op ed review 11/18
THIS WEEK’S NEWS
CIA Director David Petraeus testified in a closed door
hearing that he knew the Benghazi
attack was terrorism and that the talking points given to Ambassador Susan Rice
were different from the ones prepared by the CIA. Petraeus stated Rice's
talking points were edited to downplay the possibility of terrorism.
“If Petraeus really does testify to this effect, he will
inescapably be alleging under oath that the president was a liar. Even if the
testimony is restricted strictly to Benghazi and
not its aftermath, the crucial question remains: did the president
abandon?.......For reasons that the public does not understand, the incident in
Benghazi has started a full-blown power struggle
that is raging beneath the surface of official Washington.”
An affair that was known to the FBI for months and kept from
congressional oversight committees might explain his complicity in a false
narrative of the Benghazi
terrorist attack and the order to "stand down." The addition of sex
to Benghazigate adds a dimension sure to keep the scandal going and one that does
indeed make Watergate seem like a third-rate burglary.
Democrat-run California now
has the highest poverty rate in the nation, twice as bad as West
Virginia’s and substantially worse than the rates of poverty in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas,
according to a new measure of poverty developed by the federal Census Bureau.
“It’s Friday morning, and so far today, the Obama
administration has posted 165 new regulations and notifications on its reguations.gov
website. In the past 90 days, it has posted 6,125 regulations and notices – an
average of 68 a day.”
Denny's Restaurants in Florida will add a five percent surcharge to
customers' bills and will reduce employees' hours to pay for costs of Obamacare
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2233221/Dennys-charge-5-Obamacare-surcharge-cut-employee-hours-deal-cost-legislation.html#ixzz2CIxmJCsn
Kmart, the discounting pioneer owned by Sears Holdings, is in the throes of a mass shutdown of stores.
Kmart, the discounting pioneer owned by Sears Holdings, is in the throes of a mass shutdown of stores.
If Obamacare doesn’t get them their unions will. Hostess, the makers of Twinkies, Ding Dongs
and Wonder Bread, is going out of business after striking workers failed to
heed a Thursday deadline to return to work, the company said. Hostess Brands
will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce and focus on
selling its assets to the highest bidders.”
As Republicans try to explain their Election Day losses in
terms of policy, tactics, and strategy, one factor is emerging as the essential
difference between the Obama and Romney campaigns on November 6: the absolute
failure of Romney’s get-out-the-vote effort, which underperformed even John
McCain’s lackluster 2008 turnout. One culprit appears to be “Orca,” the
Romney’s massive technology effort, which failed completely. (Editor’s note: When
I saw that the Obama campaign had a cell phone app that let democrats identify
their democrat neighbors, I had a bad feeling…)
At a time
when many Republicans argue the Defense Department cannot afford new spending
cuts, Sen Tom Coburn, Congress's top waste-watcher, released a report arguing
that in fact the Pentagon is awash in billions of dollars of non-security
spending that should be cut. Examples:
an Office of Naval Research Research project that helped spawn Caffeine
Zone 2, an iPhone application that tells people how to schedule their coffee
breaks…..$100,000 for a 2011 workshop on interstellar space travel that
included a session entitled "Did Jesus die for Klingons too?" The
session probed how Christian theology would apply in the event of the discovery
of aliens.
“When Taxmageddon hits on January 1, 2013, the
financial devastation will be immense. You’ll pay higher income taxes and a
higher payroll tax. And on top of all that, the immense expense of Obamacare
will begin taking money out of your pocket too. What does this mean for you? Every household in America faces an increase of more
than $3,800! Taxmageddon will hit middle-class and low-income Americans
the hardest..”
Just in case the unaffordable price tag and rising costs of
Obamacare don´t quite do the trick, America´s spiraling dearth of doctors will
contribute heavily to the collapse of our re-engineered health care system,
according to a new study:
Worse than Katrina, but you wouldn’t know it from the media
coverage: In Coney Island, a 67-year-old
man sleeps with plastic bottles from the bodega, filled with hot water, tucked
in his armpits. Toilets unflushed by modern means for a fortnight have created
a stench in the Rockaways that is so bad that one man keeps incense burning in
his apartment day and night. On Staten Island, people sit in “warming buses,”
cozy and, like time itself these days, going nowhere.
