Haven’t had a true open thread for a while. So what’s on your mind? As for me, I am amazed at how Obama continues to escape responsibility for the anemic economy, persistent high unemployment, continued high gas prices, and a foreign policy that resulted in the death of an Ambassador.

Tell us what’s on your mind and please keep it civil.

This weekend we honor a great American. MLK was a true visionary, and devoted his life to advance a noble cause, a cause of which we as Americans unfortunately still struggle with. MLK risked his life for that cause, and in that battle, he is credited with one of the all time great historical quotes, and personally one of my favorites:

“I have a dream that one day my four children will one day live in a nation where they will  not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”

Nearly 50 years later it seems as though we have not only not lived up to that dream, but have lost sight of it altogether. Today we have politically devolved to the point that we still judge people by the color of their skin, or at least I should say some of us do, and unfortunately that includes the President, who ironically was one of whom benefited the most from MLK’s efforts. Today, our current Democratic Party seems to over look content of character in favor of color of skin to rile up an over emotional political constituency and to advance a political agenda. Liberals within the party have an inherent mistrust of the individual character believing that individuals if left to their own accord are inherently racist, inherently unfair, inherently selfish and because of those character flaws, will not make good decisions. Therefore, they promote a large federal bureaucracy that will serve to “level the playing field”.

Conservatives on the other hand, believe in the individual character. Conservatism is the inherent belief that if left to their own accord, the individual is not racist, is fair and unselfish and will make good decisions. The Constitution was also written in that firm belief in the individual character by mandating smaller, more decentralized government that empowered the individual over the federal bureaucracy and that fact is the reason why America has advanced so far, so quickly. By contrast, many liberals see the Constitution as a racist, and misogynistic document, no doubt as a result of the fact that it was written by older white men of Faith, and completely ignore the fact that that document has resulted in a country that has offered the most civil rights to more people than any other governing document in the history of the world. And it did so, because of the inherent belief in the individual character, just like MLK implored us to believe in so many years ago.

My hope is that we as a country will eventually coalesce around that dream but considering the current state of our political discourse, and the completely irresponsible media, I am afraid that that hope is fading. The over emotional, hyper sensitive liberals in the media and in politics seem to be drowning out the rational adult voices in our society and until that dynamic changes, America will continue to lose sight of the dream.

UPDATE: Speaking of inherent mistrust of character. I ask you – how is this kind of rhetoric helpful?

I’ll make some predictions for 2013:

Does the fact that we’re entering the teens mean we’ll become moody and easily depressed?

Just wait till next year!  A thing always said by Chargers fans.  As they went 7-9 this season, they are keeping to their usual level.  But, the other thing all Chargers fans say – next year we’ll be 14-2 and go on to win the Super Bowl!

Chris Christie will be re-elected governor of New Jersey.  He’ll immediately be talked up as the front-runner for the 2016 GOP nomination.  This will be completely ignored by the Republican leadership who will be on the lookout for someone much more moderate and centrist than those crazy, TEA Party right-wingers we nominated in 2008 and 2012.

New York City Council Speaker (its that large that it needs a Speaker?) Christine Quinn, if she decides to run, will be elected Mayor of New York…unless she winds up squaring off with potential GOP candidate, and former Madam, Kristin M. Davis.  Given a choice between a political hack who will run on the fact that she’s gay and a madam, I think New Yorkers might go for the madam.

It will be announced some time in March or April that we are back in recession…just about the time we start to emerge from it (it started back in July or so).

When the I-pad 5 gets released I’ll once again fail to rush out and buy it.

The Syrian Civil War will come to a (temporary) end as the Assad regime crumbles…Civil War II will involve a battle between barbarians to decide who gets to rule over the carcass.

Hillary will be forced to cancel her Benghazi testimony over a terrible case of the hiccups.

In an effort to stave off bankruptcy, California will offer to sell Bakersfield to Nevada. Nevada will counter with an offer to cut cards for double or nothing.

