November's Choice

Why the Democrats are in so much trouble -- Growth now pegged to be 1% or less

It looks like a Jimmy Carter economy.

Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economist who predicted the global
financial crisis, said U.S. growth will be “well below” 1 percent in the third
quarter and put the odds of a renewed recession at 40 percent.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-25/roubini-sees-u-s-growth-below-1-chance-of-double-dip-recession-at-40-.html

And here's another

Banks back switch to renminbi for trade

A number of the world’s biggest banks have launched international
roadshows promoting the use of the renminbi to corporate customers instead of
the dollar for trade deals with China.

HSBC, which recently moved its chief executive from London to Hong
Kong, and Standard Chartered are offering discounted transaction fees and
other financial incentives to companies that choose to settle trade in the
Chinese currency. “We’re now capable of doing renminbi settlement in many
parts of the world,” said Chris Lewis, HSBC’s head of trade for greater China.
“All the other major international banks are frantically trying to do the same
thing.”HSBC and StanChart are among a slew of global banks – including
Citigroup and JPMorgan – holding roadshows across Asia, Europe and the US
to promote the renminbi to companies.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/182a2b70-b130-11df-b899-00144feabdc0.html

Handicapping the House

So, you think President Obama had a tough week? Wait’ll you get a load of what happened to the Congressional Democrats.

By RCP poll averaging, the GOP lock has jumped up three to 206 seats and the
Democrats lost three to 196. That ten-seat deficit was a 202-202 tie just two
weeks ago. When you consider how few seats are really in play, and that the
campaign season doesn’t really begin until Labor Day weekend, that’s a
remarkable amount of action.

http://pajamasmedia.com/vodkapundit/2010/08/25/handicapping-the-house-5/

A truly bizarre story

Last night, a drunken 21-year-old man hailed a taxi in New York City
and, after a few moments of conversation, attacked the cab driver, a Muslim,
with a knife. The attack was not fatal, thankfully, and the perpetrator was
immediately arrested. The New York Daily News, among many other outlets, hailed the incident as a hate crime:

Enright slashed Sharif across the face, arm and hand after asking
the Bangladesh-born cabbie if he was Muslim and then saying 'As-salaam alaikum'
- which means 'peace be unto you' in Arabic, cops said.

What makes this strange is that the man was charged with a hate crime, but he volunteered for a company Intersections International, a "global initiative dedicated to promoting justice, reconciliation and peace across lines of faith, culture, ideology, race, class, national borders and other boundaries that divide humanity."

In addition the cab driver Ahmed Sharifv opposed the Ground Zero mosque on the basis "that there was no need to put it there."

So you have someone who evidently volunteers at a liberal organization charged with a hate crime against a Muslim who is against building a mosque near ground zero. Do you ever get the feeling we aren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto?

A strange case indeed.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/08/027079.php

Obama Appointee under Ethics Cloud

We continual hear from the Democrats that the Republicans are “too extreme” for the American people. Yet we continue to get example of the extremists appointed by the president doing or having done extremist things.

Atty. Gen. Eric Holder is facing his first real test to enforce the
most heralded value of President Obama’s Administration—the ethics pledge.Holder is being pressured to determine whether Craig Becker, a controversial recess appointment to the National Labor Relations Board, has violated that pledge more than a dozen times in just a few short months.Prior to his confirmation being steamrolled past the Senate process in March, Becker served as associate general counsel for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents 1.8 million members, and is a former staff counsel for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).

Now as a member of Obama’s board, Becker sits in judgment of unfair
labor practices, whether it’s committed by an employer or the labor organization
itself. The National Right to Work Foundation has asked Becker to recuse himself in 13 cases that involve the union but Becker has declined to do so despite a separate pledge in writing.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38704

Great Ad

http://www.youtube.com/user/RepublicanStudyComm

Blaming the TEA Party--can't take a joke?

Alex Pappas is a political reporter at the Daily Caller. He previously
wrote for the Mobile Press-Register in Mobile, Ala. Pappas is a graduate of The
University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., where he studied political science
and was editor of The Sewanee Purple.

A writer for a St. Louis alternative newsweekly tells The Daily
Caller he does not regret speculating in a story that the suspect of an
attempted arson of a Democratic congressman’s campaign office was a Tea Party
activist.

It turns out that the suspect in this week’s firebombing of
Democratic Rep. Russ Carnahan’s campaign office in St. Louis was actually a
liberal blogger and former paid campaign worker for Carnahan’s
campaign.

“As to the legions of Tea Party adherents who are calling for my
head: No, I have no regrets. I was having fun — at their expense,”

http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/26/newsweekly-falsely-speculates-arson-suspect-is-tea-party-activist-writer-says-tea-party-activists-can%E2%80%99t-take-a-joke/#ixzz0xnaLe7c1

Tea Party Group Hit With Death Threats

One of Washington's principal supporters of the Tea Party movement, former
GOP Majority Leader Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, has been receiving death threats
and profanity-laced phone calls as it gets involved in the fall elections. The
number and intensity have reached such heights that the organization is leaving
its downtown location near the FBI and moving to a high-security building near
the U.S. Capitol.

http://politics.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2010/08/25/tea-party-group-hit-with-death-threats

I put these two stories together. We keep hearing how the TEA Party incites violence, yet there hasn't been a single case where a TEA Party person has done anything violent while there have been numerous instances of violence against them or leftist trying to pass themselves or their actions off as TEA Party people.

Americans OK With Mosques In Their Own Town, But Not Near Ground Zero

The iron law of zoning disputes in America can safely be summed up by the
acronym "NIMBY," for "Not In My Back Yard." But a surprising new poll
shows that when it comes to mosques, Americans are actually more "YIMBY" -- "Yes In My Back Yard." They are more welcoming of Muslim houses of worship than one might expect, especially in the wake of the furor over building an Islamic
center near ground zero. New research from the Public Religion Research
Institute shows that 76 percent of Americans would support Muslims in their community building an Islamic center or mosque provided they followed the same rules and regulations required of other religious groups

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/26/americans-okay-with-mosques-in-their-own-town-but-not-near-grou/

A Republican Congress

Obamacare under a Republican Congress—what could they do?

From the Wall Street Journal, here's some of the things a Republican Congress could do about Healthcare.

Information is the key weapon. Republicans can use congressional hearings to explain what ObamaCare is doing to the economy and the health sector. Their strongest cases would be built around jobs, the cost of health care, and the rising deficit.

If evidence shows that looming mandates on employers are crippling job-creation, they should be repealed. If health costs are rising, as they inevitably will be, Congress needs to hold hearings to investigate the causes and explain why the offending taxes and regulations must be repealed.

