Untitled

Jibber Jabber
In comments subtly directed at NATO, Mr. Putin said that military alliances were gaining strength and warned against a unipolar world—shorthand in Moscow for the global influence of the U.S. In another apparent jab at Washington, he said that the principles of international cooperation were being ignored. (Wall Street Journal, 5/9/2015)

Please answer a simple question. How in God's green earth is Hillary Clinton going to run for president and talk about her foreign policy expertise? Like her boss, everything that she touched has turned into a complete mess including the vaunted "Russian reset." Vlad ('the impaler') Putin is holding his breath hoping that he gets Barack Obama's third term with a Clinton win. No doubt he is looking with longing at Poland....


Impressed
In giving Conservatives a new majority, voters rewarded an impressive economic record. Five years of Tory policies, such as a reduction in the corporate tax rate to 20% from 28% and a welfare reform that shifted more people into work have produced record employment participation rates and by far the fastest growth of any large European economy. Keynesian critics in the U.S. and U.K. derided this as “austerity,” but tax cuts and limits on government spending have been vindicated. (Wall Street Journal, 5/8/2015)

Over at the New York Times, Paul Krugman calls this success "The Triumph of the Unthinking." 


The Chronic
It’s sometimes unpopular to point out that people who behave responsibly and are willing to work generally do not end up chronically poor in America. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. Wall Street Journal, 5/8/2015)

Tell that to a Liberal. Their explanation for chronic poverty? Republicans.


Endurance
As shocking as they are, these facts make perfect sense in the context of the century-long assault that Baltimore’s blacks have endured at the hands of local, state and federal policy makers, all of whom worked to quarantine black residents in ghettos, making it difficult even for people of means to move into integrated areas that offered better jobs, schools and lives for their children. (New York Times editorial, 5/10/2015)

So given the decades-long Liberal monopolies in cities such as Baltimore, Chicago and Detroit we are guessing that the editors at the New York Times are pointing their fingers at the policies of Democrat political leaders. Or are we being naive?


Dog in the Fight
By 2004, Mr. Braman and his wife had donated $1,000 to Mr. Rubio’s State House campaign, the first of many contributions. Mr. Rubio quickly emerged as a dogged champion of Mr. Braman’s most cherished cause: state funding for a Miami cancer institute that bears the Braman family name. (New York Times, 5/10/2015)

The Times breaks the story that Marco Rubio has a benefactor who is - God forbid - a billionaire! Not only that, but Rubio may have acted on said billionaire's behalf. The apparent crime? Funding for a cancer center!

Now wasn't there something in the news just a couple of days ago about Hillary Clinton possibly trading favors with a Russian billionaire over uranium....

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?

Shadow Shall Cover Us

Buffed
House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday rebuffed conservatives who had been urging him not to invite President Obama to deliver the State of the Union address, in protest over his executive actions on immigration. 

Boehner reasoned that giving Obama the floor would hurt, not help, the president's cause. 

"The more the president talks about his ideas, the more unpopular he becomes," Boehner said. "Why would I want to deprive him of that opportunity?" (Foxnews.com, 12/4/2014)

Who would have guessed that Boehner had such a good sense of humor? He should thank Obama for giving him good material. 


Busted
First, while it’s true that most Americans have insurance through Medicare, Medicaid, and employment-based coverage, that doesn’t mean that only the current uninsured benefit from a program that guarantees affordable care. Maybe you have good coverage now, but what happens if you’re fired, or your employer goes bust, or it cancels its insurance program? What if you want to change jobs for whatever reason, but can’t find a new job that comes with insurance? (Paul Krugman, New York Times, 12/5/2014)

It is shocking that Krugman does not know what you do if you lose your employer-sponsored health insurance. 

So here's the answer: you buy individual health insurance. It is offered in all 50 states. 

We are pleased to be able to provide this public service message...


Evidentiary
A long-awaited report by a New Jersey legislative committee says that there is “no conclusive evidence” whether Gov. Chris Christie knew about the controversial lane closings at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 before or as they were happening.

