U.S. 2012 Election

[cupper]

Given the power the right to vote places in a person's hands - including, ultimately, the power to compel others to do various things - it is unlikely that any voter ID requirements could be considered unfairly onerous.

Only if those same requirements go further than the already effective existing laws. Or they also take steps to make meeting those requirements more difficult than is necessary, like eliminating half the DMV's and forcing people to travel an unreasonable distance to get a state issued ID.

 

[a_majoor]

GOP wins two more elections. Note the end game in the NY election is already started:

http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/09/13/election-night-in-ny-9/

Election Night in NY-9 (And Nevada-2) Update: Turner WINS

Will Bob Turner shock the world? Will Obama’s unpopularity cause the Democrats to lose a seat they have held for 90 years? Results from NY-9, formerly known as The Weiner Seat, will be posted here as soon as I get ‘em. If you see them first, pop them in comments. If you live in the district or near it, let us know what you’re seeing and hearing.

More: While we await results, let’s savor the nervousness of Democrats experiencing Obama Remorse.

More: I confess I’m a bit less interested in the Nevada race, but mainly because it looks like a clear win for the GOP. Winning there won’t say as much as winning NY-9. But it will still be great.

Democrat pollster PPP says the GOP wins both of tonight’s races. We’ll see.

More: Heh.

More: Check out Intrade’s read on NY-9. Ouch.

Update: The polls closed at 9 pm eastern in NY-9. Let the shenanigans begin.

Update: NY-9 results will show up here, NV-2 here (thanks, ConservativeWanderer!).

Update: Kerry Picket reports that Turner’s camp suspects fraud and wants the ballots impounded.

    New York’s 9th Congressional special election race today for former Congressman Anthony Weiner’s seat just got more interesting.

    Turner campaign manager E. O’Brien Murray told me Tuesday afternoon that their campaign is concerned  the close race in New York’s 9th CD could very well be tainted by voter fraud from the David Weprin camp, and the Turner campaign does not want to be blind-sided.

    “Last night we filed with one of the judges and then today we were attempting to serve Weprin. We served the board of elections last night to this morning. I’m not too sure of the timing of it,” said Murray.

    Under New York State law a registered voter of the state must apply for a ballot in order to get an absentee ballot. According to the Turner camp, they suspect that someone over at the board of elections sent out absentee ballots to deceased people and to people who have not requested them.

    “There’s been significant evidence of election fraud occurring. There have been in at least five occurrences of deceased individuals receiving absentee ballots which cannot happen legally,” said Turner campaign spokesman William O’Reilly. O’Reilly added, “Other people who have not applied for absentee ballots have received ballots, which is against the law in New York State. They haven’t even applied for them, but they received them.”

    The Turner campaign wants the ballots impounded tonight after the polls close.

Update: Time of death for the age of Hope and Change, 11:58 pm eastern, Sept. 13, 2011. The AP calls it, Bob Turner WINS NY-9. GOP takes that seat for the first time in 90 years.

and looking at the Administration's record. This is what they have to run with:

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/09/14/obama-presidency/

Has Obama Learned Anything?
Peter Wehner 09.14.2011 - 11:50 AM

Imagine you’re in the Obama White House, and this is what you face. Democrats lose a special election in a congressional district they have controlled since the 1920s and which was framed as a referendum on the president. There’s a possible scandal brewing over the White House’s effort to rush federal reviewers for a decision on a nearly half-billion dollar loan to a solar-panel manufacturer, Solyndra. The most recent Census Report shows median household earnings fell for the third consecutive year, back to 1996 levels. A record number of Americans are in poverty. In Afghanistan, the Taliban mounted a fierce assault on the U.S. embassy and NATO military headquarters in Kabul. A new CNN/ORC poll shows Obama’s disapproval rating has reached a new high while the number of Americans who think he is a strong leader has dropped to a new low. And that’s just today.

On a human level, one can sympathize with what the president, his advisers, and his supporters are going through right now. But there is a cautionary tale in this as well. When Obama was running for president, he was dismissive of those who came before him. The problems we faced, at home and abroad, would be fixed by signing this executive order and passing that piece of legislation. Hope and change were on the way. “I’m LeBron, baby. I can play on this level. I got some game,” Obama is reported to have said back in 2004.

Being president seemed so easy before he actually was president. At the point he took the oath of office, the problems became harder to manage, more difficult, more intractable. “When I said, ‘Change we can believe in,’ I didn’t say, ‘Change we can believe in tomorrow,’ ” Obama told an audience last month. “Not, ‘Change we can believe in next week.’ We knew this was going to take time, because we’ve got this big, messy, tough democracy.”

Every person who runs for president, it’s fair to say, has a healthy ego. But Obama was different; the self-assurance, the arrogance, the sense that he viewed himself as a world-historical figure was almost palpable. “I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions,” Obama told congressional Democrats during the 2008 campaign. A convention speech wasn’t enough; Greek columns needed to be added. “Generations from now we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment,” Obama said – a moment when, among other achievements, “the rise of the oceans began to slow.” And during the campaign, while still a one-term senator, Obama decided he wanted to give a speech in Germany– and he wanted to deliver it at the Brandenburg Gate​.

Yet now we see the Obama presidency coming apart, piece by piece, day by day. Democratic lawmakers are attacking the president on the record. The unhappiness in Obama’s own party toward the president might soon evolve into an open revolt. Those who supported Hillary Clinton in 2008 are saying, with some degree of self-satisfaction, “I told you so.” And the words of Solomon will be proven right again. “Pride goes before destruction,” he wrote in Proverbs, “a haughty spirit before a fall.”

If you dig beneath the rationalizations and the excuses, the field of strawmen, and the barrage of attacks on the motives of his opponents, one can only wonder: In his quiet moments, during times of self-reflection, has Obama –an educated and literate man — learned much of anything from all this?

 

[Kalatzi]

Reproduced under the fair dealing clause of the copyright act

Republican Party's base: A gallery of ghouls 

Audience outbursts at recent Republican Party debates reveal the often vicious sentiments of the party's base.
Cliff Schecter Last Modified: 15 Sep 2011 09:18
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The audience at a recent Republican debate cheered when Texas Governor Rick Perry said that Texas had executed 234 people under his governorship [GALLO/GETTY]


Vampire movies and television programmes may be all the rage right now, but not one of them has anything on a good old-fashioned audience of Republican debate watchers.

In a rather shocking - yet sadly, not surprising - display of the bloodlust and viciousness usually reserved for members of law enforcement pulling over a driving-while-soused Mel Gibson, the so-called "party of life" has seen its most ardent adherents at the past two GOP debates belching out blood-curdling cheers in favour of untimely death. All of which tells you a little something about who these theoretical human beings are, and what they stand for - and it has does not have much to do with traditional small government conservatism.

In a recent debate on MSNBC, as it was being pointed out that Rick Perry rivals Kublai Khan in his propensity for stopping people's ability to breathe, Perry was roundly cheered by the crowd for his record-breaking string of executions in Texas. Debate attendees yelped like it was a home run in the World Series or a successful moon mission, a sickening display whether one supports the death penalty or not (which I do in limited circumstances).

Much like wolves hovering over a slab of meat or performance art directed by the Marquis de Sade, the activist Tea Party Republican base seemed to delight in the suffering of others. They were Teddy Roosevelt ... if he were buried in a pet cemetery for the past 90 years.
"
Link here http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/09/201191564857715459.html

"In one of his seminal works, brilliant sociologist and social commentator Daniel Bell, an editor and contributor to the compendium The Radical Right, opined in 1962 that "today the politics of the right is the politics of frustration - the sour impotence of those who find themselves unable to understand, let alone command, the complex mass society that is the polity today".

Sometimes I think he had a crystal ball when he said that
"

 

[a_majoor]

The campaign narrative is unravelling already. Good thing we have another year to eat popcorn and see what else comes down the pike:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/bam_terrible_risk_Pm8PkSjoycx4Ner42KhAwJ#ixzz1Y2UJjLnv

Bam’s terrible risk

By MICHAEL A. WALSH

Last Updated: 12:36 AM, September 15, 2011

Posted: 9:59 PM, September 14, 2011

Do President Obama’s advisers realize they’ve got him frittering away the last political asset he has left?

