ROFL ROFL ROFL. Buh bye.

Self serving tripe, absent important facts about his governorship.  He was a cancer on so many levels. And he has avoided the impeachment he so richly deserves.

Adam Schiff, you must resign.

Adam Schiff must resign.  Build the momentum by adding to the outcry.  Seriously.  He has to go.  But this goes even higher than him.

Meanwhile in England...

Over in England, Prime Minister, and E.U. stooge, Theresa May has resigned after multiple unsuccessful attempts to ram through a horrible BREXIT deal in parliament designed to let BREXIT happen but really, just keep the U.K. as part of the E.U. 

What a disappointment as a Prime Minister, not even a shadow of Margaret Thatcher.

Andrew McCabe "resigns"

Don't let the door hit you...

Via CBS, Andrew McCabe has resigned:

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is stepping down from the FBI, CBS News' Pat Milton has confirmed. According to Milton, a source familiar with the matter confirmed that McCabe was urged to step down. However, sources at the FBI said that this was largely his decision, CBS News' Andres Triay reports. He is currently on what's known as "terminal leave," that is, McCabe had accumulated enough leave time to depart the FBI now. His official retirement is in March.

The White House had no comment on the matter, although White House press secretary told reporters Monday that "the president wasn't part of this decision-making process."

McCabe was under considerable scrutiny from Republicans, as special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling and any ties to Trump associates continued. McCabe took temporary charge of the FBI after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey earlier this year, and some skeptics viewed McCabe as too close to his former boss.

The obvious question is why now? If he was uncomfortable with Trump as president why did he wait until the day before the State of the Union where it is rumored president Trump would reveal the contents of the #ReleaseTheMemo memo?

It's clear that there's something more to this than just bad feelings between the president and McCabe.

Buh Bye, Franken

Today Al Franken has proffered his resignation from the senate, while taking a swipe at president Trump and also Alabama senate Republican candidate Roy Moore. Yawn.  You were never nearly as enlightened and brilliant as you thought Al. Go away.  You're not a martyr, you're not a genius and you are not relevant politically. You never were. Take refuge in your comedic history instead of your comedic stance on issues.

I for one am ignoring your jabs as you leave, because I really don't care about what you think.  Your party's agenda has been a poison to America and that's more important than you, or Moore or anything else at this point in history.

Holder's leaving. So what?

I meant to hop on this yesterday as the story broke, but I didn't have time. Better late than never.

Is the Eric Holder departure a cabinet shake-up move designed to move the needle on voters prior to the midterm elections? Maybe so:

But how it is supposed to help Democrats before the midterms is not exactly clear. The Tea Party crowd is roughly zero percent more likely to support Democrats based on a new Attorney General in the administration.

African Americans are not likely to care much, although some might be annoyed if the replacement is not another African American who sees racism in everything. But again, it won't make much electoral difference with them either way.

Hispanic voters are not likely to change their impression of the administration either way as a result of this. Those annoyed by the president over his stall on naturalization of illegal immigrants aren't likely to be any happier, even with a Hispanic replacement if that is in the cards. Holder isn't the primary dial-mover for them, Obama is.

Democratic voters in general certainly aren't focused on Holder vs. a potential replacement. So is it voters on the fence who the administration is focused on impacting? Even for them, with ISIS, the economy, healthcare, Russia and a myriad of other issues on the table, while Holder's departure is worth noting, it's not a game changer - it's far down the list in terms of importance with voters.

UNLESS, Holder's departure is part of a bigger picture and more resignations and changes are to come. But even then, how meaningful is that in a midterm election when it's the executive branch changes in an election about the Congress and Senate?

It's like someone opened the playbook and said, "Hey, a cabinet shuffle before an election can make a difference, let's try that!"

It smacks of desperation, and makes me think that a wave is still certainly possible. Perhaps the Democratic pollsters, the ones who far outdid Republican pollsters in 2012, are seeing things that haven't bubbled to the surface yet.

Martin Bashir resigns from MSNBC

Maybe he'll end up at the new CNN.  Martin Bashir didn't deserve the honor of quitting, he should have been summarily fired for his disgusting rant.

Via The Blaze:

TV host Martin Bashir announced Wednesday that he is resigning from MSNBC, according to an email obtained by Mediaite.

Bashir’s announcement comes weeks after he caused an uproar for suggesting someone defecate in former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s mouth.

“After making an on-air apology, I asked for permission to take some additional time out around the Thanksgiving holiday,” Bashir said in the email. “Upon further reflection, and after meeting with the president of MSNBC, I have tendered my resignation. It is my sincere hope that all of my colleagues, at this special network, will be allowed to focus on the issues that matter without the distraction of myself or my ill-judged comments.

