The American Spectator : Obama Haunts Fright Night at the Movies

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Obama Haunts Fright Night at the Movies

By Quin Hillyer on 8.29.12 @ 6:08AM

The scary back-stories, and current effects, of Obamamania.

Three movies, three views of Obama. All frightening. All justly so.

One walks away from the movie 2016: Obama’s America, the growing box-office bonanza by Dinesh D’Souza and Gerald Molen, wondering why in tarnation it took so long for anybody to put Barack Obama’s views into their proper context. Then again, 2016 provides only part of the context; another important part of it came four years ago, when Citizens United released Hype: The Obama Effect — a powerful but far-too-little seen piece of film-making that nailed much of the essential Obama before the misery of the past four years, while indeed predicting a fair amount of what The Self-Anointed One has inflicted upon this fair land of ours. This week, Citizens United completes the circle with The Hope and the Change, which features a one-hour collage of ordinary citizens, Obama supporters in 2008 and almost all Democrats (with a few independents thrown in), who now are experiencing severe buyer’s remorse.

All three perspectives are important. All three pound home the message that Barack Obama never should have gotten anywhere near the Oval Office.

Let’s start with the box office hit, 2016. D’Souza, a brilliant conservative controversialist of long standing, and Molen, the producer of Schindler’s List, Rain Man, Jurassic Park, and other popular movies, have done a superb job presenting D’Souza’s thesis that Obama is motivated primarily by an (outdated) “anti-colonialist” worldview that sees the United States as a deeply flawed nation that needs to be tamed from without or, in this case, from within. They posit that far too little attention has been paid to the themes from Dreams from My Father, Obama’s semi-fictionalized, rather pretentious autobiography. Too little also is commonly made, according to this thesis, of the marked “otherness” of Obama’s childhood away from the U.S. mainland, both in Hawaii and in Indonesia.

While D’Souza’s armchair psychologizing may be a little too speculative for some tastes, it should be almost beyond debate that Obama idolized a mythic image of his father (he pretty much says so in Dreams) — and that he made a conscious decision to adopt some of his late father’s (presumed) resentments.

While 2016 does not prove its case in a fashion airtight enough to withstand rigorous academic peer review (for instance), it more than persuades a fair-minded viewer that Obama’s outlook on the United States is rather alien to that held by a reasonably solid majority of Americans. (It probably was once not just a reasonably solid majority, but an overwhelming one — but some our populace has not been as well rooted in our wise and humane traditions as we all once were.) This man Occupying the Oval Office is, in short, not a lover of America but one bent on radically remaking America. As such, he is profoundly dangerous.

By some lights, oddly enough, D’Souza might be being too generous to Obama. So eager is the author to shoehorn the winner of the Nobel Prize for Outsized Arrogance (or was it some other category?) into the “anti-colonialist” construct that he neglects some other key elements of Obama’s background and worldview. Interestingly enough, Hype: The Obama Effect does the converse: It quite explicitly said early on that the key to understanding Obama is not to look in Hawaii, Indonesia, or Kenya, but instead to look to Chicago. Back when the rest of the media was trying to explain away and mostly ignore the Obama connections with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, crooked financier Tony Rezco, and domestic terrorists William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, Citizens United was not only digging deep into these sickening Obama ties, but putting them (and others) into the context of a truly radicalized, hard-left worldview. Mixed in with all of this, the movie rightly notes, is the (Lucifer-inspired) anarcho-troublemaking of yet another Chicagoan, Saul Alinsky.

Methinks Hype was a powerful and farsighted piece of work in 2008, but it also missed a few things: first, it gave short shrift to the realm mined so well by D’Souza, namely Obama’s childhood and his father’s roots; second, it also seemed uninterested in Obama’s experiences at Columbia, where he probably first encountered Ayers and Dohrn and where he almost certainly fell under the sway of Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, whose evil strategy for forced governmental debt overload seems to be incorporated into Obama’s fiscal policies.

But put Hype and 2016 together and watch them back to back, and — even allowing for the exaggerated impact of a the talented propagandist’s art — the viewer can’t help but be struck by just how strange and, well, not-American (as distinguished from the loaded “un-American”) Obama is. He also comes across as woefully ill-prepared for the presidency, even if one does give him the benefit of the doubt for his worldview and intentions.

