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Change Is Here
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Coming and Going
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Jackson Five Plus One
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Enemy of the Week
Enemy of the Year
The state of the union, Madam Speaker, is unsound.
No, we haven’t forgotten. For a time matters were dicey — the White House was threatening to nationalize the Enemy sector. Then came the proverbial “we have met the Enemy and it is” — fooled you there — “Bush.” But try telling that to the good folks who attended the Dallas Cowboys’ playoff game last Saturday night. Those watching on NBC weren’t told that a huge cheer went up for the former president when he was shown on the big screen enjoyably watching the game in the owner’s box. But readers of the authoritative Dallas Morning News were informed of that political outburst. So if the Cowboys are back, and Bush is back, and Jay Leno too, so is the Enemy of the Year.
First let’s settle on who it won’t be. It can’t be Harry Reid, who as always is being misquoted. In that Navajo dialect of his, he said “thin-skinned,” not “light-skinned.” He remains thick-headed, true, calling up Al Sharpton to apologize when surely he meant to be calling his bookie.
It won’t be Nancy Pelosi, who no matter how hard she tries isn’t getting any younger. She has suffered enough and in any case lacks the essentials to contend for a prestigious political prize.
Nor can it be Christopher Dodd, who lost his best friend last year, underwent a life-altering operation, and has now removed himself from electoral consideration. It’s safe to say he’ll be quickly forgotten countrywide, even if Countrywide is all we remember about him. Ditto Byron Dorgan, of whom it’ll never really be known whether he represented North or South Dakota, two far-away states about which we know nothing, especially at a time of year when no one up there dares go outside. John Edwards has handled his north-south duality with greater skill, having been born in South Carolina, elected in North Carolina, and exposed in the northern part of southern California. Now it’s reported his wife is calling him a monster, which is one of the nicer things anyone has ever said about him. Marriage counseling would seem to be in order.
Least but not alas last is our current Vice President, who claimed to have the goods on his future boss well before Harry Reid pretended to, and who for his troubles has pretty much disappeared from the face of the earth, even from the back of milk cartons. What’s going on here — Joe Biden silenced? Perhaps he will resurface in Yemen, if ever transparency is restored to Gitmo. As luck would have it, TSA’s X-ray vision lines will be the closest our ruling regime can come to bringing transparency to its policies.
The beauty of the current political set up is that what you don’t see is what you get. A stimulus bill to nowhere. Global warming amid record cold. Bipartisan politics under one-party rule. Millions of saved jobs despite worsening unemployment. Growing American prestige in a world ever more disdainful of the U.S. and its very existence.
To add insult to season-ending injury, the ruling administration is now taking its cues from a football team on the skids. We saw over the weekend the once mighty New England Patriots get mugged in their own backyard. They were led, if that is the word, by a quarterback who is now best known as the jock who left his pregnant girlfriend for a model. Needless to say, the cad is now playing at a level he last displayed in college, where no one thought to make him a fulltime starter. Before you could say hut one, hut two, one of the administration’s jocks, OMB director Peter Orszag, was doing the same blasted thing (no, not with the Patriot QB’s women, but same difference). And both the New York Times and Washington Post thought he was the cat’s meow. We won’t add to Orszag’s notoriety any further, not here, not now, not in public view.
We prefer to snag someone unsuspecting, even likable, but who nonetheless must answer for larger institutional sins. We all recall how Saturday Night Live’s Tina Fey steve-schmidted the sensational Sarah Palin upon her political ascension. By contrast, the Prophet O was depicted as a very cool God by the show’s Fred Armisen. Lately, though, increasingly so, Armisen has demonstrated a certain impatience in his depiction of the Holy President. And so Armisen’s delivery has become increasingly clipped, curt, even downright snippy. Fair enough. What we didn’t expect is that President Obama’s remarks in public would increasingly sound like an imitation of Armisen imitating him. You kind of get the sense Our President knows he’s in over his ears.
