I agree that the debasing attacks on the former Governor are ridiculous. Hannity just conducted an interview with Palin which brought him huge ratings. He was respectful to her and I’m sure the principles she trumpets are similar to his own. That is fine. What is not fine is the nonsense he spewed with his panel as they all got fired up defending Sarah Palin. Hannity made the remark that you can bash a conservative woman all you want – but no one would touch a liberal woman. He basically said if you’re Hillary Clinton, you’re safe from this kind of treatment.

Well, Sean, if you’re reading this – here is a little refresher course on what the left did to Hillary in 2008. And by the way, you and your right wing cronies taught them well with the fifteen years of Hillary bashing she and we have had to put up with. Here are a few examples…

“A Super Delegate needs to take her into a room and only he comes out, that kind of scenario.” ( Keith Olbermann, MSNBC)

“The only reason she was elected to the Senate is that people felt sorry for her because of her husband.” (Chris Matthews, MSNBC)

“When she is on camera, I involuntarily cross my legs. She’s castrating, overbearing and scary.” (Tucker Carlson, MSNBC)

“Doesn’t it seem like the Clinton’s are pimping their daughter Chelsea out in some weird way?” (David Shuster, MSNBC)

“They fined CBS a million dollars for Janet Jackson’s nipple. Just think what they could get for Hillary Clinton’s cunt.” (Bill Maher, HBO, Real Time with Bill Maher)

“If she had any dignity, she’d just bow out.” (Jonathan Alter, Newsweek)

“Some women deserve to be called bitches.” (Castellanos, CNN)

“She’s never going to get out of our faces. … She’s like some hellish housewife who has seen something that she really, really wants and won’t stop nagging you about it until finally you say, fine, take it, be the damn president, just leave me alone.” (Leon Wieseltier, literary editor, The New Republic)

“She’s an aging, resentful female.” “She’s a ludicrous embarrassment.” (Christopher Hitchens, Slate, MSNBC)

“Some find that she makes their skin crawl. Some run screaming from the room. And some want to drink a gallon of rat poison while lying across a railroad track.” (columnist Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune)

“She’s the most secretive politician in America today.” (David Plouffe, Obama campaign)

“We don’t want to have to watch a woman grow old in the White House….She’s got a testicle lockbox.” (Rush Limbaugh)

“Someone needs to go there and take her out behind the barn.” (Pete Snyder, FOX)

“It cries.” (Glenn Beck, FOX)

“When Barack Obama speaks, men hear “Take off for the future.” And when Hillary Clinton speaks men hear, “Take out the garbage.” She does register with married men, like a small worm boring through the brain.” (Marc Rudov, FOX News)

“She is a stranger to consistency, sincerity and (at a guess) oral sex…” (Bob Ellis, ABC Unleashed)

“Without nepotism, Hillary would be running for the president of Vassar.” (Maureen Dowd, NY Times)

“…when I see her again, all my — all the cootie vibes sort of resurrect themselves…I’m sorry. I must represent a lot of people… I actually find her positions appealing in many ways. I just can’t stand her.” (Andrew Sullivan, Chris Matthews Show)

Readers, please feel free to add your own.

You see, Mr. Hannity, there are several big reasons why Sarah Palin said she would love to sit down with Hillary Clinton for a cup of coffee. Those two ladies have a lot to commiserate about. They were both trashed by the left.

The majority of the comments above came from the liberal media. This was but a mere fraction of the daily filth spewed by the likes of these arrogant cowards. Never mind the shameful General T. McPeak who said “Hillary is not fit to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier,” or some of the horrid, betraying comments made by the backstabbing elite in her own party. Further, the daily commentary from the likes of The Huffington Post, Daily Kos and so many lefty blogs who bashed Hillary, the more qualified candidate, in favor of a brand name with no experience seems to have escaped Mr. Hannity’s attention as well.

I’m sure Sarah Palin has a great deal of admiration for Hillary – her toughness, her resilience and her body of knowledge. What a shame, Mr. Hannity, that you cannot see fit to extend the same courtesy to a woman clearly deserving of your respect – even if your political philosophies differ.

