Sweet Dreams for Obama, but reality sucks for him

What’s new Today

Story #1 looks at what Obama’s campaign will be all about.  #2 is a short video of Paul Ryan completely dismantling Obama’s claims for a second term.  # 3 looks at income inequality as a problem but not of the rich.  #4 looks at what seems to be Obama’s war on religion.  #5 looks and finds Obama is the most polarizing Politician ever.  #6 reminds us that the election in November will not just be for the Presidency but will have a profound affect in the states as well. 

1.  Obama and the Politics of Envy

There are 1.1 million more unemployed Americans today than when President Obama was sworn into office in 2009. The number of Americans in poverty has risen by 6.4 million.

Unemployment is up 9 percent, the number of food stamp recipients is up 45 percent, and home values are down 13 percent. If Obama were to seek re-election based on his economic record, he would surely lose.

That is why Obama and his political advisers have determined that income inequality, or "fairness" as they call it, is the defining issue of our time.

"In the last few decades, the average income of the top 1 percent has gone up by more than 250 percent to $1.2 million per year," Obama recently said in Osawatomie, Kan.

"Now, this kind of inequality -- a level that we haven't seen since the Great Depression -- hurts us all."

And how does Obama propose to reverse this income inequality? Through something he calls "the Buffett Rule," which would force all Americans making more than $1 million a year to pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.

Defending this tax hike in Nevada this week, Obama said, "This has nothing to do with envy. It has everything to do with math." Which sounds like a nice line until you realize that Obama is refusing to show his work

When White House press secretary Jay Carney was pressed to provide the numbers on how much revenue Obama's Buffett Rule would raise, he refused. "I'm not going to give you a schedule of how broad individual tax reform would break down and what impact it would have," Carney said. "The president simply believes that as a matter of principle that unfairness ought to be changed."….

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/obama-thinks-revenge-onomics-will-re-elect-him/347766

I think Obama must think that it would be unfair to judge him on his record.  He wants to change the subject.  Reread the first two paragraphs because that is what this election is all about. 

2.  Paul Ryan Completely Dismantles Obama on FNS

“I'm trying to say is he is giving us a future of debt, doubt, and decline.”

You can watch it here:  http://nation.foxnews.com/paul-ryan/2012/01/29/fire-paul-ryan-completely-dismantles-obama-fns#ixzz1kwug2R7r

3.   How do we Overcome Income Inequality?

….But the mere existence of income inequality tells us little about what, if anything, should be done about it. First, we must answer some key questions. Who constitutes the prosperous and the poor? Why has inequality increased? Does an unequal income distribution deny poor people the chance to buy what they want? And perhaps most important: How do Americans feel about inequality?

To answer these questions, it is not enough to take a snapshot of our incomes; we must instead have a motion picture of them and of how people move in and out of various income groups over time.

The “rich” in America are not a monolithic, unchanging class.  A study by Thomas A. Garrett, economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, found that less than half of people in the top 1 percent in 1996 were still there in 2005. Such mobility is hardly surprising: A business school student, for instance, may have little money and high debts, but nine years later he or she could be earning a big Wall Street salary and bonus…

… We could reduce income inequality by trying to curtail the financial returns of education and the number of women in the workforce — but who would want to do that?

The real income problem in this country is not a question of who is rich, but rather of who is poor. Among the bottom fifth of income earners, many people, especially men, stay there their whole lives. Low education and unwed motherhood only exacerbate poverty, which is particularly acute among racial minorities.

Making the poor more economically mobile has nothing to do with taxing the rich and everything to do with finding and implementing ways to encourage parental marriage, teach the poor marketable skills and induce them to join the legitimate workforce. It is easy to suppose that raising taxes on the rich would provide more money to help the poor. But the problem facing the poor is not too little money, but too few skills and opportunities to advance themselves….

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/angry-about-inequality-dont-blame-the-rich/2012/01/03/gIQA9S2fTQ_story_1.html

There is the old saying “give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you will feed him for his lifetime.”  So while the left is busy handing out fish and advocate taking more from the best fishermen, the right is advocating teaching fishing to everyone. 

