Debates, lies, and video technology

Debate Two

Woman voters warm to Romney

While woman voters in non-battleground states give President Obama a +9 lead in the battle ground states they only give Obama a +1 lead.  Overall Romney leads Obama in battleground states by 4 percentage points. 

Obama Campaign attacks the above poll

This time, the criticism came this time from the Obama pollster who mocked the Romney team for debating about the reliability of polls.
After a Gallup/USA Today released a poll showing Mitt Romney tied with Obama among likely female voters in swing states, Obama pollster Joel Benenson pointed to “deep flaws in Gallup’s likely voter screen” and dismissed the survey as an “extreme outlier.”

Romney surging in Battleground States

Mitt Romney has opened a 5-percentage-point lead over President Obama in the 12 battleground states that are critical to determining the outcome of the 2012 election, according to a USAToday/Gallup poll released Monday.

No wonder the Democrats are panicking.  Not only are the battleground stands swinging to Romney more states are becoming up for grabs. 

Vegas Bookmaker predicts big Romney victory

I’m doubling down. Mitt Romney will win the presidency, and it won’t be close.

I’m predicting a 5 to 7 point popular vote victory. Electorally it won’t even be that close. Romney will win many states that went to Obama in 2008. I’m predicting Romney victories in Ohio, Florida, Colorado, Virginia, Iowa, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Indiana. I predict a Romney victory by 100 to 120 electoral votes.

I’ve never predicted the electoral college margin of victory but I’ve always said Romney will win by at least the same amount that Obama won on in 2008 (7%). 

Obama campaign feels good about their ground game

There’s an old saying:  When the only tool you have is a hammer, you see every problem as a nail.  As the polls and the ads on TV turn toward Mitt Romney, it appears the ground game is what Obama is counting on.  It reminds me of Germany’s super weapons at the end of World War II that were supposed to turn the tide and win the war for Germany.

The Media Rushes to Shore up Obama

With it becoming more and more apparent Romney is surging, the MSM is trying to shore up Obama’s image so as to not discourage his voters.  Using a +9 Democrat poll that has Obama leading by 3% the MSM is saying all is well.  Is there reason for Democrats to panic?  You betcha. 

And yet is the media ready to turn on Obama?

Perhaps.

French President wants to ban homework

When I first saw the headline I thought he must want to ban commercial work from homes.  Nope,it is school homework.  He doesn’t think it is fair that some students have parents who will help them.  Please, don’t tell President Obama that it isn’t fair.  

Liar, liar, pants on fire: Who’s the real liar?

If you look at Obama’s promises you find a disturbing pattern of untruths.  The real liar in this campaign is the side that can’t run on their record.

Ryan’s response to Joe Biden was planned

But knowing Biden’s positions wasn’t enough. Ryan needed a strategy to deal with Biden’s interruptions and put-downs.

Eventually, Ryan, Olson, and the rest of the team settled on a game plan: Ryan would ignore the slights. He would resist the bait. He’d stay above the fray.

It was an easy decision. In private, Ryan acknowledged that he’d never be comfortable if he concentrated on responding to Biden’s asides.

The two politicians aren’t close, but Ryan was a Senate staffer in the early 1990s and quickly became familiar with Biden’s bullying. Ryan sought a contrast.

“[Ryan] never wanted to compete with the vice president on humor,” a Ryan adviser says. “He didn’t want to memorize quips. He wanted to focus on policy.”

Inside Ryan World, the chief objective wasn’t necessarily beating Biden, but making voters comfortable with Ryan’s knowledge and character.

Biden is more like the veteran who claims he was at a battle he wasn’t at

During the vice presidential debate last week, Vice President Joe Biden seemed to significantly overstate his role in the 1983 negotiations over Social Security…

President Reagan signed their work into law in April 1983. There were 15 members of the commission, including Dole, Moynihan, and two other senators; Biden was not one of them. Nor was he at the signing ceremony.

It appears Joe can’t get over his propensity to plagiarize other people’s work.

What Obama inherited was Obama

What Obama inherited in January 2009 was Obama.  Maybe not personally Obama, but he inherited economic problems resulting from implementation of too many Obama pipe dream policies.

Consider some history: the economy Obama inherited had been dominated for two years by radicals named Reid and Pelosi -- with a certain senator from Illinois voting with them every step of the way, as it turns out.  This inheritance included energy prices that had been skyrocketing off and on for years thanks to forty years of policies written, implemented, interpreted, and enforced by leftists at every level of government.  These policies prevented this country from accessing our own incredible energy resources to the extent our economy required.

Obama and Biden firmly support all such policies.

Obama also inherited a housing disaster caused by a couple decades of radical lending policies also written, implemented, interpreted, and enforced by liberal apparatchiks at various levels of government. 

Hillary:  The buck stops here

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday tried to douse a political firestorm over the deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya, saying she's responsible for the security of American diplomatic outposts.

I may be wrong, but this seems like the first person in the Obama Administration to take responsibility for anything.

And it now appears we know what happens when that 3 AM call comes in to the Whitehouse.  Obama has the phone on call-forwarding to Hillary’s number. 

