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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (145002)	10/4/2012 10:24:41 PM
From: TopCat	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224757

When did he do that?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (145002)	10/4/2012 11:16:50 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224757

October 4, 2012 President Romney: What Happened Last Night WALTER RUSSELL MEAD If you were a political junkie who missed last night’s presidential debate, you could have quickly found out what happened by flipping between Fox and MSNBC. On Fox it was all high-fiving and smiles; MSNBC was all dour and ‘coulda, woulda, shoulda.’ After listening to the President’s closing statement, a distraught Andrew Sullivan asked “How is Obama’s closing statement so [crude participle deleted] sad, confused and lame? He choked. He lost. He may even have lost the election tonight.” Sullivan can relax, a bit. Governor Romney didn’t win the election last night, he just stopped losing it. That may not last; the road to the election is still very long and we are more likely than not to see momentum shift back and forth some more. But for committed Democrats who, with a lot of encouragement from their friends in the MSM, were already measuring the drapes for a second term, the night was a shock. Governor Romney emerged as a much stronger candidate, and President Obama as a much weaker one, than the narrative of this campaign to date would lead one to believe. We won’t know for a couple of days whether the polls have moved; the GOP standard bearer had been slowly clawing back some of the ground lost to the President following the two conventions and assorted gaffes of the last six weeks. But most polls — and most polls of the battleground states — still gave the President a small but real lead. Politics junkies will now be biting their nails to see if the race tightens some more. But stet all the stets and caveat all the caveats: Governor Romney got a lot done last night, and this is a man we’ve been told for months was tongue-tied, inept, distant and unconvincing. Democratic analyst William Galston at The Huffington Post gives a pretty good summary of the Governor’s achievement: First, Romney presented himself as a reasonable man — neither an extremist nor an ideologue. He calmly rebutted familiar attacks on his proposals. He was clear and forceful, tough but respectful. He sounded knowledgeable. He conveyed an impression of competence and experience as a potential manager of the economy. He praised some aspects of the Obama administration’s program, such as its Race to the Top education reform program. And when he insisted on the importance of working together across party lines, it sounded as though he meant it. Second, Romney wove a number of anecdotes — peoples’ stories from the campaign trail — into his policy discussions. This had the effect of softening his image as a soulless manager focused solely on the bottom line. So did his assertion that the country has a responsibility to care for those who cannot care for themselves. Third, Romney provided a number of policy specifics, and his virtual PowerPoint style — a series of bullets laid out clearly — underscored the impression of specificity. My guess is that viewers will come away with the sense that they know considerably more than they did before Fourth, Romney found an organizing theme for his proposals — job creation. He defended his views on marginal tax rates as conducive to the formation and growth of small business, a major source of employment gains. By repeatedly returning to the subject of job creation, he linked his managerial skills to the well-being of real human beings. A good performance in a debate with a sitting president is always going to help a challenger. Simply by holding his own, the challenger suggests to millions of voters that he is a plausible president. But for a Republican in our era of polarized media, there’s much more. Most Americans learn about candidates these days from the media: from news stories, commentary from talking heads and pundits, and paid advertisements. Without accusing the press of deliberate dishonesty, it’s pretty clear that Democratic candidates in general get better press than their GOP rivals. With every lame comment, every inept decision, every gaffe and kerfluffle chewed over, mocked and thoroughly aired by the mainstream media, Republican candidates generally do better when voters see them without the intervening filter. Debates may offer more opportunities for Republican presidential candidates than for Democratic ones; it is a chance not only to replace the negative media portrait with something more positive, but to challenge the veracity of the media itself. Bemused liberals used to wonder why Ronald Reagan was the Teflon president; a big reason was that the contrast between the president as portrayed in the press and the president as seen directly by voters was so large that voters stopped believing anything the media had to say about President Reagan. They discounted negative stories to take account of what they assumed was an inveterate, unchanging bias; the more the media howled, the more many voters thought Reagan must be doing something right. Romney’s strong performance in the debate will