Here are six key strategies that a Republican Congress could employ
to put on the brakes:

• Defund it. House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio has vowed to choke off funding for implementation of the legislation, starting with parts that are especially egregious such as the "army of new IRS agents" needed to police
compliance.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437271015655924.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Ugly report on existing home sales is latest setback for Democrats

Things aren't working out well for the Democrats as the midterm elections approach.

Democrats are finding little success in their nearly two-year campaign
to ease the nation’s housing woes.

Since coming into office, President Obama has undertaken a series
of policy initiatives intended to stabilize home prices, boost demand and reduce
foreclosures.

But a series of recent reports indicate those policies have not
stopped the precipitous decline in housing, which began well before the official
start of the recession in December 2007. The National Association of Realtors on Tuesday reported that existing home sales plunged 27.2 percent in July, hitting the lowest level in more than a decade.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/801-economy/115641-brutal-housing-report-is-latest-setback-for-democrats

Yet another reason for Democrats to worry

A new survey by the Democratic-leaning firm Public Policy Polling finds that even in Illinois voters are by 40% to 26% less likely to support a
candidate if he or she has been endorsed by President Obama. "If his
support isn't an asset in his home state it's hard to imagine where it is," says
PPP head Tom Jensen……

Mr. Obama's sagging popularity is even following him to his favorite vacation spot on Martha's Vineyard this week. According to the Boston Globe, last year the island's largest T-shirt store sold 4,000 shirts that read, "I vacationed with Obama." This year, those shirts are being outsold by others that have former President Bush asking, "Miss me yet?"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449572520837524.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLESecond


Democrats privately fear House prospects worsening

Top Democrats are growing markedly more pessimistic about holding the
House, privately conceding that the summertime economic and political recovery
they were banking on will not likely materialize by Election Day. …..

A Democratic pollster working on several key races said, “The
reality is that [the House majority] is probably gone.” His data shows the Democrats’ problems are only getting worse. “It’s spreading,” the pollster said…

And before Tuesday night’s races, 15.4 million Republicans had
already voted in primaries, compared with 12 million Democrats who have turned
out for primaries so far in 2010.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41469.html#ixzz0xhkrD2ek

Even Letterman appears to be abandoning ship

On CBS’ “The Late Show” Tuesday night, David Letterman took a jab at the president, saying: “He’ll have plenty of time for vacations after his one term is up.”

Iraqis say 'wrong time' for US withdrawal

Leftist like to remind us that you can’t impose democracy on people as they explain our need to leave Iraq (and Afghanistan). But a recent poll shows that the Iraqi people actually would like for us to stay a bit longer.

BAGHDAD (AFP) – A majority of Iraqis believe it was the wrong time for a major withdrawal of US combat troops, a poll said on Tuesday, with more than half also warning that it would have negative consequences.

When asked if it was the right time for American soldiers to leave -- the US military earlier confirmed troop numbers in Iraq had fallen under 50,000 for the first time -- 59.8 percent said no, compared to 39.5 percent who said yes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100824/wl_mideast_afp/iraqusmilitarypullout_20100824133725

Who's the Real Fool?

Sarah Palin's No Tina Fey: 'Palinisms' Fall Flat, What About Biden's Gaffes?

Jacob Weisberg has made a nice living and entertained a lot of people with his book on W's gaffes, called Bushisms. It's part of America we could applaud for figuring out how to monetize George W. Bush's penchant for faux pas. Jacob's Bushisms books sold a bundle and made people laugh, the former president included. No harm, no foul.

Anyway, a thin new volume arrived over the transom this week, an offering
from Jacob Weisberg called Palinisms: The Accidental Wit and Wisdom of Sarah Palin. There are a few nuggets here, but it would seem from this little
paperback that Sarah Palin is not the dimwit liberals make her out to be.
Palinisms made me miss George W. Bush -- and Ronald Reagan, too. It also
implicitly raises the question of where the comparable volume is for Joe Biden,
the gaffe-prone pol who actually holds the job Sarah Palin sought in 2008

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/21/sarah-palins-no-tina-fey-palinisms-in-new-book-fall-flat-wh/

But with the vice president out touring America on the Summer Recovery Tour, it appears Weisberg has picked the wrong person to make fun of.

Patriots on the left

The left has always been thinned skinned about their patriotism being questioned. Here's a different look at why we should look upon them as Superpatriots.

Consider some of the statements from prominent politicians and their
acolytes in the elite media regarding recent controversies — the Ground Zero
mosque, the Arizona illegal-immigration law, the financial-reform bill, the
California marriage referendum, Obamacare, Afghanistan, and the administration’s
Gulf drilling moratorium. Their commentary suggests (if the polling on these
issues is reasonably accurate) that approximately 70 percent of Americans are racist, xenophobic, greedy, homophobic, uncaring, and stupid religious bigots, and bloodthirsty, polluting imperialists to boot.

It’s hard to imagine how anyone other than a superpatriot could
love a country dominated by such utterly despicable human beings.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner

NBC's Chuck Todd Projects 'Democrats Are In Deep, Deep Trouble'

More signs of trouble for the Democrats.

If Democrats weren't nervous about November's midterm elections yet, they
could soon be, especially when you consider that even their allies in the
liberal media are starting to forecast doom for them, as NBC's Chuck Todd did on
Tuesday's Today show, going as far to predict "Democrats are in deep,
deep trouble."

Read more and watch the video: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/geoffrey-dickens/2010/08/24/nbcs-chuck-todd-projects-democrats-are-deep-deep-trouble#ixzz0xYUOWRK7

The Democrat’s healthcare problem

What will the democrats run on this year?

The answer should be easy. In passing the national health care bill, you accomplished something your party dreamed of for decades. It was your most important vote, and now is the time to take credit for it.

Except it's not.

Recently a number of top Democratic strategists conducted
focus groups in Las Vegas, Charlotte, Philadelphia and St. Louis. They
also conducted a national poll of 1,000 likely voters and an online poll of
2,000 more likely voters. They wanted to measure the public's feelings
about Obamacare and help Democrats make an effective case for the bill
they passed in March.

The researchers found what they call a "challenging
environment," which is a nicer way of saying "disaster in the
making." Voters simply aren't buying the Democratic case that health
care reform will insure more than 30 million currently uninsured people and save
money at the same time. And when they think about their own health care, people worry that reform will mean less, not more, availability
of care, and at a higher cost.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/For-Obamacare-supporters_-judgment-days-approaches-540167-101325829.html?#ixzz0xaIlnoXI


NYT: 'More Americans - Not Just the Rich - Will Have to Pay More Taxes'

Remember when the TEA Parties started and a reporter for CNN told them they were foolish since they were going to have their taxes decreased, not increase? It appears the TEA Party people knew better.

