All tin-pot dictators may now move up one space (UPDATED)

Breaking News: Hugo Chavez is still dead  "After Franco's death, Chevy Chase, reader of the news on NBC's Saturday Night's comedic news segment Weekend Update, announced the dictator's death and read a quotation from Richard Nixon: "General Franco was a loyal friend and ally of the United States. He earned worldwide respect for Spain through firmness and fairness."... As an ironic counterpoint to this, a picture was displayed behind Chase, showing Franco giving the fascist salute alongside Adolf Hitler"

Obama's former mentor praises Hugo Chavez's 'warmth and generosity'

"Professor Charles Ogletree served on the president’s black advisory council"   Video here. 

 Via Lucianne

 

UPDATE:  Ahmadinejad’s claim that Chávez will be resurrected with Jesus ‘went too far’   "The reappearance of Mahdi is anticipated by believers in a manner comparable to that with which Christians anticipate the second coming of Jesus. Shia Muslims believe both will come on the resurrection day."
 

 

From the UK: How typical of the Left to idolise a despot who gloried in attacking America and Britain   "

One can only speculate as to what post-Imperial resentment has inspired such irrational sentiments — and led such people to view a belligerent bully like Chavez as some sort of saint."

I'd have much preferred to select the print version of this article to get rid of the trashy links that come with it, but that did not seem possible. TD

Related, wouldn't you say? Speaking of tin-pot dictators: A Government to be Feared   "With each passing day of President Obama's second term he continues to consolidate power and undermine any notion of conventional democratic governing norms." 

This article is of such import that TW will post it elsewhere as a stand-alone feature. I use it here as to show you that America is not far from being a third-world country with third-world economics and a congress containing far too many members who honor third-world rulers and want our president to emulate them.

Speaking of deadly weapons in the hands of a man with dysfunctional thought processes...

 

Alan Caruba; The Speech No One Heard  "By any measurement one applies, the nation is sliding toward another financial crisis and Mitch McConnell’s efforts in the Senate continue to go largely unreported.

"Is anyone listening?"
Too bad that McConnell's over-Botoxed face cannot register the emotion that is needed to attract listeners.

Sequester Spin  "So, the janitors who were about to take a body blow from the sequester actually got a raise.

"The White House has, however, eliminated tours for the public under pressure of the Sequester.  But, so far, is keeping the staff calligraphers."

Email tells feds to make sequester as painful as promised  ...."So it is our opinion that however you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be," Mr. Brown, in the internal email, said his superiors told him."  Read it all here.
Hat tip to Neal Boortz, who, as you may notice, subtly spells Obama's name with a zero. Low-information types aren't likely to catch that.

 

Forbes Magazine; Sequester This! President Obama's Colossal Media Blunder  "With a glut of examples a mere Google search away, it won’t be long before even the most disengaged voter—facing some Obama-generated inconvenience and having these stories shoved in his face—asks, “What do you mean I can’t get my passport renewed? Couldn’t they fire Obama’s $100,000 a year dog trainer instead?” And if this phony “austerity” is imposed on the rest of us, how do you think the public will react to the First Lady’s next multi-million dollar vacation?
"Sound far-fetched? Then consider that the sequester has already backfired on Obama once."...
 

Michael Barone; The New Economic Normal? Maybe spending cuts are the cure for stagnation. "Republicans are being attacked as irresponsible for allowing the relatively small sequester cuts to occur. But maybe that was the responsible thing to do. Maybe it would be responsible to cut spending even more." 

 

Obama’s atrocious statement on Chavez’s death

Jennifer Rubin  "A dictator dies. He’s persecuted Jews, denied basic civil liberties and acted as a banker for the Iranian regime. What does the president say? “Sic semper tyrannis. After the welcome news of Hugo Chavez’s death, I hope that the oppressed people of Venezuela will be able to live in freedom, not under miserable tyranny. I look forward to working in the House to promote a free, democratic, and pro-American government in Venezuela.” "

"No, no that’s from a freshman congressman, Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)"

Our president actually says something so meaningless it is impossible to decipher whether he thought Chavez was a friend or foe: “At this challenging time of President Hugo Chavez’s passing, the United States reaffirms its support for the Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government. As Venezuela begins a new chapter in its history, the United States remains committed to policies that promote democratic principles, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.”
....