As unpopular as the president’s policies -- and especially his results -- have proved, a majority of Americans still like and, somehow, even trust him personally. But his new political strategy is based on a manuever that even fellow Democrats see as transparently cynical.

He’s tramping around the country “demanding” that Republicans “put country before party” to pass his “jobs” bill right now -- knowing full well that there’s no chance they will.

That is, the president is posing as the one man in Washington who’s above the partisan fray -- and the pose itself is just a nakedly partisan ploy.

The bill is just more soak-the-rich baloney: The “jobs-creating” stuff is overwhelmingly ideas we’ve already tried on Obama’s watch, and gotten 9-plus percent unemployment for our troubles. And he pays for it with tax hikes that he not only knows are anathema to Republicans, but that he couldn’t even get the old Democratic Congress to pass.

So, aside from small bits that might pass as bipartisan gestures, the bill has zero chance of becoming law anytime soon, no matter how often the president demands immediate action. Lefty Robert Reich says it plainly wasn’t meant to pass; centrist Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) calls it “terrible,” and even radicals like Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva have raised objections.

In fact -- and here’s the really cynical bit -- for all his finger-wagging, and peremptory tone, Obama doesn’t care about passing it. Sure, he’d like to get the unemployment rate down below 8 percent, but even his own economic team has publicly said that’s impossible before the next election.

No, it’s the much-publicized “Truman” strategy -- a bid to set up Congress as his real opponent in next year’s election, much as Harry Truman did back in 1948. His only hope is to pretend that it’s Congress that’s keeping the chickens out of every pot, Congress that wants veterans to starve, Congress that’s protecting its rich buddies while he selflessly defends the little guy.

How obvious can the White House be? Obama declared in his speech last week that he’s taking his message “to every corner of this country” -- but he’s actually taking it to swing states like Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina, which he has to win in November 2012 to keep his job.

Team Obama is calculating that if they make the right noises about helping wounded veterans and saving teachers, the details don’t matter. As long as they continue whipping up class resentment -- yeah, it’s those rich doctors making a couple hundred grand a year by working 60-hour weeks saving lives that are forcing poor kids into substandard classrooms -- they hope to eke out a narrow victory in what will be a fiercely competitive election.

Thing is, the public’s not buying it. A recent Bloomberg poll shows that by a margin of 51 percent to 40 percent, Americans doubt Obama’s plan will bring down the jobless rate.

The president’s drive for the bill isn’t going to shift that number much; if he keeps up his act, he’s just going to alienate the people he’s trying to impress -- the “independents” who want leaders of both parties to stop playing politics and start solving problems -- if that’s even possible.

Worst of all, he’s going to convince people who still believe in him that he’s just another politician (or worse) -- someone willing to throw his own party under the bus if he thinks it will help him.

The anti-O’s-policies wave hasn’t ended, as Tuesday’s special House elections proved. The Democrat in Nevada got wiped out, while Republican Bob Turner’s upset win in Anthony Weiner’s Brooklyn/Queens district was a stinging rebuke to the president’s approach not only on the economy, but also on Israel. Now, the White House risks adding to the wave, by building anger at the president personally.

Team Obama may think they’ve laid a cunning trap for the Republicans by daring them to vote against “jobs,” but they may have just outsmarted themselves.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/bam_terrible_risk_Pm8PkSjoycx4Ner42KhAwJ#ixzz1Y43P6LdJ

 

[a_majoor]

The high misery index in the late 1970's was considered a key factor in the defeat of the Carter Administration. As commentators on the article point out, unemployment and inflation are artificially lowered by changing the way they are reported compared to the 1970's; the true misery index is far higher...

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/584976/201109151824/Living-Miserably.htm

Living Miserably
Posted 09/15/2011 06:24 PM ET

Economy: What's a six-letter word that describes what you get when you combine spiking jobless claims and rising inflation? Answer: M-I-S-E-R-Y. And as new reports show, Obama is dishing out heaping portions of it.

The two reports out of the Labor Department are troubling enough on their own. Jobless claims hit 428,000 last week, up 11,000 from the week before, the highest level in months and, naturally, unexpected. And inflation in August was up 3.8% over last year, also higher than forecast.

These reports also point to a more worrisome trend. With unemployment stuck at a stratospheric 9.1% — and giving no signs of coming down soon — inflation is now climbing. The current annual rate is more than twice where it stood in January. Combine the two, and you have a Misery Index of 12.9 — up 21% this year and a stunning 64% since Obama took office.

To put the current index in some historical context: (1) it's higher than any time in the past 28 years, (2) it's 36% higher than the post-World War II average of 9.5 and (3) there have been only nine years in the past 63 when the annual Misery Index topped 12.9 — all in the inflationary 1970s.

The only thing surprising about today's miserable economic picture is that so many economists continue to be surprised by it. Don't they remember what happened the last time we indulged in rampant government spending, regulatory hyperactivity and endless federal meddling in the economy back in the '70s?

The only problem now is that Obama steadfastly refuses to learn from his mistakes. His "jobs" spending bill merely repeats his failed stimulus plan. His proposed tax hikes would only further choke off growth. And his regulatory "reform" amounts to trimming the branches while his agencies plant forests of new rules.

Rising prices and a stagnant economy probably aren't the "hope and change" voters were expecting when they elected Obama. But that's precisely what they're getting from his '70s-style economic policies.

 

[a_majoor]

And of course we should never forget:

http://www.barrelstrength.com/2011/09/21/obama-will-resurge/

Obama will resurge
September 21, 2011 12:51 am Dalwhinnie American Politics

The always bracing Lawrence Auster, compared to whom we are all faithless wimps, writes as follows on the Obama-is-doomed scenario:

“When I say that Obama is very likely to make a comeback before November 2012, that is not based on some inside knowledge of the economy; it is based on the commonsense observation that nothing in politics or in any competitive endeavor remains the same for very long. The bottom dog comes up, the top dog comes down. For this simple reason, it seems far from certain to me that Obama, currently written off as a hopeless loser by the entire political class, is going to remain in that same condition for the entire next year. Our experience of the course of human events tells us that something will happen and his position and popularity will at least somewhat improve.

“I’m not making a prediction; I’m simply saying that it is reasonable to expect that at some point in the next 13 months Obama’s popularity will have risen and that he will be in stronger shape politically than he is now.

“And this is why the constant frenzied Republican sack dance over Obama’s supposedly prone body is utterly foolish. Imagine how devastated the Republicans will be if, after they’ve spent a year and half collectively jumping up and down yelling, “Obama’s finished! He’s finished! He’s finished!”, Obama wins re-election.”

This is not to say I agree with Mr Auster on this point, it is only that it is important to understand that Obama has been effective if you grant that his strategy has been to drive the United States permanently leftward. Whether he succeeds at any other goal is secondary to his overarching strategic purpose.

As other postings on this site have tried to say, Obama is not the result of some media cabal, some failure to vet the candidate properly by the press. He is the possibly failed, possibly successful, candidate of the United States’ permanent class of internal deserters. Bernard Fall, the French war correspondent in the Viet Nam war, wrote that inside the besieged Dien Bien Phu (1954) , there was a group of French soldiers who had effectvely deserted even if they had not gone over the wire to the Vietnamese communists. They were unavailable for combat; they had given up long before the final successful VietMinh assault. He also said that internal desertion is a constant reality inside besieged towns and fortresses.

Large elements of America’s internal leftist opposition are not patriots; they are internal deserters.

 

[a_majoor]

This should cause a lot of consternation in the Republican ranks (especially the establishment GOP in Washington). While I doubt Herman Cain has the organization and funding to go "all the way", he will certainly shake up both the GOP and the Dems, and change much of the nature of the "narrative" both sides are trying to craft:

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/herman-cain-sheds-dark-horse-status-in-crucial-florida/

Herman Cain Sheds Dark-Horse Status in Crucial Florida

Posted By Kyle-Anne Shiver On September 25, 2011 @ 3:21 pm In US News | 52 Comments

The first time I heard Herman Cain refer to himself as “the dark-horse candidate,” I knew that man had the kind of character and wisdom which smart people look for when picking a leader.  Cain has risen so far above the superficiality of racialist, skin-color thinking that he makes those who pander to it or run from it look like a bunch of kindergarteners hurling spitballs.