That rant was not journalism.  It was angry liberal histrionics that has no place in political discourse.  Martin Bashir should have been fired, period.  That MSNBC did not have the inclination to do so speaks volumes.  Had someone from Fox said that sort of thing about Hillary Clinton, imagine the uproar it would have caused.  And that person would have been dismissed from the network before the uproar had even started.

Two Word Opinions: July 2013 Edition

There are too many things to comment on with dedicated posts today, so here are some quick two word opinions with links to the stories behind them.

Janet Napolitano Resigns: Good riddance.

Eric Holder likely to stick around?  Face palm.

Egypt on the verge of some sort of violence while Obama's administration exhibits: Unfinished idiocy.

Obama advisers blast Obama policy: About time.

Zimmerman verdict coming soon: Don't care..

Zimmerman verdict could cause riots in Miami: Okay, bad.

Rubio's stock sinking with GOP voters: Immigration error

Palin might run for Senate: Improving Alaska

Jobs report worse than expected: Not unexpected.

Bernanke makes unbelievable rate pledge: Jobs mandate?

Obama's No-win Situation With McChrystal

When President Obama first came to the Presidency, there were a lot of no-lose situations for the President - no matter what he did there were good outcomes at least possible for him politically.  Not so today.  His polling numbers down, the President was faced with a no-win situation in the form of General McChrystal's Rolling Stone interview/article.

Two Dangerous Precedents

The reaction from the right has been appropriately visceral. It has been as strong as to be expected. So far though, it's been self contained. In other words there is not yet a groundswell of opposition to the Presidential over-reach in forcing GM CEO Rick Wagoner to resign. There have not been million man marches protesting this lunacy.



What this amounts to is one dangerous precedent for America. The United States is supposed to be a democracy. It is supposed to be a free market-based system. It is beelining away from that very, very quickly - on both counts. The government should not be dictating operating conditions to companies. That's called fascism.

Wikipedia contains the following definition of fascism;

Fascism is a radical, authoritarian nationalist ideology that aims to create a
single-party state with a government led by a dictator who seeks national unity
and development by requiring individuals to subordinate self-interest to the
collective interest of the nation or race. Fascist movements promote violence
between nations, political factions, and races as part of a social Darwinist and
militarist stance that views violence between these groups as a natural and
positive part of evolution.

He may eschew the violent portion of this definition but certainly the ACORNs of the world prove there's an adherence to the class warfare side of the definition as well. Socialist goals, fascist methodologies. Sounds like some bad egg historical figure.

The government does not own GM (not yet anyway), the provided bailout money to GM. They have a right to tie conditions to the bailout money as far as things like re-payment schedules, and changing the conditions to the current environment that led to the problem. Doing that as part of the conditions to the opening of purse strings, is reasonable. So is the company choosing to forgo the bailout money. And so is the company being left to it's own devices to meet the agreed upon conditions.

Otherwise the government is by proxy, assuming ownership of a private company. Do I think the US government can run an automobile company better than the private sector? Of course not - they couldn't run a lemonade stand as well as a village idiot.



The point is that this is meddlesome, it is autocratic and it treads on ground that is anathema to free markets, individualism and freedom itself. Some may feel that Wagoner was not the right man for the job. Some may feel that the conditions imposed for further bailout money are justifiably harsh and Wagoner is paying the price because he wasn't strict enough. Regardless, would you want the government coming into your business and telling you to resign? Or into your place of work and telling them to fire you?

It's just not right. What's worse, is it's going unopposed. Which brings us to dangerous precedent number two. Why did Wagoner acquiesce?

If I were Wagoner I think I would have called the administration's bluff. That power to intimidate and coerce did not exist before yesterday. If Wagoner had said no, then what?

GM would have been denied bailout money. And they would have had to file for bankruptcy protection and then the union would be forced to capitulate on it's positions. And that flies in the face of the Obama constituency. Then you would have seen the Obama administration either really ramp up it's bullying or else, more likely capitulate themselves.

They have already deemed GM too important to fail. And then they tried to blackmail the CEO into quitting for pure political reasons they would have had to back down and paid GM anyway.

It's a messed up situation no matter how it played out, but by standing firm, Wagoner could have exposed the administration for what it really is - bullies and/or acting without thinking and not really in control of that which they claim to be in control. That would have been a news day worth seeing.

Gregg Aftermath III

Previous Gregg analysis - impact on Gregg, impact on Obama.

There seems to be so many impacts from this, I'm beginning to think that maybe Gregg is not a Senator but rather a named Hurricane. Although I could be mistaken.

The Senator Gregg resignation as President Obama's nominee for Commerce Secretary has a ripple effect on the conservative movement. How big those ripples turn out to be is still unknown. But there are three people for whom it should reverberate fairly loudly - Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. These three Turncoats, who should be drummed out of the Republican party with all the speed of a Democrat spending spree, will feel some impact from the Gregg resignation.

