op ed review 11/10
THIS WEEK’S NEWS
Republicans and Democrats split the two prizes on the
political map in Tuesday’s elections, but in terms of overall votes in New Jersey and Virginia,
the GOP came out on top. Powered by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s huge victory
in New Jersey,
the two Republican gubernatorial candidates won a combined 2.2 million votes,
or about 400,000 more than the two Democratic gubernatorial candidates, who
totaled 1.8 million. Digging deeper into the election numbers, a Washington
Times analysis of returns as they stood late Tuesday night showed that when it
came to legislative races, the GOP also held a clear advantage.
Cuccinelli Campaign Says National GOP Abandoned Them: 'We
Were on Our Own'
The libertarian candidate for governor in Virginia, who siphoned 8% of the votes away
from Cuccinelli, was funded by an Obama campaign bundler.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/11/libertarian_con_in_virginia_governors_race_revealed.html
Report: Christie Refused to Campaign for Cuccinelli
A new poll shows that non-ideological swing voters have
walked away from President Barack Obama, which could sharply reduce his
political influence and power.
Obama job approval drops into the 30s
President Obama is now denying that he promised what video recordings show him promising at least 29 times. “if
you like your health-care plan, you will be able to keep your health-care plan,
period.” http://dailycaller.com/2013/11/05/obama-denies-you-can-keep-it-videotaped-promises/#ixzz2jmp7bMIR
There’s a bigger problem for Obama than Americans getting
annoyed at having to lose plans that they like, despite his oft-repeated
promise that they could keep them……It’s his other promise: “[N]o matter how we reform health care, we
will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your
doctor. Period.” ….if Americans also lose their doctors, the political problems
confronting the president and Obamacare will only deepen.
The Senate passed gay rights legislation to bar
discrimination based on “sexual orientation or gender identity” in the
workplace. AFA explains what this means
and why you should be worried:
Here comes the inevitable: Virginia Democrat Calls For
Forcing Doctors To Accept Medicare And Medicaid Patients
HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius admitted that she doesn’t
require Obamacare navigators looking at confidential information to undergo
criminal background checks:
Landlord Joe Biden is still charging the Secret Service
$2200/month for use of a small building on his Delaware property as a staging area to
protect his family.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/4/despite-sequester-rent-checks-still-flowing-to-bid/#ixzz2jmop3jU4
Gun companies are fleeing New York following passage of a new gun law.
A group of 13 U.S. Marines returning home from Afghanistan
welcomed back with first class treatment after generous fliers gave up their
luxury seats so the comrades-in-arms could fly together in comfort. What´s
more, when the Marines arrived at Chicago´s O´Hare International Airport on
Monday, they were greeted by an impromptu parade of police, firefighters and
other travelers who gathered on just one hour´s notice to honor their service.
Obama has ‘head handed to him’ in secret Iran
sanction deal amid nuclear talks
“French Socialist Administration Tougher on Iran
than Obama Administration”
_______________________________________________________________________________
THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN
Two views on conservative strategy:
Dennis Prager 10/22
There is a question that all of us need to ask. How we
respond makes all the difference in what type of life we lead and what type of
world we make. That question is: Does an
action feel good or do good? Let me give
three areas of examples -- personal life, the left and most recently,
unfortunately, the right.
In the personal sphere, many parents, especially in this
last generation, have done what feels good rather than what does good. It feels good to give one's children what
they want, but it rarely does good. It feels good to build children's false
self-esteem -- giving them trophies for no achievement, for example -- but it
doesn't do good. It feels good to provide one's adult children with money and
other material benefits when they should be providing for themselves, but it
doesn't do good. And it feels good to coddle children rather than discipline
them. But it doesn't do good.
In the social and political spheres, feeling good rather
doing good has characterized virtually every left-wing policy. Liberals feel good (especially about
themselves -- remember, the left founded the self-esteem movement) when they
promote race-based affirmative action. Given the centuries of suffering blacks
endured in America,
it feels good to change rules of admission in order to have more blacks attend
more prestigious colleges. The problem is that these policies have done
considerably more harm than good to blacks (and to society)……But to
progressives, none of that matters. What matters is that they (the
progressives) feel good.
For more than half a century, liberals have felt good
(again, in large measure about themselves) giving ever increasing unearned
benefits to poorer Americans. That these policies have led to an unprecedented
percentage of Americans becoming dependent on -- often addicted to -- state
handouts in no way disturbs progressives, because these policies make them feel
good. That the left cares more about
feeling good than doing good is shown by the results of virtually all of its
policies…..
The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is a classic example
of feeling good rather than doing good. Progressives feel good about insuring
uninsured Americans. That the government would begin to take over another sixth
of the American economy; that the Act consists of 2,500 pages (and its
regulations already run into the tens of thousands of pages); that this is the
first piece of major American social legislation to be passed without one vote
from the opposition party; that doctors and hospitals will be paid less; that
more doctors will retire or only take private patients; that medical devices
needed for Americans' health will be further taxed; that companies will
relegate vast numbers of workers to part-time work -- none of this matters.
