Today's funny: NY Times anoints Elizabeth Warren "progressive avatar."

Water Logged
The meeting comes as Mr. Biden — whose eldest son, Beau, died in May — has begun to intensively test the waters for a third White House run, meeting with his small inner circle and telephoning Democratic donors. (New York Times, 8/23/2015)

Joe Biden has endured almost unbearable family hardship in his life, the latest being the death of his son. He is deserving of our sympathy and support. 

But this does not mean that we should elect him president which is what the emerging story line has become. For the same reason, Hillary Clinton is not deserving of the presidency simply because she has endured years of cheating by her husband. Nor does she deserve the position because she is a grandmother, the emerging story line of her campaign. 

Why not just elect the person most qualified? 


His and Hers
Sheriff’s investigators are to offer evidence to prosecutors that could lead to a manslaughter charge against Caitlyn Jenner for her role in a fatal car crash on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, Calif., in February. (New York Times, 8/23/2015)

Defense: "I was not driving the car. It was driven by Bruce Jenner."


Build Yourself a Myth
If there is one health myth that will not die, it is this: You should drink eight glasses of water a day. It’s just not true. There is no science behind it. (Aaron E. Carroll, New York Times, 8/24/2015)

Another myth with no science behind it: global warming.


Damaged Goods
A lawyer for Huma Abedin, a top adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton, has accused Charles E. Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, of damaging Ms. Abedin’s reputation through “unfounded allegations” about her time at the State Department. (New York Times, 8/24/2015)

The Clinton cancer - corruption - infects everyone surrounding Bill and Hill. Huma Abedin (a.k.a. Mrs. Carlos Danger) lawyers up. 


Bombed
In any month other than August in the Summer of Trump, the fact that a sitting vice president asked a major progressive avatar to meet with him before a decision about a presidential campaign would have been a news bomb.

The private meeting on Saturday between Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts may have gotten less attention than it might have otherwise, but it was the clearest signal yet of Mr. Biden’s seriousness in thinking about entering the race. (New York Times, 8/24/2015)

So the New York Times has a new label for Elizabeth Warren. She is a "progressive avatar."

Pause while we gag.

Here we have yet another example of how the Liberal Media anoints favored politicians notwithstanding their duplicity and flawed character. Ted Kennedy was a "liberal lion" who also happened to regularly abuse alcohol and women. Bill Clinton is the revered senior statesman of the Democrat party who cheated on his wife with the White House help and then lied about it. Elizabeth Warren was hired by Harvard Law after constructing a false narrative claiming Native American ancestry. None of this matters, of course, because they all hold the politically correct views. Meanwhile, churchgoing Mitt Romney was vilified for having a successful business career. 

Reprise

Expectations
America’s employers added 162,000 jobs in July, less than expected, as the unemployment rate ticked down to 7.4 percent. (NYT, 8/2/2013)

Unemployment falls to 7.4%. Previously it was 7.4%. More proof that Obama's economic plan is working.


Granted
President Obama is even less likely to go through with a visit to Moscow this fall after Russia’s decision on Thursday to grant Edward J. Snowden temporary asylum. For Mr. Obama, though, the Snowden affair is only one of myriad reasons to beg off the scheduled meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin. (NYT, 8/1/2013)

Putin gives asylum to Snowden. More proof that Obama's "reset" strategy with Russia is working.


Lapped
The overlapping lines that characterize the Clinton world set off questions, at times, about whose interests are being represented: For example, Ms. Abedin was permitted, while working at the State Department, to also work as a private consultant for a company linked to former President Clinton, for Mrs. Clinton in a privately paid role, and for the family’s foundation. (NYT, 8/1/2013)

So Danger Bird Weiner's wife - a federal government employee - also moonlighted at (if we have counted correctly) three other jobs. Nothing to see here folks....


R for Funny
“2 Guns” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Violence throughout, including a disturbing scene involving live chickens that’s both played for laughs and comes with a sharp, ethical jab. (NYT, 8/1/2013)

From the New York Times movie review of the hilarious new buddy movie "2 Guns." Those wacky Hollywood moviemakers are at it again! Of course, none of this will have an impact on society....

(RedStateVT note: Jared Loughner was 22; James Holmes are 24; Adam Lanza was 20.)

Things Change

Spin This
Administering the nearly four-million-word federal tax code involves so many arcane legalities, and is so fraught with potential to ignite Washington’s partisan skirmishes or infuriate taxpayers, that much of the I.R.S. is run by lawyers. (NYT, 5/18/2013)

Yes, the same IRS that will now be responsible for enforcing Obamacare!

Writing on the IRS scandal, the New York Times gives us an inside look at the Cincinnati office where the trouble began. The scandal involves more than this office, but the intent of the Times is to attempt to convince that it was a localized problem, did not reach up high in the organization and was not part of a larger effort to target conservative groups. And so we get lots of details about just how disorganized things were, we hear that liberal advocacy groups were also targeted, and - our favorite - the terms "low level" and "mid level" referring to IRS employees repeated THREE TIMES EACH. 


Impressionism
More troubling for the current crew is that news outlets are starting to pivot to broader questions about whether Obama is competent at the business of government or a passive bystander in his own administration. That impression, if it takes hold, cannot be Etch-a-Sketched away. (Howard Kurtz, CNN.com, 5/17/2013)

A key issue for RedStateVT. Never mind black or white, Democrat or Republican, big government or small government or a hundred other demarcation points. Or deepest fear has always been this: competence or incompetence. There is little that Obama has done in five years that speaks to his competence to hold the office he holds. Be it leading an economic recovery or projecting American strength, he has been a dismal failure. Democrats who point to Obamacare are reminded that Obama's signature achievement was passed by a Democrat super-majority led by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, that Obama was often a bystander in the process, and that the road to implementation has to date been rocky. 

Electing a junior Senator with scant experience and no legislative accomplishments, almost solely on the premise that it would assuage racial wounds of the past, has proven to be a disastrous idea.


Compensatory
Obama would never pull what Hillary pulled with her longtime aide Huma Abedin. Abedin was allowed, after the birth of her and Anthony Weiner’s son, to work part time as a top adviser in the State Department for $135,000 while also working as a consultant for private clients, some of whom had to be interested in her influence in the government.

As Politico reported, the arrangement was similar to the way many of Hillary’s aides were paid while she was a senator: “They were compensated partly through work on her government staff, and partly through her political action committee.” And others would later land lucrative gigs at Clinton-friendly organizations.

Hillary has a blind spot on ethics, not minding if things look terrible if they’re technically legit. And she has a tight grip on money, so she didn’t choose to simply shift Huma to her personal payroll. (Maureen Dowd, NYT, 5/18/2013)

Well look at what a Liberal columnist has revealed! One possible benefit to the Obama Scandals(tm)? The Obama - Clinton rivalry - always just below the surface - now comes out into the open. Here's hoping!