This Wall Street Journal Editorial gives us a good idea of what we will have to face if Obama wins a second term. He has long since given up trying to win based on the merits of his arguments, now he tries to demagogue the issues and debase the opposition. His attempt to bully the Supreme Court reveals him in all his totalitarian tendencies to be a serial bully and a liar.
If there’s a Laffer Curve for Presidential invective—some point at which dishonest political abuse yields diminishing returns—the White House political team must not think their boss has hit it. Even in this hyperpartisan age, President Obama’s speech to the Associated Press yesterday was a parody of the form. This was a diatribe that managed to invoke “Social Darwinism” and “a Trojan Horse” in the same paragraph, amid the other high crimes that Mr. Obama says Paul Ryan wants to commit.
The President’s depiction of the wonkish and formerly obscure House Budget Chairman as some political monster is itself telling. Mr. Obama is conceding that he can’t run on the economic recovery, the stimulus, health care, green energy or any of the other grand liberal ambitions that have dominated his time in office. All of those are unpopular or failures. He was elected on hope and change, but now his only hope is to change the subject to the ogres he claims are the disloyal opposition.
Did you hear about the GOP’s red-in-tooth-and-claw plan for Medicare? Grandma and Gramps are going to be drafted for the Hunger Games.
Mr. Obama has been working Mediscare for the last year, but he is also debuting some new material, each layer thicker than the last. Modern Republicans are so radical that they oppose research and care for Alzheimer’s, cancer, AIDS, autism and Down Syndrome, even as they want to deny education and food to children and their mothers. They want to pave over Yellowstone and backfill the Grand Canyon. But few tourists could get there anyway, because Republicans plan to shut down air traffic control too.
[........]
The list of untrue things that Mr. Obama wants Americans to believe is evidently so long that Mr. Obama associated himself with Republicans, albeit mostly dead Republicans like Lincoln and Eisenhower. For the first time we can recall, Mr. Obama even praised George W. Bush, of all people, because his predecessor created a new entitlement for prescription drugs. He also said Newt Gingrich showed how smart he was when he called Mr. Ryan’s budget “radical” and “right-wing social engineering” last year.All of this is a political fable carefully constructed to erase the record of the last three years and blame every current anxiety on a GOP House that has been in office for all of 14 months. The President claims to have “eliminated dozens of programs that weren’t working,” but the savings from these eliminations amount to less than 0.1% of the budget, or less than $100 million.
Meanwhile, the budget has grown by more than 20% since he has been President. After deficits of $1.412 trillion, $1.293 trillion, and $1.299 trillion over the last three years, and an estimated $1.326 trillion due for 2012, he still claims the deficits are all Mr. Bush’s fault—except for the extra spending on Medicare, which he likes.
It is especially rich of Mr. Obama to accuse Republicans of breaking last summer’s debt-limit deal—given that even the most sympathetic press accounts that are now emerging make it clear that the President blew up his “big deal” with John Boehner. The House Speaker was prepared to trade higher taxes for mostly notional changes to entitlements, but Mr. Obama thought he could roll him at the last minute for even greater tax increases.
[.......]
Mr. Ryan’s “premium support” reform for Medicare, for instance, has been endorsed by Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden. It was advanced in the 1990s by President Clinton’s Medicare commission led by Democrat John Breaux. It mirrors the insurance system that lets millions of federal workers choose from a myriad of insurance plans with a government subsidy. It is the only reform with a prayer of salvaging Medicare without savage cuts in medical care down the road.
***
The last two days have revealed Mr. Obama at his least appealing—and least Presidential—first warning the Supreme Court not to dare overturn his health-care law, and now demonizing the motives of his political opposition. It is a long, long way from his “there’s no red America, there’s no blue America” stuff of 2004, much less the inspiration of 2008.
If nothing else, Americans are getting a preview of the rhetorical uplift, the bipartisan problem-solving, and the unifying national purpose that would attend another four years.
Read the rest – Paul Ryan’s hunger games
Don’t care if you go away mad, Obama. Just go away
Obama’s attack on the Supreme Court should be the tipping point for any fence sitters.
I’ve noticed that in the past several weeks Obama, Biden and Carney have have gone well beyond the usual “distortions” and essentially everything they are saying is a naked lie. Right out of the soviet playbook and they know full well that the MFM will not call their hand on it. ABC’s Jake Tapper may be the exception.