This is the big problem with punditry from either side. I appreciate that Mr. Hannity has been brave enough to cover topics others news stations will not. I also appreciate that FOX News is the only network daring to hold President Obama’s feet to the fire on policy, rather than cheerleading. While I may not agree with the conservative bent of the network, I do at least get some news rather than pillow fluffing. Hannity’s show clearly is more opinion than anything else, but when he ignores the experience of Hillary Clinton and the insults her supporters had to put up with in the campaign last year – his credibility takes a nosedive.

It was interesting that just before he mentioned her name, he paused for a moment – he knew he was lying about her, saying liberals gave Hillary a pass – but he just couldn’t help himself. Integrity is not selective.

It is said that character is what you do when nobody’s looking. Perhaps Mr. Hannity thought no one would be paying attention. Well, I was looking and his character last night was found wanting.

Update: In lieu of my missing story, let’s see what John Batchelor has to say in “Hunt for 60,” reprinted in full below the fold:

A peculiar cliff-hanger on Saturday 21 in the Senate that takes more sentences to explain than it takes to say that it come to very little.

 

Red Line on December 4.  

Will Harry Reid find the 59th and 60th vote to move his healthcare bill to debate after Thanksgiving? It comes to Joe Lieberman, who can be agreeably contrary when he chooses.

Yet does it signify?

Nancy Pelosi and Herry Reid have turned the healthcare bill into a game of bumper cars. Once upon a time, it was about cost-savings and public insurance plans. But that was before the jobs number went over the cliff.

After Thanksgiving, the week of November 30, is also when we will get the November jobs number.

Health care? Who has patience for that song?

If that jobless numbers climbs toward the 1982 high of 10.8%, the Senate and the House will get out of Washington as soon as the Christmas tree is lit on the White House lawn. POTUS has called a Jobs Summit at the White House for Thursday December 3. The next morning, Friday December 4, at 830 am Eastern Time, is the red line for healthcare reform and the 111th Congress.

Is it fate or is it a coincidence that Sarah Palin will be signing books at Fort Hood on Friday December 4 — in a media blackout as designed by the US Army for anxiety that her event will become a political circus. Who is the 60th vote? It’s what happens on December 4th that is the 60th vote.

I will speak to my professionals all weekend re healthcare, but eyes are on the prize two weeks from now, after the turkey is pardoned, the last mercy in DC if the jobless number touches 10.8.

Of course, if your goal was to to have fun and still be able to drive home at the end of the day, then breaking an axle can only be counted as a very costly mistake. The kind of mistake that makes you wish you could go back in time to when you were just dealing with a truck bogged down in the mud and still had hope for a positive outcome.

On the other hand, if the goal (as some tout) was to capture the public’s imagination and employ people while generating an endless cycle of destruction and construction of vehicles, I can’t help but think that this would be a highly profitable and entertaining method for achieving that goal.

Of course, our government had it’s own method of trashing vehicles (seen here) for the noble goals of cleaning the environment and stimulating the economy. And while I may find their methods painfully frustrating to watch, it is results that count in our goal oriented world. So with a rev of the engine – lets look at some clunker numbers…

According to analysis by The Associated Press of data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act:

…the government reported spending a total of $562,500 in rebates for new cars and trucks that got worse or the same mileage as the trade-ins — in apparent violation of the program’s requirements.

…677,081 clunker trade-ins processed by the government through Oct. 16. More than 95,000 of the new vehicles purchased under the program — or about 1 in7 — got less than 20 mpg, according to the data.

…The data show the average fuel economy was 15.8 mpg for the old vehicles and 24.9 for the new ones.

…In at least 145 cases the government reported consumers traded old vehicles that got better than or the same mileage as the new vehicle they purchased. A driver in Negaunee, Mich., traded a 1987 Suburban that got 18 mpg for $3,500 toward a new Silverado pickup that got only 15 mpg. An Indianapolis driver traded a 1985 Mercedes 190 that got 27 mpg for $3,500 toward a new Volkswagen Rabbit that got only 24 mpg.

In at least 15 deals in nine states, owners of large pickups cashed in old trucks for between $3,500 and $4,500 toward new Hummer H3 SUVs that got only 16 mpg.

