'In America, the Ultimate Capitalist System, Government is Getting in the Way of Everything'

Gee, you'll never guess who's another big fan of the ChiComs. He's also got an obsession with high-speed trains, suddenly the new rage among our ruling class.

After preaching for years how the United States was losing the race to build high-speed rail, Mayor Bloomberg's frustration spilled over last year when he toured a high-tech train station in China and criticized the US system of government for "getting in the way of everything."

Bloomberg made the remark to Esquire magazine reporter John Richardson, who tailed the mayor to a climate summit in China last year and wrote a lengthy profile of Bloomberg appearing in this month's issue.

"[Bloomberg] arrives at a platform with the feel of an interstellar docking station and returns to the sour preoccupation the Chinese trains have aroused in him," Richardson wrote.

The author then quoted the mayor as saying: "In America, the ultimate capitalist system, government is getting in the way of everything."

I'll agree our government seems to get in the way of things, but he can blame his pal Obama and the regulation-obsessed Democrats for that. It's funny that he makes no mention of the billions we've poured into our rail systems over the years that results in more and more people driving on their own. Who's the blame for that?

Seems the tiny tyrant, who's so fond of our system of government that he rewrote the rules to suit himself when it came to running for Mayor of New York City a third time, isn't too keen on our representatives and much prefers the Chinese.

"If you look at the U.S., you look at who we are electing to Congress, to the Senate, they can't read," Bloomberg told The Wall Street Journal while in Hong Kong for the C40 summit.

"I'll bet you a bunch of these people don't have passports. We're about to start a trade war with China if we're not careful here - only because nobody knows where China is. Nobody knows what China is."

Bloomberg, who went to Johns Hopkins and Harvard and has three private planes at his disposal, fancies himself an independent with business smarts.

But his blunt remarks - seemingly aimed at Republicans who picked up 61 House seats and six Senate spots in the midterm elections - had conservatives calling him an arrogant elitist.

'Because of Him We Are Sitting Idle for Days Now'

Now the folks in India are getting a taste of what millions of unemployed Americans are suffering through. Barack Obama shows up and business shuts down.

His visit may appear to be popular among Indian people, but much of Mumbai's workforce can't wait for Barack Obama to leave.

Taxi drivers, street vendors and fishermen have complained they can barely afford to eat after the city was turned into a fortress for the state visit.

All major roads have been blocked in India's financial capital - leaving taxi drivers without work for five days.

Sandeep Jaiswal, 22, said he had earned just £2 in five days - compared with £21 on a normal day.

'We have been left out of business. Because of him we are sitting idle for days now.

'First of all I was excited the American President was coming to my city but now I request him to leave us as soon as possible so that we could earn our bread and butter.'

Heartbroken Liberal Columnist: Imperial Pelosi Needs to Listen To Five-Year-Olds or Something

As the sun sets on the Imperial Speakership, the left is beginning to realize what a pompous, elitist, arrogant Nancy Pelosi has done to her party. This piece is a bit incoherent and anecdotal, but the point is the deposed House Speaker needs to get in touch with the common man.

Uh, too late.

As an unreformed liberal, I should be devastated that Nancy Pelosi will cease to be speaker of the House.

But I keep thinking back to what a friend told me about the afternoon of Sept. 22, on the tarmac at Kennedy Airport.

Pelosi flew into New York aboard Air Force One with President Obama, who was to address the United Nations and then head for a fund-raiser at the Roosevelt Hotel.

Pelosi was going straight to the fund-raiser, so she opted for a motorcade rather than hitch a ride on the presidential helicopter.

She climbed into a limousine expecting to be whisked away with a police escort, only to be informed the area was frozen until Obama had safely flown away.

Pelosi decided that the freeze could not apply to her. She sent her security detail over to inform the Secret Service and the Port Authority police that she desired to depart immediately.

The Pelosi detail came over with a look that said they had to ask because their boss was insisting. The reply was what they knew it would be.

"No."

After 10 minutes at the very most, Obama departed and Pelosi's motorcade was immediately allowed to proceed.

She would have done well to retain the perspective her 5-year-old grandson showed while riding with her in her first motorcade the day she became speaker.

"This is great! This is what I want to be when I grow up," the boy said, by her account.

"You want to be speaker of the House?" she asked.

"No, I want to be a motorcycle policeman," the boy said.

