Obama, and Iran's perception of him

Victor Davis Hanson:  Iran 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0    "At no point did candidate Obama stop to consider that the Iranians could view his loud politicking and opportunistic criticism of Bush’s hostility toward Iran — identical to standard US bipartisan policy under at least the four prior presidents — as weakness to be manipulated rather than magnanimity to be appreciated."
...."Due to Obama’s hostility toward Israel, the United States now has far less knowledge about, and influence with, the Israeli military. And the long-appeased Iranian theocracy is now more likely to miscalculate, thinking either that the confused Obama administration won’t stop it, or that any American attempt to stop it would be only half-hearted."
In other words, liberal pacifism kills people.

Bruce Thornton:  Obama’s Assault on America’s Prestige   "Power is not just about material resources, but also the perceptions of others that power will be used, a perception that works as a force multiplier. As Vergil says in the Aeneid, “They have power because they seem to have power.” "
....
"In short, thanks to Obama’s foreign policy, our enemies and rivals do not believe that we will vigorously defend our interests and citizens. We have the most lethal military power in the history of the world, but we lack the prestige based on the certainty of friend and foe alike that we will use that power to protect our friends and punish our enemies. Great powers decline for many reasons, but losing respect for their power is surely one of them."

http://www.mideasttruth.com/cartoons.html

Tucker Carlson Discusses Media Matters on the O’Reilly Show

Verum Serum  "I’m loving this series. Today’s entry reveals Media Matters plans to hire investigators to dig into the personal lives of Fox News employees:

What Frisch proceeded to suggest, however, went well beyond what legitimate presidential campaigns attempt. “We should hire private investigators to look into the personal lives of Fox News anchors, hosts, reporters, prominent contributors, senior network and corporate staff,” he wrote…

The memo goes on to suggest new and unusual ways to harass Fox News: “detailed opposition research” on the network’s staff and executives, attacks against Fox News employees on Facebook and other social media, mailing anti-Fox News literature to their homes and placing “yard signs and outdoor advertising in their neighborhoods.”

"None of this is really surprising, but it is something to actually have the proof. Kudos to Tucker Carlson for digging into this (and likely setting himself at the top of the Media Matters target list)."

Obama’s Continuing Assault on the Constitution

Morning Bell:  "Obamacare’s anti-conscience mandate did not change in a final rule that was posted later that day. And even if the president’s hypothetical became reality, Heritage’s Jennifer Marshall explains that the religious liberty problem still remains:..." 
...."In a government where there are no practical limits on executive overreach, there are likewise no limits on the government’s ability to impose its will on the people. With the president’s trampling of religious liberties, the country is getting its first taste of the consequences of Obama’s unmitigated power grab. And if this power remains unchecked, there are certainly more consequences to come."


Michelle Malkin: Will Jack Lew please report to the Obama “Truth Team” desk now?  "So far, no word from the “Truth Team” about Obama chief of staff Jack Lew’s big whopper about the fundamentals of the budget process:..."


On this week's  Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace asked White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew where Obama got the authority to mandate that insurance companies provide contraceptives. Lew told Wallace that “The president has the authority under the Affordable Care Act* to have these kinds of rules take effect...” 

*Known as "ObamaCare", in case you are an #Occupier.

More from Heritage here.

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/02/14/96256

Also from Heritage: Obama ‘Manifestly Wrong’ on U.S. Constitution, Says Sen. Mike Lee

Few lawmakers have expressed as much outrage over President Obama’s unconstitutional “recess” appointments as Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT). (video)


What motivated Obama's HHS mandate?   "While one could argue that a president who hides all of his college grades and test scores might not be super-bright, almost everyone would probably admit that Obama is politically astute. So why did he, in effect, pick a fight with the Catholic Church in an election year? There seem to be two possible explanations for it beyond a dedication to "reproductive rights." "

Deroy Murdock  The HHS Mandate: Why?  "More than anything else, the issue here is mandates. If Obama gets away with this, why could he not compel, say, Gay Men’s Health Crisis to counsel heterosexual women on achieving or avoiding pregnancy? GMHC might prefer to help gay men address myriad medical matters. Obama, however, simply could reply: “Never mind. I know best. So, hop to it." ”


NRO: Wherefore Art Thou ACLU?  "Only certain civil liberties need apply."

