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FRIDAY,  AUGUST 13,  2010

RIGHT FROM HIS ELITE MOUTH – AT 8:55 P.M. ET:  President Obama has now spoken out about the mosque at Ground Zero.  Where did he make his statement?  Why, natch, at a White House dinner celebrating the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.  Nothing like some groveling, which this president does so well.

We're alerted to the president's statement by Andrew Malcolm at the L.A. Times's Top of the Ticket blog:

...as a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are. The writ of our Founders must endure.

Oh, please.  This is standard elitist stuff.  The elites, when they run out of logical arguments, always run up the "rights" flag.  This isn't a matter of rights.  It's a matter of what's right.  It's a matter of showing some respect for the sensitivities of others.  As we've pointed out here before, there is no Japanese Shinto shrine at Pearl Harbor.  Pope John Paul II, a giant of our time, ordered Carmelite nuns to remove a convent from Auschwitz because he understood the sensitivities of others.  If you want respect, it's a good idea to show some. 

The president did speak eloquently about the difference between those who attacked us on 9-11 and true, moderate Islam.  But I do wish he'd left out the part about the Ground Zero mosque.  If you want to make a remark like that, make it in New York in front of the families who lost loved ones.  That's the kind of spine this president just doesn't have.

August 13, 2010      Permalink

DON'T LAUGH TOO HARD – AT 8:38 P.M. ET:  I'm always amazed at how dumb some politicians think we are.  Consider the illustrious case of one Andrew Cuomo.

Now, many of you know that Andy is the attorney general of New York State, a state where corruption is as normal as traffic jams.  His father was the three-term governor.  The Cuomos are New York State government.  If New York had a Mount Rushmore, the Cuomos would be all the faces. 

But, er, there's a problem.  New York State government has become a joke.  It has all the credibility of Bill Clinton teaching virginity.  So now Andy is running for daddy's old job, and he's got to figure out how he separates himself from a state government that's been the family business.

So what is Andy touting in a new rush of TV ads?  Why, of course, it's his "tough" (the required word) 20-point plan to clean up state government.  I mean, you watch the ads and you'd think the man had never set foot in the state capital.  Andy, who is state government, is going to go in there with a big broom and clean it up.  Now, we might legitimately ask, if Andy is so concerned, where was the 20-point plan, say, last year?  I get the feeling this "plan" was developed by some campaign aide in about five minutes.

Oh, by the way, where did we last see Andy?  We saw him a few nights ago toasting Charlie Rangel at fast-buck Charlie's big birthday bash in Manhattan.  Let's not risk losing any important support here.

And they wonder why we laugh.

August 13, 2010      Permalink

PALIN DERANGEMENT SYNDROME – AT 9:58 A.M. ET:  Eventually Palin Derangement Syndrome, now officially listed in the directory of liberal mental maladies, was bound to claim some victims.  Let the list begin:

A New Hampshire state representative has resigned his position and announced he will not run for re-election after writing that a dead Sarah Palin is "more dangerous than a live one."

State Rep. Timothy Horrigan stepped down Thursday after posting a Facebook page in which he described the "myth" of the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate.

His resignation comes after another New Hampshire Democratic candidate apologized the same day for his Facebook post in which he wished Sarah Palin and the father of her grandchild, Levi Johnston, had been on the plane that crashed Tuesday, killing former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

"Just wish Sarah and Levy [sic] were on board," Keith Halloran originally wrote in reference to Palin and Johnston, her daughter Bristol's ex-boyfriend.

In his post, Horrigan wrote, "a dead Palin wd [sic] be even more dangerous than a live one...she is all about her myth & if she was dead, she cldn't [sic] commit any more gaffes."

In his apology Thursday, Horrigan didn't say much about being wrong for the sentiment.

"I apologize to anyone who feels they need an apology from me. And anyone who feels the need to be angry at me is free to be angry at me. I made some mistakes, but I am not ashamed of who I am. I am not ashamed of anything which I am. Nothing anyone says to me is going to change the way I feel about myself -- especially if you don't know me," he wrote on his website.

COMMENT:  Does the word "jerk" come to mind?  The idea that any adult could make the kind of comments that these guys made, and not realize that there'd be consequences, is beyond me.  Maybe the key is the word "adult."

