Hillary Clinton and the Art of the Smear

In the face of brutal attacks from Bernie Sanders about her use of Wall Street firms as her personal piggybank, Hillary Clinton hits back calling it an "artful smear." Hillary knows a thing or two about smears having engaged in a few of her own along the way. Knowing that a forceful rebuttal is required, Hillary's team  comes up with "artful smear." Not just a run-of-the-mill smear, mind you, an "artful" smear. Someone at Team Hillary will get something extra in their paycheck this week for that one. Even Geraldo Rivera was using it in her defense. 

Which leads us to ask Democrats the following: how would you characterize the attacks on Mitt Romney four years ago? Romney is a church elder, a tither, charity patron, successful businessman, a model husband and father. Dems made him out to be a rapacious capitalist whose business practices killed people. Harry Reid said on the Senate floor that he had it on good knowledge that Romney had not paid taxes for ten years. Now those are "artful smears."


Rolling
The evidence continues to roll in: Broad increases in the minimum wage destroy jobs and hurt the working-class Americans that they are supposed to help. The latest evidence is an announcement that Wal-Mart, America’s largest employer, will close more than 150 U.S. stores, a move that will affect 10,000 employees. (Andy Puzder, Wall Street Journal, 2/6/2016)

Liberals will probably criticize Wal-Mart for closing stores and laying off people. 

The same Liberals who complain when Wal-Mart opens a store. 

The same Liberals who complain that Wal-Mart does not pay its employees enough.  


Programmed
Hillary Clinton’s older feminist supporters have a message for young women who are not backing her candidacy: Shame on you. ...Two feminist icons of Mrs. Clinton’s generation made their frustration known over the weekend, calling on young women who view Mr. Sanders as their candidate to essentially grow up and get with the program. (New York Times, 2/7/2016)

So young females should support Hillary Clinton because she is a woman. Just as all blacks are supposed to support Barack Obama. Funny that no one is saying that blacks should support Ben Carson or Hispanics should support Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio. For that matter, what about Carly Fiorina? She fits the criteria. But Carly Fiorina does not run as a woman. Ben Carson does not run as a black candidate. Ted Cruz does not run as a Hispanic. The difference, of course, is that with Democrats it is all about identity politics. So Hillary Clinton runs as a woman. (Also a grandmother!) That is the Democrat "program." 


Whistle Stop
There were reports of secret waiting lists to hide long delays in care. Whistle-blowers said as many as 40 veterans had died waiting for appointments. And Congress was demanding answers.

Despite mounting evidence of trouble at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Senator Bernie Sanders, then the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, initially regarded the complaints as overblown, and as a play by conservatives to weaken one of the country’s largest social welfare institutions.

“There is, right now, as we speak, a concerted effort to undermine the V.A.,” Mr. Sanders said in May 2014, two weeks after the story was picked up by national news organizations. “You have folks out there now — Koch brothers and others — who want to radically change the nature of society, and either make major cuts in all of these institutions, or maybe do away with them entirely.” (New York Times, 2/7/2016)

The New York Times largely ignored the VA scandal when it was uncovered for several reasons. Most importantly. it could not be pinned on Republicans. A Democrat, Bernie Sanders was in charge of Senate oversight for the VA. Furthermore, the VA is the Democrat model for single payer, government run, health care. How would it look to expose any of that?

Now, of course, it is convenient for the Times to bring it up in order to check Sanders in the face of his challenge against their favored candidate.

Small Victories

Longing
Long before revelations in the spring that the Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix had manipulated waiting lists to hide that veterans were facing long delays to see doctors, senior department officials in Washington had been made aware of serious problems at the hospital, according to filings before a federal administrative board. (New York Times, 12/26/2014)

An entire article on the Veterans Affairs scandal and not one mention of the politician in charge of Senate oversight of the VA. Who would be..... Vermont's own Bernie Sanders! Can you imagine such a journalistic oversight if the senator had been, say, Ted Cruz?


Jihadist
The revival of the U.S. financial system after the crash of 2008 is arguably the Obama administration’s biggest domestic policy success. But Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), in her jihad against Wall Street, seems determined to devalue this accomplishment — and to make financial expertise a mark of shame for Democrats, rather than a source of pride. (David Ignatius, Washington Post, 12/23/2014)

Even Liberal columnists realize that - when it comes to the financial markets - Lizzie Warren is off the reservation..... wait, can we say that? 