As a motorcycle cop the kid will be far more in touch with reality, as was one that day.

Whatever happens now, Pelosi is not likely ever to be kept waiting in a motorcade until the President is safely away.

"She won't have to worry about that anymore," said a cop, the kind her grandson would admire.

In other heartbreaking news, the folks in the Bay Area suddenly are concerned Queen Nancy won't be bringing home the pork. Oh well.

NYDN: Jon Stewart Rally as 'Astroturfed' as Tea Party Events

This rockhead laments Obama's gross overexposure the past couple of years as a reason why he's so unpopular, but misses the target by a mile with a lame swipe at Tea Partiers. It's a popular cliche with the left that Tea Party events are somehow organized by the GOP while Democrat gatherings are just spontaneous gatherings by folks clamoring for change. Nothing like getting it backwards. Still, he seems to coming coming to his senses that Obama has degraded the office by spreading himself so thin and appearing on any outlet that'll have him. We noticed this over a year ago when he started making basketball picks on ESPN, and apparently this guy has finally figured it out.

President Obama should make the most of his "Daily Show" appearance on Wednesday night - charming the pants off Jon Stewart and the crowd, as he did when he showed up there two years ago. It's a terrific show, Stewart is a great interviewer and Obama makes good television.

Then, the President should cancel all future trivial media appearances. While they may have kept him personally popular, in broad terms they've degraded the Obama brand.

Obama's handlers were supposed to be smarter than this. They were supposed to use his celebrity strategically to advance his agenda. Instead, they've been indiscriminate, carpet-bombing Americans with the man they elected rather than launching communications smart weapons.

The result is that for millions of Americans, the very likable, charming Obama has become a constant tone in the background rather than an occasional, convincing, presidential voice in the foreground - the kind that makes your ears perk up.

Sorry to interrupt the slobbering, but Obama isn't that charming and not all that likable. If he was his approval rating wouldn't be in the toilet.

Consider all the quasi-entertainment media appearances he's made, most of them frivolous.

He went on ESPN twice to announce his Final Four picks. He went on "The View" (drawing 6.5 million viewers). He had a "Christmas at the White House" special with Oprah Winfrey. He went on Jay Leno - becoming the first sitting President to appear on a late-night show. He was on the cover of Rolling Stone, giving a revealing interview looking back on his first 18 months in office. In December, he'll be going on the Discovery Channel's "MythBusters."

All that's left, apparently, is to be a guest voice on "The Simpsons," though I'm sure that's in the offing. Banksy will animate.

This "Daily Show" appearance makes a second strategic mistake. By chumming it up with Stewart just days before the Rally to Restore Sanity, Obama and Stewart are coopting each other. The President is killing two mockingbirds with one stone.

Without Obama's and Oprah's fingerprints on it, the rally might have looked like a semi-spontaneous uprising by moderate-as-hell Americans sick and tired of the extremists. Now, it'll appear to be a Democratic Party event, through and through - every bit as "Astroturfed" as most of the big Tea Party events.

Ready, fire, aim. It's this smug interpretation of a popular uprising why guys like this will be left scratching his pointy head next Tuesday wondering why all those stupid extremists have overwhelmingly rejected Obama and the Democrats. They just don't get it, and we're fine with that. Keep insulting the public. It doesn't hurt us, it just motivate us more to crush you at the polls and keep a smile on our face while doing it.

More on the smugness and arrogance of the left that's just killing them.

The smug condescension in this — we’re losing because voters are panicky and confused — is matched only by its apparent cluelessness. Does Obama really believe that demeaning ordinary Americans is the way to improve his party’s fortunes? Or that his dwindling job approval is due to the public’s weak grip on “facts and science’’ and not, say, to his own divisive and doctrinaire performance as president?

Perhaps he does. Or perhaps he just says such things when speaking to liberal donors. It was at a San Francisco fundraiser in 2008 that Obama described hard-pressed citizens in the small towns of Pennsylvania as “bitter’’ people who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them . . . as a way to explain their frustrations.’’

Obama is far from alone in looking down his nose at the great unwashed. Last month, Senator John Kerry explained that Democrats are facing such headwinds these days because voters are easily swayed dolts: “We have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on, so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth.’’

Meanwhile, the rise of the Tea Party movement, one of the most extraordinary waves of civic engagement in modern American politics and a major driver of the 2010 election season, has drawn no end of scorn from Democrats and their cheerleaders in the media.

