Benghazi and Biden

Even Leftist Pundits were taken back by Biden’s performance

And for those who think my disdain for Joe’s juvenile behavior is rank partisan perturbation, his own party’s cheerleaders derided him for his derisive behavior. Check it out:

NBC News’ David Gregory: “Biden’s smile is out of control.” (David Gregory, Twitter Feed, 10/11/12)
NBC News’ Mike O’Brien: “Biden really has to rein in his mannerisms.” (Mike O’Brien, Twitter Feed, 10/11/12)
CNN’s Piers Morgan: “Joe, seriously, STOP SMIRKING. This is serious stuff. Be Vice-Presidential.” (Piers Morgan, Twitter Feed, 10/11/12)
CNN’s Gloria Borger: “It was condescending at times, to Paul Ryan and I think I could’ve done with a lot less eye rolling and chuckling on the part of Joe Biden.” (CNN’s “Inside The Spin Room,” 10/11/12)
Bloomberg’s Josh Barro: “Biden smirk is … not good.” (Josh Barro, Twitter Feed, 10/11/12)
NBC News’ Betsy Fischer Martin: “Biden constant smiling is reminding me of Gore constant sighing in 2000.” (Betsy Fischer Martin, Twitter Feed, 10/11/12)
The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza: “Ok. I have decided. I find the Biden smile slightly unsettling.” (Chris Cillizza, Twitter Feed, 10/11/12)

The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake: “Biden making lots of noise/motion while Ryan is talking.” (Aaron Blake, Twitter Feed, 10/11/12)
WPHT Philadelphia’s Chris Stigall: “Biden laughs like this is a game. Disgraceful.” (Chris Stigall, Twitter Feed, 10/11/12)

Biden’s performance in retrospect

For starters, try to imagine being Paul Ryan last Thursday: a young politician in the hot seat, the eyes of the world pressing upon him, as he tries to make careful and succinct statements in a most-intense environment, while all along, literally nearly every minute -- Biden interrupted Ryan 80-plus times -- his opponent smirks, scoffs, laughs uncontrollably, flaps his arms, and, generally, acts like a petulant child. I ask readers: Could you have endured what Paul Ryan handled? Given what he was up against, Paul Ryan's debate performance was truly remarkable. It was extraordinary. For poise alone, Ryan won hands down.

As for Joe Biden, his disrespectfulness was of historic proportions. Anyone but the blindest partisan Democrat concedes that the man was obnoxious. Only really, really angry liberals -- granted, there are many -- liked what Biden did.

Biden’s two biggest lies

Biden lied about Benghazi and about Obamacare’s mandate.  Both of those lies will cost them in the coming election.

Biden and Benghazi:  The October surprise?

Many people in the diplomatic and intelligence communities say that the Obama administration, behind the scenes, is in complete disarray in the aftermath of al-Qaeda’s attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. That tension burst into the open during last Thursday’s debate, when Vice President Joe Biden said the administration “did not know” that U.S. personnel in Libya had made repeated requests for more security before the September 11 attack. “We did not know they wanted more security there,” Biden claimed.

The thrill going up many liberals leg last Wednesday may be fading as more comes out about Libya and the lies the VP told us.  

Lies our government told us

It appears the truth is slowly coming out and with them the realization that the Obama Administration was lying through its teeth regarding Benghazi.

State was sitting on money for security for consulate

Last week during congressional testimony from State Department officials who were on the ground in Libya, we heard over and over again that more security for the consulate in Benghazi was requested but denied. We also heard repeatedly from Democrats, including Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee Elijah Cummings, claiming a lack of funding was at fault for less security in Benghazi during the time of the attack on 9/11 that left four Americans dead. State Department officials said funding had nothing to do with the situation and now, Chairman Darrell Issa has revealed the State Department is sitting on $2 billion for consulate security, but won’t spend it.

This keeps getting worse and worse for the Democrats.  

