It's Not Easy Being a Black Conservative...

...because we all know that they're lewd and dangerous and consumed with uncontrollable lust:

...the Politico begins a sincere effort to destroy the black guy running to be the GOP’s Presidential nominee. The opposition dump on Herman Cain has begun in earnest. Before getting into the details, let’s pay attention to what this means.

It means for certain that Herman Cain’s lead in the polling is real — very, very real. People are taking him seriously. Mr. Cain is about to spend a week in Washington answering questions and giving speeches. Someone wanted to make sure he has a miserable week.

The allegations are pretty straight forward. At least two women complained of sexual harassment by Herman Cain when he ran the National Restaurant Association. How did this play out? Well, the Politico says it learned about the allegations and then began putting together a roster of board members, etc. Someone tipped them off obviously.

Stacy McCain wonders why this is coming out now:

We know nothing about the accusers and the specifics of the accusations from a dozen years ago are reported rather vaguely by Politico: “episodes that left the women upset and offended” and “physical gestures that were not overtly sexual but that made women who experienced or witnessed them uncomfortable and that they regarded as improper in a professional relationship.”

All in all, it’s a long run for a short slide. Unless and until we have some specifics — including names, dates and places — my instinct is to agree with Gordon that this is “part of a smear campaign.”

Why are Cain’s enemies firing the thermonuclear component of their oppo-research arsenal so early? Generally speaking in such matters, you save your big stuff for later in the campaign.

Erick Erickson agrees that this isn't the typical smear campaign.

Why is Herman getting special treatment?

Professional associates, including a number of women, say this story doesn't comport with the sterling reputation of the Herman Cain that they know:

"such behavior would be totally out of character"

“That’s a shock to me...”

“not within his character”

“It’s not what I know of him...”

Cain’s treatment of women was “the same as his treatment of men. Herman treated everyone great...”

x-posted to LCR

Learn more about Herman Cain.

UPDATE: Herman Cain's wife, Gloria Cain

UPDATE II: Herman Cain said that this would happen, and that he would be prepared:

Cain predicted this would happen five months ago. As the Washington Examiner's Byron York reported in May:

But wouldn't liberals and Democrats still find a racially-based way to attack Cain? They certainly found a way to attack Clarence Thomas, the black, conservative Supreme Court justice.

"They're going to come after me more viciously than they would a white candidate," Cain responded. "You're right. Clarence Thomas. And so, to use Clarence Thomas as an example, I'm ready for the same high-tech lynching that he went through -- for the good of this country." Cain smiled broadly. "I'm ready for the same high-tech lynching."

UPDATE III:

This just might backfire, solidifying conservative sympathy for Herman Cain. Ann Coulter:

"I'm spitting mad about this attack on Herman Cain. Maybe he should be a the top of the ticket."

UPDATE IV: Cain: I was "falsely accused"

“In my over 40 years of running businesses and corporations, I have never sexually harassed anyone,” he told an audience at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

“I was accused — falsely, I might add. When the charges were brought, I recused myself, and allowed my general counsel and human-resources officer to deal with the matter.

“After a thorough investigation, it was determined there was no basis for the complaints,” Cain related.

UPDATE V: Cain: This is "a witch hunt"

Herman Cain called the accusations of sexual harassment against him “a witch hunt” and said he had been falsely accused while the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.

Declaring at the National Press Club that he “would be delighted to clear the air,” Mr. Cain said that he is unaware of any settlements paid to his accusers.

“It was concluded after a thorough investigation that it had no basis...”

UPDATE VI: Cain details gesture that led to sex accusation...

...I made a gesture saying you are the same height as my wife. And I brought my hand up to my chin saying, 'My wife comes up to my chin.'" At that point, Cain gestured with his flattened palm near his chin. "And that was put in there [the complaint] as something that made her uncomfortable," Cain said...

UPDATE VII: Professor Jacobson opines...

This is a taste of the medicine the mainstream media ... has in store for the eventual Republican nominee...

...it looked like Politico was out to get Cain, not just investigate a story. The view from above was quite clear...

