A lead story in several of the usual outlets concerns the US beefing up missile defenses and arms sales to places like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE and deploying a number of US Aegis-equipped missile interceptor cruisers with advanced radar, supposedly signaling a new 'hard line' by the Obama Administration as a precursor to New and Improved Sanctions.
I won't bother quoting from the al-Guardian article linked to above because a good chunk of it is fiction, but here's what's actually going on based on my sources.
There is no 'harder line' coming on Iran, unless you compare it to no policy at all, which is how the Obama Administration dealt with this matter previously. Just to be bi-partisan about it, the Bush Administration did only slightly better since Dubyah left this in the hands of Condi Rice and the Europeans.
Given the $800 billion we owe the Chinese, China's need for Iranian oil and gas and the already strained atmosphere over our recent arms sales to Taiwan, President Obama has little or no leverage in getting China to go along with any actual sanctions. That's also true of the Russians and European countries like Germany and Italy who are major trading partners of Iran.
For that matter, Obama has already signaled that his idea of action involves mild, 'targeted sanctions' that avoid impacting Iran's major point of vulnerability - refined fuel imports. Real sanctions would involve a naval embargo and a no fly zone on Iran's land borders, and Obama has no intentions of going there unless events force him into it, kicking and screaming.
The latest shipment of missile defense systems and US ships in the region is simply an attempt to do what we always do in these situations rather than drill our own oil- protect the people Osama bin-Laden referred to as our gas station attendants in the Middle East, although gas station owners would probably be more accurate.
The Iranian threat to a place like Abu Dhabi or the oil fields of Eastern Saudi Arabia comes from land based missile launchers, which is what the Patriots and the Aegis system are are designed to stop.
The al-Guardian article also mentions that CIA head Leon Panetta is in Israel 'seeking to discourage Israel from a strike against Iran by demonstrating that the US is prepared to contain any threat'.
There's a world of meaning in that statement. Put yourself in the place of the Israelis for a second.
You're meeting with a political hack with no intelligence expertise whatsoever who represents the most hostile, anti-Israel US administration the Israelis have ever dealt with, staffed with a number of advisers who think the main problem in the Middle East is Jews building houses. And, having some of those Patriot Missiles as well as your own systems deployed, you know that they're designed to deal with short and medium range missiles, not Iran's longer range solid fuel Shahabs, so any 'threats' the new US buildup is 'containing' are to folks like the Saudis and the UAE, not Israel.
Finally, your own intel is telling you that Iran, a country whose leaders have announced genocidal intentions against Israel numerous times is less than a year away from having a fully operational and deliverable nuclear weapon.
If you were the Israelis, what weight would place on anything Panetta had to tell you about any commitments the US has regarding Israel? How seriously would you take his assurances that the US has things under control and will deal with the mullahs? If you were Israel, how would you react to Panetta's warnings that Israel had better just trust Obama's word on this and avoid a pre-emptive strike?
The answers to those questions are pretty self-evident. And Israel is already preparing the ground for a response.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Gibbs: 'Khalid Sheik Muhammed Will Be Executed"
Wha....?!!#$?!
Now, I've never accused Obama spokeshole Robert Gibbs of being overly bright, but this is off the charts.
We heard all kinds of pious rhetoric about 'justice' and a fair trial for KSM out of the Obama Administration. The cornerstone of American justice is that the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. And yet, here you have the White House spokeshole telegraphing in advance that the fix is in and the verdict is predetermined?
Can we hear a loud chorus screaming 'show trial' from the Arab world after this stupidity? Yes we can!
And that kind of destroys Obama's argument that trying KSM in civilian court is going to send some kind of positive message.
Not only that,but you notice this little weasel won't answer a direct question on whether the Administration is still going to push to try KSM in Federal Court or backtrack and send the case to a military tribunal.Instead, he responds with the classic ten-year old line 'Bushie did it' without CNN's John King reminding him that the Bush Administration had to commit to a civilian trial in the case of Moussaoui because he was a French citizen and France only waived extradition because the Bush Administration agreed to a civilian trial.
If I were KSM's attorney I'd be literally rubbing my hands in glee and filing a motion for dismissal because this idiot just prejudiced a prospective jury.Not only do we have Gibbs on record, but the President - whom I read somewhere possesses a law degree.
Even some voices on the Left get how absurd this is, like Firedoglake's Cynthia Kouril, an attorney:
The Obama Administration has already apparently backed down from holding the trial in New York City,but there's no telling how silly this is going to get before it ends.
Remember that you heard it here first - there's at least a 50/50 chance that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be acquitted, because (a)his attorneys will claim the evidence gathered against him is inadmissible because it was obtained under duress and 'torture',and because it's impossible for him to receive a fair trial thank to Gibbsie and Zero (b) because he was not given his Miranda rights when he was arrested, (c) because the federal government will have to make a choice between abiding by the disclosure rules of evidence by revealing confidential info or dropping the charges or a combination of all three.
This administration is not only Keystone Kops incompetent,but dangerously so.
Now, I've never accused Obama spokeshole Robert Gibbs of being overly bright, but this is off the charts.
We heard all kinds of pious rhetoric about 'justice' and a fair trial for KSM out of the Obama Administration. The cornerstone of American justice is that the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. And yet, here you have the White House spokeshole telegraphing in advance that the fix is in and the verdict is predetermined?
Can we hear a loud chorus screaming 'show trial' from the Arab world after this stupidity? Yes we can!
And that kind of destroys Obama's argument that trying KSM in civilian court is going to send some kind of positive message.
Not only that,but you notice this little weasel won't answer a direct question on whether the Administration is still going to push to try KSM in Federal Court or backtrack and send the case to a military tribunal.Instead, he responds with the classic ten-year old line 'Bushie did it' without CNN's John King reminding him that the Bush Administration had to commit to a civilian trial in the case of Moussaoui because he was a French citizen and France only waived extradition because the Bush Administration agreed to a civilian trial.
If I were KSM's attorney I'd be literally rubbing my hands in glee and filing a motion for dismissal because this idiot just prejudiced a prospective jury.Not only do we have Gibbs on record, but the President - whom I read somewhere possesses a law degree.
Even some voices on the Left get how absurd this is, like Firedoglake's Cynthia Kouril, an attorney:
More STUPID, STUPID, STUPID
White House press spokesman Robert Gibbs just said that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) would likely be executed after trial and conviction. WTF?!?
