Showing posts with label MSM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MSM. Show all posts

Monday, January 25, 2010

'We are the Middle Class Tax Breaks We've Been Waiting For'

Dan from New York calls it the "Come to Mama Strategy":

"So this is the president’s much-anticipated descent into craven populism, now that the banks have officially and for the last time shat in his soup! Now comes the leftward lurch, the descent into Soviet-style social engineering, the wanton flinging about of tax credits and automatic paycheck deduction programs. Your Wonkette will be moving to Cuba, where people at least admit they’re communists."

-- Wonkette

This is unbelievable: have you guys ever heard of a more craven political ploy? I mean, besides all of the other craven political ploys launched by Obama, Axelrod and Emanuel?


Joe Klein: Americans Too Stupid To Understand the Power and Majesty of Democrat Policies That Are Bankrupting the Country

The career of Time Magazine's Joe Klein hit its pinnacle today with an "analysis" piece worthy of Leni Reifenstahl (no worries -- the link goes to Strata Sphere). Klein pays his respects to the wisdom of the American people and the Democratic process by saying that -- wait for it -- we're retarded.

Too Dumb to Thrive


Absolutely amazing poll results from CNN today about the $787 stimulus package: nearly three out of four Americans think the money has been wasted. On second thought, they may be right: it’s been wasted on them...

Indeed, the largest single item in the package–$288 billion–is tax relief for 95% of the American public.

This money is that magical $60 to $80 per month you’ve been finding in your paycheck since last spring...

...Not a life changing amount, but helpful in paying the bills.

Just for grins, Joe, why not multiply that stimulative $75 a month by, oh, 200 million taxpayers? Gee, this is complex: $75 times 12 months in a year... carry the one... hold on, that's... $900. And let's give the Democrats the benefit of the doubt and say that 200 million Americans are actually working. That's comes to... $180 billion.

So you're at least a hundred and eight billion shy, Joe, even with my generous math. Maybe it went to one of those zip codes that doesn't exist. Or a public sector union. Or a worthy cause like "community organizing".

The next highest amount was $275 billion in grants and loans to states. This is why your child’s teacher wasn’t laid off…and why the fire station has remained open, and why you’re not paying even higher state and local taxes to close the local budget hole...

You mean the budget hole driven by public sector unions that are bankrupting cities and states -- the ones won't even re-negotiate or cut salaries to help salvage their local budgets?

You mean the budget hole encouraged by Democrats who revel in eradicating competition and crushing childrens' dreams? The way they work tirelessly to defeat school choice, which would increase educational opportunities while reducing costs?

I guess we're too stupid to understand all of that really hard stuff, Joe.

It is impossible to be a citizen if you don’t make an effort to understand the most basic activities of your government. It is very difficult to thrive in an increasingly competitive world if you’re a nation of dodos.

Gee, Joe, I thought I read that the average government employee is now taking home a compensation package nearly double that of the average private-sector worker?

Those kinds of basic activities, Joe?

You can almost visualize the drool gumming up Klein's keyboard as he secreted this pathetic paean to his Democrat overlords. A Democrat leadership, by the way, that is in so far over its head it needs scuba gear.

The bureaucrats, the public sector unions and the trial lawyers are ripping Americans off and Joe here is telling us we're not paying enough.

No, Joe, the real dodos are the legacy media propagandists that publish state-approved press releases straight from the mouths of Axelrod and Emanuel. And judging by the circulation of your noxious rag, it won't be long before you're officially on their payroll.


Hat tip: Memeorandum. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Friday, January 22, 2010

The Timeless Wisdom of E.J. Dionne: Screw the will of the people -- ram Obamacare down citizens' throats!

With a lede that will soon prove timeless, General E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post just penned the Democrat equivalent of the Gettysburg Address.

His troops: Congress. His battle-cry: socialized medicine must pass. His game plan: a strategy worthy of Sun Tzu.

There is no question that Democrats have looked weak in responding to the Massachusetts election.

Weak? They're Gumby, dammit.

The notion that they would just shelve health care after all they have put into it... paints a portrait of a party that, to say the least, lacks persistence and conviction. But there is a good reason behind all the confusion.