The New York Times on Tuesday declared what most conservatives knew
would happen if Democrats took control of both Congress and the White House: "more Americans - and not just the rich - are going to have to pay more
taxes."

In its editorial comically titled "A Real Debate on Taxes," the Times

predictably argued for a total elimination of the
Bush tax cuts, although it favored some partial delay to this given the
precarious state of the economy.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/08/24/nyt-more-americans-not-just-rich-will-have-pay-more-taxes#ixzz0xYZcsBaW

Obama's Approval Hits All-Time Low of 39 Percent Among Men, Says Gallup

(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama’s job approval rating among American men has fallen to a record low, hitting 39 percent in the week of Aug. 16-22,
according to the Gallup Poll.The week of Aug. 16-22 also marked the first time
Obama’s average weekly approval rating dropped below 40 percent for either
gender. His approval rating among American women was 46 percent for the
week.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/71557

How many points will Orrville score?

As a teenager I remember a sport writer predicting the outcomes of high school football games. This writer turned to verse one weekend saying: "How many points will Orrville score? Maybe 50, maybe more?" Orrville ended up losing the game 6-0.

In a similar vein, Alexandra Gutierrez at Slate wrote on August 23:

On Tuesday, in her home state, Sarah Palin's favorite will probably get
trounced. Joe Miller is widely expected to lose by a large margin to incumbent
Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Republican primary—an embarrassing defeat for the
former governor, who has endorsed Miller, but also to Miller’s other major
backer, the Tea Party Express.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/25/embarrassing-defeat-for-sarah-palin-will-happen-at-any-moment-fingers-crossed/#ixzz0xcZ3ZVGi

It appears Joe Miller will beat Lisa Murkowski. What this means is that all the old rules seem to be changing. While Obama ran on "hope and change" it appears Sarah Palin and the TEA Party are actually delivering change..... at least I hope they are.

Live Free

Obama Misreads Message of `Live Free or Die'

The failure of big government over small government

Moody compared Maine, a state that more than 60 years ago embarked on
one path, with New Hampshire, which went a different route. Like the president,
Moody favors an emphasis on the household pocketbook. He therefore spends time looking at per capita personal income of individuals.

The result? Decade in, decade out, New Hampshire’s economy grew
faster than Maine’s, so that the Granite State surpassed the Pine Tree
State in 1984 and today boasts an output that is 20 percent bigger.
Maine’s recessions and double dips were worse than New Hampshire’s. Eventually
New Hampshire also won the population contest, passing Maine, in part thanks to
migration. Last month, joblessness was 8.1 Percent in Maine, better than Ohio but still bad, and 5.8 percent in New Hampshire.

What about that family pocketbook that the White House
highlights? Bureau of Economic Analysis data show average per capita income for
Maine in 2009 was $36,745, a bit more than Ohio. In New Hampshire that number
was $42,831, eighth highest in the nation.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-24/obama-misreads-message-of-live-free-or-die-commentary-by-amity-shlaes.html

Bad news for the Democrats.

Although their numbers have been in the tank for months now, one rationalization used by the Democrats is that the real election season doesn’t begin until after Labor Day when the public really starts to pay attention. It appears this isn’t the case.

Many More Now Following Mosque Controversy – And Don’t Like
It

A lot more voters are paying attention to the plans to build a
mosque near the Ground Zero site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City,
and they don’t like the idea.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 85% of
U.S. voters say they are now following news stories about the mosque planned
near Ground Zero. That’s a 34-point jump from a month ago when only 51% said they were following the story.

Another executive order reversed by the judiciary

Judge Forces Obama Admin to Stop Funding Embryonic Stem Cell
ResearchWashington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A federal judge on Monday issued a
decision forcing the Obama Administration to stop funding embryonic stem cell
research with taxpayer funds. The judge ruled the executive order Obama issued
allowing such funding contravened a federal law prohibiting taxpayer funding of
the destruction of human embryos.

http://lifenews.com/bio3145.html

Obamacare—the lies are being revealed.

Remember Nancy Pelosi’s statement “We need to pass the legislation in order to find out what’s in it.” Well, they passed the legislation and what we are finding is not very pretty.

Perhaps most tellingly, Politico writes that the presentation's "final
page of 'Don'ts' counsels against claiming 'the law will reduce costs and
deficit.'" Instead, the presentation advises, "Keep claims small and
credible"; "don’t overpromise or 'spin' what the law delivers." Thus, the
administration’s central claim from the start – made ad nauseam by everyone from President Obama on down – that Obamacare would somehow reduce health care costs, is apparently just "spin." (This, of course, was
recognized by a great many Americans all along.) And now, a $2.5
trillion law that's longer than War and Peace must, incredibly, be defended
on the basis of claims that are "small and credible."

http://www.theweeklystandard.com/blogs/leaked-white-house-memo-advises-democrats-how-spin-obamacare

The Failure of Liberal Economics

From the liberal declaring the failure of capitalism two years ago, we now are finding the American people are declaring their substitute a failure today.

You would have expected that, and you would have been right—but only
briefly. Since the beginning of 2010, a surprising reversal has occurred. Rather
than supporting and encouraging government intervention to mitigate an economic calamity caused by “profit-oriented thinking,” Americans have come to believe that government has failed to fix the problem and may, in fact, have made it worse. Now it is liberal, not conservative, economic policies that are suddenly in jeopardy. …..

What bothers the public, plain and simple, is that the steps that
were taken to mitigate the recession—which involved greater government
involvement, including ownership of the largest auto and insurance companies,
and vastly more federal spending—have not worked

.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/the-failure-of-the-liberal-economic-experiment--15500

Can't we just blame Bush?

If it’s Obama’s economy, why does he keep blaming Bush?

Last year, President Obama took ownership of the economy. So why do we keep hearing Bush's name in all his speeches?

During a July 14, 2009, address in Warren, Mich., Obama said, “Now, my
administration has a job to do, as well, and that job is to get this economy
back on its feet. That's my job. And it’s a job I gladly accept. I love these
folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, ‘Well, this is
Obama’s economy.’ That’s fine. Give it to me. My job is to solve
problems, not to stand on the sidelines and carp and gripe.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/115271-a-year-after-claiming-the-economy-his-own-obama-points-finger-




'Extreme' Democrats will pay the price in November

Why is tough to be a democrat this year.

Democrats head into the midterm elections facing a tidal wave
of bad news and ominous portents.