further undermine public confidence that the media is telling the truth about the ex-governor. Where was the plastic, uncaring clown we’ve been reading so much about, people asked? Voters had been led to expect an incompetent bumbler, a comically maladroit rich man’s son. Now, given the contrast between the caricature and what appeared at least to be a competent, serious and caring man whose head is on straight, many voters will now give Governor Romney more benefit of the doubt when, inevitably, new negative stories begin to appear. The elite, the effete media is down on him; to many Americans that will now be a reason to support him and to tune out the detraction and the nitpicking. What Governor Romney did last night was less to win a debate with President Obama than to vault over him to position himself as the Jacksonian candidate in the 2012 race. President Obama allowed himself to be cast as the professorial intellectual who cites “studies” by “experts”. He allowed himself to be rebranded as a wuss on defense (Romney hammered home his plans for higher defense budgets than those the Obama administration wants). The Bin Laden card may not do the President any more good now than Senator Kerry’s Vietnam record did him back in 2004. And Romney went far to blunt Obama’s attacks on his record as an elite investment banker who throws ordinary Americans out of their jobs and wants to cut their entitlements. Instead he positioned himself as the latest embodiment of an American archetype: the wealthy man who truly loves his country and cares about the common man. George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, both Roosevelts, John F. Kennedy: they were all rich men, either self made or from inheritance. Two owned slaves. Abraham Lincoln was a railroad corporate lawyer — the closest thing the 19th century had, perhaps, to the Wall Street princes of today. But they all did well among Jacksonians; they all managed to be seen in some way as the personification or at least the ideal representative of the American people. Governor Romney did not reach this exalted status last night, and he may never get there — but he planted himself in a recognizable American political and cultural tradition that enables him to reach over the heads of his media critics and political opponents to make his case directly to the American people. This was not just about optics. Romney chose last night as his moment to shift toward this high center ground in American politics. He is not an austerity president or a penny pincher where causes dear to Jacksonian hearts are involved. He wants to be an education president and hopes we hire lots of new teachers, he incorporated his Massachusetts health care plan into his narrative and attacked Dodd-Frank from the left as a sell-out to big banks — and an assault on the right of Americans to get cheap mortgages. He pledged to make sure the share of the tax load paid by the rich would not decrease on his watch and he promised no tax cuts that would increase the deficit. This may not be libertarian, small government orthodoxy, but it is mainstream Jacksonianism. Romney is attempting to brand himself as a red-blooded American rather than as a doctrinaire conservative in the race. He wants to run against Barack Obama like John Wayne versus Barney Fife — or Ronald Reagan versus Jimmy Carter. It was a shift; his enemies might well call it a flip flop. It was also well timed and well calibrated; the right of his party has been mollified by the Paul Ryan selection and now in the heat of the race, GOP conservatives will stand by their man. The Republicans want to win, and they will applaud Romney’s ingenuity rather than complain about his doctrinal deviations as he embraces the pro-defense, pro-middle class, anti-elite rhetoric of Jacksonian democracy. For Romney, the opportunity to connect personally and directly with a huge television audience had another big advantage: it gave him a chance to bury the “Mormon weirdness” problem. Mormon theology is very far from American Protestant and Catholic theology, but Mormons are as devoted to American civil religion as summarized by the Declaration of Independence as anybody else. Standing in front of the texts of the Constitution and the Declaration, Romney ran through the founding truths: creator, divinely grounded rights of man, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. And he can — and did — do this sincerely. I am not a betting man; the only wager I have outstanding these days is Pascal’s. If I were more of a gambler, I’d still be more likely to bet on President Obama’s re-election than on a Romney triumph. The President is smart, his team is very good, and Governor Romney will have to fight hard to turn one good night into a winning campaign. It is one thing to lunge for the high ground in a political campaign; something else to take and hold it against counter-attacks. But whatever happens in November, the first presidential debate will be remembered as a night when Governor Romney at least temporarily found his voice and for the first time found a way to present himself to voters across the nation as a plausible, possible president.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (145002)	10/5/2012 1:01:32 AM
From: PROLIFE	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224757

