Full Liberation Day speech

For those who missed it.

Konstantin Kisin crushes it yet again

Konstantin Kisin made yet another great speech, at ARC 2025 this time:

"You know...the guy..." makes a dull speech

I've been busy.  I haven't posted enough lately.  I've also missed speeches.  Like this one that Tim Pool discusses:

Alright, you got me: I missed this speech on purpose.

Skip the media edits - full Trump speech on Afghanistan

Watch the full unedited speech not the sound bites the media want to feed you:

Fake Hillary campaign speech?

A few weeks ago (mid-September) this video was posted.  I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist but there are a couple of really weird moments in this video that the Youtube poster brings to our attention that do not have simple straightforward answers.

A fake speech might seem far-fetched but she has done speeches with fake accents in the past.

Epic anti-Black Lives Matter speech

Wait for it...

GOP Candidate Info - Lindsey Graham Edition

Lindsey Graham interviewed by George Stephanopolous who is far less impartial than Bill Maher was with Mike Huckabee (after all, he's a Clintonite through and through, just check his once-undisclosed donations).

President Obama's Foreign Policy Pivot Fails on Many Levels (Part 1)

The president today made a speech at West Point today to a graduating class that was full of problematic statements. The speech was so full of...misinformation, that I've been forced to break down my breakdown of it, into more than one part. in this part I will focus on the president's cherry picking of facts in his speech.  But that's just the starting point.

In order to support his positions, the president, no stranger to cherry-picking facts to support his positions, did not disappoint in this speech, if cherry picking is something you were looking forward to hearing.

Here's the first example of cherry picking his facts:

Al Qaida's leadership on the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been decimated, and Osama bin Laden is no more.

True - but al Qaida is still an existential threat worldwide. The president has selected a narrow window to define success, because beyond that window, the problems are nowhere near being fixed.  Of course, the president tries to minimize the geo-political threats, because it helps justify a minimized military, enabling more social engineering programs.

In fact, by most measures, America has rarely been stronger relative to the rest of the world. Those who argue otherwise, who suggest that America is in decline or has seen its global leadership slip away, are either misreading history or engaged in partisan politics. Think about it. Our military has no peer. The odds of a direct threat against us by any nation are low, and do not come close to the dangers we faced during the Cold War.

He has parsed his words carefully -"rarely" been stronger. Yet relative to China, America is losing it's military superiority advantage. And while no nation has any reason or power to invade the United States, North Korea and Iran are both working diligently towards long range nuclear missiles capable of reaching the United States. Russia and China still do of course. The threats faced today are not the same as they were during the Cold War.

Wasn't it president Obama who chided Mitt Romney when he stated that the 1980's called and wanted their foreign policy back during the presidential debates? Mitt Romney was of course right that Russia is the biggest geopolitical threat (you could argue China is a bigger threat now). And while Russia is poised to indulge in a nefarious landgrab in the Ukraine, Obama argues that the world is a different place. Well, if it is, then comparing the dangers of today to the different dangers of a different era is most definitely cherry picking.

But there's more egregious examples.

And when a typhoon hits the Philippines, or schoolgirls are kidnapped in Nigeria, or masked men occupy a building in Ukraine -- it is America that the world looks to for help.

Exactly what is America doing about the kidnappings in Nigeria or the violent unrest in the Ukraine? Effectively, zilch.  The world may have looked to America, but with missing leadership from an American president, that is not likely to continue.  At least it will not until someone else comes along who can create a sense of global leadership that an apology tour and obvious disinterest didn't do.

When the president bases his speech on selectively choosing facts, or portions of the whole picture to act as a foundation for whatever else it is he has to say, you know his arguments have started on shaky grounds.

Next I'll take a look at the implications of the president's pivot and vision for America's future beyond Afghanistan and Iraq.

Thursday Hillary Bash - The Clampdown

 

Control, at a freakish level, is the approach of team Hillary as far as her speaking engagements have gone.  The story is starting in small part to become about the level of control she wants to exert over her appearances rather than what she actually has to say.  She's clamped down on reporting of her events.  Tight control of the message is one thing, being secretive is entirely another.

Via the Washington Post:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) is riding a compelling Hillary Rodham Clinton story. It’s not so much about her quite-possible presidential run. Nor is it about the Clinton family’s foundation. Nor Benghazi. It’s about how Clinton is attempting the impossible: Turning a speech into something approaching an off-the-record occasion.

This morning, the former secretary of state was in Atlanta for a speaking engagement before the National Association of Convenience and Fuel Retailing (NACS). As the AJC reported yesterday, members of the media were barred from the session. Today it reported that a “cone of silence” had descended on her remarks. “Convention officials banned all video and sound recording, social media, and naturally, journalists,” wrote the AJC’s Greg Bluestein and Jim Galloway...

Other sites are already picking up on the AJC’s story, which the newspaper concedes is none too solid: “Hearsay from Hillary Clinton: On Joe Biden and the Osama bin Laden raid,” reads the headline.