In the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, two thirds believe the economy has yet to hit bottom and two thirds of those would prefer a Republican Congress. Sixty percent said the performance of the current Congress, dominated by Democrats, was below average or one of the worst. The Obama administration scored poorly on all the major issues — health care, the war in Afghanistan, the economy and the budget deficit.

For Democrats, the picture is similarly gloomy in other polls,
which consistently show the Republicans holding a solid advantage on intensity.
Real Clear Politics, which compiles an average of major surveys, said the GOP edge on the generic congressional ballot was 6.4 percent, a new high.

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/21/2165581/extreme-democrats-will-pay-the.html#ixzz0xLHbr0ZL


Obamacare a Disaster?

Forthcoming for public release shortly will be my extensive study of
the Obamacare legislation, "The Obamacare Disaster: An Appraisal of the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act" (Heartland Policy StudyNo. 128, The
Heartland Institute, August 2010), available shortly at the Heartland Institute website. Following Nancy Pelosi's dictum that we will have to pass it first to know
what's in it.


The bottom line is that you will lose your health care under this
legislation, if not your job, your country as they bankrupt America, and maybe
ultimately your life or the life of a loved one.

http://spectator.org/archives/2010/08/18/the-obamacare-disaster

It would be illegal if they decided to pass a law to make it illegal

From today’s NYT editorial on the Justice Department’s decision not to bring charges against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay comes this gem:

Mr. DeLay, the Texas Republican who had been the House majority leader, crowed that he had been “found innocent.” But many of Mr. DeLay’s actions remain legal only because lawmakers have chosen not to criminalize them.

Well, yes. That’s the way it works.

http://volokh.com/

Cameron backs out of a Climate Debate.

After issuing a challenge to global warming skeptics saying "I want to call those deniers out into the street at high noon and shoot it out with those boneheads." It appears Gary Cooper has snuck out of town. Cameron has called off a scheduled debate.

ASPEN COLORADO: Hollywood director James Cameron challenged three high
profile global warming skeptics to a public debate at a global warming and
energy conference. But Cameron backed out of the debate at the last minute after
environmentalists "came out of the woodwork" to warn him not to engage in a
debate with skeptics because it was not in his best interest.

Cameron challenged Andrew Breitbart, Climate Depot's Marc Morano and
filmmaker Ann McElhinney of 'Not Evil Just Wrong.' The debate was already in the
program for the Aspen American Renewable Energy Day (AREDAY) summit. The website program described the agreed to debate as “AREDAY Climate Change
Debate: Reality or Fiction?"

After setting up the public global warming debate, Cameron
and his negotiator then changed formats multiple times and initially
said it would be open to the media and then said he would only participate if it
was private with no recording devices. The skeptics agreed to all the changes.
According to AREDAY organizers, activist Joseph Romm of Climate Progress urged Cameron not to go ahead with the debate as well.

Actually I agree with Romm and the others who urged Cameron not to debate. Warmists don't do well in debates. In fact it is quite a lot easier to poke holes in their case than it is to make their case. Also, Hollywood types are not scientist, engineers or in the case of Cameron even a college graduate.

Where do the Democrats go from here?

Obama's coattails?

The following article had a cute title but tells a grim story for Democrats. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

How To Lose A Guy In 75 Days

More on the Democrat dilemma

The advice from Democratic consultants and strategists is almost unanimous:
Run away from the president, and fast. A prominent Democratic pollster is
circulating a survey that shows George W. Bush is 6 points more popular
than President Obama in "Frontline" districts -- seats held by Democrats that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sees as most vulnerable to Republican takeover. That Bush is more popular than Obama in Democratic-held seats is cause for outright fear….

Walk, Don't Run: "He is a walking radioactive disaster," one senior Democratic operative said of the president. But any effort to seriously distance oneself from Obama is dangerous for an incumbent; go too hard against the president and voters think the candidate is faking it.

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/08/how_to_lose_a_g.php

You know things are bad when they start blaming the system

We are beginning to see the acceptance of the inevitable by liberal columnists. The pox on both your houses message is one sent by someone whose party he supports is about to lose big.

Our Dysfunctional Politics

WASHINGTON -- The Democrats seem determined to teach us the price of
vacillation, while the Republicans are bent on instructing us on the rewards of
obstruction. What a helluva choice awaits in the November election.

This is my sour August reflection on the two months of travel ahead
of me on the campaign trail -- a search for candidates who may lift the gloom
and restore some faith in the principled politics so lacking in Washington these
days.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/08/19/our_dysfunctional_politics_106815.html

This article will not make you feel good, but forewarned is forearmed.

“There are increasing signs that something is going to have to happen soon.
European bond yields, particularly sovereign yields, are at levels not seen
since the teeth of the Greek/Ireland/Portugal/Spain debt worries this past
spring. Junk bond sales are booming as investors search for yield, throwing risk
to the wind. Gold is hitting new highs. This past week, mortgages lenders
witnessed a surge in refinancings even beyond the strong rally they've seen all
summer. Equity trading volumes are pathetic.

And underlying all the worries is a growing concern that the free markets, once manipulated with derivatives, are now being manipulated by governments and central banks, as they use every possible technique to keep interest rates low to try to stir up some sort of economic rebound. “

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/big-investors-pulling-the-exit-chute-beer-in-hand-2010-08-19

Extreme? Who really is extreme?

Here's a video by the Republicans asking whose really extreme?

http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/244157/nrsc-next-time-democrats-call-you-extreme-show-them-video

Critics say Obama's message becoming 'incoherent'

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama's comments on a plan to build an Islamic
center in the shadow of ground zero are not only giving opponents an opportunity
to attack him but also reveal a messaging problem from the White House, a
communications expert said.

"The danger here is an incoherent presidency," said David Morey, vice chairman of the Core Strategy Group, who provided communications advice to Obama's 2008 campaign. "Simpler is better, and rising above these issues and leading by controlling the dialogue is what the presidency is all about. So I think that's the job they have to do more effectively as they have in the past [in the campaign]."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/17/obama.mosque.message/index.html?hpt=C2


9/11 Families: Pelosi Has Lost Her Mind

“There is no question that there is a concerted effort to make this a
political issue by some and I join those who have called for looking into how is
this opposition to the mosque being funded,” Pelosi said.

“I think it’s outrageous. She’s investigating 9/11 families whose
sons were murdered on 9/11 rather than look at foreign entities that sponsor
terrorism? I think she has her priorities mixed up and she’s lost her
mind,” said Jim Riches, a former firefighter who lost his son in the
World Trade Center attacks.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/08/18/911-families-pelosi-has-lost-her-mind/

Sarah Palin, genius?

