Rebuilding the Democratic Party

Mara Liasson is practical--more so than most liberal Democrats--and has a pretty good idea of why the Democrats lost and have been losing with such frequency. She states some reasons

1. Be clear about how bad things are — and are not — for the Democratic Party 

..Not only are they in the minority in every branch of government in Washington, but beyond the beltway Democrats have a "trifecta" — control of both state houses and the governor's mansion — in only 6 states. Republicans have total control of state government in 25 states.

That is a key. Democrats have been focused on big policies at the federal level and have neglected the state and local elections. No one really mentioned recent statements about the party leadership. They re-elected Nancy Pelosi as House Minority Leader and are pushing divisive candidates for head of the DNC. They ignore attractive candidates like Hawaii representative Tulsi Gabbard simply because she backed Bernie and are pushing far -left ideas in a centrist world.  

2. First things first: Get a message on the economy 

...They need a message on the economy that cuts across class and racial lines, that can appeal to the young person saddled with college debt and the union worker (or former union worker) whose plant has moved to Mexico.

That was an enormous oversight. Hillary and her team just assumed that the unions would support her  because they always had. She never spoke to the real pain people were feeling. Her blind support for Obama and the baggage of her husband having signed NAFTA were difficult to overcome but she didn't even try. While the big union leaders like Richard Trumka were blowing smoke about delivering their votes, the rank and file workers had other ideas. Globalism killed the good blue collar jobs and no one cared...except Trump and to an extent Bernie. The Hillary campaign never adequately addressed the fears of the working man and woman. They saw wages fall, jobs diminish and health insurance costs soar while hours were cut. They never one addressed the fact that a record number of people are not even working and those who are are under employed. By not having a clear and concise message Hillary lost the rust belt to Trump. 

3. Figure out how to resist Trump in Congress 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York have a choice — they can take a page out of Mitch McConnell's playbook and commit themselves to total obstruction. (The Senate Republicans' leader famously said in a 2010 National Journal interview, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.")Or they can pick and choose their fights, working with Trump where he supports their long-held goals — on a big infrastructure program, for instance.

What Liasson misses here is that both Obama and Harry Reid changed the rules. Obama expanded presidential power to levels not seen in a half century while Harry Reid invoked the "nuclear option" with regard to filibusters. Those two things have made this congress and this president the most powerful in decades. Democrats who wish to fight Trump will find their arsenals depleted thanks to the lack of foresight and self control of senate leadership. 

The Dems would be very smart to play the opposition party and not the anti-Trump party. Trump is not a conservative and will work across lines to get what he wants but the Dems have to negotiate in good faith--something they are no longer known for. 

4. Rebuild your farm team 

One of the consequences of losing big in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014 is that the Democratic bench is decimated.Midterm elections are the time when the majority of elected offices in the country are filled. While Republicans are able to turn out their voters every two years, Democrats seem only able to turn out their voters every four. That needs to change.

As I mentioned earlier, they have no regard for the younger people in their party. Their champions are Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders when they should be the aforementioned Gabbard and Tammy Duckworth, the current Representative and newly elected senator. Both Gabbard and Duckworth are not your typical Democrats--both have served (or are still serving) in the military and Duckworth was grievously wounded in Iraq when her Blackhawk was hit by an RPG. These women and many like them should be the party's standard bearers and not people in their 70's who think like people in their 70's. 

5. Don't even think about the next presidential race.  

One of the big consequences of Hillary Clinton losing the 2016 election is that the Democratic Party has no natural national leaders after Obama leaves office next month.But that's OK.Right now, the party needs a message and a permanent infrastructure that can turn out its voters every two years — more than it needs a field of ready candidates to take on Trump in 2020.

This I definitely agree with but I guarantee you that the media will start talking about who will run by the beginning of summer. They will focus on Warren, Joe Biden, Chuck Shumer and other long-time liberal stalwarts. They will fall into the exact same trap they did with Hillary where they will anoint one of these people (probably Biden) and work actively against anyone attempting to beat them (see Bernie Sanders vs. Hillary). 

All in all the Democrats have really weak bench but are stronger than they realize. If they take some time and assess what they have and what they need to do they can recover quickly. A lot of that will depend on two things: how active Obama is after the leaves office and how deeply they search their souls. If Obama is their leader and they fear reprisals for questioning his two terms, they will get no where. It's important to allow people to question some of the policy decision Obama made and to realize that Hillary was running for a third Obama term and it was a factor in her losing. 

Do Any Liberals/Democrats Ever Take Responsibility?

One of the memories I'll always have of the Obama years is that he refused to ever take responsibility for anything. He used the excuse I heard in TV just like you for everything from the IRS scandal to Hillary's emails. Hell, John Stewart called him out on that bullshit excuse. Now I may be wrong here and maybe, in fact, his people did hide things from him but does anyone really believe him when he says stuff like this.

Or how about Obama and Hillary in the wake of the Benghazi attacks that killed four including an ambassador? Neither took responsibility and instead blamed it on a You Tube anti-Islam video that was seen by about twenty people prior to them noting it. They not only arrested the film maker and held him for an extended period of time but also said to the families that this was the cause while standing in front of their flag-draped coffins and sent Susan Rice out to tell the lie on all the Sunday shows. Instead of accepting responsibility and saying we reacted poorly they neglected it and went with an implausible excuse that was never followed up by the media. In fact, they knew it was a terror attack before it even happened.

