Are you better off than yada, yada, yada?

A Reply to the Democrats' Reply to Romney  "Democrats Say US Is Better Off Than Four Years Ago ". As I fumed, my wife glanced at it and shrugged:   "Well, better off for them!"

The significance of the 'Are you better off...' question "Voters who are unhappy are not likely to vote for the president. The question forces the voter to put aside personal feelings about Obama -- most find him likable -- and view the choice for president in a more rational light. This is good for Romney and bad for Obama when you almost entirely remove the likability quotient and make the election about something more personal to the voter -- his feelings of well being."

Maryland governor flip-flops on ‘better off’ question … in 24 hours

"One day later — and presumably, one Cory Booker-esque call from Team Obama — suddenly the world looks a lot rosier to Governor O’Malley." Via Neal Boortz

Voice of Lillpop; Four years ago, America was lured into a dangerous experiment with Marxism by Barack Obama and fellow liberals...  "Back then, it was all about style and feel-good politics, proliferated by a brutally-biased media with a despicable “Man Crush” on an unproven, non-vetted, unaccomplished community organizer with a distinct dislike for American values and traditions. "

Alan Caruba; You Know You're a Moron If...  "The sad part of this is that people who will vote for Obama still believe what he says. To them I say, you know you’re a moron if…."

...."Voters for Obama will ignore the fact that Obama is “transforming” America into the equivalent of Greece and taking the nation over a fiscal cliff. "

Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland: We’re Not Better Off Now  (Notice the brief answer followed by a quick change of subject) "Responded O’Malley: “No, but that's not the question of this election. The question, without a doubt, we are not as well off as we were before George Bush brought us the Bush job losses, the Bush recession, the Bush deficits, the series of desert wars -- charged for the first time to credit cards, the national credit card.”

"Quipped Schieffer: “George Bush is not on the ballots.”"  

This ad from the GOP nails it. It's Obama 2008 redux. We've heard it all before.

"We've heard Obama say it all before, as the GOP ad so clearly reveals. Only a fool would buy Obama's snake oil again, fools and union minions, I suppose.
"Are you better off today, in 2012, than you were in 2008?
"I'm not, not even close. Hell, I'd be happy if I were the same. But I'm worse off, by a lot.
" I'll be voting for change in 2012." 

Government Innovation

DNC Buzzword Bingo; What to Expect at the DNC

http://www.tobytoons.com/td/

A scholarly piece from Bruce Thornton; What to Expect at the Democrat Convention  ...."So class warfare, an idea as dead as phrenology, will fill the void. Appeals to envy and resentment of the successful go back a century, and trade on a primitive view of wealth as fixed, a pie that can be divided only so many ways. If your piece is bigger, mine must be smaller. Government power is then needed to re-cut and redistribute the slices so they’re “fair.” "

Victor Davis Hanson; Liberal Chickens  "The result is that our first green president is facing $4-a-gallon gas while he brags that what he tried to stop proved unstoppable."

First Lady Strives for Caring Image Above Partisan Fray

Mona Charen; His magic cannot obscure Obama’s record.  "That the president needs Bill Clinton now to make his case to the country must be richly satisfying to the only American whose ego can compete with Barack H. Obama’s."

Obama’s Energy Policy, All Of The Above, Oh Really?

Chris Vaca   "When it comes to his energy policy (which he really has none) he says he wants “all of the above” but when you analyze that statement what he really means is he wants to get energy only from ABOVE the earth, not from the earth. Like everything else, he told us what he wanted to do, the American people thought he meant something else, like utilizing all forms of energy that we have in this country.

"We are all aware now that he has a green agenda, which up until now has been a complete failure. The problem is that the so called lame stream media refuses to say anything about them. We are all familiar the failure of Solyndra and the Chevy Volt, but how about the rest, here is a list that the media does not report on."