As an untouchable, he is also immune from our ignoble offerings. And so, in singular Obamarama fashion, it must be Mr. Fred Armisen who gets thrown under the bus, an EOY for all seasons. It’s no ordinary bus — this one’s a mean clean, green-powered machine, a proven job creator, at least at Enemy Central, which can now afford to hire its own driver and street cleaner. Keep ‘em coming, Lord President. See you next year.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (68) | Leave a comment
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Marc Jeric| 1.13.10 @ 6:41AM
To underestimate Abu Hussein from Kenya, our Community Organizer-in-Chief, and his coterie of czars (i.e., komissars), and his system of local soviets (ACORN, SEIU, teacher unions) financed by $8.5 billion from his stimulus bill for their activities in the 2010 census and the voting fraud in the coming 2010 elections, is foolish. They may well communize the USA for ever, with them enjoying absolute power to last as long as in the defunct USSR (thanks, RR!).
Reform and Transparency indeed! That should remind everybody of that crook Gorbachov with his Perestroika and Glasnost - which translated from Russian is exactly Reform and Transparency.
Carl G. Pyper| 1.13.10 @ 6:47AM
Enemy Central...always delightfully cutting, laugh-out-loud funny, and brazenly truthful on a variety of malevolents who rate being skewered and roasted. There are so many of them that, if you included everybody out there in screwball land, it would take hours to read your whole piece. That said, it's a shame a couple of lines (max) weren't "dedicated" to the last-of-the-B.J. Clinton-mentors/now-outta-here-forever, Old Boar Hog of The Senate, Kennedy, E.M.
Bill| 1.13.10 @ 7:13AM
There is nothing funny about this Administration or the Congress. If they are not voted out of office this year and in 2012 this nation will go down in ruin. The Woodstock generation has come of age. They all love this smooth talking used car salesman in the Whitehouse. As long as they get their free healthcare, free drugs and free sex, they will vote for all of them again.
Appleby| 1.13.10 @ 7:29AM
The one thing about this disaster of an administration that will ultimately be for the best is that after 50 years of whining, THE SIXTIES WILL NOW BE OFFICIALLY DEAD, BURIED AND FORGOTTEN.
SeattleBruce| 1.13.10 @ 10:23AM
"As long as they get their free healthcare, free drugs and free sex, they will vote for all of them again. "
+++++++++++
Fortunately, this is not more than 30% of voting adults.
Louis Jenkins| 1.13.10 @ 8:13AM
The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow. They come to be accepted by degrees, by precedent, by implication, by erosion, by default, by dint of constant pressure on one side and constant retreat on the other - until the day when they are suddenly declared to be the country's official ideology.
- Ayn Rand
SeattleBruce| 1.13.10 @ 10:25AM
"The uncontested absurdities of today"
++++++++++++++
This absurdity IS being contested - tooth and nail. To the end.
Louis Jenkins| 1.13.10 @ 8:28AM
Do not be misled.
David Horowitz on radicals:
Because radicals see politics as a war, they perceive opponents of their causes as enemies on a battlefield and set out to destroy them by demonizing and discrediting them. Personally. Particularly dangerous in their eyes are opponents who are wise to their deceptions and realize what their agendas are; who understand that they are not the innocents they pretend to be but are actors whose reality is masked.
The statists are on the war path. Conservatives are on the defensive. When on the defensive you are at a disadvantage in every way. It is, according to the statists and their media, the conservatives who are the enemy of the year.
Appleby| 1.13.10 @ 9:17AM
The hippie scum look on all opposition as The Man trying to Spoil Their Fun.
The up side to this is that they frequently end up dead right ...
SeattleBruce| 1.13.10 @ 10:26AM
"Conservatives are on the defensive. "
+++++++++++++
You haven't seen the Counter Insurgency? Where have you been, watching CNN? This revolution will not be televised on RAT TV...