That the American people reject socialized medicine? That they despise Marxism? That they flip off the agenda of the radical sixties washouts, to the extent that Massachusetts -- Massachusetts! -- just elected a conservative Republican Senator to fill ? Ehm, no. Dionne is on a different page.

The core problem is that the House Democrats no longer trust the Senate Democrats... That’s why there is resistance in the House to the most straightforward solution, which is for the House to pass the Senate health-care bill and send it to the president, and then to use the reconciliation process (which requires only 51 votes in the Senate) to pass the changes in the bill that House and Senate negotiators have agreed to -- or, at least, as many of those changes as is procedurally possible. They can’t get all the changes into law that way, but they could get a lot of them.

Dionne could be this era's Montesquieu. Apart from the fact he doesn't believe in representative government. Nor Democracy. Nor the Constitution. They -- according to the WaPo's version of John Locke -- are anachronisms.

The strategy must be 'Ram the bill through' at all costs! Full speed ahead -- no matter the rules of the Senate, It. Must. Pass.

So here’s an idea, I have been told reliably, that leaders of both Houses are considering: The House would pass a version of the reconciliation bill containing the various amendments and send it to the Senate. The Senate would change it slightly (in ways that the House agreed to), which would require the House to vote on it again. Only after it got the revised reconciliation bill would the House take up the Senate bill. The House could then pass both bills and send both to the president. Problem solved, health-care passes, and we move on.

Sounds simple! Errr... what was that again?

One slight problem, Cicero of the Post: Democrats in districts not in the following zip-codes...

...are frickin' toast. Stick a fork in their backs, because they. Are. Done.

Not all the difficulties with this scenario have been worked through, and it is not a slam dunk.

Genius. Dionne is the Patton of the Leftist crypto-Marxist state-run media, only without the tanks, the cojones or the brains.

For one thing, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi faces a revolt on her left against passing the Senate bill without changes. Some may still have to be persuaded to make sure it gets the votes it needs. There are also some House Democrats from moderate-to-conservative districts who are wary, after Massachusetts, of voting for a health-care bill, period. And there are a lot of procedural issues that need to be ironed out.

Aside from those minor quibbles, Obamacare is just a few short days from passing.

Nonetheless, for those (and I’m one of them) who believe in health-care reform -- and who think the Democrats would be committing suicide if they gave up on health care now -- it’s heartening to hear that serious people are making serious efforts to get a health bill through. In a pinch, I think that enacting the Senate bill into law without changes is far preferable to passing nothing... Can they do it? The answer to that question depends in part on leadership from President Obama. Can he do it?

E.J., don't doubt our President. He capped unemployment at 8% with the $787 billion Stimulus Package. He brought the Olympics back to Chicago. He reined in lobbyists, special interests and the trial lawyers. And he kept America safe from Jihadist attacks.

What could possibly go wrong?


Thursday, January 21, 2010

Radio Silence: Air America Bankrupt -- I Blame Global Warming

The Hill offers an epitaph for the troubled radio network that could never get the ratings of, say, sonograms or airport radar.

Liberal radio network Air America has gone bankrupt and will cease live programming, the company told employees today.

"The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America's business. This past year has seen a 'perfect storm' in the media industry generally," Charlie Kireker, chair of Air America Media, wrote in a letter to employees.

Air America was founded in 2004 as a liberal response to conservative dominance of the radio airwaves. In five years it has served as a platform for a number of liberal talkers that have moved on to prominence, including now-Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.

Pointing to Franken and Madcow as "prominent" graduates of the Air America network is somewhat akin to claiming a thigh rash as a "prominent" anatomical feature.


American Prospect's Paul Waldman Engages in D-Bagging: Hilarity Ensues

Oh, criminy. I think I just wee-weed myself. Couldn't control the belly laughing and... accidentally let go. I couldn't help it! I was reading The American Prospect and...

The startlingly brilliant Paul Waldman -- writing at the ominously named TAPPED blog -- blames the loss in Massachusetts on Democrats not being socialist enough.

No, seriously.

