The curious resignation of Richard Grenell

Have some conservatives danced to a Democrat tune? This seems like a leftist dream come true.  This all seems so very regrettable and, if true some anti-gay conservatives have given Obama a big gift on a silver platter that could affect more than just the presidential election.

Jennifer Rubin; "Richard Grenell hounded from Romney campaign by anti-gay conservatives"
"In the National Review, Matthew J. Franck wrote late last week: “Suppose Barack Obama comes out — as Grenell wishes he would — in favor of same-sex marriage in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. How fast and how publicly will Richard Grenell decamp from Romney to Obama?” "
"The argument that Grenell could essentially not be openly gay and serve on a GOP presidential campaign was belied by the fact that Grenell has been a loyal Republican for many years, working for esteemed foreign policy figures including former Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton."
.... "Right Turn has learned from multiple sources that the senior officials from the Romney campaign and respected Republicans not on the campaign contacted Ric Grenell over the weekend in an attempt to persuade him not to leave the campaign. Those were unsuccessful. During the two weeks after Grenell’s hiring was announced the Romney campaign did not put Grenell out to comment on national security matters and did not use him on a press foreign policy conference call. Despite the controversy in new media and in conservative circles, there was no public statement of support for Grenell by the campaign and no supportive social conservatives were enlisted to calm the waters."...


Byron York: The curious resignation of Richard Grenell    " In all, several Romney aides encouraged Grenell to come to Boston and start work.  Whatever the criticisms from social conservatives, officials say, they wanted Grenell on the job."
...."The answer isn't clear, but the circumstances of Grenell's early departure from Team Romney and his own strongly-expressed opinions suggest that gay politics, perhaps not just the opinions of social conservatives, might have played some role in the whole affair.  But if Romney's aides are to be believed, it wasn't on their end."


Powerline: WHAT’S THE STORY WITH RICHARD GRENELL? "At this point, we don’t know the full story. But what we do know seems to reflect poorly on the Romney campaign. If Grenell wasn’t someone the campaign could stand behind, it shouldn’t have selected him. Once it selected him, unless significant new information came to light... the campaign should have stood strongly behind him. And if the campaign did stand strongly behind him but Grenell quit anyway, then Grenell was a poor choice all along."

Andrew Klavan; Exclusive: Obama Insider Reveals Secret Strategy to Beat Romney

Mister Lister...perhaps

Klavan on the Culture  "KOC:  I’m going to be very blunt here. I don’t understand how the president can run on his record. In July of 2008, Mr. Obama called George W. Bush “irresponsible” and “unpatriotic” for adding 4 trillion dollars to the national debt over 8 years. But in less than 4 years, Mr. Obama has added 5 trillion dollars to our debt and has proposed no reforms except a bogus tax on rich people which would accomplish virtually nothing. At the same time he keeps trying to buy off voters by offering things like student loan subsidies and other unfunded entitlements that would actually add to the debt.  How do you propose to address this issue?

"LISTER: Well, the debt is a very serious problem, but by the same token, I think you have to agree that Mitt Romney drove for twelve hours with his dog in a crate on top of his car.

Our Juvenile President: The bin Laden raid story; like The Blob, it just keeps growing

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/05/01/98815

Alana Goodman: SEALs Criticize Obama’s Grandstanding "A lesson about how heroes don’t brag, from someone who would know. In fact, some would say McCain’s own modesty hurt him in 2008, because he was reluctant to make his time as a POW a focus of his campaign."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/04/29/98766

And my personal favorite that is even more apropos today than when it came out a year ago:

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/michaelramirez/2011/05/04/87377

Blackfive: SEALS TELL BIN LADEN SLAYER TO PIPE DOWN "One of the more grotesque bits of credit thievery by our Campaigner in Chief has been the use of the bin Laden raid for his re-election, The Vice Buffoon actually touted the idea of a bumper sticker "GM is alive and bin Laden is dead" So I guess they are also claiming credit for blowing taxpayer money paying off their union allies by giving them a free car company they had already bankrupted.

