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ELECTION - 11 days from today

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2010

BIG PROBLEM AT JUSTICE – AT 9:19 P.M. ET:  The Washington Post, to its great credit, and the great discredit of its New York competitor, is about to publish a story about the Justice Department's dismissal of the Black Panther voter-intimidation case.  Apparently, the Post avoids PC and scalds the department.  Andrew Breitbart, in his Big Journalism blog, has a report that should please our readers:

...overall, the story is very bad news for Eric Holder. It debunks many of the myths spun by the administration. Inside DOJ sources describe deep hostility to protecting whites at Justice. DOJ sources say panther prosecutor Christian Adams never allowed his conservative views to influence his work, contradicting administration spin. And perhaps most damning of all to Holder, sources defending the administration defend the idea that whites aren’t protected by the Civil Rights laws. The latter is the blockbuster news in the Post piece.

The Post also shatters the false administration spin that only low level career lawyers had a fight among themselves: “After the Obama administration took over, high-level political appointees relayed their thoughts on the case in a stream of internal e-mails in the days leading to the dismissal.” The administration told Congress and the public a lie for over a year, and now the Washington Post even knows.

COMMENT:  Terrific.  I look forward to the story tomorrow morning, and to the Pulitzer Prize that may follow.  From what Breitbart reports, we'll see a Justice Department run by racial politics and P.C., with equal justice for those who are favored.

Remember when the leftists skewered Attorney General John Ashcroft, who served George W. Bush?  I wonder what they'll say when this comes out.  Do you have any doubts?

October 22, 2010      Permalink

ELECTION LATEST – AT 7:29 P.M. ET:  Big polls normally aren't released on Friday, when the news audience dwindles.  But some trackers and other polls are out, giving us some direction in key races:

In Pennsylvania, Rasmussen has Republican Pat Toomey up four points.  We've gone through quite a scare as Toomey's support seemed to drop dramatically, but the truth may be more complicated.  It depends on how the term "likely voters" is defined.  A Quinnipiac poll yesterday had Toomey up two over Democrat Joe Sestak.  Another poll has the race tied.  We count on GOP enthusiasm to pull this one out, but Obama will be in Philadelphia to get out the traditional Dem vote.

In California, Carly Fiorina can't seem, yet, to pull ahead of Barbara Boxer, the senator we'd like most to defeat.  Rasmussen has Boxer up by two.  California is a very blue state, and Boxer has the support of all those groups who depend on the government, and that especially means the hundreds of thousands of public employees.  Again, Republican enthusiasm may make the difference, but this one is in the air.

RealClearPolitics rates the Senate, as of today, as 44 Republicans, 48 Democrats and 8 toss ups.  Please note that's a loss of two Republicans to the toss up column within the last few days.  The Senate is clearly a hill climb for the GOP.  RCP rates the House at 215 Republicans, 178 Dems and 42 toss ups.  Only 218 are required for a House majority, so the Republicans would have to win three out of 42 toss ups.  I think we can safely say that, unless there's a real political catastrophe, the GOP should take the House.

October 22, 2010      Permalink

KRAUTHAMMER ANALYZES OBAMA – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  Charles Krauthammer, who is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, examines the president's latest policies, analyzing the deep intellectual logic behind them.  From Investor's Business Daily:

In an increasingly desperate attempt to develop a narrative for the coming Democratic collapse, the Democrats have indulged themselves in what for half a century they've habitually attributed to the American right: the paranoid style in U.S. politics.

The talk is of dark conspiracies — secret money, foreign influence, big corporations, with Karl Rove and, yes, Ed Gillespie lurking ominously behind the scenes.

It's the wizard of ooze.

But after trotting out some of these with a noticeable lack of success, President Obama has come up with something new, something less common, something more befitting his stature and intellect. He's now offering a scientific, indeed neurological, explanation for his current political troubles.

The electorate apparently is deranged by its anxieties and fears to the point where it can't think straight.

We've noticed.  People have these weird looks.  We're dying, we're dying.

