Thanks to my friend, Sam, for sending this. At first when I watched this, I thought it was a joke. Well, of course, Murtha is a joke, a sad pathetic joke, but then I realized he was entirely serious. How in the world does he get elected!! What is wrong with people!
Friday, January 22, 2010
The Lies of Obama, John Ellis, Frontpage Magazine
When politicians are caught out in lies, their supporters often resort to the old cliché: all politicians lie. But that is itself a lie: most don’t. Even among those who do, there are enormous differences in the importance and frequency of the lies. And it is surely now clear that this nation has a far from routine problem in the scale and regularity of President Obama’s lying.
When politicians lie they are usually trying to avoid political damage, or to make themselves look good. Bill Clinton lied (and got himself impeached) to save himself from embarrassment about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Hillary Clinton lied about being under fire in Bosnia to enhance her non-existent foreign affairs profile. Richard Nixon was forced from office because he lied to cover up his involvement in a political dirty trick. John Kerry lied about his Vietnam combat experience to blunt his anti-military reputation. But Barack Obama’s lies are far more corrosive and destructive, because they go the heart of legislation and governance, and so seriously undermine trust in government. His lies generally take a specific form: they attempt to persuade people to vote for him or his policies by categorically assuring them that they need not have the anxieties that they have been expressing. The lies say, essentially: trust me, support what I want, and I promise that what you fear will never happen. But in every case it soon becomes clear either that he knew perfectly well that what the public feared would in fact happen, or that he was giving a firm assurance that he was in no position to give, or that he had no intention of following through on his promise.
The accumulated weight of Obama’s deceit is overwhelming:
* During his campaign for the presidency and since, Obama repeatedly assured us that he would protect Medicare against cuts; but he now presses for passage of bills that include savage cuts in Medicare.
* To obtain passage of his first stimulus bill, Obama assured us that 90% of the jobs created would be in the private sector; but as he well knew, most of them were to be in the public sector.
* Early in the health care debate, Obama assured us that he had not said that he favored a single payer system; but he was on record as having said exactly that.
* Obama gave primary voters a firm assurance that if he became the nominee of the Democratic party he would (unlike Hillary Clinton) abide by the campaign finance limits of public funding; but as soon as he became the party’s nominee, he reneged on that pledge.
* During the presidential campaign Obama criticized the presence of former lobbyists in the Bush administration and solemnly assured us that he would appoint no lobbyists to his administration; but once elected he proceeded to appoint even more lobbyists than his predecessors.
* Obama criticized the size of George Bush’s deficit and promised to stop deficit spending if elected; but he has already quadrupled the size of the deficit he objected to and recklessly continues new federal spending in the trillions.
* When campaigning Obama criticized bills before the congress that were too long for anyone to be able to read and promised to stop that; but the bills he has been backing throughout his first year are infinitely longer (2000+ pages) than the ones he criticized.
* Candidate Obama promised an end to the corruption of earmarks and pork, but in the bills he has supported this year there have been more and bigger earmarks than ever before.
* Candidate Obama promised us that CIA personnel involved in the interrogation of terrorists would not be prosecuted; but his administration is now doing exactly that.
* Obama assured a joint session of Congress that the health bill he supported (pre-Stupak) would not provide public funding for abortions; but bitter resistance on the part of House Democrats to inclusion of language to that effect soon proved that it did.
* Candidate Obama promised that he would make sure that there was always enough time for the public to read legislation before it was enacted; but he has done exactly the opposite, repeatedly pressing for even faster passage of even longer bills.
* Candidate Obama met fears that he would be a tax and spend liberal by promising, emphatically and repeatedly, that those earning under $200,000 would see no increase in their taxes of any kind; but he now urges passage of a healthcare bill that breaks that pledge in many different ways, and his unrestrained increase in federal spending makes more tax increases inevitable.
* Candidate Obama promised bipartisanship and an end to partisan bickering; but in a display of especially ruthless partisanship his allies have shut Republicans out of all key meetings on his health care initiative, with the unprecedented result that domestic legislation of historic importance garnered not a single Republican vote in the Senate.
* Candidate Obama criticized his opponent’s plan to tax employer paid healthcare benefits, and promised he would not tax them; but the bill he now backs will do just that.
* Obama had promised that he would not sign a healthcare bill that would add one dime to the federal deficit; but the bill he now backs adds trillions in new federal spending, offset only by new sources of revenue that are both uncertain and more properly seen as offsetting the already existing deficit.
* Obama coerced congress into passing his stimulus bill by promising that if it were passed unemployment could go no higher then 8%; but unemployment is now at 10%, and he could not possibly have had good reason to exclude that possibility.
* Obama promised that his cap and trade legislation will create jobs; but its massive tax increases will certainly hobble the economy and destroy jobs, while green jobs in significant numbers can at best be hoped for, but never promised.
* Obama has repeatedly assured the American people that if they like their current health plan they can keep it; but the House bill which he supported created huge incentives for employers to drop their coverage and shift their members to a public option.
