The rule of law and liberal democracy…are crumbling under
the leadership of [the] president… [He] has subverted the
fundamental institutions of government, converting them into tools
for maintaining and consolidating personal power. His government
and its supporters harass those who do not align themselves
politically and ideologically with [him]. They use various means to
persecute their political opponents, including (among other things)
assaults in the media, violence, censorship and false criminal
charges. (From a
white paper by Robert Amsterdam, Gonzalo Santomé, and Antonio
Rosich.)
When I learned that Joe Biden would be crashing the Republicans’
party at the now weather-shortened GOP convention in Tampa this
week, my first reaction was “How typical for such a classless,
in-the-gutter, desperate campaign.” The fact that nature has
thwarted the Democrats’ politically vulgar behavior, with Biden
announcing on Sunday that he has canceled his trip into “the
belly of the beast,” does not lessen their puerile intent.
The behavior of Obama’s henchmen, and even more so his
henchwomen, is to politics what the nouveau riche are to
high society: they have come into power without having any
understanding of how to behave once they have it.
To be sure, politics ain’t beanbag.
The Marquess of Queensberry never prescribed rules for campaigning.
But even if he had, it’s unlikely that the Obama administration and
Democrat leaders in Congress would heed them given their disdain
for our prescribed rules for governing, also known as the
Constitution.
After all, this is the political party that told us we have to
pass a bill regulating more of American life than any other piece
of legislation in our history in order to find out what’s in it.
The party that, when asked whether that legislation was
constitutional, responded that it was not a serious
question.
This is the party whose supporter, Teamsters president Jimmy
Hoffa Jr., offered Michigan union workers to Obama as “your
army” in his “war” against his political opponents, saying “Let’s
take these son of a bitches out.” (At least he’s a Democrat
thug rather than an English teacher.)
This is the party whose henchwoman suggested that Mitt Romney
had committed a felony by taking a leave of absence from Bain while
still being reported to the SEC as its CEO. Then President Obama in
his first
press conference in months — so much for being the most
transparent administration ever — said “nobody
accused Romney of being a felon,” yet was not challenged on
that falsehood by a single reporter in the room.
And now, this is the party that wanted to send its
white-hair-transplanted Howdy Doody vice president to try to draw
media attention from what will likely be the most important event,
including the most important speech, of Mitt Romney’s political
career.
Following Biden’s spineless cancelation — after all, shouldn’t
someone going to attack a beast be willing to brave a stiff breeze?
— Republicans may be reminded of the 16th century English
proverb that
it’s an ill wind that blows nobody (any) good.
Breaching
precedent and decorum, Obama will also campaign this week,
mostly going to college campuses, where even the perpetually
idealist and naïve youth of America are showing up in smaller
numbers than four years ago as they consider the dim job prospects
offered by the Obama economy and the unpleasant vision of having to
move back in with their parents.
And Michelle Obama, perhaps wearing high-dollar
couture purchased on one of her several
expensive (at least for taxpayers) vacations, will be a guest
on the David Letterman show where she may nag the nation’s parents
about our children’s diets. (Is she known to have thoughts on any
other subject?)
Low class, nouveau puissant, to be sure. But it’s more
than that. This is not just about our clownish veep, narcissistic
president, or supercilious first shopper cum dietician. It is about
the character of our government, and by extension our country. The
behavior of today’s Democrats is undemocratic, better fitting a
petty dictatorship than history’s greatest and once-freest
nation.
Few things speak as profoundly to the corrosive effect of the
Obama administration on our republic, to the extent to which Barack
Hussein Obama is realizing his dream of “fundamentally
transforming” the nation, than the realization that the paragraph
leading this article, written about Venezuelan dictator Hugo
Chávez’s “Rule
of Lawlessness,” could fairly describe the current situation in
the United States.
