Monday, November 5, 2012

Do NOT forget this: The Next President and the Supreme Court

Heritage

..."One vote could decide both the immediate election and the course of constitutional law for decades to come."
....
"Consider a small sampling of recent decisions where a single, misconceived vote mattered.
•In McCreary County v. ACLU, the 5-4 majority held that the display of the Ten Commandments in a county courthouse violated the Establishment Clause because it was supposedly not sufficiently integrated with a secular or historical message.

•In Kelo v. City of New London, a thin majority decided that a city may take private property—including people’s homes—and give it to a big corporation, supposedly to generate more tax revenue. This decision ignored the clear constitutional requirement that property be taken only for “public use.”

•In Massachusetts v. EPA, the Court usurped a political question from the legislative and executive branches and jumped into the middle of the global warming regulatory debate. In so doing, it overturned the Environmental Protection Agency’s reasoned decision not to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and required the EPA to adopt a regulation.

•And no discussion of controversial 5-4 decisions would be complete without mentioning the Court’s decision in NFIB v. Sebelius last June. There, a bare majority upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act under the guise of reading its individual mandate as a tax.
As Americans go to the polls this month, they should ponder President Reagan’s words: “Those who sit in the Supreme Court interpret the laws of our land and truly do leave their footprints on the sands of time. Long after the policies of Presidents and Senators and Congressmen of any given era may have passed from public memory, they’ll be remembered.” Every vote does, indeed, count.

The Eyes Have It (Revenge)

Obama's character in one word: Revenge!

Obama's Revenge  "Perhaps Obama's call for revenge was just a little dose of Reverend Wright shining through. That look on his face made me think we were a few sentences away from the "G-D---- America" thing. Those 20 years in the mad Reverend's audience planted some evil seeds that pop out every now and then, didn't they? The more off teleprompter comments this man makes, the more he reveals himself."

Political Cartoons by Eric Allie

Team Obama downplays call for ‘revenge’  "Just by making a claim that associates Romney with “revenge,” Messina is nudging the established media to treat Obama’s comment as merely campaign-trail snark, instead of a gaffe that reveals hostile and divisive impulses."
Another reason to stay away from those spin room interviews; not one word can be believed.
Political Cartoons by Ken Catalino

Neal Boortz; Voting for Revenge. How Nice  "One of the candidates believe that wealth – those minutes, hours, days and weeks – really belongs to the government, and, by implication, to those who sat idly by while that wealth was being produced. The other candidate believes that the wealth produced by an individual belongs to that individual, and that the government should lay claim only to enough of that individual’s wealth as is necessary to fund the necessary and proper operations of government."

Bill Maher Warns Romney Supporters: 'Black People Know Who You Are and They Will Come After You'  "Imagine for a moment the outrage if a conservative commentator said even jokingly to Obama supporters, "White people know who you are and they will come after you."
"That would be the end of that person's career. Period. No questions asked. Done!"

"But Maher who's adored by the Obama-loving media can say this with total impunity.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again: HBO should be ashamed to have this disgusting man as one of its on air personalities. Period. End of story."

Is there no sense of shame or journalistic integrity in the press?

Daily Caller; Wave goodbye to the Obama media  "But we already know the loser in this election cycle: political reporters. They’ve disgraced themselves. Conservatives have long complained about liberal bias in the media, and with some justification. But it has finally reached the tipping point. Not in our lifetimes have so many in the press dropped the pretense of objectivity in order to help a political candidate. The media are rooting for Barack Obama. They’re not hiding it."  Via World Net Daily

Pew: MSNBC's Bias Far Worse Than Fox  "MSNBC featured 71 percent negative coverage of Mitt Romney, whereas Fox coverage of Obama was only 46 percent unfavorable. What's more, positive Romney stories on MSNBC reached all the way to a soaring three percent!
...."Why some viewers consider commentators such as Chris "Tingles" Matthews, Ed Schultz, or Rachel Maddow anything other than complete propagandists is anyone's guess, but this Pew study proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that there isn't a single unbiased minute on MSNBC, while Fox News appears to be far more balanced by comparison.

Rush Limbaugh; CBS Engages in Journalistic Malpractice on Benghazi  "CBS has engaged in journalistic malpractice. They announced, by the way, "Oh, guess what, you know what? We had tape of President Obama on September 12th unwilling to call it a terrorist attack." CBS News has known since the next day that he didn't call it a terror attack, and they let that second debate go by without saying anything, the Candy Crowley event go by. They just on Friday happened to say, "Oh, guess what, we found it in our 60 Minutes interview on September 12th that didn't air." "
More on this at Big Journalism; Proof: Obama Refused to Call Benghazi 'Terror,' CBS Covered Up  "Actually, the conclusion to be drawn is quite simple: CBS News, in an effort to assist President Obama's re-election campaign, corruptly concealed information about two critical issues--namely, a terror attack and the president's dishonesty about it. When the players in the Libya scandal face investigation, so, too, should CBS News and those in the mainstream media who have wantonly assisted the administration's shameless lies."

