Federal Judge Orders Ohio's Law Against Early Voting Struck Down; Appeal Pending

U.S. District Court Senior Judge Peter C. Economus ( a Democrat and Clinton appointee, of course, confirmed by a Democrat senate in 1995) sided with the Obama Administration in its lawsuit Obama for America v. Husted and ordered the state of Ohio to allow early voting on the three days prior to the Nov. 6 election to all voters.

Then new law that was passed restricted the early voting to active duty military and was designed to combat voter fraud and to allow time county officials said they needed to get their poll lists updated and purge the rolls of deceased voters, people no longer Ohio residents and felons.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has already announced that he will appeal to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an effort to get th einjunction dismissed.

Stay tuned.

Obama Shamed; Forced By Romney's Trip To Stop Campaign,Fly To Storm-Hit Louisiana

Now here's something different. Here we have a presidential candidate who actually shamed a sitting president into doing the right thing.

This morning after the Republican convention in Tampa finished, Mitt Romney changed his schedule, got on a plane with Ann Romney and headed towards the flood damaged areas in Louisiana to tour the area and meet with first responders. The situation there isn't like Katrina, but there's has been massive amounts of flood damage, the levees were topped in several areas and almost a million people are still without power.

President Obama had never been there during the crisis, and according to the linked ABC News story, the White House told them the president had no plans to visit the stricken Gulf areas. In fact, he was scheduled to be campaigning and fundraising in Ohio.





But as pictures of Governor Romney and his wife started hitting the news wires and raising certain, shall we say, questions, Mitt Romney's action reminded Barack Obama what a president does and shamed him into cancelling his own schedule and finally making a trip to Louisiana.

Romney had changed his schedule to head to the affected town outside New Orleans while Obama, who has yet to visit the Tropical Storm Isaac zone, headed off to Texas to campaign.

But the Obama campaign said today, in a terse statement, that the President would now visit the flood-stricken state early next week.

'In light of the President’s travel to Louisiana to meet with local officials and view ongoing response and recovery efforts to Hurricane Isaac, President Obama will no longer travel to Cleveland, Ohio on Monday, September 3,' the statement read.

By the way, Louisiana is a solid Red State Governor Romney is all but certain to carry, while the campaign stop he cancelled to go to Louisiana was in Virginia a battle ground swing state. He went to Louisiana not for politics, but because he felt it was the right thing to do.

President Obama's cynical turnaround, on the other hand, was based on nothing but politics.If Mitt Romney hadn't gone to Louisiana, there's no doubt President Obama would have ignored the stricken area, just as he has every other disaster that has hit a Red state area during his time in office.

Does anyone really, in their heart of hearts want Barack Obama in the White House for another four years?

Why?

John Nolte At Breitbart On Clint Eastwood's Speech

Breitbart's John Nolte has an outstanding piece out on 82-year-old Clint Eastwood's superb takedown of Barack Obama last night...here's a slice:

For four long years we've waited, hoped and prayed that some young comic would break free of the politically correct demands of The State and mock Obama the way all presidents and all people in power should be mocked. But for four long years (with a few exceptions) all we've seen instead are cowardly toadies of The State: Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Chris Rock, the cast of "Saturday Night Live"…

Since Obama won the presidency, comedy has pretty much gone straight to hell as our Entertainment Overlords morphed into pathetic lapdogs to The State; begging for scraps of attention and affection from Obama, and in the process becoming stale, lazy, dull, predictable, painfully unfunny, and like a needy poodle -- more than a little annoying. {...}

Eastwood hit Obama in every sweet spot we've been waiting for him to get hit on: The incompetence; the lies; the empty, pretentious rhetoric; the inexperience; and that roaring blowhard of a moron Obama chose to be a heartbeat away.

Oh, and the empty chair. Other than an empty suit, there is no sharper metaphor.

Eastwood also made one of the very best points of the night: WE own this country, and when someone doesn't do the job "we have to let them go."

As I mentioned last night, it was utterly brilliant satire, and predictably, the media has gone absolutely berserk, calling Eastwood senile, 'embarrassing' even suggesting he was drunk or on medication.

Nolte has the ultimate comeback for them:

Go to hell you Obama-shilling crybabies. Eastwood showed more grit and honestly in those few minutes than you water carriers have during your entire propaganda-for-the-collective careers.

What Eastwood did tonight was funnier, fresher, edgier, and braver than anything those comedy cowards Chris Rock, Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert have done in 15 years.

82 years-old, and Dirty Harry is still pissing all the right people off.

My hero.

He is indeed.

Go here to read it all, and see a video of the highlights. You'll be glad you did.

TV Ratings For The GOP Convention - Or, Decisions Have Consequences

One of the stories about the Republican convention that's under the wire is the significant drop in its TV audience.

Part of that might have been because more people (like yours truly) watched it via live streaming, or because of the alphabet network's insipid and reduced coverage.

But part of it might have been due to a much more obvious reason.

The resurrection of the GOP in 2010 was largely engineered by two people - Sarah Palin and Senator Jim DeMint. And they did it without much help, if any, from the GOP establishment. That's particularly true in Governor Palin's case. The money she raised through Sarah PAC, the endorsements she made and the speeches she made as she toured the country energized the GOP base and got them out to the polls.In the end, her batting average on her endorsements getting elected to office was over .750, an incredible number in baseball or in politics.

Her reward for her efforts was to be excised as a speaker from this year's GOP convention.

On day two of the convention, Paul Ryan's excellent speech was seen by 20 million people. In 2008, when Sarah Palin made her acceptance speech, she drew a whopping 37 million.

Love her or hate her, Governor Palin delivers outstanding speeches and has a huge and devoted following..which is exactly why Roger Ailes snapped her up for FOX.

Want to bet that if Governor Palin had spoken to the convention in Tampa, the ratings would have been off the charts? That it would have energized and revved up the entire convention?

The GOP establishment was likely afraid that Governor Palin would overshadow some of the politicos scheduled to speak, and that her speaking at the convention might have been too 'controversial.'

That decision was not only cowardly and ungrateful, but it was strategically a mistake. Paul Ryan's speech needed and deserved to be heard by a larger audience, and Sarah Palin would have delivered that.

Romney Heads To Storm Ravaged New Orleans - Where Obama Has Yet To Appear

Fresh off his acceptance speech at the Republican convention, Mitt Romney will be visiting the storm-affected areas in New Orleans today.

While it's not Katrina, Isaac has done plenty of damage and there have been record flood levels that topped the levees in several areas.Almost a million people remain without power.

A Romney aide told ABC News that Romney will “join Gov. Jindal and will meet with first responders, thank them for their work and see areas impacted by the storm in LaFitte, La.”