Yes, until this weekend, Herman Cain was a dark-horse candidate, given very little chance of winning the nomination by everyone who is anyone.

Well, that was then and this is now.  Not even Herman Cain can call himself a dark-horse candidate after Florida’s Presidency 5 vote, where Herman pulled in the winning 37% of Republican Party activists to Perry’s dismal 15% and Romney’s even worse 14%.

Oh sure, many prognosticators and pundits will be quick on the draw to downplay the significance of another “straw poll,” like the one Michele Bachmann won in Iowa only to see her popularity melt faster than a popsicle in a Texas desert on an August afternoon. But Florida’s Presidency 5 contest is a very different animal than Iowa’s straw poll and has far, far more significance.

For one thing, the Presidency 5 isn’t run like Iowa’s straw poll. In Florida, the state party leaders take their swing-state significance and their 29 large-share electoral votes very seriously. Not just anyone who shows up at Presidency 5 gets to vote in the election (and they call it an “election,” not a “straw poll”).

In Ames, Iowa, candidates buy lots of tickets, hand them out to their supporters, many who were bused in just for the event, and everyone there gets to vote.  In Iowa, there is much giving of free food and music, a lot of wining and dining with beer and corndogs, and in this regard it’s much more like a caucus than an actual election. But in the Presidency 5 election, only GOP delegates to the Florida convention get to vote. Every person casting a vote in Florida’s poll has been active in party politics and earned their spot, which makes Florida’s pre-election poll much more significant than Iowa’s — not to mention Florida’s crucial 29 electoral votes to Iowa’s meager 6.

Can anyone win the presidency now without Florida? It’s pretty darned hard, especially since Republicans have to give up California from the get-go in the post-Reagan era. With the whole northeast still in the stranglehold of liberal delusions, the southern states — especially Texas and Florida — have become absolutely essential [1] for any Republican candidate.

No matter how the pundits slice, dice, or try to puree Cain’s phenomenal victory this weekend in Florida, this shakes up the presidential race in much the same way that the Tea Party has been doing since the spring of 2009. Cain’s win might not signal an earthquake yet, but it helps him in some very significant ways.

For one thing, the Florida Republican Party delegates have sent a very loud message to the high-rolling insiders in D.C.  The conservative party base has grown very weary of its step-child status among the GOP establishment and are signaling that they might not just go along to get along this time around.

Secondly, Cain’s biggest problem to date in getting real electoral momentum has been his near-bottom-of-the-candidate-barrel backing by inside-the-beltway types. Nate Silver, the rising star among political prognosticators, wrote two columns [2] in May on why more political insiders ought to be taking Herman Cain seriously. Silver, as he explains somewhat, tends to use a more bottom-up paradigm when perusing polling data. While Silver knows that party establishment people figure prominently in pushing certain candidates over others, he also takes into account the bottom line lever-pulling power, which is always in the actual hands of the actual voters. And in Silver’s analysis, Herman Cain is proving to be an exceptional candidate with a lot more going for him in the minds of the voters than in the calculations of the party insiders and the MSM elites.

Florida delegates just amply demonstrated Silver’s point. Herman Cain was on the ground in Orlando by Friday morning, just after a sterling debate performance in Tampa the night before. Cain, the nomination underdog, worked hard Friday and Saturday, speaking extemporaneously to small groups of delegates — groups that reportedly grew larger and larger as the weekend progressed. And Cain was evidently winning voters over one at a time the way candidates used to do it — in person. They call it “retail politics.”

Retail politics is one of Rick Perry’s greatest strengths, too. But Perry was apparently resting on his polling laurels, choosing to fly out of Orlando instead of sticking around to engage with the Presidency 5 delegates. Not smart.

Rick Perry was leading in Florida polling by 9 points going into Thursday’s Tampa debate.Perry did so badly in that debate and Cain did so extraordinarily well that much of Perry’s support weakened in the aftermath. Florida’s delegates were ripe for the picking and Cain saw his opportunity to set the Texas brush afire with 9-9-9 common sense [3]. People can call Cain’s win in Florida anything they wish but at the very least, it demonstrates his keen political instincts without ever having won a single election.

Cain still has the greatest line in the history of politics on that so-called weakness. When asked about his lack of political office holding experience in the first Republican debate, Cain got his characteristic fox look, gave a sly smile, raised his fatherly eyebrows and bellowed: Everyone running the government now has held elected office before. How’s that working out for you?

If there’s one thing Americans admire more than straight-shooting rhetoric, it’s an underdog with a genuine winning spirit. Herman Cain isn’t sitting on the bench warming his backside from the glow of his own press and hedging his debate responses with focus-group-approved lines. And because he’s fighting hard, believes in himself, and is willing to go head to head in selling himself to voters, he is moving on up and out of the pack at the back.

Floridian delegates got over their “not electable” reticence and took a chance with Cain. Cain says this is what you call “momentum,” and he’s turned around failing businesses enough to know momentum by its scent.

If Herman Cain smells electoral momentum coming off his Florida win, I’m inclined to take him very seriously.

Whoever said the next Ronald Reagan had to be a governor?

Article printed from Pajamas Media: http://pajamasmedia.com

URL to article: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/herman-cain-sheds-dark-horse-status-in-crucial-florida/

URLs in this post:

[1] essential: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ElectoralCollege2012.svg

[2] two columns: http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/the-not-so-simple-case-for-taking-herman-cain-seriously/

[3] 9-9-9 common sense: http://www.hermancain.com/999plan

 

[a_majoor]

Wow; the fact that an elected official says somthing like this at all is pretty disturbing. (Now I know that probably everyone who was ever elected to office probably dreams this every once in a while as a pleasant daydream; but openly voicing this idea is a different matter entirely)

http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/09/27/north-carolinas-democrat-gov-hey-lets-just-go-ahead-and-cancel-the-next-election-mkay/?print=1

North Carolina’s Democrat Gov: Hey, Let’s Just Go Ahead and Cancel the Next Election, M’Kay (Update: Hyperbole?)

Posted By Bryan Preston On September 27, 2011 @ 2:06 pm In Politics | 81 Comments

Save democracy…by killing democracy. What a novel concept.

    As a way to solve the national debt crisis, North Carolina Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue recommends suspending Congressional elections for the next couple of years.

    “I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,” Perdue said at a rotary club event in Cary, North Carolina, according to the Raleigh News and Observer. “I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.”

Not likely. I mean, Peter Orszag and most Progressives probably secretly agree to some extent, but few of them are insane enough to say it aloud. They really do think an appointed elite would do better running the country without input from us pesky voters — you see that attitude most clearly in the elites’ smears of the Tea Party. That this is coming up in North Carolina, given the recent disclosures involving unaccountable government and its abuses there, just adds a nice layer of irony on top of the whole thing.

Progressives never actually seem to progress beyond their own horrible ideas.

More: It just so happens that Perdue is up for election next year.

Update: On facebook, Gov. Perdue’s desperate staff claim she was engaging in hyperbole. And just in case we’re all too stupid to get that, they define it for us.

    Hyperbole : an exaggeration to create emphasis or effect

    by Bev Perdue on Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 1:54pm

    There has been a little hubbub today about some comments the governor made at lunch today.

    Here’s a statement from Press Secretary Chris Mackey:

    “Come on…Gov. Perdue was obviously using hyperbole to highlight what we can all agree is a serious problem: Washington politicians who focus on their own election instead of what’s best for the people they serve.”

One, thanks for condescending (y’all might want to look that word up). Two, musing about canceling elections when you’re up for one next year isn’t funny. Three, it really isn’t funny. Now, go lose next year.

Update: More here. The local press seems to be spinning for Perdue, saying that the line was a “joke” in their headline, and prefacing the post with an attempt to play it off as no big deal. Even though she was talking about Congressional elections, the fact that she floated this at all is disturbing. Now we’ll get to see the mainstream press do their best to make little to nothing out of it, and end up mocking anyone who takes Perdue’s “joke” seriously.

