Obama and 2012

What’s new today

Story #1 reviews the logic of Class Warfare to see if it makes sense.  #2 shows the gap between those who want to repeal Obamacare and those that want to keep it at 20%.  #3 a member of OWS Boston discovers that OWS Boston has become fascist.  #4 tells us of the new reality Obama and the Democrats face in 2012.  And finally #5 tells us of the new reality we all will face if Obama gets a second term.

1.  Does Class Warfare Make Sense?

P.J. O'Rourke: The "Occupy This, That and the Other Place" people are right about the sins of the financial system and right about the evil of government supporting and subsidizing this malfeasance. IT'S NOT FAIR THAT 1 PERCENT OF AMERICANS ARE ROLLING IN DOUGH while the rest of us are scrimping to pay for our Internet connection so we can go on Groupon.

But the Occupiers are wrong about something much more important. THEY BELIEVE IN THE ZERO SUM FALLACY -- THE IDEA THAT THERE IS A FIXED AMOUNT OF THE GOOD THINGS IN LIFE. ANYTHING I GET, I'M TAKING FROM YOU. If I have too many slices of pizza, you have to eat the Dominos box. The Zero Sum Fallacy is a bad idea -- dangerous to economics, politics, and world peace. It means any time we want good things we have to fight with each other to get them. We don't. WE CAN MAKE MORE GOOD THINGS. We can make more pizza -- or more tofu, windmills and solar panels, if you like.

THE ZERO SUM FALLACY IS JUST THAT, A FALLACY. …

….THE GOOD THINGS IN LIFE ARE REMARKABLY EXPANDABLE, but it's ordinary people who expand them. Look at China, look at India. Yes, it's upsetting that some people have so much while other people have so little. It isn't fair. But I accept this unfairness. Indeed, I treasure it. That's because I HAVE A 13-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER AND THAT'S ALL I HEAR, "THAT'S NOT FAIR," she says. "That's not fair! That's not fair!" And one day I snapped, and I said, "HONEY, YOU'RE CUTE, THAT'S NOT FAIR. YOUR FAMILY IS PRETTY WELL OFF, THAT'S NOT FAIR. YOU WERE BORN IN AMERICA, THAT'S NOT FAIR. Darling, you had better get down on your knees and pray that things don't start getting fair for you."

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/economy/commentary/orourke-if-1-had-less-would-99-be-better

If we look not simply at the USA, but at the world, 38,000 USD per year puts us in the 1%.  I’m not sure how many Americans would want to go out and protest themselves as being in the rich 1%. 

 

2.   55% Favor Repeal of Obamacare

Most voters still want to repeal the national health care law, even though they tend to believe the law won’t force them to change their own health insurance coverage.

THE LATEST RASMUSSEN REPORTS NATIONAL TELEPHONE SURVEY SHOWS THAT 55% OF LIKELY U.S. VOTERS at least somewhat favor repeal of the health care law passed by Congress in March 2010, WHILE 35% AT LEAST SOMEWHAT OPPOSE REPEAL. The intensity remains on the side of the law’s opponents since these findings include 42% who Strongly Favor repeal versus 26% who are Strongly Opposed….

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/health_care_law

The numbers bounce around a bit, but since August, the numbers have shown about a 20% majority for repealing the law.  So much for Nancy Pelosi’s prediction that once the American public found out what was in it, they would support it. 

3.  Boston OWS Participants “The Occupy Boston Movement as a whole became Fascist”

Dispirited Occupy member Stephen Campbell, 24, said when asked why he didn’t get arrested, HE SAID HE WITHDREW FROM THE CAMP EARLY TODAY AS THE END WAS CLEARLY IN SIGHT.”THE OCCUPY BOSTON MOVEMENT AS A WHOLE BECAME FASCIST,” he said, adding he still believes in the Occupy idea but not the organization. “At a general assembly this week we spent four hours trying to evict people rather than focusing on our political causes. ”He went on to say the general assembly betrayed the movement, so he left the Dewey Square encampment before he got arrested. He also told the Herald’s Dan O’Brien that Boston police were the smartest in the nation by coaxing occupiers out. “They got Occupy Boston to leave, themselves.”  

http://bostonherald.com/blogs/news/city_desk_wired/

What he didn’t realize is that OWS is a fascist movement from the very beginning.

4.  Obama faces New Reality in 2012

Since the heady days of 2008, a new USA TODAY/Gallup Swing States Poll finds the number of VOTERS WHO IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AS DEMOCRATIC OR DEMOCRATIC-LEANING IN THESE KEY STATES HAS ERODED, DOWN BY 4 PERCENTAGE POINTS, WHILE THE RANKS OF REPUBLICANS HAVE CLIMBED BY 5 POINTS.

Republican voters also are more attentive to the campaign, more enthusiastic about the election and more convinced that the outcome matters.

The contrasting conditions of the nation's two major political parties — discouraged Democrats and resurgent Republicans — underscore how different Obama's re-election campaign is from the contest four years ago.

Consider the math: In 2008, when Obama carried the swing states by 8 percentage points, Democrats there swamped Republicans in party identification by 11 points. Now, that partisan edge has tightened to a statistically insignificant 2 points.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2011-12-12/2012-election-swing-states-poll/51844930/1

Obama is in trouble.  As Dick Morris likes to say about undecided voters, it’s as if someone asked you if you’d marry your spouse again and you said, “I’m undecided on that.”  It’s not a very good sign for the incumbent.

 



The Voters Face a New Obama Reality In The Coming Years

Every Obama speech is fraught with lies and half-truths. He relies on his belief in the ignorance of his audience, and that Americans are too lazy and soft to recognize his dishonesty. When your record is abysmal, you can't tell the truth.

OBAMA, HASN'T A CLUE ON HOW TO FIX THE ECONOMY. Instead, without ideas, he copied Teddy Roosevelt's 100-year-old speech in Osawatomie. With Barack Obama, it's always yesterday's answers to today's problems...and this is the man they told us was a genius. The president maintains that the rich get richer by making everyone poorer. Ah...BITTERNESS AND ENVY, THE ILLEGITIMATE STEPCHILDREN OF HOPE AND CHANGE.

