Republican Tax Cuts, Spending and Ultra-Whining

You've never tasted desperate. You're the prince of Gotham you'd have to go a thousand miles to find someone who didn't know your name. So don't come down here with your anger. - Carmine Falcone, Batman Begins

A blog post about a week ago by Todd Henderson, Law Professor at the University of Chicago caused a stir because Mister Henderson engaged in the perverse whining of the Ultra Entitled. His “Truth on the Market” blog post now long since deleted (because Henderson couldn't stand to have his Libertarian garbage and factual errors challenged although it is google cached for all time) as Henderson complained that with 'my big mortgage, my cars, my nanny, my lawn service, my children's private schools, my $15,000+ a year property taxes' he couldn't afford to have his and his wife's combined income of more than $250,000 taxed at the pre-Bush rates.

“A quick look at our family budget, which I will happily share with the White House, will show him that like many Americans, we are just getting by (emphasis added) despite seeming to be rich. We aren’t,” Henderson wrote.

Besides Henderson's haute myopic 'Oh we aren't Rich' attitude he also engages in the ignorant Libertarian mantra, Government taxes are theft and we the people can spend that money better, showing the Republican duplicity surrounding Tax Cuts.

The time to complain that We Can Spend Our Money Better than the Government was when Bush and Cheney were spending that money for you in Iraq and Afghanistan and Somalia and in Medicare Part D. The money the Government needs in order to function was stolen by Bush and given to his Moneyed Masters who shipped it to UBS in Switzerland and other off-shore Accounts. Bush and the Republicans used the Tax Cuts combined with the "Emergency" War Spending and DoD Budget to steal Trillions from America. But, of course, the testicle gurgling Tea Baggers didn't complain abut spending then as Bush isn't dark complected.

But, the lying Republican scum doesn't just tread in the ignorance surrounding the profligate spending they engaged in and for which the bill is now due, they engage in lies about what Tax Cuts accomplish. Republicans have been claiming for years Tax Cuts are going to stimulate job growth. Does anyone who is unemployed believe this bilge?

If it were true the years after Bush proposed and the Republican Congress implemented his Tax Cuts would have been the largest growth period in American history. But, it wasn't. And the only President who destroyed more jobs than Bush was Ronald Reagan during his Piss Down Your Back and Tell You It's Raining trickle down economics.

What Reagan's and Bush's Tax Cuts accomplished was the steadiest and fastest accumulation of Wealth in the Hands of the Rich and Ultra Rich Plutocrats since the infamous Robber Baron Age. That is what "Tax Cuts" are designed to accomplish. The funneling and concentration of Money into Republican Masters' Hands.

But, Ronald Reagan, didn't just Piss on the Poor and Middle Class, he also dismantled the Industrial Base of America for his Moneyed Masters.

Because, along with placing the Federal Tax Burden on the Middle Class the Plutocratic Tea Baggers want to off-shore as many jobs as possible. The Republican Party takes their orders from Plutocrats who have one goal, To Steal as much Money as possible.

To the Koch Brothers, Paul Singer, and The Triumphant American Plutocracy, the Federal Government exists to Reduce the Cost of Labor. Republicans help accomplish this by constant undercutting and attempts to Destroy Unions, the importing of illegal workers and the offshoring of as many jobs as possible.

When combined these efforts by Republicans help undermine and eliminate the power of American Workers who cost too much money for Plutocrats tastes.

Of course, in order to sell this crap to Middle Class persons Republicans wail about Welfare Theft (ACORN!!!) by those people, the gold teethed, latest hip hop cell phone ring tone, cadillac driving persons. It's a constant invocation of the Reagan Era Welfare Queens. It shows what middle class and working class people are up against. Money, they have it, they want more and they are willing to watch you suffer and die to ensure they get it.

Related:
Spending All Your Money on R&B Ringtones [Hullabaloo]
Ending Plutocracy: A 12-Step Program [The Nation]
Fact and Fiction in Debate Over Bush Tax Cuts [The Real News Network]
Republicans Piss On Veterans [Disaffected and it Feels So Good]

Do you Miss them, yet? Never Forget Republicans were in Charge

On the day America suffered the worst attack in our History, except for when Republican Heroes were killing Americans during the Civil War, what was the focus for the Republican led Congress and President George W. Bush?

