Morning Jo(k)e

Paging Joe Scarborough. Joe, please call Arlen Specter's office. He has some advice for you on how to turn those flimsy, moderate views and nuanced positions into full-fledged Democratic Party support.

Joe presents the conservative case so meekly, it's almost as if he expects progressives to offer a better argument. Or maybe he's afraid he might fit the Left's characterization of a conservative too well. He's already a southern white male. Best to whisper his dissent to Obama or stir the suspicions of his colleagues that he's an angry teabagger. No wonder MS-DNC keeps him on the payroll. He's like the Alan Colmes of their network, graciously losing every argument and providing cover for MS-DNC to tout its "balanced" political coverage. The only thing less balanced than a panel with Matthews, Olbermann, Schultz, and Scarborough is Calista Flockhart sharing a canoe with Michael Moore.

Here's some advice, Joe. If you can't win a conservative argument, stop pretending you're a conservative. Join the Jim Jeffords and Colin Powells of the world. Anyone who bashes Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh while appearing on the venom-spewing Bill Maher show and writing for the Huffington Post is no friend of the conservative movement. No matter what David Brooks tells you.

Joe's latest article at Huffington, "Thank You, Mr. President", is another lame effort to make himself sound like a reasonable centrist while painting mainstream Republicans as unreasonable (or racist) for criticizing Obama's trip to Copenhagen to lobby for the Olympics. The article is littered with so many assumptions and empty cheerleading for the president, I'm not even sure he turned in his own work. It sounds a lot like that of his MS-NBC co-worker and softball teammate Richie Maddow.

Here's what Morning Joke wrote yesterday:

Today on Morning Joe, NBC News Legend Tom Brokaw remarked to Pat Buchanan about how the level of partisanship is even more intense today than during the depths of the Watergate crisis. Brokaw was commenting on Congressman Grayson's comments, but he could have easily been talking about Joe Wilson or death panels or the bizarre claim that the President "hates all white people."

Some of the rhetoric is dangerous. But what we saw from some conservative corners regarding the President's failed Olympics bid was just plain stupid.

Geez, a Republican wrote that? With friends like these, who needs enemies?

First of all, the partisanship isn't any worse today than it was eight years ago when Bush was elected president. Secondly, the rhetoric isn't dangerous. It's messy, but that's part of the democratic process. The only countries where everyone agrees are the countries where disagreeing is a punishable offense (see Iran, China, or Venezuela). There are strong ideological differences dividing our nation, and I say good for us!

As for the claim that opposing the president's bid for the Olympics is stupid, Chicago was a terrible choice for the Olympics. It has enough problems already including a corrupt government, a 550 million dollar budget shortfall, failing schools, and excessively violent crime. That's why many conservatives opposed it. We're not against having the Olympics in America. We love the Olympics! We're against raising taxes and spending valuable resources on something that's not going to help the people in the long-run.

Even half of Chicago was against it. Is Morning Joke calling half of Chicago stupid? That sounds a lot like Bill Maher to me. I don't think it's stupid to stand up for your rights as a citizen. These Chicagoans didn't want to see Mayor Daley's political machine funnel more federal dollars away from taxpayers and underfunded schools and neighborhoods into a political boondoggle rife with cronyism. Does anyone think Obama would have made the trip to campaign on behalf of any other American city, say Phoenix or Nashville? Seriously?

Obama's trip to Copenhagen wasn't about the United States or the Olympics any more than OJ's acquittal was about the gloves. This was about paying back the fat cats that helped launch his political career in the Windy City. Period. And possibly making Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett money off her Grove Parc investment.

Chicago has enough problems without the Olympics. All one needs to look at is Millennium Park (built 4 years late at 3 times the projected cost) or Chicago's subsidized housing fiasco (see Tony Rezco). It's also the murder capital of America. More people died in the streets of Chicago in 2008 than died fighting in Iraq. Just last week an honor student was beaten to death by gangs with railroad ties for simply walking home from school, which was all caught on video.

If the president acted concerned about any of this or went to Chicago and apologized to the family of the victim, Derrion Albert, for the government's failure to protect law-abiding citizens in broad daylight then I would say, "Thank you, Mr. President." If he improved Chicago's schools, I would say, "Good job, President Obama." Instead, he attached his ego to the city's Olympic bid and made it all about him. He flew two jumbo jets halfway across the world for an unnecessary trip that cost taxpayers millions with two wars going on and the worst unemployment rate the nation has seen in 30 years. It's not just conservatives saying this. Kevin Powell, a liberal columnist I don't often agree with, made the same argument.

But what really irks me are the examples Morning Joke uses to try and demonize conservatives. Rep. Joe Wilson may have violated House decorum when he shouted "You Lie", but that wasn't a premeditated statement full of false and offensive language like Democratic Congressman Grayson presented when he said "Republicans want you to die quickly."

