Congress skulks away without passing budget; Obama wants everyone to be encouraged about the future

Obama, addressing the hopeless in a backyard somewhere in Iowa:

About 70 people awaited him in the backyard, where Mr. Obama got an earful. One woman told him that her 24-year-old son had “campaigned furiously for you and was very inspired by your message of hope,” but is now out of college and struggling to find a job.

Another said she had “great concerns about your health care bill.” A priest told of an unemployed parishioner. A small-business owner expressed irritation with the president’s plan to raise taxes for people earning more than $250,000, to which Mr. Obama, showing his own flash of own irritation, replied: “Your taxes haven’t gone up in this administration.”

The questions were so downbeat that at the end of the hour-long session, Mr. Obama tried to pick up the mood.

“As I listen to the questions,” he said, “it’s a good reminder we’ve got a long way to go, but I do want everyone to be encouraged about our future.”

No need to fret, Mr. President. Many of us are really quite encouraged about the future, eagerly counting down the days till November 2nd.

Then there are those who are cutting their losses.

Concerns about voter fraud are mounting. See J. Christian Adams on FOX and read about those who would steal your vote.

Meanwhile, the rats scurry from the sinking ship. Congress has slipped out of town without passing a budget. Gary Andres:

The 2010 federal fiscal year ended unceremoniously this week – a political and substantive fiasco for the Democrats. It included a cascade of miscalculations that could haunt the party in the November elections. But that pales in comparison to the serious harm they’ve inflicted on the American economy.

Never before has a party so bungled fiscal policy in the United States, leaving citizens, businesses, and investors with head-spinning uncertainty.  [. . .]

This is truly unconscionable.  How can the Democrats – with large majorities in the House and the Senate – look voters in the eye and say, we have no plan – no long term schematic to ensure America won’t become another Greece.  The only thing  more unbelievable is that they apparently got away with it because no one seems to notice.

This dereliction of duty is unprecedented. Never in the history of the modern process – dating back more than a quarter of a century – have both the House and the Senate failed to pass a budget resolution.

See Robert Costa's poste noir on the Democrats' exit into darkness:

After a couple minutes, Perriello, along with other nervous Democrats, left Pelosi’s side and stepped out onto the Capitol steps, descending down under the shadow of the dome. As they ducked into the black of night, rain poured onto their jackets and ties, and the wind whistled around the Hill. No word on whether this storm will cease.

Harry Reid made it clear that holding on to his seat is a higher priority than the fiscal health of the country:

"We may not agree on much, but I think, with rare exception, all 100 senators want to get out of here and get back to their states," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is locked in a tough re-election fight against Republican Sharron Angle in Nevada.

But it's out of the frying pan and in into the fire for Reid and his fellow weasels:

A deeply unpopular Congress is bolting for the campaign trail without finishing its most basic job - approving a budget for the government year that begins on Friday. Lawmakers also are postponing a major fight over taxes, two embarrassing ethics cases and other political hot potatoes until angry and frustrated voters render their verdict in the Nov. 2 elections.

Let's cut these cowards loose.

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Obama's tone: From inspirational to shrill

And you thought the 's' word could only be used to describe Republicans. But husband Pundit broke the adjectival barrier yesterday morning in the car as we discussed Obama's Rolling Stone comments, and Allahpundit used it in print last night:

If you want to know why he sounds so shrill and desperate at the end of the clip, that’s because he is.

The clip shows Obama wagging his finger and shouting himself hoarse before an audience of college students last night at the U of Wisconsin in Madison.

Sean Hannity tells the president to "put your pants on, sit at the table, man up." And he marvels at George Bush's restraint, which deserves more attention than it's gotten. The former president's first-class temperament has been quietly on display throughout Obama's endless blame-Bush campaign.

Now President Obama is blaming his own supporters for his party's impending defeat and revealing his own true temperament. He's not above throwing a tantrum when he doesn't get his way.

Michael Sherer, re the Rolling Stone interview, sees the president "in full parenting mode":

This is not the professorial Obama, all cool and detached. It is the president in full parenting mode, talking to his own base like a father talks to his 15-year-old son after three straight days of playing Halo instead of doing homework and chores.

A couple of things: Hectoring makes for bad parenting; it doesn't show, or inspire,  respect, but merely seeks to override the will of the child with one's own. And voters, even young ones, aren't children you can nag and bully into submission.


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How to alienate voters [updated]

Mock them, nag them, insult them, laugh at them, patronize them. 

Must-read of the morning: an open letter to Stephen Colbert from Althea Rae Shaw:

Are you aware of, and/or concerned with the fact, that American citizens and legal immigrants are murdered everyday by illegal aliens? Have you ever spent one second thinking about that? [. . .]

These are just three of the American Citizens who I’m sure were not laughing when they were shot and murdered. Unfortunately, we have a long list of names of American citizens who were murdered by illegal aliens. Would you like to see their faces and meet their families?

RTR.


Yesterday President Obama made a direct appeal to that influential group, college journalism students, begging them to reengage in the political process. Guess he wasn't talking to conservative students, because they're already pretty fired-up. The president will continue his "I Want You Back" tour with what he hopes will be an '08-style rally from liberal Madison, WI, simulcast to a couple hundred other college campuses. Will anyone be watching?

See John Podhoretz: Yes, We Can . . . Stay Home

Joe Biden also has an inspiring message for the base: "Stop whining." That ought to get out the vote!


Who's running against Steny Hoyer, who laughed at the thought of reading a bill before passing it? Charles Loller, that's who.


Via Backyard Conservative, a report on Michelle Obama's visit to a boutique-y farm/upscale organic restaurant in New York state, where kids can learn that tomatoes grow on tomato plants and eggs come from chickens. And then you put on your cute silver ballet flats and pick them. I think:

And to see the kids in the chicken coops, picking the eggs, and they were excited, and they want to show you what they’ve done, and they have information and intelligence about the food that they’re eating, you see that excitement.

Only one kid was attacked by a chicken.


*Update: More admonishing, lecturing, and criticizing of his own supporters from Obama, via Rolling Stone:

Admonishing his own party, President Barack Obama says it would be "inexcusable" and "irresponsible" for unenthusiastic Democratic voters to sit out the midterm elections, warning that the consequences could be a squandered agenda for years.

"People need to shake off this lethargy. People need to buck up," Mr. Obama told Rolling Stone in an interview to be published Friday. The president told Democrats that making change happen is hard and "if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place."

If only he really could get the message that "folks weren't serious in the first place." They jumped on his bandwagon but (foolishly) didn't expect him to drive off a cliff.

This bit is amusing: 

The president said he keeps a checklist of his campaign promises and that he has met, by his account, about 70 percent of them.

As for the rest: "Well, that's what the next two years is for, or maybe the next six."

Mr. Obama would need to win re-election in 2012 for that latter timeframe to occur.

Heh.