To be sure Barack Obama, icy-cool character that he is, does not
come across — at least not on a daily basis — as thuggish as
Chávez does. But the radical mindset is the same: An
anti-colonialist motivation for “social justice” (despite being
generations away from colonialism). An anti-capitalist instinct
against entrepreneurship and success (despite decades of evidence
of the failure of socialism). And a willingness to do or say
anything to further anti-democratic goals while lounging in the aid
and comfort offered by a compliant media which, despite rare pangs
of
conscience, exists literally or figuratively as a propaganda
arm of the regime, sitting silently as the national fabric is
shredded.
Hugo Chávez often wears a military uniform as he sends
supporters to disrupt his challenger’s campaign events. Barack
Obama wears a suit as he sends employees and supporters to disrupt,
or at least distract from, the Republican event that is likely to
do more than any other to introduce Mitt Romney to the nation. (In
other similarities, Obama and Chávez both oppose, through their
bureaucracies, removing dead people from the voter rolls and they
both consistently side with the enemies of Israel, though Obama
claims to support America’s ally while Chávez is at least honest
about his
hatred of Jews and their homeland.)
Joellen| 8.27.12 @ 7:03AM
Joe the Thug wouldnt come to Florida because of a storm. Yeah, I believe that like I believe Obama is intelligent and/or that he loves America. Joe the Thug wont go to Florida because he might meet up with the likes of strong Patriotic Americans who would call him out on his despicable way of governing (I used the word governing mockingly). Put Joe the Thug in the same room as Paul Ryan, or have him meet up in the street with Allen West, have him enter a restaurant and run into Sarah Palin or better yet her husband Todd - oh what I would pay to see that encounter. Thugs/Bullies = cowards when it comes down to the actual fight in the arena.
TLP| 8.27.12 @ 5:11PM
Without exception, everyone writing for TAS is either Feigning Ignorance or they are so Cloistered in their own Hoypaloy Elitist Bubbles that they can't see the Street Thug for the Trees.
In the opening paragraph our Great White Tourist states that This Year's Hitler has no regard for the Finer Points of Civility when it comes to Engaging in the Edicate of Civilized Political Gamesmanship.
He's the Scion of an Atheist Communist Tramp and a Muslim Marxist AIDS riddled Wh*re Cahsing Alcoholic, who abandoned him and Died Drunk in a Kenyan Gutter.
How he Acts and What he Does is in his DNA. He could no more Love this Country than Farrakhan could love a Jew.
He's a lifelong Follower of Communists, Marxists, Moaists, and Black Radicals.
He is an Alinsky Accolyte. A student of Cloward and Piven and a Chip off the old block of two Unrepentent Domestic Terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn with a Side Order of Louis Farrakhan and Khalid Rashidi thrown in for good measure.
He does what he does, because he is what he is.
Think Leopard, and Spots.
Because he's a Muslim he Lies to the Infidel.
Because he's all those other things he Lies to everyone else.
To expect anything other than the Gutter, would be like expecting Michelle to fit in a size 1 pair of trousers.
He's a White Hating, Jew Hating, America Hating, Black Radical, in the mold of H. Rap Brown or Angela Davis.
When are people gonna understand that he's The Fox in the Henhouse?
I'm thinking - NEVER.
Jack London| 8.27.12 @ 7:08AM
Oh dear Ross - you're descending into Jeffrey Lord territory. What's next? Obama the Nazi, no doubt.
The Avenger| 8.27.12 @ 7:28AM
Jack old buddy, pray tell, what is that brown spot on your nose?
Drunken Sailor| 8.27.12 @ 9:52AM
You underestimate our troll Jack. The brown spot is clear around his neck.
Ross Kaminsky| 8.27.12 @ 9:56AM
Jack, not all fascists are Nazis. After all, a major tenet of the Nazis' program was intense nationalism. So while Obama is to a large degree a fascist in the economic sense of the term, politically he is far more of an old-school "global socialist" than a Nazi, in which the N stood for "national." After all, no man who disbelieves American exceptionalism or wants to "fundamentally transform" his country or wants to outsource our foreign policy and military leadership to the UN and NATO could ever be described as even proud of his country, much less a nationalist. For further evidence, I point you to his speech in Berlin in which he mentioned being a "citizen of the world."