Am I the only person left who still remembers a legal concept called presumption of innocence? Am I the only one who remembers that the whole point of a trial is that the outcome is not certain?
Listen Gibbs, do NOT insult the prosecutors who are about to work their asses off trying to put together a winning criminal case. Do NOT insult the hardworking defense counsel who are going to put thousands of hours into making sure that KSM gets due process. Do NOT insult the excellent federal judges of SDNY by suggesting that any one of them would preside over a kangaroo court. Do NOT insult our entire criminal justice system.
In a real trial, the outcome is not known before the trial occurs. Further, much of the information in the hands of the government which will be used at trial against KSM should currently be Grand Jury Material, subject to secrecy under Rule 6e. Which means that you, Robert Gibbs, cannot legally know exactly what that evidence might be. So, how could you possibly know if KSM is going to be convicted? How do you know that?
The Obama Administration has already apparently backed down from holding the trial in New York City,but there's no telling how silly this is going to get before it ends.
Remember that you heard it here first - there's at least a 50/50 chance that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be acquitted, because (a)his attorneys will claim the evidence gathered against him is inadmissible because it was obtained under duress and 'torture',and because it's impossible for him to receive a fair trial thank to Gibbsie and Zero (b) because he was not given his Miranda rights when he was arrested, (c) because the federal government will have to make a choice between abiding by the disclosure rules of evidence by revealing confidential info or dropping the charges or a combination of all three.
This administration is not only Keystone Kops incompetent,but dangerously so.
Top Hamas Leader Killed Under Mysterious Circumstances..
Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was found dead in his Dubai hotel room this morning under interesting circumstances.
He was one of the king pins of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing and a key link in smuggling arms from Iran to Hamas.
As Hamas grew closer to Iran in recent years, Mr. Mabhouh came to play a critical liaison role between Hamas militants in Gaza and Iran, including orchestrating weapons deliveries to Gaza-based militants, the official said.
On Jan. 19, Mr. Mabhouh arrived in Dubai and checked into the five-star Bustan Rotana hotel, located near the Dubai airport, according to Hamas officials and local Dubai media.
A spokesman for Hamas in Damascus told the Associated Press that Mr. Mabhouh was laying over in Dubai on his way from Syria to an unspecified third country.
But the following day, he was found dead in his hotel room. Mr. Mabhouh's death became public on Friday, a day after his body was returned to Damascus.
On Saturday, Dubai's police chief, Dhahi Khalfan, told Al Jazeera that he couldn't exclude the possibility that Israel's Mossad intelligence agency was behind Mr. Mabhouh's death, which he said occurred by suffocation.
Dubai security officials, meanwhile, told the state news agency that an "experienced criminal gang" with European passports committed the murder, but said the perpetrators had already fled the country.
The Israeli defense official said Mr. Mahbouh's death would deal a serious setback to smuggling efforts by Hamas.
"The fact that this guy is dead, I think it will only make the situation in our area much better," the official said.
"It won't be easy to replace him because these guys live in secret, all their connections are in secret, so you can't just replace him the next day. It can take a few months and sometimes much longer," the official added.
Did the Mossad do it? Hamas thinks they did and it's certainly possible.
However it could very well have been someone else. Cockroaches like al-Mabhouh don't get to where they are without making some enemies, and anyone dealing in smuggling clandestine arms shipments can be a target, particularly given how Hamas makes money from criminal enterprises like counterfeiting, drug smuggling and other nefarious activities. Or it might have been someone simply sending a message to Hamas's Damascus-based leader Khalid Meshaal, who was al-Mabhouh's patron.
Another interesting little detail is that al-Mabhouh's security guards were not present when he was killed...which even brings up the possibility that he was dipping into the till without permission and paid the ultimate penalty.
For their part,the Israeli are following their usual policy in cases like this, either not commenting or outright denying that they were responsible, but leaving things in a gray area that suggest they might have been.
Aside from his role in smuggling arms to Hamas from Iran, al-Mabhouh has planned hundreds of attacks on Israeli civilians and his death is setback to Iran's re-arming Hamas, so I seriously doubt the Israelis are shedding any tears over his well-deserved demise.
If it was a Mossad op, it appears to have gone off pretty well, especially since it was done in an Arab country.
Watcher's council Results, 1/29/10
The Council has spoken! Here are this week's winners. The Watcher's always persnickety and entertaining commentary is available here.
Winning Council Submissions
- First place with 1 2/3 points! – Mere Rhetoric - Wonderful: Iraqis Permanently Scratch Out Ancient Hebrew Inscription Biblical Prophet’s Tomb
- Second place with 1 1/3 points – with 2 points! – American Digest - Obama: Working the Enemies List
- Second place with 1 1/3 points – Bookworm Room - Obama’s Self Love
- Third place with 1 points – (T*) – Joshuapundit - Lexington And Concord Revisited – The Brown Upset and What It Means
- Third place with 1 points – (T*) – The Razor - Obama Vs. The People
- Fourth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Soccer Dad - Profile of an international first responder
- Fourth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Right Truth - The London Conference on Afghanistan and Yemen – Look who’s coming to dinner!
Winning Non-Council Submissions
- First place with 3 points! – Zenpundit - The Post-COIN Era is Here
- Second place with 2 1/3 points – Victor Davis Hanson - Let Me Be Perfectly Not Clear
- Third place with 1 points – Bob McCarty Writes - Terror, Travesty and Tales of Suppressed Evidence
- Fourth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Founding Bloggers - A Challenge For Pro-Life Conservatives
- Fourth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Commentary Contentions - From Disgusting to Odd
- Fifth place with 1/3 points – (T*) – Gateway Pundit - Heartless Progressives Send Message to Tim Tebow: We Wish You Were Never Born
- Fifth place with 1/3 points – (T*) – Andrew Klavan - Inglorious Malarkey
- Fifth place with 1/3 points – (T*) – The Truth According to Mark - The Republicans’ Dilemma
As always, congratulations not only to the winners but to the participants.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Obama's 'Question Time' With The House Republicans
Today, Barack Obama addressed the House Republicans. They had invited him to speak at their retreat and he surprised them at the last minute by requesting that cameras be brought in so that the speech and the subsequent question and answer period could be broadcast nationwide.
