RedStateVT is reading Winston Churchill's account of World War II. It is a fabulous retelling by one of history's greats. Which, of course, reminds us that one of Obama's first acts was to return a bust of Churchill to the Brits....
Pardon Us
President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign is moving to actively support a pro-Obama group that has struggled to raise money, hoping wealthy supporters will give large contributions and counter the impact of well-funded groups doing the same for Republicans.
To encourage donations, senior campaign officials, White House aides and Cabinet members will speak at fundraising events for Priorities USA, a group started by two former White House aides. The group, a so-called “Super PAC,” is legally entitled to accept unlimited donations from individuals and corporations but has failed to raise much money. Some Democrats blame lack of overt support from Mr. Obama.
The president repeatedly railed against the influence of groups like this during the 2010 midterm elections, and he rejected outside support for his 2008 campaign. Obama campaign manager Jim Messina acknowledged the contradiction in a note posted on the campaign’s blog late Monday and said Mr. Obama would still like to change the law to bar these operations. (WSJ, 2/7/2012)
Colonel Bernie Sanders could not be reached for comment.
Pardon You
Two American brothers of a Mexican casino magnate who fled drug and fraud charges in the United States and has been seeking a pardon enabling him to return have emerged as major fund-raisers and donors for President Obama’s re-election campaign. ... the campaign said it was refunding the money raised by the family, which totaled more than $200,000. (NYT, 2/6/2012)
Colonel Bernie Sanders could not be reached for comment.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Hey Now
Troubled Child
A more troubling interpretation is that a conservative majority knew exactly what it was doing: that it set out to remake our political system by fiat in order to strengthen the hand of corporations and the wealthy....American politics has become a bazaar for the very wealthy and for increasingly aggressive corporations. We might consider having candidates wear corporate logos. (E.J. Dionne Jr. Washington Post, 2/6/2012)
Taking Dionne's suggestion then, Obama would wear a Goldman Sachs logo on one sleeve and a GM logo on the other. SEIU would be emblazoned above his chest pocket. On his hat would be the name Solyndra.
Baseline Jumper
The conservative American Enterprise Institute estimated that if the labor participation rate – the portion of adults in the workforce or seeking work – was the same as when Obama took office, the baseline unemployment rate would be 11 percent. (Foxnews.com, 2/6/2012)
All that high-fiving in the White House may be ill-advised.
A more troubling interpretation is that a conservative majority knew exactly what it was doing: that it set out to remake our political system by fiat in order to strengthen the hand of corporations and the wealthy....American politics has become a bazaar for the very wealthy and for increasingly aggressive corporations. We might consider having candidates wear corporate logos. (E.J. Dionne Jr. Washington Post, 2/6/2012)
Taking Dionne's suggestion then, Obama would wear a Goldman Sachs logo on one sleeve and a GM logo on the other. SEIU would be emblazoned above his chest pocket. On his hat would be the name Solyndra.
Baseline Jumper
The conservative American Enterprise Institute estimated that if the labor participation rate – the portion of adults in the workforce or seeking work – was the same as when Obama took office, the baseline unemployment rate would be 11 percent. (Foxnews.com, 2/6/2012)
All that high-fiving in the White House may be ill-advised.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Hand To Hand
Self-Inflicted
By and large, their shoes are good; some have smartphones.....
At 38, Ms. Lewis has three sons with three men....
Out came Apple Jacks and Frosted Flakes, bought for the morning. (NYT, 2/3/2012)
One of those stories that the Times runs regularly about the plight of the poor. Conservatives are deemed heartless when it comes to poverty. Actually, it is more like frustrated.
Illegal and Rare
A combined 58 percent of Americans stated that abortion should either be “illegal in all circumstances” or “legal in only a few circumstances.” .... But if you’ve followed the media frenzy surrounding the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation’s decision — which it backpedaled from, with an apology, after a wave of frankly brutal coverage — to discontinue about $700,000 in funding for Planned Parenthood, you would think all these millions of anti-abortion Americans simply do not exist.... Planned Parenthood likes to claim that abortion accounts for just 3 percent of its services, for instance, and this statistic has been endlessly recycled in the press. But the percentage of the group’s clients who received an abortion is probably closer to 1 in 10, and Planned Parenthood’s critics have estimated, plausibly, that between 30 and 40 percent of its health center revenue is from abortion. (Ross Douthat, NYT, 2/4/2012)
There are few issues about which the media gets more energized (Mitt Romney's taxes being another) than abortion. And so there are few issues about which it is more dishonest. Good column by Douthat.