Louis Jenkins| 1.13.10 @ 11:12AM
Dear Restless in Seattle:
Naw. Ain't been watching statist media news channels. They make me sick. The Counter Insurgency is at the grass roots level, and except for a few individuals here and there the movement is somewhat leaderless. Unless the movement gains a national voice, a spokes person that is, the insurgency will remain at the grass roots. By the same token the insurgency should not be co-opted by the Conservative establishment, and if the establishment does that then we're back to the same old retreatist, patty cake methods. There are voices out there, the Rushies, Hannities, Beck boys, but we honestly need voices with street cred who are not radio talk show hosts, who will not go gentle into the night! Who will stick it to the statists, call them what they are, and use "take no prisoners" tactics. For now the established conservatives are reacting to the statist's actions, and that's no way to wage a war, political or real. Time for the Conservatives to stop throwing themselves on their swords. Keep on truckin' Seattle, the Insurgency needs every able bodied person.
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.13.10 @ 4:46PM
Louis, thank you for that snippet from Horowitz.
THE CORRUPT MEDIA IS THE VILLAIN/ENEMY!
My Lord, folks, think about it! There is NO way this man could have been elected if the media had simply done their supposed job of being the "fourth estate"................NO WAY!
This man and his "politboro" slithered into office because the MSM allowed it to happen at the very least, and decided it would happen if they had any say in the matter.
At the very least, they plugged their ears and sang la la la to avoid looking into this man. I think their crime is worse.
Think about it just a moment. (May I use a contrast?)
They did "a JOB" on Sarah Palin. None of us knew much about her...and they gave her an OBGYN exam. Fair enough.
What they chose not to do .....was give Mr. Obama even a cursory glance.
I'm NOT a "birther"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Frankly I could care less where the baby was born. What I care about is the horrible environment he grew up in...hating American values.
Heck, I will even give him a little slack. Every role-model in his childhood and youth...was a damned communist of one stripe or another ...
NO!... what pithes me off is that our "fourth estate" did not (or could not), penetrate the wall of secrecy the man and his sponsors had erected.
We got a cipher...for our President...and that makes the MSM nothing more than a propaganda organ for the damned communists, (pardon the shorthand).
...They want a war...let's begin it here.
explosion proof light | 11.25.10 @ 1:58AM
For most Americans, Obama doesn't seem to be giving them something they don't have, but instead to be taking away something they already value.
Pete| 1.13.10 @ 11:11AM
Isn't it unreal to watch SportsCenter after the Cheatriots lose? Everyone on the set looks like they found out their mothers were shot. Having said that, I am a Steelers fan, so I despise the Ravens too. Like the Steelers, I think the Ravens have vastly underperformed this year - going into the year, I thought they were the team to beat in the entire league - but then I saw the Steelers basically beat them twice (OT loss w 3rd string QB in Bal) playing quite poorly. They may still get hot and run the table here, but I think overall their season play has been unexpectedly poor. That said, I was rooting hard for them last week. All you have to do is hit Manning a few times and he will fold just like Brady. Go AFC North.
JohnD| 1.13.10 @ 11:26AM
Funny, I saw the Ravens beat the Steelers twice, but in Pittsburgh, the referees took two TDs off the board for Baltimore on very questionable penalties and the Steelers ended up with a three point win.
Pete| 1.13.10 @ 11:51AM
Expected that answer...a little discipline goes a long way and I have seen much less called. You did shoot yourselves in the foot that day for sure. But how you don't blow us out in your house with a terrible 3rd string QB I will never know. Not a good sign. I don't want to see a Jets-Ravens AFC championship game, but if both those teams run the ball and don't turn the ball over, that is where we could be headed.
JohnD| 1.13.10 @ 12:10PM
Still, there is nothing like when the Steelers and Ravens get together and play. No other teams match the intensity of the rivalary, and with that said, that is why the Dennis Dixon game in Baltimore was still close. Records don;t matter, and who is injured doesn't matter.
Let me also say that while I hate the Steelers I respect their organization, the Rooneys, and their great fans. Part of what makes the Ravens-Steelers rivalry so great are the intensity of both cities' blue collar fans.