The latter paragraph speaks to a story about Hillary apparently bashing her perceived opponent Joe Biden but not wanting the public to hear about it. It's as if she's got a Mitt Romney 43% moment coming for her and she wants to prevent it. If she's not careful, she'll manufacture her own.

Palin at CPAC 2013. Full speech

I'm not as enamored of Palin as I used to be, or others, but this is still a speech with some very worthwhile moments and Palin still has some cache.  Her opportunity for the presidency may have passed, but she still makes sense and can make points effectively -  at times, very effectively.

Here's her speech from yesterday.

Mitt Romney foreign policy speech

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

What to look for in Obama's acceptance speech

What should you expect to see in Obama's acceptance speech tonight?  That is, as opposed to at Obama's acceptance speech tonight, where you will see a large number of drones with no clue about reality.  According to top aides, you'll see him tackle entitlement reforms.  I'm assuming that means with the same tremendous aplomb he tackled the deficit with in his first term.

Top campaign aides to President Obama said that in his speech on Thursday night, the president will discuss deficit reduction and entitlement reform.

Stephanie Cutter, appearing on CNN’s Starting Point on Thursday, said, “I think you will hear the president lay out his plan of balanced deficit reduction where everybody pays their fair share and we cut what we don't need and that includes entitlement reform.”

Earlier, she said: “I think you will hear him talk about the types of decisions we need to make as a country if we want to get our debt under control and do it in a way that will unleash growth and help the middle class grow.”

Ironically, the number one solution - getting rid of Obama - will not be part of the party platform.

The one Democrat speech that matters

Last night Michelle Obama performed well in her speech.  There was a host of other unimportant speeches.  The Anne Romney speech and the Michelle Obama speech both served their purposes, both spoke well enough, neither was a game changer, though I think Anne Romney's speech may have done a little more good for her husband.  But there really is only one Democratic speech that matters - more than anyone's, even Barack Obama's.  I'm speaking of course of Bill Clinton's speech tonight.

Obama's speech has been minimized.  In terms of his effect, he's really going to be preaching to the choir and a small subset of undecided voters.  Just like Mitt Romney's speech it was not a game changer, neither will Obama's be. It won't change a lot of minds, even if the press exalts it, which you know they will.  Obama will get more of a bounce than Romney - they'll make sure of that.  But it will still be small.

The real potential to change the game lies with Bill Clinton. He can make things really bad for Obama, or he could make things marginally better or even more for the president if he can convince people that he and Obama are cut from the same centrist cloth (for the record, I do not believe Clinton was a centrist, he was pragmatic and also benefited from the existence of one Ross Perot).  If Clinton can carry off that message, and he actually is better at connecting with voters than president Obama, then it might swing the election.

I don't think he'll pull it off, but his is still the only speech I'm interested in because I'm curious to see if there are some subtle back-handed compliments for the president.  Whether Hillary Clinton wants back in the White House or not, I'm sure Bill does.  Bill has his own agenda and it points to 2016.  It probably won't be evident in his speech but it could be there in some subtle ways.

And for this I might have to miss some of the NFL season open tonight.  Oh wait, Clinton won't matter either.

Obama venue like Obama speech - over-promise, under-deliver

Empty chair, meet empty stadium.

Call him president downgrade.  Obama promised everything in 2008.  I think I recall him saying we'd have solar-powered flying cars by the end of his first term in office. I don't have one. Maybe he didn't promise that one.  He did promise oceans would stop rising and crazy numbers of jobs would be created and the deficit would be cut in half and he'd end the war, and scads of other stuff. Come to think of it, the one thing he didn't promise as far as I recall, was to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden.  But I digress.  The point is president Obama has under-delivered on his vast list of promises.

So why should his 2012 convention speech be anything but more over-promising?  That's something for voters to bear in mind while listening to it.

My Favorite 2012 RNC convention speech

My favorite RNC convention speeches: Condi Rice, with Marco Rubio a close second.  Both speeches were terrific. Both serve as a palate cleanser for the DNC speeches to come this week.  I'll probably be revisiting this page myself a few times this week.

Speaking of CPAC - Daniel Hannan

Since I couldn't attend CPAC this year, I'm posting some of the highlight speeches for myself as much as for readers who could not attend. Here's Daniel Hannan's speech, warning America not to follow Europe's example.

Speaking of CPAC - Newt Gingrich

Since I couldn't attend CPAC this year, I'm posting some of the highlight speeches for myself as much as for readers who could not attend. Here's Newt Gingrich's speech.

Speaking of CPAC - Rick Santorum

Since I couldn't attend CPAC this year, I'm posting some of the highlight speeches for myself as much as for readers who could not attend. Here's Rick Santorum's speech.

Speaking of CPAC - Sarah Palin

Since I couldn't attend CPAC this year, I'm posting some of the highlight speeches for myself as much as for readers who could not attend. Here's Sarah Palin's speech.

More to come.

Speaking of CPAC - Marco Rubio

I wasn't able to attend CPAC, so I'm living vicariously through some of the highlight speeches.  Here's Marco Rubio's terrific speech this year:

More to come.