Getting our fair share while the getting is good

I knew it! I just knew it!

Lady M tried to blow me off on Thursday when I asked her about out next vacation. Butt I knew it! After a big week of sacrificin’ I knew we had earned another little vacay. I just didn’t know where.  Butt here it is: Ski Aspen baby!  

Air Force Won Too arrives under cover of night at Aspen/Pitkin County

As I first predicted last July in this MOTUS exclusive:

Then it was on to Aspen; home of Colorado seasonal home bundlers Jim and Paula Crown from the Chicago Crown dynasty. Surprisingly, seats at the luncheon ran $1000 for the cheap seats to $10,000 per couple for an upgraded lunch and photo op. Really good value compared to the $38,000 they were getting for the top priced seats for breakfast in Park City! That can  mean only one thing: the Wons intend to hit the Aspen crowd up again later in the election cycle.

That should likewise give you a little hint as to where Lady M plans to spend next winter’s ski vacation with the “girls.”

This is not where Lady M is staying: it was too small

We snuck out yesterday under cover provided by a “Moroccan militant” pretending to be on a suicide mission to blow up the government in the Capital building. This all played out at the Capital while the Congressman and Senators were inside committing the same mission, minus the “pretending” part.

Butt anyway, last year it was Vail, which was nice;

…butt this year we moved up to Aspen and will be staying with our fabulously wealthy one percenter friends from Chicago, Jim and Paula Crown, owners of the Aspen Skiing Co. We’ll be occupying their huge, fabulously well appointed home on the Tiehack mountain at Buttermilk.

This is not where Lady M is staying either: also too small for the entire entourage

I’m sure you remember our visit here last summer when we stopped by to show off our fabulously toned arms and to pick up a few bucks for our WTF campaign:

Lady M’s entourage: Leaving Aspen last July

Once again, we expect to be fielding isolated complaints, mostly from right-wing bloggers, trying to use Big Guy’s own words from one of his pressers last year to criticize Lady M’s well-earned ski get-away: Butt when BO said "If you’re a family trying to cut back, you might skip going out to dinner,

you might put off a vacation."

As I pointed out at the time, the operative word there was “if.” And with only 9 months of this gig left as a rock solid guarantee, there is no way we’re trying to cut back!

So here’s how you progress if you aspire to be one of the 1%:

2010, Ski Liberty in Carroll Valley, Pennsylvania.

2011, Vail, Colorado

2012, Ski Aspen: home of the rich and famous

So first, Pennsylvania, next Vail and then on to Aspen. And I’m going on record right now predicting that next year, come rain or come shine, we’ll be skiing Park City, UT, and staying “at the gracious seasonal home of Obama bundlers Mark and and sister-wife, Nancy Gilbert in the exclusive gated community of the Colony at White Pines.”

Did I mention that Mitt Romney used to own a home there? So you know that is where the real 1 percenters vacation.

So, from the rarified air of Aspen Mountain, “where a few people do really really well and everyone else struggles to get by” this is MOTUS signing off with our signature 2012 WTF message: “everyone gets a fair shot, everyone pays their fair share, everyone plays by the same set of rules.” 

Wheeeeeee! Pure. Adrenaline.

h/t Fausta

Fund Raisers ‘R Us

Okay, you can thank me right now for hooking up and listening to Lady M’s phone-a-view fund raiser with the Women of Virginia who Obama on your behalf. Because for some reason it hasn’t been posted on the Big White website yet.

Although we do have pictures there of Lady M and Jilly at their latest We the Military event:

This lovely frock hasn’t been seen since February '10 when we were handing out Human Rights Awards. As you can see, we were having makeup issues that day:

Big Guy’s that is, not Lady M’s. That p‘shopper was dismissed immediately and hasn’t found work in this town since.

And the Big White Website is also featuring video of Lady M surprising visitors (pleasantly, by most accounts) to the Big White:

And I even managed to snag a grainy shot of the Wons’ Valentine’s Day dinner at Vermillion for you:

“What really struck me is that they looked like a very happy normal couple who were in love with one another," said Todd Stone, who snapped this crappy photo. Apparently Todd’s eyesight is not that good.

