Examining Rudy Guiliani's Comments

Rudy Guiliani is in the crosshairs of the Liberal media for recent comments about President Obama. Let's examine the two points that have generated the most controversy. 

First, Guiliani questioned whether Obama loves America. In answering this question, let's reflect back on another president, Ronald Reagan. Liberals despised Reagan and yet no thinking person of any ideology could or would question Reagan's love of America. He wore it openly and shamelessly. Liberals might say that his patriotism was corny or jingoistic, but they could never say it was either non-existent or insincere. 

Now let's look at Obama. The trail of evidence that Obama has left includes numerous examples where he talked of America's misdeeds or America's arrogance. His worldview seems more closely aligned with those who view America as a colonialist bully. Surely Obama has talked of America favorably, but what are the soundbites that stick in your mind? They are not the Reaganesque comments. Most often they mimic the criticisms that we have heard from the likes of Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 

The Liberal rebuttal to those like Guiliani who question Obama's love of America is simply to say that Obama is the president, of course, he loves his country. That is hardly an answer, particularly because the case of Obama is so unique. Obama's father was Kenyan - not American - and Obama spent a good portion of his youth outside of America.  Furthermore, Americans have no memories of a president who seems to go out of his way to point out American mistakes - often to other countries including enemies of America. When Obama criticizes America, many Americans are uncomfortable because they intrinsically feel that whatever her faults, America is a fair and honorable country. Similarly, when Obama brings up the Crusades in a discussion of the barbarism of ISIS he sounds more like a jihadist then an American president.

Certainly even some who are born of American parents and are raised here do not love their country. But Obama's history, coupled with the public record of his comments on America make the topic of his love for his country fair game. Guiliani was only expressing the doubts and concerns that many Americans harbor. 

Guiliani's second point has been reduced by the New York Times, among others, to an inarticulate headline that does not accurately reflect the issue being raised. The Times simplifies Guiliani's comment to: "Obama's mother was white, ergo I am not a racist." We suspect that Guiliani was attempting to deflect the inevitable accusation made against any Republican when criticizing Obama: "You are a racist." This is Liberal 'reflexology' and Republicans tend to fall for it. When accused of being racist Republicans instead should simply respond: "Really, what makes you say that?" Then they should wait and force the other side to articulate the case for racism. The ensuing gibberish will end the discussion. 

For the record, RedStateVT wonders also whether Obama truly loves his country. 

Let the fun begin. 

Wind of the Plot

Dark Times
Because of Obama’s fecklessness — abetted by a Congress that has turned darkly isolationist — the world is now a less safe place. The policeman has proved to be a bumbler. He is unschooled in foreign policy. Rogues and killers have taken the measure of him. He is smaller than first appeared. 

This editorial from the Wall Street Journal might seem harsh, but it bears consideration.

Oh wait. It's not from the Journal. It's from Liberal Washington Post opinion columnist Richard Cohen (Washington Post, 9/16/2013). 

Pigs fly.


Limits
Federal officials often say that health insurance will cost consumers less than expected under President Obama’s health care law. But they rarely mention one big reason: many insurers are significantly limiting the choices of doctors and hospitals available to consumers. (NYT, 9/22/2013)

Now they tell us. The Obamacare lies continue to be exposed. Next thing you know they will tell us that seniors WILL receive counseling on "end-of-life" options....


No Thanks
...policing is far better than it used to be, thanks to innovations by Mayor David Dinkins and in particular Mr. Giuliani’s police commissioner, William Bratton. (New York Times editorial, 9/22/2013)

There are lies and then there are the editorials of the New York Times. Here we learn of the wonderful period in NYC history known as the Dinkins administration when peace ruled the five boroughs. 

Well that's not the way we remember it and we were there. 

The Dinkins years were characterized by chaos, crime and racial divisiveness. It was only when Sheriff Rudy Guiliani rode into town that things got better. Liberals constantly believe that they can rewrite history to suit their purposes. 

Fence Post

Noticeable
But China’s growth in the American auto industry is drawing notice in Washington. Last year, the Obama administration filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization that China’s government was unfairly subsidizing the production of some parts shipped to America. And the country’s inroads into American-made batteries and electric vehicles have drawn scrutiny because that sector of the industry has been heavily subsidized by the United States government. (NYT, 5/12/2013)

Has so much irony ever been found in two sentences? Obama is mad at the Chinese government for subsidizing auto parts at the same time that the American government subsidizes electric car parts.


Hand Out
Republican lawmakers have become reflexive in rejecting every extended hand from the administration, even if the ideas were ones that they themselves once welcomed. Under the circumstances, Mr. Obama would be best advised to stop making peace offerings. Only when the Republican Party feels public pressure to become a serious partner can the real work of governing begin. (New York Times editorial, 5/12/2013)

Well, we found more irony. Democrats - who famously worked so well with George Bush - cannot fathom why Republicans would snub President Obama's "peace offerings." (We tried to come up with a joke about the white man bargaining with native Americans, but we couldn't get the racial components worked out.)

So one more time:
-Democrats would not work with George Bush. They despised him.

-Republicans do not trust Obama or the Democrats because of the way in which they passed Obamacare.