But in a detailed chronology, the report argues that the governor had many opportunities to know about the lane closings, the political motive behind them and the involvement of his administration, even as he insisted he knew nothing. (New York Times, 12/5/2014)

The Times continues its hard-hitting investigative reporting on what New Jersey Governor Chris Christie knew about a traffic back-up on the GW Bridge. Once reporting has been completed - and not before - they will be able to turn their attention to Lois Lerner and those lost and found e-mails.

Turn Like a Wheel Inside a Wheel

Write Off
Ukraine has already been written off. But Eastern Europe need not worry. Obama understands containment. He recently dispatched 150 American ground troops to Poland and each of the Baltic states. You read correctly: 150. Each. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 5/1/2014)

If Obama reads Krauthammer's devastating piece on his foreign policy failures and if he had any humility, he would resign the presidency. 

Obama has no humility and he will not resign. Whether it is Syria, or the broader Middle East, or the Ukraine, he thinks he is winning. Obama's solution to these issues is to "pivot" to Malaysia.


Feelings
The effects of human-induced climate change are being felt in every corner of the United States, scientists reported Tuesday, with water growing scarcer in dry regions, torrential rains increasing in wet regions, heat waves becoming more likely and more severe, wildfires growing worse, and forests dying under assault from heat-loving insects.

Such sweeping changes have been caused by an average warming of less than 2 degrees Fahrenheit over most land areas of the country in the past century, the scientists found. If greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane continue to escalate at a rapid pace, they said, the warming could conceivably exceed 10 degrees by the end of this century. (New York Times, 5/7/2014)

George Will had a wonderful piece a month or so ago. He related how a hundred or more German scientists, supported by the Nazis, denounced Albert Einstein's work. Will quotes Einstein as saying "if I were wrong, they would only need one." And so it is with climate change, or whatever Liberals are calling it now. The gist of the Liberal argument is that XX% of scientists agree. Of course, no mention is made of the conflicts of interests, e.g. the funding received by these scientists, their political affiliation, etc. 

Oh, and then there is this:

According to the RSS satellite data, whose value for April 2014 is just in, the global warming trend in the 17 years 9 months since August 1996 is zero. The 212 months without global warming represents more than half the 423-month satellite data record, which began in January 1979. No one now in high school has lived through global warming. (Climatedepot.com, 5/4/2014)


Projectile
Premiums were soaring, they declared, when they have actually come in below projections. (Paul Krugman, New York Times, 5/5/2014)

Krugman declares victory for Obamacare. And shame on those Republicans who do not acknowledge it! 

Note his deceit, however. "Premiums have come in below projections." Not, premiums are lower because of Obamacare and everyone is paying less for healthcare. If Krugman was honest he would say that premiums are higher, but not as high as was feared. 


Non-Qualified
As I’ve argued before, Benghazi doesn’t qualify as a scandal because the Republican allegations, even if true, don’t amount to much. (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 5/5/2014)

Well, the Republican allegation is that the Obama administration sought - immediately before the 2012 presidential election - to deflect attention away from their claim of success in dealing with Al Qaeda by blaming an Al Qaeda attack (that cost the lives of four Americans including an ambassador) on an internet video and "not a foreign policy failure." In doing so, Republicans allege that the Obama administration misled the American people...again immediately before the presidential election.

Dana Milbank believes that this does not "amount to much." 

What price, we wonder, does someone like Milbank place on his journalistic integrity?

Wind of the Plot

Predisposed
Vermont would require that retailers charge shoppers a 10-cent fee for disposable carryout bags in an attempt to streamline waste management and cut down on litter under a bill being debated in the Legislature, but not all businesses support the measure. (Burlington Free Press, 2/21/2014)

Liberals prove (once again) that there is nothing too small to tax.


Unclear
Five years later, it is clear to all fair-minded economists that the stimulus did work, and that it did enormous good for the economy and for tens of millions of people. But because it fell short of its goals, and was roundly ridiculed by Republicans and inadequately defended by Democrats, who should have trumpeted its success, the president’s stimulus plan is now widely considered a stumble. (New York Times editorial, 2/23/2014)

Proving once again that when Liberals cannot win an argument they declare the argument over: Economists agree the stimulus worked. (Dems just didn't defend it adequately).

