Obama’s mid-term theme: It could be worse

After two years on the job, that visionary fire-breathing agent of change, President Barak Obama, is now whistling a different tune: Don’t change a thing! Instead of acknowledging honestly that things are not good, Obama’s inspiring message in this time of national crisis is, in effect, “Well… it’d be worse with the other guys.”

That’s a tough, tough sell. Even if he were wearing some sharp-looking Ugg boots, it’d be a tough sell.

When Reagan faced a tough transition in 1982, his message was notably different and summed up by the phrase, “Stay the course.” It was a theme that said, “What we’re doing is working… Just give us a little longer.” And it worked.

That’s not the same message at all as “It’d be worse without us.” Could this be 1994 all over again? Let’s hope so!

Stone decries “Jewish control of the media”

Sometimes Oliver Stone is so leftist, even liberals have to admit he’s, well… liberal.

In whining about the challenges for getting his upcoming documentary, The Secret History of America, made, Stone hauled out the old, racist, anti-Semitic slur about “Jewish domination of the media.”

Stone cited this ghost-foe as the main reason it was such a struggle to get the documentary, in which he alleges secret US support of Adolph Hitler, made. Stone, who defended not only Hitler, but his modern protege, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinijad, as well in an interview with the Sunday Times.

Among his more outrageous comments?

“Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30 [million killed],” Stone said. “The Jewish domination of the media [explains the focus on the Holocaust]. There’s a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up United States foreign policy for years.”

The Anti-Defamation League’s Abe Foxman called Stone on the carpet in a press release, in which he said, “Oliver Stone has once again shown his conspiratorial colors with his comments about “Jewish domination of the media” and control over U.S. foreign policy. His words conjure up some of the most stereotypical and conspiratorial notions of undue Jewish power and influence.”

Of course, by Monday Stone had issued the typical, by-rote obligatory non-apology apology, but hopefully it’s too little, too late and Stone will soon be sharing a lake cabin and a Canon camera with folks like Mel Gibson.

Senator Laughing Stock sounds off

Former comic and current Minnesota US Senator Al Franken, otherwise known as Senator Laughing Stock, is trying on a new punchline. According to a report by The Hill, Franken told a Las Vegas gathering of liberal bloggers and other unemployed people that, “If Republicans take back Congress they’ll implement a truly dangerous agenda. Everything is on the table, from repealing healthcare reform to privatizing Social Security.”

Repealing health care reform? Sounds good to me! Someone needs to staunch the bleeding of our nation’s pocketbooks by President Obama, and Franken has made it clear he and his Democrat allies simply aren’t interested in, let alone up to, the job. So I say, fire up the electric fireplaces and let’s roast us some incumbents. Incumbent s’mores, anyone?

Dems worry as Obama becomes Big Bully

Forget about Orwell’s Big Brother; the Obama Administration is looking to become known by an even more ominous title: Big Bully. That’s the concern among the nations’ governors as the Obama Administration prepares to file suit against the state of Arizona because they don’t like the state’s immigration policy… which basically says, “Let’s act like we have one.”

Democratic governors are concerned primarily on the basis of how it could cost the party seats in this fall’s mid-term elections; they may not disagree with the challenge… they just want to win re-election first. Meanwhile, the GOP is warning how Obama’s bullying is basically an attempt by the Fed to grow its power even further beyond its Constitutionally-defined powers to make basically every law as something to be defined and decided at the Federal level.

That’s not a Constitutional Republic, folks; it’s socialism, and it’s about as useful as a 10-year-old taking prenatal vitamins.

RIP Nearly a century of hate

It’s not often considered good form to speak ill of the dead; yet with the passing of Democratic Senator Robert C. Byrd, one could almost make an exception. The eldest and longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate at age 92 at the time of his passing, Senator Byrd of West Virginia was at one time a Kleagle and an Exalted Cyclops in the Ku Klux Klan.

Although he later claimed to have been involved for only a year or so, documents have surfaced showing his fascination with the KKK lasted for perhaps as much as a decade. Also, his public voting record of opposing black nominees while in officer certainly does little to ameliorate his claims to a changed heart.

As the politics of the nation shifted, Byrd made public claims to changing with them, but as recently as 2001 had made public comments in which the “N-word” was uttered by him, though in that case it was uttered in reference to white people. Despite the Democratic party’s modern image as the party of racial diversity, they tolerated Byrd and his record of bigotry right up until his death, throwing out every possible defense to protect him, including Kohler kitchen sinks.

While WonderfulPessimist.com appreciates the grief of those who will miss Byrd as an individual – a father, grandfather and so forth – it would be disingenuous to pretend this site mourns his passing. His membership in the U.S. Senate was a stain on this nation’s history, and only as time goes by can it ever be expected to fade from memory.

That being said, we do hope he made peace with his creator and found truth and forgiveness with him prior to his passing.

Asking for lower taxes is “being a smart-ass” to VP Biden

Vice President Joe Biden could soon be earning the nickname, Walk Away Joe after an exchange with a custard shop owner in Wisconsin. According to online reports, during his visit the store manager offered Biden a cone. Biden asked the manager what he owed him.

“Don’t worry about it,” the manager told him. “Lower our taxes and we’ll call it even.”

Joe walked away without comment and later told the manager, “Why can’t you say something nice instead of trying to be a smart-ass all the time?”

All the time? Unless he’s met this guy before, that’s a bit presumptuous of Biden. And if he considers asking for lower taxes being a smart-ass, it’s no wonder Biden is no favorite of the Tea Party Movement.

Maybe the manager should have offered Biden some free pool filters or something…

Could Sestak claim lead to Obama impeachment?