@ Speranza:
I don’t think there are many fence-sitters out there. I think most people have made up their minds, and all we are doing s marking time until the vote. This election will hinge on voter turnout, and that is where Romney is weak. I think it will be very close. Romney can beat Obama, but he will have to motivate the base in order to do so, and he has shown no interest in doing so thus far.
@ huckfunn:
Jarrett’s been whipping the boys into a frenzy
waldensianspirit wrote:
Yep. There is no longer even a pretense to truth. Jarrett with a whip… now there’s an interesting image.
This is funny: Current TV responds to Olbermann’s lawsuit
@ huckfunn:
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of pricks. I hope both sides lose.
@ huckfunn:
@ Iron Fist:
It will be entertaining! Stock up on quality corn for popping.
Iron Fist wrote:
I’m hoping that the shysters will pick their bones clean. Olberman won’t be able to get a gig on Sesame Street.
@ huckfunn:
@ Iron Fist:
Did you see he calls his company the Olbermann Broadcasting Empire?
@ Iron Fist:
Romney also has to broaden the base. He has chosen not to and that’s why he will fall short.
Bush in 2004 broadened the base and that pushed him over the edge against John Kerry.
The Senate is looking good right so if we keep the House and win the Senate, I will be OK with that.
If the Republicans lose the presidency, they will not retake the Senate and will do damn well to not lose the House. The presidential race has “coat tails.” Sometimes long, sometimes short, but always there.
Rodan wrote:
He’s a legend in his own mind.
Mike C. wrote:
Now you’re starting to sound like Rodan.
@ Mike C.:
Not all the time. There have been many cases where the winner of the Presidency lost Senate seats and didn’t have big coat tails. Nixon won huge in 72, but lost senate seats. What’s different this year is that many of the Senate seats the Democrats are defending are in states that Romney will win. So by default the GOP will pick up at least 4 Senate seats even losing the Presidency. In 96, Clinton won but the GOP picked up 2 Senate seats.
huckfunn wrote:
Uh, you might want to check out his last comment at # 12.
@ huckfunn:
Not really. I do think the GOP will hold the House and win the Senate. Its the Presidency they will fall short.
@ Rodan:
Romney looks like he is going to fail in a number of areas. He has bought his own bullshit that he is “electible” and that is all he needs to do. Nothing could be further from the truth. He needs to reach out to the base badly. Making Ryan his VP could do that. It would let us know he is somewhat serious about tackling spending. We’ll see what happens, but I am not enthusiastic about his chances. I don’t even know that we’ll get the Senate. We should, but Romney may be such a drag on the ticket that he holds it off. I think we’ll hold the House. At least we’ll have that much going for us.
@ Iron Fist:
Republicans Brace For The Romney Pivot :twist: He’s a planetist after all
@ Mike C.:
@ Rodan:
Just woofin ya.
Hey, check this out: Carrying It Off: The Springfield XDs Review. Springfield’s new pocket .45.
@ Iron Fist:
Luckily many of these Seanate races are in states Romney will win regardless. That’s why the GOP will win the Senate by Default.
This is my election projection:
Obama 50% 290 electoral vote.
Romney 48% 248 electoral votes.
Republicans +4 Senate seats 51 Seats
Democrats 47 Seats
House
Republicans -12 230 Seats
Democrats +12 205
@ waldensianspirit:
Yeah, I read that yesterday. I expect to be stabbed in the back by the son of a bitch, but that will cost him votes. The base won’t turn out for a RINO. Why should we, really? It is all well and good to talk about party unity, but when has the Party shown us any unity? I’ll vote for the bastard, because Obama is worse, but the GOP keeps giving us the choice of “Least Worst” rather than giving us a candidate we can believe in, and they keep losing on that. You’d think they’d get a clue, but I don’t see any signs of that happening.
@ huckfunn:
A lot of recoil in a small package. You can get a Ruger LCR in .357 magnum now, but I wouldn’t want to fire it.
huckfunn wrote:
ROTFLMAO… ya think? The latest unemployment numbers just came out, 120,000 jobs added and the unemployment rate fell to 8.2….
120,000 jobs added isn’t even enough to keep up with the population increase. Never mind the 357,000 per week, or 1.4 million new unemployment claims filed in that same time period.
