Obama's Economy forcing 6,000 retailers to Close? Right wing off on another tangent.

My conservative friend really, really, really, really hates President Obama. I can’t imagine why.

So today he sent me the following ridiculous article about 6,000 stores closing nationwide, proving Obama economy sucks.

The stores listed aren't closing because of Obama, and many aren't closing because Americans don’t have enough discretionary money, although that’s true in general terms. Maybe the stores and the "times" have something to do with it?

My friend was quick to blame Obama, but what about all those austere governors and legislatures? Don't they have control of their own economic engines? And yet, they like to take credit for low unemployment and job creation. What about store closings?

Here’s the snarky “unbiased” way the article started:

You’ll never hear the Obama administration pass on an opportunity to gloat about the miracles they think they’ve managed to pull off over the past seven years to get America’s economy back on track. The only problem with that is, it’s not remotely true. If you want a real indication of how President Barack Obama’s economy is fairing, just look to a recent report that shows a coming “retail apocalypse,” with major retailers across the country planning on shutting the doors to thousands of stores due to a sharp decline in discretionary consumer spending.

And who’s against raising the minimum wage? Who’s destroying unions, passing right-to-work-for-less, repealing prevailing wage laws, and forcing people to work for nothing just to get food stamps? They don't get the consequences of their ideology.

And this conservative site is whining about “declining discretionary consumer spending.” Yikes.

Here’s where I’ll step in with the real reason the following stores are closing:

Some of the major retailers who plan on closing at least 10 stores over the next year or so include:

Radio Shack: Dated and no longer relevant today. I love the stores, I just don’t use them anymore, now that I gave up my cassette and reel to reel tape decks.

Office Depot/Office Max: They merged, and are closing stores all over because many stores are too close to each other.

Dollar Tree/Family Dollar: Expanded in a ridiculous way, especially during the years coming out of the recession. Still fun, but not as relevant anymore.

Walgreens: Expanded in a ridiculous way, threatened to move overseas, and internet orders for drugs is picking up.

Barnes & Noble: Seriously, with Kindle’s, e-books, and tablets, do you really have to ask.

Macy’s, Sears and JCPenney: Sears has been having trouble for years, and has improved. Macy’s and JCPenney are “Mall” stores, and we all know how malls are doing.

Speaking of malls, the article treats them like they’re still magical places to hang out.

Most malls around the country sport a Sears store along with a Macy’s or JCPenney and experts are advising not to be surprised to see the doors of many of those stores shuttered over the next year or so. “It’s getting ugly out there.”

Oh, and before ObamaCare, insurance rates were really low? 

So what else is the problem? For one, Americans are maxing out their credit cards far too early into the year and some of that can be blamed on higher health insurance costs (thanks, Obama) and rising taxes (thanks, Obama). (H/T WND).

Scott Walker's non-answers again: Doesn't know Obama is a Christian or that he loves his country.

So Scott Walker missed all the Rev. Wright attacks on President Obama?

He missed the tea party signs and conversation behind closed doors that he’s a Kenyan and a secret Muslim?

And yes, he really thinks we’re that dumb, because this is an old trick that has distanced him from everything that’s scary but on his to-do list.

He’s the incidental governor, and he wants to be your uncommitted president. He’s a rubber stamp for the most extreme agenda, but will say over and over it’s not what he’s focused on.  

WaPo: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a prospective Republican presidential contender, said Saturday he does not know whether President Obama is a Christian.

“I don’t know,” Walker said in an interview at the JW Marriott hotel.

Told that Obama has frequently spoken publicly about his Christian faith, Walker maintained that he was not aware of the president’s religion.

“I've actually never talked about it or I haven’t read about that,” Walker said, his voice calm and firm. “I've never asked him that,” he added. “You've asked me to make statements about people that I haven’t had a conversation with about that. How [could] I say if I know either of you are a Christian?”

Walker voters are soaking in talk radio and Fox News’ fixation on bashing Obama in the most ridiculous irrelevant ways about his religion or patriotism, so what does Walker do? He blamed the media for asking questions that aren't relevant.  