While I go change, check this out:

Republicans have been working very hard to convince them that the teabaggers screaming about socialism represent more than a small minority of the country (they don't), and that the current voter discontentment doesn't really have much to do with the economy – which would mean that your average independent voter will still be determined to throw the bums out even after the economy recovers.

But that's not the wave Democrats should be worried about right now. The most important political event of this week wasn't Scott Brown's victory in the special election, it was the reaction of Democrats. They were caught totally unprepared, and as a consequence had no coordinated message to deliver about what it meant. Instead, one Democrat after another came to the cameras and acted as though the Republicans had just won not one, but 20 seats in the Senate, and were now in control. It was a parade of pathetic, cowardly losers, reinforcing every argument their opponents made and going out of their way to proclaim their surrender.

What the Democrats in Congress and the White House need to understand is that there is a wave of disgust spreading through their supporters that is so powerful, if they don't stop it soon, it will doom them.

...[These] people who had – and still have! – historic majorities in Congress, yet act as though they're powerless. If Democrats can't show their supporters that they have some spine, those supporters won't be supporters anymore. This fall, they will decline to vote in huge numbers, and a bad midterm election will become a catastrophe. This is a moment of real crisis for Democrats when it comes to their base of support. And I've seen precious little evidence that they realize it.

Democratic cowardice is an old story – not long ago, I wrote a whole book about how they might get past it. And for a while, it looked like they would. Congressional Democrats stood up for themselves, and won back control in 2006. Then the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008 ran a brilliant campaign. They seemed to grasp that it's not enough to have the right policies - you also need to demonstrate to the public that you are strong and principled. But now it's as if we've turned back the clock, and they've forgotten everything they seemed to learn in those years.

Full speed ahead, Democrats! The great and mighty Paul Waldman -- who apparently wrote a book once -- has spoken!

Stick to your principles, Democrats: ignore the taxpayers, demolish the Constitution, crush free enterprise and nationalize more industries! Tax, spend and tax some more!

Elections be damned! Republicans be damned! Paul Waldman knows best. And you, not being a book author-slash-Prospect blogger-slash-political genius -- are powerless to resist.


Hat tip: Texas Rainmaker.

Guess Who Calls the American People "Sour Swing Voters"?

Gee, I wonder what dinosaur media outlet these Politico reporters came from? Answer at the end of the post. Brian emails a question -- and an answer.

Can you guess how someone would have to vote for The Politico to refer to them as "sour swing voters"?

If you guessed "against Democrats," give yourself a big pat on the back. And then sit back and enjoy the hackery!

(I'm hammering @politico on Twitter over this transparent insult, and would encourage y'all to do the same!)

Ride, my minions: ride like the wind!


* Many of the key Politico hacks were rescued from the DC Titanic Washington Post.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Keith Olbermann's Perversions and the Burden of Proof

On January 18th, crack MSNBC newsman Keith Olbermann analyzed the close Massachusetts Senate race with a concise summary of the policy issues at stake.

In short, in Scott Brown we have an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, teabagging supporter of violence against woman and against politicians with whom he disagrees. In any other time in our history, this man would have been laughed off the stage as an unqualified and a disaster in the making by the most conservative of conservatives. Instead, the commonwealth of Massachusetts is close to sending this bad joke to the Senate of the United States.

On January 19th, expert MSNBC anchorman Keith Olbermann offered a retrospective analysis of the Massachusetts Senate race with a plainly-stated, even-handed review of the policy issues.

In Senator-Elect Brown, we have an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, sexist, ex-nude model, teabagging supporter of violence against woman and against politicians with whom he disagrees.

And if he, or you, don't like that characterization, my answer to you is simple: disprove it.

Because he... .hasn't.

On January 20th, Global News Service editor-in-chief Simon Criswell responded to Olbermann's attacks.

In MSNBC newsman Edward R. Olbermann, we have an irresponsible, bloviating, reactionary, sexist, please-lord-no-nude-posing, pudding-sucking, strap-on-using, garlic-breathed wearer of women's underwear who demeans politicians with whom he disagrees.

And if he, or you, don't like that characterization, my answer to you is simple: disprove it.