THE FIX, OF COURSE, IS HIGHER TAXES, but when the taxes to pay for ObamaCare go into effect in 2013 and the Bush Tax cuts expire, EVERYONE'S TAXES WILL INCREASE -- NOT JUST THE HIGHEST INCOME BRACKETS. People in the top 1%, while earning 17% of the nation's income, already pay almost 40% of all taxes and are scheduled for an almost 20% rise even before the president's proposed increases.

The tax on capital gains will rise by 33%. This is a tax on the sale of assets purchased with after-tax income and held for a specific period of time. A lower rate promotes long-term investment; economists understand this, and every time the rate has been cut, revenues have increased. Yet BARACK OBAMA WOULD RAISE THE RATE IN THE INTEREST OF FAIRNESS. The nation doesn't need investment; that would just provide jobs, and the country doesn't need jobs. Besides, a higher rate on investment income makes a good slogan, and it "fits well on a bumper sticker….”  

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/12/barack_has_a_record.html#ixzz1gPPPJl5K

You can’t argue with a liberal Democrat.  They have their dogma and facts do not effect someone who believes.

Have Democrats lost their mind?

What’s new today

Stories #1 through #3 relate what we can look forward to in the 2012 election.  #1 lets us know it will be nasty.  #2 tells of how the Democrats are jettisoning the working white man.  #3 explores this move further as the Democrats look to try and become a majority minority party.  #4 discusses the possibility of a third party candidate. #5 related Barney Franks role in the financial crisis. #6 tells of how Barney beat back the repeated warnings by the Bush Whitehouse regarding Fannie and Freddie.  #7 tells how the TEA Party is under investigation after complaining about different treatment they received vs OWS in Richmond VA.  #8 talks of the connection between Hollywood and Hypocrisy.  Even the word Hypocrisy comes from the greek word hypokrisis which means play acting. Our final story #9 explains why Kagan should recuse herself from SCOTUS deliberation on Obamacare. 

1.  Get Ready for a Nasty Election

YOU COULD ALMOST HEAR THE HANDS RUBBING TOGETHER IN GLEE IN PRESIDENT OBAMA’S POLITICAL SHOP AT THE FAILURE OF THE CONGRESSIONAL SUPERCOMMITTEE. How the president’s politicos must welcome a new count in the indictment against the “do-nothing Congress.”

The phrase famously originates from the 1948 presidential election, when Harry Truman used it to lambaste a just-elected GOP Congress and claw his way to an upset re-election victory.

Hopeful Democrats think “GIVE ’EM HELL, BARRY” CAN USE THE 1948 TEMPLATE TO OVERCOME

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/ugly_way_to_win_OjIpYxDtvDI3p6byDTRa1M#ixzz1f6TFJRoX

It’s a plan, but it isn’t likely to work.  It’s the economy stupid. 






     2. Obama Jettisons the Old Democratic base

Bear in mind that the group that is being jettisoned was once the backbone of the Democratic Party, just as the big business/country club sets were once the backbone of the Republican Party.

I can’t speak for the rest of the country, but from what I’ve seen around here, THE WHITE WORKING CLASS IS QUITE USED TO FEELING ABANDONED. LIBERALS ARE SEEN AS THE SORT OF PEOPLE WHO WOULD NEVER GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY AND WHO DISDAIN BLUE COLLAR JOBS OF ANY KIND, instead gravitating towards elite positions at universities or jobs in government or public policy where they can tell their inferiors what to do. While the universities are filled with the latter, local community colleges are inundated with white working class kids seeking to obtain for themselves what they failed to get from the public schools: basic literacy and numeracy — and job skills which are of actual use in the real world.

Aside from the irony that anyone with a high school degree should have to go to college in order to learn to read and write, A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF A VALUABLE REAL-WORLD SKILL IS WELDING. Public school teachers (who reflect the view of the educrat class) tend to hold such “dirty” and “dangerous” work in disdain, and they steer kids away from it. GUIDANCE COUNSELORS ATTEMPT TO PUSH THEM INTO UNIVERSITIES WHERE THEY GO INTO A LIFETIME OF DEBT FOR WORTHLESS DEGREES THAT IMPART ZERO JOB SKILLS. But some of the kids are smarter than that. They realize that if you have a skill that is worth something in the real world, you can actually feed your family.

They also know something that the Occupy movement (often holders of useless degrees) has missed: that THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM’S INSTITUTIONAL BIAS AGAINST PROMOTING REAL WORLD SKILLS HAS LED TO SHORTAGES — IN SOME INSTANCES NOT OF JOBS, BUT OF SKILLED WORKERS TO FILL THEM. SUCH AS WELDERS. JAY LENO EXPLAINS.

http://classicalvalues.com/2011/11/the-war-between-useless-and-useful/

But you’ll have to follow the link to see Jay.  This is a crisis we’ve inflicted on our children.  Everyone shouldn’t go to college, but everyone should be educated.  It’s time to bring back shop.

3. The Emerging Democratic Minority

Back in 2002, JOHN JUDIS AND RUY TEIXEIRA PUBLISHED A BOOK TITLED "THE EMERGING DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY," IN WHICH THEY ARGUED THAT DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS WERE THE DEMOCRATS' FRIENDS--specifically, that the donks were fated to benefit from rising numbers of "minority voters, including blacks, Hispanics, and Asian-Americans; women voters, especially single, working and highly educated women; and professionals," while "the ranks of white working-class voters will not grow over the next decade," spelling trouble for the GOP.

If history had stopped in 2009, they would have been able to claim vindication. Republicans made modest congressional gains in the 2002 and 2004 elections, and George W. Bush was re-elected decisively though not resoundingly. But 2006 wiped out the GOP's congressional majorities, and 2008 bolstered those of the Democrats. Barack Obama achieved the biggest popular-vote majority of any president in 20 years and of any Democrat in 44 years--that is, since before Kevin Phillips published "The Emerging Democratic Majority," (1969) to which the Judis-Teixeira tome was a rejoinder.