And from the same editorial:

It improved 42,000 miles of road, fixed or replaced 2,700 bridges, and bought more than 12,000 transit vehicles. It cleaned up water supplies, created the school reforms of the Race to the Top program, and greatly expanded the use of renewable energy and broadband Internet service. (New York Times editorial, 2/23/2014)

Wow, just look at what $832 billion bought. 

That's EIGHT HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO BILLION DOLLARS.


Sincerely
While I may share his feelings about the need for additional strictures on guns, having grown up in the Midwest, I know that many people come by their guns honestly and hold onto them dearly for sincere reasons.

Mr. Morgan’s approach to gun regulation was more akin to King George III, peering down his nose at the unruly colonies and wondering how to bring the savages to heel. He might have wanted to recall that part of the reason the right to bear arms is codified in the Constitution is that Britain was trying to disarm the citizenry at the time. (David Carr, New York Times, 2/24/2014)

Great column about the demise of Piers Morgan. Carr sounds like a non-conservative with whom you can have a meaningful conversation.


Inevitably
I’m not sure whether conservatives realize yet that their Plan A on health reform — wait for Obamacare’s inevitable collapse, and reap the political rewards — isn’t working. But it isn’t. (Paul Krugman, New York Times, 2/24/2014)

On the other hand, we have Paul Krugman with whom we doubt it is possible to engage in meaningful conversation.

Declaring Obamacare a success (another argument that Liberals claim has been won, all evidence to the contrary) Krugman echoes a familiar refrain: Republicans have no alternative for Obamacare. Well here is the way Republicans might respond: "You geniuses destroyed the American healthcare system and your only response is that we don't have an alternative?"

High Resolve

Divot
The pivot in counterterrorism policy that President Obama announced last week was nearly two years in the making, but perhaps the most critical moment came last spring during a White House meeting as he talked about the future of the nation’s long-running terrorism war. (NYT, 5/27/2013)

Proof once again (did you need it?) that Democrats evolve, heck they even pivot, but they don't flip-flop. That is reserved for Republicans. 


Reality
While most of the attention on the Obama administration’s health care law has been on providing coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans by 2014, workers with employer-paid health insurance are also beginning to feel the effects.
...
Bradley Herring, a health economist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, suggested the result would be more widely felt than many people realize. “The reality is it is going to hit more and more people over time, at least as currently written in law, ” he said. Mr. Herring estimated that as many as 75 percent of plans could be affected by the tax over the next decade...
...
The changes can be significant for employees. The hospital where Abbey Bruce, a nursing assistant in Olympia, Wash., worked, for example, stopped offering the traditional plan that she and her husband, Casey, who has cystic fibrosis, had chosen.

Starting this year, they have a combined deductible of $2,300, compared with just $500 before. And while she was eligible for a $1,400 hospital contribution to a savings account linked to the plan, the couple is now responsible for $6,600 a year in medical expenses, in contrast to a $3,000 limit on medical bills and $2,000 limit on pharmacy costs last year. She has had to drop out of school and take on additional jobs to pay for her husband’s medicine. (NYT, 5/27/2013)

Not to worry. Why it was only yesterday that in these very pages Paul Krugman assured us that the big surprise was going to be how seamlessly Obamacare will be implemented. 

On a Day Like No Other

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! THANKS TO ALL OUR BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVED AND SACRIFICED TO KEEP AMERICA FREE.

Cry Havoc
Representatives of these organizations have cried foul in recent weeks about their treatment by the I.R.S., saying they were among dozens of conservative groups unfairly targeted by the agency, harassed with inappropriate questionnaires and put off for months or years as the agency delayed decisions on their applications.

But a close examination of these groups and others reveals an array of election activities that tax experts and former I.R.S. officials said would provide a legitimate basis for flagging them for closer review. (NYT, 5/26/2013)

Breaking its silence on the IRS targeting of conservative groups, the New York Times declares...it was all their own fault. 