DNC Day 1/ A look at ObamaCare and illegal immigration

Conservative Daily News  "We had an interesting conversation and I shared with her the truth about universal healthcare as I experienced it growing up in Canada. Patti said she felt it was a tragedy that so many people in our country lacked insurance. I explained I shared her concern, but felt putting the government in charge of anything to do with your health was a big mistake. After all, would you trust anyone at the DMV to make the right decisions regarding your cancer treatment? Obamacare basically puts DMV employees in charge of the purse strings that control your health care. Patti agreed that was disturbing, given that Rick had recently beat prostate cancer. In the end we both agreed that it is up to each of us individually to do more for our struggling neighbors instead of shirking that duty off to a bloated, corrupt bureaucracy."

“They Come to America”, a documentary on illegal immigration.  "Once I got the car I headed into Charlotte to meet up with tea party leader Earl Phillips and his group. They were screening “They Come to America”, a documentary on illegal immigration. You should see that. You’ll wish you hadn’t, but still…you should watch it. 

What's in store for us at the Democrat convention

Four Years - Three Rings

"Reviewing the long list of speakers, Sandra "Your ceiling needs painting" Fluke will lecture us on taking responsibility and Nancy "Pass it to see what's in it" Pelosi will wax poetic on transparency. Elizabeth "Chief Running Gag" Warren will describe the challenges facing people who lie about being Native Americans in order to get affirmative action jobs.

"Speakers from Planned Parenthood will advocate for poorly planned (and taxpayer funded)unparenthood, Harry Reid will dab a tear from his eye as he calls for an end to partisanship in politics, and John Kerry will scold the Republicans for nominating an evil rich man as Presidential candidate."

Forbes; A Citizen's Guide to Conversation at the Democratic Convention "As the first Hispanic ever to keynote the Democratic convention, Castro will generate most of the buzz. But with 759 Hispanics participating in this year’s convention, the highest ever (cf.  to 658 in 2008), you can also expect a broader range of personalities and issues central to Hispanic voters to get some attention."  Partial list of Democratic convention speakers released
Suppose we'll get to see that long, tracking walk again of Bill Clinton as he heads out from backstage?

Weekly Standard; What to Watch for in Charlotte  "On this crucial matter, and across the board, every effort will be made to divert Americans' attention from present-day realities and choices.  In the spirit of an aging movement longing for the past, the question Obama and the Democrats will ask is not, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" but rather, "Can you still recall how much better off you imagined you'd be four years ago?" "

Fred Barnes; Why they can’t stop talking about abortion.  "Since the early 1990s, the trend has been against an unrestricted right to abortion—better known as abortion on demand—which is the goal of leading Democrats, including President Obama, and pro-abortion organizations like Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America that have become pampered interest groups of the Democratic party."

Specious Democratic Talking Points  Axelrod, who else?

What to Expect at the Democratic Convention  "But the biggest, most rotten zombie we will see in Charlotte is the class-warfare rhetoric that has already dominated Obama’s campaign." 

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of SANCTUARY CITY LOS ANGELES and DNC Chairman

Roger L Simon;  Is ‘Villaraigosa’ Spanish for ‘Village Idiot’?  ...."This is yet another example of the deeply destructive race politics game played by the Democrats. Since they have no real ideology or program anymore, Keynesian economics having been shipwrecked off the coast of Greece, the Dems are reduced to exploiting racial and ethnic groups while accusing Republicans of racism that even a few Democrats must know does not exist."
.... "This is yet another example of the deeply destructive race politics game played by the Democrats. Since they have no real ideology or program anymore, Keynesian economics having been shipwrecked off the coast of Greece, the Dems are reduced to exploiting racial and ethnic groups while accusing Republicans of racism that even a few Democrats must know does not exist."

http://blogs.laweekly.com/arts/mayorfreebie_color.jpg

L.A. and the Politics of Sanctuary Cities 

"But sanctuary-supporting police and government officials may find it difficult to distinguish between the laws that they believe should be obeyed and those that they feel can be ignored with impunity. The massive unbridled immigration flows to which sanctuary policies capitulate are bringing with them Third World mores. Many of the Central American immigrants of the Westlake area resent the LAPD’s efforts to clean up their chaotic street-peddling, according to the Associated Press, a practice that is ubiquitous in the anemic, corruption-plagued economies of Latin America."