But then in 2010, the tide shifted back. REPUBLICANS MORE THAN MADE UP FOR THEIR 2006-08 HOUSE LOSSES AND WON 24 OF 37 SENATE CONTESTS. THE DEMOCRATS HELD THEIR SENATE MAJORITY, BUT LARGELY BECAUSE 40 OF THEIR SEATS, WON IN 2006 OR 2008, WOULD NOT BE CONTESTED UNTIL 2012 OR 2014.

As 2012 approaches, Teixeira has dusted off his decade-old thesis. He and John Halpin have produced A REPORT FOR THE LEFT-LIBERAL CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS TITLED "THE PATH TO 270: DEMOGRAPHICS VERSUS ECONOMICS IN THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION." The argument is that "demographics" are on President Obama's side, while "economics" are not. (One might summarize the latter point this way: "If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose.")…

…THERE ARE TWO PROBLEMS WITH TEIXEIRA AND HALPIN'S "ECONOMICS VS. DEMOGRAPHICS" analysis--one economic and one demographic. For the first, consider Edsall's list of "voters who have gotten ahead on the basis of educational attainment": "professors, artists, designers, editors, human resources managers, lawyers, librarians, social workers, teachers and therapists."

Notice anything missing? THIS LIST EXCLUDES NOT ONLY BLUE-COLLAR WORKERS BUT ALSO MOST PRIVATE-SECTOR BUSINESSMEN AND WHITE-COLLAR EMPLOYEES. The only group here that comes mostly from corporate America is "human resources managers"--people whose job consists largely of complying with government employment regulations.

In other words, THE ECONOMIC GROUP THAT IS MOST PRO-OBAMA CONSISTS OF THOSE WHO MAKE THEIR LIVING, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OFF GOVERNMENT. To some extent, this group's interests are at odds with those of Republican-leaning private-sector workers. But only to some extent. WHEN GOVERNMENT GETS SO BIG AND INTRUSIVE THAT IT SUPPRESSES ECONOMIC GROWTH, IT HURTS THE PUBLIC SECTOR TOO. THE WORST THING A PARASITE CAN DO IS TO KILL ITS HOST….

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204262304577068390695355660.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

The Democrats are in a high stakes game.  Abandoning part of your base is always risky and it appear the Democrats are giving up being the party of the working man to being the party of the government supported man.   

     4. A third Party Candidate? 



Despite the Democrats salivating over the possibility of one of the Republican hopefuls running as a third party and syphoning votes away from the Republicans, the likelihood is almost nil that any would do it (funding and desire eliminates them).  So who should be wary of a third party candidate?



…SELF-FUNDING WOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM FOR NEW YORK CITY MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG. The multi-billionaire media mogul could easily follow the Perot model and launch a national campaign. This would hardly be a Republican nightmare, however, despite Bloomberg's occasional affiliation with the GOP. There are few Republicans who would rush to the side of a notorious gun-control advocate who has pursued government mandates on salt use in restaurants and restrictions on outdoor smoking. Bloomberg's most likely impact would be on northeastern states such as New York and Connecticut, two Democratic strongholds in which Republicans wouldn't contend otherwise. BLOOMBERG COULD ALSO DRAW VOTES AWAY FROM OBAMA IN RUST BELT STATES LIKE PENNSYLVANIA AND OHIO, WHICH WOULD FATALLY WEAKEN OBAMA'S ALREADY SLIM CHANCES OF WINNING A SECOND TERM.

OF ALL THE INDEPENDENT BID POSSIBILITIES, BLOOMBERG'S IS THE MOST LIKELY — or at least the least unlikely. Bloomberg took aim at Obama’s lack of leadership in the super committee debacle last week, perhaps signaling some consideration of a run for the White House. He could build an organization nearly overnight with his own funding, and Bloomberg might gain traction among those on the center-left and traditional Democratic donors on Wall Street who have grown disenchanted with the class warfare adopted by the Democratic Party, perhaps especially after the incitement of the Occupy movement — which Bloomberg also recently and repeatedly criticized.

IF WE SEE A SIGNIFICANT INDEPENDENT RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE NEXT FALL, IT MAY WELL BE THE DEMOCRATS WHO HAVE THE MOST TO FEAR FROM IT.

http://theweek.com/bullpen/column/221866/democrats-should-fear-a-third-party-challenge-in-2012/2

     5. Loved by media, Barney Frank Helped Cause Financial Crisis

Establishment media are swooning over the unexpected departure of ultraliberal Barney Frank. BUT THIS "CHAMPION OF THE LITTLE GUY" ACTUALLY HELPED CAUSE THE MORTGAGE DISASTER, THEN KEPT THE SYSTEM BROKEN.

'Congress will now be a little dumber," was the kind of nonsense we heard from the mainstream liberal media after Frank, D-Mass., former chairman of the House Banking Committee, said no to running for re-election next year.

Formally reprimanded by a heavily Democratic House on a 408-to-18 vote in 1990 for ethics offenses regarding his financial relationship with a male prostitute, Frank has for decades been a fast-talking, acidic presence in House debates.

But HE WASN'T SMART ENOUGH TO REALIZE THAT THE POLITICALLY CORRECT POISONING OF MORTGAGES WOULD LEAD TO A CALAMITY RIVALING THE GREAT DEPRESSION. "I, LIKE MANY OTHERS, DID NOT SEE THE CRISIS COMING," FRANK SAID MONDAY.

He sure didn't. BACK IN 2003, WHAT DID HE SAY WHEN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION PROPOSED WHAT THE NEW YORK TIMES DESCRIBED AS "THE MOST SIGNIFICANT REGULATORY OVERHAUL IN THE HOUSING FINANCE INDUSTRY since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago," including a new agency to supervise Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

FRANK SAID: "THE MORE PEOPLE EXAGGERATE THESE PROBLEMS, THE MORE PRESSURE THERE IS ON THESE COMPANIES, THE LESS WE WILL SEE IN TERMS OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING." Fannie and Freddie, of course, are those corrupt public-private hybrid monstrosities that gave lots of mortgages to people with horrendous credit ratings.