Jindal cancelled his plans earlier this week to attend the Republican National Convention after Hurricane Isaac moved up the Gulf Coast and wreaked damage across Louisiana. Two deaths have been reported in Louisiana as a result of the storm and widespread damage and flooding. The storm hit on the seven-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

According to the ABC News story, Governor Romney had been planning this trip during the convention and had scheduled the trip to occur as soon as the convention ended.

President Obama, meanwhile is out campaigning. The White House has not announced any plans for the president to visit the hard hit area.

Figuring out why President Obama is giving the storm hit Gulf Coast a miss is actually pretty easy.

He knows he isn't going to carry the Red states of Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana, and therefore touring these areas isn't a priority for him. What votes he will get in these states will come predominantly from black voters, and his thinking likely is that he doesn't have to do anything much to get them anyway.

This president behaved similarly during his term when it came to Kentucky, Nashville, northern Texas and other disaster areas located in Red states.

It's the Chicago way. No political payback, and it's off the radar.

The Council Has Spoken!! This Week's Watcher's Council Results

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and the results are in for this week's Watcher's Council match up.

Even taking into consideration the normal high level of quality in both the Council and Non-Council entries, this was a tough call with some exceptional pieces to choose from, and the close vote tallies reflect it.

Rhetoric by Democrats and their friends in the media accusing Republicans in general and Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in particular of being racist, ignorant, mean spirited, corrupt and filled with hatred towards minorities, women and the poor has been endemic in this campaign.


This week's winner, Bookworm Room's Democrat gaffes, nastiness, and sheer ignorance - just a few highlights from the Democrat side of the aisle examines the behavior of a number of Democrats braying the loudest on this particular theme. Here's a slice:

Todd Akin’s ill-informed remarks opened the floodgates for the usual smears about the fact that all conservatives are ignorant, racist, sexist, theocratic, misogynistic tyrants. The one that got the greatest play amongst my liberal Facebook friends was Timothy Egan’s New York Times‘ column claiming that Akin isn’t the only Republican crackpot in Congress. He went for the usual suspects, namely those Congressmen who don’t believe in anthropogenic climate change (meaning that they acknowledge the change but deny mankind’s centrality) and those who do not believe that scientific evolution does away with God’s role in human creation. Oh, the horror!

It occurred to me that it would be easy to put together a list of Democrats currently or recently in government positions who have also said stupid things or hold beliefs that make ordinary people (not political ideologues, but ordinary people) writhe in discomfort. As I discovered when I surveyed my readers, it’s almost too easy. Although the gaffes don’t make the headlines and talk shows, they’re out there, and they show a Democrat party rife with ignorance, stupidity, and nastiness. I know that the Democrats are incapable of being embarrassed, but perhaps the swing voters out there might find this list interesting.

Before I begin, let me explain my parameters: I excluded all quotations from Leftist entertainment figures. Collecting examples of ignorance and nastiness from that group was like shooting fish in a barrel, and would have made this list unforgivably long. I also excluded foolish statements driven by ideology, since those statements would include just about every thing that every Democrat in politics has ever said (see, e.g., Nancy Pelosi). Instead, I went for sayings (or conduct) that were so stupid or mean-spirited that people unaware of politics and uninterested in ideology would still appreciate that the people saying or doing these things are pretty poor standard-bearers for their party. Organizationally, because there are such rich pickings on the Left, I’ve divided my examples by subject matter, rather than by person. Finally, this is hardly a comprehensive list. I simply chose highlights, most of them suggested by you, my readers.

So, fasten your seat belts, sit back, and enjoy the ride.

Ignorance/Gaffes/Crack-Pottery

Barack Obama calls a Navy corpsman a “Navy Corpse-man.”

Barack Obama thinks Austrian is a language.

Hank Johnson, currently representing Georgia’s 4th Congressional District, is worried that overpopulation could cause the island of Guam to tip over.

Barack Obama remembers an imaginary railway running between New York and Europe: “We used to have the best infrastructure in the world here in America. We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad.”

Without TOTUS nearby, Obama gets confused: “I had the great honor of seeing some of you because a comrade of yours, Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honor to who actually came back and wasn’t receiving it posthumously.” Jared Monti was killed in 2006. Barack Obama’s awarded him a posthumous Medal of Honor on June 23, 2009.


In our non-Council category, the winner was essayist P. J. O'Rourke with Of Thee I Sigh: Baby Boomers Bust submitted by Joshuapundit. It's a trenchant examination of the what I can only describe as the Boomer generation's contribution to the national malaise. Do read it.


OK, here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• *First place with 3 votes! Bookworm Room –Democrat gaffes, nastiness, and sheer ignorance - just a few highlights from the Democrat side of the aisle



• Second place with 2 1/3 votes – The Razor - The Democratic Party's War on Children



• Third place *t* with 2 votes – Simply Jews- Al Qaeda recruiting via the Internet - and I know why



• Third place *t* with 2 vote – The Independent Sentinel-Dems Using Every Trick In The Book To Distract From The Economy



• Third place *t* with 2 votes – The Noisy Room- The DNC Embraces Radical Islam



• Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes – Joshuapundit- Speaking Of Rape - Democrats Oppose Mandatory Sentences For Child Rapists



• Fifth place with 1 vote – The Right Planet-The Fascism of Sustainable Development



• Sixth place with 2/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – Offensive Meat



• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – VA Right! –Homemade Video: 'Remember" (A Remake of John Lennon’s 'Imagine')



• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Gay Patriot –Why do some Americans who favor 'smaller government with fewer services' continue to back Democrats?

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 votes! – P.J. O'Rourke-Of Thee I Sigh: Baby Boomers Bust submitted by Joshuapundit



• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Raymond Ibrahim –Ramadan: Islam's 'Holy Month' of Christian Oppression submitted by The Watcher



• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Danger Room –Top U.S. General: We Don't Know Why Afghan Troops Are Killing Us submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD



• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes -Yid With Lid -Why Does Obama Have Anti-Israel Activists On His List of Rabbi Supporters? submitted by The Independent Sentinel




• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes - Alan Caruba/Family Security Matters -Destroying our military from within submitted by The Political Commentator



• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes - Iowahawk –Stars Get In Your Eyes submitted by The Watcher



• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 vote -FrontpageMag.Com –A Disturbing Event: The American Conservative Union Embraces an Islamist submitted by The Right Planet



• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -Jim Treacher/The Daily Caller –Obama pays tribute to Neil Armstrong, the only way he knows how submitted by The Glittering Eye



• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Sultan Knish –Countdown in Tehran and Jerusalem submitted by The Noisy Room



• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Contentious Centrist –On Hypocrites and Double Standards submitted by Simply Jews



• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Jennifer Rubin –Is the liberal echo chamber a trap? submitted by Gay Patriot



• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Big Jolly Politics –Harris County Democrats: no diversity, no tolerance submitted by Rhymes With Right



• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -PowerLine –The Outside Story of the Obama Campaign submitted by Bookworm Room
  



• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Taki's Magazine –No Brain, No Vote! submitted by The Razor.

