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ELECTION - 8 days from today

I'll be on "The Conservative Hispanic" on KVCE Dallas at 10 this morning, ET.  Hear it at 1160 on your Dallas AM dial, or at KVCEradio.com on the internet.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2010

BULLETIN:  PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES REJECTS ROYAL CONNECTION – AT 8:06 P.M. ET:  Explaining to a Hispanic audience why he hasn't gotten immigration reform through, President Obama made a concession today that will rock the political world and disillusion his remaining passionate supporters – all six of them.   

“My cabinet has been working very hard on trying to get it done, but ultimately, I think somebody said the other day, I am president, I am not king."

I'm just shocked at this, and a little bit hurt.  I thought he was king.  I wish he wouldn't spoil the illusion like this.  Don't you agree?

What is he going to say next – "I'm not God?"  That'll really do it.  I mean, who would support him after a zinger like that?  But I really don't think he'll go that far.  After all, he wants to be faithful to his self-image.  And, while it's true that he hasn't turned water into wine, he has turned prosperity into poverty, and let's not underestimate that.  And he has turned tens of millions of supporters into opponents.  How many of those Bible guys did that? 

So, okay, I'll buy it:  The king part is gone, but the Heavenly part...we're hangin' on.

October 25, 2010      Permalink

NOW WE KNOW – AT 7:44 P.M. ET:  I've been worrying about this recently.  What kind of country are we?  What progress have we made?  Now we have the answers, from the definitive source.  No arguments after this:

America is no better off now than it was in the late 1970s and early 1980s, says former President Jimmy Carter. From national politics to relationships with other nations, there is a lot of room for improvement.

"We had almost complete harmony with every nation on Earth," the Nobel Peace Prize winner said of his administration. "We not only preserved peace for our country, we never went to war. We never dropped a bomb. We never fired a missile."

What an arrogant, pompous jerk.  He makes Obama look like Mr. Humility.  Our "almost complete harmony" included Iran taking American hostages and the USSR invading Afghanistan.  Other than that, things were ducky.

While the above issues may be similar, today's American political scene is vastly different. Carter says he had wonderful bipartisan cooperation, with Democrats and Republicans in both the House and the Senate supporting him.

That doesn't exist now.

Oh please.  There was such bipartisanship that the Republicans, in the person of a certain Mr. Reagan, threw him out of office. 

Among the proudest moments of his tenure was when he got two-thirds of the U.S. Senate to vote for the Panama Canal treaties, which guaranteed that Panama would gain control of the Panama Canal in 2000 — the United States had exercised control of the canal since 1903.

Easy to give things away.  Carter could have been elected president of Panama.  It was here that he had his problems.

I don't recommend this article.  You've suffered enough.

October 25, 2010     Permalink

ELECTION UPDATE – AT 10:46 A.M. ET:  Latest polls show, more or less, a continuation of trends we've been following.

In Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey seems to have recovered from a recent drop, and is now up five points over Democrat Joe Sestak in this critical race for the U.S. Senate.  That's according to a Morning Call tracker.

In Connecticut, sadly, super-dull Richard Blumenthal appears to be pulling away from wrestling magnate Linda McMahon in their race for the Senate.  Linda has run a good campaign, but I suspect that her background in the wrestling business has done fatal damage.  Connecticut, the nation's wealthiest state, is a bit prissy and proper, and sweaty wrestlers are not in demand.  Rasmussen has Blumenthal up by 13 percent.

In another critical race, for Obama's old Senate seat in Illinois, the Chicago Tribune poll has Republican Mark Kirk up three over his Dem opponent, whose name I can't spell.  That's too close for comfort.  In Illinois a Republican must win a clean victory to actually get the job.  If the vote is close, the Daley machine in Chicago can usually find enough votes in a closet to fix things.

A Politico generic poll has Republicans up five percent. 

October 25, 2010      Permalink 

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AND IN THE REAL WORLD – AT 9:09 A.M. ET:  When the election is over next week, we'll still be left with the stark realities of world politics.  From the AP:

Iran has imposed new restrictions on 12 university social sciences deemed to be based on Western schools of thought and therefore incompatible with Islamic teachings, state radio reported Sunday.

The list includes law, philosophy, management, psychology, political science and the two subjects that appear to cause the most concern among Iran's conservative leadership - women's studies and human rights.