By the way, this year, the Penguins go down at the hands of Ovechkin and the Caps.
Pete| 1.13.10 @ 12:48PM
I'd happily trade offensive coordinators with you right now...the Steelers simply aren't calling enough running plays. That is why I anticipated a worse result with Dixon in...poor run game and poor passing game seemed like a recipe for disaster to me. Every time we over-rotate to the pass, the results are catastrophic. And I am not sold on Tomlin either...if you can't get your team up to play OAK, KC and CLE, you aren't doing your job. But I agree, it is always a slugfest v the Ravens and fun to watch.
The Caps look good this year...but I will still side with Sid.
I suppose I should get back to politics...I do enjoy talking NFL though.
Sam| 1.14.10 @ 4:08AM
Yeah you definitely should. If you and JohnD are done patting each other on the back about the AFC North, you'd notice that the Steelers aren't in the playoffs, the Bengals collapsed like a house of cards (ochocinco got ochoseised), and the Ravens? They will ultimately fall to my boys- San Diego CHARGERS! This will finally be our year. I can feel it- and the whole city can too.
albert constantine, jr| 1.14.10 @ 8:48PM
There needs to be a transition back to subject matter of the column. Joe Flacco is a graduate of the University of Delaware. Biden is a graduate of the University of Delware. The next time the VP speaks, he'll be telling folks how he defeated the Patriots in the playoffs, and who knows what he might tell folks he did with Tom Brady's wife or his baby mama.
SoCon| 1.15.10 @ 11:38PM
I hope so, Sam--I really hope so. It would be nice to see some good pro football in SoCal again.
Go Chargers!
danfromatlanta| 3.8.10 @ 12:09PM
It's an irksome thing to see a political blog degenerate into sports trash talking. Unless you had money on the games, or own some stock in the team franchises, it makes NO REAL DIFFERENCE, which team wins and which team loses! It makes a real difference which party winsn or loses as we are now seeing after the disasterous elections of 2008! I would suggest we focus on what's important rather than boring everyone with details of sports trivia. In the end, all the players still get their multimillion $ contracts, win lose or draw!
JP| 1.13.10 @ 10:09AM
If trends continue on the downward spiral, our President may announce in 2011 that he wishes to "spend more time with his family", and abandon ship. Despite the weakness of the GOP at the national level, the Far Left is becoming restless. And if for some reason (God willing), ObamaCare goes down, the President may just be toast. There are, to borrow from Marx, a correlation of forces at work. If for some reason (Again, God willing) Brown does win next week, and ObamaCare cannot pass, one could assume that Obama is history. The greatest gift Obama got in 2009 was the election of Al Franken. That gift would be nullified by Brown. And if the GOP can steal Ted Kennedy's old seat (even for just one term), they can win anywhere. Let the 2010 stampede begin. My thinking is that even Evan Bayh would be looking to "spend more time with his family" (or at the very least, a cushy partnerhsip on K-Street). If the Dems suffer a rout in 2010 (lose 5 or more Senate seats, and 50 House seats) Obama is finished. He is no Bill Clinton; there will be no Dick Morris coming to his rescue. The President, in his short life, never suffered any professional setbacks (Bill Clnton, on the otherhand, was a poster-boy for rebounding from disaster), and does not possess the political skills to survive. Yes, he knows how to bully from a position of overwhelming strength; but, he lacks ths skills (and he will find out, the allies) to spring back. No, he will take the easy way out and split.
And the mess that he Senator Reid (soon to be former Senator), and House Speaker Pelosi will leave will be immense.
Tony in Central PA| 1.13.10 @ 12:31PM
The Tom Brady stuff, thank you, man !
Helen Donnelly| 1.13.10 @ 2:43PM
First of all, I'm not a Patriot fan....but what is with all the Tom Brady bashing. The guy has won three superbowls. Of course not single-handedly, but I'll be darned if he didn't quarterback those three teams. Sounds like a little sour grapes out there.
