McDonald’s Hires Former Obama Spokesman Robert Gibbs To Help Build A “Progressive Burger Company”…

Mooch not pleased.

OAK BROOK, IL (Marketwired via COMTEX) — McDonald’s Corporation today announced the appointments of Robert Gibbs as Executive Vice President, Global Chief Communications Officer and Silvia Lagnado as Executive Vice President, Global Chief Marketing Officer. Both will report to McDonald’s President and CEO Steve Easterbrook.

“Robert and Silvia are both highly-respected, talented leaders who will bring a wealth of experience and outside perspective to McDonald’s as we build a more modern, progressive burger company,” said Easterbrook. “Returning excitement to our business proposition and brand is foundational to our turnaround plan, and Robert and Silvia — with their respective teams — will play critical roles in bringing this strategy to life.”

In his new role, Gibbs will lead McDonald’s corporate relations group, which manages internal and external communications and government and public affairs. He will lead McDonald’s in communicating clear, coordinated messages to internal and external constituencies, enhancing the brand and supporting corporate strategies.

Step #1: Hire this man as the new face of McDonald’s:

Via: Weasel Zippers

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[VIDEO] Gibbs: ‘Inexplicable’ If Someone Involved in Creation of Obamacare Website Isn’t Fired

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
December 2, 2013 12:46 pm

Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday on Now With Alex Wagner it would be “inexplicable” if somebody or a whole team of people were not fired for their role in the disastrous rollout of the Obamacare website.

Now an MSNBC contributor, Gibbs said if such action wasn’t taken by the spring, he would be surprised:

ALEX WAGNER: Robert, I think the big picture question here is does the White House learn anything or do anything tangible in response? Ron Fournier calling in his own way — the sensational title of his piece is, ‘Fire your team, Mr. President.’ Or I think it was, ‘President Obama needs to fires himself.’ Not literally, of course, but practically he needs to shake up his team. You have said that you think once these problems have been fixed that there will be some staffing changes. Do you still think that’s true and do you think it needs to be as dramatic as what Ron Fournier suggests?

ROBERT GIBBS: I don’t think it should be as dramatic as the president firing himself.

WAGNER: Yes, nor do I think that’s constitutionally possible.

Via: WFB

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Robert Gibbs: ‘The Last Thing I Would Want to Do’ Is Take Over Obamacare Implementation

Former White House Press Secretary and MSNBC contributor Roberts Gibbs told MSNBC on Monday that, even if President Barack Obama’s administration can iron out the problems with the Affordable Care Act’s implementation, they cannot regain the public trust without a personnel shakeup. When asked if he would consider being part of the new team at the White House overseeing the ACA’s implementation, Gibbs said definitively that he would not. 

“I do not see how the administration goes forward implementing health care reform into next year with the same team at HHS and CMS that brought us this roll-out,” Gibbs said. “You simply cannot repair your credibility with the American people by having the same people captaining the ship.”

RELATED: Robert Gibbs on Today: Someone Should Have ‘Already Lost Their Job’ Over Obamacare

“Have they called you yet to say could you please come back?” Alex Wagner asked.

“The last thing I would want to be in charge of is health care,” Gibbs replied.

“I am not coming back, Definitively,” Wagner concluded, summarizing Gibbs’ position.

Watch the clip below via MSNBC:

Via: Mediaite.com

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[VIDEO] Gibbs: 'Certainly' Wrong of President to Promise People Could Keep Their Health Care Plans

President Obama's former press secretary, Robert Gibbs, says it was "certainly" wrong for the president to continuously promise that people would be able to keep their health care plans under Obamacare:

"Robert. you're a communications guy and you were there," said an MSNBC host this morning. "How could the president say, and there's a clip we'll show where he says it many, many, many, many -- I remember it -- 'You can keep your plan.' When you know that 5 percent of the people, and 5 percent is obviously a small part of the story and overall the impact if you believe in this law is better than what happens here, but it's millions of people. You know what's going to happen in the press. You know there's going to be hardships for those people. Why would you let your president say that?"

"Well, look, I don't recall significant discussions around some of the verbage on this, to be a hundred percent honest with you," said Gibbs this morning.

"But do you agree it was a wrong move?"

"Oh, well, certainly," said Gibbs. "I mean, I don't think anybody dealing with this today finds what was said. Now, I do think some explanation in terms of the fact that policies that were in place at the point at which the president signed them were grandfathered in for this."

Via: Weekly Standard

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3 Liberals Who Are EMBARRASSED By ObamaCare's Disastrous Implementation ... How Many More Are Out There?

While many liberals are busy explaining away the disastrous launch of Obamacare’s online exchanges, these men of the left are big enough to admit all has not gone well.

1.) The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein

The liberal pundit is a big Obamacare booster, but he concedes that the program’s launch has been something less than triumphant.

“So far, the Affordable Care Act’s launch has been a failure,” Klein wrote in a Monday post entitled, “Five Thoughts on the Obamacare disaster.” “Not ‘troubled.’ Not ‘glitchy.’ A failure. But ‘so far’ only encompasses 14 days. The hard question is whether the launch will still be floundering on day 30, and on day 45.”

