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SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE - SUSTAINING, BUT MORE HELP NEEDED

DAY ELEVEN

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SEPTEMBER 15,  2011

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:46 P.M. ET:

THE OBAMA BLUES CONTINUE – The bad polling results keep coming in for President Obama.  Now Gallup tells us his approval rating is back down in the 30s, at 39% to be exact.  Disapproval is at 53%.  There doesn't appear to be anything on the horizon to improve these numbers.  We await tomorrow's jobs report.

DENMARK UPDATE – We reported this morning that staunch American ally Denmark was holding an election day, likely to result in the ouster of the pro-American center-right coalition, and its replacement by the "red bloc," left-leaning parties who can move the country to port.  That has now happened.   Although the margin is narrow, the "red bloc" has won, and is pledging, Obama style, to fundamentally remake Denmark.  As several readers pointed out in e-mails today, we give the Danish people 18 months to start feeling buyer's remorse.

WILL HE BE BURNED AT THE STAKE? – And will Al Gore light the match?  In a stunning defeat for the Church of the Global Warming, American physicist Ivar Giaever, winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize in physics, has resigned in disgust from the American Physical Society, the premier physics group in the U.S., because the group stated that the arguments for global warming were "incontrovertible."  That word is rarely used in science because the purpose of science is to question, and to demand proof and observation.  Somehow, a number of members of the Church of the Global Warning have forgotten those standards.  Dr. Giaver will undoubtedly now be subjected to the usual Soviet-style claim of the warmists that he is insane or corrupt.

THE KID THREAT – In Britain, teachers are branding thousands of children either racist or homophobic as a result of playground disputes.  More than 20,000 children under the age of 11 were put on record last year for hate crimes.  These records are passed up the educational line and can affect a child's college education or even future employment.  Those school officers who do not report hate crimes are often placed into the files themselves for "underreporting."  The Britain that defeated the Nazi Luftwaffe is now at war with its own children. 

September 15, 2011     Permalink

PARADE OF GRIMNESS – AT 9:04 A.M. ET:  New unemployment claim figures are just out.  They are not good.  And that ain't all.  From CNBC:

Applications for unemployment benefits continued to rise in the past week, while inflation pushed higher and a key manufacturing index weakened.

The weekly jobless claims number, which is closely watched as an indicator for employment trends, unexpectedly rose 11,000 to 428,000, well ahead of estimates of 411,000.

The consumer price index, meanwhile, gained 0.4 percent when including volatile food and energy prices, after an increase of 0.5 percent in July. The so-called core CPI, though, gained 0.2 percent, which was in line with expectations.

Consumers paid more for a range of goods and services last month, pushing up inflation and squeezing Americans' purchasing power.

For the 12 months ending in August, the core index surged 2 percent, the biggest year-over-year increase in nearly three years. That's at the top end of the Federal Reserve's informal inflation target. It could limit the central bank's ability to take further steps to try to revive the economy.

Food prices rose 0.5 percent, the biggest increase since March. That was due to higher prices for cereals and dairy products. Energy costs increased 1.2 percent.

COMMENT:  My favorite dark chocolate bar (Hershey's) just went from a buck to $1.09.  I am considering an austerity program. 

These are serious figures.  I can't see how they can be turned around to any great degree within the next year.  They may even get worse. 

But remember the emerging Democratic strategy:  "We may be bad, but the alternative is worse."  And it can be effective, especially when filtered through a press that still has a powerful investment in Barack Obama.  We must fight as if we're 20 points behind.

September 15, 2011       Permalink

SHAKESPEARE SAID IT BEST – AT 8:47 A.M. ET:  "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark," Will Shakespeare wrote.  I'm afraid it's true.

Denmark is a fine country.  It has been a stalwart ally of the United States, and its government, unlike the execrable regimes of Norway and Sweden, has not gone the way of bowing down before the Islamists and descending into self-righteous boasting.  But we may be on the verge of a setback in the one Scandinavian country that has continued to share our values.  From AP:

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish voters appeared set to elect their first female prime minister Thursday and end 10 years of pro-market reforms and a hardening of immigration laws.

Nearly all polls leading up to the vote have predicted a majority in the 179-seat Parliament for the left-leaning opposition led by Social Democratic leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

Two surveys released Thursday also showed that her "red bloc" would unseat the minority center-right government led by Lars Loekke Rasmussen and stem the influence of its anti-immigration ally, the Danish People's Party.

Please note the term "red bloc."  They do this sort of thing in Europe. 