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They can't be serious

Sure, they're arrogant, dishonest, power-mad, et cetera. But Byron York cuts to the heart of what's wrong with this Congress:

Unable to govern, Dems turn to Stephen Colbert:

In matters large and small, the actions of Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill have created what could be THE question of the final weeks of the campaign: Are Democrats really serious about running Congress? [emphasis added]

Wouldn't a party that is serious about running Congress at least try to pass a budget? Wouldn't a party that is serious about running Congress at least try to avert the chaos of a last-minute, across-the-board tax increase? And wouldn't a party that is serious about running Congress think twice before going along with a high-profile mockery of Congress itself?

As the elections approach, the Colbert fiasco has given Republicans an unexpected framework for talking about the basic unseriousness of the last six months of Democratic rule on Capitol Hill. "They've got time to bring a comedian to Washington, D.C, but they don't have time to eliminate the uncertainty by extending all of the current tax rates," said House Republican Leader John Boehner on "Fox News Sunday". "I think that's irresponsible." 

Beyond that, it's self-serving and cowardly:

And as the days without a budget tick by, Democrats appear too timid to explain to voters why they're not doing what they should be doing. "Part of the reason they didn't want to lay out the budget is that they didn't want to lay out where they were going to take taxes and spending in the next few years," says a GOP strategist. "Any time they have to lay out the direction they intend to go, they believe it will be politically detrimental to the continuation of the Democratic majority."

These craven opportunists have proven their unfitness to govern beyond a shadow of a doubt. November can't come soon enough, though it will be interesting to see how much deeper their self-dug hole gets between now and then. Read the rest.

Here's the short video Mr. York mentioned. When asked whether Colbert's appearance was appropriate, Speaker Pelosi answered, "Of course it's appropriate. He's an American, right?"


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Various & sundry: Do you believe in magic?

Women apologize much more often than men. I'm sorry but it's true.

Maybe that's why Barack put Hillary in charge of the State Department, which committed another embarrassing blunder, this time with those confusing foreign flags (shouldn't they consult some experts or something?):

The U.S. government said Sunday it made an "honest mistake" when it displayed an inverted Philippine flag — which wrongfully signified that the Southeast Asian nation was in a state of war — in a meeting hosted by President Barack Obama.

Myanmar's flag was hung upside down, too. Picky, picky, picky.


Has Michelle Obama been placed in charge of the diets of Gitmo detainees? Perhaps that's the explanation behind the latest Guantanamo human rights violation scandal: Gitmo Horrors Continue: Detainees Limited to One Ice Cream


John Kerry understands the anger of the electorate: It's born of ignorance, and like small children, we irrationally blame our minders for things we just can't understand. Doctor Zero nails it:

Like a clumsy kid going deep into the dinnerware department to catch a Nerf football pass in a department store, John Kerry lumbered to the nearest microphone to blurt out the latest meme: the Tea Party isn’t paying attention at all.  They’re just bleating in confusion, sheep panicking in the shadow of terrible forces they are not qualified to discuss: “We have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what’s happening,” Kerry told reporters after touring the Boston Medical Center yesterday.

We should listen to Senator "Man of the People" Kerry's analysis because . . . ? If he had been paying attention he'd know that most Americans don't agree with him about who's informed and who isn't. 

An excerpt from Doc Z's response:

We don’t blame ourselves for the nation’s problems, Senator Kerry.  We blame you. We’re not just looking at your Party, either… or have you not been paying attention to the primaries?  We can see how much control the State has asserted over our lives through impenetrable layers of regulation, which even legislators admit they neither read nor understand.  We’re not just laughing off Nancy Pelosi’s comment that we had to pass ObamaCare to learn what was in it.  The Democrats demand we give them vast amounts of power without specifying what they plan to do with it, establishing any means to judge their success, or defining any limit to future expansion of the precedents they set today.  They demand our faith, along with the resulting surrender of faith in ourselves.  We reject those demands.

RTR.


The NYT reports that the Obama White House will attempt to re-conjure the '08 magic with a huge rally tomorrow at the University of Wisconsin. Our Campaigner-in-Chief has chosen an outdoor venue at the ultra-liberal Madison campus to ensure a large crowd and avoid the nasty optics of empty seats.

I wonder, do they really think they can put a bubble back together after it has popped? The Obama trendiness has passed. One of my readers pointed out a while back that a magic trick is ruined once the audience sees how the trick is done. Worse, some people feel deceived and cheated. But the Obami have got nothing else, so it's off to Madison they go. What do you think: Will Obama replay the Slurpee speech, or revert to Messiah mode?

On Tuesday, the president is scheduled to hold an old-fashioned campaign rally on the campus of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Party officials said they expected thousands to cram onto Library Mall, an outside setting, to see Mr. Obama.

A senior strategist said the event would be the biggest political rally since the end of the campaign and is meant to recapture “some of the old excitement and energy from the 2008 campaign that was so essential to Obama’s and Democrats’ success.”

The strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the thinking behind the new approach, said the White House was also trying to leverage the single event with more than 200 “watch parties” across the country, much as Mr. Obama’s campaign did two years ago.

“It’s not about one event in one state — it’s about generating excitement across the country,” the strategist said. “It’s a pretty big deal.”

For the president, it had better be. With the midterm election just over five weeks away, Mr. Obama’s Democratic Party is suffering from a lack of enthusiasm, as measured in numerous public opinion surveys.

I'll be watching. If Obama's team can figure out how to bring back a fad that's run its course, have I got a stocking stuffer for you!

*Updated to add this from the Washington Post's story on Obama's campus blitz (emphasis added):

When Obama steps onto a grass quad at the University of Wisconsin on Tuesday, he will deliver a newly tailored, more personalized campaign appeal aimed at ginning up enthusiasm, according to White House and senior Democratic officials. Plouffe said Obama will remind students of the work they put into his 2008 campaign and warn them that if they don't reengage now, "all that could be jeopardized."

The students on this leafy, generally liberal campus once constituted one of the strongest battalions in Obama's grass-roots army. Two years later, the political dynamic has changed. Across campus, stickers, signs or chalkings for any politician are scarce. The laundromat where Obama's young volunteers once staged late-night phone banks and planned bus trips to neighboring Iowa has gone out of business. And some students who say they voted for Obama in 2008 now say they don't even know who's on the ballot this fall.

Democrats hope Tuesday's rally could provide a needed jump-start. The event, featuring singer-songwriter Ben Harper, will be simulcast on more than 200 other campuses and be amplified by similar youth-oriented events in other states, featuring surrogates including Vice President Biden. On Monday, Obama will host an on-the-record conference call with college student journalists to tout his administration's record on issues important to young people.

Brilliant! Simulcasts for the apathetic and Vice President Joe Biden, who's, like, the bee's knees to the hep college crowd.


Thanks to MichelleMalkin.com for the Buzzworthy link.
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How far gone are the House Democrats?

So far gone that Rep. John Conyers was the voice of reason yesterday. Well, temporarily. Byron York reports on the Colbert embarrassment:

The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, but Rep. John Conyers is chairman of the larger Judiciary Committee. In that role, he has a seat on the subcommittee, and he spoke up early in the hearing. To the surprise of many observers, Conyers used his time to ask Colbert to leave.