After 1996's welfare reform, liberals like Frank found other ways to redistribute wealth. Yet even after the politicization of mortgages led to the financial crisis, last year's Dodd-Frank reform kept "too big to fail" and other defects in our federally mismanaged banking system

http://news.investors.com/Article/593006/201111281824/liberal-frank-leaves-legacy-of-financial-failure.htm

Barney Frank was bright, but not smart.  His protection of Fannie and Freddie have cause untold heartache for many Americans.  If your house in underwater, you can thank Barney.  But when he announced his retirement, the stock market did go up over 290 points. 

      6. The White House Warned Congress about Fannie Mae Freddie Mac 17 Times in 2008, Alone

The White House attempts to set the record straight:

(I’m copying this post from the White House webpage in it’s entirety because I want people to read the whole thing).

FOR MANY YEARS THE PRESIDENT AND HIS ADMINISTRATION HAVE NOT ONLY WARNED OF THE SYSTEMIC CONSEQUENCES OF FINANCIAL TURMOIL AT A HOUSING GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED ENTERPRISE (GSE) BUT ALSO PUT FORWARD THOUGHTFUL PLANS TO REDUCE THE RISK THAT EITHER FANNIE MAE OR FREDDIE MAC WOULD ENCOUNTER SUCH DIFFICULTIES. President Bush publicly called for GSE reform 17 times in 2008 alone before Congress acted. Unfortunately, these warnings went unheeded, as the President’s repeated attempts to reform the supervision of these entities were thwarted by the legislative maneuvering of those who emphatically denied there were problems.

2001

April: The Administration’s FY02 budget declares that the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is “a potential problem,” because “financial trouble of a large GSE could cause strong repercussions in financial markets, affecting Federally insured entities and economic activity.”

2002

May: The President calls for the disclosure and corporate governance principles contained in his 10-point plan for corporate responsibility to apply to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (OMB Prompt Letter to OFHEO, 5/29/02)…

http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/the-white-house-warned-congress-about-fannie-mae-freddie-mac-17-times-in-2008-alone/

But remember Barney was telling us "the more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."









     7.  TEA Party to be Audited after Complaining about Treatment

Two weeks after the Richmond Tea Party delivered an invoice to Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones for costs incurred for previous rallies, we received a letter from the City of Richmond formally stating that the city is auditing our Tea Party. Coincidence? This audit is an obvious attempt to intimidate and harass us for standing up against the unfair treatment and discrimination against our Tea Party.

First some back story: as reported on the front page of the Richmond Times Dispatch, THE RICHMOND TEA PARTY DELIVERED AN INVOICE FOR CHARGES INCURRED IN OUR PREVIOUS THREE TAX DAY RALLIES AT KANAWHA PLAZA because Mayor Jones chose to allow Occupy Richmond protesters to convene in the same park for two weeks.

The Mayor not only allowed the Occupiers to break the law, but he visited them in the city-owned park. “Jones said that as a ‘child of civil rights’ and protests, he had allowed the group to remain in the park but understands his mayoral responsibility to uphold laws of the city,” reported the Richmond Times Dispatch.

APPARENTLY HIS MAYORAL DUTIES INCLUDED PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT FOR A GROUP HE SYMPATHIZES WITH IDEOLOGICALLY AT THE EXPENSE OF THE TAXPAYERS.

The blog Virginia Right reported that the city provided services such as portable toilets, trash pickup, etc. The incomplete invoices obtained from the city totaled $7,000. This was only a portion of the actual costs to taxpayers because the costs of police, helicopter and incarcerations were not included. ALSO NOT ACCOUNTED FOR WAS THE 24-HOUR POLICE PROTECTION OF THE MAYOR’S HOME AFTER THE OCCUPIERS MOVED THEIR CAMP NEXT DOOR TO THE MAYOR’S HOUSE. The Richmond Tea Party, conversely, paid for all services for our rallies, including the police, portable toilets, park fees and permits, amounting to approximately $8,500….

http://biggovernment.com/cowens/2011/11/28/richmond-city-audits-local-tea-party-after-standoff-with-mayor/

Coincidence?  Probably not. 

     8. Hypocrisy and Hollywood

Some of the most outspoken critics of the "income disparity" that exists within the free-market capitalist system can be found in Hollywood, where you'll also happen to find some of the most prosperous beneficiaries of the very system they criticize. What Hollywood so conveniently ignores is the mammoth "income disparity" and gluttonous (by their own standards for others) behavior within its own industry.

THE ORIGIN OF THE WORDS "HYPOCRISY" AND "HYPOCRITE" COMES FROM THE GREEK WORDS HYPOKRISIS, WHICH IN PART MEANS "PLAY-ACTING," AND HYPOKRITES, WHICH IN PART MEANS "PLAY-ACTOR." It's ironic that hypokrites engaged in the art of hypokrisis have no problem amassing enormous piles of wealth while at the same time hypocritically denouncing the capitalist system that enabled them to create that wealth in the first place. Evidently, it's greedy to be wealthy only if you earn your millions while on the outside of their tiny elitist circle of privilege….

…PERHAPS IT'S TIME HOLLYWOOD QUITS THE ACT AND STARTS LIVING BY THE FAR-LEFT SOCIALIST IDEAS IT EMBRACES AND HAS BEEN PREACHING FOR SO LONG. Here are a few ideas that, if implemented, can help save the denizens of Hollywood from the stigma of being hypocrites as defined today.

First: many of the high rollers in Hollywood claim that it's not "fair" that a CEO makes upwards of 700 times the amount of the average worker within a corporation. But a lead actor or actress can make well in excess of $100K a day during a movie shoot, while someone like the prop guy most likely makes little more than $100 a day. IF HOLLYWOOD ELITES TRULY HAVE A PROBLEM WITH "INCOME DISPARITY," THEY SHOULD LEAD BY EXAMPLE -- I.E., STOP "TAKING" SO MUCH INCOME FOR THEMSELVES AND START SPREADING THAT WEALTH EQUALLY AMONGST ALL OF THOSE "EXPLOITED" WORKERS INVOLVED IN THE PRODUCTION OF THESE MOVIES. Since they condemn what others outside their industry do with their earnings, I think it's fair to ask: do they really need to have multiple mansions, dozens of cars, and monthly $150K parties? There's no need to wait for government to force these changes upon them. They are free to start their ascent from the depths of hypocrisy at this very minute….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/hollywood_hypocrisy_in_the_hypokrisis_industry.html#ixzz1f5mPRT9R

These are the folks who are part of the 1% but have no qualms about visiting OWS protests and get feted for it.  They are getting paid so much more than the teachers or police or even factory workers get, when what they do is make believe. 