How many troops were KIA in Afghanistan this week?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (145002)	10/5/2012 1:03:28 AM
From: Farmboy	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224757

Well Kenny, I see Obama and Holder have killed another US agent with their Fast & Furious firearms. And another big bunch of Mexican citizens .... Guess you're really enjoying it, eh?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (145002)	10/5/2012 7:20:40 AM
From: lorne	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224757

Americans' distrust of Obama birth story rises MIT professor's poll shows 'birthers aren't going anywhere' by Jerome R. Corsi Friday, October 05, 2012 “The birthers aren’t going anywhere!” So concludes MIT political science professor Adam J. Berinsky, who published Monday results from a YouGov survey of 1,000 Americans who were asked whether they believed Barack Obama was born in the United States. According to the scientific poll, 73 percent of self-identified Republicans and 40 percent overall are either don’t believe Obama was born in the U.S. or are not sure. For both Republicans and Americans overall, belief that Obama is foreign-born was at a high point in September, just 37 days before the Nov. 6 presidential election. Dr. Jerome Corsi’s “Where’s the REAL Birth Certificate?” shows why so many Americans don’t believe Barack Obama As seen in Table 1 for the full sample and in Table 2 for Republicans only, Berinsky’s conclusions were clear: The percentage of people who think Obama was not born in the United States has held steady throughout the year and perhaps even increased slightly. “Birtherism is especially pronounced among Republicans,” Berinsky wrote. “Indeed, the level of birtherism among Republicans is the highest it has been this year.” Table 1: Adam Berinsky birther study: full sample Table 2: Adam Berinsky birther study: Republicans only Writing in February, Berinsky noted Obama, since assuming the presidency, had been plagued by rumors that he is not a natural-born citizen and, as a result, is not eligible to serve as president under Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution. “These rumors have shown a surprising resilience over the last four years,” Berinsky wrote. “In fact, polls conducted by numerous media organizations repeatedly demonstrated that a significant portion of the American public claimed that Obama was not born in the United States, while many others are not sure if he was.” Berinsky noted the doubts about where Obama was born have persisted even after the White House released a computer PDF copy of Obama’s long-form birth certificate on April 27, 2011. “Time and again, the Obama team tried to dispel the “birther” rumor,” he observed. “During the 2008 presidential contest, Obama released a computer copy of his birth certificate on a campaign website, but it did not quell the controversy. In 2009, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, the director of the Hawaii State Department of Health, verified that Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born citizen. But still the rumors would not die.” In July, Berinsky reported 20 percent of independent voters believe Obama is not a native born citizen, allowing him to conclude that birtherism “is not strictly a condition of the Republican Party.”

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (145002)	10/5/2012 7:21:27 AM
From: lorne	4 Recommendations Respond to of 224757