"Now we have the opportunity to change Denmark and get a new majority. We must grab this opportunity," Thorning-Schmidt, 44, told reporters after voting in Copenhagen.

For the past decade, the government has relied on the backing of the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party, enacting reforms to make Denmark more business friendly and less welcoming to asylum-seekers from developing countries.

In consensus-oriented Denmark, there is broad agreement on having a robust welfare system financed by high taxes, but the government and the opposition differ on the depth of austerity measures needed to keep Denmark's finances intact amid Europe's debt crisis.

Thorning-Schmidt wants to dodge some of the government's welfare cuts and raise taxes on banks and the wealthy. Loekke Rasmussen has ruled out any tax hikes.

Looks like Denmark will go the way of Greece.  Hey, failure isn't a disgrace, is it? 

"We need sound public finances without raising taxes," Loekke Rasmussen, 47, told reporters after casting his ballot in Graested, north of Copenhagen.

A Megafon poll Thursday gave the opposition 51 percent of votes and a five-seat advantage over the government in Parliament. The gap was 13 seats in a Ramboell survey.

COMMENT:  The Danes tend to be sane people, and I'm surprised at this turnabout.  I hope it doesn't take the Danish people long to realize that socialism is dead and national bankruptcy is not a noble goal.  In the meantime, I hope the new government will be sober in its foreign policy, and maintain close ties with the U.S.

September 15, 2011       Permalink

NEW GOP CAUSE? –  AT 8:29 A.M. ET:  And not a minute too soon.  The Republican Party is a free-enterprise party.  But it has often been accused of averting its eyes to the abuses within the economic system.  The accusations are correct, and now some leading Republicans are determined to correct course.  Cheer them on.  From the conservative Washington Examiner:

When Michele Bachmann attacked Rick Perry in this week's debate for helping a politically connected drug company, and Newt Gingrich attacked GE and even oil companies for benefitting from targeted tax breaks, it stirred a bit of a reaction on the Left.

"Wait, being a crony capitalist is a problem now?" journalist Dave Roberts, a liberal environmentalist, asked rhetorically.

It's actually an important question.

Although the Republicans' professed belief in free markets would imply a rejection of corporate welfare, GOP cries of "crony capitalism" and critiques of subsidy sucklers and regulatory robber barons usually come only from the party's back bench. It's striking, then, to hear this talk from prominent Republicans on center stage at a presidential debate.

It's part of a small but growing trend toward free-market populism in Republican rhetoric, if not action.

When Gingrich called out General Electric by name for profiting from special tax breaks and green subsidies, he was expressing a growing conservative distaste for GE, which has visibly embraced President Obama's subsidize-and-regulate economic policy. On everything from climate change and windmills to health care and embryonic stem cells, CEO Jeffrey Immelt has positioned GE to profit from big government, often lending the company's unmatched lobbying clout to the administration's efforts.

Obama's pick of Immelt as jobs czar was a fitting symbol of the symbiotic relationship between the industrial giant and Obama's agenda.

Bachmann, meanwhile, steered the discussion of Perry's 2007 unilateral mandate of an HPV vaccine to the question of cronyism, benefitting drugmaker Merck. "We cannot forget that in the midst of this executive order there is a big drug company that made millions of dollars because of this mandate."

And let us not forget that Sarah Palin is one of the pioneers in the Republican Party in taking on crony capitalists.  her speech in Iowa last week, now widely circulated, focused in part on that issue.

Churchill said that democracy was the worst system in the world, except for all the others.  The same can be said of capitalism.  It has produced more prosperity for more people than any economic system in history.  But it is plagued with problems and corruption.  I'm glad to see that it's the GOP that's starting to address the problems in a thoughtful way.  The idea is to preserve the good in the system, while rooting out the bad.  It would be great if conservatives led the way.  If so-called "liberals" do it, true free enterprise will be crippled.

September 15, 2011      Permalink

THE OBAMA BLUES – AT 8:15 A.M. ET:  We vote by state in presidential elections, and the bad news keeps pouring in for President Obama.

Obama carried North Carolina by 14,000 votes in 2008.  As the L.A. Times points out, things are different now:

Obama prevailed, winning by fewer than 14,000 votes to become the first Democrat to carry North Carolina since Jimmy Carter in 1976. Obama's campaign rode several advantages to break through: money, momentum and a compelling message.

Now he is an incumbent president saddled with a struggling economy. Unemployment here is 10.1%, a full point higher than the national average. A new poll showed Obama's approval rating in North Carolina at 43%.