In order to keep his promise for openness and transparency in his Administration, Obama will propose the creation of a Ministry of Truth.

Iran will announce that the earth-shattering kaboom was most emphatically not a nuclear test.

Obama will believe them.

The Department of Health and Human Services will announce that celibate religious orders will be required to provide health insurance covering birth control.  Oh, wait…that was a 2012 prediction.

Did the 2012 apocalypse disappoint you?  Well, cheer up:  only 3 years left until the Gorpocalypse!

What are your predictions for 2013?

Reminiscent of Thelma & Louise’s movie ending flight over the cliff to destruction – that is exactly what I suggest conservatives allow to happen. In fact, going further, I believe that the GOP should rubber stamp everything Obama and the Democrats want to do for the next year, including military spending cuts, and little if no curtailment on entitlement increases. There is no question that the policies prescribed by Obama are doomed to fail, and in fact have so far, and there will be no other way to crystallize that in the minds of voters and the media, but to allow it to happen in full bloom. Every Republican needs to stand center stage and say unequivocally that while they disagree with the Administrations agenda, elections do have consequences and they will not stand in the way of the policies Obama endorses. Then, the GOP needs to remind the voters on a weekly basis, the results of those policies as they relate to unemployment, the debt, interest rates and the cost of living. As Count d’Harcots accurately pointed out to me earlier, the messaging is the main obstacle conservatives need to overcome, and it should become quite difficult for the Democrats to continue to sell their message of compassion, misguided as it is, when the economy is in shambles, poverty is rampant, and unemployment is persistently high, and the American voter is actually living the nightmare and being reminded of it everyday.

So spread your wings everyone and let’s take flight!

A HAT TIP TO DBSCHMIDT AS WELL FOR THIS PLAN TO ALLOW THE IMPLOSION OF LIBERALISM UNIMPEDED.

UPDATE, by Mark Noonan:  Just wanted to point out that which ever party can successfully mobilize white, middle class voters in 2014 and beyond will win huge.

We switch back to Standard Time tonight.

Feel free to share this image.

The Obama regime, his surrogates, and the current progressive movement are an affront to intelligent people everywhere. Just this morning, two of the more offensively stupid surrogates of the Obama campaign, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Stephanie Cutter, were on the equally offensive MSNBC network spouting simplistic childish garbage that they evidently seem to think are relevant issues in this campaign. First there was DWS who was contradicting herself trying to hurt Romney in terms of foreign policy first by claiming that Romney was a warmonger and wanted to take us back to the “cowboy” policies of Bush, but then just minutes later stated that there was little daylight between Romney and Obama on foreign policy. To his credit, Chuck Todd called her on that mind numbingly stupid assertion to which DWS responded by saying that that was the problem – no one knows what Romneys positions are. And this woman is the head of the DNC.

Up next was Stephanie Cutter, the co chair for the Obama campaign and one of the emptiest heads I have ever seen. Her contention was that the binder comment by Romney was a big issue, and indicative of how out of touch he is with women’s issues like contraception and equal pay. Let’s just put aside the fact that younger, professional women are already out earning their male counter parts, the Democrats treat women, and every other group for that matter, as some monolithic voting block who only care about special interest issues that only affect them. It’s offensive. Women on the whole are vastly more intelligent than Cutter, and care much more deeply about a whole range of issues other than contraception, which is widely available and affordable. Let’s look at Cutter’s other assertion which was Romney’s big bird comment of which she characterized as Romney’s only plan to balance the budget – which is to cut NPR. Well anyone with a 5th grade comprehension level knows that that is not the case, but that doesn’t stop her from making the claim on national TV, which again is highly offensive to thinking people everywhere.

Of course when you don’t have a successful record to run on, then you have to deflect and I think Obama said it best – “if you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters.”

The third and final debate is tonight and Obama will do his best trying to scare voters, and I can’t think of anything more terrifying than a second term for Obama. Feel free to discuss what’s on your mind and please keep it civil.

