The Commerce Department announced a 0.5% growth in consumer spending in August from July, the biggest boost since February, reports The Associated Press. But while that was going on, gas prices were also rising by 50 cents per gallon during that time. If you take into account people digging deeper in wallets for fuel, spending was only up 0.1% last month. Income grew a tiny bit, by 0.1% as well — which actually turns into a decrease of 0.3% when taking into consideration inflation and taxes. That’s the worst rate it’s been since last November.
“The US personal income and spending data for August are worse than the headline figures suggest and indicate that subdued jobs growth is hitting incomes,” said [one economist].
Incredibly, the MarketWatch article linked on top suggests that earnings are so low and taxes are so high and the prices of survival staples (food, electricity) are rising so fast that many Americans had to dip into their savings just to be able to afford basic necessities.
Four more years of this type of recovery and, well...you saw my headline, right?
...that's Conservative Blogs Central, an aggregator of some of the lesser-read conservative sites, which perhaps don't get the readership or linkage they deserve. They've kept me up on the masthead as the "featured blog" for the entire month of September, which, not coincidentally, has turned out to be a good month for this blog - my third highest ever in terms of visits. And while a blogger cannot complain when he has been linked by the likes ofLegal Insurrection, The Other McCain, and Michelle Malkin (but alas, never an Insta-lanche!), every mention helps. And my Sitemeter certainly indicated that CBC directed some nice traffic here on a daily basis.
Give them a visit (linked above, and perma-linked on the left sidebar) and click through to some of their featured blogs. You may be surprised how widely dispersed the talent is out there...
Over atThe Hill, some Democrats discuss their legislative fetishes - my translations in caps:
“He's got to continue to concentrate on jobs,” Rep. Bill Pascrell said last week as the House was leaving town for a long, pre-election recess. [MORE STIMULUS!]
“I'm hoping he'll do immigration reform,” said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas).[FLOOD THE NATION WITH ILLEGALS, ENSURING A PERMANENT DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY!]
“We should get back to an energy policy – one that acknowledges that climate change is real,” said Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.). [$8-/GALLON GAS!]
“The critical issues will be revenue generation … and … a concerted push on immigration reform,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.). [HIGHER TAXES! AND A PERMANENT MAJORITY TO KEEP THEM HIGH!]
“I think he'd want his administration to start on healthcare,” said Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.). [OBAMACARE IN FULL EFFECT!]
Only the tip of the iceberg, alas. Remember how Obama breathlessly told the Russians he'd have "more flexibility" after he is re-elected? Flexibility to do what?, we asked (since the media refused to).
Oh, we'll find out soon enough, I reckon....especially if Mitt stays on the floor, curled up in a ball...
Pat Caddell, a Democratic pollster, points outthe media's complicityin the Obama administration's cover-up of the Benghazi massacre:
“First of all, we’ve had 9 days of lies…If a president of either party…had had a terrorist incident and gotten on an airplane [after remarks] and flown off to a fundraiser in Las Vegas, they would have been crucified…it should have been, should have been, the equivalent, for Barack Obama, of George Bush’s “flying over Katrina” moment. But nothing was said at all. Nothing will be said. [...] It is [unacceptable] to specifically decide that you will not tell the American people information they have a right to know. [The MSM] has made themselves the enemy of the American people. It is a threat to the very future of the country; we’ve crossed a new and frightening line on the slippery slope, and it needs to be talked about.”
It will be. But not yet.
After the election, should Obama win, the media - like comic book/cartoon super-villains - will feel the need to describe exactly how they committed their crimes against the American people, for no other reason than to show the world how smart they are and how dumb we are.
And when they are banished to the outer fringes of our culture ( a print version of "Wheel of Fortune", perhaps - lasting forever for the sake of a few dinosaurs), well - they won't really mind that either. After all, they will have won.
Below is a video of Cadell's disturbing remarks, with a transcript at the link: I think we’re at the most dangerous time in our political history in terms of the balance of power in the role that the media plays in whether or not we maintain a free democracy or not... We designed a constitutional system with many checks and balances. The one that had no checks and balances was the press, and that was done under an implicit understanding that, somehow, the press would protect the people from the government and the power by telling—somehow allowing—people to have the truth. That is being abrogated as we speak, and has been for some time. It is now creating—that is the danger that I spoke to.
NewsBusters's parent company the Media Research Center (MRC) today proudly announces that perky Katie Couric is the “winner” of the DisHonor of the Worst Reporter in the History of Man for her outrageously pathetic bias as chronicled by the MRC over the past quarter century. The competition was fierce, but Couric was selected from a competitive field of finalists that included Bryant Gumbel, Brian Williams, and Dan Rather...
