Ann Coulter's defense of Romneycare (UPDATED, Feb 3); Krauthammer's counterpoint on Romney

Ann Coulter  "A leading conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation, helped design Romneycare, and its health care analyst, Bob Moffit, flew to Boston for the bill signing."
...."The bill passed by 154-2 in the Massachusetts House and unanimously, 37-0, in the Massachusetts Senate -- including the vote of Sen. Scott Brown, who won Teddy Kennedy's seat in the U.S. Senate in January 2010 by pledging to be the "41st vote against Obamacare." "
...."What went wrong with Romneycare wasn't a problem in the bill, but a problem in Massachusetts: Democrats.
"First, the overwhelmingly Democratic legislature set the threshold for receiving a subsidy so that it included people making just below the median income in the United States, a policy known as "redistribution of income." For more on this policy, see "Marx, Karl." "
....

Santorum has boasted of his role in passing welfare reform in the 1990s. You know what the Democrats' 2009 stimulus bill dismantled? That's right: the welfare reform that passed in the 1990s.

"The problem isn't health insurance mandates. The problem isn't Romneycare. The problem isn't welfare reform. The problem is Democrats."

Updated Feb 3: Newt strikes back at Coulter:  "Fox News Latino’s Victor Garcia did a phone interview with Newt Gingrich. During which the Former Speaker was asked about the recent Ann Coulter and Tom Delay criticisms. He dismissed them as “the old order,” and specifically cited Coulter has having been “all over the map.” 

Romney Can't Explain Conservative Ideas (video) ""The real problem here is that it shows he doesn't have fluency with conservative ideas. Conservatives are not the one who engage in the war of the classes or division of American classes. Obama, the Democrats will win that kind of argument every day. The moral case for conservative economics is that our policy is going to help everybody, including the poor. Two examples, school choice, which will help those trapped in the inner cities and tyranny of the teachers unions will finally have an education, have the skills to get a job. And you lower the marginal rates and taxes so you encourage economic expansion and creation of jobs," Krauthammer said on Wednesday's "Special Report" panel."

How badly does Obama want to be re-elected? This much:

Administration briefs Senate leaders on Taliban transfer  ""The whole idea that they're going to ‘transfer' these detainees in exchange for a statement by the Taliban? It is really, really bizarre," McCain said. "This whole thing is highly questionable because the Taliban know we are leaving. I know many experts who would say they are rope-a-doping us.""
Is the Obama administration aware of this Islamic tactic of lying to infidels?


Surrender in Afghanistan; Obama wants to bug out before the election   "If Mr. al-Qaradawi is chosen as mediator it would suggest the Obama administration is far more interested in making a deal before the U.S. election this year than in what's in the deal. The administration might be satisfied, it appears, with a public renunciation of al-Qaida by the Taliban (they don't have to mean it), and private assurances that the Taliban won't take over until after the election."

Tony Branco cartoon too good not to use a second time.

AEI Critical Threats Project:  Courting Disaster in Afghanistan  "This task cannot be left to the Afghan security forces, moreover. Apart from the fact that Secretary Panetta used the same media availability to suggest that the Obama administration is looking to reduce the size of the Afghan security forces to which it proposes to transition this fight, the Afghans will not be up to accomplishing this task. Clearing a heavily defended, long-established insurgent safe haven without simply annihilating the population is a challenge that only the American military and one or two of its allies can meet." 


Max Boot:  Operations in Afghanistan Can’t End Early  ..." And before long I suspect we are going to hear that the number of U.S. troops—already insufficient—will be cut back some more so as to allow President Obama to run for reelection claiming to have ended one war and to be on his way to ending another. The Afghan Security Forces will be hard-pressed to pick up the slack, because they will need extensive training and support for years to come. The only way they will have any chance of success is if the U.S. maintains a substantial force in Afghanistan after 2014—say at least 40,000 troops. But that is highly unlikely if Obama stays in office. He seems determined to downsize as fast as possible."

Obama's new BFF

Andrew C. McCarthy: Obama's surrender is complete: The administration is working with a Muslim Brotherhood jurist.

"For those who may be unfamiliar with him, he is the most influential Sunni Islamist in the world, thanks to such ventures as his al-Jazeera TV program (Sharia and Life) and website (IslamOnline.net). In 2003, he issued a fatwa calling for the killing of American troops in Iraq. As he put it: "

Blackfive: BUGGING OUT OF A-STAN?  "Well, former Marine and US Army Special Forces Officer and columnist, Jack Kelly believes that the Obama Administration's choice for negotiator also shows their hand - that they don't care what happens in Afghanistan as long as we are out of there:"


Barack the Peacemocker  "Here’s the plan. We wait until Barack Obama begins strutting and chest thumping about how he has “ended two wars,” then we respond thus:"...

...."All that’s left is to declare all American hydrocarbon fuel off-limits at the very moment the Iranians decide to blockade the Strait of Hormuz; then the cosmic Obasmic failure will be complete, thorough — and irreversible."

 Onsite commentary from here:  ENDGAME IN AFGHANISTAN

http://conservativedailynews.com/2012/01/military-cuts/

Please, Mitt; don't campaign like John McCain!

