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THURSDAY,  MAY 27,  2010

THE GULF OIL SPILL HAS ITS CONSEQUENCES  – AT 8:47 P.M. ET:  Radical environmentalists should give an award to BP for making their job so easy.  President Obama, already moving to strengthen his political base, throws the enviros a bone:

WASHINGTON — President Obama said on Thursday that he is extending the moratorium on permits to drill new deepwater wells for six more months, as the head of the agency that oversees offshore drilling resigned under pressure...

...Mr. Obama’s order is intended to halt further permits for new wells for six months, delay planned exploration in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off the coast of Alaska, cancel an August lease sale in the western Gulf and cancel a lease sale off the coast of Virginia, said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity before the formal announcement.

The Virginia lease sale had drawn environmental concerns and objections from the Defense Department. The Alaska project will be delayed for six months while a new presidential commission studies how to regulate offshore drilling.

COMMENT:  This was inevitable, given the disaster in the Gulf.  But Americans are going to start feeling it at the pump.  Prices are expected to rise dramatically, and five-dollar-a-gallon gasoline, the pipe dream of well-heeled environmentalists who don't feel the pain themselves but think everyone else should, is not out of the question.

Meanwhile, a Zogby interactive poll revealed that only 16% of Americans approve of Mr. Obama's handling of the oil spill.  I question the accuracy of Zogby's polls, but, even given a wide margin of error, the president is getting no applause from the nation for his slow, indifferent response to the flowing oil.

We haven't seen the last of this story, even if BP caps the well.  The repercussions, political and economic, will last for years.

May 27, 2010     Permalink

FROM BAD TO WORSE – AT 7:45 P.M. ET:  Does Rand Paul have any political common sense at all?  He knows he's fumbled badly since winning the GOP nomination for the Senate from Kentucky.  So what does he do?  Read on, from The Politico:

Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul has replaced his campaign manager with a former communications aide to his father’s presidential campaign, an aide to Paul tells POLITICO.

Say what?  As nutty as Rand is, his father is ten times worse – a certified whacko who attracts the "I was abducted by an alien who looked like Golda Meir – crowd.  Does Rand understand the importance of symbolism in politics?

Jesse Benton, who served as communications director for Rep. Ron Paul’s 2008 presidential bid, will take the official title as campaign manager, replacing David Adams.

Adams will remain on the team and serve as campaign chairman.

The shuffle comes a week after the GOP nominee caused an media firestorm by making ambiguous comments about his support for the Civil Rights Act.

Benton was previously serving as senior vice president of the senior Paul’s Campaign for Liberty group.

COMMENT:  Reports indicate that the national GOP realizes it has a serious problem with Randy.  The fear, of course, is that Dems will try to "nationalize" the Rand Paul campaign, portraying it as symbolic of the Republican Party, which it ain't.  The fear is justified.  The sound you hear is the Obama White House sharpening its knives.

Employing his father's campaign manager links Rand Paul directly with dad, whose foreign policy views are neo-isolationist, and, in a strange way, to the left of the Democratic Party.

May 27, 2010    Permalink

CYNICISM IN ACTION – AT 7:34 P.M. ET:  The perpetual campaign that is the Obama administration is in action again.  From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday voted to let the Pentagon repeal the ban on gay men, lesbians and bisexual people from serving openly in the military, a big step toward dismantling the Clinton-era policy widely known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” as part of the annual defense authorization bill.

The House has included a provision for repealing the ban in its version of the defense authorization bill, and a vote on the legislation was possible late Thursday.

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted in a closed session, after about an hour of heated debate.

COMMENT:  This has nothing whatever to do with human dignity, the effectiveness of our armed forces, or anything else of importance.  This is pure politics.

The Pentagon has an ongoing study into the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, to be completed in December.  There was a general understanding that no action would be taken until that study was finished.  But the president is in political trouble, and is trying to shore up his base, which includes the gay and lesbian community.  This acceleration of action on "don't ask, don't tell" is the result. 

I have no opinion on the matter.  I want to see the results of the study.  It would have been nice had Congress waited.  But politics got there first. 

May 27, 2010     Permalink

POLITICALLY, NEW YORK IS BECOMING THE LOUISIANA OF THE NORTH – AT 9:06 A.M. ET:  We are a laughingstock.  Disgraced Governor Eliot Spitzer and his harem of hookers; Charlie Rangel and his strange tax returns; Governor David Paterson and his monumental incompetence.  Now comes Andy.  From the New York Post:

ALBANY -- Gubernatorial hopeful Andrew Cuomo put state workers on notice yesterday -- naming a union-battling upstate mayor to be his running mate.