But to be fair, even some liberals saw fault in Katie Couric long ago. Here's Camile Paglia, with an assessment of Couric's talents shortly after election day 2008:
...let me take this opportunity to say that of all the innumerable print and broadcast journalists who have interviewed me in the U.S. and abroad since I arrived on the scene nearly 20 years ago, Katie Couric was definitively the stupidest. As a guest on NBC’s ‘Today’ show during my 1992 book tour, I was astounded by Couric’s small, humorless, agenda-ridden mind, still registered in that pinched, tinny monotone that makes me rush across the room to change stations whenever her banal mini-editorials blare out at 5 p.m. on the CBS radio network . And of course I would never spoil my dinner by tuning into Couric’s TV evening news show. That sallow, wizened, drum-tight, cosmetic mummification look is not an appetite enhancer outside of Manhattan or L.A. There’s many a moose in Alaska with greater charm and pizazz.”
And the stench of her urban elitism, like a blast of gas in an elevator, has been impossible to ignore
Couric has spent recent weeks in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is touring what she calls “this great unwashed middle of the country” in an effort to divine the mood of the midterms.
There's more, much more...this post has a round-up of links detailing some of Katie's stupidity over the last few years. A taste:
The truth is that TV's Great Hope proved to be a highly abrasive, polarizing personality. She is a none-too-bright, East Coast lefty whose extreme political biases didn't hurt her much as a morning gal. But at night, she was unmasked as a dame who can't fathom that at least half the country isn't buying what the political dingbat has to sell...
But don't worry, Katie fans! When the tale of her career is written, her failures won't be due to the extra-large sized ideological blinders she wore as a newscaster, Lord no! It will be our fault - the racist, teabagging, sexist "unwashed middle" who were just not bright enough to appreciate her brilliance...
An Egyptian activist, Mona Eltahawy, was arrested yesterday in a New York City subway station as she was in the middle of spray-painting over pro-Israeli ads–and seeming to partially paint over a Manhattan mom who tried to shield the ads by standing in front of them. Eltahawy was charged with criminal mischief, making graffiti, and possession of a graffiti instrument. ...Elthaway defended herself to the woman by saying it was her “freedom of expression” to deface the advertisements..
According to Newsbusters' Tim Graham, Eltahawy frequently discusses Egypt on CNN and MSNBC and "often smears together the Islamist 'right wing' and the American right wing."
And yet, this blithering idiot has forced a retreatby the MTA:
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved new guidelines for advertisements on Thursday, prohibiting those that it “reasonably foresees would imminently incite or provoke violence or other immediate breach of the peace" The 8-to-0 vote by the authority’s board came three days after pro-Israel ads characterizing Islamist opponents of the Jewish state as being “savage” began appearing in subway stations, setting off vandalism, denunciations of the authority and calls for the ads’ removal.
Another victory for the left, using its tools of violence, fear, and intimidation.
Mitt Romney was right, of course, and while he didn't back down from the secret-camera videotape, he certainly seemed to back away from it. Word of advice, Mr. Romney: People will vote for a man who has the courage of their convictions, even if they don't necessarily agree with them. To be perceived as having neither courage nor convictions...well, that's fatal, dude.
Mitt should have stuck firmer. Recall his quotes about the London Olympics, and the assault on the Libyan embassy - both were originally construed as "gaffes", and yet in retrospect his comments were perceptive, ahead-of-the-curve, and ultimately correct analysis of fluid situations.
Much like the infamous "47%". Meet one of them - perhaps the prototypical one - who gives her reasons for voting Obama:
Don't shy away from uncomfortable truths. Own them, Mitt, and you will own the vote...
Sometimes, I think about the hateful invective hurled at Mitt Romney by the Democrats and their media lackeys. A lifetime of hard work, sacrifice to others, religious piety, and overwhelming charitable giving is not to be admired, but somehow instead is proof of the sheer evil that lies within.
And then I see pictures like this, and I wonder what planet these people are on:
TOLEDO, Ohio— Mitt Romney really does have a big heart. A young, romantic Mitt went to great lengths to profess his love for future wife Ann, posing on a beach encircled by a heart etched in the sand. The inscription: “I love Ann.” It was the late 1960s, and the lovesick Romney was working in France as a missionary for his church. The photograph emerged in the new issue of Time magazine...
I can understand if liberals do not agree with his policy prescriptions for what ails the nation. The hate, I cannot fathom. Makes me wonder if they really have no idea what to do at all, and are just striking out, Moby Dick-style, at those who would prove their theories wrong:
To the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool!
...although I am admittedly redefining the term here. "Truther" not in the 9/11 sense, but...you'll see.
ViaFausta, we learn that Michelle was in town to rub elbows with the Princeton alums, and collect $10,000 a head from those who wished to do so. But some of the particulars are interesting
Representatives from the Obama national campaign office in Chicago and the New Jersey office did not respond to requests for comment to discuss the fundraiser, due to be held at the home of Andrew and Carol Golden. Mr. Golden runs the company that manages the $17 billion endowment fund of Princeton University, while Ms. Golden works for Corner House, the local substance abuse program. She also is the chairwoman of the board of trustees of the Mercer County chapter of Planned Parenthood. The couple are donors to Democrat politicians and causes, with Ms. Golden having given $11,000 to Texans for Truth, a group that challenged former President George W. Bush’s service in the Texas National Guard, election records showed. She declined to comment last month about the fundraiser.
