Friday: the real headwinds

Politics
More unexpected bad economic news

The number of Americans FILING NEW CLAIMS FOR UNEMPLOYMENT AID UNEXPECTEDLY EDGED HIGHER LAST WEEK, stoking fears of a stalled economic recovery even as a separate report showed record exports in April.

Initial claims for state jobless benefits increased 1,000 to 427,000, the Labor Department said. However, economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims dropping to 415,000 from a previously reported count of 422,000.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-jobless-claims-rb-888026046.html?x=0&.v=1

The odd part is that good economic news under Bush was “unexpected” by the press while bad economic news under Obama is “unexpected.” You would think they would be smart enough to start expecting it. I mean even rats in a maze learn over time.

War:  I am number four

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS INTENSIFIED THE AMERICAN COVERT WAR IN YEMEN, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets, according to American officials.

The acceleration of the American campaign in recent weeks comes amid a violent conflict in Yemen that has left the government in Sana, a United States ally, struggling to cling to power. Yemeni troops that had been battling militants linked to Al Qaeda in the south have been pulled back to the capital, and American officials see the strikes as one of the few options to keep the militants from consolidating power.

ON FRIDAY, AMERICAN JETS KILLED ABU ALI AL-HARITHI, A MIDLEVEL QAEDA OPERATIVE, AND SEVERAL OTHER MILITANT SUSPECTS IN A STRIKE IN SOUTHERN YEMEN….

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/world/middleeast/09intel.html?_r=2&hp

We have another area of military action without any approval by the US Congress. I remember the Iran Contra scandal that occurred when congress cut off funding for the war against the Contras. It seems that this president doesn’t feel a need to even get around congress. He simply ignores the Legislature.

Wisconsin Union protesters show a lack of class

At a speech to special Olympic participants, Wisconsin Union protesters showed a lack of class in an attempt to get noticed.

http://nation.foxnews.com/union-protests/2011/06/09/union-protesters-disrupt-special-olympics-ceremony


“The whole reason we do this is to protect liberty.”

In the most important appeal of the Obamacare constitutional saga, today was the best day yet for individual freedom. THE GOVERNMENT’S LAWYER, NEAL KATYAL, SPENT MOST OF THE HEARING ON THE ROPES, WITH THE JUDICIAL PANEL EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS NOT TO EXTEND FEDERAL POWER BEYOND ITS PRESENT OUTER LIMITS of regulating economic activity that has a substantial aggregate effect on interstate commerce.

As the lawyer representing 26 states against the federal government said, “THE WHOLE REASON WE DO THIS IS TO PROTECT LIBERTY.” With those words, former solicitor general Paul Clement reached the essence of the Obamacare lawsuits. With apologies to Joe Biden, this is a big deal not because we’re dealing with a huge reorganization of the health care industry, but because our most fundamental first principle is at stake: WE LIMIT GOVERNMENT POWER SO PEOPLE CAN LIVE THEIR LIVES THE WAY THEY WANT.

This legal process is not an academic exercise to map the precise contours of the Commerce Clause or Necessary and Proper Clause — or even to vindicate our commitment to federalism or judicial review. No, all of these worthy endeavors are just means to achieve the goal of maximizing human freedom and flourishing. Indeed, that is the very reason the government exists in the first place….

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-obamacare-lawsuit-from-the-courtroom-in-atlanta/

Freedom needs to be defended and this is a big step in that direction. Those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither.

Democrats demand spending increases to bring up trade agreements

Because government is inherently dangerous and often mischievous, the Constitution’s framers provided, and congressional rules have multiplied, mechanisms for blocking government action. THESE MECHANISMS CAN, HOWEVER, ALSO BE USED TO FORCE ACTION. One is being so used in a dispute that has two remarkable facets.

PRESIDENT OBAMA IS SACRIFICING ECONOMIC GROWTH AND JOB CREATION IN ORDER TO PLACATE ORGANIZED LABOR. And as the crisis of the welfare state deepens, he is trying to enlarge the entitlement system and exacerbate the entitlement mentality.