The surprise selection of Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy -- a tax-cutting, tough-talking ex-police chief -- was meant to bolster Cuomo's tack to the political right and deliver on his pledge to pick a lieutenant governor who would be ready to take charge immediately if needed.

At a Manhattan news conference, the Democratic attorney general praised Duffy's efforts to consolidate agencies and bring mayoral control of schools to New York's third-largest city over the objection of teachers unions.

COMMENT:  Huh?  This is a Democratic candidate for governor?  Unions?  Hate 'em.  Taxes?  Hate 'em.  Cops.  Love 'em.

I mean, come on.  This guy Cuomo is the Democratic establishment.  His father, a three-term governor, is a liberal's liberal.  These guys have been in bed with unions and taxers so long that they set each other's alarm clocks. 

Now, suddenly, Andy emerges as the reincarnation of Barry Goldwater, with a little bit of George Patton.

Will anyone believe this?  And why is he trying so hard?  The Republicans, true to form in New York, haven't even got a viable candidate for governor. 

Look, it's obvious.  Andy isn't running for governor.  That's just a watering stop.  He's running for president.  His father, strangely, never ran, giving rise to rumors that he was hiding a family secret.  But Andy's the son.  No one would hold him responsible for anything awkward in the family's past, if anything actually exists. 

But this posturing is hilarious.  This is like the queen of England coming out against horse-drawn coaches. 

As Cindy Adams likes to put it, only in New York, kiddies.  Only in New York.

May 27, 2010    Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 8:22 A.M. ET:  From Victor Davis Hanson, angry over Obama's regular apologies for the U.S., and especially his groveling before the Mexican president last week.  From NRO:

Instead of seeing his nation or its states as the problem, our president would do better to focus on the woes of the European Union, North Korea’s sinking of a South Korean ship, Iran’s plans to get the bomb, continued terrorist attacks in the U.S., wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Mexico’s encouragement of its own citizens to violate American immigration law.

Right now there are quite enough foreign felonies in the world without dwelling on American misdemeanors.

COMMENT:  A fine Hanson column, and worth reading. 

The European Union is fracturing over its economic problems; North Korea has suffered no consequences over its sinking of a South Korean warship; Iran remains unscathed in its nuclear-bomb march; terror attacks against Americans are increasing; and the president sends a minimal, thoroughly inadequate force of 1,100 guardsmen, many in desk jobs, to protect the southern border.

Mr. Obama will grudgingly visit the Gulf coast, having demonstrated an indifference to the oil spill that makes George W. Bush's response to Katrina look like Superman in action.  Mr. Obama will then leave for another vacation.

"One-term president" sounds just right to me.

May 27, 2010    Permalink

DEMS IN VERY HOT WATER – AT 8:05 A.M. ET:  The great Michael Barone, who predicted the Democratic disaster in 1994 by looking at poll numbers in individual races where incumbents were running, now does the same, and again has no encouragement for Democrats.  From the Washington Examiner:

Usually House incumbents don’t trail challengers in polls at any point in the campaign, because they almost always start off better known. For an incumbent to trail in a poll is a sign of serious danger.

Such signs abound for Democrats these days. For example, Republican Jim Renacci leads incumbent Democrat John Boccieri 47%-36% in Ohio 16. Boccieri won this district, which had been held by Republicans since 1950, by a 55%-44% margin in 2008. He switched from no to yes on the health care bill in March 2010. That doesn’t seem to have helped.

And...

...Republican former Congressman Steve Chabot leading Democratic incumbent Steve Driehaus 53%-39%. Driehaus was one of the “Stupak five” who said they wouldn’t support a health care bill that funded abortion but who turned around and provided the key votes that passed the bill March 21.

And...

Meanwhile, Scott Rasmussen reports that Republican Rick Berg leads 18-year incumbent Democrat Earl Pomeroy 52%-43%.

And...

And here’s a shocker from a governor race. According to Rasmussen, Republican Chris Dudley leads Democrat John Kitzhaber for governor of Oregon 45%-44%. That’s not statistically significant, but it’s a lot different from Kitzhaber’s winning margins of 51%-42% in 1994 and 64%-30% in 1998. The last time a Republican was elected governor of Oregon was 1978.