Did Obama steal the election? “More than one out of every five registered Ohio voters is probably
ineligible to vote. In two counties, the number of registered voters actually
exceeds the voting-age population: Northwestern Ohio's Wood County shows 109
registered voters for every 100 eligible, while in Lawrence County along the
Ohio River it's a mere 104 registered per 100 eligible….Of the Buckeye State's
7.8 million registered voters, nearly 1.6 million are regarded as "inactive."
The head of the Maine Republican Party claims that
“hundreds” of unfamiliar black voters may have cast fraudulent ballots in his
state on Election Day. “In some parts of rural Maine,
there were dozens, dozens of black people who came in and voted on Election
Day,” Charlie Webster told Portland’s
NBC affiliate WCSH-TV on Wednesday. “Everybody has a right to vote, but nobody
in town knows anyone who’s black…”
Nearly 200 high school hockey teams in Pennsylvania have been advised to eliminate the
National Anthem because “it takes too much time to perform and costs too much
money”
“Not everyone is jumping for joy at the prospect of four
more years. Tens of thousands have put their names to secession petitions in 20
states, asking that they peacefully become independent from the rest of the
country. The documents have been lodged on a government website We The People -
and Texas has
almost enough people behind its petition to warrant an official White House
response.”
White House ‘secede’ petitions reach 675,000 signatures,
50-state participation
_____________________________________________________________________________
THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN
Byron York: 11/17
The latest post-election question is whether
Republicans were blind to the defeat headed their way because they chose to
live in a cocoon in which they paid attention only to Fox News, conservative
talk radio and right-wing websites. Listening to outlets that told them what
they wanted to hear, the thinking goes, left them with no idea what was in
store for them on Nov. 6.
Out in the field, the Republicans actually involved
in the election are talking about different things. For example, in Ohio -- the most hotly
contested state in the entire race -- Republicans are asking why a large group
of voters, carefully cultivated through personal contacts and putative
supporters of Mitt Romney, just didn't show up at the polls.
In 2008, John McCain got 2,677,820 votes in Ohio. In 2012, according
to a still-unofficial tally from the Ohio Secretary of State, Mitt Romney got
2,583,582. If before the election you had said to any politically involved Ohio
Republican that Romney would receive fewer votes than McCain, you would have
gotten a blank stare in return. "I would not have believed that,"
says Alex Triantafilou, head of the Republican Party in Hamilton
County, a critical swing area that
includes Cincinnati.
"I would have argued strongly that that was not going to be the
case."
Four years ago, white voters were 83 percent of the Ohio electorate. This
year they were 79 percent. There has been no implosion of the white population
in Ohio in
those years. There was simply lower turnout among white voters -- somewhere in
the 200,000 range, which is, again, more than Obama's winning margin. (Latino
voters weren't a major factor in Ohio;
they were 4 percent of the electorate in 2008 and 3 percent this time.)
There are several theories about those missing white
voters, but the most plausible is that the ones who were undecideds or weak
Republicans were deeply influenced by Obama's relentless attacks on Romney in
May, June, July and August. A steady stream of negative ads portrayed Romney as
a heartless, out-of-touch rich guy, and Romney didn't really fight back. The
missing white voters didn't like Obama but were also turned off by the
Republican, so they stayed home. That's the theory, at least; Republicans will
know more when they actually interview lots of those nonvoters.
Jonah Goldberg: “It’s always Gotterdammerung somewhere on the
right. That’s not to say that the conservative movement and the Republican
Party are doing great. But whether fueled by left-wing glee or right-wing
dread, rumors of the right’s death are always exaggerated……….. total victories
don’t exist in politics so long as the losing side doesn’t surrender. Just for
the record, I see dismay, even despair, out there. But I don’t see much
surrender.”
“According to exit polling data, Mitt Romney lost the
presidential election in part because people did not believe he “felt their
pain.” The Obama team effectively portrayed him as a cold, heartless,
multimillionaire monster to the American people, a man willing to slash jobs,
throw grandma off the cliff and let people starve in the streets while he and
his wife sip champagne, eat caviar and, in the mind of one liberal journalist,
celebrate while black people drown. In short, Mr. Romney was punished for his
personal success. This is un-American. President Obama’s use of class warfare,
personal attacks and character assassination, and an America that allowed such attacks
to stick, tell the real story of the 2012 campaign. When Mr. Romney said 47
percent of the people wouldn’t vote for him, he was simply recognizing that a
large segment of the American people have abandoned the self-reliance, personal
independence and entrepreneurship that defined early America in favor of
dependence, laziness, entitlement and decadence. Mr. Obama tapped into this
apathy and hatred of the real American character…..The election should be a
wake-up call. Americans need traditional American heroes now more than ever.