"I'm so happy that you've helped us fill the room," Conyers said to Colbert. "I haven't seen this many cameras since -- when?"

"Maybe since impeachment," said Lofgren, to pained laughter among the lawmakers.

At that point, Conyers thanked Colbert for showing up and asked him to leave the room. Colbert seemed confused. Was Conyers asking him not to speak? No, Conyers said, he was asking him to leave altogether.

"You run your show," Conyers said. "We run the committee."

Then Colbert began his testimony, which was an in-character schtick based on a one-day visit to an upstate New York farm. "This is America," Colbert said. "I don't want a tomato picked by a Mexican."  As the hearing went on, Colbert said things like, "I was a cornpacker…cornpacker is a derogatory term for a gay Iowan."

At the end, Conyers admitted Colbert's "testimony" was "pretty profound."

Megyn Kelly thinks Lofgren and company owe American taxpayers an apology, and Rep. Steve King believes Colbert's farm stunt mocked hard working laborers:

Talk about being wildly out of touch with the electorate; Americans are in a far more serious mood, apparently, than are our liberal representatives. This circus act shows how desperately Congress needs a wake-up call from the people. It was a cry for help. Let's give it to them. Because we the people have had enough.

Exit question: Given the Dems' blind arrogance, how much more strength will the tsunami gather between now and November 2nd?

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Music break: Skylark

Aretha


Ella


You can download my new favorite version, by Nancy LaMott, here, which I discovered here.

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Then he dazzled her with his Speedo

Susie Madrak asked for it, and got it, from Stacy McCain. Speedo and all:

Under-the-Bleachers Blogger Externalizes Rage, Demands to See Speedo Picture

Why does David Axelrod treat you with contempt? Because you deserve it. See, Axelrod got paid — and paid very well — to sell Obama’s act to you chumps. The fact that you bought it, and then went out to sell it to other people even more gullible than yourselves, only goes to show what natural-born chumps you are. Or to cite Professor Reynolds’ response to a similar example:

JON STEWART ON OBAMA: “I thought he’d do a better job.” You did, huh? Based on what, his extensive experience? Rube.

If I may quote your own words back to you, Susie Madrak:

Hey, you. Shut up and sit down. Yes, you.

You’ve got nothing to complain about, ma’am. You are the author of your own disgrace, having devoted years to the advancement of false ideas and false leaders. Rather than blaming the people who have deceived you, or blaming yourself for believing their lies, instead you continue to blame the same old bogeymen: Republicans, Christians, “Corporate America,” capitalism, patriarchy, etc.

Bingo. Read the rest.

Stacy links to Left Coast Rebel, who asks a pertinent question: Shouldn't the News be that the White House Listens to Far-left Hate Sites? Sure, it should; but we're all kinda used to this president's penchant for lefty haters.

Also a story: the palpable desperation that inspired Axelrod's futile plea to Obama's extremist base. Ugly times in the West Wing. Even Shepard Fairey's losing hope.

Another sign of desperation: Michelle Obama will hit the campaign trail in October.



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Christie defunds Planned Parenthood

Gov. Awesomeness vetoed a bill that would restore taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood outlets in New Jersey. The NJ Senate failed to override the veto, with Republican senators unwilling to go against the governor, and PP closings have begun. Hallelujah:

Trenton, NJ (LifeNews.com) -- After the New Jersey state Senate defeated an attempt to override the decision of Gov. Chris Christie to cut off state taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood abortion businesses, the first facility run by the national abortion giant is closing.

The Cherry Hill Courier Post newspaper says a Planned Parenthood facility located on Haddonfield Road and operated by Planned Parenthood of Southern New Jersey will close down.

PP-SNJ stands to lose as much as $160,000 in taxpayer funds because of Christie's decision and the upholding of his veto. With the closing of the Cherry Hill center, Planned Parenthood customers seeking abortions or other "services" must go to PP centers in Camden, Bellmawr, and Edgewater Park.

Parenthood of Southern New Jersey president Lynn Brown told the newspaper, "We are in think mode and creative mode and we are doing all that we can to try and salvage to see as many people as we need to see."

"Creative mode"? "Salvaging" (from salver, to save)? Funny words to use in connection with the abortion biz, in which tiny humans are suctioned and scraped from their mothers' wombs, for profit.

"We all know it's strictly ideological," Brown said of the funding cuts to the abortion business. "This is a very frustrating and perplexing time for us."

Someone, get her a hanky.


Hat tip: The Corner

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But can we absorb Obama?

Thinking people had grave concerns about candidate Barack Obama's lack of qualifications to serve as commander in chief. They were right to worry. A sampling of responses to his "We can absorb a terrorist attack" remark:

Liz Cheney: The President owes the American people an explanation

“Americans expect our President to do everything possible to defend the nation from attack. We expect him to use every tool at his disposal to find, defeat, capture and kill terrorists. We expect him to deter attacks by making clear to our adversaries that an attack on the United States will carry devastating consequences. Instead, President Obama is reported to have said, ‘We can absorb a terrorist attack.’ This comment suggests an alarming fatalism on the part of President Obama and his administration. Once again the President seems either unwilling or unable to do what it takes to keep this nation safe. The President owes the American people an explanation.”

VDH: Start praying:

That said, the initial reports from the book reveal two very disturbing presidential admissions that, if true, Robert Gibbs should quickly address: Obama’s purported toss-off that the U.S. could absorb another 9/11-like terrorist attack (a very callous and cruel editorial about the 3,000 who were so savagely killed and are no longer with us), and his studied avoidance of any notion of “victory” (as in, How quaint) in Afghanistan.

If these are accurate admissions, then we all better pray for salvation, because we won’t find it from the White House. The entire post-9/11 national-security doctrine was to be offensively minded, and to fight terror abroad rather than merely react to it serially at home. Afghanistan may be messy, confused, and non-traditional, but “victory” is no construct; it is a timeless military reality of making an enemy concede through force and diplomacy to your political objectives — in this case, a stable consensual government in Kabul, and the Taliban and its terrorist allies denied the use of Afghan soil to launch further attacks on Western interests. If Obama does not believe such a victory is possible, then he should not ask American youth to die in the next year as he finds a politically expedient method to back out of the theater.

RTR.

John Podhoretz: What does this say about Obama?

If Barack Obama were running in the November election, the sentence revealed today from the president’s interview with Woodward — “We can absorb a terrorist attack. We’ll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever . . . we absorbed it and we are stronger” — would guarantee his defeat and his removal from Washington in a condition of ignominy. It would go down in the annals of history as the most damaging election-eve gaffe of all time. It won’t be that, because it’s 2010, not 2012. But what does it say about the president who said it? [. . .]

Once again, we are left with the impression of a leader who finds national security something from which he can stand apart and think as an analyst rather than as the man on the watch, the man whose chief job it is to ensure not that we absorb an attack but that an attack never occur while he stands guard.

RTR.

