Malaise & Praise
May 15, 2009 Political
I confess, I was a child of the sixties, and I grew up during the Viet Nam war. As the war was winding down, I turned eighteen- a seminal age, for that was when my government determined that I was man enough to join the army, whether I wanted to or not.
There were protests in the streets, as the Mainstream Media, which was all there was, got their soundbites and film for the evening news. I was faced with a dilemma- I could be “drafted”- in effect forced into the army to fight the war in southeast Asia, provided my “lottery number” came up. Every year, the government would hold a lottery with the 365 days in the barrel, and the government would draw a certain number out- in my case it was 98 days, and my birthday was designated as #99. I had escaped the draft of that year, 1970. I admit I was relieved- I was not then political, or paying attention to political things. That would come later. For the present moment, I was content to go with the flow, calling Nixon and Kissinger war criminals, and wishing the war would end.
I took my contemporaries opinions to heart, never questioning their logic, and when Nixon resigned, felt some vindication of my positions, even though the positions weren’t really mine, and I hadn’t thought them through. Then came Gerald Ford, and because he was a Republican, he got ridiculed also, for being clumsy, and for being mentally slow, which was far from true, but since the media and Saturday Night Live decided to portray him as inept, he got that reputation.
Oh but wait- there’s LESS- Jiminy Carter was voted into office, and within a year, I had become a political person, because he began to drive this country straight into the ground just as fast as he could.
Have you ever been on a Carny ride gone wrong? I have, and watching that retaining bolt slowly slide out of its position while screaming to the operator , who thought it was hilarious, until the bolt actually fell out next to him. He was lucky it didn’t brain him, and I was lucky my seat didn’t fall off. Jiminy Carter’s one term was like that carny ride- scared me to death, and I couldn’t get off. I’m getting that feeling again.
Then the Iranians took the embassy hostage and kept them for 444 days. 444 days where Carter’s impotence was out in the open for everyone to see. Hell, Kleenex had more backbone.
Twenty minutes after Reagan was sworn in, the Iranians released the hostages- they didn’t want to be a target, and they had a good idea that Reagan would give the order to get our people home. That was, for me, the beginning of national pride to me. No more did we have to be ashamed of ourselves. We could look each other, and more importantly the rest of the world straight in the eyes. No matter what else Ronald Reagan would do, that one thing, the psychological lifting of a weight from our collective shoulders, would do more in the next eight years than anything else.
The difference between the Republicans, as embodied by Reagan, and the Democrats, was stark- Reagan was hopeful, and emphasized our positives, while the Democrats were constantly telling the nation what we were doing wrong. No upbeat message here- we were soap scum, tile grout, the lowest of the low, according to the Democrats. We were sucking the life out of the rest of the world, like global vampires, and the rest of the world believed it, even though we had helped, indeed poked and prodded the USSR, until it folded like a cheap suit, and the threat of a cold war was over, Germany could re- unite, and the beginning of the prosperity of Europe could begin.
Reagan’s terms ended, and George H. W. Bush’s term began, but people had grown weary of Republicans, or perhaps they just didn’t like Bush as much as Reagan, but Bush 41 lasted only one term before Slick Willy slid into office like a slug, leaving a trail.
People like Clinton always make me uneasy, like a used car salesman, or some of these pitchmen you see on TV- you walk past these people holding onto your money tightly, and never taking your eyes off of them. After all, someone who has never worked for a living will never be able to ” feel my pain”. What a crock. And then there was Vince Foster, Whitewater, and let’s not forget Monica- who was truly a sideshow. I didn’t have a problem with Clinton cheating on his wife- heck, his character is so shallow that I EXPECTED that from him- what I resented were his blatant lies to the American people, like a child caught with chocolate on his face, who still denies that he ate the candy.
Well, we all know who was elected next, and thank God he was, because I would have hated to even think how badly Gore would have handled 9/11- he would have “put them in a lockbox” or fined the terrorists carbon credits for flying those planes into the towers. Instead, George W. Bush was elected, and the one thing he had to do and do right, he did. He kept us safe from another attack.
Every President has flaws- I have, as I’ve become more political, read up on many of the presidents we have had, and by and large, they are nothing to write home about- oh, you get glimpses of some exceptional behavior, a la Lincoln, but by and large, the presidents seem to reflect the times they are a part of.
Still, somehow, we seem to get presidents that often can take the reins of the difficulties of the age, and do the one thing that makes sense in those difficult times. We also get the clowns- the presidents that can do nothing right, and rightly should have been run out of town on a rail. Which one is Skinny B?
I’ll let you make up your own mind on that one. I know where I stand. After reading this, you might have solidified your thinking, or not.
Sometimes the circumstances make the man- sometimes they break him.