-Both sides are posturing (and waiting) for the mid-term elections.


Suggestion
The New York Times obtained a 12-page timeline from the inspector general’s audit on Sunday. It suggests that the effort to single out Tea Party groups goes back to March 2010 when a special Determinations Unit in the Cincinnati office of the I.R.S. began searching tax-exemption applications that focused on groups on one side of the political spectrum, rather than broadly on political groups without a social-welfare mission. (NYT, 5/12/2013)

Halfway through an article on the IRS investigation of conservative groups we get this, giving hope that the Times does remember its past ability to do investigative journalism. Perhaps the Times has finally found an Obama scandal that they can run with. There have been numerous opportunities after all....


Lean To
President Barack Obama said if any Internal Revenue Service staff targeted groups based on their political leanings, they would be held “fully accountable” for their actions.  “If in fact IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that have been reported on, and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that’s outrageous,” Mr. Obama said, in his first public remarks on the issue. (WSJ, 5/13/2013)

Obama added; "And when I say 'fully accountable' I mean just like those responsible for Fast and Furious, the collapse of Solyndra, and the debacle in Benghazi were held fully accountable." Meanwhile, Jay Carney said the IRS scandal was "old news."


Down Below
The State Department board that reviewed last year’s attack on a diplomatic outpost in Libya never questioned Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state at the time, because it had already decided responsibility lay below her level, the board’s chairman said Sunday. Thomas R. Pickering, a former ambassador who led the review, said his group discussed its findings with Mrs. Clinton but did not pose any questions because it had established the facts to its satisfaction and concluded that mistakes were made by less senior officials. Likewise, he said, the panel did not question her two deputies. (NYT, 5/12/2013)

This is precious. Why have a review if you have already determined the answer? And why not question the person who accepted responsibility? 

While we are on Benghazi-gate, we saw Rudy Guiliani a couple of nights ago make a brilliant point. The Obama/Clinton administration contends that they did not send help to the beleaguered ambassador in Libya because they would not have gotten there in time. To which Guiliani responds: "Oh really, how did Clinton/Obama know how long the attack was going to last?" 

Central Plank

Trashy
President Obama is a gifted politician, but sometimes he tries to exceed even what his spinning can accomplish. Witness this week's spectacle of the President denouncing his own antiterror policies.

Mr. Obama renewed his vow to shut down Guanatanamo during his Tuesday press conference, and to transfer or release the 166 military combatants still held there, details to follow. Then he trashed the larger antiterror program that he continues to execute using the rhetoric of a rookie ACLU lawyer: "The idea that we would still maintain forever a group of individuals who have not been tried, that is contrary to who we are," he said. "It is contrary to our interests and it needs to stop." Note the passive voice. (WSJ, 5/1/2013)

We actually disagree with the Journal's contention that Obama is a "gifted politician." The Journal's Taranto, we believe, has it right (see below). 

Obama has been called out in the past on his use of straw men to advance whatever argument he is trying to make. Sometimes he is his own straw man!

On another note, we did some channel surfing last night. There was lots of coverage of the new suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing as expected. Until we got to CNN which decided instead to highlight Guantanamo! Christiane Amanpour had her large violin out for the gentle souls in Gitmo who are on a principled hunger strike against their detention. She attempted to bully Rudy Guiliani by guffawing and talking over him. 

You don't bully Guiliani.

Mr. Mayor laid out the case in simple and stark terms. Some released prisoners have returned to the battlefield and killed Americans. Indefinite detention may be unfortunate, but the solution lies not with America, but with the larger Muslim world. It was a bravura performance. Amanpour was left whimpering. 


Adversarial
Every time we write a column making note of Obama's deficiencies of political skill, our small gaggle of fanboy adversaries on Twitter honk away at the "obstructionist Republicans" they believe are to blame for all that is wrong. Of course one man's obstructionist is another's valiant defender of the republic, but to insist on the former designation begs the question anyway. The Republicans in 1995 were no less "obstructionist" than today's, but Clinton was able to master the problem. (James Taranto, WSJ, 5/1/2013)

A fellow blogger constantly chides us about "Republican obstructionists." (By the way, these are the same as "obstructionist Republicans.")  Our response usually includes some combination of the following:

- We don't recall Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi being noted for their willingness to advance George Bush's agenda.
- Obama has demonstrated time and again that he has little interest in working with the other side; indeed his expectation is that the other side should agree with him.

The larger issue, of course, is that Obama is now into his fifth year as president and continues to beat the same drum: blame Republicans and tax the rich. This is what his presidency has become. (Forget the "transformational presidency.") It's official. Obama fatigue has set in.  


Anticipation
"Obamacare is extremely problematic, it is expensive, it is a $500 billion [higher] cost than we originally anticipated, it's cutting into Medicare benefits and it's having companies lay off their employees because they are worried about the cost of it. That is extremely problematic, it needs an enormous fix." (South Carolina congressional candidate Elizabeth Colbert Busch quoted by Kimberley A. Strassel, WSJ, 5/1/2013)

Never mind not campaigning with Obama, Democrat candidates are now campaigning against Obamacare.