Paul Mirengoff: Does Jeremiah Wright have a place in this campaign?
This decision is in line with a broad consensus that a Wright-based attack on Obama wouldn’t work and might even be counter-productive. For example, Chris Cilizza of the Washington Post argued that “people like President Obama personally and it’s hard to imagine an assault on someone he has already repudiated would undermine that basic likability factor.” Meanwhile conservatives argued, reasonably enough, that by now the issue is what Obama has done in office, not what he might be expected to do based on his choice of churches. They also urged super-PACS to focus more or less exclusively on the economy, as Ricketts’ group has now decided to do.
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But the Obama-Wright connection becomes toxic if it can be tied to policy. Here, it may be possible to juxtapose Wright’s anti-Israel ravings with Obama’s hostility to Israel, which is surely a potential weakness for Obama.
We need not speculate, however, about whether there is mileage to be obtained through Rev. Wright and, if so, how best to obtain it. This is something that can be tested in focus groups. My pitch is that the issue be tested (if it has not been), rather than dismissed out of hand as old news. If Obama’s best defense is (1) I repudiated Wright when I ran for president and (2) this stuff shouldn’t be “re-litigated,” then there is no reason to back off the issue without testing it.
FP: In a previous post I showed that Obama only “repudiated” Wright publicly for purely electoral purposes, while in private he tried to bribe him to shut up because “he was telling the truth” and spoiling his campaign.
I don’t know if the Wright issue will be effective in the campaign—if I had to guess I would suspect not, for various reasons, one of which is demonstrated by Cilizza himself: the media would cling to the “repudiation” lie as if it were truth.
In fact, on the Israel/Jews angle, there likely was and still is evidence that would make Wright an effective, possibly lethal issue against Obama: the LA Times tape of the Chicago party for him by Khalidi and Said. I am willing to bet that the anti-Semitism expressed there is so explicit and ugly, that were it published it might well finish Obama off even in today’s atmosphere. Only that could have overriden the media’s scoop instinct and caused it to expose such blatant partisan bias to the public by refusing to publish.
IIt’s not beneficial for Israel to be an US electoral issue in general, certainly not when America is in decline and such crises bring anti-Semitism out of the woodwork. But that tape might have made Obama’s absurd claim that after 20 years “he did not recognize the Wright that he knew” impossible to be so gullibly swallowed by both the media and the public. That would have been the smoking gun, which is precisely why it’s not published.
NoisyRoom: The Fascist Boogie Fever (via JoshuaPundit)
History is repeating and a new horror is spreading its wings across the globe and few seem to be taking note of it. France just elected a Socialist leader (actually he’s a Communist; you say potato…) and Islamic fascism via The Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda is sweeping the Middle East.
Look at history: Hitler and Islam joined hands in a Kumbaya moment of sociopathic murderous glee to slaughter the Jews last time and you are seeing the exact same moves today.
Once again, America sits quietly by as the vilest of coalitions forms to engulf humanity while Satan laughs with delight.
Iran is doing the nuclear bump as its evil imp of a leader boldly proclaims that war is not needed to defeat Israel. No… cutting ties and dirty looks should do the trick. Okay, you can stop choking with laughter now. Ahmadinejad is the ultimate trickster – I firmly believe he wants to nuke Israel into the afterlife and you are nuts if you can’t see that. We are on his enemies list as well – right at the top of it actually, with Israel a close second.
A well placed EMP or two should take care of the US in the imp’s viewpoint and he may well be right.
FP: Crisis and decline brings extremism and extremism brings society down.
John Hinderaker: In the U.K., the Nanny-State Apocalypse Is Now
How helpless can people become, in the grip of a relentless, cradle to grave nanny state? Here in the U.S., we still have time to turn back; most Americans are still horrified by the Life of Julia as a dependent of the state. But in the United Kingdom, the Rubicon seems to have been crossed. That is my conclusion, anyway, after seeing this piece in the Telegraph: the British government will be advising its citizens on how to change diapers, breast feed babies, and engage in “baby talk.”
New parents will be given government advice on changing nappies, breastfeeding and “baby talk” under a multi-million pound initiative to support family life.
Because family life is impossible without government programs.
David Cameron said it was “ludicrous” that parents received more training in how to drive a car than in how to raise children.
Not at all. Raising children is natural, driving a car is not. Moreover, people do get advice: mothers get it from their mothers and grandmothers, and from sisters, cousins and friends who have had children before them. One would think this is a whole lot better than emails from a government bureaucrat.
A £3.4million digital information service, which begins today, will provide free email alerts and text messages with NHS advice “on everything from teething to tantrums”, Mr Cameron said.
This is the same National Health Service that is storing patients on gurneys rather than in rooms because it is out of money.
Separate pilot schemes will offer couples with young children free parenting classes and subsidised relationship counselling to help cope with “tiredness” and “mess”.
Yes, young parents can get tired. And their homes might be messy. Does Britain’s Conservative Party (!) really have some especially sage advice on how to cope with what most of us would call “life?”
As part of a series of “family friendly” initiatives unveiled this week, the Prime Minister yesterday gave his strongest signal yet that tax breaks may be offered to families who hire nannies or childminders.
Speaking at a business event in Manchester, he said he was “hugely attracted to the idea of making child care tax allowable”.
