Breaking News: Obama To Delay Decisions On Everything Until After The Mid-Term Elections

Finger Pointing
“Our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that, I think, they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria,” Mr. Obama said on “60 Minutes,” the CBS News program, referring to James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence. Mr. Obama added that the agencies had overestimated the ability and will of the Iraqi Army to fight such Sunni extremists. “That’s true. That’s absolutely true,” he said. (New York Times, 9/29/2014)

So President Accountability has found his scapegoat. Even the New York Times cannot let this pass without comment:

"In citing Mr. Clapper, Mr. Obama made no mention of any misjudgment he may have made himself. Critics have repeatedly pointed to his comment last winter characterizing groups like the Islamic State as a "JV team" compared with the original Al Qaeda."


Inactive
California has become the first state to require students on college campuses to receive active consent before all sexual activity. (New York Times, 9/28,2014)

Of course.

This is what colleges are focused on today - teaching kids the proper way to go about having sex - instead of teaching the classics.

Eric Holder Resigns, Nation of Cowards Rejoices!

Allowances
President Obama has put America at the center of a widening war by expanding into Syria airstrikes against the Islamic State, the Sunni extremist group known as ISIS and ISIL. He has done this without allowing the public debate that needs to take place before this nation enters another costly and potentially lengthy conflict in the Middle East. (New York Times editorial, 9/24/2014)

New York Times editors lambaste President Obama over the decision to bomb terrorist groups in Syria. Which is definitive proof that it is the right thing to do.


Demonized
Also in keeping with past practice, he acknowledged that the United States is wrestling its own demons. “In a summer marked by instability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe,” he said, “I know the world also took notice of the small American city of Ferguson, Mo., where a young man was killed, and a community was divided.” (New York Times, 9/25/2014)

Why does he constantly do this? In a vastly under-reported story Obama goes to the U.N. and delivers a tough talk on terrorism. Good job. And then he cannot leave it there. He has to pander to the world audience by criticizing America. What is the moral equivalency between ISIS beheadings and Putin's military takeover in the Ukraine and a contested police shooting in the U.S.? Obama has always been and continues to be a classic Blame America Liberal.


Pause Button
During the 1980s and 1990s, new all-time record-high anomalies were occurring about every 3-4 years. But then, we hit the “hiatus.” The rise in the Earth’s average surface temperature basically stopped, “global warming” morphed into “climate change,” and it has been 16.5 years since the last all-time all-month record monthly temperature anomaly was set.

Just-published research from University of Guelph’s Ross McKitrick pegs the length of the hiatus, or “pause”—the period of no statistically significant rise in the earth’s average temperature—at about 19 years. Looking back even further, the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that since the mid-20th century, observed global warming has been less than expected....Global warming is not proceeding as planned.  The climate appears less sensitive to our emissions of greenhouse gases than expected. The urgency to grant the government the authority to limit energy choice is not justified. (Paul C. “Chip” Knappenberger, Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute, Foxnews.com, 9/23/2014)

To which climate change liars responded.... 

Just kidding! They did not respond because they refuse to take their fingers out of their ears.

Speaking of climate change liars, we noticed that Peter "Burger Boy" Shumlin is bowing to pressure from head Vermont scare-monger Bill McKibben and threatening to divest state funds of oil and gas companies. (There is apparently no place in the portfolio for companies engaged in the legal business of fossil fuels. Which will lead to lower investment returns, by the way.) 

All of which validates RedStateVT's contention that Bill McKibben runs the state.

Fitful Echoes

Just Because
The president thinks people are depressed because they don't understand how good the economy is. Actually right now they are depressed because he is president. (Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal, 9/18/2014)

Loyal readers know that RedStateVT holds Ann Coulter in high esteem for her brilliant political analysis and superb wit. Here she gets a run for her money from Peggy Noonan. 


Great Moments from the Obama Presidency
If you like your health plan you can keep it

The 1980s wants their foreign policy back

There is not a smidgen of scandal at the IRS

Tell Vladimir I will have more flexibility after the election

I did not set a red line on Syria

ISIS is a JV team

We do not have a strategy yet

No boots on the ground


Shutdown
Nearly a year after its bungled rollout subjected thousands of Vermonters to a state mandated health insurance marketplace that was more expensive, nearly impossible to navigate and never fully functional, Governor Shumlin today announced that Vermont Health Connect will be shut down for repairs until after the November elections. (VTGOP.org, 9/16/2014)

In the private sector, you get fired for this level of incompetence. In Vermont, Burger Boy Shumlin will get re-elected.