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Obama Can Stop Blaming Bush; Its All His Now
May 12, 2009 Political
The Democrats are good at pointing fingers and assigning blame so long as the fingers and blame point away from them. The current economic downturn is a direct result of their liberal policies which ultimately led to the housing market collapse. The easy credit and the lack of rules, all championed by Democrats who were captured on film defending the practices, were the major cause of the problems we have. I also believe that some wealthy people like George Soros manipulated the market just before the election in order to assist Obama and that the manipulation helped us reach the breaking point.
To be sure, there were financial institutions that gamed the Democrat’s rules in order to make money but let us keep in mind that Congress makes the laws and if these greedy people used them to make money then as long as no laws were broken the people are just greedy and not lawbreakers. However, Democrats in Congress were just as greedy with their special loan rates, their political contributions from financial institutions and their friends raping Fannie and Freddie for millions of dollars in salaries while riding those entities into the ground.
There is enough blame to go around.
However, the time to blame George Bush has passed. Bush had little to do with the collapse and his biggest mistake was to push for bailout money. The first six years of his presidency were prosperous. Unemployment was low and the stock market was doing well. Things went south after the Democrats took control of Congress. The last two years of Bush’s presidency were years in which Democrats controlled Congress and the collapse happened under them.
Certainly Bush and the Republicans are not blameless. They spent far too much money and began to act like Democrats. People rejected this and sent many of them home but the reality is, the house of cards fell down under Democratic control and as a result of Democratic policies.
Barack Obama has played the blame game for months. During the campaign he blamed the world’s woes on Bush which one would expect during a campaign. However, Obama has continued to state that he inherited the problems. This is not completely true and those he inherited came from Democrats.
It was one thing to blame Bush in the first 100 days but we are past that now and all of it belongs to Obama. A true leader assumes responsibility and works to develop solutions. Obama continues to point fingers and make false claims that every problem was inherited. He has had enough time and now it all belongs to him.
This will not stop people in his administration from making the false claim that something was inherited and it will not stop them from blaming Bush but they will be lying and misleading because they cannot actually lead.
Every President has inherited things from his predecessor and some of them were good while others were bad. Few ran around blaming the other guy for months on end. Amazingly, they never seem to give credit to the other guy for the good stuff.
We are winning in Iraq so Obama claims that he has changed things and now we are on course. He has never looked at something good and said that he inherited it from Bush. He has never given Bush credit for anything good. No, but he sure blames all the bad on Bush.
Mr. Obama, stop whining, stop crying, and stop pointing fingers and using the tired excuse that you inherited a mess. You have been in office long enough that it all belongs to you. It is yours and the reality is that your policies are causing the problems. Stop crying and start leading if you actually know how to do that.
Wesley Pruden has a great article in The Washington Times which discusses these issues and more. He hits the nail on the head and lays the blame where it belongs.
Remember, out of control spending was bad when Democrats were chiding Republicans for it but now that Obama is outspending all the presidents in history combined, it is good. Deficits were bad until the sainted won was elected and now making it 3 or 4 times larger than the record Bush set (under the Democrats) is supposed to help fix things.
No, it will be bad because Obama does not know what he is doing and his policies will cause a collapse (or a civil war). Obama will blame it all on Bush as will the boot licking Democrats who follow him around.
But they will be wrong. It all belongs to Obama and those of you who do not believe so need to tell us at what point your guy accepts responsibility. As far as I am concerned, as long as he keeps blaming the bad things on Bush then that is how long we get to credit the good things to him.
Come on Obama, man up and take charge.
It belongs to you. You wanted it, you got it so stop trying to blame everyone else and start taking responsibility.
Oops, personal responsibility is something Democrats do not believe in.
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Tags: Bush, economy, inherited problems, leadership, lies, Obama
Pelosi Clears Bush Of Wrongdoing
May 11, 2009 Political
Nancy Pelosi has stated on several occasions that she was informed of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EIT) but that she was never told that they had been used. Pelosi received her information during classified briefings and she no doubt believed that the secrecy would protect her.
Unfortunately for her, Barack Obama released classified memos of detailed legal opinions rendered by Bush administration lawyers. Those memos were extremely detailed and laid out the legal justification for the EITs including the opinion that they were within the boundaries established in the law passed by Congress.
The CIA was not particularly thrilled with the release of the memos because that act gave our enemies information about how we do business. The CIA was also not pleased with all the talk of people being prosecuted. In order to set the record straight the CIA released its own memos detailing the classified briefings. Those memos as well as the statements by others in attendance clearly show that Pelosi was briefed not only on the EITs but that they had been used. These memos contradict her denials and demonstrate that she lied.