Butt anyway, no pictures of Lady M on the nap couch while handling the Virginia Phone-a-View, so I’ll have to file my report using all file photos:

          

The call was supposed to last an hour, butt Lady M had to cut it short after 30 minutes because she “had, ah, hungry children.” (the wee Wons are always hungry, so I don’t think that was it, butt somebody was hungry). You can probably tell by the babbling and all the dropped g’s that Lady M’s blood sugar was dangerously low. Additionally, it sounded like she caught a touch of Big Guy’s non-fluencies. I told her to stock up on Tamiflu – butt does anyone around here ever listen to me? Noooo.

For the record, in case anyone besides me was wondering, I counted 666 “ahs”and “uhms” during the 30 minute conference call. That’s a sure signal of dangerously low blood sugar.

Lady M opened the call with an 18 minute uninterrupted monologue (that’s where most of the babbling took place). Here’s my 30 second synopsis, paraphrased slightly:

All you schtrong women who love your babies (and Buh-rock) are really important to Buh-rock and me. We’re doing all this for you and your babies and your families because Buh-rock is the only one who can save the world and make it into the dystopian utopian paradise you all dream about for your children.

And remember: Buh-rock passed the Lilly Ledbetter bill so you all can make your fair share; and he passed ObamaCare so the evil R-words can no longer deny women coverage and adequate medical care – and deny coverage for your babies. And hey! - let’s give it up for those two brilliant women that Buh-rock appointed to the Supremes! To make sure we interpret the Constitution with empathy from now on, ladies!

Then she took 3 1/2 questions (also paraphrased slightly):

1. “How can we help, Lady M?” (badger your friends and family and register all the dead people you know, and volunteer to drive the homeless derelicts to the polling places…twice, if necessary)
2. “What is Buh-rock going to do to achieve economic fairness?”(Haven’t you been paying attention? Tax the 1%  more and redistribute it. Fairly.)
3. “How can we thank you for all of the support you give our military families?”  (You’re welcome, and thanks for bringing that up. Military families are the best, I can’t believe the schtrength they have – where does it come from? And you’re all so schtrong too: butt military families - they don’t complain. They don’t want a handout, they just want to know we’ve got their back. And that’s why we - Buh-rock and I – need you to get out there, get us reelected and help us occupy the White House for 4 more years! So we can continue to have their backs.

And then, it was over - well, almost: Lady M went off to feed the hungry Wee Wons. At least it’s a better excuse than the one Big Guy came up with when he blew off the $7500/head dinner guests at that Rhode Island payday awhile back: his excuse was he had to get home to “scoop the poop.” That didn’t quite pass the smell test with any of the people expecting to dine with the Won in the well appointed home of minor RI royalty.

And at least Lady M’s conference call was, theoretically, “free” - although I’ve already had 2 follow-up calls on my G-mail phone number begging for a really big donation to WTF.

Butt you’re probably wondering  “what about the other 1/2 question, MOTUS?” Well, that would be the question that was asked, butt not answered. Luckily, Raj was able to capture it before it was lost forever in the Ethernet. Here’s how it starts:

Lady M: “I think I’ve got time for one more question – I’ve got ah, hungry children…” (trust me people, you really don’t want to miss this!) 3.5:

Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties of an unidentified nature, I didn’t get the answer, so I still don’t know what to pack. BTW, I think Little Mo was right in making me use Raj’s voice modulation transmogrifier to disguise my voice, because Axeman and Plouffe-Daddy were yelling and screaming “who was that interloping b-word,” and “that question wasn’t cleared!” They seem to be zeroing in on Granny R as the “interloping b-word,” and there’s nothing they can do to her anyway.

Anyway, h/t again to Barbara at Mommy Life for giving me a heads up on this. Since Lady M had no intention of being on camera during the call, she didn’t even bother to notify me.

Butt this isn’t fair: I’ve been spending too much time on Lady M while Big Guy has been out and about doing his fair share to WTF too.