See you next week! Don't forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week's Watcher's Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day and with short takes and weigh in...don't you dare miss it. And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.....'cause we're cool like that!

Clint, Marco And Mitt

Tonight was the big night at the Republican convention, with three major speeches, including the Big One, Governor Romney's acceptance speech.

Here's my initial reaction to all three.

Clint Eastwood only disappointed me once tonight, and it wasn't his fault. Somebody forgot to use the theme music from 'The Good, The Bad and the Ugly' to bring him onstage. It would have been perfect.

The speech itself was actually a pretty kinky brand of satire a lot of the left was too crazed to fully get. It featured Clint Eastwood in an imaginary conversation with Barack Obama, explaining to him exactly why he should get out of Dodge. Unscripted, a little rambling just like a real conversation, but effective as all get out, from someone who's a long time libertarian and old enough and successful enough not to give a damn what anyone thinks. Some money quotes:

..I just think that there is so much to be done, and I think that Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan are two guys that can come along. See, I never thought it was a good idea for attorneys to the president, anyway. {...}

They are always devil’s advocating this and bifurcating this and bifurcating that. You know all that stuff. But, I think it is maybe time -- what do you think -- for maybe a businessman. How about that?

(APPLAUSE)A stellar businessman. Quote, unquote, “a stellar businessman.”


And I think it’s that time. And I think if you just step aside and Mr. Romney can kind of take over. You can maybe still use a plane.

(APPLAUSE)Though maybe a smaller one. Not that big gas guzzler you are going around to colleges and talking about student loans and stuff like that.{...}

I would just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen. Something that I think is very important. It is that, you, we -- we own this country.

(APPLAUSE)

We -- we own it. It is not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours.

(APPLAUSE)

And -- so -- they are just going to come around and beg for votes every few years. It is the same old deal. But I just think it is important that you realize , that you’re the best in the world. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican or whether you’re libertarian or whatever, you are the best. And we should not ever forget that. And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go.

That last is a classic line that could have come from one of Clint Eastwood's films.Right up there with 'A man's got to know his limitations.'



Marco Rubio's speech was very much worth the price of admission. To my mind, it pretty much tied with Paul Ryan's last night as the best one out of the whole convention.

You see, Senator Rubio, like Mia Love, really gets America. He not only understands it's challenges but its possibilities. At one point in his speech, talking about the time he spent with his Cuban grandfather, he said. "For those of us who were born and raised in this country, it's easy to forget how special America is. But my grandfather understood how different America is from the rest of the world, because he knew what life was like outside America."

I couldn't agree more, and I've seen that more than once in immigrants to this country myself. And Americans who travel overseas and spend real time in a foreign country instead of just briefly hitting the tourist circuit frequently get that same appreciation.

Senator Rubio understands innately that one of the most insidious things the Obama regime is doing to America is eroding those possibilities. And with it, a great deal of what has traditionally made America a special place:

No matter how you feel about President Obama, this election is about your future, not his. And it's not simply a choice between a Democrat and a Republican.

It's a choice about what kind of country we want America to be.

As we prepare to make this choice, we should remember what made us special. For most of history almost everyone was poor. Power and wealth belonged to only a few.

Your rights were whatever your rulers allowed you to have. Your future was determined by your past.

If your parents were poor, so would you be. If you were born without opportunities, so were your children.

But America was founded on the principle that every person has God-given rights. That power belongs to the people. That government exists to protect our rights and serve our interests.

That we shouldn't be trapped in the circumstances of our birth. That we should be free to go as far as our talents and work can take us.

We are special because we've been united not by a common race or ethnicity. We're bound together by common values. That family is the most important institution in society. That almighty God is the source of all we have.

Special, because we've never made the mistake of believing that we are so smart that we can rely solely on our leaders or our government.

Like Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio was unafraid to hit President Obama in his weakest spot...his abysmal record as president. And like Ryan, he did it with humor and verve.

We will be seeing more of Marco Rubio in national politics. Sin duda.

So now we get to the big event..Governor Mitt Romney's acceptance speech.



The Governor's speech had some wonderful moments, but overall I give it a A- to a B+. Although to be honest, that grade very much depends on what you felt this speech needed to do.You see, unlike the current occupant of the White House, Mitt Romney is far more concentrated on actually doing things than just spewing hot air about them.

if tonight's speech was intended to humanize Governor Romney to people who are undecided and that didn't know much about him aside from the caricature of him as a heartless plutocrat they've seen and heard about via the Obama media, I think it did so. Governor Romney essentially is simply a decent, public spirited and principled man, and that came across tonight. People are unused to that, because it's been a long time since we had that quality showing so obviously in our president. Mitt Romney has that in abundance.

He touched all the right bases...his plans for the economy, religious freedom,even President Obama's abysmal foreign policy.

And yet, to my mind, he failed in one important area. Look at this:

How many days have you woken up feeling that something really special was happening in America?

Many of you felt that way on Election Day four years ago. Hope and Change had a powerful appeal. But tonight I'd ask a simple question: If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn’t you feel that way now that he’s President Obama? You know there’s something wrong with the kind of job he’s done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him.

The President hasn’t disappointed you because he wanted to. The President has disappointed America because he hasn’t led America in the right direction. He took office without the basic qualification that most Americans have and one that was essential to his task. He had almost no experience working in a business. Jobs to him are about government.

'The President hasn’t disappointed you because he wanted to'? What idiot speechwriter stuck that in there?

President Obama has been quite deliberate about the direction he wanted America to go since day one. The problems we face now are entirely his responsibility. He was elected to solve problems and to govern, and instead what we got was a crooked, self-serving and dishonest Chicago style rape of law, our national principles. and the public treasury, rotten with crony capitalism and special interests.

It's about time someone had the stones to say so openly.

I have heard a number of clips of President Reagan in the 1980 election going after President Jimmy Carter's record and hammering him on it..and President Obama's record actually makes President Carter look halfway competent. Ronaldus Maximus knew how to hit Jimmy Carter hard, sometimes with humor, sometimes with a stiletto, sometimes with a Louisville slugger. But he never stopped pounding him.It worked well,because if any president deserved to be knocked around for his record, it was President Carter.

I'm disappointed that Governor Romney saw fit to buy into President Obama's number one alibi, repeated ad nauseum..that none of this was President Obama's fault.

Rest assured that when the Democrats meet in Charlotte next week, every other word out of their mouths will be used to demonize Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Republicans in general. All of their media lackeys will be mobilized to talk about how hard hitting and masterful these speeches are, and when President Obama gets up on stage and mouths the usual nonsense, the media will genuflect no matter what he says.

The Democrats will not care one whit about what looks presidential. They will simply pull out all the stops and do what they do.

I'm hoping that this was just a momentary lapse of reason on the Romney campaign's part, and that they will understand what kind of people they're dealing with.

