Does Gov. Rendell owe Gov. Napolitano an apology?
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/12/03/art.napolitano.ap.jpg caption="Rendell mused that Napolitano would be perfect as the head of the Department of Homeland Security because she has 'no life.'"]
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Ed Rendell is the governor of Pennsylvania. He's been in politics long enough that he should know you don't say stuff around an open microphone that can come back to bite you in your situation.
And if you're a male chauvinist you should be extra careful.
Yesterday Rendell was commenting on the nomination of Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano to be the head of the Department of Homeland Security. There was an open microphone nearby and we were treated to Rendell's musings that Napolitano would be perfect for the job because she has "no life." She has "no family." She can work 20 hours a day protecting the homeland.
These are the mutterings of a moron. CNN's Campbell Brown wrote a commentary in which she asked if Michael Chertoff, the current head of Homeland Security or Tom Ridge, the first head of Homeland Security were hampered in the performance of their duties by the fact that both men are married and have children.
At the same time we move forward and elect an African-American president we have the governor of Pennsylvania dragging his sexist knuckles along the ground insulting a fellow governor.
Governor Rendell did issue a clarification today during a press conference on budget reductions. Rendell said what he meant to say was that Janet Napolitano is a person who works 24-7 just like him.
Here’s my question to you: Does Ed Rendell owe Janet Napolitano an apology for saying she has “no life?”
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Chambliss Win: What does it mean for Palin?
Chambliss (right) said that Palin had a huge impact on his win. (PHOTO CREDIT: AP PHOTO)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
So much for that filibuster-proof majority for the Democrats in the Senate. Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss won yesterday's run-off in Georgia. The best the Democrats can do now is 59 seats. The Minnesota race is still undecided. It was a much needed win for beleaguered Republicans coming off the beating they took on Election Day.
But perhaps the bigger story is Sarah Palin. The hockey mom-turned-Alaska governor-turned vice presidential candidate-turned national joke flew down to Georgia on Monday and campaigned for Chambliss to huge crowds at several events.
Chambliss said Palin had a huge impact on his win, "She came in on the last day, did a fly-around and, man, she was dynamite."
Palin's former runningmate John McCain also campaigned for Chambliss, as did former Republican presidential contenders Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani.
But it was Palin who may have given Chambliss the push he needed to win.
Here’s my question to you: What does Saxby Chambliss’s win in Georgia mean for Sarah Palin who went there to campaign for him?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Auto Industry: What's the right answer?
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FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Auto sales have hit new lows. Since November of last year, GM is down 41%, Ford is down 31%. It's not just the American automakers who are suffering. Toyota sales are down 34% and Honda is down 32%.
This news comes as the Big 3 make another plea to Congress tomorrow for a $34 billion dollar bailout.
Ford, which is asking for $9 billion, seems to be "getting it." Yesterday, the company said it would sell five of their corporate jets and cut its CEO's salary to $1.
Watch: Cafferty: Answer for Big 3?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says auto industry bankruptcy is not an option, and if the cash doesn't come from a new loan, the industry will get money from the $700 billion dollars already approved to rescue banks. I must have missed the part where they put Nancy Pelosi in charge of all this.
A CNN/Opinion Research Poll out today finds a majority of Americans, 61%, oppose a bailout of the auto industry and 70% say it's just not fair to taxpayers. They also don't think it will help the economy.
Here’s my question to you: When it comes to the auto industry, what's the right answer?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Importance of 60-seat Senate majority for Democrats?
(PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
A run-off is underway today in the U.S. Senate race in Georgia between Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin. Poll watchers say the race will come down to voter turnout which is probably why Alaska governor and former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin flew down to campaign for Chambliss yesterday. That and to get her picture taken some more. She apparently hasn't lost her touch. She drew huge crowds.
The Georgia race is one of two unresolved Senate races. Democrats need to win both to get a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority. The other undecided race is in Minnesota where a recount is underway between Republican Senator Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken. Don't hold your breath for that one. The recount is expected to take weeks.
If the Democrats manage to win both races, they will have the trifecta: A filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, a commanding majority in the House, and of course, the White House.
Here’s my question to you: How important is a 60-seat Senate majority for the Democrats?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Democrats: Party of Big Business?
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FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The Republican Party has long been the party of small government and free markets backed by big business. But that may be changing.
Incoming Democratic President Barack Obama is bringing in some big guns to oversee economic policy and has talked about a second stimulus package and a bailout of the auto companies as top priorities next month. And big corporations like what they're hearing. So much so that Peter Canellos, The Boston Globe's Washington Bureau Chief, suggests “big business” is shifting its loyalty to the Democratic Party.
Watch: Cafferty: Dems & big business?
The writing's been on the wall for quite some time. The Democrats out-raised Republicans in the 2008 elections. The financial sector alone donated more money to the Democrats, $65 million compared to the $59 million it gave Republicans. Big banks have long been supporters of the GOP.