Of course, it turns out that George W. Bush was telling the truth all along about his National Guard Service, and the only ones duped were CBS, Dan Rather, and the New York Times. And, apparently, Ms. Carol Golden, friend of Michelle Obama...
A public park right next to Golden’s house was closed for the event, and the police blocked off the road when Obama’s motorcade arrived. According to a valet parker at the event, staff were told that about 350 people would be attending. Of those, 20 were classified as VIPs and received valet parking service. All other attendees had to park their cars in the public park next door.
Yeah, yeah...the little people, and all that.
More interesting, though, is this:
“We need you to head over to Pennsylvania,” she told 230 people gathered in a white tent. “Get in the car, drive on over to Pennsylvania for a few days or a weekend to help get out the vote in that state.”
An odd thing to say about the Commonwealth of PA. Especially if one believes the "polls" the media is spinning these days.
Also odd:
Neither party has done much public campaigning in New Jersey, which is likely to go to the Democrats on Nov. 6. But campaigns have raised more than $5 million each in the moneyed state, with the president ahead by about $200,000.
Does that mean that the vote is about to be evenly split as well in the Garden State? Unlikely. But it sure seems to indicate there are a lot of people in Jersey ponying up the dough to make sure Mitt Romney is in the ring, punching 'till the end. A lot more than we saw backing the Republican in 2008.
No wonder Michelle is reduced to raising money from the village (well, Princeton Village) idiots. The Obama campaign - much like our erstwhile Libyan embassy - is in much deeper trouble than the media is letting on...
KENT, Ohio (Reuters) - President Barack Obama flubbed a line during a campaign speech on Wednesday, mistakenly saying he wanted to export U.S. jobs, before correcting himself and jokingly blaming Republican rival Mitt Romney. In the middle of remarks to an enthusiastic crowd in the battleground state of Ohio, Obama was describing a five-point plan to boost employment and lay a "stronger foundation" for the U.S. economy when he stumbled at a crucial word. "I want to see us export more jobs," Obama said, before catching himself quickly and saying, "Export more products." "Excuse me," he exclaimed, drawing laughter. "I was channeling my opponent there for a second."
I came upon this passage, out of a portion of my synagogue's prayer-book entitled "Meditations for the High Holy Days", last year. As we see the world crumbling around us, and our nation - led by an insufferable egotist - abandoning our values and standards, this piece lends a clue as to the "why" this may be happening:
Strong was the faith of those who stood here before us, while we are of a generation that has sought to dethrone you. Many have said to the works of our hands: You are our gods! Strange, then, to see the emptiness in those who cast You out. Strange to see the agonies of our time grow more numerous and more intense, the more our worship centers on ourselves. Strange that men and women grow smaller without You, smaller without the faith that You are with them.... For You are with us whenever we seek you out. You are absent only when we shut you out, only when, full of ourselves, we leave no room for you within our hearts.
I added this commentary last year (because we Jews cannot simply take in the inner meaning of such well-worded thoughts, we must discuss them ad infinitum):
The left, with their incessant self-involved navel gazing, has declared themselves to be the new gods, with the government as their virtual temple, and we as humble sackcloth-wearing petitioners, awaiting direction. But the people grow weary of the high priests, as their nation writhes with greater pain with each passing day, despite the blithe assurances of the Temple-keepers.
Well, we will see, I suppose, as the opportunity to overturn the stone idol that is government is almost upon us. Will we return to the values that made us great, or cling to the small comfort of praying to the Washington monolith?
Can we seize this Yom Kippur, this day of repentance, and not simply ask forgiveness for the faults within ourselves, but act to rectify the greater moral failings plaguing our nation?
God always gives us a second chance (ask Jonah). And God always gives us a choice. And sometimes he even gives us fair warning.
Maybe Baracky knew what he was doing when he steadfastly refused to replace Joe Biden on the ticket with Hillary, as the pundits all but demanded earlier in the summer. 'Ol Joe may be as crazy as a shithouse loon, but nobody takes him all that seriously. After all, VP are supposed to be seen, not heard.
But Secretaries of State, well...
Bad enough that the entire Obama re-election campaign, rather than focusing on securing a victory, are now forced to cover up Hillary's snafu in the Middle East, where she apparently left Ambassador Stevens to die undefended before the Islamic hordes. But rather than laying low until the heat's off, Hillary - who must believe she's bulletproof - decided to give an incendiary class-warfare speech at her husband's foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative. But unlike Barack, who can soft-peddle his brand of fascism, Hillary once again reinforces her own caricature as a shrill & humorless harpy. And a shockingly ill-informed one, to boot.
Talking in general terms at the Clinton Global Initiative, Ms Clinton insisted: “There are rich people everywhere and yet they do not contribute to the growth of their own countries. They don’t invest in public schools, in public hospitals, in other kinds of development internally,” she told the aid foundation set up by her husband, former Democratic president Bill Clinton...
Actually, Hill, the rich footthe lion's share of America's tax bill. The wealthiest 1 percent of the population earn 19 percent of the income but pay 37 percent of the income tax; the top 10 percent pay 68 percent of the tab. In what reality do they "not contribute"?
