(H/T, Instapundit)
Nixon’s Third Term?
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Tag Archives: Barack Obama
Stupid Is As Stupid Does
P. J. O’Rourke has an insightful column up at the Weekly Standard in which he explains why he believes President Obama is, in fact, stupid.
And there it is: Dopey stimulus, obtuse bailout, noodle-headed Obamacare, half-wit Dodd-Frank, damfool IRS Tea Party crashers, AP and Fox News beset by oafish peeping Toms and the Benghazi tale told by an idiot. One could go on. Stupid is a great force in human affairs. And the great force has a commander in chief.
Read the whole thing and see why he thinks other pundits won’t use the term.
#BrettKimberlin’s Petition Clout
Brett Kimberlin’s “charity,” Justice Through Music Project has had a petition up for more than a month at Change dot org asking President Obama to stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
He’s trying to get 100,000 signatures. As of 3 pm ET on 26 May, 2013, he has only 99,828 to go.
Given the current rate of progress, he should have his 100,000 signatures by the middle of 2061. Perhaps that explains why he didn’t post the petition at the White House site. According to the White House,
[t]o cross the first threshold and be searchable within WhiteHouse.gov, a petition must reach 150 signatures within 30 days.
To cross the second threshold and require a response, a petition must reach 100,000 signatures within 30 days.
He probably didn’t even make the first cut.
It Looks Like They’ve Lost Bob Schieffer
(H/T, Instapundit) Well, yes, those of us who were working in the news business back in the early ’70s do see certain similarities to Nixon.
I have to tell you that is exactly the approach that the Nixon administration took. They said, “These are all second-rate things. We don’t have time for this. We have to devote our time to the people’s business.” You’re taking exactly the same line they did.
Yes, but what other line is left for them? The White House staff clearly isn’t able to tell the truth. Consider Preiffer’s rant to Chris Wallace about the irrelevance of facts.
What did the President know, and when did he know it? And where was he and what was he doing when he got told?
You know, I’m beginning to look forward to the day when this generation’s Fred Thompson asks the analogous question to “Mr. Butterfield, were you aware of the existence of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the President?”
UPDATE—Stacy McCain offers the Cliffs Notes version of the White House response: “Shut up, Republicans!”
You Get What You Pay For
And then you pay for what you got. Folks elected a Chicago politician, and now they’re surprised by scandals.
Go figure.
First, the Tea Party, …
… then, the Jews, and now, Billy Graham.
UPDATE—and a St. Louis local news anchor who asked the wrong questions.
Like Watergate?
I’m beginning to hear rumblings of “just like Watergate” in discussions of both the Benghazi and IRS v. Tea Party stories.
Really? Watergate, after all, was only a third-rate burglary according the administration in the White House at the time.
I suppose that having a body count has kept the White House from pooh-poohing the attack on the consulate as merely a “third-world mugging,” but the IRS story is already being pitched as overzealous low-level workers exceeding their authority.
Ah, what difference, at this point, does it make?
Who Disobeyed These Orders?
Not long after the attack on the consulate, the President answered a Denver newsman’s question about Benghazi with these words:
I gave three very clear directives. Number one, make sure we are securing our personnel and that we are doing whatever we need to. Number two, we are going to investigate exactly what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Number three, find out who did this so we can bring them to justice.
We know from Greg Hick’s testimony that special forces were ordered to stand down rather than provide assistance. Why wasn’t the President’s order (number one above) carried out? If it was, in fact, given?
When They’ve Lost the BBC …
… the Administration is in a heap of trouble. Here’s what Mark Mardell, the Beeb‘s North American Editor says:
The new documents contain two rationales for the changes in language. The first is that it would prejudice the FBI investigation. Perhaps, but I am not at all persuaded.
The other reason given – old-fashioned butt-guarding – is more credible. However you read the motives, the state department and apparently the White House did get the CIA to change its story.
This is now very serious, and I suspect heads will roll. The White House will be on the defensive for a while.
This is, as one former President put it, deep doo-doo.
That 3 AM Phone Call
Do you remember the commercial Hillary Clinton ran during the 2008 primaries about who should get that 3 am phone call? The implication was that Barack Obama wasn’t the right person, and that has turned out to be true all too often.
Reading this piece by Paul Mirengoff over at Powerline, it seems that Mrs. Clinton would have been (and still probably is) a poor choice too.
BTW, the first shots were fired in Benghazi around 4 pm Washington time when folks were supposed to be awake.
Who is Syria’s Neighbor?
Jim Geraghty quotes a White House official in today’s Morning Jolt email as saying this about Assad in Syria:
If he drops sarin on his own people, what’s that got to do with us?