The term 'question time' is in quotes, even though Zero's pals in the dinosaur media are using it pretty freely. It's based on the name for the British custom of having their Prime Minister have regular meetings with the complete House of Commons to take direct questions and rebut statements by the opposition in a back-and forth fashion. Anyone who's ever seen what the real question time looks like is very aware that Prez Zero's polite reception today bears no relation to a real Parliamentary question time.
As far as I'm concerned, it was a mistake for the GOP to invite him in and an even bigger mistake for them to give him a national platform. They should have steered clear of him and let him sink on his own, rather than being identified with him in the slightest way..which is exactly how the Democrats treated Bush during his second term, when he requested Democrats to come forward to help the Bush Administration craft policy. Or if they had to have him there, it was a splendid time to politely but firmly address and correct the multitude of outright lies he told during his State of the Union Speech on national television.
It's funny how our Post-Partisan President only got around to addressing Republicans now that he needs their votes to pass his poisonous agenda. A mere coincidence that President 'I won' didn't see fit to do that do that for a year.
This is the man who actually had the nerve to say this:
Now, I understand some of you had some philosophical differences, perhaps, on just the concept of government spending, but as I recall, opposition was declared before we had a chance to actually meet and exchange ideas. And I saw that as a missed opportunity.
The anger displayed here by Obama is pretty obvious.
He makes a number of fascinating points.
He claims that the Republicans' rhetoric has denied them any room to compromise on ObamaCare, because they told a bunch of lies to their fascist wingnut tea party going supporters.
Actually, it wasn't the GOP establishment that put the grassroots against ObamaCare but Zero's obsessive secrecy, the use of taxpayer dollars to bribe senators and the gradual leaking out of exactly what was in this truly awful 2,000 page dung heap of legislation.
Obama actually handled the so-called 'stimulus' better, at least from his point of view. He rammed that through in a matter of days while actually locking every Republican in Congress out of the room while the Democrats dickered on which political allies were going to be rewarded with what.
The complaint Obama makes actually applies much more to himself. It was Obama who deliberately demonized insurance companies, lied about illegal aliens receiving care, made a back room borderline illegal deal with Big Pharma and sold his worshipers on the Left that the public option was the only way to go and that guv'mint run healthcare was a necessity.
It was Obama and his allies who demonized his opposition and staked everything on steamrolling the opposition and getting ObamaCare passed by whatever means necessary to "win" and to prove how macho he was.
Obama's now reduced to expecting the Republicans to cut him some slack and compromise, precisely because he isn't able to.
There's also this little admission on Zero's part:
The last thing I will say, though -- let me say this about health care and the health care debate, because I think it also bears on a whole lot of other issues. If you look at the package that we've presented -- and there's some stray cats and dogs that got in there that we were eliminating, we were in the process of eliminating. For example, we said from the start that it was going to be important for us to be consistent in saying to people if you can have your -- if you want to keep the health insurance you got, you can keep it, that you're not going to have anybody getting in between you and your doctor in your decision making. And I think that some of the provisions that got snuck in might have violated that pledge.
Well how 'bout that. Zero is admitting admitting that Obamacare as passed by the House and/or Senate had some sneaky little language "snuck in", that would have stopped people from keeping their current insurance and/or choosing the doctor they want.
Remember how all during the debate the Wizard of O told us that this wunnerful piece of legislative crap would not allow government to come between citizens and their choice of doctors and insurers? Remember how Zero promised up and down that it wouldn't, while Republicans said it would? Zero just admitted that well, maybe they were right. And that 's the same 'rhetoric that Obama chastized the GOP for today...believe it or not!
It's like the death panels - oh, sorry, the Independent Medical Advisory boards mandated in the bill. It turns out the opponents of Obama care were right about that one too..and that includes a certain ex-governor of Alaska.
Some of Obama's fans on the Angry Left are calling this a victory because of Obama's bogus trash talking. It's hardly that.
Zero just showed the American people who happened to watch how shockingly juvenile,devious and unpresidential he actually is, and the kind of deep down contempt he actually has for them.
Jon Stewart Gets It - Chris Matthews Reveals Some Inherent Racism
By now, most of you are aware of mess NBC's Chris Matthews' remark after Obama's State Of The Union speech about forgetting Obama 'was black for an hour.'
This is exactly the sort of thing leftards who are inherently uncomfortable with black folks on a personal level say all the time,('oh, gee, I never thought of you as black!' and Matthews is quite representative of the sort of 'liberal' whites who supported Obama because it was a way of buying virtue at a discount, among other reasons.
Jon Stewart rips this to shreds in the above video. It's a sad commentary on the state of our media when it's left for a comedian to challenge this kind of bigotry.
Well done.
Via Hot Air
Thursday, January 28, 2010
The Democrat Congressmen From Hamas
Think Hamas and the Ikhwan (The Muslim Brotherhood) are just an overseas problem? Guess again.
Led by ex-Nation of Islam member and Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison, he and 53 other Democrat members of the House sent a letter to President Obama urging him to pressure Israel to unilaterally open its borders with Gaza.
Needless to say, there's absolutely no recognition of the attacks on Israel, which is why those borders were closed in the first place after Hamas took over the Strip in a violent coup that started the civil war between Hamas and Fatah.
To prove how anti-Israel and anti-Semitic this letter is, there's absolutely no mention of pressuring Egypt, a large recipient of US foreign aid to open Egypt's borders with Gaza or to stop building its new security barrier, which includes underground steel barriers to make tunnel smuggling more difficult.Only Israel is singled out.
That didn't stop J-Street and Peace Now from endorsing it, of course. But then, that's hardly surprising.
Many of the signatories have a long history of anti-Israel votes and statements, but another factoid that isn't surprising is that many of the signatories get substantial financial backing from CAIR, the Saudi-funded Muslim Brotherhood front that's been an unindicted co-conspirator in a number of terrorism trials.
Keith Ellison, John Conyers, Loretta Sanchez, Betty McCollum, Lois Capps, Bill Pascrell, Elijah Cummings, Bob Filner, Mike Honda, Barbara Lee, John Dingell, James Moran, Nick Rahall, Andre Carson, Mary Jo Kilroy, Carolyn Kilpatrick and Jim McDermott are among the top receivers of CAIR money in congress.
Since CAIR receives substantial funding from the Saudis, this is yet another way for foreign funds to influence our politics.
McDermott, in fact was named CAIR's public official of the year and is on CAIR's top ten list of campaign cash recipients.
