Obama Hurting Democrats in Special Elections

From The Hill:

Dissatisfaction with President Obama is hurting Democrats’ chances in two House special elections that will take place on Tuesday.

In a Democratic-leaning New York City seat previously held by Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, some prominent local Democrats have endorsed Republican Bob Turner because of Obama’s handling of Israel, while Democrat David Weprin has sought distance from the president.

In a GOP-leaning Nevada district left vacant when Dean Heller was appointed to the Senate, Republicans are using Obama as a cudgel against Democratic candidate Kate Marshall, featuring him in all of their ads while mostly ignoring her…

There never was much chance of the Democrats winning in NV-02.  The district – which covers most of Nevada outside of Clark County (think: Las Vegas) is an R +5 district which has been held by the GOP since it was created for the 1982 election.  But Democrats have come close before – in 2006 the GOP only squeaked out a victory with 50.3% of the vote, while in 2008 the GOP only slightly improved to 51.8%…on the other hand, in 2010 former Representative Heller crushed the Democrat 63/33.  Democrats might have imagined when Heller was appointed to replace Ensign that they could have a shot of returning to the 2006/08 scenario…but that just isn’t going to happen.  All indications are for the the GOP nominee, Mark Amodei, to win by 20+ points.

Meanwhile, over in New York we GOPers never thought we had a chance – even with Weiner’s scandals, we figured that Democrats – who seem to have an unending tolerance of Democrat corruption – would just line up behind whomever has the “D” after their name.  All in all, we have to figure that the Democrats will pull out the win.  But, there is that chance the GOP will win…and if we do, it is entirely due to Obama being President, just as NV-02 once again becoming overwhelmingly GOP is thanks to President Obama.  I’ve studied a bit of history, I’ve looked in to how leadership works – when it is successful, when it fails – but I don’t think I’ve ever come across a man more manifestly incompetent to hold high, executive office.  Obama just doesn’t know how to do it – getting snookered on the recent joint session is the latest proof of this…I mean, come on, this is basic stuff…don’t announce the date until you’ve got a firm commitment from the Speaker!  A self-inflicted wound, and entirely un-necessary.  And its been like that from day one with Obama…just not doing it right and ensuring that no matter what gets down, it ends up being as bad as possible for himself.

We’ll see how it continues to play out…but I agree with Mickey Kaus that liberal outfits are starting to break it gently to the Democrats.

We Can’t Touch Social Security, Unless…

…Obama needs a tax cut and his liberal base won’t let him cut taxes that need cutting.  Jim Quinn over at Zero Hedge explains the problem:

…The party that presents Social Security as a well run outstanding example of government at its finest has decided the best way to create jobs is to double down on you paying even less in payroll taxes than you did this year. We know for a fact the average person will get between 25% and 125% more than they paid into Social Security. The Obama plan last year and again this year is to drastically reduce the amount paid into the Trust fund, so you can have the privilege of consuming the same amount of food and energy at a much higher price. Brilliant plan! It is amazing how liberals and Keynesians can have such disregard and scorn for future generations who will be handed this bill with no means to pay.

The Republicans went along with the 2011 payroll tax cut of 2%. They will go along with the 3.1% payroll tax cut. You see, this is how politics works. Since the payroll tax was “temporarily” cut, whoever lets the payroll tax cut expire will be declared a tax hiker. Therefore, the “temporary” payroll tax cut will be extended indefinitely, further impoverishing future generations. Meanwhile, how many jobs did the first payroll tax cut create? How many will the extended and increased payroll tax cut create? None! Obama is using the George Bush tax rebate check method of destroying the country. Both decided to address a government spending problem by reducing revenues. This is par for the course and explains why the economy is teetering on the verge of collapse…

And we really shouldn’t go along with Obama’s next installment in “temporary” payroll tax reductions.  I know, I know – for us GOPers, a tax cut is always a good thing…and it is, at the end of the day, better that people keep more of their own money.  But if we go along with this, then all we’ll have done is allow Obama to get a campaign talking point while further shoving us in to bankruptcy.  We must balance our budget – this is not a thing we can kid around with or kick down the road.  We have, at most, three or four years before the whole thing falls apart and our government finances become like Greece’s.

For us in the GOP, our duty is to demand massive, across-the-board budget cuts – and, yes, demand tax reform, too; but budget cuts come first.  And in the end, balancing the budget is so important that we must not even shy away from tax cuts…but not until at least $500 billion is reduced from spending.  And I don’t mean “over ten years”…I mean that in FY 2012 (which starts October 1st) we must spend at least $500 billion less than we spent in FY 2011.  If we can’t get at least that, then no tax increase in any way, shape or form can be agreed to.