Quests and Openness and Promises
Each case grows out of a struggle between left and right where politics have pushed the law: between a quest for universal coverage and the defense of big health care providers; between an emphasis on openness and hostility toward immigrants; and between a promise of access to the voting booth made nearly 50 years ago and the unyielding opposition to keeping that promise. (NYT editorial, 2/4/2012)
This is how the New York Times editors frame the health care, immigration and voting rights issues. Yes, it is as though they have turned the editorial page over to a high school civics class.
Evolving and Devolving
The evolving strategy (in Afghanistan) is far different from the withdrawal plan for Iraq, where almost all American forces, conventional or otherwise, have left. Iraq has devolved into sectarian violence ever since the withdrawal in December, which threatens to undo the political and security gains there. (NYT, 2/4/2012)
Just a reminder for those who have been touting Obama's foreign policy accomplishments as a strength heading into the next election. (Good job NYT!)
By and large, their shoes are good; some have smartphones.....
At 38, Ms. Lewis has three sons with three men....
Out came Apple Jacks and Frosted Flakes, bought for the morning. (NYT, 2/3/2012)
One of those stories that the Times runs regularly about the plight of the poor. Conservatives are deemed heartless when it comes to poverty. Actually, it is more like frustrated.
Illegal and Rare
A combined 58 percent of Americans stated that abortion should either be “illegal in all circumstances” or “legal in only a few circumstances.” .... But if you’ve followed the media frenzy surrounding the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation’s decision — which it backpedaled from, with an apology, after a wave of frankly brutal coverage — to discontinue about $700,000 in funding for Planned Parenthood, you would think all these millions of anti-abortion Americans simply do not exist.... Planned Parenthood likes to claim that abortion accounts for just 3 percent of its services, for instance, and this statistic has been endlessly recycled in the press. But the percentage of the group’s clients who received an abortion is probably closer to 1 in 10, and Planned Parenthood’s critics have estimated, plausibly, that between 30 and 40 percent of its health center revenue is from abortion. (Ross Douthat, NYT, 2/4/2012)
There are few issues about which the media gets more energized (Mitt Romney's taxes being another) than abortion. And so there are few issues about which it is more dishonest. Good column by Douthat.
Quests and Openness and Promises
Each case grows out of a struggle between left and right where politics have pushed the law: between a quest for universal coverage and the defense of big health care providers; between an emphasis on openness and hostility toward immigrants; and between a promise of access to the voting booth made nearly 50 years ago and the unyielding opposition to keeping that promise. (NYT editorial, 2/4/2012)
This is how the New York Times editors frame the health care, immigration and voting rights issues. Yes, it is as though they have turned the editorial page over to a high school civics class.
Evolving and Devolving
The evolving strategy (in Afghanistan) is far different from the withdrawal plan for Iraq, where almost all American forces, conventional or otherwise, have left. Iraq has devolved into sectarian violence ever since the withdrawal in December, which threatens to undo the political and security gains there. (NYT, 2/4/2012)
Just a reminder for those who have been touting Obama's foreign policy accomplishments as a strength heading into the next election. (Good job NYT!)
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Not Buying It
Shadow Dance
Yet Citizens United, which allows unlimited corporate and union political spending, casts a partisan shadow over the Court two years later. For many, the five-member conservative majority's decision to strike down an act of Congress may presage a willingness to do the same in the health care cases. (Huffington Post, 2/3/2012)
Loved this one! When the courts decide an issue against Liberals it is "partisan." When the decision goes their way it is 'just."
Far and Away
Mr. Buffett’s overall rate was about 17 percent, largely because the federal government taxes most investments as capital gains at a top rate of 15 percent, far less than the top rate on wages. (NYT, 2/3/2012)
So Buffett pays about the same rate as Mitt Romney. But because he is a liberal Democrat and he publicly says that he "wants" to pay more, he gets a free pass from the media. Meanwhile Romney is excoriated.
To Infinity (and Beyond)
The front wheels have lifted off the runway. Now, Americans are waiting to see if the economy can truly get aloft....
Small businesses, though, are still not hiring much. And while sales of existing homes have started to rise, home prices continue to fall. Incomes are not growing and consumer spending is still restrained, and could come under further pressure with gas prices edging higher in recent months and as consumers revert to building up savings. (NYT, 2/3/2012)
Small businesses - the true engine of the U.S. economy - are not hiring. Home prices are falling. Income is stagnant. Consumer spending is stalled. Gas prices are rising. But the Obama economy is taking off!