Well, Phil Gramm, along with Republicans Jim Leach and Thomas Bliley had successfully repealed the Glass-Steagall Act removing a check on the rapacious Banking Industry and Republicans were figuring out how to shift even more of the Federal Tax burden to the Middle Class and Poor.

And while George Bush would sign any Legislation that would shelter his Base and Moneyed Masters from supporting the Nation, W was busy trying to figure out a way to invade Iraq. On January 30, 2001 George W. Bush directs Rumsfeld and JCS chairman Hugh Shelton to examine military options for Iraq.

America knew this in 2004, when Paul O'Neil spoke out in January 2004.

"From the very beginning, there was a conviction, that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go,” says O’Neill, who adds that going after Saddam was topic "A" 10 days after the inauguration - eight months before Sept. 11. "It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it. The president saying ‘Go find me a way to do this,’" says O’Neill.

But Republicans of that Time were using the attacks of 9/11 to call anyone who questioned Bush and Cheney Terrorist Supporters and Traitors.

The Bush administration was well along the path to war before the 9/11 attacks. September 11 was not the motivation for the U.S. invasion of Iraq – it was a distraction from it.

9/11 and the Iraq War are enough to make The Bush/Cheney Regime the Worst in American History. But when you add on Torture, the Republican Recession, the blind eye to millions of EPA violations, the never explained nearly $5-a-gallon gas during Bush's Presidency and the Bush Regime pushed through TARP, a Bankers dream, wherein another Trillion in American taxpayer debt was grotesquely funneled directly to aid the Rich as a last Bushian Fuck You to the people... Well, what you have in George Bush and Dick Cheney are, perhaps, the two people who have done the most damage to America with the exception of Conservative Heroes Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis and Emperor Hirohito, Adolf Hitler and Osama Bin Laden.

Related:
Pollution-oution what's the Solution? [Disaffected and it Feels So Good]
Republicans Love when Miners Die [Disaffected and it Feels So Good]
Iraq and September 11 [Disaffected and it Feels So Good]

The Wicked Conservative Witch of the East, Christine O'Donnell

"They always win," he said softly and bitterly after a while. "The bastards, they always bloody win." - The Dogs of War, Fredrick Forsyth.

The Sarah Palin of the East, Christine O'Donnell, is spectacular. Her views and beliefs are so lacking in understanding, so ignorant, so uninformed, so religiously warped as to require years of psychiatric counseling. But, as is their wont the Republicans merely desire another vote no matter the lack of substance. However, O'Donnell is a thief. She's used campaign funds for personal benefit and expenses, just like her idol the Queen Wicked Conservative Witch Sarah Palin. But It's Okay she's a Republican!



O'Donnell not only has the lack of ethics and criminal past like Sarah Palin, she has the vacant look and stilted speech patterns of the Cadre of Conservative Wicked Witches Palin, Michele Bachmann, Marsha Blackburn, Virginia Foxx and Sharon Angle. Palin and Bachmann, most likely, with their mangled words, choppy deliveries and inability to process language, have learning disabilities and it's a testament to the ability of public school teachers that they manage to operate.

And the Queen Wicked Witch of the North Sarah Palin has advised her nominal protege to only speak through Fox News. And why not? Fox is a one-stop shop in which Conservatives can receive a salary, softball interviews and as much time as needed to expound their scripted anti-Middle Class, anti-Poor Plutocratic Talking Points.

But, despite all the rigamarole the Tea Party is nothing more than an attempt to quicken the Republican Party. It's controlled by the same Republican Operatives and it's fueled by the same agenda as it has been for the last 80 years. The telling and salient point is the clear fact that almost every Tea Party candidate are lawyers or career politicians who have never had a real job and have never done a day's worth of real labor.

Here in Illinois the 8th District Tea Party nominee is William "Joe" Walsh running against somewhat Democrat Melissa Bean. Walsh is a teacher (+1) and has worked helping disadvantaged children in Chicago (+1) but has morphed into a career politician having run for office in 1996 and 1998. Back in the 90's, he attempted to distance himself from his Colonial Master Newt Gingrich and the 1994 Republican Bigots by claiming to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative. But, all of sudden now he's troubled by Government and Walsh has joined and proudly acknowledges the Tea Party so either his claims of being socially liberal were a lie then or now. Joe Walsh also has some shady background aspects as his Illinois Driver's License has been suspended at least once.