Into this maw enters The Hope and the Change, receiving its grand premiere this week in conjunction with the Republican National Convention. When the media didn’t do its job in 2008, and perhaps some voters also willingly let themselves be fooled, the majority of Americans did indeed grab for the “hope” offered by Obama’s vapid slogan. Citizens United has rounded up a host of these former Obama voters who really regret the ballot choice they made in 2008. The interviews with them provide a very practical, real-world grounding for the sometimes hyper-theoretical themes of the other two movies.

Herewith, a very few selected quotes from those interviewed in movie: “When I hear the phrase ‘hope and change,’ I definitely feel ‘bait and switch.’” It was “false hope.” “It’s kind of like buyer’s remorse.” In his golfing and his hobnobbing in Hollywood, among other things, “Obama now is all about Obama.” Unlike what happened with banks and car companies, “Nobody comes around to help bail me out.” “I don’t know where this money [government spending under Obama] is going.” “I don’t think that I got what I was expecting.”

Well, of course not. That was the point of Obama’s sloganeering: to put a honeyed glaze on the sour recipe he was actually cooking up for us. In that effort, of course, he had the absurdly fawning help of the establishment media. One little snippet, early in the Hope and the Change, captures just this aspect of the story of how Obama was inflicted upon us. It was election night, 2008, and Brian Williams of NBC came back from a break with words so crazily over the top as exceed even Dan Rather’s exultation during the 1992 Clinton victory night that “this is all so exciting, my ear wax is popping out.” Said Williams: “[This is] the most exciting and important election night in several lifetimes.”

Yes, lifetimes. Talk about “hype!” One can only hope we change from this sort of idiocy long before 2016. The dreams from Obama’s father are a nightmare for most of us, a nightmare played out in everyday lives, not just on the silver screen.

About the Author

Quin Hillyer is a senior editor of The American Spectator and a senior fellow at the Center for Individual Freedom. Follow him on Twitter @QuinHillyer.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (66) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Appleby| 8.29.12 @ 6:38AM

We in Canada will never see any of these movies, of course; if you know where I can access them on the internet, please tell me.

My own view is that Obama longs to recreate 1968, because he is really sorry he missed it the first time.

PJ| 8.29.12 @ 8:57AM

Is it worth driving to Buffalo, NY? http://2016themovie.com/theaters/

TLP| 8.29.12 @ 4:02PM

Look no further than the Media, in this Country.

The same Press that refused to Recognize the Nazis, and their Death Camps, for what they really were, until it was too late. Supported the Roenbergs and Alger Hiss. ( And still do, to this day) And there rewarding of a Pulitzer Prize to Walter Duranty, for his Literary Masturbations, over Uncle Joe Stalin.

Not to mention their total News Blackout of THE RAPIST - Bill Clinton, his lifelong History of Rape, Misogeny, Molestations, his Cocaine Usage, his Illegal Campaign Contributions, and his Waiver to the Democrat Party's #1 Contributor, at the time - Bernard Scwartz, and his Company - Loral Space - allowing him to sell Classified Navigational Technologies to the Red Chinese, over the objections of EVERYONE in Every Intelligence Agency that goes by a series of letters, such as the NSA, the CIA, the FBI, right down to the Joint Chiefs, and his own Bulldyke A.G. Janet Reno, that they now are using to TARGET OUR CITIES, with their Nuclear Missiles.

The Fourth Estate, long ago became a Fifth Column in this Country.

And, as you can see.

We're paying a price for that.

A very Heavy Price, indeed.

Evelyn W.| 8.29.12 @ 10:27AM

Please allow me to point out factual errors in "2016: Obama's America":

D'Souza rightly argues that the national debt has risen to $16 trillion under Obama. But he never mentions the explosion of debt that occurred under Obama's predecessor, Republican George W. Bush, nor the 2008 global financial crisis that provoked a shock to the U.S. economy.

- D'Souza says Obama is "weirdly sympathetic to Muslim jihadists" in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He does not mention that Obama ordered the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and the drone strikes that have killed dozens of terrorists in the region.

-D'Souza wrongly claims that Obama wants to return control of the Falkland Islands from Britain to Argentina. The U.S. refused in April to endorse a final declaration on Argentina's claim to the islands at the Summit of the Americas, provoking criticism from other Latin American nations.