Jack London| 8.27.12 @ 11:02AM
Come on Ross - you'll be going for the 'no one's asked to see my birth certificate' next. Obama's foreign stance has been to try and move us away from the disastrous neocon policies that have cost countless lives and racked up massive anti-American feeling. At home all I see is a modest transformation to try and put us in the stronger economic position we have had historically as a more equal nation. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be _more_ proud of one's country.
Anyway, now the public are getting a taste of the far-right social extremism of Ryan and his pals, and the hugely destructive cuts that will come our way under Romney, there's only one winner now. Romney may be able to buy lies in his ads, but he'll lose the debates.
Von Mises Jr| 8.27.12 @ 11:09AM
troll alert
DRed| 8.27.12 @ 11:37AM
"Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen - a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world."
-Barak Obama
"I speak today as both a citizen of the United States and of the world. I come with the heartfelt wishes of my people for peace, bearing honest proposals and looking for genuine progress."
-Ronald Reagan
Pathetic, Ross.
Ross Kaminsky| 8.27.12 @ 11:43AM
Are you suggesting that Obama's view of America and Reagan's view of America are remotely similar? Can you imagine Reagan sitting in a church with a preacher shouting "God d**n America!"?
DRed| 8.27.12 @ 12:02PM
I'm saying that for a politician addressing an international gathering, referring to oneself as a 'citizen of the world' is a business as usual. It's evidence of nothing. American Presidents have been using that line for decades. It only means something because you are starting with the idea that Obama hates America and looking for whatever flimsy evidence you can find to support it. It's a lazy trope-all Democracts hate America, Republicans are the True Patriots, Go Red Team!
Von Mises Jr| 8.27.12 @ 12:59PM
troll alert
DRed| 8.27.12 @ 1:08PM
I'm not a troll, I'm a massage therapist.
spike59| 8.27.12 @ 1:30PM
"I'm not a troll, I'm a massage therapist."
=======================
who lives under a bridge, in a gubmint massage parlor
Drunken Sailor| 8.27.12 @ 1:54PM
Oh, do you know Al gore?
Von Mises Jr| 8.27.12 @ 2:02PM
With your tonsils
spike59| 8.27.12 @ 1:29PM
"when we spread the wealth around, it's better for everyone"
-Barack Obama
"from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs"
-Karl Marx
DRed| 8.27.12 @ 1:39PM
"In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished; after labor has become not only a means of life but life's prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly -- only then then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!"
"If you've got a plumbing business, you're gonna be better off if you've got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you. And right now, everybody's so pinched that business is bad for everybody. And I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody. But, listen, I respect what you do and I respect your question. And even if I don't get your vote, I'm still gonna be working hard on your behalf 'cause I want to make sure … small businesses are what creates jobs in this country and I want to encourage it."
The two quotes are almost identical!
The Avenger| 8.27.12 @ 2:18PM
higher phase of communist society, HAHAHAHAHA. What a fool you are.
TLP| 8.27.12 @ 5:16PM
He's not a fool.
He's your Classic, Run of the Mill Useful Idiot.
And, like all Useful Idiots, he will be Useful, until deemed otherwise by The State.
Then he'll be Dead.
"Those who don't learn from History, are DOOMED to repeat it."
Amen.
DRed| 8.27.12 @ 6:14PM
I am not actually Karl Marx.
Von Mises Jr| 8.27.12 @ 6:51PM
You are an oral massage therapist.