I just watched Cain’s interview by Greta Van Susteren, and he was clear and persuasive that there was no harrassment.

UPDATE VIII: Limbaugh's remarks...

• Politico Story An “Unconscionable Racially Charged Attack”

UPDATE IX:

The fine art of portraying black men as sexual predators...

Memeorandum thread

Photo: Herman Cain's Wife... UPDATE: Another picture of Gloria Cain... UPDATE: Gloria & Herman With Family... UPDATE: Gloria Cain Video

Gloria Cain and Herman Cain

UPDATE: Gloria (Etchison) and Herman in 1968:

**Read about the Herman Cain "sexual harassment" story here.

UPDATE II: Mrs. Cain to the rescue?

UPDATE III: Gloria will appear this Friday on Greta Van Susteren's Fox show (via Business Insider).

UPDATE IV: Gloria backs out.

UPDATE V: More pictures...

Gloria, Herman & Family

Hat tip: No Quarter

Background information:

How Herman and Gloria Met:

Herman and Gloria met during their college years.

Herman: "One month after she graduated from college, I swept her off her feet — we knew each other — and we got married a month later."

Source: Alex Pappas. "Herman Cain: My wife will not be traditional 'campaign wife.'" DailyCaller.com. 5/19/2011.

Wedding Date:

Gloria and Herman were married in the spring of 1968.

Children:

Herman and Gloria have two children and several grandchildren.

Melanie Cain: Born abt. 1972.

Vincent Cain: Born abt. 1978.

Herman: "Two was actually the right number of children for us. When two people get married, two equations of happiness are added together. If they match perfectly, which is very rare, you get a marriage bonus, as in 'two plus two equals five.'"

Source: Herman Cain. CEO of Self: You're in Charge! 2001. pg. 100.

Gloria Cain Video: "My husband respects women..."

Mitt in The Tank

"Republicans may have found their Michael Dukakis, a technocratic Massachusetts governor..."

What will they think when they finally learn about Romneycare?

Among those Republicans who actually expressed an opinion on Romneycare, the results weren't even close: 23 percent said they had an unfavorable view of the law, compared with just 3 percent who had a positive view. That's a nearly 8 to 1 margin of opposition to the law that was Romney's signature legislative accomplishment as governor.

What's working to Romney's advantage, however, is that a whopping 70 percent of Republicans surveyed said they didn't know enough about the law to have an opinion. (Among all Americans, it was even higher at 76 percent.)

The history of "Dukakis in the tank."

George Will Pistol Whips Mitt Romney

On Sunday, George Will compared Mitt Romney to liberal Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis, the infamous robotic candidate for president who was pulverized by George H. W. Bush in 1988. (See the short video below for Will's comments.)

Tomorrow, George will stand apart from the rest of the elite GOP talking heads with some unvarnished truth on pretty boy Mitt Romney:

Romney, supposedly the Republican most electable next November, is a recidivist reviser of his principles who is not only becoming less electable, he might damage GOP chances of capturing the Senate: Republican successes down the ticket will depend on the energies of the tea party and other conservatives, who will be deflated by a nominee whose blurry profile in caution communicates only calculated trimming. Republicans may have found their Michael Dukakis, a technocratic Massachusetts governor who takes his bearings from ‘data’ ... Has conservatism come so far, surmounting so many obstacles, to settle, at a moment of economic crisis, for THIS?

The normally restrained George Will reacts in frustration to his disappointment in Romney by writing in ALL CAPS.

I'm shocked.

UPDATE: The rest of Will's column is already out...

The Republican presidential dynamic — various candidates rise and recede; Mitt Romney remains at about 25 percent support — is peculiar because conservatives correctly believe that it is important to defeat Barack Obama but unimportant that Romney be president. This is not cognitive dissonance.

Read the rest.

Federal Government Provides Life Support for RomneyCare

Think of RomneyCare as a federal welfare program for the health care system in Massachusetts. Because that's what it is...