Declaration
Gov. Peter Shumlin declared $721,445 in income on the 2013 federal income tax return he filed last spring. Nearly half the money came from real estate income. Shumlin also released a list of $10.3 million in assets that includes 16 properties valued collectively at $3.86 million. (Burlington Free Press, 9/19/2014)

Another Liberal 1%er!

Occupy Shumlin!


Unsettling
...the climate lobby should return to the climate science and explain the hiatus in warming that has now lasted for 16, 19 or 26 years depending on the data set and which the climate models failed to predict even as global carbon dioxide emissions have climbed by 25%. Their alibi is that the new warming is now hidden in the oceans, an assertion they lack the evidence to prove. (Wall Street Journal, 9/22/2014)

To which climate liars (i.e. the opposite of climate deniers) say...what?

Obama Searches for New Strategy as Kumbaya Fails with Russia, Middle East

Poland 1939
Our apologies for failing to note the 75th anniversary on September 1st of Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland. It is a time to reflect again on the dangers of the failure to recognize evil and of the use of appeasement to avoid hard choices. The proud Polish people have persevered notwithstanding and remain one of America's greatest allies. 


Close Encounters
Obama and Wasserman Schultz have rarely even talked since 2011. They don’t meet about strategy or messaging. They don’t talk much on the phone. Instead, the DNC chairwoman stakes out the president of the United States at the end of photo lines at events and fundraisers. “You need another picture, Debbie?” Obama tends to say, according to people who’ve been there for the encounters. (POLITICO.com, 9/18/2014)

This is just too funny!


Skeptical
Emails sent by liberal activists and obtained by The Hill reveal significant dissatisfaction with Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. The critical messages about the former first lady show that she has a long way to go to assuage skepticism from influential voices on the left. (thehill.com, 9/18/2014)

Our Liberal friends are endlessly talking about how good Republicans need to distance themselves from the "extremist" views of the Tea Party. Of course our view is that good Republicans need to become more like the Tea Party. Now with Hillary 'Maybe-Not-So-Inevitable' Clinton readying herself for 2016, the question is how she will reconcile with the Far Left moonbat constituency of the Democrat party. Liberals would not be floating novelty candidate names like Elizabeth Warren (she's a fighter!) and Colonel Bernie Sanders (Vermont's crazy old uncle in the Senate) if all was well on the Left. 


Handy
President Obama will take a hands-on approach to the United States airstrikes in Syria against the Islamic State and will personally sign off on bombing targets in the country, according to the Wall Street Journal. (nationalreview.com, 9/16/2014)

As with Obama personally picking which Islamic terrorists would get his drone cure, we find this a little creepy. Why not let the military do its job?


From Yesterday's WSJ
Economist Thomas Sowell's "The Vision of the Anointed" (1995):

Among the many other questions raised by the nebulous concept of "greed" is why it is a term applied almost exclusively to those who want to earn more money or to keep what they have already earned—never to those wanting to take other people's money in taxes or to those wishing to live on the largess dispensed from such taxation. No amount of taxation is ever described by the anointed as "greed" on the part of government or the clientele of government. . . .


Transformation
Lawrence J. Ellison on Thursday announced his retirement as chief executive of Oracle, a company he founded in 1977 that has transformed the way businesses use technology and made him one of the world’s richest people. (New York Times, 9/19/2014)

Giving proof to Thomas Sowell's quote above we looked at the comments section of this New York Times article on Larry Ellison and found this from NYT reader Pancho: "Definitely a robber baron. Obscene wealth..."

Remind us Pancho, what have you created?


Freebies!
The municipal identification cards that New York plans to start issuing next year in an effort to make life easier for undocumented immigrants will come with an added benefit so enticing that many others may sign up for them too: an offer of free tickets or discounts at 33 of the city’s leading cultural institutions. (New York Times, 9/19/2014)

Sub Commander Bill de Blasio continues the Liberal War on America. Namely, turning America over to illegal immigrants. Next up: government pensions for the 'undocumented.'