Just two days ago we have Obama claiming the following:

"We should take great pride in the progress that we've made over the last eight years. That's the bottom line. No foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland." --President Obama, remarks at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Fla., Dec. 6, 2016

I'm guessing the victims of the Orlando night club massacre, San Bernardino, Fort Hood and the Boston Marathon bombing may disagree. 

And now we have another uber-liberal who shirks responsibility. NYC Mayor Bill DiBlasio is claiming that it's Michael Bloomberg's fault that homelessness in NY City is rocketing up. Reality tells us that DiBlasio's horrible policies are 100% blame. Believe me, I'm no supporter of Bloomberg, he's a gun-grabbing liberal as well but at least one who accepted responsibility for things going wrong. 

How we went from Democratic President Harry S. Truman explaining that the buck stopped with him and John Kennedy accepting blame for the failed Bay of Pigs scheme to liberals denying anything that goes wrong on their watch had anything to do with them. Obama was sure as hell happy to claim he got bin-Laden speaking as if he donned tactical gear, night observation devices and shot the terrorist himself but there's no doubt if the op went south he would've blamed the military for everything. 

Hillary and her cronies still blame fake news for her loss even though it was the most poorly run campaign in recent memory. Just as she blamed others for the email fiasco. 

This would be another reason Trump won and an important lesson for those who wish to run. Act like an adult, take responsibility for your actions and move on. You keep your dignity and credibility intact that way. 

Thoughts on Trump Not Going After Hillary

I know there will be a lot of pissed off people that "lock her up!" will not come to fruition--at least not by Trumps command. The Clinton's are scum and have been doing illegal shit for 30-40 years, we all know that. They should've been locked up decades ago but alas they were still around polluting America and selling access (and Uranium) while leaking secrets.

But think about this from Trump's perspective; the man has no ability under law to order her arrested or even order an investigation. We know that presidents can and have persuaded the FBI to look into certain things, congress as well. However, what really comes from it?

Trump needs to play ball somewhat here. He owns the House and the Senate but the Senate can hold thing up unless we invoke the nuclear option--which I'm all in favor of doing selectively. By going hard after Clinton and putting an old sick woman who, by the way, garnered 60-million votes in the penitentiary serves him no good. It looks vindictive and honestly won;t help him in the long run.

That's not to say Sessions may not opt to prosecute but that's for when he takes office and looks at the evidence. The new head of the FBI will have to look at the evidence as well and see if he feels as Comey did. If he opts to look deeper at the email issue or the Clinton Foundation and finds strong evidence, that's a completely different animal if the evidence supports it.

Trump played the "lock her up" card and played it well. But it was just campaign rhetoric. He can't govern with that mindset and was wise to drop it for now. But if he starts wavering on other important promises I'll be the first to hit him hard. He better deport illegals starting with the criminals and he better build the damn wall (and get Mexico to pay). He better fix the VA and rebuild our military and he better put a hold on refugees coming from countries who wish us harm. If he starts getting wishy-washy on that he will be called out and he'll serve one term only.

Thursday Night News & Notes

Since Thursday is the new Friday, I'm sipping on a Hacker Pschorr Weisse and looking at some interesting things to post.

Here's what's up:

-I only watch ESPN for the games, I turn it off for Sports Center, and interviews and, well, anything besides what happens between the lines on the ice, court or field. Their lefty slant is nothing news, hell they hired and fired Keith Olbermann several times but the Limbaugh thing, the Schilling thing and myriad other instances sent me packing. At least they admitting they lean left now.

Examples:

There have also been concrete actions that have created a perception that ESPN has chosen a political side, such as awarding Caitlyn Jenner the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2015 ESPYS despite her not having competed athletically for decades, the company’s decision to move a golf tournament away from a club owned by presidential candidate Donald Trump and a perceived inequity in how punishments for controversial statements were meted out.

-All the really, really really smart pundits (smarter than you, just ask them) said that Trump was going to lose because he was disorganized and ran a horrible campaign. He had no "ground game" and Hillary had been setting up her ground game for years. Yeah, whatever dicks, he won using that one tool that helps everyone succeed: hard work.

-Sen. Orrin Hatch says that the GOP will not get rid of the filibuster. People will freak out about that but I caution them that we will not hold power forever. Just as Obama said the infamous words "I won" and then proceeded to expand his portion of the checks and balances system at an alarming rate, we have to be careful here because getting rid of the filibuster allow the next president with a senate of 50 or more to ravage the country with bad legislation. Note: Yes I did link the Huffington Post but only because they got the quote and it's only fair...but yes, I need a shower now.

-ICE and the Border Patrol are going to have a really tough few years ahead of them.

-Oh Sweden, I love you even though you are insane.

-Hillary is not looking good. Even more reason that Trump should bring charges then pardon her after they show she was guilty.

-Mark Steyn is always worth a read and his take on the reaction of the left after Trump's win is spot on.

-Finally, one of my inspirations for writing this blog is still going strong. He's an Aussie and a funny one at that. I recommend a look at Tim Blair's daily.