To quote Country Joe and the Fish.. “Whoopee were all going to Die”…
@ Iron Fist:
Dissing the base and pissing off other constituencies is a recipe for disaster.
I did alot of thinking and although I still am no fan of Bush’s Muslim ass kissing foreign policy and his Liberal fiscal polices,but he was trying to broaden the Republican base. He reached out to groups to normally don’t vote Republican. Now the GOP takes the base for granted and tells certain ethnic groups to fuck off and die. It’s not a winning formula.
Bush’s 2004 campaign is the blueprint on how to defeat the Democrats.
@ doriangrey:
My monthly Obama Boom post goes up at 11:30.
Mike C. wrote:
Yep; I’ve got the LCR in .38 and it is a hand thumper. However, I looked at a couple of Youtubes of some guys shooting the XDs and they said it was surprisingly light on the recoil. I pretty much have all of the sub compact pocket pistols I that I need at the moment, but I will give the XDs a try sometime.
I’m going to do a post on how Bush’s 2004 campaign was the blueprint to defeat the Democrats. It was bit flawed since it wrote off parts of the country, but it worked better than what the GOP has tried since.
doriangrey wrote:
Where’s Country Joe when we need him?
huckfunn wrote:
Biden is a particulalry ludicrous figure. Can you imagine him as POTUS? He would probably blurt out the secret nuclear codes while telling one of his God awful jokes.
Rodan wrote:
That’s the Rovian 51% strategy which leaves zero margin for error and is minimalist by nature.
Rodan wrote:
Here’s a little something for you to throw in it as an update/edit…
Rodan wrote:
True -- the selfish (and borderline criminal) Nixon only cared about getting the biggest reelection victory ever. He did not give a damn about his own political party and made sure that not much money was spent on bringing more Republicans into office. He had zero coat tails.
@ Speranza:
That was the flaw. In 2004, they wrote off the suburbs in parts of the country that the GOP had historically won. What saved them in 2004 was expanding the GOP base to include Hispanics. What is needed is a replay from 2004 + winning back the Northeastern Suburbs. In 2010, the GOP pulled that off. They got out the base, got 40% of the Hispanic vote and won back the North Eastern and Upper Midwest suburbs. The GOP needs to pull off 2010 at a Presidential level. But they have decided against it.
Speranza wrote:
He is such a buffoon. What makes his buffonery complete is the fact that he is such a dumb schlub yet thinks he’s the smartest man on the planet. He’s gotta be the most gaffasstic VP evah.
doriangrey wrote:
GIVE ME AN F….
huckfunn wrote:
I think he “Turned on, tuned in and dropped out” one time to many and is now wandering the halls of Bellevue stalking a little purple unicorn that was stealing his skittles, that or he is writing legal briefs for the Obamanation Administration.
@ huckfunn:
I have a smith 640 .357 Mag 2″ barrel as my “small” snubbie. Not as small as a LCR, but it is an all stainless steel frame. The extra weight gives it a bit of heft and is rather pleasant to shoot with standard .38 Special, accurate too. Haven’t shot it yet with .38 +p, and doubt I will do much if any .357 Mag out of it. I am not a masochist.
huckfunn wrote:
Umm, speaking of Obama’s score on the Economy…
A solid F-… 
and that is being kind to him. If I had turned in work of as stunning quality as Obama has on the economy when I was in college, my professors would have dropped me from their courses.
@ doriangrey:
I was surprised to see that Country Joe is actually still alive. He just turned 70 in January.
huckfunn wrote:
it has gotten downright Orwellian. Carney is trying
now to assert that the President didn’t actually say
what you thought that you heard.
See as “A Law Prefessor, he as speaking in shorthand.
Some people chose to misunderstand.”
Rodan wrote:
They write off too many voters. Not. Good.
Rodan wrote:
Interesting point.
@ citizen_q:
Last summer I bought a Smith & Wesson Model 28 Highway Patrolman .357. Nice big N frame six shooter and really a joy to shoot. I didn’t buy it for a carry piece… to pretty to conceal.
@ Rodan:
Do you think a lot will also be riding on how SCOTUS rules on Обамаcare? They’ve already voted….we just have to wait till June to hear the result.
RIX wrote:
I’m surprised that Carney isn’t in traction after all of the linguistic gymnastics he’s been doing all week. The interview with Brett Baeir was an instant classic.