He started with a live performance at the Master Lock factory in Wisconsin:

Big Guy does the chorus from “Unchained Melody” for the guys down at the plant

Master Lock manufactures padlocks:

Big Guy picked one up to use on his private stash – which seems to be disappearing much quicker than usual lately. He also talked to the CEO, to see if he had any tips on how to crack the combination for the ones installed on the Treasury’s printing presses - just in case the Republicans ever get serious about cutting the deficit.

And then it was on to California to pick up the weekly receipt. Here he is landing in San Francisco where he was greeted by former disgraced mayor and now California Lt. Governor Gavin “Any Twosome” Newsome and another groupie:

 “Mmm, mmm, mmm! If I wasn’t married…”

He was not, and apparently will not be joined or gifted by San Francisco philanthropist Susie Tompkins Buell.

Susie is normally one of the Democratic Party's most generous and reliable money-bags lapdogs benefactors, butt not any more: "I would just love to write my big check ... or have a high-dollar dinner here" on his behalf, she said. "I can't." Apparently stopping the Keystone XL pipeline and funding dozens of bankrupt green energy companies wasn’t sufficient to convince Ms. Buell of Big Guy’s commitment to the global warming. Looks like now we’re going to have to stop all oil production in the lower 48 in order to meet our target fundraising goal.

All this makes Big Guy’s 3 day West Coast bag tour even more crucial. The campaign coffers need serious replenishing if we’re going to have a fair shot at WTF. So won’t you please give your fair share today?

The bag man leaves with the goods: you’re welcome.

Advanced English Lessons with Lady M Now Available

First, let me thank everybody for making my big MOTUS Truth Team rollout sooooo successful! Big Guy and Lady M were ecstatic and Axeman even gave me a thumbs up and said he’d tell Big Guy to give me a raise. (I’ve heard that before.)

Of course, none of them have actually been to my website, thanks to Raj’s firewall: it just bounces them to a static page that looks just like Big Guy’s own Truth Team site. So they think I’m a real Team player – which is real important around here.

Nevertheless, I’m not resting on my frame. Barbara, of Mommy Life fame, sent me a tip on a WTF 2012 campaign conference call to be hosted by Lady M, for Virginia women. Not women named Virginia – women by any name who happen to live in Virginia. I guess that’s why Lady M didn’t tell me about it, because I live in the District.

Butt being a Team player, I did manage to wrangle an invitation anyway:

Friend -- The organizing that women here in Virginia do over the next nine months will be vital to winning on Election Day. To kick off Women for Obama here in Virginia, First Lady Michelle Obama is hosting a call with volunteers and organizers across our state this Thursday. She'll be talking about our next steps and how we can work with our friends and neighbors to grow this campaign, one woman at a time. Sign up to join the call this Thursday, February 16th, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Once you RSVP, we'll send you a call-in number and passcode you can use to join Thursday's call. By joining Women for Obama here in Virginia, you'll help build the relationships we'll need to reach out across our state and gear up for the next nine months. Don't miss this opportunity to be a part of Women for Obama from the beginning, and be sure to forward this email to any women you know who are looking for more ways to get involved. RSVP now for Thursday's call with the First Lady: http://va.barackobama.com/Virginia-Call-with-the-First-Lady Thanks, Lise Lise Clavel Virginia State Director Obama for America ----- Can't make it to this event? Help grow the campaign now by making a donation. Contributions or gifts to Obama for America are not tax deductible

And you can too!

All you have to do is go here to the call registration site, give them a name (as you can see, I used my own: MOTUS Mirror, butt you can use any name you like), email address (again I used my own, butt there’s no reason why you can’t use Beyonce’s), ask Lady M a question, click “Register” and ipso fatso, you get a number to call and your own secret PIN number! Or, if you prefer, you can also just send them some money. I can’t guarantee they’ll leave you alone if you do though.

If you want to join in the fun, sign up here as whoever you want to be,

Beyonce, on her new album cover, apparently wants to be Marilyn Monroe

So get your call number and PIN number and listen to Lady M drone on and on inspire and revitamize you.