"He won it by 14,000 votes, so any decline in the president's fortunes is going to put North Carolina in jeopardy.… His approval ratings are down in the state to the lowest levels in his tenure, and that will make it quite difficult for him to hold onto the state next year," said Andrew Taylor, a political science professor at North Carolina State University.

Obama isn't giving up on North Carolina. If he rebounds here, at the minimum he'll force his Republican opponent to commit resources in a state the GOP has identified as a top target. Republicans see the economy as a major vulnerability for Obama in a state that has lost 142,000 jobs since he took office.

Democrats want to show they can preserve their foothold in the Republicans' Southern base. Troubling as it is for Obama to see his approval rating slip, he stacks up well against the competition. A survey this month by Public Policy Polling, a North Carolina-based Democratic polling company, showed him tied in North Carolina with Texas Gov. Rick Perry and leading former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by one point.

And in Virginia, via The Politico:

Both Mitt Romney and Rick Perry would have a good shot at beating President Barack Obama in Virginia if the 2012 election were held today, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.

Obama's approval rating is just 40 percent among Virginia voters and 54 percent disapprove of his job performance. Independents disapprove of the president, 62 percent to 29 percent.

Continue Reading
The president currently trails Romney by 2 points in Virginia, 42 percent to 44 percent, and leads Perry by the same slim margin.

COMMENT:  Please note that Mr. Obama doesn't do badly in head-to-head matchups against specific Republican candidates.  That is his ace in the hole.  He remains personally popular, whereas Jimmy Carter wasn't personally popular when he ran against Reagan in 1980. 

Republicans plainly have the advantage in an election season in which the national administration is failing.  But they will need more than negative images of Obama failures.  They will need a candidate who can generate political warmth, not just tolerance, and who has a coherent program Americans can embrace.  That is not an easy order given the current state of the Republican Party.

I want to win next year, not just make ideological points.  But I wouldn't be measuring the drapes in the Oval Office just yet.

September 15, 2011     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 14,  2011

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:51 P.M. ET:

TERROR THREAT UNRESOLVED – Federal authorities say that the alleged terror threat against the United States, timed to coincide with 9-11, remains unresolved.  That means we don't know if it's real, or unreal, and we don't know where the alleged plotters are, if in fact there are any.  One thing is certain, though – there are terrorists out there who will try to strike us, and we can't be lucky every time.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, THE NEW INSANITY – News reports tell of a newly dedicated memorial plaque in Washington Township, New Jersey, which simply says, "Dedicated September 11, 2011, 10 year anniversary."  What then follows is a list of town officials who presumably supported the plaque.  There is no mention of what is being memorialized, no mention of 3,000 dead, no mention of terrorism, no mention of jihadism, and no names of local victims.  I wonder what kids in 20 years will think when they pass the memorial. 

CALIFORNIA SCREAMIN' – A new Field poll shows that even Californians, normally solid for Dems, are having doubts about Barack Obama.  For the first time since he took office, his approval rating in California has dropped below 50%, to 46%.  That is only two percent more than disapprove of the president's performance.  Since June Mr. Obama has suffered dougle-digit drops among Democrats, nonpartisans, Central Valley residents, men, African Americans, Asian Americans, and voters over 65.

BE PREPARED, IT'S THE BOY SCOUT MARCHING SONG – An "adult" film studio in California's San Fernando Valley has begun construction on a "post-apocalyptic" underground bunker to prepare for a global catastrophe that some believe will take place in 2012.  The bunker will have bars, a performing stage and a production studio.  All this construction just because a few pundits think Barack Obama will be reelected.  I wonder if this is one of those "shovel-ready" projects the president's new jobs plan will finance. 

September 14, 2011       Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 10:50 A.M. ET: 

From The Wall Street Journal:   A tiny car company backed by former Vice President Al Gore has just gotten a $529 million U.S. government loan to help build a hybrid sports car in Finland that will sell for about $89,000.  The award this week to California startup Fisker Automotive Inc. follows a $465 million government loan to Tesla Motors Inc., purveyors of a $109,000 British-built electric Roadster. Tesla is a California startup focusing on all-electric vehicles, with a number of celebrity endorsements that is backed by investors that have contributed to Democratic campaigns.  The awards to Fisker and Tesla have prompted concern from companies that have had their bids for loans rejected, and criticism from groups that question why vehicles aimed at the wealthiest customers are getting loans subsidized by taxpayers.

You know, somehow I can't decide between a Fisker and a Tesla.  I think I'll contact Al Gore and ask him which one would do the most to save civilization. 

UTTERLY DISGRACEFUL – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  Next week the Palestinians, divided by two governments – the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and the whack job Hamas crowd in Gaza – will attempt to gain UN recognition for statehood.  This is an end run attempt to get around direct negotiations with Israel.