Another Republican, Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said:

“Hugo Chavez was a tyrant who forced the people of Venezuela to live in fear. His death dents the alliance of anti-U.S. leftist leaders in South America. Good riddance to this dictator.

" The president,  in his embarrassing and mealy-mouthed statement, offered no such condemnation of Chavez’s past behavior. Obama thereby displayed a number of his greatest failings. He is an irresolute defender of the oppressed. "He is too afraid of giving offense to vile regimes and calling out gross abrogation of human rights. He thereby demoralizes democracy advocates and human rights dissidents. He fails to appreciate that the way in which we interact with Iran’s allies (e.g. Syria, Venezuela) affects their perception of our resolve."

Hume: Obama Needs To Put On His "Big Boy Pants And Prepare To Shoulder The Responsibility"

RealClearPolitics

http://terrellaftermath.com/

 

"BRIT HUME: The president seems prepared to let the public suffer almost as much as possible, as long as he can blame somebody else. This is not what we expect of presidents. Presidents, in the end, are supposed to be the people who put their big boy pants and prepare to shoulder the responsibility. And if they're criticized for using that responsibility, or authority, so be it. But that's what you expect of presidents.

"This president seems more inclined to let the chips fall where they may and hit as hard as they might, as long as he thinks he can blame somebody else. It's very unusual for a president. (O'Reilly Factor, March 4, 2013)" 

Even the left-wing Daily Kos admits it: Yes, the Sequester is President Obama's Fault. These are facts.

"....If one did pay attention, this conclusion is undeniable. The sequester was basically an invention of Gene Sperling and Jack Lew.

...."These are the people that were hired by and work in the Obama administration that wrote the damn Sequester! It's pretty hard to deny, but some will try."

IT'S A WASTE OF TIME TO TALK TO LEFTISTS

From the Freedom Fighter's Journal  I hate these commercials you have to endure before the video begins, but what can you do?  There is a cleaner video further on down.

Twitchy says, "It’s been a while since the claim of “You lie!” has caused such a stir, but Bill O’Reilly’s refusal to let Alan Colmes fudge on his claim of spending cuts by the Obama administration turned heated tonight, to the delight of viewers everywhere." Lots of comments in here.

 

Video here also: Bill O'Reilly Goes Ballistic On Alan Colmes: 'You Are Lying! You Are Lying!'  O'Reilly brought Colmes on to discuss what he saw as a lack of willingness from President Barack Obama to offer a single spending cut. When Colmes pushed back on that, O'Reilly started to get heated. 
O'Reilly pushed him to name a specific program Obama has been willing to cut. Colmes offered Medicare — which has been put on the table repeatedly in budget talks — but O'Reilly blew up at Colmes and said that was not "specific" enough. 
"Hold it, hold it, because now I’m getting teed off at you. Give me one damn program he said he would cut? One?" O'Reilly said. More video here.

This lib site says O'Reilly yelled at Colmes for "telling the truth"

Bullies in the Newsroom Manipulating the News

Godfather Politics
"Richard Salant, former president of CBS news, said: “Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have.” That’s pretty arrogant, isn’t it?
"Walter Cronkite, former CBS news anchor said, “News reporters are certainly liberal and left of center.”
"Herman Dismore, foreign editor of the New York Times, said, “The New York Times is deliberately pitched to the liberal point of view.”
"Richard Cohen, senior producer for CBS, said, “We are going to impose our agenda on the coverage by dealing with issues and subjects that we choose to deal with.”
"America, it is time to turn off the controlled media sources. You have two options: stand for truth and demand justice, or become the victims of your own undoing and be trodden under the foot of media oppression.
"Let’s take the next step and show you the twisted ideology of those who report the news:" 

How's that Obama-Media marriage doing lately?

Was SNL’s mocking of Obama’s sequester hysteria a sign of change?

"Or just the lowest hanging fruit of the week?

"This past week, SNL mocked Obama’s fear-mongering over the sequester.
But SNL went even further, mocking Obama’s economic ignorance, having his character say:  ”I really have no idea how money works or how budgets work.” (h/t NRO)" 

 

Also from LI: What if the President threw a Sequester hissy-fit, and no one cared?

