October 31, 2012

Uh oh.

Uh oh.  Voting machines in Ohio swapping out Romney votes for Obama votes? Diebold panic from the left in 3...2...1...0...-1....-2...-3....-4...

Uh oh.  Democrat senator sex scandal coming in 3...2...1...

Uh oh.  Bad jobs report coming in 3...2...1...

Uh oh.  Bloomberg seems to think he's King of  New York

Virginia Senate: George Allen

Kaine is not good for Virginia.

Maine Senate: Charlie Summers

Angus King sounds like he should be wearing shorts and a beanie and playing Back In Black guitar riffs. Just saying.

Pennsylvania Senate: Tom Smith

Job creator.

Ohio Senate: Josh Mandel

Sherrod Brown - bad for Ohio.

October 30, 2012

Nevada Senate: Dean Heller

Because Berkley just won't do.

America needs a Republican senate

For those Libertarians among us who think the GOP is just a lighter shade of bad than the Democrats let me re-phrase it.  American needs a far less progressive-liberal-enabling senate.  I'll be posting some modest efforts at support for various GOP senate nominees over the next few days.  Not all of them are stellar conservatives, and I don't endorse all of them with equal fervor.  But in the bigger picture, their elections are important.

Republicans need to prove themselves to be fiscally minded.  Democrats will not do it.  The GOP needs a chance to convince people that they mean what they are saying on taxes, debt, health care etc.  And America needs to take a chance on the party and given them the opportunity to show people that they mean what they are saying.  That's because America needs a lifeline right now.

The alternative is to enable more taxation, more debt, more regulation and to put a final stranglehold on the American innovative spirit.

This is important.  This is critical. 

North Dakota senate: Rick Berg

North Dakota, this is why Rick Berg is running:

More politicizing Hurricane Sandy

Elections can wait...
Yesterday I postulated that the impact of Hurricane Sandy would be used as an excuse for Obama's impending loss in the 2012 election (after the fact). I neglected to consider that liberals would try to use the storm as a time out on the election clock countdown.
WASHINGTON (AP) - One week before a close election, superstorm Sandy has confounded the presidential race, halted early voting in many areas and led some to ponder whether the election might even be postponed.

It could take days to restore electricity to more than 8 million homes and businesses that lost power when the storm pummeled the East Coast. That means it's possible power could still be out in parts of some states on Election Day next Tuesday - a major problem for precincts that rely on electronic voting machines.

But as the storm breached the coast, even some of those intimately involved in the election seemed in the dark about what options are available to cope with the storm. Asked Monday whether President Barack Obama had the power to reschedule the election, White House press secretary Jay Carney said he wasn't sure.
Not sure? The real storm is going to be a GOP tsunami on election day, and trying to postpone it for voters to 'come to their senses' and return to Obama, is an act of desperation.  A few facts - the storm has had a major impact in a relative small geographic portion of the country.  New York and New Jersey are locks for Obama already, as is most of New England.  The impact in a swing state like Ohio is not enough to justify making special considerations there.  In other words, the impact on the outcome of the election is negligible unless a lengthy delay could actually help Obama.  It's the equivalent of a do-over but before the fact.

One last consideration for liberals to ponder.  If this was 2008 and Bush were president and his press secretary Dana Perino said that she didn't know whether Bush had the power to reschedule an election you would be screaming Martial Law and bloody murder over it.

There is ZERO justification for delaying the election.  Disenfranchising voters is peanuts compared to moving the goal posts or changing the rules right before the end of the game.  That's pure manipulation.

October 29, 2012

Politicizing Sandy

There has been some discussion today about the impact of Hurricane Sandy on the election. I actually have to give president Obama credit for saying he was worried about people being impacted and that the election would sort itself out.  But pundits have talked about it impacting early voter turnout.  That's not the real issue.  The election is a week away.  Those who were going to vote early can still vote on election day even if it is an inconvenience for them. If high turnout helps Obama, and some of those people who would turn out for Obama need to vote early, then there is some sort of problem for the Obama campaign.

October 28, 2012

Obama Camp Goes Squirrelly UPDATE: More Kids


Less than ten days from the election the Obama camp has gone squirrelly over the battle for the white House, and it may bode ill for post-election litigation from a beaten Obama camp.

October 27, 2012

Hating Breitbart - The Trailer

Here's the promotional trailer for the upcoming film about the conservative crusader, who did so much for conservatism before his untimely early death this year.  The trailer is great, but there's an even better promo clip here.