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak may have ousted GOP-turned-Democrat Senator Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary, but he might be responsible for ousting an even bigger fellow Democrat, if he’s telling the truth. Sestak claims the Obama administration approach him prior to the Democratic primary and offered him a White House job if he stepped aside in favor of Specter.

Sound like politics as usual? Perhaps, but it’s also a violation of federal law. And not just a minor law, but one that adds up to a “high crime and misdemeanor” level of impeachable offenses. Specifically:

Out-of-control Washington wants to quadruple oil tax

Hmm. At a time when the industry is losing product, bleeding money and facing massive clean-up costs, all of which is keeping oil prices artificially high in the wake of the BP oil spill in the gulf, Congress is now set to… raise taxes. Liberals just aren’t very creative, are they?

The move afoot in Washington, despite governmental insistence that BP pay the costs for the oil spill, is to use this disaster as an excuse to quadruple the current federal tax on oil. This would mean over $1 billion in additional taxes per year, passed along to the US taxpayer.

Are you kidding?

No, they’re not.

So, I guess it’s a time out on dreaming up ways to place a new tax on weight loss drinks; oil is the target of liberal dominance run amok once again.

Stesak may fire Specter before GOP opponent can

In Pennsylvania, Democratic candidate Joe Stesak is mounting an impressive anti-Arlen Specter campaign in the impending Democratic primary this coming Tuesday. Specter, a long-time liberal Republican, switched to the Democrats a couple years ago to help solidify Democrat control of the Senate. The move received a lot of appreciation from Senate Leader Harry Reid, who looks likely to be fired by Nevada voters in November. Reid couldn’t have been more grateful, in fact, if he’d been a fireman at a fire sale.

But that doesn’t mean Pennsylvania Democrats want the former GOP bogeyman hanging around either their cheese and drinking their wine; Stesak, a reliable ultra-lib, appears to have Democrat voters ready to send Specter packing before November. He charges that Specter’s party change was more about saving his seat than real conviction, and it’s a charge that sticks.

It’s a mixed bag choice for the Dems, however; Specter isn’t any more trustworthy for the Dems than he was for the GOP, but he has strong name value on a ballot. Stesak is likely to be far more dependable, but doesn’t have Specter’s name value.

One advantage to giving the nod to Stesak is the anti-incumbent fever sweeping the electorate this year; if the Dems fire Specter by nominating Stesak on Tuesday, they avoid Pennsylvania voters doing the job in November, which would turn the seat back to GOP hands. However, the question remains whether Stesak has any better change to defeat his GOP opponent in November, given Stesak’s weak name value.

Time will tell.

Most still want ObamaCare repealed

Dems banked on the “pass it and they’ll come around” mentality when they shoved ObamaCare down the nation’s throat last week, but the latest Rasmussen Polls says a clear majority, 54 percent of Americans, want the bill repealed as soon as possible, in whole and completely and without reservation.

In a press release, Scott Rasmussen said, “the overriding tone of the data is that passage of the legislation has not changed anything. Those who opposed the bill before it passed now want to repeal it. Those who supported the legislation oppose repealing it.”

Most of those same voters also hope their states will join those lining up to sue the fed over the health care reform bill. That’s pretty amazing, and the Dems will ignore it at their own expense. Which is fine by me, and qualifies as one of those deals of the day.

Pelosi may try to pass health care without a vote

Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, currently unable to round up enough Democratic votes to pass the health care reform bill on to the next step of the legislative process, has indicated she may try to pass the measure without a vote.

The procedure, which strangely is performed without the aid of convex mirrors, is nevertheless a procedural trick called a “self-executing rule” or “deem and pass.”

The upshot is that Pelosi would package a popular set of fixes to the Senate bill – a vote only on those changes – and then “deem” the whole package to be passed by the House. While the procedure has been used in the past, it has never been utilized on such a major, economy-shifting piece of legislation.

Of course, even those popular fixes would not be guaranteed to receive passage into law, as the whole mess can still be messed with in other processes both before and after final passage by President Obama, who has staked so much of his presidency on this thing that at the moment, he’d sign a bill approving the cloning of Adolph Hitler if it meant passing something called “health care reform.”

Most. Corrupt. Congress. Ever.

Even Dems fear the worst

Even two Democratic pollsters, Patrick Caddell and Douglas Schoen, are afraid that if Obama-Pelosi-Reid health care reform is shoved through while ignoring current polls, that Dems could suffer major losses in next fall’s midterm elections, as they will have to face the beat of the stainless steel drums of an irate American electorate. Just check out their column in the Washington Post if you don’t want to believe me.

According to Caddell and Schoen, the Dems could lose as many as 30 house seats and eight Senate seats in the coming election cycle. In the Senate, that would give Dems only a one-vote majority at 51-49. In the House, a shift of 30 seats would still keep the Dems in power, moving them from 255-178 to only 225-208, but a loss of such proportions would likely cost Nancy Pelosi her Speaker-ship.

Of course, these are somewhat optimistic views from Democratic minds; their fear is that if the Dems get belligerent about health care reform, voters could get irate enough to push those Dem losses even higher, which could lead to a shift in the majority in the House; the Senate might not be as easy to shift to GOP hands in a single election cycle, but a narrow, one-vote majority would be a huge blow to the White House and the party, and would necessitate actual power-sharing with the GOP, rather than talk of being “one vote shy” of not having to acknowledge that the GOP even exists.

Personally, I don’t expect Obama-Pelosi-Reid to back down; and I expect the losses in November, as a result, to be even more significant than Caddell and Schoen suspect. Yet if the GOP returns to power in at least the House, they will need to continue to offer a fresh set of ideas and a real difference from Democratic solutions to retain that power; otherwise, if they make the same mistakes they made before – offering a choice of only Democrat Lite rather than real conservative solutions – their gains will be temporary, and they could even assure President Obama’s re-election in 2012, which currently does not seem certain at all.