"Some SEALs have decided enough is enough and have publicly called for Barry to hush his cakehole and act like he can at least spell the word dignity."....

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Also from Blackfive: COERCIVE INTERROGATION LED TO BIN LADEN  ...."That captured terrorist was taken to a secret CIA prison — or “black site” — where, initially, he was uncooperative. After being subjected to some “enhanced interrogation techniques” .... the detainee became compliant."....

 "Once this terrorist decided that non-cooperation was a non-starter, he told us many things — including that bin Laden had given up communicating via telephone, radio or Internet, and depended solely on a single courier who went by “Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti.” "....

And those who got this information out of him will be prosecuted by Obama and Holder to the fullest extent of the law!

The Realization of Osama bin Laden's Dream  "Don't let this week's anniversary of Osama bin Laden's assassination fool you.  President Barack Obama may have killed bin Laden, but no one on Earth has done more to help al-Qaeda and the world's radical Islamists achieve their goals in the last year than our president."  Tara Servatius 

MORE BLOWBACK AGAINST OUR ... SHAMELESSLY SELF-PROMOTING PRESIDENT

"...Obama seemed to put his desire to gloat ahead of the nation’s intelligence needs. Immediately after the event, Obama publicly stated that a valuable trove of intelligence had been seized, including even the location of al Qaeda safe-houses. According to Mukasey, “that disclosure infuriated the intelligence community because it squandered the opportunity to exploit the intelligence that was the subject of the boast.” "  From Powerline

Also this: WOULD OBAMA’S POLICIES, IF IN PLACE ALL ALONG, HAVE PREVENTED US FROM FINDING BIN LADEN?

What Romney actually said about getting bin Laden  "Obama's campaign lied about Romney not wanting to get him."

Below: I love the caption at the bottom of Tony Branco's cartoon.

http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/04/spiking-the-osama-football-1/

NiceDeb: Video: Obama Doubles Down on Disgusting Bin Laden Slam Against Romney "Via The Weekly Standard: Obama Smirks: Again Suggests Romney Wouldn’t Have Killed Bin Laden:"

At a press conference with the prime minister of Japan this afternoon, President Obama said that Americans haven’t excessively celebrated the death of Osama bin Laden, and suggested that Mitt Romney would not have made the decision to kill the terrorist mastermind.

Rewind: In Bush Years, Killing of Iraqi al-Qaeda Leader Zarqawi Greeted by Media Scowls  "While the killing of Osama bin Laden is a moment for all patriotic Americans to show pride, it's not hard to guess that the media's reception of the news would have been less positive if it had occurred in the Bush years -- and imagine if it had happened at a politically sensitive time (right before the 2006 midterms, or anywhere in the 2008 presidential cycle)."

Lib lawyer denounces Zarqawi killing  "Killing Zarqawi and three women in the house with him was not an act of war. It was an act of retaliatory terrorism. By our government. And I don’t want it to be in my name".

I haven't seen yet what she said about bin Laden's killing.

Discussion on Al Sharpton's Facebook page

On Al Sharpton's Facebook page,  quoting a link in the Tunnel Wall, I wrote:

 Why does MSNBC compensate a race-baiter like Sharpton? "He's a fraud, he's a race hustler. To walk the streets and incite prior to judgment--if he can be so sure about that neighborhood watch man [George Zimmerman], why didn't he say that about the man who stabbed Yankel Rosenbaum--an innocent person that was killed by a mob that yelled 'Let's kill the Jew'?"  

Then I left the link to this TW post: The Racemongers: Sharpton Sows Seeds of Next L.A. Riot.