Really Cool
Higher education institutions are predictably cool to President Obama’s proposal to shift federal aid away from colleges that fail to control rising tuition. (NYT, 2/3/2012)
Like those Wall Street firms who donated heavily to Obama only to become the object of his wrath, the Liberal bastions of education will now get their turn. Wall Street may have learned its lesson. We'll see if university administrators do.
This is what happens when Liberals govern. They have an insatiable need to "fix" things and inevitably end up making matters worse.
Adaptation
The Obama administration has given Catholics a year to adapt to the new rule, which is a laughably obtuse approach. The Catholic Church is a 2,000-year-old institution that has faced more severe persecutions than a government mandate to provide funding for morning-after pills. But this politically inept and morally fungible step does reveal utter disregard for religious liberty. (Kathleen Parker, Washington Post, 2/3/2012)
The best comment we have read on the Obama administration's assault on the Catholic Church.
Yet Citizens United, which allows unlimited corporate and union political spending, casts a partisan shadow over the Court two years later. For many, the five-member conservative majority's decision to strike down an act of Congress may presage a willingness to do the same in the health care cases. (Huffington Post, 2/3/2012)
Loved this one! When the courts decide an issue against Liberals it is "partisan." When the decision goes their way it is 'just."
Far and Away
Mr. Buffett’s overall rate was about 17 percent, largely because the federal government taxes most investments as capital gains at a top rate of 15 percent, far less than the top rate on wages. (NYT, 2/3/2012)
So Buffett pays about the same rate as Mitt Romney. But because he is a liberal Democrat and he publicly says that he "wants" to pay more, he gets a free pass from the media. Meanwhile Romney is excoriated.
To Infinity (and Beyond)
The front wheels have lifted off the runway. Now, Americans are waiting to see if the economy can truly get aloft....
Small businesses, though, are still not hiring much. And while sales of existing homes have started to rise, home prices continue to fall. Incomes are not growing and consumer spending is still restrained, and could come under further pressure with gas prices edging higher in recent months and as consumers revert to building up savings. (NYT, 2/3/2012)
Small businesses - the true engine of the U.S. economy - are not hiring. Home prices are falling. Income is stagnant. Consumer spending is stalled. Gas prices are rising. But the Obama economy is taking off!
Really Cool
Higher education institutions are predictably cool to President Obama’s proposal to shift federal aid away from colleges that fail to control rising tuition. (NYT, 2/3/2012)
Like those Wall Street firms who donated heavily to Obama only to become the object of his wrath, the Liberal bastions of education will now get their turn. Wall Street may have learned its lesson. We'll see if university administrators do.
This is what happens when Liberals govern. They have an insatiable need to "fix" things and inevitably end up making matters worse.
Adaptation
The Obama administration has given Catholics a year to adapt to the new rule, which is a laughably obtuse approach. The Catholic Church is a 2,000-year-old institution that has faced more severe persecutions than a government mandate to provide funding for morning-after pills. But this politically inept and morally fungible step does reveal utter disregard for religious liberty. (Kathleen Parker, Washington Post, 2/3/2012)
The best comment we have read on the Obama administration's assault on the Catholic Church.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Straight And Stronger Course
Devotion
The abandonment of the president by the financial sector has, indeed, been remarkable in scope and speed. Some of the very companies whose employees cut checks for Obama in 2008 now seem fully devoted to funding his competitor in 2012. (Huffington Post, 2/2/2012)
Perhaps Wall Street is not so dumb after all.
Rank and Roiled
The nation’s leading breast cancer advocacy organization confronted the growing furor Thursday over its decision to largely end its decades-long partnership with Planned Parenthood, with rising dissension in its own ranks and a roiling anger on the Internet showing the power of social media to harness protest. (NYT, 2/2/2012)
The Komen Foundation runs headlong into the buzzsaw of abortion advocates. Don't buy the bull about "women's healthcare" and "underserved poor women." The issue is abortion.
And then, hounded by pro-abortion fascists, Komen folds.....
Susan G. Komen for the Cure said on Friday it was retreating from a decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion and birth control services, and apologized for a move that thrust the breast cancer charity into a deeply politicized controversy. (NYT, 2/3/2012)
The abandonment of the president by the financial sector has, indeed, been remarkable in scope and speed. Some of the very companies whose employees cut checks for Obama in 2008 now seem fully devoted to funding his competitor in 2012. (Huffington Post, 2/2/2012)
Perhaps Wall Street is not so dumb after all.
