In Remembrance

Thoughts and prayers go out on this day to all those who lost their lives on 9/11. We remember, in particular, our neighbor – father of our son’s best friend. John was a St. Michael's College graduate and we never drive by the campus without thinking of him.

On the Subject
Two years into the Obama Administration’s outreach to the Muslim world, it is clear that nothing has changed. Radical jihadists still seek to kill Americans. No doubt, Obama will continue along the same path, but we believe that our words will still be true another two years hence. The only option is to defeat them.

On the Subject II
Obama’s press conference yesterday was another reminder of how far he has fallen. The golden orator has again been exposed as just a guy who can read a speech off a teleprompter. Shorn of the prepared remarks, Obama becomes human. His answers were vague and halting. In particular, take a listen to his answers to the following questions:

Why do you think Democrats are running away from the health care bill as they campaign for reelection?

You were very critical of the Bush Administration for not capturing bin Laden. What does it say that you have not succeeded either?

In Vermont
Democrat gubernatorial candidate Peter Shumlin appeared on local news last night. He said – in effect - that the answer to creating more jobs in Vermont lay in passing single payer health care coverage. Pray tell, how does that create more jobs?

Something for Nothing

Hillary does nothing -- nothing -- without forethought. She plans every word, particularly when the words are critical of her president. By framing the "debt level" as a "national security threat," she gives herself jurisdiction over budget policy and makes her comments about it appropriate for a Secretary of State. And by criticizing the debt level which her president has amassed, she sets up the basis for a fiscal/economic critique of his presidency. (Dick Morris, 9/9/10)

Recall that Obama was heralded as a political genius for bringing Hillary Clinton into his administration, thereby – presumably – sidelining his biggest Democrat rival for the next election. Instead, what has transpired is that he has given her valuable experience as Secretary of State. Should she run for President, she will not be tagged as a candidate who does not have sufficient experience on the global stage.

Running Away
A total of 279 House and Senate Democrats voted for ObamaCare. Not one is running an ad touting that vote. (Kimberley A. Strassel, WSJ, 9/10/10)

Let the Sun Shine
Meanwhile, in America, the solar industry essentially vanished after Reagan stopped supporting it with federal dollars. Less than 1 percent of Americans heat their water with the sun, a number not expected to rise very quickly now that the Senate has punted on even the modest climate legislation passed by the House. (Bill McKibben, Washington Post, 9/10/10)

So the solar industry is unsustainable without government subsidies. Such subsidies which are, in effect, tax dollars collected from the American people.

United States of Tolerance

But experts on public opinion say the controversy does not represent a significant new shift in attitudes. Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center, said fresh signs of a backlash against Muslims are not showing up broadly in national surveys. "Attitudes are mixed and not as positive as they were eight years ago," he said, "but there's no sign of an upswing in anti-Muslim fervor." (Washington Post, 9/9/10)

Similarly, recent polling in the Middle East shows no shift in attitudes toward Judaism…

Could Have Fooled Us
“I've never believed that government has all the answers to our problems.”
Barack Obama

Smooth Operator

The Rev. Al Sharpton's civil rights organization, the National Action Network, said Tuesday that it is putting its deep financial difficulties behind it.

The statement came in response to a news report providing more details about the organization's shaky financial footing at the end of 2008. Tax records show it was constantly in debt and owed nearly $2 million in back taxes. (Washington Post, 9/8/10)

Ah, the Reverend Al. In a just world he would likely be in jail. In the world we live in, he’s an advisor to the president.

Burning Down the House
RedStateVT is opposed to burning, whether it be a nice filet, Qurans or Bibles. While we’re on the subject, we’d respectfully request that our Muslim friends refrain from burning the following: American flags, Israeli flags, effigies of Bush, Cheney, Obama…. Get the point?

Civil Unrest

Mississippi Gov Haley Barbour, who may seek the Republican nomination for president, is trying to sell the biggest load of revisionist nonsense about race, politics and the South that I've ever heard. Ever.