Flashback Via Doug Ross:

State treasurer of MA absolutely shreds RomneyCare, which "has nearly bankrupted the state" and is surviving solely because of federal aid...

“If President Obama and the Democrats repeat the mistake of the health insurance reform here in Massachusetts on a national level, they will threaten to wipe out the American economy within four years,” Cahill said in a press conference in his office.

...[T]he state’s health insurance law…Cahill said, “has nearly bankrupted the state.”

Cahill said the law is being sustained only with the help of federal aid, which he suggested that the Obama administration is funneling to Massachusetts to help the president make the case for a similar plan in Congress...

Voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina should take note. After all, they are paying for RomneyCare along with all of the rest of us.

VIDEO: Peter Schiff Takes it to Occupy Wall Street

Crossposted from the Left Coast Rebel

This is simply just too cool. You can almost hear the collective "Occupy-I-am-entitled-to-everything-I-want-simply-because-I-have-a-pulse" synapses misfiring in the crowd as Peter Schiff engages them (poor saps have probably never even heard his viewpoint that he aptly expresses).

There are too many quotable moments from Schiff here, "WalMart doesn't hold a gun to their head" may just go down in interweb infamy:

I love how Allahpundit notes that Schiff pulls this thing off like an Austrian-school ninja.

Indeed.

More from Nick Gillespie at Reason.com:

"Did a corporation end slavery, or did the government end slavery?!?!"

That's the sort of question investment guru and radio show host Peter Schiff fielded as he debated Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters last week in New York's Zuccotti Park.

Schiff is no ordinary observer. As the prinicipal of the financial firm Euro Pacific Capital, he's a full-fledged and unapologetic member of "the 1 Percent." As an outspoken radio show host (listen online here) and commentator, he not only predicted the housing crash and financial crisis, he railed bank and auto-sector bailouts as they were happening. Schiff believes that capitalism offers is the only hope for young, frustrated people to have a vibrant and prosperous future (get information on his latest book, How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes, here). So he went to Occupy Wall Street to engage and debate the protesters.

Touring the Occupy Wall Street scene in New York with a sign that read "I Am the 1%, Let's Talk," Schiff spent more than three hours on the scene, explaining the difference between cronyism and capitalism, bailouts and balance sheets, and more.

"The regulation we want is the market," said Schiff. "That's what works."

Via Memeorandum.

Karl Rove Attacks Mitt Romney With His White Board

Karl Rove discusses Mitt Romney's vulnerabilities

Karl Rove, Mitt Romney's biggest fanboy, admits that Mitt faces a challenging climb to the GOP nomination. But as usual, he ends his discussion on a positive note:

"Mitt's starting to slip in the polls, but he might be able to hang on to front-runner status if he gets some personality coaching and a spinal transplant."

*Parody Alert*

Update (via The Other McCain):

When the insiders try to dictate our political choices, by anointing some candidates and dismissing others as “not up to the task,” it is directly analogous to economic planners attempting to substitute their own preferences for the free choices of consumers in the marketplace. And just as economic planning destroys the essential vitality of the free market, so too do these interventions by the political elite destroy the essential vitality of the grassroots.

The central-planning model of politics — which dominated the GOP when Karl Rove was at the White House and Ken Mehlman ran the RNC — is deeply implicated in the Republican “brand damage” problem that led to landslide victories for Democrats in 2006-08. It was only with the rise of the Tea Party in 2009-10 that the conservative movement recaptured the momentum it lost during the Bush/Rove/Mehlman era.

Bad News for BHO, Good News for Herman Cain

Via Fox News:

• The bad news for the president is that more voters would be displeased or scared if he were re-elected (47 percent) than if Cain (32 percent), Romney (33 percent) or Perry (38 percent) wins.

• Republicans and Tea Partiers are about twice as likely to be “enthusiastic” about a Cain win as a Romney or Perry victory.

With a bad economy and with approval numbers generally low across the board, my guess is that most voters will be "voting against" rather than "voting for" candidates this year.

That's probably bad news for Barack Obama.

