The CNN Debate and the State of Journalism in General

And The Loser Is … The Media  "When the President is challenged about social issues he shows contempt to the media and begs, “Come on, guys!” And the media is happy to appease. The base that these candidates must engage is sick of seeing the intentional malpractice of reporters concerning legitimate comparisons between coverage of President Obama and the Republican candidates. Newt certainly had a big win during the debate with this tactic and the media and, by extension, President Obama suffered a loss. The more frustrated the American people become with the mainstream media, the less they will trust their coverage. When this election is narrowed down to the President and the eventual GOP contender, it will be the mainstream media fighting for survival."

Was CNN Influencing Debate On Obama’s Behalf?    "As the GOP prepares for political battle with Obama in 2012, it’s important to remember, it isn’t only his campaign they’ll have to defeat, they will have to best a liberal, Obama-supporting mainstream media, as well."

Former CIA Agent Scolds CNN Anchor: 'You're Just Carrying Water For Obama'  "Michael Scheuer, a former counter-terrorism analyst for the CIA, scolded CNN's Christine Romans Thursday for letting her support for the current President show."

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Arizona Debate Score: The Candidates Were Fine, but CNN is a Joke  "Today, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced that Iran denied access to a military base suspected of being used to develop nuclear weapons. Our ally Israel views Iran’s potential [possession] of a nuclear weapon as an existential threat. Iran’s possession of nuclear weapons opens up the possibility of terrorists obtaining nuclear weapons. But in CNN’s Republican debate, nothing was asked or said about Iran until deep into the night, and after a ridiculous question about contraception gained higher priority.

...."CNN badly mishandled this important debate, which may be the final one before the GOP convention, and did a disservice to the American people."

Cops: Dad hit son for not watching Obama Speech

conservativeblogscentral.com   "A North Stamford father trying to make his pre-teenaged son listen to President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech last month was arrested on a warrant Wednesday and accused of striking his son with a coffee mug when the youth would not pay attention.
"Mohamed Shohan, 49, of 55 Mather Road, Stamford, was charged with third-degree assault, disorderly conduct and risk of injury to a child."
.... "When the boy kept acting out, the father lost his temper and grabbed a coffee mug his son was holding and hit him in the face with it, causing a bruise to the bridge of his nose, it is alleged.
When interviewed, Shohan could not explain how his son was injured, police said. Police then obtained an arrest warrant for Shohan."

On Our Response to that Koran Burning Incident

John Bernard, 1st Sgt.USMC (ret) American Response to Afghan Quran Incident a Show of Weakness  "...the Korans in question had already been desecrated by the Islamic EPWs, who were the original owners and who were using them as, essentially, a combat notebook. Do you suppose the “noble” protestors would have been as incensed by that knowledge? Do you think they would have demanded those Islamic prisoners be handed over for a “proper chastisement”? "
...."The country I heard about, read about, and was taught about as a child seems to have vaporized. The dream that was the vision of our founding fathers, which was kept alive even through the generation of my parents and a sizeable portion of my generation, has been circumvented by a subculture of prostrating, anti-American self-mutilators who seem to think they represent all of us."


President is wrong to pander to Islamic radicals who killed U.S. troops  "Authoritative 19th-century Muslim scholar Muhammad Amin ibn Abidin wrote that burning a Koran is not usually permitted, except as a last resort, and that burial or sinking in water is preferable. Rather than framing this issue as one of respectful disposal, Mr. Obama caved to the extremist view and admitted America was completely in the wrong. The Taliban can chalk it up as another victory in the war of ideas. "Meanwhile, two U.S. servicemen lie dead..."


Gateway Pundit: NATO Promises to Put Koran Burners on Public Trial As Soon As Possible  “NATO officials, in response to a request for the trial and punishment of the perpetrators … promised this crime will brought to court as soon as possible,”Karzai’s office said in a statement."  Don't worry; Obama has your back, warriors

This ain't Hell:  General: now is not the time for revenge  "I don’t know what Karimi is saying to the protesters, though. It seems like they need to be lectured more than the US troops need a lecture on keeping their calm."

Michael Rubin: Obama Needs to Take the Offensive on Koran Burning  "Still, Obama’s apology fumbles the opportunity to go on the offense. Incidents in which Americans desecrate the Koran–or any holy book–are few and far between and are punished. But, not so the Taliban. Every time the Taliban bomb a mosque–something they do with frequency when they disagree with those mosque’s traditional, moderate mullahs–they desecrate the Koran."


Blackfive: BURNING THE KORAN - RIOTING OVER AMERICAN SUPPLIES  "And we'll have one helluva time succeeding in a country that riots over burning books instead of over the disfigurement of little girls for going to school or people for having satellite phones - as This Ain't Hell's Jonn Lilyea points out ..."


Weasel Zippers: Top Iranian Cleric Blasts Obama’s Koran Burning Apology As “Superficial,” Says Muslims “Devastated By Heinous Crime”…
"Obama never fails to play right into their hands."

