Ramble for 7/21/11

Jessup MD– Dropping a load here, then running to Carlisle, PA later. One of the hottest days in recent memory. How long till we hear “Global Warming’s to blame’…. (slap)

• REPAIRING THE IMAGE:  Glenn Reynolds asks an interesting question, speaking about Obama, and his approval rating which has been below 50% for six straight quarters, now:
  

  WELL, REALLY, WHAT WOULD MAKE PEOPLE THINK BETTER OF HIM?

  Well, consider John Kennedy. Look, I agree, Obama is no Kennedy, but consider this; the only reason Kennedy was in Dallas was that he was trying to boost his downright abysmal polling numbers. Suddenly, after Dallas, the man is a hero. I’m not suggesting this as a solution, but it’s about all I can come up with that would make him popular, even among liberals. Now, as with Kennedy, Obama’s numbers are far too low to get re-elected, and even the Democrats admit this now.. Thank God for that. Our country won’t survive another Obama term. His legacy will forever be the damage he and his socialist ravings have done to our nation.

• CARBON FOOTPRINT: Speaking of Glenn, he says:
  

  I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ONE GODDAMNED THING ABOUT MY CARBON FOOTPRINT: Michelle Obama Flies To Aspen and Back For Fundraiser Tuesday. …

  Look, gang, here it is; these morons think we’re just peons…. and we don’t deserve to use energy. And what’s all this about corporate jet use? Did she check this out with Barry, first, I wonder? Clearly it’s more do as I say not as I do.

• COMPROMISE WITH WHAT? The Gang of Six has laid another broken egg…. If you really think that your opponent is wrong, what do you get when you compromise a position with him? You get nonsense like this. Let’s be clear; The American people don’t want compromise. They want the spending to stop. They recognize they’ve made a major error in giving the keys to the Democrats. They want that error reversed…. and nowhere does that seem more obvious than in the aforementioned approval numbers for Obama.
• AN AFTERTHOUGHT ON COMPROMISE: Why is it you only hear that word when the Democrats are having their collitive, collectivist heads handed them? Why does compromise always lean to the left?
• OBAMA WILL NOT ACCEPT SHORT TERM DEAL? That’s the word. In short he caved. We MUST keep these people on their heels, like this. No compromise, no backing down. That should be the message to the GOP. ….FIGHT.  You back off, you lose your job.

Dumbo stuck on higher taxes. Barack Obama is addicted to the idea of big government,from James Pethokoukis, Beuters:

But Obama’s tax obsession becomes understandable when you realize the long game he’s playing: Big Taxes to fund Big Government. Decade after decade. See, it’s an almost universal belief among left-of-center journalists, economists, policymakers and politicians that Americans must pay higher taxes in coming years to cover the medical expenses of its aging population – not to mention all sorts of brand new social spending and green “investment.” Dramatically higher taxes. On everybody. And if we have a debt crisis, maybe those tax increases come sooner rather than later.

Time to break Washington’s  addiction to you tax dollars.

Washington Post stuck on stupid, Stacy McCain not so much, from Other McCain:

Pregnancy Is Not a Disease and Contraception Is Not ‘Health Care’

Why, therefore, does Obama want to make insurance coverage for birth control mandatory?

Note to the WaPo, contraception is a commodity and the can be  no such thing as a free commodity.   Obaam Care contraception is not free but rather included in the premiums.

If the lovely Mrs Other McCain becomes with child, it up to Stacy to foot her medical bill.
Testy Brewer stuck on blond, video:

Hat tip: Bruce McQuain, Questions and Observations.

Eugene Robinson gets it wrong, from Washington Post:

It is time to stop giving Herman Cain’s unapologetic bigotry a free pass. The man and his poison need to be seen clearly and taken seriously.

[…]

But Cain’s prejudice isn’t against Mormons or Jews, it’s against Muslims. Open religious prejudice is usually enough to disqualify a candidate for national office — but not, apparently, when the religion in question is Islam.

Muslims are more akin to the Klu Klux Klan than they are to Mormons or Jews, and should the KKK want to build an edifice to their hatred, I am sure that Robinson would be the first to oppose it.

Pigford is scam, lame streamers get it wrong, first Margery A.Beck:

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann pointed to one program in particular Monday when talking about wasteful government spending: a multibillion dollar settlement paid to black farmers, who claim the federal government discriminated Aagainst them for decades in awarding loans and other aid.

And second,  Jen Collins, Minnesota Independent:

While on tour of flooded areas near the Missouri River in Iowa Monday, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann characterized a government settlement with black farmers who were discriminated against in the 1980s and 1990s as fraud, eliciting outrage from the farmers’ advocates.