A Mexican Supremacist

Riddle Me This, orrrrr...Go Figure

Independent Sentinel.  "Under “Obamacare”, the government mandates that every citizen show proof they are insured.  There are serious penalties if you don’t.

"However, to qualify for said “Obamacare”, you don’t have to show proof you are a citizen.

Have I got that right?

"If that’s not correct; If every citizen must show proof of citizenship in order to qualify for “Obamacare”, why can’t that same proof be shown to vote?

"No rush on your answer.  I’ll wait."

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2012/03/cartoon-things-you-need-a-photo-id-for.html

Monday is National Empty Chair Day! (Updated)

Noisy Room

"This is a special day where we can all participate! Here’s the plan: Set up your own empty chair, take a pic and send it in. Also, if possible, put an Empty Chair outside to commemorate the day. Post a link to your pic in Comments and we’ll post them in this main posting, orTweet your pic using #tbrs and the official National Empty Chair Day hashtag #EmptyChairDay and we’ll get that posted here, too. Over at Legal Insurrection, they’ve already started! Click here for examples of what their readers have started to send in! You can tell there’s all sorts of things you can do to the Empty Chair to make a statement and make it your own."

Big Government; 'Eastwooding' Inspires National Empty Chair Day on Monday

Michelle Malkin; Monday is National Empty Chair Day; Updated with photos

Time for a 2nd revised edition of the Liberal Racial Code Words Handbook: Chair!  

Twitchy has this.
And Tony Branco has this in Legal Insurrection:  Below

Update: ♪ I'm Just a Chair ♪ by Obama's Empty Chair

"The Empty Chair of the United States (ECOTUS) speaks out through song." 

CAIR: Censor or Free-Speech Champion? The group opposes a law curtailing Jew hatred.

Andrew C. McCarthy  "It is farce. CAIR has no real interest in hate speech per se. Indeed, it has no real interest in civil rights — no proponent of sharia could. Its sole actual imperative is Islamic supremacism: promoting any cause that increases Islamic influence and protesting any effort either to reduce Islamic influence or to subject Islamic-supremacist doctrine to scrutiny. Consequently, CAIR’s precious fretting over hate speech extends only so far as Islam is advanced or imperiled."

Also by Andy McCarthy; Crucifixion? Must Be the ‘Aspirations of Arab Peoples for Greater Freedom’   "To truly “be prepared for anything,” the new president would have to understand that what the “Arab Spring” has “unleashed” is Islamic supremacism. Whether we face up to it or not, that is the mainstream Islam of the Middle East."

Democrats Air Frustrations with Obama 'Cockiness'

Big Government  "President Obama's competitive, boastful nature and condescending advice rubs even loyal Democrats the wrong way, a new profile alleges."
...."Kantor's piece carries a long-running theme that Obama easily -- perhaps even uncontrollably -- rates and ranks others around him. A 2008 debate gaffe found him flippantly calling Hillary Clinton "likable enough." Of Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign, he asserted, "We're the Miami Heat, and he's Jeremy Lin." Even his own staff are subject to criticism:"....

Iowans’ Message to Obama: ‘We Did Build This’

"Greeting Air Force One as it touched down under sunny skies and sultry heat was  a hand-painted banner draped across the top of an airplane hangar that reads, “Obama Welcome to SUX – We Did Build This.” “SUX” is the airport code for Sioux City."  I kid you not.

Suppression! DNC Charlotte: Identification required, even just near convention site

Twitchy  "Oh, dear! What will Ellen Barkin, Michael Moore, Joe Biden, the NAACP, Attorney General Eric Holder and his apologists, Rep. Keith Ellison, and other unhinged leftists (redundant) say about this suppress-y turn of events? As they have told us, over and over, there is nothing more bigoted than requiring photo identification. Well, except for maybe “kitchen cabinets” and “chairs."