     9. Kagan should recuse herself

…As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and three of his Senate Republican colleagues wrote in a Nov. 18 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, a justice should withdraw from any case in which he or she "HAS SERVED IN GOVERNMENTAL EMPLOYMENT AND IN SUCH CAPACITY PARTICIPATED AS COUNSEL, ADVISER OR MATERIAL WITNESS CONCERNING THE PROCEEDING OR EXPRESSED AN OPINION CONCERNING THE MERITS OF THE PARTICULAR CASE OR CONTROVERSY." The law further stipulates that recusal is appropriate whenever a justice's "impartiality might reasonably be questioned."

As McConnell and his three colleagues - Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona, Charles Grassley of Iowa and Mike Lee of Utah - point out to Holder, RECENTLY RELEASED EMAILS SUGGEST THAT JUSTICE ELENA KAGAN'S INVOLVEMENT AS U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION "MAY SATISFY BOTH REQUIREMENTS FOR RECUSAL." Frankly, we think the GOP senators are understating what those emails reveal about Kagan's efforts in the campaign for Obamacare, even though she claimed before the Senate Judiciary Committee during her confirmation hearing that her role as not "substantial."

For example, in January 2010, two months before Kagan became aware of her possible nomination to the Supreme Court by President Obama, HOLDER'S UNDERLINGS BEGAN PREPARING THEIR DEFENSES OF OBAMACARE. KAGAN WAS "HEAVILY INVOLVED" IN THAT PLANNING, ACCORDING TO AN EMAIL FROM NEIL KATYAL, DEPUTY SOLICITOR GENERAL. In another email, Katyal explained that he had spoken with Kagan earlier in the day about a Justice Department working group on Obamacare defense preparations and said "ELENA WOULD DEFINITELY LIKE OSG [OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR GENERAL] TO BE INVOLVED IN THIS SET OF ISSUES." KAGAN WOULD BE BROUGHT INTO THE WORKING GROUP'S DELIBERATIONS "AS NEEDED." Since the key issue facing the working group was preparing legal defenses that would be presented by the solicitor general, it is inconceivable to think that official would be excluded from such deliberations….

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/2011/11/kagan-should-recuse-herself-obamacare-deliberations/1955541#ixzz1f6ZOx5LJ

Kagan needs to stand up and be recused. 

Going down

Gallup: New Low for the President

President Obama's job approval rating is at a new low, averaging 40% in July 26-28 Gallup Daily tracking. His prior low rating of 41% occurred several times, the last of which was in April. As recently as June 7, Obama had 50% job approval.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/148739/Obama-Approval-Drops-New-Low.aspx

Next stop: the thirties!

Obama, the Debt, and How He Lost the 2012 Election

…WHAT OBAMA WANTED WAS A PERSONAL TRIUMPH, a vindication of his status as the American Augustus. A clear road to 2012 with no more budgetary debates and crises. The utter humiliation of the GOP, which would be forced to swallow new taxes, leaving them with one less issue next year. An under-the-table legitimization of his "policies" (I think that's the word I'm groping for), which could then be touted as successes despite the damage they have left behind. THE REESTABLISHMENT OF BARACK OBAMA AS A POLITICAL DEMIGOD. And before we overlook it, another few hundred billion to toss to his political allies.

What has he got? HE'S GOT AS CLEAR A DEFEAT AS ANY PRESIDENT HAS EVER SUFFERED. A PARTY IN TOTAL DISARRAY. A SET OF EMBARRASSED AND ANGRY SUBORDINATES. AN ECONOMIC POLICY THAT'S GOING DOWN FOR THE THIRD TIME. A GOP heading into 2012 with a momentum comparable to that of Patton tearing into the Palatinate. And one final thing: the long-overdue public revelation of a fatally flawed and inadequate personality.

This is where voting "present" brings you at last. He's tried this before, on the occasion of the September 15 financial crash, right in the middle of the 2008 campaign. It will be recalled that John McCain put his campaign on hold and headed for Washington to do what was necessary. Whatever might be thought of McCain, and however good or poor his reasons at the time, it was the act of a man to whom duty was more important than career. And Obama? Well, Obama always comes first, doesn't he? He just turned his back and kept on going. He knew he couldn't lose, whichever way things broke.
He obviously thought the same thing now. But times have changed. People have seen Barack Obama, have taken in his oddities, his narcissism, his ignorance, his lack of quality. They are unwilling to cut him any more slack. They know what a president looks like, good or bad, popular or not, and THEY NO LONGER SEE A PRESIDENT IN BARACK OBAMA. Is it possible to imagine Reagan, FDR, Truman, or either of the Bushes pulling the kind of tricks that Obama has in recent days?...

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/obama_seems_to_be_taking_his_defeat_in_the_2012_election_rather_well.html

If I were a Hillary supporter, I would be really dismayed.

No One Loves a Loser

….MR. OBAMA SEEMED BRILLIANT AT POLITICS WHEN HE FIRST EMERGED IN 2004. He understood the nation's longing for unity. We're not divided into red states and blue, he said, we're Big Purple, we can solve our problems together. FOUR YEARS LATER HE READ THE LAY OF THE LAND PERFECTLY—REALLY, PERFECTLY. The nation and the Democratic Party were tired of the Clinton machine. He came from nowhere and dismantled it. It was breathtaking. He went into the 2008 general election with a miraculously unified party and took down another machine, bundling up all the accrued resentment of eight years with one message: "YOU KNOW THE TWO LOSING WARS AND THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE WE'VE BEEN DEALING WITH? I WON'T DO THAT. I'M NOT BUSH."

The fact is, HE'S GOOD AT DISMANTLING. HE'S GOOD AT CRITIQUING. He's good at not being the last guy, the one you didn't like. BUT HE'S NOT GOOD AT BUILDING, CREATING, CALLING INTO BEING. HE WAS GOOD AT SUMMONING HOPE, BUT HE'S NOT GOOD AT DIRECTING IT AND TURNING IT INTO SOMETHING CONCRETE THAT ANSWERS A BROAD PUBLIC DESIRE.

