Monica Crowley

The McLaughlin Group

Please join us for another freewheeling edition of "The McLaughlin Group" this weekend. Check your local listings for time and channel, or visit www.McLaughlin.com for more information.

You Have Enough Money!

In case you didn't know it, President Obama believes that you probably have enough money.

This week, he said, "I do think that at a certain point, you've made enough money."

Nice to see that his view of American capitalism hasn't changed.

"At a certain point, you've made enough money." What is that "point?" Whatever he says it is. Does he think Bill Gates has made enough money? Or Warren Buffett? Or Oprah? All three of them supported him and gave him a ton of dough. He's got a re-election campaign coming up soon, so maybe he doesn't want to comment on their financial status. No need to single them out.

But you? You, he's got no problem singling out. You've made enough money. Now, come to Papa. Come to Papa Obama and Mama Pelosi and Grandpapa Big Government. We'll take care of you. Because, after all, you've made enough money.

Don't Let the Door Hit You

Once upon a time, Florida Governor Charlie Crist decided he was the best thing the state of Florida has ever known. Floridians knew that they were lucky to have him, he thought, so they would rubber-stamp any office he sought.

One day, Crist thought he could ditch the Governorship to run for the Senate, and then use that office as a stepping stone to running for President, a la Hillary Clinton. He believed that the people of Florida loved him the way he loved himself.

Until they got an alternative. Marco Rubio: whip-smart, conservative, young, of Latino descent. Considered a long-shot against the popular yam of a Governor, Rubio hung in there until he pulled even in opinion polls. Crist, having governed in many areas like a liberal and having literally embraced President Obama and his failed $1 trillion economic "stimulus," saw his poll numbers tank. Rubio quickly became the GOP favorite.

Facing nearly insurmountable odds to win the Republican primary, Crist decided today to bolt the GOP and run as an Independent.

He might want to consider the words of PA Senator Arlen Specter, who left the GOP (as if he were ever in it) to become a Democrat. In an interview published today, Specter said: "I have thought from time to time that I might have helped the country more if I'd stayed a Republican."

No...given the dramatic swing away from the Democrats, he would have helped HIMSELF more if he had stayed a Republican.

Crist, like Specter, has no core beliefs beyond his own political preservation. And if the anti-incumbency tidal wave is as big as expected in November, it's going to sweep away both party-flippers with the very first wave.

From the Crowley Files

Life is heavy in America these days. Unemployment, bailouts, health care "reform," trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see, a $13 trillion national debt, higher taxes, American vs. American in the immigration debate, Iran going nuclear, North Korea attacking South Korea, an out of control and unresponsive U.S. government.

Whew. I'm exhausted. Time to lighten it up. As a public service to my loyal readers, TV viewers, and radio listeners, I found a gem buried in my files.

Today, former presidential candidate and Major Sleazeball John Edwards will watch his mistress, Rielle Hunter, spill the beans about their affair to Oprah. All of the details will be on the air: the irresistible attraction, the hot sex, the love baby, the lies, the possible use of campaign cash to shut her up, the pushy but humiliated cancer-stricken wife. The whole sordid mess.

The other day, I found this story in my files from October 12, 2007:

A poll of women for the Ladies Home Journal found that 52 percent believed that John and Elizabeth Edwards had the happiest marriage of all of the presidential candidates.

Enjoy!

About That Arizona Immigration Law

I'm going to deal with the new Arizona immigration law in full this weekend on the radio show, but here I want to point out two important but largely missed points.

1. The Arizona law simply strengthens existing law, which the federal and previous state governments have failed to enforce. Police can already stop illegal aliens, which the Arizona courts have upheld. Police can already ask them about their legal status, which has been supported by the U.S. Supreme Court. And police can already detain illegals. The Arizona law doesn't invent the wheel here. It merely puts some steel into it.

2. As with most things that involve liberal opposition, there is a huge irony in play. Liberals are all for a "living" Constitution when it involves loosening up government power to do all kinds of things the Founders never intended. But when circumstances change and government is required to exercise tighter power to deal with an emergency, liberals reflexively oppose it. They're all for expanded government power when it suits their interests (the government takeovers of health care, the banks, the cars, and the energy sector), but scream bloody murder when expanded government power doesn't suit their agenda (national security, immigration.) With regard the Arizona bill, liberals are wedded to old notions of what constitutes racial profiling and discrimination. This law aims at illegal activity and NOT race, irrespective of the fact that most illegals are Hispanic. In fact, in Arizona, 80% of all illegals are Hispanic. That fact is the illegals' responsibility, not ours. No other nation permits this kind of illegal invasion. In this case, the left-wing, politically motivated and faux argument for "liberty" and "civil rights" should not be an excuse for a dearth of common sense and pure stupidity. A great nation cannot remain great if it cannot control its own borders.

I Hope You Didn't Need That Trillion Dollars

From CNN.com this morning:

"NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The recovery is picking up steam as employers boost payrolls, but economists think the government's stimulus package and jobs bill had little to do with the rebound, according to a survey released Monday.