A perfect segue to this buffoon.

Obama the Uniter: 'Young, Old, Black, White — Everyone Was Pissed Off'

Barack Obama's making friends fast. I hope that money he picked up in LA the other night was worth it.

We have one word for you, Mr. President, the next time you want to sweep into Los Angeles late on a weekday afternoon: Helicopter. That way, you can avoid the streets the rest of us mere residents must use to get around.

President Obama's fundraising mission in Los Angeles on Monday evening may have been a whirlwind trip for him, but it was a tedious slog for the thousands who found themselves in gridlock from the Westside to downtown.

A Brentwood resident's two-mile jaunt took 45 minutes. An Echo Park couple who left home at 5:30 p.m. found their usual 20-minute drive west to Olympic and Rimpau boulevards took a whopping hour and 15 minutes. An attorney left his Miracle Mile-area office at 5:45 p.m. and sat unmoving in traffic for 45 minutes.

No matter their politics, Los Angeles residents found themselves united. "It was a beautiful thing," said Brentwood resident Myles Berkowitz, commiserating with his neighbors on Montana Avenue. "Young, old, black, white — everyone was pissed off."

Then again, what does he have to worry about? The knuckleheads in California will still probably elect him again.

All this traffic angst was stirred up by street closures as the president made his way from the Beverly Hilton hotel to the Hancock Park home of "West Wing" and "ER" producer John Wells to raise $1 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Frustrated motorists took to websites — including that of the Los Angeles Times — to vent.

"If you want an investigation, start with John Wells and everyone at his fundraiser who thought this was a good idea," wrote one man on The Times' website. "Yes, I understand that the actions yesterday were at the Secret Service's direction, but you'd think the president should know by now that when he travels, this is what happens. He could have easily said no or done it at a hotel near the airport. All of that yesterday for a million bucks, just phenomenally inconsiderate."

Indeed, raising money may have cost Obama some goodwill, mused one public relations professional who had her commute Tuesday morning to her Santa Monica office lengthened by 15 minutes as authorities cordoned off streets for the president's departure.

"This probably won't affect people's view of Obama long term, but it's not a very good P.R. move," said Karen Diehl.

Deprived of his straight-shot commute east on Wilshire Boulevard, physical therapist Chris Hisamune had to wind his way from Santa Monica east then north then south and even briefly backtracking west before heading east again to his Beverly Hills office.

"It did sweep through my head: I'm never voting for Obama again," Hisamune said.

Hot Air links. Thanks!

'Can He Really Think He's More Important Than the Tens of Thousands of People Trying to Get Home to Their Families?'

Does Obama think he's more important that the little people? Does anyone even need to ask that question? The hero of the working people showed up in LA Monday to grab some cash from Hollywood fatcats and with his usual impeccable timing did so at rush hour.

Despite inconveniencing anyone wanting to drive, the LA Times spins wildly.

With a quick visit to Los Angeles at rush hour, President Obama raised $1 million Monday for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

He also alienated some Angelenos, at least temporarily, as his motorcade mangled evening traffic en route from the Beverly Hilton to the Hancock Park home of producer John Wells, whose credits include "West Wing," "ER" and "Southland."

Onlookers lined Olympic Boulevard, snapping cellphone photos. One person held a small sign declaring, "We need jobs."

Although it was a friendly crowd, the street closures snared not just vehicles but pedestrians — if calls, e-mails and posts to The Times' website were any guide.

So the Times apparently was inundated by e-mails, calls and posts, yet it was a friendly crowd that was stuck in their vehicles?

Sure.

"I was an Obama supporter, but … was stopped by police from crossing Olympic to get home … during my daily dog walk," Amy Christine said on the website. "I've lost all belief in his judgment. Can he really think he's more important than the tens of thousands of people trying to get home to their families?"

They said if John McCain was elected people would be stopped randomly while walking their dogs...

The Los Angeles Police Department said that it had received several calls from people about the traffic and that the Secret Service had not shared street-closure information with the department.

Immigration rights supporters demonstrated in Hancock Park dressed in costumes from "The Wizard of Oz." Their signs asked, "Obama, where is the reform?"

Despite the anger and frustration in the streets, the atmosphere inside the fundraiser was relaxed.