Tony in Central PA| 1.13.10 @ 4:10PM
I think its the media - annointed " Aw shucks ", Mr. Pefect aura that surrounds this guy. I'm glad to find out I'm not the only one who is tired of hearing about it.
Tammy| 1.15.10 @ 11:39PM
I liked Brady until I found out he was a cad. Yikes!
Pete| 1.13.10 @ 3:21PM
It is a backlash to a few things in my opinion - and I think the guy is a good QB, not hall of fame, but good.
1) He won championships while the organization was cheating (none since). As the song goes, "It's easy to be cunning when you know what play is coming..."
2) The northeast media fawning over him is as grotesque in the sports world as the MSM fawning over Osama in the political arena. And like Osama, the guy is an arrogant ass and rotten to the core. Examples: How does the guy win comeback player of the year when his team had a worse record than it had with Matt Cassel, a guy who had never started a game? Why is there not more scrutiny of his personal life, where he knocked up his girlfriend and then ditched her for some model?
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.13.10 @ 4:50PM
Louis, folks,
Please check my reply to Louis...way up at the top of the comments section.
Pingback| 1.13.10 @ 10:22PM
TOP 10 GREEN CARS TO WATCH IN 2010 | European Motor News | Car Classifications Automo links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Wonder Valley, Ca| 1.14.10 @ 12:33AM
EOY = BHO
Anything else is not even funny.
Yosemeti Sam| 1.14.10 @ 1:48AM
" Enemy of the Year ...."
?????????
LIEberman!!!!!!!!!!
Who, recall, was Al Gores' 2000 election year 'good buddy' running mate.
Fast forward:
This 'independent' DEMOCRAT 'stood' with senator McGoo last year - 'good buddies' political theater on a blazing saddles campaign trail.
A perplexing disconnect for conservatives notwithstanding Sarah Palins' sunlight
- a liberals' 'helping hand' for McGoo while otherwise caucusing with Dingy & Co.
Think double agent metaphor?
Surprise, surprise - a critical number of conservatives just couldn't hold their noses;
what with their long memories and political instinct.
Well now, evidentiary history in the making - unmasking:
Fickle LIEbermans' 60th vote on senate health deform bill - lending a 'helping hand'.
As in every vote - including former KKK alumni Bryd - being a fungible factoring 'helping hand '.
Surprise me senator LIEberman - vote no on whatever chimerical 'compromise/merged'
senate cum HR negotiated legislation oozes forth.
Pingback| 1.14.10 @ 2:55AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : Enemy of the Year [spectator.org] on links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Sam| 1.14.10 @ 4:12AM
Yosemite,
Having read your nonsensical post above, I kinda expect you to pull out a couple of revolvers screaming, "I'm a pirrrrrrrrate". Why don't you start chasing Bugs Bunny? It would make more sense than your above post.
Pingback| 1.14.10 @ 5:41AM
Leadership for Life | Management Business Wisdom links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Yosemeti Sam| 1.14.10 @ 11:03PM
Um - tweet, tweet.
BTW, American Spectator webmaster - this little box is not faithful to WYSIWYG comment structure when multiple on-the-fly edits are performed; I do not write from scripts.
Thus comments may be syntactically confusing for some.
Stretch this box horizontally to twice its' size - please.
laryhanis| 1.15.10 @ 5:44AM
It was enacted in 1917 and no that is not the right answer.
I know the answer I just want to see how ignorant the American People are about their fascist country.
Cynical huh?
2 years ago
see Senate Report 93-549 for the answer.
Be sure to read the introduction for a big surprise.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-.....?C=2236872
Tammy| 1.15.10 @ 11:44PM
My, aren't we the turd in the punch bowl!
Loser.
Office 2007 Professional | 1.29.10 @ 2:03AM
Office 2007 Professional
Office 2007 Ultimate
Converse | 8.11.11 @ 9:54PM
is good