August 13, 2010     Permalink

SAY IT AIN'T SO, MICHELLE, SAY IT AIN'T SO – AT 9:17 A.M. ET:  Added to the president's woes is the fact that his wife either isn't following the script, or is following one written for her by the opposition.  Whichever the case, Michelle Obama's poll numbers are heading into Barack country.  Yesterday, Michelle was the ultimate weapon.  Today she's in need of retraining.  From Byron York at the Washington Examiner:

After a widely admired start in the White House, first lady Michelle Obama's popularity is falling and, if the current downward trend in her approval ratings continues, could touch lows not seen since the scandal-tainted days of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Obamas and the Clintons, together again.  What a movie!

In the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 50 percent of those surveyed say they have a positive opinion of Mrs. Obama. That's down from 64 percent in April 2009 and 55 percent in January of this year. The first lady's positive rating is barely ahead of her husband's personal approval figure, which stands at 46 percent in the new poll.

It's lame to go to Spain when many others are feeling pain.

After the Spain trip brought the first extended bad press of her time as first lady, the White House, and some of its allies in the press, pushed back by claiming Mrs. Obama will still be much in demand. News accounts suggested her "sky-high popularity," her role as "cultural and fashion icon" and her "incredible force" will boost Democrats across the country. Now, with the Wall Street Journal/NBC numbers, that's not so clear.

And...

...one more lavish outing and nobody will be talking about her as the White House's best asset.

COMMENT:  My, how the not-so-mighty have fallen.  But don't underestimate the press factor here.  When push comes to kill, the media will protect the Obamas, in whom whole journalistic careers are invested.  And there is time for the White House to correct mistakes.

The Clintons were down, yet Bill Clinton won a decisive victory in the 1996 election.  Opinion about the Obamas will be affected by what Republicans do, and the candidates they nominate.  It is not enough to watch the agony in the White House.  Our side has to be ready to govern, and do so effectively and to public acclaim.

August 13, 2010      Permalink

THE INDICTMENT – AT 8:44 A.M. ET:  There is no longer much doubt that the Obama administration is in steep decline.  Nile Gardiner, who was one of the first of the British pundits to recognize that our emperor has no clothes, or clothes that don't fit off the rack, examines just what's gone wrong.  This piece is receiving very wide circulation:

The last few weeks have been a nightmare for President Obama, in a summer of discontent in the United States which has deeply unsettled the ruling liberal elites, so much so that even the Left has begun to turn against the White House. While the anti-establishment Tea Party movement has gained significant ground and is now a rising and powerful political force to be reckoned with, many of the president’s own supporters as well as independents are rapidly losing faith in Barack Obama, with open warfare breaking out between the White House and the left-wing of the Democratic Party. While conservatism in America grows stronger by the day, the forces of liberalism are growing increasingly weaker and divided.

And...

Growing disillusionment with the Obama administration’s handling of the economy as well as health care and immigration has gone hand in hand with mounting unhappiness with the President’s aloof and imperial style of leadership, and a growing perception that he is out of touch with ordinary Americans, especially at a time of significant economic pain. Barack Obama’s striking absence of natural leadership ability (and blatant lack of experience) has played a big part in undermining his credibility with the US public, with his lacklustre handling of the Gulf oil spill coming under particularly intense fire.

And...

On the national security and foreign policy front, President Obama has not fared any better. His leadership on the war in Afghanistan has been confused and at times lacking in conviction, and seemingly dictated by domestic political priorities rather than military and strategic goals. His overall foreign policy has been an appalling mess, with his flawed strategy of engagement of hostile regimes spectacularly backfiring. And as for the War on Terror, his administration has not even acknowledged it is fighting one.

Gardiner then goes on to list ten reasons why Obama is failing.  It is a stunning indictment, and well worth reading, a good companion piece to Fouad Ajami's indictment, which we noted yesterday.

The Titanic is sinking.  But, not only does the captain not realize it, he isn't even sending up flares.  So how can anyone come to his aid?