They may still end up winning without doing so, but if they want the sort of electoral repudiation of Barack Obama and his party that their performance in office merits, they had better wake up and take some lessons from Ronald Reagan.

Did Paul Ryan Lie? Nope, But The Obama Media Sure Did

Paul Ryan gave an electrifying speech at the Republican National Convention last night. Unlike most of the other speeches, this one took some time to actually hit President Obama on his abysmal record, although it was done humorously, with a rapier rather than a baseball bat.



Ryan made reference in the speech to yet another broken promise of President Obama's this one during the 2008 campaign when he was fishing for votes:

President Barack Obama came to office during an economic crisis, as he has reminded us a time or two. Those were very tough days, and any fair measure of his record has to take that into account. My home state voted for President Obama. When he talked about change, many people liked the sound of it, especially in Janesville, where we were about to lose a major factory.

A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: “I believe that if our government is there to support you … this plant will be here for another hundred years.” That’s what he said in 2008.

Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day. And that’s how it is in so many towns today, where the recovery that was promised is nowhere in sight.

The Obama media went absolutely bonkers over this with their self appointed 'fact checkers'. The more egregious offenders were the Washington Post and The Associated Press, but there were plenty of other, especially when it came to the usual suspects at MSNBC and the Soros Media lackeys.

What did Ryan supposedly lie about? Well, the plant closed down during the Bush Administration, in December 2008, before President Obama was even inaugurated. And Obama never promised he'd keep it open.

Except for one inconvenient fact - Paul Ryan was right on both counts.

In 2008, the Janesville GM plant received notice it might be facing closure...but not until the end of 2009. And in fact, that's exactly when it did cease production..in December of 2009, during the first year of President Barack Obama's term and well after the GM bailout in June of 2009.



It gets better. Apparently the Obama Administration could have chosen to keep the Janesville plant open, but chose not to, opting to keep the plant in Springhill Tennessee operating instead.

So , to sum up, the Janesville plant closed while Barack Obama was president, and it could have been kept open.

I guess being a fact checker in the Obama Media simply involves repeating the White House's talking points, not actually, you know, fact checking.

Next, let's visit the other claim the Obama media is claiming was bogus, whether Candidate Obama made promises he didn't keep. My, wouldn't that be a shocker!

Candidate Obama made the speech Ryan was talking about in Janesville on February 13th, 2008 to a bunch of frightened auto workers and their families who were already on notice as of February 2008 that the plant was likely slated for closure at the end of 2009. Here's exactly what Obama said:

But through hard times and good, great challenge and great change, the promise of Janesville has been the promise of America – that our prosperity can and must be the tide that lifts every boat; that we rise or fall as one nation; that our economy is strongest when our middle-class grows and opportunity is spread as widely as possible. And when it’s not – when opportunity is uneven or unequal – it is our responsibility to restore balance, and fairness, and keep that promise alive for the next generation. That is the responsibility we face right now, and that is the responsibility I intend to meet as President of the United States. …

Those are the steps we can take to ease the cost crisis facing working families. But we still need to make sure that families are working. We need to maintain our competitive edge in a global by ensuring that plants like this one stay open for another hundred years, and shuttered factories re-open as new industries that promise new jobs. And we need to put more Americans to work doing jobs that need to be done right here in America.

Not only that, but in October, when the polls looked close, Candidate Obama doubled down:

“As president, I will lead an effort to retool plants like the GM facility in Janesville so we can build the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow and create good-paying jobs in Wisconsin and all across America.”

He wanted their votes, so he told them what they wanted to hear and they bought into it. Except when President Obama put the taxpayers on the hook for $25 billion taxpayer dollars that will never be recouped in order to gift GM to the unions who spent over $40 million to get him into office, the Janeville plant was...overlooked.

That was likely because it made SUVs and trucks, vehicles the Obama Administration absolutely hates as being 'insufficiently green'.

So Paul Ryan, as usual, knew exactly what he was talking about.

As for the Obama Media, I no longer wonder how they live with the climate of partisan dishonesty they've chosen to create and dwell in.

Mortgages and car payments have to be paid, jobs are scarce, and having worked for the WaPo, the New York Times or one of the alphabet networks looks good on a resume and helps ensure further employment. And editors have certain expectations of the Help if you want to keep working, as 'fact checker' Glenn Kessler at the WaPo found out.

Most of these people would probably list their profession as 'journalist' if asked. That conceit is laughable. They're merely campaign operatives working in a specialized field for the Democrat party.

And sometimes, late at night, I wonder if it bothers them, deep down. The gutting of a free, independent press in this fashion is not without consequences in a republic.

Watcher's Council Nominations - Conventional Wisdom Edition

Welcome to the Watcher's Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the 'sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

This week's contest is dedicated to Mia Love,the child of Haitian immigrants, the mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, the next congresswoman to represent Utah's 4th congressional district and someone who has an innate understanding of what America is all about and exactly why it's worth saving.

And of course, To Mrs. Ann Romney, who has always been proud of her country.

Council News:

This week, Ask Marion, Raising Aspergers Kids, Maggie's Notebook, Right Truth and The Pirate's Cove took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status with some excellent pieces.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won't be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category.

Then just return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week.

It's a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

OK, lets take a look at what we have this week....

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – The DNC Embraces Radical Islam



• The Independent Sentinel – Dems Using Every Trick In The Book To Distract From The Economy



• The Political Commentator – Two pictures that define Barack Obama and one that defines a leader! (Video)



• The Razor – The Democratic Party's War on Children



• The Colossus of Rhodey – Offensive Meat



• Joshuapundit-Speaking Of Rape - Democrats Oppose Mandatory Sentences For Child Rapists



• Simply Jews – Al Qaeda recruiting via the Internet - and I know why



• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – "Least Horrible"



• The Right Planet – The Fascism of Sustainable Development



• VA Right! - Homemade Video: 'Remember" (A Remake of John Lennon’s 'Imagine')



• Bookworm Room – Democrat gaffes, nastiness, and sheer ignorance - just a few highlights from the Democrat side of the aisle



• The Glittering Eye -Why We Must Change



• Gay Patriot – Why do some Americans who favor 'smaller government with fewer services' continue to back Democrats?



• The Mellow Jihadi – Mitt Romney's Puppet Sticks Out



• Rhymes With Right – To Gain Farm Votes, Obama Will Drive Up Food Prices For Working Americans

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion - The Real War on Women



• Maggie's Notebook - Movie Review – 2016: Obama’s America – The Focus on One Hyphenated Word



• Raising Aspergers Kids - A Righteous Man....My Father



• Right Truth - 1972 Olympics Massacre - Germany's Secret Contacts to Palestinian Terrorists



• The Pirate's Cove - What Say To Muslim Extremists Praying At The DNC?

