Assessments of the SOTU (Updated)

Heritage Reaction Roundup "The President must not understand that an economy based on free-enterprise with limited government involvement will, in fact, work for and benefit more than just the wealthy. His administration’s idea of an economy that works involves imposing heavy-handed government regulations and threatening tax increases at every turn. Right now, the country is experiencing the tremendous uncertainty that such policies breed. It is the bad kind of uncertainty, the kind that keeps employers from hiring and entrepreneurs from launching new businesses. It keeps the economy stuck in slow, instead of revving it up. In place of more regulation, higher taxes, and increased government spending, the President should propose to take the country in a new direction in tonight’s speech. A direction that leads to less onerous government regulation, fundamental tax reform, and a government that spends taxpayer dollars responsibly."

Here is just one of numerous assessments contained in this column:

Want to Bring Back Jobs? Avoid Overcriminalization - Joe Luppino-Esposito  "He can start by avoiding the criminalization of American businesses by means of outrageous statutes such as the Lacey Act.  Just ask the workers at the Gibson Guitar plant in Tennessee, who were confronted by armed federal agents because of allegations that they imported wood from India that wasn’t properly finished with Indian labor."....

 So if Obama wants to encourage American jobs, he would do well to stop making it a crime to engage in business here.

WSJ: Obama has done nearly everything he wanted. That's the problem.
"So last night he took credit for the shale gas revolution he had nothing to do with and proposed new policies to "spread the wealth around," as he famously told Joe the Plumber in 2008 before he took the words back."....
"Perhaps this will work if Republicans nominate a standard-bearer who is damaged, or too cautious or guilty to challenge this politics of envy."


UPDATE:  RNC Video: Familiar Rhetoric, Failed Record



This guy grades the SOTU on its punctuation  He's reaching for it here.


Liberal economists agree: Obama agenda will fail

Another look at the SOTU

Paul Ryan previews the SOTU

"Well, no kidding.  Obama has already signaled that he plans to play the class-warfare card in tonight’s speech by inviting a special guest:"


To know what the president plans to say tonight, take a look at the guest list   "That’s not unusual; every president since Reagan has used guests to illustrate important points in his addresses. Personal anecdotes are always an effective way of touting a particular stance on an issue. Plus, they serve as an important reminder that policy matters because persons matter. Mentions of these guests — even if they’re misleading about the overall effects of Obama’s policies — will at least enliven a speech that otherwise promises to be dully divisive."

barkingcrayon

Beltway Confidential: State of the Union: Populist-corporatist stew


Doug Ross Journal: President Barack Obama's Complete List of Historic Firsts [Updated]  "But remember: he will not rest until all Americans have jobs, affordable homes, green-energy vehicles, and the environment is repaired, etc., etc., etc."


The State of Union Paybacks   "What Obama won’t tell the nation is that he has served as the most pro-labor president in American history. He has delivered a series of giveaways to union bosses that should make even labor’s most enthusiastic supporters blush. And in the process of giving away the store to his top campaign contributor, Obama has hung workers out to dry, placed unnecessary job-killing burdens on employers and sent a message to the business community that it can go to hell."

Bruins goalie Thomas declines White House visit for political reasons; gets blasted by most all PC sources

Fox News  "I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People," Thomas said in a statement.

Getty Images

"This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government," he wrote.

"Because I believe this, today (Monday) I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL."

"You can look at Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas’ decision to snub a White House visit one of two ways:  a profound American statement of freedom of speech, or a show of selfishness for making a team event about himself."
"NHL goalies can decorate their masks in individualistic ways and Thomas hasn’t been shy about politics, putting the Tea Party slogan “Don’t Tread on Me” on his mask." (Photo above)

Tim Thomas: Liberty’s Most Valuable Player


Fill the Stanley Cup With Tea!  "In addition to displaying his support for the Tea Party on the ice, Thomas is a FreedomWorks donor, giving generously right before the historic November 2010 elections, according to the FEC."

A Thousand Days of Failure; Senate Democrats have refused to propose a budget for three years.

PJ Media  "The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (CBA) is quite clear that passing a budget is not optional. It states, “On or before April 15 of each year, the Congress shall complete action on a concurrent resolution on the budget for the fiscal year beginning on October 1 of such year.” "
....

Harry Reid, donkeyhotey

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) gives a standard answer that Republicans have obstructed the ability of the Senate to act. He apparently is hoping that Americans forget the fact that Democrats had a 60-vote majority until 2011 and could have passed anything over the objections of Senate Republicans.

....

