False Assumptions of Statism, 2008 version
posted at 10:20 am on April 9, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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In June 2004, Hillary Clinton outlined the statist philosophy in a speech to a San Francisco audience when she explained that “We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.” In 2008, that task has fallen to Michelle Obama. In an appearance in Charlotte yesterday, Mrs. Obama made it just a little more specific (via Instapundit):
Should she become first lady, she said she’d focus on family issues.
“If we don’t wake up as a nation with a new kind of leadership…for how we want this country to work, then we won’t get universal health care,” she said.
“The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more.”
This statement should make clear exactly what either Democrat represents. Both Hillary and Obama want to extend the power of the federal government over choices that have nothing to do with their Constitutional mandate. Both want to spend more money and expand systems that already fail to operate efficiently and deliver on their promises. And both want Americans across the board to give up more of their income to pay for bigger bureaucracies.
Neither of these candidates are moderate, center-left politicians. They’re both statists, and they both make the same basic mistake of all statists.
First, it assumes a “pie” of static proportions. That’s only true in statist systems. In a free-market economy, real expansion of wealth can and does occur. The best way to lift the standard of living across all economic strata comes from private enterprise and not public bureaucracies. The latter saps investment capital by rerouting funds from the markets which generate wealth into government, which not only consumes wealth but offers unresponsive and inefficient services in return. Those services kill competition in those industries, since the government supplies the services for “free” — even though the actual costs skyrocket through massive inefficiencies.
Want an example? Look at the VA. For that matter, look at the education system Mrs. Obama wants to expand. We have increased federal spending on education by 58% since 2000 (after inflation), and no one in their right mind would argue that education has improved 5.8%, let alone 58%. We’ve increased VA spending by 59%, and few would argue that we have received our money’s worth from that.
In fact, American families will pay $4,000 more per household in taxes this year than in 2003, the highest level since the last year of the Clinton administration. We have already given more of the “pie” for government expansion. If that was the solution, then the Democrats should be arguing for a continuation of the Bush administration, which has expanded federal spending by 30% after inflation in just seven years.
We’re paying more and getting less. Obviously, the statist model doesn’t work very well — but the Obamas and the Clintons want to convince voters that the solution is even more government confiscation of capital for the purposes of redistributing it even less efficiently. Small wonder, with as little daylight as there is between the two Democrats, that the primary campaign has come down to which candidate is less honest about their intentions.
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American taxpayers are already giving up more to give Michelle a bigger piece of pie via her hospital.
jgapinoy on April 9, 2008 at 10:26 AM
This quote of hers is simply Marxism paraphrased. Someone needs to do an ad comparing the writings of Karl Marx and the utterances of both Hitlery and MO/BO.
jdawg on April 9, 2008 at 10:26 AM
Socialism is coming. Americans need to stand up and fight this most detrimental aspect of governing. I refuse to live my life in a pod. This country is about ‘opportunity’. Get off your lazy asses and make something of yourself. And fathers that are not around…….get your ass back into your kids life and teach them respect. The government cannot and should not do this.
geminicontender on April 9, 2008 at 10:26 AM
Stay away from my pie.
NeoconNews.com on April 9, 2008 at 10:28 AM
The nice thing about Michelle Obama is that she doesn’t even try to disguise the Marxist underpinnings of her entire worldview. She clearly believes that anyone who possesses wealth has not earned it and doesn’t deserve it. All wealth belongs to the government, and the government gets to decide how to redistribute it.
I can’t believe this obnoxious, condescending woman’s husband is probably going to President (based on his fundraising alone). What a shrew.
Enrique on April 9, 2008 at 10:28 AM
I agree with your photo caption, Ed. Only I’d say “Make you’re own danged pie and leave mine alone.”
srhoades on April 9, 2008 at 10:29 AM
You beat me to it.
srhoades on April 9, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Marx: “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”
Michelle Obama: “The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more.”
Too similar to be a coincidence. These people aren’t just statists, they’re die-hard communists. They’re just not official members of the CPUSA.
jdawg on April 9, 2008 at 10:30 AM
And yet she possesses wealth. Hypocrisy is the mantra of the Democratic Party. Do as I say not as I do. Kind of like global warming….ooops, it’s now called climate change. Duh!
geminicontender on April 9, 2008 at 10:30 AM
It’s all about trying.
