Reading List of some late posts

Michael Gerson; Biden’s toxic victory   "Normally, a debate “victory” doesn’t require quite so much damage control. Following Vice President Biden’s manic, careening ride through global politics last week, President Obama is left to make a variety of cleanups and clarifications."
....If Biden’s behavior were universalized, American politics would be a squalid, carnival sideshow. Or cable television. Whichever is worse. Americans have every right to hate politics if it looks like this. Via Lucianne

Debate Audience Selected by Firm Squeezed by Obama Justice Department  "Think the deck for Tuesday's town hall debate might have been stacked? The firm hired to select the audience asking questions is under pressure from the Obama Justice Department, and some observers suggest may have already succumbed to that bullying."

Gaming the Presidential Debate; How will it play out?   "And bouncing back is easier for Obama than it is most other presidents. What makes Obama tough to beat is that he has a very high floor of support nationwide, especially in the swing states. His approval rating has fallen below 40% only a couple of times and almost immediately risen above it. It makes Romney’s job very difficult indeed because, in effect, the GOP candidate has to lower the president’s floor of support in order to overcome what is certainly going to be an Obama advantage in get-out-the-vote operations on Election Day."

Tonight’s MSNBC pre-debate talking point: If Romney wins and ObamaCare is repealed, many more people will die   MSNBC being MSNBC.

There’s no such thing as an undecided voter! And neither candidate this year can compete with Bill Clinton’s empathy! Matt Latimer on the five things he’ll be screaming at the TV during Obama-Romney 2.

Victor Davis Hanson; A Presidency Squandered

National Review; In January 2009, the future seemed to be all Barack Obama’s.

A few excerpts from Hanson's insightful column: ...."Never has a president entered office with so much goodwill from so many diverse quarters.

"Rarely does a president enter office with a majority in both the House and the Senate. Not only did Obama do so, but his soaring ratings put enormous pressure on the Republican minorities to join the Democratic majorities. Liberals were talking about a new era of Democratic political dominance." 

"No prior president had such a supportive media. ....Barack Obama was not just a liberal Democrat whom they would tilt toward, but a messianic figure for whom they gladly sacrificed the last ounce of disinterested coverage."

....And so here we are, three weeks before the election, with a squandered presidency and a president desperately seeking reelection not by defending his record, but by demonizing his predecessor, his opponent — and half of the country.

"What, then, was Obama’s first term?"

Media on trial at tonight’s presidential debate  "There is little doubt that the media have been covering for Obama for the past four years. But Powerline Blog predicts that if Obama has another lackluster performance, his willing accomplices, the media, *might* begin to turn on him. They compare this election with the way the media turned on Jimmy Carter in 1980:"...

Boortz says, "...but then we are dealing with ObamaBots here, so I’m not expecting much in the way of brains.

Neal Boortz  "Somewhere on the campaign trail, Obama supporters are apparently handing out a flyer where they have summed up Obama’s four major accomplishments."....

"I mean, what can you say to that one, folks?  This is all these ObamaBots have.  Obama had nothing to do with the killing of Osama bin Laden other than finally (after three attempts) giving the Navy SEALs the OK to do their mission, which they began planning well before Obama even took office."

What Role Will White Guilt Play in the 2012 Election?  "Every week's news brings a new report detailing the climb in the national poverty level, an increased reliance on food stamps, and growing unemployment statistics particularly among urban blacks, as the recession's negative impact on them mounts -- with no end in sight."    Also here,  and here.

Discussions on tonight's debate

Heritage; Cultural questions deserve debate  "The first presidential debate of the fall gave Americans good insight into the candidates' perspectives on domestic issues, including the economy, health care and the role of government. But we heard hardly anything about the effect of such policies on our culture. That's a serious omission."
...."Civil society would provide the self-government that made a limited central government possible, ensuring Americans' freedom. That's why it's important to take stock of how Washington's policies are shaping the work ethic and the health of civil society. Here are just two questions that would help shed light on these topics in the upcoming debates::....

Companion article from Heritage; 5 Issues That Haven’t Come Up in the Debates  "...there are key questions still to be answered. Heritage experts submitted five issues below—with questions—that it is important to discuss before the debate moves on to foreign policy exclusively.
 Join us tonight at 9 p.m. ET—you can watch the debate live on our Debate 2012 page. We’ll have the live stream of the debate and a live blog of our experts’ analysis, and you can follow our tweets and chime in.

MSNBC teaches us how biased debate moderators do it. I'm sure this question got Brian Williams lots of praise in liberal social gatherings and in Hollywood.

Taegan D. Goddard's Political Wire; Why Tonight's Debate is So Crucial   "Tonight is all about suburban women; it has been Obama's demographic firewall." 

Six Pitfalls in Town Hall Style Debate  Seven, if you count democrat-favoring moderators.