What matters is that progressives feel good about the ACA.
And now, sadly, we have witnessed this most seductive human
frailty -- feeling good as opposed to doing good -- within the conservative
movement, the movement that prides itself as placing doing good before feeling
good.
Republicans and conservatives achieved nothing -- and did
themselves substantial harm -- when the House passed legislation that demanded
defunding Obamacare as a condition of further funding the government and
perhaps even raising the debt ceiling. I
have not read a convincing argument on behalf of these tactics. But I have read
that the Republican Party is held in lower esteem than at any time in its
history. And any Republican who
dismisses such polls ought to recall that the polls, not wishful-thinking
Republicans, were right about Obama winning re-election.
Conservatives who supported the doomed
repeal-Obamacare-tactic argue that it -- and Senator Ted Cruz's filibuster --
brought national attention to Obamacare's deficiencies. In reality it only
brought attention to the Republican Party's deficiencies. The primary reason for this tactic was that
it made many conservatives feel good -- "we need to stand up for what we
believe" (even if we know in advance that it will fail to accomplish the
stated goal). Otto von Bismarck, father of the modern welfare state, is
credited with saying, "Politics is the art of the possible." His side
seems to understand that better than ours.
My fellow conservatives fell into the very human -- and very
leftist -- trap of asking what feels good rather than what does good. In
politics, the only thing that should feel good is winning.
Joe Farah 10/24
I have to agree with Dr. Ben Carson about Obamacare. It’s
“the worst thing that has happened to this nation since slavery.” He added: “It
is slavery, in a way, because it is making all of us subservient to the
government. It was never about health care. It was about control.” I can visualize many heads nodding in concurrence. He
didn’t stop there, though.
“That’s why, when this
administration took office, it didn’t matter that the country was going off the
cliff economically; all forces were directed toward getting this legislation
passed,” said the surgeon whose own life story is triumphantly inspirational.
“Why did they want to pass it so badly?”
He explained it with a quote from Vladimir Lenin: “He said that
socialized medicine is the keystone to the establishment of a socialist state.
That’s the problem.”
Dr. Carson got a standing ovation
for that speech before the Value Voters Summit in Washington a couple weeks ago – and
deservedly so. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this high-achieving charismatic
non-politician someone the country turns to for leadership come 2016, if not
sooner. But there are consequences we all must face if we agree with the
substance of what he says. If, indeed, Obamacare is the worst thing to happen
to this country since slavery … And, if, indeed, Obamacare is a concerted
effort by a group of Washington politicians to con the American people into
handing over their liberty …What, then, do we do? What is our moral response?
What is our civic duty?
Is it merely to sit around and
wait for the mid-term elections next year when we have the “opportunity,” once
again, to elect opponents of Obamacare whose party had an opportunity to stand
firm, like our Founding Fathers, against this power grab that will affect the
lives of every American, and decided for the third time in three years to kick
the can down the road? My conscience tells me the answer is no. I’m wondering
if I am alone in feeling this way. I’m angry.
We’ve seen our Constitution
betrayed, no matter what the Supreme Court ruled. We’ve watched the opposition
party cower in fear and trepidation about being characterized as extremists for
opposing extremism. We’ve stood helplessly on the sidelines observing a total
breakdown in representative government. We’ve witnessed a business-as-usual
approach to skyrocketing spending with no end in sight. We’ve looked on in
disbelief at a brazen attempt, as promised, to “fundamentally transform” America, the
former “land of the free and home of the brave,” into another socialist
state. And, more importantly, we’ve seen
a tacit assent to the imposition of official religious oppression at the
highest levels of government through the scam of nationalized health care.
So why aren’t we out in the
streets? Why aren’t we marching on Washington?
Why aren’t there more acts of civil disobedience? Why aren’t we screaming from
the housetops about this outrage?
Where is the tea party? Where is
the “conservative” movement? Where are the tens of millions of Americans who
knew better than this all along? Have we given up? I really want to hear from
people. Maybe the Republican establishment doesn’t care about your ideas and
your passion about saving America
from imploding. I do. I wish I had the answers. I’m ready to storm the
barricades with you. But I’m not a political activist. I’m just a writer and
businessman.
It’s time for Americans to stand
up fearlessly and boldly to save this country from going down the tubes. The
hour is late. Every day we accept the inevitability of Obamacare – and all that
comes with it from the anti-American, counterrevolutionary left that is
directing this nation’s path – is a day closer to the end of the American
Dream.