Bachmann and U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said the $1.2 billion extension, which was signed last year, could be put to better use helping flood victims in Iowa, according to the Associated Press.

John Boyd, president of the Black Farmers Union, told the told the AP that flood victims deserve “redress,” but that taking resources from people who had been historically denied them was a bad idea.

It is simply not accurate to describe a person who never farmed as a black farmer.   It is racism, pure and simple.  Pigford is a scam, There more black claimants than than there were total black farmers in the entire nation, from Pajamas Media:

If there are only 39,697 African-American farmers grand total in the entire country, then how can over 86,000 of them claim discrimination at the hands of the USDA? Where did the other 46,303 come from?

Now, if you’re confused over what the heck I’m even talking about, let’s go back to the beginning of the story:
Pigford v. Glickman

In 1997, 400 African-American farmers sued the United States Department of Agriculture, alleging that they had been unfairly denied USDA loans due to racial discrimination during the period 1983 to 1997. The farmers won the case, known as Pigford v. Glickman, and in 1999 the government agreed to pay $50,000 each to any farmer who had been wrongly denied an agricultural loan. By then it had grown into a class action case, and any black farmer who had filed a complaint between 1983 and 1997 would be given at least $50,000 — not limited to the original 400 plaintiffs. It was estimated at that time that there might be as many as 2,000 beneficiaries granted $50,000 each.

Later.

More Obami temper tantrums, from Doug Powers @ Michelle Malkin:

In addition to threatening to veto the Cut, Cap and Balance bill (H.R. 2560), the White House is threatening to veto H.R. 2434, the 2012 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act. Among other things, the White House is arguing against a proposed $65 million budget cut to the Executive Office.

Why would that cut be bad? Because the Executive Office needs all the deficit spending it can get in order to, in part, pay people to find ways to reduce the deficit

So if the Obami are so darned good at identifying savings, how came that can’t seem to identify any and how did they miss this gem, from Fox News:

The federal government helped fund a study that examined what effect a gay man’s penis size has on his sex life and general well-being.

The study was among several backed by the National Institutes of Health that have come under scrutiny from a group claiming the agency is wasting valuable tax dollars at a time when the country is trying to control its debt. This particular research resulted in a 2009 report titled, “The Association Between Penis Size and Sexual Health Among Men Who Have Sex with Men.”

Spanish temper tantrums, via Bruce McQuain, Questions and Observations:

A Spanish lawyer has formally accused Barack Obama of crimes against humanity for ordering the assassination of Osama bin Laden.Apparently

[…]

Daniel Fiol lodged a written complaint at the International Criminal Court accusing the US president of breaching the Geneva Convention.

Might put a dent in Dim Won’s foreign travel plans.  However the Spanish should remember that a state kidnapping of an American citizen would be an act of war.   May God have mercy on their souls.

Now extraditing Dim Won and Eric Holder to Mexico might well be in order.

Only in America, the air-conditioned poor houses, from Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield, Heritage Foundation:

Each year for the past two decades, the U.S. Census Bureau has reported that over 30 million Americans were living in “poverty.” In recent years, the Census has reported that one in seven Americans are poor. But what does it mean to be “poor” in America? How poor are America’s poor?

]…]

As scholar James Q. Wilson has stated, “The poorest Americans today live a better life than all but the richest persons a hundred years ago.”[3] In 2005, the typical household defined as poor by the government had a car and air conditioning. For entertainment, the household had two color televisions, cable or satellite TV, a DVD player, and a VCR. If there were children, especially boys, in the home, the family had a game system, such as an Xbox or a PlayStation.[4] In the kitchen, the household had a refrigerator, an oven and stove, and a microwave. Other household conveniences included a clothes washer, clothes dryer, ceiling fans, a cordless phone, and a coffee maker.

For all we talk about poverty, the Census Bureau simply does not measure poverty.    What the Census Bureau issues and purports to be a measure of poverty is simply the relative distribution of cash.   Actual poverty is the lack of access to the essential commodities of life.   Few sane and sober American lack them, and the Census bureau has never bothered to measure the population.

Stupid in Los Angeles,   Los Angeles Slimes:

Contrary to what congressional critics have been saying, a law passed during the George W. Bush administration does not ban incandescent bulbs. Rather, it phases in higher requirements for energy efficiency that the old incandescents — in use for more than 100 years since they were developed by Thomas Edison — do not meet because much of their energy creates heat rather than light. Starting in 2012, the traditional 100-watt bulbs go off the market, followed over the next two years by lower-wattage bulbs. California is moving ahead even more quickly, phasing out the 100-watt bulb this year.