Someone needs to tell Morning Joke that Republicans lost an election in 2008 because McCain failed to articulate a conservative message that captured the imagination of voters. Instead, he acted like a Democrat with a big government fix for everything. Conservatives stayed at home or cast their ballot for third party candidates as a result. Some even voted for Obama, and why not? Very little John McCain said sounded different than the most liberal Senator to ever capture the White House. Maybe Morning Joke was one of them. He sure seems anxious for the Republican Party repeat the failures of the last election.

Mr. Scarborough plays right into the Democrats hands when he acts ashamed of conservatives for being vocal about what they perceive as intrusive government and wasteful spending. Where have you gone, Joe Scarborough? Stop demonizing your own party. It might win you friends in the short-term, but it won't win any votes. Just ask John McCain.

Murder Capital of America Seeks Olympics

It's not the kind of publicity the president wants to call attention to during his trip to Copenhagen to lobby the IOC, but this video taken of a 16 year old boy beaten to death in broad daylight on the streets of Chicago last week may be enough to reconsider whether to bring the Olympic Games here. The city might already be overwhelmed with enough problems of its own.

CAUTION: Viewer Discretion Advised

This horrible and heinous crime is the stuff of third world countries, not America. Watching it fills me with outrage and disgust. If it happened in my town, I'd be demanding action tomorrow. I'd want safer streets with neighborhood watch groups, tougher laws against gangs, and more police. I certainly wouldn't be concerned with the Olympics. This should never happen, especially in the middle of the afternoon to a child in America.

The victim, Derrion Albert, an honor student, was simply walking home from school. He did nothing wrong. The city of Chicago failed to meet the minimum standards of serving this community. They failed to make the streets safe for these students in broad daylight. They failed to protect their families from experiencing tragedies like this. They failed our country by allowing such an environment to fester where education is so dangerous that many kids choose to drop out of school.

This was not an isolated incident. It's just one that ended up on video. Last year, 509 murders occurred in Chicago. To put that in perspective, 314 soldiers died in Iraq during the same period. This was number one among all American cities, despite a population half the size of New York or Los Angeles. For teenagers, the city is becoming an especially dangerous place. Eleven teens were murdered this month, and there have already been 50 homicides involving kids under the age of 20 this year. Nearly 500 shootings have occurred involving CPS students (despite Chicago's strict gun laws). And the homicides are often excessively violent. In May, a 15 year old boy was chased, beaten by baseball bats, run over by a car, shot in the head and burned for showing his face in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

Chicago has one of the highest school dropout rates in the country. Only 6 in 100 Chicago Public School students end up earning a bachelor's degree by the age of 25, according to a study published in the Chicago Tribune. These 666 schools enroll 407,000 students. That means only 25,000 students are given a chance to succeed in life. These are shocking statistics from the third largest district in the United States, a district Mayor Daley took control over in 1995 and runs with his appointees, the most recent of which Obama tapped to be his Secretary of Education. If she brings this kind of success to Washington, our country is in big trouble.

Rewarding Chicago with the Olympics is like encouraging a drunk to drink. The city currently faces a budget shortfall of nearly 550 million dollars. The government is rife with corruption. Millions have been wasted on fraud and political kickbacks. Government subsidized housing has failed to meet minimum standards despite huge federal grants. The last thing this city needs is another boondoggle project funneling dollars away from working families and essential services into the hands of political cronies, the same kind that are being implicated and indicted for trying to sell Barack Obama's Illinois Senate seat.

You wouldn't put a tax cheat in charge of the IRS, would you? Oops, Obama did. But you wouldn't appoint a pedophile as czar of school safety? Oops, Obama did that, too. But you wouldn't keep giving ACORN taxpayer money to advise pimps and prostitutes, would you? Okay, to be fair President Obama says he hasn't paid attention because he has to deal with more important issues. Like flying to Copenhagen with Oprah to discuss the 2016 Olympics. Right. Oops.

If Chicago wins their bid for the Olympics, bet on more corrupt behavior and money wasted, with the Daley political machine (in power for 20 years and counting) reaping most of the benefits. Heck, maybe old Obama pal and convicted real estate developer Tony Rezco will see some profit from it, too.

Given the IOC's own history of corruption, this could be a match made in heaven. Kind of like Rod Blagojevich and Tanya Harding getting together. Don't get me wrong. I'd love to have the Olympics in the U.S. again. Just not Chicago. Call this a case of misplaced priorities for the mayor and the president. Fix your city, fix our schools, and fix the economy before you fix the pockets of your friends and cronies. Actually, why don't you stop fixing the pockets of your friends and cronies altogether.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Derrion Albert's family.

UPDATE: By the way, the person who shot this video disgusts me for their casual indifference and failure to lend aid. Watching it again, it's really hard to believe they didn't help.