The empty chair

I thought Eastwood was hilarious last night. He did skip a few beats, but the metaphor of the POTUS as an empty chair resonates. Perhaps too well given that Obama felt the need to respond via Twitter within a few hours. Really? Big Ears must’ve been royally pissed.

Heh.

Ed Morrissey writes of the possible strategy behind the Eastwood pick. Again, I think it brilliant given all the lefties are badmouthing the performance. Mark Steyn defends Clint, too:

 I hugely enjoyed Clint Eastwood’s turn last night, but I’m not sure I agree that it was “unintentionally hilarious” and that “he forgot his lines, lost his way”. Clint is a brilliant actor, and a superb director of other actors (and I don’t just mean a quarter-century ago: in the last five years, he’s made eight films). He’s also, as Mr Gavin observed, a terrific jazz improvisor at the piano – and, in film and music documentaries, an extremely articulate interviewee. So I wouldn’t assume that the general tenor of his performance wasn’t exactly as he intended. The hair was a clue: no Hollywood icon goes out on stage like that unless he means to.

Exactly.

Further, I thought Mitt’s speech fabulous. (I’m not alone). You know I didn’t support him in the primary, and I haven’t been enthusiastic at all since Perry dropped out of the race. That said, I jumped for joy at the Paul Ryan pick, and I’m positive we can win this on message and principle. Romney’s speech caused the left to meltdown last night, so again, I think it’s a winner. The highlight, with faultless delivery:

President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans. And to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family.

Shazam. Obama deserves the mockery, and the left has gone (predictably) nuts.

Rather than dread it, I’m excited for the election to unfold.

Advertisement

What a contrast

I meant to write of Paul Ryan’s fabulousness last night at the convention, but the-infant-is-napping clock ticks while I have laundry to fold and dinner to make. I’ll leave you with Pundette’s impression, which is very similar to my own.

Instead, I’ll tell you about my drive on post this morning to visit the pediatrician.

Every time I visit the doctor, take the kids to theirs, or go grocery shopping, I pass this:

 

More often than not, I also pass this:

Then I have to explain my tears to the four year-old. It never fails to bring the tears, either, and the subsequent silent prayer for the family of the fallen. It was an Army family today, by the uniforms. A Navy family last week.

That’s why reading this headline burns me beyond belief:

Obama Honors Fallen SEALs By Sending Their Parents a Form Letter Signed by Electric Pen

There are no words sufficient for my contempt. I have friends who fall for the Michelle does so much for military families ruse, and I try to bite my tongue.

In case anyone wonders, GW spent hours writing personal notes to the families of the fallen. Over 4,000 letters:

Mr. Bush, for instance, has sent personal letters to the families of every one of the more than 4,000 troops who have died in the two wars, an enormous personal effort that consumed hours of his time and escaped public notice. The task, along with meeting family members of troops killed in action, has been so wrenching – balancing the anger, grief and pride of families coping with the loss symbolized by a flag-draped coffin – that the president often leaned on his wife, Laura, for emotional support.

“I lean on the Almighty and Laura,” Mr. Bush said in the interview. “She has been very reassuring, very calming.”

Mr. Bush also has met privately with more than 500 families of troops killed in action and with more than 950 wounded veterans, according to White House spokesman Carlton Carroll. Many of those meetings were outside the presence of the news media at the White House or at private sessions during official travel stops, officials said.

The first lady said those private visits, many of which she also attended, took a heavy emotional toll, not just on the president, but on her as well.

I was incredibly upbeat this morning after Ryan’s speech. We can win this, I thought. He represents the future. Now all I can see is red, and that caisson pulling a casket, knowing that the Commander-in-Chief could give a shit less about this family or any other military family. Form letter. Campaign on! Sign it with an auto pen.

Defeat this man. Restore the honor and integrity to the office. To the nation.

UPDATE: NB: I know my husband will be incredibly disappointed that I’m using foul language–a first–on the blog. But after much thought, it stands as it properly reflects the attitude of the CIC and his disdain for our finest and their collective sacrifice, two things he knows nothing of. There, ended a sentance with a preposition, too, so everyone should know how peeved I am!