Ellison, an ex-Nation of Islam member who participated in the openly anti-Semitic Million Man March is particularly close to Nihad Awad, co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), whom he met almost two decades ago at the University of Minnesota. Awad is a well-known apologist for terrorism and was a founding member of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), described by the U.S. government as a Hamas front organization.
This letter essentially is a CAIR project, and meets my essential test of anti-Semitism - it singles out Israel for demonization and demands that it adhere to standards and rules demanded of no other country.
It's also interesting to note the extremely high percentage of members of the Congressional Black Caucus on this list, 12 out of 54, almost one in four.
The Democratic party as a whole is not an anti-Israel or anti-Semitic group - far from it . But it's been obvious to me for some time that Jew hatred has a home there, and that it's both mainstream and tolerated.
Courtesy of Sultan Knish, here's a list of the representatives who signed on, along with links to the websites of their challengers in this year's elections. If you look at their records in general, the country would be well served by their absence from Congress:
Arizona
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-7) Fax: 202-225-1541 = AZ 7th Distict
California
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-6) Fax: 202-225-5163- CA 6th District
Rep. Lois Capps (D-23) Fax: 202-225-5632 - CA 23rd District - Challenger John Davidson
Rep. Sam Farr (D-17) Fax: 202-225-6791- CA 17th district
Rep. Bob Filner (D-51) Fax: 202-225-9073 - CA 51st district - challenger Nick Popaditch
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-9) Fax: 202-225-9817 - CA 9th District
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-47) Fax: 202-225-5859 - CA 47th District - challenger Van Tran
Rep. Pete Stark (D-13) Fax: 202-226-3805 - CA 13th District
Rep. Mike Honda (D-15) Fax: 202-225-2699 - CA 15th District
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-12) Fax: 202-226-4183- CA 12th District
Rep. Diane Watson (D-33) Fax: 202-225-2422 - CA 33rd District
Rep. George Miller (D-7) Fax: 202-225-5609 - CA 7th District
Connecticut
Rep. Jim Himes (D-4) Fax: 202-225-9629- 4th district - challenger Dan Debicella
Indiana
Rep. André Carson (D-7) Fax: 202-225-5633 - 7th district - challenger Carlos May and Marvin Bailey Scott
Iowa
Rep. Bruce Braley (D-1) Fax: 202-225-9129 - 1st district - challenger Rod Blum
Kentucky
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-3) Fax: 202-225-5776 - 3rd district - multiple challengers
Maryland
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-7) Fax: 202-225-3178
Rep. Donna Edwards (D-4) Fax: 202-225-8714
Massachusetts
Rep. Michael Capuano (D-8) Fax: 202-225-9322 - 8th district
Rep. William Delahunt (D-10) Fax: 202-225-5658 - 10th district - multiple challengers
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-3) Fax: 202-225-5759 - 3rd district - challenger Marty Lamb
Rep. John Tierney (D-6) Fax: 202-225-5915 - 6th district - Challenger David Sukoff and Bill Hudak
Rep. John Olver (D-1) Fax: 202-226-1224- 1st district - challenger Jeffrey Paul Donnelly
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-9) Fax: 202-225-3984 - 9th district - challenger Vernon Harrison and Keith Lepor
Michigan
Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-13) Fax: 202-225-5730
Rep. John Conyers (D-14) Fax: 202-225-0072
Rep. John Dingell (D-15) Fax: 202-226-0371
Minnesota
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-5) Fax: 202-225-4886 - 5th district - challenger Barb Davis
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-4) Fax: 202-225-1968 - 4th district - challenger Ed Matthews
Rep. James Oberstar (D-8) Fax: 202-225-6211- 8th district - multiple challengers
New Jersey
Rep. Donald Payne (D-10) Fax: 202-225-4160 - 10th district -
Rep. Rush Holt (D-12) Fax: 202-225-6025- 12th district - challenger Mike Halfacre and Scott Sipprelle
Rep. William Pascrell (D-8) Fax: 202-225-5751- 8th district - challenger Danielle Staub
New York
Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-11) Fax: 202-226-0112- 11th district
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-22) Fax: 202-226-0774 - 22nd district - challenger George Philips
Rep. Paul Tonko (D-21) Fax: 202-225-5077 - 21st district - challenger Arthur Welser
Rep. Eric Massa (D-29) Fax: 202-226-6599- 29th district - challenger Tom Reed (in a GOP district)
North Carolina
Rep. David Price (D-4) Fax: 202-225-2014 - 4th district - challengers George Hutchins, Lawson and Frank Roche
Ohio
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-9) Fax: 202-225-7711 - 15th district - challengers John Adams and Senator Stivers
Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-15) 614-294-2196 - 9th district
Oregon
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-3) Fax: 202-225-8941-3rd district
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-4) Fax: 202-225-0032 - 4th district - challenger Sid Leiken
Pennsylvania
Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-2) Fax: 202-225-5392 - 2nd district
Rep. Joe Sestak (D-7) Fax: 202-225-0280 - 7th district - challenger Patrick Meehan and Dawn Steisland
Vermont
Rep. Peter Welch (D-At Large) Fax: 202-225-6790 - 1st district
Virginia
Rep. Jim Moran (D-8) Fax: 202-225-0017 - 8th district - challengers Matthew Berry , Mark Ellmore, J Patrick Murray
Washington
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-7) Fax: 202-225-6197 - 7th district
Rep. Adam Smith (D-9) Fax: 202-225-5893 - 9th district - challengers Dick Muri and James Postma
Rep. Jay Inslee (D-1) Fax: 202-226-1606 - 1st district - challenger James Watkins
Rep. Brian Baird (D-3) Fax: 202-225-3478 - 3rd district - challengers David Castillo, David Hedrick and Jon Russell
West Virginia
Rep. Nick Rahall (D-3) Fax: 202-225-9061 - 3rd district - challengers Lee Bias, Gary Gearheart and Conrad Lucas
Wisconsin
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-2) Fax: 202-225-6942 -2nd district -challenger Tim Terenz
Rep. Gwen Moore (D-4) Fax: 202-225-8135 - 4th district - challenger Dan Sebring
Virginia
Rep. Glen Nye (D-2) Fax: 202-225-4218 - 2nd district - challengers Ben Loyola, Ken Golden, Ed Maulbeck, Bert Misuzawa, Scott Rigell and Scott W Taylor
Last Night, Obama Ripped Lobbyists - Today,He's Courting Them
Last night during his State of the Union speech, President Obama made a point of bashing lobbyists and 'special interests' while his Democrat cohorts cheered him on.
