The Stunning Lack of Leadership in DC

Noted by Mitt Romney:

Has it come to this again? The president is meeting with his oil spill experts, he crudely tells us, so that he knows “whose ass to kick.” We have become accustomed to his management style — target a scapegoat, assign blame and go on the attack. To win health care legislation, he vilified insurance executives; to escape bankruptcy law for General Motors, he demonized senior lenders; to take the focus from the excesses of government, he castigated business meetings in Las Vegas; and to deflect responsibility for the deepening and lengthening downturn, he blames Wall Street and George W. Bush. But what may make good politics does not make good leadership. And when a crisis is upon us, America wants a leader, not a politician…

Unfortunately, all we’ve got is a politician – who only seemed to get galvanized to action when the polling started to go against him. Think about it – still no Presidential action on the floods in Tennessee. Why? No major MSM coverage (just as there wasn’t at the start of the oil leak) and thus no growing sense of crisis – and no effect on the President’s polling numbers.

Once the scope of the Gulf disaster could no longer be ignored, things started to look increasingly rocky for Obama and his Democrats – especially with the mid-terms looming. So, “action” started to be taken – mostly in laying blame, finger pointing and attempting to use the crisis to advance the leftist agenda. Lots of action, but still no leadership – and after all this time, as we approach the two month point, its clear we’re never going to get any. This problem will be solved by the ad hoc actions of people like Governor Jindal, not by Obama…Jindal is a leader in politics, Obama is just a politician.

The spill is not Obama’s fault. BP’s gross failure to recognize how bad it was is not Obama’s fault. What is Obama’s fault is his complete inability to take the clear, hard decisions necessary to repair the damage as swiftly as possible. This is all we’ve seen from Obama – its all we’re ever going to get from him. We’ve got an Occupant in Chief in the White House, not a President.

Angle Up by 11 Over Reid

From Rasmussen:

Sharron Angle, following her come-from-behind Republican Primary win Tuesday, has bounced to an 11-point lead over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada’s closely-watched U.S. Senate race.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Nevada, taken Wednesday night, shows Angle earning 50% support while Reid picks up 39% of the vote.

The Reid smear machine is gearing up – he knows he can’t win on his record and his only hope is to make Angle do odious that Nevadan’s hold their nose and vote for him. We can’t let him do that – but to stop him, its going to take some money. Reid has millions from the special interests who have bought him – Angle needs $25 from you.

Give it to her – and lets send Harry Reid back to Searchlight.

Obamunism! New Mortgage Applications At a 13 Year Low

Congratulations, Mr. President – you’ve brought us back to 1997:

The number of customers applying for a mortgage to purchase a property fell to the lowest level in 13 years last week, a sign the housing market is struggling without government incentives.

Purchase volume declined 5.7 percent and is at its lowest point since February 1997, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.

Overall mortgage application volume, which includes loans for purchases and refinancings, dropped by 12.2 percent during the week ending June 4, compared with the previous week. Refinance volume tumbled 14.3 percent…

A strong pitch is being made behind the scenes for a renewal of the $8,000 home purchase tax credit – the real estate industry is facing complete disaster, and they want their federal subsidy. Never mind that it will make things worse in the long run – the people running the real estate show only care about the next month or two. Fortunately, for them at least, our government seems incapable of looking even a week in to the future, so the credit might well be renewed.

The longer we put off the drop of home prices to actual market value, the worse it will be when we are finally forced to allow it to happen. National bankruptcy is, at most, only five years away – some time between now and then it will become absolutely impossible to sustain current home price levels, and crash they’ll go (personally, I don’t think they can keep it up much longer – but Obama, Bernanke and the boys are determined to keep trying).

This is the change we can really believe in – only its for the worse.

The Rise of Pro-Life Feminism

Tuesday saw a surge of pro-life women candidates:

Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser called Tuesday’s victories for pro-life women candidates “the greatest affirmation of our mission in the history of the organization,” and “proof that Americans are responding to authentic, pro-life feminism.”

“We applaud Americans in California, New Jersey, Nevada, South Carolina and South Dakota for taking steps to support authentic, pro-life feminism with their votes,” said Dannenfelser. “Now more than ever, we need pro-woman, pro-life leadership. These women will usher in the year of the pro-life woman and win back critical pro-life margins in the House and Senate.”…

The liberal feminists were, if anything, in continual war against all that women stand for. Faith, family and home are words of insult on the left – but now women who are smart, strong and successful while at the same time pro-life and pro-family are rising to the top.

It is a sign of political health that such women as Sharron Angle and Carly Fiorina can rise so high – especially when some of the women who won on Tuesday were written off early on in the primary campaign (at one point, Angle polled a mere 5%). This is now the real Year of the Woman – the pro-life, patriotic, independent and courageous woman.

The world is being turned up side down – and at the end of this year, nothing will ever be the same in American politics again.