Forty-four Republican senators, three more than necessary to stop Senate action, have vowed to BLOCK CONFIRMATION OF JOHN BRYSON, THE PRESIDENT’S NOMINEE TO BE COMMERCE SECRETARY, UNTIL THE PRESIDENT SUBMITS FOR CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL THE ALREADY NEGOTIATED FREE-TRADE AGREEMENTS WITH SOUTH KOREA, PANAMA AND COLOMBIA. The 44 are responding to this:

On May 4, the administration announced that, at last, it was ready to proceed with congressional ratification of the agreements. ON MAY 16, HOWEVER, IT ANNOUNCED IT WOULD NOT SEND THEM UNTIL CONGRESS EXPANDS AN ENTITLEMENT PROGRAM FAVORED BY UNIONS.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obama-and-free-trade-appease-big-labor/2011/06/07/AGH7QXMH_story.html

Read all about this. It demonstrates how politics works in Washington and how the Democrats seem to be spend-aholics.

It’s the economy, Barack!

THE BATTLE WILL BE FOUGHT OVER ECONOMIC GROWTH AND HOW WE GET IT—Obama's way or something close to the opposite of Obama's way. On one hand is Barack Obama's government-led "investment" mix, embedded with spending raised to 24% of GDP. On the other is THE ALTERNATIVE GOP VISION, WHICH IS STARTING TO GEL.

The Washington Post this week ran a long article to prove (and lament) that the GOP's "anti-tax orthodoxy goes deep." But why stop there? Add to this the tea party's anti-spending orthodoxy. Now VIRTUALLY ALL REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES AGREE THAT THE PUBLIC SECTOR'S CONTRIBUTION TO GROWTH IS TO CUT SPENDING, while tax cuts should be used to rediscover the private sector.

This "orthodoxy" informs John Boehner's insistence that any increase in the debt ceiling be matched by real spending cuts. IT INFORMS BLACK REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HERMAN CAIN'S WITHERING, AND INCREASINGLY EFFECTIVE, RHETORICAL ASSAULT ON MR. OBAMA'S OBLIVIOUSNESS TO THE NEEDS OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR. Like Gov. Pawlenty, Mr. Cain also would eliminate the capital gains tax and cut others to enhance business formation.

Barack Obama will have better weeks than this. On the available evidence, however, the trend lines for politics and the economy are becoming clearer every day.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304432304576371811156235004.html

I do expect for Obama to be clobbered by the economy and the calls of the Republicans to undue all that he has done. Slash government spending while we slash certain taxes and open up drilling for oil everywhere and for good measure get rid of Obamacare.

Mainstream Media and its double standard

Does the mainstream media have a double standard when it comes to scandals involving Democrats vs. Republicans? Do you really have to ask?

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/574745/201106081815/Weiners-Case-Shows-Medias-Double-Standard.htm

Medicare

Ending Medicare as we know it? If we are lucky, yes.

…No American should naively assume that there is one easy, pragmatic answer to solving the Medicare crisis. Additionally, no American should naively assume that putting the issue off until one such answer emerges is a prudent approach. THE BIGGEST DANGER TO OUR SENIORS IS NOT PAUL RYAN AND THE REPUBLICANS WHO ARE PROPOSING CHANGES TO SAVE THE SYSTEM. NOR IS IT DEMOCRATS WHO MIGHT DO THE SAME.

RIGHT NOW, THE GRAVEST THREAT MEDICARE FACES IS THE SELF-SERVING POLITICIAN WHO CHAMPIONS COMPLACENCY TOWARDS THE ISSUE WITH SHAMELESS DEMAGOGUERY CONDEMNING ANY REFORM PROPOSALS AS TOO BIG, TOO DRAMATIC, TOO RISKY, AND ENDANGERING THE STABILITY OF THE SYSTEM. Take Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has been in re-runs in virtually every television interview she's given on the subject.