UPDATE 2: Wow, the family of a dead rapper gets a personally written condolence from Obama. Must be that major contribution to … culture. Defense of one’s country, not so much.

Romney’s First 100 Days: From your lips to God’s ears, NYT

Funny, isn’t it, that what liberals fear, I would applaud? From the NYT, a rally to the lefty troops entitled “Romney’s First 100 Days.”  Feel the fear:

If they win the White House, Republicans are also more likely than not to hold on to the House of Representatives and win a narrow majority in the Senate. The party could then embark on the kind of aggressive legislative push that President Obama and the Democrats did in 2009.

Only four years after Democrats seemed on the verge of historic policy gains, Republicans could reverse many of those gains and then some. They could cut the top tax rate to its lowest level in 80 years (as Mr. Romney proposes) and make major changes to federal programs.

Above all, a sweep of Washington could make possible the sort of change Republicans have been talking about for three decades without having yet done: a significant shrinking of government. Ronald Reagan cut domestic programs somewhat but expanded the military, while George W. Bush talked about small government but actually made it bigger. Next year, though, really could be different.

Please, please! Please make it so, that we could have fiscal conservatives who don’t just say conservative things, but … DO them!

Even if Mr. Romney is not the obvious vehicle for the Tea Party revolution, his campaign and his selection of Mr. Ryan for vice president suggest he is game. “His choice of Ryan,” says Grover Norquist, the anti-tax activist, “answers any questions about whether he is for dramatically reducing the cost of government.” Congressional Republicans may force the issue anyway, arguing that their victories demand wholesale change.

“We’re having a real debate about the size and scope of government,” says Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who is overseeing the Republicans’ Senate campaigns. “If Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan win, as I expect they will, they can justly claim a mandate, and I think it will make it much easier to do the hard things we all know need to be done.”

Already, Republicans are starting to think ahead, as is only natural. A Romney transition team, known as “The Readiness Project,” has begun meeting. In 2008, similarly, Obama aides began discussing whether health care or climate policy should be the top priority, a hugely consequential decision.

Yeah, hugely consequential. We had sub-$2 /gal gasoline when Obama took office. I saw it over $4.50 this weekend in DC. Change!

Read the rest. And dream big.

 

Well, at least he stimulated something!

MSNBC voters?

Your stimulus dollars hard at work:

The Labor Department paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal stimulus funds to a public relations firm to run more than 100 commercials touting the Obama administration’s “green training” job efforts on two MSNBC cable shows, records show.

The commercials ran on MSNBC on shows hosted by Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann in 2009, but the contract didn’t report any jobs created, according to records reviewed recently by The Washington Times.

Spending reports under the federal Recovery Act show $495,000 paid to McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations LLC, which the Labor Department hired to raise awareness “among employers and influencers about the [Job Corps] program’s existing and new training initiatives in high growth and environmentally friendly career areas” as well as spreading the word to prospective Job Corps enrollees.

You’d think the money would’ve been better spent on a spot in which voters not already in the tank for Obama would be watching. But that’s government efficiency for ya: spend money needlessly shoring up voters who’d already vote for ya! No word yet on why taxpayer money is funding Obama’s relection campaign. But the damn signs all over the roadway are another story (again, free adverts).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Husband was incredulous over this last night. But I reminded him of Obama’s Chicago pol heritage. As long-time visitors to the Windy City, you get used to this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daley’s name was plastered over every trashcan and on every airport kiosk. Free advertising on the taxpayer dime. Obama learned well!

 

Like taking candy from babies

Or snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Romney ahead in Michigan.

Romney ahead in Wisconsin.

Brown ahead of Fauxcahantas.

And now Cook flips Missouri from toss up to Democrat because the village idiot won’t quit. It takes a special kind of stupid to lose the Senate when, you know, the repeal of Obamacare is at stake.  As Allahpundit notes, maybe it won’t be so bad after all. And you’ll be able to thank Mr. Akin:

Maybe ObamaCare won’t be so bad, guys. A couple of tweaks to IPAB, a little fine-tuning of those state insurance exchanges, and who knows? We might be able to duct-tape this boondoggle together and keep it aloft for a decade or two. If anyone can make it work, it’s President Romney, right?