Doug Ross isn't surprised: Woodward Shock Expose: Unqualified Community Organizer With Teleprompter Dependency Makes Surprisingly Lousy Commander-in-Chief


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No seat is safe, Barney Frank edition

Yes. Check out Sean Bielat, the Anti-Frank.

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Obamacare has "little to do" with rising healthcare premiums

And this is announced with a straight face.

Note to the ruling elites: I know you can't possibly assimilate this, but Americans are really tired of being treated like idiots by their minders.

Lying HHS head insults our intelligence again:

Now we know why Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was trying to gag insurance companies from telling their customers that the coming rate hikes are due to Obamacare.

Sebelius told National Journal Editorial Director Ronald Brownstein that the coming rate hikes will be “substantial” – but added, “It has little to do with passage of the [Patient Protection and Affordable Care] Act and more to do with the marketplace.”

Oooh, that evil marketplace. Darn those greedy corporations, trying to keep their businesses alive.

Sebelius, who is in charge of running the whole Obamacare octopus, got it completely wrong. Instead of admitting error, she’s blaming the “marketplace.” And she’s partly right — as many opponents of Obamacare pointed out for months, any rational marketplace is going to mark up prices to cover the extra benefits the government is now forcing insurers to provide.

I'm not so sure she didn't know exactly what she was doing. Even a child understands that 1 + 1 = 2. The statists hate "the marketplace" and are eager to undermine it.

Here's more of the same Obamacare awesomeness, but this time with prescription drugs: Higher drug prices feared after 'doughnut hole' plan

It's that demon marketplace at work again:

Beginning next year, at the expense of pharmaceutical companies, millions of senior citizens in the Medicare coverage gap known as the "doughnut hole" will receive 50 percent discounts off the price of brand-name prescription drugs.

The government does not control the underlying prices; the law leaves that to the market.

Not so loud. I don't think we should be calling attention to that oversight.


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Disgruntled

If Obama's formerly illegal aunt ain't happy ain't nobody happy, and Auntie Z is far from gruntled.

Is there any point in asking why, if living in the US has been such a nightmare, the dissatisfied Onyango doesn't want to go home? Or why she wants (okay, demands) to become a US citizen?

The new American dream, according to Treacher: In America, if you work hard and play by the rules, your taxes can pay to support deadbeats like Obama’s Aunt Zeituni

An utter lack of graciousness seems to be a family trait. This aunt is no gentleman.

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Various & sundry: Slurpee fevah, Hitchens Day

A reminder if you're so inclined: it's Everyone Pray for Hitchens Day. The cancer has spread.


A fevah for Slurpees: See Obama devolve into self-parody at last night's PA fundraiser for Joe Sestak. His delivery isn't improving ("holes in the fender"?). Unbearable but mercifully brief.
*ETA Iowahawk's The Car, the Ditch, and the Slurpee.


Obama's ellipsis: "Endowed . . . with certain unalienable rights" -- Did TOTUS make him do it, or did he edit that out on his own?


Awkwardness squared. Harry Reid sticks his foot in it again:

Then he turned his attention to Gillibrand, saying something about how "many senators are known for many things," according to a source. He added, "We in the Senate refer to Sen. Gillibrand as the hottest member." [. . .]

The comment prompted Gillibrand to turn red, according to the sources, and created a bit of stir among the small crowd there.

Gillibrand should be grateful he didn't call her "his pet." All together now: Ewwwwww.


Obama on some possible personnel changes among his epic-fail economic team:

"They’ve been at it for two years. And, you know, they’re going to have a whole range of decisions about family that’ll factor into this as well.”

Stephen Spruiell:

“… a whole range of decisions about family…” as in: My entire economic team might suddenly decide to spend more time with theirs.

We'd cheer them on but who thinks their replacements would be any better?


I guess there's no way we could just make Jimmy Carter shut up?


Many thanks to MichelleMalkin.com for the Buzzworthy link.
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Exhausted? Yeah, me too.

Obama's response to the woman who is "exhausted of defending him": Blah blah blah. Don't bother to click. He has no answer.

But do note Obama's highly inappropriate laugh when the lady expresses her criticism. Good grief.

By the way, I'm exhausted from, or with, but definitely not of (sorry, but that "of" really grates on my ear, as does "bored of," which is common usage among the yutes) opposing him, his disastrous policies, and his statist agenda.

I wonder when, if ever, these dupes who allowed themselves to fall for Obama's blather will take some responsibility for their grave error and its national and international consequences. They made the "new reality" possible.


Many thanks to MichelleMalkin.com for the Buzzworthy link.
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On real political maturity

Michelle Malkin takes on the father-knows-best self-proclaimed grown-ups of the GOP establishment in the person of Michael Gerson. He pledges his fealty to the up-till-now entrenched Beltway establishment, condemning Tea Party activists (a.k.a. voters) for their political immaturity. He's not impressed with mere Web site operators, either. (It might be instructive to compare the ever-shrinking readership of the ever-shrinking Post, with all its resources, to that of Malkin's nearly one-woman-run site, but I guess that's not relevant to Gerson's argument.)

We are children in his eyes:

Actually, [Rove] is a former high-level policy aid to the president of the United States and the primary author of two presidential victories. This does not make him always right. But it means he has had responsibilities bigger than running a Web site. This is an advantage for a commentator, not a drawback.

In Tea Party theory, inexperience is itself seen as a kind of qualification. People like O'Donnell are actually preferable to people like Rove, because they haven't been tainted by public trust or actual achievement. This is the attitude of the adolescent -- the belief that the world began on their thirteenth birthday. It is also a sign of childish political thought.

Childish political thought, as in ignorantly voting for a certain candidate because it's become the cool thing to do? No, he's not talking about the brainless army of drones that got Obama elected.

He's talking about recalcitrant voters who think they know best how to live their own lives. The GOP establishment sees us just as liberals do, as incompetents in need of babysitting. And when the people make it clear they've had enough of the status quo, Gerson and company call them "childish."

Is repeatedly getting the shaft from our elected representatives, year after year and decade after decade, and coming back for more, a sign of maturity? Au contraire: it's dysfunctional, irresponsible, and profoundly immature behavior. Thanks to "childish political thought," we've enabled governmental abuse to grow wildly out of control, to the point that our arrogant representatives laugh at us and our quaint notions that they ought to abide by the Constitution and read their monster bills before shoving them down our throats.

Tea Party voters are informed, engaged, and ready to act in their own and their country's best interests. That's nothing if not mature. The 2010 election may signal the coming of age of the conservative voter.

If Gerson had been trying to crystallize the insider, GOP establishment attitude the Tea Party so distrusts, and is so eager to upset and uproot, he couldn't have done much better. His criticism, and Rove's, are likely stoking the Tea Party fire.

Michelle Malkin responds scathingly, and with examples: Rove aide: Kneel before The Architect, you puny website operators & Tea Party ingrates:

It is not his “presidential victories” and his “experience of actually winning” races that have earned Rove the rightful scorn of Tea Party activists and the venom of any limited government advocate worth his/her salt. It is the way he and his boss squandered those victories and sacrificed core conservative principles at the altar of “compassionate conservatism.”