Once the phase-out is fully in place, the law will save consumers about $12 billion a year in energy costs; the average California household will save $124 a year.

Earth to Los Angeles Times, if these new fangled Algore bulbs are actually better, consumers will actually buy them of their own free will, without needless intervention on the part of the state.

Hickory Run, PA– I’m at my stop for the night, along Interstate 80. This is actually a favorite stop of mine… not for the facilities…. they need some help, actually… but because it’s very near to a place I load from frequently. It’s started raining just now, and I expect it’ll be a bit cooler tonight. Good; I need the sleep. Yes, I had to work on my birthday. Goes with the job, I suppose.

Today was a real problem. Took me three hours to get over the George Washington Bridge into NYC today. Made me seriously late for an appointment, out on Long Island. But of course I wasn’t the only one… other folks were also late for the same reason, so they pretty much expected it.

Let’s look around…

• OBAMA AND COMMUNICATION:How bad is the new press secretary in the Obama White House? This bad.     And, yes, I see David mentioning it the other day… doesn’t miss a thing, David.  In looking at that vid and reading the exchange, one could easily argue that Jay Carney is an idiot. But there’s another way to look at this;  Let’s assume he was chosen because he happens to have some actual qualifications for his job, (unlike the boss).  If that’s the case what we seem to have is a situation where even with all the talent the man possesses, he still can’t mount a defense of Obama’s policies and public statements, because they are in fact indefensible. Either way… it’s one way or the other.
• CBS WHINES, LEFT THINKS IT’S GOSPEL: Morons like Steve Benen have been screaming this morning about a CBS poll suggesting a large swing against the GOP in the handling of the debt ceiling. But Ed Morressey says “not so fast”.… In short…. CBS has been tilting samples again…
  

  That leaves Republicans with less than 24% representation in a poll that’s supposed to measure national political sentiment.

  Move along, citizen, nothing to see here. Is this what Obama was talking about when he whined “Don’t call my bluff”? I suspect so. It’s pretty commonly understood CBS is a lapdog for the left.  I find Stacy McCain’s comments on the matter agreeable, as well:

  In the most recent election eight months ago, Republicans won a historic landslide and there is no reason to believe now, in mid-July, that Americans have suddenly shifted toward the Democrats. What CBS News did with that poll is as big a lie as RatherGate, and they should be ashamed of themselves for promoting dishonest propaganda while pretending to report the news….

• MURDOCH et al: I’ve been watching the supposed mainstream media and the left (granted, a repetition) pile onto the News Of The World phone hacking thing with mild interest. I have observed that almost at once this story moved into the area of vengeance, both against a rival press outlet, (…who it should be noted is eating everyone else’s lunch on a daily basis…) but a rival political POV, as well, particularly here in the states. Evidence of this was never clearer than when the FBI, who serves at the behest of the Obama White House, opened an investigation of phone hacking here in the states.  Ask yourself; Would the Democrats… and Obama in particular, gain by casting doubts,,, even the unproven kind, on NewsCorp? You Betcha.  So, imagine my amaze when I see I’m not the only one seeing this… Jan Daley:
  

  “This has gone way, way beyond phone hacking. It is now about payback. Gordon Brown’s surreal effusion in the House last week may have made it embarrassingly explicit, but the odour of vengeance has been detectable from the start: not just from politicians who have suffered the disfavour of Murdoch’s papers, or the trade unions (and their political allies) who have never forgiven him for Wapping, but from that great edifice of self-regarding, mutually affirming soft-Left orthodoxy which determines the limits of acceptable public discourse – of which the BBC is the indispensable spiritual centre. . . . . But the power of the BBC – and its historical hatred for the ‘Murdoch empire’ – is just one aspect of a larger battle which has now leapt across the Atlantic, where the target is not newspapers which can be legitimately charged with having committed unconscionable acts, but Fox News. Its offence is to have filled such a huge gap in the market for television news and current affairs that it has swept all before it. Its raucous Right-wing orientation is, in fact, matched by an equally raucous Left-wing equivalent in the cable news channel MSNBC, so why should anyone who believes in open and free debate among news providers object to this?”

  It’s about eliminating opposition both in the world of news but in the world of ideas. Does anyone really think Obama gives a hot crap about the 9/11 victims phones being hacked? No. Sorry, that doesn’t work. Given the long history of the left and political opportunism, this is manipulation, pure and simple.