John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz     

2-1 support sequester cuts save defense. Has Obama made biggest political miscalculation in years? http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/03/most-back-cuts-overall-but-not-to-the-military/ …

 

President Obama's approval rating has dropped to 43%

 

 WaPo Busts White House In Another Sequester Lie  "To his great credit, the Washington Post's Glenn Kessler continues to hold the White House responsible for spreading sequester falsehoods. This morning, Kessler did what good reporters are supposed to do: fact-checked a White House claim -- again about Capitol Hill janitors -- and reported the fact that it was 100% false."
Protestors will appear on his front lawn in three...two...one...

Tom Brokaw: Obama Spends Too Much Time Campaigning  "Brokaw replied that he didn't think that Republicans were flat out refusing to work with the President but are negotiating with an eye to the 2014 midterm elections and don't want to give away too much. Brokaw went on to lament that Obama is doing little else but demonizing the GOP instead of looking for ways to work with them."

Obama's White House: Hostile Work Environment for Reporters "In Obama's America, workers can sue their employer if they are subjected to a hostile work environment. Can you imagine the litigious field day trial lawyers would have with a paper trail showing a pattern of behavior like this one? I know that in my workplace I can't send continuous, abusive e-mails to people with whom I work. I can't use the kind of vulgarity and bullying tactics as described by these reporters."

David Gregory Gets Sperling to Admit Obama Lied During Presidential Debate   "Anyway, it's great that four months after the fact David Gregory busts Obama for a bald-faced lie he told during a 2012 presidential debate, but this would've been much more helpful, you know, before the election."

 

Among the mourners of Hugo Chavez are...

Weasel Zippers listed these:

Jimmy Carter (worst-president-ever-emeritus)
"So unlike Jimmy Carter to coddle enemies of America… yeah, maybe not."

The morbidly massive Marxist Michael Moore  "Oddly, Moore doesn’t mention Cuba’s healthcare system (the one he fawned over in his movie “Sicko”) not being able to save Chavez."

Oliver Stone  "I mourn a great hero to the majority of his people and those who struggle throughout the world for a place."

Sean Penn " The Hollywood actor Sean Penn has paid tribute to Hugo Chavez. “Today, the people of the United States lost a friend it never knew it had. And poor people around the world lost a champion. I lost a friend I was blessed to have.” He also says Venezuela and its revolution “will endure under the proven leadership of Vice-President Maduro”."

NY. Rep. Jose Serrano whose performance we can check here.

Of course, people from San Francisco  "The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) remembers Comrade Chavez in San Fran:"...

Socialist Hero Hugo Chavez Amassed $2 Billion Fortune… "Somehow makes Michael Moore’s pro-Chavez rant even more absurd."

Howie Carr at the Boston Herald does not concur with all of the above. Says he:

 

Moonbats mourn another Red thug     Joe Kennedy II among them:

“President Chavez cared deeply about the poor … while some of the wealthiest people on our planet have more money than they can ever reasonably expect to spend.”

"Damn right, comrade! Es verdad. For the 
record, according to 2011 tax filings, Comrade Joe made $901,236 from Citizens Energy and related corporations. His lovely bride, Beth, grabbed another $346,764. 

Total: $1,248,000."

....

"It was a sad day for the moonbat community.
The People’s Republics of Cambridge and Amherst rushed to lower their flags to half staff first. A spontaneous candlelight vigil erupted in Muddy River. Funeral dirges played endlessly on the NPR stations..."

cartoonsbyhenry

Hugo’s Hagiographers   "Not all liberal outlets were so uncritical of Chavez in the aftermath of his death, however. To its credit, the liberal news site ThinkProgress published a highly critical piece, entitled “Why Democrats Shouldn’t Eulogize Hugo Chavez.”
"The real shame, though, might be that such an article even had to be written."

Journalists as Ring Wraiths; When you’ve got a country to transform, any caviling* is disloyalty.

Victor Davis Hanson 
*Cavil : to raise trivial and frivolous objection

"Today’s Washington journalists are like J. R. R. Tolkien’s ring wraiths, petty lords who wanted a few shiny golden Obama rings — only to end up as shrunken slaves to the One. 