It's coming to the surface that all three benefited from their betrayal of conservative principle (if they ever even had it). According to a Newsmax article;

“From auto dealers to the home-building industry, big business appears to be the biggest loser in the final economic stimulus plan . . .” The Wall Street Journal online reported, noting that Democrats removed key tax cuts and benefits for business as political payback for Republicans who failed to support the plan.

Though Republicans who crossed party lines apparently got rewarded. The New York Times reported Thursday that Specter got $6.5 billion for medical research.

Well, well, well, isn't that a little better than a simple wining and dining? Now you have a liberal Republican Senator, bought off for the purpose of local pork, juxtaposed against another Republican Senator, Gregg, who on principle, withdrew his name from consideration because he realized how bad this stinkulus bill is. And worse for Collins and Snowe, in nearby territory Maine (Gregg is from New Hampshire), the effects might be even more obvious.

The net effect is that they seem even less principled in light of Gregg's resignation. The Senators shouldn't be expecting to remain untouched in the primaries for 2010. They are more likely to face opponents, hopefully decent ones, in primaries and will be harder pressed to win against an angry Republican base. Then again, if they make it past the primaries, they are probably well-positioned for the general elections, since they've managed to be the rare Republican Senators who've brought the investment back to their constituencies. And unfortunately, there's probably a pretty good chance they'd win their re-elections.

We'll have to wait to see if that's the case - hopefully they don't make it past the primaries next time around, and better still they get removed from caucusing with Republicans and lose GOP financial support.

Gregg Aftermath II

Previous Gregg analysis - impact on Gregg.

Senator Gregg's decision to step down as nominee for the Commerce Secretary position affects not only himself, but also President Obama and the Republican Turncoat 3.

What does it do for President Obama? Or more precisely to President Obama? A couple of things.

Firstly the Obama administration has to be shaking it's head at the number of mis-steps it's taken in the appointment process and the Gregg withdrawal, while not tax-cheat related like some of the others, is still another mark on the administration's appointment record. After issues with Richardson, Solis and Daschle (among others, including Geithner), and now the recanting of Gregg, the grading on the Obama selection/vetting/nominee process can at best be considered a D-. That diminishes his messianic image. If he's so brilliant, why all the false starts?

Secondly, President Obama is using up a lot of his political capital in pushing the stimulus bill. This expends another few cents of that political capital. Now while according to Gallup, Obama still has a lot left, others including Rasmussen are showing differently (at least on the stimulus). I'm sure he still has a lot of capital left, but it's starting to fall away in little bits, and we haven't reached the 100 day mark yet.

Thirdly it also shines a light on the politicking behind the Obama administration trying to co-opt the census process for political purposes. If nothing else, Gregg's departure helps de-brand Obama in the squeaky clean department. True, to the 'true believers' it won't matter one iota, but to moderates who swung towards Obama in the election, they might have through all of these impacts be swung back a little towards the red side of the spectrum.

Fourthly, the administration is looking a little vindictive and petty. From Townhall, According to Gregg he accepted an offer;

"The president asked me to do it," he said of the job offer. "I said, yes. That was my mistake."

Obama offered a somewhat different account from Gregg.

"It comes as something of a surprise, because the truth, you know, Mr. Gregg approached us with interest and seemed enthusiastic," Obama said in an interview with the Springfield (Ill.) Journal-Register.

Hmmm. Who is telling the truth? My guess is the President is in full spin mode. According to the Boston Globe, the offer came from the President. Isn't it kind of hard to back-track now?

According to 538, the White House is steamed by the resignation (slight language alert);

Here is the statement the White House just put out on kicking Judd Gregg to the
curb, in full:

“Senator Gregg reached out to the President and offered his name for Secretary of Commerce. He was very clear throughout the interviewing process that despite past disagreements about policies, he would support, embrace, and move forward with the President’s agenda. Once it became clear after his nomination that Senator Gregg was not going to be supporting some of President Obama’s key economic priorities, it became necessary for Senator Gregg and the Obama administration to part ways. We regret that he has had a change of heart”.

Translation: Gregg asked us for the gig and lied to us, so eff him, this is his fault.As one longtime White House correspondent just told me, "I have never seen a White House statement that kicks someone in the balls that hard before."

Well now. That looks classy, even without the translation, after the Gregg comment, why would you contradict someone whom you previously stated was a great man for the post?

And what does it do for your image let alone credibility when you now try to knock him down after he slags your stinkulus bill? Nothing but hurts it, that's what. All the Republicans need to do, is have Gregg knock the stimulus bill and when Obama responds - play the above video in every major market. Another gift horse for Republicans and this time, unlike the Gregg nomination, it's not a Trojan Horse.