Assessing President Obama

Victor Davis Hanson: Did We Give Up on Libya? Don’t bet on Qaddafi stepping down. Or on America stepping up.  "...But if Qaddafi or his family survives in power after the United States simply got tired and quit, we will also be able to say that this sort of defeat is something quite new in American history."  But long overdue in the view of Obama's mentors.

Obama's conflict avoidance  "A discomfort with conflict may also be a reason Obama avoided faculty lunches at the University of Chicago Law School. I had a boss who didn't like conflict and he would get visibly uncomfortable at some of the lunch meetings at the Chicago Bar Association at which the experts would go hammer and tongs over their opinions about this issue and that pending case. I suspect the table talk at the faculty lunches takes much the same tone. "

Obama’s New Energy Policy: A Lesson in Stealth Socialism "Mr. Obama, as I’ve previously argued in these pages, is provably a socialist, but a particularly American kind: a stealth socialist. Stealth socialism is a matter of tactics. Stealth socialists, recognizing that an open Marxist agenda will never fly with the American people, adopt a patient, long-term strategy whereby they attain the same goals but through misrepresentation, misdirection, lies, and bait-and-switch. These are, coincidentally, the tactics of the con man. Having been a community organizer, Mr. Obama is particularly adept at these tactics and with the use of the primary vehicle for their implementation: rhetoric."
 Ideal tactics for a man who avoids conflict. Don't you call that "passive-agressive"?

The President Is Missing  "What have they done with President Obama? What happened to the inspirational figure his supporters thought they elected? Who is this bland, timid guy who doesn’t seem to stand for anything in particular? " By Paul Krugman.

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

Jihadi jet-setters evade the TSA.

National Review  "Under the “Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques” plan, TSA’s designated behavior-detection officers are supposed to closely watch travelers who pose potential security risks and who exhibit any number of appearances or activities “indicative of stress, fear, or deception.” But long-entrenched, bipartisan American political correctness hampers the kind of effective, efficient national-security profiling that Israeli airline-security officials practice so well."   Michelle Malkin

whatreallyhappened.com

The Democrat Reaction to the GOP Budget

Neal Boortz "Now before we begin this discussion … let's point out that there is only one political party in Washington pushing for any spending cuts. Only one. And that is the Republican party. Obummer's budget even calls for spending increases. The only reason the Democrats are even willing to address spending cuts is because the Republicans – and the tea parties – have dragged them kicking and screaming to the issue. In Washington DC money equals power. When you take money away from politicians you take away their power. There are some politicians in Washington who will jeopardize the future of this country in order to maintain their power … and there are some who actually take their responsibilities to our children and future generations seriously. You figure out which is which."


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

   PJ Tatler   "Tax the relatively few rich; you still can’t tax them more than 100 percent, and if spending grows faster than GDP, it will eventually overwhelm whatever taxes you can levy. Tax the many poor, and you get the same result — except you’ll be voted out of office first, because there are a lot more poor people than rich people. And it still won’t matter, because you cannot make revenues grow faster than the economy forever."

The Iranian Armageddon

Warning Signs "Today, everyone knows the Iran’s crazed ayatollahs intend to secure nuclear weapon capability and everyone knows that, when they do, they will attack Israel with them. They have never ceased to call for its destruction. It is not a question of if, but when." Alan Caruba, who also links us to this next article:
Iranian Video Says Mahdi is 'Near'

Rising anger by Christians over seizure of bibles in Malaysia

Rick Moran  "What is being called the "Allah affair" is just the latest in the continuing radicalization of Malaysia's Muslim majority. Malaysia used to be a model nation in attitudes displayed toward non-Muslims - including Chinese and Indian workers, as well as Christians. It was a decidedly secular nation, along with Indonesia, the least radicalized Muslim countries in Asia.
"But inroads by extremists in the Muslim community threatens to make Malaysia a powderkeg.
"And Christians are bound to pay a price."