An interesting question. An ancient rabbi framed it this way:
A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho; and he fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went off leaving him half dead. And by chance a certain priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him, and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, “Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return, I will repay you.”
Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?
We may not be called to put boots on the ground, but should we just pass by on the other side of the road? Our leaders have made a difficult place for themselves. And for us.
Quack!
Peggy Noonan thinks that the President isn’t a lame duck. Yet.
OTOH, consider the first 100 days of the second term. If it quacks like a duck and limps like a duck, it’s a lame duck.
Don’t Give Up Your Day Job
Yeah, I know that there’s some folks out there who view the President’s standup routine at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as first-rate, but I’m in the camp of those who disagree. My usual advice to people who really shouldn’t be on the stage is “don’t give up your day job,” and I would offer it to Barack Obama even if I thought he had been brilliant.
Visualize President Biden.
I’m Not Making This Up, You Know
From the official White House statement (H/T, Vodkapundit):
Here in America, many of us will never forget her standing shoulder to shoulder with President Reagan, reminding the world that we are not simply carried along by the currents of history—we can shape them with moral conviction, unyielding courage and iron will. Michelle and I send our thoughts to the Thatcher family and all the British people as we carry on the work to which she dedicated her life—free peoples standing together, determined to write our own destiny.
Emphasis mine.
Obama carrying on Margaret Thatcher’s work? Where did I put that brain bleach?
Fear and Loathing and Bullies
Zilla has a thoughtful piece posted at her blog about President Obama’s narcissism and his use of bullying.
As I read the whole thing, her discussion of bullies reminded me of other thugs I have dealt with of late.
A Exception to Hanlon’s Razor
Hanlon’s Razor states that one should not blame malice when stupidity will provide an adequate explanation. There are exceptions to every rule. Here’s one. (H/T, Instapundit)
Band on the Run
While I’m out on the road doing research this weekend, one of the members of the Vast Hogewash Research Organization has volunteered to do some staff posts. Here’s the first one:
As Jim Hoft reported, today marked the eighth US embassy attack during Secretary Clinton’s time in office. Not a good day, unless your only consideration is that today is her final one as Secretary of State.
We could go over all of the senseless expenditures that weren’t used to secure human lives, but in her own words, “What difference, at this point, does it make?” Al-Qaeda is in decline. These attacks must be the result of some other forces; a giant cache of secret youtube videos, perhaps?
With respect to a certain video, remember when Charles Woods told Lars Larson that Hillary Clinton assured him “they were going to have that person arrested and prosecuted”? Well, you sure did that, didn’t you, lady.
But as Bill Whittle noted, only Hollywood moguls can assert their First Amendment rights. Not the lowly peasants. Mr. Nakoula should have known better.
And people say tyranny is dead.
He’s Reagan. No, He’s Carter
American Glob notices that Democrats always seem to cite a Republican president when they want to compare Barack Obama to someone successful. (H/T, Instapundit)
The only Republican I would put in the same league as Barack Obama is Herbert Hoover, and I see him as more like other Democrats such as Jimmy Carter or James Buchanan.
Quote of the Day
It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
—Barack Obama
Whose Third Term?
Stacy McCain has a post up about a Democrat congresscritter who has introduced a constitutional amendment to repeal the 22nd Amendment, the one that put the two-term limits on Presidents. Yes, some Democrats are already talking about a third term for Barack Obama.
Uh, huh.
I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating. In 2008, some folks expected that Barack Obama’s first term would be, in effect, Jimmy Carter’s second term. I was one of the people who viewed that as a best case scenario. Given the abundance of coverups, it may be that Barack Obama’s second term will seem like Richard Nixon’s third term.
Another Expired Promise
When running for President in 2008, Barack Obama promised that he wasn’t going to try to take away anyone’s Second Amendment rights. As many folks have noted, all of Mr. Obama’s promises have an expiration date. That promise appears to have expired this past Sunday.
Mr. President, you’re correct in expecting some resistance. You should expect the same response that the Persians received from Leonidas at Thermopylae when they ordered the Spartans to surrender their arms: “μολὼν λαβέ”
Who Was Under It?
The President honors Rosa Parks is his own special way.
Which President is in Office Now?
Remember the riff about the Obama Administration being Jimmy Carter’s second term, and how some of us predicted that as a best case scenario?
Does it seem that Barack Obama’s second term is turning into Richard Nixon’s third?
You Keep Using That Word …
… I do not think it means what you think it means.
How is keeping the current tax rate in place (for the rich or anyone else) a tax cut?
My Final Fearless Forecast
Popular Vote: Romney 52% Obama 47% Third Parties 1% Nate Silver 0