Liberals are destroying America. 

Under Control

The Purge
Hours after President François Hollande purged leftist members of his government last month for opposing his economic policies, Manuel Valls, France’s combative prime minister, climbed a stage before hundreds of cheering French executives and called for a new relationship with business to lift France from its malaise.

He admonished the left wing of the French Socialist Party to stop posturing against capitalism, then launched into a lengthy pro-business discourse that drew a standing ovation. “France needs you,” he told the bosses at the annual summer conference of the Medef, France’s employers’ union. “And I love business!” (New York Times, 9/16/2014)

No 'Occupy Le Wall Street' in France. The French suddenly love capitalism. And remember, Liberals believe that we need to emulate the French in every way!


Zoned Out
Even as momentum builds against the austerity policies that Germany has pushed on the eurozone, the question remains whether Europe can afford the welfare systems that have defined the left for generations and that critics blame for ushering in the debt crisis in the first place. But if the left now backs away from its ideological touchstones, then what does it stand for? (New York Times, 9/16/2014)

What does the Left stand for, if not building bigger and bigger social welfare programs?

Well, nothing , really. It is their raison d'etre.


The Mix
Mr. Obama, seeking to allay fears of another Iraq war, has promised that American ground troops will not be involved in fighting the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. In a sign of the administration’s mixed message, the president pointedly did not call it a war, while his advisers later did. (New York Times, 9/17/2014)

RedStateVT did not say 'mixed message.' The New York Times said 'mixed message.'


Crying Out Loud
The Democrats’ strategy of making an increase in the minimum wage a midterm election rallying cry has been drowned out by world events. The party continues to talk about it, but it appears that few are listening. (New York Times, 9/17/2014)

We at RedStateVT just cannot get our head around a minimum wage increase. Liberals want companies to pay their workers more...which means they will need to raise their prices...which means everyone will pay more for the goods and services that these companies provide. So really, it is just another form of higher taxation. 

Actually that does make sense because there is really nothing that Liberals like more than higher taxes. Got it now.


Quote of the Day
ObamaCare has become his Ukraine. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., Wall Street Journal, 9/17/2014)

Also Obama's Ukraine? 

Ukraine.


Truthfully
Whatever happened to Cindy Sheehan? Where is Code Pink? I haven’t seen an “EndLESS War” bumper sticker in years, since 2009 to be exact.

The anti-war movement is MIA as this war, er counterterrorism operation, begins. Back when Bush was waging war, dissent was the highest form of patriotism. Now it’s “racism.” If you speak truth to power in the Obama era, they call it hate speech. The IRS will audit you. (Howiecarrshow.com, 9/16/2014)

Do you listen to Howie Carr's radio program? You should!

Boots In The Air

Reversal
Democrats have reversed the partisan imbalance on the federal appeals courts that long favored conservatives, a little-noticed shift with far-reaching consequences for the law and President Obama’s legacy.

For the first time in more than a decade, judges appointed by Democratic presidents considerably outnumber judges appointed by Republican presidents. (New York Times, 9/13/2014)

So now there is a "partisan imbalance" in favor of Liberals. Got it.

And how did Liberals accomplish this? 

"The Democrats’ advantage has only grown since late last year when they stripped Republicans of their ability to filibuster the president’s nominees."

Of course, now we remember, they cheated by unilaterally changing the rules. Well these things have a way of turning around. Republicans will remember and Dems will rue the day.


The Count
Obama Death Count (Servicemen and women who have died since January 20, 2009) = 2115
(from Conservativeamerican.org)

Thanks to Conservative American for keeping the tally that the Legitimate Media will not. 


Bitter Clinger
At one point, Mr. Obama noted acidly that President Ronald Reagan sent Marines to Lebanon only to have hundreds of them killed in a terrorist attack because of terrible planning, and then withdrew the remaining ones, leaving behind a civil war that lasted years. But Reagan, he noted, is hailed as a titan striding the earth. (New York Times, 9/14/2014)

One of President Obama's least attractive attributes is his endless whining about how he is treated differently than past presidents, how he is held to a different standard, how everyone is just so unfair. Obama has essentially coasted through life, attaining positions far beyond his skills, his effort and his intellect. Finally, he has reached a point where he is held accountable. And he does not like it. 

