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APRIL 28,  2012

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:51 P.M. ET:

TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY – The British army is planning to station soldiers and surface-to-air missiles on at least one residential building near this summer's London Olympics, a sign that the Brits take the threat of a terrorist attack, including one launched by air, very seriously.  Some residents of a building selected for the missile battery are clearly upset, fearing the arrangement may make them targets of terrorists.  The missiles are part of a massive security presence to deter a tragedy.  Britain faces threats both from external sources and radical internal elements.

PALIN BACKS MOURDOCK IN INDIANA – There is probably no more symbolic figure in the Senate's Republican establishment than Richard Lugar of Indiana, who has been elected to the Senate six times, and is 80.  Now he is being challenged from the right in the GOP primary by State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who is given a very decent chance of getting the nomination.  Palin's endorsement is Mourdock's most important thus far.  She is at odds with John McCain in this regard.  McCain has issued a vigorous endorsement of Lugar.

SAUDIS MIFFED AT EGYPT – Saudi Arabia has closed its embassy in Cairo and recalled its ambassador after anti-Saudi demonstrations erupted in the Egyptian capital.  The Egyptians are miffed because the Saudis are detaining an Egyptian human-rights lawyer on drug charges.  The diplomatic crisis between the two major Arab powers is deepening.  The two countries represent different paths.  Egypt is in major transition.  Saudi Arabia is, at least for now, an island of royalty-controlled stability.  Resentments are likely to continue.

April 28, 2012       Permalink   

McCAIN RAPS OBAMA ON BIN LADEN – AT 10:16 A.M. ET:  John McCain, who should have been president, has said what a lot of us have been thinking:  It's disgraceful for President Obama to take so much credit for the bin Laden raid.

The first anniversary of the raid comes up this week, and the Obamans are doing all they can to make it a plus for their guy's re-election campaign, including letting NBC News, a division of the Democratic Party, into the situation room of the White House.  I must say that it is surly, and something I haven't seen often in American politics.  Usually, presidents give the credit to the people who risked their lives and carried out the attack.  The president may bask in the glow, but the spotlight is on the troops.  From The Hill:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) rebuked President Obama on Friday for using the anniversary of Obama bin Laden's death to score political points, calling it a "shameless end-zone dance."

"Shame on Barack Obama for diminishing the memory of September 11th and the killing of Osama bin Laden by turning it into a cheap political attack ad," McCain said in a statement circulated by the Republican National Committee.

With the one-year anniversary of bin Laden's killing approaching next week, Obama's campaign released a video Friday suggesting that Mitt Romney, the putative GOP nominee, would not have ordered the risky incursion into Pakistan to nab the 9/11 mastermind.

The video doubled down on remarks that Vice President Biden made Thursday questioning whether Romney had the fortitude to pull off such an operation.

"This is the same President who said, after bin Laden was dead, that we shouldn't 'spike the ball' after the touchdown," McCain said. "And now Barack Obama is not only trying to score political points by invoking Osama bin Laden, he is doing a shameless end-zone dance to help himself get reelected."

COMMENT:  The Dems are trying, as they did in 2008, to portray Obama as a centrist, which he is clearly not.  Problem is, it may work again.  Republicans must paint an accurate picture of this man, and provide a vision of what he will do as he runs wild during a second term.

April 28, 2012       Permalink

HOLDER IN HOT WATER? – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:   Not with President Obama, but possibly with the House.  The radical attorney general, who has run the Justice Department as a private club for the base of the Democratic Party, has made some enemies in high places.  From Fox:

House GOP leaders said Friday they are pursuing a plan to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and the Justice Department in contempt for “stonewalling” them over information regarding the administration’s failed Fast and Furious gun-tracking program.

GOP Rep. Darrell Issa confirmed to Fox News that House Speaker John Boehner gave him and others on his House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform the authority to drafted a contempt of Congress resolution.

“We have a few other options (but) to a great extent we’ve been stonewalled by the Justice Department,” said Issa, R-Calif.

The news of the document and the extended meeting in Boehner’s office was reported first by The Los Angeles Times.

“We have issued a subpoena,” Utah GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a member of the oversight committee, said earlier on Fox News. “We have bent over backwards to be patient and take time. (Holder) is leading us down a path where we have no other choice.”

The resolution, if approved by the GOP-led House, could force Holder to release thousands of pages of documents related to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ program.

COMMENT:  Obama will back Holder.  They are best friends forever.  Holder established a reputation as Easy Eric in the Clinton administration, when he approved last-minute presidential pardons that he shouldn't have approved. 

In the Obama administration it was Holder and his appointees who blocked prosecution in an open-and-shut case against the Black Panthers, for interference with voting in Philadelphia in 2008.  That set the tone for this Justice Department. 

I doubt if Holder will cooperate unless forced to.

April 28, 2012       Permalink

WHERE OBAMA STANDS – AT 9:32 A.M. ET:  Scott Rasmussen reports this morning that the presidential race remains extremely close, with Obama slightly ahead but Romney holding his own:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows President Obama earning 47% of the vote, while likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney picks up support from 45%. Four percent (4%) would vote for a third party candidate, while another three percent (3%) are undecided...