The Truth:  NYTimes or US Army

Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm tried to provide cover for Obama/Biden by claiming that the requests for security in Libya were not made for Benghazi but for Tripoli.  Retired U.S. Army Major Mike Faessler responded by telling her the truth, not the NY Times spin Granholm used for her contention.

Mark Steyn answers a critic

Following my weekend column on the Administration’s disgraceful behavior over Benghazi, a commenter called Pilipo Underwood pops up:  

Mawk Steyn’s sophistry is simply astounding! Willard Romney started the politics before we even knew the basics of the attack in Benghzi. And his essays just drip with vituperation. Such a chip on his shoulder, one thinks he would have learned after his Conviction for Hate Speech.

If only Capitalization could Make It So. I’ve never been Convicted of Hate Speech. Just for the record, the Canadian Islamic Congress took their case to the Ontario “Human Rights” Commission, the British Columbia “Human Rights” Tribunal, and the Canadian “Human Rights” Commission, and struck out every time. After which, they stopped trying. As a result of the case, the censorship law became so discredited that the Canadian Parliament repealed it.  

So the reason I haven’t “learned”, as Mr Underwood puts it, is because it was game, set and match to me.

Alas, so much of contemporary liberalism depends on a kind of invincible ignorance. In that sense, Benghazi is a test case of the left’s defining technique: simply saying the same thing over and over and louder and louder will make it true.

A New Feature: Summary

What’s new today.

 Today we first look at the world with foreign creditors getting antsy about Fannie and Freddie loans.  We then switch to Obama’s poll numbers to see a new weakness in a very important constituency.  The third article shows that Obama is not simply laying down, but is trying to craft a strategy that will let him win reelection with much less support than he had in 2008.  Our final article talks about why unhappy people tend to be liberals (well worth the read).

Fannie and Freddie debt fuels anxiety

ASIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN CENTRAL BANKS AND SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS ARE INCREASINGLY ANXIOUS ABOUT THE SAFETY OF THEIR INVESTMENTS IN THE DEBT OF FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC, despite the assurances of US government officials.

Spooked by US political wrangling, major investors including the National Pension Service of Korea and the Kuwait Investment Authority have sold out of their holdings of the debt of the US Treasury-backed housing agencies since the 2008 global financial crisis. Officials from central banks, including the Bank of Japan, SAY THEY WILL BE FAR MORE CAUTIOUS IN FUTURE….

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/1de57e0e-f22d-11e0-b439-00144feab49a.html

Fannie and Freddie must be reformed or abolished.

Pure Independents approval of Obama Down to 30%


ONLY 30 PERCENT OF PURE INDEPENDENTS—THOSE AMERICANS WHO SAY THEY DO NOT BELONG TO OR LEAN TOWARD EITHER THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY--TOLD THE GALLUP POLL DURING SEPTEMBER THAT THEY APPROVED OF THE WAY PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IS HANDLING HIS JOB as president.

Overall, Obama’s approval was at 41 percent for September, Gallup said today.  That tied August as the worst monthly job approval of Obama’s presidency.

PURE INDEPENDENTS WERE FAR LESS LIKELY THAN DEMOCRATS TO APPROVE OF THE JOB OBAMA WAS DOING IN SEPTEMBER, ACCORDING TO GALLUP. During the month, 79 percent of liberal Democrats said they approved of the job Obama was doing, 70 percent of moderate Democrats said so, and 64 percent of conservative Democrats.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/gallup-obama-s-approval-only-30-percent-among-pure-independents

With the two parties split evenly it is the independents who basically say which party will be in office.  Not good for the Democrats. 





Obama’s 2012 Strategy

President Barack Obama obviously is scrambling in his attempt to win re-election. He has proclaimed himself the underdog and has given up his pretense of being a pragmatic centrist compromiser in favor of harsh class warfare rhetoric.

 But it's worth taking note of what he has squandered. In 2008, OBAMA WON 53 PERCENT OF THE POPULAR VOTE. That may not sound like a landslide, but IT'S MORE THAN ANY OTHER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE IN HISTORY EXCEPT ANDREW JACKSON, FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT AND LYNDON JOHNSON.

Higher than Woodrow Wilson and Grover Cleveland, higher than Harry Truman and John Kennedy, higher than Jimmy Carter and (but don't bring up the subject with him) Bill Clinton.

Why have so few Democratic nominees won 53 percent or more, as 10 different Republican nominees have? The historical reason is that the Democratic Party has been an unruly coalition of disparate groups -- big-city Catholics and Southern whites for the century after the Civil War -- which usually has been hard to hold together.

OBAMA'S 2008 COALITION INCLUDED TWO-THIRDS OF YOUNG VOTERS AND LATINOS, MAJORITIES OF THOSE EARNING MORE THAN $200,000 AND THOSE EARNING LESS THAN $50,000, non-college whites in the upper Midwest, and 95 percent of blacks nationwide. Some obvious tensions there.