Okay. Maybe cash for clunkers was not the best at improving fuel economy or taking the dirtiest vehicles off the road. But it did stimulate sales. Even if it was, according to Edmunds, at a cost to taxpayers of $24k, not $4k per car.

The industry research juggernaut claims that of the 690,000 vehicles sold under the program, only 125,000 of those sales went to people who weren’t going to purchase a new car in 2009. The result, says Edmunds, is that the $3 billion spent for C4C ended up spurring only 125,000 sales at a cost of $24,000 per vehicle. Further, Edmunds claims that October’s sales would have ramped up even more than what current projections indicate.

And if your wondering why I continue to rant on about Cash for Clunkers? It is to counter the seemingly intelligent people in and out of our government who are still claiming C4C was a great success and using that “success” as justification for other consumer driven “stimulus” programs such as the cash for appliances, cash for new home buyers (extending an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers). And now a cash for caulking program (aka – Home Star to make existing homes more energy efficient.) There will be more on Home Star in an upcoming post.

My point is that consumerism is dying and it should be laid to rest and buried. Unfortunately, our government is not only trying to resurrect consumerism, they are intent on dragging us into the coffin as a replacement and they are using these clunker programs (as discussed here, here and here) along with health care reform and any other legislation they can get passed as the shovels with which to bury us.

Our government and the Obama administration need to move beyond the old Nike slogan from the 80’s. To “just do it” does nothing but set us up with clunker goals. And clunker in = clunker out. We need and deserve better. Now more than ever, we need to focus not just on what we do, but how we do it. And if our government officials can’t understand that simple concept, then maybe they need step aside so more qualified professionals can do the job.

Is it the unemployment situation? Is it the volatility in the markets? The weakening greenback? Perhaps the generally perceived level of incompetence amongst our political and corporate leaders? Is it a media that does not hold our public officials and corporate leaders accountable?

While I could write extensively – and I have – on each of these questions, I am firmly convinced the ever increasing levels of populist rage go much deeper than any of these questions. How deep? To the very core of this great nation. What is at the core of any individual, institution, or nation?

Honesty and integrity.

Americans are a strong people. America is a proud land. That said, I believe we have allowed a semblance of moral decay to increasingly infiltrate our very core and we are now paying the price for it. How is this growing moral decay exemplified?

I am not suggesting that those who might hold differing opinions than mine on specific questions addressing ethical and moral topics as being the root of our current problems. I would like to think I am not so narrow-minded or judgmental. I do believe, however, that the rage sweeping our country on both sides of the political aisle stems from the reality that Americans are increasingly convinced that our political representatives, government officials, financial leaders, and their selected constituents have not been honest with America.

This lack of integrity and its growing level of awareness enrages Americans. They are voicing their rage. Congress is starting to hear this rage and is redirecting the anger and frustration toward leaders in Washington, state capitols, and Wall Street. We are now seeing this reality each and every day. America knows a lack of integrity when it sees it or feels it, despite the fact that large swaths of our media (exceptions include Susan Antilla and Jonathan Weil of Bloomberg, to name a few) provide the establishment cover.

Where have we seen a lack of integrity and honesty?

1. Select government reports to the contrary, the massive failings within the financial regulatory structure with specific emphasis on FINRA and the SEC.

2. Goldman Sachs CEO Llloyd Blankfein’s confession just this week that Goldman had engaged in activities that were clearly wrong and led to the economic crisis.

3. I have no doubt that many within our nation believe the Obama administration fundamentally believes in the principle of redistributing wealth via a number of programs. This emphasis on redistribution in one direction while simultaneously bailing out financial institutions leaves a very large percentage of those in the middle and on both sides of the aisle feeling totally disenfranchised. Not only do these people feel disenfranchised, but they feel that the government is not being honest with them regarding its motivations.

Will this situation turn around quickly? No. We did not get here just in the last year. While America is enraged currently, ultimately America itself needs to be held accountable for allowing this lack of integrity and honesty to promulgate over the years.

The cauldron is boiling. Washington and Wall Street feel it. I would expect we will witness more and more statements and acts from our leaders on Wall Street and in Washington to appease the electorate and assuage the pain.

Washington and Wall Street can keep their acts and statements.

