De Facto

Reconciliation
In some ways it seems as if Mr. McCain remains unable to reconcile the rightward lurch he took two years ago with his clear desire to continue to put his stamp on myriad issues — at times bridging partisan divides — to burnish his legacy. (NYT, 7/26/2012)


An interesting linguistic trick often used by the Liberal media: a Republican politician will take a "rightward lurch." What will a Democrat politician do who - let's say - decides to embrace gay marriage? If you thought he took a "leftward lurch" you are wrong. He "evolved."


Erstwhile
As for Poland, it was stunned by Obama’s unilateral cancellation of a missile defense agreement signed with the Bush 43 administration. Having defied vociferous Russian threats in order to help us defend against Iranian missiles, the Poles expected better treatment than to wake up one morning — the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland, no less — to find themselves the victim of Obama’s “reset” policy of accommodation with Russia. So much for protection from Russian bullying, something they thought they had finally gained with the end of the Cold War. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 7/26/20120


Why Romney is going to Poland.


Mythology
...the notion that the president was not born in the United States remains at the epicenter of the anti-Obama mythology. Here is the conspiracy that would have had to exist if Barack Hussein Obama II were not born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Aug. 4, 1961: First, the local newspapers would have had to have been in on the scheme, because they ran notices of his birth among all the other local births that week.
...


While living in Jakarta from ages 6 through 9, young Obama temporarily took the last name of his stepfather, Soetoro, for school purposes. He was listed as a Muslim on school documents because students were listed in the religion of their fathers. (David Maraniss, Washington Post, 7/27/2012)


The Washington Post titles this article by Maraniss, author of a current Obama biography: "The right's contemptible myths." 


Let's review just two. 


Maraniss claims that the (contemptible) birther myth is dispelled by the fact that BHO II's birth announcement ran in the Honolulu newspapers. Maraniss apparently has not read Jerome Corsi's book entitled "Where's the Birth Certificate?" If he had, he would have learned - as Corsi tells us - that in those days in Hawaii anyone could walk into a newspaper office and report a birth. No proof of birth was required. The newspaper simply printed what someone told them. 


The second (contemptible) myth is that Obama is a Muslim. Well, we don't think that he is, but for heaven's sake! Given what Maraniss himself tells us - that Obama was listed as a Muslim on school records - is it so outrageous, is it so contemptible that someone might think this?