Two weeks ago, Schultz was by Harry Smith on CBS's Meet the Nation, "But the trustees said...that this thing could be insolvent in the next decade. Doesn't something really dramatic have to happen, and as the Congressman suggested, the Republicans have a plan. Do the Democrats have a plan?" SHE REFUSED TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION, choosing instead to read from her poll-tested cue cards: "Like I said, the Republicans have a plan to end Medicare as we know it."

Yes, they do. Anyone who seriously values and wants to save the Medicare system -- or at least who wants to preserve it for those currently relying on it -- knows that if we don't come up with a plan to do so, MEDICARE AS WE KNOW IT WILL END ITSELF WHEN IT GOES BELLY-UP IN THE NEXT TEN TO THIRTEEN YEARS. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ MAY PRETEND OTHERWISE, BUT IF YOU PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO WHAT EVEN HER ALLIES ARE SAYING, IT'S DEMONSTRABLY TRUE. …

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/both_sides_would_end_medicare_as_we_know_it.html

This is the dirty little truth that Wasserman-Shultz doesn’t want to admit.
Science

15 secrets about outer space you never knew before

http://www.onlineschools.org/blog/outer-space/

There has to be some facts you can use to win a free drink in a bar.

Spending cuts and other unthinkables

Spending cuts? No thank you, we’re democrats

Do President Obama and Democrats want to cut spending? THERE'S NOT MUCH EVIDENCE THEY DO. THEY HAVE ACQUIESCED TO SOME CUTS—BUT ONLY UNDER POLITICAL DURESS.

The importance of the spending issue escalated last Thursday with the start of budget negotiations between Democrats and Republicans under the direction of Vice President Joe Biden. The 2012 budget, an increase in the debt limit, and long-term reform of entitlements are all on the table.

The parties have very different goals. WHILE REPUBLICANS WANT A CAP ON SPENDING, DEMOCRATS FAVOR A CEILING ON THE DEFICIT. The distinction is significant. A spending cap is straightforward. But A CAP ON THE DEFICIT CAN BE SATISFIED BY RAISING TAXES, WHICH DEMOCRATS PREFER.

To be sure, Mr. Obama frequently pays lip service to tackling spending. "We've got to comb through the budget and find every dime of savings that we can," he said at a town hall meeting last month in Reno. "We'll check under the cushions. Any program that's not working, we need to eliminate."

BUT NEITHER THE WHITE HOUSE NOR CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS HAVE INITIATED ANY NET REDUCTIONS IN SPENDING. NOT ONCE SINCE THE ELECTION. Their strategy is to defer to Republicans, then denounce whatever cuts Republicans come up with.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703992704576305332480567882.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop


In fact, the Democrats considered cuts of $30 billion in a 3.7 trillion dollar budget to draconian.



Democratic ideas of spending cuts

IT'S DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN. DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS HAVE RE-INTRODUCED A SMALL BUSINESS –JOBS BILL THAT HAS NO HOPE OF HELPING SMALL BUSINESS. Pandering to labor union interests, filled with Democrats’ flawed understanding of what creates private sector jobs, and crammed full of recycled regulations from the failed Waxman-Markey Energy bill, H.R. 870 is dangerous legislation that uses buzz words rather than sound business principles to encourage small business growth and job creation.

The legislation, thinly disguised as a jobs creation bill, panders to the tired, failed policies of Democrats’ left-wing, extremist base. THE BILL FOCUSES ON “GREEN JOBS”, CONSTRUCTION OF “WIND TURBINES AND SOLAR PANELS”, ENFORCES INEFFECTIVE BUT RESTRICTIVE PENALTIES ON CHINA TRADE and determines which industries will be rewarded by handouts from the government by identifying which industries Democrats believe provide jobs that are “actually needed”…..

…..The bill is filled with bits and pieces of entitlement benefits and government handouts from other pieces of failed Democrat legislation. For example, there is funding for state Head Start programs and funding for emergency food stamp subsidy programs (p. 5).The, bill reeks of socialism in the form of “Employment Opportunity Grants”, (p.3) thinly disguised as federal government handouts to reward businesses that support left-wing ideological efforts….

http://townhall.com/columnists/luritadoan/2011/05/09/democrats_announce_new_assault_on_small_business/page/full/


Nonsense that will go nowhere.