Yes, Reagan was a giant. Obama cannot carry his shoes, let alone fill them. 


Selfie
Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” self-identified socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said he is considering running as a Democrat in the 2016 presidential election. Sanders said, "I am the longest serving independent in the history of the United States congress. That's how I have always won in the state of Vermont. I am thinking about running for president. The issue whether you run as an independent with the necessity of setting up a 50-state infrastructure, running as a Democrat that's something i'm looking at." (Breitbart.com, 9/14/2014)

RedStateVT has led the charge to rally Colonel Bernie Sanders to run for president. It is only on the national stage that he can be exposed as the charlatan that we in Vermont know him to be. 


Authorization
President Obama’s first initiated war against an Islamic terrorist group is authorized, the White House says, by George W. Bush-signed legislation that Mr. Obama has criticized and wanted to repeal since last year. (Washington Times, 9/14/2014)

And so once again, Bush and Cheney were right. 

Don't Panic America! This Is Precisely Why We Elected A Community Organizer

Star Power
After his brief stop at the star-shaped fort from which the people of Baltimore held off the British Navy during the War of 1812, Mr. Obama was driven to the suburban Baltimore home of politically connected hedge fund owner.... (New York Times, 9/13/2014)

Mrs. Clinton spent August in the Hamptons, a working vacation that gave her plenty of time to interact with donors without the glare of the news media. Liz Robbins, a Washington lobbyist with a home in East Hampton; the investor Dan Neidich and his wife, Brooke Garber Neidich, an arts executive; the hedge fund manager Richard C. Perry.... (New York Times, 9/13/2014)

So Democrats embrace the 1%ers? The Republican party will now accept your apologies. 


Victim Alert
I had an abortion because we were poor and I was depressed and I didn’t know who the father was. I had been having an affair. My kids were 2 and 3, and the debilitating morning sickness, which I experienced early in each of my pregnancies, made it difficult to work or care for two toddlers. I got pregnant again soon after, but miscarried. A few years later I had another abortion because the man I was seeing was emotionally abusive. I had no control in that relationship, so I sabotaged my birth control to get some back. The whole situation was a complete abscess. In spite of my awareness of our miserable present and inevitably doomed future, I didn’t really want to have an abortion. I wanted the man to love me or at least be forced to publicly acknowledge our relationship existed. But he didn’t want to have a baby with me, and I knew that having that baby would have been a terrible thing for my children. And for me. (Merritt Tierce, New York Times, 9/12/2014)

Tierce lauds Texas state senator Wendy Davis for her courageous stand on abortion and then drops her trainwreck of a personal life story on us. 

So abortion is justifiable because people like Ms. Tierce make a bad decision...and then another...and then another...and then another? At what point do the Tierce's of the world wise up and see that what they are doing is just not working? 

We suppose that as long as Liberals are willing to fund welfare benefits, child care benefits and abortion - with no concomitant responsibility from the recipient - the answer is maybe never. We are sorry that Tierce has had a tough go of it and are pleased that it appears she has turned things around. But her repeated bad decisions are not a reason why society should allow abortion. 

The Fruit of Man

10 Liberal Rules of War 
1)  Avoid conflict at all cost, appeasing the enemy as much as possible and for as long as possible.

2)  Do not fight if Europeans are opposed. At minimum, get support from France.

3)  If forced to fight, do not call it a war.

4)  Announce publicly what you will and will not do.

5)  Try to avoid putting "boots on the ground." "Boots in the air" or "boots on boats" are OK.

6)  Aim for proportionality; i.e. do not kill more enemy soldiers than they have killed, do not destroy more of the enemy's weaponry than they have destroyed, etc.

7)  No matter what, after a set period of time begin withdrawing while declaring: "It's time to do some nation-building at home."

8)  If a Republican president has taken the country to war, blame him every time that a serviceman or woman is killed in the line of duty.

9)  If a Republican president has taken the country to war, immediately begin asking: "What is the exit strategy?"

10) If a Republican president has taken the country to war, call all Republicans "chickenhawks."