Why Hillary Lost

There will be books about this election and Hillary's with insiders selling their stories and little anecdotes. The people who were in charge will write books covering their asses and blaming it on the candidate and someone will write Hillary's side where she'll blame someone else. It always works that way when Democrats lose. Some will get it right but most will get it way wrong. They will never feel what the Trump voters felt during the campaign so they are not capable of taking a deep look at what fueled what is probably the greatest campaign ever. That may sound like hyperbole but name one other winner who overcame the tsunami and opponents he faced in the primary, the media he not only challenged but beat and the dirty tricks of Hillary's cronies. Add in his own party fighting him and you have one hell of a story.

I'm sure I'll get comment that this is misogynistic but before you waste the pixels know that I truly don't give a fuck what you think so save your energy. If you want the truth, read on.

But why did Hillary lose?

First, the woman in inherently unlikeable. She's fake as hell and that;s easy to see from anyone looking at her objectively. She's almost robotic and insincere. She perpetually has the look of the jilted wife sitting in alimony court (well, she did experience half of that) glaring at her ex. She thought it was endearing to use a southern accent when talking in the south and talk black when addressing African-Americans. She laughed at inappropriate times and came out as a cackle further adding to the aura of bitchiness. And her voice when she spoke; it was like fingernails on a chalk board. No one had any problems believing the stories of how she treated the Secret Service, the Marines who guarded the white house and just about anyone else. She tried to play the every-woman but hadn't driven a car in 27 years. She lied about coming out of the white house broke as she was absconding with the silverware.


Second, she ran a horrible campaign. I don't mean like Mike Dukakis bad, I mean the worst ever. She acted as if it was owed to her and campaigned like it was a coronation. The media assisted in that as well and only added to her cocoon of love she thought the American people had for her. We aren't a monarchy in this great land, you have to earn it and she felt she did through her service to the country.  As a side note, why does anyone believe that getting elected and being hired is service. It's a job and the American people are the bosses but I'll get back to that. She had a campaign chaired by John pedestal who it has come to light--thanks to Wikileaks--is a complete weirdo and scumbag. She had Robbie Mook who was the single worse campaign manager slightly beating out Donna Brazile. The guy looked lost on camera when asked even the simplest of questions and constantly evaded when challenged. In a campaign that saw the other candidate actually answering his critics in real time on Twitter, Hillary's responses were canned and that does not fit in this generation. Their responses to Wikileaks were bad when the first DNC emails were released and they never learned. The steady drip, drip, drip destroyed her. She should've just released everything and been done with it but she lost the momentum. The home brewed server issue was another one where Hillary evaded and never gave the answer clearly enough to get people to stop asking. She never took any responsibility, She mouthed the words but there was never conviction and that came across.

Third, she was killed on social media. Obama won both elections by owning social media. His people were awesome at setting the agenda and keeping his supporters in line. Romney wasn't and it led to his defeat.  Someone asked me when Trump first got in it what i thought and i told them he's like a Facebook comments section come to life. He answered any challenge and gave it back double. The media thought it would hurt him but the people who could be swayed loved it. Hillary on the other hand had surrogates like the vile, Soros-backed Media Matters doing her dirty work on the net. I can't tell you how many trolls they must've hired to comment on any anti-Hillary meme or sentence. It had the exact opposite effect of what they had planned. While Trump had real people out there backing him, fighting for him and debating for him, she had trolls. They were easy to spot, they were the ones who posted something anti-Trump or pro-Hillary and when you clicked on their profile it was an account created November 2, 2016 and had no pictures. The people she called Deplorables and Obama labeled clingers were smart enough to see through that. Trump fans would go to pro-Hillary sites but were actual people who actually debated.

Lastly, she completely underestimated Bernie supporters. When the DNC emails were released right before the convention, Bernie still had clout. Her belief that his support would ensure their support was sorely misguided. They didn't just get mad, they actively worked against her. Perhaps had she elected Bernie as her running mate she could have convinced them to get on board but she not only thought they would jump to her, she didn't even make an effort to placate them. There were many Bernie supporters who hated her more than Trump supporters did and that is saying something. While Trump built a movement, she destroyed one and pissed on the ashes. That equated to easily millions of people who chose the orange businessman with bad hair and mean streak over her or opted to sit this one out

There are a plethora of other reasons she lost: the cheating, Bill, Benghazi (which had a bigger effect than many realize), Kate Steinle, her support for Black Lives Matter over the police and so on.

But quite simply, she ran a horrible campaign. It should be fun to read the inside dirt but the liberals who write the stories will never understand what actually happened in America,

The Democratic Party Has Not Lived Up To Its Name

I've been amused on a near daily basis by liberals complaining about the unfairness of their party. The underhanded tricks they instituted to keep outsiders from becoming candidates is just the latest example. Bernie Sanders has run a good campaign; one in which he's built a movement and has brought in people who were not involved in politics until now. Just as Trump has awoken something in the center, Sanders' message is resonating with people who do not identify with their party anymore.

This is nothing new. The Democratic party has been anything but Democratic. We could go all the way back to their inception but instead will focus on the last 50 years or so.

Back in the 1950's and 1960's, the Democrats were split into two groups: the more liberal whites in the northeast and Midwest--generally unionized, middle class and prospering. They had visions of a utopia that was started by FDR and was again being realized in JFK.

In the South you had the Dixiecrats: very white, very racist and unflinching in their goal to stop integration. They used their churches to spread hate and dominated those who disagreed with threats and violence. They were the party of the KKK and they were led by Al Gore, Sr. William Fullbright (Bill Clinton's mentor) and state and local rulers like George Wallace and Bull Connor. No Republican ever stood a shot at victory in the South.