* Obama has just as often assured the public that under his health plan everyone will be able to keep their current doctor; but many are certain to lose their doctors when ObamaCare’s large cuts in Medicare funding induce more doctors to withdraw from Medicare coverage, as they also would were employers to transfer patients to a public option to save money.
* Obama assured a joint session of Congress that his health plan would not fund illegal aliens; but his allies had been busy voting down amendments to that effect. (This was the point of Joe Wilson’s outburst.)
* Obama claimed that Caterpillar’s CEO had told him that Caterpillar would begin hiring again as a result of the stimulus bill; but that individual immediately announced that he had said no such thing, and that Caterpillar would in fact be laying off more workers.
* Candidate Obama promised that Guantanamo would be closed by January 1, 2010; but it is still open.
* Candidate Obama promised that his administration (unlike his predecessor’s) would be so transparent that TV cameras (C-Span) would be there for key deliberations; but an unprecedented level of secrecy prevails as the final stages of Obamacare are negotiated behind closed doors and kept so secret that even the Senate majority whip admitted that he had no idea what was going on. Requests for Obama to honor the promise of C-Span cameras are being ignored.
* To gain traction for his attempt to return a would-be socialist dictator in Honduras to power, Obama claimed that he had been overthrown in an illegal coup; but the congressional research service pointed out correctly that ex-President Zelaya had been removed for constitutionally sufficient cause by legal and constitutional means.
* Obama claims that he wants a public option only to increase choice and competition; but the House bill would clearly reduce choice both by squeezing unsubsidized private health plans out of the market, and by setting rigid conditions on acceptable plans that would narrow available options.
* Candidate Obama claimed that violent radical Bill Ayers was just another guy in his neighborhood; but the record shows that the two had worked closely together.
* Obama assured us that his stimulus bill would create or save a million jobs; but he was claiming as fact what could never have been more than a wild (and highly improbable) guess, and his more recent attempts to justify that guess have been fraudulent.
* Obama assured us that his health plan would never ration care, or “pull the plug” on grandma; but the legislation he backs sets up panels to make crucial decisions on when to withhold care, and it makes such deep cuts in Medicare that rationing is inevitable.
* Obama now assures us that health insurance premiums will not go up if ObamaCare becomes law, insisting indignantly that people who say this have not read the bill; but the legislation forces insurers to cover preexisting conditions, which will compel them to raise premiums substantially.
This is an extraordinary record of serial mendacity. One or two instances might charitably be regarded as rash promises later regretted, or as the wishful thinking of someone who had not thought through the implications of what he was saying. But when it happens again and again—and my 30 instances are by no means exhaustive—only one judgment seems possible: this is the record of a habitual, shameless liar, a man who will say anything to get what he wants. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, goes the old saying. But scores of times? How shameful is that for our society when this disgraceful record is never the subject of a reproachful editorial in the New York Times, the Washington Post, or CBS news? Richard Nixon was removed from office, and Bill Clinton impeached for a single lie. Who could look at Obama’s record without concluding that his lying is in a completely different league to theirs?
President Obama evidently believes that he can solve any problem with a speech. But he really does not care whether what he says is true or not, nor does he feel any responsibility to honor the assurances and promises he makes. As a result, this nation is now in a position where it cannot believe a word that he says, and that amounts to an unprecedented crisis of confidence in the Presidency. Democratic government will atrophy if we allow lying on this scale to count as the business as usual of politics. When will the press and the Congress hold him accountable?
Read the entire article here
When politicians lie they are usually trying to avoid political damage, or to make themselves look good. Bill Clinton lied (and got himself impeached) to save himself from embarrassment about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Hillary Clinton lied about being under fire in Bosnia to enhance her non-existent foreign affairs profile. Richard Nixon was forced from office because he lied to cover up his involvement in a political dirty trick. John Kerry lied about his Vietnam combat experience to blunt his anti-military reputation. But Barack Obama’s lies are far more corrosive and destructive, because they go the heart of legislation and governance, and so seriously undermine trust in government. His lies generally take a specific form: they attempt to persuade people to vote for him or his policies by categorically assuring them that they need not have the anxieties that they have been expressing. The lies say, essentially: trust me, support what I want, and I promise that what you fear will never happen. But in every case it soon becomes clear either that he knew perfectly well that what the public feared would in fact happen, or that he was giving a firm assurance that he was in no position to give, or that he had no intention of following through on his promise.
The accumulated weight of Obama’s deceit is overwhelming:
* During his campaign for the presidency and since, Obama repeatedly assured us that he would protect Medicare against cuts; but he now presses for passage of bills that include savage cuts in Medicare.
* To obtain passage of his first stimulus bill, Obama assured us that 90% of the jobs created would be in the private sector; but as he well knew, most of them were to be in the public sector.
* Early in the health care debate, Obama assured us that he had not said that he favored a single payer system; but he was on record as having said exactly that.