August 13, 2010      Permalink

FOREIGN POLICY RESULTS REPORT – AT 8:18 A.M. ET:  Another exciting report noting the results of President Obama's brave outreach to a misunderstood world, in marked contrast to George W. Bush's coarse, American-style realism, which creates all the wars and also increases ice cream stains on white shirts:

Russia has announced that it will start loading uranium fuel into the nuclear reactor of the Bushehr nuclear power station in Iran on August 21, a spokesman for Russia's state atomic cooperation reportedly told Reuters Friday.

According to the report, the spokesperson was quoted as saying that the addition of fuel will be crucial to initiating the country's first nuclear reactor, although it will not become operational.

In a telephone conversation Rosatom spokesman Sergei Novikov said, "The fuel will be loaded on Aug 21. This is the start of the physical launch (of the reactor)."

"From that moment the Bushehr plant will be officially considered a nuclear-energy installation," he told The Associated Press.

The United States has called for Russia to delay the startup until Iran proves that it's not developing nuclear weapons. Russian officials said that the latest UN sanctions against Iran won't affect the Bushehr project.

COMMENT:  The Obama administration calls on the Russians to do many things, and we're generally ignored.  That, increasingly, seems to be the case around the world.  I guess all that classroom stuff about reaching out, smiling, and apologizing for the Rocky Mountains being rocky hasn't exactly cut it.

August 13, 2010     Permalink

THURSDAY,  AUGUST 12,  2010

SEXIST, RACIST, ANTI-GAY, IMPERIALIST, MILITARIST, ISLAMOPHOBIC AMERICA (WHICH ELECTED A BLACK PRESIDENT) OPPOSES THE MOSQUE AT GROUND ZERO – AT 7:49 P.M. ET:  From CNN:

A proposed mosque to be built two blocks from the World Trade Center has little support nationwide, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll suggests.

According to the new survey out Wednesday, nearly 70 percent of all Americans oppose the controversial plan to build the mosque just blocks away from the solemn site in lower Manhattan while just 29 percent favor the construction.

Broken down by party affiliation, 54 percent of Democrats oppose the plans while 82 percent of Republicans disapprove. Meanwhile, 70 percent of independents said they are against the proposal.

The poll also showed opposition did not vary widely by age.

"Support for the controversial project is slightly higher among younger Americans than older Americans, but even among those under the age of 50, six in ten oppose the plan," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

Plans to build the $100 million, 13-story 'Cordoba House' three blocks from the site of the attacks on September 11, 2001 have sparked an emotional debate throughout the city.

COMMENT:  We learned this week that the man behind the mosque has been selected by the U.S. State Department to be sent to the Middle East to represent multiculturalism in the United States, despite having said that 9-11 was partly America's fault, that Osama bin Laden was created in the U.S., and that he didn't know whether Hamas is a terrorist organization.  It would be nice if our own government would check in occasionally with the American people.

And, of course, the tone-deaf mayor of New York City, who is in his last term and doesn't seem to care about public opinion, says that those opposing the mosque should be "ashamed" of themselves.  So 70 percent of Americans should be ashamed of themselves.

We oppose the mosque because it is insensitive to the feelings of victims, and because we find offensive the statements of the man supervising it.  We also would like further information on who is financing it.  Are we terrible people?  I really don't think so.  I think we are people with common sense, people who understand what the word "human" is all about.

August 12, 2010     Permalink

BULLETIN!  OBAMA VACATION PLANS ANNOUNCED – AT 7:33 P.M. ET:  Amidst all the gloom and heartbreak there comes a story of sunshine, fun and ice cream.  The Obamas are going on vacation.  The long-laboring first family is finally getting some time off.  I know this will unburden your hearts:

Here’s a report from U.S. News, discussing the announcement of a new 10 day trip to Martha’s Vineyard starting August 19. For those of you keeping track, that’s the fifth vacation since the start of last month:

-Three days in July in Maine, primarily tony Bar Harbor.

-Last week, the president traveled to Chicago for a birthday party with Oprah and others.

-Michelle and Sasha spent much of last week on Spain’s southern coast, ending it with a trip to Majorca to meet the king and queen of Spain.

-Florida this weekend for a night on the Gulf Coast.

-August 19-29 on Martha’s Vineyard.