4.  Obamacare:  We are all Abortionists Now

The decision last week by Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to reject the appeals of scores of religious leaders and retain a very narrow “religious” exemption from Obamacare’s so-called contraception mandate has ignited an uproar among Catholic leaders, as well it should — because it’s hard to fathom a government dictate more offensive than this one.

Here’s how we got where we are: Obamacare includes within its massive delegation of power to the federal government the authority to define what constitutes “preventive services” that must be covered by all health-insurance plans sold and purchased in the United States, including plans sponsored by employers. Services defined by HHS as preventive for purposes of this provision are required under the new law to be covered by the insurer or employer with no charge to the insurance plan’s enrollees.

Last August, in the course of writing a rule that would determine preventive health services for women, HHS decided that free contraception and sterilization services are a must. As a practical matter, that means all health-insurance plans sold in the United States in the very near future will include full coverage of products that terminate pregnancies, since some products classified by the FDA as contraceptives — and thus covered under the HHS definition — also act as abortifacients. While it is true that many insurance plans cover such products today, that’s mainly been the choice of the insurers and employers sponsoring the plans. HHS has now made such coverage obligatory nationwide, thus forcing tens of millions of pro-life Americans to pay for “services” with their health-insurance premiums that they find morally objectionable. (Grandfathered plans are exempt from this and other Obamacare rules, but the number qualifying for grandfathered status is expected to decline precipitously in the next couple of years.)

Bad as all that is, it gets worse. Not only must Catholics who work for non-Catholic employers pay for such products with their premiums, HHS also wants religious employers to cover such products in their health plans. Knowing that Catholic leaders and others would strongly object to this requirement, HHS included in the regulation issued last August a narrow exemption from this requirement for employers that are basically houses of worship. Much larger religiously affiliated institutions, such as Catholic universities, hospitals, and charitable enterprises, do not fit within the HHS exemption.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/289591/we-are-all-abortionists-now-james-c-capretta

This is one of those Liberal dreams which will cost them in November.  The Catholic Church is already preaching against this and like the kids lemonade stand that the health authorities shut down because they don’t have a license, this is just plain stupid on the Obama Administration’s part.  Plus it violates the March 2010 agreement between Stupak and President Obama that Obama promised to sign an Executive order banning federal funding of abortion through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  The link below here is the letter read in thousands of Catholic Churches across the country.

….The Obama Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Obama Administration’s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply…
http://www.businessinsider.com/here-is-the-anti-obama-administration-letter-that-was-read-to-almost-every-catholic-sitting-in-church-today-2012-1#ixzz1kxvz4Wl3

Perhaps we should start comparing Obama to Nero or Diocletian or Galerius (all were famous for the persecution of Christians). 

5.  Obama the most polarizing President ever

…For 2011, Obama’s third year in office, an average of 80 percent of Democrats approved of the job he was doing in Gallup tracking polls, as compared to 12 percent of Republicans who felt the same way. That’s a 68-point partisan gap, the highest for any president’s third year in office — ever. (The previous high was George W. Bush in 2007, when he had a 59 percent difference in job approval ratings.)

In 2010, the partisan gap between how Obama was viewed by Democrats versus Republicans stood at 68 percent; in 2009, it was 65 percent. Both were the highest marks ever for a president’s second and first years in office, respectively.

What do those numbers tell us? Put simply: that the country is hardening along more and more strict partisan lines….

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/obama-the-most-polarizing-president-ever/2012/01/29/gIQAmmkBbQ_blog.html

Or perhaps rather than hardening, the overreach by Obama and the left polarized the country.  Remember how Obama told us he would end the partisan bickering?  He not only didn’t, he’s made it worse.

6.   The 2012 election at the State level

While the Republican nomination contest has understandably been getting most of the attention in recent weeks, other elements of the 2012 election cycle have been coming into focus. After historic gains in state government in 2010, for example, Republicans have a growing number of opportunities to add to their majorities in governorships and state legislatures.