* Obama gave primary voters a firm assurance that if he became the nominee of the Democratic party he would (unlike Hillary Clinton) abide by the campaign finance limits of public funding; but as soon as he became the party’s nominee, he reneged on that pledge.
* During the presidential campaign Obama criticized the presence of former lobbyists in the Bush administration and solemnly assured us that he would appoint no lobbyists to his administration; but once elected he proceeded to appoint even more lobbyists than his predecessors.
* Obama criticized the size of George Bush’s deficit and promised to stop deficit spending if elected; but he has already quadrupled the size of the deficit he objected to and recklessly continues new federal spending in the trillions.
* When campaigning Obama criticized bills before the congress that were too long for anyone to be able to read and promised to stop that; but the bills he has been backing throughout his first year are infinitely longer (2000+ pages) than the ones he criticized.
* Candidate Obama promised an end to the corruption of earmarks and pork, but in the bills he has supported this year there have been more and bigger earmarks than ever before.
* Candidate Obama promised us that CIA personnel involved in the interrogation of terrorists would not be prosecuted; but his administration is now doing exactly that.
* Obama assured a joint session of Congress that the health bill he supported (pre-Stupak) would not provide public funding for abortions; but bitter resistance on the part of House Democrats to inclusion of language to that effect soon proved that it did.
* Candidate Obama promised that he would make sure that there was always enough time for the public to read legislation before it was enacted; but he has done exactly the opposite, repeatedly pressing for even faster passage of even longer bills.
* Candidate Obama met fears that he would be a tax and spend liberal by promising, emphatically and repeatedly, that those earning under $200,000 would see no increase in their taxes of any kind; but he now urges passage of a healthcare bill that breaks that pledge in many different ways, and his unrestrained increase in federal spending makes more tax increases inevitable.
* Candidate Obama promised bipartisanship and an end to partisan bickering; but in a display of especially ruthless partisanship his allies have shut Republicans out of all key meetings on his health care initiative, with the unprecedented result that domestic legislation of historic importance garnered not a single Republican vote in the Senate.
* Candidate Obama criticized his opponent’s plan to tax employer paid healthcare benefits, and promised he would not tax them; but the bill he now backs will do just that.
* Obama had promised that he would not sign a healthcare bill that would add one dime to the federal deficit; but the bill he now backs adds trillions in new federal spending, offset only by new sources of revenue that are both uncertain and more properly seen as offsetting the already existing deficit.
* Obama coerced congress into passing his stimulus bill by promising that if it were passed unemployment could go no higher then 8%; but unemployment is now at 10%, and he could not possibly have had good reason to exclude that possibility.
* Obama promised that his cap and trade legislation will create jobs; but its massive tax increases will certainly hobble the economy and destroy jobs, while green jobs in significant numbers can at best be hoped for, but never promised.
* Obama has repeatedly assured the American people that if they like their current health plan they can keep it; but the House bill which he supported created huge incentives for employers to drop their coverage and shift their members to a public option.
* Obama has just as often assured the public that under his health plan everyone will be able to keep their current doctor; but many are certain to lose their doctors when ObamaCare’s large cuts in Medicare funding induce more doctors to withdraw from Medicare coverage, as they also would were employers to transfer patients to a public option to save money.
* Obama assured a joint session of Congress that his health plan would not fund illegal aliens; but his allies had been busy voting down amendments to that effect. (This was the point of Joe Wilson’s outburst.)
* Obama claimed that Caterpillar’s CEO had told him that Caterpillar would begin hiring again as a result of the stimulus bill; but that individual immediately announced that he had said no such thing, and that Caterpillar would in fact be laying off more workers.
* Candidate Obama promised that Guantanamo would be closed by January 1, 2010; but it is still open.
* Candidate Obama promised that his administration (unlike his predecessor’s) would be so transparent that TV cameras (C-Span) would be there for key deliberations; but an unprecedented level of secrecy prevails as the final stages of Obamacare are negotiated behind closed doors and kept so secret that even the Senate majority whip admitted that he had no idea what was going on. Requests for Obama to honor the promise of C-Span cameras are being ignored.
* To gain traction for his attempt to return a would-be socialist dictator in Honduras to power, Obama claimed that he had been overthrown in an illegal coup; but the congressional research service pointed out correctly that ex-President Zelaya had been removed for constitutionally sufficient cause by legal and constitutional means.
* Obama claims that he wants a public option only to increase choice and competition; but the House bill would clearly reduce choice both by squeezing unsubsidized private health plans out of the market, and by setting rigid conditions on acceptable plans that would narrow available options.
* Candidate Obama claimed that violent radical Bill Ayers was just another guy in his neighborhood; but the record shows that the two had worked closely together.
* Obama assured us that his stimulus bill would create or save a million jobs; but he was claiming as fact what could never have been more than a wild (and highly improbable) guess, and his more recent attempts to justify that guess have been fraudulent.
* Obama assured us that his health plan would never ration care, or “pull the plug” on grandma; but the legislation he backs sets up panels to make crucial decisions on when to withhold care, and it makes such deep cuts in Medicare that rationing is inevitable.