"The Iranian cleric described the desecration of the Holy Qur’an as a “heinous crime,” which has devastated “each and every Muslim.”  "

The Taliban’s Mob Rules; The Taliban is a Mafia-like crime syndicate, not a religious movement.

Palin: When does Karzai apologize for one of his troops killing two of our soldiers over the Koran-burning?

Hot Air  "Good question. I wonder which tack the inevitable sneering reply from her critics will take. Will it be that Afghans are perfectly entitled to value a copy of the Koran over the lives of two allied soldiers because that’s their culture, QED? Or will it be that, as occupiers, we deserve every bad thing that’s coming to us without apology, even by the guy whom we’ve been propping up for 10 years?"
...."Another good question: At what point do the endless groveling apologies become counterproductive?"

The Wednesday's Republican debate

Legal Insurrection: Romney’s “hollow and dispiriting” win last night  "I posted last night and again this morning that Rick Santorum had a terrible debate.

"But it’s fair also to point out that many of the shots Romney scored on Santorum were cheap shots, as pointed out by George  Neumayr at The American Spectator"...

Rick Moran: More of the same at AZ GOP debate   "Even GOP voters are tired of the nastiness, the exaggeration, the low blow, and the unwarranted attacks. At some point, the people simply tune out what they don't like about politics and either sit out the election or vote for the other guy. Whoever wins is going to have a hard time pivoting in a believable way to a more positive message and an all out assault on Obama."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/02/22/96605

Romney hits Santorum on 'take one for team'


CNN Caught Influencing Debate on Obama’s Behalf  "Faced with a weak economy and an unpopular health care program he’ll be fored to defend, Barack Obama and David Axelrod would like nothing better than to change the subject in 2012 to social issues. Sadly, CNN proved themselves more than willing to step up and do some early framing for them in that regard."


We will have more on this as the day unfolds.

There you go again; Obama places blame on others once more

Rick Moran: Obama blames Republicans for pipeline decision  "The price of a gallon of gas could be well over $4 by late April. And depending on events in the Middle East, they could go much higher than that. That's when the real questions by voters will begin. And the GOP better have some good answers to take advantage of it.

"With his moratorium on drilling in the Arctic, the Gulf, off the East Coast, and just about anywhere else, the president is reaping what his policies have sown since 2009. Domestic oil production has increased in spite of his policies, largely due to new technologies - including fracking - that his base is agitating for him to eliminate.

"He doesn't have a political leg to stand on. But he will seek to shift blame to the GOP anyway."

Watch for Senate Democrats to call oil company people in to rake them over the coals again.

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/02/23/96690

Neal Boortz: Gas hypocrisy "Jay Carney went on to brag that domestic oil production is at a record high right now.  That’s complete horsesqueeze, and here’s why.  The fact is that oil production is at a record despite Obama, not because of Obama.  Let me remind you of a few things."

• Oil and natural gas production on federal lands is down by more than 40 percent compared to 10 years ago.

• Under the Obama administration, 2010 had the lowest number of onshore leases issued since 1984.

• The Obama administration held only one offshore lease sale in 2011.

Investors.com, 8/2011: As Failures Grow, Obama Blames Others  "It seems all this president knows how to do is talk eloquently about problems or demagogue opponents. When he's not giving speeches, he's demagoguing. When he's not demagoguing, he's giving speeches. He doesn't know how to get much of anything done for the good of the country."


Gateway Pundit: Good Grief. Now Obama Blames the Founding Fathers For His Failures  "Barack Obama tried a new tactic this morning. Instead of blaming George W. Bush he blamed the Founding Fathers for his failures.  It’s their fault."

How's Obama's lowering of the oceans going?

Rick Moran:  Competitor of LightSquared run out of business by Obama administration  "Unfortunately for GlobalStar, circumstances beyond their control forced them to miss the deadline and that's when the FCC, the Department of Agriculture, and the White House all began to maneuver GlobalStar into bankruptcy.

"It is a complicated story so read the entire article at the [Daily Caller]. Crony capitalism at its most blatant."

http://terrellaftermath.com/

World Magazine: Gone With the Wind   "The 3,200-watts of solar photovoltaic panels provide one-third of the electricity that Bryce's family consumes, slightly reducing his monthly power bill. But the panels aren't without problems: The start-up costs were high, the inverter has already broken once, and the panels require regular cleaning.

"Bryce quickly wondered if the panels were worth the investment, and he soon realized that the limits of solar power for his Texas home extended to the rest of the country: Solar power won't run America anytime soon. Neither will wind power."

Michelle Malkin: The high priests of eco-destruction   "People of faith aren’t what’s bedeviling America. Blame the high voodoo priests of eco-destruction in Washington who have imposed a green theocracy on us all. Science be damned."  She comments:

 –Water wars and the Delta smelt. The infamous, endangered three-inch fish and its environmental protectors continue to jeopardize the water supply of more than 25 million Californians. Federal restrictions have cut off some 81 billion gallons of water to farmers and consumers in Central and Southern California.....
While Salazar manufactures a new biological opinion on the matter to get the courts off his back, unemployment and drought plague the Central Valley. And the White House stands by its “scientists.”