October 25, 2012

Romney Blowout or Obama Squeaker (or blowout)?

With less than two weeks until the presidential election, some of my less political friends who are aware of my blog have been asking me "So who is going to win this thing?"  My educated guess is still - anything can happen, and I think there's a sound basis for saying that.

I do see some likely scenarios as the most probable ones, but let me first dissect why I think it's anyone's ball game before pontificating on who will win.

I can guarantee though, that someone will win.

October 24, 2012

Obama spin on Benghazi collapses


President Obama knew that Benghazi was a terror attack.  He wants to claim he said so right away.  But he let an unsustainable story continue to float through the news cycles in hopes that they could spin the attacks as not terror, and by doing so he is exposing himself as having played politics with the events all along.

October 23, 2012

Another SNL alumni turns on Obama

 Rob Schneider, committed liberal, will not support the president.  When you are a liberal Democrat and you start losing self proclaimed liberal Hollywood/NYC voters, you are in big, BIG trouble.  Especially when you lose them for this reason:


Dennis Miller was a trend setter, Victoria Jackson is also a conservative, and more recently Jon Lovitz unloaded on Obama (warning - language).  Now Rob Schneider (aka Deuce Bigalow). The leaks in the not-so-good ship Obama are starting to multiply. It could get really bad for the president really fast.

Chris Matthews, Intellectual Coward

Forget last night's debate.  The mainstream media is trying to spin it as a devastating Obama win and they can't get away with that any more.  People can see for themselves.  Even if they missed the entire debate, there are places online to see it in it's entirety.  The president came across as petty and mean-spirited.  He came across as having a suddenly new position on sequestration that even his own camp had to backtrack on afterwards.  In other words, the debate was at best for Obama a draw - not even a win on points.  In the big picture the debates helped Romney far more than Obama.  So forget last night's debate, let's focus a little bit on some of the untenable positions the media - in this case Chris Matthews - put themselves in, in defense of this president.

Post debate, Chris Matthews once again made the immediate leap to racism.  Why?  It's not because of the president, it's because of intellectual cowardice.


October 22, 2012

The final presidential debate

The final presidential debate goes tonight.  The topic is foreign policy.  This is supposed to be an Obama stronghold and months ago they were probably thrilled that this topic would be the closer of the debates.  But now I'm sure they are a bit worried.  The over under on Obama mentioning getting Bin Laden is about 11, because really, that's all they've got.  He may also try to spin the Arab Spring as one of his successes.  Reality however, flies in the face of his supposed strength.

The quick skinny on a number of foreign affairs.

October 21, 2012

The Obama Plan

As the Mitt Romney campaign points out, here are 5 reasons America can't afford 4 more years of Obama's 'plan'.

October 18, 2012

Newsweak

 Newsweak, or rather Newsweek, is shutting down it's print division.  Green activists should be pleased by the 13 trees they just saved.

We are announcing this morning an important development at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Newsweek will transition to an all-digital format in early 2013. As part of this transition, the last print edition in the United States will be our Dec. 31 issue.


Meanwhile, Newsweek will expand its rapidly growing tablet and online presence, as well as its successful global partnerships and events business.


Newsweek Global, as the all-digital publication will be named, will be a single, worldwide edition targeted for a highly mobile, opinion-leading audience who want to learn about world events in a sophisticated context. Newsweek Global will be supported by paid subscription and will be available through e-readers for both tablet and the Web, with select content available on The Daily Beast.

Another liberal rag bites the dust.  True, the transition from print to online is a worldwide phenomenon, and the effort makes sound business sense.  But what have made even more business sense was, and is, for the magazine to stop being a shill for the memes of the left and try to have some truly balanced opinions and coverage.  By shutting out a possible 50% (plus) of your readership by pushing your agenda ahead of your subscriptions, you are not following a sound business model.


Fairness was never a concern, opinion came to dominate everything and ultimately it cost the magazine the magazine.  Candy Crowley should take a lesson from Newsweek on putting agenda before journalism being an impartial moderator. 

October 17, 2012

Debate #2 - Moderator takes center stage

Last night's second presidential debate probably helped Obama a little bit.  Was it enough to change the Mitt Romney momentum?  Not likely enough to reverse it, but maybe enough to slow or halt Romney's ascent.  But Romney did well as well.  He didn't put the election away, but he didn't hurt himself.  It was about as close to a draw as a debate could be, especially since both participants were pretty lively.