IPAB v Constitution

I’ve already written a bit about IPAB, Obamacare’s rationing board. Now I go at IPAB hammer and tong in the current issue of NATIONAL REVIEW. (By the way, for an unusually revealing photograph of IPAB’s newly-appointed members, click on the picture of the magazine at the top right-hand corner of NRO’s homepage.)

While I have plenty to say in the article about rationing, Obama’s evasions, and the political path from IPAB to a single-payer system, the constitutional issues are front and center in this piece. IPAB IS AN AFFRONT TO THE CONSTITUTION. IPAB’S ATTACK ON THE SEPARATION OF POWERS DOCTRINE NEEDS TO BE CHALLENGED IN THE COURTS, BUT SHOULD ALSO BE PLACED IN THE POLITICAL FOREGROUND BY REPUBLICANS. The best way to convey Obamacare’s radicalism to the public is to show how the price-setting powers of this central-planning board require suspension of our ordinary constitutional processes….

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/266717/ipab-v-constitution-photo-stanley-kurtz


IPAB is something all Americans will become familiar with if Obama’s plan is allowed to stand. It is the ‘death panel’ that Sarah Palin warned us about.



Here’s how the IPAB works

Here’s how IPAB works: IT’S A PANEL OF 15 PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTEES WHO ARE TASKED WITH REDUCING MEDICARE SPENDING. The panel is given certain spending targets, beginning in 2014. At first those targets are on a sliding scale, but BY 2018 SPENDING GROWTH IS LIMITED TO THE RATE OF GROWTH OF GDP WITH AN ADDITIONAL PERCENTAGE POINT TACKED ON.

ANY DECISIONS IPAB MAKES ABOUT MEDICARE SPENDING AUTOMATICALLY BECOME LAW. TO OVERRIDE IPAB REQUIRES A THREE-FIFTHS MAJORITY VOTE IN THE SENATE, a high legislative hurdle. Alternatively, Congress can pass its own Medicare plan that meets the same spending target. THERE’S NO ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS ALLOWING DOCTORS OR CITIZENS TO CHALLENGE THE BOARD’S DECISIONS. Since Medicare comprises about 13 percent of the federal budget, that’s an awesome amount of power to be placing in the hands of unelected bureaucrats.

In order to assuage fears that the board would go on a rationing tear, the commission was supposedly given a narrow mandate. IPAB CAN’T ADJUST PREMIUMS OR MEDICARE’S COST-SHARING MECHANISMS, SUCH AS COPAYMENTS AND DEDUCTIBLES.

IT CAN, HOWEVER, ADJUST THE RATES AT WHICH DOCTORS ARE REIMBURSED. But Medicare reimbursement rates are already well below market rates, and consequently doctors are treating fewer and fewer Medicare patients as they lose money on them. Doctor access is already a huge problem for Medicaid for this same reason: Over half of all specialists in many major metropolitan areas are refusing to take on new Medicaid patients, according to a 2009 survey by Merritt Hawkins and Associates on physician wait times. As it is, MEDICARE REIMBURSEMENT RATES ARE SET TO DROP BELOW MEDICAID’S IN THE COMING DECADE—AND THAT’S WITHOUT IPAB….

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/real-mediscare_558502.html

Medicare as we know it is already dead. It can’t continue the way it is today. The choice right now comes down to the Ryan Plan or the Obama Plan. Ryan allows the market to keep the costs down. Obama’s plan tasks the IPAB to do it. Seniors favor the Ryan plan right now.



We no longer need to kill Bin Laden, claims Barack Obama

Barack Obama has claimed it is no longer necessary to kill Osama Bin Laden to win the war against al-Qaeda.

In an unprecedented departure from the current wanted 'dead or alive policy,' the U.S. President-Elect said that simply keeping bin Laden holed up in a cave was enough to keep America safe.

'MY PREFERENCE OBVIOUSLY WOULD BE TO CAPTURE OR KILL HIM,' HE SAID.