Right now, 29 of the nation’s states have Republican governors. Democrats hold 20 governorships, with one independent (Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island). If you throw in the five territories and commonwealths with governors, the split is 32 Rs, 22 Ds, one I. In presidential years, there are 11 races for governor around the country. Of these, the largest prizes are North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana, and Washington.

North Carolina’s embattled Democratic governor, Bev Perdue, just announced that she won’t run for a second term. Her approval ratings went upside-down within months of her election in 2008, and she never recovered. Her 2008 opponent, former Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory, is a shoo-in for the Republican nomination and would have beaten her easily. Now the Democratic field is wide open. Unless former Clinton aide Erskine Bowles get in and quickly raises a lot of money, McCrory will probably win this race….

…Republicans also have solid chances of capturing Democratic governorships in Montana and New Hampshire. All Republican incumbents appear to be safe. So it is quite possible that on Election Day, the GOP will win at least a 32-17 edge in state governors.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/289603/if-you-can-tear-yourself-away-florida-john-hood

I still remember the liberal pundit declaring after Obama’s election that the battle between the left and the right was over and the left had one.  They also spoke of 20 years of liberal dominance.  My how time flies.

24 Days

95,000 Americans lose their jobs in September

The economy lost 95,000 jobs in September, and the national
unemployment rate remained steady at 9.6 percent, according to numbers released
by the U.S. Department of Labor on Friday, presenting Democrats with another
challenge in making their case to voters that they should remain in control of
Congress.

Friday's unemployment report is the last that will be released
before voters go to the polls on November 2 in midterm elections that will
widely be perceived as a referendum on President Obama's first two years in
office.

The economy lost 159,000 government jobs and added 64,000 private
sector jobs. Though the unemployment rate held at 9.6 percent, the job losses
were worse than expected.

This is not the message you wanted to hear if you are a democrat.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/10/08/final_unemployment_numbers_before_election_day_107488.html

CNN Poll: Was Bush better president than Obama?

(CNN) - Americans are divided over whether President Barack Obama or his
predecessor has performed better in the White House, according to a new national
poll.

And a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday also
indicates in the battle for Congress, Republicans hold large advantages over the
Democrats among independents, men and blue-collar whites. The poll also
indicates that Republicans are much more enthusiastic than Democrats to vote.

By 47 to 45 percent, Americans say Obama is a better president than
George W. Bush. But that two point margin is down from a 23 point advantage one
year ago.

"Democrats may want to think twice about bringing up former
President George W. Bush's name while campaigning this year," says CNN Polling
Director Keating Holland.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/08/cnntime-poll-was-bush-better-president-than-obama/

Another Reason the Democrats don’t deserve to retain control

For the first time since modern budgeting was introduced with the Budget Act
of 1974, the House failed to even write a budget. This in a
year of extraordinary deficits, rising uncertainty and jittery financial
markets. Gold is going through the roof. Confidence in the dollar and the
American economy is falling -- largely because of massive overhanging
debt. Yet no budget emerged from Congress to give guidance, let alone
reassurance, about future U.S. revenues and spending.

That's not all. Congress has not passed a single appropriations bill. To keep
the government going, Congress passed a so-called continuing resolution (CR)
before adjourning to campaign. The problem with continuing to spend at the
current level is that the last two years have seen a huge 28 percent jump in
non-defense discretionary spending. The CR continues this profligacy,
aggravating an already serious debt problem.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/07/AR2010100705106.html


The Elections: How Bad for Democrats?

Here’s an interesting if self serving look at what liberals think went wrong and continues to go wrong to the left.

How did things get this bad for Obama? The reasons are numerous. The
condition of the economy is of course the chief one. If the stimulus had kept
unemployment below 8 percent, as Christina Romer, recently departed chairwoman
of the Council of Economic Advisers, once promised it would, in one of the least
advisable public comments by any Obama administration official so far on any
subject, then discontent across the land would not be so great, and the bayings
of the furious Tea Party minority would likely not be resonating as they are. By
all accounts, top presidential economic advisers like Timothy Geithner and
Lawrence Summers (who will leave office at the end of the year) really did think
the economy was going to be in recovery by now. Had they been right, the
political prognosis for Democrats would consist of lost seats, but not on nearly
the scale predicted today…..