@ doriangrey:
http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts
@ doriangrey:
You get a hat tip!
@ Macker:
Yes that’s a factor. But the problem is Romney has turned off the base and other voters. He has a lot of work to repair.
@ huckfunn:
Carney comes across as an intellectual light wieight.
He makes it worse with a smug, snarky attitude.
Just like we write off too much of the “popular culture”, we write off too many states. If we cannot win the presidency in some of these states, at least let’s win as much as we can the Senate and House seats with the most electable candidates in those states and if that means a Mike Castle or Scott Brown- so be it.
huckfunn wrote:
Country Joe was an imbecile back then, and obviously hasn’t sought any kind of medical attention for his disorder…
@ Speranza:
2010 was the blue print on how the GOP can win. Turn out the base, get 40% of the Hispanic vote and be competitive in the Northeastern Suburbs.
Guess what the GOP focused on in 2010? Economic and Fiscal issues. SO far in 2012 it about nonsense.
Rodan wrote:
You mean contraceptives is nonsense? ///
@ Speranza:
Culture wars, insulting ethnic groups and writing off parts of the country. Not a winning formula.
Rodan wrote:
and it’s april
april…many many political eons to go till november
Rodan wrote:
It’s a blueprint for national defeat every ****ing time.
@ Speranza:
Yup!
@ coldwarrior:
They didn’t do this in 2010. It may be early but they have to dig out of a hole. Not a good way to start.
Rodan wrote:
They let themselves get diverted, particularly Santorum.
He took the bait on the contraceptives issue & it changed
the narrative from the Obama war on the Church to the
Republican war on women.
@ Speranza:
They also have a Pony-Tailed Guru Jazz Guitarist against them. That’s tough to overcome!
@ RIX:
Yup, he couldn’t help himself and turned a winning issue into a political disaster. Plus his insulting Puerto Rico claiming they don’t speak English just fed the Media narrative as well. If I didn’t know any better, I would think Santorum is a false flag operative.
He really did damage. Plus Romney’s scorched Earth strategy was horrible.
Well, a full-sized .45 ACP pistol has less felt recoil than even a steel medium-framed revolver with .38 Special in it, IMHO, and certaily well less than the same revolver with .357 magnum in it. All the recoil from the revolver goes straight through instead of cycling the action like it does in the pistol. I have an Airweight J-Frame S&W, and it kicks with authority. You get used to it, but it takes a few rounds.
Rodan wrote:
there wasnt a presidential election in 10.
the only peeps paying attention right now are wonks and political junkies
@ RIX:
It is the theater of the absurd.
Every time carny speaks I find myself thinking, how does this guy live with himself? He is nothing more than a spin pimp for obama. Does he have no honor, no skills that he has to lie and creatively spin events to deceive us for his master?
@ coldwarrior:
Look at winning Presidential campaigns, they don’t start in the hole. At this point in 2008 The Dems and Reps were running neck and neck. In 2004, Bush was even with Kerry. Its not good to start in the hole. Many analysts have pointed this out.
Romney has a lot of damage to repair. He has 7 months. He better get started.
@ coldwarrior:
@ Rodan:
Sadly I understand what is going on better than most, being as I am going on 2 years unemployed. Carter Penley, my former boss, is working on opening a new manufacturing facility. He has been doing the bureaucratic shuffle for almost 4 months now complying with various Federal, State and Local regulations so that he can manufacture Carbon-Fiber Golf shafts.
Four months rent paid on a 10,000 square foot building at a dollar a square foot that the Fed’s, State and City of San Diego won’t even allow him to turn on a single machine yet. And people wonder why the US Economy is so messed up (yes CW, that was edited as per your request) and unemployment remains so high. It is genuinely enough to make a person wonder if the actual goal of our government isn’t to destroy our economy.
Rodan wrote:
really?
ya might want to look at early reagan v carter numbers
@ huckfunn:
Sweet! A full sized revolver is on my wish list. Either a N Frame smith or a Ruger GP100.
coldwarrior wrote:
Oh come on now, you know that 6 month out from the election Jimmy Carter was only beating Ronald Reagan by a measly 40 percent…
@ doriangrey:
*calls the credit union for a loan for 6 shafts…*
@ coldwarrior:
Obama is not Carter and Romney is no Reagan. Its not good to start in the hole. In 76 Gerry Ford did come back from 30 points down and would have won had he not botched the Polish question. S0 it can be done.