'BUT IF WE HAVE SO TIGHTENED HIS NOOSE THAT HE'S IN A CAVE SOMEWHERE AND CAN'T EVEN COMMUNICATE WITH HIS OPERATIVES THEN WE WILL MEET OUR GOAL OF PROTECTING AMERICA.

'I think that we have to so weaken (his) infrastructure that, whether he is technically alive or not, he is so pinned down that he cannot function.

'I'm confident that we can keep them on the run and ensure that they cannot train terrorists to attack our homeland.

MR OBAMA'S COMMENTS MARK A SIGNIFICANT MOVE AWAY FROM THE POLICY PURSUED BY PRESIDENT BUSH SINCE THE AL-QAEDA ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11 AND WHICH HE HIMSELF ENDORSED DURING THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

In a presidential debate in October, he said: 'We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority.'

Mr Obama's comments, made in an interview with CBS, came in the wake of a new audio message purporting to be from the al-Qaeda leader.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1116823/We-longer-need-kill-Bin-Laden-claims-Barack-Obama.html



Simple logic: beyond comprehension

Years ago, when my young son and I visited a dude ranch in Montana, a local rancher told us he butch ered his cows for meat. My son, Scott, who was only 7, was horrified. "YOU KILL YOUR OWN COWS AND EAT THEM?" HE ASKED WITH URBAN DISGUST.

The rancher answered with country logic, saying something like, "WELL, HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT FROM YOU EATING COWS THAT OTHER PEOPLE BUTCHER?"

The exchange came back to me after yet another attack on the Bush administration's use of harsh interrogation on al Qaeda terrorists. It's a tiresome refrain under any circumstance, but especially now that the intelligence infrastructure built after 9/11 has paid such obvious dividends.

Indeed, CRITICS CAN SMUGLY MOUNT THEIR HIGH HORSE OF DISGUST ONLY BECAUSE SOMEBODY ELSE WAS WILLING TO DO THEIR DIRTY WORK FOR THEM. At least my son was a child when he showed a lack of knowledge about his hamburgers. So-called sophisticated adults have no excuse not to understand who and what is protecting them nearly 10 years after 9/11.

Numerous reports, including one from former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, that WATERBOARDING STARTED THE DAISY CHAIN THAT LED TO THE COURIER THAT LED TO OSAMA BIN LADEN'S HIDEOUT, QUALIFY AS A DISTINCTLY INCONVENIENT FACT FOR HARD-LINE LIBERALS…..

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/tortured_logic_on_bush_CW2jEAxenCliVWX6YjX2nM#ixzz1Lr6era2k

Liberals don’t want to think about this.



The Solution to our problems

OBAMA'S WORST ENEMY IS OBAMA, and his downfall will commence when voters awaken to the fact that many of his current "crises" -- and all the most critical ones -- are self-inflicted. They don't simply come out of nowhere, in the form of "events," unforeseen and random, but are GENERATED THROUGH ACTS OF OMISSION OR COMMISSION BY NONE OTHER THAN OBAMA HIMSELF. This creates an opening that must not be overlooked by the GOP candidate, whoever that may be.

The gas crisis is something that, in its impact on the daily life of voters, should have a serious effect on Obama's chances in 2012. So you'd expect some effort at a solution on his part. But look as long and hard as you like -- that is something you will not find.

WHAT YOU WILL FIND IS AN INSISTENCE FROM OBAMA AND ALL CONCERNED THAT THERE'S NOTHING TO BE DONE, THAT OIL PRICES ARE A PRODUCT OF FORCES BEYOND THE CONTROL OF EVEN THE MESSIAH, THAT "WE CAN'T DRILL OUR WAY OUT OF THE PROBLEM." This is nonsense. Faced with the same predicament in 2008, George W. Bush brought oil prices down simply by announcing that new drilling areas would be opened up. Prices dropped, an outcome that Obama would have us believe is impossible.