"The content of the current courses in the 12 subjects is not in harmony with religious fundamentals and they are based on Western schools of thought," senior education official Abolfazl Hassani told state radio.

Hassani said the restrictions prevent universities from opening new departments in these subjects. The government will also revise the content of current programs by up to 70 percent over the next few years, he said.

COMMENT:  Give me the minds of youth, said Adolf Hitler.  We forget that the nature and ferocity of our enemies will be shaped by what they teach their children.  Iran is heading more and more into the darkness of the Middle Ages, a darkness that will soon be protected by nuclear weapons.

We wonder if Western "educators" will protest this latest censorship within Iran, or will fear that any statement will bring the wrath of leftists who are informally teamed with Islamic fundamentalists to bring down the West.  I'll guess the latter path will be chosen.  Why criticize a dictatorship when you can, with far greater acceptance in the academic world, criticize a democracy?

The news from Iran continues to be more and more depressing.  There has been absolutely no progress in our half-hearted campaign to curtail Iran's nuclear program.  Even the Israelis are now starting to make strategic plans for an Iran equipped with nuclear weapons, a profound comment on the failure of Western diplomacy.

We're heartened only by the fact that, with the GOP in control of the House, important foreign-policy issues will be aired, rather than suppressed by the Dems' left-wing committee chairmen.

October 25, 2010      Permalink 

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 8:55 A.M. ET:

From sources in India:   A teleprompter will be in use for the first time in the Central Hall of Parliament when US President Barack Obama addresses MPs on November eight.

As per the tentative programme being worked out, the address by Obama, who once said that "America has its roots in the India of Mahatma Gandhi", would not be for more than 20 minutes.

I'm moved that an American president will introduce the technical miracle of the teleprompter to the Indian parliament.  I'm less moved to learn that "America has its roots in the India of Mahatma Gandhi."  In the immortal words of Johnny Carson:  "I did not know that."  And neither did anyone else.

October 25, 2010      Permalink

OH, DEAR ME.  WE WEEP FOR THEM, WE WEEP – AT 8:38 A.M. ET:  What a bunch of sad sacks these Obamans are.  Have you ever seen people in politics who feel more sorry for themselves?  They are the classic bullies:  Punch them and they cry.  From the Daily Beast:

As the GOP prepares for a rout in November (The Daily Beast’s Election Oracle forecasts a 50/50 split in the Senate and a substantial Republican lead in the House), the Obama team seems powerless to stop it. Howard Kurtz on its fascinating belief that the bully pulpit has been downsized, forcing the leader of the free world to shout for attention:

Imagine if the Chilean mining disaster had happened here in the States. President Obama would have been hammered for 69 days for failing to rescue the men, right up to the moment the first one was pulled to safety.

That’s the sensibility inside the White House these days: If there’s a bad story out there, even one far removed from the presidential orbit, the Obama crowd will own it. Every administration feels besieged at times, pilloried by the press, misunderstood by the public. But conversations with White House officials suggest a team that feels almost snakebit during a midterm election that is likely to produce substantial losses.

"There’s an alternative story here that we’re trying to tell,” says Dan Pfeiffer, the communications director. "But there’s an element of spitting in the ocean."

COMMENT:  Oh, please.  Sometimes I think the Obama White House would make a good setting for a daytime soap opera.  The president is getting his message out, it's just not the message Americans want to hear.  When a president continually demeans his own country and his own citizens, some might suggest that he's carrying the wrong speech.

But in this White House, pure of heart and incapable of error, there is no understanding of this at all.  It's just a bad time, that's all.  And it's so unfair.  It's so...BUSH (!!). 

The White House is fighting the last war.  They're campaigning like it's 2008, not realizing that they've already governed.  You know governed.  That's the thing you do when you get the job.  No one told them.

October 25, 2010      Permalink

BORDER AREA ATTACK – AT 8:27 A.M. ET:  News comes this morning of a brutal attack in Tijuana, Mexico, that will focus attention once again on the violence on our borders:

TIJUANA, MEXICO – A client at a drug rehab center in the Mexican border city of Tijuana said Monday that a gang of armed men burst into the building and gunned down 13 recovering addicts there.

Prosecutors have not yet confirmed the number of dead. Police at the scene say at least 10 were killed.