DRed| 8.27.12 @ 7:08PM
we we masseur
spike59| 8.28.12 @ 5:53AM
the sentiment surely is identical; it follows the usual LibProg fairy tale that "once upon a time, a magical unicorn deposited 'the wealth', and those EEEEEEEVILLLLL capitalists hogged it all yadda yadda yadda buy my birth control or you want me to die, support me womb to tomb or you're a racist yadda yadda yadda"
Tom Kyba| 8.27.12 @ 11:47AM
Ouch! That's the truth hitting you upside the head. As for the attempt at sarcasm, you and the rest of the great washed have used up the Nazi meme on Bush already. But of course it was ok then. La la la la la la.
Joellen| 8.27.12 @ 7:22AM
Jack, you and the others who mock those who call O bama the Nazi. Tell me, what is the actual difference between Obama and Nazis. Both want complete control (government and social). Both believe in the culture of death (the Nazis by gas chambers, Obama and the Dem's by Abortionchambers/death panels), and both wanted/want the fall of America the Republic. You and the other lightweights who have no valid arguments can only resort to the name labeling (racist, Nazis, homophobic; etc.). Come up with a valid reason why Joe the Thug would come to a party he isnt invited to.
Von Mises Jr| 8.27.12 @ 8:18AM
"The Origins of Totalitarianism" by Hannah Arendt travels through recent history and explains how Imperialism, Mercantilism, colonialism, continental pan movements, communism, Nazism and other forms of socialism are all slightly different flavors of their origin SERFDOM.
Only the ignorant and gullible followers of Obama should be able to be fooled that his mixed bag brand of socialism is anything different than Nazism except that it is still blossoming and has not recorded the misery and tragedy of these other movements yet.
D'Souza points this out in "2016" that "American Exceptionalism" made possible by capitalism and our Constitution offer the opposite of these despotic, tyrannical and sometimes totalitarian regimes. I hope you are not fooled.
TLP| 8.27.12 @ 5:18PM
You left out - They both Hate the Jews.
Cat Shot| 8.27.12 @ 7:29AM
Tim! Batter up!
TLP| 8.27.12 @ 5:20PM
Me?
JimH| 8.27.12 @ 7:54AM
I had initially suggested that Joe's reason for coming to Tampa Bay was to visit with his fellow circus geeks in Gibtown. In retrospect this was wrong. These are honest hard working people who would have no use for Joe. More likely, he was going to discuss chains with his homies in Uhuru in St. Pete. This is a group of revolutionary wannabees who when not out advocating cop killing are busy trying to extort whatever largess they can from the gummint and local businesses.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 8.27.12 @ 8:07AM
In some ways, I was looking forward to the VPOTUS going to Tampa, since that would mean that he was out of Delaware for a while (where he's being kept between gaffes).
Mimi | 8.27.12 @ 8:12AM
Ross....Man you sure are something today ! You didn't miss a beat....BRAVO !!!
Ross Kaminsky| 8.27.12 @ 9:58AM
Thanks, Mimi! Nice to wake up to a compliment.
Pepe LaPue| 8.27.12 @ 8:45AM
In 2008 many voted for "O" to prove they weren't racist. Now I suggest that the votes go to Romney to prove they're not STUPID!!!
SEE "2016" THE MOVIE!!
Louis Jenkins| 8.27.12 @ 8:56AM
Chavez says he hates jews, whereas Obama has shown that he despises Israel. (Why do the jews keep voting democrat?) He must be very much the same as Chavez, only more so. He doesn't wear a uniform, but he has the same cut of people at his disposal including jews. We have to remember that jews played a very important part in Red October, and they're dancing to Obama's tune. Don't worry Ross, Obama has just begun to fight. There's a lot more in store.
R Martin| 8.27.12 @ 8:56AM
Some random thoughts on a good piece by Mr. Kaminsky:
Howdy Doody was a good hearted, well meaning puppet. Wouldn’t the analogy be better with Phineas T. Bluster?
Given the public’s perception of the news media (and, of course, the reality of the new media) why do they get to moderate the presidential debates? There are so many better alternatives.
The Chavez quote is appropriate. Equally relevant would be this one from the Declaration of Independence: “He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.”