You're coming off worse than desperate, honey - you're coming off as stupid.
Maybe if you weren't wasting our tax dollars on crony capitalism, bailouts and handouts to favored constituencies, we might have enough money for your greedy little Christmas list above.
And is is not more than a bit inappropriate for the head of State to be politicking so crassly in the middle of multiple international crises; at a time when America's very reputation as a world leader is at stake?
Hillary for VP? Hillary in 2016? Hillary will be lucky if - should Obama win another term (God forbid) - she is able to keep her title of Madame Secretary...
“When it comes to our national security decisions—any pressure that I feel is simply to do what’s right for the American people. And I am going to block out—any noise that’s out there..."
"We generally speaking do not take very seriously the issue of the Zionists and the possible dangers emanating from them. Of course they would love to find a way for their own salvation by making a lot of noise and to raise stakes in order to save themselves. But I do not believe they will succeed." I'm sure those pesky Jews made a lot of noise in the early 1940's as well....
Postscript:
In the interview of Ahmadinejad (linked above), the Washington Post's David Ignatius leads with this question:
What is the chance of a war in Iran that would result from an Israeli attack on your nuclear facilities?
And never once asks about his nation's numerous apocalyptic threats against the Jewish state. Ignatius also suggests to Ahmadinejad that Netanyahu may be bluffing. What does the Iranian president take away from this interview, I wonder? Besides the fact that Ignatius, like most of the liberal elite, believe that Israel is the problem, not those who threaten to unleash Holocaust: The Sequel...
And speaking of liberal elites, the backstory on the ":shitty little country" remarks. Relevant to the conversation, as you'll see:
Barbara Amiel, a leading columnist for the London Daily Telegraph, revealed that during a reception at her house, the ambassador of “a major EU country” told guests that the world’s current troubles were all the fault of “that shitty little country Israel.” “Why,” he asked, “should the world be in danger of World War Three because of those people?” The ambassador was quickly identified by others as Daniel Bernard, France’s man in London and one of President Chirac’s closest confidants. But instead of unreservedly condemning Bernard for his racist slur, as commentators in the U.S. did, many in the British and French media instead sought to make Amiel and “those people” the target for daring to expose and criticize the ambassador’s prejudices.
10 years later...the elites still hate the Jews. And will not be dragged into war to prevent a Second Holocaust, no matter how many times they swore "Never again!"
It's all just noise. Just ask Barack Obama...
UPDATE: Or, as Professor Jacobson opines, he's just playing the Israel-Firster card. It's the fashionable anti-semitism that's all the rage among the "Nouveau Left" !
Insult #1,378 to the Jewish state, if you're counting. The MSM is not, and neither are most American Jews. But we are. And since Obama is the one who has coined the tern "noise" to describe Israel's concern over a nation sworn to its destruction acquiring an apocalyptic weapon of mass destruction, we're gonna make this post into a Quiet Riot.
Come on feel the noise Girls rock your boys We'll get wild, wild, wild Wild, wild, wild. So you think I got an evil mind I tell you honey I don't know why I don't know why
STEVE KROFT: “You don’t feel any pressure from Prime Minister Netanyahu in the middle of a campaign to try and get you to change your policy and draw a line in the sand? You don’t feel any pressure?
So you think my singin's out of time It makes me money I don't know why I don't know why Anymore Oh no
OBAMA: “When it comes to our national security decisions — any pressure that I feel is simply to do what’s right for the American people. And I am going to block out — any noise that’s out there.”
So you say I got a funny face I got no worries...
Oh I gotta sing with some disgrace I'm in no hurry And I don't know why I don't know why Anymore No no no
And we don't know why anyone would vote for your re-election, Mr. President. Except Socialists, Nazis, Islamists,and those Americans who've decided working for a living is a suckers game, especially when you've got a rich uncle who will provide you everything you need...
Mr Obama pulled out a wad of bills that looked almost large enough to make a dent in the national debt as he browsed for pork treats alongside Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett.
Irony alert, as the article quotes Obama from earlier the same day:
'The country doesn't succeed when only the folks at the very top are doing well,' he said. 'We succeed when the middle class is doing well.'
Well, Mr. President, is sure as shit seems like you are making out just fine. How about spreading around some of that "pocket cash" to the folk sin the middle class who are struggling and suffering from your policies?
Sometimes, that type of action is called "charity". Ask Mitt Romney, he can teach you a thing or two about it...
Not sure how scummy this is, exactly - being that the media has apparently hit rock bottom and seems content to slither along there - but there's something about this story that makes you feel dirtyjust reading it:
CNN reported on the personal journal of slain American ambassador Christopher Stevens over objections from his family, a State Department spokesman said Saturday. The channel said in the story online that it took "newsworthy tips" from Stevens' diary and confirmed them with other sources. Citing an unidentified source "familiar with Stevens' thinking," CNN said that the ambassador was concerned about security threats in Benghazi and a "rise in Islamic extremism." In a statement Saturday, CNN defended its use of the journal's contents and asked "why is the State Department now attacking the messenger." "CNN did not initially report on the existence of a journal out of respect for the family, but we felt there were issues raised in the journal which required full reporting, which we did," the channel said.