“According to Jim Messina, his campaign manager, through the second quarter of 2011, President Obama now has 552,000 contributors to his 2012 re-election campaign. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that during the same two quarters, the U.S. economy generated 260,000 jobs. In other words, Obama attracted twice as many campaign donors as his economic policies created new jobs.”

Mark Tapscott, Washington Examiner, via Smitty, Other McCain.

Is Hope Dead? From the Sharp Tack Clarice Feldman, American Thinker:

This was the kind of week where any self-respecting 2008 Obama supporter who had not yet yanked off his Obama-Biden Bumper sticker should have been in his garage scraping off that old Hope and Change.

It began on Monday when he insisted on a “grand bargain” that would include , in his words, “massive , job-killing tax increases.” It was the first honest explanation of his economic plan but surely it was no surprise that his opponents found it an unappealing course of action.

The only job about which Obama cares is his own.

Jane Fonda sitting at gun

Jane Fonda thinks she is hated. I don’t think hate is the right word. I don’t hate Fnoda. She not worthy of the emotion. I simply consider Fonda to be a traitor and consider hanging to be proper punishment for treason.

In the dark on light bulbs, from Byran Walsh Time:

There’s dumb, there’s dumber and then there are the House Republicans—nearly all of them—who voted this morning to set the U.S. back on energy efficiency. By a quick voice vote, the House approved an amendment that would prevent funds from a 2012 spending bill to be used to implement federal light bulb standards. The amendment came after a similar separate bill failed to garner a two-thirds supermajority earlier this week in the House—although it did win a simple majority and all but 10 Republicans in the House voted for it, along with five Democrat

Silly and stupid of Mr. Walsh,  when Thoma Edison actually invented a better source of light, he did not need the state to make the oil lamp illegal.   Likewise, when somebody actually invents a better light bulb I, and millions of like minded consumers, will voluntarily buy them.   Till then, what kind of light bulb I choose to buy is none of the state’s business..

I am in awe and amaze, as I write this. For those who do not know it, today is my birthday. What is amazing to me is the number of people who have written to me both via email, text and Facebook, to wish me a happy birthday.  Thank you, one and all.

I am truly blessed by those who call me “friend”.

Panic at the White House? From James Pethokoukis, Reuters:

Last night in a new report, Democrat-friendly Goldman Sachs dropped an economic bomb on President Obama’s chances for reelection (bold is mine):

Following another week of weak economic data, we have cut our estimates for real GDP growth in the second and third quarter of 2011 to 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively, from 2% and 3.25%. Our forecasts for Q4 and 2012 are under review, but even excluding any further changes we now expect the unemployment rate to come down only modestly to 8¾% at the end of 2012.

The main reason for the downgrade is that the high-frequency information on overall economic activity has continued to fall substantially short of our expectations. … Some of this weakness is undoubtedly related to the disruptions to the supply chain—specifically in the auto sector—following the East Japan earthquake. By our estimates, this disruption has subtracted around ½ percentage point from second-quarter GDP growth. We expect this hit to reverse fully in the next couple of months, and this could add ½ point to third-quarter GDP growth. Moreover, some of the hit from higher energy costs is probably also temporary, as crude prices are down on net over the past three months. But the slowdown of recent months goes well beyond what can be explained with these temporary effects. … final demand growth has slowed to a pace that is typically only seen in recessions. .. Moreover, if the economy returns to recession—not our forecast, but clearly a possibility given the recent numbers …

Alarms bells must be ringing all over Obamaland today. Unemployment on Election Day about where it is right now? Sputtering — if not stalling — economic growth? To many Americans that would sound like the car is back in the ditch — if it was ever out. Maybe Goldman is wrong, but economists across Wall Street have been growing more bearish.

Are the Obami concerned about the dismal economic outlook?   Not in the least.  The Obami has never been concerned about the economy, from the phoney stimulus package, to job killing Obamacare to the EPA’s war on the economy, the Obami motivations have been strictly ideological.   Better to have Cuba North than one more Bill Gates, or employed taxpayer.    Obama has proposed nothing that would actually stimulate the economy.    He simply does not care.

Spare the rod, spoil the child, from Wssley Pruden, Washington Times:

Every mom who has ever been at her wit’s end recognizes Barack Obama. The president who earlier nagged Congress that it was time for Americans to “eat our peas” finally threw his own peas to the floor and banged his spoon on his supper dish. Such a tantrum in a high chair is a familiar sight in a lot of kitchens.

[…]

The verdict of history, though on the way, is not quite at hand. The verdict of 2012 soon will be and looms over everything. It’s enough to make a president, swaddled with a bad situation he made much worse, bang his supper dish with his spoon and throw his peas on the floor.