The following ensued on Sharpton's page:

B------ S-----: Al Sharpton was asked by Trayvon Martin's parents and attorney for his involvement with this case because Al Sharpton has worked all his adult life for the cause of justice for African Americans which he started doing during the civil rights movement days in the 1960s. Every time that he has spoken out on a case, it has been because the people affected asked him to. He is an African American Civil Rights Activist. You have never heard him say that anyone is not worthy of his interest. Sharpton is not about just pointing out brutalities that happen but those that reflect injustice at the hands of the police and the courts relating to African Americans.

N---- R---: Google Tobias White. His son was beaten by a group of white boys. When Mr.White contacted Sharpton numerous times, he was told that since it had not reached national attention, he would not take on his case. (the boys were never charged with a crime. They actually bit part of his sons ear off) Tobias White is black. He has circulated a letter around FB about how Sharpton does not care about the black community unless it is money in his pocket. Wake up people!! Tobias white now lives in NC and is on FB. It could also be racially movitation for Sharpton. He is a biracial man. (Mr.Whites son) which is why I think Sharpton is a racist

Tunnel Dweller: Sharpton is a demagogue and unworthy of the allegiance of a proud race and it is sad to see someone of this low character having influence over the emotions of his people. I cannot imagine people of honor such as those who rescued Reginald Denny from Florence and Normandie twenty years ago being admirers of this man and I cannot see how they would fail to be disgusted by him.

M---- H-----: Well said Mr. Hayden

Tunnel Dweller:  I try not to be the coward that Eric Holder said we all tended to be.

If any more comes of this, I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, if you go to his Facebook page you will see that The Right Reverend Sharpton does catch quite a bit of flack. I don't see Al keeping this page going much longer. TD

(SEALs UPDATE) Putting the Cart Before the Hearse

UK Mail: SEALs slam Obama for using them as 'ammunition' in bid to take credit for bin Laden killing during election campaign

"It was ‘stretching a little much’ for Mr Obama to suggest only he would have made the decision. ‘I personally I don't think Romney would have any problem making tough decisions. He got a very accomplished record of making decision as a business professional. 

"‘He may not have charisma but he clearly has leadership skills. I don’t think he'd have any problem taking that decision.’"

...."We were extremely surprised and discouraged by the publicity because it compromises the ability of those guys to operate."  Via Drudge.

PowerLine says: " From this president, the least gracious, most lacking in class that I can recall, it certainly was predictable."

HopeNChangeCartoons.com   "Team Obama is doing everything short of carrying Osama's rotting, bullet-ridden head around on a pike in order to tell people that this bold and dangerous military mission could only have been pulled off by one man.
"And of course, that man is...Admiral McRaven.
"What - you thought Obama was behind everything? Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! No, no - as the photos from the situation room clearly show, Barry had to be dragged off a golf course the day of the mission so he could be photographed watching a computer monitor in the same room as a lot of grown-ups."

What "gutsy call"?  Panetta's memo:

The timing, operational decision making and control are in Admiral McRaven’s hands. The approval is provided on the risk profile presented to the President. Any additional risks are to be brought back to the President for his consideration. The direction is to go in and get bin Laden and if he is not there, to get out. Those instructions were conveyed to Admiral McRaven at approximately 10:45 am.

"Only the memo doesn’t show a gutsy call. It doesn’t show a president willing to take the blame for a mission gone wrong. It shows a CYA maneuver by the White House.

"The memo puts all control in the hands of Admiral McRaven – the “timing, operational decision making and control” are all up to McRaven. So the notion that Obama and his team were walking through every stage of the operation is incorrect. The hero here was McRaven, not Obama. And had the mission gone wrong, McRaven surely would have been thrown under the bus."

The bravely brave Sir Barry

Much more on this in Sunday's Tunnel Wall

Terrific!… New Clean Coal Ad Mocks #Occupy Criminal Movement

Well, kinda mocks it, but if you blink you'll  miss it.

Gateway Pundit "The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity released this powerful ad recently.

The group boldly mocks the #occupy criminal movement in the powerful pro-American ad."