I’m not saying it can’t be done, just that it makes it more difficult. Like you said 7 months is a long time, so Romney better start repairing the damage.
Rodan wrote:
reagan wasnt “reagan” in the spring/summer of 80.
Rodan wrote:
eons
citizen_q wrote:
Carney does seem to lack a sense of honor.
He is married to Claire Shipman & I saw them together
on a talk program.
It is a jump ball, who is actually worse.
@ doriangrey:
Obama is not Carter and Romney is no Reagan. That’s not a good blueprint for this. We are in uncharted waters. This election is a nominee despised by the base and by a whole ethnic group. A terrible incumbent with a lousy economy still polling well and an effective campaigner.
We are in uncharted waters here.
Reagan wasn’t a Planetist
@ coldwarrior:
Yup. He better get on his game.
@ Mike C.:
I will have to take out my 1911A1 and model 640 out at the same time and compare the recoil one day. I had not thought about. I can shoot both for as much as I can afford per session.
@ waldensianspirit:
Obama is not Carter. This man has a cult like hold on a large segments of the population.
@ citizen_q:
See what you think and report back…
RIX wrote:
I cannot stand that whiny fellow who does not have the temperament to be POTUS.
Mooch: “My husband talks to our girls about how he expects men in their lives to treat them, and he offers examples by how he treats me and how he treats them”
Weaselzipper’s adjoining pictures are the proverbial 1000 words
@ Speranza:
I wouldn’t be shocked if Rick Santorum was paid off by the Left to run. He fed into the stereotype of what the Left has portrayed Republicans since 1992.
Rodan wrote:
By 1980 even the media was sick of Carter.
Rodan wrote:
Actually I am amazed he was even elected to the Senate.
coldwarrior wrote:
The damned City of San Diego made him put in a 9 square foot concrete pad (cost $2500.00) before they would allow a gas meter to be installed, the justification for this expense? So the San Diego Gas and Electric meter installer would not have to bend over to install the 35lb meter. Once the meter was in and all the gas lines ran to the ovens the city inspector refused to sign off on the gas lines…. because he didn’t know how to unhook a simple coupling, Carter had to hire a plumber to uncouple and then recouple the coupling, time taken to do that… 3 minuets, cost.. $150.00
waldensianspirit wrote:
the mormons are in for a hell of shock when the press goes after them at full speed.
i hope they are ready for what is coming
@ doriangrey:
great, now the shafts will be even MORE expensive.
@ coldwarrior:
They have started already. Larry O’Donnell on MSNBC was trashing it.
@ Speranza:
He was elected in the 94 wave.
Rodan wrote:
He is a particularly vicious nut job.
@ coldwarrior:
The answer to the MSM is “Why haven’t they asked muslims the same types of questions and written expositions of islam?”
Rodan wrote:
Well that was changed in the 2006 wave.
Albeit Romney is going to have some “Jeremy Wright” types of problems coming to the fore
waldensianspirit wrote:
Too much logic there.
waldensianspirit wrote:
Let’s see if he is as willing ot go after Obama like he went at Perry over a purely internal Texas affair.
@ Speranza:
Ooops
coldwarrior wrote:
Hmmm, I wonder if that isn’t the Federal, State and Local governments plan??? The higher the retail cost, the more the tax on each item…
@ Speranza:
It is time for Santorum to drop out ( I hate to agree with
McCain.)
As I write this, a news report came on the radio that
Rick Santorum & his wife just took their three year
old daughter Bella to the hospital.
They do seem like wonderful parents, but he does need
to drop out
New Thread.
coldwarrior wrote:
Oh, I think they will be ready, Mormons are after all know for preparing for things well in advance, they have never really gotten out of the bunker mentality that drove them to Utah in the first place.
@ Speranza:
That is my biggest concern about Romney. I think he’s going to do a Dole/McCain on us and not really run against Obama.
bbl…me and the puti have a tee time.
FORE!
Iron Fist wrote:
He’s probably going to run against Bush.
//Worked for Obama in ’08…
Iron Fist wrote:
Let’s see if he brings up Rev. Wright.
RIX wrote:
I am sure he is a great husband and father, just a lousy candidate.