It's the same with Christine O'Donnell. She has run for office over and over and over. And she has said things either for shock value "blood soaked satanic altar" or to buttress her bigoted intolerant christian dominionist beliefs. But, the Teabaggers are dupes, imbeciles and hypocrites.

IOKIYAR. And so it goes...

Of the Tea Party candidates who spoke at the 2010 CPAC, Marco Rubio a favorite Tea bagger went into politics as soon as he was done with law school. Tim Pawlenty, the beloved Dark Horse Republican candidate for President, has had a Government job since 1988. So according to Tea Bag logic he's been unemployed for 22 years since the Government doesn't create jobs. And isn't the lack of military service and being a DC Lawyer and career politician what the Tea Party claims is wrong with Democrats and Washington DC?

And so it goes... the Tea Baggers are being used by the Republicans. Certainly they will make inroads and get a few maybe even several dozen candidates elected for a term or three but it will all end the same. The Republicans will hem and haw push an occasional social issue to the forefront but never get around to outlawing gay marriage or abortions while ensuring the Agenda of the Koch Brothers and the Other Moneyed Masters of the Nation dominates and destroys the Working and Middle Class.

And so it goes...

Update
"Evolution is a myth! Well then why aren't monkeys still evolving into humans?" Christine O'Donnell, Republican Expert on Everything.

We the Teabaggers and Conservatives plan Pogroms

in Order to destroy a more perfect Union, establish Injustice, insure Domestic Terrorism, provide for the conservative defense, promote christian Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves (White/Heteronormative/christians) and our Plutocratic Overlords...

With 6 weeks until the 2010 elections, the Teabaggers are lifting their masks and have let America know what they plan to do with election victories. First and foremost will be the immediate investigations of President Obama. It will merely be an extension of the unceasing campaign begun by the Right, trumpeted by Sarah Palin and Fox News and funded by Rich Plutocratic Assholes. Conservatives believe (probably correctly) that by engaging in constant non-stop screeching, loud-mouthed lying and demagogic vitriol on TV and Radio and in print and the Internet, good honest Americans will relent and give them election victories just to shut them up. It's bullying and verbal abuse by punk ass bitch conservatives.

But, the Tea Party has admitted that economic concerns are a pretext and that Fundamental Transformation of the American Society is and always has been their driving force. So the Teabagger Morality Commandos are out in full force. First is getting rid of the Usurper in the White House. It's called a White House for a reason. But, after starting the Obama Lynching Parade, the conservatives have several pogroms in line.

No abortions for anyone. Ever. No abortions, doesn't matter. If a woman is carrying the child of a violent rapist, doesn't matter. If the woman's fetus is suffering from severe birth defects, doesn't matter. No abortions and then afterwards no aid for the struggling woman forced by conservative zealots to give birth.

Homosexuality will be outlawed. This is a standard plank in the GOP platform. But, since I'm not homosexual I won't say anything when religious zealots and conservative bigots round up and murder gay people.

Obama's Healthcare Reform, Social Security, Medicare and Unions will be privatized abolished. This is the most perplexing as Republicans make no effort to hide their hatred of poor and sick people and these programs and organizations provide power to the powerless in America. Republicans want Americans to work until they're 70, without any health coverage, recourse if they are injured, and without a safety net and once Americans have used up the flower of their youth in back breaking labor for the Rich, Republicans having abolished Social Security want old people to die. Republicans routinely call sick , poor and old people stray animals, and liken them to burned down buildings.

All along the way this Oppressive Agenda of Intolerance and Bigotry will be championed by Glenn Beck, R. Limbaugh and the Toxic Commentators. They will warn the conservatives of the progressive scourge, of the liberal enemy at the heart of the Republic of the homosexual agenda which would cause God to remove his blessings from America and invite our destruction. And that will make all the murders and conservative terrorism okay for their violence will be washed clean in the blood of jesus christ.

At first conservatives didn't feel comfortable in openly indulging in their plans to oppress and incarcerate gays, enslave minorities and conduct pogroms against progressives but they've let slip their goals for America upon gaining power. Conservatives choose power over principle and elections over ethics. Conservative victory in this election is going to mean the power of the Federal Government is going to be used to oppress, enslave and kill Americans.