I always love it when I can post something good about Sarah Palin. It drives the left crazy.

The Left will never admit it, but Sarah Palin has genuine literary
gifts. As poets and advertising copywriters know, finding exactly the right word
that will encapsulate a concept and stick in the mind requires a certain genius.
Yet Sarah, the author of the phrase "death panels", consistently comes up with original phrasing that memorably pinpoints ideas.

The latest example comes from her Twitter post yesterday:

Who hijacked term:"feminist"? A cackle of rads who want 2 crucify
other women w/whom they disagree on a singular issue; it's ironic (& passé)

"A cackle of rads" is sheer genius.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/sarah_palin_wordsmith.html

Obama's Point of No Return

Is there a point where a presidency becomes the butt end of jokes and will never come back? J.R. Dunn thinks so.

There comes a moment in a failing presidency where the incumbent,
through some single gesture, action, or statement, crosses a certain line from
beyond which there is no return. Through his own will and behavior he so
underlines his failings, so frames his negative image, that no further action
can ever erase it. Fate, accident, and circumstance have nothing to do with it.
It is the president himself who puts the period at the end of his own sentence

With Obama, we have an abundance of riches: the multiple vacations, the
legal harassment of the state of Arizona on behalf of illegals, the clownish
response to the Gulf oil blowout. But when historians come to select the moment
when Obama went over the edge of the world, I think they'll find the great Iftar
mosque speech of August 13, 2010 hard to beat.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/obamas_point_of_no_return.html

Is Obama Smart?

Is our President really smart?

President Obama recently came out in favor of the Mosque near ground zero in New York. Shortly thereafter the White House had to issue a clarification which was then followed by an elaboration of the clarification. Now we know if you listen to liberals how smart Obama is. But shouldn’t we know?

Perhaps we should put less effort into forcing the release of President
Obama's original long-form birth certificate, and more effort into forcing
release of his IQ. Anyone want to take my bet that it'll be lower than
George W. Bush's?

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/a_dim_bulb_in_the_oval_office.html

Perhaps we should require a candidate’s college GPA, their college board’s score, and their IQ to be released to the public. If nothing else, if someone really was the “village idiot” they would have to be public with it and it is unlikely we would elect them.

US breast cancer drug decision 'marks start of death panels

America's health watchdog is considering revoking its approval of the drug Avastin for use on women with advanced breast cancer, leading to accusations that it will mark the start of 'death panel' drug rationing.

US regulators will delay consideration of the colon-cancer drug Avastin
as a treatment for breast cancer

A decision to rescind endorsement of the drug would reignite the highly
charged debate over US health care reform and how much the
state should spend on new and expensive treatments.

Avastin, the world’s best selling cancer drug, is primarily used to treat colon cancer and was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2008 for use on women with breast cancer that has spread.

It costs $8,000 (£5,000) a month and is given to about 17,500 women in the
US a year. The drug was initially approved after a study found that, by
preventing blood flow to tumours, it extended the amount of time until the
disease worsened by more than five months.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7948878/US-breast-cancer-drug-decision-marks-start-of-death-panels.html


Obama’s fund raising speeches

This week's fundraising speeches across the nation have a shorter brag
list and a more stridently ......partisan tone, aimed at congressional
Republicans who, if summer polls are any indicator, only need to keep
breathing in order to regain control at least of the House on Nov. 2.

The Democrat is trying to portray Republicans in Congress as
obstructionists, as if American voters gave the GOP lopsided majorities in both
houses in the 2008 elections, instead of the other way around.

If Republicans were such obstinate obstacles, why didn't Democrats
approve healthcare last year when they had 60 Senate votes and the GOP was
helpless to halt it? Obama doesn't discuss the dissension among
Democrats.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/08/obama-democrat-findraiser-in-chief-.html

Golden oldies--The Obamaman

“Who can take tomorrow and spend it all today?”

Here's a blast from the past but something that may be truer today than it was last year.

Obamaman!OBAMA MAN CAN!Obama Man Can because he mixes it with Hope and makes the World taste GOOD!!!"

"WHO Can Take TOMORROW! Spend it all TODAY! Take all of your Income and Tax it all away! OBAMAMAN!!! OBAMA-MAN CAN!!!"

"Obama Man Can because he Mixes it with Hope and makes the WORLD Feel Good!"

"GM, Chrysler, Need a Bail-out? Ok! Ford, you need a bailout? No? Good, More for GM!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3u6dWl8e_Q
http://viralfootage.com/?p=1797

Generic Congressional Ballot

Generic Ballot: Republican 48%, Democrat 36%

Monday, August 16, 2010 Rasmussen poll of Likely voters

Republican candidates have jumped out to a record-setting 12-point
lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week
ending Sunday, August 15, 2010. This is the biggest lead the GOP has held in over a decade of Rasmussen Reports surveying. Voters not affiliated with either party prefer the GOP candidate by a 52% to 21% margin.Fifty-four percent (54%) of white voters favor the Republican, but 77% of African-Americans prefer the Democrat.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/generic_congressional_ballot

In the meantime we hear from Gallup today that Republicans continue to lead Democrats in midterm voting preferences for the U.S. House, and the GOP's current 50% to 43% advantage among registered voters is the largest Gallup has measured to date in its weekly tracking of the 2010 vote.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/142166/GOP-Shows-Strongest-Positioning-Yet-2010-Vote-Test.aspx

The left has collapsed

Bill Kristol has an interesting look at the left

Its political support has collapsed. Public opinion polls point to a
historic repudiation of the president and the Democratic party this
fall—something on the order of a 60-seat Republican gain in the House. The GOP
has an outside shot at taking the Senate as well.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/collapse

Republican strategy for the midterms

POLITICO has learned that the Republican campaign arm will invest in 40
districts around the nation in its first wave of television commercial
reservations – a target list that ranges from powerful veterans such as Budget
Committee Chairman Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.) and Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas), an Appropriations Committee cardinal, to endangered freshmen legislators including Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), Rep. Betsy Markey (D-Colo.), and Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.).

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41143.html#ixzz0wrRHnLRT

Glad to be a Republican

Gloomy outlook say voters

More bad news for the Democrats. Even as Obama and Biden celebrate recovery summer, it appears they may be the only ones who are doing so.

One-out-of six American workers (16%) consider themselves to be among the working poor. Eighty-one percent (81%) of American adults know someone who is out of work and looking for a new job. Only 14% now believe the labor market is stronger than a year ago.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/jobs_employment/august_2010/14_say_job_market_better_than_year_ago_46_say_worse

More on the Democrat strategy for 2010

In view of the story above, do you think this will work. I doubt it, but desperate measures for desperate times.