Rank and Roiled
The nation’s leading breast cancer advocacy organization confronted the growing furor Thursday over its decision to largely end its decades-long partnership with Planned Parenthood, with rising dissension in its own ranks and a roiling anger on the Internet showing the power of social media to harness protest. (NYT, 2/2/2012)
The Komen Foundation runs headlong into the buzzsaw of abortion advocates. Don't buy the bull about "women's healthcare" and "underserved poor women." The issue is abortion.
And then, hounded by pro-abortion fascists, Komen folds.....
Susan G. Komen for the Cure said on Friday it was retreating from a decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion and birth control services, and apologized for a move that thrust the breast cancer charity into a deeply politicized controversy. (NYT, 2/3/2012)
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Heartland
Field Notes
Loyal readers know that RedStateVT periodically hits the road to do on-the-ground research so as to better reflect the tenor of the the average American, i.e. not people in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. This past week RedStateVT traveled to the mid-West. What did we find? Football, faith and firearms. Yes, as much as it rankles coastal Liberal elites, these are the things that middle America holds dear and they have nothing to apologize for.
In other news while we were gone, we noted the following:
--Another green energy company folded (how many is that now?). Crazy Joe, the VEEP, called it Enron 1.
--Indiana is close to passing a "right to work" law. For those of you not up on this, such laws prohibit unions from automatically deducting dues from your paycheck. Liberals are in favor of "choice" except when it comes to payroll deductions for dues to fund contributions to Democrats.
--Oakland exploded in another wave of violence from the peace-loving Occupiers.
Keeping Secrets
Newly disclosed details of the millions of dollars flowing into political groups are highlighting not just the scale of donations from corporation and unions but also the secrecy surrounding “super PACs” seeking to influence the presidential race. (NYT, 2/1/2012)
The Times comes clean on the union money supporting politicians but then spends the bulk of the article talking about hidden rich Republican donors.
Sands of Nevada
...(unemployment) is 13 percent today, the highest in the nation. The optimism and political spirit that enlivened Nevadans as they found themselves at ground zero in the fight for the White House have been replaced with gloom and apathy. Voters speak of abandoned homes, dispiriting battles in Washington and disappointment with President Obama. (NYT, 2/1/2012)
Two words to Nevadans: Harry Reid.
High Anxiety
Mr. Obama may not know much about the private economy, but he knows a lot about the uses of human anxiety. Proposing to replace his own bad economy with a virtual substitute "built to last" allows Mr. Obama to place himself outside the White House and on the street making common cause with the genuine economic anxieties of the American people. It also lets this president put in motion what he thinks he knows best—empathy. In "The Audacity of Hope" he put empathy "at the heart of my moral code." Practice makes perfect.
It is beyond audacious. How can a president simultaneously hammer real job creation with the Keystone XL pipeline decision, then go into the country and claim kinship with the anxieties of the jobless? No problem. Just do it. (Daniel Henninger, WSJ, 2/2/2012)
Good column from Henninger although we disagree with his concern that people will be snowed by Obama's tactic. We think that after three plus years, the folks pretty much see through Obama.
Loyal readers know that RedStateVT periodically hits the road to do on-the-ground research so as to better reflect the tenor of the the average American, i.e. not people in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. This past week RedStateVT traveled to the mid-West. What did we find? Football, faith and firearms. Yes, as much as it rankles coastal Liberal elites, these are the things that middle America holds dear and they have nothing to apologize for.
In other news while we were gone, we noted the following:
--Another green energy company folded (how many is that now?). Crazy Joe, the VEEP, called it Enron 1.
--Indiana is close to passing a "right to work" law. For those of you not up on this, such laws prohibit unions from automatically deducting dues from your paycheck. Liberals are in favor of "choice" except when it comes to payroll deductions for dues to fund contributions to Democrats.
--Oakland exploded in another wave of violence from the peace-loving Occupiers.
Keeping Secrets
Newly disclosed details of the millions of dollars flowing into political groups are highlighting not just the scale of donations from corporation and unions but also the secrecy surrounding “super PACs” seeking to influence the presidential race. (NYT, 2/1/2012)
The Times comes clean on the union money supporting politicians but then spends the bulk of the article talking about hidden rich Republican donors.