Now his strategists feel obliged to pick which groups he'll concentrate on to get back up to 50 percent. WHAT'S INTERESTING IS THAT HIS DEMOGRAPHIC STRATEGISTS AND HIS ISSUE STRATEGISTS SEEM TO BE EYEING DIFFERENT  GROUPS. …

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/10/10/obama_team_split_on_how_to_rally_unruly_coalition_111616.html

This one is a worth some time.  Barron looks at what Obama is thinking about doing and the difficulty of making it work. 

Why Unhappy People become Liberals

Think about the people you know who have low self-esteem. We’ll call that person The Patient. THE PATIENT DOES NOT SEE VALUE IN HIMSELF. He does not consider himself worthy of advancement, of self-transcendence, or self-actualization. Instead, The Patient believes he is a bad person, undeserving of success, love, wealth, or happiness. HE COMES TO BELIEVE, THEREFORE, THAT ANY EFFORT HE EXERTS ON HIS OWN BEHALF IS DOOMED TO FAIL BECAUSE HE IS SUCH A BAD PERSON AND DOES NOT DESERVE ANY SUCCESS.

But there is this tiny little voice — the ego — that just won’t stand for this self-flagellation. So THE EGO PROJECTS THE PATIENT’S SELF-HATE ONTO THE OTHER AS A DEFENSE. They project the self-hate onto the person who is happy, wealthy, successful, and loved. NOW, IT IS THE OTHER WHO BECOMES THE OBJECT OF HATE. “Why should he have everything? What has he done to deserve all this? I’m not the bad person, he is.” As a friend’s Facebook quote said just today, “Haters don’t really hate you, they hate themselves because you are a reflection of what they wish to be.”

Then, as the pathology deepens, the projection distorts further. Now THE OTHER IS ACTUALLY THE CAUSE OF THE PATIENT’S UNHAPPINESS BECAUSE THE PATIENT’S EGO REFUSES TO ACCEPT THE TRUTH THAT THE PATIENT HIMSELF IS THE CAUSE OF HIS OWN UNHAPPINESS. Blame cannot be taken! THE PATIENT BECOMES THE VICTIM. The Other is demonized — literally transformed into a demon, an evil entity. THE OTHER IS CALLED NAMES. THE OTHER IS DEHUMANIZED. The Patient now self-righteously, and in the name of all that is good and just, actively seeks to destroy The Other. To punish It. To take away what It has by force. Because by destroying The Other, The Patient believes the source of their suffering will be removed.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you The Liberal….

http://biggovernment.com/lmeyers/2011/10/08/why-unhappy-people-become-liberals/

This is a sad tale, but unfortunately it hits home pretty well.  The name calling on the left is rampant.  Anyone who disagrees with them is evil.  Kind of pathetic actually. 

The hole gets deeper

Obama Approval at All Time Low in Gallup Poll

The latest Gallup 3 Day Poll for October 4-6 shows Obama with only 38 percent approval and 53 percent disapproval.  During the 2010 elections, his approval rating was 44%. 

http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Job-Approval.aspx





Barack Obama and his poetic license



BARACK OBAMA IS TODAY FACING ACCUSATIONS THAT HIS TALE ABOUT A TEACHER TOLD HE WAS LOSING HIS JOB THREE TIMES WAS NOT ENTIRELY ACCURATE.

The President claimed on Thursday to have ‘had a chance to meet a young man named Robert Baroz’ - BUT THEY HAVE REPORTEDLY NEVER MET.

He also talked about the teacher ‘receiving three pink slips because of budget cuts’ - BUT NEGLECTED TO MENTION HE REPORTEDLY NEVER LOST HIS JOB.

He’s got two decades of teaching experience,’ President Obama said in a press conference on Thursday. ‘He’s got a master’s degree….

…Mr Baroz is now working as a ‘literacy and data coach’ at a school in Jamaica Plain, near Boston, Massachusetts, reported the Boston Herald.

But he said he was happy for President Obama to use poetic licence to explain the importance of ‘investing in education and in communities’…


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2046684/Barack-Obama-Robert-Baroz-Teacher-lost-job-actually-employed.html#ixzz1aBW02oG4

This must be like his story about his mother having to fight the health insurance people when she was dying.  It seems a good story is just that--- a story. 





Obama’s disastrous Presidency

After almost three years of disastrous governance, ALL BARACK OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS HAVE LEFT IS THE POLITICS OF BITTERNESS AND ENVY. He can't run on his record -- not with unemployment high and the economy in shambles.

It didn't have to be this way. Obama let Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and every other crackpot Democrat write his Stimulus Bill. In the end, he spent a trillion dollars insulating union members and government employees from the effects of the economic downturn, while the rest of us suffered.

The Stimulus could have consisted of permanent tax cuts for business, allowing capitalist competition to direct funds to its most profitable uses, thereby accelerating economic growth and providing jobs, but Barack Obama does not like profit and its trickle-down wealth.