Let's Analyze Kat's Column
The embargo hurt the Cuban people it claimed to help and bolstered the regime that it intended to undermine. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 12/23/2014)

And how we know that the U.S. embargo has "bolstered the regime" is because ... what?

The effort to isolate Cuba has been increasingly isolating the United States both in the hemisphere and across the world.

And the specific proof that the U.S. has been 'isolated' by its embargo is that Hugo Chavez in Venezuela is no friend to the U.S. Oh wait, he's dead. 

Normalizing relations with Cuba enables the United States to advocate for individual liberty, without being seen as a bully trying to club a small neighbor into submission.

Great idea Kat! Let's try this with North Korea!

The Cold War is over; the Soviet Union no more.

And Putin's invasion of the Ukraine, that doesn't count.

For more than a century, we have casually and routinely trampled the sovereign rights of our neighbors to the south.

Finally we get to the real point that Comrade vanden Heuvel wants to make: it is all America's fault! Yes, blame America.


Eyes On
Polls taken over the last three months reveal a list of home-state complaints: Mr. Christie’s favorability is at its lowest point, with more voters disapproving than approving of his job performance. New Jersey residents think he is making decisions with an eye on his national standing rather than on what is good for their state. (New York Times, 12/28/2014)

Chris Christie probably breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the New York Times had pivoted away from writing endless negative stories about him to focus on Jeb Bush. He was foolish if he thought he could let his guard down. Given that the Times will be writing no hit pieces on Hillary Clinton, Lizzie Warren or Bernie Sanders, it has plenty of capacity to focus on all the potential Republican candidates.


Bouncer
What’s the important lesson from this late Obama bounce? Mainly, I’d suggest, that everything you’ve heard about President Obama’s economic policies is wrong. (Paul Krugman, New York Times, 12/29/2014)

After six years of dreadful economic news, it is now official. We can refer to any uptick as "the Obama recovery." Yes, those specific programs that Obama put in place have led to this "bounce." Guess they just took a little time to work..... Of course, voters rewarded Obama and the Democrat party for their careful stewardship of the economy by keeping the Senate in their hands and returning the House to the Dems. That happened, right?

White House Confirms: Obama to Attend Choom Gang Reunion

At Pains
For President Obama, any decision to reinforce the Iraqis or Kurds will be painful. On Thursday night he still took credit for removing all U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011. He was at pains to reassure Americans that the U.S. will not fight another war in Iraq even as he committed U.S. air power to the war that continues in Iraq.

It's clear now that his decision to withdraw all U.S. troops in 2011 was a strategic and increasingly a moral disaster. The President—which is to say the United States—bears responsibility now for the humanitarian catastrophe occurring in Iraq... (Wall Street Journal, 8/8/2014)

So Obama takes credit for withdrawing from Iraq which emboldened Islamic terrorists to commit atrocities which now requires Obama to reengage in Iraq. Only Liberals can see the logic of Obama's thinking.


Low Tide
As he explained himself to a national television audience, Mr. Obama made a point of reassuring a war-weary public that the president who pulled American forces out of Iraq at the end of 2011 had no intention of fighting another full-scale war there. Yet his presence in the State Dining Room testified to the bleak reality that the tide of events in that ancient land have defied his predictions and aspirations before. (New York Times, 8/8/2014)

At Iraq to the list of things that have disappointed Obama. 


Sorted
... Mr. Obama managed to condemn "torture" while simultaneously lecturing Americans not to be "sanctimonious" against CIA officials doing their "job." Sort through that one. (Kimberley A. Strassel, Wall Street Journal, 8/7/2014)

Like most presidents Obama has discovered that it is much easier to throw darts at the decisions of his predecessor when you are a candidate. The small voice in the back of his head must torture him everyday as it reminds him that Bush/Cheney were right.

And then there is this, also from Strassel's column:

All this started when Nancy Pelosi claimed in 2009 that the CIA failed to brief her in 2002 about its enhanced-interrogation program. Details then flooded out, including embarrassing facts about just how repeatedly and thoroughly Democratic leaders and Intelligence committee members in both chambers had been briefed—including Mrs. Pelosi. 


Gain and Loss
Mr. Abu Marzook said Hamas had gained popularity, remained able to fire rockets at Israel, and could re-establish its network of tunnels under Gaza.