New Obama vitamins: for instant revitamization, chew and swallow (caution: Ecstasy also available in the same pill shape)

We’ve got a lot of hard work to do if we’re going to get CHANGE “WE” CAN BELIEVE IN. I’ll be listening in from my bunker. Lady M will be on her nap couch with a bag of Cheetos and a bottle of Dom. So in case you hear some crackling and popping on the line, don’t worry, your line isn’t being tapped.

In other Lady M News, The WSJ ran some additional excerpts yesterday from Lady M’s response to reporters questions last week while she was on the road sacrificin’ for her No Child’s Fat Behind campaign:

On what this campaign will be like for daughters Malia and Sasha:

" ... So we do a lot of listening and talking. My job right now is to reassure them -- because the question for a child in a campaign is, 'What happens to my life?' They're like, 'Oh, Dad, he can take it.' They're like -- when we have dinner and Barack comes back and he talks about a problem, they're like, 'Hmm, it's too bad for you. So what about me?'"

Are you, like, thinking what I’m thinking? That the Wee Wons are, like, being raised, like, to be a lot like Mom?

On how she chose to focus on nutrition and exercise:

"For me ... I have to come from a place where I feel passionate first. ... Because what is tough is if you are not being yourself in this job, in this position -- because people know that, right? They know when you don't really know the issue, or you're not as passionate about it, or it's -- you're just doing it for political reasons, or there's some ulterior -- people smell that out so easily. And it's hard to sustain, right? Because if it's not just coming from a place of sheer joy and power and all the stuff you need, then it just doesn't work."

Of course, sometimes all the stuff you need is power, right?

Because people can tell when you’re faking it

On how her 'Let's Move!' campaign complements President Barack Obama's agenda:

"I knew, starting out, that despite what my husband was doing, the things I had to do had to be important to me. The next level of analysis was, does it support what my husband does? Because that was one thing I didn't want to do, is choose issues that the administration couldn't focus on. So then you're just diverting attention. He's got 1,200 issues on his plate, and then I'm adding five more. So I wanted there to be overlap, and obviously with health care and a whole range of other things -- eating and nutrition, to me, is the biggest way we can keep costs down. I mean, if we really want to talk about keeping our cost down and having the power, and not having the government involved, right -- the best thing to do is just to be as healthy as you can be. We have the power to do that if we have the information.

Lady M has certainly brought clarity to this issue. It’s like, all about the power, right?

Oh yeah, babe; it’s the power!

On whether she is fired up for the re-election campaign:

"I am absolutely fired up. But I always have to have balance, because I'm a mother. So when I'm out there, I'm fired up. But when I'm not, I have to be Malia and Sasha's mom. And that can't be a fired-up campaigner. ... They're like, 'Where were you? I don't even care where you were.'"

We’re like, “neither do we”.

On her husband’s optimism:

“When times get tough, we all get worried. . . . As a people, we just get so worried.[ed. “As a people? Can we say that?!] We are Eeyore. ‘We’ll never make it! We’ll never get out of here! It is horrible! We’re losing, it’s over!’. . . And Barack, unfortunately, is like, ‘All right, peeps; let’s — wait, look over there.’. . . As I describe my husband, he is a natural optimist.”

And I’m, like, “umm…that makes him sound more like a shape shifter”

“Or a Con Man:”

“And I think that most leaders are natural optimists. You have to be to have a vision. You have to just sort of naturally always see the glass half full. And he does. . . . I think the vast majority of people — and this is my theory — are natural pessimists.[ed, well, if we weren’t before, we are now.]  And I’m like the common citizen, right? [ed. Right.] I’m like regular people. It’s like — ‘We’re losing! The sky is falling! Oh no!’ And then you start messing with the optimists. I start getting it — and he’s like, ‘Just calm down.’. . . And that’s the mark of a leader.[ed. as Weasel Zippers noted, it’s the mark of something.] You have to see the vision way at the end of the road. Because if you take it day to day, you can lose track, get off course. And you’re on the right course to begin with, it’s just not always smooth.

