Morning Plow

After The Fall
“After every major conflict — World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the fall of the Soviet Union — what happened was that we ultimately hollowed out the force, largely by doing deep, across-the-board cuts that impacted on equipment, impacted on training, impacted on capability,” he said. “Whatever we do in confronting the challenges we face now on the fiscal side, we must not make that mistake.” (Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, NYT, 10/24/2011)


Wow! Tip of the hat to Leon Panetta for firing a warning shot across the Liberal bow: "You will not jeopardize the security of this country!"


Easement
And Wednesday in Denver, the official said, Mr. Obama will announce policy changes to ease college graduates’ repayment of federal loans, seeking to alleviate the financial concerns of students considering college at a time when states are raising tuition. (NYT, 10/24/2011)


The OWS crowd whines about their college loans and Obama caves. Liberals blamed predatory banks for "forcing" big mortgages on the poor. What are they going to say now, that banks forced college loans on unsuspecting students?


Deluded
(Liberals) will continue to delude themselves into thinking, as Al Gore said in 2000, that their rivals represent "the powerful" and that they themselves act on behalf of "the people," even though President Obama's policies have poured money into Wall Street and the politically connected "green" businesses that form the upper half of his top-bottom electoral coalition. (Fred Siegel, WSJ, 10/24/2011)


Aided by a supine press (thanks to Charles Krauthammer for that phrase), Dems have pushed the narrative that they represent the little guy while Repubs represent Big Business. In fact, that is exactly backwards.


Exploitation
The eagerness to exploit the politics of Medicare is already influencing the Democratic party's approach to policy. The Washington Post recently reported that Senator Patty Murray, chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC)—and newly appointed Democratic co-chair of the deficit reduction super committee—is working behind the scenes to stop any Democratic compromise or effort to reform Medicare. A source close to Murray described her political rationale: "We shouldn't be giving away our advantage on Medicare….We should be very careful about giving away the biggest advantage we've had as Democrats in some time." (Tevi Troy, WSJ, 10/24/2011)


A point made in RedStateVT's compelling post: Treatise on the Liberal (Part 2).  Dems purposefully resist for political advantage any changes to an entitlement program that they know is unsustainable.


Bless The Children
Thirty-five days into New York City's Occupy Wall Street protest, a new type of crowd -- 500 parents with their children -- gathered in Zuccotti Park. The event, sponsored by Parents for Occupy Wall Street, was a family sleepover that started at 4 p.m. on Oct. 21 and ran through 11 a.m. on Oct. 22. It came complete with crafts, storybooks and ... politics. (Huffington Post, 10/24/2011)


The innocence of youth is lost. For Liberals it is never too early to begin the politicization or sexualization of youth.