Frightened by his own shadow, Romney runs from the fight...

In the all-important battleground state of Ohio, Mitt Romney has proven again that he's not up for a tough fight:

June 2011: Mitt casts a shadow...

My friends in Ohio are fighting to defend crucial reforms that the state has put in place to limit the power of union bosses and keep taxes low. I stand with John R. Kasich and Ohio’s leaders as they take on this important fight to get control of government spending. Please visit www.BetterOhio.org for more information.

October 2011: Mitt runs from his shadow...

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney stepped into the middle of the charged battle over organized labor in Ohio on Tuesday ... but he would not say whether he supports or opposes the specific measures.

"I am not speaking about the particular ballot issues," Romney said, only after repeated questions from reporters. "Those are up to the people of Ohio. But I certainly support the efforts of the governor to reign in the scale of government. I am not terribly familiar with the two ballot initiatives. But I am certainly supportive of the Republican Party's efforts here."

Conservatives react:

• Conn Carroll: "If Romney can't endorse this common sense reform at the state level, why should conservatives believe he will fight against government unions at the federal level.

• Ed Morrissey: "...practically guaranteed to enrage conservatives looking to break the political stranglehold unions have on state politics and budgeting."

• Right Scoop: "This is EXACTLY why I refuse to support Romney for the nomination. He is nothing more than a political opportunist..."

• Red State: "Typically, when a politician stands for nothing except his own election, he winds up not getting elected."

• Drew at Ace: "Why would Republicans in Ohio who are working their butts fighting the good fight here come out and work for a guy who won’t support them?"

Where's the ever-impartial Karl Rove when a front-runner needs some tough love?

June 2011:

Update: Romney's link to BetterOhio.org takes you to the mother lode of information on union reforms (Issue 2). Romney now says he's sorry for all the "confusion" he created. Does this count as a gaffe? Or does a gaffe only count if it comes from a "not Romney" candidate?

BetterOhio.org:

Update II:

Ace tries to explain:

1, he didn't do his homework here, and really the one thing I like about Romney is that he does his homework, so when he doesn't, it leaves me wondering what good he is at all.

2, not sure of what his previous statements were, he was cautious and disciplined and tried to offer a lukewarm response that he calculated, quite incorrectly, would get no press at all and would not cause him any consternation.

3, the Trouble with Romney. This last point illustrates why a lot of people are having trouble rallying to Romney. I am not going to knock caution and discipline per se...

But there's a point at which caution, which is defensible, becomes pure timidity, which is not. And it's worrying that, having forgotten his programmed strategy/position points, his natural inclination wasn't simply to say "Of course I support these reforms!"

I would add this:

4. Romney probably had done his homework, but was seeking to distance himself from good reforms (reforms that he had publicly supported only four months ago) because those reforms are now down in the polls.

Prediction of the Day: Left Wing Duplicity Edition

It's the Alinsky approach to religious diversity and tolerance:

But here’s a prediction: If Romney wins the nomination, we will see a rush of anti-Mormon propaganda -- generated by secular liberals, not evangelicals. Anti-Romney leftists, the sort of people who would be loath to utter an unfavorable word about Islamic doctrine, will expend a great deal of energy and money bringing to light the most peculiar aspects of Mormon theology and practice, in an effort to convince evangelicals that the man leading the Republican Party is a harebrained heathen.

Jeffrey Goldberg, being of remarkably open mind, argues that one loutish gentile religion is just as good as any other.

Rock 'em sock 'em Republicans

Maybe it time to start attacking Obama...

GOP Candidates Should Praise Estonia

With small efficient government, Estonia leads the way:

In the middle of this year, two rating agencies, Standard & Poor's and Fitch, upgraded Estonia's credit rating ... Government debt is about 6.6 percent of the gross domestic product, as compared with 120 percent in Italy, 160 percent in Greece and 80 percent in Germany. In the first two quarters of 2011, the Estonian economy grew at an annualized rate of 8 percent...