Dr. Obama diagnoses a heretofore undiscovered psychological derangement: anxiety-induced Obama Underappreciation Syndrome, wherein an entire population is so addled by its economic anxieties as to be neurologically incapable of appreciating the "facts and science" undergirding ObamaCare and other blessings their president has bestowed upon them from on high.

Those Americans, clinging to their guns and their religion, not to mention their remote controls.

Krauthammer says he has a better explanation:

It's not just the real prospect of financial collapse in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland, with even the relatively more stable major countries in severe distress. It is the visible moral collapse of a system that, after two generations of increasing cradle-to-grave infantilization, turns millions of citizens into the streets of France in furious and often violent protest over what? Over raising the retirement age from 60 to 62!

Having seen this display of what can only be called decadence, Obama's perfectly wired electorate says no, not us, not here. The peasants have seen the future — Greece and France — and concluded it doesn't work. Hence their opposition to Obama's transformational New Foundation agenda...

...The story of the last two years is as simple as it is dramatic. It is the epic story of an administration with a highly ideological agenda encountering a rising resistance from the American people over the major question in dispute: the size and reach and power of government and, even more fundamentally, the nature of the American social contract.

Finally...

An adjudication of the question will be rendered on Nov. 2. For the day, the American peasantry will be presiding.

You mean, the gun clingers?  Those same ones? 

Of course, Krauthammer is right.  He almost always is.  The American people don't accept the idea that Obama is a godlike creature.  He's the president, but only for now, something he may not get himself.

October 22, 2010      Permalink

PENNSYLVANIA STABLE? – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  That critical Senate race in Pennsylvania appears to have stabilized, at least for now.  A new poll out this morning shows a dead heat.

Now that's not quite the 10-point lead that Republican Pat Toomey had a month ago, but it's better than a Joe Sestak lead that some pollsters recently showed.  In addition, several statistical experts are suggesting that the race may not have closed at all, or closed far less than polls in the last few days suggest.  These observers point out that polling organizations switched from registered voters to likely voters in their surveys, but that the definition of a "likely voter" may have been out of date, given the distortion caused by GOP enthusiasm this year.

So stand by for further Pennsyvania results.  We want Pennsylvania badly, and we may get what we wish for. 

October 22, 2010      Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 8:16 A.M. ET:  The Washington Post once again proves that a liberal editorial page can be mature and discerning, unlike that of a certain paper in New York.  The Post comments on the firing of Juan Williams:

Mr. Williams was attempting to do exactly what a responsible commentator should do: speak honestly without being inflammatory. His reward was to lose his job, just as Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod lost hers over purportedly racist remarks that turned out to be anything but. NPR management appears to have learned nothing from that rush to judgment. "Political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis where you don't address reality," Mr. Williams told Mr. O'Reilly. NPR, alas, has proved his point.

COMMENTS:  Exactly.  Let's see if any heads roll at NPR over the mess they've made of the Williams case.   I doubt if they will.  The revolutionaries will stick together.

Of course, the incident makes Juan Williams's career.  Most Americans probably never heard of him before yesterday, and, in response to his dismissal from NPR, Fox gave him a multi-million-dollar contract.  Not bad for a guy eligible to collect unemployment insurance.   His literary agent must be counting blessings.

Williams hosts "The O'Reilly Factor" tonight at Fox.  Watch the ratings soar. 

October 22, 2010       Permalink

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010

MORE EVIDENCE OF A GOP ROMP – AT 9:41 P.M. ET:   The Pew Research Center, not exactly a conservative hotbed, has a stunning report out tonight confirming surveys by others reporting that the Republicans will have a great election day in less than two weeks:

As the midterm elections approach, there is every indication that voter turnout will be as high as in 2006, but unlike four years ago, Republicans – not Democrats – are now more engaged and enthusiastic about casting a ballot. The prospects for a GOP turnout advantage on Election Day are almost as favorable in the new Pew Research Center survey as they have been in all previous polls throughout the campaign.