Jimmy Carter redux, Barack Obama channels in inner Jimmy Carter.   Laura Ingraham does the remix, video:

Hat tip: Doug Powers @ Michelle Malkin.

I’d rather be hiking:

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Between 20 and 30 spectators at an air show in upstate New York have been treated for heat-related emergencies, and some hospitalized for further treatment.

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Dozens-at-upstate-NY-air-show-treated-for-heat-1469295.php#ixzz1SJeYykFF

And I was.   With ninety degree heat, it is much more comfortable to be on dirt trail,  rather on the level side with ample shade that standing the middle of an airfield with no shade and baking concrete.

Tapper is the new Russert, Jake Tapper plays one man tag team on White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, Tapper asks a simple, A or B question, and can not get a straight answer, from ABC News:

Which Is Worse? Default or Voting to Raise the Debt Ceiling Again in 2012?: Today’s Qs for O’s WH – 7/14/2011

TAPPER: The worst-case scenario here is a default, right?

CARNEY: That is a bad scenario. I’m not sure — I mean —

TAPPER: Is it worse —

CARNEY: You know, there are things you could anticipate. But I — yes

Video:

Barack Obama has promised to throw Granny,  and her Social Security check, under the bus first should he not get a debt ceiling increase.   Yet the Obami are utterly unable to declare depriving Granny of her Social Security check is worse than Dim Won, b/k/a Barack Obama having reschedule his golf outing to conduct more debt ceiling negotiations.

Why the debt ceiling will be raised despite of and not because of Dumbo, b/k/a Obama, from Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post:

Senate and House sources tell me that virtually nothing is happening or is expected to come out of White House talks. When asked what dealmaking might be going on, a House aide replied, “Nothing real yet.”

[…]

But notice the mention of “a few weeks” by Boehner. Apparently, the speaker of the House doesn’t think much of Obama’s insistence on a deal by Friday. In fact, nothing that Obama says these days seems to make a difference. The White House, in fact, is entirely irrelevant .

Jackson-Lee plays the race card, from Josiah Ryan,Politico:

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) on Friday strongly suggested that members of Congress are making it difficult for President Obama to raise the debt ceiling because of his race.

“I do not understand what I think is the maligning and maliciousness [toward] this president,” said Jackson Lee, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “Why is he different? And in my community, that is the question that we raise. In the minority community that is question that is being raised. Why is this president being treated so disrespectfully? Why has the debt limit been raised 60 times? Why did the leader of the Senate continually talk about his job is to bring the president down to make sure he is unelected?”

Think of it like this, Shelly Baby, black is the new incompetent.

Obami use tax dollars to promote racism, from Kerry Picket, Washington Times:

Public schools in Omaha spent $130,000 in federal stimulus money on cultural diversity books for all 8,000 school staffers including: teachers, administrators, and even janitors that teaches that a color-blind society is not enough to end racism.

Only whites are smart enough to be responsible for their own outcomes, or say the Obami.

‘Rats don’t like your guns, from Katie Pavlich, Town Hall:

U.S. Representatives Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) will join other members and a leading law enforcement organization for an event Friday, July 15th, 11:00 a.m. at the House Triangle to introduce the “Stop Gun Trafficking and Strengthen Law Enforcement Act,” which establishes a dedicated firearms trafficking statute to empower law enforcement to keep high-powered firearms out of the hands of dangerous criminals, including Mexican drug cartels.

So let me get this straight, democrats want to punish law abiding Americans and impede on Second Amendment rights with new legislation “to prevent gun trafficking to Mexico,” however, aren’t willing to focus on the ATF and DOJ’s role in deliberately putting high powered firearms into the hands of criminals including Mexican drug cartels? It doesn’t matter how many gun control laws we have on the books if the federal government is willing to break them to push a political agenda, however, this is not surprising

If you want to keep guns out of Mexico,  get Eric Holder out of the Department of Justice  and into a courtroom in Mexico.

Making Dumbo and the ‘rats pay the price for throwing Granny under the bus, from Mark Tapscott,Washington Examiner:

So when Obama threatens not to pay Social Security checks on time, the proper response of congressional Republicans should be to pass emergency legislation directing the Secretary of the Treasury to pay interest on the national debt, Social Security and Medicare, active-duty members of the military and government bond-holders before any other government bills are paid.