Update:
And for the conservative scum who immediately spam blogs with I demand evidence comments:
A Pig Fucking conservative staffer working for Chicken Hawk Saxby Chambliss is the source of a threatening gay slur, "All faggots must die", which came from a computer at Senator Chambliss office [Rawstory].

To Disgusting Republican Mike Huckabee, sick persons are like homes which have burned down. "It sounds so good, and it's such a warm message to say we're not gonna deny anyone from a preexisting condition. Well, no preexisting conditions." [Talking Points Memo]. Got that? Property is more important than People and If you were Wealthy you'd be Healthy. Otherwise the Republicans message to Americans is: give me your tired, your sick, your poor and watch as We let them Die.

Teabaggers Money to Be Had!

This is how the Conservative Movement propagates their crap.

Having written that Barack Obama is ruled by the african muslim ghost of his dead father to overthrow and kill whitey, Dinesh D'Souza is now making the rounds on Toxic Right Wing Radio to pimp his hoo hoo hoo chuckle chuckle hilariously titled "Roots" book. Glenn Beck had him on and somberly observed D'Souza's pulled straight from his ass article isn't "theory", "it's fact, just fact".

And this is of great appeal to the Teabaggers who have conditioned themselves to believe anything about Obama. They've had years of Barack Obama the terrorist pal, the kenyan born, the madrassa trained, the marxist bred, the liberation theology muslim pounded into them over and over again by the Bilge spewing Toxic talkers. And the Teabaggers money and votes are of great interest to Beck and D'Souza.

But, Glenn Beck, and the rest of the Conservative scum are receiving their orders from the Wealthy who want Republicans back into power so they can continue their unprecedented theft of Trillions from America. It's not a coincidence D'Souza's article appears in Forbes magazine.

Of course, I find it hilarious that the two Right Wing Champions of Barack Obama isn't American are Soviet Born and Raised Orly Taitz and a gentleman named Dinseh D'Souza. But, really this latest incident in the Right Wing Extremist Smear Obama Campaign says a lot about Dinesh. Ironically, Dinesh is a fervent christian dominionist so his entire worldview is dominated by the ghost of a jewish zombie and he embraces a pro-colonial forcing of christianity onto everyone.

Related:
Dinesh and Newtie Tickle the Lizard Brain [Hullabaloo]

D'Souza and Gingrich have put a psuedo-intellectual spin on this by calling it Obama's "Afro-Centric anti-colonialism" But it all adds up to the same thing: the angry black man is rising up and coming after good god-fearing white people.

But I don't think the tea partiers care what National Review thinks. They care what Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh thinks. (I have my suspicions that they will validate this premise without a second thought, but we'll have to wait and see what they say.) If they validate it, then nothing Byron York or David Frum or any of the standard conservative movement elites say will make a difference. The Tea Party is operating outside that framework now, and although they crave a certain kind of intellectual elite validation, they have created their own: they call Glenn Beck "the professor." And he was one of the first to posit publicly that Obama hates white people.

Post Racial America [Disaffected and It Feels So Good]

Newt Gingrich and Post Racial America

Is one of the buzz phrases invented by bigots, like Gingrich.

But, what's important about that phrase is the persons who harp on it. What can we note about those making the argument?

First, the ones making the argument that America is "Post Racial" without a doubt voted against President Obama, yet time and again use the phrase 'We elected Obama' as a way to indemnify themselves from charges of racism. It's a cover phrase used by Conservative Bigots, like "Oh, I have friends who are gay or black or women". Everyone knows that's not true.

Second, when Fox News propagandists, Laura Ingraham, R. Limbaugh or Glenn Beck or other any Toxic conservative garbage mouth says "post racial" or "we elected Obama" they immediately turn around and buttress their verbal diarrhea with racist comments, phrases and code words. But besides overtly racist attacks conservative garbage mouths tell us No One in America can have supported Obama for any reason other than he was black. Colin Powell? He betrayed Master and only is supporting Obama because he's black. "White" Middle Class Suburban family voted for Obama? White Guilt!

Post Racial America has simply become a method by which spectacular bigots R. Limbaugh and others can spew forth the same Racist bilge they always have...