COMMENT:  Don't relax.  The election is five months away.  The White House is already in campaign mode.  Never underestimate Democrats in danger of losing their publicly funded health plans.

May 27, 2010      Permalink

AMONG OUR HONORED GUESTS – AT 7:49 A.M. ET:  Homeland Security has issued a new alert about those crossing our southern border.  From Fox:

The Department of Homeland Security is alerting Texas authorities to be on the lookout for a suspected member of the Somalia-based Al Shabaab terrorist group who might be attempting to travel to the U.S. through Mexico, a security expert who has seen the memo tells FOXNews.com.

The warning follows an indictment unsealed this month in Texas federal court that accuses a Somali man in Texas of running a “large-scale smuggling enterprise” responsible for bringing hundreds of Somalis from Brazil through South America and eventually across the Mexican border. Many of the illegal immigrants, who court records say were given fake IDs, are alleged to have ties to other now-defunct Somalian terror organizations that have merged with active organizations like Al Shabaab, al-Barakat and Al-Ittihad Al-Islami.

In 2008, the U.S. government designated Al Shabaab a terrorist organization. Al Shabaab has said its priority is to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, on Somalia; the group has aligned itself with Al Qaeda and has made statements about its intent to harm the United States.

In recent years, American Somalis have been recruited by Al Shabaab to travel to Somalia, where they are often radicalized by more extremist or operational anti-American terror groups, which Al Shabaab supports. The recruiters coming through the Mexican border are the ones who could be the most dangerous, according to law enforcement officials.

COMMENT:  Hmm.  "Be on the lookout"?  Precisely what does that mean?  Does it mean stopping people who might look Somali?  Does it mean looking only for this one chap, or for others who might be his allies? 

Does the word "profiling" come to mind?

The hypocrisy just flows, doesn't it?  At a time when the self-declared righteous of the Earth are denouncing the carefully crafted Arizona anti-illegal-immigration law out of one side of their mouth, out of the other they're issuing this warning.

I'm glad they've issued the warning.  It's appropriate and correct.  But let's understand that it implies a certain kind of profiling that's inevitable in these cases.  What must end is the political grandstanding that is designed only to frighten the Hispanic community and grab its votes.  If the Obamans would stop exploiting Hispanics and explain the border situation thoughtfully, they will find a community that is very supportive of law and reasonable action to deal with the illegal immigration issue. 

May 27, 2010    Permalink

WEDNESDAY,  MAY 26,  2010

THE WORST WAY TO BE A HOUSEHOLD NAME – AT 8:55 P.M. ET:  Three weeks ago, Democratic Attorney General Dick Blumenthal of Connecticut was on his way to an easy ride into the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Chris Dodd.  Blue state, reputable guy, no problem.

Then it came out that he'd lied about his military record.  It wasn't a little white or even multicultural lie.  It was a big fib – he said he'd been in Vietnam, and he hadn't gone near the place. 

Now Blumenthal is the buzz of much of the political world.  He also may be entering the political vocabulary of the nation in the worst possible way, as ABC News reports:

Vice President Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden hosted a poolside barbecue for wounded veterans and their families last night at the Vice president’s residence, one complete with bluegrass music, honey-mustard-pulled-pork, and a Bidenism.

Speaking to the veterans -- residents of the Mologne House at Walter Reed Army Medical Center -- the Vice President spoke about the experience of troops returning from Vietnam.

"I didn't serve in Vietnam,” he noted. “I don't want to make a Blumenthal mistake here -- our attorney general from Connecticut, God love him."

The vice president was referring to the recent admission by the Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal that at times he has exaggerated his war record. Blumenthal served in the Marine Reserves during Vietnam, but never actually went there, though at times he has told audiences about being “in” Vietnam.

Later on in his remarks, the vice president added "I have a bad habit of saying exactly what I think."

COMMENT:  Message to Blumenthal:  Maybe it's time to go.  Run an antique shop.  Maybe paint landscapes.  Many things to do in this world, Dick. 

Amazing what a little newspaper exposure can do to a guy. 

Oh, another message to Blumenthal:  If you do run an antique shop, and someone comes in with an original copy of the Gettysburg Address, don't say you heard it live.

May 26, 2010     Permalink

IS SESTAK NEXT UNDER THE WHITE HOUSE BUS? – AT 7:35 P.M. ET:  The brilliant Barbara Ledeen, wife of the equally brilliant Michael Ledeen, alerts us to the latest installment of Joe Sestak's employment news.