Wait, did I say both participants?  I forgot about the Candy Crowley favoritism.  She was lively too.  Obama got far fewer interruptions than Romney and 3 more minutes of talk time.   And then there was this:


Is that what passes for a moderator?  She hopped in and offered observations on behalf of the president and then had to backtrack by mentioning Romney was fundamentally right, but chose the wrong word.

Here's the list of issues with that:

(1) Defending what Obama said is Obama's job, NOT hers.  If Obama wasn't going to do it, she should have let it stand.

(2) Her self-correction that Romney was fundamentally right was far less audible, and she did not balance it out properly.  Since she interjected herself, she should have had a proper exit strategy that included some level of clearing up the issue cleanly and clearly.

(3) She say Romney chose the wrong word.  Is this a Grade 6 grammar class? Is it her responsibility to superimpose her opinion on that point?  No.  That's not a moderator, that's a pundit.

The biggest issue in that debate was Crowley.  Obama and Romney both did passable jobs from a debate and influencing perspective.  I don't think this changes much of anything, other than hopefully some people's perception of the media's vested interests and inability in the main to be impartial and serve as moderators.

October 16, 2012

Left Coast Rebel

Though I haven't posted there in a while, I do contribute to Left Coast Rebel.  It's a great blog with a number of contributors and it runs the gamut of political discourse - from conservative to libertarian. Okay, the gamut of right thinking political discourse.

Check it out.  I'll be posting both here and there more often in the not too distant future, hopefully.

October 15, 2012

Clinton to take a bullet for Obama

Breaking:  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is saying that the buck stops with her on the Benghazi fiasco.
"I take responsibility" for what happened on September 11, Clinton said in an interview with CNN's Elise Labott soon after arriving in Lima, Peru for a visit. The interview, one of a series given to U.S. television networks Monday night, were the first she has given about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

Clinton insisted President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are not involved in security decisions, Clinton said.
Like getting Bin Laden?

October 14, 2012

Walking Dead Obama Ad

The season premier of The Walking Dead on AMC tonight is likely going to be a record setter in terms of AMC shows if not cable shows in general.  It would not seem unreasonable to run an ad during the episode. Indeed, president Obama ran an anti-Romney ad during the episode.  The ad questions whether you can trust Mitt Romney in the White House if you couldn't trust him during the presidential debate - where he cleaned Obama's clock.

The obvious irony that president Obama's chances of re-election are starting to resemble the walking dead, is not likely to be lost on a lot of viewers.  But what is most striking is that the president and his campaign seem even more desperate because of this move.  Running an ad that people are likely to not notice, despite the venue, because of the juxtaposition, doesn't radiate strength.  It comes across as a cry for attention.

It's made worse by the fact that the ad tries to peddle the fact that the only reason Mitt Romney won was because he was dishonest.  But if you recall the debate, Romney refuted Obama's claims not with one fact per claim, but often two or three.  He was prepared, e knew his stuff.  Obama claiming after the fact that Romney cheated seems quite desperate.  That's especially true in light of the fact that people know the debate they saw, and Obama lost, and the polling shows it.  

The president seems desperate, and that's certainly a sign of the walking dead.  If the president wants to turn things around, he has to win the next debate.  A well-placed ad that's weak on substance isn't going to do it.

Financial hardship and socialism

I've never really been well off. In fact, it's always been a struggle for me to stay in the middle class, though I pretty much have.  I've made a pretty good living over the last ten years, and played it safe enough not to have a crazy mortgage, when I could have gotten one.  Nevertheless, I've spent the last six years paying off credit card and financing debt, and I still have a ways to go.  As a result, I haven't had much disposable income for a long time, and I will admit it's been a hard struggle pretty much all of the way, and it will be for some time to come.


With all of that, you'd think I'd be a bit more progressive-liberal friendly.  'Somebody help me with my mortgage."  "The government should take money from somebody richer than me and give it to people like me."  But the thing is, despite the financial struggle, I'm not.

October 13, 2012

Saturday Learning Series - Healthcare Costs US vs Canada

From ReasonTV, a short primer on why US healthcare costs are higher than in Canada.  Plus,why it's a good thing.

October 12, 2012

Revisiting my pre-VP debate predictions

Just prior to the vice presidential debate I quickly threw out some high level predictions.  You can see the original predictions and some rationale behind them here.  How did I do?  Not too badly.