Pelosi has now taken a new tact with regard to this issue. Continued denial is pointless so Pelosi is now asserting that the lawyers told her it was legal:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted Friday that she was briefed only once about the “enhanced” interrogation techniques being used on terrorism suspects and that she was assured by lawyers with the CIA and the Department of Justice that the methods were legal. Fox News
Her statement now clears Bush administration officials of any wrong doing because they too were told by the lawyers that the EITs were legal. When Pelosi wanted to go after Bush she was content lying to the public and accusing him of wrongdoing but now she is saying that she did no wrong because the lawyers said it was OK. This means that everyone who followed the legal opinion is in the clear.
Another important issue is the lawyers themselves. They gave a well reasoned legal opinion and should not be prosecuted for interpreting the law to the best of their ability. If these folks are made scapegoats for rendering an opinion (one I happen to agree with) then this will leave the door open to prosecute all lawyers that render an opinion that turns out to be unpopular.
We have a judicial system where courts decide if laws are Constitutional. If anyone had questions about the legality of the opinion rendered then they could have taken the issue to the courts and had the courts decide. Since no one did that it is reasonable to assume that those who were briefed were comfortable with the legal opinion.
Obama opened a Pandora’s Box when he released the Bush legal memos. His decision to do so was politically motivated and his desire was to shed bad light on the Bush administration. Unfortunately for him and his party, Nancy Pelosi got caught in the crossfire.
Obama can claim the EITs were torture but the legal opinion is that they were not. Until a court decides on the issue or until Congress changes the law, they are still legal.
However, Obama did not want to take the chance that a court would confirm the legality so he released the memos which effectively killed the program.
Doing that was bad enough but if he had never mentioned prosecuting people Pelosi would not have been caught in the lie and Democrats would not look like the hypocrites we know them to be.
Rookie in the White House making rookie mistakes. Those unintended consequences will come back to bite him over and over because he does not know what he is doing.
For you people in San Francisco, Pelosi lied and played politics on this issue. She pretended to be against this and not to know of it when she knew all about it and was in favor of it.
It is time to show her the door.
Others:
Instapundit | Mudville Gazette
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About Those Obama Poll Numbers
Apr 27, 2009 Political
I have been watching the reports on Obama’s poll numbers concerning his first 100 days in office. It is obvious that the MSM is in the tank for this guy and will skew anything to make him look good. Even commenters here will spew all these poll numbers and act as if Obama is the king of the polls. There are several problems with the way the polling is used and the MSM is using numbers to make a strong case.
I have read that Obama’s approval rating was anywhere from 56% to 65% depending upon the poll. The higher numbers are generally used by the MSM and then when they compare the number to past presidents they use lower ones, especially when they are comparing George W. Bush. The other issue is that the MSM is using one poll to depict Obama and then using a poll from another polling company to show the others.
There is no doubt that Obama is popular among Democrats as he received a 79% approval from them. One major media omitted the among Democrats part.
Pew Research says Obama is at 63% while Bush was at 56%. Not very far apart especially considering the problem with the 2000 election. Interestingly, CNN/USA/Gallup had a poll showing Bush at 62%. This is the same Gallup poll that shows Obama at 56%. In fact, while the MSM is trying to make Obama out to be a polling giant, Gallup shows this:
April approval ratings in first year in office
- Bush now 62%
- Clinton, 1993 55
- Bush, 1989 58
- Reagan, 1981 67
- Carter, 1977 63
- Nixon, 1969 61
Sampling error: +/-3% pts
I don’t know why Gallup has Obama lower than the other polls but as some folks dig deeper into polls they are finding a disturbing little trend. Democrats are being polled at a much higher rate than Republicans. This means the polls are weighted toward Democrats (in one poll by a 2:1 margin). The polls do not reflect how the country is currently comprised because Republicans are underrepresented. This is how polls get skewed in order to give the results that one wants rather than what is real.
I know my liberal friends will stop by and defend the polls, will say that it is a wingnut conspiracy, and will dismiss the criticisms.
That is all well and good. I know the MSM needs Obama to be successful even if it is only on paper. They needed to come out and show that he had a larger approval rating than others (Gallup says it isn’t so) and they needed to show that they were right in getting him elected. Chrissie Matthews is not the only one who feels it is his duty to make this guy successful. Well, they can make him LOOK successful but the proof will be in what happens.
One major catastrophe, the inflation that will inevitably arrive, a nuclear Iran, North Korea, and any number of other issues, and the MSM will not be able to show it in a favorable light. Let a terrorist detonate a bomb (particularly a radioactive one) in any major city and all bets will be off. It would be terrible if that happened but wouldn’t it be ironic if after, a captive terrorist says he knew about it and would have fessed up if water boarded?
The bottom line is that one should take most of these polls with a grain of salt. I have never been a big poll watcher because the pollsters often have very different results and their sampling methods and questions are designed to get a result.
Rely on what you see and know. Are you better off? Are you making more money? Does your money go as far as it did before? Are you paying more in lesser known taxes?