In latest quarterly survey by the National Association for Business Economics, the index that measures employment showed job growth for the first time in two years -- but a majority of respondents felt the fiscal stimulus had no impact.

That sentiment is shared for the recently passed $17.7 billion jobs bill that calls for tax breaks for businesses that hire and additional infrastructure spending. More than two-thirds of those polled believe the measure won't affect payrolls."

So: nearly a trillion dollars of our hard-earned money spent on bailouts and unions to keep the Democrat constituencies happy, and it had no effect on unemployment or the general economy.

I---and other conservatives---told you so last year when they were debating the "stimulus." We told you so when they passed the "stimulus." We told you so when they started to spend the "stimulus." We told you so for the last 13 months.

The "stimulus" failed because it was a political act, not an economic one.

Now it's finally dawned on the economists? Duh.

The McLaughlin Group

Please join us for another rollicking edition of "The McLaughlin Group" this weekend. Check your local listings for time and channel, or visit www.McLaughlin.com for more information.

"Breaking" News

From the Associated Press this morning:

"WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law is getting a mixed verdict in the first comprehensive look by neutral experts: More Americans will be covered, but costs are also going up.

Economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department concluded in a report issued Thursday that the health care remake will achieve Obama's aim of expanding health insurance - adding 34 million to the coverage rolls.

But the analysis also found that the law falls short of the president's twin goal of controlling runaway costs, raising projected spending by about 1 percent over 10 years. That increase could get bigger, since Medicare cuts in the law may be unrealistic and unsustainable, the report warned.

It's a worrisome assessment for Democrats."

Duh.

Tangled Webs

Today is Earth Day, so if you haven't already, sprawl yourself on the ground and give Mother Earth a great big hug. The president and vice president decided to mark Earth Day by hightailing it to New York City. I know: New York City isn't exactly the most logical place to spend Earth Day: acres of earth are paved over and under for high rises, streets, and subways. But Earth Day wasn't the reason they trekked to the Big Apple. They had another reason. Obama was in Manhattan to deliver a sanctimonious dressing-down of Wall Street. (Biden just came to sit for a hard-hitting interview with the ladies of "The View.")

At the same time Obama was blistering the big banks, we learn that the head of the Biggest, Meanest, Greediest Bank, Goldman Sachs, has been to the White House at least 4 times for meetings with Obama and his chief economic adviser, Larry Summers---WHILE Goldman's lawyers were negotiating with the SEC over civil fraud charges against Goldman.

Now THAT'S weird! The president who pledged to bring a new kind of politics to Washington, stripped of conflicts of interest and lobbying and big money and special favors seemingly engaged in all of those things? At once?!

Say it ain't so! Of course, it's so. In the immortal words of Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright: "No messiah here, just another politician."

Obama was on Wall Street today, acting the hypocrite. He went on about the damage done by the big banks while he and his White House are up to their eyeballs in the big banks. They love them well enough to take---and keep---their money. They love them well enough to schmooze with their Chairmen. They love them well enough to court their votes.

But in public, they wield the plastic pitchforks in a faux populist kabuki dance. Obama has turned his campaign tagline---"hope and change"---into a punchline. The only problem is that no one is laughing.

To quote Sir Walter Scott: "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."

I Hate You! I Love You!

In old movies (and a lot of new ones too), there is the usual formula of romantic tension between the leading man and the leading lady. They usually start out hating each other but ultimately find themselves drawn to each other. This usually culminates in a climactic argument, during which the woman expresses her total contempt and disdain for the man: "I hate you!" He then grabs her, pulls her close, and plants a big, passionate kiss on her. She, of course, succumbs, and the two then declare their undying love for each other.

President Obama and the Democrats are engaged in this coy Love-Hate faux drama with Goldman Sachs and the rest of Wall Street. Obama has railed continually against the "fat cats" on the Street, whom he blames loudly and repeatedly for the financial crisis. They do, of course, bear some of the responsibility. But wouldn't it be nice and refreshing to hear him level his ire at the ACTUAL main perpetrators of the crisis: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Of course, he can't do that, because that would mean admitting fault with the social engineering of the Jimmy "My Name is Earl" Carter and Bill "Bubba" Clinton-supported Community Re-Investment Act and other misguided and destructive left-wing economic policies.

No, he's stuck to the safe script: the surefire populist message that all of the banks are bad, Goldman is the worst of the worst, and that they need to be spanked like a Terrible Twos Terror Child.

Just one problem: Obama accepted nearly $1 million from Goldman folks during the 2008 presidential campaign. Other top Democrats have long been raking it in from Goldman and other big banks they now demonize as greedy, profit-driven Anti-Christs. Earlier this year, the president of Goldman hosted a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, which netted him $37,000. When reporters asked him about that yesterday, he read haltingly from a written statement and then ran away.

This is yet another case of the hypocrisy of the Left. They blister the banks and seek to punish them, while at the same time slurping like pigs at the banks' trough.

I hate you! I love you! Kiss me, you fool!