Stop lying to America. Only then might we be able to make real progress.

LD

I know some consider us a full-up Barack Obama hate site. We are not. I do not hate the man. I do think he is a good husband and a good father. His daughters clearly adore him, and it is tough to fake what teenage girls think about their father–good fathers have a warm relation with their daughters. My beef with Barack Obama is simple–he is unqualified by experience and by judgment to be an effective President. At the end of his first term he will at least have the experience to be President. The judgment issue remains in question.

All of this is prelude to a comment about what Barack did on Veteran’s Day courtesy of Daily News reporter, James Meek. James is a friend and, if you have read his pieces, known for his steely-eyed search for truth. He certainly is not an Obama cheerleader or sychophant. So check this out:

James also wrote about the experience.

He didn’t introduce himself. He didn’t have to.

President Obama simply stuck out his hand and asked for my name as he stepped toward me amid a bone-chilling drizzle in the Gardens of Stone.

This was Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. I wasn’t there as a reporter, but to visit some friends and family buried there when Obama made an unscheduled stop – a rare presidential walk among what Lincoln called America’s “honored dead” – after laying a Veterans Day wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

What I got was an unexpected look into the eyes of a man who intertwined his roles as commander in chief and consoler in chief on a solemn day filled with remembrance and respect for sacrifices made – and sacrifices yet to be made.

I’m sure the cynics will assume this wasjust anotherObama photoop.

If they’d been standing in my boots looking him in the eye, they would have surely choked on their bile.

His presence in Section 60 convinced me that he now carries the heavy burden of command.

Read more.

Barack Obama is not a comic book figure. It is tempting to pigeonhole him with simple categories. I don’t think he is a closet muslim or a seething secret communist. I think he is a well-intentioned liberal who is politically naive and has little experience making command decisions. I think he genuinely sees himself as capable of uniting opposing sides but his manner of decision making and naivete tend to create the opposite effect–he is sharpening the partisan divide. Barack Obama’s major failing, in my view, is that he has no deeply held core value. As a result he will work assiduously to avoid making a decision. His voting present while in the Senate and his dithering on Afghanistan are common threads in his modus operandi.

That said I share James Meek conclusion that Barack cares sincerely about those under his command. Obama’s problem is that he has no point of reference or experience to understand what it means to be in command. What do you think?

Catch my syndicated radio show every weekend. Note: This weekend only, Larry Johnson will not appear on the show.

Oh, boy. So, did I get this right, ACORN has/is working with Larry Flynt, the king of pornography??? Holy crappydoo – I am sure so many people will be happy to know that’s to whom their hard earned dollars are going.

Thursday night, James O’Keefe, Hannah Giles, and Andrew Breitbart were on Hannity (h/t to Bronywyn’s Harbor for this video), and they have some mighty interesting thins to say about who is being scrutinized, and who is not:

What, they expect AG Holder to go after ACORN? Why, because of the numerous tapes revealing their wrong doing? They want him to listen to the whistle blowers who are willing to come forward to expose what ACORN has done – with our tax dollars, I might add? Hey, he’s BUSY working on bringing the 9/11 Masterminds to NYC for a Civilian trial, for pete’s sake (for recent posts on this topic, go HERE and HERE). I mean, really – he’s got his hands full being schooled by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on the whole military tribunal thing and all. Sheesh – what do they expect? For Holder to do his JOB???

I am sure they did not expect for Jerry Brown to go after THEM rather than the ACORN employees. Then again, given the way this Administration has been going with ACORN, maybe they should have. I mean, isn’t that why Obama brought in Bauer, to run interference for ACORN? Oh, no, wait – that was to “erase tracks between Obama and ACORN.” Well shoot, in that case, for what are Jerry Brown and Eric Holder waiting?? Ahem.

Well, I don’t think any of us are going to be holding our breath for THAT. And it is so typical that the people exposing the massive problems with ACORN are the very ones being targeted by the Powers-That-Be, rather than the organization engaging in questionable activities.

Our justice system really has lost its bearings when war criminals are extended rights given to American citizens. And American citizens who expose wrong doing by a group receiving Taxpayers money are targeted by those with connections to the justice system. I guess Obama HAS brought change to America…

Dropped off a cliff.