B***ches.

Olbermann was unavailable for comment at press time, reportedly because he was on a shopping junket for Perfect Pair Breast Enhancers and a rare Kochi the Anime Doll.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Chris Matthews calls Brown's election 'deliberate, pre-meditated murder' of health care reform

At what point does a parent or guardian have Chris Matthews committed? Jim Pethokoukis of U.S. News & World Report twitters:

chris matthews calls Brown election "deliberation, pre-meditated murder" of healthcare reform


Over the last couple of days, the MSNBC anchor has appeared depressed and erratic. Though, since I don't watch the channel, I'm not sure if that represents a change.


I sincerely hope he seeks prompt treatment before he loses all 18 of his viewers.


Monday, January 18, 2010

Glute-meter quivering: Andrew Sullivan predicts Brown landslide

Famed Atlantic columnist and ghost-blogging expert Andrew Sullivan says Democrats can stop hoping now.

I can see no alternative scenario but a huge - staggeringly huge - victory for the FNC/RNC machine tomorrow. They crafted a strategy of total oppositionism to anything Obama proposed a year ago.

Is oppositionism a word?

Mebbe one of the ghostwriters did it.

Remember they gave him zero votes on even the stimulus in his first weeks. They saw health insurance reform as Obama's Waterloo, and, thanks in part to the dithering Democrats, they beat him on that hill. They have successfully channeled all the rage at the massive debt and recession the president inherited on Obama after just one year.

Where does one learn to weave prose this masterful, this powerful, this sublime? I think my glutes just tensed, not that there's anything wrong with that.

If they can do that already, against the massive evidence against them, they have the power to wield populism to destroy any attempt by government to address any actual problems.

This is a nihilist moment, built from a nihilist strategy in order to regain power ... to do nothing but wage war against enemies at home and abroad.

Shhh... no one tell Andi about that living-and-breathing document called "The Constitution". Or that other anachronism "The Declaration of Independence". Andi believes in unlimited government, unlimited taxes and the superiority of central planning, Politburo-style. To hell with the free market, peons! Government always knows best!

What comes next will be a real test for Obama. I suspect serious health insurance reform is over for yet another generation... The uninsured will even probably vote Republican next time in protest at Obama's failure! That's how blind the rage is.

Ditto any attempt to grapple with climate change.

Is that what it's called now? I thought you used to call it "global warming"? Or is that only in the summer?

In fact, any legislative moves with this Democratic party and this Republican party are close to hopeless. The Democrats are a clapped out, gut-free lobbyist machine. The Republicans are insane. The system is therefore paralyzed beyond repair.

Hold on, I'm writing all of these brilliant insights down.

Memo to self: Andi doesn't believe that the Constitution is worth defending. Therefore conservatives are "insane".

Yes, I'm gloomy. Not because I was so wedded to this bill, although I think it's a decent enough start. But because if America cannot grapple with its deep and real problems after electing a new president with two majorities, then America's problems are too great for Americans to tackle.

And so one suspects that this is a profound moment in the now accelerating decline of this country. And one of the major parties is ecstatic about it.

Actually, we'll be ecstatic once we impeach every Democrat who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and then proceeded to spit on it.


Daily Kos pulls out Leni Riefenstahl game-plan, launches last-ditch propaganda attack on Scott Brown

The immortal Lauren Clawson, writing at Daily Kos, exposes the demonic male-succubus that is Scott Brown.

The campaign against Scott Brown has effectively been ten days long. Ten days is not a long time, but in that time we've learned a lot about Brown.
That's a lot to take in in ten days. Imagine if there'd been a longer campaign in which these stories emerged more gradually so voters had time to absorb them fully.

Clawford forgot some of Brown's critical flaws:

  • Scott Brown intentionally threw away stem-cells that could have cured Christopher Reeve's paralysis.
  • Scott Brown used a chainsaw to kill a baby penguin that had wandered in front of his pickup truck.
  • Scott Brown once served on the board of oil transport conglomerate Kramerica™
  • Scott Brown hates kittens.
  • Scott Brown believes that Atheism should be illegal.
  • Scott Brown once killed a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

Scott Brown is campaigning as a man who is transformational and that -- as we have seen -- is just false.

