DNC chairwoman supports U.S. auto industry so much she owns a Japanese car

Oh, how embarrassing.

Like roll-up-the-tinted-windows-and-slouch-down-in-your-seat embarrassing.

The new chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee was criticizing Republicans who opposed President Obama's bailout of the American automakers union, oh, no, make that American automakers.

"If it were up to the candidates for president on the Republican side," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, "we would be driving foreign cars. They would have let the auto industry in America go down the tubes."

So Michael O'Brien of The Hill newspaper went and checked what kind of automobile loyal-American-car-supporter Debbie Wasserman Schultz owns.

Yup, you guessed it -- Japanese.

Drive as she says, not as she does.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Nissan.com (a 2010 Infiniti FX35 similar to Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Japanese car).

According to Obama, the Guinness in Ireland is much better than the stuff they sell in the U.S.

It was a happy occasion Monday during President Obama's hasty visit to Ireland to see what is deemed his ancestral hometown of Moneygall and stop by Ollie Hayes' pub for a pint.

Yes, during all the official hoo-hah in Dublin the president's motorcade had a limo problem that paralyzed its movement briefly, driving the security folks crazy for a few minutes (See full video below) because a POTUS is not supposed to be exposed to unsecured public like those who videoed the accident.

Thousands had waited hours in Moneygall (Pop. 298) to see the Dunham descendant and Obama worked the crowd's perimeter several times. Obama is a beer fancier and has flown in some favorite Chicago brews at times. And remember when he tried to patch up that confrontation between a Cambridge cop and professor? That wasn't a Tea Summit.

Monday it's what happened inside the Moneygall pub that may not go down too smoothly with the American distributors of Ireland's world-famous Guinness.

The president got to reminiscing good-naturedly about a previous encounter with the tasty liquid.

"The first time I had Guinness," Obama said, "is when I came to the Shannon airport. We were flying into Afghanistan and so stopped in Shannon. It was the middle of the night. And I tried one of these and I realized it tastes so much better here than it does in the States."

Oops.

Then the commander-in-chief blithely added: "What I realized was, is that you guys are -- You’re keeping all the best stuff here!”

And now the video.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Pool, Getty Images

Weekly remarks: GOP's Martha Roby wants more domestic energy; Obama decries subsidies for Big Oil

Weekly remarks by President Obama, as provided by the White House

Recently, there have been signs that the economy is picking up steam. Last month, we saw the strongest job growth in five years, and have added more than three-quarters of a million private sector jobs in just three months. But there are still too many Americans who are either looking for work, or struggling to pay the bills and make the mortgage.  Paychecks aren’t getting any bigger, but the cost of everything from groceries to college tuition keeps on rising. 

Without a doubt, one of the biggest burdens over the last few months has been the price of gasoline. In many places, gas is now more than $4 a gallon, meaning that you could be paying more than $60 to fill up your tank.

These spikes in gas prices are often temporary, and while there are no quick fixes to the problem, there are a few steps we should take that make good sense.

First, we should make sure that no one is taking advantage of consumers at the pump. That’s....

Joe Biden update: He draws Italy duty in June

The peripatetic President Obama is off to El Paso, Texas, today for another speech calling on someone to do something about the nation's broken immigration system. He'll also squeeze in a pair of Democratic Party fundraisers in Austin.

Joe Biden will stay behind to put in another day of useless bipartisan negotiations on comprehensive deficit reduction, which polls indicate will be a hot debate topic in next year's campaigns.

Speaking of growing the nation's deficits, the Obama team has plans to spend $53 billion on high-speed rail infrastructure in the next 72 months, assuming they're around that long -- and they can railroad the Republican House to go along on that fiscal ride.

Biden was in on the big announcement Monday about spending  $2 billion of that fortune on high-speed trains that a few people want in parts of the country.

You'll remember newly-installed Florida Gov. Rick Scott turned down that $2 billion federal train money, citing likely cost overruns and long-term operating expenses on a proposed 84-mile rail link between Tampa and Orlando.

But the Obama administration's Department of Transportation was determined to spend that money on union jobs one way or another.

So it found 22 projects in 15 other states to throw the money at. A large bundle went to the Northeast, of course, where JB used to commute by train from Delaware to the U.S. Capitol, while he was waiting for Obama to grow up.

California's Gov. Jerry Brown, who was just getting into politics when the first trains reached California, intends to use his money to speed up rail service between San Francisco and Los Angeles because his state's citizens are famous for their love of trains over cars.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder will invest his state's money on part of the rail line to Chicago. That way, someday people in Dearborn and Kalamzaoo will  be able to escape those cities at speeds up to 110 miles an hour.

This will be several more busy weeks of travel for both Obama and Biden, although they leave trains for other people to ride. Obama is flying off to Poland, France and Great Britain later this month and also Ireland to track down some very distant relatives for the cameras.

The Bidens, it was announced Monday, have been assigned to visit Italy in early June to join the important 150th anniversary celebration of that country's unification. That should make up for his trip to Finland and Moldova last winter.

The weather should be gorgeous in Italy by then.

 -- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Getty Images (Biden doesn't take the train somewhere); Roberto Gonzalez / Associated Press (another delayed Amtrak train).

Federal budget deadlock threatens Obama family's weekend vacation; more urgent talks today

Week One of President Obama's reelection campaign is sputtering to a close and it sounds like the carburetor needs a little work.

This president likes to talk about what he likes to talk about. For the first two years of his term every poll showed Americans wanted action, not talk, on jobs and the economy. So Obama had Joe "I've Been on the Public Payroll for Generations" Biden work on the economy, while the president talked healthcare. The president got what he wanted.