Of course, the Senate Democratic majority won’t go along with this and even if it did, Obama would veto such legislation if it reached his desk. But that’s exactly the point – Make congressional Democrats and Obama explicitly choose not to pay Social Security, et. al. so that the responsibility for that decision is clear

Jenifer Rubin

Tell me again about Dumbo’s world class temperament. from Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post:

During the 2008 campaign Obama-spinners and nearly the entire press corps (I repeat myself) bandied about the notion that what the candidate lacked in experience (none when it came to running anything other than the Harvard Law Review) he made up in superior temperament. He was cool, calm, unflappable — a sort of Mr. Spock who put rationality above emotion. Has there ever been a worst case of false advertising?

[…]

Obama, as we saw in the health-care forum when Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took on the specifics of his health-care plan, isn’t all that comfortable or effective in unscripted moments when forced to argue on the merits. He resorts to name-calling (“the election is over”). And he insists on saying things that just aren’t so (e.g. you can keep your health-care plan under Obamacare). That’s been his style from the time he started campaigning (“you’re likable enough, Hillary”) up to the present. It’s not pretty to watch, and it certainly doesn’t live up to his billing as a man more heroic and honest than us mere mortals.

Were the lame streams ignorant of Dumbo’s peevish nature, or did they just lie about i?

Piscataway, NJ– Grabbing a load for May’s Landing. From here back up to NY state. Still hot, but a clear and beautiful looking day.

• REPEATING HISTORY: FDR’s policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate. Any more questions about why we’re still in a fiscal problem, folks?
• BARRY PICKS UP HIS MARBLES AND GOES HOME:  Stormed out of the budget meeting, as David noted earlier today. Apparently, Republicans are standing firm, in spite of McConnell. And what’s with this?
  

  Don’t call my bluff, I am not afraid to veto and I will take it to the American people.

  Oh, please. Call his bluff, guys, he’s got nothing and everyone knows it. The polling is running two to one against raising the debt ceiling as I said yesterday.

  “This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this”

  Fact is, Barry, you’re already done… Your presidency is already over. That ship sailed months ago. This is you desperately trying to regain the high ground in the minds of the voters, here… and… read the polls, Barry… it’s not working. You own this fiasco, Barry… it’s all on you. No wonder you’re frustrated.

• GO BACK TO SLEEP, RUDY: Rudy tells us he’ll run for president if no other Republican can beat Obama. What courage to make such a statement. Of course here’s a message Rudy may not have gotten: The polls are suggesting about anyone can beat Obama at this point…. except maybe, Rudy.
• SOCIALIST SECURITY: Investors Business Daily extends my point of the other day’s Ramble:
  

  In trying to score political points against the GOP by warning that retirement checks were in jeopardy if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, President Obama exposed the fraud at the heart of Social Security. . . . Obama beat everyone, however, with his scaremongering claim that Social Security checks are at risk if he doesn’t get his way on the debt ceiling. “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on Aug. 3 if we haven’t resolved this issue,” he told CBS News, “because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.”Wait! What happened to Social Security’s “guarantee”? You know, the iron-clad assurance of Social Security benefits in exchange for paying into the program your whole working life? It’s something Democrats constantly talk about, particularly when attacking Republicans who propose privatizing the program.

  See, here’s the problem; Get such things out of he hands of government, and the problem of being held hostage for anyone’s agenda goes away. But for the meanwhile, the lie has been exposed again…. Social Security is not solvent because the federal government has already spent the money.

  But here’s the thing; It got exposed because Obama tried creating a crisis he could exploit to further his plans to grow government…. and it backfired.

Dumbo walks, remember the media spin that somehow we were supposed to believe that Barack Obama has a world class temperment. Yeah sure, from Politico:

President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of a debt-limit meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday, throwing into serious doubt the already shaky debt limit negotiations, according to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and a second GOP source.

Cantor said the president became “agitated” and warned the Virginia Republican not to “call my bluff” when Cantor said he would consider a short-term debt-limit hike.

Blondie, b/k/a  Ann Coulter, explains why Dumbo may have walked.  He can’t take the heat.  Mitchell McConnell has Obama in a box and he may even know it, from Human Events:

But now, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has checkmated the Democrats. He has proposed a bill that will allow Obama to raise the debt ceiling three times, up to $2.4 trillion, over the next 18 months, but only provided Obama proposes equivalent cuts in spending each time.

Finally, the Democrats will be forced to pony up spending cuts — or default on the debt and crash the economy.

Contrary to some hysterical Republicans, McConnell’s bill does not forfeit any of Congress’ authority: The House and Senate will still have to decide whether to accept Obama’s proposed cuts when they write their appropriations bills.