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

Liberal gets mugged by reality; The High Price of Telling the Truth About Islam

FrontpageMag  "[Editor's note: The article below is written by Eric Allen Bell, a filmmaker who was recently banned from blogging at  the “Daily Kos” because he wrote three articles that ran afoul of the mindset there, specifically naming “Loonwatch.com” as a “terrorist spin control network.” This article first appeared in our Feb 7 issue and we have decided to rerun it due to the massive interest and reaction it received..."

"But something kept nagging at me on a gut level.  Something about all of this didn’t quite feel right.  The Arab Spring, which I supported, started to degenerate into the Islamist Winter, and I grew more and more concerned.  I flew back to Nashville to shoot a conference on whether or not Islam was conducive with Democratic Values and on the way to my hotel room I learned that my cab driver was from Egypt.  I asked him how he felt about the fall of Mubarak, a dictator worth over $70 billion dollars while so much of his country was living in poverty and he told me he was concerned.  Concerned?  Wasn’t this good news?  The cab driver was a Coptic Christian and he told me that he feared for his family back home.  “If the Muslims take control, and they will, it will be very dangerous for my parents and my sisters.  I’m scared for them right now”.  After that conversation, I started to pay more attention to the news coming from the Islamic world in the Middle East."  
Hat tip to Janice in Conservative Underground

More on Mr. Bell here, here, here and here:

TD left this comment on Mr. Bell's Facebook page: 

  Mr. Bell, I honor your courage and empathize with you as you speak contrary to leftist PC. There is nobody more vindictive than "tolerant progressives" and they will do everything in their power to create a toxic environment for you and all those who hold an opinion they consider "conservative".

Just as the left tries to shut down conservative speech on campus and in public forums, so too do they do it in this media as well. I fear for public discourse in America. TD


Update: Mr Bell responded to my comment shortly thereafter:

Eric Allen Bell What you have just described is often just as much a human trait as a trait of the left or the right. Generally speaking it is hard for most people to re-examine tightly held beliefs, whatever they are. My feeling is that it is important for all of us to have more questions than conclusions. Thanks for the encouragement :) Eric

President Obama’s Budget: What to Watch For

Patrick Louis Knudsen  "If his budget for fiscal year (FY) 2013 is to be a credible policy document—not just a public relations pitch—it should:

• Show specific proposals for reforming entitlements and reducing other spending not just for the next 10 years but over the long term as well;

• Prevent the devastating cuts in defense that are looming because of the debt-reduction Budget Control Act;

• Offer permanent solutions to the large spending and tax policies that keep vexing lawmakers and the public; and

• Reject phony budget savings and other gimmicks.

http://rc.runryder.com/helicopter/t664418p1/

Rick Moran: The case for WH incompetence, Episode XXIV  "To sum up: Jack Lew is unaware of how a budget is passed by congress despite his being a former head of the Office of Management and Budget. Jack Lew was OMB director over much of the last 1000+ days that Senate Democrats have failed to submit a budget.

"Jack Lew is a poster boy for White House mismanagement and incompetence."

Jack Lew Dodges Why Senate Dems Haven't Passed A Budget In Over 1,000 Days

It’s Not Personal: Why We Resist Obama’s Power Grabs   "The constitutional presidency holds a few specific powers — he’s commander in chief of the military, he can make treaties and appoint various officials and judges with the advice and consent of the Senate, he can make short-term appointments when the Senate is in recess (a provision designed for an age of travel by horseback, and long Senate recesses), he recommends legislation to the Congress and he can veto bills. But beyond that, his main job is to ensure that the law is carried out, not to create law. When not at war, the presidency is a modest job, at least according to the Constitution."


Beltway Confidential: Obama blows last chance to offer serious budget  "But he never presented a tangible plan that could be scored by the CBO and evaluated next to Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to reform entitlements and put the nation on a sustainable fiscal course. He had his chance with this budget. Instead, Obama decided to forgo tough choices so he could attack Republicans during an election year."

Will we let them take this guy down?

Legal Insurrection  "There is nothing more important we can do between now and the November election than to help Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker defeat the recall effort.

"Don’t let the thugs, Godwins, and head cases win.  Help Wisconsin and the nation end this long, strange trip.

"Links to how to help at the Focus Page."

