Facebook in high gear to protect Biden

Communications @Facebook Andy Stone on Twitter is hiding the bombshell from the NY Post about Hunter Biden and Joe Biden.

While I will intentionally not link to the New York Post, I want be clear that this story is eligible to be fact checked by Facebook's third-party fact checking partners. In the meantime, we are reducing its distribution on our platform.

— Andy Stone (@andymstone) October 14, 2020

This is pure damage control.  In case you are not familiar with the breaking story:

Explosive: Democrats linked to phony Trump dossier

Democrat party credibility.

Breaking News, via NY Post:

A secretive Washington firm that commissioned the dubious intelligence dossier on Donald Trump is stonewalling congressional investigators trying to learn more about its connections to the Democratic Party.

The Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month threatened to subpoena the firm, Fusion GPS, after it refused to answer questions and provide records to the panel identifying who financed the error-ridden dossier, which was circulated during the election and has sparked much of the Russia scandal now engulfing the White House.

What is the company hiding? Fusion GPS describes itself as a “research and strategic intelligence firm” founded by “three former Wall Street Journal investigative reporters.” But congressional sources says it’s actually an opposition-research group for Democrats, and the founders, who are more political activists than journalists, have a pro-Hillary, anti-Trump agenda.

“These weren’t mercenaries or hired guns,” a congressional source familiar with the dossier probe said. “These guys had a vested personal and ideological interest in smearing Trump and boosting Hillary’s chances of winning the White House.”

Fusion GPS was on the payroll of an unidentified Democratic ally of Clinton when it hired a long-retired British spy to dig up dirt on Trump. In 2012, Democrats hired Fusion GPS to uncover dirt on GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. And in 2015, Democrat ally Planned Parenthood retained Fusion GPS to investigate pro-life activists protesting the abortion group.

It seems Republicans and the Trump administration have gotten off their heels and moved to being on offense. More to follow, most certainly.

Ted Cruz's pointless triumph

A few days ago I wrote that Ted Cruz, whom I agree with 100% on substance (so far), was waging the war on Obamacare the wrong way. John Podhoretz at the NY Post agrees.

 

(emphasis added)

Every single one of those Cruz includes in the “surrender caucus” opposes ObamaCare and voted against it. The writers and talkers he includes in the “surrender caucus” have written or spoken tens of thousands of words against it and are as committed to stopping its harmful effects as Cruz is.

They simply don’t see the value in this game of brinksmanship; in fact, they — we — see that it might be harmful to the cause of stopping ObamaCare. This disagreement is over tactics, not core convictions.

This is enraging to Cruz and his followers. They want confrontation, even if the confrontation is purposeless at this moment — and doesn’t even involve ObamaCare.

They confuse style with substance. Cruz and others think that standing your ground and fighting at every turn is actually more moral than working on a long-term strategy to get rid of ObamaCare.

That long-term strategy involves winning elections in 2014 and 2016. A budget fight in which the Right is blamed for shutting down the government will be harmful to these crucial goals.

 Well put. The issue some conservatives have with going nuclear is all about the tactics - it won't work in the short term and will make matters worse in the long term.  What defeats Obamacare is winning Congress, Senate and White House.  Alienating the public does not achieve that.

 

Podhoretz raises another question - if you are against the tactics, why are you suddenly declared an enemy of conservatism and those who do support such tactics?  There's still a common goal - getting rid of the bloat that Democrats have thrust and continue to thrust upon the government.

Michael Goodwin's Take On Obama's Tax Cut Deal

In a seemingly after thought addendum to his article on how Hillary Clinton blew it by signing on with Obama in 2008, Michael Goodwin offers great insight into Obama's anger as it relates to his tax cut compromise. Here it is - succinct, and bang on;

After watching President Obama give two speeches and a press conference in two days, I can now confidently summarize his logic on the tax deal.

Republicans are evil for making him do it. And Democrats are stupid for not understanding why he did it.

In other words, he's moral and wise, and you're not.

To call Obama's performance unpresidential doesn't do justice to his shotgun fury. After lashing out yesterday at his base -- The New York Times editorial page, "purists," liberals and "sanctimonious" Democrats -- he accused Republicans of holding tax cuts for the wealthy as "their Holy Grail." He also charged them with "hostage taking" because they insisted on blocking tax hikes for any Americans.

Read it here in the NY Post.  My take, although I didn't get into some of Goodwin's first points, was similar.

Politically, the fallout is interesting.  It seems like this could be the start of an Obama shift to the center, at least visually.  The criticism from the left reinforces that dynamic.  Still, I think the pettiness on display is going to alienate a lot of people and harm him rather than hurt him in the long run.