But we will finally get some proposed cuts to federal programs from Obama, and not more nonsense about theoretical savings from “investing” in our children’s future with additional spending on Pell grants and prenatal counseling.

Dumbo is more that willing to deprive Granny of her Social Security check, but he is not willing to give up on his dreams of massive tax increases.

Dumbo’s guns walked as well,  Obama tied to “fast and furious”, from Investor’s Business Daily:

Border: A 2-year-old video shows a high Justice official saying “the president has directed us,” including the attorney general, to speed up Project Gunrunner and the offshoot that got a border agent killed.

This tape has no 18-minute gap, and while it does not feature the president himself, the March 24, 2009, video may rival the tape that turned a “third-rate burglary” into a presidential resignation. No one died at Watergate. Agent Brian Terry lost his life in the administration’s obsessive pursuit of gun control.

[…]

At the president’s direction, Ogden said, the administration’s plan included DOJ’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives “increasing its efforts by adding 37 new employees in three new offices, using $10 million in Recovery Act funds and redeploying 100 personnel to the Southwest border in the next 45 days to fortify its Project Gunrunner,” of which Operation Fast and Furious would be a part.

Dumbo just does not like that pesty Second Amendment.

Kirkwood, NY– I’m at the NY border just now, eating lunch and going through my email. I’m headed toward Albany and will be there in a couple hours. Cooler, today. A welcome change.

• McConnell, again: I said yesterday: Time to replace Mitch McConnellwith someone who has an actual spine. How is it possible he’s not getting the message? Regardless, Ive been noting signs of weakness in this guy in the past, and it’s well past time he be shown the exit. And of course the feedback I got was negative and in a few instances, scathing. But, yes, damn it, I did mean exactly what I said, and every word of it.Look, first of all, the leadership is saying the thing will not pass the house as such, so it’s all fluff anyway.And, yes, I’m sure McConnell thinks he’s doing the right thing for the party. He’s trying to get Obama to politically hang himself between now and the next election, by (a) giving him enough rope and (b) making sure the rope is left in a very public spot, so that everyone knows whose fault our fiscal problems are. It’s a well crafted political plan and I’ll tell you that during the Carter years, when our situation was far less dire, it would have worked.Trouble is, our situation is far more problematic than Carter ever created, and the mood of the country just now is not for political gamesmanship, but rather immediate results.

  The electorate couldn’t give a DAMN about the party. They’re more interested in the country. The polling is showing the American people who are paying attention are against raising the debt ceiling at all, as Ed Morressey explains:

  Good news for the White House: the gap between those who oppose a debt-ceiling increase at all narrowed over the past two months. Bad news for the White House: opposition is still almost 2-1 in the latest Gallup to the debt-ceiling hike for which Obama has gone on a national campaign. The gap shrunk from 28% to 20%, with slightly over a third of Americans saying that they don’t know enough to decide:

  Despite agreement among leaders of both sides of the political aisle in Washington that raising the U.S. debt ceiling is necessary, more Americans want their member of Congress to vote against such a bill than for it, 42% vs. 22%, while one-third are unsure. This 20-percentage-point edge in opposition to raising the debt ceiling in Gallup’s July 7-10 poll is slightly less than the 28-point lead (47% vs. 19%) seen in May.

  Here’s the second paragraph from Gallup. Might they have taken Barack Obama’s poll analysis a little too seriously? You be the judge:

  This measure reflects public opinion about raising the debt ceiling in the abstract. The question wording did not mention the rationales for or against raising the debt ceiling, nor did it explain that any such move would ultimately be a part of a broader budget bill involving spending cuts and perhaps tax increases.

  Remember, Obama scolded CBS’ Chip Reid for push polling by asking the obviously biased question in the CBS poll, “Should the debt ceiling be raised?” Gallup’s question would probably send Obama into orbit: “From what you know or have read about the discussion of raising the debt ceiling, would you want your member of Congress to — [vote in favor of raising the debt ceiling, vote against raising the debt ceiling] — or don’t you know enough to say?” I’m pretty sure that’s a great example of push polling, right there, because Obama says any result that disfavors his position must be part of some plot, and stuff.

  I won’t get into just why, here, but the poll data is even more lopsided against the Democrats than it appears. Ed gets into some of that in his piece. The obvious point here though is that the American people have already been won over by the facts. How won over are they? A look at the polling tells the tale.  A look at CA26’s special election last night tells the tale…. and McConnell is still playing politics, trying to show people who is at fault for our situation.  He’s apparently unwilling to believe in the conservative position enough to simply stand up for it. He chickens out and goes to the usual political gamesmanship. It’s un-needed and in fact counter productive. And to boot, he lets Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and Schumer up off the ropes. I say again: Time for McConnell to get the axe.  And find someone with a real spine. Liz Peek thinks Obama has blown it on the debt thing, and I think she’s right, but with McConnell’s type around I’m not sure that’s a worry for the Dems.