As regular members of Joshua's Army know, the Obama Administration has in fact been even more cozy than usual with lobbyists and special interests during his year in office. And ironically, the day after denouncing them in his speech, the White House and the Democrats are back in the game of courting lobbyists and their cash again:
The Treasury Department on Thursday morning invited selected individuals to “a series of conference calls with senior Obama administration officials to discuss key aspects of the State of the Union address.”
The invitation, which went to a variety of stakeholders, was sent by Fred Baldassaro, a senior adviser at the Treasury Department’s Office of Business Affairs and Public Liaison.
The invitation stated, “The White House is encouraging you to participate in these calls and will have a question and answer session at the end of each call. As a reminder, these calls are not intended for press purposes.” {...}
Some lobbyists say they are extremely frustrated with the White House for criticizing them and then seeking their feedback. Others note that Democrats on Capitol Hill constantly urge them to make political donations.
One lobbyist said, “Bash lobbyists, then reach out to us. Bash lobbyists [while] I have received four Democratic invitations for fundraisers.”
I think for the word 'feedback' we can substitute 'contributions'.
It's the Chicago Way.
The GOP Response To Obama's SOTU - Gov. Bob McDonnell Of Virginia
This ten minute response speaks for itself, and the contrast with Barack Obama's serial dishonesty couldn't be more clear:
Good evening. I'm Bob McDonnell. Eleven days ago I was honored to be sworn in as the 71st governor of Virginia.
I'm standing in the historic House Chamber of Virginia's Capitol, a building designed by Virginia's second governor, Thomas Jefferson.
It's not easy to follow the President of the United States. And my twin 18-year old boys have added to the pressure, by giving me exactly ten minutes to finish before they leave to go watch SportsCenter.
I'm joined by fellow Virginians to share a Republican perspective on how to best address the challenges facing our nation today.
We were encouraged to hear President Obama speak this evening about the need to create jobs.
All Americans should have the opportunity to find and keep meaningful work, and the dignity that comes with it.
Many of us here, and many of you watching, have family or friends who have lost their jobs.
1 in 10 American workers is unemployed. That is unacceptable.
Here in Virginia we have faced our highest unemployment rate in more than 25 years, and bringing new jobs and more opportunities to our citizens is the top priority of my administration.
Good government policy should spur economic growth, and strengthen the private sector's ability to create new jobs.
We must enact policies that promote entrepreneurship and innovation, so America can better compete with the world.
What government should not do is pile on more taxation, regulation, and litigation that kill jobs and hurt the middle class.
It was Thomas Jefferson who called for A wise and frugal Government which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry ....and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned... He was right.
Today, the federal government is simply trying to do too much.
Last year, we were told that massive new federal spending would create more jobs 'immediately' and hold unemployment below 8%.
In the past year, over three million Americans have lost their jobs, yet the Democratic Congress continues deficit spending, adding to the bureaucracy, and increasing the national debt on our children and grandchildren.
The amount of this debt is on pace to double in five years, and triple in ten. The federal debt is already over $100,000 per household.
This is simply unsustainable. The President's partial freeze on discretionary spending is a laudable step, but a small one.
The circumstances of our time demand that we reconsider and restore the proper, limited role of government at every level.
Without reform, the excessive growth of government threatens our very liberty and prosperity.
In recent months, the American people have made clear that they want government leaders to listen and act on the issues most important to them.
We want results, not rhetoric. We want cooperation, not partisanship.
There is much common ground.
All Americans agree, we need a health care system that is affordable, accessible, and high quality.
But most Americans do not want to turn over the best medical care system in the world to the federal government.
Republicans in Congress have offered legislation to reform healthcare, without shifting Medicaid costs to the states, without cutting Medicare, and without raising your taxes.
We will do that by implementing common sense reforms, like letting families and businesses buy health insurance policies across state lines, and ending frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals that drive up the cost of your healthcare.
And our solutions aren't thousand-page bills that no one has fully read, after being crafted behind closed doors with special interests.
In fact, many of our proposals are available online at solutions.gop.gov, and we welcome your ideas on Facebook and Twitter.
All Americans agree, this nation must become more energy independent and secure.
We are blessed here in America with vast natural resources, and we must use them all.
Advances in technology can unleash more natural gas, nuclear, wind, coal, and alternative energy to lower your utility bills.
Here in Virginia, we have the opportunity to be the first state on the East Coast to explore for and produce oil and natural gas offshore.
But this Administration's policies are delaying offshore production, hindering nuclear energy expansion, and seeking to impose job-killing cap and trade energy taxes.
Now is the time to adopt innovative energy policies that create jobs and lower energy prices.
All Americans agree, that a young person needs a world-class education to compete in the global economy. As a kid my dad told me, Son, to get a good job, you need a good education. That's even more true today.
The President and I agree on expanding the number of high-quality charter schools, and rewarding teachers for excellent performance. More school choices for parents and students mean more accountability and greater achievement.
A child's educational opportunity should be determined by her intellect and work ethic, not by her zip code.
All Americans agree, we must maintain a strong national defense. The courage and success of our Armed Forces is allowing us to draw down troop levels in Iraq as that government is increasingly able to step up. My oldest daughter, Jeanine, was an Army platoon leader in Iraq, so I'm personally grateful for the service and the sacrifice of all of our men and women in uniform, and a grateful nation thanks them.
We applaud President Obama's decision to deploy 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. We agree that victory there is a national security imperative. But we have serious concerns over recent steps the Administration has taken regarding suspected terrorists.
Americans were shocked on Christmas Day to learn of the attempted bombing of a flight to Detroit. This foreign terror suspect was given the same legal rights as a U.S. citizen, and immediately stopped providing critical intelligence.
As Senator-elect Scott Brown says, we should be spending taxpayer dollars to defeat terrorists, not to protect them.
Here at home government must help foster a society in which all our people can use their God-given talents in liberty to pursue the American Dream. Republicans know that government cannot guarantee individual outcomes, but we strongly believe that it must guarantee equality of opportunity for all.
That opportunity exists best in a democracy which promotes free enterprise, economic growth, strong families, and individual achievement.