In 1964 and 1965, LBJ (brought in by Kennedy to win the South) proposed legislation to give Blacks rights they should have had according to the Constitution but were denied by the local and state Democrat elected officials. The Dixiecrats mobilized and vehemently fought against both the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act again, led by Al Gore, Sr. and the Dixiecrats. Hell, Robert Byrd was a Kleagle in the KKK and maintained his seat in the Democratic party for decades.

The party controlled all voting until that point and managed to keep the Democratic party very un-democratic.

Fast forward to the last decade or two. In the interim, there was numerous cases of voter fraud perpetrated by the Democrats in cities like Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit all aimed at maintaining their power. Dead people voted like it was the zombie apocalypse and they stole elections repeatedly. But every winner was anointed by the party bosses. The Daley's in Chicago being a prime example and more recently Rahm Emanuel. They wanted no outsiders, only those who were vetted and known to be men and women who would share the spoils.

Democrats cheated in every election they could and the media covered for them because they themselves are part of the Democratic establishment. Going back to Walter Cronkite and others, they constantly pushed the Democratic agenda and usurped authority over what people were told.

They designed their rules to stop outsiders from winning. They created super delegates that are anything but democratic. These are people who are bought off with vacations, dinners and money. They wield more power than elected delegates and they were designed to stop people like Bernie Sanders from winning.

Today we see the planning and conniving paying off for the party bosses. While a lesser attempt was made in the GOP, it was stunningly unsuccessful because supporters of the GOP know how the game is played--hell, it's been played against us for decades. So, when our party tried, we quickly showed them who was boss and they saw where their power comes from--the people.

Not so in the Democratic party. They are not about to give the reins of the party to a self-described socialist from Vermont. They've been actively working to undercut a member of their party whose popularity is enormous to prop up a party stalwart who is anything but popular or even likable. The party hierarchy is actively fighting against the one man who can change the party and if successful, eliminate their livelihood of machine politics that pays lobbyists and union bosses well.

There's going to be a schism and it will tear the party apart. Bernie supporters will not support Hillary in the general after they were robbed of the nomination by her and her cronies. They will not turn out on election day and they will make the convention a living hell to behold. The latest example of this premise is the Nevada convention where the rules of democracy were blatantly tossed aside. Or the words of party leaders like the vile Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

To those who #feelthebern don't feel bad, we've been dealing with this for 50 years. We know all the tricks because they were played on us repeatedly and not a single one of you said anything about it. You can't blame us for savoring the schadenfreude as you suffer at the hands of the very same filth that has been doing it to others forever. Perhaps if you had listened to us instead of blindly following your party, you'd have seen this coming.

Out With The Old & In With The New...Thank God

2015 was a strange year in the world.

Looking back, some weird shit happened:

• A former Olympic gold medal decathlete identified as a woman, got a show for doing so, acknowledged that he was also a republican, said he wants to adopt a baby and then got into a verbal war with another self-identified tranny who gave away some of the most damaging secrets ever disclosed. Essentially; two dudes fighting over who is more woman. Amazingly, one was named Woman of the Year for his "bravery". This, of course, left out true women heroes such as Kurdish women fighting for their homeland, a young Pashtun woman who was shot in the head for advocating education for other women continuing her fight and numerous other woman in countless other hellholes fighting for the right to breathe and not the right to chose their gender. 
• The whitest woman in America was exposed by her parents as, well, the whitest woman in America. This was problematic for her because she was a leader in the NAACP and a teacher of African Studies at a college. Liberals lined up to take the side of the white woman against black people who were offended of having their racial identity stolen for financial gain. 
• A former spokesman for a major fast food chain was found to be a pedophile and sentenced to prison. Jared Fogel was intertwined with Subway for a decade and somehow, they didn't suffer when their public face was convicted of sex crimes with children. 
• Bill Cosby was identified as a serial rapist and was subsequently arrested for sexual assault. Rarely has a public figure gone from being so beloved to being rejected so fast. 
• Another major terror attack occurred on US soil and was actually called a terror attack despite the best efforts of the media. While Fort Hood and others were definitive terror attacks--called "work place violence" by Obamatons-- it was much harder to mislabel an attack on a mall that the media followed intensely. We also saw the President of the US make a speech (standing up) from the Oval Office in which he pretended to take action but instead said nothing new. 
• Terrorism also remained a major issue around the world with an attack in Paris that led to millions of people overlaying their Facebook avi with the French flag in solidarity. Alas, not so many did it when America was attacked but I digress. So 2015 became the year that the French looked stronger and more decisive on the world stage than did America.
• The void left by American leadership led to Russia becoming a super power wannabe again. Hard core Americans actually wished we had a leader who led as well as a former Soviet KGB member. 
• Obama and John Kerry pushed a disastrous treaty that will allow Iran to have nukes in a little more than a decade, released $150 billion to them to continue their proxy wars and was backed up by threats and snooping on allies...
• Well, former allies. 2015 was the year that Obama went to war against Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel. He demeaned the leader, sent operatives to agitate against him in an election and essentially shunned them from in front of the world all so he could say he made a deal with Iran and cement his "legacy". 
• 2015 was the year of "trigger warnings", "safe spaces" and the year America learned exactly what we've produced by handing out participation trophies. We now have a country full of gender studies majors getting offended by "micro aggressions" and historic flags and a nation and media that played along further enabling them. 
• 2015 will be remembered as the year that political correctness jumped the shark. Being called a racist, xenophobic, homophobic, war mongering, hater became a badge of honor. Men and women who were sick of the breakdown in the US decided to stand up and start taking it back. They did so with humor and sarcasm because straight discourse is dead (or on life support). By belittling every new case we saw and laughing and pointing at the perpetrators, we've seen the pendulum start to swing back. 
• Which brings me to this: The leader for the Democratic party is the wife of a man accused of rape and sexual assault who had sex with his (much) subordinate intern and she is running on a platform of feminism. She broke myriad laws by mishandling secret information that would have landed the average person in a federal prison for years. Her opponent is a self-declared socialist whom has not the slightest clue about the economy but promises the world to the aforementioned participation trophy winning students. He also has some extreme, non-feminist views on women. So, we currently have two old white people on the Democratic ticket and they're both carrying heavy baggage. 
• And finally, 2015 was the year of Trump. He resonates with people no matter how inelegantly he says things--which is probably increasing the resonance. The man is vicious and immediate when attacked. Within minutes of being called out, he goes on the offensive and does not sugar coat what he says. The media try to take him down and he ridicules them. His own party leadership try to attack him and he goes right back at them ten-fold. The man wields the hashtag like it's a sword. Others rise and fall while Trump remains at the top. Any baggage on him has likely been printed already and he's flummoxed both parties. People may not agree on everything or even most of what he says but they will vote for him when the time comes. If it's him versus Hillary, he will win. He's not afraid to get down in the gutter Clintonistas live in and , in fact, seems comfortable going there. 