“And in a very abbreviated way, that’s what I’m telling our supporters. It’s like, it’s natural for us to get worried . . . but the truth is, you’ve got a president who sees far beyond what most of us see. And we’ve got to have faith in that.”

Oh, I think we all have faith in that.

On meeting people around the country:

"I've gotten to see this country up close over the course of campaigning and being the first lady and traveling, and people in this country are decent.[ed. that’s a compliment. Remember, Lady M was only, like, proud of her country for the first time in 2008.] And I think that that's a privilege that we have in our roles that most Americans don't.[?]

"People usually live in their own lives and their own communities, and they read about what's going on, or they hear about what's going on, but you rarely have the time to just go to this center in Dallas and hang out with school kids from all different backgrounds, and meet their teachers and to see how people are working together. [uh, actually they do…it’s called “parent/teacher conferences”] Or ... to spend some time on a military base and actually talk to these young men and women and listen to their sacrifice and understand what they're doing and why, and what their motivations are.[well actually, they don’t have to: they’re related to the men and women on military bases]

"When you spend your life doing that, [ed. “spend your life” might be a bit of hyperbole] you really come to love this country and to know what the potential is because deep down inside, people want the same thing out of life. They really do. [!]

"We are just not that different. There isn't anyone that I feel like I couldn't sit down with over coffee and relate to -- even people who may think they hate me, you know? I'm just like, well, we just haven't talked. We probably ... if we just sort of chilled out a bit and laughed a little bit and shared stories and understood where we're coming from, we might not come out seeing eye to eye completely, but there would be a different level of respect and understanding. That I know about this country.”

        

Seeing eye-to-eye with Lady M doesn’t happen as frequently as you might think.

Tomorrow I’ll feature more English lessons from our historic Lady M: the first First Lady ever to have graduated from both Princeton and Harvard!

So, have a nice day. Don’t forget to sign up for more Advanced English Lessons with Lady M this evening. Also don’t forget to visit my MOTUS Truth Team site and report what you SEE in the comment section of any of the categories.

Oh! And be sure to tune in tomorrow when Big Guy will offer Advanced Breathing Lessons: also in English!

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, Thanks!

Join the MOTUS Truth Team: Expose the Lies

By now I’m sure you know that our WTF-2012 Campaign is in high gear. We were reminded at the staff meeting this morning that all senior Team-Obama staff are expected to get some skin in the game. Since I never got that raise Big Guy promised and I sure don’t know enough people with enough money to be a bundler, I had to find another way to get into the game.

So in order to show my team spirit I’ve decided to support Plouffe-Daddy’s newest initiative, the “Truth Team” by forming my own Truth Team Unit, right here on my blog.

You’re familiar with Plouffe-Daddy’s Truth Team initiative, aren’t you? No? What?  You didn’t get the memo? You may be the only one:

Friend -- If we've learned anything from the Republican primaries, it's that this is no ordinary election. The GOP candidates are spending a huge amount of time attacking President Obama -- no surprise. But instead of basing their attacks on our differences of opinion, they've chosen to run on claims about his record that just aren't true. Mitt Romney says that, despite 23 consecutive months of job growth under the President's watch, he's made the recession "worse." Rick Santorum says that the Affordable Care Act, which was based in part on Republican proposals and provides millions of Americans with access to affordable, private health insurance, is a government takeover of health care. They're not acting alone: With the newfound power of outside groups, these lies can be instantly amplified with millions of dollars in special-interest ad spending. If the other guys are going to run a campaign based on misrepresenting the President's record -- and their own -- we have two options: sit back and let these lies go unchallenged, or fight back with the truth. We're fighting back. Today we're introducing a new resource for grassroots supporters who want to make sure that when voters go to the polls in November, they know the truth -- and you should be a part of it. Will you sign up to be a member of the Truth Team? The website has three sections to reflect the team's goals: KeepingHisWord, where we'll communicate about President Obama's record and promises kept; AttackWatch, to fight back against false attacks on the President; and KeepingGOPHonest, where we'll debunk the Republicans' false claims about their own records. In short, it's the grassroots communications team of the Obama 2012 campaign. We'll provide resources for you to learn everything you need to know and tools to help you share it with undecided voters in your life. Communicating about the President's record -- and that of our opponents -- is what I do full-time. But people don't just want to hear from campaign statements or ads -- they want to hear from the family and friends they trust. The President needs folks on board to roll up their sleeves, stand with him, and get the truth out all over the country. So the next time you hear Mitt Romney accusing the President of "crony capitalism" or someone asking, "What has President Obama really accomplished?" you'll know what to do. If you're ready to fight lies with the truth, sign up now: http://my.barackobama.com/Join-the-Team Thanks, Stephanie Stephanie Cutter Deputy Campaign Manager Obama for America This email was sent to: motus@whitehouse.org Update address | Unsubscribe