For agreeing to the cease-fire, he argued that Hamas should receive relief from the blockade on its territory. “The Palestinians should gain something out of these battles,” he said. “They want the siege to end; they want all the gates to open.” (New York Times, 8/6/2014)

A Hamas spokesman argues - incoherently - that Hamas should be rewarded for their actions and that things have just gone swimmingly for them. THIS is why there is no peace.


Deadly
The 72-hour truce came after 29 days of fierce fighting that left more than 1,800 Palestinians dead, many of them civilians. On the Israeli side, 64 soldiers and three civilians were killed. (New York Times, 8/8/2014)

A Fox commentator noted recently that Hamas never announces the deaths of its own. All we ever hear about are the deaths of women and children.


Just Business
Promising a major change in the “way the V.A. does business,” President Obama traveled to this Army base outside Washington on Thursday to sign a bill that will expand access to health care for veterans and strengthen the powers of the Department of Veterans Affairs’s new leader to clean up abuses in its troubled network of hospitals. (New York Times, 8/7/2014)

Obama bails out Bernie Sanders. 


Train to Nowhere
High-speed rail was supposed to be President Obama’s signature transportation project, but despite the administration spending nearly $11 billion since 2009 to develop faster passenger trains, the projects have gone mostly nowhere and the United States still lags far behind Europe and China. (New York Times, 8/6/2014)

Obama continues to waste your tax dollars. How does that make you feel?

The Level of the Gods

Liberal Logic
The Hamas apologists in the Liberal media are at it again. Today on NPR, one actually defined Israel's actions as genocide. Well Israel knows a thing or two about genocide. Actually it knows 6 million things about genocide...the body count of worldwide Jewry in World War II. Yes, Israel which phones the occupants of buildings it is about to bomb warning residents to vacate the premises... 

The same Liberals call for "proportionality" from Israel which apparently means they should strive to keep the body counts on each side the same. 

This is how Liberals believe wars should be fought.


Bernie Folds
House and Senate negotiators reached agreement during the weekend on a legislative package intended to stabilize the Department of Veterans Affairs’ sprawling and embattled health care system, according to people briefed on the deal.

The leaders in the negotiations — Senator Bernard Sanders, a Vermont independent, and Representative Jeff Miller, a Florida Republican — plan to outline the agreement at a news conference Monday afternoon.

The legislation is expected to include provisions for emergency relief that would allow veterans who live far from a V.A. facility or who face wait times that exceed a certain duration to see private doctors, and have those visits paid for by the government. The measure is also expected to set aside billions of dollars to hire new doctors and nurses; build or lease dozens of additional buildings needed to treat patients; and upgrade the department’s outdated scheduling system. (New York Times, 7/27/2014)

So - if we have this correct - Colonel Bernie Sanders has admitted that government run health care is not the answer and he now endorses a voucher system. So he will also change his vote on Obamacare, right?


Pick One
In Afghanistan and Iran, John Kerry brings some reasons for hope (Headline of David Ignatius column, Washington Post, 7/24/2014)

The world is aflame and our leader is on the 14th green. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 7/24/2014)

OK, which is the more accurate depiction?


Conveyance
The United States has concluded that Russia violated a landmark arms control treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile, according to senior American officials, a finding that was conveyed by President Obama to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in a letter on Monday. (New York Times, 7/28/2014)

Obama has now called for a RE-RESET with Russia. Hillary Clinton could not be reached for comment. 


High Times
The Injustice of Marijuana Arrests
1926: Marijuana ‘Is Reported Safe’
Marijuana Is a Welcome Wedding Guest in Colorado and Washington State

At the New York Times (7/29/2014), it is All Dope - All the Time(s).

And to think this was once the country's premier newspaper...

Desire for Gain

Seeing Red
Having stripped the Washington Redskins of patent protection could the next target of Obama's out-of-control patent office be....RedStateVT? 

If it happens, RedStateVT will respond exactly as the Redskins have:

Redskins attorney Bob Raskopf said that no thought has been given to changing the professional football team's name in the wake of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision Wednesday to revoke six trademarks to the team's name and logo. The USPTO ruled that the team's name disparaged Native Americans and was therefore impermissible under federal trademark law.