Well, that's a recap of 2015. I'm guessing 2016 will hold just as much and to a person who follows politics, we can only hope that to be the case.

The "Most Transparent Administration Ever" Is Pretty Opaque

Let's go into the way back machine and travel back to when Obama said this:

That, of course was an enormous lie but one that only right-leaning media called him out on. The mainstream media just nodded their heads like the good lapdogs they are even thought they should be the most concerned.

From Benghazi to Obama transcripts to the Osama bin-Laden raid and a zillion other instances, this administration has repeatedly stone walled everyone. It's taken numerous lawsuits by numerous sources to get anything released and then they violate the law by not releasing everything they should. FOIA requests are laughed at and important info is redacted.

Now we see another instance in which Honduran citizens were killed in a drug raid by the DEA:

WASHINGTON — Justice Department watchdogs ran into an unexpected roadblock last year when they began examining the role of federal drug agents in the fatal shootings of unarmed civilians during raids in Honduras.
The Drug Enforcement Administration balked at turning over emails from senior officials tied to the raids, according to the department’s inspector general. It took nearly a year of wrangling before the D.E.A. was willing to turn over all its records in a case that the inspector general said raised “serious questions” about agents’ use of deadly force.
The continuing Honduran inquiry is one of at least 20 investigations across the government that have been slowed, stymied or sometimes closed because of a long-simmering dispute between the Obama administration and its own watchdogs over the shrinking access of inspectors general to confidential records, according to records and interviews.

This is from the NY Times who finally is fighting back because A) They've done their job and helped Obama get two terms and B) Can now use this to say they are fair and balanced. Imagine if they had put the same amount of energy into investigating Obama back in 2008...

Aside from that, this is a huge issue for the nation. Without the accountability of our elected "leaders" we have no democracy. The only way we can have accountability is by knowing the facts. The only way we can learn the facts is if they are released to the public as the laws stipulate. Yes, I understand redacting sensitive information but using that tactic to cover up non-sensitive information that may be an issue is anti-American.

The Hillary e-mail scandal is a big deal exactly because of this. Government workers are required to use government computer networks because it makes them accountable. Hillary knew this and bypassed the system to hide information and then deleted 30,000 emails that she--not the American people--determined were not of any interest to the citizenry.

Here's the only question I have for those who defend Obama and Hillary on their breaking the law and hiding information from us: How would you feel if a President Trump or Cruz did the same exact thing?

Tuesday Night News & Notes

Link dump:

-Here's one about a British POW who asked the Kaiser for permission to see his mother before she passed. The Kaiser said yes but you have to return to the camp afterward...he did.

-Hillary the narcissist. Between her and Obama, I don't know who's more so.

-Pro-gay marriage advocates show they really hate free speech and freedom in general.

-Are the long-term unemployed even employable anymore. Take tech for instance; is someone whose been out of the tech world for 99-weeks come back in and be productive with the pace of advances? It appears not.

-Pakistan has been playing all sides since 9/11. The ISI has been supporting LeT who was responsible for the Mumbai massacre as well as the Haqqani network. They've been taking us for billions and giving us little in return. They knew full well that bin-Laden was within their borders and allowed him refuge for years. The tide may well be turning.

-Jeff Bezos promises some changes at the WaPo. I'm hoping they move from the far-left, Democrat-supporting hacks they currently are to a more centrist brand.

-Have no fear, Dennis Rodman is on the case is NoKo. God help us.

-Alright Eagles fans, we open in less than a week at the comfortable hour of 7:00 PM against the hated Skins. I predict 8-8 with LeShon McCoy having a monster year. Vick will play better since he (hopefully) won't be throwing passes from the horizontal position and Jason Avant may just have a break-out season. Here's to hoping and being a life-long Birds fan means I'm also a hopeless optimist. Here's what we have to look forward to:

Sunday Morning News & Notes

The last Sunday of summer.