* Obama now assures us that health insurance premiums will not go up if ObamaCare becomes law, insisting indignantly that people who say this have not read the bill; but the legislation forces insurers to cover preexisting conditions, which will compel them to raise premiums substantially.
This is an extraordinary record of serial mendacity. One or two instances might charitably be regarded as rash promises later regretted, or as the wishful thinking of someone who had not thought through the implications of what he was saying. But when it happens again and again—and my 30 instances are by no means exhaustive—only one judgment seems possible: this is the record of a habitual, shameless liar, a man who will say anything to get what he wants. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, goes the old saying. But scores of times? How shameful is that for our society when this disgraceful record is never the subject of a reproachful editorial in the New York Times, the Washington Post, or CBS news? Richard Nixon was removed from office, and Bill Clinton impeached for a single lie. Who could look at Obama’s record without concluding that his lying is in a completely different league to theirs?
President Obama evidently believes that he can solve any problem with a speech. But he really does not care whether what he says is true or not, nor does he feel any responsibility to honor the assurances and promises he makes. As a result, this nation is now in a position where it cannot believe a word that he says, and that amounts to an unprecedented crisis of confidence in the Presidency. Democratic government will atrophy if we allow lying on this scale to count as the business as usual of politics. When will the press and the Congress hold him accountable?
Read the entire article here
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Thanks, Mr. President, for the Hope and Change.
Sign posted in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Obama, on the other hand, has said he is quite "comfortable" being a one-term president. Personally, I would like to end his term before it's over, however, it's good to know he feels that way.
Obama ‘Quite Comfortable’ As One-Term President, White House Spokesman Says
Friday, August 21, 2009
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer
President Barack Obama White House (CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama is “quite comfortable” with the prospect of being a one-term president in order to address the issues he is concerned about, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday.
The comment came on the same day the president’s approval reached a new low, with only a 45 percent approval rating in the Zogby International poll released Friday. The poll said that 51 percent disapprove of the president’s job performance. The Real Clear Politics average of all polls puts the president approval rating at 52.2 percent.
Gibbs was addressing a question about a comment made by Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), who said the president told him he is willing to risk a second term to get a health care overhaul bill approved.
Gibbs said that would be true of most issues.
“I don’t know that I’ve specifically heard him on health care,” said Gibbs, “but I have heard the president say that if making tough decisions in getting important things done that Washington has failed to do for decades means that he only lives in this house and makes those decisions for four years, he’s quite comfortable,” Gibbs told reporters at the White House press briefing.
Read the rest of the article here
NEW JERSEY LEGISLATURE REJECTS IN-STATE TUITION FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
N.J. legislature denies in-state tuition for illegal immigrants
By Jonathan Tamari
Inquirer Trenton Bureau
TRENTON - A proposal to let illegal immigrants pay in-state tuition at state colleges and universities failed to get enough support in the Legislature last night, ending its chance of becoming law in the near future.
Sen. Ronald Rice (D., Essex), a sponsor, said he believed the plan was five votes short in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The measure was discussed in closed-door meetings, but was not put up for a vote in either the Senate or Assembly on the final day of the legislative session.
With that, the measure lost its last chance to be voted on before Gov.-elect Christopher J. Christie takes office next Tuesday. He opposes the plan.
Advocates said the measure would help the children of illegal immigrants who attend high school in New Jersey afford college and give them the chance to become more productive members of society. They said children brought to New Jersey by their parents should not be punished for that decision.
Supporters now must regroup after an eight-year push to see the measure approved. Some hope for national immigration reform. Rice said he hoped to discuss the measure with Christie to see if a compromise could be worked out.
Opponents balked at voting for a measure that would provide benefits to illegal immigrants during a time of economic turbulence and angst. Democrats control both houses, but were unable to muster the votes needed in the Senate, where they hold a 22-17 edge with one seat vacant. Republicans had promised uniform opposition.
"There are legal immigrants and U.S. citizens who are struggling today to provide for their children in the highest-taxed state in the country, and they're going to find that they have fewer seats [at public colleges] for their children" if the bill were to be approved, Assemblyman Scott Rudder (R., Burlington) said.
Daniel Santo Pietro, executive director of the Hispanic Directors' Association, an umbrella group for Latino nonprofits, said the difficulty securing votes showed that "the tone" in the public debate was unfavorable for the proposal.
"We just have to overcome the concept, the knee-jerk reaction, to immigration being a problem," Santo Pietro said.
In-state tuition at some schools, including Rutgers, is half as much as out-of-state rates.
Opponents argued that the lower rates were subsidized by legal residents who paid taxes here. Rudder said that if the bill were approved, a Delaware resident who lives in the country legally would pay more to attend Rutgers than an illegal immigrant.
While supporters said they hoped for national changes, the tide on the issue appears to be against them. Ten states allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state rates at public colleges.
But since 2006, at least four states have barred the practice and at least one, South Carolina, has blocked illegal immigrants from enrolling in public colleges.