"From the video: Small business owners, families, communities. All across America, people are asking themselves, their neighbors and their legislators for solutions. The answer is clear – America needs to invest in its most abundant, domestically produced source of energy: coal. With centuries of coal right here at home, America has the power to thrive for generations to come. But the clock is ticking. Tell your neighbors and your legislators, now is the time for clean coal. In the ad the narrator says,

“The clock is ticking America. It’s time we focused on reality instead of rhetoric.”

"And they include a photo of the crazy #occupy loons marching down a street. It’s terrific.

It’s also very important. The Obama Administration is trying to kill off the coal industry like Osama Bin Laden. This will affect everyone’s electricity rates but will hurt the Obama poor the most.

I’d laugh at the self-parodying OWSers, but I do think they’re dangerous

Update: OWS plan 'global disruption' on May Day  "I'm sure the usual tactics of trying to provoke the police into a violent response will be used, and the media will report every demonstration as proof of the "power" of this movement - even though the numbers of protestors are likely to be as paltry as they were over the winter.
"In short, we've seen it all before. And we're likely to keep seeing it as long as the press gives outsized attention to these reprobates and miscreants who resent their betters and have nothing to do except complain about how miserable their lives are."

Rick Moran

Bookworm Room  "Zombie has a new post about Occupy’s latest stunt:  The movement’s geniuses, inspired by Earth Day,

[I]llegally took over an entire farm and transformed it into…a farm!

So proud are they of this revolutionary act that they showed off the farm to the media yesterday, so naturally I had to check it out.

"Go here to enjoy Zombie’s photo essay.  Before you laugh too hard at these silly people, though, remember that they have the power to destabilize things.  The fact that they’re stupid, ill-informed, and venal is infinitely less important than whether they are successful at manipulating an alternately compliant and credulous media into making them seem like the cool, hip thing to do."

"Hypocrisy, thy name is Occupy. When society draws boundaries, builds fences, and makes rules, Occupy gets to violate them at will. But once they’ve seized control, Occupy immediately starts making new rules and new boundaries that everyone else is supposed to honor. Perhaps that’s the new Occupy motto: “Rules for thee, but not for me.” "

"Before the Occupation, the Gill Tract was an agricultural research farm where twenty-somethings getting their PhDs would work the fields to grow crops, as they researched biology or how to raise better, healthier plants. But now, after this incredible revolution by Occupy, the Gill Tract has been utterly transformed into a farm where twenty-somethings work the fields to grow crops. The only difference is that before, the farm served a scientific function to improve society, and was managed by experts and hard-working students doing meaningful research; but now, it’s run by a bunch of smug amateurs and dropouts who plant store-bought seedlings in the middle of what once was a controlled research environment. Meet the new farm — same as the old farm, except worse."

"Visit Amy’s tent for an individual stress-relaxation “hypnosis” session which she guarantees will have a “happy” ending."

Hat tip to Zombie

Obama the Cool

DonkeyHotey

Mark Steyn: “Can Barack Obama Make Cool Affordable”?  "The exploding cigars are revealing not merely of Democratic hypocrisy but of a key difference in worldview between liberals and conservatives. Jeremy Funk and Governor Schweitzer reflexively believe that their dog-eating polygamy-scion is different from the other guy’s dog-transporting polygamy-scion. This is nothing to do with young Barack being six or ten years old and meekly eating whatever was put in front of him. He was 34 years old when he wrote the passage quoted above and ten years older when he recorded the audio edition. And, as both versions make plain, he thinks it’s kinda cool, and he knows that to the average upscale white liberal it has the electric frisson of the exotic other."


Then there is this article from earlier: It's Cool To Be In The Tank For Obama

Celebrity-in-Chief: http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/04/celebrity-in-chief/

Did Obama cross that fine line between cool and silly?  "One could argue that Obama's Fallon appearance was quite well done, which it was — for that sort of thing. The president played straight man and said or did nothing objectionable. He was, in a word, presidential, to the extent one can be under such circumstances. Even at the end when he said, "Oh yeah," it was ... cool.