And then there is always: Blame Bush and Cheney


Who Ya Gonna Believe?
His innate cautiousness is now actually a reassurance that he’ll fight this war sensibly, partnering with allies in the region, in a way that doesn’t needlessly exacerbate the United States’ problems with the Muslim world. (David Ignatius, Washington Post, 9/11/2014)

Democrats have a habit of accusing George W. Bush of going it alone in Iraq. According to the Center of Military History of the U.S. Army, Bush had 37 nations with us. They sent more than 25,000 troops. So far, Obama has a coalition of nine: eight NATO members plus Australia. How many of those — or of the much touted Arab coalition behind us — do you think will contribute any troops at all? (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 9/11/2014)

Krauthammer versus Ignatius is just not a fair fight!


Vexed Out
Senator John McCain was one of the earliest advocates of American military action against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. So it has been vexing for Mr. McCain to be battling persistent — and false — Internet rumors that he not only helped invent the group but also knows its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the Muslim world and America’s latest Public Enemy No. 1. (New York Times, 9/12/2014)

The New York Times gives prominent coverage to an obvious fringe issue smear of John McCain. Guess they did not like McCain's complete dismantling of former White House press secretary Jay Carney during the latter's CNN debut. If the Times wants to report on Internet rumors, perhaps they could dig into that question of Obama's birth certificate....

Do Over

Phased Out
Waged by a president with faded public standing, the new phase will not involve many American troops on the ground, but seems certain to require a far more intense American bombing blitz than in Somalia or Yemen. (New York Times, 9/11/2014)

President Obama's entire foreign policy when it comes to using American might to fight the bad guys is first, do nothing if possible; and second, if that does not work, bomb them. The reason is because he, like all Democrats, cannot get past the Viet Nam War. And so, in their view, the U.S. can NEVER fight another war in which we have "boots on the ground." Soldiers might die and how would that look? Of course, the freedoms that we enjoy today are ONLY because brave men sacrificed their lives to defend our country. In the bizarre world of Democrat national security, boots in the air is OK, boots on the ground, not. The logic is mind-bending, but typical. 


Rally Cap
While other commanders in chief enjoyed a surge in public support when they took the nation to war, the nation is not exactly rallying behind Mr. Obama this time around. A fresh battery of polls this week indicated that most Americans do want him to go after ISIS yet disapprove of his leadership. In other words, they support the policy but not the president.

Peter D. Feaver, a former national security aide to Mr. Bush and President Bill Clinton, said the public unease was due, in part, to Mr. Obama’s own shifting descriptions of the threat and his acknowledgment two weeks ago that he had no strategy yet. “Until tonight, the Obama administration has done a textbook job of following the script on how to undermine public confidence,” he said. (New York Times, 9/11/2014)

It was fascinating to flip channels last night after the President's speech on ISIS. On Fox, the panel discussed how Obama's actions represented a reversal of many of his previous pronouncements and policies. On MSNBC, the panel debated whether Obama needed to get Congressional approval and whether Republicans would obstruct him. The Fox panel included a retired four star general. The MSNBC panel included foreign policy guru Al Sharpton decked out in his trademark track suit. Just kidding! (Sharpton is not really a foreign policy expert. He just plays one on TV.)

MSNBC turned to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for reaction and analysis. A highly agitated Sanders talked about how the middle class in America is disappearing. Then he talked about the Viet Nam War. He said "Bush-Cheney" three times in sixty seconds. He opined that everything Obama had done so far in Iraq and the Middle East was correct and how what Obama was now proposing was also correct. He and MSNBC's Chris Matthews talked about how they agreed with each other.

Lean Sideways.


Hands Down
The demonstration took place about five miles from the street in Ferguson where Mr. Brown, who was black and unarmed, was killed by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, on Aug. 9. Some witnesses have said that Mr. Brown, 18, had put his hands up in surrender. Officer Wilson, who has not been charged, has been placed on leave, and his location is unknown. (New York Times, 9/11/2014)

Full disclosure (which you will not get from the Times): 

"Others said that Mr. Brown - after robbing a convenience store, assaulting a clerk and refusing police instructions to walk on the sidewalk instead of the middle of the road - punched Officer Wilson in the face."