Althouse  "Romney phrase sets off a lefty feeding frenzy.
"Of course, this is completely silly. The full context is:

I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs a repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich.... I'm concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.

"The ideologues are embarrassing themselves by trying to turn this into a statement that he doesn't care about or empathize with the very poor."


Romney Could Defend What He Said… But He Probably Won’t "But is there any reason to think Romney will say any of this? I noted a few days ago, “Avik Roy defends the work of Bain ten times better than the candidate himself. Romney’s entire argument against Gingrich’s work at Freddie Mac was based on the work of Tim Carney. Every day, I see better, more compelling arguments for Romney from outside the campaign from within the campaign.”

"This doesn’t have to be a negative-perception-reinforcing, “I-voted-for-it-before-I-voted-against-it” gaffe. But who believes that the Romney campaign has what it takes to turn the narrative around?"

Oh, please; not another George Bush or John McCain!

Shame on you, Juan

http://terrellaftermath.com/  

Juan Williams Accuses GOP Candidates of Veiled Racism   "It does seem a touch odd that Williams would be so quick to conclude that Republican candidates were masking bigotry, given that he was (unfairly) crucified on a similar altar last year. He, as much as anyone, should understand the cheap way such accusations are thrown around in the modern political climate. Still, that Republicans are racists is an article of faith for the Left; perhaps Williams has seen a chance to rehabilitate himself in the media’s eyes and taken it with both hands?"


The Racial Hypocrisy of Juan Williams, Jeffrey Goldberg, and the Liberal Media  "It might surprise Williams and Goldberg, but Republicans who advocate self-reliance among black Americans actually believe they are fighting racism. The essence of anti-black racism is the belief that blacks are inherently inferior. And in conservative eyes, many of the failed policies of the social welfare state accept black inferiority as given. Therefore, Republicans believe, to oppose these policies is actually to oppose racism."


Juan Williams Finds Racism in Candidates' (and Others'?) Use of 'Constitution' and 'Founding Fathers'  "This afternoon, Jim Taranto at the Wall Street Journal's Best of the Web noted another potential target of Williams's ire:

 Accusing someone of not respecting "the 'Constitution' " is a racial code word? If that were true, the American Civil Liberties Union would be the biggest racist organization around.

http://conservativedailynews.com/2011/10/race-cards-3/

"Indeed. When are we going to hear from you, Juan, about the ACLU's obvious and pervasive racism?"

Boortz: Code words on the campaign trail  "Juan Williams has graced us with a list of code words … these are words that when you hear candidates, particularly Republican candidates, utter these words, they are really just euphemisms for raaaaaacist language.  So here, for your displeasure, is a list of the racist code words:"...

LEAKING THE KBL DETAILS - VIEW OF THE SEALS

http://www.cagle.com/news/NavySeal/

Blackfive   "Joe Biden's spineless drivel aside, most SEALs that I have spoken to (Active Duty and Reservists) are NOT HAPPY that the details of the raid to capture or kill bin Laden were divulged and now we know what unit rescued the hostages in Somalia.  Identifying the unit after direct action was something that no one has done before to such a level of disregard for the safety of the men of that unit and their families.

"Leif Babin, a highly decorated SEAL, in the WSJ expresses the same sentiment that I have heard over and over again..."

The Most Important Election In Our Lifetime

http://conservativedailynews.com/2012/01/2012-important-election/

What's the NLRB up to now?

Neal Boortz'  "The NRLB, led by Board Chair Mark Pearce, is looking to implement a series of regulations to make work place unionization easier.  One of those proposals includes a mandate which would require businesses to hand of confidential employee information to the unions.  This information would include contact information such as email addresses and phone numbers, so that these union goons would have an easier time harassing you."  

Cartoonists look at the whole Newt-Mitt Mess

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/

No new posts in the Tunnel Wall till Wednesday

We're in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and having computer issues,
I apologize.
TD

Barack O-Blah-Blah

Sad Hill News

 Hat tip to The Looking Spoon

Alan Caruba: Stupid Voters

Warning Signs  "The voters have paid a fearful price for electing Obama; increased unemployment, a huge national debt, a hollowed-out military, billions wasted on “Green” energy, unprotected borders, a Congress in near total gridlock, and a world beyond our shores that perceives an America made weaker by Obama’s three years in office."....
"So, to say that those who voted for him were “stupid” is to misread the new era of politics, one that has more to do with “American Idol” and “Dancing With the Stars” than with the serious selection of the leader of the nation and the free world. 
"As they say in advertising, voters bought the sizzle, not the steak."

Russell Brand

 Barack Obama, the choice of these celebrities:  

David Letterman

And these.
                                                       

Whoopi Goldberg

Karl Rove: It'd be nice if President Obama had a record to defend. But he doesn't, and I've gotten over it.

WSJ; Channeling David Axelrod:   "These State of the Union addresses are fine, but I'm glad it's over. In that setting it's hard to use a baseball bat to club Republicans. Now we can and will—for nine straight months. Plouffe was saying it would be nice if we actually had a record we could defend and a positive vision to offer. I told him we don't—and get used to it. Let's make a virtue of simplicity. Our job, as we say around here, is to savage the GOP nominee, grind him to dust, turn him into a freak. I'm ready. After all, it's the Chicago Way."