October 11, 2012

Biden: arrogant, smug, bit of a jerk

There are going to be many takes on the VP debate tonight.  Conservatives will agree Ryan won by remaining calm in the face of Biden's interruptions and those of the moderator as well (anyone have a count on moderator interruptions of Ryan vs. interruptions of Biden?).  Ryan stuck to his points and didn't blow it.  He came across well.  Liberals on the other hand will be excited by Biden's assertiveness.

But there's assertiveness and there's arrogant, smug jerky behavior:


Or this version if you prefer.  Biden at his smug, jerkiest:

Quick thoughts on tonight's VP debate

Just under an hour to go until Ryan versus Biden.  Here's what I expect.

Over/under on Biden gaffes: 1.  Why only one?  The Obama campaign is gun shy from getting stung by Romney on the opening debate.  You'd better believe they've coached the BFDs right out of Biden.  He knows he's not to wander off the script.  But this is Biden we are talking about here.  As much as he tries to stick to the script, under a Ryan counter-point there's a 50/50 chance he'll slip up and offer up some goofball gaffe.

Chance the mainstream media will declare a Biden victory: 45%.  They'll be looking for a reason for a Biden victory, any indication they can cling to, because they want to start the rebound meme. They're worried They can't do it if Biden reverts to form (see gaffes above). But they have an opening.  Biden doesn't need to be the conquering hero, they probably would prefer that Obama does that himself.

Chance Biden makes some outlandishly incorrect claim about Romney or Ryan: 95%.  Ryan, if prepared as much as Romney will be well equipped to refute it.

Chance Biden goes after Romney's flip-flopping: 99.9%.   

Chances the media fact checks every Ryan breath: 100%

Chances the media fact checks 10% of Biden's claims: 0.1%

Over/Under on Biden funny quips: 0.5 (about the same for Ryan)

Chance Ryan wins (excluding media spin): 99.999%

UPDATE:

Over/under on viewers - 23 million

October 10, 2012

You look childish

The Obama campaign has gone full-on Sesame Street in it's attacks on Romney.  The only people this is appealing to is the grassroots far-left.  The campaign looks like it's panicked, in disarray and frankly, childish. It's not helping.  Let's hope they keep it up.
(Reuters) - In 2008, singer will.i.am provided Barack Obama's presidential campaign with music for its signature anthem, "Yes We Can." On Tuesday, at a rally for Obama in Columbus, Ohio, the performer chose to play something new: the theme song for "Sesame Street."

For Obama's supporters, already dismayed by the president's halting performance in last week's debate with Republican Mitt Romney, that change in tune is a new source for concern as they fret that a children's TV show has become a new backdrop for their candidate's campaign.

In a moment of tightening polls and climbing anxiety for Obama's supporters, the president's decision to grant Big Bird a starring role in his campaign this week has presented another reason to reach for the Alka-Seltzer.

October 9, 2012

Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring Obamaphone

Last word on the Obamaphone:


Battle of the intellectual super powers

You heard it here first - the effort by the liberal mainstream media to pump up Mitt Romney's first debate victory is deliberate, and it's being done with the intent to aggrandize president Obama.  I know, you're reading that and thinking I'm about as bright a bulb as Joe Biden in this clip.


But hear me out. 


October 8, 2012

Mitt Romney foreign policy speech

October 8th, Mitt Romney speaking at VMI - Virginia Military Institute.

An Obama note from a friend

Photo via "Right, Wing-Nut!"
So, I'm not all about conspiracy theories but I know people who are - or at least are some particular conspiracy theories.  One of the theories that comes up a lot, still, is along the lines of president Obama's sympathies towards Muslims.  I'm not sure how anyone can really believe that the president is a Muslim. After all, he was supposedly a Christian for decades and didn't even listen to the sermons of his reverend (or so he claims).  My opinion is that the president is not a man of faith at all, but rather a man of calculation,  He uses religion as a matter of convenience - to court voter blocks.

Now, I don't know that for a fact, but I believe it to be true.  Nevertheless, the president's religious beliefs or non-beliefs are his own business.  You can't judge a person as effectively on their affiliations (to which church they belong for example) as you can on their own actions.  Obama's affiliations with Bill Ayers and Reverend Wright were troublesome in 2008 when it was all we had to go on.  But now, we have his performance in office which is a much more compelling concern.