They say:
“We tried Capitalism, it didn’t work. People are still poor in the richest country in the world. So let’s try Socialism, it looks like it worked in Europe and Canada: Universal Healthcare and subsidizing goods and services. Let’s give it a try here at home.”
Problem is:
Once you try it and fails, it is not easy to get out of it. Europe and Canada can’t get out of the hole they dug for themselves.
But the Liberals in America don’t see it that way.
They have to try failure first.
Indy Conservative on April 9, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Could it be any clearer?
Obama/Hillary = Marx/Lenin
fogw on April 9, 2008 at 10:32 AM
I worked damn hard baking my entire pie and I’m not about to just give it away. Actually, I don’t mind voluntarily giving away a piece of my pie, but I do mind when the federal government is going to take it from me. Bake your own damn pie.
amerpundit on April 9, 2008 at 10:32 AM
She and Barry are both too insipid and stupid to realize that they are Communists.
The hubris of the educated class can never be underestimated.
Screw her and her half a mil job.
benrand on April 9, 2008 at 10:34 AM
Keep talking Michelle.
Geronimo on April 9, 2008 at 10:34 AM
I hate pie.
p40tiger on April 9, 2008 at 10:35 AM
Liberalism and failure go hand-in-hand. Same can be said for Communism. These people would turn us into a third world country just to secure power for themselves.
jdawg on April 9, 2008 at 10:36 AM
Sounds more like fruitcake.
profitsbeard on April 9, 2008 at 10:42 AM
She can flap her jaws about pie all she wants. The current race is between hrc and bo trying to out-lib each other. The contrast will come when either meets McCain.
swami on April 9, 2008 at 10:42 AM
.
Exactly right, it is about power, not equality. Recall that the bourgeois that Marx wanted to get rid of are defined as the middle class, not the rich. The goal is to equalize the populace as peasants, with the ‘leaders’ as kings.
Think_b4_speaking on April 9, 2008 at 10:43 AM
This woman is so disagreeable, condescending, angry and witless, she will make us yearn for the days of Hillary, should voters make a colossal mistake and make Obama President.
I thoroughly loathe and despise her already and she’s not even first lady, yet.
Anyone who says “there’s no difference” is just delusional. I do not want to lectured to by this ignorant battle ax for the next four to eight years.
NoDonkey on April 9, 2008 at 10:46 AM
First, it assumes a “pie” of static proportions. That’s only true in statist systems.
It is not true in statist system, either. In most statist systems, the size of the pie shrinks when the government takes over. Look at what has happened to Venezuela’s GDP over the past ten years. Look at what has happened to Zimbabwe’s agricultural production. Look at the mass starvation in Cambodia or Ukraine or any of a dozen other statist basket-cases.
If the government takes over, we will be redistributing from a much smaller pie, and you just know that even that will not be divided efficiently or equitably.
gridlock2 on April 9, 2008 at 10:48 AM
This is the same woman who bitched because she and hubby actually had to REPAY student loans so that they could go to prestidious law schools. She also made comments about ‘family’. Does that mean she’d go after deadbeat Dads’ like Obama’s?
GarandFan on April 9, 2008 at 10:54 AM
I really feel so, so sorry for Michelle.
Having to pay back school loans while employed at half a mil a year.
It is TOO MUCH!!!
She’s insane…and she looks a lot like Aunt Esther.
benrand on April 9, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Such a simple truth, yet one that liberals simply don’t comprehend. Every time I hear about the “disparity of wealth between the rich and poor” as a measure of economic health I want to smack the offender upside the head. They maintain this delusion that wealth is a static “pie”, with it’s pieces to be distributed by the government. Drives me up the wall.
Hollowpoint on April 9, 2008 at 10:56 AM
Commie bitch.
Alden Pyle on April 9, 2008 at 10:56 AM
Silly commie.
Alden Pyle on April 9, 2008 at 10:57 AM
When are the Obamas going to start slicing up and distributing their pie?
Quisp on April 9, 2008 at 10:57 AM
I hope they send Michelle Hussein Obama herself to get my pie. And my guns.