Instead they’d like to reduce each race for the House and Senate to the
personal level. Their aim is to emphasize the individual flaws of
Republican candidates. In the Democratic game plan, the economy and
national issues are taboo.

This microstrategy is one of pure desperation. It’s all that’s left when macro-political trends are going against you. Indeed, Democrats start with two strikes against them. A midterm election is usually a referendum on the president’s performance, and this year’s is no exception. And the most important measure of the president’s success or failure is the condition of the economy.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/desperate-democrats

Wonder why Democrats are so nervous?

The answer is independents.

Only 32 percent of those citing no allegiance to either major party
say they want Democrats to keep control of Congress in this
November's elections, according to combined results of recent Associated
Press-GfK polls. That's way down from the 52 percent of independents who backed
Obama over Republican Sen. John McCain two years ago, and the 49 percent to 41
percent edge by which they preferred Democratic candidates for the House in that
election, according to exit polls of voters.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100815/ap_on_el_ge/us_ap_poll_defecting_independents;_ylt=A0LEaoEKPmhMtbgA4xis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTQxNWo5aTEzBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwODE1L3VzX2FwX3BvbGxfZGVmZWN0aW5nX2luZGVwZW5kZW50cwRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzIEcG9zAzcEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2FwLWdma3BvbGxzcw

Satire: A look at the future if the Democrats stay in Control

What does the future look like? This is a cute parody.

"Ice cream production ceased with the Rocky Road Elimination Act of 2022,"
said the man.
"They banned ice cream!"
Another man was tearing open packs
of strawberry Zingers and stuffing them into his mouth, four at a
time.
"Zingers, too!" I said.
"Yes," said the man, nodding, "as part of
the Dolly Madison Cessation Act of 2024."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_694857.html

Dems demonstrate who is and isn’t important in recent votes

Foods stamps for the poor are taking a hit from the democrats. It appears teacher’s jobs and now the first lady’s “Let’s Move” initiative both trump hungry people.

Democrats who reluctantly slashed a food stamp program to fund a state
aid bill may have to do so again to pay for a top priority of first lady
Michelle Obama.

The House will soon consider an $8 billion child nutrition bill
that’s at the center of the first lady’s “Let’s Move” initiative. Before leaving
for the summer recess, the Senate passed a smaller version of the legislation
that is paid for by trimming the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,
commonly known as food stamps

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/114271-dems-consider-more-food-stamp-cuts-to-fund-child-nutrition-bill

More Bad News if you are a Democrat

Even the Poor Are Abandoning Obama, According to Gallup Poll

If you want to know what freefall is, here is the perfect example.

In every week of his presidency until now, Barack Obama has enjoyed a
majority approval rating in the Gallup Poll from people earning less than $2,000
per month. But that changed in the Gallup survey conducted from Aug. 2-8, when
only 49 percent of Americans in that income bracket said they approve of the job
Obama is doing. This marks the first time since Obama was inaugurated on
January 20, 2009, when Americans in all four of the income brackets
reported in Gallup’s weekly survey of presidential approval gave Obama less than 50 percent approval.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/71089




70% of Economists Favor Extension of Bush Tax Cuts to Those Making more than 250k/Year

Economists are getting more pessimistic about the strength of the U.S. recovery, but they don't think policy makers should do anything more to support it, according to the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.

The 53 surveyed economists, not all of whom answered every question, offered a bleak picture of tepid growth and high unemployment. ...

The economists, though, generally didn't support the idea of ending Bush-era tax cuts, which will expire at the end of this year unless Congress acts. Just three respondents said that the tax cuts on individual income should be allowed to expire for everyone. Thirty-two economists said they should all be extended, while 11 said they should be extended for people making less than $250,000 a year—the policy option backed by the Obama administration

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2010/08/70-of-economists-.html



Michelle Obama popularity falls

While political pundits forecasted that even if President Obama was unpopular, his wife Michelle wasn't and she would be a help to democrats in the midterm elections. If you were thinking things can't get any worse, think again.

The number of Americans who have a positive opinion of First Lady Michelle
Obama has fallen in the last 16 months, according to the new
Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. In April, 2009, 64 percent of
those surveyed by the Journal/NBC said they had a positive impression of Mrs.
Obama; today, the number is 50 percent. That 50 percent personal approval is
just slightly above President Obama's personal approval figure, which stands at
46 percent in the new poll.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Michelle-Obama-popularity-falls-100520134.html#ixzz0wXdMC2MK

Harry Reid tried to end birthright citizenship for illegals in 1993

Harry Reid recently took a shot at Republicans saying he coundn't see why any Hispanic would vote for a Republican. The Republican stance against illegals was the main reason. But the old statement about people in glasshouses seems to apply in this case.

According to Harry Reid’s own standards, he should lose
his entire Hispanic vote over this, right? While Democrats
paint Republicans who challenge birthright citizenship as extremists, it turns
out that Reid was seventeen years ahead of the curve. In 1993, just after
Democrats won the White House, Reid filed a bill that would have done exactly
what some Republicans now demand — end birthright citizenship for children of
illegal immigrants. Kerry Picket digs up the record for the Washington
Times:

Title X of the Reid introduced bill shows the Nevada Democrat took Senator
Lindsey Graham’s, South Carolina Republican, idea on the interpretation of
the 14th Amendment and documented it into legislation:

“TITLE X—CITIZENSHIP 4 SEC. 1001. BASIS OF CITIZENSHIP CLARIFIED.
In the exercise of its powers under section of the Fourteenth Article of
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Congress has
determined and hereby declares that any person born after the date of enactment
of this title to a mother who is neither a citizen of the United States nor
admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident, and which person
is a national or citizen of another country of which either of his or her
natural parents is a national or citizen, or is entitled upon application to
become a national or citizen of such country, shall be considered as
born subject to the jurisdiction of that foreign country and not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States within the meaning of section 1 of such Article and shall therefore not be a citizen of the United States or of any State solely by reason of physical presence within the United States at the moment of birth.”

Is the Obama Administration an Lawless Administration?

If you want to know why some people are so disgusted with the Obama Administration it because they’ve put the spoil system back in place. The takeover of GM is a great example. You might hear the left talking about it in glowing terms, but the devil is in the details.

Bondholders -- investors ranging from large
institutions to retirees just scraping by, who loaned GM a total of $27
billion -- received just 10 percent of the company. By
contrast, the government's $50 billion gave it about 61 percent.