Obama surrogate dodges Benghazi Question

David Axelrod dodges the question of how soon Obama met with his National Security Council regarding Benghazi which begs the question; did he ever meet with them regarding Benghazi? 

When Obama loses CNN…

“CNN has learned tonight that the White House chose to leave out key intelligence from the attacks on Americans in Libya. There are three things U.S. intelligence has now confirmed to be true: the attackswere preplanned, terrorist attacks, and the work of Al-Qaeda- linked groups. None of these three points were in talking points distributed to congress and other government officials.  U.S. intelligence knew of the al-Qaeda link within 24 hours of the attacks. And the now infamous comments by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice that the attacks were not preplanned and not the work of terror came four days after that. This doesn’t add up.”

This is an excellent article that goes far beyond the CNN quote.  

Obama’s two new problems

The momentum of the Romney Campaignis only growing, and while Obama and his cohorts throw out Big Bird jokes, the fact remains that we are witnessing the collapse of Obama’s foreign policy right before our eyes. Big Bird memes are not as distracting as the Obama Campaign had hoped, and the American voters are continuing to ask inconvenient questions about the handling of Benghazi-gate, what we plan to do to secure our embassies and why this was allowed to happen in the first place.

Further plaguing the Obama Administration is the poor economy that has affected all of us at one point or another. The promises of, “It will get better,” are just not enough to keep people hoping for change anymore. Even the “official” dropping of the unemployment rate from 8.1% to 7.8% last month only bought Obama fifteen minutes of goodwill.

Obama’s Breaking Point

Is it starting to look like November 1, 1980? 

In the first debate, Romney was not just far better-informed and spoken, but far more likeable. Joe Biden’s frenzied rudeness was the sort of debate performance that mesmerizes one by its very boorishness, eliciting a weird reaction in the room like “Come over and check this out: I can’t believe the Vice president of the United States is trumping The Joker” (after all, the sick Joker is more entertaining that the sober and judicious Batman) — but within hours leaves a bitter aftertaste in the mouth of something along the lines of “Surely, we could have done better than that rude buffoon?”

Washington Post shows Obama ahead 49%-46%

The posts opines on a number of reasons Obama is ahead, but failed to mention the main one.  Their poll had +9 Democrats which give Obama a +3 margin.  Using simple arithmetic, you can see that means the independents are going for Romney by a 60-40 margin. 

The Cost of Regulation

Right now it costs small businesses 40 cents of everydollar to comply with government regulations.  And this is before Obamacare.  This is also the reason big companies don’t mind regulation because it gives them a competitive advantage over small companies. 

Is Elizabeth Warren paying her fair share?

Elizabeth Warren has built her progressive rock star image and her campaign by attacking the wealthy factory owners and others who supposedly do not pay their “fair share” and take advantage of loopholes to live off of infrastructure paid for by others.

Yet Warren appears to be one of those people who takes advantage.

Warren falsely and without any legitimate legal basis claimed to be Cherokee for employment purposes.  Warren also chintzed by failing to register for the Massachusetts Bar despite an active practice of law in Cambridge since the mid-1990s, thereby evading Bar registration dues.  Howie Carr has a great column today about Warren’s class warfare phoniness.

Add another example to the long list:  Warren obtained fee waivers from at least 50 federal bankruptcy courts so she would not have to pay for access to the federal PACER system, even in years when she had a high 6-figure income and an 8-figure net worth.

The more you know about Ms. Warren, the more you like Scott Brown.  

2012 election helps Postal Service

It seems all that annoying junk election mail you are getting is a life saver for the postal service.

NHS:  A preview of Obamacare?

Older patients must not be denied NHS operations on the grounds of their age, a report by surgeons says.

It provides damning evidence of variations in surgical care based on patients' ages, with the chances of being operated on peaking in middle age and plummeting for those in their 60s, 70s and 80s.

Older heart attack victims, breast cancer patients and those needing new hips and knees are missing out on treatment routinely offered to younger patients even though they could benefit, it says.

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/