"Comparisons are always difficult," he says. "But when we had finally escaped from Soviet socialism, we were sick and tired of government centralism. We wanted precisely the opposite in all respects: We wanted a transparent state. A country that isn't constantly intervening, nationalizing businesses, placing a bureaucracy above everything and imposing rules on people in every respect."

"...The state must clear the way for those who want to achieve something. That's the function of the state."

When the Soviet system collapsed almost exactly 20 years ago, the Estonians crept out from under the ruins, declared independence and reinvented themselves, making sure that their legal system, administration, legislature and economic system were as far from socialist as possible...

Read the rest. Via Instapundit

Herman Cain on Abortion Within The Context of Rape and Incest

Piers Morgan asked a question about abortion within the specific context of rape and incest:

"But you’ve had children, grandchildren. If one of your female children, grand children was raped, you would honestly want her to bring up that baby as her own?"

Herman Cain said the following:

... it comes down to it’s not the government’s role or anybody else’s role to make that decision. Secondly, if you look at the statistical incidents, you’re not talking about that big a number. So what I’m saying is it ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make.  Not me as president, not some politician, not a bureaucrat. It gets down to that family. And whatever they decide, they decide. I shouldn’t have to tell them what decision to make for such a sensitive issue.

It sounds to me like Cain is saying that within the context of rape and incest, government should stay out of the decision.  Cain gave a nearly identical response to the question of abortion to save the life of the mother, so I wasn't particularly surprised by this.  Here's what Cain said on Meet the Press:

MR. GREGORY:  What about abortion?  You want to overturn Roe v. Wade.  Could you support or condone abortion under any exceptions at all?
MR. CAIN:  I believe in life from conception, and I do not agree with abortion under any circumstances.
MR. GREGORY:  Exceptions for rape and incest?
MR. CAIN:  Not for rape and incest because...
MR. GREGORY:  What about life of the mother?
MR. CAIN:  Because if you look at, you look at rape and incest, the, the percentage of those instances is so miniscule that there are other options. If it's the life of the mother, that family's going to have to make that decision.
MR. GREGORY:  Mm-hmm.  But you can--would you condone abortion if the life of the mother were...
MR. CAIN:  That family is going to have to make that...
MR. GREGORY:  You won't render a judgment on that.
MR. CAIN:  That family is going to have to make that decision.

The MSM is presenting this as a sort of schizoid conflict of opinions, and it's created a firestorm on conservative websites.  What do you think?

Here's the video with a poll below:

Occupy K Street

The freegans and rabble-rousers of "Occupy Wall Street" would do well to direct some of their angst away from the mysterious "1%" and toward the well-compensated whores on K street who fuel the juggernaut of cronyism that rides roughshod over our anemic economy.

Via Lonely Conservative:

Here’s a big shocker. According to Bloomberg, the US city with the highest household income is Washington, DC. So that’s where all the stimulus has gone!

Federal employees whose compensation averages more than $126,000 and the nation’s greatest concentration of lawyers helped Washington edge out San Jose as the wealthiest U.S. metropolitan area, government data show.

The U.S. capital has swapped top spots with Silicon Valley, according to recent Census Bureau figures, with the typical household in the Washington metro area earning $84,523 last year. The national median income for 2010 was $50,046.

[...]

It gets better from there. One Chamber of Commerce official was quoted, saying “Wall Street has moved to K Street.”

As true now as it ever was:

"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden."

Romney Made Iowans Pay

One-term wonder Mitt Romney is proud of his accomplishments as Governor of liberal Massachusetts. He's particularly proud of his health care "reform" law.

Here's Romney's best kept secret: Massachusetts isn't paying for it! The state has been able to shift the majority of the costs of RomneyCare to the federal government.

Do voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina know this?

More RomneyCare enlightenment here.

x-posted

RomneyCare: The Big Lie

September 22, 2011:

"Let me tell you this about our system in Massachusetts: 92 percent of our people were insured before we put our plan in place. Nothing’s changed for them. The system is the same..."