PETITIONS THAT MAKE YOU BURY YOUR HANDS IN YOUR FACE.  "What's in a recall? A lot of lunacy, as it turns out. These are some of the absurd petitions that have turned up. Read more about WI Recall Fail."  Hat tip to commenter "logos"

Here's a candidate for Obama's "Truth Team" site, so report it.

Runrider

Obama’s Attack Watch returns as … “Truth Team”

Hot Air "Let’s reflect once more on the observations of Victor Davis Hanson last September when Obama and his campaign rolled out Attack Watch  to recall just how offensive and ridiculous this effort is:"

Apparently no one in the administration learned from the spooky tone of the now defunct Journolist. That obtuseness begs the question, what is it with these extra-journalistic efforts to intimidate critics, as if the 2012 campaign will be based around deterrence: e.g., as if: “Beware: if you criticize Barack Obama, your name and picture will appear on our “Attack File”.  We are watching you, so you watch out!”

http://theweek.com/section/cartoon/12/219657/barack-obama

Jamie Dupree: Obama Truth Team  "The Truth Team - along with web sites like AttackWatch.com will be used by Democrats to wage the public relations battle against the eventual GOP nominee."

Here is a candidate for their site: Beyond Cynical "But then, to the rescue, came a Friday presidential press conference, a pliant press corps, and the flat-footed hierarchy of the Catholic church.* Even before the president spoke shortly after noon on Friday, news reports indicated that Obama would “compromise” with or “accommodate” religious institutions. But Obama’s announcement didn’t actually change anything."

National Review Online calls for Newt to drop out and support Santorum

Rick Moran:   Quoting the National Review Online:

Gingrich's verbal and intellectual talents should make him a resource for any future Republican president. But it would be a grave mistake for the party to make someone with such poor judgment and persistent unpopularity its . It is not clear whether Gingrich remains in the race because he still believes he could become president next year or because he wants to avenge his wounded pride: an ambiguity that suggests the problem with him as a leader. When he led Santorum in the polls, he urged the Pennsylvanian to leave the race. On his own arguments the proper course for him now is to endorse Santorum and exit.

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/02/10/96183

Alana Goodman:  Santorum’s “Women in Combat” Comments Under Fire

He managed to quell some of the criticism – if not all – by saying later that he was referring to the emotional reactions of male soldiers. “Men have emotions when you see a woman in harm’s way,” he told NBC News on Friday, adding that “the natural inclination” is “to not focus on the mission but to try to be in a position where you might want to protect someone.”

Many of us who have served in an infantry unit have these same concerns. TD

The Church of Obama; How about the Separation of State and Church?

Heritage: Voices of Opposition Speak Out Against Obama’s Contraception Mandate ‘Accommodation’

http://terrellaftermath.com/

"That mandate — which tramples heavily on religious liberties — drew tremendous fire across the board, from Christians and Jews alike, drowning the President in a political maelstrom of his own design. And though today the President sought to calm that storm with a “compromise,” the voices of opposition are as strong as ever because, quite simply, it doesn’t remedy the moral and religious liberty objections to this mandate, and as a practical matter, it simply doesn’t work.

"Here’s a roundup of the reactions:...."

The Obama contraception fraud   "But wait!  Maybe Obama will “clarify” his mandate and tell the insurance companies that they cannot increase premiums to pay for his contraceptive mandate … or for any other mandate he comes up with.  Don’t put this one past him.  It would, after all, hasten the bankruptcy of these insurance companies … and that is the ObamaCare final solution.  When the insurance companies are run out of business the government will be there to take over with the coveted (by proggies) single-payer plan."  Neal Boortz

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

Mark Steyn: The Church of Obama "The church model the young American state wished to separate from was that of the British monarch, who remains to this day supreme governor of the Church of England. This convenient arrangement dates from the 1534 Act of Supremacy. The title of the law gives you the general upshot, but, just in case you’re a bit slow on the uptake, the text proclaims “the King’s Majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme head of the Church of England.” That’s to say, the sovereign is “the only supreme head on earth of the Church” and he shall enjoy “all honors, dignities, pre-eminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity,” not to mention His Majesty “shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit, repress, redress, record, order, correct, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offenses, contempts, and enormities, whatsoever they be.”  "Welcome to Obamacare."

http://conservativedailynews.com/2012/02/obama-care-arena/  More commentary on this at the link.