"Yet the effect was nearly narcotic, so strange that cognitive dissonance doesn't quite describe it. One had the uneasy feeling that something wrong was happening. The lead grown-up isn't supposed to act that way."

Jonah Goldberg: Obama, Trump and “Cool”  "That said, Trump does have half a point here. I wish the ad had at least one or two really solid clips conveying how despearately Obama wants to seem cool, which is always the great coolness-killer. It would have helped set the tone of the ad much better. What would those clips be? I’m not sure, but then again I’m not making the ad. Michael Moore seems to find a way to find that kind of footage pretty easily, and I have no doubt it can be found in Obama’s case."


The Karl Rove video: One Cool Celebrity President appears in Republican ads

Obama the Gutsy Warrior

Adm. William McRaven

Blackfive: "GUTSIEST CALL EVER" DELEGATED TO MAN W/ ACTUAL GUTS  "There are even fairly reliable reports that Obama had the idea polled to see if he would bear blame for a mission failure or for chickening out and saying no go. But once the results said it was politically viable, the story was that bravely brave Sir Barry hollered "Follow Me" and led his minions to the Situation Room to watch the show.

"As it turns out, it was even lamer than that. A memo has come to light that shows responsibility was pushed down the chain to ADM McRaven.... And you can be sure that if it had gone south, McRaven would have been portrayed as a trigger-happy SEAL who led the Prez astray."

The author of this post then contrasts the above with the press statement Gen Eisenhower wrote on D-Day when things looked bleakest on Omaha Beach:

“Our landings in the Cherbourg-Harve area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”

The Man Who Got bin Laden: The Most Deadly Would-be Journalist in the World "Vice Adm. William McRaven, himself a SEAL, was on the ground in Afghanistan as bin Laden met his end, linked electronically to CIA chief Leon Panetta at agency headquarters in Langley, Va. “I have to tell you that the real commander was Admiral McRaven,” Panetta told PBS Tuesday night. “He was on site, and he was actually in charge of the military operation that went in and got bin Laden.” "

sodahead

Gutsy call?  "Team Obama has already painted Romney as a heartless executive who didn’t hesitate to fire people and, er, execute poorly-performing companies as a Bain executive.  What exactly would keep Romney from taking a risk with a terrorist mastermind in his crosshairs?  The attack was an overreach, and an opening for critics to challenge Obama’s actual role in the mission — and when Time Magazine published the mission orders from Leon Panetta to Admiral William H. McRaven, commander of US Special Operations Command, Big Peace pounced:"


NY Times: Warrior in Chief  "Soon after Mr. Obama took office he reframed the fight against terrorism. Liberals wanted to cast anti-terrorism efforts in terms of global law enforcement — rather than war. The president didn’t choose this path and instead declared “war against Al Qaeda and its allies.” In switching rhetorical gears, Mr. Obama abandoned Mr. Bush’s vague and open-ended fight against terrorism in favor of a war with particular, violent jihadists."
For which I would say Mr. Obama deserves a hearty well-done!  Oh, by the way: "Asked his view, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said, “Mr. President, my suggestion is, don’t go.” "


Max Boot responds to the NY Times article above: Obama Hardly a Hawkish Warrior-in-Chief   "These are hardly the actions of a hawkish commander-in-chief. (At least in my view as a Romney defense adviser.) Yet the reality of Obama’s foreign and defense policy, which especially because the death of bin Laden has turned notably more dovish, has been obscured by the president’s attempt to focus most of the public’s attention on his drone strikes and commando raids on al-Qaeda."