Update:

My apologies to Ed Schultz for not including him in the band of mindless Obama followers. He is after all, the King of mindless Obama followers insulting people everywhere especially last Friday when he said:

“I’m getting more burned up the more I think about this! All right, now this is the locker room today. If this is too much for you, don’t listen to the radio show, I’m warning you. Women! Are you awake?! Do you know what this radical outfit wants to do to your rights in the workplace?!  Do you want them managing your vagina? Do you want them rolling back women’s rights 50 years? I don’t know! I’m just asking the question!There’s so many questions that we have to ask today!”

Just wanted to bring up some things I saw – so how about an open thread?

The San Francisco TEA Party (yes, there is such a thing – and its larger and more visible than you’d think) protested Obama’s recent fund raiser.  The most telling thing about it?  The gathered Obama-bots made a mess – strewing trash all over the place – and it was the TEA Party activists who cleaned it up.  One does wonder – do liberals know what “citizenship” means?

There is a report that there is joint US-Israeli planning for a strike at Iran’s nuclear program.  There are two things, in my view, which this can be:

1.  Eye wash to the Israelis to keep them thinking we’ll do something until after the election – then if Obama is re-elected, Israel will be left in the lurch.

2.  A desperate ploy by Team Obama to have a rally ’round the flag moment late in the game – we bomb Iran, Americans feel better about Obama, Obama wins re-election (it won’t work – but I don’t put making such an attempt past the Obama people).

No, there is no chance that clear eyed  national security reasons would motivate anyone in the Obama Administration about this.

You know you’ve won the gun control debate when the argument is whether or not the cops have a right to assume that your concealed weapon is un-licensed.  They don’t, in my view, but I do see the point:  95% of firearms are not licensed for concealed carry but, on the other hand, the chances of someone carrying a concealed weapon who is un-licensed to do so is also very small.  Long way from demands that all handguns be banned or that the 2nd amendment only secured the right to bear arms to police and military personnel.

Iowahawk strikes again:  White House scientists fight outbreak of the dread disease scrutonium.

Yes, there are bags of polls showing Romney surging.  I won’t bother linking them – you can find them everywhere right now.  My prediction of a Romney win was never based on polling, so I’m not about to start citing polls.  It is the fundamental dynamics of the race asserting themselves – so much so that now, even with a lot of polls heavily over-sampling Democrats (some have stopped doing so in such an egregious manner), Romney is coming out in the lead.  Remember:  Obama never has had much chance of winning.  He’s not this super-genious who felled our best in 2008 and whom we could only beat by a string of massive good luck.  He’s a lousy President (meaning, on an executive, decision-making level) who’s policies have failed and who is running for re-election as America is on the cusp of renewed recession.  If we can’t beat Obama in 2012 then it might be time to fold up the tents and go home – not since 1980 has a political party been handed to many advantages when trying to take out an incumbent.  Obama can still win; it ain’t over until its over…but it was always an uphill climb for Obama, not for the GOP (I just wish we had had more guts and had worked out better plans to challenge Obama and the Democrats even in the bluest States).

Its been mostly out of the news lately, but Europe continues to melt down.  I’m astounded they’ve managed to keep it together this long.  I don’t know how much longer they’ll be able to keep it up.  Once it goes, though, the world will go through a very sharp financial crisis.

 

 

 

The previous thread has become discombobulated due to the necessity of deleting racist and anti religion remarks, which will not be tolerated. So we will pick it up from here, beginning with Mark’s final thoughts:

 

UPDATE II, by Mark Noonan: Final Thoughts

Clearly Romney was in control through the whole debate.  You might be thinking that Romney actually talked more than Obama but from what I’ve read, Obama actually talked about 4 minutes longer than Romney.  That just shows how good Romney was.