Ross Kaminsky| 8.27.12 @ 10:01AM
Great points all, Mr. Martin.
Mike G| 8.27.12 @ 10:20AM
"Given the public’s perception of the news media (and, of course, the reality of the new media) why do they get to moderate the presidential debates? There are so many better alternatives."
I agree. What keeps the Repubs from insisting that at least two of the debates be real debates, ala Kennedy/Nixon.
Mars the Avenger| 8.27.12 @ 12:32PM
Mike,
Answer to y0ur question about debates: cowardice. There is so much material out there to take the Dems down, and the Repubs consistently unilaterally disarm. I just don't understand it.
Ian Cognito | 8.27.12 @ 9:07AM
Evidently, the internal polling showed voters didn't like the Obama team crashing the GOP's party. Or, Biden "smelled the coffee" and understood he might be hurt - or worse - should he show his face in Tampa. (Hint: It wasn't the GOP he feared.) Apparently, only "OWs" will be trolling for violence in Tampa and Raping. But that's their mainstay. They can't have a good time unless sex against a woman's will is part of the festivities. Liz Warren, Nancy Pelosi, and many other Dems thought the OWs were better than the tea party. The War Against Women can't be properly framed without examples. Nor: Property destruction - fecal bombs - fetid living conditions - and RAPE - are what most Democrat supporters face daily. RICH Americans need an in your face example to Get It. RAPE, and the other unorthodox behaviors are acceptable so long as the larger message - the Rich don't pay their fair share is exposed.
TeaPartyNow| 8.27.12 @ 9:47AM
Distraction from what? You keep wanting to stake your claim that obama is distracting you.
Yet you yourself can say exactly zero of Romney in your story, and why? Because we haven't seen either romneys record or his plans yet, so its romneys fault people like you Ross, are left only to distract. 2 pages of talk about others Ross, with a title saying they are distracting from Romney. Hello?
You guys don't get that Romney can't run on his record, and his plans are only slightly more decline for America than obama at best. Mitt Romney has zero solutions for America. And a few trickle down, and completely base, too little, too shallow "recovery" efforts just isn't gonna cut it today. Sorry, but you don't even know Mitt Romney yourself. But feel free to continue your expose' on other people, Ross. Mitt isn't getting any better now.
Drunken Sailor| 8.27.12 @ 10:00AM
So who are you voting for TPN? All we see is you hammering Mitt, but not a peep about Obama.
State your stance or be delegated to the troll list.
Drunken Sailor| 8.27.12 @ 10:25AM
Never mind. Just read your slobbering love note to purp on another thread. Troll.
Butch| 8.27.12 @ 4:45PM
She made my scroll-through list in just two posts, Sailor.
Kwan| 8.27.12 @ 11:00AM
This Obama stooge's mission appears to be trying to convince us that Romney is not a pure enough conservative like himself. Therefore we should sit out the 2012 Presidential Election as some sort of protest and of course throw the election to Obama.
spike59| 8.28.12 @ 5:55AM
i wonder how much these Obamatrolls are paid...
Ross Kaminsky| 8.27.12 @ 10:04AM
First of all, not every article needs to have equal time between the Dems and the GOP. The point is the Dems' thuggish behavior, and to explain that needs no mention of Romney.
Romney's record isn't perfect, esp. Romneycare, but it's a lot better than Obama's record, and especially given the focus of this election on the economy, he certainly can run on it.
Romney has far better solutions for America than Obama does, and to say he has none is an outright lie which makes me believe you're a troll leftist trying to pose as a Tea Party member.
If you are a Tea Party member, then stop being an idiot. You have two choices here: Obama or Romney. If Romney wins, we have a very good chance of repealing Obamacare, the single most damaging piece of legislation in recent American history. There's a lot more to recommend Romney, but that alone is enough.