The witness, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Jesus, for fear of reprisals, said he was attending a movie showing on the first floor of the center, and had stepped out for something to eat when the attacked occurred late Sunday.

When he returned, his fellow clients told him the attackers made the addicts lie on the floor, and then sprayed them with bullets. Other clients sleeping upstairs in the center also survived. There are normally about 45 clients at the center.

COMMENT:  The southern-border issue has been remarkably quiet in recent weeks.  The Democrats certainly don't want to discuss it, and Republicans have focused on the economy.  This new incident, however, might re-focus attention on the volatile situation we face in the south. 

I hate to put a horrible incident like this in political terms, but, inevitably, there will be a political effect.  Tijuana borders on California, where a major Senate race is being fought. 

Stand by for more on this.  A border incident conjures up the whole issue of illegal immigration, which may well act as a hidden force in balloting a week from tomorrow.

October 25, 2010     Permalink

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2010

BARACK, THEY'RE NOT LISTENING – AT 7:25 P.M. ET:  Rarely do political coalitions break up so quickly.   But the Obama coalition of 2008 seems to be fracturing, as the reality sinks in that Obama is, shall we say, inadequate:

On college campuses where Barack Obama made politics cool again, most students have moved on.

They’ve quit bugging their friends about change, they’re no longer trying to sign up new voters and the knock-on-door day trips now draw only the most hard-core.

One statistic from Rock the Vote, the most aggressive organization behind youthful political participation, illustrates the difference between now and 2008 — just 280,000 young voters signed up in its midterm elections voter drive, a fraction of the 2.5 million who eagerly put their name on voter forms two years ago.

The bottom line: From coast to coast, universities that brim with liberal ideas and idealistic students won’t be sending nearly as many voters to the polls on Nov. 2. And that’s bad news for Democrats.

COMMENT:  And neither African Americans nor Hispanics seem as enthusiastic about the Democratic Party this time 'round.  And the gender gap, vital to Dems, has narrowed.

This doesn't mean we'll have a rout on election night.  But it does mean we can, for the first major election in a long time, look forward to some fun.

October 24, 2010      Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 7:06 P.M. ET:  The Juan Williams/NPR scandal continues to boil, with no admission from NPR, of course, that it did anything wrong other than disrupt its fundraising week with the firing of Williams. 

Brit Hume, at Fox, hits on an issue that some have been reluctant to discuss:

Fox News commentator Brit Hume asserts that race played a role in National Public Radio's decision to fire Juan Williams last week after he made a comment on a Fox show about being concerned when he saw airline passengers in "Muslim garb."

"In the culture of NPR, appearing on Fox is a sin," Hume said on "Fox News Sunday," with regular panelist Williams sitting a few seats away. "And in the culture of NPR, for an African-American man like Juan, regardless of his personal stature, to be there and be kind of a Bill Cosby liberal, not a down-the-line liberal, is a sin as well. They’ve been gunning for him for years."

COMMENT:  So true, so true.  In the eyes of the left, and using the phrase that is so stinging to minorities, Juan Williams didn't know his place. 

NPR has had a bad week.  Good.  It's about time.  Its public "unmasking" (an old Marxist term, hah, hah) as a left-wing propaganda front has now taken place before an audience larger than it has ever gotten on its own.

Will it make a difference?

The building of truth occurs bit by bit.  The Chinese speak of "a thousand cuts."  This was a big cut this week.

October 24, 2010     Permalink

AND IN THE REAL WORLD – AT 9:28 A.M. ET:  Uh, this election is about something, and this is one of the things it's about.  We're not exactly in the money:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Regulators on Friday shut down a total of seven banks in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas and Arizona, lifting to 139 the number of U.S. banks that have fallen this year as soured loans have mounted and the economy has sputtered.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over the banks, the largest of which by far was Hillcrest Bank, based in Overland Park, Kan., with $1.6 billion in assets.

A newly chartered bank subsidiary of Boston-based NBH Holdings Corp. was set up to take over Hillcrest's assets and deposits. The new subsidiary is called Hillcrest Bank N.A.

The FDIC and Hillcrest Bank N.A. agreed to share losses on $1.1 billion of the failed bank's assets. Its failure is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $329.7 million.