________________________________________________________________________
FROM OTHER COLUMNS
"The question many on the left are
asking as they witness the Obama administration flail in response to
HealthCare.gov's debut disaster is: How could this happen? Obama is so
brilliant, so capable and so wise. How could he bungle his signature
initiative? He isn't, but even if he were, it wouldn't make a particle of
difference. One of the central delusions of progressives is that government is
efficient and effective and that complex human societies are amenable to
centralized control and direction. We on the right presume government
ineptitude. ... Those spending other people's money have very little incentive
to economize or seek top value. Nor can central bureaucrats possibly have
enough information to make wise decisions about something as complex as
one-sixth of a $16 trillion economy. As Friedrich A. Hayek cautioned: 'The
curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know
about what they imagine they can design.'"
-Mona Charen
"The president misspoke: What he
meant to say, a hundred or so times, was: 'If I like your insurance, you can
keep it.”
-National Review
“McAuliffe raised almost $15 million more
than Cuccinelli, thanks to help from his old boss, Bill Clinton.
In the end, however, McAuliffe victory
margin was less than 3%, when he had led in the polls by double digits for
months. Thanks to the calamitous rollout of ObamaCare, Cuccinelli nearly pulled
off the upset -- and undoubtedly would have but for the government shutdown
baggage. Of course, it could also be argued that the third party Libertarian
candidate, Robert Sarvis, who received almost 7% of the vote, handed the
victory to McAuliffe.”
-Mark Alexander
"ObamaCare is in many ways old wine
in new bottles. For example, when confronted with the fact that millions of
Americans stand to lose their existing medical insurance, as a result of
ObamaCare, defenders of ObamaCare say that this is true only when those people
have 'substandard' insurance. Who decides what is 'substandard'? What is older
than the idea that some exalted elite know what is good for us better than we
know ourselves? ... ObamaCare ... began as supposedly a way to deal with the
problem of a segment of the population -- those without health insurance. But,
instead of directly helping those particular people to get insurance, the
'solution' was to expand the government's power over everybody, including
people who already had health insurance that they wanted to keep. Since there
has never been a society of human beings without at least some segment with
some problem, this is a formula for a never-ending expansion of government
power.."
-Thomas Sowell
________________________________________________________________________
BOOKS
New book Alleges Obama Told Aides About Drone Strikes: “I’m
‘Really Good At Killing People’”
_______________________________________________________________________
GLOBALONEY
Coldest global warming on record: Spokane
International Airport
received 1.9 inches of snow Tuesday, enough to snap a 66-year-old daily
record by the slimmest of margins.
AUSTRALIA SNUBS UN CLIMATE TALKS AS MINISTER STAYS HOME TO
REPEAL CARBON TAX
Global warming ´pause´ may last for 20 more years and Arctic
sea ice has already started to recover
_____________________________________________________________________
LEFTIST WATCH
The UC Berkeley student government has banned the term “illegal
immigrant” from its discourse, deeming the phrase racist, offensive, unfair and
derogatory.
Cuba
closed dozens of home-based movie theaters on Saturday and reaffirmed its plans
to end the private sale of imported goods as communist authorities pressed for
"order, discipline and obedience" in the growing small business
sector.
The California Endowment, a foundation spending big bucks to
promote Obamacare, has just delivered a $500,000 grant to TV writers and
producers to sneak Obamacare promotions into their programs.
_____________________________________________________________________
ELECTION ANALYSIS
The Virginia
governor’s race was supposed to prove how the Tea Party destroyed the GOP. …… The
real lessons from the Virginia
vote turn out to be a lot more complicated than the simplistic idea that the
Tea Party’s rise would lead to a permanent Democratic majority. The reason why
Cuccinelli fell short in Virginia
was due in part to the way the national party abandoned his cause and allowed
him to be massively outspent. This is something angry Tea Partiers won’t
forget. But they should also realize that the hole Cuccinelli was in two weeks
ago was also due to the shutdown they had recklessly engineered. In the end,
the two factors may have balanced each other out, leaving the real problem for
the GOP the same one that sunk Mitt Romney there in 2012: changing demographics
that have transformed a once red state into a purple or light blue one.
Isn't it possible that Cuccinelli lost not so much because
he was a strong conservative, but because the left-wing machine spent gobs of
money talking up a few issues that appeal to young voters, single women, and
minorities and then brought in the Clintons
to further drive in the knife? Isn't it possible that the McAuliffe
campaign used their money and the Clinton
clout to endlessly portray Cuccinelli on the airwaves as an intolerant, racist
misogynist and that this resonated with the young, female, and victimized?
Isn't this exactly the tactic Obama used in the last election -- micro-targeting
women, minorities, and the youth, focusing on issues important to them, and
scaring them all the way to the polls? Isn't it more likely that
Cuccinelli was mischaracterized as a monster in order to scare out the vote
than that he is a fanatical right-winger with a penchant for blurting out
offensive epithets? This is a meme on which the Democrat-Media Complex
perseverates, and has been perseverating for decades. The answer
isn't to run wimpy candidates who antagonize the base. It is to
outflank them on this tactic by being prepared ahead of time and meeting the
accusations head-on.