Sestak, a former Navy vice admiral, is the Dem candidate for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, having defeated Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary.  But Sestak opened his mouth some weeks back, and, reflecting his apparent resentment, revealed that someone in the White House had offered him a high position in the administration in return for his dropping out of that very primary.  If true, a serious crime may well have been committed, and Republicans are not giving it a rest:  From ABC News:

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder today, all seven Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee "urge the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate Congressman Joe Sestak's claim that a White House official offered him a job to induce him to exit the Pennsylvania Senate primary race against Senator Arlen Specter."

The seven – Sens. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Jon Kyl or Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Cornyn of Texas and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma – allege that the offer would appear to violate federal criminal laws, including 18 U.S.C. 600, which prohibits promising a government position “as consideration, favor, or reward for any political activity” or “in connection with any primary election or political convention or caucus held to select candidates for any political office.”

Rep. Sestak, D-Penn., who defeated Specter in the primary last week, told Comcast’s Larry Kane in February that the White House had offered him a position in exchange for not challenging Specter. White House senior adviser David Axelrod said on Monday that White House lawyers had looked into it and judged everything “perfectly appropriate.”

COMMENT:  Well, we're sure the White House lawyers found everything good, but the Republicans are absolutely correct in demanding a wider probe.  Holder is on the record as rejecting the notion of a special prosecutor, but Holder can be reversed if Obama decides he needs at least the appearance of rectitude. 

This story will grow.  There's no downside for the Republicans, and no upside for the Democrats.

May 26, 2010     Permalink

YIKES-A-ROOTIE – AT 7:16 P.M. ET:  As readers know, we've been following closely the president's decline in the Rasmussen poll.  It's sort of like watching the Titanic, and rooting for the iceberg. 

The latest report continues the relentless slide:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-five percent (45%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -22. That’s the lowest Approval Index rating yet measured for this president.

And...

Overall, 43% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-five percent (56%) disapprove.

Obama is moving toward the thirties, at least in this poll.  If he hits that magic number of 39, he'll be in George W. Bush territory, and he's barely moved into the White House.  Call the movers back.

There's more goodness from Scott Rasmussen:

Among men, 20% Strongly Approve and 50% Strongly Disapprove. Among women, those numbers are 27% and 40%.

There is some good news for Obama, but not from the Rasmussen poll.  Other polls show that the Hispanic vote is firming up for the Democrats, in response to the Arizona anti-illegal-immigration law, which Obama strongly opposes and which Republicans generally favor. 

Obama is taking steps to strengthen his base, such as inviting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to the White House for a kiss-and-make-up session next week, and advancing action on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.  But beyond the base, the Democrats see little reason for joy.

May 26,  2010     Permalink

CAMERON BEGINS – AT 9:05 A.M. ET:  Although hobbled by the need to form a coalition with the lefty Liberal Democrats, conservative Prime Minister David Cameron is off to a hard-hitting start in presenting the unvarnished truth to the British people.  From the Daily Mail:

David Cameron pledged to rebuild Britain after 13 years of   'recklessness' today after unveiling a radical blueprint for sweeping political and social reform.

The Prime Minister launched a savage attack on the previous administration, accusing them of leaving the country in tatters with their economic profligacy.

In his address following this morning's Queen's Speech, he accused Labour of leaving an 'economy that's nearly bankrupt, a society that's broken and a political system that is bust'.

Mr Cameron said Labour had left an 'appalling legacy' with a vast budget deficit that is bigger than Greece's and vowed his coalition government would act in the national interest to put it right.

Evoking the rhetoric of Margaret Thatcher, he promised to return Britain to 'good housekeeping' and end the years of 'recklessness and big government' that mushroomed under Labour.

He claimed his reforms, which include allowing people to run their own schools and a rolling back of the state, would hand back power to the people and deliver a new start for Britain.

'In just two weeks, this Government has done more for our economy than Labour managed in the last two years. No more spending beyond our means, no more reckless borrowing, no more taxing of the poorest to pay for the mistakes of the few,' he told MPs in the Commons.

COMMENT:  Good start and fine rhetoric.  But Cameron faces the reality that Britain is now a nanny state, and most Brits like nanny.  He will have to do a Thatcher, and risk the political attacks that come with it.  Same for the GOP here, if it has the backbone.