Kinda nasty that CNN would report from the late Ambassador's private writings after his family apparently (and this is unconfirmed, mind you) raised objections. But apparently he foresaw his own death, being well aware he was inadequately protected and was at risk of targeted assassination. Unreported, but certainly worth questioning, is whether Ambassador Stevens shared these concerns with the State Department, and what (if anything) they did in response.
But based on the angry,defensive responseto the journal from State, it looks as if they have something to hide. Again. A statement released by department spokesman Philippe Reines:
Given the truth of how this was handled, CNN patting themselves on the back is disgusting. What they're not owning up to is reading and transcribing Chris's diary well before bothering to tell the family or anyone else that they took it from the site of the attack. Whose first instinct is to remove from a crime scene the diary of a man killed along with three other Americans serving our country, read it, transcribe it, email it around your newsroom for others to read, and only when their curiosity is fully satisfied thinks to call the family or notify the authorities? ... Anderson Cooper didn't even bother to offer any other explanation as to why the network broke its promise to the family. And only did so after being contacted by a reporter asking about the diary and their convoluted sourcing. How do they justify that? They have yet to even try to defend the indefensible. Not a proud episode in CNN's history. I'm sure there are many good people in the CNN newsroom equally appalled by this decision and wondering who above them authorized this course of action.
Pretty rich. CNN is disgusting? What about the Department of State, which lied to Americans repeatedly about the nature and cause of the 9/11/12 overseas attacks? Who, once their falsehoods were revealed and their attempts to "defend the indefensible" exposed (the pathetic lack of perpetration for an attack they had be forewarned about - on the anniversary of 9/11, no less) went intofull CYA mode as opposed to simply explaining to the American people what happened, and why? How do they "justify" that?
State Department spokesman Philippe Reines - a senior adviser to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton - having some fun while the late Ambassador Stevens was fending for himself in a hostile country. Don't blame him...between the high-priced champagne and the hot chick in a red dress, he had his hands full, OK?
Not a proud moment in the US State Department's history, either. But in fairness, CNN's biased reporting and slanted news shows are pretty appalling. Not to mention their cellar-dweller ratings.
It's like watching a scorpion a rattlesnake. Can't they both lose?
Maybe it's because the folks are seeing headlines like this when they pick up their morning paper (via Ricochet):
While I have downplayed the "media effect" somewhat this year, it could make all the difference in Florida. The 55+ voting set is not one to use their iPads or Kindles to visit their favorite blogs or surf for more detailed information on the stories they are following; they are more likely to rely on the mainstream media for their daily dose of data. And a lot of these folks are from the "Cronkite generation", who implicitly believe what they hear coming out of their TV sets. And I know - as someone who has a number of aging relatives, at least once a week I get a frantic call warning me about some imaginary danger pimped out by the Today Show or NBC Nightly News...
And this is not helping Romney either - Commentary analyzes a new poll taken of Jewish voters in Florida:
The poll shows that the president leads Mitt Romney by a 69-25 percentage-point margin with five percent undecided. That is less than the 74-78 percent of the Jewish vote Obama got in 2008. But it is far less of a decrease than other polls have shown. More to the point, if these results hold up, it is not enough of a shift to be considered large enough to help swing the state if Florida turns out to be close. For that to happen, the GOP needs to hold Obama closer to 60 percent than 70 and get Romney up over the 30 percent margin...
Double-whammy here. These folks are also older, and consume primarily traditional media. And when they see headlines like the one above, it makes them even less likely to depart from their ingrained voting habits, which are overwhelming Democratic. They need a push to vote in their best interests, and the local pres is wielding what power hey have left over one of the few groups over which it still holds some sway.
Florida is winnable, but it's gonna be tough, as the mainstream media may make their last stand on the I-95 corridor. Mitt better bust out his Bain billions sooner rather than later, or he's toast.
Comedic licence is one thing, but...just making shit up out of the whole cloth?
Some of the ugly low lights from last night
Have you been reading about this? People are saying the Mitt Romney has looking extremely tan lately...in fact, if Romney gets any darker, he's not going to vote for himself! Some people are saying Mitt Romney is using self-tanner to pander to Latino voters.. In the latest release from the secret videotape, Mitt Romney implies that immigrants who come to America have no skills (audience boos)..Except the one who knew how to push the record button on the camera! (roar of approval from crowd)
The first crack implies Romney is a racist, an accusation that even some of his worst detractors won't make. The second is a baseless claim (notice how Conan repeatedly says "some people"? Who are they, exactly, outside of his crack writing staff?), part of a longer joke that includes riding around Latino neighborhoods with a Chihuahua.
The third is really shocking. I don't recall Romney bad-mouthing illegals on the "secret videotape". And the cameraman was James Carter, grandson of Jimmy Carter. An immigrant? What the hell is Conan talking about?