Kwan| 8.27.12 @ 10:49AM
If you are a Tea Party member, then stop being an idiot....That's like asking this guy to stop breathing. He's a 'Professional Useful Idiot' know to rattle-off an endless barrage of meaningless statements.
Tom Kyba| 8.27.12 @ 11:51AM
Tea party now. Yeah sure you are. And I'm the director of the ministry of silly walks.
Alej| 8.27.12 @ 9:53AM
"The behavior of Obama's henchmen, and even more so his henchwomen, is to politics what the nouveau riche are to high society: they have come into power without having any understanding of how to behave once they have it."
Low class people throughout history have been categorized by their coarse behavior. They were variously called "peasants," or "the great unwashed," or "louts."
Today, in America, they are called "Democrats."
spike59| 8.28.12 @ 5:56AM
"Bougie Democrats"
LindaF | 8.27.12 @ 11:29AM
Not to mention that Adolf and our Dolt have faddish beliefs about God, allying with Muslims, and food (at least, his wife does).
Denver Todd| 8.27.12 @ 11:36AM
Not to change the subject, but many people have already made the media irrelevant. Not just conservatives, many people (me included) no longer use a tv in the home, or subscribe to the newspaper; we get our news from the internet or old-school radio. When I tell the guy at the grocery store who wants me to sign up for the paper that I won't pay for the Denver Post because it is too liberal, at least he is honest when he says I should buy it for the coupons.
cuban pete| 8.27.12 @ 12:15PM
DT,
Agreed but I still like to spread the paper out on early weekend mornings while I drink my coffee.
Old habits die hard.
The two Chicago rags at least still have decent prep sports coverage but little else.
For example political and fine art insights from Richard Roeper-yikes!!!!
Tom Kyba| 8.27.12 @ 11:54AM
I think someone on his side told Biden: "Hey bullet head, we're already scrambling to stay afloat, stop making an ass of yourself".
wombat1| 8.27.12 @ 12:15PM
My question is this:
if the legacy media are already in the tank for Obama and the Democrats, why does anyone believe their polling figures?
John II| 8.27.12 @ 12:48PM
Literary weenie that I am, I remain fascinated by Jack's choice of nom de internet, a choice probably more apt than Jack realizes.
Ah yes, Jack London: a fierce socialist of goofy parentage and rootless background, intermittently bright and bold, but erratic and undisciplined, hugely self-centered and clownishly self-important, a flamboyant man who died rather young without ever having acquired a sense of proportion or shame. De mortuo nil nisi bonum, and all that, but his epitaph might plausibly have read: "At his best when things were going his way."
In short, and like so many intellectualoids of his era, Jack London was a forerunner and the perfect avatar of the Obamanation: a thin man of colossally chubby disposition.
And now back to "Call of the Wild" (1935), in which Clark Gable plays a somewhat chummy version of John Thornton in a VERY loose adaptation of the 1903 London novel. But at least Buck the dog is closer in breed (a mix of St. Bernard and sheep dog) to the original canine lead. In the 1972 Charlton Heston version, the plot is closer to the novel's, but Buck is played by a German shepherd who acts like Rin Tin Tin. London would have whined that there is no justice.
tma_sierrahills| 8.27.12 @ 6:09PM
Setting aside that I respect Israel and America enough as sovereign nations not to think that our foreign polices need to be joined at the hip, the statement "white-hair-transplanted Howdy Doody vice president" does a terrible injustice to Howdy Doody, who never betrayed his own people by being an open-borders fanatic and was far more entertaining, articulate and lifelike in his stage performances. Finally, never a thug, the late Mr. Doody would never have been part of an administration that condoned Black Panthers threatening potential voters with baseball bats or handing over weapons to Mexican drug cartels, as tempting as both of those activities are for most of us. As I've always said, "Just threatening one voter with a baseball bat is like trying to eat just one potato chip. You just can't do it!"
TinaB| 8.28.12 @ 6:36AM
You are absolutely profound, tma, I loved Howdy Doody. How dare they!