This is not the sort of thing that is
measured by polls, but I believe the Democrats’ hesitance to tie their programs
to larger beliefs has been demoralizing to liberals and confusing or off-putting
to independents. The impression is left with voters that Republicans are fighting for the country, while Democrats are fighting for their special
interests. The pre-presidential Obama powerfully made this kind
of broad, patriotic appeal, both at his 2004 convention keynote address and in
his stirring Jefferson-Jackson Day speech in Iowa in November 2007. But any
sense that the Democrats are now making a coherent argument about what kind of
country they want has vaporized. Underneath all the Democrats’ bickering about
such issues as health care and the performance of Tim Geithner, that is their
real problem.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/oct/28/elections-how-bad-democrats/


Rasmussen sees more Democrat seats in danger

With the Crystal Ball shifting 21 House race
ratings in the direction last week, the national picture looks bright for Republicans, both from a
birds-eye view and also from a race-by-race perspective. This week we nudge
three more Democratic-held House seats into more competitive categories, as we
hone in on where exactly the GOP gains we have long projected will come from.

Democrat need to defend what has been their territory

Republican advances in traditionally
Democratic states, including Connecticut, Oregon and Washington,
may not translate into a wave of GOP victories. But they have rattled local
campaigns and forced the Democrats to shift
attention and money to races they didn't expect to be defending.

Rising sentiment against the party in power has washed ashore even in
coastal Oregon, where Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio won his 10th re-election two
years ago with 82% of the vote.
"I am having the same problem that Democrats
are having across the country, which is ennui," he said, noting that his
opponent's yard signs "are thick" across much of the district. Mr. DeFazio said
he is facing the fight of his political life.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704657304575540300424055286.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop

Dumbing down of America—but it’s in a good cause.

Nearly half of American history teachers believe it is less
important that their students understand the common history, ideas, rights, and
responsibilities that tie the country together as Americans than that they learn
to celebrate the unique identities and experiences of its different ethnic,
religious, and immigrant groups.

Advocates of radical "social-justice"
multiculturalism in many university schools of education -- the places where
most K-12 teachers are trained -- continue to oppose assimilation with a
common culture while instead seeking to radically transform an
"oppressive" America.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/10/do_american_history_teachers_v.html

I find stories like this frightening. This might also explain the next story.

Ignorance and the New York Times

The people who run the New York Times, along with columnists like Paul
Krugman and Maureen Dowd, are so ill-informed and out of touch that their
efforts to tell the rest of us what to think grow more pitiful every day. This
is from today's NYT Corrections Section. The paper corrects a news story written
by a reporter who has no comprehension of the tax code, but nevertheless tried
to make a political point by implying that subchapter S corporations represent
some kind of tax dodge:

An article on Wednesday about the business
culture at the Tribune Company after its acquisition by Sam Zell referred
incorrectly to federal taxes on an S corporation, which Tribune became after the
deal. S corporations pay no federal taxes because shareholders are
responsible for all taxes; therefore, taxpayers do not become
"essentially silent partners in the deal."

So we have a NYTimes reporter seeing a conspiracy in the tax code that didn’t exist. But the fact checking editors didn’t seem to know better either.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/10/027404.php

Just for fun—Irony Alert

The American Postal Workers Union has extended its internal election after
thousands of ballots appeared to have gotten lost . . . in the mail.

The
union's election committee was supposed to be counting those ballots this week
in downtown Washington, D.C., following a tradition mail-in election. But the
union announced that only about 39,000 ballots were turned in -- and that "a
large number of union members had not received their ballots."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/07/postal-union-election-delayed-ballots-lost-mail/

Every sign is looking bad for the Democrats

Even New Yorkers are turning against Obama

WASHINGTON -- Most of the New Yorkers considered likely to head to the polls
in November have an unfavorable opinion of President Obama, according to a new poll -- an extraordinary development in a state he carried with 62 percent of the vote two years ago. Just 45 percent of likely New York voters approve of the job Obama is doing as president, compared to 48 percent who disapprove, according to the CNN poll.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/nyers_turn_against_bam_UiPWogLTGuZKiCLTC8Lx6N#ixzz11faGR58z

Obama’s fall from grace

Here’s an interesting look at how Obama fell from being “The One,” to being one you don’t want endorsing you if you are a democrat.