Remember Schumer's use of the word "extreme"? Watch for the newest word: "SCOUNDRELS"

Journalists Denounce Ryan for Not Raising Taxes: 'Rich Get Off Like Scoundrels,' Slam Tea Party as 'Far Right' Impediment  "...ABC anchor David Muir, who used to work at Boston’s ABC affiliate, picked up on the “far right” characterization, asking on World News about how “Michelle Bachman, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who have said this still doesn't get us down the path of fixing the debt, so Boehner will still hear this from the far right.” 

Listverse



NBC's Gregory Asks Rep. Hoyer About Dem Strategy to 'Cast Republicans as Extremists'  "Earlier in the interview, Gregory identified Republican efforts to de-fund Planned Parenthood as "the real focus" of the budget debate and something that may "ultimately derail any potential compromise.""

Rich Lowry Smacks Down Eleanor Clift: 'You're Talking Out of Both Sides of Your Mouth'

....CLIFT: And Medicare is the most popular and the most efficient program in this country.

LOWRY: It's not efficient! It is not. No one, no serious health care economist would say Medicare is efficient.

"Yeah, Medicare is so efficient it's guaranteed to go bankrupt when the baby boomers retire unless serious changes are made to it."

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Extremely Yours, Love, Chuck Schumer "Thank you. I was getting real tired contemplating the same old mugs and thugs you clowns have been torturing us with — SpongeBob Squarepants, Crazy Sarah, Perfect Mitt, Boring Mitch, Moe, Larry, and Curly — but all of a sudden you’ve given those of us on the left a fresh new extremist face to hate. With his dorky haircut and jug ears, he looks like a refugee from a John Hughes movie, the earnest geek who’s carrying a torch for Molly Ringwald but winds up with Ally Sheedy and grows up to be Judge Reinhold. You know who I’m talking about…Paul Ryan."

This all leads us nicely to our next post.....

Chronicles of liberal Demogoguery

Rep. Louise Slaughter Accuses GOP Freshmen of Coming to Washington to ‘Kill Women’  "Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) said today that the new Republicans elected to the House of Representatives last November came to Congress “to kill women.”"

CBS Goes to Statue of Liberty to Hype Shutdown's 'Ripple Effect'  "Nguyen began with the shutdown's possible effect on the visitors to the monument in New York Harbor and expanded out to what might be the negative effects at all of the national parks, along with the government-funded sights in Washington, DC:"

Videos: Dem Reps compete for title of Most Hyperbolic Demagogue of 2011  "Here’s non-voting DC Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton calling a shutdown the “functional equivalent of bombing innocent civilians”:" 

Lefty Facebook Page Embraces New Civility: ‘Let’s Dump Trash at Boehner’s House’  "Filed Under Moonbats"

The Democrats' Shameful Rhetoric   "Obama may think that calling the opposition "children" is a good way to remain above the fray, but this irresponsible ploy doesn't do the country any good. It's the same thing as calling the tea party "extremists," as Sen. Chuck Schumer did last week (or suggesting they were fascists as Nancy Pelosi was doing a year ago). Likewise, labeling your opponent the "Party of No" says nothing about your own party and its agenda."

 Maxine Waters on the Rodney King riots and the near-killing of Reginald Denny  "...she called it a rebellion – Waters excused the gang of black thugs who nearly murdered white truck driver Reginald Denny, saying, "The anger in my district is righteous. I'm just as angry as they are." She also dismissed those who looted Korean-owned stores by saying, "They were mothers who took this as an opportunity to take some milk, to take some bread, to take some shoes. They are not crooks."

George Soros; “the single most destructive leftist demagogue in the country.”  "...As it is, one of the wealthiest men in the world is using his billions to impose a radical agenda on America."

Here's one from the right: WaPo’s Ezra Klein Supports Killing Black Babies   "Don’t Worry, It’s Not Racist. He Just Wants Black Children To Die To Save Money."