Many Americans are concerned about this Administration's efforts to exert greater control over car companies, banks, energy and health care.
Over-regulating employers won't create more employment; overtaxing investors won't foster more investment.
Top-down one-size fits all decision making should not replace the personal choices of free people in a free market, nor undermine the proper role of state and local governments in our system of federalism. As our Founders clearly stated, and we Governors understand, government closest to the people governs best.
And no government program can replace the actions of caring Americans freely choosing to help one another. The Scriptures say To whom much is given, much will be required. As the most generous and prosperous nation on Earth, it is heartwarming to see Americans giving much time and money to the people of Haiti. Thank you for your ongoing compassion.
Some people are afraid that America is no longer the great land of promise that she has always been. They should not be.
America will always blaze the trail of opportunity and prosperity.
America must always be a land where liberty and property are valued and respected, and innocent human life is protected.
Government should have this clear goal: Where opportunity is absent, we must create it. Where opportunity is limited, we must expand it. Where opportunity is unequal, we must make it open to everyone.
Our Founders pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to create this nation.
Now, we should pledge as Democrats, Republicans and Independents--Americans all---to work together to leave this nation a better place than we found it.
God Bless you, and God Bless our great nation.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Obama's STFU Speech - Doubling Down On A Failed Agenda
I absolutely could not believe President Obama made this speech with a straight face. I felt dirty even listening to it.There were literally so many outright lies I could hardly keep track of them.
Here's a capsule summary of some of the biggest ones, and I predicted most of it:
See, everything I had to deal with was all Bush's fault, even though I spent more money in one year than BushHitler did in eight..and that was while fighting two wars and dealing with the hits from 9/11 and Katrina. Oh,and uh, Let's have more civility and end the blame game in Congress, now that I and the Democrats are in power.No more names except when I get to call 'em.
The banks and the lobbyists and Wall Street are evil, except the ones I deal with. And I pinkie promise my administration is gonna start being more transparent, tomorrow.
I'm going to shove this ObamaCare over the goal line regardless of what you peons want. And that goes for cap n' tax too, even though you retards are too stupid to worship the Global Warming Religion. We're gonna tax those evil bankers even though we got the TARP funds back from them mostly, just like my bro Warren Buffet said. You'll see those taxes reflected in the fees you peeps'll pay when you get loans, take out credit cards and open accounts.
I'll toss in a line about clean coal and nuclear power, and even offshore drilling but you know I don't mean it. After all, hasn't it been me and my Democrats that have obstructed any kind of domestic energy creation for years, unless it was making a dollar's worth of ethanol for a dollar and thirty five cents? And believe me, I'm going to keep pushing the green jobs mantra, even if it's been proven to actually cost more jobs than it creates. Lotta money in that for the right people.
I'm gonna take credit for whatever success there is in Iraq, even though I and my party did their very best to sabotage the war effort and the surge strategy while Bush was in office an dour troops were under fire. And if Iran isn't careful, they're gonna be on double secret probation in six months, or a year, or something.
Hey, I even tossed a line in there about standing up for the Iranian protesters, even though I did nothing of the kind.
Veterans? Yeah, always good for an applause line. I'll promise more benefits without getting specific and hope nobody remembers how I tried to take away the VA benefits from wounded vets and make 'em buy their own private healthcare, when I wasn't having Napolitano demonize 'em as a bunch of right wing whackjobs and security risks.
I'm gonna take credit for two million jobs saved or created by the stimulus no matter what the CBO says! After all , they don't know all the different non-existent zip codes and congressional districts we sent money to!That shows you how awesome I am....I can create tax payer funded government jobs that create no wealth whatsoever!
Oh, and spending? Now that I've run the deficit up to historic levels, we'll start doing a spending freeze on a token amount - next year. I'm gonna stop smoking next year too!
In short, I'm doubling down on my agenda, because it's all worked so well and because of how wonderful I am. Bend over America!Full speed ahead Left!
There was a lot more - his egging on Congress to diss the Supreme Court for instance, a new low in decorum -but that's the gist of it.
I don't think I've ever seen a president more willing to soil himself in public. I'm not sure which is more contemptible, Obama's agenda, his disdain for the intelligence of the American people or his sense of himself.
Ann Coulter Hits The Target On Dem Wall Street Bashing
Leave it to Miss Ann to get the right of it:
In the wake of the Massachusetts Miracle last week ("The other Boston Massacre"), President Obama adopted a populist mantle, claiming he was going to "fight" Wall Street. It was either that or win another Nobel Peace Prize.
Now the only question is which Goldman Sachs crony he'll put in charge of this task.
If Obama plans to hold Wall Street accountable for its own bad decisions, it will be a first for the Democrats.
For the past two decades, Democrats have specialized in insulating financial giants from the consequences of their own high-risk bets. Citigroup and Goldman Sachs alone have been rescued from their risky bets by unwitting taxpayers four times in the last 15 years.
Bankers get all the profits, glory and bonuses when their flimflam bets pay off, but the taxpayers foot the bill when Wall Street firms' bets go bad on -- to name just three examples -- Mexican bonds (1995), Thai, Indonesian and South Korean bonds (1997), and Russian bonds (1998).
As Peter Schweizer writes in his magnificent book Architects of Ruin: "Wall Street is a very far cry from the arena of freewheeling capitalism most people recall from their history books." With their reverse-Midas touch, the execrable baby boom generation turned Wall Street into what Schweizer dubs "risk-free Clintonian state capitalism."
Apropos of the Clintonian No-Responsibility Era, Goldman Sachs and Citibank became heavily invested in Mexican bonds after a two-day bender in Tijuana in the early '90s. Any half-wit could see that "investing" in the dog track would be safer than investing in a corrupt Third World government controlled by drug lords.
But precisely because the bonds were so risky, bankers made money hand-over-fist on the scheme -- at least until Mexico defaulted.
With Mexico unable to pay the $25 billion it owed the big financial houses, Clinton's White House decided the banks shouldn't be on the hook for their own bad bets.
Clinton's Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin, former chairman of Goldman, demanded that the U.S. bail out Mexico to save his friends at Goldman. He said a failure to bail out Mexico would affect "everyone," by which I take it he meant "everyone in my building."
Larry Summers, currently Obama's National Economic Council director, warned that a failure to rescue Mexico would lead to another Great Depression. (Ironically, Summers' current position in the Obama administration is "Great Depression czar.")
