Spin the Dial

Seeing Red
Why should the mullahs in Tehran worry about crossing Obama’s red line on WMDs when they see the Syrians cross Obama’s red line on WMDs — and the president’s reaction is to do as little as he can without getting mocked? (Marc A. Thiessen, Washington Post, 9/2/2013)

In the Illinois legislature, he voted “present” 129 times to avoid difficulties; now he stoops from his executive grandeur to tutor Congress on accountability. In Washington, where he condescends as a swan slumming among starlings, he insists that, given the urgency of everything he desires, he “can’t wait” for Congress to vote on his programs or to confirm persons he nominates to implement them. The virtues of his policies and personnel are supposedly patent and sufficient to justify imposing both by executive decrees.
....
Now, concerning Syria, he lectures Congress, seeking an accomplice while talking about accountability. (George Will, Washington Post, 9/2/2013)

But overall the Obama foreign policy team seems to suffer from a Pollyannaish approach to the world. They do not seem to understand that those who hate America will hate us, and will try to harm us, whether our president is Bill Clinton, George W. Bush or Barack Obama. (WSJ, 8/27/2013)

Having leaked to the world, and thus to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a detailed briefing of the coming U.S. air attack on Syria — (1) the source (offshore warships and perhaps a bomber or two), (2) the weapon (cruise missiles), (3) the duration (two or three days), (4) the purpose (punishment, not “regime change”) — perhaps we should be publishing the exact time the bombs will fall, lest we disrupt dinner in Damascus.

So much for the element of surprise. Into his third year of dithering, two years after declaring Assad had to go, one year after drawing — then erasing — his own red line on chemical weapons, Barack Obama has been stirred to action.  Or more accurately, shamed into action. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 8/29/2013)

Among the best of the commentary on Obama's Syrian problem. In a nutshell:

• By projecting weakness and vacillation, Obama emboldens America's real enemies. Not Syria, but North Korea and Iran.
• Obama flaunts executive privilege to get his way, but seeks Congressional consensus when he is looking for a skirt to hide behind.
• The Obama foreign policy charm offensive is an abject failure. 

Telling Tales
"First of all, I didn't set a red line," said Obama. "The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are [inaudible] and passed a treaty forbidding their use, even when countries are engaged in war. Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Congress set a red line when it indicated that in a piece of legislation entitled the Syria Accountability Act that some of the horrendous things happening on the ground there need to be answered for. So, when I said in a press conference that my calculus about what's happening in Syria would be altered by the use of chemical weapons, which the overwhelming consensus of humanity says is wrong, that wasn't something I just kind of made up. I didn't pluck it out of thin air. There's a reason for it." (Weeklystandard.com, 9/4/2013)

So this is what it has come to: painted into a corner with his own brush, Obama resorts to lying. He didn't set a "red line?" Once again the video evidence and the transcripts will expose the lie, but once again it will pass because the Legitimate Media will not report it. (Don't expect Rachel Maddow to devote a show to red lines. There are more important topics to cover; like Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz.)

"I did not have sex with that woman."
"I didn't set a red line."

What is it with Democrat presidents and the truth?


Dog Days
Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources and Energy. Klein has doggedly pursued closing Yankee from the start of his political career. But like the governor, he also emphasized what he calls an important point.

"This plant is not closing because of anything the state of Vermont has done. This is clearly the economics and the sign of the times of big baseload generators, the price of natural gas," Klein said. (WCAX.com, 8/27/2013)

We got a snicker out of this one. So Tony Klein and Peter Shumlin hounded Vermont Yankee for years, making it all but impossible for it to do business in Vermont. Then in what should be their triumphant moment they don't want to take credit for what they have caused to happen. What's up with that?

Allow RedStateVT to explain. 

Make no mistake, within Progressive Party circles Klein and Shumlin are giving and getting high fives all around. Unfortunately there is the issue of the 650 jobs that will be lost. Klein/Shumlin won't man-up on that little problem (the unemployment, the lost tax revenue) and so the VY closure is really all about the low cost of natural gas. Hypocrisy has a name.