This was the worst weekend of the year to be a kid not at all anticipating going back to school.

Anyway, here's what is going on:

-Hillary Clinton has been silent on Syria and for good cause. The Obama strategy is incoherent and constantly changing, what she says now will be used in 2016 if things go bad and she's partially responsible for where we are by not reacting to it back when she was the head honcho at Foggy Bottom. Her non-repsonse to the Benghazi incident and her shameful responses to congress show that she is not only an ineffective leader but show her to be a political animal of the worst kind.

-It's no wonder the State Department is a mess when we give big money bundlers ambassadorships in the capitals of important allies. I mean, look at this buffoon Obama chose to represent us in London. Does he look like an ambassador or does he look like the captain of a bowling team? The Brits don't seem to be warming to him.

-Dr. Krauthammer has his say on the dithering over the Syria issue.

-Kerry Picket filling in for the ailing Jim Hoft notes that women are selling positive pregnancy tests on Craig's List. Because nothing says I love and trust you and want to marry you like a woman lying about being pregnant to her significant other. 

-I love how liberals try to revise history to their advantage. My all time favorite is when they try to tell us that it was the democrats who pushed through the Civil Rights Act when in fact people like Al Gore's dad fought hard against it but I digress. Today we have something called Karoli at hard left site Crooks and Liars actually saying that the IRS scandal was "created by the Tea Party". Okay you fucking moron, how about we revisit this made up scandal, shall we? Groups with names that included "liberty" or "tea party" were flagged and subjected to harsher scrutiny than were those who were liberal-leaning. Leaders of those groups were forced to undergo audit after audit because they were associated with said groups. And finally, the IRS admitted that they did all these things. I don't see how this can be any clearer. This is a real scandal, not something made up like the Valerie Plame affair. Real people exercising their God-given rights were singled out by the government (in an orchestrated way) because of their views. That's about as un-American as it gets but to the intellectually deficient left it's just not that big a deal...until a Republican does it.

- Has any politician imploded faster than Marco Rubio without being involved in a scandal? The immigration issue is a big deal to conservatives and Republicans and Rubio's stance destroyed a lot of good will he had built up. 

Sunday Morning News & Notes

Some things I meant to get to earlier but didn't.

-The long list of Obama's broken promises. I'm surprised it fit in one column.

-Obama said that if Syria crossed his imaginary "red line", there would be consequences. It appears they not only crossed it but leapt over it with both feet while giving him the finger. I'm guessing he's going to choose the Clinton route and launch some missiles into Syrian army targets so he has cover and can say he did something. Plus, he'd have the extra added benefit of taking the heat off himself with all these scandals going on ala Clinton when the Monica Lewinsky scandal was...um...blowing up.

-Aside from the "fuck you" aspect of Muslim organizers of a march in DC selecting 9-11 as the day, I have other issues with this march. One being the fact that Muslim's have not been harassed as much as the media would want you to believe and they really have no grievance against treatment in the US. At the same time, the leaders of that community have never come out against any of the attacks from 9-11 to Nidal Hasan. While they as a group did not plan or participate in the attacks, groups like CAIR have not exactly condemned them either. A group of bikers intend to make this anniversary of the 9-11 attacks a memorable one by organizing a huge rally on the same day. I'm sure the DC police are thrilled. Via Katie Pavlich.

-What the hell is going on in San Diego? While politicians have always come from a lower breed of human, San Diego really seems to have scraped the bottom of the barrel. Granted, this latest charge is probably bull shit but for crying out loud, my former city is a mess.

-The state of Texas gives the victims of the Nidal Hasan jihadi attack what they've earned: the status of war combatants. This is a war and Hasan said exactly that in the court room.

-Delbert Belton was a war hero. He was brutally beaten to death by two young black men. This could be the real trigger for a debate on race in America where we discuss why violence is the norm in minority community. Why are places like Chicago, Detroit and Trenton witnessing huge spikes in black on black crime? Why is the African-American community suffering through immensely higher unemployment? These are just some of the questions we could discuss and make the death of Mr. Belton a watershed moment where we actually talked about the issue openly and honestly. Instead, the media and President Obama want nothing to do with it because when they talk about race, they would rather quote MLK III who is a divider than talk about solving the problems and making us united. The media and hate pimps like Al Sharpton want no dialogue or solutions because they make their money on perpetuating hate and poverty.

-Liberal and feminist icon Camille Paglia asks what exactly has Hillary done that she deserves to be president? When you've lost Ms. Paglia...

-While I find Juan Cole a pretty detestable person, he does have a point on the NSA cases including new info that NSA staffers were cyber stalking ex-girlfriends.

Another Embarrassment In Front of the World

Notice something different about Hillary compared to the rest of the people in the picture?Reminds me of this classic Obama moment:
Glad we no longer have that idiot George W. in the White house.

Wikileaks Explodes Obama Foreign Policy Image

It's been awhile since I've posted anything here but the Wikileaks saga has brought me out of my self-induced hiatus.

When Obama came to power, he was the man who was going to undo all the wrongs perpetrated by the Bush administration with regard to our image around the world. He was going to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, stop global warming, stop Iran from producing nukes and get us out of the two wars Bush stupidly got us into. His was going to be a way that placed diplomacy at the top and sneaky tactics at the very bottom.