Adjustments
Republicans simply want to see the entire law go away and will not take part in adjusting it. Democrats are petrified of reopening a politically charged law that threatens to derail careers as the Republicans once again seize on it before an election year. As a result, a landmark law that almost everyone agrees has flaws is likely to take effect unchanged. (NYT, 5/26/2013)

And as everyone knows, the New York Times has provided detailed coverage of the "flaws" in Obamacare. Just kidding!


Land of Confusion
Yet important new evidence — especially from California, the law’s most important test case — suggests that the real Obamacare shock will be one of unexpected success.
...
So there will probably be a lot of administrative confusion as the law goes into effect, again especially in states where Republicans have been doing their best to sabotage the process. (Paul Krugman, NYT, 5/26/2013)

Not to worry, Krugman sees great success in Obamacare implementation... provided Republicans don't screw it up.


Spasms
In Stockholm and other towns and cities last week, bands made up mostly of young immigrants set buildings and cars ablaze in a spasm of destructive rage rarely seen in a country proud of its normally tranquil, law-abiding ways.
...
The left, which dominated Swedish politics for decades and devised the cradle-to-grave welfare system, has blamed reduced state benefits and a modest shift toward the privatization of public services for the unrest, pointing to an erosion of the country’s tolerant, egalitarian ethos. (NYT, 5/26/2013)

Coming to America. (And it is all the fault of conservatives and their crazy ideas about the private sector.)

Deft Dealing

Relentless
The Heritage Foundation and the Franklin Center presented conservative journalist, commentator, Fox News contributor and entrepreneur Michelle Malkin with the second annual Breitbart Award on Thursday for relentlessly pursuing the truth while empowering citizen journalists to do the same. (Breitbart.com, 4/25/2013)

Congratulations to Michelle Malkin. Loyal readers will recall that in 2011 Malkin was the winner of RedStateVT's coveted Cheney Award. Conservative women are the toughest!


Engaging
The top legislative leaders in Congress -- Reid, Boehner, McConnell, and Hoyer -- are now "engaged in high level confidential talks about exempting lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides from the insurance exchanges they are mandated to join as part of President Obama's health care overhaul" according to Politico.com. (DickMorris.com, 4/25/2013)

Heard this one? Congress to the American people: Shut up and take your medicine!


Starkly
In March 2011, the Russian security service sent a stark warning to the F.B.I., reporting that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was “a follower of radical Islam” who had “changed drastically since 2010” and was preparing to travel to Russia’s turbulent Caucasus to connect with underground militant groups. Six months later, Russia sent the same warning to the C.I.A. (NYT, 4/25/2013)

We can only guess what the Russians must think about U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

And while we are on the subject, our outrage is growing at the failures that led to the deaths and mutilations in Boston. Where is the Legitimate Media demanding answers? Where are Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi? 

Response to RedStateVT: We do NOT ask those questions when the president is a Democrat. That is your answer. 


Varied
The White House said Thursday that it believes the Syrian government has used chemical weapons in its civil war, an assessment that could test President Obama’s repeated warnings that such an attack could precipitate American intervention in Syria.

The White House, in a letter to Congressional leaders, said the nation’s intelligence agencies assessed “with varying degrees of confidence” that the government of President Bashar al-Assad had used the chemical agent sarin on a small scale.

But it said more conclusive evidence was needed before Mr. Obama would take action, referring obliquely to both the Bush administration’s use of faulty intelligence in the march to war in Iraq and the ramifications of any decision to enter another conflict in the Middle East. (NYT, 4/25/2013)

We wonder if President Obama ever wakes up and thinks: how is it that I get to relive the Bush presidency?  All he wanted to do once elected was enact a single-payer healthcare system, grant citizenship to illegal immigrants and redistribute the wealth of the top 10%. Instead he gets to manage the same issues as W: attacks on U.S. soil and possible WMDs. Let's see how Obama deals with the same intelligence issues that Bush did. Of course, as the Times tell us, Bush used "faulty intelligence" while Obama is using "varying degrees of confidence" intelligence!

And another way that Obama mirrors Bush:

When Bush left office, his approval rating was down in the 20s to low 30s. Now it's at 47%, which is what Obama's is. (Peggy Noonan,WSJ, 4/25/2013)


Once Adopted
Democratic senators, at a caucus meeting with White House officials, expressed concerns on Thursday about how the Obama administration was carrying out the health care law they adopted three years ago.