~ Willard Mitt Romney

Actually, quite a bit has changed for the people of Massachusetts since Mitt Romney signed the Massachusetts health care law in 2006 (with Ted Kennedy standing over his shoulder).

Here are the facts:

• RomneyCare killed more than 18,000 jobs in Massachusetts in 2010.
• Romney's health care law reduced personal income for workers and families.
• Under RomneyCare, private health insurance costs have risen by $4.311 billion in Massachusetts.
• Access to primary care physicians is becoming more restricted, as wait times continue to increase.
• Most primary care practices are closed to new patients.

Shortly before his plan became law, Governor Romney claimed that "Every uninsured citizen in Massachusetts will soon have affordable health insurance and the costs of health care will be reduced. And we will need no new taxes, no employer mandate and no government takeover to make this happen." Nothing could be more completely divorced from the truth:

• With RomneyCare in place, state health care expenditures have risen by $414 million.
• The federal government has spent an additional $2.418 billion on Medicaid for Massachusetts.
• Medicare expenditures increased by $1.426 billion.
• Under Romney's health care law, the cumulative increase in the cost of health care has come to $8.569 billion, so far.
• Employers "who employ 11 or more full-time equivalent employees" and do not make a "fair and reasonable contribution" to their employees' health insurance are required to pay a fine.
• Mitt Romney increased taxes the moment he signed RomneyCare.

Here's the best kept secret: Massachusetts isn't paying for it! The state has been able to shift the majority of the costs to the federal government.

More troubling facts:

• More emergency room crowding: Despite reassuring predictions to the contrary, wasteful "low severity" ER visits continue to skyrocket. The total cost of emergency visits has soared by 36%.
• The number of people "gaming" the state’s health insurance system (by purchasing coverage only when they are sick) quadrupled from 2006 to 2008.
• RomneyCare increased single-coverage employer-sponsored insurance premiums by about 6 percent.
• As a direct result of Romney's proudest achievement, low-to-medium earning families often suffer financially when they work harder to earn more money.

The future of RomneyCare:

• Government rationing
• Price controls
• All physicians become government employees?
• Repeal?

Why is Mitt Romney so proud of RomneyCare?

x-posted

UPDATE: Linked at American Power. Thanks!

UPDATE II: Linked at The Other McCain! Thank you.

When Mitt Romney's Ideas Metastasize

The link between ObamaCare and RomneyCare is like the link between metastatic cancer and its primary tumor. For example: Barack Obama borrowed Mitt Romney's advisors...

Newly obtained White House records provide fresh details on how senior Obama administration officials used Mitt Romney’s landmark health-care law in Massachusetts as a model for the new federal law, including recruiting some of Romney’s own health care advisers and experts to help craft the act now derided by Republicans as “Obamacare.”

The records, gleaned from White House visitor logs reviewed by NBC News, show that senior White House officials had a dozen meetings in 2009 with three health-care advisers and experts who helped shape the health care reform law signed by Romney in 2006, when the Republican presidential candidate was governor of Massachusetts. One of those meetings, on July 20, 2009, was in the Oval Office and presided over by President Barack Obama, the records show.

“The White House wanted to lean a lot on what we’d done in Massachusetts,” said Jon Gruber, an MIT economist who advised the Romney administration on health care and who attended five meetings at the Obama White House in 2009, including the meeting with the president. “They really wanted to know how we can take that same approach we used in Massachusetts and turn that into a national model.”

(Via HotAir) Also via Hot Air, this comment:

"The news here is…the level of access provided to RomneyCare architects, including to Obama himself…"

With all the damage they've already done, do we really want to send all of Team Romney to the White House?

x-posted

Moderates Are Losers

Not all moderates are losers, of course. But when I was reviewing some of my earliest blog posts from the dawn of Obama's presidency, I was reminded of an important fact:

McCain the moderate only got 39% of the moderate vote.

On the other hand, Obama the extreme liberal got a whopping 60% of the moderate vote.