Republicans in Congress said "no" to Clinton's Welfare-for-Wall-Street plan.
It's not as if this hadn't happened before: In 1981, Reagan allowed Mexico to default on tens of billions of dollars in debt -- Mexico claimed the money was "in my other pair of pants" -- leaving Wall Street to deal with its own bad bets.
As Larry Summers expected, this led like night into day to the Great Depression we experienced during the Reagan years ... Wait, that never happened.
Bulls eye as usual. Read the rest here.
A Few More Reviews Of Obama's Serial Prevarications Tonight
From the NRO:
Tonight the president engaged in demogoguery of the worst kind, when he claimed that last week's Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, "open[ed] the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities."
The president's statement is false.
The Court held that 2 U.S.C. Section 441a, which prohibits all corporate political spending, is unconstitutional. Foreign nationals, specifically defined to include foreign corporations, are prohibiting from making "a contribution or donation of money or ather thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State or local election" under 2 U.S.C. Section 441e, which was not at issue in the case. Foreign corporations are also prohibited, under 2 U.S.C. 441e, from making any contribution or donation to any committee of any political party, and they prohibited from making any "expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication... ."
This is either blithering ignorance of the law, or demogoguery of the worst kind.
— Bradley A. Smith is Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Designated Professor of Law at Capital University Law School
From Drew over at Ace of Spades:
There was simply too much to put in one post (and no, I won't be going through all of it) but the Iraq part, all two paragraphs of it, were despicable. Not so much for what he said but what he left out.
As we take the fight to al Qaeda, we are responsibly leaving Iraq to its people. As a candidate, I promised that I would end this war, and that is what I am doing as President. We will have all of our combat troops out of Iraq by the end of this August. We will support the Iraqi government as they hold elections, and continue to partner with the Iraqi people to promote regional peace and prosperity. But make no mistake: this war is ending, and all of our troops are coming home.
Tonight, all of our men and women in uniform — in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world – must know that they have our respect, our gratitude, and our full support. And just as they must have the resources they need in war, we all have a responsibility to support them when they come home. That is why we made the largest increase in investments for veterans in decades. That is why we are building a 21st century VA. And that is why Michelle has joined with Jill Biden to forge a national commitment to support military families.
The 5 times he used the name Iraq in those paragraphs were the only mentions in the whole speech. What words didn't he use? Victory. Freedom. Or anything that recognized the fruits of the incredible sacrifices millions of men and women in our military and their families made to make it possible.
You see, the war is just "ending". Kind of like a movie or something. Times up, the lights come on, you don't have to go home but you can't stay here.
As I tweeted last night during the speech: "According to Obama the Iraq war is over. Any word on who won?"
Oh and this 'ending'? Yeah, he inherited that from Bush too but you don't hear him mention that do you?
I doubt W. cares much about what this childish little man says or thinks about him. Bush signed up for the big leagues and if Obama can't do anything but bitch about him, well, that's part of the deal. Besides, Bush only looks better by comparison. But for a serving Commander in Chief to fail to acknowledge the victory of American troops is beyond shameful, it's unpardonable and even un-American.
From John Hanlon at TownHall:
The text below is from a partial CNN.com transcript of Obama's first State of the Union address. These are comical words coming from an administration that has, in the past, waged political war with Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and others. If President Obama does not want perpetual campaigns waged against political opponents, he should have instructed his administration not to do that a long time ago....
But what frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is Election Day. We cannot wage a perpetual campaign where the only goal is to see who can get the most embarrassing headlines about their opponent -- a belief that if you lose, I win
From Vodka Pundit (Stephen Green) at PJM:
6:28PM High-speed trains! Green jobs! I’ve learned nothing! Applaud your impending demise!
6:29PM Business to Obama: Stop helping already. Please. We’re begging you.
6:30PM “I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay.” And the Congress that has spent a year not passing health care or cap & trade says, “We’ll get riiiiiight on that.”
6:31PM “How long should we wait?” Last I heard, about 75 minutes.
6:32PM Washington has told us to wait? Where was he when America invented damn near every single thing in the last couple centuries? Name a big Chinese or Indian consumer product that isn’t a copy. We’re not in second place — unless Washington spends another year like the last one.
6:33PM “I’m not interested in punishing banks.” He just wants to take money from them and tell them what to do. “This hurts me more than it hurts you… ”
6:34PM “If the bill… doesn’t mean the test of real reform… I’ll sign it anyway because it’s been a year and I’m looking bad here, folks. Please.”
6:34PM Obama cures cancer!
From Michelle Malkin:
Hey, President Obama, how about your pal SEIU president Andy Stern’s illegal lobbying activities at 1600 Pennsylvania? Let the sun shine in.
How about Alston and Bird lobbyist Tom Daschle’s undue influence in your Oval Office? Drain the swamp.
***
9:07pm Eastern. Instead of drinking, I’m going to do a push-up every time O says “I,” “change,” “jobs,” “investment,” or “clear.”
Obama arrives. There are more forced smiles in the room than at a Miss World beauty pageant.
Obama clunkifies Tom Paine: “These are the times that tested the courage of our convictions.”
He blames failures of Washington DC. “Numbing weight of politics.”
Has someone clued him into the fact that HE is Washington DC. HE is the numbing weight.
O: “We all hated the bank bailout…it was as popular as a root canal.” Biden grinning from ear to ear. Quickly moves on to rationalizing the bank bailout. “I supported the last administration’s efforts…we made it more transparent…we recovered most of the money.”
Except for the money that Geithner allowed AIG to fork over to its counterparties in secret, of course.
Obama lambastes Wall Street for a few minutes more, then pats himself on the back for cutting taxes. Not mentioned: Massive tobacco tax hikes to pay for SCHIP expansion.
From Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit:
A.P. FACT-CHECKS OBAMA
“President Barack Obama, who once considered government spending freezes a hatchet job, told Americans on Wednesday it’s now part of his solution to the exploding deficit. He didn’t explain what had changed.” Read the whole thing.
FROM JUSTICE ALITO, a “you lie” moment? “POLITICO’s Kasie Hunt, who’s in the House chamber, reports that Justice Samuel Alito mouthed the words ‘not true’ when President Barack Obama criticized the Supreme Court’s campaign finance decision.” Drudge is calling Obama’s criticism “intimidation,” but apparently, they weren’t so intimidated. As I said before, Obama’s behavior wasn’t very Presidential, and it wasn’t very wise.