WaPo: U.S. bishops blast Obama’s contraception compromise

 Bill Kristol:  Could the New Obamacare Mandate Reinvigorate the Tea Party?

This link is currently inaccessible but we will give it to you in a separate post when it is available: American Catholicism’s Pact With the Devil  "This article is an excellent summary of what happens when the true Gospel of conversion and repentance is replaced with the false gospel of social justice, the common good and peace at any price."

Why Americans Hate the Media; Perhaps the public has good reason to think that the media's self-aggrandizement gets in the way of solving the country's real problems

ATLANTIC MONTHLY   from 1996:  "Ogletree pushed Wallace. Didn't Jennings have some higher duty to do something other than just roll film as soldiers from his own country were being shot?

"No," Wallace said flatly and immediately. "You don't have a higher duty. No. No. You're a reporter!" "....

...."A few minutes later Ogletree turned to George M. Connell, a Marine colonel in full uniform. Jaw muscles flexing in anger, with stress on each word, Connell said, "I feel utter contempt."

"Two days after this hypothetical episode, Connell said, Jennings or Wallace might be back with the American forces—and could be wounded by stray fire, as combat journalists often had been before. When that happens, he said, they are "just journalists." Yet they would expect American soldiers to run out under enemy fire and drag them back, rather than leaving them to bleed to death on the battlefield.

" "I'll do it!" Connell said. "And that is what makes me so contemptuous of them. Marines will die going to get . . . a couple of journalists." The last words dripped disgust."

These so-called newsmen would stay detached reporters, reporting the deaths of their own countrymen for the sake of "journalistic integrity". Yet daily they cast off any convictions of journalistic integrity to promote liberal causes; they have little regard for journalism when faced with the choice of portraying the conservative message truthfully or treating conservatives as suspects to be grilled and demeaned. Interviewees giving conservative opinions are argued with by the reporter.
Brian Williams asking Gov. Rick Perry how he can sleep at night while Texas executes condemned murderers comes to mind as being typical of slanted journalism.
David Gregory, Norah O'Donnell and others asking President Bush to apologize for acts of his presidency were especially disgusting to me.  TD


How's this for propaganda that passes for "journalism: CNN's White House correspondent Dan Lothian asked President Obama in Hawaii, "Are GOP Candidates "Uninformed, Out Of Touch, Or Irresponsible?"?

Rush Limbaugh discussed the press this way:   "They're idiotic, and it makes people who believe them blindly look like ill-educated, uneducated, or what have you, uncurious -- and yet these are the smartest and brightest among us by reputation supposedly, journalists. They're blockheads. They're really blockheads. They don't know anything."


An aspiring liberal journalist tries to explain why she thinks the Tea Party is dangerous

drawfortruth.com

Journalists Admitting Liberal Bias, Part One


Journalists Admitting Liberal Bias, Part Two

Israel vs Iran: 'Please, please don't stand in our way'

American Thinker  "Naftali Bennett, former chief of staff to Benjamin Netanyahu, offers some straight talk to Americans on the threat of Iranian nuclear weapons. Well worth 5 minutes of your time."

• "Ahmadinejad repeatedly demonizes the state of Israel and openly calls for its destruction at every opportunity."
• "If the Zionist regime wants to repeat its past mistakes, this will constitute its demise and annihilation…With Allah's help the new Middle East will be a Middle East without Zionists and Imperialists."
• "The uniform shout of the Iranian nation is forever 'Death to Israel.'..." "
• "The ones who still support the criminal Zionists should know that the occupiers' days are numbered. … Accept that the life of Zionists will sooner or later come to an end."
• ""With God's help, the countdown button for the destruction of the Zionist regime has been pushed by the hands of the children of Lebanon and Palestine . ". . By God's will, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future.""
• "...Mufti Mohammed Hussein cited a hadith (saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) claiming that the Earth's end of days will not happen until Muslims kill Jews in a religious battle:..."
• "“As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map.” The president added: “And God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism”"

There are many more threats where these came from if you really want to see them.


The Brookings Institution: Israel’s Dilemma: If It Attacks Iran, Will It Also Have to Hit Hezbollah?  "The Israel Defense Forces have to calculate whether they would want to open two fronts at the same time, or let Hizbullah and Iran decide if and when to start a massive attack on Israel’s cities from the north."