FP: Please don’t tell me that the West is not collapsing. EU is bankrupt and riddled with Islamization, extremism (see previous) and mindless street violence, the NHS fails at most basic health functions, letting people die and this is what the UK government preoccupies itself with??? A conservative government, at that?
Bill Katz: INCREDIBLE
When he came to office, Barack Obama immediately announced a "reset" in relations with Russia. Given his left-wing past, we should not have been surprised. But how is that absurd "reset" working out? The following, from ace national-security reporter Bill Gertz at the Washington Free Beacon, is truly jolting:
A Russian government media campaign to attack U.S. officials reached a new level this week with the airing of a highly personal attack on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on a KGB-linked television outlet.
U.S. officials said a “pseudo-documentary” on Clinton for her support of democratic revolutions was very unusual, even for the increasingly anti-U.S. policies of the Kremlin regime under newly reinstalled President Vladimir Putin.
The latest broadside came Monday on the Moscow-controlled Mir television channel, which produced a 25-minute report called “Basic Instinct Hillary.” It featured commentary by a Russian celebrity sexologist who mocked and insulted Clinton, claiming marital problems had prompted her to produce “cruel” U.S. foreign policies, including support for Russian democrats.
The report suggested that U.S.-Russia relations would improve after Clinton leaves office, as is expected in the coming months.
Hmm. I wonder if that's what Obama was referring to in a talk with former Russian President Medvedev, picked up by an unseen mike, when he said he would have more "flexibility" after the election.
The Mir report criticized Clinton for her age, called her the devil, and described her as a “political cyborg.”
The harsh attack indicates that Obama administration efforts to reset relations with Moscow through conciliatory policies have failed, observers say.
How can anyone avoid that conclusion?
“The vile personal attacks on Ambassador Michael McFaul and Hillary are now followed by Putin’s refusal to come to the G-8 summit in Camp David, opting for a China visit as his presidency’s diplomatic debut,” said Ariel Cohen, a Russia specialist with the Heritage Foundation.
“And if this wasn’t enough, Obama’s retaliatory cancellation of his participation in the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation hosted by Putin demonstrates that the ‘reset’ policy is in its deepest crisis so far,” he added.
There's the real world, and then there's Obama fantasy world, in which Russia was merely misunderstood and the Muslim Brotherhood is a civic organization. We are paying a price. It will be much worse if Obama is re-elected.
FP: It is not incredible, but predictable. I refer the reader to my posts on Nobel laureate Prof. Aumann: both game theory and common sense (the former is a formalization of the latter) indicate that if you want respect you gotta earn it by projecting strength, not signaling weakness, and that is certainly true of states.
Also:
The Pentagon is taking a budget hit, and it's not only our national defense that's at risk. Our economy will be impacted almost immediately.
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Swell. Really swell. Another million jobs. Back in 2009, when Obama could have actually done something about the economy, he was advised by sane heads to increase defense procurement to replace equipment worn out or lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. The assembly lines were ready. The equipment was needed. The increased work force was available.
But no. Obama's aversion to military spending, which he shares with the predominant wing of his party, wouldn't let him do the obvious. Instead, we spent a trillion dollars on a "stimulus" program that did no stimulating.
Now we're in danger of a further economic catastrophe. That military equipment is still needed, though. Will someone please say something? Quickly.
FP: Decline, or is it collapse?
The crime rate among illegal African immigrants around the old central bus station in Tel Aviv has reached a boiling point • Some are demanding their immediate expulsion; others believe there is a more humane solution.
Residents of south Tel Aviv have seen warm neighborhoods turn into mean streets of fear.
With outpost evacuations looming, police to set up new unit
Beit El's Ulpana neighborhood and the Migron outpost could become major flashpoints if the government enforces court-mandated evacuations this summer • Security forces plan to stage simulations of confrontations with settlers.
FP: Crime in Israel is going up out by both native and migrant perpetrators, while police must cater to settlement evacuations? Not sustainable. And here’s why:
More than 30 years ago it was decided that settlements could only be built on state-owned land. That decision was violated by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his friends, who called on settlers to reside on every hilltop.
Unlike the Arabs, who always had the same strategy and stuck to it, Israel never had any. Shouting we want peace and acting to prevent it is not a winning strategy.
'Israelis will need the same strength as in 1948,' says IDF chief
Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz says Israel is facing a more complicated situation due to growing enemy attempts to infiltrate • In 1948, "the entire country became a united front. We will need that sort of strength again in the future."
FP: Does not sound like improvement. Whatever Israel has done for peace since 1922, when the conflict really started, it has not worked, has it? But instead of changing strategy, Israel keeps doing the same thing that failed over and over again, making its situation worse.
And I doubt Israel today can become the country that it was in 1948, 1967 and 1973. And here’s one major reason why:
Although it’s been 35 years since the historic political upset that brought the Likud to power, the Ashkenazi, secular, old guard, socialist, and liberal monopoly on power is far from over.
They brought Israel Oslo and they’re still at it.
RECOMMENDED READS
Scott Johnson: Video: She’s an Indian too
John Hinderaker: The Mystery of Obama’s Birth
Bill Katz: He won’t be right back
Debbie Schlussel: National Review/American Spectator Cruise Guest of Honor, Anti-Israel, Pan-Muslim Grover Norquist
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