Michelle Malkin; Poser of the United States: The photo-op presidency "Conservative writer and blogger Elizabeth Scalia asked: “How DEAF is the (White House)? They release photo of Obama in Situation Room monitoring storm? Where is (the) pic of him in that room, monitoring BENGHAZI?” When CBS News reporter Mark Knoller shared one of the White House photos on his Twitter feed, North Carolina small-businessman Aaron LePrell asked: “(C)an you request a picture of the Benghazi situation room for us?” "
...."His stagehands outfitted Obamacare advocates with phony-baloney white lab coats. He publicly joked about turning a visit with U.S. soldiers abroad into “a pretty good photo op.” "

NBC's Gregory Gushes Over 'Indelible Images' of Obama During Sandy; Is it an 'October Surprise'?

Media Slammed Mitt's Food Donations, Now Sandy Victims Plead for... Food Donations  "The Old Media spent several days last week attacking Mitt Romney for his October 30 event in Ohio where he presided over supporters coming together to donate money, clothing, and food for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Then the food donations were ridiculed. Yet now ABC News is reporting that victims of the storm are calling for food donations from the public."

Politico reports that many journalists, editors, and news personnel have donated thousands to Barack Obama's reelection campaign.  "But public disclosure is the cure to that dilemma. Journalists should be allowed to donate to whom ever they wish. But as consumers of the news, we should know when they do. "

LETTERS: Media cover up Benghazi scandal to favor Obama; Letters from Colorado readers show reaction to Benghazi and the cover-up

Dare I do this? A closer look at polls

The TW has stayed away from this for the entire election cycle, realizing polls are released by a media that leans Democrat and uses polls to shape opinion, not reflect it. Besides, what are polls good for, even if they were truly accurate, given the fickleness of the American voter and the shallowness of our convictions on a given day? Can you remember what polls said viv-a-vis Romney and Obama on, say, October 5th? Meaningless until we get to what voters think this day before the election. Forget about a poll of those who voted days ago in early voting and wish they could change their minds already.

CNN’S LATEST POLL DECONSTRUCTED: DOES IT REALLY SHOW A ROMNEY VICTORY?  "This CNN poll is truly great news for Republicans unless you believe that Democrats will vote 11 percent more than Republican this year and very few people do (outside of CNN apparently). The reality is that, using CNN’s own numbers, anything under an 11 percent voting advantage for Democrats results in a popular vote victory for Gov. Romney. You have to wonder why they chose 11 percent."

WaPo-ABC tracking poll: final weekend tally is Obama 50, Romney 47, still a ‘margin of error’ contest
Jonathan Tobin; Tracking Polls Say Election No Sure Thing  "To listen to the Obama campaign and many liberal pundits the last few days, the presidential election is a foregone conclusion and the president is a sure bet to be re-elected. But even ... the latest national tracking polls tell a different story. The president is ahead in none of the four most recent national tracking polls. Mitt Romney has a slender one-percentage point lead in both the Gallup and Rasmussen tracking polls taken over the last few days, while he is tied with the president in the CNN/Opinion Research and the Monmouth/SurveyUSA/Braun poll. Taken together, and even if one is inclined to believe one more than another, the quartet of surveys illustrates that the race remains very close with either candidate in position to win.


Barone
Michael Barone; Prediction: Romney Beats Obama, Handily  "Also, both national and target-state polls show that independents — voters who don’t identify themselves as Democrats or Republicans — break for Romney.
"That might not matter if Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 39 to 32 percent, as they did in the 2008 exit poll. But just about every indicator suggests that Republicans are more enthusiastic about voting — and about their candidate — than they were in 2008, and Democrats are less so."
...."Bottom line: Romney 315, Obama 223. That sounds high for Romney. But he could drop Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and still win the election. Fundamentals."  Hot Air adds its two cents worth.

Rush Limbaugh has a great deal to say on the polls, including a paean to Michael Barone's excellence, including calling Barone the gold standard of prognostication; Everything -- Except the Polls -- Points to a Romney Landslide

"AT's political correspondent Rich Baehr believes at least part of the problem is that voters are lying to pollsters. There might be something to that, except most good pollsters throw trick questions into their surveys that are designed to reveal the liars. Baehr thinks that Americans have become very sophisticated when it comes to polls and have learned how to give answers they think makes them look good, rather than what they truly believe."

Stay classy, Obama!

Via Lucianne ; Obama campaign tries to hide call for ‘revenge’  "Both campaigns conduct numerous polls to gauge the impact of each day’s events. Messina’s effort to spin the revenge controversy suggests that it is alienating late-deciding voters in key swing states.
"Just by making a claim that associates Romney with “revenge,” Messina is nudging the established media to treat Obama’s comment as merely campaign-trail snark, instead of a gaffe that reveals hostile and divisive impulses."
Romney cited that comment in a speech later that day and has emphasized it over the weekend. The campaign on Saturday released a TV ad using the comment to highlight Romney’s own end-of-campaign themes: “love of country,” optimism, hope and change. The ad is titled “Revenge Or Love Of Country.”