Evelyn W.| 8.29.12 @ 10:29AM

More factual errors in film:

-D'Souza says Obama has "done nothing" to impede Iran's nuclear ambitions, despite the severe trade and economic sanctions his administration has imposed on Iran to halt its suspected nuclear program. Obama opposes a near-term military strike on Iran, either by the U.S. or Israel, although he says the U.S. will never tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran.

- D'Souza says Obama removed a bust of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill from the Oval Office because Churchill represented British colonialism. White House curator William Allman said the bust, which had been on loan, was already scheduled to be returned before Obama took office. Another bust of Churchill is on display in the president's private residence, the White House says.

Evelyn W.| 8.29.12 @ 10:31AM

Mr. Hillyer,

Try to be a little more factual, and a little less biased in your reporting.

Thanks,

Evelyn

JmsA| 8.29.12 @ 12:12PM

Actually, Mr. Hillyer is the one being factual. You, on the other hand, are engaging in revisionism. Obama has created more debt in four years than Bush did in eight, and has nothing to show for it--other than propping the public sector unions who support him and his party.

Evelyn W.| 8.29.12 @ 3:05PM

I am a fiscal conservative, and I will vote for Romney because I believe he is best for our economy.

But I am not pleased with the right-wing elements in our party who are doing grievous harm to our party's reputation. The religious right is willfully ignorant and hateful, and I will denounce them at every opportunity.

Also, I will not sit by and allow erroneous reporting by anyone, be they from the right or the left. When I read Huffington Post and encounter deliberate bias, I write to denounce it, to correct the factual errors.

j witherspoon| 8.29.12 @ 3:14PM

I must say to you, Evelyn W., that I commend your decision to vote Republican even when the party's social policies trouble you.

The ultra-right positions conservative Republicans have taken on certain issues disturb me, but like you, for economic reasons I will vote for Romney.

Between now and the election, we traditional fiscal conservatives must join together to demand that the party soften its position on wedge social issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage. There are enough of us educated fiscal conservatives to influence the party's trajectory.

Evelyn W.| 8.29.12 @ 3:21PM

Thanks, witherspoon,

My brother is a delegate, and we are constantly communicating back and forth by voice and text. He's on our side about social issues, and he--along with other fiscal conservative delegates-- is going to urge some changes in the platform.

We'll just have to wait and see what happens. Thanks again for the input.

TLP| 8.29.12 @ 4:27PM

What you fail to mention is that all of this has happened ON HIS WATCH.

I wonder if you Blamed Bill Clinton for 911?

Radical Islamists attacked our Interests, time and again, while The Rapist was in Office. The first World Trade Center Bombing. The Khobar Towers, in Saudi Arabia. The two Embassies in Africa. The Bombing of The USS Cole. And The Rapist did NOTHING, until the day he was to Testify before a Grand Jury, on his Indecent Exsposure Case, and again, when the Impeachment Vote was to take place. Both Strikes, accomplished nothing, other than hitting a coupla Empty Tents, and Blowing Up a Baby Aspirin Factory.

Osama Bin Laden, himself, said that Clinton's Weakness convinced him that America was a WEAK HORSE. (His words, not mine.) And convinced him that America could be attacked on its own Soil.

Did you blame The Rapist for signing the Bill that got rid of Glass Steagel, which was the impetus for the Housing Meltdown?

Did you blame the Democrat Controlled House and Senate - Co-Equal Branches of Government - in Bush' last two years, for any of the Outrageous Spending?

Or, like everybody else like you, did you Blame Bush because it HAPPENED ON HIS WATCH?

STFU, and go back to SALON, where you came from.

Everything that's FCKED UP, since The Muslim took Office, is HIS.

Period.

That's how it works.

And, you know it.

Evelyn W.| 8.29.12 @ 5:14PM

And you, an out-of-control right-wing nut, is what's wrong with our Republican Party. It's lowlifes like you who are destroying it from within.

I belong to the more dignified fiscal conservative wing of the Republican Party. We are capable of expressing our concerns without resorting to vulgar and violent language.

It's the like of you who are tainting our reputation.

NB| 8.29.12 @ 6:00PM

N.B. We encourage readers to share and discuss their thoughtful and relevant comments about this Spectator article. Comments are routinely monitored and will be deleted if profane, bigoted, or grossly impolite. Please be respectful. (And don't feed the trolls!) Thank you.