(h/t Ace)

Article printed from The PJ Tatler: http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler

URL to article: http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/09/27/north-carolinas-democrat-gov-hey-lets-just-go-ahead-and-cancel-the-next-election-mkay/

And the audio sure doen't sound like a joke:

http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/28/new-audio-nc-governor-struck-serious-tone-on-suspending-congressional-elections/

New audio: NC governor struck serious tone on suspending congressional elections
Published: 11:26 AM 09/28/2011 | Updated: 1:42 PM 09/28/2011

By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller
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Matthew Boyle is a reporter at The Daily Caller. He studied journalism at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, where he worked as an editor at the school's newspaper, The Gargoyle.

If it was a joke, North Carolina Democratic Governor Bev Perdue needs to polish her delivery.

Newly released audio contradicts the claims of Perdue’s press team that her call Tuesday for suspending Congressional elections was a joke or hyperbole. In the recording, her tone is matter-of-fact and her comments are part of a serious speech.

“Listen to the Governor’s words: She wasn’t joking at all,” North Carolina GOP spokesman Rob Lockwood told The Daily Caller. “The congressional Democrats are wildly unpopular in North Carolina, so she may have been trying to invent a solution to save their jobs from public accountability.”

“If it was a joke, what was the set-up?,” Lockwood adds. “What was the punch-line? Where was the pause for laughter? It took them three hours to say it was a ‘joke,’ but when that flopped it became ‘hyperbole.’ We’ll just call it an unconstitutionally bad idea.”

LISTEN: (actual audio clip on link; judge for yourself)
http://thedc.com/oZcahI#ooid=IwOGF1MjrieXHTJDfRhGHU7qyK86OEJ6

Perdue faced almost instant national criticism on Tuesday after she recommended suspending elections until the economy recovers.

“I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,” Perdue said at a rotary club event in Cary, N.C., according to the Raleigh News & Observer. “I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.”

Shortly after the controversial comments made national headlines, Perdue’s press team began claiming it was a joke. Until the audio of her comments was released, though, there was no way to know if she was serious.

Perdue spokeswoman Chris Mackey, who originally told TheDC that it was a joke and “hyperbole,” told TheDC the Governor and her press team are sticking to their statement, even after this new audio came out.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/28/new-audio-nc-governor-struck-serious-tone-on-suspending-congressional-elections/#ixzz1ZILLl3uA

 

[a_majoor]

If I had to guess, I'd say Governor Palin is playing the long game, and looking at the 2020 election:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/pitch-perfect_palin.html

Pitch-Perfect Palin
By C. Edmund Wright

Last night, Sarah Palin's statement -- and her breaking news interview with Mark Levin -- stressed some extremely important ideas.  As such, her not running might well be among the least important topics she touched on.  Yes, I know that's the news that everybody was waiting for -- but what interested me most was what Palin said about her vision for America and how she said it.  It was crafted very intentionally --and it was simply pitch-perfect.

Palin spoke of ideas and priorities.  These were above and beyond what particular position she -- or anyone else -- might play in our arena of ideas.  That she's still very much in the arena -- and planning on making a difference -- is obvious.

In her written statement -- and her immediate follow-up interview with Levin -- she made it clear what was important.  Saving the country is all that matters, and the first step required for that task is to totally reverse our current course.  Of course, that includes removal of the current occupant in the White House.  Consider Palin's first action step:

    We need to continue to actively and aggressively help those who will stop the "fundamental transformation" of our nation and instead seek the restoration of our greatness, our goodness and our constitutional republic based on the rule of law.

Her message is transparent.  Obviously, fundamental transformation refers to an idea of Barack Obama, and stopping this idea requires defeating Obama.  If we don't accomplish this, nothing else matters.  Stopping this fundamental transformation is more important than Palin's running...and more important than any particular person...and more important than any particular issue.  Plugging the hole in the Titanic means changing presidents, and if this is not accomplished, anything and everything else is merely rearranging the deck chairs.

Thus -- with apologies to the many on the internet message boards who have been assuring us that she had a master plan to swoop in with a whole new movement -- Palin very directly asserted to Levin that a third-party run (by her or anyone else) would merely guarantee the reelection of Barack Obama.  This is a fate that must be avoided at all costs.  And by all costs, Palin means all costs.

On this count, Palin's choosing Levin's show for her initial interview post-announcement could not have been an accident.  Levin is a classic Reagan conservative, and as such, he is an instinctively pro-Palin figure.  Moreover, he is an "anybody but Obama" advocate, and while he will likely criticize certain Republicans (like he did McCain in '08) during the primary process, he will be violently opposed to any third-party or independent movement even if he's not thrilled with the GOP choice.  Palin made it clear she is of the same mind on that issue.  Read her lips: no third party.

As a note, this message was missed by some in the pundit class -- including A.B. Stoddard on last night's Fox All Star Panel.  Stoddard confidently snarked that the use of the term "GOP nomination" in Palin's statement about not running was a clear signal that she intends to go independent.  Sorry to disappoint, A.B.  You should have listened to the tape.

What else struck me was Palin's next order of business: energy as the key to our free-market economy.  And by struck, I mean profoundly pleased.  I totally agree with Palin's emphasis:

    I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets, including in the race for President where our candidates must embrace immediate action toward energy independence through domestic resource developments of conventional energy sources, along with renewables.

What the former governor of an energy rich-state knows is that without more reliable and less expensive energy, our free market economy cannot reach its potential.  It just cannot happen.  She also knows that we cannot have a nominee this time around as naïve on domestic energy as was John McCain.  The energy emphasis was a profound statement and a perfect segue to the more traditionally obvious Tea Party issues -- which are, of course, still near to Palin's heart:

    We must reduce tax burdens and onerous regulations that kill American industry, and our candidates must always push to minimize government to strengthen the economy and allow the private sector to create jobs. Those will be our priorities so Americans can be confident that a smaller, smarter government that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people can better serve this most exceptional nation.

Obviously, many of the tax burdens and onerous regulations that are killing our economy are part of Obamacare -- not to mention the NLRB's attack on Boeing and the EPA's attack on just about everybody.  These bureaucracies are just part and parcel of a government ever-growing in its size, scope, cost, and intrusion into our lives -- and threatening to bankrupt us for generations as well.

This message is not merely an "it's the economy, stupid" message, but instead a message that demonstrates what is important about the secular role of government -- even to devout Christians who bathe their political decisions in prayer.  And what is important is that said government stays limited and allows for maximum liberty.  The fundamental transformation Palin opposes maximizes government and minimizes liberty.

If that fundamental transformation is not stopped, America will cease to exist as the Founders envisioned it and as we have known it.  That America, more than anything else, is an idea -- a huge idea.  It's bigger than any issue.  It's bigger than any person.  And Sarah Palin, unlike many who denigrate her, has a mind great enough to understand that.  We all need to.  Pitch-perfect, indeed.

The author has written about Sarah Palin since before she was picked as VP nominee in 2008.

 

[GAP]

She didn't have a snowball's chance this time around, and it's not likely for 2016, by 2020 she'll be a has been. She's fluff, noisy fluff, but still just fluff....

 

[cupper]

4 years is a long time for Palin to be flapping her gums.

Better to stay silent and be thought an idiot than to open your mouth and prove they were right.

 

[cupper]

Are they trying to prevent Democrats from voting, or are they preventing anyone who shouldn't be voting from voting? A lot of those rule changes include showing government ID or proof of citizenship, what's wrong with that?

This is what happens when you have overly onerous laws administered by narrow minded bureaucrats.

http://timesfreepress.com/news/2011/oct/05/marriage-certificate-required-bureaucrat-tells/

The retired domestic worker was born in a small North Georgia town before women had the right to vote. She began casting ballots in her 20s after moving to Chattanooga for work. She missed voting for John F. Kennedy in 1960 because a move to Nashville prevented her from registering in time.

So when she learned last month at a community meeting that under a new state law she'd need a photo ID to vote next year, she talked with a volunteer about how to get to a state Driver Service Center to get her free ID. But when she got there Monday with an envelope full of documents, a clerk denied her request.

That morning, Cooper slipped a rent receipt, a copy of her lease, her voter registration card and her birth certificate into a Manila envelope. Typewritten on the birth certificate was her maiden name, Dorothy Alexander.

"But I didn't have my marriage certificate," Cooper said Tuesday afternoon, and that was the reason the clerk said she was denied a free voter ID at the Cherokee Boulevard Driver Service Center.