Jesse Jackson, Wright 'arranged' Obama marriage Chicago sources claim president was part of dark subculture by Jerome R. Corsi Friday, October 05, 2012 wnd.com This is the second of a series of articles WND has developed from months of confidential in-person interviews with members of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago who have known Barack and Michelle Obama on a personal basis over many years. In the first story, members of the church claimed Barack Obama benefited from Wright’s “Down Low Club,” part of a documented underground subculture in which black men who engage in homosexual activity marry to maintain respectability in public. Because of the personal risk the sources perceived they were taking to speak candidly about the president and his family, their identities have been masked. As a young single woman, Michelle Robinson was a fixture in the home of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who along with Rev. Jeremiah Wright “arranged” her marriage to Barack Obama, according to sources in Chicago who know the couple. “If you want to understand Michelle Obama, you’ve got to go back to Jesse Jackson,” a woman called “Robyn” for this article told WND. Robyn, who spent several years working for Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition, explained to a WND investigator in Chicago that Michelle Obama “just about grew up in Jesse Jackson’s home.” “Jesse should have charged her rent and board for the amount of time she spent in his home instead of her own,” she said. Jackson’s daughter, Santita, is still one of Michelle’s best friends. Santita and Jesse Jr. call her “sis,” short for “sister.” TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS FANTASTIC DEAL!! Purchase the hardcover of Jerome Corsi’s “Where’s the Birth Certificate?” and receive the updated e-book version of “Where’s the REALBirth Certificate?” ABSOLUTELY FREE! Santita Jackson said in an interview just before Obama took office in 2008 that she has known Michelle Obama since they car-pooled together as high school classmates. Santita was maid of honor at Michelle and Barack Obama’s wedding, and she is the godmother to the Obama’s older daughter, Malia. Robyn also pointed out Jesse Jackson Jr., a Democratic Party member of the U.S. House from Illinois, served as the national co-chairman of Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. “It all relates back to Trinity and to the Jesse Jackson orbit of blacks here in Chicago who gave Obama legitimacy and helped him establish his identity as a black man,” Robyn explained. “The political left wanted to push a black to the presidency, and the key operatives in the Democratic Party decided long ago it wouldn’t be Jesse Jackson (Sr.). Then Jesse wanted it to be his son, but Jesse Jr. has serious drug and mental problems that the world knows about now. These were also known about in the past, and Jesse Jr. was never going to be the black president. So, the political left then chose Obama.” In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times in August, Sandi Jackson admitted her husband, Jesse Jr., was “completely debilitated by depression,” which has forced him to put his Washington home for sale to pay his medical bills, including his treatment at the Mayo Clinic. He has been absent from Congress since mid-June, putting his House seat at risk in the November election. They met where? Obama’s retelling of an event most spouses remember precisely for the rest of their lives has caused confusion. Exactly when and how did he first meet Michelle Robinson? Before a speech at the New Economic School graduation in Moscow on July 7, 2009, Obama stated he first met Michelle in school. “I don’t know if anybody else will meet their future wife or husband in class like I did, but I’m sure you’re all going to have wonderful careers,” he said, according to Newsweek. The problem is that Michelle Obama earned her degree from Harvard Law School in 1988, and Obama did not arrive at Harvard Law School until that fall, graduating three years later in 1991. The commonly accepted story is that they first met in Chicago in 1989, when Barack took a summer job as an intern at the Chicago law firm Sidley Austin, and Michelle, who was employed as a lawyer at the firm, was assigned to be his mentor. WND has reported Allen Hulton, the U.S. postal carrier who delivered mail to the parents of Weather Underground bomber Bill Ayers in a Chicago suburb, met Obama in the summer of 1989, while Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin. In 1991, during their engagement to be married, top Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, then serving as the deputy chief of staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley, hired Michelle to a job in the mayor’s office. “Michelle hated working for the city even more than she hated working at Sidley Austin,” Robyn told WND. “At the law firm, she lasted so short of a time because they expected her to do work,” Robyn said. “At the City of Chicago, where she worked under Mayor Daley, Michelle had one of those ‘Jesse hires’ positions. These are patronage jobs where the recipients did nothing.” Robyn claimed that while working for Daley, Michelle just collected a check, doing very little work. “She sat at a desk and read the newspaper all day,” Robyn said. “Sometimes she read romance novel paperbacks. No one could say anything to her because she was a ‘Jesse hire.’ This meant if anyone did complain about her not working that Jesse Jackson would get mad at Daley over that, and there would be trouble.” Robyn said Michelle was “essentially treated like she was Jesse’s daughter, and Michelle’s connections in Chicago were a key to Obama’s rise to power.” Connections Political connections played throughout Michelle’s young life in Chicago. Her father, Fraser C. Robinson III, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in his 20s and eventually walked with the use of crutches, was a volunteer Democratic precinct captain in addition to his job in the boiler room at Chicago’s water purification plant. As Democratic precinct captain, Robinson had power and influence, given his access to “street money” the Daley machine freely handed out at that time in Chicago’s South Side to make sure black voters turned out to vote for Democratic Party machine candidates. The Chicago sources told WND the selection of Michelle Robinson for Obama was made by Jesse Jackson, and Jeremiah Wright agreed it would be a good combination. “It all relates back to Trinity United and to the Jesse Jackson orbit of blacks here in Chicago who gave Obama legitimacy and helped him establish his identity as a black man ‘from Chicago,’” Robyn explained. “Michelle came from a political family; she was intelligent even if she didn’t really like to work. Wright knew Obama was gay, but he needed the cover of a wife if he were to succeed in politics.” A current member of Trinity church who has known the Obamas for 20 years, “Carolyn,” confirmed Trinity “helped a lot of blacks get successful and connected.” “That’s what Wright did for Obama,” she claimed. “He connected Obama in the community, and he helped Obama hide his homosexuality.” According to Robyn, Jackson explained to Michelle that she would live a life of luxury once Obama was president, and that she never again would have to worry about money. “Michelle was nasty, and most straight guys would never be able to put up with her moods and temperament,” Robyn maintained. “But Obama really didn’t care. Michelle had the credentials and she looked the part. Obama wasn’t interested in her for sex.” A source WND will identify as Hazel, a long-term member of the Trinity congregation, insisted Obama remained sexually involved with men after his marriage to Michelle. “I remember being at this function at Reverend Wright’s house, one of the many parties Wright had, in 1996,” Hazel recalled. “I went to the room where all the coats were on the bed, because I wanted to leave. I was surprised to find the light in the room was off and the coats were on the floor,” she said. “Then I realized there were two men hugging and kissing in there. One of those men was Obama. This was long before anybody knew Obama, before he became famous like he is today.” Hazel has been telling this story in Chicago since 1996. Cushy job When Jarrett left Mayor Daley’s office to head Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development, she took Michelle with her. Jarrett later became the chairwoman of the Chicago Medical Center, and Michelle again got “a cushy job at the Chicago Medical Center with a salary of $317,000,” as reported by Edward Klein on page 117 of his 2012 book “The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House.” New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor wrote in 2008 that Jarrett would have to be at the top of a list of people who helped Barack and Michelle Obama. “Nearly two decades ago, Ms. Jarrett swept the young lawyers under her wing, introduced them to a wealthier and better-connected Chicago than their own, and eventually secured contacts and money essential to Mr. Obama’s long-shot Senate victory,” Kantor wrote. Klein, in an interview with Fox News, described Jarrett as the “de facto” president of the United States, “the best friend of the first lady and soul mate of the president.”