And the union -- in return for the $20
billion that GM owed its health trust -- got a remarkable 17.5
percent of the stock plus $2.5 billion in cash plus $6.5 billion in preferred stock carrying a dividend of about 9 percent.

In other words, the UAW got three to four times as much as
the bondholders for a smaller claim on GM's assets. The union even
boasted to its members in May 2009 that it had made no concessions on pay, health care or pensions in the restructuring.

This is the weakness of the statist government Obama seems intent on creating. The American meritocracy is being replaced by a system of political connections.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/model_corruption_ttyHIpNuoQRwVTkBZuhHeM

Racism

Racism?

Jon Stewart can be very funny. Here is a exerpt where he makes fun of the Democrats and the race card. It seems the race card has limits that have been reached. http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/hollywoodland/2010/08/11/jon-stewart-the-race-card-is-maxed-out/

And Jonah Goldberg dissects what all of this means. His conclusion is

And that's what Waters and Rangel are doing now, the former explicitly, the
latter implicitly. Both are demanding an immediate trial, before the November
elections, which would hammer even more nails into the Democratic coffin. In
effect, they're saying, "Let us off the hook or we'll take you all down with us in a racial spectacle."

http://townhall.com/columnists/JonahGoldberg/2010/08/13/race-card_payment_coming_due/page/full

Grim Voter Mood Turns Grimmer

As in recent polls, Americans are split on President Barack Obama's job
performance, with 47% approving and 48% disapproving. But a majority disapproves of his performance on the economy. And six in 10, including 83%
of independents and a quarter of Democrats, say they are only somewhat or not at all confident that Mr. Obama has the right policies to improve it.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704901104575423674269169684.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

Democrats role in Financial meltdown

We keep hearing from Barack Obama that the Republican drove us into a ditch. It turns out the Republicans had a chauffer with the car they were in, and his name was Barnie Frank.

As Stuart Taylor put it in 2008:

The pretense of many Democrats that this crisis is
altogether a Republican creation is simplistic and dangerous. It is simplistic
because Democrats have been a big part of the problem, in part
by supporting governmental distortions of the marketplace through
mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose reckless lending
practices necessitated a $200 billion government rescue [in September 2008]. ... Fannie and Freddie appear to have played a major role in causing the
current crisis, in part because their quasi-governmental status
violated basic principles of a healthy free enterprise system by allowing them
to privatize profit while socializing risk.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/ini-bush-vobama-ibush-wins-in-a-rout-15497

Time for Obama to take Responsibility

Here's a message from the voters to President Obama, "Stop blaming Bush." It appears even the members of the Democrat party feel it's time to abandoned this tactic.

Despite more voters faulting former President Bush's policies for the country's economic woes, most American voters think it is time for President Obama to stop blaming Bush.

Nearly half of voters — 47 percent — think Bush's policies are mostly to blame for the economic difficulties the country is having today, compared to 32 percent who think Obama's policies are to blame.

Even so, fully 76 percent of voters think it is time for the Obama administration to start taking responsibility for the condition of the economy. That's more than four times as many as think it is right to continue to place the blame on Bush (18 percent).

A majority of Democrats, who overwhelmingly think Bush is responsible for the economy (82 percent), think it is time for Obama to quit blaming Bush (57 percent).

Overall, 55 percent of those who think Bush's policies are to blame think it's time for Obama to take responsibility

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/12/fox-news-poll-percent-say-time-obama-responsibility/

10 Reasons Obama’s Presidency is in freefall

Can it get any worse for President Obama? Undoubtedly yes. Here are 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in serious trouble, and why its prospects are unlikely to improve between now and the November mid-terms.

1. The Obama presidency is out of touch with the American people

Read about all 10 at:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100050412/the-stunning-decline-of-barack-obama-10-key-reasons-why-the-obama-presidency-is-in-meltdown/

Extremist Democrats

57% of Likely Voters Describe Democratic Congressional Agenda As Extreme

It appears while the Democrats want to make this an election about a choice of "staying the course" vs "going back to the Bush years" a rather sizeable majority thinks the course they want to stay on is extremist.

Most U.S. voters believe the Democratic congressional agenda is
extreme, while a plurality describe the Republican agenda as
mainstream.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% of
Likely U.S. Voters think the agenda of Democrats in Congress is extreme. Thirty-four percent (34%) say it is more accurate to describe
the Democratic agenda as mainstream.

Voters are more narrowly divided when it comes to the agenda of
congressional Republicans. Forty-five percent (45%) of voters view the
GOP agenda as mainstream, but nearly as many (40%) say it’s more
accurate to call it extreme. Fifteen percent (15%) are undecided

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/august_2010/57_of_likely_voters_describe_democratic_congressional_agenda_as_extreme


Are the Democrats Unhinged and in a Panic Mode?

Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), the ranking member of the House Budget
Committee, tells NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE that Democrats are entering a
“panic mode” as November approaches. “They are beginning to get a
little unhinged,” Ryan says.

“The Left sees their agenda being rebuked by the voters this fall,”
Ryan tells us. As their electoral worries mount, he says, Democrats are
scurrying to “nullify any notion that there is an alternative path for America. They want to delegitimize an alternative plan and win the argument by
default, making the case that there is no other path for America than what
progressives have mapped out for the country, and that any other talk, of any
other idea, is just fanciful.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/243036/ryan-unhinged-democrats-panic-mode-robert-costa

Colorado Primary elections

I have some interesting observations on the Senate Primary in Colorado. Bennet beat Romanoff but only 41.3% of registered Democrats voted. Buck beat Norton and 47.6% of registered Republicans voted . What this works out to is that 69,000 more Republicans voted than did Democrats. If you project this into the midterm elections, this means to make up the 69,000 voters, the Democrats will need to win 61.3% of the nonaffiliated voters (if 40% of them vote).

Of course a massive turnout campaign by the democrats could help, but this is the size of the journey right now for the Colorado Democrat party.


Agents' union disavows leaders of ICE

The controversey over illigal immigration is spilling over from the suit by Justice against Arizona and into the union that represents ICE field agents.

The union that represents rank-and-file field agents at U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement has unanimously passed a "vote of no confidence" for the agency's leadership, saying ICE has "abandoned" its core
mission of protecting the public to support a political agenda favoring amnesty.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/9/agents-union-disavows-leaders-of-ice/print/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/weekinreview/29liptak.html

November's coming part 2

You know it's getting bad for Obama when the Democrats are campaigning against him.

Here's a new campaign add from Representative Joe Donnelly of Texas

Donnelly says: "No one should ever be rewarded for breaking the law," Donnelly says in reference to illegal immigration. "That may not be what the Washington crowd wants. But I don't work for them, I work for you."