Meanwhile a drive up Interstate 5 in California shows a chain of signs in barren fields proclaiming "Government-Created Dust Bowl" 


–Water wars and the Delta smelt. The infamous, endangered three-inch fish and its environmental protectors continue to jeopardize the water supply of more than 25 million Californians. Federal restrictions have cut off some 81 billion gallons of water to farmers and consumers in Central and Southern California. 

indybay

..."While Salazar manufactures a new biological opinion on the matter to get the courts off his back, unemployment and drought plague the Central Valley. And the White House stands by its “scientists.”

Mother Jones blames it on global, er, climate change  and CBS blames the drought.


Judge Wanger Issues Injunction Against Federal Delta Smelt Plan in 2009. We can see how that battle came out.

BBC: A storm brews over food, water and power  "Environmentalists say the smelt is essential to the food chain, and that a decline in smelt populations has led to falling numbers of bigger predator fish like salmon and bass.
"Late last year, the US government's Fish and Wildlife Service argued that pumping water out of the delta harmed the smelt.

"A federal judge ruled water supplies to Central Valley farms should be reduced, in order to protect the fish."

As the Tunnel Dweller has previously noted, this is not your father's Democrat Party.

Ann Coulter: What's Their Problem With Romney?

Ann Coulter  "Just four years ago, one Republican candidate for president was avowedly pro-abortion (Rudy Giuliani). One had opposed Clinton's impeachment and tort reform (Fred Thompson). One supported amnesty for illegals, restrictions on core First Amendment speech, federal laws to combat nonexistent global warming, and opposed Guantanamo and the Bush tax cuts ("tax cuts for the rich!") and called waterboarding "torture."

"That last one was our nominee: John McCain.

"This year, every Republican candidate for president opposes abortion, promises to repeal Obamacare, opposes raising taxes, and on and on. Only one candidate is strong on illegal immigration, which is second only to repealing Obamacare as the most important issue facing the nation.

"That's the alleged liberal, Mitt Romney."

....

"We're being asked to hand Obama another four years in the White House in order to "send a message." To whom? And what message? That we're morons? Message received!"  (Emphasis added)

Thomas Sowell: The 'Fairness' Fraud

Thomas Sowell  "During a recent Fox News Channel debate about the Obama administration's tax policies, Democrat Bob Beckel raised the issue of "fairness."
"He pointed out that a child born to a poor woman in the Bronx enters the world with far worse prospects than a child born to an affluent couple in Connecticut.

"No one can deny that. The relevant question, however, is: How does allowing politicians to take more money in taxes from successful people, to squander in ways that will improve their own reelection prospects, make anything more "fair" for others?"

...."What is worse than class warfare is phony class warfare. Slippery talk about "fairness" is at the heart of this fraud by politicians seeking to squander more of the nation's resources."


Warren Buffet toon by MSNBC Powerwall

Obama gives us gas

http://terrellaftermath.com/

A look at Santorum

donkeyhotey

Byron York :  Why Did Santorum Lose in 2006  "The biggest policy reason was Santorum's outspoken support for the war in Iraq. By November 2006, the war was going badly and threatened to turn into a full-scale catastrophe. President Bush resisted calls to change course. While Santorum's Democratic opponent, Bob Casey, called for a new policy, Santorum stuck with the president, and with the war. He even made it his primary focus in the last days of the campaign.
"The voters clobbered him for it."   That's what happens when you don't vote "present".


Consider the source; this is from leftist Maureen Dowd:  Rick’s Religious Fanaticism
It will show you what Mr. Santorum can expect from the Democrats if he is nominated. Dowd says of him: " He’s more like a small-town mullah."  Here she calls Santorum "grating."


Apparently Romney people take Santorum seriously

By the way, this Republican primary tracker can help you keep track of how the race for the nomination is going.

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/02/21/96637

Santorum's social issues trap  "When first reading McGurn’s statement, many conservatives probably reflexively blamed the “liberal” media for this hypocrisy. But, as the Drudge Report demonstrated yesterday, the conservative media is just as eager to keep Santorum trapped talking about social issues. Drudge’s “SANTORUM’S SATAN WARNING” headline was up most of the day, driving both mainstream and conservative media coverage. Rush Limbaugh even weighed in, admitting that Santorum was going to have to spend time addressing the issue:"

A year ago today at the Wisconsin protests, things had drifted from the Walker budget to more generic left-wing causes.

Althouse    "It was no longer apparent that the protesters were mostly Wisconsin school teachers. There were more UW students and teaching assistants. 

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/today-322727-focused-workalso.html?pic=1

""The crowd was a bit thinner," inside the Capitol. "Lots of drumming." The sound of vuvuzela. Outside, there are some marchers. It's a bit wan. It's a Monday.
"The teachers prepare to go back to school, and there are intimations that the schoolkids will be drawn into the controversy. "I  can't believe people who are fighting to preserve their job benefits would even think to appropriate the children this way. It's mind boggling." "