Chris Matthews sickened by egg-salad sandwich and crushing defeat in Massachusetts, but mostly crushing defeat in Massachusetts

Jim Hoft says, "This will make you laugh out loud from start to end" -- and he's right! Chris Matthews, looking more sullen and distraught than ever, predicts a clear Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts.

My favorite part: listen for the female MSNBC hacks groaning as Tingle-Boy relays news that Coakley is toast.

Second favorite part: Matthews insisting that this isn't a referendum on Obama and his disastrous policies. You'll laugh until it hurts.


Sunday, January 17, 2010

New York Times plots return to profitability through bake sale and brain-damaged subscription scheme but mostly brain-damaged subscription scheme

Ann Althouse relays word that the New York Times is mulling a return to some kind of paid subscription scheme.

Never mind that Pinchy's last attempt at erecting a pay-wall -- called TimesSelect -- failed miserably, likely because there are only 48,726 alternative liberal media outlets. And most have far better reporting and analysis than that provided by the likes of Dowd and Krugman.

Pinch, a word of advice: the Internet doesn't care if you make money.

One personal friend of Sulzberger said a final decision could come within days, and a senior newsroom source agreed, adding that the plan could be announced in a matter of weeks. (Apple’s tablet computer is rumored to launch on January 27, and sources speculate that Sulzberger will strike a content partnership for the new device, which could dovetail with the paid strategy.) It will likely be months before the Times actually begins to charge for content, perhaps sometime this spring. Executive Editor Bill Keller declined to comment. Times spokesperson Diane McNulty said: “We’ll announce a decision when we believe that we have crafted the best possible business approach. No details till then.”

For all the praise heaped upon Democrats for their "savvy" use of the Internet (primarily geared towards campaign fundraising fraud) these leftists really don't understand the Internet.

Countdown to failure in 3... 2...


Hat tip: Memeorandum.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son

Well, to be fair, I don't know whether he's a drunk or not, but Ed Schultz certainly qualifies on two of the three Animal House criteria. Radio Equalizer caught the gelatinous tub of lard advocating vote fraud -- yes, the destruction of the Democratic process -- in order to prevent Scott Brown from winning the Massachusetts special election.

SCHULTZ (23:02): I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts I'd try to vote 10 times.

I don't know if they'd let me or not, but I'd try to.

Yeah, that's right.

I'd cheat to keep these bastards out.

I would.

'Cause that's exactly what they are.

Coming from the party that is stonewalling efforts to prosecute the New Black Panthers who intimidated voters at a polling place in Philadelphia, this should come as no great surprise.

The modern Democrat Party is so out-of-control, so drunk on power and so willing to destroy representative democracy that it often resembles an organized crime family. JFK and Truman wouldn't recognize what this Soros-funded entity has become.


Wednesday, January 13, 2010

McCain's Skinhead

Dan from New York:

This bitter, ham-fisted loser would probably have spelled David Axelrod in a McCain administration.

In retrospect, makes you wonder whether we got the lesser of two jerks after all.

[And it seems] like the MSB (mainstream blogosphere) is trying to figure out what motivates Steve Schmidt's fink-like behavior. Jennifer Rubin over at Commentary cuts through all the nuance and arrives at the common-sense explanation. To paraphrase Rubin and Freud, sometimes a jerk is only a jerk.

MSB... I like that!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Failing Socialist News-hacks in U.K. Slander Tea Party Conservatives While Awaiting Dental Care and X-Rays

London's predictably Marxist Guardian newspaper is doing its level best to tar the Constitutionally-grounded Tea Party movement in the US. Its smears are simplistic and painfully revealing, as the Guardian fears nothing more than a return to Reagan-era conservatism for the GOP. The non-bylined capsule summary of the movement is reminiscent of a Michael Moore trailer only without the funny.

A collection of tax-hating gun nuts and single-issue cranks who bombard the White House with teabags


Appearance: Annual Picnic for the Disgruntled.