What The Kids Are Doing
California is poised to become the first state to require all colleges that receive state funds to strengthen their policies on sexual assault by mandating that students give active consent to one another before all sexual activity, either by saying “yes” to a spoken query or by signaling assent in a nonverbal way. (New York Times, 9/10/2014)

For years and years and years all we heard from Liberals was that conservatives were inserting themselves and their morality (no pun intended) into people's bedrooms. 

My how times have changed!



From RedStateVT
On this day we again remember and honor all those citizens who lost their lives due to Islamic terrorism, our soldiers who have also died and those who are now serving.

Belief System

Avoidance
If we withdrew from the Middle East, especially from Iraq; if we avoided new entanglements, such as in Syria; and if we engaged with our adversaries, such as Iran and Russia, the anti-American furies would subside and the world would be safer. We should nation-build at home, not overseas, and slash the defense budget accordingly.

Mr. Obama pursued this vision starting with his Inaugural Address and throughout his first term. He tried to "reset" relations with Russia by dismantling a missile-defense deal with Poland and the Czech Republic. He muted support for the democratic uprising in Iran in 2009 lest it upset the mullahs he needed for a nuclear weapons deal. 
...
One way to start undoing the damage would be to concede that Dick Cheney was right all along. (Wall Street Journal, 9/9/2014)

Of course, Liberals would jump off a bridge before conceding that Cheney was right. Instead we get Obama attributing the various meltdowns throughout the world to the power and influence of Facebook and Twitter. 

A Liberal, but loyal reader takes it further explaining that Bush initiated rapprochement with Putin and Russia and that Obama did not do anything about ISIS initially because they were U.S. allies. Which does not explain 1) why Obama and Hillary Clinton made such a big deal about a "reset" with Russia (why reset if you are continuing Bush's policy?); and, 2) if ISIS was an ally (a preposterous suggestion) why did Obama belittle them by calling the group wanna-be terrorists?


Other Worldly
The goal seemed more preparing the NATO alliance for a new Cold War with Russia than exploring how to make peace, even as Moscow was helping to bring about the cease-fire agreement.
...
The meeting was just the most recent disturbing example of how cavalierly and cynically the NATO leaders — including President Obama — have escalated tensions, while dismissing opportunities to bring the conflict to a reasonable conclusion quickly. Absent from the discussion in Wales, among other things, was any recognition of NATO members’ own roles in triggering the crisis.
...
There would not have been such a concerted Russian nationalist response to the crisis had the West not sowed the seeds of suspicion and mistrust over the past 18 years by growing NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe, in spite of the assurances that Russia ostensibly received from the George H.W. Bush administration that “NATO will not expand one inch to the east.” Russia clearly views NATO expansion not only as provocative but also as a betrayal of an agreement, and it perceives NATO’s push toward its borders as an act of aggression — and Western leaders know it. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 9/9/2014)

At last the long-awaited Katrina vanden Heuvel analysis of the Ukranian-Russian conflict. 

Conclusion? 

It is all the fault of the West! Yes, you read that correctly and - as best as we can tell - it is not meant to be satirical. In the world that vanden Heuvel lives, the threat of NATO expansion provoked Russia into an unavoidable response and Russia gets credit for the tentative cessation of hostilities. Oh, and Bush Sr. is also somehow to blame.

vanden Heuvel is obviously making her bid to be named Vladimir Putin's favorite Western journalist. Right now, no one else comes close. Her only nit with Putin is the following:

"While there is no question that Russia at times has contributed to tensions in the region..."

And by "contributing to tensions" vanden Heuvel must mean Russia's armed annexation of Crimea.

Can journalists be fired for stupidity?

Keeping Score

Everything Old
The Obama administration is preparing to carry out a campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria that may take three years to complete, requiring a sustained effort that could last until after President Obama has left office, according to senior administration officials. (New York Times, 9/8/2014)

President Obama's proposed military actions in the Middle East were met by boisterous objections from Dennis Kucinich, Bernie Sanders, Code Pink and Senator Barack Obama. 

Get it?


Price of Victory
Unilateral action by the president might undermine the prospects for bipartisan agreement on a broad immigration overhaul for years to come.

As the election draws closer, some nervous Senate Democrats have told White House officials that President Obama’s actions could cost them victory at the polls.