Instead, in service of OBAMA'S PREFERRED POLICY OF TRICKLE UP POVERTY, we funded non-shovel-ready construction projects and flushed billions down the low-flow toilet of green energy, while GIVING THE REST OF THE STIMULUS FUNDS TO THE STATES TO COVER THEIR BUDGETARY SHORTFALLS. Stimulus dollars bought us green energy boondoggles, un-built roads, and more government, with zero economic growth and increased unemployment. MILLIONS OF PRIVATE CITIZENS LOST THEIR JOBS, WHILE THE GOVERNMENT ADDED 230,000 WORKERS AND CRONY CAPITALISTS GREW FAT.

THE ADMINISTRATION DIVERTED TARP FUNDS TO RESCUE GM AND CHRYSLER, WHILE FLIPPING THE ORDER OF SECURED AND UNSECURED CREDITORS. Obama may have saved the UAW, but at what cost? The UAW was made whole, while some secured creditors had to take fifteen cents on the dollar. WILL ANY INVESTOR EVER PURCHASE SECURED DEBT FROM GM AGAIN? IF SECURED CREDITORS DON'T HAVE PRIMACY IN BANKRUPTCY, WHAT IS THE POINT OF BEING A SECURED CREDITOR?

Fresh from roiling the credit markets with the auto bailouts, the president then encouraged and SIGNED INTO LAW THE DODD-FRANK FINANCIAL REFORM, a law so complicated that no one knows what's in it. The uncertainty felt by financial markets won't abate until the administration finishes writing the rules. In the interim, homeowners can't get mortgages and businesses can't get loans.

IN 2007, THE LAST YEAR WITH A BUDGET CONTROLLED BY A REPUBLICAN CONGRESS AND PRESIDENT, THE DEFICIT WAS $161 BILLION. The non-stimulating STIMULUS EXPLODED THE BUDGET BASELINE, raising the percentage of GDP consumed by the government from 20% to 25%, resulting in the $1.6-trillion deficits we have today. Looking at employment and the economy, it's clear that the nation has received nothing for the $5 trillion Barack Obama has added to the national debt. INSTEAD OF CAPITALIST COMPETITION, WE'VE HAD AN EXPLOSION OF CRONY CAPITALISM. WITH THE GOVERNMENT PICKING WINNERS AND LOSERS, WE HAVE REPLACED ADAM SMITH'S INVISIBLE HAND WITH BARACK OBAMA'S THUMB.

Take solar panel manufacturer Solyndra as an example. The administration put a half a billion dollars into a company with financial ties to a group headed by Obama campaign donor George Kaiser. THE ADMINISTRATION STRUCTURED THE LOAN TO GIVE THE GROUP'S INVESTMENT PRECEDENCE OVER THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER NOW THAT THE COMPANY IS BEING LIQUIDATED THROUGH BANKRUPTCY. Its business plan consisted of producing a product for $1 and selling it for $0.75, while hoping to make up for the deficit in volume….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/a_disastrous_presidency.html



Obama seems to have a problem with following civil law. 

Senate Dems’ canary in the coal mine

Since August, President Obama has made “running against Congress” a centerpiece of his reelection strategy, as President Truman did in 1948. BUT THE COMPARISON BETWEEN 1948 AND 2012 CONTAINS ONE INCONVENIENT FACT: THE SENATE IS STILL CONTROLLED BY THE PRESIDENT’S OWN PARTY, AND THAT HAPPENS TO BE THE PART THAT IS GIVING HIM THE GREATEST TROUBLE.

Numerous Senate Democrats – including top brass like Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer and Max Baucus – have made clear THEY ARE NOT GOING TO “PASS THIS BILL” WITHOUT MAJOR CHANGES. Sen. Begich, Ben Nelson, Casey, Landrieu, Webb, McCaskill and others are openly uncomfortable with defending another fat stimulus package – this time funded with the kicker of broad tax increases.

Now SKEPTICISM IS HARDENING INTO OUTRIGHT OPPOSITION. This week, Jon Tester, one of the three most vulnerable Democrats in the Senate, publicly opposed the Obama stimulus tax bill. What does that mean for the other two most vulnerable Senate Democrats: Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Claire McCaskill of Missouri?...

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/186249-jon-tester-senate-dems-canary-in-the-coal-mine

The Senate Democrats have already been through this where they do things that are politically unpopular for President Obama.  Although they didn’t lose the Senate last election they actually won a smaller percentage of the seats that were up for reelection than did the Democrats in the House and this coming election, the Democrats have 24 of the 33 seats that will be up for reelection in 2012.  (the Republicans need to pick up 4 of them to take control). 

Occupy Wall Street

…While the President, liberal Democrats, union leaders and some in the media have tried to convince Americans that this is a grassroots movement that is raging against corporate greed on Wall Street and is being led by disenfranchised Americans, the truth of the matter is that THIS IS THE USUAL BUNCH OF SUSPECTS ON THE FAR LEFT SUCH AS INTERNATIONAL ANSWER, CODE PINK, THE COMMUNIST PARTY USA, AND THE WORKERS WORLD PARTY, TO NAME A FEW — a loose coalition of anarchist groups and angry trust-fund babies looking for their lot in life.