Akzed on April 9, 2008 at 10:59 AM
Let’s be honest and straightforward about it:
Every politician wants power and more power and the highest power if possible.
This goes without speaking. It’s natural.
To have power in a system like ours, you have to be different from ‘the other.’
You have to have different ideas and make them appealing to people so they can vote for you and put you ahead of ‘the other.’
In America, the concept of controlling, governing and amassing power makes the essence of day-to-day life in this country.
It’s like the air you breeze.
It is not abnormal for Americans, since their country is the most powerful nation on Earth, to do whatever it’s possible to be the kings and queens of this world.
If there was no Democratic Party, trust me, some from the Republican Party will form their own separate party, not because of difference of ideology, but to have a chance to access power.
So your premise is half-correct.
Everyone seeks power, not just the Democrats.
Indy Conservative on April 9, 2008 at 11:01 AM
The reason socialism is taking over is because the socialists have almost complete control of the youth - public education anyone? And for everyone who says that the current school system is a failure is wrong - the system does EXACTLY as it was meant to do - create a mindless working class dependent on the government to make all of its decisions - mediocrity at its finest. Schools have taken our children - from as early as 3 years old (head start programs) and kept them from us until they are 18 and then rally that college is the only way to make it in the world - but most colleges are just a continuation of prolonged adolescence. And as parents we pay them for the privilege to continue indoctrinating our children! It is an outrage!! Most business - most revolutionary thoughts -comes from thinking outside of the box; public education teaches children to live in the smallest box possible and to love the claustrophobic feeling, to fear the world beyond - all while controlling the language to give the illusion that the children are multi-culturists so when the time comes, those in charge can seem benevolent when they offer to take over health care, retirement, and everything else.
Blight on April 9, 2008 at 11:01 AM
What a socialistic , collectivist and Marxist piece of……. well, my Dad told me never to say what I wanted to…. morals sure are tough to live with at times.
MNDavenotPC on April 9, 2008 at 11:03 AM
[jdawg on April 9, 2008 at 10:26 AM]
I think one would find Lenin to be a much better mirror.
Dusty on April 9, 2008 at 11:04 AM
Is there ANY chance she meant cutting other government programs that are inefficient or less important and using those funds for Universal Healthcare?
No, I guess not huh =/
Dash on April 9, 2008 at 11:04 AM
It’s pretty entertaining to watch leftists when they tell us rubes out here that we need to “wake up”. Whenever a liberal feels frustrated that the “little people” aren’t getting it they attack said “little people”. Jimmy Carter was a classic example with his malaise speech. He was clueless that it was he that the country was sick of. We were sick of his socialist policies that had driven the economy into the toilet and his failed weak foreign policy that made him and us the laughing stock of the world. Elect Barack and we will have a Jimmy Carter light. At least Carter ran a state for a short time and had some military experience…good grief!
sabbott on April 9, 2008 at 11:06 AM
COW - Pie.
Griz on April 9, 2008 at 11:07 AM
“When are the Obamas going to start slicing up and distributing their pie?”
The 5th of Never.
Listen to her whine. She lives in a $1.6 million house, has a $300K plus salary plus over $500K in family income, yet to hear her, she’s picking cotton on a plantation in Selma, Alabama.
There’s not enough wealth in the world to get all Americans to half the level of luxury this woman has, so she and her little commie cabal have their work cut out for them.
NoDonkey on April 9, 2008 at 11:08 AM
MO is talking out of her bunghole as her piehole knows better.
dragondrop on April 9, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Hey MichellO, there ain’t any pie. I got some crumbs. Will that do?
Limerick on April 9, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Who threw that pie? Three Stooges 1948 Moe Curley Larry
Who took my pie? Three Stooges 2008 Barrack Hillary John
soulsirkus on April 9, 2008 at 11:16 AM
And McCain is not much better. What exactly will he cut to prove his small government bona fides? He does not ever get specific, to my knowledge.
Here’s my suggestion: give each veteran medical insurance for life and let him or her choose his own doctor. If that’s the VA, great. If not, so be it. The VA will have to deliver if they want to stay in business.