Non-Council Submissions

• Sultan Knish –Countdown in Tehran and Jerusalem submitted by The Noisy Room



• Yid With Lid – Why Does Obama Have Anti-Israel Activists On His List of Rabbi Supporters? submitted by The Independent Sentinel



• Alan Caruba/Family Security Matters -Destroying our military from within submitted by The Political Commentator



• Taki's Magazine –No Brain, No Vote! submitted by The Razor



• Weekly Standard – Smart Writing submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey



• P.J. O'Rourke – Of Thee I Sigh: Baby Boomers Bust submitted by Joshuapundit



• The Contentious Centrist – On Hypocrites and Double Standards submitted by Simply Jews



• Danger Room – Top U.S. General: We Don't Know Why Afghan Troops Are Killing Us submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD



• FrontpageMag.com – A Disturbing Event: The American Conservative Union Embraces an Islamist submitted by The Right Planet



• Doug Ross – Urgent Memo for the Mayor of New Orleans submitted by VA Right!



• PowerLine-The Outside Story of the Obama Campaignsubmitted by Bookworm Room



• Jim Treacher/The Daily Caller – Obama pays tribute to Neil Armstrong, the only way he knows how submitted by The Glittering Eye



• Jennifer Rubin -Is the liberal echo chamber a trap? submitted by Gay Patriot



• Atlas Shrugs –Bulletin Of The Oppression Of Women submitted by The Mellow Jihadi



• Big Jolly Politics – Harris County Democrats: no diversity, no tolerance submitted by Rhymes with Right



• Iowahawk – Stars Get In Your Eyes submitted by The Watcher



• Raymond Ibrahim – Ramadan: Islam's 'Holy Month' of Christian Oppression submitted by The Watcher

Enjoy! And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter..'cause we're cool like that!

James O' Keefe Forbidden To Travel To Tampa By Feds - After Class B Misdemeanor

Well, I suppose that's one way for the Obama Administration to retaliate against someone who showed up some of their pet leftist causes.

Conservative film maker James O'Keefe, busted ACORN for abetting child prostitution, NPR of being willing to endorse Palestinian terrorism in exchange for what they thought was a huge donation from a Muslim Brotherhood front and claimants that voter fraud was a non-issue by going in to a polling place and getting Eric Holder's ballot.

But after pleading guilty to a class B misdemeanor - entering federal property (Senator Mary Landrieu's office) under false pretenses, his travel rights were restricted. So he had to address a luncheon sponsored by the James Madison Institute via Skype:

Tanja Clendinen, the institute’s communications director said O’Keefe was not granted permission by the government to travel to Tampa.

"He is currently on probation from some of his Louisiana investigation activities, and his travel permission was revoked,” she said.

Via email, O’Keefe said the event was a success.

"The audience was pleased to learn that we are building an army of citizen journalists and investigators who are now in almost every state working to protect the American people from voter fraud by exposing deficiencies in the security of our electoral processes,” he wrote to POLITICO. “We talked about the series of highly successful and publicized voter integrity investigations which have helped to shape the debate surrounding this vital issue, and which have prompted responses from governors, attorneys general, and state legislatures since January of this year."

He added: “With respect to the handling by the government of the misdemeanor case against me, we discussed the fact that my videotape in Lousiana was destroyed and the circumstances surrounding that event, the fact I was cleared by the government of all felony charges, and whether it’s grossly disproportionate at best or unconstitutional at worst to restrict the travel of a journalist for three years following a class-B misdemeanor."

In other words, they threw the book at him to the extent they were able...in sharp contrast to Minister King Samir Shabazz of the New Black Panther party, illegal aliens and Muslim Brotherhood figures who aided and abetted terrorism. all of whom the Obama Justice Department refused to prosecute.

A Sneak Peek At Ann Romney's Speech

Here are a few snippets the Romney campaign released of Ann Romney's speech, which she'll deliver tonight at the Republican convention in Tampa:

Tonight I want to talk to you from my heart about our hearts.

“I want to talk not about what divides us, but what holds us together as an American family. I want to talk to you tonight about that one great thing that unites us, that one thing that brings us our greatest joy when times are good, and the deepest solace in our dark hours.

“Tonight I want to talk to you about love. …

“Mitt's dad never graduated from college. Instead, he became a carpenter.

“He worked hard, and he became the head of a car company, and then the governor of Michigan.

“When Mitt and I met and fell in love, we were determined not to let anything stand in the way of our life together. …

“I read somewhere that Mitt and I have a ‘storybook marriage.’ Well, in the storybooks I read, there were never long, long, rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once. And those storybooks never seemed to have chapters called MS or Breast Cancer.

“A storybook marriage? No, not at all. What Mitt Romney and I have is a real marriage. …

“At every turn in his life, this man I met at a high school dance, has helped lift up others. He did it with the Olympics, when many wanted to give up. …

“This is the man America needs.

“This is the man who will wake up every day with the determination to solve the problems that others say can't be solved, to fix what others say is beyond repair. This is the man who will work harder than anyone so that we can work a little less hard.

“I can't tell you what will happen over the next four years. But I can only stand here tonight, as a wife, a mother, a grandmother, an American, and make you this solemn commitment:

“This man will not fail.

“This man will not let us down.

“This man will lift up America!”

Ann Romney is Governor Romney's secret weapon. That's exactly why the Obama Media alphabet networks won't carry this live.

I hope she discusses, as she did earlier on CNN the way Governor Romney cared for her when she was ill with MS.

Oh and by the way, Ann Romney has always been proud of her country.

Chris Matthews, Aging Democrat Racist

,

Chris Matthews went nuts on MSNBC's Morning Joe the other day, accusing RNC Chairman Reince Priebus of 'playing the race card'.

It was a usual Matthews rant, yelling out talking points and then interrupting Priebus when he tried to answer. The attack was so crazed that even Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were visibly embarrassed.

For his part, Priebus merely said afterwards that Matthews made Priebus' point by being 'the biggest jerk in the room' and referring to 'the ten people who watch his show'.

Interestingly enough, Matthews got schooled by Newt Gingrich in a subsequent interview on whom the real racist was...since Matthews assumed that welfare recipients were black ( most are white)and even used the phrase 'black buck using his welfare check to buy liquor' when he got rattled.

Can you imagine a white Republican using that racist phrase?



Chris Matthews exhibits the classic bigotry of low expectations. In his fantasy world, of course blacks are welfare recipients who need the Democrat massa from the plantation to see to all their needs because they're incapable of self-reliance. It's time people called him on it.

Just in passing, shills like Matthews don't come up with this crap on the spur of the moment. It's almost always planned and coordinated with the Obama Campaign in advance, just like George Stephanopoulos' off the wall question to GOP presidential candidates on birth control when he was 'moderating' a debate was a set up for the entire Sandra Flouke/War On Women theme a few weeks later.

President Obama will get a high majority of the black vote, but he needs a massive turnout. Playing the race card, including Joe Biden's remark about how Republicans want to put blacks back in chains is how he's going about trying to get it.