• Well, we COULD just cut spending… The worst thing for a Democrat is lowering the size scope power and cost of government. Why else would the last thing Obama want to hear is that he can’t raise taxes further? And why else, I ask, would the WH still have not submitted it’s own proposal?
• SHARE THE SACRIFICE? Sure. We can do that. Get the bottom 51% that pay no taxes at all, to pay into the system.
• STARVING GRANDMA:  So, Obama is threatening us with, essentially: “Either let me raise your taxes or Grandma Starves.” Lemme see here  Social Security is what, $50musd a month, and Washington is passing out what, $250musd a month. Apparently, Democrats can’t add.

Throwing Granny under the bus, from James Taranto, Wall Street Jourmal:

President Obama is pulling out the big guns and pointing them straight at your grandmother. “Obama on Tuesday said he cannot guarantee that retirees will receive their Social Security checks August 3” absent an agreement with Congress to raise the debt ceiling, CBS News reports:

“I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley, according to excerpts released by CBS News.

At a press conference yesterday, Obama demanded that Republicans not only authorize trillions of dollars in new borrowing,which at this point seems unavoidable, but agree to what he called “massive, job-killing tax increases” effective in 2013–i.e., after what he expects will be his re-election.

Lack of funds would not the the issue, from James Pethokoukis, Reuters:

Here’s a great chart from Goldman Sachs that shows how government revenues and obligations will likely match up in August:

As is clearly shown, there is enough cumulative money coming to pay interest, SS, Medicare and defense. Not that there wouldn’t be cash managements issues

If Dumbo chooses not to pay Granny, he had better hope she dies before the next election.

Jenifer Rubin

The McConnell Plan, I don’t pretend to understand it.   However Jennifer Rubin has the details and appears to like it, from Washington Post:

What does this do? It shifts the onus to the president to put up the cuts he wants. Moreover, it puts the Senate Democrats in a tough bind. Do they vote against this if there is no grand bargain, filibustering a mechanism that would avoid default? Having failed to present their own budget, Senate Democrats are now on the spot. As for that White House meeting today, I imagine the White House will be none to pleased. Put up or shut up, they are being told. That might not sit well when the modus operandi has been to offer virtually no immediate cuts in private and spout platitudes (peas!) in public

In poker, it might be called put up or shut up.

Is Mediscare a scam, from Professor William A. Jacobson,Legal Insurrection:

Obama throws Democrats’ Mediscare campaign off a cliff

Almost the entire Democratic Party theme for the 2012 elections at every level is that evil Republicans want to destroy “Medicare as we know it,” whereas Democrats want to save the program by raising taxes on the “rich.”

[…]

So, according to Obama, the Democratic plan to save Medicare will not work no matter how much taxes are raised. That is a message which will resonate.

Democrats are the party of Medicare failure. Just ask Obama.

Not to say that Barack Obama, a noted moron, is actually right.   However, either Dumbo or the Mediscare faction of the democrat party is wrong.

Just how dumb is Dumbo?   Here is number Four, follow the link for the rest, from Human Events:

4.  Look at the map:  Not only does Obama not know how many states there are, he also doesn’t know where they are.  During the 2008 primary campaign, he explained why he was trailing Hillary Clinton in Kentucky: “Sen. Clinton, I think, is much better known, coming from a nearby state of Arkansas.  So it’s not surprising that she would have an advantage in some of those states in the middle.”  Obama’s home state of Illinois, and not Arkansas, shares a border with Kentucky.

Hat tip: Syllable Soup

FLOTUS discovers she is fat, from Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times:

Mrs. Obama in Better Homes and Gardens: “Ironically, her always-booked life has made it harder to follow her own advice about staying on the move. “I became more sedentary,” she admits. After her first year at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, she was surprised that her body had changed. “I realized that some clothes were getting tighter,” she says. “I didn’t know what was going on.” She has increased her time at the gym, and now banters with her husband–“I always tease him I’m in better shape than he is.” She laughs. “I can do longer workouts. He’s the President.” Their physically active lifestyle is also an implicit signal to their daughters. “Ultimately kids emulate what they see. You don’t have to make a lecture if you’re living it. We don’t talk about working out, we just do.”

As for me, I suspect Moocelle it is too few work outs and too many burgers.