Victor Davis Hanson: The 2012 Election Circus — The Acts, The Players, The Hype

Victor Davis Hanson  On Obama:
 "What a strange fellow: damning the 1% only to hire three-in-a-row multimillionaire “fat-cat” ex-Wall-streeters as his chiefs-of-staff, while he lives a life indistinguishable from those he caricatures. Obama brags of killing bin Laden, without the slightest concession that he employed protocols to do it that he once smeared, or that he got the troops home for Christmas, without a peep that he followed the Bush-Petraeus plan and not his own." 
....

Prognosis

"There is a wish to cut and paste the flawed Republican candidates’ strengths into a composite nominee: Romney’s sobriety, Santorum’s conviction, Paul’s sense of outrage over debt, and Gingrich’s glib lectures about civilization—while pruning away their unique defects: Santorum’s self-righteousness, Paul’s otherworldliness, Romney’s Tom Dewey/George H.W. Bush patrician woodenness, and Newt’s tom-foolery.

"Santorum and Paul cannot beat Obama. Romney is still the most likely to make it a close race; Gingrich possibly to win by a wider margin — or, more likely, to lose by an even wider one.

http://www.newsday.com/opinion/walt-handelsman-1.812005

"I have no endorsements, or at least not complete endorsements: I cannot vote under any circumstances for Obama and would not vote for Paul, but, for now, would find any of the remaining three candidates far better than what we have in the White House."

From the comments to Hanson's column:

...."As for Newt. I hope he understands that, if we elect him President, it is not to make nice with Dems but rather to attack them relentlessly for the traitors that they are. And to prosecute them for their crimes. More, it is to roll-back their leftist-corporatist-globalist agenda at every level, by exposing the corruption and deception, taking on the special interests and the unions, media and academia, slashing government, and unleashing business. If he thinks the Presidency is a popularity contest, then we will shut him down and vote him out too. But if he fights to restore the Republic, he will have our bottomless support, and go down as one of the great Presidents of history."

So even the wiser among us are just as ambivalent as the rest. Perhaps I'm not inadequate. TD

Belladonna Rogers: Romney, Gingrich and Obama: The World, The Flesh, and The Devil

What We Really Learned from ABC News and Marianne Gingrich

Belladonna Rogers January 20,  "Anyone who made the decision last night, as I did, to watch Nightline’s appallingly tawdry interview with the second Mrs. Newt Gingrich learned nothing new about the target, whose marital infidelities are well known, but did, however, witness two of the most dangerous pathologies of the mainstream media (MSM) on vivid display."....
 "Especially considering how Marianne began her relationship to Gingrich — by being his girlfriend on the side during his first marriage — she seems to me to be in one of the world’s worst positions to whine, wail, point an accusing finger, and raise the “character” issue."....

I am once again reminded of the double standard afforded to the Democrats and Barack Obama in particular.  Coming on the heels of the Herman Cain melee in which the press had a field day parading one accuser after another before video cameras, it is difficult not to repeat the question of why the Democrats get a free pass.  Why are calls for Mitt Romney to release his tax return not met with calls for Barack Obama to release his college transcripts — something that is just as customary for presidential candidates?

However, of greater importance in my view is the silence, save for a few journalists and pundits on the right, regarding exposing a videotape recorded in 2003 of Barack Obama at the farewell dinner for terrorist-supporting Palestinian Rashid Khalidi.  More...  

"So there you have it, a biased “report” by ABC “News” aimed directly at the most prurient interests of its viewers, tantalizing Americans all day yesterday with morsels of the grand banquet Nightline would present last night, and, in four years, not a single MSM effort to uncover or present anything that could possibly injure the chances of reelection of their own chosen one, the Constitution-flouting, Rashid Khalidi-embracing, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn-befriending Barack Obama.

"It’s enough to make you wish for an investigation by the Department of Justice.  Just kidding!"

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/01/20/95617

Why Is the L.A. Times Burying the Obama/Khalidi Tape?  From April 21, 2010  "Sometimes I want to yell and scream. What is wrong with the Los Angeles Times? Are they a news organization or the propaganda wing of some leftover unit of the IWW? No wonder subscribers are deserting them in droves." 

More here: Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Obama (2008) 

How about that State of the Union Address tomorrow?

The truly dismal state of the union   "Now, President Truman made it very clear: The buck stops with him. No passing the buck for that guy. But Mr. Obama blames everyone but himself. Mr. Bush, he says, left the nation in a ditch, a deep ditch, and he’s been digging out since he took office. And Congress? "Those guys are just plain awful, he says. So mean. Wah, they won’t do anything I want done! Mr. Obama feels so sure about it that he’s basing his re-election campaign on bashing Capitol Hill.

http://conservativedailynews.com/2012/01/its-a-wreck-2/

"But with the president delivering his State of the Union speech to Congress Tuesday night, let’s pause here to take as hard look at the real state of America, by the numbers, using only cold, hard facts." More...