Sands of Nevada
...(unemployment) is 13 percent today, the highest in the nation. The optimism and political spirit that enlivened Nevadans as they found themselves at ground zero in the fight for the White House have been replaced with gloom and apathy. Voters speak of abandoned homes, dispiriting battles in Washington and disappointment with President Obama. (NYT, 2/1/2012)
Two words to Nevadans: Harry Reid.
High Anxiety
Mr. Obama may not know much about the private economy, but he knows a lot about the uses of human anxiety. Proposing to replace his own bad economy with a virtual substitute "built to last" allows Mr. Obama to place himself outside the White House and on the street making common cause with the genuine economic anxieties of the American people. It also lets this president put in motion what he thinks he knows best—empathy. In "The Audacity of Hope" he put empathy "at the heart of my moral code." Practice makes perfect.
It is beyond audacious. How can a president simultaneously hammer real job creation with the Keystone XL pipeline decision, then go into the country and claim kinship with the anxieties of the jobless? No problem. Just do it. (Daniel Henninger, WSJ, 2/2/2012)
Good column from Henninger although we disagree with his concern that people will be snowed by Obama's tactic. We think that after three plus years, the folks pretty much see through Obama.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
All Good People
Super Duper
Close to 60 corporations and wealthy individuals gave checks of $100,000 or more to a “super PAC” supporting Mitt Romney in the months leading up to the Iowa caucuses, according to documents released on Tuesday, underwriting a $17 million blitz of advertising that has swamped his Republican rivals in the early primary states. (NYT, 1/31/2012)
As reported by the New York Times, Mitt Romney is rich and has rich friends that give him lots of money. Rich, rich, rich. Did we mention that he and his friends are rich? When you are rich and have rich friends, those rich friends will give you money, but only if you are rich (and they are rich, too). That - according to the Times - is how things work among the rich.
By contrast, Obama (who is not as rich as Romney, but does have a million dollar home in Chicago) does not take money from rich people like Warren Buffett, Peter Lewis and Steven Spielberg. What? He does take money from rich people?
By the way, rich Democrats include Nancy Pelosi (really rich), John Kerry (also really rich) and the Kennedys past and present (really, really rich).
Obama Writes Off The (Fill In The Blank) Vote
An analysis a couple of weeks back noted that Obama and the Dems have written off the white working class vote. With his actions on the Keystone pipeline, he has also apparently written off the union vote. And now with his mandate to Catholic hospitals to provide birth control, he has written off the Catholic vote. We would love to see the coalition that his advisers believe he can cobble together to get re-elected. We suspect that it includes the "illegal alien" and "convicted felon" constituencies!
Headlines from the Huffington Post
--Democrats' Plan to Destroy Romney
--Democrats Ready Character Attacks Against Mitt Romney
So, we guess the gloves are off and the civility thing is over.......
Close to 60 corporations and wealthy individuals gave checks of $100,000 or more to a “super PAC” supporting Mitt Romney in the months leading up to the Iowa caucuses, according to documents released on Tuesday, underwriting a $17 million blitz of advertising that has swamped his Republican rivals in the early primary states. (NYT, 1/31/2012)
As reported by the New York Times, Mitt Romney is rich and has rich friends that give him lots of money. Rich, rich, rich. Did we mention that he and his friends are rich? When you are rich and have rich friends, those rich friends will give you money, but only if you are rich (and they are rich, too). That - according to the Times - is how things work among the rich.
By contrast, Obama (who is not as rich as Romney, but does have a million dollar home in Chicago) does not take money from rich people like Warren Buffett, Peter Lewis and Steven Spielberg. What? He does take money from rich people?
By the way, rich Democrats include Nancy Pelosi (really rich), John Kerry (also really rich) and the Kennedys past and present (really, really rich).
Obama Writes Off The (Fill In The Blank) Vote
An analysis a couple of weeks back noted that Obama and the Dems have written off the white working class vote. With his actions on the Keystone pipeline, he has also apparently written off the union vote. And now with his mandate to Catholic hospitals to provide birth control, he has written off the Catholic vote. We would love to see the coalition that his advisers believe he can cobble together to get re-elected. We suspect that it includes the "illegal alien" and "convicted felon" constituencies!
Headlines from the Huffington Post
--Democrats' Plan to Destroy Romney
--Democrats Ready Character Attacks Against Mitt Romney
So, we guess the gloves are off and the civility thing is over.......
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