In a sense the attacks on President Obama are nothing new, Mother Jones has an article detailing the concerted effort by conservatives to delegitimize every Democratic President since FDR including the especially fervent John Birch Society. Every time a Democrat is elected the Conservative base, out of fear the Democrat may this time actually represent the People, seeks to undermine them in order to reassert the dominance of the Wealthy on the Federal Government.

But, the canards of Obama's a Muslim Marxist Kenyan Commie and the inflammatory rhetoric of Republican Congressmen Newt Gingrich (Newt's History of Bigoted Remarks), Michele Bachmann, Steve King, Phil Gingrey, Paul Broun and pretty much every Republican in office today to turn President Obama into The Foreign Other has really only worked with those who view white, christian, heteronormative people as Real Americans.

But, the Bigots on the Right can not keep their mouths shut about Race. As more Americans understand whom the conservatives serve and that Republicans are the Party of the Wealthy and Oppression the only block of middle class and poor people who continue to vote Republican are the Bigots and Racists. Race-Baiting is all the Republicans have...

And the numerous right wing extremist bloggers who spam yahoo news stories or leave anonymous comments on progressive blog posts don't come up with this, they absorb and repeat the crap Haley Barbour, Newt Gingrich, R. Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Pamela Geller propagate. Conservative voters have no ideas, no brain power nothing other than repeating the evil smears about President Obama; Release the Documents, Death Panels, Elitist, Muslim, Kenyan Marxist!

So when Newt Gingrich cites Dinesh D'Souza in proclaiming President Obama has a "Kenyan anti-colonial" attitude or Republican Steve King supports and stands arm-in-arm with Soviet Union born KGB trained Orly Taitz it's not new. It's the same old Republican playbook. Bigotry, Bigotry, Bigotry.

Conservatism has nothing to offer. No original ideas, no hope for the future. Nothing but Bigotry.

Updated:
Incidentaly, Wikipedia reports Newt’s dissertation topic was titled “Belgian Education Policy in the Congo: 1945-1960.” (Written while cowardly Newt was busy not serving in Vietnam...)

I’d like to read it to see if Newt pinned for the Colonial days of King Leopold and the cutting off of arms and rampant murder in the Congo?

Election Game Plan

RUN AWAY!!! RUN AWAY!!! - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The Republican Game Plan for the 2010 elections is to simply run away and hide from all interviews and dodge reporters. It's understandable when a reporter actually confronts them on their ridiculous assertions, untenable ideologies and blatant conservative lies, misrepresentations and smears Republican candidates look foolish, ignorant or dangerous.



And this isn't limited to colossal dunderheads like Jan Brewer, Rand Paul, Sharron Angle and Michele Bachmann.

So the immediate question is if you can't stand up to Katie Couric and the Lame Stream Media how are you going to defeat Al Qaeda?

Republicans have no plan to govern the Nation. None. For the next two years Republicans are going to conduct investigations of President Obama asking him if he now is or has ever been a communist while they purposefully undercut and ignore any Governmental body which would hamper the Republican Plutocratic Corporate Controllers efforts to murder American workers, despoil the environment, and transfer billions to offshore and Swiss bank accounts. After 2 years of allowing Americans to suffer they then hope to Ride the Wave of Government Doesn't Work and the Free Market does Everything Better into full power in 2012.

Republicans then will continue their Plutocratic Tea Baggers plans by stealing social security, eliminating "Obamacare" and then Medicare, increasing the retirement age to 70 or beyond while pitting the worse off worker against the slightly better off one in order to enslave and shackle the American People as Cogs in the machines of Industry and War, paid little, with no benefits, no health coverage and no retirement.

Republicans want you to work hard in the flower of your Youth and then Die Quickly when you've gotten old or injured. (See Republican former Senator Alan Simpson and George W. Bush Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness David S. Chu bemoaning injured Veterans getting Health Care.)

And the ultimate goal of the Koch Brothers and the other Plutocratic Assholes who give Billions to the Republicans, is an American Feudal Despotic Oligarchy where the Poor are reduced to destitute serfs and the Middle Class are Poor.

Related:
Disaffected and it Feels So Good: Republicans Retard America with deliberate Economic Sabotage

Disaffected and it Feels So Good: U and US? UBS or Just BS

Remember When?