Conan wanted to portray Mitt Romney as a racist, had zero proof, so just made some shit up, and got what he deserved - some cheap laughs at the expense of his integrity. But one wonders who might have heard this garbage, and assumed that it was true? It's not like the media is going to any lengths to portray& Romney otherwise.
Of course, all of this presupposes anyone was even watching Conan last night...
Here's the clip:
Conan should think twice about making baseless accusations against good men. Remember what happened to Harry Reid?
Does it jump out at you the way it jumped out at me?
.Really??
..."exploiting her Cherokee heritage" ??
Yahoo turns fiction into fact, as anyone who's paid any attention (and Yahoo hopes you haven't) knows that Elizabeth Warren is not an American Indian (or an Indian-America), she just played one in order to further her career.
Warren, who appeared to be caught off guard, was forced to use her opening remarks to respond, and she denied that she had taken advantage of affirmative action programs when seeking jobs. The debate moderator quickly moved the conversation to other topics...
No doubt. Bet he was caught off guard as well, not expecting Brown to break out of the traditional Republican fighting stance - curled in the fetal position, wincing in pain from every baseless PC accusation hurled in their direction...
....more Yahoo madness here, here, here, here and here, and here and here...and here. (This one is my most recent favorite, though). If you didn't click on the links directly above, well...yesterday was a doozy too...
Supporting the president by swearing to vote for him by scrawling slogans on your hands in black marker. Yeah, I'm motivated...to vomit out of my eyeballs.
The Obama campaign has made these three his "bottom bitches" in their latest attempt to re-invigorate the cult-of-personality presidential campaign. Let's take a look at them, shall we?
Scarlett Johansson:
Earned:$20 million for "Avengers 2" Quote that can be taken as an analogy:: “Hi, we've just gotten into a car accident, um, we're way in Disneyland Drive.” What she thinks of her fellow Americans:I do think on some basic level we are animals and by instinct we kind of breed accordingly.
Jessica Alba:
Why she voted for Barack Obama? - My theory is that if you look confident you can pull off anything -- even if you have no clue what you're doing. On politics:I do movies for you. Practice safe sex and drive hybrids if you can. Did you know? Jessica Alba is a racist!"...Mexicans just spread all their seeds. And the women just pop them out.” Natalie Portman:
Net worth:$32 million Why she's a vegetarian:My dad's a doctor, and when I was 8, I went to one of his medical conferences where they were demonstrating laser surgery on a chicken. I was so mad that a chicken had to die, I never ate meat again. Fortunately, it's only Magic Marker: I'm a Gemini, so I change my mind every day.
Natalie's best movie moment, which she'd do well to remember:
Via Jen Rubin, we see the entrepreneurial spirit - once a great propeller of people upwards into the next socioeconomic class - has been crushed:
The state of entrepreneurship in the United States is, sadly, weaker than ever. "There are fewer new firms being formed today than two years ago when the recession ended. . . . . Job creation at new firms was at an all-time low in 2009 of 2.8 million, then fell again a year later by 250,000 jobs. As background on the issue of startup jobs, there was no good way to measure them without using a proxy of jobs created at small companies, but small companies are overwhelmingly older.”
You wanna know why nobody in their right mind wants to set up a new business? This guy, the mouthpiece for the "progressive" movements, bares all in less than 140 characters. Via Stacey McCain:
:
The "myth of ownership", indeed. Why invest the blood, sweat, tears, and money to build it, if someone else can simply take it?
And note the new flag being proffered by Yglesias's spiritual guru. We are no longer pledging allegiance to the Republic, for which it stands. We are now one nation divisible, under Barack Obama, who believes in wealth confiscation and redistribution.
The last two images explain the disappearance of the American entrepreneur - once a proud moniker for the bearer, now a badge of shame affixed by those who seek to use shame and guilt and the subtle threat of violence to take what they could not create on their own, but covet in order to remain in power.
Makes sense. Why risk anything at all in a society that seeks to punish success and subsidize failure?
Welcome to the club, John. Or maybe you've just been reading this blog. The Godfather of Powerline writes:
...the fact is that the impact of such news outlets has been surpassed by internet sites that traffic in soft news. Soft, but predominantly liberal. The foremost such site is Yahoo News. In this ranking of news sites, Yahoo News is first, with CNN, MSNBC, Google News and the New York Times trailing well behind. ...we should take incompetence at Yahoo News seriously–just as seriously as we take incompetence at the New York Times or Washington Post, in fact much more so.
John fails to mention - or make the connection between - Yahoo News' insane liberal bias and the folks that run it, like their recently-fired Washington bureau chief, David Chalian. You remember him -he's the guywho sneered during the Republican convention that Mitt and Ann Romney are"happy to have a party when black people drown...”