Under the New Jersey bill, illegal immigrants could have qualified for in-state tuition if they attended a high school in the state for at least three years, graduated or received the equivalent of a diploma from a New Jersey school, and submitted an affidavit that they had applied to legalize their immigration status.
Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray said the showdown carried more lasting political implications than the same-sex marriage vote last week. In bad economic times, he said, blame often falls on immigration.
"There is a public anger out there about benefits to illegal immigrants that could come back to bite some of these legislators in two years when they're running for reelection," Murray said.
After emerging from a closed discussion on the bill in which Democrats realized they did not have enough support, Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D., Union) said it was "a shame" the measure would not pass.
"People were afraid politically that they would be considered to be helping illegal aliens," Lesniak said.
Read entire story here
By Jonathan Tamari
Inquirer Trenton Bureau
TRENTON - A proposal to let illegal immigrants pay in-state tuition at state colleges and universities failed to get enough support in the Legislature last night, ending its chance of becoming law in the near future.
Sen. Ronald Rice (D., Essex), a sponsor, said he believed the plan was five votes short in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The measure was discussed in closed-door meetings, but was not put up for a vote in either the Senate or Assembly on the final day of the legislative session.
With that, the measure lost its last chance to be voted on before Gov.-elect Christopher J. Christie takes office next Tuesday. He opposes the plan.
Advocates said the measure would help the children of illegal immigrants who attend high school in New Jersey afford college and give them the chance to become more productive members of society. They said children brought to New Jersey by their parents should not be punished for that decision.
Supporters now must regroup after an eight-year push to see the measure approved. Some hope for national immigration reform. Rice said he hoped to discuss the measure with Christie to see if a compromise could be worked out.
Opponents balked at voting for a measure that would provide benefits to illegal immigrants during a time of economic turbulence and angst. Democrats control both houses, but were unable to muster the votes needed in the Senate, where they hold a 22-17 edge with one seat vacant. Republicans had promised uniform opposition.
"There are legal immigrants and U.S. citizens who are struggling today to provide for their children in the highest-taxed state in the country, and they're going to find that they have fewer seats [at public colleges] for their children" if the bill were to be approved, Assemblyman Scott Rudder (R., Burlington) said.
Daniel Santo Pietro, executive director of the Hispanic Directors' Association, an umbrella group for Latino nonprofits, said the difficulty securing votes showed that "the tone" in the public debate was unfavorable for the proposal.
"We just have to overcome the concept, the knee-jerk reaction, to immigration being a problem," Santo Pietro said.
In-state tuition at some schools, including Rutgers, is half as much as out-of-state rates.
Opponents argued that the lower rates were subsidized by legal residents who paid taxes here. Rudder said that if the bill were approved, a Delaware resident who lives in the country legally would pay more to attend Rutgers than an illegal immigrant.
While supporters said they hoped for national changes, the tide on the issue appears to be against them. Ten states allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state rates at public colleges.
But since 2006, at least four states have barred the practice and at least one, South Carolina, has blocked illegal immigrants from enrolling in public colleges.
Under the New Jersey bill, illegal immigrants could have qualified for in-state tuition if they attended a high school in the state for at least three years, graduated or received the equivalent of a diploma from a New Jersey school, and submitted an affidavit that they had applied to legalize their immigration status.
Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray said the showdown carried more lasting political implications than the same-sex marriage vote last week. In bad economic times, he said, blame often falls on immigration.
"There is a public anger out there about benefits to illegal immigrants that could come back to bite some of these legislators in two years when they're running for reelection," Murray said.
After emerging from a closed discussion on the bill in which Democrats realized they did not have enough support, Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D., Union) said it was "a shame" the measure would not pass.
"People were afraid politically that they would be considered to be helping illegal aliens," Lesniak said.
Read entire story here
Bitter Harpy, Joyless Behar, Belittles Palin for Bringing Son Trig to Rallies
When you think she can't get any worse, besides the sarcasm about "choosing life," she always seems to get lower than low. Joy Behar, bitter aging woman with a stone for a heart.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
We Have to Make People Understand that He's Not Real...
Picture courtesy of The People's Cube
The Once-Appealing Barack Obama
Peter Wehner - 01.18.2010 - 8:46 AM
Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary of Barack Obama’s inauguration. It has been, by almost any measure, a difficult and disappointing year for him and his party.
Mr. Obama now has the highest disapproval rating in Gallup’s history for a president entering his second year in office. According to a new Washington Post–ABC News poll, among independents, only 49 percent approve — the lowest of any of his recent predecessors at this point in their presidencies. (Obama has lost a stunning 18 points among independents in just a year’s time.) In November, Democrats suffered crushing defeats in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial campaigns — and if Republican Scott Brown prevails in his race against Martha Coakley in tomorrow’s Senate election in Massachusetts, it will rank among the most important non-presidential elections in our lifetime.
It has been a staggering collapse by a president who entered office with enormous support and an unprecedented amount of goodwill.