So wait a minute. There was anger and frustration in the streets, but it was a friendly crowd? Man, I'd hate to see what an unfriendly crowd looked like.

Meanwhile, things were even friendlier with the beautiful people.

The president strode to the microphone in the cool of the setting sun, amid a garden of lemon trees, a manicured lawn and a long aquamarine pool.

"What a spectacular evening," Obama said. "Let's just hang out."

Let's just hang out. That pretty much symbolizes his presidency. He'd rather hang out, be it with athletes, movie stars or on one of his myriad vacations. He wants to play president, but not really do anything.

About 200 people attended, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D- San Francisco), J.J. Abrams, Judd Apatow, Taye Diggs and his wife, Tony Award winner Idina Menzel.

The entry fee was $2,500, but co-hosts — including Abrams, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg, and Barbra Streisand — paid $30,400 a couple. They didn't all attend, however.

Obama told the crowd that he and congressional Democrats, through the economic stimulus measure, had "made the biggest investments in clean energy in our history — building solar panels and wind turbines and advanced batteries."

Oh yeah, clean energy. A lot of good that does while tying up LA traffic during rush hour.

Obama will move on to Washington state to hang out some more today.

Barack Obama is scheduled to arrive in Seattle Tuesday for his first visit as president, part of a three-day, five-state blitz to raise money for Democrats heading into the fall elections.

Poor thing will be exhausted after that five-state blitz. Oh well, he'll have 10 days of golf, ice cream and staged photo-ops on Martha's Vineyard to unwind before getting back to doing what he does best: hang out.

Update: When you've lost the HuffPosters...

It took my wife an hour and half to make the two mile commute home Monday, after the secret service closed some of LA's busiest streets at rush hour to shuttle the president from his Beverly Hills hotel to a fundraiser for Congress hosted by the producer of West Wing.

As the White House tweeted about Potus meeting the Hollywood West Wingers, LA's usually-snarled Westside traffic stood still. Moms and dads couldn't get home. Child care providers raked in the after-hour penalties. The liberals once flooded with hope had nothing but road rage for their inconsiderate president, as they tuned in their car radio to find he was keeping them from their families to raise big bucks for a Congress, which has an approval rating only slightly north of Al Qaeda

But remember, it was a friendly crowd.

Update: Here's a sampling of some really "friendly" comments.

I am outraged that the president has chosen rush hour to travel through LA, and that law enforcement has not adequately routed traffic elsewhere. Obama has single handedly alienated hundreds of thousands of voters leaving them stranded for hours, unable to get in my case a few blocks. I finally left my car illegally parked in a permit only neighborhood just to get home. If I get a ticket, I will most certainly contest it. It's very hard to understand the total lack of respect for the working class here.

...

That's it, I'm done. I even voted for him, but now I'm convinced that I'll vote for anyone but him in the next election. If this is how he handles something as mundane as a visit to Los Angeles, I have zero confidence in his and his team's ability to navigate the complex issues facing the country today. Who's the incompetent who figured it was OK to shut down Santa Monica and Olympic during rush hour? And how about the radio traffic reporters who said that they couldn't tell listeners which streets were closed because of "security." Someone should lose their job over this...in addition to Obama in 2012.

...

A million people can't get home tonight, and for what? So a tiny group of fundraisers can kiss Obama's butt for a few minutes? Tonight Angelenos learn what this President thinks of them. We are all nowhere near as important, trying to get home to our kids from our jobs, as the President's fundraiser.

This isn't the first time it's happened either, but by far the worst. When he was here for Boxer's thing a few months back that was a traffic disaster as well. He really needs to stay the hell out of this city unless he can take his chopper to the event.

My, how friendly.

Obama State Department Pulls Warning About Racism in Spain, Just in Time For Queen Michelle's Luxury Stay

Nice to see Michelle Obama finally get a chance to unwind and relax after an arduous summer of vacationing with her husband and picking vegetables the labor at the White House has been growing for her. And in typical Obama style, she's going first class all the way, but not before the dolts at the State Department were left with egg all over their faces.

The Obama administration faced an embarrassing diplomatic blunder today after it was forced to pull a warning about racism in Spain - just as the First Lady arrived in the country for a summer holiday.

Staff at the U.S. State Department removed the contentious advice to travellers, which included the phrase 'racist prejudices could lead to the arrest of Afro-Americans who travel to Spain,' on Monday.