So why the shift? Canellos points to the Southern evangelicals who he says have dominated the Republican Party and in the process driven away some very big contributors. Corporate executives who have big bucks but different beliefs have begun to migrate to the Democratic Party despite the threat of higher taxes.
And because many Republicans opposed the $700 billion bailout package passed in October as well as a rescue plan for the automakers, it looks like the GOP isn't going to win “big business” back anytime soon.
Here’s my question to you: What does it mean that the Democratic Party is becoming the party of Big Business?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
How has economic crisis affected Christmas shopping plans?
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/12/02/art.shopping.a.gi.jpg caption="Sales for Friday and Saturday were up about 2 percent from a year ago."]
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The nation's retailers got a bit of boost on Black Friday. Sales for Friday and Saturday were actually up about 2 percent from a year ago, according to research firm ShopperTrak. But the Christmas shopping season has a ways to go, and the jury is still out on whether the beleaguered consumer has enough left in his jeans to make the season a success.
Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke says the bad times will be around for awhile. The Dow plunged 680 points yesterday on the news that the U.S. economy is officially in a recession and has been for a year. Manufacturing has dropped to a 26-year low. The fate of U.S. auto industry remains uncertain. Unemployment stands at 6-point-8 percent. And news of layoffs continued today in both the private and public sector. Washington Mutual is planning to cut 9,200 jobs. The City of Atlanta announced today it's laying off 222.
There's not a lot out there to put you in the holiday spending mood.
Here’s my question to you: How has the economic crisis affected your Christmas shopping plans?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Warnings of mortgage meltdown: Why government did not act?
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/12/01/art.foreclosure.a.gi.jpg caption="The government was warned of financial crisis and mortgage meltdown years before it happened."]
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
It's official. We're in a recession, and we have been in one since December of last year according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. That's their job. They tell us when we're in a recession. Any American could have told you we've been in a recession for the past year, but the government agency that's supposed to tell us these things just got around to it today.
The government is great. According to a new analysis of documents conducted by the Associated Press, the government was warned of the coming financial crisis and mortgage meltdown years before it happened. But the Bush administration ignored the warnings under aggressive lobbying and promises of stability from some of same financial institutions that ultimately failed.
"Expect fallout, expect foreclosures, expect horror stories," one California mortgage lender wrote to U.S. regulators in January 2006. Some bank regulators proposed capping risky mortgages and providing clearer explanations of what mortgage-backed securities are. But regulators delayed putting new rules in place for the mortgage industry until later that year. By then it was too late. The meltdown was well underway.
The Bush administration has always been about trusting market forces and avoiding government intervention in the economy. The Associated Press points out that that philosophy "ironically has ushered in the most massive government intervention since the 1930s."
Here’s my question to you: What does it mean that the White House and Congress failed to act earlier on warnings about the mortgage meltdown?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Nuclear weapons: What should Obama's first priority be?
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FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
On Inauguration Day, Barack Obama gets the "football." It's not what you think. This football is the small leather-bound metal briefcase that contains the U.S. nuclear launch codes. It will be handed off to Obama at his swearing in, and from that moment on will go everywhere with him. Think of it as Armageddon in a box.
The world is awash in potential nuclear weapons problems right now. North Korea already has them. Iran is racing toward acquiring them. The main nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia expires next year. And tensions between India and Pakistan are on the rise in the wake of the terror attacks in Mumbai last week. Pakistan is a nuclear power. It's a daunting array of problems for any president to face.
Watch: Cafferty: Nuclear priorities?
So what's inside the football? A secure phone that can connect President Obama to the nuclear command centers at the Pentagon, Colorado Springs and "Site R," a bunkered emergency command center just over the Maryland border in Pennsylvania. Through these centers, the president can reach the 1,300 U.S. strategic nuclear weapons which are always on alert. There is also a list of various attack options, everything from a single shot to an all-out war.
Here’s my question to you: When it comes to nuclear weapons, what should Barack Obama's first priority be as president?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Are presidential pardons a good idea?
(PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
More than 2,000 convicts are asking President George W. Bush for a pardon or a commutation of their prison sentences before he leaves office next month. Among them, junk bond king Michael Milken, media mogul Conrad Black and American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh. They've all applied to the Justice Department for this free pass of forgiveness.
Last week, the president issued 14 pardons and commuted two prison sentences, all for so-called "small time criminals." During his eight years in office, he's granted a total of 171 pardons and has commuted eight sentences. A president has complete freedom to pardon anyone he wishes, and he doesn't have to justify his decisions or explain himself to anyone.
For example, President Bush could also excuse people who have not been charged with any crimes in order to protect them in the future. People like former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and baseball pitcher Roger Clemens.
The White House has declined to comment about future pardons, but some people close to the president say they doubt he would take such action. He did, however, commute Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence. Libby was the only administration official convicted in connection with the Valerie Plame CIA leak scandal.
So far President Bush has granted fewer than half the pardons Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan did.
Here’s my question to you: Are presidential pardons a good idea?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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