I would submit that uncommitted moderate and independent voters aren't necessarily looking to vote for candidates who strike a photogenic pose at the middle of the ideological spectrum. In fact, a large number swing voters aren't looking at ideology at all. They look at confidence, charisma, and a candidate's ability to communicate clearly without prevarication.

This is what can happen when swing voters find those things in a politician:

Yes, 1984 was a long, long time ago, but it isn't ancient history.

A word to the wise...

x-posted

Vocabulary Word of the Day: Prevarication

pre·var·i·cate (pr-vr-kt)

intr.v. pre·var·i·cat·ed, pre·var·i·cat·ing, pre·var·i·cates

To stray from or evade the truth; equivocate. See Synonyms at lie².

Can you think of a way to use "prevarication" in a sentence? Bonus points for thinking of politicians to whom this word might apply.

Please discuss with your friends...

Those Tea Party Rubes Barely Have A Clue...

...and they don't speak so well. But they're beginning to grasp reality:

"The movement has matured into realizing that sometimes the “least of two evils” — as one activist put it — is necessary in a traditionally blue state like Massachusetts."

Actually, its always the lesser of two evils, even if the state is purple or red.

But the point is well taken. Us tea party folk are getting gooder and gooder at understanding stuff every day.

Breaking News: Obama is Repeating Himself!

Today's BIG Newsflash (10/6/11):

President Obama is embracing the term “ObamaCare” on the campaign stump, attempting to turn the tables on critics who use it in a derogatory way.

“They call it ObamaCare?” the president told supporters at a St. Louis fundraiser Tuesday evening. “I do care! You should care, too.”

BIG Newsflash 7+ weeks ago (8/15/11):

Today the president was referring to The Afffordable Care Act, which he pointed out is "also known as Obamacare."

"By the way, I have no problem with folks saying Obama cares. I do care," Obama said. "If the other side wants to be the folks that don't care, that's fine with me.”

(emphasis added)

I guess if you're a member of Obama's Media Support Team, transcribing the words of the greatest orator of all time, there's no need to come up with actual news. Besides, I'm sure the MSM's most talented reporters are still digging under rocks somewhere in West Texas.

Hat tip: JWF

x-posted

Sarah Palin's Presidential Endorsement

This topic deserves a post of its own. Now that Palin is out, pundits and political junkies want to know: Who will she endorse? What do you think?

If you'd like to share this poll at your blog, fire me an email (rightklik at gmail).

Palin Will Not Run For President ― Endorsement Pending?

Read Palin’s letter:

After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.

Read the rest...

Now we wait for the coveted presidential endorsement.

Until then, who do you think will win the prize?

x-posted

Anti-Science: Leftists Freeze Climate Cooling Research

ETC Group's merry band of luddites

If global warming ever becomes a real threat, wouldn't it be nice to have a variety of technological solutions at our disposal? Global warming fear mongers aren't sure. In fact, they've successfully shut down an important research project in the UK:

Political opposition to technologies that could artificially cool the planet is in full swing. A field test of geoengineering, planned for October in Sculthorpe, UK, has been postponed for six months. Meanwhile, the European Parliament has passed a resolution that "expresses its opposition to proposals for large scale geoengineering".

The delayed field test, led by Matthew Watson of the University of Bristol, UK, involves a kilometre-long hose that will pump water into the atmosphere. Larger versions of the device could pump sulphate aerosols into the stratosphere, creating a sunshade that would cool the Earth.

We've seen this sort of bullying before. Who shut down the science this time? Left wing activists, that's who:

The decision follows a concerted campaign by a Canadian NGO, the ETC Group. Last month they issued an open letter to the UK government calling for the project to be suspended. "We believe there should be a ban on all field experimentation until there's an international agreement," says programme manager Diana Bronson.

Could it be that global warming enviro-radicals are afraid that advances in climate cooling science will hinder their fear mongering? I think so:

Helena Paul, co-director of environment group EcoNexus, said she was "really pleased" at the latest news.

"We are certainly not ready to carry out experiments, and this project should not just be delayed, but should be cancelled immediately," she told BBC News.