State of the Union preview: 'Fairness' and 'Social Justice'  "The late, great Milton Friedman once said, "I'm not in favor of fairness. I'm in favor of freedom, and freedom is not fairness. Fairness means somebody has to decide what's fair and that means [insert government agency name here] has to decide for me what's fair." "  Related: OBAMA AND OBAMISM

White House rushes to define Keystone message ahead of Republicans   "White House and campaign officials are emphasizing Obama's energy record in broad strokes -- highlighting steps the administration has taken to encourage oil and gas development and investments in clean energy. Those steps, the officials say, create far more jobs than approval of Keystone would have."


Oddsmakers predict Obama cliche-orama in State of the Union  "Paddy Power, Ireland's biggest bookmaking operation, is giving 8-1 odds that "We have more work to do" will be the first cliche the president is likely to drop. Next-most likely are "As I stand here today," and "health care reform" — though given the usual structure of State of the Union speeches, that latter one will likely be saved for the last half of the speech."


Will Obama discuss this? Obama: Iran Has Nuclear Rights; I Did Not Want to Sanction Its Bank  "...the vice chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, alleged that on Saturday in a meeting between Swiss Ambassador Livia Leu Agosti and Iranian Foreign Ministry officials, Agosti informed the Iranian officials that Obama recognizes Iran’s right of access to and use of nuclear technology."
....
"In response to Obama’s message to the leaders of the Islamic regime and his request for negotiations, Iranian officials have decided to reveal his message in order to further embarrass him on the international scene, claiming that Obama’s approach shows the world the true power of the Islamic regime."


State of the Union Speech To Feature Sharper Tone  "Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Mr. Obama's first White House chief of staff, suggested last week that the president's plan to run against an unpopular Congress risks suggesting that he has accepted nothing more will get done legislatively this year. "It undermines the inspirational 'here's what we're going to do,' " Mr. Emanuel said. "That's a problem." "

More insights on Romney/ Gingrich

This Bain/ Romney story is from 1996  "Now I am not in any way suggesting that any other candidate would handle things any differently in this situation.  I just think this is a nice little [peek] into the personality and character of a man that the left and Obama will, if he’s the GOP nominee, surely portray as nothing but a cruel and heartless capitalist." 

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/01/21/95676

Why Gingrich can rely on Democrats to pay for his campaign in Florida  "One more sign Democrats are hoping Newt Gingrich becomes the Republican nominee for President: the key union for public employees are paying for deceptive anti-Romney ads in Florida, the site of the next GOP primary battle at the end of the month.  With friends like these, does Newt Gingrich have to worry about lack of campaign funds and infrastructure in Florida?
My only fear is that Romney will be another John McCain on the campaign trail: timid.
The last thing we want is more appearances on the View and another "That's a good question, Whoopi" moment.  Consider also these points. 



Neal Boortz: It just doesn’t seem like the fire was there in Romney.  "Gingrich clearly understands the damage Obama has already done to our republic – intentional damage – and Newt can clearly articulate the dangers of giving this menace four more years in the White House. 
"Does this mean that Romney doesn’t recognize the damage and the dangers?  Certainly not.  Romney is a smart guy."....

Romney is going to have to learn the rhetoric of persuasion.  He needs to learn how to make people WANT to follow him, rather than telling them that they must.  (Emphases added)

Reading between the lines would indicate Bachmann does not want Gingrich   

....it was strikingly obvious that one candidate could not be less acceptable to be our Party's nominee. 

He lacks the poise, experience and moral fiber to represent our principles and values. That candidate is Newt Gingrich. 

In sum, our nation is in desperate need of a proven and moral leader who can point us back in the right direction - not a desperately flawed candidate like Newt Gingrich who has only proven he cannot lead.

But then: "The Bachmann for President campaign has not issued an official statement regarding an endorsement of any current candidate in the GOP race ahead of the South Carolina primary. Any information found to the contrary is inaccurate."

GOP Strategist: Republican Establishment Fears Down-Ballot Disaster If Newt Wins Nomination
"Mr. Schmidt said he believes Mr. Gingrich’s near universal name recognition indicates that perceptions of Mr. Gingrich have calcified over time and are therefore unlikely to change.  With a national unfavorable rating that he puts at 60 percent, Mr. Schmidt says he believes a Gingrich candidacy could spell disaster for Republican hopes of holding the House and regaining the Senate." I think I agree but would feel more convicted if this story had come from another source than MSNBC/ Maddow.
Chris Christie Says He Would Consider Being Mitt Romney’s Vice President  Those liberals accusing conservatives of incivility will begin making fat jokes in three...two...one...


Brit Hume: GOP Congress ‘Terrified’ Of Newt Gingrich Nomination

China investors set their sights on Hollywood

THE FINANCIAL TIMES   A consortium led by Chinese media entrepreneur Bruno Wu is scouring Hollywood for film companies to acquire, in a sign of China’s growing interest in the US entertainment industry.  
Concern in some places that the Chinese communists will make Hollywood become left-wing and anti-American.
(I kid you not, this is a book that is now in print.)