And so his failures in the debt ceiling fight. He wasn't serious, he was only shrewd—and shrewdness wasn't enough. He demagogued the issue—no Social Security checks—until he was called out, and then went on the hustings spouting inanities. He left conservatives scratching their heads: They could have made a better, more moving case for the liberal ideal as translated into the modern moment, than he did. HE NEVER OFFERED A PLAN. In a crisis he was merely sly. And no one likes sly, no one respects it.

SO HE IS LOSING A BATTLE IN WHICH HE HAD SUPERIOR FORCES—THE PRESIDENCY, THE U.S. SENATE. In the process he revealed that his foes have given him too much mystique. He is not a devil, an alien, a socialist. 

HE IS A LOSER. AND THIS IS AMERICA, WHERE NOBODY LOVES A LOSER.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904800304576474620336602248.html

Peggy Noonan again knocks it out of the park.  There's an old saying, "Any jackass can knock down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one."  Obama is obviously not a carpenter.



Independents sour on President Obama

President Barack Obama is losing independent voters, a new national poll shows.

A majority of independent voters say they disapprove of Mr. Obama’s handing of his job, and far fewer independents say they would vote to re-elect the president, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reported.

In the Pew survey, taken July 20-24, some 54% of independents said they disapproved of Mr. Obama’s job performance, his highest disapproval rating among those voters so far. Some 36% said they approved of the president’s handling of his job.

Some 31% of independents said they would vote to re-elect the president, a drop from 42% in May. Where Mr. Obama in prior Pew surveys had claimed a plurality of independents, the June poll showed him to be losing independents to a generic GOP candidate, 39% to 31%....

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/07/29/independents-souring-on-president-obama-poll-shows/

While liberals have nowhere else to go but Obama, and conservatives being in the ABO club (anybody but Obama), it is the independents that will decide the election.  And Obama needs a lot of them (conservative make up 40% of the population, liberals 20%) if he wants to win a second term.  It won’t happen.  Obama is no longer the candidate of nonspecific hope and change.  He is the candidate with a record of 9% unemployment, enormous deficits, and divisiveness. 

NYT lets the Cat Out of the Bag

Giddy after the recent legalization of gay marriage in New York, THE EDITORS AT THE NEW YORK TIMES ARE LAYING OUT THE LEFT'S POST-GAY MARRIAGE AGENDA IN THE PAPER'S PAGES FOR ALL TO SEE.

What they clearly want is a country that is sexually unrecognizable from the one we live in today, one WHERE MARITAL INFIDELITY IS ACCEPTED AS A LIFESTYLE CHOICE AND ACTUALLY CELEBRATED, and traditional marriage is legally marginalized and removed from the public square.

Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat essentially laid out the cultural side of the left's and the Times' post-gay marriage agenda in a July column.

GAY MARRIAGE SUPPORTERS CALLED LIBERATIONISTS "HOPE THAT GAY MARRIAGE WILL HELP KNOCK MARRIAGE OFF ITS CULTURAL PEDESTAL ALTOGETHER," DOUTHAT EXPLAINED.

To liberationists, IF TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE BECOMES THE "GOLD STANDARD" FOR RELATIONSHIPS BOTH GAY AND STRAIGHT, THE GAY MARRIAGE MOVEMENT WILL HAVE "FAILED IN ITS DEEPER MISSION," which he describes as introducing a "greater freedom than can be found in the one-size-fits-all rules of marriage."

The apparent hope is that legalized gay marriages will be more openly sexually promiscuous than straight marriage, providing an example that would then influence heterosexual couples to adopt the same open-marriage lifestyle.

IN A JUNE ARTICLE CALLED "MARRIED, WITH INFIDELITIES," THE TIMES USED GAY ACTIVIST AND COLUMNIST DAN SAVAGE'S OPEN MARRIAGE AS THE NEW MODEL FOR STRAIGHT MARRIAGES that should take root culturally from the legalization of gay marriage….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/the_gray_ladys_sexual_agenda_revealed.html

Well this certainly answers the question of how gay marriage “hurts” traditional marriage.

Atlas Shrugs

I was at a public hearing in an inner-city Birmingham neighborhood for various government officials to get public input on some local environmental issues.

…But RONNIE BRYANT WASN’T THERE TO TALK ABOUT THAT PARTICULAR MINE. As a mine operator in a nearby area, HE WAS ATTENDING THE MEETING TO LISTEN TO WHAT RESIDENTS AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WERE SAYING. He listened to close TO TWO HOURS OF PEOPLE TRASHING COMPANIES OF ALL TYPES AND BLAMING POLLUTION FOR RANDOM CASES OF CANCER IN THEIR FAMILIES. Several speakers clearly believe that all of the cancer and other deaths they see in their families and communities must be caused by pollution. Why? Who knows? Maybe just because it makes for an emotional story to blame big bad business. It’s hard to say.

After Bryant listened to all of the business-bashing, he finally stood to speak. He sounded a little bit shellshocked, a little bit angry — and a lot frustrated.

My name’s Ronnie Bryant, and I’m a mine operator…. I’ve been issued a [state] permit in the recent past for [waste water] discharge, and after standing in this room today listening to the comments being made by the people…. [pause] Nearly every day without fail — I have a different perspective — men stream to these [mining] operations looking for work in Walker County. THEY CAN’T PAY THEIR MORTGAGE. THEY CAN’T PAY THEIR CAR NOTE. THEY CAN’T FEED THEIR FAMILIES. THEY DON’T HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE. And as I stand here today, I just … you know … WHAT’S THE USE? I GOT A PERMIT TO OPEN UP AN UNDERGROUND COAL MINE THAT WOULD EMPLOY PROBABLY 125 PEOPLE. They’d be paid wages from $50,000 to $150,000 a year. We would consume probably $50 million to $60 million in consumables a year, putting more men to work. And my only idea today is to go home. What’s the use? I don’t know. I mean, I see these guys — I see them with tears in their eyes — looking for work. And IF THERE’S SO MUCH OPPOSITION TO THESE GUYS MAKING A LIVING, I FEEL LIKE THERE’S NO NEED IN ME PUTTING OUT THE EFFORT TO PROVIDE WORK FOR THEM. So as I stood against the wall here today, basically what I’VE DECIDED IS NOT TO OPEN THE MINE. I’m just quitting. Thank you.

http://rightwingnews.com/culture/businessmen-who-are-actually-going-john-galt-their-stories/

More stories follow in the link. 