To call this a serious moment in our nation’s history is to downplay what we’re going through.  Our economy and the global economy teeter on the brink of collapse.  If it does collapse, then hundreds of millions of people will begin to suffer very gravely.  In spite of asinine stories about China replacing us, the fact is that unless the United States pulls out of recession, no one really will.  Only America, properly governed and with a rational economic policy can do what needs to be done.  Our payout if we don’t act properly will be poverty and, very likely, a rapid rise in global tyranny leading to eventual war.

This is not the time for gimmicks – but that is likely all we’re going to get from Obama.  But we, of the Republican party, must have none of that – we must stand for solid, responsible policies which will actually cure the illness…and we must be courageous enough to go in 2012 on such a platform.  Let Obama and his liberals play games, let us save America.

Terror Threat Update

From ABC:

On the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2011, terror attacks, the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement apparatus continued a feverish, around-the-clock effort to find evidence to corroborate an unfolding terror plot. (But) as (0f) early Sunday morning, none was in hand.

However, the picture authorities were working (on) had been fleshed out substantially since … intelligence from Afghanistan arrived Wednesday.

Authorities now believe, like several self-radicalized American jihadists before them, that the Sept. 11 anniversary plotters journey to jihad began in the U.S., took them to the Afghanistan-Pakistan region in July and had them, according to the CIA informant whose information is the hard bottom of the case, return to the U.S. on Aug. 31 or Sept. 1 to carry out an anniversary bomb plot.

So far, no new intelligence has come in to support or discount the informant account coming in from overseas…

So far, so good for today…but today also isn’t over.  This is the revised threat – Americans who have turned traitor after having been propagandized in to thinking that the source of the problem is the United States rather than the Islamo-fascists.  If they are American citizens then they will, of course, fit right in…unless they do something overt, no one will really be able to tell who is the Jihadist.  Makes it very hard to run them down.

Let’s just hope our intelligence, special forces and law enforcement people are at the top of their form…and that they get the breaks.

9/11: Ten Years Later

Ten years ago our country managed to put politics aside and unite as we mourned. Today, let’s put politics aside for the day to remember. Feel free to post your thoughts on the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

UPDATE, by Mark Noonan:  Major truck bomb attack in Afghanistan leaves 2 Afghans dead, 77 American soldiers wounded.  Keep those who are on the front lines in your prayers today.

UPDATE II, by Mark Noonan:  Presidents Obama and Bush mark 9/11 – from the Washington Times:

On the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, President Obama began a day of commemoration by honoring the nearly 3,000 victims at a memorial service at ground zero in New York with former President George W. Bush.

The president and first lady Michelle Obama joined Mr. Bush and his wife, Laura, at a reflecting pool at the site of the north tower of the World Trade Center, where Islamist terrorists crashed planes 10 years ago. The Obamas and the Bushes viewed the names of victims etched into a wall and greeted family members of those who perished.

Mr. Obama read Psalm 46, which begins, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Relatives of the victims took turns reading the names of the dead in alphabetical order…

…Mr. Bush, who was commander in chief on the day America was attacked, read a letter from President Lincoln in 1864 to a mother who lost sons in the Civil War….

UPDATE III, by Mark Noonan – from CNA:

The World Trade Center cross is still a “sign of comfort” to many people, says the Franciscan priest who describes himself as its “unofficial guardian.”

On Sept. 13, 2001 construction worker Frank Silecchia found a 20-foot, cross-shaped T-beam from World Trade Center 1 standing almost upright in the wreckage of World Trade Center 6.

Fr. Brian Jordan, O.F.M., blessed the cross later that year on Oct. 4 and promised that it would be preserved…

In the darkest of times, we are still given hope…

 

 

Obamunism! Americans Flee to Canada for Jobs

Just how is that hopey-changey thing working out for ya?  From the Tucson Sentinel:

Usually, you hear stories of people fleeing to America, not the other way around.

But the jittery state of the U.S. economy is driving an increasing number of its citizens to seek better prospects north of the border.

Americans are the latest economic refugees, and they’re heading to Canada…

…Americans make up the second-largest group of temporary workers in Canada, only behind Filipinos, most of whom work as nannies…

It is only a small number of Americans, so far…but, my goodness, what a reversal of fortune?  Land of the Free, Home of the Brave…and off to Canada you go because you can’t get a decent job in the United States.  Not exactly carrying our national goal of allowing people to pursue happiness, now are we?

2012 can’t get here fast enough…

HAT TIPInstapundit

The Terrorist Threat (Bumped)

From Fox News:

Federal authorities are warning local law enforcement agencies of a potential terrorist threat involving car bombs that could coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, several sources told Fox News on Thursday.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that it had information about a “specific, credible but unconfirmed threat,” and the White House said President Obama was briefed Thursday morning and has been updated throughout the day…

Credible but unconfirmed?  Then why tell us about it?  I’d much rather the soldiers and cops just go after the “credible but unconfirmed” threat and let us know  about it afterwards…except, even then, maybe not:  when you’re hot on the trail of a dangerous enemy and you manage to catch him just before he acts, its not really a good thing to let the other enemies out there know how you did it.