The reasons for this slide include unemployment rates that are much higher than the Obama administration predicted, job growth that never materialized despite the president’s promises, a record-setting spending binge, a massive and hugely unpopular health-care proposal, and an agenda that is far too liberal for most Americans.
But there is another, and I think quite important, explanation that was reinforced to me while reading John Heilemann and Mark Halperin’s book, Game Change, which is a fascinating (and very well-written) account of the 2008 presidential campaign.
One is reminded once again of how the core of Obama’s popularity was an appeal not to policy or to a governing agenda; instead it was an appeal to thematics and narrative. “Obama cast himself as a figure uncorrupted and unco-opted by evil Washington,” the authors write. He was the candidate who “promised to be a unifier and not a polarizer; someone nondogmatic and uncontaminated by the special-interest cesspool that Washington had become.” Obama’s appeal was romantic and aesthetic, built on the rhetoric of hope and change, on his “freshness and sense of promise.” A cult of personality built up around Obama — not because of what he had achieved but because of what he seemed to embody. (”Maybe one day he’ll do something to merit all this attention,” Michelle Obama dryly told a reporter.)
“We have something very special here,” Obama’s top political aide Axelrod is quoted as saying. “I feel like I’ve been handed a porcelain baby.” Axelrod tells Obama — dubbed by his aides as the “Black Jesus” — that voters were looking for “a president who can bring the country together, who can reach beyond partisanship, and who’ll be tough on special interests.”
That was what we were promised. What we got instead is a president who increased the divisions in our nation, the most partisan and polarizing figure in the history of polling, one who is dogmatic and has been as generous to special interests as any we have seen. The efforts to buy votes in pursuit of the Obama agenda has added sewage to the cesspool.
This would hurt any president under any circumstances; for Barack Obama, whose allure was based almost entirely on his ability to convince the public that he embodied a “new politics,” it has been doubly damaging. It was Hillary Clinton of all people who understood Obama best when she said during the campaign, “We have to make people understand that he’s not real.”
Not real indeed. Obama’s stirring call for Americans to reject the “politics of cynicism” was itself deeply cynical. Perhaps none of this should come as a surprise. After all, Heilemann and Halperin write, Axelrod was “a master of the dark arts of negative campaigning.” The first major profile of him, more than 20 years ago, was titled, “Hatchet Man: The Rise of David Axelrod.”
Obama and Axelrod might have been able to get away with this if Obama’s presidency had been viewed as successful and skilled. But it’s not. And when combined with the growing realization that Obama is not up to the task of governing, that he is pursuing policies that exacerbate our problems and takes us down a wrong and even perilous path, it is poison. The toxicity is such that what was once unthinkable now seems more likely than not: Democrats losing the Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy for almost half a century. And even if they don’t, 2010 is shaping up to be a perfectly awful year for Democrats. It’s a safe bet that in response they and their allies will lash out in rage, angry at the perceived injustice of it all, furious at the fate that has befallen them. They will blame Obama’s predecessor, Republicans in Congress, the conservative movement, angry white males, Fox News, Sarah Palin’s tweets, and the wrong alignment of the stars. It won’t work.
Having created a myth, they must now live with its unmasking.
Full article can be viewed here
SCOTT BROWN WINS MASSACHUSETTS
Coakley has conceded. As of this moment, with 93% of precincts reporting, Brown leads by 5. AP has called it for Brown. Obama has called Brown to congratulate him. Ladies and gentlemen, the fat lady has sung and oh what a glorious sound it is. Congratulations, Senator Brown. For the first time in 6 decades, a conservative holds this seat. Fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride. I would be remiss if I did not also thank the fine people of Massachusetts for making this happen. My hat is off to you. You have made a difference!
The Truth About Obamacare, for those who hadn't the time to read this elephant of a bill.
It's worse than I thought. WAY worse. Thanks to my friend, Samanta, for passing this along to me. If you don't watch this, you're an ostrich. I'm sorry, but that's the way I feel.
Coakley Alleges Voter Irregularity in Memo Released Today, dated YESTERDAY!!!
I guess they thought no one would notice. I guess they thought since the Democratic senate seat had belonged so very long to a man who got there on his name and stayed there on it (Edward Kennedy), despite having killed a woman, they really didn't have to bother with being totally correct on anything. The thing is, people are noticing and it appears that the voters of Massachusetts are setting what may be an historic precedent. Throw da bums out, Massachusetts!!! I hope this is the first in a huge tidal wave of revolt by the American People, not just against Democrats but against all politicians who do not vote in favor of what the American people want.
Voter Fraud Caught on Tape in Massachusetts. H/T Gateway Pundit
Not long after the Coakley camp issues a memo alleging voter irregularity (which, incidentally was dated YESTERDAY), a woman in Lawrence, MA, is carrying around blank absentee ballots in Spanish today. She explains to the bloggers who took the video how she’s telling people to mark Martha Coakley’s name. The woman handing out the ballots identifies herself as “Isabel Melendez” and says she has a talk show in which she promoted Coakley’s candidacy. The deadline for absentee ballots was Friday. My question is, when are they arresting her? Talk show host? Oh my. Ms. Melendez identifies herself as a "community activitist."