Walker said such questions from reporters are reflective of a broader problem he described as fixated on issues that are not relevant to most Americans. “To me, this is a classic example of why people hate Washington and, increasingly, they dislike the press,” he said. “The things they care about don’t even remotely come close to what you’re asking about. I would defy you to come to Wisconsin. You could ask 100 people, and not one of them would say that this is a significant issue.”

Preposterous and not true at all. But slick Scott Walker does this all the time, and the national media has taken notice.

Caught BSing again, Walker’s campaign called and from perspective, made it worse:

After the interview was completed, Walker spokeswoman Jocelyn Webster telephoned The Washington Post to say the governor was trying to make a point of principle by not answering such kinds of questions, not trying to cast doubt on Obama’s faith. “Of course the governor thinks the president is a Christian,” she said. “He thinks these kinds of gotcha questions distract from what he’s doing....”

Walker’s thinking what worked in Wisconsin will work nationally and internationally. His list of non-answer word salads is growing:

Walker’s comments Saturday came after a week in which he was asked repeatedly whether he agreed with … Giuliani when he said he was not sure whether Obama loves his country. Walker was a guest at the dinner.

“I don’t know, I honestly don’t know, one way or the other,” Walker said. “I've said that 100 times, too.”

Really, he doesn't know if Obama loves his country? This seems like another easy one Walker couldn't handle.

The Bubble World morphing into something Real!!!

Conservative bubble inhabitants may have been criticized for their buy in to all the phantom issues and empty concepts wrapped around words like freedom and liberty, but I'm suddenly realizing that if you wish hard enough, your twisted dreams can become a reality.

Like this ridiculous media encouraged bullshit, playing off the nonstop doom and gloom rhetoric by Republicans that things are worse than ever. Sadly, polls show it working;

AP: President Barack Obama gave Republicans a gift of sorts by confirming their midterm election narrative that next month's balloting is a referendum on his policies. Within hours, GOP candidates across the election landscape capitalized on his words with ads tying their Democratic opponents to the unpopular president.

The horror of the recovery? Not bad after the GOP's free market disaster-the Great Recession. Plus, unemployment is at 5.9% and growth was . Obama even uncharacteristically bragged up the positive:

Today, our businesses are hiring 200,000 Americans a month. The unemployment rate has come down from a high of 10% in 2009, to 6.1% today. Over the past four and a half years, our businesses have created 10 million new jobs - the longest uninterrupted stretch of private sector job creation in our history. Right now, there are more job openings than at any time since 2001. All told, the United States has put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and every other advanced economy combined.

Still Americans, pummeled by the one minded Republican meme that everything is worse under Obama, are buying into the fantasy and wishful right wing thinking. In reality, people are feeling hopeless because of the growing income gap, another Republican gift:

If Republicans take the senate, than through "reconciliation" they will push cuts that will only make things a whole lot worse, possibly forcing a government shutdown.

Approval ratings? Meaningless in a divided state.

This whole approval rating nonsense continues with Pres. Obama’s Labor Day visit to Milwaukee today.

Before Scott Walker instituted his successful strategy to divide and conquer citizens in Wisconsin, the numbers may have meant something. But the extreme separation now makes the whole concept pointless.

When a party barely approves of their opponents leader, we're talking about a mere 4 or 5 percent, what’s the point?

jsonline: Obama’s approval rate is 89% among likely Democratic voters and 4% among likely Republican voters in Marquette’s last poll, taken Aug. 21-24. Walker’s approval rate is 96% among Republicans and 5% among Democrats.  

Republican numbers explained: The “stand with Walker” bunch of rugged take charge individuals have one thing in common; they all have an “employee” state of mind. It’s a Borg-like conformity of thought and policy. A follow the leader, follow the boss kind of life.

Nothing says follower like the criticism conservatives had regarding the recent Scott Walker protests in Madison in the winter of 2011. Wisconsinites were described as thugs, vandals, and enemies of the state for their inconvenient, loud and disruptive protests against their arrogant government. Gee, how un-American. Paul Ryan described it this frightening way:

Ryan: "I would say courage is on the ballot. What governor or state legislator is going to have the courage of addressing the structural problems of their state, if when they do that this is what happens to them. That is really profound."