Memo Reveals The 'Gutsy' Bin Laden Call That Wasn't  "Like so many others, the final decision to pull the trigger on the world's most-wanted man was delegated to an admiral who undoubtedly would have been thrown under the bus had the mission failed."
...."Luckily, operational control was in McRaven's hands, and the planning, execution and decision-making were virtually flawless. There was no repeat of the incident years before of Sandy Berger, last seen stuffing classified documents in his pants, telling a CIA and Northern Alliance team in Afghanistan, on that occasion literally a matter of feet away from bin Laden, that if they want to grab him, they'll have to do it on their own. So they didn't. This time, we had an admiral and former Navy SEAL making the decision."
...."Finally, it was the courageous and well-trained Navy SEALs who put their lives on the line and got a small measure of revenge for Sept. 11, 2001. It is President Obama who is falsely taking all the credit." (Emphasis added by TD)


White House Politicizes Situation Room  "The White House invited NBC News Anchor Brian Williams into the Situation Room Thursday as part of its campaign to tout Obama’s killing of Osama Bin Laden a year ago, according to Politico."

Here is how Obama uses our SEALs for his reelection:

Alan Caruba: The "What If" of John Edwards

Warning Signs  "It also says something about an America in which too many voters preferred a candidate like Edwards with good hair or Obama’s “cool” look.. Too many have either not learned or have forgotten the gravity of the choices we make when the high offices are at stake. The election is not a horse race or a beauty contest. It is often the life and death of our economy and of the men and women we send into battle.

donkeyhotey

"In 2008 the media and a majority portion of the voters elected Barack Obama and we have had to endure someone who is arguably the worst President this nation has ever had. We have to avoid that occuring again. The fate of the nation depends on it."


For Edwards and Aide, Another Lost Love Story  "Mr. Edwards’s own family relationships were front and center all week in the courtroom. Whenever details of the affair were mentioned, and they were at length, many in the courtroom would glance at his eldest daughter, Cate, 30, gauging, perhaps, how it must feel to hear about your father’s mistress getting caught in a luxury hotel room after your father had left."  NY Times.

Ann Coulter on Why America Hates Hollywood (Opinion)

Hollywood Reporter; The conservative pundit says that the industry demonizes just about everyone: Christians, priests, the rich, Southerners and more.

...."In other words, the exact opposite of a Law and Order plot. I like watching beautiful rich people with fabulous Manhattan apartments killing one another as much as anyone. Maybe more. But why do ALL the wealthy white people, Christians, Southerners or WASPS in these scripts have to be racist, misogynist snobs? Whatever happened to diversity? Hollywood learned to stop stereotyping black characters. Can't it learn to stop stereotyping the rest of America?

"Not to brag, but I've been to America. The natives do not need coaching in tolerance, certainly not from beautiful airheads who are paid like Enron executives to lecture us -- the child-molesting, greedy racists -- about learning to be decent human beings."

Here Ann likens Trayvon Martin Media Coverage to 'Lynch Mob' and, yes, the KKK

"Rush Limbaugh has accused the media of playing up the racial aspect of the case and said that they drummed up "fake outrage" in this case, as they did during the heat of his Sandra Fluke controversy."
regions-foreign-to-them/

Video from Pat Dollard

Charles Krauthammer: While Syria burns

Charles Krauthammer "If Obama wants to stay out of Syria, fine. Make the case that it’s none of our business. That it’s too hard. That we have no security/national interests there.

"In my view, the evidence argues against that, but at least a coherent case for hands-off could be made. That would be an honest, straightforward policy. Instead, the president, basking in the sanctity of the Holocaust Museum, proclaims his solemn allegiance to a doctrine of responsibility — even as he stands by and watches Syria burn.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/strategy-312659-debt-syria.html?pic=1

"If we are not prepared to intervene, even indirectly by arming and training Syrians who want to liberate themselves, be candid. And then be quiet. Don’t pretend the U.N. is doing anything. Don’t pretend the U.S. is doing anything. And don’t embarrass the nation with an Atrocities Prevention Board. The tragedies of Rwanda, Darfur and now Syria did not result from lack of information or lack of interagency coordination, but from lack of will."