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NOTE TO READERS:  Thank you for your many kind wishes.  I'm back at work, with my right arm in a sling, but there's enough flexibility to allow my right hand to perform most keyboard functions.  Should be on a full schedule late today or, latest, early tomorrow. 

SATURDAY,  JULY 31,  2010

TERROR CONCERN OVER YOUNG MUSLIMS IN EUROPE – AT 8:22 P.M. ET:  Europe's security problem is our security problem.  And it's reaching dangerous levels.  From The New York Times:

FRANKFURT — Before Abi left her parents’ house in northern Germany last year, she asked her father, “Daddy, what can I bring you from my journey?” He looked up from his book and answered, “Some perfumed oil.” “Will do,” she said, hugging him goodbye.

He is still waiting, more than a year later, for her to return.

Abi, now 23, and her husband never made the trip they said they had planned to Saudi Arabia to visit Mecca and Medina. Instead they became part of a growing number of young Muslims from Germany and other European countries who travel to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, eventually ending up in the camps of groups affiliated with Al Qaeda or the Taliban.

This is an important story that deserves a full reading.  Infiltration is real.  A small cell in the U.S. and Europe can pull off a major operation, as we've learned painfully.  Get this little bit of weirdness:

Abi has told her mother that Muslims in Afghanistan and Pakistan are oppressed and need help. That reaction is typical for her daughter, who always wanted to help people, Abi’s mother said, adding, “I was always proud of her for this.”

Then tears filled her eyes, as she said: “My husband and I became very weak because of what she has done, and I would like to ask her, ‘Doesn’t the Koran say you should never lie to your parents and have to honor them?’ ”

COMMENT:  The Koran says a lot of things.  This is political Islam, and its followers will interpret the holy book any way it can help their cause.

July 30, 2010       Permalink

OBAMA'S ABYSMAL NUMBERS – 7:44 P.M. ET:  Low poll numbers, consistent over months, can hve a devastating effect on a president.  People stop listening to him, Congress won't do his bidding, he isn't invited to campaign for some members of his own party.

Obama's poll numbers as of today are depressing to anyone not taking appropriate tranquilizers.  Real Clear Politics pegs his approval, culled from an average of the major polls, at 45.3%, with disapproval at 49.8%.  No major poll has the presidential approval number above 48%, nor disapproval lower than 47%.

Nor does there appear to be anything on the horizon that could change those numbers drastically.  Americans appear to be coming to a consistent opinion about the president, and it isn't good.  The recent flareup over race will do him no favors.  The economic news is not what he could have wanted.  Our foreign policy has yet to include a major Obama victory.

By contrast, the GOP numbers are solid, although more because of opposition to Obama than became everyone loves Republicans.  The Republican line keeps moving forward, but, in terms of depth, it is thin.

The midterms are in three months.  If Republicans don't pull them off spectacularly, they should head for voluntary extinction.

July 31,  2010   Permalink

WELL, IT'S A START – AT 1:41 P.M.  We're always glad to acknowledge when journalists correct serious mistakes.  Anderson Cooper of CNN has done just that:

On Thursday’s Anderson Cooper 360, anchor Anderson Cooper faulted himself for not pressing Shirley Sherrod when she appeared on the show back on July 22 and claimed that conservative Andrew Breitbart was a “vicious” racist who “would like to get us stuck back in the times of slavery.”

Cooper now says he should have challenged Sherrod to support such an inflammatory charge with facts: “I believe in admitting my mistakes....I didn't challenge her that night and I should have.”

The July 22 interview was one of numerous appearances Sherrod made on CNN after she was fired by the Department of Agriculture on July 19. Cooper asked Sherrod about her phone conversation that day with President Obama, and then about Breitbart.

COMMENT:  Shirley might avail herself of the opportunity to shut up. 

As far as Cooper is concerned, we commend his apology.  However, he might take a few minutes to reflect on why he didn't challenge Shirley when she made her outlandish comment about Andrew Breitbart.  Maybe the problem is that this kind of crazed, over-the-top stuff is commonly heard around the mainstream media.  Cooper perhaps didn't think it at all unusual.

The Shirley story is over.  Next, please.

July 31, 2010      Permalink

WATERS IN HOT WATER, COMPLICATING LIFE FOR THE DEMS – AT 12:40 P.M. ET:  Another congressional Democrat is facing ethics charges, making it hard for the Dems to say they cleaned house after the last election.  From the Washington Times:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A second House Democrat, Rep. Maxine Waters of California, could face an ethics trial this fall, further complicating the election outlook for the party as it battles to retain its majority.

People familiar with the investigation, who were not authorized to be quoted about charges before they are made public, say the allegations could be announced next week. The House ethics committee declined Friday to make any public statement on the matter.

Waters, 71, has been under investigation for a possible conflict of interest involving a bank that was seeking federal aid. Her husband owned stock in the bank and had served on its board.

New York Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel also faces an ethics trial this fall on charges that include failure to disclose assets and income, nonpayment of taxes and doing legislative favors for donors to a college center named after him.

Both Waters and Rangel are prominent members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the trials would be an embarrassment for the group. Dual ethics trials would also be a major political liability for Democrats, forcing them to defend their party's ethical conduct while trying to hold on to their House majority.

COMMENT:  The racial angle here should not be underestimated.  Many African-Americans may start to believe that their representatives are being targeted...by the Democratic-controlled House.  That's not a great incentive to come out on election day and support the usual party.

On the other hand, if the charges against Rangel and Waters are minimized, or either (if guilty) gets off with a slap on the wrist, there'll be genuine public anger, and the Dems will certainly lose on the corruption issue.  And, among whites, there may then be a greatly increased feeling of a double standard.