And that ain't all. Read the rest.


Michelle also brings us this news, which demonstrates that the Dems, like the GOP establishment, are so wholly out of touch with the mood of the country, they can't feel the earth rumbling beneath their feet:

President Obama’s political advisers, looking for ways to help Democrats and alter the course of the midterm elections in the final weeks, are considering a range of ideas, including national advertisements, to cast the Republican Party as all but taken over by Tea Party extremists, people involved in the discussion said.

If you're looking to make a donation to further the cause of conservatism this fall, consider one targeted to make such an ad possible. These geniuses are begging for more rope.

Cross-posted in the Green Room.
Many thanks to MichelleMalkin.com for the Buzzworthy link.
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Now we're literally hunting witches

I respect the Power Line guys but I'd be in need of a long, hot shower if I ever found myself on the same side as slimy Bill Maher. The O'Donnell saga continues:

Power Line: Christine O'Donnell's career: RIP

Don Surber: Burn the Witch!

Over at Powerline, the big boys are taking their ball and going home. Their call. I think they are being silly.

Michelle Malkin:

At 1:03 in the video, one of the panelists on the show criticizes O’Donnell for criticizing Halloween — “Wait a minute, I love this, you’re a witch, you go ‘Halloween is bad,’ I’m not the witch, I mean wait a minute.” She responds by explaining that she opposes witchcraft because she has had first-hand experience with what they do.

So, she tried it. She rejected it. And she learned from it.

Somehow, this Maher-edited clip (which was never aired on TV, by the way) warrants a declaration from my friend John Hinderaker at Power Line that O’Donnell’s career is “RIP.”

Nonsense. She has nothing to be ashamed of — except, perhaps, for going on Maher’s show so many times.

William Jacobson:

The woman (at the time, a young woman) went on MTV and Maher and who knows where else, and said some things that she would not say now. For that sin you are ready to toss her overboard so that you can declare yourselves to have been wiser than the unwashed voters who elected her in the primary?

Read the rest.

I'm not an expert on the life and times of Christine O'Donnell. But I love a good conversion story, and that's clearly the context of her admission.

And by the way, are we to understand that Maher is taking a moral stand against witchcraft? Of course he isn't. He's playing the cheap, adolescent game of shouting "hypocrite" whenever he thinks he's found an inconsistency in a political enemy. It's an easy game to play, especially in this age of deathless video.

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Music break: Save the Bones for Henry Jones

I searched YouTube for Johnny Mercer and found this:



It happens to be one song Mercer didn't write. But he swings it.

(Can't mention Mercer without linking to Mark Steyn's podcast: Part One, Part Two.)

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Steyn's Sappho Award speech

See Steyn Online and Kathy Shaidle for all the links to this event. The Sappho Award (yes, really) was given to Mark for his "journalistic skill and fearlessness." Mark certainly has both of those in abundance, along with great humor, razor-sharp wit, and an encyclopedic knowledge of show tunes. But I digress.

Read a report on his speech here, and the text of Eva Agnete Selsing's introduction here. I can't find the English text of the speech itself, except for this one line: "You will have to kill us all." But you can listen to the whole shebang here. It's about a half hour long, with Mark's rousing remarks beginning at about 7:30. (Use headphones if there are children near. Among other reasons, he reprises one of his best: Yes, We Have No Bananas.) Do not miss his take on the recent would-be Koran burner. "You're gonna have to kill us all" comes near the end.

Selsing cites this from America Alone:

“A people that won’t multiply can’t go forth or go anywhere. Those who do will shape the age we live in. Because, when history comes a-calling, it starts with the most basic question of all: Knock-knock. Who’s there?”

Now that we've been assured that the bestowers of the Sappho Award are red-blooded Nordic girls (“By the way, we are not lesbians.”), I would encourage them, if they have not already done so, to go forth and multiply.



Eat your hearts out, ladies. Here's Mark, looking fit as a fiddle, among the beauties. Or as Kathy Shaidle puts it:

Pix of Mark Steyn surrounded by young Scandinavian chicks, designed to ruin many a female fan's Friday afternoon. (You know who you are.)

No comment.

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"Sparkling" O'Donnell vs. "boring" Coons

Chris Coons is boring. So the Dems have that working for them:

The forum [last night's debate] was a study in the contrasting styles of Coons and O'Donnell. Coons appeared steady Thursday, if not a bit boring -- something that could actually prove an asset in this general election contest.

Eugene Robinson isn't so sure being boring is going to help. While calling O'Donnell a flake ("bizarre," "outlandish") for having espoused mainstream Christian doctrine on "self-gratification" (still considered "an intrinsically and gravely disordered action" by Catholic Christians), he is afraid, very afraid, that she's got what it takes to win in 2010:

O'Donnell is poised and telegenic, with a sparkle that her Democratic opponent, Chris Coons, will be hard-pressed to match. She has mastered what should be called the Sarah Palin Affect -- the perkiness, the folksiness, the religiosity, the occasional flash of bared fangs -- and she performs it well.

He basically calls her a fake. But even so. As Laura Ingraham put it this morning, Robinson seems to get the Tea Party movement better than Charles Krauthammer. Perhaps this is a trend. Robinson:

When Christine O'Donnell, a Tea Party favorite, won the Senate primary in Delaware on Tuesday, my first reaction was that this one result almost guarantees that the Democratic Party's majority in the Senate is safe.

On reflection, I think "almost guarantees" should be downgraded to something like "makes it likely." And in moments of existential despair, I fear that she might actually win. [. . .]

Tuesday was the best day Democrats have had in a long time -- but only in relative terms. Republicans invited the Tea Party into the GOP tent and now have to worry about being devoured. But at least the party is full of passion, energy and resolve -- which can't be said of the Democrats, at least not with a straight face.

If the Democrats can't generate some real enthusiasm among the base, and fast, the word "unelectable" may cease to have meaning. Counting on the Republicans to self-immolate may be the Democrats' hope, but it's not a plan.

He's right to be afraid. Momentum is building and enthusiasm can't be conjured up with pretty speeches this time.

But he's wrong about the Tea Party needing an invitation from the GOP. A synonym for Tea Party member is highly motivated voter. No invitation needed for that.


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Various & sundry

The O'Donnell/Coons debate:

Perhaps the greatest gulf between Coons and O'Donnell came on the question of whether they supported the recently passed healthcare law. Coons said he would work to implement the law "responsibly," noting that "while we implement healthcare, we have to contain costs without squelching innovation."

But O'Donnell called for the "full repeal" of the healthcare law, saying that "the federal government was never intended to be as invasive and intrusive into our lives as it is now."

The response elicited loud cheers from O'Donnell's supporters while garnering sustained boos from Coons backers.

Coons said he would have voted no on the stimulus. I suppose we should give the Bearded Marxist the benefit of the doubt? But considering the stimulus's utter failure to create (or save!) jobs and its radioactivity among voters, he'd be a bit nuts to embrace it no matter how much in love he is with monster government.