UPDATE: Brad Smith: “The president’s statement is false.”
No, actually, you don’t, and Alito didn’t. And that will step on Obama’s press tonight and tomorrow, turning his demagoguery into a negative for him. That’s why Presidents usually act Presidential. Not so much because it’s dignified. But because it’s smart. That’s something that Obama, with his limited experience on the national stage, hasn’t figured out yet.
MORE: Video.
Plus, from Dan Riehl, “If this becomes the narrative it hurts Obama and distracts from any thing he may have wanted to accomplish with the address.”
Howard Zinn Dies
This shouldn't pass without notice.
Marxist historian Howard Zinn passed away today on his 88th birthday,while traveling in California.
Zinn was a professor emeritus of history in the Political Science Department at Boston University. He was the author of more than 20 books, including the infamous People's History Of America.
His main scholarly achievement was to play a large part in helping mainstream the deconstructionist school of history, which stripped of the verbiage means that it's perfectly OK to manipulate or emphasize historical facts to fit or advance a political agenda.
Zinn was a major voice in both the civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam war movement, who testifyed in court for Pentagon Papers burglar Daniel Ellsberg.
He also wrote plays,including Marx in Soho, a one-man play on the life of Karl Marx that defends the principles of communism and advocates their adoption in America...as indeed most of his work did.
His pal, radical Leftist activist Noam Chomsky was quoted as saying, "His writings have changed the consciousness of a generation, and helped open new paths to understanding and its crucial meaning for our lives."
Zinn, like Chomsky was a valued foot soldier in the Gramscian warfare unleashed against America by the Soviet Union as far back as the 1920's.
As you might recall me mentioning, Gramscian warfare was the brain child of Italian communist Antonio Gramsci, a major influence on the Soviets who theorized that the best way to export the communist revolution to the West was not through armed struggle but by infiltrating its cultural and educational systems.
The Soviets had a great deal of success with this strategy, particularly after WWII.
Play The Obama State Of The Union Drinking Game!
I expect Obama's
However, for those of you who own high boots and feel compelled to watch the train-wreck as it happens, I suggest the following to pass the time and make it a little more fun:
Set out an assortment of your favorite libations on your coffee table (and please do this at home so you won't be driving) and get ready:
(Serious note: This is strictly for fun, and if you actually drank as much as you would if you followed these rules, it's probably stomach pumpin' time as my pal Weekend Monkey would tell you...if you survived, and you might not. Watch your intake, use your brain and drink responsibly!)
- For every time Zero says 'Let me be clear" do one shot.
- For every time Zero sayshope or hopeful do one shot.
- If Obama says "Make no mistake" one shot.
- For every time he says: 'the past eight years' or uses the phrase 'we inherited' one shot.
- If a Haitian is seated next to Michelle Obama, shot time. Rum.
- If Obama mentions 'health care reform' and vows to 'move it over the finish line' two shots, but you have to get them down without laughing and having the booze come back up your nose.
- If Prez Zero tells a touching little sob story story of some poor unfortunate denied health care, one shot of Smirnoff. Two shots if they're actually in the audience.
- If Obama starts defending Cap n' Tax and global warming, chug and then throw an empty beer can at the television.
- If Slo-Joe Biden chuckles, smiles, talks inappropriately and pees in his pants like last time, one shot.
- If Obama throws something at him, finish the bottle.
- One sip every time Nancy Pelosi jumps up and down and claps her flippers.Three shots if she trips over herself and falls off the stage.
- If the TOTUS (Teleprompter of the United States) breaks down in mid-speech, champagne toast or whatever else you have handy. With Hawaiian pineapple as a snack.
- If Zero calls for Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal, one shot, preferably something like Amaretto, a Pink Lady or Creme De Minthe.
- If Obama signals he's going to go for 'comprehensive immigration reform' AKA La Amenestia,break out the tequilla or the mescal.
- One shot with a beer chaser for every time Obama mentions 'working families' - by which he means union members, of course. If you do this every time he says 'middle class Americans' you'll likely be drunk in no time.
- If he describes his fellow Americans using the words 'angry' or frustrated' one shot.
- Likewise, every time Zero sneers and says" lobbyist", "big business" "fat cats' or "Wall Street" .
Of course, if you really want to get comatose,just do a shot every time Obama says 'I' or 'Me'. You'll be lucky to make it a third of the way through.
Another ObamaWhopper:" I didn't sign off on those shady health care deals ."
Per Mary Katharine Ham at the Weekly Standard notes that President Obama spun this yarn for ABC News:
“Let's just clarify. I didn't make a bunch of deals [on health care]. ... There is a legislative process that is taking place in Congress and I am happy to own up to the fact that I have not changed Congress and how it operates the way I would have liked.”
Nah, wasn't Obama...except, as John McCormack reveals in the Washington Examiner it damn well was, and Zero was into to up to his lying eyes:
...the Washington Post reported on December 20 that Obama's top aides were involved in the negotiations with Nelson:
Schumer, who spent more than 13 hours in Reid's office Friday, said the Medicaid issue was settled around lunchtime, and the final eight hours of the talks focused on the abortion language. Boxer estimated she spent seven hours in Reid's offices -- without ever once sitting in the same room, even though they were all of 25 steps apart.
Reid and Schumer kept up the "shuttle negotiation" between the leader's conference room and his top aide's office, Boxer said.
Keenly aware how tense the talks were, the White House dispatched two aides who together have decades of experience in the Senate -- Jim Messina and Peter Rouse -- to work with Nelson. They relayed their intelligence to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who monitored the talks from a dinner in Georgetown.
If Prez Zero claims never he signed on to bribing Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, he's (A) lying through his teeth (B) telling us he's so out of touch and clueless he has no idea or control over what the White House is doing, AKA the Nixon Watergate defense or (C)a combination of both of the above, with Zero simply telling Emanuel to fix it by whatever means necessary and not interrupt his golf game with details.
Pick whichever one you like, but I'm opting for A with C as a close second choice, since we already know that Obama was intimately and directly involved in exempting his union pals from the 'cadillac health care' tax provisions in the Senate bill as well as Prez Zero's corrupt sweetheart deal with Big Pharma.
All leader lie to some degree, but its usually done for reasons of national security. This self-serving crap simply shows how much contempt this president has for the people that elected him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