"The real reason for not producing a budget is that the Senate Democrats are terrified of letting the public know what they stand for.  They want to only agree to a compromise that Republicans agree to also.  That way the blame can be shared for the pain that will result from only spending money that we can afford."


Pissing Away the War on Terror  "Barack Obama’s people keep telling us that he has fulfilled his promises. He has. We used to be the freest, wealthiest, strongest nation in the history of the world. He promised to fundamentally transform us into something else. Good job, Barack." Andrew Klavan

Joe Wilson's kind of night tonight

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/Tough-Room.htm

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/newt-337095-mitt-gop.html?pic=1

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

http://www.sodahead.com/entertainment/just-some-cartoons-and-images-anti-liberalobamaetc/blog-144395/

WHO'S GREEDY? Obama Gave 1% to Charity, Romney Gave 15%

Fox News  "Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle gave $10,772 of the $1.2 million they earned from 2000 through 2004 to charities, or less than 1 percent, according to tax returns for those years released today by his campaign."
....

Romney charitable contributions 

Tax year    Taxable income          Charitable donations Donations as % of income
2010           $21.7 million                 $2.98 million                13.73%
2011 (est)   $20.9 million                $4 million                     19.14%

Just sayin'.

Jennifer Rubin: Romney paid 42 percent of 2011 income in taxes and charity  "The media is obsessed with Romney’s wealth, taking the amount earned as a sign of some moral failing in the U.S. economic system. But in fact what we see is that the income tax code is already very progressive (the rich pay a higher percentage than less-rich taxpayers). And in Romney’s case, the amount of his income given (or taken) away suggests that at least this particular wealthy American does more than his fair share for society."


UK Mail: Mitt Romney gave millions to charity. Joe Biden gave $369.  But that's OK because Joe cares and Mitt doesn't.

Looking ahead to President Obama's campaign speech tonight

Heritage: Obama’s Magic Kingdom of Joblessness  "As the Post explained, even without the pipeline, Canada will still export its oil–but across the ocean to China, instead. Meanwhile, the United States will continue importing crude oil from the Middle East. In other words, the environmental lobby might have stanched the flow of oil from Canada, but it’s being diverted onto the seas, and fossil fuel consumption will necessarily continue."


Neal Boortz's always-pithy take on tonight's SOTU  "If Obama won’t tell us the true state of our economy – and we know the ObamaMedia sure as hell wont – we have to leave it up to people like Joseph Curl in the Washington Times to give us the real facts of the ObamaEconomy."  Here are a few...

Hope n' Change looks at it this way:

John Boehner: Obama's State of the Union message 'pathetic'  " "It sounds to me like the same old policies that we've seen: more spending, higher taxes more regulation – the same policies that haven't helped our economy; they've made it worse," Boehner said on "Fox News Sunday."
"If that's what the president is going to talk about Tuesday night, I think it's pathetic."  Also here.

Keep this in mind tonight:“Thirty jobs bills passed over the last year in a Republican House of Representatives that are sitting in the United States Senate – 30,” Boehner said, adding, “Our focus over the last 12 months has been on jobs. Our focus over the course of the next 12 months is going to be on jobs.” John Boehner

Althouse: How Not to Listen to the State of the Union  "But I don't have to watch (or listen) to get that. The State of the Union is usually very tedious because of all the applauding and standing ovations... with half the people in the audience grimly enduring it. Maybe the first 5 minutes are worth it. I like to check out which Supreme Court Justices are there." 

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Another Obama State of the Union: Let Us Count the Lies  "It did however give me the idea to go back and take another look at fibs in O's previous addresses to Congress.  I was dumbfounded as I read, to list all his whoppers would require a book, but let's examine some of the highlights.

The GOP reminds us that Obama specifically promoted Solyndra in last year’s SOTU:

MSNBC...er, wait! What?

Beltway Confidential:  What Obama won't say tonight  "Tossing political barbs at Supreme Court justices during a nationally televised speech is one thing. It's something else entirely for a sitting president to point a justly accusing finger at the Senate majority leader who will be seated nearby. This is especially the case when both men are Democrats and despite the fact that today marks the 1,000th day since the Senate Democratic majority he leads approved a federal budget."  Just wanted to make sure you saw this point. TD


Republicans bracing for partisan attacks in Obama's State of the Union speech "Instead, they are bracing for an onslaught of blame from Obama on how Republicans are the ones to blame for the climate of political gridlock in Washington that has lead to the failing economy and increasing number of lost jobs. And, they are ready with an answer -- that the House has done its job in moving a number of favorable jobs bills forward, but a Democratic-controlled Senate has stalled them."

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/self-332861-gift-sings.html?pic=1

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.)