Thomas Sowell discusses the issue here: Dangerous Demagoguery  "The time is long overdue for voters to demand specifics instead of rhetoric that turns their emotions on and their minds off."

Try this cartoon from Ted Rall:

Background for recognizing a demagogue: Learn the term "ad hominem"

More here from fallacyfiles:  "For instance, the charge of "ad hominem" is often raised during American political campaigns, but is seldom logically warranted. We vote for, elect, and are governed by politicians, not platforms; in fact, political platforms are primarily symbolic and seldom enacted. So, personal criticisms are logically relevant to deciding who to vote for. Of course, such criticisms may be logically relevant but factually mistaken, or wrong in some other non-logical way." Fallacy Files

If I may digress, here is a mildly related misuse of a term that gets my goat: "beg the question":
"Begging the question is a fallacious form of argument.
Therefore, to beg the question is to argue fallaciously." This term is too often used to mean "raises (or prompts) the question". 
 We've gone too far onto a tangent so we'll save "I could care less" for another time.

[Leftist] Media Matters Techniques: The Pile-On

Big Journalism  "Welcome to another installment of my series exposing the techniques of “watchdog group“ Media Matters for America. If you are new, please take a second to watch this video I made discussing why I think debunking Media Matters is important."

Panic over military pay

comicallyincorrect.com

Obama: I’ll veto funding for the troops " Really?  Will Obama really argue that he can’t abide a one-week CR so much that he’s willing to shut down the government and leave the troops without income for an indeterminate amount of time?" 

A Clash of Integrities: Moral and Religious Liberty in the Armed Forces

Heritage  "The repeal of the 1993 law prohibiting open homosexuality in the military poses significant risk for military service members and chaplains who, as matters of religious or moral conviction, hold to traditional values regarding marriage and sexual behavior. The report of the Pentagon’s Comprehensive Review Working Group and the steps taken to date to implement the repeal do not allay concerns that the religious liberty and free speech rights of these service members and chaplains will be compromised to the detriment of their military careers."

MSNBC  er, WAIT! What?

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Time for Cautious Judgment  "Current law is clear: Under the federal Defense of Marriage Act, marriage is solely the union of a man and a woman, and that applies fully to the armed forces. Certainly, the Obama Administration’s increasingly shameless attempts in federal court to undermine the Defense of Marriage Act and the current law on open service by homosexual persons inspires no confidence in the intentions of this report’s framers."

More here.  Many find it disgusting that a political party with a base that hates the military ("loathes", I believe, was the word Bill Clinton used.) would use it to show off before their antiwar supporters. The Democrat Party has many in it who would dismantle our military, yet they are the ones who now direct our military and set it's policies. Sickening.

Senate and President Obama to Blame for Partial Government Shutdown

Heritage  "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will get special blame, primarily because he has not allowed a full and fair debate on H.R. 1, the long-term spending measure that that would cut $61 billion from the budget for the remainder of this fiscal year. That bill also prevents the funding of elements of ObamaCare, Planned Parenthood and EPA Global Warming regulations.

"The President earned a percentage of the blame for his pledge to veto a House passed short-term one week funding measure, further increasing the likelihood of a federal government shutdown. If one studies the legislative history of the battle over funding the discretionary functions of the government for the remainder of the year, the blame clearly shifts to the United States Senate and the President."

Commander-in-Chief Turns His Back on America’s Military

Heritage  "The American military is engaged in multiple conflicts and humanitarian missions around the world, yet President Obama promised to veto legislation funding the troops for the remainder of 2011. This is a reprehensible political stunt, and it comes at the expense of our servicemen and women and the families they support."

MSNBC's Brewer Denounces GOP Bill to Fund Military Paychecks  She asks Rep Linda Sanchez (D-Ca), "How frustrated are you that members of the House, your colleagues – maybe across the aisle but colleagues nevertheless – are willing to see our military people forgo paychecks because they want to see the EPA hurt or they want to see Planned Parenthood hurt?" Who leaps at this personal invitation disguised as news...