Remember when the Dixie Chicks were vilified, pilloried and threatened with death for daring to state "We're embarrassed Bush is from Texas?"

Remember when Anti-War protesters, over two-thirds of the American people, were told "So?" and their patriotism was questioned and it was said again and again questioning the President in a time of 'War' was tantamount to Treason and was helping Al Qaeda kill American Soldiers?

Remember when the loathsome General Betrayus Ad by Moveon.org was indicative of each and every Liberal and Progressive?

Now then, do you Remember when it all changed?

Do you remember the last 24 months of Fox News, Republican backed attacks on Barack Obama's familiy, his heritage, his birth, his religion, his children, his wife? Do you remember when they questioned his "Terrorist fist jab", his "palling around with Doe-Mess-Tick Terrorists", when they called him secular socialist, marxist muslim, hitler, stalin, lenin? Do you remember the watermelons on the white house lawn, the Obama the Witch Doctor, and the numerous blatantly overt racist images?

Do you remember when General Petraeus stated the virulent anti-islamic hatred unleashed by the racist Republicans and Conservatives would cause the deaths of American Soldiers and the Conservative movement couldn't care less so they continued to whip up religious hatred and intolerance in New York City and at church pulpits?

What President Obama's election has done is lay bare the vicious deep seated racism in the Conservative movement. The Rich Plutocratic cock stroking Teabaggers who control the Republican Party have unleashed the most evil and hateful campaign of political destruction on the American People for the sole purpose of reinstalling a puppet in the White House (most likely, George W. Bush with bigger tits and a smaller brain) through whom they can continue to cement their control of the Nation and make America's income gap bigger than every nation in Central and South America.

Related:
Flabby conservative Chicken Hawk Erick Erickson attacks General Petraeus.

It was Worth It... [Disaffected and It Feels So Good]

Beauty and Popularity

Being Attractive Is The Most Important Thing There Is
If You Wanna Catch The Biggest Fish In Your Pond ~ Nada Surf, Popular

Most standards of beauty are wholly subjective and culturally based. There are some which are based on reproductive fitness are an evolutionary byproduct and cross cultures. And other features which excite or are deemed attractive are determined by individual tastes.

With Fox leading the way, the Right has debased itself (shockingly) by sending out women, usually deemed attractive by American standards. These women, Andrea Tantaros, SE Cupp, Sarah Palin, Megyn Kelly and several others who shall not be named then peddle the vile despicable anti-human Republican Party Line of Enslavement, Oppression and Death to the Poor. That Republicans would use women to push their Slavery Agenda onto America is bad but what is so depressing about Conservatives is their violent stupidity. Instead of questioning this tactic conservatives are so actively ignorant that they reference the looks of Sarah Palin and the others as evidence of their rightness of their political positions.

Conservative woman are hotter YEAH! Whoooo! Ergo Good Looking equals Good Arguments. If a pretty girl is saying it, it must be the correct position! It's a demonstration of puerile adolescent hormones.

This is a strong current amongst conservatives, just like Racism, and it rears it's head every now and then.

Another odd fixation for conservatives is this idea that large numbers also equals correctness. If everyone believes something, then it must be true. This is why conservatives and Republicans always must exaggerate the size of their rallies.

Michele Bachmann recently claimed an unnamed hush-hush DC official told her 1.6 million people attended Beck's Rally. Or more than 5 times the amount allowed on the permit and yet there were no problems. Perhaps god sent down loaves and fishes for Beck's congregation as well as biblical port a potties?

But these wild assertions that millions of Americans are on our side is not a new phenonemon. It is vitally important to conservatives who equate large numbers with truth. Pretty women, millions of Americans and God are with Us who could be against Us?

Conservative logic.

Updated:
Silverfiddle who has dropped by my blog many a time left this comment over at Hello..... Mr. President, are you Listening?

OK. I just went and googled O'Donnel and I get it...

The left has a real problem with good looking conservative women...

Related:
Conservatives bash once-respected professor for low-balling Beck crowd (Raw Story)

Ironically, one of the analysts who provided the CBS figure (87,000)-- crowd estimate expert Stephen Doig of Arizona State University -- was hailed by conservative bloggers in January 2009, when he came up with a size for the crowd at the Obama inauguration that was half of what most media sources were suggesting.