The result was that our Oedipus/Pentheus rushed headlong into
socialized medicine, mega-deficits, needlessly polarizing appointments of the
Van Jones type, and various federal takeovers, coupled with quite unnecessary
editorializing about largely local matters — from the Skip Gates mess to the
Arizona immigration law and Ground Zero mosque.

In each case, the supposed uniter deliberately weighed in on these
controversies to quite unfairly demonize his opponents — “stupidly” acting
police, Arizona xenophobes picking up children on the way to buy ice cream,
Islamophobes wanting to deny religious liberty, etc. A thousand other nicks,
from Eric Holder’s “nation of cowards” to Obama’s musings that at some point one
needs no more income, ensured continual bleeding as his poll numbers fell by nearly 30 points in just 20 months.

The result was that the president soon lost the moral capital to
push through an unpopular agenda — to such a degree that his
out-of-the-mainstream views and his polarizing style of governance might well
destroy Democratic congressional majorities for a decade.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/248962/anatomy-obama-meltdown-victor-davis-hanson

A Republican Sweep

Another pundit predicts disaster for the Democrats

As we are now a month from the midterm elections, I will boldly predict
their outcome. ……. The Republicans will win control
of both houses of Congress. (I’m less concerned with state
races, though I still think Meg Whitman will be the winning candidate for
governor in California, and that Nikki Haley will win in South Carolina.)

The Republicans should win a majority of about 15 in the House,
consigning the Pelosi era to the proverbial dustbin. She will be remembered as a
stylish and elegant woman who always got the votes for her president, but was
identified almost unerringly with dumb causes. I think the Republicans will not
lose any Senate seats they now hold and will pick up those at stake in Arkansas,
California, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Washington,
West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The latest polls I have seen have them leading all
of those races except California, where I think Fiorina will win because she is
a more competent and presentable candidate than the incumbent, Barbara
Boxer

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/248894/republican-sweep-conrad-black

'Terrifying Numbers for Democrats'

Here's Silver's take on Gallup's latest:

Those are absolutely terrifying numbers for Democrats. Although it's not completely straightforward to translate the generic ballot into actual votes, were Democrats to lose the House popular vote by anything resembling that margin, their losses could be catastrophic. According to one formula that models turnover in the House based on the Gallup likely voter model specifically, a 13-point lead for the G.O.P. would translate into a gain of 71 (!) seats--and an 18-point, lead, a gain of 86 (!!) seats. The Republicans need 39 seats to take a House majority.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735804575535983128506158.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

Obama’s big drop in blue states

Here’s some information from PPP.

One of the most amazing things in our polling over the last month has been
how dreadfully bad Barack Obama's approval numbers are with likely voters in a
lot of states that he won by large margins in 2008. We've polled 12 states since the beginning of September that Obama won by at least 9 points and in all but 3 of those states- Hawaii, California, and New York- his numbers are under water.

The states where we do now find Obama with negative numbers that he won easily in 2008- Michigan, Wisconsin, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maine, Connecticut, Colorado, and Illinois.

In the places where the bulk of likely voters disapprove of Obama it's not very hard to see the contribution that's making to tough Democratic prospects this fall.

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2010/10/obamas-big-drop-in-blue-states.html

POLL: Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not drain swamp, key voters believe

It appears that even in the area of ethics, the Democrats are in trouble with the voters.
Most voters think Congress’s ethics have gotten worse in the past two years, according to a new poll in key battleground districts.

The finding suggests that people likely to have a big say in who
controls the House in the next Congress believe that Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.) has failed to keep her 2006 promise to “drain the swamp” of
congressional corruption.