:facepalm:

 

[a_majoor]

Governor Palin certainly delivered the House for the TEA Party movement in 2010, if she can do the same for the House and Senate  in 2012 we may see the new administration rewarding her with a high level appointment (reward + keep your potential rivals closer....)

This timeline is where the 2020 timeframe comes in, Governor Palin may have disagreements with the administration but will be working in the background to build her political machine (Herman Cain may well be doing the same thing) rather than openly challenge the administration. Governor Palin will still be a vigorous person in 2020, and the Legacy Media will keep her front and center for the next eight years without her lifting a finger; what other Presidential contender could get that kind of free publicity?

Of course a week is a long time in politics, but like I said, I think Governor Palin is playing a long game...

 

[cupper]

Governor Palin certainly delivered the House for the TEA Party movement in 2010

You're giving her waaaaay more credit than she deserves.

if she can do the same for the House and Senate  in 2012 we may see the new administration rewarding her with a high level appointment (reward + keep your potential rivals closer....)

Hmmm. Interesting move by the Obama White House in 2013. :nana:

Seriously though, I can't see her getting an appointment to any position that is of any importance that also requires senate confirmation.

As for 2016 or 2020, I don't think she has the attention span to wait that out, and the American Public will more than likely get tired of her schtick sooner rather than later.

 

[cupper]

5 Myths about Voter Fraud

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-voter-fraud/2011/10/04/gIQAkjoYTL_story.html?hpid=z3

1. We need state voter ID laws to prevent fraud.

Prosecutable cases of voter fraud are rare. For example, a 2005 statewide study in Ohio found four instances of ineligible persons voting or attempting to vote in 2002 and 2004, out of 9 million votes cast. An investigation of fraud allegations in Wisconsin in 2004 led to the prosecution of 0.0007 percent of voters. From 2002 to 2005, the Justice Department found, only five people were convicted for voting multiple times. In that same period, federal prosecutors convicted only 86 people for improper voting.

According to Barnard political scientist Lorraine Minnite, most instances of improper voting involve registration and eligibility, such as voters filling out registration forms incorrectly or a person with felony convictions attempting to register. Neither of those issues would be prevented by a state photo ID requirement. According to George Washington University law professor Spencer Overton, a former member of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, “a photo ID requirement would prevent over 1,000 legitimate votes (perhaps over 10,000 legitimate votes) for every single improper vote prevented.”

 

[a_majoor]

The "Chicago machine" may react to any challenge the way opposition was dealt with in "The Untouchables"

You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That's* the *Chicago* way! And that's how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? I'm offering you a deal. Do you want this deal?

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/10/occupy-democratic-presidential-primaries

Occupy the Democratic presidential primaries!
By: Hugh Hewitt | 10/09/11 7:19 PM
Examiner Columnist

If any Democrat of standing decided to take on President Obama in the New Hampshire primary, he or she would guarantee themselves a preferred place in the 2016 field, tens of million dollars in free media exposure, an opportunity to articulate a set of goals and promises –and of course the enmity of the Chicago machine that birthed the chief executive’s political career.

If that Democrat ran in solidarity with unions across the land, blasting at the president for not going to Wisconsin and Ohio enough to stop governors Scott Walker and John Kasich, and added a specific timetable by which all American troops would be gone not just from Iraq but also Afghanistan, and if this candidate condemned and pledged to end the drone strikes and not just against American citizens but also everyone not at least indicted by U.S. courts, he or she would rally the nutroots to their flag, and union bosses would have to at least be respectful of a candidate who spoke of the need to rally to labor in the rapidly emerging era of rollback.

If that Democrat spoke to the “Occupy [Fill In The Blank]” ranks, urging them off their particular street corner and to the streets of Manchester, Nashua, and Concord, he or she could both tap into that eccentric energy, while telling mainstream center-left Americans that he or she was running to refocus everyone’s energy.

Team Obama would cajole, scream and threaten, but after passing their own version of seven stages of political grief, entreaties would be made and deals struck.

If New Hampshire produced anything like the surprise of 1968 when the obscure Sen. Eugene McCarthy took 42% of the New Hampshire Democratic votes, while President Lyndon Johnson received only 49%, Vice President Joe Biden would begin to worry at an even greater level that his time in the old Naval Observatory is limited.

Speculation and wishful thinking has focused on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but that would be a run to the president’s right, and doomed in the Democratic primaries, as almost certainly any run to his left would be.  But an “Occupy the Primary” campaign, that would be fun.

The Democratic bench in the Senate and among sitting governors is pitifully weak and, for the most part, too old to be thinking 2016 thoughts. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the heir presumptive, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-MN, or Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer as the supporting cast in the primaries and as Veep.  No elected will rock the 2012 boat on behalf of the working class.

Which leaves the private sector, which means Hollywood or the Silicon Valley, where the idle super-wealthy often tilt at windmills and run the world in their minds from poolside.

Go and see the new film The Ides of March if you want to hear a pitch perfect delivery of West Coast leftism, delivered superbly by George Clooney playing a Pennsylvania Governor running for president.

There are plenty of lefties with money and ambition in the film business, and a star turn in the towns and villages of New Hampshire might appeal to one of them, with no downside to the career if they get the script right.  The Matt Damons talk a very good game, but none have asked their protesting brothers to rally to a flag --yet.

Is there a central casting candidate from among Silicon Valley’s billionaires willing to saddle up?  Mr. “Please Raise My Taxes” concisely stated the politics of the left side of the tech elite, but does anyone among them have the guts and the ambition to take on a sitting president in defense of the working class and poor for whom the taxes would be raised? The filing deadline looms.

There’s a lot of room on the president’s left, but for want of a horse….

Talk Radio host Hugh Hewitt is an Examiner columnist.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/10/occupy-democratic-presidential-primaries#ixzz1aO9V4BZw

 

[Edward Campbell]

I have commented before, in e.g. the Ontario Election thread, that both Canadian and US politics are infected with candidates who are selected by the party faithful, who tend towards the political/policy extremes while the voters are, broadly, centrist and, as a consequence, find themselves with increasingly unappetizing choices.

Here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Globe and Mail, is more on that subject:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/konrad-yakabuski/occupy-wall-street-v-tea-party-the-further-polarization-of-us-voters/article2196912/

Occupy Wall Street v. Tea Party: the further polarization of U.S. voters

KONRAD YAKABUSKI | Columnist profile | E-mail
WASHINGTON— From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Oct. 10, 2011

Oh, oh. This could get ugly.

Or make that, uglier.

The Occupy Wall Street movement that is mushrooming across the United States (with Canadian copycats) threatens to further turn the 2012 election cycle into a shouting match between the extremes of U.S. politics.

In the early days of the three-week-old movement, Democratic leaders had been cautious about expressing solidarity with the protesters. But they now seem increasingly willing to embrace them and their inchoate cause.

The risk for Democrats in doing so is analogous to the peril Republican leaders faced in embracing the Tea Party movement. While the anger and energy that drive the Occupy Wall Street crowd could help mobilize the Democratic base for 2012, it could alienate mainstream voters.

While Americans may be angry at their banks, it is unlikely most of them would support the OWS movement’s unclear, but clearly radical, prescription for change.

“We don’t want higher standards of living. We want better standards of living,” one speaker at a New York protest said, according to a posting on occupywallstreet.org. “The only sense in which we are communists is that we care for the commons. The commons of nature. The commons of what is privatized by intellectual property. The commons of biogenetics. For this and only for this we should fight.”

Whatever that means, leading Democrats now seem to agree.

On Monday, the executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent an e-mail to supporters, blasting Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor for referring to the protesters as “mobs.”

“Mobs?” Robby Mook wrote. “That must be what Republicans refer to as the middle class, or maybe the millions of unemployed Americans across the country.”

He then invited Democrats to sign a petition that read: “Protestors are assembling in New York and around the country to let billionaires, big oil and big bankers know that we’re not going to let the richest 1 per cent force draconian economic policies and massive cuts to crucial programs on Main Street … help us reach 100,000 strong standing with Occupy Wall Street.”

President Barack Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have also weighed in, expressing common cause with some of the protesters’ gripes, while keeping their distance from them.

“The American people understand that not everybody has been following the rules; that Wall Street is an example of that … A lot of folks who are doing the right thing aren’t rewarded, and a lot of folks who aren’t doing the right thing are rewarded,” Mr. Obama said last week. “That’s going to express itself politically in 2012 and beyond until people feel like once again we’re getting back to some old-fashioned American values.”