So much for that empty rhetoric.

When the vile Julian Assange released the first leaked documents concerning the war on terror, Obama did nothing because the documents made the military look bad and by extension the Bush/Cheney junta. Now that Assange is embarrassing the Obama administration, he's on Interpol's wanted list and is an avowed enemy of The One. But that's a discussion for another post.

The Wikileaks cables leaked over the last week and a half paint a picture of a conniving administration that has run amok. From Hillary Clinton ordering essentially a smear dossier on the Argentina leader's wife (now leader herself) to the ham-fisted way they schemed to save face in climate change negotiations, the Obamacons have shown themselves to be petty and way out of their league. Their collective actions have given America a black eye that will take ears to repair.

The list of inadequacy goes on and on with a clear illustration of how the administration operates on a daily basis with regard to our allies and enemies. It paints one ugly picture--especially from the Hillary-led State Department where the embarrassment has been the greatest.

Once all the cables have been leaked, we will have an even clearer picture of an administration that is what those of us who were paying attention said it was; insular, ideological, sneaky and inept. Thank the good Lord that we have at least begun to put a check on their arrogance and incompetence.

Could Obama Bail On a Second Term?

This has been kicked around the blogosphere since Toby Harnden wrote about it last week (the Brit press is light years ahead of the hack American press) in the Telegraph.

Obama has pretty much whined for the last six-months or so about how hard the job is and how Bush left him with a mess. We've all heard it on a daily basis and that's one of the biggest reasons his popularity has plummeted. Americans like strong leaders who are good communicators like Reagan, optimistic like Roosevelt, straight-forward like Bush or human like Clinton. We hate whiny, we hate wishy-washy, we hate being lectured, we hate elitists and we hate hypocrites. Obama is every single one of those. He's just not likable.

Think of one moment where you watched Obama and said to yourself: "self, he seems like a nice guy". You could see yourself having a beer with Bush, Reagan or Clinton (and maybe hangin' around the Oval Office for awhile), but Obama, not so much. With The One it would be wine spritzers on the deck and no horse shoes because people could get hurt. He seems p-whipped and indecisive.

Neil Cavuto has his thoughts on this today as does Ed Morrisey. As for me, I could see that scenario. He's stuck with a GOP-led Senate and House, he can't advance the agenda and therefore loses the left who want him to fight (an instinct not in his DNA) and the public continues to sour on him until he reaches Bushian levels.

He says to himself fuck it, I'll never have to work again, play golf every day, give speeches and collect huge bank. Why deal with an electorate that is just too damn moronic to understand the genius that is me, Obama?

He'd go down in history as the first black president and historians will indeed go gentle just because of that fact. He rammed through a health care bill, which eluded Clinton and several other bills hat were but liberal wet dreams until the last two years. He's earned a cushy life, dammit.

And who does that leave to run? Hillary of course. It's not out of the realm.

Did Obama Give away Texas Without Us Knowing?

According to the gaffe-inclined State Dept. they did:

Secretary Clinton is already the most traveled Secretary of State in a new Administration. The Secretary’s trips have included her inaugural trip to Asia, the Middle East and Europe, Mexico and across the border to Texas, the Hague in the Netherlands, Europe with President Obama, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago with President Obama, and to Iraq and Kuwait.

Now I know The One has been on a ceaseless blame America first, mea culpa tour of the world telling any world leading he could find that he was sorry for the deeds us evil Americans have perpetrated upon them but did he appease Mexico by giving Texas back?

I'm sure his supporters of La Raza will be very happy as they thought it would require a fight to reclaim land they believe was stolen.

I'm sure the Texans will be shocked (and possibly pleased) by this news but they've been arming themselves of late and are probably itching for a battle. Plus, they can now drill wherever the hell they want to and reduce taxes as a sovereign nation. A win-win for them I guess.

How the hell have we gone from a professional State Dept. led by a competent former Provost at Stanford to an agency lead by a bumbling former Senator that can't get even the smallest detail right?

The Obama Amateur Hour Continues

Not so much The One this time but his most prominent administration official embarrassing the USA.

Hillary Clinton visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a revered shrine for Catholics in Mexico. A church Monsignor showed Shrillary the Our Lady of Guadalupe image. The image is believed to have been imprinted by the Almighty himself and anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the Catholic Church would know this.

So what did our brilliant SecState ask?

After observing it for a while, Mrs. Clinton asked “who painted it?” to which Msgr. Monroy responded “God!”

Singularly, this would just be an oversight by the State Department in not preparing Hillary for the visit. Those things happen. But add this to the DVD fiasco with Gordon Brown and the bungled "reset button" gimmick with the Russians and we see an administration that is unprepared for even the basics of statesmanship and leadership. Hillary should be singled out as well as this is two times within weeks that her staff has made her look the idiot, a task she does fine by herself without outside assistance.

Update: Remember how we were told this would be the "most wired adminsitration in history". Uh, no.

More Buyers Remorse in Obamanation

This time it's not some New York Times writers her were reduced to teenagers at the mere sight of Thne One. Oh no, this time it's the sober Economist who had backed Obama and is wondering where all that Hope and Change (TM) has gone:

HILLARY CLINTON’S most effective quip, in her long struggle with Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination last year, was that the Oval Office is no place for on-the-job training. It went to the heart of the nagging worry about the silver-tongued young senator from Illinois: that he lacked even the slightest executive experience, and that in his brief career he had never really stood up to powerful interests, whether in his home city of Chicago or in the wider world. Might Mrs Clinton have been right about her foe?