President Obama Is No Longer Tethered To Reality

Image by AFP via @daylife



President Barack Obama’s speech to the nation Monday night was highly disturbing. Because read carefully, it reveals A PRESIDENT WILDLY DIVORCED FROM THE FUNDAMENTAL REALITIES OF THE NATION HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE LEADING.

President Obama actually told America on national television that it is a nation “WITH A SYSTEM IN WHICH THE DECK SEEMS STACKED AGAINST MIDDLE CLASS AMERICANS IN FAVOR OF THE WEALTHIEST FEW.” It is incomprehensible how a man serving as president of these United States could make such a fundamentally false assertion about his own country.

As I explain in my new book, America’s Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb, before Obama was even elected, official IRS data showed that for 2007 THE TOP 1% OF INCOME EARNERS PAID MORE IN FEDERAL INCOME TAXES THAN THE BOTTOM 95% COMBINED. The top 1% paid 40.4% of all federal income taxes that year, almost twice their share of income. THE MIDDLE FIFTH OF INCOME EARNERS, THE ACTUAL MIDDLE CLASS, PAID 4.7% OF FEDERAL INCOME TAXES. Deck stacked against the middle class in favor of the wealthiest few?

Moreover, the BOTTOM 40% OF INCOME EARNERS AS A GROUP PAID NO FEDERAL INCOME taxes that year. They instead received net payments from the IRS equal to 4% of total federal tax revenues. As my book explains, this was actually the result of nearly 30 years of Reaganomics. Today close to 50% of Americans pay no federal income tax….

http://blogs.forbes.com/peterferrara/2011/07/28/president-obama-is-no-longer-tethered-to-reality/

Reality to most liberals is like a twilight zone where strange things happen that they can’t understand.  And they keep trying to terraform the landscape to something otherworldly.  The problem is what they create eventually is poisonous to the workingmen and women of the country. 

Financial crisis: Democrats reaction, "What me worry?"

We know there is a problem: Do Something!!!

"MY WORST EXPERIENCE WAS THE FINANCIAL CRISIS OF SEPTEMBER 2008," House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said Tuesday in response to a reporter's question about Democrats' attacks on the budget he unveiled earlier in the day.


"WHAT IF THE PRESIDENT AND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE SAW IT COMING AND COULD HAVE PREVENTED IT FROM HAPPENING?" RYAN SAID. "WHAT WOULD YOU THINK OF THEM IF THEY DIDN'T?" A hush came over the audience at the American Enterprise Institute, where I am a resident fellow.


It was Ryan's way of saying that the financial meltdown arrived largely without warning, while THE IMPENDING FISCAL CRUNCH IS LIKE A RUNAWAY FREIGHT TRAIN.


"THIS IS THE MOST PREDICTABLE CRISIS IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY," he went on. "We are on our path to a debt crisis" like those we've seen recently in Europe, with the national debt as a percentage of gross domestic product rising, under President Obama's budget, past the 90 percent danger point on its way to 800 percent.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/04/ryan-steals-march-obama-fiscal-crisis-looms#ixzz1IkCZEwbU


This crisis is predictable. What also seems to be predictable is that the Democrats would rather try to use this politically than to address the problem. This is a must read.






New compromise to avert government shutdown: $40B in cuts

Speaker John Boehner’s office refused comment, but several individuals, Republican and Democratic, confirmed that THE OHIO REPUBLICAN HAD RAISED THE $40 BILLION NUMBER AT A MORNING MEETING AT THE WHITE HOUSE WITH THE PRESIDENT.

That translates into a $1.048 trillion top line for nonemergency appropriations, an $80 billion reduction from Obama’s 2011 budget request and more importantly, an additional $7 billion on top of the target in House-Senate talks.

Administration officials expressed frustration with the demands, and there are growing complaints the speaker keeps “moving the goal posts” as he tries to appease conservatives in his party.

“It seems every step we take, it’s something just to poke us in the eye,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who was part of the same White House meeting. “THEY ARE NOT TRYING TO ARRIVE AT THE FINISH LINE. IT APPEARS THAT THEY’RE GOING TO DO EVERYTHING THEY CAN TO SATISFY THE TEA PARTY.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52585.html#ixzz1IkcsPqBD


I think a better analogy for Harry Reid’s comment is that the Democrats are running a marathon, but want to stop the race after the first 100 yards.



Congress spends over 20% of their time taunting the other side

Three of their categories were well known to political scientists. Over the years, they have come up with a GRAND UNIFIED THEORY OF CONGRESSMEN which holds that there are three primary ways a legislator expresses him- or herself.


The first is credit-claiming. That involves a legislator trumpeting his own role in securing a bridge or a dam or some other thing voters want. “ ‘The government did this thing. It’s because of me,’ ” King explained.


The second is position-taking. This is the thing that “Schoolhouse Rock” and civics classes teach you is the point of congressional speechifying. “ ‘I’m at this point on the ideological continuum,’ ” King said.


The third traditional category is “advertising.” It might be recognizing some hometown team or dignitary, a nonpartisan effort to get one’s name out there. “ ‘Look at me! I’m a member of Congress!’ ” King said.


But, he said, some news releases he and his team studied didn’t fit neatly into the three traditional categories.


“They’re a different thing. To say that the only thing members of Congress do is advertising, credit-claiming or position-taking, that’s not right,” King said. “Because sometimes, they just stand up there and taunt the other side.”


Now, it’s not earth-shaking news that legislators like to insult each other. But what King did is quantify how much they do it: more than a quarter of the time. He found taunting was most common in members whose districts were “safe” — strongly held by their party.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/27percent-of-communication-by-members-of-congress-is-taunting-professor-concludes/2011/04/06/AF1no2qC_story.html?hpid=z1


Surprised?