Obama shifts strategy, again

A bunch of ill-conceived and disjointed attacks on Romney from the Obama campaign (and liberal pundits invested in his re-election effort) over the course of the year, have proven that the Obama campaign doesn't have a consistent message for voters other than "please ignore the economy, foreign policy and everything else, and focus on the fact that Romney is a bad guy. 

The messages they've put forward are incongruous: Mitt Romney - flip-flopper.  Mitt Romney - right of Attila the Hun.  Mitt Romney - not a serious contender.  Mitt Romney - flip-flopper.  Mitt Romney - right of Attila the Hun.  Yeah, let's go with that one this week.


October 7, 2012

Predictably, Hugo Chavez 'wins'

According to the Associated Press, Venezuela’s electoral council has declared that Hugo Chavez beat Henriques Capriles in Sunday’s presidential election with about 54 percent of the vote, despite exit polls showing otherwise.

Venezuela Twitter users have claimed Chavez’s victory was wrought with election fraud, and that the socialist incumbent president sent tanks into the streets of his country as those exit poll reports showed him losing. A picture of the tanks surfaced on Twitter Sunday evening.

The British Guardian newspaper reported that Chavez also sent troops armed with AK-47s into Venezuela’s streets to fight against any protests in case unrest came as a result of the news.

October 6, 2012

Go Israel!

Video via Fox News, of Israel shooting down a drone of unknown origin.  Of course just this year, Iran was said to be making a copy of a U.S. drone it had captured.

Saturday Learning Series - Law and Economics

This is the final installment of the Mises Austrian School of Economics 101, presented by Hans-Hermann Hoppe and Jörg Guido Hülsmann. Previously in part 10 of 11, they discussed welfare economics.  This time they discuss the law and economics.

Important happenings

Coming into the home stretch of the 2012 election cycle, and hopefully the Obama presidency, I've suddenly  but not unexpectedly, gotten pretty busy with a tense work situation.  Consequently I've had far less time over the past week or so to blog about some pretty important events and situations than I'd really hoped to be able to discuss.  Nevertheless it's important to point out for the less informed among the American electorate, so I'm still striving to do my part.  That's true even though readers here are typically very well informed and the uninformed voters don't know this blog exists among the 150 million other blogs on the planet, a third of which I'm sure are probably odes to Justin Beiber.

Here are the recent critical events that I'm talking about, squeezed into one post.

October 4, 2012

Debate observations

There's so much to say about the debate last night and I don't have much free time today. Here are some high level thoughts:

Romney clearly won. Flash polls confirmed that the perception of voters watching was exactly that. Romney won by a wide margin - both the debate and the polling.

Romney won because he did what McCain would not do in 2008 - he went after Obama. He was not afraid to go on the offensive. He also backed up everything with facts and he didn't allow himself to be put on defense. He was dynamic. He had 4 minutes less than Obama of speaking time and yet liberal commentators complained he ran all over the moderator Jim Lehrer. He was just more engaging when he spoke.

Obama the media is spinning, looked like he didn't want to be there. Of course he didn't want to be there - he was getting his butt handed to him. Obama was not distracted - he was flustered, and frustrated and way out of his element on defense. Look for him to come out firing at Romney, guns blazing, at the next debate. He won't hold back. He can't afford a repeat of that first performance.

The post debate bounce for Romney may be blunted by polling sampling ratios but it will be undeniable. This will bring the race back to a dead heat over the next week. Which, means that Romney will in reality be ahead. Buut he won't stay there for long if his second debate performance is not close to his first in quality. He has set himself a high bar. The media will spin anything less as Romney reverting to form and Obama as doing the same.

Liberal pundits, who have elevated Obama to a mythical status seemed apoplectic last night. They can't believe their guy lost. They can't believe he isn't infallible. Today they will be recomposing themselves and readying for the next rouund.

Romney should, and will, be doing the same.

October 3, 2012

Truth

The new ad from American Crossroads is worth spreading the word about, particularly in swing states.

October 2, 2012

Debate Night thoughts

Obama supporters already know who won tomorrow's debate.
I've been reading opinions about the debate tomorrow night, and the consensus seems to fall into two categories.  Firstly, Democrats are downplaying the expectations for the president - he's not a great debater and Romney is, so Romney should win this thing.  Secondly, Republicans seem to think Romney needs to take the battle to Obama because he's down a few points and this is his chance to take a few calculated risks and go after Obama in a specific way while contrasting it with his own specific plans for recovery.

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