President Obama and liberal Democrats, in praising this bunch, are trying to give them mainstream exposure, but as the American people have come to find out more about this so-called coalition group and their list of demands, which read something like a Communist Redbook, they are coming to realize that this is the same bunch that show up at annual IMF/World Bank Meeting and engage in massive protests which includes general mayhem, destroying private property and battling the police in the streets. With that said, you can hardly call this group grassroots; THEY ARE PROFESSIONAL PROTESTORS WHOSE OVERALL OBJECTIVE IS TO REPLACE OUR SYSTEM OF INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS WITH BIG GOVERNMENT SOCIALISM, even if that means using violence to accomplish it….

http://biggovernment.com/kmartin/2011/10/07/obama-appeases-occupywallst-professional-protestors-to-boost-reelection-chances/#more-345836

This is something to keep an eye on.  It appears to me to be a genuine small grass roots protest mostly by unemployed or underemployed college students wanting their college debt forgiven.  Beyond that it is being joined by the usual suspects mentioned in this article.







How Harry Reid's Senate rules change could backfire



Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s sudden decision to force a narrow change in the chamber’s procedures could backfire.

First, it could make it harder for Democrats to break GOP filibusters because Republicans may be even less willing to close off debate on legislation.

Even worse for Democrats, the tactics Reid employed to change a Senate precedent could make it easier for Republicans to justify using similar procedures to force simple-majority votes on hugely contentious issues, such as repealing Democratic priorities like health care reform and Wall Street regulations, Senate experts on both sides of the aisle said Fri

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65439.html#ixzz1aBbExYhJ

When I first heard about this I thought it sounded foolish.  Reid did this to simply save the President and Democratic Senators the embarrassment of having to vote against voting for Obama’s “jobs bill.”  He sold out this principle for far too little benefit to the Democrats.





Obama Scandal Update:  Solyndra

ENERGY DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS WERE WARNED THAT THEIR PLAN TO HELP A FAILING SOLAR COMPANY BY RESTRUCTURING ITS $535 MILLION FEDERAL LOAN COULD VIOLATE THE LAW and should be cleared with the Justice Department, according to newly obtained e-mails from within the Obama administration.

The e-mails show that ENERGY DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS MOVED AHEAD ANYWAY WITH A NEW DEAL THAT WOULD REPAY COMPANY INVESTORS BEFORE TAXPAYERS IF THE COMPANY DEFAULTED. The e-mails, which were reviewed by The Washington Post, show for the first time concerns within the administration about the legality of the Energy Department’s extraordinary efforts to help Solyndra, the California solar company that went bankrupt Aug. 31….

… The records provided Friday by a government source also show that an Energy Department stimulus adviser, STEVE SPINNER, PUSHED FOR SOLYNDRA’S LOAN DESPITE HAVING RECUSED HIMSELF BECAUSE HIS WIFE’S LAW FIRM DID WORK FOR THE COMPANY. Spinner, who left the agency in September 2010, did not respond to requests for comment Friday….

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/solyndra-obama-and-rahm-emanuel-pushed-to-spotlight-energy-company/2011/10/07/gIQACDqSTL_story.html

At this point in time, I don’t think we have deliberate criminal activity, but rather a comedy of errors that cost the Taxpayers ½ a trillion dollars.  In my opinion it was incompetence by the Obama Administration. 

Update from Instapundit:

“ABC published a report about Spinner last week to which JAY CARNEY REPLIED THAT, TO THE BEST OF THE WHITE HOUSE’S KNOWLEDGE, SPINNER HAD NO INPUT ON THE GREEN LOANS PROGRAM. According to today’s e-mails, though, not only was Spinner evidently in contact with the White House — including Biden’s office! — about Solyndra, HE CORRESPONDED DIRECTLY WITH SOLYNDRA’S VP OF MARKETING.”

Thursday: Obama, spending, and the debt

Politics
Bankers Say Supporting Obama Is "Bad For Business" And Embarrassing

IT IS WELL DOCUMENTED THAT WALL STREET WAS DEEPLY OFFENDED BY OBAMA'S "FAT CAT" COMMENTS AFTER HE WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT, so much so, that longtime Democratic supporters have shifted their support to the GOP for the next election.

In fact, some Wall Streeters even alleged that at an even more basic level, Obama just doesn't like rich people.

But apparently the disdain for Bam on the Street may be mostly appearances.
According to Andrew Ross Sorkin at Dealbook,

While MANY OF THE BIGGEST NAME FINANCIERS FEEL THAT THEY CAN’T PUBLICLY SUPPORT MR. OBAMA through campaign contributions the way they did in 2008 — “it would be bad for business,” one brand-name chief executive of a major bank acknowledged — SOME STILL PLAN TO VOTE FOR HIM….

http://www.businessinsider.com/bankers-actually-do-support-obama-theyre-just-too-embarassed-to-do-it-publicly-2011-6#ixzz1QevR9Zp2

Stupidity knows no bounds. There should be a new book written, “What’s the Matter with Wall Street?”

Poll Numbers Continue Alarming Trend for Obama

As Alana wrote earlier today, according to the latest McClatchy-Marist poll:

• ONLY 37 PERCENT OF REGISTERED VOTERS APPROVE OF PRESIDENT OBAMA’S HANDLING OF THE ECONOMY, HIS LOWEST RATING EVER.