What is it? A loose coalition of disaffected American conservatives gathering sporadically to protest big government generally, President Obama specifically and socialism, vaguely. Initially they objected to the government's fiscal stimulus package, but the movement has grown to encompass an amorphous range of gripes both national and local.

Amorphous gripes like a "Health Reform Bill [that] Makes Bernie Madoff Seem Like A Piker".

Like the rating agency Fitch stating that the "US Will Hit 94% Debt to GDP Ratio Next Year, Surpassing the Level Where Debt Starts Reducing Economic Growth."

Like an economy so abysmal even the AP is ripping the failed Stimulus package as "unemployment [remains] unchanged by [the] projects -- and that "more than 6 jobless workers [now] chase 1 [job] opening."

These are amorphous complaints, you see, according to the brain-trust at the Guardian.

What's it got to do with tea? The name echoes a seminal moment in American history when colonists chucked a shipment of tea into Boston Harbour, in protest against taxation by the Crown without the consent of their own elected representatives.

Does the Tea Party movement go in for similar direct action? They have a form of protest called teabagging – putting a teabag in an envelope and sending it to the White House...

Note the typical accuracy level of the modern Left. The only teabagging I'm aware of has nothing at all to do with the Conservative Tea Party movement.

I may disagree with their politics, but if it's a genuine grassroots movement who am I to say they're a bunch of morons? Critics contend it's merely an "astroturf" movement, funded by rightwing thinktanks and heavily promoted by conservative media outlets such as Fox News, masquerading as a populist uprising.

Has it got a future? In February the first Tea Party National Convention is being held in Nashville, with the aim of uniting disparate organisations under one ideological banner.

What sort of person could unite this rag-tag collection of tax-hating gun nuts and single-issue cranks? Sarah Palin will be the keynote speaker.

Do say: "OBAMA: SOCIALIST PIG"
or, alternatively,
"OBAMA = HITLER"

Don't say: "Mine's milk, no sugar, thanks."

Gee, the only person I ever saw holding an Obama as Hitler poster turned out to be a paid Democrat union hack.

And the only racists around the Beltway appear to be Harry Reid and Joe Biden.


Monday, January 11, 2010

Palin to Fox News Leftist Blogosphere Roundup... heads exploding in 3... 2... 1...

Not only did Massachusetts Senate candidate Scott Brown raise three-quarters of a million dollars in about fourteen minutes, but progressives got another slap in the face from the electorate today.

No doubt due to popular demand and ratings projections, Governor Sarah Palin signed on with Fox News as an analyst. She debuts Tuesday at 8pm on The O'Reilly Factor.

Palin's shock and awe campaign left the liberal pundits shrieking in rage. Most were forced to lay down tarpaulins under their recliners due to sudden soilage. And many a tofu-and-pine nut salad went uneaten as intestinal distress became the order of the day.

• Steve Benen, Washington Monthly: "UNEMPLOYED HALF-TERM GOVERNOR HIRED BY FOX NEWS" (suggested headline: "MULTI-MILLIONAIRE AUTHOR ADDS NEW MEDIA CHANNEL TO HER REPERTOIRE AND, AS AN ASIDE, I'M A FRICKIN' JEALOUS A-HOLE).

• Crook and a Liar: "Palin, who quit her job as Governor of Alaska, fits right in to the right wing stable of wingnuts Roger Ailes has assembled. I wonder why it took so long."

• No More Mister Nice Douche: "Where is she living again? Can she continue to mine "jes' plain folks" from Alaska while living semi permanently in a suburban TV studio in the lower forty-eight?."

• John 'Just Beat It' Nichols: "Maybe it isn't fair to focus on her mean-spirited and ridiculously partisan statements... Maybe it isn't right to harp about her wildly irresponsible assessments of political foes – and even of former political allies... Maybe it isn't wise to note all of her missteps and misstatements as if they are evidence of a cavalier approach to politics and governing... Maybe, just maybe, Palin is doing the best she can."

• Pam's House Blend (Acid, no doubt): "With The News Of Sarah Palin's Hiring, The Derailing Of FoxNews Is Now Complete... All aboard The 'Sarah Palin Train Wreck To Nowhere'!" Shhh, no one tell Pam about the "Nielsens" -- don't be a buzzkill, she's still trippin', dude!