Not satisfied with controlling just the Legacy Media, we needed more ammo to use against Fox and all those radio talk show hosts who lie. So we added Media Matters to our list of truthers too.

So here’s my idea: no one can spot the lies out there better than my loyal MOLs, MODs, MYLs, MYDs and FOMs. So I’m setting up my own TRUTH Team! Where you can report exclusively, to dispel all the lies and damn lies.

Starting today, I am dedicating a special area of my blog to my very own Truth Team and encouraging everybody to volunteer as a MOTUS Truth Team Storm Trooper. Details of how to volunteer and become an official MOTUS Truth Team Storm Trooper are here on the SignUp Page.

If you remember my previous initiatives, “Stop The Smear,” “Fight The Smear” and the always popular, “AttackWatch,” you will remember that we have a simple goal: if you See Something, Say Something. (SS, get it?)

SchutzStaffel

Plouffe-Daddy is reprising AttackWatch for our Truth Team initiative and adding “KeepingGOPHonest” and “KeepingHisWord” for a perfect trifecta.

                                                                     

AttackWatch: I think everybody knows what we’re looking for in this category by now, butt we’ve added a new feature “Attack Files,” or “A-Files,” where you can get the “facts” you need to fight back against all the attacks on Big Guy.

                                                                     

KeepingGOPHonest: This is the category where we will be lying to you about exposing the Republican’s racist positions and plans for making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

                                                                     

KeepingHisWord: This is where we’ll be fabricating praising Big Guy’s record to prove he has kept all his promises from last time around, and therefore deserves 4 more years to undo the damage caused by George W. Bush.

With a little help from our friends, we will make sure that voters see nothing butt the truth.

Doug Ross provides a little demonstration of how this campaign all comes together if we’re up and running on all pistons:

It’s the headline that a President facing re-election with a dismal economic record didn’t want to see:

1.2 million people driven out of the workforce in a single month!

A frantic White House exploded into damage-control mode, as a deeply shaken President Obama retreated into his chambers. Nervous spokesmen fanned across the airwaves to stammer apologies, search for silver linings among the storm clouds, offer campaign boilerplate about “hope and change,” and desperately search for some way to blame George Bush for an absolute unemployment disaster that occurred over three years after he left office…

What’s that, you say? You didn’t see that headline? Well, of course not, silly. All you’re seeing in the headlines is good news, because the official, heavily-massaged U-3 unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent. Fewer people in the workforce means the percentage of unemployed people in the workforce drops.

h/t “Lies, Damn Lies and Obama’s Unemployment Numbers”

Much more later: we’ve sure got our work cut out for us with all these lies to deal with:

Butt don’t worry: the Truth is out there:

And we will get to it, one little white lie at a time.

“I won’t lie to you,” Obama penned in hand to Charles Oliver in October. “It will probably take another year or two to fully dig our way out of this hole.”

Note to self: remind Big Guy that rule number one when you find yourself in a deep hole is to stop digging:

All in all, I’m feeling pretty good about WTF now.

Evidence to the contrary not withstanding, Conservatives keep insisting that they’re much smarter than Liberals. Butt if that’s the case, explain to me why it is that Big Guy’s team came up with this Truther site designed to network it’s way to WTF 2012, and all the Republicans come come up with is this!?!!?

Linked By: Clarice at American Thinker, and Adrianne’s Corner, and Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and sb on Weasel Zippers, Thanks!