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.

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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!

 

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

Short shrift

But what do we expect?

What struck me most about this display in Crystal City was that it counters reality. Romney bests Obama in height, which is, after all a historical predictor of who will win the race. But we can’t have Obama looking small and petty, can we? He manages quite well on his own.

When the White House Press Corps openly laughs at you…

You’ve probably told a whopper. Or a few. From the Washington Examiner, the White House can’t seem to get the Fast and Furious story straight:

And when Carney said that Obama’s decision to assert executive privilege over documents subpoenaed by Congress was “entirely about principle,” reporters openly laughed.

Whoops. The sad fact remains that most of the losers laughing will still vote for The Most Transparent Administration Evah.

This was after being twice corrected by Jake Tapper about the origins of Fast and Furious and the name of the Border Patrol agent killed as a result:

Next, Carney was forced to back off his attempt to pin Fast and Furious on the Bush Administration. “It originated in a field office during the previous administration.  It was ended under this administration, by this Attorney General,” Carney said. ABC’s Jake Tapper quickly observed that “The operation began in fall 2009.”

[…]

As Carney continued to field questions, he appeared to forget the family name of border patrol agent Brian Terry, who was death ignited the investigation after he was killed by drug smugglers armed with weapons obtained through Operation Fast and Furious.

“We have provided Congress every document that pertains to the operation itself that is at issue here when you talk about the family that you referred to,” Carney said. When Tapper provided him the name, he repeated it — “the Terry family.”

Smartest people in the room, eh? What an embarrassing administration.

UPDATE: linked by Pundette as a “Recommended Read” AND in this fabulous post. Read it. Thanks!

Linked by Pirate’s Cove. Thanks!

It’s not just religious freedom under attack

It seems ever more important to reflect upon the loss of liberties in the past week. First, King Barack announced he ignored Congress (and that pesky Constitution) and granted amnesty-by-fiat to young illegals. Yesterday he invoked–falsely, at that–Executive Privilege to cover the illegal activities of his Justice Department. See Pundette for more.

Tonight the Catholic Church kicked off its Fortnight for Freedom with Mass at the Basilica in Baltimore.

It seems like more than religious freedom we’re fighting for, doesn’t it?

Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty

O God our Creator,

Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit,
you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world,
bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel
to every corner of society.

We ask you to bless us
in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart
to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.

Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father,
a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters
gathered in your Church
in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood
and every danger overcome—
for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us—
this great land will always be “one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

 

Private sector ain’t so hot, Mr. President

Hiding in the basement avoiding the heat. Two news items of note. The first, from James Pethokoukis, who emphasizes how “not fine” the private sector really is:

The government’s April Job Opening and Labor Turnover report was, in the words of JPMorgan economists, “soft, lending some credence to the view that the April-May slowing seen in the payroll report was real and not a statistical fluke.”

– The number of job openings in April fell 325,000 to 3.416 million. That’s the lowest level since November of last year.

– But here is the real red flag. Private job openings fell 282,000 — the most since early 2009 — to 3.080 million. Early 2009, if you recall, saw the economy just hemorrhaging jobs.

Hemorrhaging, eh? Wonderful news less than six months before an election. Have the Obami figured out how to make the unemployment number not reflect the new pool of job seekers they’ve illegally granted amnesty to–or will those folks simply not be counted as part of the labor pool?

Speaking of which, it will be interesting to see how much traction the handful of block-the-President bills gain. Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz) said of his bill:

“Last week, the president decided to grant amnesty and hand out work permits to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, while over 23 million Americans remain unemployed and the civilian participation rate is at a 30-year low,” he said Monday. “This amounts to an abdication of duty to the American people who are struggling in this economy.”Instead of working with Congress to secure our border and reform our immigration policy, President Obama sought to circumvent Congress once again.”

Pretty much.

I knew this would be an insane election season. I never knew how much. This salvo from Obama last week–only one step short of full amnesty, by fiat at that–shows he’s willing to stop at nothing.

Anyone else nervous about the newfound pools of voters they’ll dig out of graves, one way or another?

“Are We in Revolutionary Times?”

So asks Victor Davis Hanson of Obama’s unprecedented (and shameful) disregard of the Constitution yesterday in announcing he will  blatently ignore the law of the land (and the separation of powers) and not deport 800,000 illegal aliens. How quick can you get ’em on the voter rolls illegally, eh? Hanson writes:

Legally, President Obama has reiterated the principle that he can pick and choose which U.S. laws he wishes to enforce (see his decision to reverse the order of the Chrysler creditors, his decision not to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, and his administration’s contempt for national-security confidentiality and Senate and House subpoenas to the attorney general). If one individual can decide to exempt nearly a million residents from the law — when he most certainly could not get the law amended or repealed through proper legislative or judicial action — then what can he not do? Obama is turning out to be the most subversive chief executive in terms of eroding U.S. law since Richard Nixon.

Politically, Obama calculates that some polls showing the current likely Hispanic support for him in the high 50s or low 60s would not provide enough of a margin in critical states such as Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado, or perhaps also in Florida and Virginia, to counteract the growing slippage of the independent vote and the energy of the clinger/tea-party activists. Thus, what was not legal or advisable in 2009, 2010, or 2011, suddenly has become critical in mid-2012. No doubt free green cards will quickly lead to citizenship and a million new voters. Will it work politically? Obama must assume lots of things: that all Hispanics vote as a block in favoring exempting more illegal aliens from the law, and are without worry that the high unemployment rate hits their community among the hardest; that black voters, stung by his gay-marriage stance, will not resent what may be seen as de facto amnesty, possibly endangering his tiny (and slipping) lead in places like Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. And because polls show overwhelming resistance to non-enforcement of immigrationlaw, Obama also figures that the minority who supports his recent action does so far more vehemently than the majority who opposes it. Time will tell; but my gut feeling is that his brazen act will enrage far more than it will delight — and for a variety of different reasons. As with all his special-interest efforts — the Keystone cancellation, war-on-women ploy, gay-marriage turnabout, and now de facto amnesty — Obama believes dividing Americans along class, ethnic, gender, and cultural lines will result in a cobbled together majority, far more preferable than a 1996 Clinton-like effort to win over the independents by forging  a bipartisan consensus.

There is no bipartisan consensus in Obama’s head. Yes, we can steamroll the Constitution! He is desperate, because in doing so, he’s going to make the employment situation bleaker for many. Read the rest.

Rush called this the “Catch, Release, Vote” plan. Fitting. His predictions of what comes next frighten me more.

UPDATE: Pundette has much more.

“The media is so in Mr. Obama’s pocket that it might as well be lint.”

Heh.

So says the one and only Ben Stein in discussing the leaky-administration. He writes:

What I really do love is that at the same time that Carl and Bob are attacking Nixon, the peacemaker, they are “warning” journalists and legislators not to jump all over Mr. Obama and Mr. Eric Holder for their leaks about national security matters, orchestrated to make Obama look tough on defense matters.

Obviously, these leaks are illegal. They are breaches of not one but many laws against releasing classified information. Will anyone go after the Obama White House for it? Will anyone outside the Tea Party dare to suggest that the Obama White House is a criminal enterprise for this? Of course not. The media is so in Mr. Obama’s pocket that it might as well be lint.

Read the rest. Mr. Stein’s grasp of history–and role in it–weaves Watergate into current events seamlessly.