...But at home Mr Obama has had a difficult start. His performance has been weaker than those who endorsed his candidacy, including this newspaper, had hoped. Many of his strongest supporters—liberal columnists, prominent donors, Democratic Party stalwarts—have started to question him. As for those not so beholden, polls show that independent voters again prefer Republicans to Democrats, a startling reversal of fortune in just a few weeks. Mr Obama’s once-celestial approval ratings are about where George Bush’s were at this stage in his awful presidency. Despite his resounding electoral victory, his solid majorities in both chambers of Congress and the obvious goodwill of the bulk of the electorate, Mr Obama has seemed curiously feeble.

That's a stunning indictment of President Obama and one of the more overt pieces I've read about the complete lack of trust the left now has in Obama. Yes, he will still have his die-hard supporters who will never admit they were wrong in backing such an amateurish candidate, yet every day we are seeing another major backer question whether or not Obama is up to the job.

By throwing in a Hillary quote they throw a little salt in the wound as well by showing that not only us on the right were correct in our assessment but that they had a perfectly viable candidate and unceremoniously dumped her for the flavor of the month who turned out to be an amateur on nearly every issue.

It's too late to say this but while the left-wing echo chamber was feeling thrills up and down their collective legs, we on the other side were pointing out the inconvenient fact that he's a lightweight and not nearly ready to ascend to the Oval Office.

Commentary's Jennifer Rubin has more.

Update: More also at Hot Air.

Monday Night News and Notes

Awaiting the latest episode of 24 where Jack hasn't tortured anyone yet but has shot quite a few people..

Here's some links from around the web:

Obama bluff is called by Boy Assad and he's got a six high. Arab despots must be lining up to meet Obama.

The Gore Effect in all its glory. Drudge is having fun goofing on Al Gore. The Gore Effect explained at Cold Fury who linked to me yesterday. Thanks guys. Also the Gore Effect was coined by Tim Blair who linked the other day as well, thanks Tim.

The Anchoress also linked and I thank her.

Hillary shows that Clinton class we've all grown to know. Remember they said all Bill's victims were "trailer park trash"?

He may a communist, dictatorial, meddling idiot who has essentially codified anti-semitism but he's "warmed to Obama" so he must be a good guy.

I'm glad to see the world is all about Obamamania: US embassy in Yemen attacked.

My buddy Terri notes an interesting juxtaposition. Excellent post and I'm still waiting for those vacation pix (last item) from Australia. Don't be shy, now.

Cuba, Korea and Iran Warm up to Obama

Two thirds of the Axis of Evil seem to like the new man we have in the White House:

In his inaugural address, President Obama signaled conciliation to America's foes by promising an outstretched hand if they unclench their fists.
Already, there are signs that some of those foes were listening, sensing an opening for improved relations after eight combative years with George W. Bush as president. Fidel Castro is said to like the new U.S. leader, and North Korea and Iran sounded open to new ideas to defuse nuclear tensions.

Unclear is what they will demand in return from Obama, and whether they will agree to the compromises that the United States is likely to require in exchange for warmer relations.

Are the Castro brothers really willing to move toward democracy? Can Russia and the West heal their widening estrangement? Will Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez stop being a thorn in America's side?

Oh, I bet every nation in the world that wishes us harm is very willing to talk with us, some without preconditions or so Obama said. Ahmadinejad, Castro and Kim Jung Il are probably busy putting out the red carpet for Hillary as we speak.

Kudos to the Inqy for following suit and buying into the Obama hype, they've chose to run the latest AP piece that's so over the top in support of Obama as to be nauseating to anyone that has a shred of pride left in the newspaper industry.

North Korea continued building nukes even though they "befriended" Clinton, Carter and Madeline Aldull. Hugo Chavez abhors the US and has been sowing discord throughout South America countering our aims and Iran has been building centrifuges and looks to become friends so they can continue to do so without having to worrying about us prying.

Friends? I leave you with one picture of their ideas of friendship:

Gov. Paterson Picks Conservative Dem For Hill Seat

Giving the finger to the liberals in New York City, Gov. David Paterson opted for another candidate who will surely piss them off:

ALBANY - Gov. Paterson, defying the liberal wing of his Democratic Party, has chosen little-known, NRA-backed, upstate Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton as New York's junior senator, it was learned last night.

The surprising - and, for many Democrats shocking - decision to pick the conservative Gillibrand, 42, from Hudson in Columbia County, was disclosed by the governor in calls to party officials and some members of the state's congressional delegation, many of whom said they were unhappy with the selection, sources said.

Excellent; a Kennedy was shut out because of tax issues, a Cuomo was rebuffed and now we have a Blue Dog from New York. Who'd a thunk it?

Upstate New Yorkers are essentially liberal Republicans in many other places as shown by Gillibrand's stance on big liberal social issues:

Liberal Democrats have been wary of her because she ran for re-election with the backing of the National Rifle Association, opposed the federal TARP program to rescue banks, and has been less than enthusiastic about gay marriage.

Awesome, a political meltdown in NY. Nothing makes me happier than two Dem strongholds--Chicago and NY--fighting amongst themselves.