"Zero. It's not happening," Raskopf told the Washington Examiner Thursday when asked if there had been any discussion at all on finding an alternate moniker, if only to spare the team from legal and public relations problems related to continuing to fight to retain the name. (Washington Examiner, 6/19/2014)


No Talking
As we have noted, the Liberal defense of the collapse of Iraq under President Obama is that anyone who supported the war cannot pass judgement. So let's use the same argument on Obama. Given the bankruptcy of Solyndra, Obama cannot talk about solar energy. How's that?


Anaerobic
As to the American people now pushing his approval below 40%, Barack Obama entered office with more good will than any president since John F. Kennedy. If the Obama presidency has run out of aerobic capacity 2½ years from the finish line, it is because of Mr. Obama's own decisions. He did this to himself. (Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal, 6/18/2014)

The response Democrats try to use - heck, Obama uses it himself - is that his failures are due to Republican obstructionism. Which, of course, just confirms his ineptitude.


Above Average
All of the 470 senior executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs received annual ratings over the last four years indicating that they were “fully successful” in their jobs or even better, according to data released at a congressional hearing on Friday, despite delays in processing disability compensation claims and problems with veterans’ access to the department’s sprawling health care system. (New York Times, 6/20/2014)

In a statement, Vermont's Senator Bernie Sanders who oversees veterans affairs in the Senate said...... 

Just kidding! Sanders has nothing to say. 


Taxing
Why shouldn't taxpayers be allowed to use the same excuses the IRS, and other elements of our imperial government, deploy when they get in trouble?  Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) aims to make it happen with his "The Dog Ate My Tax Receipts Act."  "Taxpayers should be allowed to offer the same flimsy, obviously made-up excuses the Obama Administration uses," Stockman declared... (Breitbart.com, 6/20/2014)

This is actually pretty funny!


She Was Once a Poor Black Child
Warren also recounted her struggles, painting a vivid picture of life as a harried parent juggling a career by reading from her book about the time she forgot toast in a toaster oven until it caught fire. And when she tossed the flaming slices toward the sink, one hit the curtains.

Warren noted that today, toaster ovens turn off automatically before flames erupt. "Government agencies ensure basic safety of nearly everything offered for sale," she noted, "but in 2007, no government agency stopped the sale of exploding mortgages." (Burlington Free Press, 6/20/2014)

So in Elizabeth Warren's world we have the government to thank for mitigating the national tragedy of toaster fire casualties. 

Maybe she should stick to describing her time on the reservation.

And what is it about rich white women who are running for president always telling us how tough their lives were?

Three Questions for Vermont's Colonel Bernie Sanders on the VA Scandal

Colonel Sanders:
You are the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. You were quoted as saying that Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki had your support. Then he resigned. Does Shinseki still have your support?

Asked about stories of mismanagement and fraud at VA hospitals, you were quoted as saying "people die." Please explain.

The VA has been described as being a model for the type of single payer government run health care program that you support. How is that working out for you?


Collapsed
President Obama said on Friday that he would make a decision “in the days ahead” about whether to use American military power to help the besieged Iraqi government stave off collapse at the hands of Islamist insurgents, but he ruled out using ground forces. (New York Times, 6/13/2014)

"In the days ahead" is Obama-speak for "after my weekend golf games."

"Ruling out using ground troops" is Obama's way of telling the terrorists that they have nothing to fear. 


Stun Gun
The stunning collapse of Iraq’s army in a string of cities across the north reflects poor leadership, declining troop morale, broken equipment and a sharp decline in training since the last American advisers left the country in 2011, American military and intelligence officials said Thursday. (New York Times, 6/13/2014)

Who lost Iraq? 

Barack Obama lost Iraq.


Stroked
In an interview with the BBC on Thursday, Hillary Clinton spun her Russian “Reset” policy as a “brilliant stroke.”

“You famously pressed the reset button. Are you embarrassed by that now, that gesture?” a BBC host asked Clinton.

“No I think it was a brilliant stroke which in retrospect it appears even more so, because look at what we accomplished. (freebeacon.com, 6/13/2014)

In other words, in Hillary's world, what looks to the average observer as complete and utter failure is actually pure genius. Apparently 'Hill the Inevitable' views Putin's seizure of Crimea as a coup for American foreign policy interests. How can we have an intelligent debate in this country when one side is delusional?