Republicans, however, have been just as dismissive of the Occupy Wall Street movement as Democrats seemed to have been when Tea Party protests started multiplying in 2009. Candidates for the GOP presidential nomination have been particularly effusive in rejecting the demonstrators.

Georgia businessman Herman Cain, who has emerged as the newest Tea Party favourite in the GOP race, charged on Sunday that the protesters are “anti-American.”

“To protest Wall Street and the bankers is saying that you’re anti-capitalism,” Mr. Cain said.

“Part of it is jealousy,” added Mr. Cain, who is black. “My parents, they never played the victim card. My parents never said, ‘We hope that the rich people lose something so we can get something.’ No, my dad’s idea was, ‘I want to work hard enough so I can buy a Cadillac – not take somebody else’s.’

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, whose nomination bid is lagging, also chimed in with harsh words for the protesters and Mr. Obama – indeed, lumping the two together.

“The sad thing is, this is a natural product of Obama’s class warfare,” Mr. Gingrich said, in reference to the President’s tough new populist stand. “We have had a strain of hostility to free enterprise and, frankly, a strain of hostility to classic America starting in our academic institutions … I regard the Wall Street protesters as a natural outcome of a bad education system teaching them really dumb ideas.”

The Republican contenders are likely to take up this theme when they meet for their next debate on Tuesday night in New Hampshire. Democrats are just as likely to continue their push in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement as Mr. Obama’s jobs bill comes up in the Senate this week.

More and more, it looks like the centre will be an orphan in 2012.

The centre, I would argue, was an "orphan" in Ontario earlier this month; the centre didn't support McGuinty's Liberals, it just liked the PCs and NDP less, in part, in the PC case, because the leader and, therefore, the party were perceived (thanks, in some measure, to effective Liberal campaigning) as being extreme; that may have been a lie but it was an effective one.

In the US, if the Democrats embrace the OWS movement in the same way that the GOP embraced the Tea Party movement, there will be a HUGE hole in the centre - one that would be ripe for the picking by a traditional Republican espousing small town socio-economic and secular values.

But, one cautionary note: I want to look again at a fairly typical middle class suburban neighbourhood - last year I saw a few Tea Party signs around Christmas; by Easter the few was over a dozen; I will be interested in seeing how many there are today. (Until recently lawn signs typically told passers by that you attended e.g. Texas A&M or that your child play basketball or football for the local high school, is in the band or is an honour society member. Few homes put up political signs - until the Tea Party arrived.)

 

[a_majoor]

The current occupant's state of mind?

http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2011/10/10/the-boulevard-of-broken-dreams/?print=1

The Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Posted By Richard Fernandez On October 10, 2011 @ 11:21 am In Uncategorized | 164 Comments

It began two days ago with a five page article by Scott Wilson in the Washington Post [1]:”Obama, the loner president.” The article depicted the president as coldly intellectual, uninterested in the everyday lives of human beings except on an abstract plane.  Wilson wrote,

    [T]his president endures with little joy the small talk and back-slapping of retail politics, rarely spends more than a few minutes on a rope line, refuses to coddle even his biggest donors. His relationship with Democrats on Capitol Hill is frosty, to be generous. Personal lobbying on behalf of legislation? He prefers to leave that to Vice President Biden, an old-school political charmer.

The only friends he had were an “inner circle” about which there is more later.

Ted Mann at the Atlantic Wire [2]  added to the drumbeat. He argued that Obama did not even seem to be a “black president,”  he was a cipher even to Maxine Waters. Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post [3] suggested that Obama wasn’t even a Democratic Party man, saying even members of his own party have never felt so unwelcome at the White House:

    And, this morning the New York Times’ John Harwood wrote that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) views White House chief of staff Bill Daley as “ham handed” and that leading Democrats believe that “Team Obama’s zeal for secrets creates more problems than it solves.” Message. Sent.

    One veteran Democratic campaign operative put it more bluntly when asked to assess Obama’s approach: “He just hates politics and politicians.”

    At the heart of that ill will is a belief that Obama has been a fair-weather friend to congressional Democrats (and most of the party’s elected officials), using them when necessary (like now) and ignoring them the rest of the time.

Secrecy. Isolation. Distance.

If politics is a rogue’s game, success in it also requires a rogue’s charm, which principally consists of the usual low-life glad-handing but most of all a sure touch in the division of the spoils.  A gang chieftain must always remember that he lives by the gang.

But as Michael Goodwin in the New York Post writes [4], it looks like the president “walks alone.” The “gang” is out there to be summoned and used, then dismissed. He inhabits an inner circle consisting of Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod; the wrong inner circle perhaps, since members of his inner cabinet — including the secretaries of state and the treasury — complain of exclusion.

    The gist is this: President Obama has become a lone wolf, a stranger to his own government. He talks mostly, and sometimes only, to friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett and to David Axelrod, his political strategist.

    Everybody else, including members of his Cabinet, have little face time with him except for brief meetings that serve as photo ops. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner both have complained, according to people who have talked to them, that they are shut out of important decisions.

    The president’s workdays are said to end early, often at 4 p.m. He usually has dinner in the family residence with his wife and daughters, then retreats to a private office. One person said he takes a stack of briefing books. Others aren’t sure what he does.

Jonah Goldberg [5] says some who’ve looked up at the lighted window in the high tower believe that it must be that the great wizard is thinking. He is studying the stars to divine a profound wisdom;  he is polishing his “policy skills,” a talent suggested by Wilson in his original piece. “In the first two years, the phrase I heard often in the White House was ‘Good policy makes for good politics.’”  But Goldberg asks: if Obama is a policy wizard then where is the wizardy?

    Heck, if he’s spent so much time focusing on getting the policies right, why are things so bad? Why are they so much worse than he predicted? Why did it take him so long figuring out reality was sharply veering from his assumptions?

    Here’s a thought: Maybe Obama is just a big fan of public policy the way I’m a big fan of movies? I can talk about movies all day long. I can discuss camera work, acting, story, directing etc. with some fluency. I can even talk about how movies are financed and the role of foreign markets. But you know what? I don’t have a frickn’ clue how to make a Hollywood movie (and I’ve actually made some documentaries).

    Maybe he’s not a public policy Scorsese. Maybe he’s, at best, the Roger Ebert of policymaking – or more likely, just a policy buff.

Which is another way of saying he’s sawed the lady in half and her corpse has been carted away. He tried to pull a rabbit out of the hat and came up with a handful of lint. He’s tried to escape from straitjackets in chains and is still trying, long after the audience went home.  Like Goldberg says, “where is the magic?”

But if there is no wizardry, what’s he doing then? Maybe the president is retreating into light reading or watching entertainment the better to forget. That would be human and natural. The worst interpretation of Obama’s behavior is that he’s now in a mental bunker, still planning his victories, still convinced of his destiny, in an atmosphere masterfully portrayed in the movie Downfall [6]. In that movie, a terminally defeated Hitler maneuvers imaginary armies against the advancing Red Army tide and no one has the nerve to tell him that the units on the map no longer exist.

And the Red Ink tide is advancing. The New York Times — that dependable cheerleader of liberal policies — has admitted the possibility that the economic equivalent of General Steiner can no longer attack to relieve the occupants of the bunker. Jeffrey Somer [7] writes that bad as things are they may get worse:

    at least one organization with an exceptionally good track record says another recession may already be here. That is the Economic Cycle Research Institute, a private forecasting firm based in Manhattan. It was founded by Geoffrey H. Moore, an economist who helped originate the practice of using leading indicators to predict business cycles. Mr. Moore died in 2000, but the team he trained is still at work.

    Relying on a series of proprietary indexes, the institute correctly predicted the beginning and the end of the last recession. Over the last 15 years, it has gotten all of its recession calls right, while issuing no false alarms.

    That’s why it’s worth paying attention to its current forecast. It’s chilling: as bad as the economy has been, it’s about to get worse. … It’s just a forecast. But if it’s borne out, the timing will be brutal, and not just for portfolio managers and incumbent politicians.

That means if anything that the stimulus didn’t work. That Green Jobs didn’t work. That ObamaCare didn’t work. And that probably the jobs program won’t work.

