How misunderstood is the US Constitution?

“Shots fired at the President.”

It was about 2:30 in the afternoon on March 30, 1981 and Reagan was in the back of the presidential limousine rushing from a chaotic scene outside the Washington Hilton hotel. Within half an hour of the shooting doctors discovered President Reagan had indeed been shot and was on his way to surgery. When asked who was running the government a short time later at a White House press conference, Alexander Haig, a four star general and then Secretary of State, made the famously scoffed statement, “I am in control here.”

      Was the longtime military man initiating a coup?

“Jetting Around” Obama’s Vacation Record

Presidential vacation time is always fodder for criticism no matter the economic environment but when the country is beset by a slow recovery it becomes much easier to rail against the current executive for enjoying some leisure time. This was evident in a testy interview moment between the President and KMOV St. Louis reporter Larry Conners when Obama was pressed on the first family’s “jetting around” on vacation at taxpayers’ expense.

The interview generated some buzz yesterday after the video’s release and appearance on Yahoo News. While the line of questioning was appropriate, the not so subtle accusations illustrated how Mr. Conners failed to put the current first family’s vacation time into contextual perspective by comparing it to the time other presidents have spent away from the White House.

US Presidents, the Courts & Conservative Shifts

Well Obama up and stuck his foot in his mouth once again. This past week he dared to criticize the Supreme Court’s authority to overturn the will of elected representatives of Congress. Or did he?

So much uproar has resulted from the President’s response to a question put to him during a press conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Mitt Romney responded by questioning Obama’s knowledge of the Court’s history. Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, stated the president’s criticisms were unprecedented, advising the President to “back off”, apparently forgetting his own criticism of a 2003 campaign finance reform decision. And as if to top the whole controversy off, Judge Jerry Smith of the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals rebuked the administration by assigning homework for the President and Eric Holder to detail out in a 3 page, double-spaced paper their understanding of judicial authority.

Now presidential criticism of the Court is nothing new. From the very beginnings of the  republic, presidents have offered up choice words for Supreme Court decisions the disagreed with.

The Daily Scoop: Supply-side economics at core of Gingrich plan

With the economy at the core of the presidential campaign, Newt Gingrich has received help from a group of relatively unknown economic thinkers — including two former advisers to Herman Cain — who share an unwavering faith in the school of thought known as “supply-side economics” that rose to prominence more than three decades ago.

Unlike Mitt Romney, who long ago surrounded himself with mainstream Republican economists, Gingrich has turned to more zealous advisers who believe the only true solution to healing the nation’s deficit is to spur economic growth through sharp tax cuts, reduced regulation and a tight rein on monetary policy, rather than focusing too keenly on spending cuts.
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