The First Lady landed in the Costa del Sol this morning for a break with her youngest daughter Sasha, nine.

She is on a four-day visit and will be staying at the five-star Villa Padierna, rated as one of the world's top 30 hotels, with 40 friends. The party has reserved 60 rooms.

But Mrs Obama's trip now risks being overshadowed by a row about institutionalised racism.

The State Department advice sat alongside information about ETA and Islamist terrorist attacks in the country.

Officials from The Office for Consular Affairs noted that there had been 'isolated reports' of travellers being arrested.

They cited an incident last year in which police detained two US government employees, both of them African-American, for no apparent reason.

But the warning was removed after calls from the Spanish media about Mrs Obama's visit.

The State Department said it was no longer relevant as the incident took place 18 months ago.

America's First Lady's Air Force Two jet touched down at Malaga airport where Mrs Obama, who turns 49 today, arrived wearing sunglasses and carrying a large black bag.

How much are we on the hook for her using AF Two jetting over there? Did her 40 friends travel with her on the taxpayer dime?

These folks sure know how to live large.

The Obama group is expected to occupy 60 to 70 rooms, more than a third of the lodging at the 160-room resort, which consists of hotel rooms, suites and separate villas. Listed prices start at 300 euros, or nearly $400 per night at the resort, which uses Italian marble as a decorative theme.

A shame the millions of American out of work due to her husband's disastrous economic policies can't enjoy such luxury.

Let's hope Mrs. Obama can relax before the grueling 10-day vacation on Martha's Vineyard begins in a couple of weeks.

Sweet Irony: Kerry Hailed Legislation Ending 'Blatant Tax Evasion'

Ah, such laws are merely for the little people, not the wealthy, hypocritical elitists like John Kerry.

Now that Sen. John Kerry has cut a check for something in the neighborhood of $500,000 to cover use and excise taxes on his new $7 million high-seas plaything, Isabel, he gets to sail off into the sunset in peace. But not before we bring you one final postscript.

As you know, the senior senator purchased his New Zealand-built, 76-foot floating palace back in March and ported her in Rhode Island, a state which repealed its boat sales and use tax back in 1993. By doing so, the senator could dodge some $437,500 in state sales taxes and an annual excise tax bill of $70,000.

Of course, Kerry insisted all along that he would be paying whatever dough he owed, but we notice he didn’t fork it over until four embarrassing days after the Track first broke the story!

Which is rather ironic, considering that back in March, when Kerry was taking delivery of his new yacht, he was applauding passage of legislation designed to end “blatant tax evasion.”

The new law, Kerry said, would put an end to a system that allowed “powerful people to hide assets abroad and evade our tax laws.”

“It repulsed me,” he continued, rather dramatically, “that while the average American plays by the rules and pays taxes, some of the biggest corporations avoid paying their fair share.”

One minor quibble with the item is I doubt it was Kerry who cut the check paying off the tab. We suspect it came from his wife's trust fund.

Senator Liveshot: I Always Intended to Pay the Taxes I was Avoiding Paying

So nice to see the Boston Globe getting around to reporting on this story after a week of avoiding it. Just imagine the saturation coverage Scott Brown would receive from them if he skipped paying half a million dollars in taxes.

Senator John F. Kerry yesterday acknowledged for the first time that he mishandled the political fallout from questions about taxes on his new $7 million yacht berthed in Rhode Island, but insisted that he always intended to make the $500,000 payment once he had registered the boat in Massachusetts.

“Our fault,’’ the Massachusetts Democrat said in an interview. “I don’t think I dealt with it fast enough, effectively enough. There’s nobody to blame but myself for that.’’

This is a watershed event in America: A Democrat taking responsibility for his actions. Of course this never would be happening if the Boston Herald didn't expose this fraud.

Last Friday, Kerry issued a less-than-definitive statement about the matter, saying, “If I owe taxes, I will pay promptly.’’ That was followed over the next few days by a series of similar comments, fueling a stream of media reports about whether the senator was trying to dodge Massachusetts taxes.

Then, on Tuesday, Kerry said he would deliver a check for roughly $500,000 — “whether owed or not’’ — to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue to quell the controversy.

Kerry, during a 45-minute session with Globe reporters, repeatedly insisted that he never had any intention of permanently docking the yacht in Rhode Island to avoid paying taxes in Massachusetts.