PattyJ on April 9, 2008 at 11:17 AM
Step off, Crazy. I work hard for MY money, so it shall remain MY money.
hollygolightly on April 9, 2008 at 11:18 AM
I have never disliked a candidate’s wife more in my life than this bigot wench! Makes Teresa Heintz-Kerry look like a peach. God….can you imagine this horrible woman as first lady? It ain’t gonna happen. I have faith in the american people that we will send these clowns packing in Nov.
Winebabe on April 9, 2008 at 11:21 AM
Hey! Watch it! I love Aunt Esther. At least her family was in the junk business (Salvaging is green! Fred and Lamont recycled when recycling wasn’t cool!) and as far as I could tell they were not on the gubmint dole.
Brat on April 9, 2008 at 11:22 AM
And many voters would go along with that. They did not come to the US for the same reasons as people did in past centuries. They are here to milk the teat. I live in a majority immigrant community. The people, my neighbors, most of whom have become or are becoming American citizens, never miss an opportunity to tell me about “their” country– the old one. They milk and use every available social security/safety net for themselves and their families. They stagger at the bounty of this place compared to the shit holes they come from, and pick the low hanging fruit. They are all democrats. They want more and more and more from the government, and the dems fuel their desires and class envy. They bring their 3rd world statist values with them. They would vote for a Mugabe here, if he would promise them the wealth presently in the hands of others. In this, they are in cahoots with our own home-grown government-dependent wastrels.
JiangxiDad on April 9, 2008 at 11:24 AM
This kind of pie is ok.
p40tiger on April 9, 2008 at 11:24 AM
I am thinking pointing out she looks like Aunt Esther might be considered racist.
Therefore, I offer to help Aunt Est, er, Michelle, pay off her school loans.
It looks to me like she needs the help. It is so hard these days to make a combined income of over a million a year stretch to meet ends.
benrand on April 9, 2008 at 11:26 AM
I really wish you wouldn’t beat around the bush.
Limerick on April 9, 2008 at 11:26 AM
“give each veteran medical insurance for life and let him or her choose his own doctor”
I didn’t join the military for socialized medicine. Wounded warriors should be taken care of 100%, agree.
But those of us fortunate enough to not have endured battle wounds should fend for ourselves, IMO.
There is plenty of money to take care of those who have been wounded in battle and their families. Instead of giving veterans money for falling down the steps on duty or for growing old off duty, give that money to veterans who really need it.
NoDonkey on April 9, 2008 at 11:28 AM
Actualy now days, its just become a biding system… and they are raising the bid with each election.
Problem is that the two great Voter buy offs of the past are about to go under financialy (medicare, Social Security)…
But they won’t bother talking about that now will they.
Romeo13 on April 9, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Indeed…I am having a devil of a time paying back my student loans and would dearly love to spend about 10 grand to keep my kids busy over the summer and whatnot. Just make the check out to “cash”, Michelle.
scatbug on April 9, 2008 at 11:30 AM
First Obama wants to take my pizza, now his wife wants to take my pie.
amkun on April 9, 2008 at 11:32 AM
Jonah Goldberg got it right. Today’s fascists are the modern day left wing libs like Obama and his lovely bride.
georgealbert on April 9, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Oh yeah, McCain’s just as bad.
You know who’s gonna lose the most pie? The military. But hey, support the troops, elect Obama.
funky chicken on April 9, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Yep, this is pretty much the infiltration of academia by Marxist Progressives coming to fruition. The Obamas are second-generation socialists, raised on class warfare, bogus notions of “equality” and a never-questioned assumption that wealth redistribution is the only way to achieve it. No, there was never a “plan” per se, it all happened quite organically, but if there ever was such a plan, it has succeeded.
Hannibal Smith on April 9, 2008 at 11:34 AM
We’ve already given more than enough of our wealth to our “suffering under-class” and what have they done with it besides complain that it is not enough. Billions upon billions of $ to education and look what we have. Failure upon failure. Billions upon billions of $ to rebuild the ghetto, provide for the elderly poor…blah, blah…blah, and look where we are today. And the Democrats say the solution is to throw more of my hard earned money down the sewer. I think I’ll quit my job and go on welfare.
sdd on April 9, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Give up pie?
