You Choose The Headline

Obama normalizes relations with Cuba, where torture is legal

What do Obama's deals with Russia, China, the Taliban and Cuba have in common? Answer: He got taken!

Christmas comes early in Vermont! Single payer shelved

Obama: We will no longer torture, drone strikes to continue


Pressing
Days earlier, two big progressive groups, MoveOn.org and Democracy for America, also pressed the first-term Massachusetts senator to seek the party’s presidential nomination.

The implicit logic of the Draft Warren movement is that after eight years of the Obama presidency, the American people want to move . . . further left. (Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal, 12/17/2014)

A challenge from Bernie Sanders or Liz 'Pocahantas' Warren or a more Left-leaning Hillary Clinton all spell good news for Republicans in 2016.


Linkage
But several former directors and deputy directors of the CIA have all attested to the link between KSM’s interrogation and the identification of bin Laden’s courier.

I am sorry that the Feinstein Report, which failed to interview those directors and thus has the credibility of a Rolling Stone article, seeks to deny this. Maybe Sabrina Rubin Erdely, author of the discredited University of Virginia gang-rape story and a pro at failing to interview key witnesses, will find a new career in Sen. Feinstein’s office. (Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, 12/15/2014)

Good point from Bret Stephens!

Cutting Spending For Education: Something We All Can Agree On

Profiles in Courage
Racial profiling will still be allowed at airports, along border despite new policy (Washington Post, 12/5/2014)

And American lives will be saved because of it.


Bad
 “...every time something bad happens in the black community, we can’t bring up slavery.” (Charles Barkley, 12/5/2014)

Sir Charles is not backing down! Good for him.


Per Cent
Ms. Landrieu, 59, earned a reputation as one of the most conservative Democrats in Washington in her 18 years there, particularly with her vigorous support of the oil and gas industry, a position that often put her at odds with the party’s environmentalists. (New York Times, 12/6/2014)

...Ms. Landrieu had voted with Mr. Obama 97 percent of the time. (New York Times, 12/7/2014)

According to the New York Times, Mary Landrieu who voted with Obama 97%, of the time is a conservative Democrat. 

Also according to the New York Times: those who voted with Obama 98-99% of the time are moderate Democrats; those who voted with him 100% of the time are Democrats; those who voted with him over 100% of the time are liberal Democrats. 


Trans Parent
Last September, a brief mention in a welter of bureaucratic announcements caught the eye of Steven Aftergood, an advocate for government transparency at the Federation of American Scientists. He investigated and discovered that the Central Intelligence Agency was proposing to eventually destroy the email of all but a small number of its thousands of employees, from covert operatives to counterterrorism officers. (New York Times editorial, 12/7/2014)

Of no concern to the editorial board at the New York Times: the disappearance of Lois Lerner's e-mails.


Linked In
A long-awaited Senate report condemning torture by the Central Intelligence Agency has not even been made public yet, but former President George W. Bush’s team has decided to link arms with former intelligence officials and challenge its conclusions.

The report is said to assert that the C.I.A. misled Mr. Bush and his White House about the nature, extent and results of brutal techniques like waterboarding, and some of his former administration officials privately suggested seizing on that to distance themselves from the controversial program, according to people involved in the discussion. But Mr. Bush and his closest advisers decided that “we’re going to want to stand behind these guys,” as one former official put it. (New York Times, 12/8/2014)

In the wake of the disaster that has been the Obama presidency, George W. Bush's presidency is already being reevaluated....to the upside. And it is no wonder. As Senate Democrats prepare to issue a report which will result in the death of Americans, Bush - given the opportunity to sell out the CIA - stands with them and defends his actions to protect Americans. 

That is how it is in America: Republicans defend the country and Democrats weaken it.