• Mudstuck Flats: "Since her talent for producing copious amounts of fiction that people swallow hook, line and sinker is now manifest, where else could she go? It’s a perfect fit."

• Markos von Kosenjammer: "We all know that Fox News is somewhere to the right of the teabagging hordes and even in non-political stories doesn't have half the journalistic integrity of The Onion. Sure, Fox does its level-best to support the reactionary right, but as the hiring of Sarah Palin demonstrates, Fox is first and foremost a business..." Why yes, Kos, it is. Glad you figured that bit out.

• The Immortal Paul Thornton of Opinion L.A. (no, I haven't heard of him either): "I'm not surprised about the former partial-term Alaska governor's jump to Fox News (it's part of God's plan, after all), nor is much of the blog commentariat. What will be interesting to watch is whether Palin finally receives any on-the-spot pushback should she choose to repeat any of the loony comments she's made on healthcare "death panels" and the authenticity of President Obama's birth certificate. I won't hold my breath."

You think the Fox ratings are good now?

I'm predicting that they'll improve. We the people are fed up with central planning "stimulus" packages, secret meetings to nationalize one-sixth of the economy, unconstitutional takeovers of private industry, and "rights" made up from whole cloth.

The framers never intended the Constitution to be twisted to empower an authoritarian, centralized government to run amok. In fact, they created the Constitution to serve precisely the opposite function.

And Sarah Palin knows that simple fact, which is more than you can say for President Barack Axelrod Obama and the rest of the socialist sycophants.


Hat tip: Memeorandum. Linked by: Dan Riehl and Legal Insurrection. Thanks!

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Dan from New York's Open Letter to Alan Dershowitz

Re: Will the next 'Underwear Bomber' succeed?

Dear Professor Dershowitz:

Great post this week on your JPost blog, big guy. I counted four "we must," two "there must," one "we should" and zero "Obama." Darn, Al, you're a f***ing Harvard law professor and you still don't know who Janet Napolitano works for!

This caught my eye too: "Imagine what the reaction would have been if hundreds of Detroit-bound passengers had been murdered!" Not that hard to do, Al. A Republican Congress in 2011 and a one-way ticket to Chicago for BHO in 2013.

Then you wrote, "That is what the reaction should now be to this near-catastrophe."

Finally, Dersh, something we agree on.

 

Friday, January 08, 2010

RED ALERT: WaPo Op-Ed Columnist Paid to Promote ObamaCare

On 28 December 2009, The Washington Post published a staunch defense of government-run health care written by an MIT economics professor named Jonathan Gruber. The gist of Gruber's op-ed: the tax on 'Cadillac' health care plan isn't really a tax -- it's simply "a plan to finance real health reform":

...The Senate assessment on high-cost insurance plans doesn't walk like a tax or talk like a tax -- because it is not a tax. It is an innovative way of financing the health reform we so desperately need.

What the WaPo failed to disclose is that Gruber was awarded a 'sole source' contract by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contract is called "Technical Assistance in Evaluating Options for National Healthcare Reform", which would explain Gruber's strenuous language.

Today Ben Smith of Politico engaged Gruber in the following Q&A:

"[D]on’t you think it’s rather, um, dubious that the guy evaluating the heath care reform–for $300,000–is also the package’s single biggest champion? And no one has been transparent about this contract?"...

...at no time have I publicly advocated a position that I did not firmly believe - indeed, I have been completely consistent with my academic track record... Every position I have advocated on this topic is completely consistent with these reports.

In short, Gruber was battling critics of Obamacare in friendly media outlets like The Washington Post without any disclosure of his conflicts-of-interest.

...while he was being paid to provide his services to HHS, he was also fending off health care reform critics in the media. Gruber was one of the prominent analysts to rebut an insurance industry report from PricewaterhouseCoopers in October saying premiums would shoot up if a health care bill passes. And he has recently written columns defending specific provisions in the House and Senate bills, particularly the "Cadillac tax" on high-cost insurance plans...