Oh, she was just referring to the 3rd graders who were going to throw pies at their teacher.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/04/07/civilization-ends-postscript-third-grader-on-classmates-plot-to-kill-teacher/
Brat on April 9, 2008 at 11:36 AM
My wife won’t listen anymore. So I talk to the ether.
JiangxiDad on April 9, 2008 at 11:37 AM
Ed, that was probably the clearest exposition of this topic I’ve seen. Hope this post gets spread far and wide. Great job.
mikeyboss on April 9, 2008 at 11:37 AM
Is she quoting Stalin directly or just putting a Oprah-ish spin on it? I guess Reverend Wright taught her in Sunday School that the presidency needs to become a dictatorship in order for justice to be given out to the faithful. I’m sure there was something about White folk not needing health care since they had it long enough in the text.
This woman is a political freak show. She makes Teresa Heinz look like Betsy Ross
Hening on April 9, 2008 at 11:38 AM
The money you need to give other pieces of the pie can easily be found by NOT PAYING FOR ILLEGAL ALIEN C-SECTIONS!!!!!!!
300,000 illegal alien births per year x $4700 = $1,410,000,000
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on April 9, 2008 at 11:38 AM
“look where we are today”
We are where we are because Democrats treat grown adults the way they would never treat their kids, if they were any kind of parent.
Parent: You don’t want to work, you’re able-bodied and you’re 18? Fine, you’re not living under my roof.
Govt: You don’t want to work, you’re able-bodied and you’re 18? Fine, here’s a check, a shelter, “job-training”, etc.
Parent: You want to sit around and drink/drug your life away? Not in my house.
Govt: You want to sit around and drink/drug your life away? Fine, we’ll even subsidize you. You have a “disease”.
All for votes, all for votes.
NoDonkey on April 9, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Fixed that for you Ed.
Mallard T. Drake on April 9, 2008 at 11:42 AM
If it were up to me, there would ads running non-stop from now until election day that start off with her saying “then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more” and then going on about how Republicans believe our economy is an ever-expanding pie and that everyone can have more if they work for it. It would end with this tag line: Democrats: Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Republicans: More for all.
Kafir on April 9, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Socialism/Marxism/Communism/wealth redistribution all = theft.
OldEnglish on April 9, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Heh, reminds me of the Pink Floyd song Money…”but don’t take a slice of my pie…money, it’s a hit…don’t give me that do-goody-good BS…”
Liberty or Death on April 9, 2008 at 11:57 AM
Well done. Send it to JMac’s campaign. If I saw that as one of his ads, I would make a campaign contribution.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on April 9, 2008 at 11:57 AM
You can have my pie when you pry it from my cold dead hands.
b4itsover on April 9, 2008 at 11:58 AM
I don’t think McCain would do that in a million years. He is an old-style politician who doesn’t think the system is broken, or that there is a clash of cultures that is threatening to kill the golden goose. He may, in fact, be the last head of the old system. It can’t survive much longer without the socialists being driven from influence and power.
JiangxiDad on April 9, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Bless you for that.
mikeyboss on April 9, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Here is the best argument in the world against socialist, ‘universal healthcare’:
Occasionally, over the last three and a half years or so, my mother has had to use oxygen. She doesn’t need it constantly, just a couple times a week for a couple of hours.
Medicare (that is, the taxpayers) has been picking up the tab for her oxygen concentrator until a couple of months ago when I bought her own machine. They (Medicare) have been paying $435 a month for a machine that retails for less than $800 new, and under $500 used/re-certified for medical use, and two hundred bucks or so un-certified but fully safe and functional on eBay.
So… in this one little case, Our government’s first minor foray into socialized health care shows how stupidly expensive and inefficient it is by paying well over $15,000 ‘rent’ on a machine that could be purchased for 1/20th the price…. And Obamillary and pretty much every other democrat and 1/3 of the republicans want to extend that crap and corruption to everyone…. There ‘ain’t’ enough money in the whole GNP to pay for such a system…..
And if I told you how much you taxpayers are wasting on her medications for non-life-threatening conditions, you would need some Emergency Care. It makes the ‘rent’on that oxygen machine seem like pocket change.