Asked why he had not paid taxes earlier, he said he has not taken final ownership of the yacht because there were several changes still being made by a designer, whose team is based in Rhode Island. Thus, he said, he was not in a position to pay taxes in Massachusetts.

He said, however, that he could now take possession within days — possibly soon enough to go sailing this weekend. He insisted he always intended on paying taxes after taking possession, notwithstanding the conditionality of his earlier statements.

“If you guys think that John Kerry doesn’t have enough sense of either propriety or common sense, that I’m going to be sailing my boat around Massachusetts where I’m highly recognizable but it’s going to somehow stay in Rhode Island and I’m going to avoid a tax . . . I’d be crazy to think that I’m going to be doing that, and that was never our long-term intention here.’’

He characterized his initial response as definitive. “I said to people, on day one, ‘We will pay all taxes, all taxes, there’s no issue here,’ ’’ he said. But he acknowledged he did not get that message across.

Sure. That's why he was on seen on camera fleeing reporters earlier this week.

Kerry sounded drained at times from dealing with the controversy, explaining how he tried to keep up with the details as he was going “100,000 miles an hour’’ on Senate business. He spoke in his ornate Senate office, which is filled with photos of boating races and a model of the swift boat that he commanded in Vietnam.

He served in Vietnam? Wow, I never heard that one before.

Over recent days, as questions mounted, Kerry’s frustration showed; at one point he slammed a car door in front of a pack of reporters as he asked, “Can I get out of here, please?’’

Yesterday, even as he faulted himself for his handling of the controversy, he was defensive over the brouhaha.

He insisted that, while he was caught off guard on how the controversy appeared, he did nothing legally wrong in not initially paying the tax.

“Legally, I’m not compelled,’’ he said. “But politically, and in terms of the perception, that is something that came at us unexpectedly, before I had gotten to the point of doing what we needed to do. That’s the way it is, that’s the way life is sometimes. . . . I should have paid more attention and done it faster or whatever. I just didn’t think we had to.’’

Those taxes are for the little people, not the pampered, spoiled elitists like Liveshot.

Suckers Shell Out $30K to Dine With Obama and He Eats Alone

What did these people expect for their $30,000 contribution, to actually dine with King Obama?

Suckers.

The big spenders who shelled out $30,400 a head for dinner with President Obama at the Four Seasons restaurant and at Anna Wintour's house didn't actually break any bread with him.

After starting Tuesday night at a dinner for 60 high-rolling Democratic supporters hosted by hedge-fund billionaire Marc Lasry, Obama headed to a private room at the Four Seasons to wolf down steak, potatoes and broccoli with two aides before heading to Wintour's Greenwich Village home.

Obama arrived at the Four Seasons at 5 p.m. Spies said he gave a short speech and schmoozed with 60 attendees, including Lasry and Joan Ganz Cooney, wife of Blackstone Group's Pete Peterson, and ex-Martha Stewart CEO Sharon Patrick, sitting briefly at each table before dining alone.

His Highness later headed to yet another fundraiser at hosted by Wintour, where he talked fashion. The man has his priorities in order, not to mention a massive ego. His sheer charm is going to win over voters, he claims.

"One table wanted to talk about politics, but a lot of people wanted to talk about stimulating jobs in the fashion industry," said an insider. "Obama was interested in what they had to say, talked about fashion and mentioned his suit designer in Chicago." Senior advisor Valerie Jarrett trailed the president throughout the evening. "She sat at all the tables and took copious notes on what they were saying," said our source.

Obama also gave a brief speech, saying he's not worried about his low poll numbers and he plans to tour the nation to drive the message home to voters about his administration's achievements so far. "I've got my message across before and I'll do it again. This I know how to do," he said.

Millions of people are out of work due to his disastrous economic policies yet he gets to schmooze about his personal suit designer.

Shipwreck: Kerry's Luxury Yacht Built in New Zealand

Not only did Massachusetts Senator John Kerry dodge helping feed the children by skipping out on his state taxes, but now we discover the Good Ship Lurch wasn't even built in the United States. He obviously doesn't care about helping struggling American families while throwing his sugar mama's money around.

New England boat builders say shame on Sen. John Kerry for buying a $7 million New Zealand-built luxury yacht while local ship makers struggle to find work.