But a column in The Washington Post on the Cadillac tax just a few days later did not disclose his relationship with the administration. Gruber was listed merely as a "professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

Government documents explaining the terms of his contract say that he was "uniquely positioned" for providing analysis for the health department's assistant secretary for planning and evaluation, describing him as a "recognized expert in health policy in economics."

That's what we call an infomercial, kids.

These are the depths to which "mainstream newspapers" like WaPo have been reduced.

While you're reading, can I interest you in some ShamWow™?


Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Disenchanted with Obama? Japanese Television wants to interview you!

Are you -- or do you know -- a former Obama supporter who has grown disenchanted with the president's endless series of broken promises, posturing and gaffes? Want a crack at your 15 minutes of fame? If you answered "yes" to both questions, Nippon TV wants an interview.

"Doug," you ask, "how do I take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime offer?"

"Simple," I reply. "Just email me your phone number and email address and I'll relay it the the producer. Your information will remain completely confidential and you may also be eligible for an appearance on a Japanese game show."

"Yes," I continue, after a brief pause to lend additional gravity to the offer, "it's just that simple. You can thank me later."


Sunday, January 03, 2010

Rabid Radicals Rage at Rasmussen Reports

Democrats are unhappy with one of the best pollsters in the business, asserting that Rasmussen Reports is biased -- and likening it to Fox News.

Democrats are turning their fire on Scott Rasmussen, the prolific independent pollster whose surveys on elections, President Obama’s popularity and a host of other issues are surfacing in the media with increasing frequency.

The pointed attacks reflect a hardening conventional wisdom among prominent liberal bloggers and many Democrats that Rasmussen Reports polls are, at best, the result of a flawed polling model and, at worst, designed to undermine Democratic politicians and the party’s national agenda.

That said, Politico goes on to report that Rasmussen is universally acknowledged -- even among progressive poll watchers -- as one of the best in the business.

Last year, the progressive website FiveThirtyEight.com’s pollster ratings, based on the 2008 presidential primaries, awarded Rasmussen the third-highest mark for its accuracy in predicting the outcome of the contests. And Rasmussen’s final poll of the 2008 general election — showing Obama defeating Arizona Sen. John McCain 52 percent to 46 percent — closely mirrored the election’s outcome.

Rasmussen, for his part, explained that his numbers are trending Republican simply because he is screening for only those voters most likely to head to the polls — a pool of respondents, he argues, that just so happens to bend more conservative this election cycle.

Indeed, the conservative trend is easy to explain, what with out-of-control Democrats in Washington greedily pushing for more taxes, more regulations and increased unemployment using vehicles like cap-n-trade, government-run health care, and full unionization of the workplace.

* * *

In related news, Democrats also blasted a long list of organizations for "biased and unfavorable reporting that hurts the administration's agenda". The list includes:

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics for continuing to report on double-digit unemployment and increased mass layoff events.

• USA Today for reporting that job losses during President Obama's rookie year exceeded the job losses in any single year since World War II.

• John Mauldin of Frontline for pointedly noting that almost every government-issued statistic is becoming "more and more distorted" (i.e., bogus).

• Various California newspapers for predicting that the state's home values have yet to hit bottom.

• Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge for warning that the U.S. Treasury stands at risk, stating: "Brace for impact: in 2010, demand for U.S. [bonds] has to increase eleven-fold... or else."

• Wells Fargo for warning that commercial real estate remains dramatically overpriced.

• John Williams of ShadowStats for stating unequivocally that "[the] U.S. has no way of avoiding a financial Armageddon."

• Vincent Fernando of Business Insider for noting that the Baltic Dry Index, which measures the level of international trade, "is collapsing."

• Real estate brokers in California for warning that a tidal wave of "shadow inventory" -- foreclosed properties -- has yet to resurface on the market, which would have "a substantial impact on the [local] housing supply if they were to come onto the market" by crushing home values.

• The New York Times for reporting that as many as 6 million Americans have no income other than food stamps.

Democrats do, however, concede that most of the "biased reporting" issues will fade in importance as the federal government institutes its regulations for bloggers and bails out the newspaper business.