The Hill/ANGA 2010 Midterm Election Poll finds that 57 percent of
likely voters in 12 competitive districts believe that the ethical situation on Capitol Hill has deteriorated since President Obama took office. Thirty-two percent of respondents say there has been no change, and only 7 percent claim it has improved.

http://thehill.com/house-polls/the-hill-anga-poll-week-1/123099-voters-nancy-pelosi-did-not-drain-swamp-

Obama on voters’ minds

Just how bad is it? The votes of the dead used to be cast only for democrats. Votes still are, but the dead apparently are becoming more bi-partisan.

A reader passed along an obituary this week for a man who died last month in Rome, Ga. Donald Unsworth was 78 — husband, father, grandfather, veteran, former police officer, safety director of the Floyd County Police Department and owner of both Rome Driver’s Training School and Carter’s Hardware and Auto Parts. The obituary said Unsworth would “always be remembered for his generosity and his willingness to help needy families and friends,” and suggested donations to the American Cancer Society. Additionally, Unsworth asked to be remembered in two years, requesting that contributions be made in his name to “whoever is running against President Barack Obama in 2012.”

http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/ab-stoddard/123061-obama-on-voters-minds

Democrats' False Optimism

House Democrats have begun sounding an optimistic note that they will avoid a midterm wipeout as the base starts tuning in, campaigns engage, and President Obama travels the country reminding voters of the stakes.

A New York Times piece last weekend asserted that the "resilience of vulnerable Democrats" is complicating Republican efforts to win back control of the House, a narrative that quickly took hold in other news outlets. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has flatly refused to entertain the possibility that her majority is at risk, at least publicly.

But when you look at the national polling metrics and the race-by-race picture in the House, there's little evidence of any Democratic comeback. If anything, Republicans are in as strong a position to win back control of the House as they have been this entire election cycle.

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/10/house_of_cards.php

The Surprising Democratic Firewall

This is another significant sign the Democrats are in big trouble.

Actions speak louder than words. That's why Democratic control of the
House is looking more tenuous by the day. As the party begins to build its
firewall to prevent a GOP takeover, top strategists are working to salvage seats that few considered Republican pickup opportunities
just a few months ago.

The majority party is slowly starting to open its checkbook,
spending millions of dollars on hard-hitting advertisements and mail campaigns
aimed at undermining Republicans around the country. But the districts in which
it is advertising were once considered safe, indicating that it is Republicans
who have had the most success in putting seats in play.

This week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began
running ads in seats held by Reps. Bill Delahunt (Mass.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.),
Phil Hare (Ill.), Bill Foster (Ill.), Leonard Boswell (Iowa), Sanford Bishop
(Ga.), and John Salazar (Colo.). In each district, Democrats won re-election by
significant, if not overwhelming, margins in 2008. Now, Democrats view every one of those seats as endangered.

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/10/the_surprising.php

The silver lining for Obama in the coming election

In a weird way, by losing the Congress, Obama may well see the economy
rebound — a turnabout for which he’ll take credit, despite the failure of his
earlier massive borrowing schemes, which will seem like ancient history by 2012.

Without Democratic congressional majorities, the president will also
have to agree to vast budget cuts, as Republicans try to stave off fiscal
insolvency.

Again, the president can let the Republican Congress take the hit
for the unpopular pruning of entitlements, even as he points to a more
encouraging balance sheet. In a Zen sort of way, Obama will allow Republicans to
restore financial sanity to his administration, even as he blasts them for
cutting programs and hurting the needy.

He goes on to say Obama might be reelected because the Republicans in saving the country will save him as well.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/248985/obama-rope-dope-victor-davis-hanson

Big government and its consequences

In the past two days we have seen the dangers of big government in small but significant ways.

First in NYC, Mayor Bloomberg has asked for an exemption in the food stamp program to eliminate soft drinks as something individuals can buy using the food stamps. An example here of the Nanny state at it intrusive best. There are reasons to justify his request, but it is just another chipping away of freedom and treating people like adults.