Black Americans will have to make up their own minds over whether they're willing to be played and used in that cynical fashion.

Weekend Monkey's 'The Real Banana'..Live At The RNC Convention

Hidey ho, primates! Weekend Monkey's back and you've got him. I'll be giving you exclusive election coverage in my column until the big day, the real poop, the real banana. Including my exclusive interviews, behind the scenes convention coverage and of course, my handicapping of the winners.

Just to get this out of the way, I will not respond to questions concerning my absence from Joshuapundit. Let's just say I had some health issues to deal with. All better now.

Anyway, I'm here at the ReThug fest in Tampa. It's looks like the show is gonna go on after all as the ReThugs give Romney the Robot his coronation.

What a choice, eh? Romney the Robot or President 'Not now, I'm lining up a putt and besides it's not my fault anyway'! One of them will be your leader, primates. In spite of what anyone says, including the shills over at InTrade, I still see it as dead even.

Personally, I was hoping for a catfight between Hillery and Sarah Palin, just for the entertainment value, but I wouldn't have put any shekels on it actually happening.



The weather here in Tampa is like it always is in Florida this time of year..steamy hot, muggy and rainy, with cockroaches the size of SmartCars running around underfoot. What genius decided to hold a convention here in late August?? Yecch!

Anyway, my credentials are in order,my ticket's in my hand and I look forward to smelling the unbelievable stench of a bunch of Republicans cooped indoors at the Convention Center. And I'll be reporting on every bit of it.

There are protesters around, but the weather pretty much cut down on their numbers. I don't see any of the old anarcho- faces I saw in Denver back in '08, but then I'd be surprised if I did. Mindless protest and destruction is one thing when you're at a certain place in life, but it's not exactly a career destination. And remember, I'm not talking so much about aging Code Pink commies or the majority of OWS nerds living in mom's basement, but the real hard rockers, the ones who like smashing up things just because. I don't see too many of those here yet, but we'll see.

The convention itself will be Romney's coronation, and it'll be interesting to see what he does with it. Lardass from Joisey will be doing the keynote address if they can manage to get the crane working so they can lift him onstage, and his Sopranos style discourse ought to be fun if nothing else.

Ann Robot is supposed to give a speech about the pleasures of being Mrs. Robot, there will be a long list of governors putting in a few good words and some Mormons trying to explain to people how those guys riding around on the bicycles and knocking on people's doors at odd hours aren't up to anything evil, like casing the joint to see if anyone's home before breaking in. And on Thursday it's Marco Rubio and supposedly a surprise guest penciled in before Mitt takes the stage.

I doubt it will be Sarah Palin...the idea is to make Romney the Robot look animated, not deadski. And it ain't gonna be Bobby Jindall doing his creepy Peter Lorre imitation. Maybe some military guy. It won't be Petraeus, because he's still active duty even if he is running the CIA.

Dick Cheney, the Dark Lord has already said he's not coming, but I wouldn't rule out the thought of him giving one of his standard speeches, howling a war cry, firing a round or two in the air and then catching them in his teeth. Much as I disagree with his politics, Cheney has a certain rock star aura and style you gotta love, and he drives the Rethug primates crazier than a bunch of chimps at a banana festival, I tell ya.

Maybe somebody off the wall, like Jenna Jameson. Now that would be must see TV, hee hee hee!



Anyway, I'm off to find a bite to eat and a cold martini...uh, a soft drink, a soft drink! Sigh...##%!!%!

I'll be posting later.

Weekend Monkey was a Democratic candidate for president in 2008 and is JoshuaPundit's political Guru. He can be reached at wendmonkey@yahoo.com

Code Pink's Vagina Protest At The RNC Convention...

Code Pink and their assorted groupies staged an opening day protest yesterday in Tampa...dressed as vaginas.

(warning, language)

At least this time, they're not raising money for people that are shooting at out troops or taunting wounded verterans at Walter Reed.

One of the more interesting comments was from one woman who claimed 'we're the majority in America'.

You know what? In her upscale, far left neighborhood in Marin, Berkeley, Madison, Cambridge, Manhattan or Hyde Park, she's entirely correct. This is exactly how many of these people think, if that's the right word for it.They live in a bubble and rarely ever encounter anyone with different views.

(H/T and a commendation to long time Joshua's Army member Louie Louie)

Israeli Court Throws Out Rachel Corrie Civil Suit

An Israeli court tossed out a civil suit brought by the parents of deceased terrorist groupie ( and there really is no other true way to refer to her) Rachel Corrie, who was run over by an IDF bulldozer while she was blocking its path and standing in front of a house in a Rafah combat zone.

The house was being used by Hamas as a cover for tunnels used to smuggle arms and fighters, something you won't see in, say, the BBC coverage of this story.

This is the second time an attempt by the Corries to win the legal lotto has been tossed out of a court of law. The last time, it was a bizarre attempt to sue Caterpillar, the manufacturer of the bulldozer for megabucks. Even the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals wouldn't buy that one.

The Haifa District Court ruled that Corrie's death, on March 16, 2003 during the Second Intifada, was due to her deliberately placing herself in a combat zone in an area, and that she could have avoided the danger simply by not putting herself in a hazardous combat zone.

The judge further ruled that the bulldozer driver, who had an obstructed view was unable see her. Corrie had been standing on a pile of rubble, but slipped and fell before the bulldozer approached. This famous photo of Corrie was taken hours before her death occurred and at a different location.



Another thing the judge addressed but the media mostly hasn't is the group she was involved with, the International Solidarity Movement.

Self described as 'an organization focused on assisting the Palestinian cause in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict using nonviolent means', the ISM actually endorses terrorism towards Israeli civilians, as two of its founders, Adam Shapiro and his wife Huwaida Arraf admitted in a 2002 article, writing, “The Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics, both non-violent and violent...In actuality, nonviolence is not enough...Yes, people will get killed and injured,” but these deaths are “no less noble than carrying out a suicide operation. And we are certain that if these men were killed during such an action, they would be considered shaheed Allah.”

They cover and become human shields for terrorists, hide weapons for them, raise money for them and in their own words, encourage and train their members to insert themselves in dangerous situations in order to provoke confrontations with the Israeli military and assist Palestinian terrorist groups in murdering Israeli civilians.

What the ISM does is to troll left wing campuses like Corrie's alma mater, Evergreen State, and recruit gullible, brainwashed useful idiots like her to promote their jihadist agenda. In Rachel Corrie's case, they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, getting a 'martyr' who was far more valuable to them dead than she was alive.

The truth about Rachel Corrie is that she was a hate-filled harridan, a vicious anti-semite who despised her own country and was actively working towards helping innocent people to be violently murdered for her cause. In life, you reap what you sow.

The Israeli court as a sop to Corrie's parents referred to her death as a regrettable accident. Perhaps, but if it was regrettable she died in such a fashion, it was far more shameful that she chose to live in the way she did.