Obama-favoring Buzzfeed tells us that Team Obama Looks For Debate Redemption.  At right: stand-ins for Romney, left, and Obama run through a rehearsal with moderator Candy Crowley.




Did Hillary Clinton Setup Obama for Tonight’s Debate?  If Obama wins the election, what big price will he have to pay the Clintons for their extensive help? Here is a reasonable guess:
"Did Obama make a deal with her? If she took the blame and if he wins, Joe Biden will step down as vice president and he’ll pick Hillary, setting her up as the logical choice for President in 2016."  Standing by her man once more?   
7 More Simple Things Mitt Should Say (but only if he wants to win)   "In a word, Mitt has momentum.  The beauty of momentum is - unless disturbed by an outside force - it builds.  So Mitt needs to first and foremost not be the force that disturbs his existing momentum.  Better yet, he needs to add to his momentum.  Continuing with the earlier theme of "keep It Simple Stupid" - KISS - here are 10 more things Mitt should do or say in his next debate performance."

3 AM and Hillary picks up the phone

Tony Branco

To strike or not to strike?

Obama, Benghazi, and the Blame Game  Obama blames Republicans for their spending priorities, but what about this Democrat choice? "As was pointed out in the hearings, obviously the State Department has their priorities a little out of order, since they’re spending huge sums of money on electric cars in Europe, while neglecting to provide needed security personnel in the Middle East and North Africa."

Hillary Apologizes for Benghazi, But Where’s Obama?   "This is nothing short of disastrous for President Obama. After dodging responsibility for the Benghazi attack for over a month, pointing fingers at everything from the State Department to the intelligence community, the White House is outclassed by…Hillary Clinton. By taking the blame now, Hillary effectively 1.) Undermined Obama’s leadership, 2.) Put pressure on him right before a major debate to take the heat:"...  

Hillary's Price   "Rest assured that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham-Clinton isn't taking a fall over the Benghazi debacle for President Obama without exacting a price -- a steep price.  It's not Bill's or Hill's way to give from the heart.  Like the devil, the Clintons expect their due, and gosh darn it, they're going to get it -- one way or another."
Rush just said that Hillary accepted responsibility, but did not take blame.

Video from Ann Althouse, with the comment,  "Provide direction and leadership? He's leading from behind. Behind Hillary".   (Emphasis in the original)

WaPo from Oct 8th: State Dept officials deny linking attack to anti-Islam video, raising questions

Remember back in 1996 that William Safire called Hillary Clinton a "congenital liar".
"The reaction that is of interest to language students centered on the meaning of congenital. An op-ed colleague called to ask: "Did you mean inherited? Shouldn't you have used habitual?" A White House spokesman also picked up this literal interpretation of the adjective, and Mrs. Clinton later chose to escalate the charge in a National Public Radio interview: "My mother took some offense, because being called a congenital liar seems to reflect badly on her and my late father." "

What’s a Christian business owner supposed to do?

World Magazine  "I’ve always thought—in a theoretical way—that I might someday face a situation where the government was asking or telling me to do something that was counter to God’s law as I understood it. If such a situation arose, I hoped I would have the backbone to stand tall and disobey the government mandate. Well, that day seems to have come."
....
After citing the passage Jeremiah 1:4-5, the author concludes:
"How’s that for biblical confirmation that the unborn baby is important in the eyes of God! After reading that passage, I felt confirmed in my responsibility to stand up against a government that is trampling on my religious liberty. May God be merciful to all of us."
Mark D. Taylor is president of Tyndale House Publishers Inc.

Update; The above leads to a general discussion of the state of Christianity in America today: 
One Nation, Under God?
"The role of religion in American social and political life is an ever-present element in our civic conversation. The recent controversy over the contraception mandate ignited a smoldering conflict over just this issue."
....

Under his heading titled The Rise of Bad Religion, Thornton posits, "Another popular and lucrative heresy is the “prosperity gospel.” The credo of the “pray and grow rich,” Douthat writes, is “God gives without demanding, forgives without threatening to judge, and hands out His rewards in this life rather than the next.” In the doctrine of preachers like Joel Osteen, Jesus “seems less like a savior than like a college buddy with good stock tips, which are more or less guaranteed to pay off for any Christian bold enough to act on them.” "

Did We Watch The Same VP Debate? Lets examine the points Biden made.

Conservative Daily News  
"Unbiased Martha Raddatz – She was, after the debate, criticized for interrupting [Paul Ryan] 31 times – that’s in addition to the 82 timesBiden interrupted Ryan. So, it seems that both Raddatz and Biden tried to “marginalize Ryan,” to “show … contempt for Ryan….”"Biden backed up his smiling contempt with strong words” – unfortunately, his “strong words” weren’t founded on facts, something I don’t say without cause:"
By Warren Beatty (not the liberal actor).