• By nearly 2-1 (61 percent v. 32 percent) voters disapprove of how he’s handling the federal budget deficit.

• Fifty-eight percent of voters disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy, comprising 60 percent of independents, 31 percent of Democrats and 91 percent of Republicans.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/06/28/poll-numbers-continue-alarming-trend-for-obama/

This is actually worse for Obama than it seems. Pollsters always add, but people still approve of him personally. We won’t vote for him to be a friend, but someone responsible for the economy as President. This points to a big loss next year.

Morning Examiner: Obama’s debt deal desperation

The Gang of Biden is dead. President Obama has met with one Republican leader once on the debt limit. And that meeting produced nothing. Meanwhile there are only 24 working days until financial Armageddon supposedly begins on August 2nd. THE WHITE HOUSE IS GETTING DESPERATE.

THEY APPEAR TO HAVE REALIZED THAT THE REPUBLICANS ARE 100 PERCENT SERIOUS WHEN THEY SAY THEY WILL NOT PASS ANY DEBT-LIMIT HIKE THAT INCLUDES ANY TAX HIKES. But Obama's base would be demoralized if he failed to win tax hikes. So the White House needs a game changer. Two possibilities have emerged.

From the White House, National Journal’s MARC AMBINDER REPORTS THAT OBAMA BELIEVES HE CAN GET THE REPUBLICANS TO CAVE ON TAXES IF HE FIRST LETS THE BOND MARKETS PANIC IN LATE-JULY. Obama then hopes that Wall Street and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will force Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to compromise, like he did on the FY 2011 budget deal earlier this year.

Outside the White House, more and more prominent Democrats are questioning whether the debt limit is even constitutional. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., became the latest Democrat to raise the argument yesterday. IF THERE IS NO DEBT DEAL, AND BOND MARKETS DO PANIC, WHAT IS STOPPING OBAMA FROM JUST ORDERING TREASURY SECRETARY TIM GEITHNER TO ISSUE MORE DEBT? IF OBAMA CAN JUST IGNORE THE WAR POWERS ACT, WHY NOT THE DEBT LIMIT TOO?...

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/06/morning-examiner-obama-s-debt-deal-desperation#ixzz1Qfe7IWih


Obama and the Democrats are in trouble. The debt is leverage that the Republicans have over a Democrat Senate and an extremist executive. I’m looking for something that the democrats will howl at.

Team Obama nervous

IT’S BEEN A ROUGH JUNE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE. Instead of being able to run a campaign taking credit for economic improvement, President Obama will, according to the latest forecasts, be trying to win four more years amid a grim economy next year. THE PRESIDENT’S REELECTION TEAM, ONCE HOPING TO RUN ON A “MORNING IN AMERICA” THEME NOW DOESN’T HAVE THAT LUXURY. No wonder, the president’s advisers over the past month have been making moves that suggest they’re awfully concerned about his prospects:

http://nationaljournal.com/columns/against-the-grain/nerves-show-on-team-obama-20110628

This one is well worth your time to read it. It talks about the four corners of the Obama reelection strategy and the holes they are trying to fill.


Obama: Do you want the good story or the bad one?

First the good one

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA SAYS IT WOULD DEFY COMMON SENSE FOR BOEING CO. TO HAVE TO SHUT DOWN A NEW AIRCRAFT PLANT OR LAY OFF WORKERS AS A RESULT OF A LABOR DISPUTE WITH THE GOVERNMENT.

Obama says companies need to have the freedom to relocate work, though they must follow the law when doing so.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-says-us-companies-like-boeing-need-freedom-to-relocate-within-us/2011/06/29/AGwD3pqH_story.html

The left is quick to condemn companies moving jobs overseas, but here we have a case of a company wanting to keep jobs in America although in a right to work state. It would seem the NLRB should remember this before they do stupid things.

And now the bad one

Lieutenant General John Allen told the Senate Armed Services Committee today that the AFGHANISTAN DECISION PRESIDENT OBAMA ANNOUNCED LAST WEEK WAS NOT AMONG THE RANGE OF OPTIONS THE MILITARY PROVIDED TO THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF. Allen’s testimony directly contradicts claims from senior Obama administration officials from a background briefing before the president’s announcement.

In response to questioning from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Allen testified that Obama’s decision on the pace and size of Afghanistan withdrawals was “a more aggressive option than that which was presented.”

Graham pressed him. “My question is: Was that a option?”

Allen: “It was not.”

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/general-reveals-obama-ignored-militarys-advice-afghanistan_575902.html

The question here is not whether Obama had the right to override the military’s options, but was it wise to do so. It appears this was a political decision rather than a military one.