Either way, the Dems have a major problem.

July 31,  2010     Permalink

FRIDAY,  JULY 30,  2010

OBAMA AND THE "WOMEN'S" VOTE – AT 5:11 A.M. ET:  You've been reading in the last day or so that the president's support among women has declined.  This is critical political news.

The Democratic Party has, in recent decades, benefited from the so-called "gender gap."  The greater the gap, the greater the chances for a Democratic victory.  That gap is now narrowing. 

One of the great myths about the "women's vote" is that women vote for the most attractive man running, that their vote is frivolous.  That is profoundly untrue.  In 1960, the women's vote went to Nixon, not the far more attractive Kennedy.  Women, as all men know, tend to be more mature then men, especially in the younger age groups.

The decline in Obama's female support is probably due simply to his poor performance as president, and the impact that performance is having on families.  If the trend continues, Obama will have virtually no chance at reelection in 2012.  The key phrase is, "...if the trend continues."  Republicans have enormous opportunies with women this year because of the sheer number of GOP female candidates, many of them superb.  If the party can project itself as a place where women, and the views of women, are welcome, the gender gap may well take care of itself.

We say again, Republicans cannot depend only on Democratic failure.  The positive message must go out.

July 30, 2010      Permalink

THE CLASS ACT CONTINUES – AT 4:07 A.M. ET:  The Democratic strategy for the midterms has "statesmanship" written all over it.  Not.  From The Politico:

After months of attacks against the Tea Party by Democrats calling them everything from extremists to racists with no explanation, the reason is now clear.

Part of the Democrats strategy for trying to keep control of Congress is to link the Republican Party to the Tea Partiers. They are releasing what they say is the identical agenda of both the Tea Party and the Republicans and titled it, “Contract on America."

The Democrats are saying that the Republicans and Tea Party will repeal all that the Dems have “accomplished."

I’m not sure about the Republicans, but speaking for myself as a Tea Partier, I would love to repeal Obama-care and everything else this administration has “accomplished."  It would be the best thing for the future of this nation. That is unless you like bankruptcy…

COMMENT:  It's pretty clear that the Democratic campaign will feature fear as its main calling card.  And "racism" will be on the flip side.

These are old tactics on the left, but the tragedy is that our first post-racial president is doing nothing to stop them.  This is going to be an ugly campaign coming up, and don't underestimate the ability of the Democratic party to make low tactics work. 

July 30, 2010      Permalink

FLOATING AN IMMIGRATION PROPOSAL – AT 4:03 A.M. ET:  Apparently the administration has some new ideas on immigration, but they involve an end run around congressional action.  I get the feeling this is a trial balloon:

With Congress grid locked on an immigration bill, the Obama administration is considering using a back door to stop deporting many illegal immigrants - what a draft government memo said could be "a non-legislative version of amnesty."

The memo, addressed to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas and written by four agency staffers, lists tools it says the administration has to "reduce the threat of removal" for many illegal immigrants who have run afoul of immigration authorities.

"In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, USCIS can extend benefits and/or protections to many individuals and groups by issuing new guidance and regulations, exercising discretion with regard to parole-in-place, deferred action and the issuance of Notices to Appear," the staffers wrote in the memo, which was obtained by Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican.

The memo suggests that in-depth discussions have occurred on how to keep many illegal immigrants in the country, which would be at least a temporary alternative to the proposals Democrats in Congress have made to legalize illegal immigrants.

Chris Bentley, a USCIS spokesman, said drafting the memo doesn't mean the agency has embraced the policy and "nobody should mistake deliberation and exchange of ideas for final decisions."

COMMENT:  I don't think that some administrative proposal that looks like amnesty will get by the American people.  I suspect there'd be a terrible backlash, in part because the whole mechanism looks sleazy and political.

July 30, 2010      Permalink

SOBER THINKING ABOUT DEFENSE – AT 4:01 A.M. ET:  A number of defense experts are increasingly concerned about our status in Asia, and are recommending changes in the way we defend our interests there.  From the Washington Times:

A bipartisan, congressionally mandated defense panel on Thursday challenged the Pentagon to broaden its focus beyond counterinsurgency in Afghanistan and Iraq and expand the Navy to deal with threats from rising powers in Asia.

The report by the independent panel, headed by former White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and former Defense Secretary William Perry, calls for the U.S. military to shift its long-term focus to five areas, ranging from "radical Islamist extremism and the threat of terrorism" to confronting "an accelerating global competition for resources."

The panel report also said U.S. maritime power should be increased to deal with "the rise of new global great powers in Asia," an indirect reference to China's growing military and political power. It said the U.S. military must prepare for the "continued struggle for power in the Persian Gulf and the greater Middle East" and "persistent problems from failed and failing states."

In reviewing the Pentagons Quadrennial Defense Review strategy, the panel, in recommendations made public on Capitol Hill, also said that the United States should merge the budgeting process for the military, intelligence and foreign-assistance spending.

To beef up U.S. maritime power in Asia, the report calls for expanding the Navy from its current fleet of 282 ships to 346 ships.

COMMENT:  Too many Americans believe that once we "withdraw" from Iraq and Afghanistan, we can pick up our marbles and go home.  In fact, threats against the United States are escalating, and some are coming from China. 

I think it will be very hard to get the leftist Democratic base to agree to increase the size of the Navy.  That may have to be done by a coalition of Republicans and moderate Democrats...and that assumes Obama will sign the bill.

July 30, 2010     Permalink