Will it change things?  Not actually – you see, in my view, Romney came in to the debate ahead in the race.  Even some of the (still badly skewed) polls are showing a shift to Romney, but the basic facts of the race have not changed.  We’ve got a lousy economy, a reduced position in the world and a President clearly out of his depth – and there is no real argument Obama can make to convince a majority to award him four more years based upon his record.  Obama had to come out swinging tonight with a clear, rational reason why no matter how bad he is, Romney is worse.  Obama didn’t make that case – and Romney did all that was ever required of him:  present a credible alternative to Obama.

Romney can still blow it in the final debates.  Obama can still land a heavy blow.  Events can still develope which help or hinder either candidate.  Both men can win on November 6th.  My view remains:  Romney is likely to win, and may end up winning by a substantial margin.  But it ain’t over until its over.

Really looking forward to the debate tonight. My hope is that Romney ties Obama’s policies to the current economic malaise, ie; the failed stimulus, the denial of the keystone pipeline, the lack of domestic energy exploration and development as they relate to the high gas prices which hurt the lower and middle classes, the rising insurance premiums due to Obamacare, the continued high unemployment due to any real effort spent on regulatory reform or negotiating trade agreements, the increased tensions in the Middle East and murder of our Libyan Ambassador due to misguided and weak foreign policy, etc. etc.

In addition to that, I want Romney to lay out his vision of opportunity and growth, where we tap into our domestic energy reserves, lower corporate tax rates, encourage expansion, create well paying jobs for everyone, broaden the tax base, lower personal tax rates so more people can keep more of their own money, and create an economy where everyone becomes a victor, and not victims. Should be a fun night.

UPDATE, by Mark Noonan:  Excellent article about recent polling done in the “battleground” States.  Essentially it confirms what I already know:  it is Obama who is behind and has to land a knock-out punch tonight.

UPDATE II, by Mark Noonan: Final Thoughts

Clearly Romney was in control through the whole debate.  You might be thinking that Romney actually talked more than Obama but from what I’ve read, Obama actually talked about 4 minutes longer than Romney.  That just shows how good Romney was.

Will it change things?  Not actually – you see, in my view, Romney came in to the debate ahead in the race.  Even some of the (still badly skewed) polls are showing a shift to Romney, but the basic facts of the race have not changed.  We’ve got a lousy economy, a reduced position in the world and a President clearly out of his depth – and there is no real argument Obama can make to convince a majority to award him four more years based upon his record.  Obama had to come out swinging tonight with a clear, rational reason why no matter how bad he is, Romney is worse.  Obama didn’t make that case – and Romney did all that was ever required of him:  present a credible alternative to Obama.

Romney can still blow it in the final debates.  Obama can still land a heavy blow.  Events can still develope which help or hinder either candidate.  Both men can win on November 6th.  My view remains:  Romney is likely to win, and may end up winning by a substantial margin.  But it ain’t over until its over.

Never before in my lifetime have I seen such a disconnect in this country between conservatives and liberals, and it’s important to point out that 95% of this current disconnect is driven by the media, ie; the liberal white media, and their purely agenda driven mission. There are some very important, and serious issues to have adult conversations on in this country, including but not limited to the recent embassy attacks in the ME, and the death of our Ambassador that coincided with September 11 and of which our President lied about. The ever growing and unsustainable debt, the soon to be bankrupt Medicare and Social Security programs, the $1 trillion dollar deficits that have established new unsustainable baseline government spending, the dramatically increasing food stamp rolls, the persistent high unemployment, the persistent high gas prices which financially hurt everyone, the reluctance by this administration to do anything serious about becoming energy independent, the labor force which is at an all time low, tax reforms, regulatory reforms, and the list goes on and on. But if you listen to much of the mainstream media, the top story of the day is the latest “game changing” gaffe by Mitt Romney of which the completely biased, and liberal pundits spend the next hour on,  coupled with more adoring coverage of what Obama did that day. The liberal media has abdicated all responsibility and I believe this fact needs to be seriously addressed at some other time, hopefully after the adults take over and start resolving the other more serious challenges to this country.

The first Presidential debate is just a few days away, and I for one am looking forward to it. Feel free to discuss whatever is on your mind and please keep it civil.