Bashing my head against desk.

The law of unintended consequences: rise in infectious disease tied to plastic bag ban

Husband and I have debated this one, though I admit we never thought the rise in infectious disease would be measurable. Via HotAir, a fascinating look at the dirty problem associated with reusable grocery bags:

Liberals will have no problem arguing a bird or turtle’s life is worth more than a human’s because they do it all the time (Wesley J. Smith’s “A Rat Is a Pig Is a Dog Is a Boy” exposes the grotesque reality of the PETA position). But when children start dying en masse from cross-contamination that could have been so easily avoided by a cheap disposable bag, will some folks wake up? I wonder.

In full disclosure, I have plenty of cloth bags, though I never (ok, rarely) use them for groceries. I color-code our laundry by bag and shuffle it up and down narrow staircases to the laundry room and back to hanging on bedroom doors. Another functions as a great swim-class bag. But none carry raw meat or poultry, and it’ll likely stay that way.

Cross-posted at Pundit & Pundette.

Well, he can’t discuss his record. So let’s talk … beer!

“Four more beers!” they cry.

Details of the White House home brew piqued my husband’s interest last night. “Why is this even a story?” he asked.

Because they can’t discuss his record. Shaggy dog (on the roof) stories ensue instead.

The details, however, are interesting:

 President Barack Obama has stocked up on a new all-American campaign prop — White House-brewed beer.

During his bus tour across the battleground state of Iowa, the president on Tuesday gave a bottle of the brew, known as White House Honey Ale, to a patron of a Knoxville, Iowa, coffee shop when the subject of beer came up.

While it was the first time the branded beer grabbed wide attention from the press corps on the campaign trail, a White House official said the president and first lady have made a habit of occasionally traveling with bottles of the beer made at a small brewery at the White House.

The beer, which comes in both a light and dark variety, is made by the White House chefs who use traditional beer-brewing methods

The honey portion of the drink is taken from first lady Michelle Obama’s garden beehive near the White House Kitchen Garden on the south lawn.

Taxpayers are not footing the bill for the beer, as both the cost of the equipment and the cost of brewing the beer is paid for by the Obamas personally, the official said.

Emphasis mine. All-American. President giving beer. Made by White House chefs. Tradition. Honey from Michelle’s garden. How lovely. And they’re footing their own bill for a change. (How odd).

What’s the kicker? Oh just wait for the conclusion:

“It’s true, at the State Fair, instead of saying ‘four more years,’ they were saying, ‘four more beers.’ So I bought him four more beers. Told him he had to register to vote, though, to get one of the beers,” Obama told a laughing crowd.

Isn’t that illegal? I digress:

Connecting with the beer drinkers’ vote is a tactic not used by Obama’s Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, a Mormon who does not drink alcohol.

This is why the Obamas are making such a big deal of the home brew. This is why they’re travelling with bottles of beer: to make a rather subversive point about Romney’s Mormonism. They could do it with coffee. Or soda. But beer is the most effective way to show how “out of touch” he is while they follow the “traditional All-American home brewing” methods.

I’m not fooled. But how many would be? What’s next, a reporter pointing out that Romney wouldn’t hold a beer summit (thank God)? Or the usual test pre-election, “With whom would you rather sit and have a beer?” would have to be hypothetical since, you know, Romney doesn’t drink. How far will the media carry this? Maybe not as far as previously thought.

Cross-posted at Pundit & Pundette.

Meet the CENGAs

That’s how pollster John Zogby refers to the “college-educated, not going anywhere” youth. You know, the ones who voted for Hopenchange the last time? Via the Washington Examiner, some have wizened up:

For the first time since he began running for president, Republican Mitt Romney has the support of over 40 percent of America’s youth vote, a troubling sign for President Obama who built his 2008 victory with the overwhelming support of younger, idealistic voters.

