Well, the conservatives have flooded the internet with all sorts of comments about this gaffe, really believing that Obama meant to say 3000%.

It is obvious that he meant dollars.If you think he really meant percent, you are an idiot and an example of what is wrong in politics.

Just sayin…

He said that he has an upcoming sale of another property in St. Bernard Parish (even though the T-P said it was his home that was being foreclosed on). From what I can gather, instead of paying his mortgage, Capitano made the decision to spend that money to finish construction or improvements on that investment property in St Bernard.

Phil informs us that “Fiscal responsibility says that if you can’t pay a bill you shouldn’t make a new loan”. Actually, fiscal responsibility says that when you make a financial obligation to someone, you follow through with that obligation. He had the money to pay the bill since he loaned his campaign more than double that amount. Instead, he chose to ignore his financial obligation with his bank and risk his house going into foreclosure. That is not responsibility, that is foolishness.

Jeff then asked why Capitano moved money into his campaign funds instead of paying on his financial obligation. Capitano said that it was a good question, but he never answered it. The citizens of Kenner should get used to Phil Capitano not answering questions. That was par for the course when he was mayor previously.

As Mayor, he spent 10,000 on a “City of Distinction” award. The video  that came with the award listed Kenner as being bound on the north by the river and the south by the lake. It also featured then Mayor Phil Capitano stating that Kenner has a very high “medium income”. How embarrassing! (The award seemed to be a scam as well, read the article).

Phil Capitano was revealed at a budget hearing to have spent city money at Hooters and to upgrade a hotel using city money even though such an expenditure was not needed for city business. He basically stopped coming to council meetings so he wouldn’t have to answer questions that councilpersons and citizens wanted to ask him. Open, honest and transparent government is not something you get with a Phil Capitano administration.

I could go on and on. However, even if you ignore all that, there are two reasons why Phil Capitano is not suited to be Mayor of the City of Kenner.

A) If you look at his campaign finance expenditures, you will see  someone who uses campaign funds to eat… a lot. Now, I am not one to begrudge someone eating a lot, I have done my fair share of that. However, does it really look like he is using his campaign funds to get elected? Or does it look like he is using campaign funds to supplement his diet? Who are these “constituents” that he is eating with? Was campaign business really done at all those meals?

B) The man is running for Mayor and he cannot even pay his mortgage!  What kind of message does that send to the city? The man is willing to move $25,000 into his campaign account while allowing his house to go over $10,000 in arrears? Where are his priorities? The house is being foreclosed on.

How can anyone with A and B even think about getting elected? Throw in the rest of his history in Kenner and how can anyone seriously think that this man is right to lead a city?

Kinda makes a name change to someone you are a blood relative too seem a bit inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t it?

According to the Constitution, the President cannot accept a present from a foreign leader without the consent of Congress.

With Senator Brown being the 41st GOP vote in the Senate, the GOP could have filibustered any legislation that would be put to the Senate floor to allow the President to accept the beer. Had Obama accepted it anyway, the GOP would have called for Obama’s impeachment for not following the requirements placed on him by the Constitution.

So it is probably for the best that the US got the silver  medal so we don’t have to hear the Republicans whine about another meaningless thing.

Just sayin…

If they do, and if as Eric Cantor suggested, the Democrats lose their majorities because of it… would you use options that bypass the filibuster to overturn the legislation?

If so, why does that not confirm your hypocrisy?

With all due respect, Rachel, does that mean you’re going to give back your Bush tax cuts that you continue to rail against?

This was a lame argument when he made it himself. But then I started reading it all over the place. Politico mentions Garrett saying pretty much the same thing.

Garrett said Democrats have accepted the Bush-era tax cuts although many voted against them.

But that really isn’t true. Democrats supported Barack Obama for President. Barack Obama, as a candidate for President, said that he would roll back the Bush tax cuts for people making $250,000 or more. Obviously the people who are Democrats who are exposing the GOP hypocrisy want those tax cuts rolled back. But they have to file their taxes just like anyone else. So until those taxes are rolled back, they are required by law to fill out their tax forms that include those cuts.

And remember, we are not criticizing the GOP for actually spending the funds. The funds are there and have a purpose, to create jobs and put Americans back to work. What we are criticizing is the constant claims that the stimulus didn’t create jobs and is bad for the economy and then turning around and using the projects created by the stimulus to propel your political career.

So not only do the GOP fail for their hypocrisy, they fail again in trying to expose a supposed hypocrisy (that does not exist) on the part of the Democrats.

And speaking of horrible ideas from sports reporters… Fletcher Mackel had suggested a myriad of trades that the Hornets should have done, many including Darren Collison and some including both him and Marcus Thornton. Since getting Chris Paul, the Hornets have not had good luck with the draft until the last draft. How can you even think about letting go such great young talent that can be developed to help make our team even better? None of the suggested trades seem even close to worth it for the Hornets, and the trades that would be worth it would never happen.

How these people are paid what they are to produce such garbage is beyond me.

That being said, there are liberals who are saying that you only need a majority to eliminate the 60 vote cloture requirement. Senator Tom Udall believes that it can be done at the beginning of each Congress when they “set the rules”. He is calling it the “constitutional” option.

The Constitution is clear. It allows the Senate to make its own rules. Any rule that the Senate makes must then be deemed constitutional (unless it violates a specific requirement placed on Congress listed in the Constitution). The Constitution does not require the rules to be rewritten every term.

You and I both know that had the GOP actually used parliamentary trickery to eliminate the filibuster when they had control, that the Democrats would have cried foul. Had they actually used the “nuclear option”, they would have been the target of harsh campaign ads.

Democrats, we all want to point out that the GOP is being a bunch of hypocrites for campaigning against the stimulus while using the funds in the stimulus to bolster their political careers. However, when making that argument we need to do so with clean hands. If we start acting like Republicans in trying to eliminate the filibuster by doing it outside of a simple rules change as defined in the Senate rules, we will look like hypocrites (well, you will… because I do not agree with parliamentary trickery and am firmly stating so here).

This made me ask a question though. Didn’t they come out with a “happiest cities” survey recently? I wondered why New Orleans was not number one.

Well, as it turns out, the happiness study included both Metairie and Kenner in the determination of happiness for the New Orleans area. Could the ethical problems of Aaron Broussard be summed up as overcompensation? Could it be that people with shorter stature in the area, like Kenner Mayoral Candidate Phil Capitano, come up short in more personal areas as well?

I, for one, will not be volunteering to verify. Perhaps it will just remain one of lifes mysteries.

Oh, and to all the humor challenged curmudgeons on the Kenner Town Hall on nola.com, this is a joke. (Just a preemptive response)

You cannot require the person in 2nd place to campaign. But there should still be a vote to determine who gets the actual majority.

Perhaps we should just rank candidates when we vote and solve the problem. This way, you know which of the top two candidates the voters like more.