LegendHasIt on April 9, 2008 at 12:13 PM
I am a business owner and the way I see it is that if we get overtaxed then it reduces the will of people to work. Why work when the govt is going to pay for everything (by draining your paycheck)…and when people start to believe that there will be less businesses opening up and employment will start to go up as well…and when that happens less people will be paying taxes which can bankrupt the economy. This is the one real problem with a democracy is that the politicians promise things that sound good to the people but are dangerous to the state. And when people vote for entitlements they are going to continue to want more and more. and once you start it is virtually impossible to stop. and next thing you know 70% of your paycheck is gone and your funding people who are not working and your quality of life which you have worked so hard for for so long is greatly diminished. I want low taxes, less government, strong military…Lets keep America Great!
SoCalInfidel on April 9, 2008 at 12:13 PM
They’ll take it whether you are alive or dead and then take it from your heirs especially if you have a family business. It’s called the Death Tax.
Brat on April 9, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Huh. The hubby & I collectively earn in the low six-figure range, but the cost of living in the DC area and our tax bracket consistently ensures we cannot even afford a mortgage in this godforsaken town, let alone pay for more than rent and bills. What frickin’ pie do you think I have left to give?
Miss_Anthrope on April 9, 2008 at 12:19 PM
I can not believe anyone would want this character Obama and his wife in the White House. I can not believe his popularity. Or is that the media making it seem more than it is?
How people are taken in by a tall suit and a silk tongue. This man is dangerous!!!!!! What is wrong with my country?
AND DON’T TELL ME I HAVE TO SHARE MY HARD EARNED MONEY WITH ANYONE. I take care of myself and my family, let everyone else do the same. I am damn sick of these people being generous with everyone’s money but their own. Screw her and everyone who thinks like her! I like to throw a cream pie right in her arrogant face.
mag5435 on April 9, 2008 at 12:19 PM
To paraphrase the theme song from the black sitcom “The Jeffersons”, Michelle Obama is “movin’ on up, we’ll finally get a piece of the pie.” Or as they sang it, a piece of the “paah-aah-aah-aah”.
Democrats are fond of saying that about 45 million Americans (more or less) don’t have health insurance. If we accept that statistic and do the math, 255 million Americans, or 85% of the population, DO have health insurance.
We 85%-ers will all be “movin’ on down” the ladder of success, to give Michelle a piece of our paah. No thanks!
Steve Z on April 9, 2008 at 12:19 PM
Still not voting for MexicCain.
HYTEAndy on April 9, 2008 at 12:20 PM
“When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it’s not, mmmmmmm, boy.” -M.O.
I can’t take her too seriously. I doubt you will find her at a Mensa meeting.
diogenes on April 9, 2008 at 12:22 PM
McCain either.
JiangxiDad on April 9, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Hey thats my Pie….
Revenge of the Nerds
RobD on April 9, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Hey, I agree wirh her!
To get a “revamped education system” we need to take away part of the pie from the public education system and the teachers’ unions and give it to others who can prove they can turn out successful students.
eeyore on April 9, 2008 at 12:31 PM
It figures.
I work hard my entire life, get set back by the Great Clinton Dot-com Bust for the better part of 4 years, finally land a job after the tech industry recovers that I not only like, but pays well enough to afford a nice house for me and my wife (and we’re earning two salaries), and now this broad is going to be First Lady and take away the pie that I finally have.
I don’t live large by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a comfortable life which is that’s all I ever really wanted. I can kiss that goodbye, I guess.
crazy_legs on April 9, 2008 at 12:42 PM
What pie I had left is being claimed by the IRS. Maybe this year they will leave me a few crumbs.
trs on April 9, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Halle Berry pie, yum…anyone want a slice?
Alden Pyle on April 9, 2008 at 12:47 PM
“The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more.”
Wow! That’s a very revealing statement on the part of Mrs. Obama. I hope she keeps sharing her thoughts with us.
I like pie. I bake pies often. I’m happy to share a pie with friends, etc. No one takes my pie or forces me to give part of it up….
Jill1066 on April 9, 2008 at 12:53 PM
Keep talking Michelle, PLEASE.
Barry will be unable to hide as well if you do…
Harry Schell on April 9, 2008 at 1:06 PM
The poverty management party knows where to troll for votes… a talent our candidate seems to have lost. Love him or hate him, watch Richard Nixon’s campaigns from the 60s. He knew whom he was addressing, and he connected effectively.