The "Palestinian cause" has become a big deal among the left-wing trendies, both here and in Europe.  They're kind of the flavor of the month, or year.  But, while the Palestinians deserve to be treated with dignity, their cause is something else again.  It has a very shady history, one tied to the fascism of the 1930s and 1940s.  A new statement by the Palestinian "ambassador" to the US is shocking, and telling, and should be widely circulated before we create another Mideast monster.  From USA Today: 

WASHINGTON – The Palestine Liberation Organization's ambassador to the United States said Tuesday that any future Palestinian state it seeks with help from the United Nations and the United States should be free of Jews.

"After the experience of the last 44 years of military occupation and all the conflict and friction, I think it would be in the best interest of the two people to be separated," Maen Areikat, the PLO ambassador, said during a meeting with reporters sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor. He was responding to a question about the rights of minorities in a Palestine of the future.

Such a state would be the first to officially prohibit Jews or any other faith since Nazi Germany, which sought a country that was judenrein, or cleansed of Jews, said Elliott Abrams, a former U.S. National Security Council official.

Israel has 1.3 million Muslims who are Israeli citizens. Jews have lived in "Judea and Samaria," the biblical name for the West Bank, for thousands of years. Areikat said the PLO seeks a secular state, but that Palestinians need separation to work on their own national identity.

COMMENT:  Isn't there a term for that?  Isn't that apartheid?  Let's see if the left shows any interest. 

And the "ambassador's" statement is the tip of the proverbial iceberg.  Anti-Christian and anti-Semitic comments come from Palestinian sources all the time.  Christians are called "cross worshippers" and "crusaders," and Jews are called "the sons of apes and pigs."  Real classy stuff.  There has been an out-migration of Christians from Palestinia Muslim areas. 

This ugliness won't affect the vote in the UN General Assembly.  Any Arab cause, including the forced conversion of pigeons to Islam, would get a large majority.  There are 56 Muslim nations, there's a "third world" bloc that goes in lockstep with the Islamic world, there are the red countries, and there are Europeans who simply want contracts in the Mideast.  A little Third Reich hatred won't have much impact.

At the same time, there is increasing worry that some of the "revolutionary" movements in the Mideast, including the ones in Egypt and Libya, may turn out to be revolutionary in the wrong direction.  We'll have a better fix by the end of the year, but we may start pining for Hosni Mubarak.  Maybe a monument in Washington?

September 14, 2011       Permalink 

OH DEAR, OH DEAR, HOW LOW WILL THIS GO? – No matter what President Obama does, his numbers remain weak.  The latest from the world of political math, via CNN:

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama's disapproval rating has reached a new high of 55% while the number of Americans who think he is a strong leader has dropped to a new low, 48%, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday.

And a familiar pattern in public opinion on Obama again asserts itself: Americans don't like his track record on major issues while they continue to like him personally. Nearly eight in 10 respondents say Obama is likeable; large majorities believe he is compassionate, hard-working, and has a vision for the country's future. Three-quarters think he fights for his beliefs.

But only 39% approve of how he is handling unemployment, and just 36% approve of the way he is handling the economy, not surprising when more than eight in 10 think the economy is in poor shape.

Opinion on Obama's economic track record is mixed, however. While fewer than one in 10 (9%) think his policies have made the economy better, about four in 10 (39%) credit them with preventing the economy from being even worse than it is today. On the other side, 37% say Obama has made economic conditions worse. Fifteen percent think his policies have had no effect.

Overall, 55% now say they disapprove of how he is handling his job as president. That's one point higher than the 54% disapproval rating he routinely hit in polls taken in July and August. Forty-three percent now say they approve of how Obama is handling his job overall. That is not an all-time low for him; he hit 42% a year ago. Six in 10 say Obama has fallen short of their expectations.

COMMENT:  And so the Dems are pursuing a classic political strategy when a president up for reelection is unpopular.  They're arguing that the alternative to the guy is far worse.  The scare campaign against any Republican candidate is already starting, with the classic argument that the GOP will take away your Social Security.

Rasmussen today is reporting numbers similar to CNN's:

Overall, 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) at least somewhat disapprove.

These are poor numbers, but, as we've noted in response to earlier polls, they're not hopeless.  Other presidents have come back from numbers like these to win reelection.  But Obama has demonstrated a unique, almost exciting way to remain unpopular.  I think that people have simply lost confidence in him, and the confidence factor is enormous in politics.  Ronald Reagan remained politically popular because people, even those who had disagreements with him, had a certain confidence in him.  That confidence just doesn't exist with Obama.