Obama’s 2012 election strategy

…. Even the most optimistic of economists and the Federal Reserve itself predict that the ECONOMY WILL NOT HAVE COMPLETELY TURNED AROUND BY NOVEMBER 2012, AS THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE WILL REMAIN AROUND 8-9%. THE ANNUAL BUDGET DEFICIT WILL STILL BE IN THE $1+ TRILLION RANGE AND THE TOTAL NATIONAL DEBT WILL HAVE INCREASED OVER $5.4 TRILLION DOLLARS DURING OBAMA'S FIRST TERM (more than the debt from the founding of the country in 1789 through 2001). There is also a consensus that the Middle East will still be in turmoil, the threat of terrorism markedly higher and our foreign policy in shambles.

There is little option but to replay the 2008 campaign.

Therefore the White House will, as its primary tactic between now and November 2012, FOCUS ON RE-INSTITUTING AND RE-ENFORCING THE "CULT OF PERSONALITY" STRATEGY SO SUCCESSFUL IN 2008 (particularly against Hillary Clinton) while contrasting Obama against the dull and bland personality of any of the Republican candidates. Secondarily and in concert with the once-mainstream media and the unions, the well-worn and threadbare accusations of the nominee as being mean-spirited and in league with the "rich" will be on full display. In reserve will be the heavy artillery of racist accusations to be used to create headlines and sidetrack the Republicans whenever the opportunity, real or imagined, presents itself….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/obama_reelection_and_the_cult.html

I don’t think this will work. Obama ran on hope and change in 2008. It was a “cult of personality” but it was a cult of an unknown personality where everyone could imagine who he would be. Now we know who he is and the failures of his first term will destroy any hope of recreating 2008. This may be his best shot, but it won’t be enough.


Europe feels strain as US alters Libya policy

Transatlantic relations are being tested by the US’s refusal to lead the military mission in Libya, with figures on both sides of the ocean depicting THE CONFLICT AS A WAKE-UP CALL FOR EUROPE’S MILITARY AND POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENTS.

BRITAIN AND FRANCE ARE STRAINING TO FILL THE GAP LEFT BY WASHINGTON’S DECISION TO PULL BACK, as Europe’s military ambitions are tested.

The Pentagon said on Tuesday that it had flown 1,600 sorties since operations began on March 19 and WOULD NO LONGER BE INVOLVED IN AIR STRIKES AGAINST LIBYAN TARGETS. It would continue support missions, such as aerial refuelling, and would remain on alert for emergency strike missions, if requested by Nato.

Defence experts maintain that the US move has a longer-term significance, since it signals that Europeans cannot rely on Washington to provide security in crises in their neighbourhood.

“What we’ve seen in Libya is hugely significant,” said Lord Hutton, a former defence secretary in the last Labour government. “The US has been saying for 10 or 15 years that it wants the Europeans to share more of the security burden and we have to heed that lesson. WE SHOULD BE DOING MUCH MORE IN EUROPE. WE CANNOT GO ON EXPECTING THE US TO TAKE THE LEADING ROLE…..”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7b076c8e-5fb4-11e0-a718-00144feab49a.html#axzz1IgRZmqzz


Now here is something I can support President Obama on.



Liberals on the run from voluntary tax

Moonbats are cheap. And they prove it again every year at this time when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts gives them the chance to personally raise their own income taxes.

Your average liberal would give an illegal alien the shirt off your back. Not his back, but your back. Just ask them. They sit in Starbucks and angrily blog about how AmeriKKKans who work don’t pay their “fair share.”

They harrumph, what about the children?

But you know what they say. Money talks, you-know-what walks.

So far this tax season, the state Department of Revenue has received 1,971,000 returns.

And of those 1.971 million filers, EXACTLY 862 HAVE CHECKED THE BOX TO PAY AT THE OLD, HIGHER 5.85 PERCENT RATE RATHER THAN THE CURRENT 5.3 PERCENT RATE.

THAT WORKS OUT TO APPROXIMATELY ONE-25TH OF ONE PERCENT OF FILERS making the selfless gesture — somewhat lower than the percentage of moonbats in the population, wouldn’t you say

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1328675

If this surprises you, you obviously don’t pay any attention to human nature. Liberals like to think they are more compassionate and giving, but evidently they aren’t. BTW, that figure is .04%.

Accountable and Unaccountable America

….There is Accountable America and then there is Unaccountable America. In Accountable America liberal lawyers sue Wal-Mart for discrimination against women employees based upon statistical patterns of promotions. IN UNACCOUNTABLE AMERICA, 50 PERCENT OF COLLEGE KIDS NEED REMEDIAL INSTRUCTION WHILE HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS DEMONSTRATE OVER THEIR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS. In Accountable America President Obama tells BP to post $20 billion on account to pay for oil spill damage and BP asks, "What's the account number?" IN UNACCOUNTABLE AMERICA SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER CALLS A SPENDING CUT OF $0.06 TRILLION IN A $3.8 TRILLION BUDGET "EXTREME…."

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/unaccountable_america.html


I can hardly wait to hear what Schumer calls a $6 trillion dollar cut in spending over 10 years.



Jimmy Carter strikes again

…. Beginning with a statement to the people of Cuba, HE HAD NOTHING TO SAY OF THE LACK OF FREEDOM IN CUBA. He made brief mention of his visit with American Alan Gross, who is being held in a Cuban jail for providing support for democracy activists in Cuba, but then immediately EQUATED HIM WITH THE SO-CALLED CUBAN FIVE, WHO ARE IN JAIL IN THE US FOR SPYING. Carter apparently sees no difference between an American who is working on a transparent U.S. government funded democracy project and guys spying for the Cuban dictatorship. Indeed, CARTER REFERRED TO THEM AS “THE FIVE CUBAN PATRIOTS” and explained that he had met with their mothers and their wives. He never called Gross a patriot. He went on to make clear that HE HAD PRIVATELY PETITIONED BOTH GEORGE W. BUSH AND BARACK OBAMA TO RELEASE THESE SPIES…..

http://bigpeace.com/pschweizer/2011/04/05/jimmy-carter-disgraceful-in-cuba/

Jimmy Carter is an embarrassment to this country.