The new survey does show some signs of the Democrats awakening. A growing number of Democratic voters say they have given a lot of thought to the coming elections and more say they have been closely following campaign news. However, Republican engagement continues at record levels, dwarfing even improved Democratic showings on these indicators.

Consequently, a considerably greater percentage of Republicans than Democrats still fall into the likely voter category. Moreover, the new survey shows that Democrats have lost ground among all voters: Currently, 46% of registered voters favor the Republican candidate in their district or lean Republican, while 42% favor the Democratic candidate or lean Democratic. In early September, 44% backed the Republican while 47% supported the Democratic candidate.

And get this:

When the current survey is narrowed to those most likely to vote, the GOP holds a double-digit advantage – 50% to 40%. In early September, Republicans held a seven-point lead among likely voters (50% to 43%).

COMMENT:  Looks good, but remember that many of the Senate races are especially tight and can go either way.  But, with 12 days to go, the general Republican effort seems in solid shape...barring an October surprise.

October 21, 2010      Permalink

THERE IS ANGER, THERE IS FURY, THERE IS MONEY – AT 8:12 P.M. ET:  The big story today, buzzing through Washington and the internet, is the firing of Juan Williams by NPR, National Predictable Radio, which got a 1.8-million-dollar grant from fringe leftist George Soros only a few days ago.

Everyone is in an uproar.  Even the ladies of "The View" unanimously decided that NPR, which also receives public funding, screwed up royally.  As we reported earlier, Williams's crime was to say he became nervous if he saw a Muslim on an airliner, an emotion felt by millions.  He quickly added that people should not blame all Muslims for the crimes of a few.

NPR would not even permit Williams to come in and discuss the issue.  He's worked at NPR for 10 years.  Indeed, an NPR executive publicly said that the comments Williams made are between him and his psychiatrist or publicist, a sleazy remark for which she had to later apologize.

There is widespread suspicion that a major contributing factor to Williams's dismissal is his association with Fox News.  Fox today announced that Williams's role at the network will now be expanded.

I think this is a defining moment.  Americans are tired of this extreme political correctness. 

There are serious calls for NPR to be stripped of federal funding.  There are calls for congressional investigations.  Neither of these things will happen unless Republicans take over at least one house of Congress in the elections now only 12 days ahead. 

Fox News will keep this story alive.  It has legs.  Already, commentators are pointing out the comments of other NPR reporters and analysts that did not result in their being fired.  Of course, all those comments tilted left.

Is this the beginning of the end of political correctness?  I think that's a tough order, but I believe that a big dent will appear. 

October 21, 2010       Permalink

SO YOU MAY SLEEP MORE SOUNDLY TONIGHT – AT 8:24 A.M. ET:   A little bit of Bill Clinton's past, from London's Telegraph.  Haven't seen this reported on this side of the pond:

For several months during Bill Clinton's administration, a former top military officer says the White House lost the card with a set of numbers for opening the briefcase containing the codes for a nuclear attack.

Gen Hugh Shelton, who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, said in his new memoir, "Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior" that "the codes were actually missing for months. That's a big deal -- a gargantuan deal."

A similar claim was made by Lt Col Robert Patterson, a former aide, in a book published seven years ago. He was one of the men who carried the briefcase, known as the "football", and he said that the morning after the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke that he made a routine request of the president to present the card so that he could provide an updated version.

"He thought he just placed them upstairs," Lt Col Patterson recalled. "We called upstairs, we started a search around the White House for the codes, and he finally confessed that he in fact misplaced them. He couldn't recall when he had last seen them."

COMMENT:  And on this the safety of our republic depends.

The aforementioned Bill Clinton is currently undergoing resurrection as an elder statesman.

October 21, 2010     Permalink

OH DEAR, OH DEAR, WHAT CAN THE MATTER BE? – AT 8:10 A.M. ET:   President Obama takes another major hit in the Gallup Poll, just as he leaves Washington to be "helpful" to Democratic candidates.  With help like this...