He has the gall to try to portray Southern Republicans as having been enlightened supporters of the civil rights movement all along. I can't decide whether this exercise in rewriting history should be described as cynical or sinister. Whichever it is, the record has to be set straight. (Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, 9/7/10)

WaPo’s Robinson goes after Republican Haley Barbour on civil rights history. Seems, however that he omits some interesting facts. As Michelle Malkin has noted:

Here’s a reminder about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, not that the facts seem to be a major concern:

House of Representatives:
Democrats for: 152, Democrats against: 96
Republicans for: 138 Republicans against: 34
Senate:
Democrats for: 46 Democrats against: 21
Republicans for: 27 Republicans against: 6

So, 37% of Congressional Democrats were against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, vs. 20% of Republicans in opposition. That’s 63% of Dems, and 80% of Republicans voting for passage.

Dishonoring the Troops
The speech clocked in at 2,547 words. But if encomiums to both American and Iraqi troops were deleted, it went for only 1,948 words, which meant that about one-quarter of it was mush. Yes, indeed, we all love the troops -- apple pie and momma, too. Now, let's get on with it. (Richard Cohen, Washington Post, 9/7/10)

Read the excerpt above carefully as it captures exactly how liberals feel about the military and the War on Terror. In essence: thanks for your sacrifices now let’s get going with the really important things…like climate change and redistribution of wealth. Ann Coulter calls them treasonous for good reason.

Man Up
Kicking off what has traditionally been considered the official fall campaign season, Obama said: "Some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time, they're not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog. That's not in my prepared remarks, but it's true." (Politics Daily, 9/7/10)

Notwithstanding the most unspeakable things that were said about them by their detractors, we don’t recall President Bush or Vice-President Cheney whining endlessly about the name calling.

The Basics

American employers -- more than employers in other nations and more than American employers in earlier downturns -- have imposed the costs of the recession and, increasingly, the costs of doing business, on their workers, and kept for themselves damn near all the proceeds from doing business. (Harold Meyerson, Washington Post, 9/6/10)

Ask business leaders why they are not hiring and they will cite uncertainties around regulation, health care costs, the effects of massive federal deficits, etc. Ask the Left and they will tell you it’s all about greed. This notwithstanding that the last time we looked, the 500 companies that make up the S&P 500 (for example) are PUBLICLY OWNED! This is ignored by those who want to promote the illogic that it is all about The Man keeping the working class down.

Gotcha!
There are few things more satisfying than catching liberals in their own deceits. In a column (9/2/10) that examines the issues surrounding the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein first says that the revenue collected from taxing the rich would be used for deficit reduction…

“…forgoing $700 billion in revenue over the next decade that could be used for deficit reduction.”

However, he closes with his real wish for all that extra dough…

“using the money to rebuild the country's aging infrastructure…”

So essentially what he wants is to fund more make-work projects for unions. An official RedStateVT "GOTCHA" to Mr. Pearlstein.

Something…Anything
President Obama, looking for ways to jump-start the sagging economy and create new jobs, called on Congress on Monday to approve a far-reaching plan to rebuild and modernize the nation’s transportation networks — roads, rail and airport runways — over the next six years. (New York Times, 9/6/10)

So we are now on what....Plan G for turning the economy around?

Like Minds
We hear that South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham has characterized President Obama as “tone-deaf,” picking up on a characterization first mentioned by RedStateVT.

Beck and Call

Glen Beck holds a rally in Washington D.C. in support of faith and individual responsibility and, predictably, the Left is apoplectic. Beck continues to amaze and more than justify RedStateVT’s decision to award him the 2009 Cheney Award.

Liberals will continue to cast Beck as a racist simpleton instead of a man with a simple message who happened to bring 300,000 people together. In that sense he is like Sarah Palin who the Left dismisses as a lightweight....but can't seem to stop talking about. November can’t come soon enough!

Obama is a Muslim!
Well, no, not really. But is it any wonder that a significant percentage of the American people might think this? For one thing, his father was Muslim. But ignore that. More significantly, he has spent the better part of two years appeasing the Muslim world. As with most things Obama, this issue is entirely self-inflicted.

Now Let’s Talk About My Agenda
For two years President Obama has had a chip on his shoulder because George Bush bequeathed him the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. No doubt, Obama would much rather have spent his time redistributing wealth and raising taxes to pay for his expansion of social services. But you get what you get and a great President plays the hand he is dealt. Which brings us to his unpresidential (how many times has that been said in regards to this president?) address the other night. Not content to thank and honor the troops, he quickly switches to reminding everyone how much the war cost and how much it has diverted the nation’s attention….as if a great nation like America can’t do many great things at once.