There is something strange going on here…whether its just typical, Obama Administration incompetence or that they’ve actually lost the trail of terrorists and are just trying to make it look like they know what’s going on, I don’t know.  I guess we’ll find out by Monday.

UPDATE:  Hot Air has the details on the prospect of the threat being a ‘dirty bomb’.  Not good news if this is true…even a relatively small device exploded in Manhattan would be a gigantic blow to the United States.

Islamist Mob Breaks in to Israeli Embassy

From the AP:

Protesters broke into the Israeli Embassy in Cairo Friday and dumped documents out of the windows as hundreds more demonstrated outside, prompting the ambassador and his family to leave the country. The unrest was a further worsening of already deteriorating ties between Israel and post-Hosni Mubarak Egypt.

Egyptian police made no attempt to intervene during the day as crowds of hundreds tore down an embassy security wall with sledgehammers and their bare hands or after nightfall when about 30 protesters stormed into the Nile-side high-rise building where the embassy is located…

This is the end of the peace treaty – the Egyptian government either will not or cannot enforce the terms, which would include the security of the Israeli embassy in Cairo.  What form of government will finally emerge in Egypt remains unknown…but until that government does emerge and indicates its policies, no reliance can be placed on agreements made under the Sadat/Mubarak regime.  A new peace treaty will have to made – and only if the new Egyptian government indicates a willingness to have true peace with Israel.

The ultimate lesson here is to place no reliance on deals with  tyrants – Sadat was, indeed, a great and wise man…but he was a tyrant, and his successor was a tyrant, and only as long as the tyranny remained in power would any agreement be honored.  Tyrant gone, so is deal…better to have never made the deal, as if there hadn’t been a peace treaty Israel would be on the Suez, not worrying about attacks from the Sinai in to southern Israel.

Back to square one in the middle east…except now there is an even more virulent spirit abroad in the Muslim world.

Things That Piss Me Off In Politics

Liberals who call themselves (or think they really are) moderates.

Seriously, it happens all too often that a liberal friend of mine (usually on Facebook) will argue with me about something I’ve posted and in the course of the debate they make the claim that aren’t liberal. No, of course not, if you asked them, they are moderate, or independent.

Why do they do this? It could be a number of things.

I suspect the main reason is they want to give the impression that they “listen to both sides” and come to an “unbiased conclusion” even though said conclusion is the left wing position virtually every single time.

This “I’m a moderate” argument is also used to attack my position, because I’m just an extremist right-winger who has some microchip in his brain taking orders from Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck or whoever tops their list of Hated Icons on the Right.

Sometimes what happens is that these so-called moderates adopt a couple of conservative positions on select issues so they can claim their moderate status.

Of course, I know plenty of conservatives (or Republicans) who hold the “liberal” position on issues like abortion or gay marriage, but they don’t claim to be moderates.

So why are liberals running from the liberal brand?

You better believe I am a proud conservative. Some conservatives would call me a RINO because I still like George W. Bush, but I don’t use that an excuse to call myself a moderate.

My conservative positions are based on my own assessments on the issues, and it’s hardly shocking that someone with generally conservative values will have an overwhelmingly conservative platform.

I am tired of liberals who call themselves moderate in order to claim they’ve reach an objective conclusion on the issues while implying that I have not. The fact is that they still use the same talking points that unabashed hardcore liberals use on a daily basis that reasonable people laugh at.

I’d much rather debate a liberal who is willing to admit they are liberal. At least they have a little pride in their ridiculous positions on issues and don’t try to hide behind a label that they think will protect them in an honest debate.

Meanwhile, Over in Europe

From Ekathimerini:

The government is facing the possibility of not being able to pay wages and salaries in October if its international creditors do not approve the pending 8-billion-euro sixth installment immediately.

The country’s foreign lenders have made disbursement conditional on the government’s adoption of new measures that will target the collection of at least 1.7 billion euros. Without the sixth tranche, the public purse will be 1.5 billion euros short on October 17.

The prospect of a freeze in payments appeared even more serious on Thursday, after Greek commercial banks failed to cover the sum of 300 million euros of supplementary, noncompetitive bids for Tuesday’s auction of T-bills, providing only 155 million. The shortfall is interpreted as a clear message by banks to the government that they are unwilling to fund future issues of T-bills…

Greek one year bonds are approaching 100% as the financial world fully expects a Greek default some time in the next 12 months – which means that Money is figuring there is nothing the European Union can do to avoid default.  Money is right – there isn’t anything.  Oh, they could maybe put it off for a while, but they can’t stop it.  Greece owes too much money and no elective government of Greece would ever have popular support for bankrupting the people of Greece so that banksters can be bailed out (a dictatorship could do it…and one does wonder if the Euroweenies are considering that?).

And once Greece does default, look out!  The financial world will be in for a crash like no one has ever seen before.

HAT TIPMish’s

UPDATE:  More on the Eurocalypse.