Thanks for the link, Captain. Think I'll pass on reading it. That speech was so awful that back in 1979 I turned off the TV after the first 10 minutes and ran out the door for a drink!

If you recall, Jimmy C built up huge expectations prior to the speech by "sheltering in place" (to use a now popular term) at Camp David for 2 fucking weeks - while he invited various "experts" and pollsters and spiritual leaders et alia to visit and help him plumb the depths of the American psyche to diagnose what ailed us, when most citizens were just looking for an end to lines at the gas pumps.

By November 1980, most voters decided the only thing really ailing us was a malaise-stricken POTUS who projected his own shortcomings onto the country at large. But hey, let's give the peanut farmer some credit - his "malaise" speech helped usher Ronald Reagan into office under a cheerful, optimistic counter-theme ("It's morning in America!") that not only got rid of those annoying gas lines, but also delivered 8 years of peace and prosperity!

Funny how the dim-retards never learn. They still believe in Blame American First (as Jeanne Kirkpatrick memorably tagged their philosophy) and the constant need for all of us to kneel and flagellate ourselves and issue mea culpas and pay reparations for all manner of past wrong-doings and seek atonement for our innumerable historical sins of both omission and commission. Nothing cheerful or optimistic in that messaging!

When Republicans see problems, they don't wallow in them or self-reflect helplessly or secretly seek to perpetuate them for political gain like the dim-retards do. Republicans try to fashion SOLUTIONS!

Maybe the DNC can exhume Jimmy Carter and invite him to be their keynote speaker for this year's convention! They can introduce him as President Malaise, while they all link arms and sing "Unhappy Days Are Here Again!"

Now that would make a great visual!

Thanks for the link, Captain. Think I'll pass on reading it. That speech was so awful that back in 1979 I turned off the TV after the first 10 minutes and ran out the door for a drink!

If you recall, Jimmy C built up huge expectations prior to the speech by "sheltering in place" (to use a now popular term) at Camp David for 2 fucking weeks - while he invited various "experts" and pollsters and spiritual leaders et alia to visit and help him plumb the depths of the American psyche to diagnose what ailed us, when most citizens were just looking for an end to lines at the gas pumps. Originally Posted by lustylad

I scanned it, and it's fucking hilarious. Yeah, the first 3/4's are stupid platitudes. But get down to the meat. He's setting quotas on imports of oil, at the same time as he's placing a Windfall Profits Tax on domestic oil production, all in response to high oil prices and lines at the pump. So you're going to limit imports at the same time as you rob the domestic producers of the capital to increase U.S. production - a sure fire recipe for higher prices and more shortages. Also you see the genesis of the shale oil "boom", which was a bigger boondoggle and bigger waste of taxpayer money than what Obama flushed down the toilet on questionable solar companies.

Tiny - I might suggest that to be a "Politician" - particularly a Congressperson/Senator - is to be able to Take the money, then stab the donor in the back with no conscience.
An "honest " politician - One who -when Bought - stays Bought.


Thanks to Captain Midnight. Originally Posted by oeb11

I'll flip it around Oeb. An honest donor is like one of the Koch brothers, who promote free markets and less corporate welfare even when that may not be in their best interest. A dishonest donor is someone like Democrats George Soros and James Simon, who have promoted carried interest and offshore structures that enabled fund managers to perpetually avoid paying tax.

Simon's use of Roth IRA's also merits mention. His Medallion fund has racked up tons of profits, tax free, for him and his employees through creative use of their retirement funds. Most other billionaires have to pay taxes on their investment gains.

Bolton was a trump hugger for a bit. That makes them both swamppers imo. No credibility from either one

I scanned it, and it's fucking hilarious. Yeah, the first 3/4's are stupid platitudes. But get down to the meat. He's setting quotas on imports of oil, at the same time as he's placing a Windfall Profits Tax on domestic oil production, all in response to high oil prices and lines at the pump. So you're going to limit imports at the same time as you rob the domestic producers of the capital to increase U.S. production - a sure fire recipe for higher prices and more shortages. Also you see the genesis of the shale oil "boom", which was a bigger boondoggle and bigger waste of taxpayer money than what Obama flushed down the toilet on questionable solar companies. Originally Posted by Tiny

You lost me with the last sentence. How was the shale boom a "boondoggle" and a "waste of taxpayer money"?

You lost me with the last sentence. How was the shale boom a "boondoggle" and a "waste of taxpayer money"? Originally Posted by lustylad

This was a different kind of shale boom. You actually mined the shale, like you would coal. Then heat and process it to extract the oil. They do something like this with oil sands in Canada, but the costs are a lot less than with shale.

The problem was that it took something like $80 to $100 per barrel for this to make sense without government subsidies, at a time when oil was selling for around $30 per barrel. Through the Windfall Profits Tax, Carter apparently intended to channel money from oil producers to shale oil projects, among other things. The producers could have exploited conventional oil resources in the U.S. that would have cost a lot less per barrel of oil, compared to in situ shale oil.

This was a different kind of shale boom. You actually mined the shale, like you would coal. Then heat and process it to extract the oil. They do something like this with oil sands in Canada, but the costs are a lot less than with shale.

The problem was that it took something like $80 to $100 per barrel for this to make sense without government subsidies, at a time when oil was selling for around $30 per barrel. Through the Windfall Profits Tax, Carter apparently intended to channel money from oil producers to shale oil projects, among other things. The producers could have exploited conventional oil resources in the U.S. that would have cost a lot less per barrel of oil, compared to in situ shale oil. Originally Posted by Tiny

Ok, I thought you were referring to fracking when you said "shale boom". I'm not familiar with the older shale subsidy program, but it sounds like something they tried to justify by claiming it would move us closer to energy independence even if it meant exploiting what were then high-cost domestic sources. I doubt if it wasted as much taxpayer money as ethanol subsidies, another boondoggle program and one that was much loved by Iowa corn farmers!

It's absurd for us to waste so much money on ineffective, overpriced technologies. Tar sands production (as pursued in Canada) is a relatively high-cost extraction method, but I don't think it ever needed to be subsidized.

I believe the Strategic Petroleum Reserve - a program to store hundreds of millions of barrels of oil in Louisiana salt domes - also began under Carter, supposedly to provide a buffer against future world supply shocks due to OPEC or unforeseen events such as revolution in Iran.

Tiny - I might suggest that to be a "Politician" - particularly a Congressperson/Senator - is to be able to Take the money, then stab the donor in the back with no conscience.
An "honest " politician - One who -when Bought - stays Bought.


Thanks to Captain Midnight. Originally Posted by oeb11

so, a politican who won't be bought is a backstabber?

what a twisted definition of "honest".

Quote:
Originally Posted by oeb11
Tiny - I might suggest that to be a "Politician" - particularly a Congressperson/Senator - is to be able to Take the money, then stab the donor in the back with no conscience.
An "honest " politician - One who -when Bought - stays Bought.


Thanks to Captain Midnight.


so, a politican who won't be bought is a backstabber?

what a twisted definition of "honest".



oeb11- DF - with respect - Not what i wrote.