Reconnecting with our independent, hardworking, common-sense, red-blooded past
is the antidote to Obama-mania and the leftist destruction of America, but it
has to start now. America
lost this battle, but we can still win the war.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/13/obamas-re-election-reveals-ignorance-of-our-past/#ixzz2CDD2hOYP
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
FROM OTHER COLUMNS
"We conservatives may never reach a consensus among
ourselves as to the main factors that caused our election defeat, but surely we
can agree that we must do a better job of selling our ideas."
-David
Limbaugh
"So the administration would have us believe that only after
the election was the president told by the FBI that an investigation with
possible national-security implications -- involving no less than the director
of the Central Intelligence Agency -- has been going on since the summer. We're
also to believe that the director's resignation after the election and before
congressional hearings on Benghazi
is purely coincidental. Not only that, but when the most powerful man in the
world learned of the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, he immediately
ordered that everything be done to secure all personnel at the site -- but
apparently, everyone ignored him. So he did what any commander in chief would
do under such circumstances -- he went to bed. Yes, they really do think we're
that stupid."
-Peter
Kirsanow
"A cover-up in the Obama administration? I know what
you are thinking: No way; not the most transparent, patriotic administration
ever. It must be an act of the gods or perhaps the Mayan calendar. But really,
the recent resignation of General Petraeus from the position of director of the
C.I.A. has to be related to Benghazi.
Either that or to the Bermuda Triangle.
Because here is another remarkable coincidence: Neither the FBI, nor United
States Marines are responsible for the security of consulates and embassies.
The C.I.A. is tasked with that job. ... Notice how quickly the deputy director
who is replacing Petraeus is ready to stand before Congress next week and
truthfully testify by saying, 'I don't know, Senator'?"
-John
Ransom
______________________________________________________________________________
BOOKS, FILM
Below is an excerpt from ABC News Senior White House
correspondent Jake Tapper´s just-released, "The Outpost: An Untold Story
of American Valor," one of those harrowing, inspiring war stories so fantastic,
it can only be true.
_____________________________________________________________________________
ISLAM
‘Destroy the idols,’ Egyptian jihadist calls for removal of
Sphinx, Pyramids
A missile launch site in the Gaza Strip was set up by Hamas
just half a block from a mosque and children’s playground.
Toronto Police are calling the vandalism of a
Canadian war memorial “a hate crime.” A woman walking Sunday night by the
sculpture in Coronation Park — called police after noticing someone had taken a
black marker and written “Canada will burn; Praise Allah” on the memorial.
_____________________________________________________________________________
GLOBALONEY
“Global warming stopped 16 years ago, reveals Met Office
report quietly released... and here is the chart to prove it..”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2217286/Global-warming-stopped-16-years-ago-reveals-Met-Office-report-quietly-released--chart-prove-it.html#ixzz2CIy55gNK
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
ARTICLES
A week after President Obama won re-election, two
themes are dominant. First, that Mr. Obama kept his job because key elements of
his base—notably young people, African-Americans, Latinos and Asian-Americans—turned
out for him. Second, that the growing size of these voting blocs represents a
decisive challenge for the Republican Party. Both
points are true, but most observers are overstating the gravity of the GOP's
problem. In particular, they are paying too little attention to how weak a
candidate Mitt Romney was, and how much that hurt Republican prospects. Here is
what the exit poll found. Mr. Romney's personal image took a hard hit during
the primary campaign and remained weak on election day….Throughout the
campaign, Mr. Romney's favorable ratings were among the lowest recorded for a
presidential candidate in the modern era…..Despite their weak candidate,
Republicans increased their share of the presidential vote among many major
demographic groups. Compared with 2008, they made significant gains among men
(four percentage points), whites (four points), younger voters (six points),
white Catholics (seven points) and Jews (nine points). Mr. Romney also carried
the independent vote 50% to 45%. Four years ago, independents voted for Mr.