THE PROBLEM LIES IN OBAMA'S LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF HOW MARKETS WORK….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/obamas_worst_enemy.html


As the Pogo cartoon said many years ago; “We have met the enemy and he is us.”



MSM: Fair and balanced?

The Media Research Center held its 2011 Gala and DisHonors Awards event this past Saturday. The DisHonors awards recognizes and roasts the liberal media’s worst moments, with winners in several different categories and an overall ‘winner’ with a ‘Quote Of the Year’.

In the “OBAMAGASM AWARD” category, the winner was NEWSWEEK EDITOR EVAN THOMAS who said, “Reagan [at the 1984 D-Day commemoration] was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is, ‘We are above that now. We're not just parochial, we're not just chauvinistic, we're not just provincial. We stand for something.' I MEAN, IN A WAY, OBAMA'S STANDING ABOVE THE COUNTRY, ABOVE — ABOVE THE WORLD. HE'S SORT OF GOD. He's going to bring all different sides together.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/newsweek-editor-wins-obamagasm-award-oba

Next time a liberal talks to you about Fox News, read them this



60 Minutes spikes the ball for Obama

What a waste of 60 Minutes. Actually, it was more like 42 minutes, but Kroft gave us nothin.’

I will say this was exactly as I predicted, but that would be way too easy. The activist old media is easier to predict these days than a Laker loss to the Mavericks.

EVERY QUESTION I SAID KROFT WOULD NOT ASK, WAS NOT ASKED.

WAS IT AN ASSASSINATION OR CAPTURE MISSION?

Why all the different versions coming out of the White House?

ARE YOU GLAD THE CIA WATER BOARDED KHALID SHEIK MOHAMMED TO GET THE INTEL? You don’t get the intel, you don’t get bin Laden.

Secret prisons and Gitmo? Not asked.

And finally—THE DEPT. OF JUSTICE IS PROSECUTING A NAVY SEAL FOR GIVING A TERRORIST A FAT LIP; WILL YOU TELL ERIC HOLDER TO STOP THIS PROSECUTION?(Don’t say he can’t.)

I was asking a lot to think that Kroft and 60 Minutes might actually do its job.

Instead we got questions like these:

“How much of it was gut instinct?”

http://bigjournalism.com/rfutrell/2011/05/09/obama-and-60-minutes-spiking-the-football/


You can’t ask those kinds of questions to a “kinda of a god.”



2012: The fight ahead

….OBAMA’S POLITICAL ADVISERS REALIZE THIS AND THEIR STRATEGY IS SIMPLE: THE ELECTION IS ABOUT THE FUTURE -- THEIR CONSTANT REFRAIN OF “WIN THE FUTURE” IS SOPHOMORIC, YET REPETITION WORKS IN MESSAGING. The second mantra is that Republicans are extreme, scary. Defense of the Obama record will be minimal. The economy will dominate other issues including terrorism (barring a new event), bin Laden or social issues; the May 6 jobs report, showing robust employment gains, was a welcome bookend for the best week in Obama’s presidency in a long time. The conversation in the fall of next year will be about jobs, gas prices, debt and the role of government.

That’s why THE CURRENT BATTLE OVER THE BUDGET AND DEBT CEILING IS IMPORTANT. Any resolution is likely to be short term and cosmetic. The argument, however, sets the table for the 2012 agenda and dialogue, with both sides believing they have an advantage.

‘Create a Narrative’

The Democrats are trying to “create a narrative,” says House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, “IF YOU GO TO THE REPUBLICANS THEY’RE GOING TO FEED YOU TO THE WOLVES IN A DOG-EAT-DOG SOCIETY.”

This “narrative of shared scarcity,” RYAN SAYS, WILL BE TRUMPED BY THE REPUBLICAN STORYLINE. “WE WANT TO HAVE GROWTH. WE WANT AN UPWARDLY MOBILE SOCIETY…..”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-08/obama-s-abbottabad-bounce-may-be-short-lived-commentary-by-albert-r-hunt.html


Obama has gone from Hope and Change in 2008 to “Fear and Loathing” in 2012. It’s not pretty, but then neither is his record.