Pollster John Zogby of JZ Analytics told Secrets Tuesday that Romney received 41 percent in his weekend poll of 1,117 likely voters, for the first time crossing the 40 percent mark. What’s more, he said that Romney is the only Republican of those who competed in the primaries to score so high among 18-29 year olds.

“This is the first time I am seeing Romney’s numbers this high among 18-29 year olds,” said Zogby. “This could be trouble for Obama who needs every young voter he can get.”

Oh noes! How to explain it?

Zogby speculates that Romney’s selection of 42-year-old Rep. Paul Ryan helped turn more younger voters to him. “It could be his youthfulness,” said Zogby of Ryan. Plus, he said, more younger voters are becoming libertarian, distrustful of current elected officials and worried that they are going to get stuck with the nation’s looming fiscal bill.

“They want change,” said Zogby.

They want jobs and to live independently. To build their own families. They can’t under the current economic climate. Thank goodness some are smart enough to realize it’s from the disastrous policies of this disingenuous president and his merry band of lackeys.

H/t: memeorandum

Ryan’s “Catholic problem”?! What about Obama’s?

The Daily Beast sees fit to call Ryan’s budget a “problem” for those pesky Catholics. Bring it on:

Indeed, the choice between these two types of Catholic politicians could not be any more plain.

Biden is a “social justice” Catholic who claims to know how to connect with blue-collar Democratic Catholics, like those in his hometown of Scranton, Pa. During four of his last five years in the Senate, he received a 100 percent rating from NARAL. As vice president he supported federal funding for abortion, despite voicing opposition to it in 2008, and the Health and Human Services mandate requiring Catholic institutions serving the public to provide insurance coverage for contraception, including abortifacients and sterilization.

Oh, that. Let’s rephrase the headline: Paul Ryan exposes the hypocritical liberal Catholics who cling to their social justice bona fides while ignoring church teaching on life. You know, that it begins at conception. That abortion is not only murder, but a great moral evil. And now Catholics are forced to pay for that evil via Obama’s HHS mandate regardless of whether they disagree or not.

Yeah, that. Religious liberty and abortion. That’s a “Catholic problem, too.”

More:

While the choice of Ryan will please the Tea Party as well as fiscal  and social conservatives, it creates an opening for the Catholic supporters of Obama: Paul Ryan’s 2012 GOP budget has already been the subject of official criticism by some Catholic bishops for failing to meet certain “moral criteria” and cutting programs that “serve poor and vulnerable people.” The media coverage failed to note that the four letters to Congress in April came from two bishops: Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, each speaking on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in their respective roles.

[…]

“Those [Catholic] principles are very, very important,” Ryan said. “And the preferential option for the poor, which is one of the primary tenets of Catholic social teaching, means don’t keep people poor, don’t make people dependent on government so that they stay stuck at their station in life; help people get out of poverty, out into a life of independence.”

Emphasis my own. We are the party of lifting folks out of poverty, not keeping them tethered to it for votes. What an inconvenient truth in the age of Obama, where millions more find themselves on food stamps.

Some point to Ryan’s flirtation with Ayn Rand, but neglect his ultimate rejection of her philosophy in favor of real Catholic teaching:

“I reject her philosophy,” Ryan told the National Review in April. “It’s an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. If somebody is going to try to paste a person’s view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas. …Don’t give me Ayn Rand.”

Enough said.

Read also Pundette, GOP: the Party of Math?

UPDATE: Many thanks to Pundette for the link!

Paul Ryan rocks

(Quick, before the baby wakes!)

I stand corrected thinking that Romney stands for nothing but political gain.

Romney-Ryan. I’m awed.

I had to laugh while watching the NBC newscast earlier (muted while on the phone) as they breathlessly showed aerial photographs of Ryan’s digs in Wisconsin. Hey NBC folks: it’s hard to vilify a man as an out of touch rich dude when he sleeps in his office. Just sayin’.

Via Legal Insurrection, a few videos to quell the nervousness. If anyone is capable of exposing the lie of the left–that we can keep folks forever on the dole while only taxing “the rich”–it’s Paul Ryan.