Also shuttered were First Bank of Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Fla., with $81 million in assets; Progress Bank of Florida, based in Tampa, with $110.7 million in assets; First National Bank of Barnesville in Barnesville, Ga., with $131.4 million in assets; Gordon Bank of Gordon, Ga., with $29.4 million in assets; First Suburban National Bank in Maywood, Ill., with $148.7 million in assets; and First Arizona Savings, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., with assets of $272.2 million.

Ameris Bank, based in Moultrie, Ga., agreed to assume the assets and deposits of First Bank of Jacksonville. Bay Cities Bank, based in Tampa, is buying the assets and deposits of Progress Bank.

COMMENT:  Welcome to the recovery.  I know that a good time is being had by all.

October 24, 2010      Permalink

ELECTION UPDATE – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  Well, not much happens, even in an election year, between Saturday night and Sunday morning. 

In Ohio, GOP favorite John Kasich holds on to a narrow lead against incumbent Governor Ted Strickland, for the governor's chair.  Strickland is essentially running as a conservative, although a Democrat. 

A surprise Boston Globe poll puts Dem Governor Deval Patrick only four points ahead of challenger Tim Cahill.  And that's in one of the bluest states in the country.  Patrick is an incompetent governor, but too many in Massachusetts will automatically pull the Democratic lever.  Also, being an African-American, he will bring out the Boston vote.

Strange poll by the L.A. Times has Jerry Brown 13 points ahead of Meg Whitman for governor, and Barbara Boxer eight points ahead of Carly Fiorina for the Senate.  This poll is an outlier.  Others have both races much closer.

Latest Pennsylvania tracker shows Toomey up three over Sestak.

We have a bit more than a week to go.  House looks good, governorships look good, Senate looks shaky.  We await the possibility of some last-minute October surprise, probably sprung, not by the Democrats, but by their friends in the media.  The leak of thousands of war documents was clearly timed to influence our election, but I don't see it having much impact.  Watch for a last-minute hit against GOP candidates.

October 24, 2010       Permalink

WHY DOES HE HATE US? – AT 8:40 A.M. ET:  We used to ask, about other countries, why do they hate us?  Now we ask it about our own leaders.  Toby Harnden, one of the most astute British commentators on American politics, is appalled at President Obama and his opinion of his country, and charges that Obama can cause lasting damage:

This year, Democrats have embraced with gusto the notion that Republicans, and by extension anyone thinking of voting for them, are dimwits...

...In choosing California and Massachusetts, two of the most liberal states in the union, to demean ordinary Americans during election campaigns, Obama did not display a whole lot of his much-vaunted intelligence. But Obama's decision to plug Stewart's rally approvingly and appear on his show three days beforehand is even more foolish.

In the 1990s, Democrats managed to get away from their image as "eggheads" in the 1950s or "pointy-headed liberals" in the 1970s. Bill Clinton spoke like a Good Ol' Boy from the Deep South, ate junk food and enjoyed trashy women. He was clever, but he did not look down on people.

Obama, by contrast, has become a parody of the Ivy League liberal smugly content with his own intellectual superiority and pitying the poor idiots who disagree with him. It is an approach that shares much with the default anti-Americanism of British and European elites, who love to mock the United States as a country full of gun-toting, bible-clutching morons.

Obama would feel no pain if accused, to his face, of fomenting anti-Americanism.  He seems to have no problem with the phenomenon.

The problem for Obama and the Democrats is that belittling the Tea Party movement, which is taking hold of much of Middle America, merely fuels the popular sense that the party in power is out of touch. It also highlights the reluctance of Obama and the Democrats to discuss the Wall Street bail-out, economic stimulus and health care bills because they know they are not vote winners.

Joining the Europeans in mocking ordinary Americans for their supposed idiocy may play well at big-dollar fund-raisers. In adopting this as a political strategy, however, the Democrats could be the ones who end up looking stupid.

COMMENT:  They will look stupid, but they will never be called stupid by the media elites, who share their views and their shallowness.  How would you like the country run by Christiane Amanpour?

Obama has revealed his true self during this campaign, as compared to the fake image projected in 2008.  Most Americans don't like it.  But, even if that's true, the Republicans still must find a credible candidate to take him on, or we'll have four more years of Obama after 2012.

October 24, 2010     Permalink