Epic-fail case in point from Patterico: Your Stimulus Dollars at Work: $2 Million Per Job. That's from the LA city auditor. Patterico:

Even if you look at the number of jobs they expect to create (”or save”), it’s only 264. $111 million for 264 jobs is about $420,454 per job.

Hey, can you guys create a 56th job for me? I could use $2 million.

Failing that, can you return my tax dollars that you wasted?

Yeah. Me too.


Daniel Henninger: It's the Spending, Stupid, and the 2010 newbies better do something about it:

In a sense, the GOP's impending victory is meaningless, a win by default. If the Republican rookies entering Congress next year don't do something identifiably real to stop the federal-spending balloon, voters two years from now will start throwing the GOP under the bus. Absent action, the political rage and cynicism on offer in 2012 could make this year's tea parties look like, well, a tea party.

Switching gears. From Andy McCarthy, yet another reason to homeschool:

A sixth grade class in Wellesley, Massachusetts, was dragged by their teachers to the notorious Roxbury mosque — the $15 million Saudi-funded, minareted Islamic center started by Abdurrahman Alamoudi (now serving a 23-year terrorism sentence) and run by the Muslim American Society (the quasi-official arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States). Capitalizing on the goo that passes for “social studied” curricula, parents were told the “field trip” was “to learn about the architecture of the mosque and observe a midday prayer service.” One parent was concerned enough to volunteer as a chaperone and bring along a camera.

Some of the young boys were asked to join in the prayer service and did so. Video here. I imagine they were reluctant to participate but felt uncomfortable saying no. Or, being well-trained public school drones, unthinkingly did as they were told. Passivity and going along with the crowd are virtues highly promoted in our school system. (Just last week the kids at our local high school were told to wear black to school for "spirit day" or whatever, and sure enough, on the appointed morning, there they all were at the bus stop, uniformly decked out in mourning.)

It fell to the teacher(s) in charge of the children at the mosque to decline the offer to join in the prayers, but they apparently said nothing. The mother who filmed the event mentioned that one of the prayer participants was a Jewish boy. No doubt Christian kids and non-believers were roped in as well.

In addition to religious coercion, the visit to the mosque included a propaganda lecture on Islam that flunked the fact-check test. Read and watch.

Out of time. Have a great morning.

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Biden to Dems: Gird your loins

I fudged that a bit. His exact words:

“I think it’s time for our base to say, 'Hey man, take a look. This opposition is for real,'” he said.

This lucid statement was accompanied by some hand-wringing about the GOP's lack of moderation, blah blah blah. And oh yeah: The Dems will keep the House and Senate. A recent poll suggests that voters disagree.

In passing, Biden calls his boss "the most talented man to enter American politics in three generations.” Maybe that will earn him a few brownie points but Americans are pretty tired of the hyperbole.

You can watch the full 7-minute interview here. Biden frankly begs the progressive base not to stay home.

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Michelle Obama's having a hell of a time

The Obamas put on the glitz last night for the annual Congressional Hispanic Caucus gala, and the president used the opportunity to beg for Hispanic votes.

Ready to call it a night, a bored Obama half-heartedly tries to drag his wife off the stage.

More photos of Michelle in her rubber dress here. For a larger side of snark with that, click here.

Sure, she looks like she's having a ball. But she's crying inside:

Michelle Obama thinks being America’s First Lady is ‘hell’, Carla Bruni reveals today in a wildly indiscreet book.

Miss Bruni divulges that Mrs Obama replied when asked about her position as the U.S. president’s wife: ‘Don’t ask! It’s hell. I can’t stand it!’

Details of the private conversation, which took place at the White House during an official visit by Nicolas Sarkozy last March, emerged in Carla And The Ambitious, a book written in collaboration with Miss Bruni.

I'm not sure I believe MO confided in Bruni. She clearly never trusted her.


Cross-posted at Potluck.

Many thanks to MichelleMalkin.com for the Buzzworthy link.
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Chris Matthews marvels at voter anger

Well, did you evah? Here's Chris Matthews, seeming to get it. He wonders how far will the fire of voter anger burn?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Never thought I'd say this, but Matthews is right. The example Delaware voters have given to the rest of the country is one than can inspire their fellows to use their power. No career politician is safe. Excerpt, with emphasis added:

I have waited all my adult life for an election in which voters have the fire to reach up and burn those who have been running the show for decades.

But I didn't know it would come from the right and center. 2010 could be the first year in modern times when being in office and part of Washington, is the worst possible credential when facing voters. [. . .]

If the plan of those in power is to raise a ton of cash and run nasty TV ads saying you can't vote for this new person, that he or she is flawed, I expect the voter will say - "Are you telling me I have no choice but to vote for you? Are you saying that I, this little voter out there, dare not take a chance on someone who has not yet let me down? As you have? If that is what you telling me … that I have no choice?

"Well, Mr. Big Stuff, you just wait up late election night and see what I have done."

Wow.

Allahpundit has some Matthews-inspired advice for Christine O'Donnell:

Stick with “ruling class,” “rubber stamp,” “Goliath,” “Beltway favorite,” and so forth.

And don't forget "pet" of the establishment. AP adds:

If it works on Matthews, it can work on anyone.

Except maybe Karl Rove.

Many thanks to MichelleMalkin.com for the Buzzworthy link.
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Barone on O'Donnell: A wacko and a sure loser

On Christine O'Donnell, Michael Barone falls into the Rove camp:

My colleagues David Freddoso and J. P. Freire have already commented in Beltway Confidential on the victory of Christine O’ Donnell over Congressman Mike Castle in Delaware’s Republican Senate primary. I agree with them and with Karl Rove that O’Donnell is a sure loser in the general election, for reasons described by John McCormack and others in the Weekly Standard’s Blog.

Barone's powers of analysis and prognostication are formidable. But anything can happen between now and November.

His character analysis strikes me as a bit harsh:

The inrush of hundreds of thousands of Americans into political activity symbolized by but not limited to the tea party movement has been on balance a positive development for the Republican party. It has injected enthusiasm and brought about the nomination of some appealing and talented candidates. But an inrush of new people also brings in a certain amount of wackos and nuts. Christine O’Donnell seems to fall into this category.

Ouch. Was that really necessary?

Updated to add this link to Jim Geraghty's post, Doesn’t Chris Coons’ Lead Seem a Little… Small? Read it and see if you can detect a recurring theme. This election year is like no other.

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Birth pangs

Or the chaos, mess, and apparent destruction of a kitchen renovation. Choose your metaphor. The process is ugly and therefore pleasing to the left (though some liberals are frightened and despondent), but it's a mere by-product of a desperately-needed makeover. John Podhoretz:

1. The victory of Christine O’Donnell in the Delaware Senate race is the fourth defeat for the so-called “establishment” Republican candidate in a primary this year — preceded by Rand Paul in Kentucky, Sharron Angle in Nevada, and Joe Miller in Alaska. That’s the East Coast, a border state, the Southwest, and way the hell and gone — an unmistakable demonstration that the Republican Party is reconstituting itself in an unprecedented fashion.