Nancy Pelosi "I Haven't Paid a Whole Lot of Attention Because I Have Been Busy Traveling..."
Does she look bad in this video or what! Usually together and much botoxed Nancy looks like she hasn't slept in awhile. This is going to be a very stressful day for the Democrats with the special election in Massachusetts. If all predictions are correct, Brown has it in the bag. In the meantime, Pelosi is simply frightening and I don't mean just her appearance. She lies so effortlessly. Who are the people who keep electing her? I can't imagine.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Obama siilenced by Pro-Life Heckler at rally for Coakley.
One would think "The One" would have learned how to handle hecklers by now. George Bush was a master at it and he never lost a beat. But this one Pro-Lifer shut him down. Holding a sign that says "JESUS LOVES ALL BABIES," this brave man entered the lion's den. Some say heckling should not be allowed. I say, he speaks truth and the truth should always have a voice. I would have been there with him if I could. Someone must speak for those innocents who have no voice. I don't care what the venue.
Friday, January 15, 2010
I Am A Terrorist!!!
Obama’s TSA Nominee Characterized Groups That Were Domestic Security Threats as ‘Anti-Abortion’ and Having ‘Christian Identity’
Thursday, January 14, 2010
By Matt Cover, Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) - Erroll Southers, who President Barack Obama has nominated to head the Transportation Security Administration, described groups that were a domestic security threat as being "anti-abortion" and “Christian-identity oriented."
The TSA, an element of the Department of Homeland Security, is responsible for the security of the nation's transportation systems, including commercial air travel. Southers made the remarks in question in a 2008 video interview with the Videojug.com Web site.
Read more about why the Obama Administration defines terrorists as Christians and anti-abortionists here
I am not a white supremist but I most certainly am a Christian and I vehemently oppose abortion. So I am a terrorist.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
By Matt Cover, Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) - Erroll Southers, who President Barack Obama has nominated to head the Transportation Security Administration, described groups that were a domestic security threat as being "anti-abortion" and “Christian-identity oriented."
The TSA, an element of the Department of Homeland Security, is responsible for the security of the nation's transportation systems, including commercial air travel. Southers made the remarks in question in a 2008 video interview with the Videojug.com Web site.
Read more about why the Obama Administration defines terrorists as Christians and anti-abortionists here
I am not a white supremist but I most certainly am a Christian and I vehemently oppose abortion. So I am a terrorist.
Do We Really Want Our Children Taught This!!! Sean Hannity and Michelle Malkin discuss
I know the picture is hard to see, but if you click on it, you can read it very well.
Obama's Safe School Czar, Kevin Jennings, appears to have no problem with what these books say. How about you?
With the revelations that President Obama's choice for Safe Schools Czar, Kevin Jennings, failed to inform anyone about a charge of pedophilia by an under-aged student along with his history of promoting homosexuality in schools, his demonstrated contempt for religion and past drug use, many people and pundits are asking -- "Where is the Vetting"? With Richardson, Daschle, Geitner and Jones all having issues that were easily search-able using this revolutionary top-secrete technology called Google... I have a different take, I think these people were vetted and they are exactly the folks that Obama and his team wanted in these positions!
Any talk of vetting mistakes or mistakenly overlooking potions of their life and history is completely bunk and should call attention to a total breakdown and fundamental incompetency of this administration.
Which brings us to Kevin Jennings, Obama's choice for Safe Schools Czar, with his checkered past and connection too and admiration for a constant defender of the North American Association for Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), Harry Hay
Quote:
Hay had strong opinions and never pandered to popular opinion when he voiced them — whether he was attacking national gay organizations for what he saw as their increasingly conservative political positions ("The assimilationist movement is running us into the ground," he told the San Francisco Chronicle in July 2000) or when he condemned the national gay press — in particular, the Advocate — for its emphasis on consumerism. He was, at times, a serious political embarrassment, as when he consistently advocated the inclusion of the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) in gay-pride parades.
Mark Tapscott repoted in the Washington Examiner today:
Quote:
...Lori Roman of Regular Folks United points to statements by Jennings a decade or more ago when he praised Harry Hay of the North American Association for Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), which promotes the legalization of sexual abuse of young boys by older men.
Roman provides damning details and links here. She also notes that Jennings wrote the forward "to a book called Queering Elementary Education. And another fellow you may have heard of wrote one of the endorsements on the book jacket—Bill Ayers." Ayers, of course, is the Weather Underground bomber from the 1960s who is just an "acquaintance" of Obama.
UPDATE: Who was Harry Hay?
Folks at Media Matters are agitated by the above post and others pointing out Jennings' praise of Harry Hay and the latter's link to NAMBLA. Hay was not an employee or official of NAMBLA, but was during his later years, according to his entry on Wikipedia, a frequent defender of the group, including this 1983 statement: "[I]f the parents and friends of gays are truly friends of gays, they would know from their gay kids that the relationship with an older man is precisely what thirteen-, fourteen-, and fifteen-year-old kids need more than anything else in the world."