Michele Bachmann from a liberal perspective

The Michele Bachmann surge (confirmed most recently by the latest PPP poll) suggests the question is not whether Bachmann is a legitimate contender for the Republican nomination but what it will take to stop her from winning. AS I'LL EXPLAIN, I DO THINK BACHMANN CAN BE STOPPED. BUT THE GENERAL ADVANCE OF CONSERVATISM WITHIN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OVER THE LAST THREE DECADES HAS BEEN A REPEATED PATTERN OF THE UNTHINKABLE BECOMING THINKABLE, and the trend has sharply accelerated over the last two years. Moderation simply lacks any legitimacy within the GOP. It exists, but -- UNLIKE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, WHERE MODERATION IS A FREQUENT BOAST -- it's undertaken almost entirely in secret. Since Barack Obama's inauguration, virtually every quarrel within the Republican Party between moderates and maximalist partisans has been resolved in favor of the latter. Bachmann has positioned herself as a mainstream, serious figure who has also outflanked the other as-yet announced candidates. They will have a hard time attacking her without seeming to attack conservatism itself.

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/90963/how-stop-bachmann

I wanted to quote this article because of the underlying assumptions. The author talks about conservatism overwhelming moderation in the Republican Party vs. the Democratic Party where it is a “frequent boast.” Moderation has absolutely no power in the Democrat Party. If it did, the Democrats wouldn’t have lost 63 seats in the House of Representatives. But from the left’s viewpoint, what is actually a moderate position seems far to the right.

Chokegate: The left responds to Ann Althouse

I want you to see the kind of thing that passes for mainstream media commentary in this town:

In one narrative, Bradley rushed Prosser with her fists up and Prosser managed to touch her neck while defending himself. It is, my colleagues in the press now say, a classic “he said/she said” controversy. No, it's not. IT IS A CONTROVERSY ONLY IF PROSSER'S HANDS WERE NOWHERE NEAR BRADLEY'S NECK. I MEAN, COME ON!

There follows a tirade about what we teach our sons about violence against women, as if, in a face to face physical encounter, the man is always wrong. SO, AS A WOMAN IN THE WORK PLACE, CAN I GET RIGHT UP IN ANY MAN'S FACE, GET AS ANGRY AS I WANT, SHAKE MY FIST RIGHT BY HIS BIG OLD GLASSES, AND THE MOMENT HE FLINCHES, IF HIS HAND TOUCHES ME, I GET TO SHOUT "VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN" and he's the one who's screwed? As a feminist, I would just love to have power like that. That's sarcasm, I hope you're not too far gone to realize….

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2011/06/local-journalist-bill-wineke-demagogues.html

It’s funny how your ideology will determine who you want to believe that will lead you to create a scenario where that person will be in the right or the other person will be in the wrong.


California passes austerity budget

The Legislature passed an austerity budget Tuesday night that would CUT FROM UNIVERSITIES, COURTS AND THE POOR, SHUTTER 70 PARKS AND THREATEN SCHOOLS BUT WOULD NOT — BY OFFICIALS' OWN ADMISSION — RESTORE CALIFORNIA'S LONG-TERM FINANCIAL HEALTH.
The UC and Cal State systems would face about a 23% funding cut, among the steepest in the proposal. Cash grants for the needy would fall, a program to help thousands of teen mothers get an education would be suspended and hundreds of millions of dollars would be siphoned from mental health programs.

The state park closures would be the first ever. Courts would face what the state's chief justice has described as crippling reductions.

In an optimistic forecast, LAWMAKERS BUILT IN AN EXTRA $4 BILLION OF REVENUE. If all that cash does not materialize, K-12 schools — which had so far survived negotiations relatively unscathed — would face a cutback equal to shortening the academic year by seven days….

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-state-budget-20110629,0,1794731.story

Eventually reality comes even to the Golden State. When will it come to Washington?

Economic Freedom and Prosperity

…. Blogger Glenn Reynolds recently highlighted numerous examples of the media’s increasingly frequent use of “unexpected” to describe bad economic news. Unemployment “unexpectedly” rose despite federal “stimulus.” Home sales “unexpectedly” fell despite taxpayer bailouts. ER visits unexpectedly rose in Massachusetts despite RomneyCare. Similarly, the Pundit Press blog has rounded-up dozens of examples of such “unexpected” developments since January 2011.
However, the fact that such GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONS NECESSARILY STIFLE ECONOMIC PROGRESS IS NOT NEWS. Volumes have been written on this topic. The “natural laboratories” of East Germany vs. West Germany, North Korea vs. South Korea, and communist China vs. Hong Kong amply illustrated the principle that whenever government forcibly thwarted people from furthering their happiness and their lives, the result was misery and death.
The same phenomenon can be observed in the natural laboratories within the United States. ECONOMIST MARK PERRY HAS DESCRIBED HOW BUSINESSES ARE LEAVING CALIFORNIA IN “RECORD NUMBERS” FOR STATES LIKE TEXAS THAT OFFER GREATER FREEDOM FROM BURDENSOME REGULATIONS. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that 37% of all net new American jobs since the recovery began were created in Texas.
Similarly, when the Mercatus Center released its 2011 Index of Economic and Personal Freedom ranking all 50 U.S. states, THEY NOTED TWO INTERESTING FACTS. FIRST, ECONOMIC FREEDOM CORRELATED WITH INCOME GROWTH. SECOND, AMERICANS “VOTED WITH THEIR FEET” AND MOVED FROM STATES WITH LESS FREEDOM TO STATES WITH MORE FREEDOM…

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/why-the-unexpected-keeps-happening/

And which party is the party of economic freedom? Which party is the party of economic regulation? Progressivism is based on the idea that wise people running things will do better than an economy where everyone has the freedom to buy and sell as they choose.