2. There seems to be a general presumption that O’Donnell can’t win, because polling suggests she has a long haul and because there are many questions about her fitness. Granted, all relevant signs suggest the man she defeated, Mike Castle, would have been the likely winner and she has an uphill climb. But can she win? Don’t be ridiculous. Of course she can win — in theory at least. She’s out of money, but her political stardom should allow her to raise millions from grassroots Tea Partiers nationwide and close the money gap with her Democratic rival.

3. The presumption among delighted people on the left-liberal side is that all this roiling on the right suggests a party in disarray and a movement intent on cannibalizing itself. That’s one way to look at it. The other is that the GOP is actually expanding and seizing the populist mood that seems to be the national direction — even though the GOP leadership, especially in the Senate, is finding the whole business unnerving and destructive. [emphasis added]

So unnerved that Castle won't support her and the NRSC won't give her any money.

Byron York gets it:

In the end, though, focusing only on O'Donnell's problems, as the Washington establishment is doing, misses the spirit that was unmistakable all around Delaware on Tuesday. For a large group of conservatives, watching Christine O'Donnell come out of nowhere -- actually, lifting her up on their shoulders out of nowhere -- has been a huge boost after the frustrations of the final years of the Bush administration and the first years of the Obama administration. Those conservatives feel enormously empowered by what they have accomplished, and they are important to the Republican party's fortunes this November and beyond. The lords of the backroom have got to find a better way of dealing with them than simply dumping on their candidate.

See O'Donnell's victory interview with Stacy McCain.

Much more at Memeorandum. Politico calls it a GOP nightmare. Stay tuned. No one knows what will happen between now and November 2nd.

*Update: NRSC will support O'Donnell's campaign after all.

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For the children

Barack Obama has made another tedious school speech, chock-full of I's and me's (like last year) and pushing a vision of the American dream that runs directly against his statist grain. It doesn't sit well with Ann Althouse. He mouths cliches about teens "figuring out who they are," blah blah blah, and attributes bullying to (I'm guessing) racism, homophobia, obesity-phobia, cootie-phobia, etc. Just remember, kids: our diversity is our strength.

Via Weasel Zippers: Queen Michelle Wore $200 Designer T-Shirt to Paint With Her Subjects on 9/11 “National Day of Service”
Inquiring minds want to know: Did she accessorize with a pair of those hideous $500 sneakers, so perfect for a visit to the food bank? Answer: No. According to the expert, she wore last year's Converses.

The first nag's war on personal choice and responsibility continues:

American first ladies often go to bat for good causes. Nothing wrong with that. But Michelle Obama's push for intrusive regulations, pressure tactics and one-size-fits-all solutions to end obesity goes too far.

The first lady had no difficulty telling members of the National Restaurant Association on Monday how to run their businesses to help reduce childhood obesity, her pet cause. Restaurants have already eliminated trans fats, posted nutritional information, junked salt shakers and added low-calorie items over the years. But that obviously hasn't been enough.

"Even if we give parents all the information they need and improve school meals and build brand new supermarkets on every corner, none of that matters if when families step into a restaurant, they can't make a healthy choice," Mrs. Obama told them.

Wow. Read the rest. We are children in their eyes.

Speaking of which, Obama's children's book (where, oh where does he find the time?), Of Me Thee I Sing, will be released in November. Bill Ayers won't get any credit for this one, either.


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Remaking Obama. Again.

As in a floundering campaign that doesn't quite know what kind of persona will win its candidate the most votes, President Obama's handlers continue to tinker with his image. The inspirational messiah thing got him through the election. But that was an enchantment that couldn't extend much beyond the campaign, when a president's actions must break the spell.

The coolly intellectual O earned praise from the liberal media until the president's cold-fish affect caused us to wonder whether he cared. Remember his Christmas day bomber response? Tieless, bloodless, and three days late; one had to wonder whether resentment toward an interrupted Christmas break was his overriding emotion. Even Maureen Dowd found him too Spockian for her taste.

The last couple of weeks have given rise to a more exuberant, shall we say off-the-leash Obama. But that dog won't hunt, either. Sure, this barking Obama excites friendly crowds, but will never win back the lost independents, who are looking for something a bit more presidential in style and a lot less socialist in content.

Via Allahpundit, now it's the overtly empathetic Obama, the guy who can relate to the little people and their little troubles:

President Obama told a small crowd in Fairfax, Va., on Monday that he would stand in the hot sun with them and “feel their pain.”

He was meeting with a Fairfax family for a backyard discussion on the economy in an effort to improve voter perceptions about his empathy with ordinary people.

No word on whether he bit that lower lip for the full Clintonian effect.

One thing's for sure: Obama's image advisers will not encourage him to be himself. The self-absorbed, thin-skinned, decidedly ungracious personality is not a winner.

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Obama's "not a socialist"

Peter Orszag on how we know President Obama is not a socialist:

"President Obama is not a socialist," Orszag said.

"One would think that a socialist would be all in favor of jumping at the opportunity to nationalize banks," he said. "He has maintained the basic structure of our capitalist system despite the fact that we have gone through a very dramatic period."

Gee, I'm convinced, aren't you? That he hasn't remade America into the Soviet Union in less than two years is not a strong defense. In fact, Obama has pushed his statist agenda, to the detriment of his own party, as far as he has been able, and beyond what Americans will accept.

Orszag may dismiss Obama-as-socialist as a fantasy of the fevered tea party mind. But Stanley Kurtz, a meticulous researcher, has asserted that "the idea that a committed socialist might play a prominent part in everyday American politics is not particularly surprising." Dr. Kurtz promises, in his upcoming book, to "establish that the president of the United States is indeed a socialist."

Americans won't find Kurtz's thesis very hard to swallow. 55% of them are already there.

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Remembering 9/11: Sandy Bradshaw et al

Of the countless 9/11 heroes, I've adopted Sandy Bradshaw as my favorite. She was the flight attendant on United 93 who called her husband from the plane and told him that she and other flight attendants were boiling water to throw on the terrorists. I don't think they ever got to use it, but it's the thought, and the spirit, that counts.


Her smile was dazzling. Here's a short video tribute.

From Pajamas Media, wrenching accounts of what was lost: Never Forget: 9/11 Families Share Memories of Their Heroes. Rick Rescorla's widow, Susan, writes:

I am writing a book about Rick and my journey together. My husband and I were soul mates. It is so raw with me, even today. I get so emotional I have to swallow my tears. I am so proud of him.
I am not much better than I was nine years ago, except back then I wished I had died as well. I am still trying to understand all of this. What happened should be felt by every American. One way of doing this is to bring these numbered WTC steel pieces to every state in the union. These steel pieces are treated like a casket, wrapped in the American flag. They are significant because people can touch it, feel it, and it brings forth the spirit of the dead.

The spirits of the dead are also evoked by this graphic, showing the distribution of what Joy McCann calls the unspeakable confetti of 9/11:

Oremus.