Or this widely held conservative belief in leaders:

Ryan: "It sounds simple...but if I believe this is counter productive for the very people we're trying to hurt...to help...and will hurt them by doing this, but it's politically popular, what does that say about you as a moral person...leaders have to take positions that may not be popular sometimes if they think they're doing the right thing."

Democratic numbers explained: The “herding cats” party has never agreed on anything except when it comes to Walker's 5% approval rating. When Walker ignored the protests and pushed through his no compromise agenda, Democrats got the uneasy feeling they were witnessing the rise of an autocracy. The return of a king, or as conservatives would describe it, a strong courageous leader, mentioned by Paul Ryan above.  

President Romney...I mean President Obama brings U.S. Economy Back!!!

On the heels of one poll claiming Obama was our worst president ever, and another saying Romney would win in a landslide if the election were held today, the U.S. economy has never looked better since the Great Recession.

Funny isn't it; if Romney were president, all of the successes below would be attributed to him and the confidence businesses had in his policies. This just proves how well the GOP's concentrated attack on Obama has been. Tell me now how big money doesn't influence politics. Bloomberg News:

Economy in U.S. Grows More Than Forecast: “The economy is looking pretty darned good,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in Pittsburgh.

Payrolls Rise: Companies added 218,000 workers to payrolls in July, exceeding the average for the year and showing improving demand is bolstering the job market, a private report showed today.

Business Investment: Corporate spending increased at a 5.9 percent annualized rate after being little changed in the first quarter, contributing 0.9 percentage point to growth … so-called final sales to domestic purchasers climbed at a 2.8 percent rate, the biggest increase since the third quarter of 2011.

And the reason for the above successes? Don't point to the mythical CEO “job creators.” It was consumer DEMAND:

The increase in household consumption, which accounts for almost 70 percent of the economy, exceeded the 1.9 percent median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg and followed a 1.2 percent advance in the first three months of 2014.

Purchases of durable goods, including autos, furniture and appliances and recreational vehicles, jumped at a 14 percent annualized rate, the most since the third quarter of 2009, when the recovery began.

Obama's Presidency is Over?

I was kind of waiting for this day to arrive, and it officially has via this MSNBC announcement from Chuck Todd:

My conservative friend in Milwaukee took a break from Benghazi and Obama's IRS scandal to tell me, "see, I told you so." Chuck Todd's opinion centered on just one poll. But to me, it proved how one party can win the public over with a massive unrelenting campaign to discredit anyone it chooses. In this case it was Obama. But this tactic can be used on anyone not looked on favorably by the political authority in charge.

I emailed back:

I’m doing a quick story on this. What it really says to me: The tactic of one party to fully trash relentlessly everything a president does, with lies, fabrications, fictions and conspiracy theories, works. I never thought it was possible to align everyone in a party to think and say the same thing over and over whether it was true or not...but it is.

Congratulations, it must feel great being on the “winning” side (according to Todd anyway). All this time you have been obsessed with “winning” in our conversations, at any cost. Yes, the great Chuck Todd is now the voice of reason and not just a part of the liberal cabal at MSNBC. Flip flop?

And your plan for the new government and constitutional convention after you throw out the old one? Maybe we can make the government more like you, or maybe like someone else you don’t agree with all. See how much say you’ll have when they draw that up.

Besides losing on their push for a war with Russia and staying in an endless war in Afghanistan, the GOP campaign proved they could put the country on a firm war footing and leave prisoners of war behind if they so choose to in the future under a Republican controlled government:

According to the poll, 44% of respondents said the administration should not have made the exchange, compared with 30% who supported it. 

When asked their predictions on the rest of Obama's term in office, 54% said they thought he "cannot lead and get the job done," compared with only 42% who said the opposite. 

Over the last 12 months, 41% of respondents said their views of the Obama administration have "gotten worse." 

But there was good news here:

On the generic congressional ballot, 35% said they would vote for a Democratic candidate in their district, compared with 30% who chose a theoretical Republican candidate.