That's whose shaping the news at Yahoo, John. And it ain't "soft news/soft liberalism", either - Yahoo knows their place, and have gleefully taken it upon themselves to lead the charge in what Professor Jacobson calls Operation Demoralize. Not sure? Here's what was leading their home page, just over an hour ago:
With a link to Esquire, no less - that bastion of hard journalism. And they both can't wait to tell youit's over:
Three in four Americans feel they have little or nothing in common with Mitt Romney, while nearly 60 percent feel the same way about President Barack Obama, according to an Esquire/Yahoo! News poll. In the wake of Romney's remarks dismissing nearly half of Americans as self-identified victims who are dependent on government—videotaped at a donor event earlier this year and posted online this week by Mother Jones magazine—these new numbers are more bad news for a candidate struggling to connect with ordinary Americans... Further complicating the Republican ticket's image problem is that a Romney presidency is viewed as significantly more beneficial to wealthy Americans than a second Obama term would be...
Mitt's so finished that he's in a dead heat with Obama in virtually every poll taken over the last 24 hours. Not for lack of Yahoo's trying, though...
But I hope John Hinderaker shines a spotlight on Yahoo's journalistic malfeasance. We've been at it for a while here, but our 700-800 visits per day do not match up with Powerline's traffic.
If you want to do some research, well...you can find my beefs here, here, here, here and here, and here and here...and here.(This one is my most recent favorite, though). Join the party. We've already got one head - Chalain's - but the beast that is Yahoo still writhes....
...They keep using that word. I do not think it means what they think it means.
(with apologies toInigo Montoya)
"You can mark my prediction now: A secret recording from a closed-door Mitt Romney fundraiser, released [Monday] by David Corn at Mother Jones, has killed Mitt Romney's campaign for president."
-- Bloomberg News political columnist Josh Barro (via FOX)
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 47% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns 46% of the vote.
But...I though he was d-d-d-d-dead! It's almost scary how many times Zombie Romney has risen from the political grave. Jen Rubincompiles a list; here's a sample:
~ Romney’s $10,000 “bet” in a primary debate was going to wreck his campaign. ~ Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom’s “Etch-a-sketch” remark was going to kill Romney’s chances. ~. Romney’s remark about owning two Cadillacs was going to doom him in Michigan. ~. Romney’s comment that he was most concerned about the middle class and not the very poor who have a safety net, which may need fixing, was going to cripple him. ~. Romney’s Bain experience would kill his campaign. ~ Romney’s foreign trip would kill his campaign. ~ Romney would have to release more than two years of his tax returns. ~ Romney’s remarks on the embassy attacks were the most important issue and would kill his campaign.
And that doesn't include the horrendous Paul Ryan pick, or the disastrous Clint Eastwood appearance...
Looking forward to seeing the look on the media's collective face when Mitt Romney wins in November, 53-47 (yeah, that's right!). Which gives us an idea for a theme for his Inaugural Ball:
The presidential race remains a tight contest, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll...President Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney stand about even among likely voters, with 47 percent backing Obama and 46 percent Romney...
(a number of updates below) Mother Joneshas the goods on Mitt Romney; based on a surreptitious video taken at a Boca Raton fundraiser. And they are right - Mitt's money quote is big news:
There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax...
I'm stunned, myself. Who the hell knew that Mitt Romney had such a hard-nosed conservative streak in him? And why doesn't he say things like this more often?
And as for the feigned outrage...please. I've seen the 45%-47% number bandied about everywhere from Kos to the New York Times - it's their starting point when going through election projections. The fact is that the main purpose of easing welfare restrictions, granting asylum to illegals, and increasing access to food stamps is to push the percentage of government dependents to 50.1% - enough to ensure Democrats a permanent majority. Well, until the money runs out, anyway.
Mitt has gotta own this statement, and get away from his pages of focus-group poll testing (which he pays homage to to in the Mother Jones piece). He's been following their guidance for months, and he's falling behind one of the worst presidents in American history. No surprise - bad data leads to bad results.
Time to throw the poll graphs aside, Mitt, and speak your mind. You'll find in this toxic atmosphere you can attract more voters with vinegar than you can with honey...
UPDATE: But the taste of irony certainly is sweet...
...the video was shot by Jimmy Carter’s currently-unemployed grandson... UPDATE II: The 47% are real, by the way...remember Miss Joseph??
UPDATE III: "Romney Unplugged": The hits keep coming!
The nation that Mitt Romney has "gaffed" indismissing the Palestinians as viable peacemakers shows you how out of touch Mother Jones, the media, and the Left is with the American people:
I'm torn by two perspectives in this regard. One is the one which I've had for some time, which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish.... Some might say, well, let's let the Palestinians have the West Bank, and have security, and set up a separate nation for the Palestinians...And of course the Iranians would want to do through the West Bank exactly what they did through Lebanon, what they did near Gaza. Which is that the Iranians would want to bring missiles and armament into the West Bank and potentially threaten Israel....
....These are problems—these are very hard to solve, all right? And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say, "There's just no way." And so what you do is you say, "You move things along the best way you can." You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem. "The idea of pushing on the Israelis to give something up to get the Palestinians to act is the worst idea in the world."