Mona Charen; Down and Dirty; The president is giving half the country the finger.
...."This time, the elegance is gone, the fangs are bared, and standards of honesty are long gone. His policies failed, so no accusation against Mitt Romney is held back: He’s an enemy of women who will outlaw all abortions (no exceptions), he will raise taxes on the middle class just to cut them for the rich, he ships jobs overseas and pockets the profits, he won the first debate through lies (sheesh), he gives cancer to the wives of unemployed workers, he delights in bankrupting companies, he wants to prevent women from getting “access” to birth control, and so on.

"It’s as if Barack Obama, once so stylish, is making the same gesture Madonna did — to at least half the nation."

Townhall; The "Best Revenge" and the Worst Economies
"Those who support the President’s re-election are to seek revenge on others. That’s quite a directive from the President of the United States, and it is quite a departure from the candidate of four years ago who promised to unite all Americans in the pursuit of higher purposes.

"But it is nonetheless an example of that for which President Obama has become known -turning American against American."....

Michael Barone; The problem with Obama's 'revenge'

" “Revenge” is not something sought by most American voters, and 2008 Obama voters who are disappointed in his performance. They are not looking for an Alinsky acolyte to attack enemies for them. Voters want someone who will serve the country. The moment when Obama said "revenge" could turn out to be a pivotal moment in the campaign."

MSNBC: Joke Network, Cont’d

For you  followers of the late, great TV series "Law and Order" ; you must have noticed the many favorable references to MSNBC in the actor's dialogueas well as a correlation in the politics of the post-2001 shows and those of MSNBC.

John Hinderaker  "Over the years, we have chronicled MSNBC’s lack of journalistic standards. The worst offender, Keith Olbermann, is now gone, not because of his crazed leftism or frequently embarrassing errors, but because he was an insubordinate employee. Of those who remain at MSNBC, Chris Matthews is among the worst. In another era, his reckless disregard for truth and unprofessional conduct would have brought his career as a journalist to a speedy end. At MSNBC, these qualities are apparently valued, as Matthews has been rewarded with a multimillion dollar contract."

...."So we have the spectacle of MSNBC apologizing in private for its reporter’s smears and falsehoods, while refusing to acknowledge his misconduct publicly. Instead, Griffin invited one or both of the Koch brothers to come on the air and respond to Matthews’ attack–to explain, I suppose, that they aren’t really “pigs.” That would be a ratings coup for MSNBC, but it obviously isn’t going to happen. So it’s just another day in the life of one of America’s most dishonest news outlets."

Acting US ambassador to Pakistan met with Code Pink, discussed ‘classified’ drone casualty counts

 "The left-wing delegation to Pakistan included Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of Code Pink, and Robert Naiman, the policy director of a left-wing group called Just Foreign Policy, whose board members include Julian Bond, the former NAACP chairman, and Tom Hayden, the 1960s radical and former California politician.

"During the five-minute video, Naiman hands the ambassador a petition, which he claims was signed by more than three thousand people, calling for an end to U.S. military drone strikes in Pakistan.
"Naiman also is seen giving Hoagland an anti-drone letter from left-wing American activists, including Alice Walker, Noam Chomsky, Juan Cole and Oliver Stone.

Colonel: Hillary Made Decision Not to Post Marines at Benghazi/ V.D. Hanson on the Wages of Libya

Big Government   "Breitbart News has attempted to secure a copy of the State Department Rules of Engagement for Libya, but officials at the State Department have stonewalled, as this email correspondence from Friday reveals:

To [State Dept Spokesperson]:
(A) Status of my document request for the State Department rules of engagement for Libya?
(B) Can you help me find answers to these two questions:
1. Who provided security inside the Benghazi mission at the time of the 9-11-12 attack, how were they armed, and how many of them were there?
2. Who provided security on the perimeter of the Benghazi mission at the time of the 9-11-12 attack, how were they armed, and how many of them were there?
"Here is the official response from that State Department spokesperson:"
Michael -
I do not yet have more information on the rules of engagement document, which as discussed last night, might require a FOIA request. I will let you know as soon as I receive feedback. However, and this also applies to your two follow up questions, we do not discuss security details for the safety of our missions. The two questions below are addressed to the fullest extent possible in both briefings I sent you last night.
[State Department Spokesperson]
More on this at the link....
Victor Davis Hanson; The Wages of Libya  "When he took on the CIA job, he apparently was asked to retire from the military. There is a pattern here: selfless service to the United States, but recently in the context of a politicized administration that has used the enormous prestige of Petraeus in ways that have reduced his influence. Directing responsibility away from the administration to the CIA is more of the same, and it puts a historic figure like Petraeus in an unfair predicament."

What laser capability did Benghazi team have?  "Pentagon spokesman George Little says, “On the night of the attack on American personnel and facilities in Benghazi, there were no armed unmanned aerial vehicles over Libya, and there were no AC-130s anywhere close.” "