And once again, the first family isn’t exactly showing any sensitivity to the fact the rest of the country is coping with some serious economic hardships. “The first family has set plans to board Air Force One for a frilly vacation, a 10-day return trip to exclusive Martha’s Vineyard where they are expected to stay at the 28-acre oceanfront Blue Heron Farm that rents for up to $50,000 a week,” reports U.S. News.

COMMENT:  Can you just imagine if this had been George W. Bush?  It is hard to believe that a man whose approval ratings hover in the low 40s, and who may want a second term, is shoving such mud in the faces of the American people.   It isn't as if he doesn't know anything about getting elected.  (Or was that just his staff?)

The amusing entry is "Florida this weekend for a night on the Gulf Coast."  The president condescends to visit the hard-hit Gulf Coast, which is being damaged further by the irrational moratorium on offshore drilling ordered by his administration to satisfy the enviro-nuts.  One night, one night only.  Mustn't give those non-Ivy-League locals too much attention.

August 12, 2010       Permalink

BIO-SCARE – AT 9:10 A.M. ET:  We don't want to cry "wolf," and I do wonder whether all the terrorism stories since 9-11 have dulled our senses.  But this seems particularly important, from The Wall Street Journal:

Rapid advances in bioscience are raising alarms among terrorism experts that amateur scientists will soon be able to gin up deadly pathogens for nefarious uses.

Fears of bioterror have been on the rise since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, stoking tens of billions of dollars of government spending on defenses, and the White House and Congress continue to push for new measures.

But the fear of a mass-casualty terrorist attack using bioweapons has always been tempered by a single fact: Of the scores of plots uncovered during the past decade, none have featured biological weapons. Indeed, many experts doubt terrorists even have the technical capability to acquire and weaponize deadly bugs.

The new fear, though, is that scientific advances that enable amateur scientists to carry out once-exotic experiments, such as DNA cloning, could be put to criminal use. Many well-known figures are sounding the alarm over the revolution in biological science, which amounts to a proliferation of know-how—if not the actual pathogens.

"Certain areas of biotechnology are getting more accessible to people with malign intent," said Jonathan Tucker, an expert on biological and chemical weapons at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

Geneticist Craig Venter said last month at the first meeting of a presidential commission on bioethics, "If students can order any [genetic sequences] online, somebody could try to make the Ebola virus."

COMMENT:  It is far easier to acquire biological subtances than nuclear material.  While a bio-weapon might have an uncertain effect, that will not discourage terror groups.  Uncertain doesn't mean failing.  After all, the murder of a few hundred people in a subway or office building could start the 9-11 fear cycle all over again, which is what terror is about. 

I would take this seriously.  Further, many forms of technology are becoming simpler, and far less expensive.  It will not be many years before a number of "developing" countries will have, in at least one lab, research center, or university, the capacity to build some pretty awful things.  Nor will it be long before some third-world countries, equipped with nuclear weapons, will possess more firepower than we did in World War II.

We will have our hands full, and our weak economy will, no doubt, compromise our efforts.  This is a time for great leadership.  See any?

August 12, 2010      Permalink

FOUAD FOR THOUGHT – AT 8:44 A.M. ET:  Fouad Ajami, of Johns Hopkins University, is one of the most perceptive writers around today.  His Wall Street Journal article called, "The Obsolescence of Barack Obama," is all over the internet.  Here are some gems, each one a quote of the day:

A broken link with the public, and a war in Afghanistan he neither embraces and sells to his party nor abandons—this is a time of puzzlement for President Obama. His fall from political grace has been as swift as his rise a handful of years ago. He had been hot political property in 2006 and, of course, in 2008. But now he will campaign for his party's 2010 candidates from afar, holding fund raisers but not hitting the campaign trail in most of the contested races. Those mass rallies of Obama frenzy are surely of the past.

And...

It was canonical to this administration and its functionaries that they were handed a broken nation, that it was theirs to repair, that it was theirs to tax and reshape to their preferences. Yet there was, in 1980, after another landmark election, a leader who had stepped forth in a time of "malaise" at home and weakness abroad: Ronald Reagan. His program was different from Mr. Obama's. His faith in the country was boundless. What he sought was to restore the nation's faith in itself, in its political and economic vitality.