As Isaac Moves Into The Gulf, Will The GOP Cancel Its Convention?

The polls remain pretty much neck and neck, and the nation was waiting to see what Mitt Romeny had to say to them in a widely anticipated acceptance speech.

And then Isaac, a tropical storm that has built into a force 1 hurricane hit.

The worry isn't that the storm would hit the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, but that it will rain devastation on other areas on the Gulf Coast, most likely on Mississippi and New Orleans just as the convention gets started in Tampa Bay.

Aside from the fact that a hurricane will almost certainly suck all the oxygen out of the news cycle and eclipse the GOP convention, ( and quite rightly), one has to consider the effect of the juxtaposition of a hurricane's devastation and people launching balloons and wearing funny hats in the Tampa Bay Convention Center.

Not only that, but you can count of the Obama Media to draw parallels between Isaac and the last big hurricane to hit the area Katrina. And of course, the Republican who was in the White House then.

President Obama could certainly be relied on to take advantage of this by making a high profile tour of the area, something he's rarely seen fit to do when it came to other disasters.

Ideally, one would hope both parties could set aside politics and work together at a time of disaster and work together in unison to overcome it.

That is probably too much to hope for, but for their part I hope the Republicans will at least consider postponing their convention until we see which way the wind blows..literally. A GOP oriented drive to aid hurricane victims if that's what it comes to wouldn't hurt either if they are shut out of participation in disaster relief by the White House.

But the convention needs to be postponed. It's not only the smart thing to do politically, it the right thing to do.

Israelis Send Out Pamphlet Telling Their People To Prepare For War

The Israeli government has sent out a mass mailing telling the Israeli populace to prepare for war.

It features Israeli Sesame Street character Moishe Oofnik, Israel's version of Oscar the Grouch.

The 15-page booklet tells Israeli show to prepare a safe room or shelter, how to respond to alarms and how to utilize gas masks if necessary.

The IDF is claiming that this is just a normal civil defense precaution. I don't think so.

An Israeli military source said on Monday the emergency pamphlet was part of a regular, public awareness campaign and noted it also included advice on how to act in the event of an earthquake.

"There are always innovations the public needs to know about, it doesn't mean anything is going to happen today, tomorrow or the next day," the source said. {...}

The pamphlet urges Israelis to have a "family talk" about getting ready for any national emergency.

"You should find the proper time to have the conversation -- not during mealtime or when you are watching television. It should not be held after a family argument or when you are agitated about some other pressing matter," it advises.

(h/t, Carl)

Forum - Do You Consider America's Political Climate Dysfunctional? What Changes Would You Make?

Every week on Monday morning , the Council and invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day. This week's question: Do You Consider America's Political Climate Dysfunctional? What Changes Would You Make?


The Noisy Room: The problem we have before us has been eloquently articulated by Claire Wolfe,who said, "America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards."

There really isn't any safeguard built into the Constitution that defends against a gradual "incrementalist" approach to infiltrating and taking over the country through the insidious device of coupling the "psych sciences" with government control of education, resulting in an indoctrination conduit directly from the socialist infiltrators into the minds of succeeding generations of American youth.

The right answer -- the short answer -- would be to "shoot the bastards."

Unfortunately, since we pride ourselves on "due process" (see:corrupted government), and fairness in all things (see: bribery of corrupt officials), and strict compliance with Constitutional constraints (see: extra-constitutional agencies), we have effectively disarmed ourselves in this fight.There's no law against sneaking your guys into positions of power and authority from which they can then "interpret" the law-- and the Constitution -- according to their anti-American biases and their desire to impose a new-and-improved system of government where the Republic used to be.

And so a simple solution, like vetting the candidates, is rendered completely ineffective by a "verticalized" Press, functioning no longer as the Fourth Estate, but as a Fifth Column.

Instituting government-run safeguards against government corruption, to be implemented and enforced by an already corrupt government is pretty much doomed to failure.

However . . .If we could at least get the vote counting out of the hands of a cadre of politically loyal henchmen who are all of a political stripe, that would be a start.

And if we could restore integrity to the voting process, and impose unconfrontable penalties on anyone caught trying to compromise that integrity, we might have a prayer.

And, finally, if we could wrest the education system away from centralized Federal control -- where it should never have been in the first place -- we might have a shot at raising new generations of Americans who can actually think with real data, and who can grasp what we are supposed to be about, and we might, in the end, salvage the nation.

The Independent Sentinel:Yes, it's dysfunctional, get rid of Obama. He's in charge. The buck stops with him.We need to hope for change.


GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD: Not really. It works after all, votes are voted, ballots balloted and political opponents don"t have each other killed. Consider the violence in Weimar Republic"s pre 3rd Reich era for example.

Dysfunctional? Au contraire mon frer -the discourse and discussion may range from subtle to over the top at the speed of light, yet a free uncensored press along with unbridled access to information ensures the American system is highly functional.


Joshuapundit: It's not the politics that have become dysfunctional so much as the process. And the modern enshrinement of dissent for dissent's sake, something which may relate to the popularity of the Dr Spock theories of allowing tantrums and misbehavior as 'self expression' by which many Boomers (and of course now, their children) were raised.

Political campaigns have always contained a fair amount of partisan rancor. What's different today is that the war continues after the elections are over, because the process ensures that they're never over. A turning point in this process was the 2000 election of George W. Bush. It was the first time, certainly in the modern era, that a newly elected president was not allowed a 'honeymoon' period by the political opposition once the dust had cleared. It is no coincidence that it was the first election where the internet was in widespread use and the 24-hour news cycle became common.

Change the process, and you significantly change the politics. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Severely limit the presidential and midterm campaign season, and allow no campaigning or advertising prior to a set legal deadline. For example in the case of a presidential race, starting the legal campaign season in February and ending it in early November would eliminate voter fatigue and allow office seekers who hold office and are supposedly engaged in the people's business to spend more time doing what they're supposedly getting paid for.

2) Take the money out of politics not by trying to control input but by limiting its usefulness. Establish a strict statutory maximum that can be spent in a campaign for president, a senate or a house seat. Obviously, the state offices will differ since it costs more to run in say, New York than in Idaho.

There would be no sense in a politician amassing a war chest of hundreds of millions of dollars if a maximum of only $250,000 could be spent on a given campaign legally. Any Super PACS or outside organizations spending money on behalf of a given candidate would be required to report their spending totals and would have the money they spend count towards the statutory total a given candidate is allowed to spend.

Another possible reform would be to disallow all political contributions to individual candidates and only allow contributions to a political party, except in the case of write in candidates, who would be allowed to raise up to the statutory amount.

Again, not only would this allow office holders to spend their time governing rather than fundraising for the next rung up the ladder, but it would likely open up politics to a much wider group of people now outside the political ruling class.