In the meantime the Department of Health and Human Services announced yesterday that 30 corporations (including McDonald’s, Jack in the Box, and a New York teachers’ union) would receive exemptions from a rule that would have required them to raise the minimum annual benefit in their employee insurance plans. Why again this may not seem bad, the fact remains they had to get permission to provide the benefits they already were providing. Now all of these exceptions came to large groups with power. But what happens to the little guy who runs a fast food restaurant that isn’t McDonalds?

The road to hell is paved with government control.

http://www.nationalreview.com/author/136872

Race Fundamentals Are Telling for Vulnerables

Democrats are pushing back these days with polls and political
scenarios, trying to change the national narrative and force handicappers onto
the defensive.

There is a Democratic mini-surge going on, we are told, as some
campaigns produce poll numbers showing they have been prematurely written off
as, well, dead.

This often happens, though I must acknowledge that it didn’t happen
in 2008, when Republican campaign strategists and consultants were brutally
honest with themselves in acknowledging that their candidates were going to get
slaughtered in the fall elections. How refreshing that was. This cycle, many Democrats I talk with acknowledge that big defeats are inevitable, but they then go on to argue their candidate is the one who is going to survive, pointing either to a new poll, the presence of a third-party candidate on the ballot or the alleged unelectability of the GOP challenger.

http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.com/news/article/race-fundamentals-are-telling-for-vulnerables

Black Panther case roars back to life

It appears there is more than a little hanky panky going on in the Obama Justice Department.
Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights, is in big trouble.

Much more can and will be said about the gold mine of information unearthed
by Judicial Watch, which continues to press for the release of more documents.
For now, this much is clear: The department's claim that political appointees
were not involved in the case appears to be false. If so, Mr. Perez should be
held to account for his sworn statements to the contrary.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/sep/20/black-panther-case-roars-back-to-life/print/

Liberals becoming more disenchanted with Democrats, USA Today/Gallup poll finds

Ominously for Democrats, the poll shows they are facing a problem from key elements in their base, those who define themselves as liberal or very liberal. A year ago, an absolute majority of the very liberal and close to half of the liberals approved of Congress, but now a majority disapproves.Though Democrats tend to enjoy an enrollment edge over Republicans, GOP voters tend to be more enthusiastic and more likely to vote, according to most polls. That is especially true this year, when conservative candidates have ridden the popular discontent and anger to capture GOP nominations in half a dozen states. Democrats have yet to offset that "tea party" movement enthusiasm edge.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-congress-liberal-disapproval-20100921,0,5295847.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews%2Fpolitics+%28L.A.+Times+-+Politics%29

Economists: Extend Bush tax cuts for everyone

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- With income tax rates set to go up on Dec.
31, Congress is hotly debating what to do next. But most economists agree: Keep
them where they are.

One option, to let the tax cuts passed during the Bush
administration expire for only the richest 3% of taxpayers while renewing them
for everyone else, is popular among Democrats and the choice of the Obama
administration.

But a majority of a panel of leading economists surveyed by
CNNMoney.com said that the tax cuts should be renewed for everyone.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/19/news/economy/what_to_do_economists_survey/


American Media vs the Arab Street

Here's a fact you're not likely to see on tonight's evening news broadcasts: According to a recent poll, Arabs living abroad are more likely to be opposed to the "Ground Zero Mosque" than the American media are.

According to a recent survey by the Arabic online news service Elaph
(Arabic version here), 58 percent of Arabs think the construction should be moved elsewhere. And according to a Media Research Center study released last week, 55 percent of network news coverage of the debate has come down on the pro-Mosque side.

The MRC study also found that on the question of whether opposition
to the mosque demonstrated a widely held "Islamophobia" among Americans, 93
percent of network news soundbites answered ion the affirmative. In
contrast, when asked whether the United States is a "tolerant" or
"bigoted" society, 63 percent of Elaph respondents chose the
former.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2010/09/20/survey-shows-arabs-more-opposed-gz-mosque-american-media#ixzz109cRiqTA

Sarah Palin more in touch with real voters than Obama

Fifty-two percent (52%) of Likely U.S. Voters say their own views are
closer to Sarah Palin’s than they are to President Obama’s, according to a new
Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Just 40% say their views are closer to the president’s than to
those of the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential
candidate.