But Obama's strategy didn't work out too well for dozens of loyal Democrats who saw the public pinkslip coming or got unelected. So Republicans took back the House, where financial legislation originates.

The Ivy League geniuses in Obama's circle know that American voters, as simpleminded as they are, derive their general impression of a president and an economy from two numbers: the standard but misleading unemployment rate and the price of a gallon of gasoline.

Obama promised if we mortgaged the future on that shovel-ready economic stimulus bill....

Inside Obama's energy lecture series: Honest talk or phony outreach?

It's been years since Barack Obama pumped gas into his family Ford.

But somebody told the president that gas prices are going up (another two cents a gallon nationally just yesterday).

Not only are the gas pump price numbers spinning way faster than the gallon numbers, but there's an almost palpable public unease afoot these days.

A compendium of concerns involving a third Middle Eastern war, millions of unemployed, frightening federal deficit numbers, stagnant real estate prices over the foreclosure glut, a string of awful natural disasters, an uncontrollable Congress and a detached president who most Americans want to like but whose public priorities (healthcare over jobs, windmills over jobs, foreign travel over Oval Office work) and private priorities (golf, family travel, parties) often make him seem more like an out-of-touch arrogant ruler than a humble public servant.

Makes you think maybe that elitist 2007 Iowa farm forum slip by Obama revealed more than realized at the time: "Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?”

Obama doesn't intend to do anything about the rising gas prices; that could ease the pressures to adopt his clean energy agenda. And, in fact, he has....

Obama's plan to cut imported oil by one-third: Drill, baby, drill?

President Obama on Wednesday outlined a plan to reduce U.S. imports of foreign oil by one-third over the next 10 years that could have come out of the GOP playbook.

Speaking to students at Georgetown University, the president explained that, due to our nation's heavy reliance on energy, when fuel prices increase as they have recently, it affects many aspects of American life.

"In an economy that relies so heavily on oil, rising prices at the pump affect everybody," Obama told the audience at the school. "Workers, farmers, truck drivers, restaurant owners ... businesses see rising prices at the pump hurt their bottom line. Families feel pinched when they fill up their tank."

Obama seemed to be echoing a certain "drill, baby, drill" hockey mom when he encouraged domestic oil companies to "take advantage of the opportunities they already have," adding that government should encourage those companies to get motivated.

"Right now, the industry holds tens of millions of acres of leases where it's not producing a drop, sitting on supplies of American energy just waiting to be tapped," Obama said. "That’s why part of our plan is to provide new and better incentives that promote rapid, responsible development of these resources.  We’re also exploring and assessing new frontiers for oil and gas development from Alaska to the Mid- and South Atlantic. Because producing more oil in America can help lower oil prices, create jobs and enhance our energy security."

Ticket pic of the week: 'You know, in the last uprising we didn't have cellphones'

"Hello, is this the Tripoli Triple-A?"

 

Related:

Ticket pic of the week: Finding some unburied treasure

Ticket pic of the week: A game of Oval Office catch

Ticket pic of the week: What's your caption for this?

Ticket Pic of the week: Year of the Rabbit off to rough start for this guy

Ticket pic of the week: Even pandas need to play too

Ticket video of the week: Jesse gets down to work

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Hussein Malla /Associated Press

Late-night's best: Arnold returns, Trump's trick, Obama's call and Michelle's diet

As The Ticket's 60,000-plus Twitter followers here and 6,600 Facebook fans here know, we regularly share our daily picks of the late-night jokes of interest, usually before broadcast each night. Feel free to pass them on to friends using the Share buttons above.

Here's the usual Monday morning collection:

Fallon: A Russian airline now has clowns and musicians performing in-flight. 'Cause with crowds and crying babies my first thought is, there should be clowns here.

O'Brien: Arnold Schwarzenegger is returning to the movies. In a 'Terminator' sequel he'll travel back in time to kill the person who suggested he run for governor.

O'Brien: According to Forbes magazine, the richest man in the world is now a man from Mexico. He’s Oprah’s gardener.

O'Brien: Donald Trump denies pretending to run for president just to gain publicity for his TV show. Trump said:....

Morgan Shepherd of NASCAR wins a race -- on foot

Morgan Shepherd for president.

Or at least for the pole position in Sunday's NASCAR race in Las Vegas.

And, while you're at it, Crimefighter of the Week.

As Shepherd parked his rental car in a Wal-Mart parking lot Monday evening, three young men burst out the front door.

OK.

Two seconds later security guards burst out the same door.

You don't have to be from Ferguson, North Carolina, to figure out that scenario.

So naturally, as a fairly fit visitor to Sin City, Shepherd lit out too -- in pursuit. "I just got out and took off after them," Shepherd recalls.

He tackled one of the young men just as he reached a parking lot fence. Shepherd sat on the struggling fellow. Seconds later a Las Vegas police officer raced by, tossing good samaritan Shepherd a pair of handcuffs.

The young man pleaded with Shepherd to let him go. "I told him he shouldn't be stealing stuff," Shepherd says. Adding, "There is just too much of this stuff going on."

All three suspects were apprehended. And Shepherd continued his Wal-Mart shopping trip with wife Cindy.

The good Shepherd drives the No. 89 car for Faith Motorsports for, of course, the Salvation Army -- "Doing the most good."

Oh, by the way, Morgan Shepherd is 69 years old.

He's been racing since 1970, 288 races so far. He's been on the pole seven times, come close to a win 67 times as a Top Ten finisher and driven into Victory Lane 15 times in all those years.

Monday night he ran in.

Who you gonna cheer for this weekend?

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photos: Chris Graythen / Getty Images; Matthew Stockman / Getty Images.