It was that concern, shared by members of Mr. Obama’s inner circle as well as other members of Congress, White House officials said, that ultimately prompted the president to break the promise he made on June 30 in the Rose Garden to act on his own before summer’s end to fix the immigration system. (New York Times, 9/8/2014)

Another broken promise! Is anyone out there keeping track...anyone?

And again, Obama will not act - at least for now - to implement a policy that if implemented would cause people not to vote for Democrats. Sounds like another winner.


Pointless
His (new Meet the Press host Chuck Todd) questions to President Obama were succinct and pointed, but Mr. Obama is not a rewarding guest in a one-on-one interview. He tends to give long, meditative and atonal answers that wear down listeners. (New York Times, 9/8/2014)

So Obama is boring and doesn't answer the question asked. Really? The greatest orator of this or any generation?


For Better or Worse
His policy is better than he has articulated it.... (E.J. Dionne, Jr., Washington Post, 9/3/2014)

Does Dionne even recognize the irony of what he writes? Obama the orator (the greatest of this or any generation - see above) is unable to 'articlulate' his foreign policy. 


Round Up
When President Obama addresses the nation on Wednesday to explain his plan to defeat Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria, it is a fair bet he will not call them the “JV team.”

Nor does he seem likely to describe Iraq as “sovereign, stable and self-reliant” with a “representative government.” And presumably he will not assert after more than a decade of conflict that “the tide of war is receding.”

As he seeks to rally Americans behind a new military campaign in the Middle East, Mr. Obama finds his own past statements coming back to haunt him. Time and again, he has expressed assessments of the world that in the harsh glare of hindsight look out of kilter with the changed reality he now confronts. (New York Times, 9/9/2014)

Yes, that about sums it up. Thank you New York Times. It's true we are hard on you, but it feels so right and so honest when you get it correct.


Heartless
A new ABC News poll has nothing but heartache for Democrats and President Obama. By a wide margin of 52-42%, voters see President Obama as a failed president. Americans also see Obama as more of a divider than uniter. Only 38% believe President Obama is uniting the country. A majority of 55% believe he's dividing the country. (Breitbart.com, 9/9/2014)

And he is not yet halfway through his second term! Just think of how much further Obama has to fall. Let's hope Americans remember the next time they use the polls to elect novelty candidates. 

Assessing Points to Nowhere

Attention Deficit
The land appropriation has quickly turned attention back to the Israeli-occupied West Bank and exposed the contradictory visions in the Israeli government that hamper the prospects of any broader Israeli-Palestinian peace process. (New York Times, 9/1/2014)

Let's see...is there anything - anything at all - about Hamas that might "hamper the prospects of any broader Israeli-Palestinian peace process?" A few paragraphs later The Times concedes that Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist.  Could that hamper peace? 

The Times does not say.


Abandoned
California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a separate interview that Obama is perhaps "too cautious" in his approach to combating Islamic State.

"This is a group of people who are extraordinarily dangerous," she said on NBC's Meet the Press." And they'll kill with abandon." (foxnews.com, 9/1/2014)

Obama has confirmed Republican accusations that Dems cannot be trusted with national defense. Therefore, smart Dems are getting to the right of Obama on terror. 


Identity Theft
The state’s voter identification law, which took effect in June 2013, is one of the most stringent of its kind in the country. It requires voters who show up at the polls to identify themselves with one of five forms of government-issued ID, including a driver’s license, a passport or a concealed-handgun license. (New York Times, 9/2/2014)

Look at what those racists in Texas are requiring! To vote you have to present five different kinds of ID to vote. Why it's Jim Crow all over again! 

Oh wait. You have to present ONE of FIVE different kinds of ID. And one can be a concealed carry permit. Actually that sounds pretty - what's the word? - liberal. 

(Of course the Times highlights the horror that is Texas ID laws by showing us a pretty 22 year-old wearing a college tee shirt who does not have an approved ID. Victim alert!)


Unequal
Vice President Joe Biden declared “it’s time to take back America” to ensure “you get an equal share” at a Labor Day rally in Detroit, MI on Monday. (Breitbart.com, 9/2/2014)

America's national punch line shows up in Detroit to tell the crowd that they are not getting their fair share. 

Detroit! 

You can't make this stuff up.