MM has a point - Jennings praise of Hay was not specifically in the context of the latter's support of NAMBLA. Readers will decide for themselves whether it is appropriate for an individual who publicly praised an advocate of pedophilia to be appointed Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education for Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
Roman’s link on Harry Hay and NAMBLA:
Quote:
“One of the people that’s always inspired me is Harry Hay, who started the first ongoing gay rights groups in America. In 1948, he tried to get people to join the Mattachine Society [the first American homosexual “rights” group]. It took him two years to find one other person who would join. Well, [in] 1993, Harry Hay marched with a million people in Washington, who thought he had a good idea 40 years before. Everybody thought Harry Hay was crazy in 1948, and they knew something about him which he apparently did not—they were right, he was crazy. You are all crazy. We are all crazy. All of us who are thinking this way are crazy, because you know what? Sane people keep the world the same [sh*tty] old way it is now. It’s the people who think, ‘No, I can envision a day when straight people say, ‘So what if you’re promoting homosexuality?’ Or straight kids say, ‘Hey, why don’t you and your boyfriend come over before you go to the prom and try on your tuxes on at my house?’ That if we believe that can happen, we can make it happen. The only thing that will stop us is our lack of faith that we can make it happen. That is our mission from this day forward. To not lose our faith, to not lose our belief that the world can, indeed, be a different place. And think how much can change in one lifetime if in Harry Hay’s one very short life, he saw change from not even one person willing to join him to a million people willing to travel to Washington to join him. You can see the same changed happen in your lifetime if you believe you can.”
Barack Obama said, during the primary, "judge me by the people I surround myself with" Well you be the judge...
Read more about this here
George Lopez and Joy Behar - Todd Palin is a bum
Isn't it cute to sit and watch these rich liberals talk about there is no liberal elite. I am willing to bet Joy Behar pays more EACH DAY to have her hair done than I make in a month. And what a lackluster and dull interview. Lopez, instead of being grateful for what this nation has given him, chooses instead to diss a woman whose gratitude for being an American knows no bounds. It just goes to show you, the old addage is true. You cannot buy class. But just to show you how ignorant they really really are, Palin was a union member belonging to the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (United Steelworkers).
For eighteen years, he worked for BP in the North Slope oil fields of Alaska. In 2007, in order to avoid a conflict of interest relating to his wife's position as governor, he took a leave from his job as production supervisor when his employer became involved in natural gas pipeline negotiations with his wife's administration. Seven months later, because the family needed more income, Todd returned to BP. In order to avoid potential conflict of interest, this time he accepted a non-management position as a production operator. He resigned from his job on September 18, 2009, with the stated reason of spending more time with his family.
He is also a commercial salmon fisherman at Bristol Bay on the Nushugak River. Financial statements filed in 2007 show that Palin earned $92,790 from BP and fishing.
Joy is jealous because she will never be beautiful and certainly never in the same category of beauty as Sarah Palin. So she makes up stuff. She just makes it up. She is a sad sad little woman. I feel sorry for her.
For eighteen years, he worked for BP in the North Slope oil fields of Alaska. In 2007, in order to avoid a conflict of interest relating to his wife's position as governor, he took a leave from his job as production supervisor when his employer became involved in natural gas pipeline negotiations with his wife's administration. Seven months later, because the family needed more income, Todd returned to BP. In order to avoid potential conflict of interest, this time he accepted a non-management position as a production operator. He resigned from his job on September 18, 2009, with the stated reason of spending more time with his family.
He is also a commercial salmon fisherman at Bristol Bay on the Nushugak River. Financial statements filed in 2007 show that Palin earned $92,790 from BP and fishing.
Joy is jealous because she will never be beautiful and certainly never in the same category of beauty as Sarah Palin. So she makes up stuff. She just makes it up. She is a sad sad little woman. I feel sorry for her.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Joy Behar and Sandra Bernhardt On Sarah Palin - Her Base Doesn't Even Read
If ever two more foul harpies existed on the face of the earth who got to "celebrity" status on absolutely no talent whatsoever, well, I just don't know any other worse than these two. I am not commenting on the two men. I don't know them or of them.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Jack Cafferty "Pelosi is a Horrible Woman."
moar funny pictures
Wow, what's up with Jack? This is the second video I have seen this week where he takes to task Obama and his administration. He must have missed all the articles widely circulated (at least in conservative circles) about how much Pelosi spends to fly home to California every weekend, via military transport. The numbers are pretty staggering by the way, but up until now, no one on the left seemed to care. Could it be that the left has finally awakened from their hibernation of denial to see what is going on. I would like to believe so, but I am not so sure. But Jack sure seems to have noticed. And he isn't afraid to tell anyone who will listen. Pelosi is a horrible woman. She has always been a horrible woman. She is the very embodiment of all that is wrong with politics and politicians and I am speaking of both sides, but she seems to be worse than most.
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