Sounds like a well-thought out alternative strategy to the Obama administration's failed "daylight" initiative. How does David Corn over at Mother Jones react? With subtle anti-semitism, and the "Israeli lobby" canard:
On his campaign website, Romney, whose foreign policy advisers include several neocons known for their hawkish support for Israel, does not explicitly endorse the peace process or a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
This is good stuff, Mitt. Own it... UPDATE IV: Rush asks the pertinent question...why wait so longto release a such a "damaging" video, when it was recorded on May 17th? An "October surprise", perhaps, moved up hastily to pop smoke over the cascading failures of Barack Obama's foreign policy?
Well, they did gain a respite of a few days. But like a huge witch-pimple on the tip of the nose, you can sing and dance all you want, but the attention always returns to the warts...
Via Jim Treacher, after reading that the State Department has placed a complete news blackouton the Benghazi Massacre:
God rest your soul, Christopher Stevens. You tried to make the world a better place, the people you trusted let you down, and now they care about nothing but saving their own asses. You deserved better. We all do.
I'm sorry too, Mr. Stevens. You did your best, but others didn't, and you paid for their sins with your life.
...and confesses a love that dare not speak its name.
Maybe he was inspired by former Yahoo News Washington bureau chief David Chalian, who declared publiclythat the Romneys like to dance on the grace of black people (for which he was promptly fired.).
Peter Hamby's a political reporter too, for a network that proclaims themselves to be "“the most trusted name in news". That's a low bar, and yet one that CNN can not even credibly pass, now that Hamby has proudly tweeted to the world a shame that most seasoned reporters spend a lifetime trying to hide:
The link goes to a donation page to join Obama at a fundraiser in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Saturday, September 22:
And should Hamby get cold feet, and regret coming out, well, the "whoops, wrong link!" dodge won't play:
If Hamby wanted to just report to his followers that Obama was heading to Milwaukee, he could have sent them a link to anAssociated Press piece detailing such informationwithout pushing them to a donation page: "President Barack Obama is planning to visit Wisconsin later this month — another sign of the state's battleground status. An invitation says Obama will hold a fundraiser and roundtable discussion at the Milwaukee Theater on Sept. 22."
That horrible piece of oratory is making the news again, and being re-examined in the new light of the events of the past week. But it's this bit where there president has been amazingly consistent:
I understand those who protest that some countries have weapons that others do not. No single nation should pick and choose which nation holds nuclear weapons. And that's why I strongly reaffirmed America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons. (Applause.) And any nation -- including Iran -- should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That commitment is at the core of the treaty, and it must be kept for all who fully abide by it. And I'm hopeful that all countries in the region can share in this goal.
He hasn't kept to a promise so studiously since he told us that under his energy plan, "electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket"..
Maybe my fellow Jews should digest this, along with their Rosh Hashanah meals this evening, and use their vaunted intellects to decipher exactly what the president is saying here. And while you are in synagogue, pray the words of Ayn Randdon't come back to haunt you:
“You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.”
To all, a happy New Year. Let's hope it's a good one. Without any fear....
UPDATE: And you wondered why Obama refuses to see Bibi:
Boy, Hillary Clinton is lucky that she stayed married to the Godfather(of the Democratic Party). She's even luckier that Barack Obama owes her husband a debt of immeasurable proportions. Otherwise, the wheels of the bus would be going round-and-round...on her skull.
There is no other reason, besides the protection of his beleaguered Secretary of State, for Obama to have puta total news blackout on the Benghazi Massacre, an event which resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in what appears to have been a much more sadistic bloodbath than was originally reported (and no, Hillary, those natives in these horrific pictures were not "taking him to the hospital", as you claimed, but...oh, God...).
And while I originally declared that Barack Obama's dereliction of duty was a primary cause of the Benghazi Massacre, it appears as if the blood of Chris Stevens is all over Hillary Clinton's clammy hands as well. Fox News military analyst Col. David Hunt:
Hunt told Breitbart News that the new State Department Rules of Engagement for Libya, approved and signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton since the 2011 fall of Khadafi’s regime, severely compromised the safety and security of murdered Ambassador Stevens and all American diplomatic staff in Libya. He also stated that the decision not to staff Benghazi with Marines was made by Secretary of State Clinton when she attached her signature to the State Department Rules of Engagement for Libya document. Breitbart News has subsequently learned that under those rules of engagement, Secretary Clinton prohibited Marines from providing security at any American diplomatic installation in Libya.
This is a powder keg that could bring down the entire Obama administration, and doom his chances for re-election.
So naturally, the media has decided, in accordance with the Obama administration's wishes, not to ask any more questions.
But other will. This will not go away.
And whatever help Obama can be proffering to the Godfather's wife, one thing is now certain: She will not be replacing Joe Biden on the ticket anytime soon. As a matter of fact, her political career may be over, regardless of the media cover-up and Obama's veil of silence.
The stink of death will not come off so fast. We may yet see a modern-day re-enactment of MacBeth Act 5 Scene 1:
LADY MACBETH
Out, damned spot! out, I say!—One: two: why, then, 'tis time to do't.—Hell is murky!—Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?—Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?
Doctor Do you mark that?
LADY MACBETH The thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now?— What, will these hands ne'er be clean?
No. Never. Not after what occurred on September 11th, 2012...