“Darn, that would have been a wonderful job for a Maine builder,” said Jane Wellehan, president of the trade group Maine Built Boats. “If someone comes to build a $7 million boat that would employ half the population of some towns for a year or two. Boat building is such a critical component of our coastal economy.”

Gregory Egan, who owns the Crosby Yacht Yard in Osterville, said Bay State boat builders must feel cut adrift by Kerry as well.

“I’m confident that anything constructed in New Zealand could be constructed here in the state,” he said. “From a political perspective, it seems to me he could have thought twice about that one.”

News that Kerry was docking the 76-foot custom-built sloop in Newport, R.I., was first reported in the Herald Friday. Sources told the Herald the yacht cost $7 million, meaning Kerry would owe the state more than $500,000 in excise and sales taxes.

The Isabel has two VIP main cabins, a glossy teak interior and a wet bar and wine storage in the pilothouse. It is billed as a “departure from the norm in the opulent world of yachting” and designed to be piloted without a crew.

With the nation enduring a nasty economy, painful joblessness and extreme belt-tightening, word of the luxury yacht’s foreign construction - as Americans yearn for work - could create a political tempest for Kerry.

“The message is, ‘The American boat builders aren’t good enough, and the Massachusetts people aren’t good enough to maintain it.’ It’s just a bad message all around,” said Connecticut boater Steve Potter, who docks in Charlestown.

The commenters at the link are having a field day.

Howie Carr weighs in.

This is the most amusing story of the summer, by far. Great work, Inside Track. You can tell how devastating it is by the way the Globe is giving it a good leaving-alone, with wire copy. Yes, the Globe, the same dying broadsheet that railed for days about how two small-fry pols named Christy Mihos and Jack E. Robinson were trying to avoid paying their, uh, fair share of taxes on boats that were basically dinghies, at least compared to the Botched Joke.

Of course the difference was Mihos and Robinson were Republicans. Liveshot is one of the Beautiful People. Nothing to see here folks, move along. Filthy-rich Democrats refusing to pay their taxes isn’t news. Just ask Charlie Rangel, or Tim Geithner, or Tom Daschle.

Do as I say, not as I do. Taxes for thee but not for me. Just like when the Kennedys were allowed to file Rose’s will for probate in low-tax Florida, even though she hadn’t left Massachusetts for the last 12 years of her life.

John Kerry was for higher taxes before he was against them.

If he doesn’t like the name Botched Joke, perhaps Liveshot could take a hint from an old Beach Boys song and call it the Sloop Tax Free. Or go further back in musical history and lift the title of an old Louie Prima tune - the S.S. Just a Gigolo. Or the S.S. Manny Ortiz, or the S.S. Flip Flop.

Or maybe the S.S. Do You Know Who I Am?

Party Time: Obamas Hosting Another White House Concert Tonight

Fresh of yet another vacation, the Obamas return just in time to party it up some more tonight.

Tony Award winners Nathan Lane, Audra McDonald, Tonya Pinkins and Marvin Hamlisch are part of "A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House" July 19 in Washington, DC.

The Broadway-themed evening is presented as part of the White House's "In Performance" concert series. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama host the 7 PM concert that will be filmed for an Oct. 20 broadcast on PBS.

Just last month they had Paul McCartney at the White House, where he insulted President George W. Bush. I wonder which guest will make an ass of themselves tonight?

When Obama said he wouldn't rest until the BP oil spill was plugged, we didn't realize he meant he'd play golf, vacation and party nonstop.

'Everyone Should Have a Chief of Staff and a Set of Personal Assistants'

I guess America isn't a downright mean country any more. Must be great to have the media slobbering all over you, the ability to buy $540 sneakers and have a set of personal assistants.

Ah, the life of an elitist.

First lady Michelle Obama called her "current life" in the White House "a very blessed situation, because I have what most families don't have -- tons of support all around, not just my mother, but staff and administration. I have a chief of staff and a personal assistant, and everyone needs that."

"Everyone should have a chief of staff and a set of personal assistants," Obama said with a laugh as she spoke before a crowd of business executives meeting today during a "Corporate Voices for Working Families" conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.

Along with the issues of community service and military families, Obama has said as first lady she wants to focus on the struggles of working families.

I bet those "working families" could use a set of personal assistants.

Oh, and an aside to the Washington Post: You might want to start monitoring your comments.