You can expect to see more of this as November 2 rolls around.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/113503-house-dem-swipes-at-obama-and-pelosi-in-campaign-ad

update: Today's Rasmussen poll is at -22% in Obama's popularity, tying the worst figure Obama has received so far.

Can the Republicans take the Senate?

It’s a hope so audacious that few Republicans will even acknowledge it out
loud: the possibility that the balance of power in the Senate might be up for
grabs in November. The GOP would have to take 10 seats, knocking off virtually
every targeted Democratic incumbent and sweeping the open seats held by both
parties.

A new poll conducted for American Crossroads, the independent
conservative group founded by Karl Rove and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, suggests the 2010 landscape might be just
volatile enough to give Republicans at least a chance at that
prize.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40859.html#ixzz0wCnPvpE3


Failure of Freddie and Fannie

Although untouched by the Obama's financial reform, Fannie and Freddie remain the biggest threat to another global meltdown in the financial sector.

That there was little or no market discipline is obvious. Contrary to the
deregulation myths, regulation and politics had long since replaced market
discipline in US home mortgage markets. Regulators didn’t just fail systemically
to mitigate excessive risk and leverage, they induced it. This didn’t reflect a
lack of regulatory authority or zeal, as politicians openly encouraged it…..

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, no longer serve any essential market purpose.
The excess investor demand for fixed income securities backed by fixed rate
mortgages that fueled their early growth is long gone and now easily met by
Ginnie Mae and Federal Home Loan Bank securities alone, as fixed nominal life
and pension contracts have largely been replaced by performance and indexed
plans. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be unambiguously and expeditiously
liquidated subsequent to implementing an adequate transition plan for mortgage
markets.

http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/14624.html

Voters Strongly Believe Most in Congress Are For Sale

Do we have the finest congress money can buy? Evidently the vast majority of Americans think so.

Voters overwhelmingly believe that most members of Congress are for
sale, and over half think it’s at least somewhat likely that their own
representative has been bought with cash or a campaign contribution.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 70% of U.S. voters believe most members of Congress are willing to sell
their vote for cash or a campaign contribution. That’s a 14-point
increase from three years ago.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/august_2010/voters_strongly_believe_most_in_congress_are_for_sale

Michelle Antoinette Obama?

Michelle Obama Criticized as "Modern-day Marie Antoinette" Over Spain Vacation

With an economy that is suffering, a healthcare plan that is unpopular, a financial reform that is getting more and more criticism, you would think the White House would be careful in the message it sends to the voters. It appears the message is "Eat, drink, and make merry."

Andrea Tantaros has penned a scorching editorial for the New York Daily
News deeming First Lady Michelle Obama a "modern-day Marie
Antoinette" for her vacation in Spain with her daughter.

"The First Lady is spending the next few days in a five-star hotel on
the chic Costa del Sol in southern Spain with 40 of her 'closest friends,'"
Tantaros writes, pointing to a CNN report that Michelle Obama and her group are
expected to occupy 60 to 70 rooms. "Not exactly what one would call
cutting back in troubled times."

Tantaros goes on to criticize the first lady for traveling abroad
instead of within the United States, something that would help the U.S.
economy.

We need to pass the bill to find out what's in it

And unfortunately we are now finding out what's in it and it isn't good.

To wit, the House voted last week to repeal one ObamaCare mandate. It
might have been the first part of the bill to go over the side, except Democrats rigged the vote so that it failed, even though it got a majority.

The target was an ObamaCare footnote that could wreak havoc with
more than 30 million small businesses. In the name of smoking out the illusory
"tax gap" of unreported business income, Democrats snuck in a
requirement that companies track and submit to the IRS all business-to-business transactions exceeding $600 annually. This 1099 reporting detail received no scrutiny until the IRS's National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson
exposed the paperwork burden, which would produce no improvement in tax
compliance. ...

Democrats write all this and more off as "unintended consequences," but tell that to the intended victims. The only way to fix ObamaCare is to get rid of it.

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2010/08/wsj-democrats.html

Blunders?

Obama’s Big Mistake

Jonah Goldberg writes and interesting piece on the big blunder President Obama made at the beginning of his presidency which is plaguing him now.

“If there’s a single event for which Obama himself is to blame, one decision
that explains his predicament, it is his mishandling of the stimulus at the dawn
of his administration. Put aside the debate over whether it has “worked,” and
forget the White House’s absurd trick of talking about jobs “saved or created”
(for the record, I save or create 500 push-ups every morning). Obama made a
rookie mistake outsourcing his first major domestic policy decision to Harry
Reid, Nancy Pelosi and the Old Bulls of the Democratic Party, and that blunder
has done lasting damage to his presidency.”

Later on Goldberg brings in comments from Jay Cost who explains how Obama got a significant majority of the votes it was a limited victory.

“In fact, if you look at presidential elections going back 100 years, Obama’s is
the most geographically narrow of any victors except Carter, Kennedy, and Truman – none of whom had transformative presidencies. Even Bill Clinton in 1996, whose share of the two-party vote was comparable to Obama’s, still had a
geographically broader voting coalition. Ditto George H.W. Bush in 1988…….

Obama simply lacked the broad appeal to guide the House’s liberal
proposal through the Senate. So, the result of “going big” was an initially
liberal House product that then had to be watered down to win over red state
Senators like Landrieu, Lincoln, Nelson, and Pryor. The end result was a
compromise bill that, frankly, nobody really liked…..

Was there an alternative approach the President could have taken? I think so. Such a tactic would have acknowledged the sizeable McCain bloc. McCain won 22 states, making his coalition a politically potent minority. Obama should have governed in light of this.”

All of this is an interesting piece. Politics can be much more complex than many of us would make it.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/242720/obamas-blunder-jonah-goldberg

The 3B strategy you will be seeing in this midterm election

The Democrats have a problem. They aren’t popular and their record is even less so. So what will they run on.

I see them running on a 3 B strategy. The 3Bs stand for

• Bush
• Birthers
• Bigotry

Everything will be Bush’s fault. The problems with this is that the American people elected them to fix things that Bush messed up so by going this way they are admitting their failure.

Birthers as a campaign tactic is to try to relegate anyone who is against Obama to the status of a nut job. The Democrats will try to marginalize the Republicans and tear the independents away from them.

Bigotry is the most familiar of the Democrats canards that is the charge of racism. Since Obama is half black, the Democrats tend to charge any opposition to him or his policies is by definition because the person so disposed is a racist.

Will these work? It isn’t very likely.