More reflections from the new RightNetwork:

Gerard Van der Leun:

As the towers burned across the East River there came a time when you noticed that small specks were arcing out from the sides of the buildings from just above or just below or just within the part that was in flames.
Looking again you discovered that the specks were people leaping from the building and plunging down to disappear behind the shorter buildings that ringed the towers. You tried to imagine what must have been going on in the offices and rooms of that building that made leaping from 100 floors or more above the ground the "better" option, but you didn't have that kind of space left in your imagination.

Joy McCann:

You know most of what happened next: how Americans all rushed to the hospital that day to give blood for the survivors we hoped to pull from the rubble. How volunteers spent days sifting through the World Trade Center site, but found very few people alive. How even the rescue dogs got discouraged, to the point that those who weren’t handling the dogs started to take turns hiding—so the canines would be able to find people who were alive, and would not get too discouraged to keep working.

VDH:

But three days later when he stood at Ground Zero, put his arm around that noble-looking retired fireman Bob Beckwith, grabbed a bullhorn, and extemporaneously announced to the crowd, “I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon,” I thought, 'I'm relieved this guy, at this moment, is president.' And through all the tragedy of the next nine years, I am still.

Roger Kimball:

But then, slowly, the sobering reality settled in. The panoply of national resolve foundered, scattered. The anesthetic of daily life blunted our resolve. This was not a war that could be won, because it was not a war, it was an existential challenge to our way of life, our stunning secular experiment in freedom and individual responsibility.

Much more at RightNetwork.

Pamela Geller has a slide show here.

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Friday night music: Mercer and Sinatra via Steyn

I like to post something musical on Friday nights and it doesn't get much better than Johnny Mercer. Toss in Mark Steyn and you're golden. In other words, in case you missed these Steyn audio productions the first time around, have a listen:

JOHNNY MERCER MONTH
In November 2009, Mark presented a month of celebrations to mark the one hundredth birthday of Johnny Mercer. In part one of this centennial podcast, Mark introduces the Mercer catalogue with "Moon River", "Jeepers Creepers", "Too Marvelous For Words", "Ac-Cen-Tchu-Ate The Positive", "That Old Black Magic" and many more sung by the likes of Billie Holiday, Fred Astaire, k d lang, Louis Armstrong, Rita Hayworth, the Mills Brothers, Rosemary Clooney, Clint Eastwood - and, of course, Mercer himself.

JOHNNY MERCER: ONE FOR THE ROAD
To round out SteynOnline's Mercer Month, Mark mopped up a few loose ends, including "Fools Rush In", "Summer Wind", "I Remember You", "Skylark", "Come Rain Or Come Shine", "Day In, Day Out", plus the ornithological Johnny Mercer, the seasonal Johnny Mercer, and some great saloon songs - sung by Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, Bobby Darin, Eydie Gorme, Willie Nelson, Nancy LaMott, Frank Ifield, Bow Wow Wow plus lots of Sinatra and lots of Mercer, too. You'll be singing along within seconds.

Love this one:



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Friday various & sundry

Announcing Right Network. Roger Kimball is a contributor:

I am pleased to announce the latest addition to the vast right-wing conspiracy, RightNetwork, a snazzy new website devoted to the correct view of, well, everywhere. The site debuted yesterday at RightNetwork.com. Among may other good things, the site will feature regular commentary on the arts by yours truly. My first column, on how political correctness is infesting the museum world, is just up. The effort to transform the world of art into an exercise in social work proceeds apace at a museum near you. Check it out at “Wrecking the Cathedrals.”

Joy McCann is also on board. Good luck to all on this new venture.

*ETA: Just read Mr. Kimball's piece on the soulless bureaucrats who are "Wrecking the Cathedrals":

Really, you can’t make it up. “People want to see themselves on the walls,” Feldman told Judith Dobrzynki. “You have to make them feel comfortable.”

Why? Why do you have to make them “feel comfortable”? And how, one might ask, does that differ from pandering to the lowest common denominator?

Read on.

Other items:

Michelle Malkin reminds us not to hold ourselves hostage to Islamic Rage Boy:

Shhhhhhh, we’re told. Don’t protest the Ground Zero mosque. Don’t burn a Koran. It’ll imperil the troops. It’ll inflame tensions. The “Muslim world” will “explode” if it does not get its way, warns sharia-peddling imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Pardon my national security-threatening impudence, but when is the “Muslim world” not ready to “explode”?

The fuse is indeed an absurdly short one. Read the whole thing.


Patrick Buchanan has a bad idea: Send in the US Marshals or the FBI to arrest the would-be Koran burner before he lights the match. Jones is in the wrong, but it's not against the law. We don't need to encourage the feds to overstep their bounds.

*Update: Apparently the FBI has paid Pastor Jones a visit.


Our Debt Is More Than All the Money in the World. And Kevin Williamson is speaking literally.


You know that first-time buyer tax credit? A small catch has been detected:

Approximately 1.8 million taxpayers claimed a total of almost $12.5 billion in First-Time Homebuyer Credits in Calendar Year 2009. More than 950,000 taxpayers will be required to repay the Credits because their homes were purchased in 2008. Many more may have to repay the Credits if the homes cease to be the primary residences of the taxpayers within 36 months.

That has got to hurt.


Daniel Henninger on President Obama's recent midwest speeches:

Barack Obama may be the most embittered American president any of us has experienced. Read the text of that Labor Day speech he gave in Milwaukee.

"Anyone who thinks we can move this economy forward with a few doing well at the top, hoping it'll trickle down to working folks running faster and faster just to keep up—they just haven't studied our history." [. . .]

One month it's insurance companies, the next it's the bankers, or merely "the special interests." One wonders where exactly along the American income scale Mr. Obama divides the country between us and them? My guess is the castle walls begin with anyone living in the lower end of what qualifies as an upper-middle class suburb. [. . .]

What's odd (as always) in an Obama speech is that even as he is launching salvos at an overclass scheming to "cut working class folks like you loose to fend for yourselves," his remarks touch some truths. He identifies exactly what his audience needs to climb out of their rut: "An education that'll give our kids a better life than we had. These are simple ideas. American ideas."

No idea in the literature of economics or social science the past 15 years has received more elevation than the relationship in a modern economy between educational attainment and income. Whose fault is it that public schools in blue-collar districts ill-prepare so many working-class "graduates" to get and hold modern jobs? Did Wall Street ruin the schools, too?

Neither Obama's attempts to escalate class antagonism nor his dream of massive wealth redistribution is the answer to our real problems. Read the rest.

Mr. Henninger mentions this recent WSJ article, The Generation That Can't Move On Up. A bit:

The grim employment picture is familiar, but what's less widely known is that they are losing not only jobs but also their connections to basic social institutions such as marriage and religion. They're becoming socially disengaged, floating away from the college-educated middle class.

RTR.


Support Renee Ellmers, who is running against the abusive Bob Etheridge in NC.

Out of time. Have a great morning.


Linked at Michelle Malkin (Buzzworthy) -- thanks!
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