Pensito Review » Buck Banks

BYU Students Don’t Know Jack About Black

Buck Banks — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:01:45 +0000

Comedian Dave Ackerman dons blackface to ask Brigham Young students about Black History Month.

A Plurality Believe Randomly Selected People Would Out Perform Congress

Buck Banks — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:57:11 +0000

43%

Of likely voters believe a group of people randomly selected from the phone book would do a better job than the current Congress, while 38% disagree with that assessment and another 19% are not sure, according to a new Rasmussen survey.

Trump Puzzled by Santorum

Buck Banks — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:54:21 +0000

Rick Santorum was a sitting senator who in re-election lost by 19 points, to my knowledge the most in the history of this country for a sitting senator to lose by 19 points. It’s unheard of. Then he goes out and says oh ‘okay’ I just lost by the biggest margin in history and now I’m going to run for president. Tell me, how does that work? …. That’s like me saying I just failed a test. Now I’m going to apply for admission to the Wharton School of Finance. Okay? He just failed a test …. And now he’s going to run for president. So, I don’t get Rick Santorum. I don’t get that whole thing.

— Donald Trump, who claimed his endorsement gave Mitt Romney victory in Nevada, telling CNN he was perplexed about Rick Santorum.

Super PACs Receive Untraceable Funds

Buck Banks — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:51:50 +0000

6 of 10

Top super PACs active in the 2012 elections have received money from untraceable sources, including nonprofits and shell corporations, according to Roll Call. “A third source of untraceable donations was money transfers from one super PAC to another … in cases where the super PAC making the contribution had itself received funding from one or more nonprofits.”

Romney Accuses Opponents of Acting Like Democrats

Buck Banks — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:47:26 +0000

When Republicans act like Democrats, they lose. And in Newt Gingrich’s case he had to resign. In Rick Santorum’s case, he lost by the biggest margin of any Senate incumbent since 1980.

— Mitt Romney, quoted by NBC News.

Me Me Mimi

Buck Banks — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:42:36 +0000

The press ignored it back in the day
Whenever the president had a roll in the hay.
But Mimi Alford’s assertions
About her amorous exertions
Boil down to, “I slept with JFK.”

Edwards Campaign Still Spending Four Years Later

Buck Banks — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:37:02 +0000

$2.1 million

Amount John Edwards owes taxpayers in public matching funds improperly received after he dropped his 2008 run for the White House, the AP reports. “Edwards’ hopes for the Democratic presidential nomination imploded in a sex scandal four years ago that left him facing criminal charges. But reports filed last week show his 2008 primary campaign spent $836,712 in 2011 on airfare, hotel rooms, cell phones and other expenses.”

For Obama, No Re-Election Means No Positive Legacy

Buck Banks — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:32:45 +0000

If Barack Obama loses this fall, he will forever seem a disappointment: a symbolically important but accidental figure who raised hopes he could not fulfill and met difficulties he did not know how to surmount. He meant to show the unity of America but only underscored its division. As a candidate, he symbolized transformation; in office, he applied incrementalism and demonstrated the limits of change. His most important achievement, helping forestall a second Great Depression, will be taken for granted or discounted in the dismay about the economic problems he did not solve. His main legislative accomplishment, the health-care bill, may well be overturned; his effect on America’s international standing will pass; his talk about bridging the partisan divide will seem one more sign of his fatal naïveté.

If he is reelected, he will have a chance to solidify what he has accomplished and, more important, build on what he has learned. All of this is additional motivation, as if he needed any, for him to drive for reelection; none of it makes him any more palatable to those who oppose him and his goals.

— James Fallows, writing in The Atlantic.

Obama’s Approval Rating Edges Up

Buck Banks — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:06:22 +0000

38%

President Obama’s approval rating on the economy is far from robust, but has perked up from 30% in November and 26% last summer, according to Gallup. Despite these gains, Obama continues to rate worse on economic issues than on foreign policy issues.

Congress’ Approval Hits All-Time Low

Buck Banks — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:16:20 +0000