...Over the past six weeks, Obama’s support has been within two points of 45% every single day. During that same time period, Romney has been within three points of 46% every day. Considering that the polling has a 3-percentage point margin of error, these numbers reflect remarkable stability and a very close race. See tracking history.

The race is also close in key battleground states. Obama leads by four in Ohio. Romney is up two in North Carolina and up by just a single point in both Virginia and Florida.

That is encouraging for Romney.  It's not good in Ohio, which every successful GOP candidate for president in recent history has won, but that can be turned around.  Romney's lead, although slim, in Virginia and Florida, could give Mitt victory in two major states that Obama carried in 2008.

But it's going to be very tough.

A president’s Job Approval rating is one of the best indicators for assessing his chances of reelection. Typically, the president’s Job Approval rating on Election Day will be close to the share of the vote he receives. Currently, 49% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's job performance. Fifty percent (50%) at least somewhat disapprove.

COMMENT:  That's a dramatic improvement for Obama in recent weeks.  He usually drifted around 46-47% approval in the Rasmussen poll, with about 53% disapproving.  This is probably based somewhat on his campaigning, and his shoring up his support in his base.  It certainly couldn't be based on performance in office, because there's been so little.

This race will get very bitter. 

April 28,  2012     Permalink 

APRIL 27,  2012

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:43 P.M. ET:

BRITAIN BLOCKS TRADE WITH ARGENTINE MILITARY – Britain has suspended all exports to the Argentine military because of continuing tensions over the Falkland Islands.  Argentina's somewhat strident, nationalist government, which is moving closer to Venezuela, Cuba and Iran, has been making new demands based on the notion that the Falklands, a British possession, should belong to Buenos Aires.  That, of course, was the cause of the 1982 Falklands war, won by Britain under Margaret Thatcher. 

JAPAN THREATENED – It has been revealed by Tokyo that Japan had to scramble jets 156 times in 2011 in response to approaching Chinese aircraft; and it had to scramble jets 247 times in response to Russian planes coming close to Japanese airspace.  Both China and Russia set a record in 2011 in aircraft making invasive moves toward Japan. 

RUBIO FINED – Senator Marco Rubio has been fined $8,000 by the Federal Elections Commission for accepting more than $210,000 in improper contributions during his 2012 run for the Senate.  This is not good for Rubio's chances to be put on the national ticket.  The Dems will make major hay with the fine, in part to draw attention away from their own internal problems, and in part to drive Rubio down just as he is rising.  But Rubio obviously should have been more careful. 

ROVE PROJECTS – Very senior Republican strategist Karl Rove says that, as of now, Obama has enough safe or leaning states to win the electoral college in November, but cautions that this will change as more polls are conducted and as the campaign heats up.  It's odd because the Democrats are showing signs of desperation and panic, which means their internal polling may not be as positive for them as Rove indicates.  Most observers are predicting a very close race, but predictions at this stage are essentially entertainment.  Six months to go until the election.  About 20 lifetimes in politics.

April 27,  2012     Permalink 

SYRIAN AGONY – AT 9:46 A.M. ET:  As John Batchelor, the great ABC radio talk-show host said last night, when decades hence we look back on the Syrian massacre taking place, we won't be able to say we didn't know.  We know.

Despite a phony ceasefire arranged by Kofi Annan, the murders in Syria continue.  The world is doing very little.  From Foreign Policy magazine:

Two top Obama administration officials said today that the diplomatic initiative to end the violence in Syria, led by U.N. Special Envoy Kofi Annan, "is failing."

Under intense questioning during Thursday's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, both Kathleen Hicks, the current deputy under secretary of defense for policy, and Derek Chollet, National Security Council senior director for strategy, said that the Annan plan was headed toward collapse and that new options for confronting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were being prepared.

Asked by the committee's ranking Republican, Arizona Sen. John McCain, if Assad had complied with the six points of the Annan plan for Syria, which charts a path away from violence toward political negotiations, Chollet acknowledged that violence is actually increasing.

"Do you believe the Annan plan has succeeded or failed?" McCain asked both officials.

"I would say it is failing," Chollet said.

"I would say it is failing and that Annan himself is extremely worried about the plan," Hicks concurred.

Annan lamented reports of increased violence Wednesday but said he still wanted to increase the number of monitors on the ground.

"If confirmed, this is totally unacceptable and reprehensible," said Annan. "Equally, a credible political process is required if we are to sustain any long-term calm on the ground."

As The Cable reported last week, Chollet was added recently to the senior leadership of the Syria policy team and is coordinating the interagency process to look for a "Plan B" for U.S. policy for if and when the diplomatic initiatives break down.

COMMENT:  There apparently is no "Plan B."  At a time when America should be leading, we're just one of the boys.  We know that if the current Syrian regime remains in power, the big winner will be Iran, for whom Syria is a major ally.  And yet we continue to do essentially nothing. 

