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Politicians who decide not to run for reelection—or who resign in the wake of some scandal—often explain their decision by saying that they want to spend more time with their families. So does that mean that ambitious politicians, eager to jump into the political wars, are looking for an excuse to spend less time with their families? That might possibly explain Bill Clinton's great hunger for office…
I agree with Michele Bachmann that the Texas Governor Rick Perry’s HPV vaccination program ought not to have been quasi-mandatory, e.g. requiring parents to opt out rather than asking them to opt in. (The program, which was instituted by executive order, was later overturned by the Texas state legislature.) She may even have been right when she charged that it was an example of “crony capitalism.” (Perry’s chief of staff at the time wa s a former drug company lobbyist.) But that wasn’t all Bachmann said. By intimating that the HPV vaccine can cause brain damage—a claim that has no scientific support whatever—Michele Bachmann crossed the line.
Back when Robert Kennedy Jr.’s name was being mentioned as a candidate to lead the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama Administration, I was horrified. Among Kennedy’s many outrages against science and common sense is his role in the anti-vaccine movement. By influencing gullible parents to forego vaccinations for their children, these latter-day Luddites are doing incalcuable harm. Now here’s Michele Bachmann, a Republican presidential candidate, for heaven’s sake, spreading the same kind of lie in an attempt to damage an opponent.
With this false and irresponsible charge about the HPV vaccine, and by her refusal to back off from it, Michele Bachmann has shown herself to be unfit for the presidency. She’ll certainly never get the vote of this polio survivor, who contracted the disease at the age of six—just months before the Salk vaccine was introduced.
…run in circles, scream and shout! That’s James Carville’s advice to Barack Obama. “What should the White House do now?” the CNN contributor and former Clinton aide asks rhetorically. “One word came to mind: Panic.”
To be fair, Carville doesn’t leave it there. He elaborates at some length, insisting that Obama must “fire somebody,” “indict people,” “make a case like a Democrat” and “hold fast to an explanation.” In other words: “Behead some scapegoats and go negative. It’s your only hope, Mr. President.” Also sprach the Ragin’ Cajun.
Personally I think it’s a bit late for such damage control, though I have no objection to a purge of the Obama Administration. Perhaps Carville himself could be persuaded to serve as Comrade Barry’s Yagoda/Yezhov/Beria. I’m sure he has a list.
Perhaps you share my skepticism concerning the efficacy of Carville’s recommendation. Even so, it would probably be an improvement over Obama’s current stumblebum strategy. But it does embody a fatal flaw by requiring Mr. Wonderful to admit that he’s made a number of mistakes. Now I ask you—how likely is that?
Sorry, Jimbo.
Ah, Debbie! The Chair of the Democratic National Committee, the hilarious Debbie Wasserman Schultz, batted another one out of the park yesterday with this comment on the outcome of the special congressional election in New York: "[T]here is a large number of people who went to the polls tonight who didn't support the president to begin with and don't support Democrats—and it's nothing more than that."
In 2008, Obama beat John McCain in NY-9 by a 55-44% margin.
Oh.
Here’s one good reason to be in favor of the Keystone Pipeline (designed to transport bitumen produced from oil sands in Alberta, Canada, to US Gulf Coast refineries). Daryl Hannah’s against it. Now that’s what I call a gold seal of approval!
I just popped into the Daily Kos to see what inhabitants of the leftie fever swamps are saying about the outcome of the special elections in New York and Nevada. Surprise, surprise! They’ve got nothing to say. The major item on the home page is the “Abbreviated Pundit Roundup”—which offers not a word of comment on the stunning Democratic loss in NY-9. Liveblog Thread #5, started yesterday to cover the election, ends abruptly with a post at 9:09 pm, about the time that it became obvious that NY-9 was a goner for the Dems.
At some point, I suppose, the DK will manage to grunt out some kind of comment. But there must be groups and groups of progressives on suicide watch this morning…
That’s where the slap delivered to President Obama by voters of New York’s 9th Congressional District landed. In the race to fill the seat left vacant by the appropriately surnamed Anthony Wiener, conservative Republican Bob Turner soundly defeated liberal Democrat David Weprin. This in a district that’s been safe for the Dems since the 1920s!
Turner cast the election as a referendum on Barack Obama stewardship of the economy (inept) and his policy toward Israel (hostile). In a blue-collar district with a substantial Jewish population, this proved to be a winning formula. He garnered 54% of the vote to Weprin’s 46%—a stunning upset and a deeply depressing outcome for Democrats around the country.
Turner’s victory (and the GOP’s easy win in Nevada’s 2nd Congressional district, where a special election was also held yesterday) is a clear signal that the American public has lost confidence in Barack Obama’s leadership? Is it impossible for him to get it back? No, of course not. But time is running out fast now, and the Obama Administration is running on empty. Looking for bold, fresh ideas? So how do you like Son of Stimulus?
Maybe Barry should start updating his resume now.
Barack Obama is on the road to Ohio, demanding before invariably friendly (because carefully selected) audiences that Congress pass his so-called jobs bill “right now.” And a faint but unmistakable odor of desperation trails him as he heads for the Buckeye State.
The thinking behind this phony jobs bill is absurdly transparent: propose something that congressional Republicans will never accept (the massive tax hike embodied in the bill), and then, when the bill fails to pass, blame them for the country’s economic malaise. This assumes, of course, that people will buy into Obama’s argument that a second stimulus package can succeed where the first one failed. Good luck with that, Barry! The truth is that you’ve lost the public’s confidence—and gimmicks like the jobs bill ploy won’t get it back.
These days Obama is acting angry and frustrated. We’re encouraged to believe that it’s the “obstructionist” GOP that has him steaming. But I suspect that the true source of his discontent is a dawning realization that his presidency is a failure. And it’s hard to see what he can do to redeem the situation in the time remaining before Election Day 2012. Given the scope and severity of the problems we face as a nation, fourteen-odd months doesn't give him much time.
I fully intended to post something pithy yet eloquent in observance of the tenth anniversary of 9/11. In the end, however, I decided to observe a respectful silence. What could I have added to the chorus of remembrance? Probably nothing much. So instead I carried through with my plan to wear the uniform to Mass on Sunday, September 11, 2011. It was an action, I hope, that spoke louder than words. For the truth is that most Americans have not been asked to sacrifice very much in the decade since the fall of the towers. Only a few—including my daughter—have actually placed their lives on the line in our nation’s battle against a vicious and implacable enemy. In every commemoration of 9/11, that is a fact that ought not to be forgotten.
"Never in the field of human conflict have so many owed so much to so few." Churchill's words resonate today.
Tomorrow is the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. And unfortunately, many Americans would prefer to gloss over the terrible reality of what happened on September 11, 2001. From them you hear such words as "victims" and "tragedy." They'd rather not be reminded that what happened on 9/11 was an act of mass murder carried out by the sworn enemies of our country. I understand why people might not want to think about things like that. But it just won't do.
Among those who died on 9/11 were the bravest of the brave: the heros of the New York Fire Department, the New York Police Department and other law enforcement agencies. It does them no honor to call them "victims" of some generic "tragedy." And in the decade since 9/11, tens of thousands of America's finest—the men and women of the uS armed forces—have been killed or wounded in the war on Islamofascist terrorism.
Tomorrow, therefore, I'll wear my Army uniform to Mass. Those who have and are bearing the burden of the fight can't be there—they're out of sight, some of them forever. Old soldiers like me have a responsibility to make sure that they're never out out of mind.