"The Bob Woodward/Ron Fournier/Lanny Davis psychodrama is another small reminder that the Obama administration continues to assume that the press should be little more than a veritable Ministry of Truth. Its proper duty is to serve the White House and promote the progressive agenda of Barack Obama. Any were considered suspect who questioned whether those exalted ends should really be achieved by any means necessary — but they were so few and far between that it mattered little."
....
"How many times can a Washington toady invoke the Gettysburg Address to supersize another mediocre Obama speech?"
....
"Do we remember “AttackWatch.com,” whose website offered “files” on potential Obama critics? Its spooky, pseudo-intelligence red-and-black format offered names and pictures, and asked readers to report critics with the invitation, “Have you seen or heard this attack?” “Yes/No.” "

 

Email tells feds to make sequester as painful as promised

There is no sense of honor nor conscience in this Obama-led administration, and- as with Bill Clinton- no capacity to feel shame. Moreover those of us who see Obama for what he is and say so are called racists. Shame on those voters who brag about Obama's election victory as if it was of no more consequence than a ball game.

This is how much the Obama Administration gave to Egypt just 48 hours after sequester began:

dcxposed.com

Washington Times  "“This email confirms what many Americans have suspected: The Obama administration is doing everything they can to make sure their worst predictions come true and to maximize the pain of the Sequester cuts for political gain,” said Rep. Tim Griffin, Arkansas Republican."....
"Ms. Noem told Mr. Vilsack the email made it sound like the administration was sacrificing flexibility in order to justify dire predictions.
“I’m hopeful that isn’t an agenda that’s been put forward,” the South Dakota Republican congresswoman told Mr. Vilsack." Obama's media will help:

 Obama opting to cut where it hurts most   "A 2011 GAO report gave a sampling of the vastness of what could be cut, consolidated and rationalized in Washington: 44 overlapping job training programs, 18 for nutrition assistance, 82 (!) on teacher quality, 56 dealing with financial literacy, more than 20 for homelessness, etc. Total annual cost: $100 billion-$200 billion, about two to five times the entire domestic sequester.
"Are these on the chopping block? No sir. It's firemen first."
....
"But he cannot win if “nothing bad really happens.” Indeed, he'd look both foolish and cynical for having cried wolf. His incentive to deliberately make the most painful and socially disruptive cuts possible (say, oh, releasing imprisoned illegal immigrants from detention) is enormous. And alarming."
(Emphasis mine, just to make sure you all saw it. TD)

The Obama administration wants the sequester to hurt immediately so the public will clamor for its reversal. But will this gambit work? Probably not. "So we have a cock-eyed scenario where the White House may well want to ramp up economy-strangling cuts quickly, in an inversion of the normal order. Unlike the Hippocratic oath, the watchword here is “first, do some harm.”"

 

Memo Proves that Obama Admin Wants to Make the Sequester Cuts Hurt So Bad   "Two of Obama’s major initiatives, his health care law and his EPA regulatory state, were predicted to be job killers. They have proven to be job killers. But Obama is now hoping to use the cover of sequestration to blame his dismal economic record on Republicans. Whatever lie gets him through the day."

White House and Press Relations Getting Worse

More Reporters Step Forward to Discuss Obama White House’s Petty Treatment of Press   "The validity of the story aside, an indisputable truth is that the press has been guilty since before the 2008 election of running interference for this president. And the American people are wise to it. A Gallup poll conducted last September found that the number of respondents who said they trust the news media had reached an all-time low.

US News  "Like previous administrations, Obama's advisers are trying to force-feed the press corps with their version of reality, and they sometimes give the impression they don't respect the men and women who cover the presidency. Their tactics include bullying, hassling, and, yes, threatening reporters in an effort to get them to back down from their stories or their lines of inquiry. The threats can include warnings that a reporter will lose whatever access he or she has to Obamaworld. In other cases, administration figures or Obama's allies outside government threaten to publicly challenge a reporter's credibility, sometimes with the accompanying use of foul or insulting language."  Via Lucianne

And representing the United States of America...

Dennis Rodman, Obama's Madeleine Albright  "This little incident, which in itself ranks up there on the sanity scale with Maxine Waters' warning of 170,000,000 Americans losing their jobs due to the sequester, is nevertheless a timely reminder of just how power-mad progressives really are, and how thoroughly their power-madness obliterates any notions of conscience or decency."

This ain't Henry Kissinger

Find Dennis:

 And following Rodman's visit, North Korea threatened war again.