We were so quick to push Hosni Mubarak, an American ally, out of power.  We seem to be more reluctant about an American enemy. 

April 27, 2012       Permalink

GREAT DAY FOR SOUTH CAROLINA, AND AMERICA – AT 9:22 A.M. ET:  Remember the hassle over Boeing's plan to open an assembly line in South Carolina?  The Obama administration, under pressure from some unions, tried to stop the plan, but eventually a public uproar and common sense got the assembly line going.

Today the fruits of this new production facility go on display.  The first Boeing 787 Dreamliner built in South Carolina is being rolled out:

Today is Boeing South Carolina’s big day: the much-scrutinized local plane-making operation is slated to roll out its first 787 Dreamliner. The jet’s debut this afternoon in North Charleston will make history, since it’s the first time Boeing has assembled a plane outside the Puget Sound region of Washington state since World War II. South Carolina is one of only three places on Earth that puts out wide-body commercial aircraft, and when the inaugural Dreamliner rolls out this afternoon, the world will be watching.

COMMENT:  The plane is destined for Air India.  It's an important day, not only for the South Carolina plant, but as a demonstration that this country can still make things, especially big things that are advanced and complicated.  We simply must restore the manufacturing drive in this country.  A country that doesn't make things isn't going to have much of an economy, no matter how many "service" industries we develop. 

It was American production that was critical to winning World War II, and to maintaining our supremacy during the Cold War.  Foreign companies, like Honda and Toyota, build products in the United States.  American companies can do it as well, with innovative planning, cooperation with and from labor, and sane tax policies. 

April 27, 2012       Permalink

REAL CHEAP SHOT – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  The Obama campaign has done an ad suggesting that Mitt Romney would not have given the order to "get" Osama bin Laden.  This is pretty low stuff.  From The Hill:

President Obama's campaign is using Bill Clinton to argue Mitt Romney would have launched the raid to capture Osama bin Laden last year.

The argument is being made to coincide with the one-year anniversary of bin Laden's death.

Yeah, that's right.  Bill Clinton – the president who had a chance to get bin Laden in the Sudan in the 1990s – indeed, Sudan was willing to turn him over – but balked over some abstract concern that it might not have been "legal."  That Bill Clinton.

In extended, previously unreleased footage taken from an interview with former President Bill Clinton for the 17-minute pro-Obama film "The Road We've Traveled," the campaign suggests that the presumptive GOP nominee would not have ordered the mission to kill bin Laden.

“[Obama] took the harder, and the more honorable path,” Clinton said in the interview, describing the behind-the-scenes process that went into the decision to okay the raid. "He had to decide. And that's what you hire the president to do. You hire the president to make the calls when no one else can do it."

"The commander-in-chief gets one chance to make the right decision," reads the text in the video. It goes on to ask: "What path would Mitt Romney have taken?"

The campaign suggests Romney would not have ordered the raid by pointing to a 2007 interview with the Associated Press in which Romney said: "It's not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person."

COMMENT:  Although Romney's comment was unwise, he was speaking in a different context, and long before we learned where bin Laden was.  To suggest he wouldn't have given the "kill" order is deceptive at best, but that's the way the Obamans play the game.

There are signs, by the way, that at least some in the media are getting fed up with the deceptions of the Obama White House.  Matthew Continetti in the Washington Free Beacon notes that the administration is claiming that President Obama's blatantly political trips in recent months were really "official" journeys, which they were not.  Some journalists have responded on Twitter and elsewhere:

“How much longer do we have to pretend these POTUS events aren’t campaign events?” tweeted MSNBC’s Mike O’Brien. “This is campaigning. Just call it that,” said the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein. They were echoing ABC’s Jake Tapper, who noted last week that the White House “seemed offended” when asked whether “electoral factors” determined Obama’s travel. Seizing an opportunity, the Republican National Committee lodged a formal complaint with the Government Accountability Office, alleging that the White House was using official funds for electioneering.

Will most of the media take up the cry of "dishonesty"?  Will the Brooklyn Dodgers win the pennant this year?

April 27, 2012       Permalink

MORE HOPE AND CHANGE – AT 8:43 A.M. ET:  The bad economic news keeps coming back, and it has to have a major impact on the election.  From The Wall Street Journal:

The U.S. economy slowed its pace of expansion in the first three months of the year compared to the prior quarter, as government spending fell and a build up in inventories eased.

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of all the goods and services produced in an economy, grew at an inflation-adjusted annual rate of 2.2% in the first quarter of 2012, the Commerce Department said Friday. It was the agency's first reading of growth for the quarter.

The gain came in below expectations. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast first-quarter GDP would increase at a 2.6% rate. In the final three months of 2011, the economy grew at a 3.0% rate.

Commerce said the slowing expansion "primarily reflected a deceleration in private inventory investment and a downturn in nonresidential fixed investment," a category that includes spending on structures, computers and industrial equipment.

COMMENT:  There actually hasn't been any good economic news in months.  It's hard to see what the Obama administration can present to the American people unless things improve over the summer. 

April 27,  2012     Permalink