Obama 52% to 44%.
Conservative pundit Dick Morris insists he was keeping hope
alive when he boldly predicted Mitt Romney would win the White House in a
landslide. On Tuesday’s “Hannity" show, Morris said supporters realized
the Republican challenger was on the ropes as the election neared, and it was
his job to boost their candidate’s profile. “I hope people aren’t mad at me
about it…”
Mitt Romney, on a call with top donors, referred to some of
the policies enacted under the Obama administration as “gifts” that helped him
win young, minority and low-income voters. Romney also apologized to donors and
said he was surprised by the loss.
The story of the 2012 election is that voters still blame
Republicans for systemic problems caused by liberalism, and yet they credit
Obama for victories brought about by applied conservatism. Now how does this
happen? The answer is both a short story and part of a longer festering
narrative……
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal called on Republicans to “stop
being the stupid party” and make a concerted effort to reach a broader swath of
voters with an inclusive economic message that pre-empts efforts to caricature
the GOP as the party of the rich.. “It is no secret we had a number of
Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments —
enough of that….It’s not going to be the last time anyone says something stupid
within our party, but it can’t be tolerated within our party.
“Can we, as the GOP base, demand an IQ exam as well as a
test of basic knowledge from our congressional and presidential candidates?
This is not a flippant suggestion: There were at least five Senate seats in
this election cycle that might have been occupied by a Republican come January
had not the invincible stupidity of the candidate stood in the way.”
With postmortems on the Romney campaign piling up faster
than broken promises of relief to Sandy´s victims, there is time before the
"big deal" gets cut and the national misery deepens to reflect
briefly on what Mitt Romney did right -- and there was much he did right.
Romney saved the House of Representatives from reverting to Nancy Pelosi´s
rule.
Barone: “In the
decision desk at Fox News on election night, none of us paid much heed when it
became clear that Republicans would maintain their majority in the House of
Representatives. The information was broadcast quickly and everyone went back
to talking about the presidential election. But actually it was rather
extraordinary. Republicans won or are leading in 236 of the 435 House seats,
down just six from the 2010 midterm. And they achieved this despite losing five
seats because of partisan redistricting in Illinois
and another five in California
thanks to a supposedly nonpartisan redistricting commission….”
Krauthammer: They
lose and immediately the chorus begins. Republicans must change or die. A rump
party of white America,
it must adapt to evolving demographics or forever be the minority. The only
part of this that is even partially true regards Hispanics. They should be a
natural Republican constituency: striving immigrant community, religious,
Catholic, family-oriented and socially conservative (on abortion, for example).
Raising taxes on the rich was the cornerstone of President
Obama’s reelection campaign. But just how much deficit reduction would Obama’s
tax hikes on the rich necessarily accomplish? Nothing, according to the
Congressional Budget Office.
“Thanks, Obama voters. You just imposed on the rest of us
degraded medical care and rising costs. This is no longer hypothetical or
abstract. It's real. It's the law. Here
are some of the bad repercussions of your vote:…”
On Election Day, Rush Limbaugh advanced an intriguing notion
given him by a friend. Rush fancied the idea "a fascinating little think
piece." Here's the idea, per Rush: "If the Republicans win, they get
to select the half of the country they want and the Democrats get the other
half. You split this country right down the middle. Republicans pick the side
they want; the Democrats get the other side. We have Mitt; they have Obama. You
can live wherever you want to live. You choose which side you want to live
in."
________________________________________________________________________
NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES
Interview with Lucianne Goldberg
_______________________________________________________________________
LATE NITE
Leno: Both parties in Washington now agree that our country is
headed toward a 'fiscal cliff.' The bad news: We just elected a guy whose
campaign slogan was 'Forward.' ... But the good news: President Obama says we
will run out of gas long before we get to the cliff. So don't worry about it….The economy is so bad, MSNBC had to lay off 300 Obama
spokesmen……People are disappointed. A four-star general, highly decorated,
brilliant strategist, director of the CIA — and yet he's behaving like your
common congressman.
_______________________________________________________________________
WISE WORDS
"The more
people chant about their freedom and how free they are, the more loudly I hear their
chains rattling."
-George Orwell
"One of the
methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing
controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its
problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are
necessary."
-Ayn Rand
posted by gary at
8:26 AM
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