People facing adversity can be in one of two broad states. Those in the first case retain confidence in their basic ability to surmount problems because they’ve made a dent against them in the past. They’re in the game, even though the issue remains in the balance.

But those in the second case are in a completely different situation. They realize they should never have been in the ring in the first place.  They’ve lost confidence in being able to solve the problem because everything they’ve tried — in which they had supreme confidence — has backfired. And like a boxer who realizes that all of his moves are revealed by comparison to be clumsy and ineffective against an opponent who is hitting him at will, what succeeds wild optimism is simply forlorn hope: hope that he can last out the bout, the round, or just the next flurry.

Maybe that’s all the president has left. The hope he can edge over the finish line in 2012. He’s done the bus tour; done the joint session of Congress speech. Now he’s down to sending his Occupy demonstrators into Wall Street. If that doesn’t work, what does he do next week when the polls fall further, when the clamor to investigate Solyndra and “Fast and Furious” grow louder? What does he do when unemployment soars?

The wizard retires to his tower early each night and the lights stay on. But what can he conjure next? What power can he invoke? If he walks alone with only Jarrett and Axelrod to whisper in his ear, what could go wrong?

Storming the Castle at Amazon Kindle for $3.99 [8]

No Way In at Amazon Kindle $3.99, print $9.99 [9]

Tip Jar or Subscribe for $5 [10]

Article printed from Belmont Club: http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez

URL to article: http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2011/10/10/the-boulevard-of-broken-dreams/

URLs in this post:

[1] Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obama-the-loner-president/2011/10/03/gIQAHFcSTL_story.html

[2] Atlantic Wire: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/10/obama-stands-alone/43493/

[3] Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/obama-the-loner/2011/10/10/gIQAF2u8ZL_blog.html

[4] New York Post writes: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/aimless_obama_walks_alone_OUgoMTkORRJioLl7B6ZYmN

[5] Jonah Goldberg: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/279595/wheres-evidence-obamas-policy-genius-jonah-goldberg

[6] Downfall: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall_%28film%29

[7] Jeffrey Somer: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/your-money/a-recession-forecast-that-has-been-reliable-before.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

[8] Storming the Castle at Amazon Kindle for $3.99: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005MH19XI/wwwfallbackbe-20

[9] No Way In at Amazon Kindle $3.99, print $9.99: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1453892818/wwwfallbackbe-20

[10] Tip Jar or Subscribe for $5: http://wretchard.com/tipjar.html

 

[cupper]

Cross linking form another related post.

http://Forums.Army.ca/forums/threads/82999/post-1082776.html#msg1082776

 

[a_majoor]

Governor Palin's role in the 2012 electoral cycle:

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/palintracker-not-running-but-still-kingmaking/?print=1

PalinTracker: Not Running, but Still Kingmaking
Posted By Barbara Curtis On October 15, 2011 @ 12:00 am In Uncategorized | 21 Comments

With Sarah having emphatically removed her hat from the ring, is there any point in PalinTracking? I’ve concluded, at least for now: You betcha!

As she made clear in her statement to Mark Levin on his nightly radio show on October 5 [1], after much soul-searching Palin is convinced she can be more effective on the sidelines than as a presidential candidate. Given her history — chafing under John McCain’s handlers in 2008 and resigning her Alaska governorship to spare her state the debacle of malicious lawsuits — Sarah knows the toll candidacy exacts on an individual’s independence, spontaneity, and authenticity. It’s no surprise she would not surrender them, especially given the fact that she has proven to be an unprecedented outside force for change simply by doing things her way. Since no one has ever been able to predict what Sarah will do next, I’d caution naysayers with a paraphrase of Abraham Lincoln: better to remain silent on the subject of Palin’s political demise and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt once she delivers the goods.

The goods will come in the form of her shaping the discussion. She has already captured the grudging admiration of the New York Times (see below) and ultimately may become the Republican kingmaker (so to speak) by delivering the votes of faithful conservatives who trust Palin’s discernment and lack of compromise.

So with a quick dash through some noteworthy Will She? Won’t She? pieces leading up to Sarah’s announcement, I’ll begin where we left off PalinTracking in September, then move on to reaction and questions about what lies ahead.

September 3

Palin still undecided on White House run [2]

DES MOINES — Alaska Republican Sarah Palin is still pondering whether to seek the White House, she said in a brief interview this afternoon. …

In her speech, Palin said the challenge is not simply to replace President Barack Obama in 2012, “it’s who and what we will replace him with.”

September 5

Sarah Palin warns against Tea Party infighting [3]

Palin: The tea party whisperer

Palin Praises Influence of the Tea Party [4]

Palin, not even in the race, draws double the size crowd as Romney [5]

September 6

Because she can:

Sarah Palin Runs Iowa Half-Marathon Unannounced Over Labor Day Weekend [6]

September 7

The New Civility?

Liberal Video Game Offers Chance to Slay Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich in Tea Party Zombies [7]

The New York Times finally sees something in Sarah?

Some of Sarah Palin’s Ideas Cross the Political Divide [8]

Palin: Obama “plays us all for fools” with jobs plan [9]

September 12

Sarah Palin Tells Greta Van Susteren Why She Thinks Obama’s Jobs Plan Won’t Get America Back to Work [10]

September 13

Palin: Tea Party Was Big Winner of Debate [11]

September 14

Wyclef Jean Talks Sarah Palin [12]

“I have to tell you this: I am a huge fan of Sarah Palin,” the former Fugee said. “Cause she’s rad. She’s shrewd. She’s cool. Because at the end of the day, I’m for the people, because this is the United States of America … this is what America’s really about. Anyone should have the right to say, ‘Look I can do the job and this is what qualifies me to do the job.’… Now my wife probably will debate and disagree with me.”

Seeming to sense a little bit of disbelief, he qualified his statement.

“I’m not saying she could be the next president, you know, but there’s something about her. Heavy debates in my house. Whenever I say Sarah Palin, people think I’m crazy, but I like her, I do. I can like whoever. This is America, right?”

September 19

The Daily Beast: How Palin Haters Help Palin [13]

Palin’s smarter than people think, says — Ralph Nader [14]

September 20

Shock poll: Palin trails Obama by 5 points in new national poll [15]

September 27

Sarah Palin calls “Herm Cain” the “flavor of the week” [16]

Not sure how Politico framed this as a mockery, when Palin summed up human fickleness while praising Cain’s authenticity:

Take Herman Cain. He’s doing so well right now. I guess you could say, with all due respect, he’s the flavor of the week. Herman Cain is the one up there who doesn’t look like he’s part of that permanent political class. He came from a working class family. He’s had to make it on his own all these years. We respect that. He has an automatic connection with the electorate. We can all relate to him. He knows the issues and problems we face every day and he’s determined to do something about it.

He’s not elite. He doesn’t seem to allow us to be disenchanted with what it is that he’s proposing, because what he proposes in terms of solutions for our economy are based on time tested truths and common sense and true economic principles that will work.

Herman Cain is a good example of a connection with the voters and why his message — good messenger — he’s resonating with the people.

Greta van Susteren interview of Sarah Palin — video and transcript: GOP Infighting Playing Into “Liberal Handbook,” Problem Is Obama’s “Socialist-Leaning Failed Policies” [17]

September 28

Palin: Is the title of President worth it? [18]

September 29

Palin to Obama: Stop “poking our allies in the eye” [19]

Palin: Now he’s blaming Europe [20]

October 3

Todd Palin: A Modern Day Gary Cooper and a Man’s Man [21]

October 4

Palin pens forward to Gov. Brewer’s book [22]

The Atlantic: Why Palin-Style Populism Is Doomed to Fail [23] — yeah, like The Atlantic understands populism in the first place . . .

October 5

Christie says “Not My Time” — All Eyes Now on Palin [24]

Shortly after 6:00 pm EST, with no advance warning (I just happened to be listening while cleaning up after dinner), Sarah Palin called into the Mark Levin show to announce that she would not run [25] as GOP candidate for the 2012 elections.

October 6

The Washington Post prints Palin’s formal statement [26].