Among the Political Class, however, 68% say their views are
more like Obama’s, while 63% of Mainstream voters describe their views as more
like Palin’s.

With the Democrats and Obama you have slick packaging which the MSM has touted over and over again. The problem is the dogs don’t like the dog food. With Sarah Palin you have the opposite case. The MSM has absolutely castigated her, yet her message hits home with a majority of Americans. So they don’t like the package, but they do like the dog food.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/september_2010/52_of_voters_say_their_views_are_more_like_palin_s_than_obama_s

The TEA Party Challenge

There is a lot of chatter these days about the effect of the Tea Party movement on American politics. In the short term, the answer is blindingly obvious: It’s a huge boost for Republicans. The energy and enthusiasm the Tea Party movement is generating will work for GOP candidates and against Democratic candidates in almost every race in the country. Democrats are on course to be administered an epic defeat, one that will exceed, perhaps by a sizeable margin, even the one they experienced in 1994.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/wehner/360166

Healthcare under the Republicans

For starters, Republicans say they will try to withhold money that
federal officials need to administer and enforce the law. They know that even if
they managed to pass a wholesale repeal, Mr. Obama would veto it.

“They’ll get not one dime from us,” the House Republican leader, John
A. Boehner of Ohio, told The Cincinnati Enquirer recently. “Not a
dime. There is no fixing this.”

Republicans also intend to go after specific provisions. Senator Orrin
G. Hatch of Utah, a senior Republican on the Finance Committee, has
introduced a bill that would eliminate a linchpin of the new law: a requirement
for many employers to offer insurance to employees or pay a tax penalty. Many
Republicans also want to repeal the law’s requirement for most Americans to
obtain health insurance.

Alternatively, Republicans say, they will try to prevent aggressive
enforcement of the requirements by limiting money available to the Internal
Revenue Service, which would collect the tax penalties.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/health/policy/21repeal.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

And now the end is near…..

Senior Democrats are reluctantly concluding that it's time to hit the
panic button. They understand that it's not a characteristic of a tsunami to
make a U-turn, and the hour is growing late.

Cautious Republicans are rightly wary of "peaking too soon," which
haunts the dreams and wishes of every candidate and campaign consultant, but the tsunami seems to be still building, already capable of crushing everything in
its path. You could get testimony to this from both Republicans and
Democrats.

Suddenly it's fashionable in certain skeptical precincts to start being nicer about the "tea party."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/sep/20/pruden-a-wave-of-rage-with-no-u-turn/

Not what the Democrats were hoping for

Republican Joe Miller has opened up a commanding lead in the Alaska
Senate race, even with defeated Republican Lisa Murkowski joining the contest,
according to a new Rasmussen poll. Some Republicans had feared that
Murkowski's decision to launch a write-in bid would split the GOP vote, paving
the way for Democrat Scott McAdams to squeak by with a victory. In fact, the
poll suggests that Murkowski is actually taking more votes from the Democrat
than she is from Miller.

In the poll released this morning, Miller is the choice of 42
percent of Alaskans polled, Murkowski is at 27 percent, and McAdams is at 25
percent. In a two-way poll taken at the end of August, Miller was at 50
percent and McAdams was at 44 percent.

http://spectator.org/blog/2010/09/21/rasmussen-miller-has-double-di

Unemployment rose in 27 states last month

Most of the decline was due to the loss of temporary census jobs

WASHINGTON — More than half of U.S. states saw their unemployment
rates rise in August, the largest number in six months, as hiring weakened
across the country.

The jobless rate increased in 27 states last month, the
Labor Department said Tuesday. It fell in 13 and was unchanged in 10 states and
Washington, D.C. That's worse than the previous month, when the rate increased
in only 14 states and fell in 18. It's also the most states to see an increase
since February.

Nevada, plagued by a vicious housing slump, reported the nation's
highest unemployment rate for the fourth straight month, at 14.4 percent. That's
a record high for the state.

The next highest rates were in Michigan, with 13.1 percent, and
California, at 12.4 percent.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39288720/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/