Palin Power

The lady has pull:

Some of Sarah Palin’s riskiest endorsements scored major victories Tuesday for the former Alaska governor, showing off her power in Republican primaries.

Palin had four primary endorsements in play – Carly Fiorina, Nikki Haley, Terry Branstad and Cecile Bledsoe – and three won or moved on to a runoff.

Palin served different roles for each candidate – sometimes spotlighting conservatives not well known to the national scene while at others validating conservative credentials to an unsure grassroots and even stepping in to deflect nasty attacks.

Whether she decides to run in 2012 or not, she’ll be carrying a lot of political weight all through the 2012 campaign. In a time of political upheaval, someone who’s conservative/populist credentials are spotless like Palin’s will be able to use her endorsement again and again to either defend someone against attacks or shoot them in to public notice. Especially if, as I expect, her actions secure a lot of GOP victories in November, she will be a king maker in the Republican party.

This, on the whole, is good for the party – we need someone who can stand up for principle. And in the long run, this might be a better service to us than even her being President.

Plans for a "Reverse Flotilla" to Turkey

Excellent idea, but dangerous:

Although most of the recent talk regarding flotillas has revolved around ships sailing toward Gaza, at least two plans have emerged for “reverse flotillas” – from Israel toward Turkey – to highlight what organizers have labeled the Turks’ “shameless hypocrisy” in their criticisms of the Jewish state.

The most ambitious of the two plans has been devised by members of Israel’s National Student Union, who this week announced their intention to set sail toward Turkey, in an effort to bring humanitarian aid to the “oppressed people of Turkish Kurdistan” and to members of the “Turkish Armenian minority.”

Which is all quite true – the Turks have behaved brutally with the Kurds and Armenians; far worse than anything the Israelis have done to anyone. No notice is really taken of it because the Turks aren’t Jewish or American, and thus there’s no upside to talking of their savagery. You get no notice in the press, no invites to human rights conferences and, of course, given that the Turks are Moslem there’s always that chance you’ll wind up dead if you look cross eyed at them.

Given the nature of the Turkish government, I would advise these young Israelis not to actually carry it out. The IDF was forced to defend itself against terrorists and 9 people died – the Turks might well massacre everyone in the flotilla even if no resistance is offered. Its a grand gesture, but I can never support a move where innocent people might be killed to no good effect – it won’t stop the lies about what is going on in Gaza, nor will it stop what is truly happening in Turkish occupied Kurdistan.

What Media Bias? Part 173

And this is from Fox News, and so demonstrates how even in a place where they are trying to be fair, they still slip in to inaccuracy in favor of a pre-set story line – the headline:

Mexican Teen Killed by U.S. Border Patrol Agent

So, the story is about a Mexican killed by a US Border Patrol Agent, right? Well, that is the story if you follow the “America defending the borders is bad” meme – but here’s the real news, noted only in the 7th paragraph:

The official, who agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name, said the video also shows what seem to be four Mexican law enforcement officers driving to the edge of the dry but muddy bed of the Rio Grande, walking across to the U.S. side, picking up an undetermined object and returning to Mexico near the area where the boy’s body was. Like their U.S. counterparts, Mexican law officers are not authorized to cross the border without permission.

Law enforcement officials of the Mexican government illegally entered the United States – and did so in order to manufacture evidence that US Border Patrol agents had crossed in to Mexico to shoot a Mexican citizen! That is the story! The story we’ve heard again and again – but always kept quite: Mexican officials, including allegations of armed Mexican soldiers, crossing our borders.

But, it doesn’t fit the MSM story line – and so its buried in the story and not given any context. Until we get an MSM – an entire MSM – which will tell the truth and the whole story, we will continue to be ill-served by the organizations which allegedly inform us of the day’s events.

Primary Night Open Thread

Discuss all the races of the day – will Lincoln get the boot in Arkansas? Gibbons in Nevada? Will Democrats desperately spin the increasingly hostile political atmosphere?

What did I do here in Nevada? Noonan for Nevada has the details.

UPDATE: Voter support for Congress at record low.

UPDATE II: Angry pinkos heckle Pelosi.

UPDATE III: Hmm…Reid is getting 78% of the Democrat vote in the primary in early returns. If this holds true, then it will be a stunning rebuke – he’ll still win, but he should get 95% or better against the non-entities he faces.

UPDATE IV: “None of These Candidates” is winning 9% in the early returns for the Democrat Senate primary in Nevada…

UPDATE V: From Saul Anuzis on Facebook – Lincoln wins the Democrat Senate runoff primary in Arkansas. Commentary: Now she gets to lose in November.

UPDATE VI: Another incumbent bites the dust – Republican governor Jim Gibbons of Nevada being soundly beaten in the primary by Brian Sandoval.

UPDATE VII: With 31% in, it looks like Sharron Angle will have the honor of sending Harry Reid back to Searchlight.

UPDATE VIII: Carly Fiorina draws the duty of retiring Senator Barbara Boxer.