A cliff.

Things are fine! We PLANNED this! Honest!

It’s part of the Recovery! Now go watch Survivor.

The housing market dropped off a cliff in October, as the original Nov. 30th expiration date for the first-time home buyers tax credit approached, according to the Housing Market Monitor of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Add to that the 6.25% 60-day delinquency rate in the third quarter — 58% above the level of one year ago — and you’ve got a recipe for housing disaster: more foreclosures, slower sales and ultimately a greater decline in house prices.

“With unemployment virtually certain to remain high well into next year, there is little prospect for any sizable drop in foreclosures,” Dean Baker wrote in the Nov. 18 issue of the Housing Market Monitor. “As a result, foreclosures will be putting homes on the market at an annual rate of close to 2 million. This is guaranteed to depress prices in a market with total demand of close to 5 million. In short, house prices will almost certainly resume their decline. The only questions are how soon and how fast.”

I guess it doesn’t get more clear than that, does it?

Top that off with all the jobs the Obama Administration has saved in Congressional Districts that don’t actually exist and I just know our future is rosy and our gazillion dollar debt money has been spent wisely.

Baker’s findings were backed by today’s report on housing starts from the U.S. Commerce Department which showed housing starts decreased 10.6% to a seasonally adjusted 529,000 annual rate. This drop erased months of gains as uncertainty over the renewal of the tax credit increased buyers’ caution.

Well, isn’t that super???

Hey, I have an idea! Let’s give another Trillion to Wall Street and Bankers! Especially since this article also warns that interest rates are going to rise. On mortgages, not on your bank account, silly!

Still, houses are getting REALLY cheap though. If you had a job you could buy one. Sorry! But be patient. After all most of the people in charge right now at the White House never so much as ran a fruit stand in their lives. It’s a learning curve thing! Be patient. They’ll get it right after about three or four more trillion. Goldman Sachs is helping them out.

I love that pearl of wisdom shared by Danielle Park, my guest this past Sunday evening on No Quarter Radio’s Sense on Cents with Larry Doyle. I find it very applicable to the recently released economic report on housing starts. What did that report indicate? Housing starts in October registered a supposed surprising decline of 10.6% to a seasonally adjusted 529, 000 annual rate.

Is this truly a surprise? Market analysts and government pundits who continually ‘oversell’ economic data as legitimate, when in fact that data is gamed via government props, need to show surprise when a report disappoints. If they do not act surprised, then they merely expose themselves and lose credibility.

The simple fact is the housing market in our country remains in decline. One merely needs to look at the continually increasing levels of delinquencies to understand that. I addressed this important data last May in writing, “The Most Critical Economic Statistic”:

Which economic statistic is the most important? Unemployment? Housing starts? Trade deficit? Inflation? Retail sales?

Well, they are all important . . . but as I review the many statistics, the economic data that I believe most significant are loan delinquencies. Now, mind you a delinquency does not mean that the loan has defaulted and been foreclosed upon. A delinquency is merely a late payment. Typically loans are classified as 30 day, 60 day, or 90 day delinquent. There is a very high correlation between delinquent loans and those that default.

Loans become delinquent for a whole host of fairly typical reasons. That said, in this economy the nature and array of reasons are growing. As a result, the ability of lenders to forecast and manage delinquencies is increasingly more challenging. Lenders will typically increase reserves as loans become more delinquent in anticipation of a natural rate of default.

Loan delinquencies will often occur even before unemployment hits or sales falter. As individuals or companies feel increasingly squeezed, the monthly loan payment becomes more difficult to make and delinquency results.

Delinquencies show no sign of abating. For a wealth of information on housing, I am happy to share a link to Mark Hanson Advisers, a site I recently found which provides true, cutting edge insights on housing.

While cheerleaders will look to parse each and every monthly statistic in an attempt to legitimize their work, do yourself the favor of looking at the major trend lines. Uncle Sam can attempt to ‘game this process,’ but I strongly recommend you do not ‘play’ his game. Why? The truth is not revealed in his game. When is the truth revealed? Over time.

Thank you Danielle. Thank you Mark.

Color from around the country as to developments within your local markets is very much appreciated.

LD