“A lot of liberals will be angry over this post,” he continued toward the end of his article. “A lot of conservatives will be happy about it. But it’s important to see the Affordable Care Act as something more than a pawn in the political wars: It’s a real law that real people are desperately, nervously, urgently trying to access. And so far, the Obama administration has failed them.”

“The Obama administration’s top job isn’t beating the Republicans,” he added. “It’s running the government well. On this — the most important initiative they’ve launched — they’ve run the government badly. They deserve all the criticism they’re getting and more.”

2.) Comedian Jon Stewart

The liberal host of “The Daily Show” isn’t exactly an Obamacare fan — it appears he would prefer a single-payer system. Nonetheless, he conducted a brutal interview of Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius last week, in which he mocked the launch of Obamacare’s online exchanges for being an unmitigated disaster.

“We’re going to do a challenge. I’m going to try and download every movie ever made and you are going to try to sign up for Obamacare — and we’ll see which happens first,” Stewart joked after opening a laptop computer.

During the interview, Stewart also questioned the fairness of delaying the employer mandate while not doing the same for the individual mandate, and accused Sebelius 0f lying to him. That’s probably not the type of interview the secretary expected when she signed on to do the show.

3.) Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs

Even Robert Gibbs, who was once one of President Obama’s closest aides, is shocked by the incompetence of Obamacare’s implementation.

“This is excruciatingly embarrassing for the White House and for the Department of Health and Human Services,” Gibbs said Monday on MSNBC, where he is now a contributor. “This was bungled badly. This was not a server problem, just too many people came to the website. This is a website architecture problem.”

Via: Fox News

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[VIDEO] Gibbs: Obamacare Rollout ‘Excruciatingly Embarrassing’

​Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on Monday described the rollout of Obamacare as “excruciatingly embarrassing” for the Obama administration.“This was bungled badly​,” he said. 

“I hope they’re working day and night to get this done and when they get it fixed, I hope they fire some people who were in charge of making sure this thing was supposed to work,” Gibbs told MSNBC. “This is excruciatingly embarrassing for the White House​ and the Department of Health and Human Services.” 

Gibbs dismissed the administration’s claim that the an influx of traffic has caused the websites’ glitches, and called on the president to fire those responsible for sites’ design.​ “This is not a server problem, like too many people came to the website — this is a website architecture problem,” he said. 

Via: NRO

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Eight states hold key to White House

Sorry, Florida. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney may be ardently courting America's biggest battleground state, but their real passion is for Ohio. Because as un-American as it sounds, all votes are not created equal in a presidential election. Don't be offended. With barely two weeks before Nov. 6, it's all about the electoral math. And as uncertain and unpredictable as the campaign looks heading into the final stretch, Ohio remains President Obama's best opportunity to block a Romney win — and Romney's biggest hurdle.

That's why in the past week, four of the top 10 TV markets for campaign ads were in Ohio, and only one was in Florida (Orlando), according to NBC. That's why, since September, Romney and Paul Ryan have done 34 Ohio campaign events and 20 Florida events, while Obama and Joe Biden have done 11 campaign events in Florida and 18 in Ohio.

"If you take Ohio off the board for the Romney campaign they basically have to win seven of the remaining eight battleground states," said Robert Gibbs, a senior Obama campaign adviser.

A president is not elected by the popular vote, but by the electoral votes of each state, and most states are so solidly Democratic or Republican that modern presidential campaigns are waged in eight to 12 states that can swing to one side or another. A resident of deep-red Utah, say, or deep-blue New York, won't see any campaign activity except for fundraising because the candidates need not worry about carrying them.

It takes 270 electoral votes to win. Based on polling and political trends Obama has 191 electoral votes solidly in his corner and Romney 169. Throw in the states that are leaning toward Obama or Romney, and it brings Obama to 237 electoral votes and Romney to 206.

Still up for grabs are eight states with a combined 95 electoral votes: Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, New Hampshire and Florida.

With the right combination, either candidate can win.

Obama's paths

For all the ups and downs of the 2012 campaign, the map has remained remarkably static through much of the past year. North Carolina, which Obama barely won in 2008, now appears to be leaning Romney, but overall the map still offers Obama more plausible paths to victory.

The president's campaign long ago spelled out four basic routes to a second term, and there also are multiple combinations of those paths. Assume he wins the same states John Kerry won in 2004, a total of 246 electoral votes.

• The Western path gives Obama New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Iowa, and brings him to 272 electoral votes.

• The Southern path, looking less likely based on recent North Carolina polling, gets him to 274 with wins in Virginia and North Carolina.

• The Midwest path involves winning Ohio and Iowa, giving Obama 270 votes.

• The simplest of all paths is through Florida. Win the Sunshine State's 29 electoral votes and Obama is re-elected with 275 electoral votes.

Via: Tampa Bay Times

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