September 14, 2011       Permalink

THE REPUBLICAN HOUR? – AT 9:06 A.M. ET:  Rarely has a party had the opportunity the GOP has now. If it cannot defeat Barack Obama in next year's election, it would be the equivalent of FDR failing to defeat Herbert Hoover in 1932.

The last time the party had such a chance handed to it on a silver platter was 1980.  It delivered.  Well, Ronald Reagan delivered.  There is no Reagan now.  Or is there?

I must say that, as I watched the debate from Tampa Monday night, I got the feeling that the Republicans have not yet found their candidate.  Romney?  Knowledgeable, but somehow not a guy who inspires.  Perry?  Fine man, but the suit is still a little too empty.  As virtually everyone has said since Monday night, he has a way to go.

I have long advocated that the Republicans skip a generation and look to its younger leaders.  Yes, yes, I know, they don't have that much experience.  But that's not an argument the Dems can use, since the man in the White House had about two minutes of real experience when he was sworn in.

Consider Marco Rubio, the new, dynamic Republican senator from Florida.  He has made another fine speech.  If you're looking for a new Reagan, here's the guy: 

While some Republicans have taken an anti-interventionist turn lately, Florida senator and rising GOP star Marco Rubio made the case today for a vigorous U.S. foreign policy that promotes freedom and human rights abroad.

Rubio began his speech at the Jesse Helms Center by citing Ronald Reagan and the Founding Fathers. "At the core of our strength are the 'self-evident' truths of the Declaration of Independence," he said. "These are not just our rights as Americans. These are the rights of all human beings."

But by the 1970s--"the era of détente, of defeat and of retreat"--the "idea of placing morality at the center of our dealings with other nations was derided by supposed sophisticates as unrealistic and uninformed," Rubio said. "But then Ronald Reagan took these words to heart and he made them the center of his foreign policy—a foreign policy that even his critics now admit was remarkably successful."

From this broad statement of principle, Rubio made a broad statement of policy. The United States doesn't have "any intention of using force to depose every despotic regime on the planet," he said. "But we must do what we can to champion the cause of freedom—not only with the power of our example but also with our money and our resources, our ingenuity and our diplomacy, and on rare occasion, when there is no good alternative and when our national interest is clearly at stake, our armed might."

Rubio argued that promoting freedom abroad is not merely the morally right thing to do, it will make us safer at home. "Without our commitment to the rights of man enunciated by our forefathers, what are we? Just another big, rich country. But when we champion our ideals, we gain moral authority—and we gain physical security," he said. "You see, we may not always agree with our fellow democracies, but seldom, if ever, do we fight them. The more functioning democracies there are—'functioning' being the important quality—the easier we can breathe."

COMMENT:  That is a statesman.  A young statesman, to be sure.  His gift is that he appeals to our moral core and can articulate his convictions better than anyone around today.

He says he won't run, and so he's now everyone's choice for vice president.  The problem is, he will overshadow anyone who gets the nomination. 

I don't believe people can be "drafted" to run, but I do think they can be persuaded.  I wish the persuasion of Rubio would begin.

September 14, 2011       Permalink

THERE IS FEVER, THERE IS PAIN – AT 8:32 A.M. ET:  News helicopters report convoys of trucks entering New York's 9th Congressional District, stocked with calming medications to be dispensed to local Democrats as part of Obamacare.

As the whole political world knows by now, the GOP staged a stunning upset in Anthony Weiner's old district yesterday, winning a congressional seat there for the first time since 1920. 

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the Obama-appointed Dem national chair, tells us that the New York 9th has always been a problem for Democrats.  Wait.  It's been Democratic for almost a century, and it's a problem?  I've heard spinning, but Ms. Wasserman-Schultz is a jet-powered propeller. 

The convulsion yesterday was clearly a referendum on President Obama, on his economic failures, and on his Mideast policy.  The district is heavy with supporters of Israel.  New York's iconic former Democratic mayor, Ed Koch, supported the Republican victor, Bob Turner, as a protest against Obama's Mideast meandering.

The result should scare the daylights out of the Dems, and the adults among them will get the message.  The problem is, there aren't too many adults left.  The Democratic Party has become hopelessly ideological, interested more in its theories than in results. 

Republicans can clearly capitalize on the discontent expressed yesterday.  Benjamin Franklin famously lectured the early citizens of this nation that they had "a republic, if you can keep it."  To Republicans we say, "You have an election, if you can win it."

September 14, 2011     Permalink