"This is particularly important because while the scientists involved keep saying that reducing emissions is the primary necessity, they risk distracting attention from that necessity at a crucial moment."

Why cancel a simple science project? The plan is a very modest one: to pump 50 gallons of water droplets into the air at a level a little more than half a mile above the ground. But Pat Mooney, executive director of ETC group* believes that any progress in climate cooling research poses a grave threat to global warming puritanism:

AMY GOODMAN: What are the forces behind [climate cooling geoengineering]?

PAT MOONEY: Well, it’s a great excuse. You don’t have to do anything. If you can simply say to your populations that, “Don’t worry, folks. You can keep on driving your SUVs, you can keep on flying. We’ll take care of this through a technological fix for you” — so there’s this magic bullet that will solve the problems, and we can all go back to business as usual...

And tragically, it’s a bunch of rich guys in rich countries sitting around together, saying, “We can risk the planet. We can make the decision for everybody else. We can put our hand on the thermostat and decide for everybody else what has to be done.”

Mooney et al. make no secret of the fact that they are afraid of scientific progress in the area of geoengineering. They fear that discoveries in climate cooling will open minds to the possibility of attractive alternatives to traditional enviro-austerity:

We believe that such research is a dangerous distraction from the real need: immediate and deep emissions cuts.

Liberals have propogated the "right wing is anti-science" meme relentlessly, but left wing activists have clearly demonstrated that climate science is a threat to their agenda.

The debate rages on.

MORE:

*ETC group enjoys support from Ben & Jerry Foundation, Rockerfeller Foundation, HKH Foundation, Marin Community Foundation, CS Fund, Ford Foundation and an assortment of other left-leaning organizations.

The test would pump water droplets 1km above the ground.

x-posted

Government Finally Cracks Down on Illegals

*Time for some sarcasm*

I'm so happy to see good Democrats cracking down on illegals -- and using advanced technology to do so:

In case you needed further proof of the American education system's failings, especially in poor and minority communities, consider the latest crime to spread across the country: educational theft. That's the charge that has landed several parents, such as Ohio's Kelley Williams-Bolar, in jail this year.

An African-American mother of two, Ms. Williams-Bolar last year used her father's address to enroll her two daughters in a better public school outside of theirneighborhood. After spending nine days behind bars charged with grand theft, the single mother was convicted of two felony counts. Not only did this stain her spotless record, but it threatened her ability to earn the teacher's license she had been working on.

Ms. Williams-Bolar caught a break last month when Ohio Gov. John Kasich granted her clemency, reducing her charges to misdemeanors from felonies. His decision allows her to pursue her teacher's license, and it may provide hope to parents beyond the Buckeye State. In the last year, parents in Connecticut, Kentucky and Missouri have all been arrested—and await sentencing—for enrolling their children in better public schools outside of

their districts.

Now wait a minute -- we're talking about undocumented migrant students? But aren't they American citizens? I wonder what Rick Perry would say about this. I suppose the County Prosecutor who prosecuted Ms Williams-Bolar doesn't "have a heart."

County Prosecutor Sherri Walsh charged Williams-Bolar with grand theft and
falsifying records — a third-degree felony. [Williams-Bolar] was convicted on the felony charge, and sentenced to five years in prison.

Sherry Walsh is a Democrat, by the way. Who knew Democrats could get tough on illegals who are simply looking for a better life?

You better believe this is serious business:

Other school districts use services like VerifyResidence.com, which provides
"the latest in covert video technology and digital photographic equipment to
photograph, videotape, and document" children going from their house to school. School districts can enroll in the company's rewards program, which awards anonymous tipsters $250 checks for reporting out-of-district students.

Where there's a will, there's a draconian way!

Obama's Schizophrenia on American Exceptionalism

APRIL 2009:

"I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."

Which is another way of saying America is not exceptional at all.

OCTOBER 2011:

Now Obama wants...

"...to make sure that we can out-educate and out-innovate and out-build the rest of the world."

What happened to Obama's view of American exceptionalism between April '09 and October '11?

x-posted