3) Severe limits on television and internet advertising. A statutory limit on campaign spending would assist in this. Frankly, when you combine words, pictures, music and the modern 15 second soundbite, it does a great deal to promulgate the political culture we have today. A 10 day moratorium on all campaign ads in the week prior to the election would also be helpful.

4) A Constitutional amendment that would make voting laws throughout America uniform. It would require a photo ID, eliminate innovations like 'same day' registration, allow registration only by licensed registrars affiliated with no party, provide more stringent controls of absentee ballots, call for a mandatory purging of the voter rolls to eliminate deceased voters and felons whose voting rights have been revoked, significantly change certain parts of the outdated Voting Rights Act, and provide harsh statutory penalties for anyone violating the law and committing, aiding or abetting voter fraud.

5) An entirely new format for presidential debates leaning more towards Lincoln-Douglas style, with a timekeeper but no moderator.

These changes would greatly change the process, and thus the politics.


David Gerstman, AKA Soccer Dad: I remember a joke I once heard. "If con is the opposite of pro, does that mean that Congress is the opposite of Progress?"

There's some truth in that. The founding fathers of the United States set up a system of checks and balances. These checks weren't just on the three branches of the federal government but between the federal government and those of the states. The tensions from these competing institutions was supposed to curtail the the growth of government. So yes, Congress was meant to oppose progress. Dysfunction is a sign that our system is working correctly.

The founding fathers were extremely insightful of human nature. They knew that a ruler with no restraints would aggrandize power and prosperity for himself. (The same would apply not just for individuals but for institutions too.) The system they put in place has been robust keeping the idea of democracy alive for nearly 250 years.

Gradually, our government has lost sight of this. The federal and state governments have grown. Good policy ideas have been institutionalized into rights so that they cannot easily be modified to adjust to changing circumstances. Inertia has set in.

The emergence of the Tea Party demonstrates that there are a growing number of citizens who are aware that the dysfunction built into the system no longer serves as a brake on unlimited government.

One of the reasons that our country has lost its way, is that the free and independent press that was supposed to keep the citizenry informed, instead became an adjunct of government, conditioning the electorate to believe that government rather than individuals was the strength of this nation.

The current election will be a referendum on the proposition as to whether we need more dysfunction - the government understanding the importance of its limited nature - and progress, the continued unsustainable and unchecked growth of government.

Ask Marion: America’s present political climate is absolutely dysfunctional. I don’t think there can be any question when tea party darling and the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate, SarahPalin, is talking 3rd party! And it has become this dysfunctional because for far too long the majority and many considered ‘the right’ were not paying attention and definitely were not engaged in the political process. All the while the Progressive left consistently worked to install their programs and politicians along with their ideals in a quiet unnoticed manner by the average American. And politicians from both sides of the aisle pretty much had carte blanche for the same reason.

Meanwhile, the population of the United States developed into two opposing factions that have grown further and further apart and even more so because of the lack of communication and debate between them; there are few moderates left on either side. Then came the financial crash of 2008 causing many to vote for any kind of change as well as the emergence of the tea party as part of an overall awakening by middle America, causing both a new awareness as well as an even bigger divide between the two factions. As the awareness of the problems in government and within both parties has surfaced many people have become mistrusting of everyone and have lost trust even in their own judgment to choose the right candidate as well as losing their ability to wholeheartedly trust that things can or will change.

America, a center-right country, elected the most radical President in US history in large percentage on political correctness and guilt, who has surrounded himself and filled the government with like-minded radicals that have pushed through laws, appointments, and policies, many through Executive Orders that scare most people who are paying attention while the economic climate continues to deteriorate. But when they turn on the television they hear commercials filled with distortions, smears and down-right lies produced by Super-Pacs rather than the campaigns themselves, allowing the candidates to disavow themselves from the messages, and they see a President spending their money, as well as campaign money, on an endless campaign tour instead of governing. The 2012 campaign has also been the dirtiest campaign in my recollection. It is time people held those responsible, the chronic offenders likeDebbie Wasserman Schultz, by voting them out and by refusing to watch the media outlets who promote it, as well as the candidates themselves.

It is time for the American people to clean house in Washington. Get rid of the dead wood and career politicians not affecting positive change. Get rid of the radicals who haven’t worked out. And get rid of the disastrous ‘so-called’ campaign reform McCain-Feingold Act. Flashback: Candidate Barack H. Obama said, “If I can’t fix the economy in 3-years, I should not be reelected”. He was right then and the American people need to hold him to it! We have a clear choice in November and those who can see that Obama needs to go, as stated in last week’s Newsweek cover article, need to get behind Romney-Ryan, make sure they have a Republican House and Senate and then hold their feet to the fire once they are elected. We must get involved in the process and demand fair elections and recounts, as many as it takes, until they get it right and the results are honest and true. We also need to re-educate ourselves as to what is actually written in the Constitution and about our history and then clean house and demand change in the education process of our children so that we never end up where we find ourselves today again. We as Americans cannot go back to sleep! Dysfunction comes from inaction!

After watching the Sean Hannity Special on the new movie, “The Hope and the Change” by the group Citizens United, a group of Independent and Democrat voters who voted for President Obama in 2008 that are now disillusioned and speaking out and will not be voting for the Obama-Biden ticket in 2012, and seeing the results of the Scott Walker recall attempt, I feel there is hope. This movie will be shown at the Republican National Convention, released in selected theaters in battle ground states in September and will then be aired on television and should have an effect on everyone who sees it before voting on November 6, 2012.

The Right Planet : Describing the current political climate as dysfunctional is implying at some time prior it was functioning normally. Politics is all about gaining power. Naturally, it brings out the worst in some people. The sins of the people are manifest in the body politic. If we have a dysfunctional society, naturally we will have a dysfunctional political climate. This is nothing new, of course. If one reads accounts of past political campaigns from a hundred years ago, one will see they were just as vicious, if not more so, than the sort of vitriol we see today in American politics. One current dysfunctional feature of our political climate, in my opinion, is the collusion of the liberal mains-stream media with the Democrats. Hardly what I would call a free press--more like a propaganda arm of the White House.

Bookworm Room: I've struggled with answering this one because I don't know how to. Sard is correct the dysfunctional is a relative term. Right now, despite the way in which the media is skewing the political debate, there are still two sides, they are talking to the public, and there will be an election. If one side sweeps the board, as happened in 2008, that side gets to play with American politics, and the American people can see if they like the results. If they don't, they can bring about a stalemate, as they did in 2010 and, perhaps, hand the board entirely to another team, which is what we hope for 2012. The system is only dysfunctional if corruption completely brings it to its knees. We already had a taste of it in 2008, when it's entirely possible that felon votes gave Al Franken a Congressional seat -- and the necessary number of votes for ObamaCare. If this happens on a large scale, we're not only dysfunctional, we're badly broken.

Well, there you have it.

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

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