From Andrew Malcolm at the L.A. Times's Top of the Ticket blog:

...a new Gallup Poll out this morning puts the top Democrat himself at his lowest approval rating ever and finds most Americans do not want the Real Good Talker to have a second term.

Other than that, Obama should be a real help to Washington's embattled Patty Murray today and Nevada's embattled Harry Reid and California's embattled Barbara Boxer later, trying to salvage the large Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.

The new survey reveals that the more Americans get to know this guy, the less they like him...

...For the third quarter of 2010, the seventh of his presidency, Obama's approval fell 2 more points, from 47.3% to 44.7%. These results are based on daily tracking polls involving some 90,000 Americans.

And...

According to Gallup's results, 39% of Americans now believe Obama deserves a second term.

Unfortunately for him, 54% believe he does not deserve a second chance at change.

That 54% against a second term is almost 2 points higher than the popular vote total Obama amassed in the 2008 election.

At this point in the second year of George W. Bush's presidency, 62% thought he deserved a second term after only 48% voted for him in 2000.

COMMENT:  What are they saying at the White House this morning, after reading this?  They're saying that the American people are too stupid to appreciate Barack Obama, that he's too good for them, and that he really should have run for king of the world rather than this lowly office, which is beneath his abilities.

And he'll be agreeing with them.

But don't get your hopes up yet.  Come 2012, Obama will be running, and the mainstream media will be right there in the bunker with him, resisting to the very end, as Republicans surround the city. 

October 21, 2010       Permalink

PENNSYLVANIA LATEST – AT 7:59 A.M. ET:   We're following closely the Pennsylvania Senate race between superlative GOP candidate Pat Toomey and depressing Dem entry Joe Sestak.  Recent polls show the race tightening.  Toomey had been ahead by ten a month ago.

New polls confirm the tightening, but give us hope.  The respected Quinnipiac poll shows Toomey up by two, and the Morning Call poll shows a tie. 

Sestak has been hammering Toomey as an extremist, and the attacks have worked.  Now Toomey is fighting back.

By the way, Sestak has said publicly that his favorite senator is Chuck Hagel, the Republican turncoat who retired from the Senate two years ago when it was apparent his own GOP wouldn't renominate him.  Hagel's wife then publicly supported Obama for president.  Hagel is a shallow, pompous clown who gave George Bush the hardest of times when Bush needed him.  Sestak's apparent love for Hagel is another reason, among others, to oppose Sestak.

We're hoping Pat Toomey can stablize the race and start to gain again.  And we're hoping the enthusiasm gap will work in his favor on election day.  I'd hate to lose this one.

October 21, 2010      Permalink

LATEST MEDIA OUTRAGE – AT 7:47 A.M. ET:  You will not believe this, from National Public Radio:

NPR News has terminated the contract of longtime news analyst Juan Williams after remarks he made on the Fox News Channel about Muslims.

Williams appeared Monday on The O'Reilly Factor, and host Bill O'Reilly asked him to comment on the idea that the U.S. is facing a dilemma with Muslims.

O'Reilly has been looking for support for his own remarks on a recent episode of ABC's The View in which he directly blamed Muslims for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set in the middle of his appearance.

Williams responded: "Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

Williams also warned O'Reilly against blaming all Muslims for "extremists," saying Christians shouldn't be blamed for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

But strong criticism followed Williams's comments.

What? 

The man was simply expressing what he felt in a certain situation.  And for this he's fired? 

Of course we know the real reason that NPR fired Williams.  He's a Fox News contributor.  Can't do that, can we?  And he's an African American who doesn't hesitate to criticize black leaders.  No, no, no.

This is really outrageous.  NPR is subsidized by the American people, but it's always been a left-wing mouthpiece.  This would be a good time for the new, Republican House of Representatives, about to be elected, to cut NPR's budget to, say, a quarter of its current level.  It's great way to save money.  Let Code Pink write a check for the rest.

October 21, 2010     Permalink