Showing more graciousness than misogynist liberals [27], GOP pundits, and RINOs [28]:

Bachmann says Palin will continue to play important role [29]

SC Governor Haley Reacts To Palin’s Decision NOT To Run For President In 2012 [30]

Then there are those who know which side their bread is buttered on:

Newt Gingrich to Sarah Palin: Please call me [31]

Newt Gingrich hasn’t spoken to Sarah Palin since she announced that she wouldn’t be running for president, but said Thursday he’d sure like to get her endorsement.

The former speaker of the House told Fox News that he has been trying to set up a call with the former Alaska governor to discuss “developing Alaska” but that the two have yet to connect.
And Gingrich doesn’t think that an endorsement is coming any time soon. “My hunch is that she’s going to wait a while and not endorse anybody for a while,” he said.

Asked whether he would want Palin’s backing, Gingrich answered, “Oh sure, I think any candidate would like to have her endorsement.

Washington Times: Sarah Palin: not retreating, just reloading [32]

October 7

CNN: How much would an endorsement from Palin matter? [33]

Rick Santorum Reaches Out for Sarah Palin Endorsement [34]

October 8

Palin blasts Obama in visit to St. Charles [35]

The former Alaska governor spoke on a wide range of topics, ripping President Barack Obama’s economic policies and faulting the “permanent political class in Washington, D.C.” in both major parties for overspending and increasing the nation’s debt. She also decried “crony capitalism.”

She complained that Obama and others had supported bailouts for Wall Street and big business and favored political contributors with economic stimulus funds. She said the middle class was paying the bill.

“It’s government picking winners and losers,” she said.

She also said: “The only solution is sudden and relentless reform.”

At Liberty University, Governor Palin Calls for Restoration of America [36]

October 9

This kinda says it all, posted at Legal Insurrection:

From Crawdad Hole written by frequent commenter myiq2xu:

I guess the people like Andy Sullivan and his ilk are gonna be unhappy, because Sarah apparently has no intention of going away. I have to wonder what would have happened if they had just left her alone when she first went back to Alaska after the 2008 elections

I think there’s a lot of truth there. Palin frequently is depicted as someone who sought out the spotlight and was a publicity hound, but the reality is that circumstances found her, not the other way around.

What if Palin had been allowed to function as Governor without the relentless attacks from the likes of Andrew Sullivan, various anti-Palin bloggers, the media, establishment Republicans, and frequent-filers of frivolous ethics complaints?

Attacking Palin became an industry, and when she fought back she was blamed. The derangement started the day she was designated by John McCain as the VP nominee, and it continues to this day from small people like David Frum.

Palin didn’t bring it on herself, but having found herself in the cross-hairs, she fought back. Good on her.

And a rather grim prognosis:

Palin’s Withdrawal Means Obama Wins [37]

Looking forward to your comments. Please send any tips, links, and Sarah sightings to mypalin@gmail.com.

Article printed from Pajamas Media: http://pajamasmedia.com

URL to article: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/palintracker-not-running-but-still-kingmaking/

URLs in this post:

[1] October 5: http://marklevinshow.com/Article.asp?id=2303165&spid=32364
[2] Palin still undecided on White House run: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-09-03/Palin-tells-Iowans-shes-happy-with-GOP-slate/50251518/1
[3] Sarah Palin warns against Tea Party infighting : http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/09/sarah-palin-new-hampshire-tea-party-urges-unity/1
[4] Palin Praises Influence of the Tea Party: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/palin-praises-influence-of-the-tea-party/
[5] Palin, not even in the race, draws double the size crowd as Romney: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20101756-503544.html
[6] Sarah Palin Runs Iowa Half-Marathon Unannounced Over Labor Day Weekend : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/06/sarah-palin-half-marathon_n_950232.html
[7] Liberal Video Game Offers Chance to Slay Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich in Tea Party Zombies: http://kotaku.com/5837928/slay-undead-glenn-beck-sarah-palin-and-newt-gingrich-in-this-zombie-game/gallery/1
[8] Some of Sarah Palin’s Ideas Cross the Political Divide: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/10/us/10iht-currents10.html?_r=1
[9] Palin: Obama “plays us all for fools” with jobs plan: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/180641-palin-obama-qplays-us-all-for-foolsq-with-job-plan
[10] Sarah Palin Tells Greta Van Susteren Why She Thinks Obama’s Jobs Plan Won’t Get America Back to Work: http://foxnewsinsider.com/2011/09/12/sarah-palin-tells-greta-van-susteren-why-she-thinks-obamas-jobs-plan-wont-get-america-back-to-work/
[11] Palin: Tea Party Was Big Winner of Debate: http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/Palin-GOP-debate-tea/2011/09/13/id/410719
[12] Wyclef Jean Talks Sarah Palin: http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/wyclef-jean-talks-sarah-palin-5165185
[13] How Palin Haters Help Palin: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/19/how-joe-mcginniss-s-new-book-keeps-sarah-palin-relevant-and-rich.html
[14] Palin’s smarter than people think, says — Ralph Nader: http://hotair.com/archives/2011/09/19/palins-smarter-than-people-think-says-ralph-nader/
[15] Shock poll: Palin trails Obama by 5 points in new national poll : http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/shock-poll-palin-trails-obama-5-points-new-national-poll
[16] Sarah Palin calls “Herm Cain” the “flavor of the week”: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/64590.html#ixzz1aKcp5hPy
[17] GOP Infighting Playing Into “Liberal Handbook,” Problem Is Obama’s “Socialist-Leaning Failed Policies”: http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/on-the-record/2011/09/28/palin-gop-infighting-playing-liberal-handbook-problem-obamas-socialist-leaning-failed-pol#ixzz1aKeU0rfd
[18] Palin: Is the title of President worth it?: http://hotair.com/archives/2011/09/28/palin-is-the-title-of-president-worth-it/
[19] Palin to Obama: Stop “poking our allies in the eye”: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/184539-palin-to-obama-stop-poking-our-allies-in-the-eye
[20] Palin: Now he’s blaming Europe: http://weaselzippers.us/2011/09/29/sarah-palin-now-he%E2%80%99s-blaming-europe/
[21] Todd Palin: A Modern Day Gary Cooper and a Man’s Man : http://thevictorysessions.com/2011/10/03/todd-palin-on-the-victory-sessions/
[22] Palin pens forward to Gov. Brewer’s book: http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/2011/10/04/palin-pens-foreword-to-gov-brewers-book/
[23] Why Palin-Style Populism Is Doomed to Fail: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/10/why-palin-style-populism-is-doomed-to-fail/246022/
[24] Christie says “Not My Time” — All Eyes Now on Palin: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=46646
[25] to announce that she would not run: http://www.marklevinshow.com/article.asp?id=2303165
[26] Palin’s formal statement: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/palin-statement-on-decision-not-to-run-for-gop-presidential-nomination/2011/10/05/gIQAu1OeOL_story.html
[27] misogynist liberals: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jon-stewart-eviscerates-the-fall-of-palin-and-the-rise-of-cain/
[28] RINOs: https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&view=bsp&ver=ohhl4rw8mbn4
[29] Bachmann says Palin will continue to play important role: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-presidential-primary/185889-bachmann-says-palin-will-continue-to-play-important-role
[30] SC Governor Haley Reacts To Palin’s Decision NOT To Run For President In 2012: http://www2.wjbf.com/news/2011/oct/05/sc-governor-haley-reacts-palins-decision-not-run-p-ar-2513963/
[31] Newt Gingrich to Sarah Palin: Please call me: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65321.html#ixzz1aKqyDyj8
[32] Sarah Palin: not retreating, just reloading: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/conscience-conservative/2011/oct/6/sarah-palin-not-retreating-just-reloading/
[33] How much would an endorsement from Palin matter?: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/06/politics/palin-endorsement/
[34] Rick Santorum Reaches Out for Sarah Palin Endorsement: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/rick-santorum-reaches-out-for-sarah-palin-endorsement/
[35] Palin blasts Obama in visit to St. Charles: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_1036babf-3b35-5ab5-b9b4-ae3246d2b55f.html
[36] At Liberty University, Governor Palin Calls for Restoration of America: http://conservatives4palin.com/2011/10/at-liberty-university-governor-palin-calls-for-restoration-of-america.html
[37] Palin’s Withdrawal Means Obama Wins: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/palins_withdrawal_means_obama_wins.html