May 26, 2010      Permalink

GREAT! – AT 7:32 A.M. ET:  Just as the Dems seem to be embroiled in civil war, testing whether that party, or any party so conceived and so dedicated can long endure, the GOP is coming alive with, finally, a coherent plan for governing.  From ABC News:

House Republican leaders are beginning the process of crafting a 2010 version of the "Contract with America " that proved so successful for the party in the 1990s. GOP leaders hope that the election-year agenda will help the party shed the "party of no" moniker that Democrats have sought to pin on them during President Obama's administration. They kick off the effort at a Tuesday press conference in Washington, D.C.

"There are a number of seats that you get just by being 'no,'" Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican spearheading the effort, told ABC News. "But you don't get a majority by just being 'no.' You've got to say what you're for."

Absolutely correct.  Applause and whistles.

The GOP's effort to craft an election-year agenda, which has been dubbed "America Speaking Out," was inspired by the way in which former House Speaker Newt Gingrich , R-Georgia, used a 10-point "Contract with America" to fuel the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress . Although polls indicated that the 1994 vote was motivated more by animus towards President Clinton than by familiarity with the Contract's provisions, Republican leaders found the document to be a useful governing tool as they led the first GOP House majority in 40 years.

There will be voter input as well, another good idea.  The whole effort will be called "America Speaking Out."

COMMENT:  It's critical that whatever emerges place proper emphasis on foreign policy.  Americans often don't list that as high on their priorities, but it's one of those silent issues that can wreck a party if handled poorly.  Americans expect the country to be properly defended, and the Dem policy of weakness and indifference is political fodder.

May 26, 2010     Permalink

THE DEMOCRATIC CIVIL WAR – AT 7:19 A.M. ET:  Its political position more than precarious, the Democrats are turning on each other.  Apparently, Obama did not bring peace on Earth and good will toward men.  From the Washington Examiner:

...the real civil war this year is going on in the Democratic Party -- and it is going largely unreported...

...So in this month's primaries we saw a skirmish between Arkansas Senate incumbent Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who suggested but did not quite promise he'd support the card check bill that would effectively abolish the secret ballot in unionization elections -- and whose campaign received something like $1 million from unions. That race will be decided in the June 8 runoff

Another incumbent challenged on the left was Utah Rep. Jim Matheson, who got only 55 percent in the Democrats' state convention and could lose the June 22 primary to a supporter of the health care bill.

And...

The Democrats' one big victory, in the Pennsylvania 12 special election, was won by a pro-gun, anti-abortion, anti-health care bill, anti-cap-and-trade candidate. That platform sounds more Republican than Democratic...

...In Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. reportedly is ready to endorse Republican Senate nominee Mark Kirk over Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, whose family bank gave loans to mob-related individuals and then failed last month. In New York Andrew Cuomo began his gubernatorial bid with a platform that puts him on a collision course with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and differs notably from the record of his father, Mario Cuomo, in his three terms as governor.

What we're seeing here are attempts to scramble out of trouble by members of a party whose big government policies have proved, to their surprise, to be highly unpopular. Some move left, some move right, some just run around.

Finally...

The Democratic Party at its best is a group of disparate constituencies united in support of a common program able to win large majorities around the country, as it did in November 2008. The Democratic Party at its worst is a collection of panicked politicians engaged in civil war. Which one does it look like now?

And the guy at the top seems remarkably uninterested.   After all, he's not on the ballot.

May 26, 2010     Permalink

GUESS WHO'S COMING FOR DINNER, OR A SNACK – AT 7:07 A.M. ET:  Much buzz this morning over the sudden invitation issued by President Obama to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the White House next week.

Netanyahu was already scheduled to visit France and Canada, and now will detour to Washington. 

Now, the reason for the invite is perfectly clear.  Obama made a fool of himself recently by mistreating Netanyahu when the PM visited Washington, apparently browbeating him, then abandoning him and his staff while The One dined with The First One in the White House living quarters.

But Obama has invited the Palestinian almost prime minister to the White House for later in June.  He'll want to put on a good show for the Muslim world and the sympathetic American left.  There'll be photo ops, maybe a joint press conference.  But he can't do that without memories of Netanyahu's last visit surfacing among Israel supporters.  So he's asked the Israeli leader for a do-over.  You can be sure the charm will flow next week as Obama tries to rehabilitate himself.  Much talk of the "unshakeable" bond between the U.S. and Israel.  Maybe a defense deal.

And it will mean nothing.

May 26, 2010     Permalink