2016 Analysis: “How
Republicans can win: The GOP's best shot
in 2016 is NOT to nominate a moderate. They must nominate a conservative who
can attract more conservative voters to the polls, just like President Obama
built his own coalition and increased the relative electoral power of each
constituent part. Not that it will be easy.,,,The ideal Republican strategy is
not terribly convoluted. Find and nominate the most acceptable conservative.
Find the swing states where demographic composition of the electorate has been
volatile and where there is room among those demographic groups to grow the
GOP's share. Put the two together……Hillary Clinton could actually help
Republicans in 2016 by uniting conservatives.”
_______________________________________________________________________
ARTICLES
“Grand Theft Obama: The Biggest
Heist in U.S.
History”
The Crisis Arrives :
Obama’s dubious legacy.
Obama’s Massive Fraud
Ben Sasse is doing what few Republicans
have been able to accomplish: He's uniting the GOP establishment with
anti-establishment conservatives in his bid to become the next U.S. senator from Nebraska. "We're grateful that
all types of folks across Nebraska
are responding to our conservative, solutions-oriented message. This
week, for instance, we've sought the support of gun owners, of Christian
service organizations, and of the Chamber of Commerce. We want everybody;
we want to grow the conservative movement." The key appears to be Sasse's
anti-Obamacare message, which the former Bush official is able to speak about
fluidly and persuasively. It's resonating especially well now that the
open-enrollment period for the massive health care overhaul has been so
disastrous.
“Everyone now is clamoring about Affordable Care Act winners and losers. I am one
of the losers. My grievance is not political; all my energies are directed to
enjoying life and staying alive, and I have no time for politics. For almost
seven years I have fought and survived stage-4 gallbladder cancer, with a
five-year survival rate of less than 2% after diagnosis. I am a determined
fighter and extremely lucky. But this luck may have just run out: My
affordable, lifesaving medical insurance policy has been canceled effective
Dec. 31.”
Society crumbles when it takes cues from the underclass. When Snooki, whose talents include getting
sloppy drunk and throwing up on camera, made Barbara Walters’ “Ten Most
Fascinating People” list a few years back, one could only ask: Was Octomom not
available? Last year, “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” which features a cornucopia
of social ills, was TLC’s highest-rated show, attracting more cable viewers
than the Republican National Convention, which had the misfortune to share the
time slot with the charmers from Georgia. The show’s matriarch, June
Shannon, has four daughters by four men, one of whose names she can’t recall.
White Trash is the new normal — and you don’t have to tune in to reality TV to
rub elbows with pathologies that once stayed put in Skunk Hollow. White Trash Normal has invaded every
nook and cranny of life, from table manners, to dress, to money management. We
modern philistines tell ourselves that rejecting the customs and conventions of
a stuffy, old elite will release creativity and bring about a renaissance.
Nothing could be further from the truth. According to Toynbee, self-expression
replaces creativity when disintegrating societies look downward.
Democrats start to panic over Obamacare: "Dem Party is F*****." That was
the subject line of an email sent to me Sunday by a senior Democratic
consultant with strong ties to the White House and Capitol Hill. The body of
the email contained a link to this Los
Angeles Times story
about Obamacare "sticker shock:
These middle-class consumers are staring at hefty increases on their
insurance bills as the overhaul remakes the healthcare market. Their rates are
rising in large part to help offset the higher costs of covering sicker, poorer
people who have been shut out of the system for years. Although recent
criticism of the healthcare law has focused on website glitches and early
enrollment snags, experts say sharp price increases for individual policies
have the greatest potential to erode public support for President Obama's
signature legislation. In his story,
reporter Chad Terhune also quoted a letter sent to a California insurance company executive.
"I was all for Obamacare," wrote a young woman complaining about a 50
percent rate hike related to the health care law, "until I found out I was
paying for it."
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/11/the_silence_of_the_left.html#ixzz2jb3lDMBZ
http://www.nationaljournal.com/white-house/obama-takes-friendly-fire-20131028
___________________________________________________________________________
NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES
This map illustrates how Obamacare affects health insurance
premiums for people who buy coverage on their own. Click on your state to learn
more
__________________________________________________________________________
LATE NITE
Leno: …President
Obama's approval rating is down to 39 percent. And Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who
admitted to smoking crack cocaine, went up to 49 percent. How does this make
Obama feel? He’d be better off smoking crack than passing Obamacare…..According
to CBS news, on the first day of open enrollment for Obamacare, only six people
signed up. Today they released their names: They are Sneezy, Sleepy, Happy,
Bashful, Grumpy, and Doc. That’s according to the creator of the website:
Dopey.
posted by gary at
10:02 AM
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