Big as Reagan's mandate was, in two elections, the man was never bigger than his country. There was never narcissism or a bloated sense of personal destiny in him. He gloried in the country, and drew sustenance from its heroic deeds and its capacity for recovery. No political class rode with him to power anxious to lay its hands on the nation's treasure, eager to supplant the forces of the market with its own economic preferences.

And...

The country has had its fill with a scapegoating that knows no end from a president who had vowed to break with recriminations and partisanship. The magic of 2008 can't be recreated, and good riddance to it. Slowly, the nation has recovered its poise. There is a widespread sense of unstated embarrassment that a political majority, if only for a moment, fell for the promise of an untested redeemer—a belief alien to the temperament of this so practical and sober a nation.

COMMENT:  Ah, it's wonderful to read good writing.  Please read the whole thing.

August 12, 2010     Permalink

DO YOU THINK THIS PARTY HAS AN IMAGE PROBLEM? – AT 8:35 A.M. ET:  Well, Charlie Rangel isn't exactly Jack the Ripper.  But still...  From the New York Post:

A who's who of Democratic officials turned out to celebrate scandal-scarred Rep. Charles Rangel's 80th birthday last night -- whooping it up as if he didn't have an ethics charge in the world.

In fact, former Mayor David Dinkins, 83, went so far as to flip the bird to a protester who called Rangel a "crook" outside The Plaza hotel gala.

Not everyone matched Dinkins' gusto, but the New York political establishment did turn out in force.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Mayor Bloomberg all took turns at the mike to heap praise on the longtime Harlem legislator.

A jovial Gov. Paterson emceed the fund-raising bash and paid tribute to the embattled congressman's "dedication to public service."

Rangel lapped it up, telling the crowd, "This damn sure ain't no funeral, is it?"
At the end of the festivities in the Grand Ballroom, an emotional Rangel told the audience, "Please remember me in your prayers. It helps."

Rangel -- who has been slapped with 13 ethics charges by the House ethics committee -- called the occasion "an experience I'll never, ever forget.

"I can't tell you how moving this has been," he said.

He left the stage dancing.

COMMENT:  Ah, New York politics.  Item:  More people are leaving New York than any other state.  Yup, we're number one! 

If they'd thrown this party when Rudy Giuliani was mayor, half the crowd would probably be in jail by now.

August 12, 2010      Permalink

THE NATIONAL MOOD – AT 8:08 A.M. ET:  Do you recall a time when the national mood was darker?  There was certainly a bad time during Vietnam, in the late sixties, but the "mood" was as much a perception ginned up by the media as by reality.  This time, the foul national mood seems based on things that are very real, as The Wall Street Journal notes:

Americans are growing more pessimistic about the economy and the war in Afghanistan, and are losing faith that Democrats have better solutions than Republicans, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

Underpinning the gloom: Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the economy has yet to hit bottom, a sharply higher percentage than the 53% who felt that way in January.

The sour national mood appears all-encompassing and is dragging down ratings for the GOP too, suggesting voters above all are disenchanted with the political establishment in Washington. Just 24% express positive feelings about the Republican Party, a new low in the 21-year history of the Journal's survey. Democrats are only slightly more popular, but also near an all-time low.

The results likely foreshadow a poor showing in November's mid-term for Democrats, whose leaders had hoped the public would grow more optimistic about the economy and, as a result, more supportive of the party agenda. Now, despite the weak Republican numbers, the survey shows frustrated voters on the left are less interested than impassioned voters on the right to in the election.

COMMENT:  This provides both opportunity and danger for the GOP.  The opportunity is in the November elections.  The danger lies from the first day after election day.  If Republicans take over one or both houses of Congress, they will be held responsible for congressional performance, and Obama in 2012 can do a repeat of Truman, 1948, who ran against the "do nothing Republican Congress." 

When we look at the Republican congressional leadership, fine fellows all, the word "imaginative" does not spring immediately to mind.  The congressional party must have an agenda ready to roll out if they can grab the power.  And they must constantly present that agenda, and its benefits, to every microphone and TV camera in sight.

Obama isn't Truman, and 2012 doesn't have to be 1948.

August 12, 2010     Permalink