Take the time to make an honest assessment of things based on your values and your judgment. You have a better understanding of your life than a pollster does.
As for Obama’s numbers. There is no doubt he remains popular. His approval rating is high or low depending upon who you ask (as it would be for any past White House occupant) and time will tell if what he is doing was good or bad.
Those of us who have seen this before know the answer and we don’t need a poll for that.
Related:
MSNBC
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Led By The Nose, So It Goes
Apr 23, 2009 Political
You know, I must really be the last Idealist- yes, I am conservative in my core values, but I have always believed that no matter who we elected, that person would have the actual welfare of the country at heart, thus couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything that would tear the country apart at the seams.
At least, until yesterday, when I learned that the Democratic Party, allegedly led by Barama, in its most liberal, bone- headed move yet, (and that’s saying something, right there), has decided, in order to placate the foam- at the- mouth wing of liberals, to see if there is any trumped up charges they can throw at the Bush Administration regarding the detainees we still have at Gitmo.
Oh, Barama has given himself a CYA, by saying that the Attorney General would look into this, but we all know this could stop if Barry gave the word. He has not, and I do not think he will. This is most unfortunate. I guess that he wants to stay in good with John Conyers, who has some indictable back story, and Patrick Leahey, who is probably still mad that Dick Cheney told him where to go, in no uncertain terms. Don’t they know that people in glass houses do not throw stones? Apparently not.
This is a foolish move on several levels; One might be tempted to tell King Barama to keep his eye on the things he needs to get done, and not wander off like someone with ADD, looking for something new.
Also, I would remind him that this country is basically Center- right in its political makeup, and Barama didn’t so much win, as McCain lost. I mean, figure it out- the Republican brand was trashed, yet McCain actually won more states- just not the ones with the big electoral college numbers. If we had had a candidate that was serious about winning, the outcome might have been different.
But it is what it is in terms of the outcome. Barama should do well to remember what is Job One, as they used to say at Ford Motor Co., and that would be fixing the economy.
Yes, I know he is going at it bass- ackwards, but If he gets off in Lala land with the Daily Kos crowd, and MoveOn, very little will get done, and don’t care what kind of Halo you might think you have, if you aren’t getting results, don’t moveon- move over.
Add to this stew of righteous BS a cautionary note- what you do to others, so can be done to you, and is this the legacy you want? Endless hindsight hearings on who did what to whom, with shifting morals and questionable legalese- and BONUS!- this can occur every time a different party comes into power. Oh Joy.
Now, I know that the liberals say,” Oh my God, he ordered torture! I can’t believe it!” Don’t believe it. Bush ordered “Discomfort”. The big difference is, these people are still alive, and not all crippled up,(although I am sure they will play to the crowd, and the pansy libs will cry, and say how brave these “freedom fighters” were in the face of some discomfort). Look people, these terrorists (that’s right, Janet, I said the “T” word) were not randomly picked up , “driving while Al Queda”- they had to be fighting our troops. I say shoot them in their head, but the troops are better than I, and bring them in for questioning- if they are judged to be a high value detainee, then they get enhanced treatment.
Several facts here- (1)- the opinions were sought and received in the wake of 9/11, and if you do not remember how you felt then, just wait, with the Obamanators in charge, it will surely happen again- and, (2)- Medical staff were there at all times during the process, to oversee the discomfort levels. That makes it almost like going to the dentist, huh?
Now, you have to ask and answer a question honestly here- if your child was in imminent danger, and water- boarding a person would save your child’s life, would you do it? If your answer is yes, you need to cease criticism of this, because if you would save your child, would you not save your neighbors’? You absolutely cannot sanction the one, and condemn the other- that would be, let’s all say it together-hypocrisy.
See, I knew you could.
The fact that these levels of discomfort (I refuse to call this torture) even had to be argued by lawyers, says something strange about our system- I find it exceedingly bizarre that putting someone in a box with a caterpillar, in order to extract information, is called something other than “interesting”. That would be all I would think of it. The caterpillar couldn’t hurt the man, just scare him. Most of us might find that to be much milder than the visual scenes we get in horror movies today, but it worked.
Why we even have this discussion about people who cut off our heads (in real life, not movies), is probably the strangest twist in our moral confusion here. I, for example, would have no trouble ordering this menu of discomfort, not for enjoyment, but to extract information. There ARE times when the world is not shades of gray, to be debated ad nauseum, but black and white- this is one of those times.
You see, I still remember how I felt on 9/11, watching those planes fly into the towers in real time. I can sum it up in these words- No matter the color, no matter the race, you DO NOT mess with my brothers and sisters. You do not mess with my family.
Judging from Move on and the like, some of my family is vastly dysfunctional.
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Tags: 9/11, Bush, investigate, Obama, terrorists, torture