McCain is stumbling around, not knowing what his point is other than for winning the Iraq war. That’s totally honorable, but who wants McCain outside of the war effort? One glance back at Lindsey Graham and I lose my lunch. If he becomes part of the McCain campaign, I’m out of here.
leftnomore on April 9, 2008 at 1:15 PM
Ironic, isn’t it, that these so-called legal scholars Barack and Michelle Obama seem to have so little understanding of the Constitution?
AZCoyote on April 9, 2008 at 1:18 PM
I think that is a brilliant insight worthy of a Krauthammer. It is not only true, but well said, and puts into words what seems apparent to me. It must be that the country is still straddling the fence between old style values and the new socialism of the left. McCain is in some ways a caretaker, until the culture wars have a victor.
JiangxiDad on April 9, 2008 at 1:21 PM
Oh my…a good memory pops up here. The beautiful, Sweet Al Jareau singing about ‘whoopin’ up a batch of sweet potato pie’. His first album was his best.
Michelle Obama provides the flip side. She’s one scary sister.
Christine on April 9, 2008 at 1:26 PM
Enrique, if the Americans vote for them, they deserve them.
The Obamas are Marxists only when it comes to our pockets, not theirs. Liberals are the biggest hypocrits alive on wealthe and Capitalism. The Kennedys, Obamas, Clintons et company, are free to give all they own to any ‘common good’, at any time.
Entelechy on April 9, 2008 at 1:29 PM
Ed -
Great, well thought out summary of statism/socialism.
Last year we met some friends for a weekend of winetasting in Eastern Washington. They both used to be Republican/Libertarian, but lately the husband has become rather liberal. He talked about how he doesn’t mind paying more taxes, he has made a good amount of money, etc etc. So I said to him, “Well why don’t you?” he looked blankly at me. “No one’s stopping you from writing a cheque to the IRS and sending it in, so go ahead”. My husband and his wife started laughing; he didn’t like it.
LegendHasIt - that is a great example of how mucked up the system is. My mom has stories too (she lives in Texas). One is about how an illegal working under the table and getting paid cash is on Medicaid and recently bought a new house with said cash (houses in San Antonio are cheap). It’s under their daughter’s name though, so they avoid the possibility of being found out. When she told me that I thought, ‘who and what am I paying for with my insane taxes?’. How can we ever untangle the mess we’re already in? But people like the Obamas and Clintons want more because it means more power and control for them.
I don’t understand why people are so keen on acceding key decisions - like education and medical care - to a government bureaucracy run by people they don’t know. I just don’t get it.
linlithgow on April 9, 2008 at 1:31 PM
The best of Michelle Obama:
This explains why she wants and needs your pie:
(Waaah Waaah Waaah)
This explains whose pie she’s going after first, and why she’s entitled to it:
There’s nothing greedier or more idiotic than a Marxist.
Buy Danish on April 9, 2008 at 1:47 PM
What got me was a quote earlier in the story:
Most Americans, she said, don’t want much.
They don’t?? This echoes her speech in Ohio where she told the women not to go into higher-paying law or corporate careers (like hers and her husbands) but into the lower-paying helping professions instead.
I mean, I’m all for doing what you love whether it pays well or not but what is this thing about discouraging people from reaching up on the economic ladder?
BigD on April 9, 2008 at 1:55 PM
The other thing about liberal democRATs is that they must convince the rest of us that we are a miserable lot with no hope or control over our lives and that we need them to swoop in and fix everything for us. The problem is that every time they try to fix something they make it worse by a factor of at least double. Look at the schools in Detroit or Baltimore or any major city. They aren’t run by conservatives. Government types have all the answers and yet these are the pricks that handled Katrina, health care for our veterans, abortions for all (Planned Parenthood). Now they want to handle your health care? No thank you!
sabbott on April 9, 2008 at 1:57 PM
I do not know what bothers me most. The nonsense or the vocabulary. This from an educated person ?
SIJ6141 on April 9, 2008 at 2:17 PM
Now, don`t vote for McCain or things could go to hell!
ThePrez on April 9, 2008 at 2:19 PM
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