Unions off Target

Confronted with an unwelcome intrusion, employees at A TARGET STORE IN NEW YORK REJECTED UNIONIZATION AND DEALT A BLOW TO THE GRAND PLANS OF THE UFCW.

That average Americans continue to stand against these job-killing, profit-leaching forces is most encouraging. But make no mistake, the fight is far from over.

LABOR UNIONS ARE IN DECLINE AND DESPERATE. Today, union membership is under 12% of the U.S. workforce -- it was over 20% in the 1980's. Among retail unions, like the United Food and Commercial Workers International (UFCW), membership has also undergone sizeable erosion, down over 40% nationwide since 1983….

….At the Target store in Valley Stream, NY, the UFCW's efforts to unionize workers was supposed to be a harbinger of things to come -- a national comeback if you will. BUT OVER 60% OF EMPLOYEES VOTED DOWN THE MEASURE. As one worker put it, "what do I need a union to fight for me for?" Good question….

…Predictably, and on cue, the UFCW SOUGHT TO INVALIDATE THE ELECTION RESULTS. IN FACT, THE UNION CALLED ON THEIR COMRADES AT THE NLRB TO INVESTIGATE TARGET FOR ILLEGALITY, SUPPOSEDLY FOR EMPLOYING FEAR, INTIMIDATION, AND THREATS AGAINST WORKERS. How typical of union thugs..…

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/a_union_off-target.html

Unions are a dying institution in the private sector in America.
Global Warming

Al Gore, Free Speech and Climate Change

….GLOBAL WARMING IS A LOSING ISSUE. The failure of the UN’s climate conference in Bonn earlier this month shows waning appetite for the issue on an international scale. A new survey commissioned by Yale and George Mason Universities finds THAT LESS THAN HALF OF AMERICANS BELIEVE THAT HUMAN ACTIVITIES CONTRIBUTE TO PLANETARY WARMING AND JUST 39 PERCENT AGREED THAT “MOST SCIENTISTS THINK GLOBAL WARMING IS HAPPENING.” Pew’s annual “top policy priorities” poll RANKS GLOBAL WARMING 21ST OUT OF 22 ISSUES IN IMPORTANCE, BEATING OUT OBESITY but trailing such off-the-radar topics as transportation and lobbyists. When unemployment rates exceed nine percent and national debt approaches annual GDP, citizens tend to focus on concrete rather than amorphous issues. IN HARD TIMES, WE WANT THE NEWS, NOT THE WEATHER.

AL GORE BLAMES ANOTHER CULPRIT FOR HIS CAUSE’S DEMISE, NAMELY, FREE SPEECH. The Nobel Prize winner writes in Rolling Stone that “the ‘conversation of democracy’ has become so deeply dysfunctional that our ability to make intelligent collective decisions has been seriously impaired.” It’s not just that the public square has become a dangerous place for global warming, but that skeptics of anthropocentric global warming have put their money where their mouths are. “POLLUTERS AND IDEOLOGUES ARE TRAMPLING ALL OVER THE ‘RULES’ OF DEMOCRATIC DISCOURSE,” GORE COMPLAINS….

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/29/al-gore-in-denial/

Gore and the rest of the Progressives are dangerous to our liberty and our country. They see dissent as something that is dangerous and should not be tolerated. They know what is true and if you disagree with them you are trampling all over the “rules” of democratic discourse. Their solution is to end democratic discourse.

Science

Cancer Surges In Body Scanner Operators; TSA Launches Cover-Up

Fearful of provoking further public resistance to naked airport body scanners, THE TSA HAS BEEN CAUGHT COVERING UP A SURGE IN CASES OF TSA WORKERS DEVELOPING CANCER as a result of their close proximity to radiation-firing devices, perhaps the most shocking revelation to emerge from the LATEST FOIA DOCUMENTS OBTAINED BY THE ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER.

After Union representatives in Boston discovered a “cancer cluster” amongst TSA workers linked with radiation from the body scanners, THE TSA SOUGHT TO DOWNPLAY THE MATTER AND REFUSED TO ISSUE EMPLOYEES WITH DOSIMETERS TO MEASURE LEVELS OF EXPOSURE.

The documents indicate how, “A large number of workers have been falling victim to cancer, strokes and heart disease.”

“The Department, rather than acting on it, or explaining its position seems to have just dismissed. I don’t think that’s the way most other agencies would have acted in a similar situation if they were confronted with that question,” EPIC’s Marc Rotenberg said….

http://www.infowars.com/cancer-surges-in-body-scanner-operators-tsa-launches-cover-up/

This sounds a bit over the top to me. Exposure to radiation normally takes much longer to cause cancer than we find here. But forewarned is forearmed and in checking out EPIC they appear to be a legitimate foundation.