Democrats in both houses of Congress said some members of their party were getting nervous that they could pay a political price if the rollout of the law was messy or if premiums went up significantly. (NYT, 4/25/2013)

Of course they should pay a price for passing a bill that none of them had read.


Austere
But the great policy debate of recent years between Keynesians, who advocate sustaining and, indeed, increasing government spending in a depression, and austerians, who demand immediate spending cuts, comes close — at least in the world of ideas. At this point, the austerian position has imploded; not only have its predictions about the real world failed completely, but the academic research invoked to support that position has turned out to be riddled with errors, omissions and dubious statistics. (Paul Krugman, NYT, 4/25/2013)

Paul Krugman declares victory....again.  After mere months of austerity, Krugman concludes that he was right after all. Austerity doesn't work and countries should begin ramping up the spending as he has long advocated. Here's another idea. How about we give it a bit more time. 

Moral Suasion

Iron Indeed
But by the time she left office, the principles known as Thatcherism — the belief that economic freedom and individual liberty are interdependent, that personal responsibility and hard work are the only ways to national prosperity, and that the free-market democracies must stand firm against aggression — had won many disciples. Even some of her strongest critics accorded her a grudging respect. (NYT, 4/8/2013)

The great Margaret Thatcher. It is a shame that we do not learn from history. 


Piece Meal
The days ahead could be decisive ones for the main pieces of President Obama’s second-term agenda: long-range deficit reduction, gun safety and changes to immigration law. (NYT, 4/7/2013)

First on President Obama's second term agenda: Deficit reduction. But not just any deficit reduction, long-range deficit reduction. In fact, he talks about it all the time. Usually right after higher taxes on the rich, green energy, gun control, immigration reform, marriage equality, more money for education, more money for our crumbling infrastructure and hot AGs. Then, long-range deficit reduction. 


Really
In fact, the real, lived experience of Obamacare is likely to be one of significantly increased individual freedom. For all our talk of being the land of liberty, those holding one of the dwindling number of jobs that carry decent health benefits often feel anything but free, knowing that if they leave or lose their job, for whatever reason, they may not be able to regain the coverage they need. Over time, as people come to realize that affordable coverage is now guaranteed, it will have a powerful liberating effect. (Paul Krugman, NYT, 4/7/2013)

We were going to offer some pointed rebukes to Krugman's column, but as always, it is best to let his own words tell the story. 

We are all going to be freer, thanks to Obamacare.

Well there you go.


Swell
Between December 2007, when the recession started, and June 2009, when it ended, the number of Americans receiving federal disability benefits grew to 7.6 million from 7.1 million. Then the rolls swelled, reaching 8.9 million in March, about 5.4% of the civilian workforce ages 25 to 64, according to J.P. Morgan estimates. That compares with 1.7% of the U.S. workforce in 1970. (WSJ, 4/7/2013)

Just to be clear, this is what Republicans are talking about when they argue about entitlement programs.  Not honest payments to deserving seniors or the disabled. It is the millions of deadbeats who are gaming the system. Abetted by Liberals. 


Oh Come, Oh Come
Earlier this year, Mr. Emanuel's administration and leaders of the police sergeant's union reached a preliminary four-year contract with a 9% raise in total. In exchange, union leaders pledged to support efforts at the state level to solve the pension issue by reducing cost-of-living increases for current retirees, raising the retirement age and increasing worker contributions.

Union members rejected the deal by a 6-to-1 margin last month, with rank-and-file officers pushing the sergeants to shoot it down. For some officers, the deal belied the mayor's statements that he wanted to work with unions to resolve the pension shortfall. "To me, being a partner shouldn't mean my way or the highway," said Mike Shields, president of Chicago's largest police union. (WSJ, 4/7/2013)

It was said that only a Cold War warrior like Richard Nixon could open the door to Red China back in the day. We wonder whether it has to be a Democrat like Emanuel who has to break the union pension funds that are slowly killing America's cities. Unfortunately, Emanuel's first run-in, with the Chicago teachers, ended with him caving. Here's hoping.