C'mon Man!| 8.29.12 @ 5:19PM

You're both wrong - if you love abortion and same sax marriage, you are a libertarian, not a conservative. You are the disgusting baby killing a$$ screwing moron that needs to change your ways. I'd hate to have to tell God about those beliefs, but you have fun with that!

fmm| 8.29.12 @ 12:13PM

really got a lot of belly laughs from your comments

Drunken Sailor| 8.29.12 @ 12:35PM

You really want a laugh? Check out yesterdays comments were she claims to be a fisical conservative and social liberal. And the people on this site are giving Republicans like her a bad name. Priceless.

Al Adab| 8.29.12 @ 12:45PM

A fiscal conservative and a social liberal. I would be interested in hearing her explanation of the issues and how one defines ones stance. Is the progressive income tax legit and redistributive or punative? Should the State sanction homosexual behavior? What should the government role in foreign relations be? Is the government a decision maker regarding personal health matters? Should regulatory agencies punish states which pursue policies of which the federal government disapproves?

Evelyn, can you address these matters? What social positions do you hold and what fiscal/economic policies should we pursue?

Albert Constantine Jr.| 8.29.12 @ 6:33PM

Yes, yesterday she claimed that she was a Republican. I have a feeling that a publicly viewable long form original of Obama's birth certificate will be more accessible than any voter registration form identifying "Evelyn W." as a Republican. On the other hand, though, I would imagine that her fingerprints can be found on the cup from which the quarters are missing next to the coffee machine in the faculty lounge.

C Smith | 8.29.12 @ 10:54AM

D'Souza's biggest error is the assumption that there will be a "1216."

"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Mat 24:36-39).

TinaB| 8.29.12 @ 1:55PM

I just read Mat:24 this morning and got comfort from it. When the political arena and the MSM get too whacked, I need the reminder that He's got it all under control. I can exhale. Thanks, C Smith, for that confirmation.

TLP| 8.29.12 @ 4:29PM

Yeah?

Now go read Revelation, and then get back to us on how Comforted you feel.

C Smith | 8.30.12 @ 1:31AM

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way….” So begins A Tale of Two Cities in “the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five.” A tale of nations and souls when it was "the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

There is yet coming a day, unlike any other day, a final day, when the Judge of all the earth will judge. For some "the best of times." For some "the worst of times."

For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts (Malachi 4:1-3).

http://the-day-of-the-lord.blo.....chive.html

JmsA| 8.29.12 @ 11:26AM

The crisis that caused the shock to the U.S. economy had been a long way coming: CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) passed during the Carter admnistration in 1977. Repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act by Clinton in 1999.

I will not argue that Obama has not done well by killing the jihadists, but I suspect such to be more in line with protecting himself politically at home by appearing to do something as well as avoiding entangling himself with trials of such individuals.

Forgive if I take Obama's supposed promise he will not tolerate a nuclear Iran with more than just a grain of salt; after all, he has constantly tried to engratiate himself with the Iranian theocracy, including when he ignored the pleas of the Iranian revolt following the fraudelent election in 2009.

And finally, they did remove the bust of Churchill, and were caught lying about it.

I respectfully refer you to The Nation, HuffPo, etc. You will not get many buyers of your nonsense here.

Evelyn W.| 8.29.12 @ 11:39AM

Yes, they removed the bust of Churchill because it was on loan and was scheduled to be returned BEFORE Obama took office.

Quin Hillyer| 8.29.12 @ 11:57AM

This is just not true. That was a different bust. This has been well documented.

DRed| 8.29.12 @ 12:10PM

Really? Okay-document it. There were two busts of Churchill in the White House while W was president. One on loan, one there permanently. The one on loan to George W. Bush was returned when he left office, along with all the other art that was loaned to George W. Bush for the duration of his presidency. The other one is still there. You can see pictures of it and everything! So Obama, apparently hates Churchill so much that he returned the bust of Churchill and kept the other one out where he could see it all the time because he hates Churchill so much. Man, that Obama is such an anti-colonialist.

The mind boggles that you believe this garbage.

Oldefarte| 8.29.12 @ 1:14PM

"garbage" unlike the TRUTH of Matthews, Brokaw, Williams, Curic, Sharpton, Olbermann, Shultz, Krugmann, O'Brien etc no doubt, huh??????

DRed| 8.29.12 @ 1:33PM

Obama returned a bust of Churchill because he hates Churchill because of Obama's anti-colonialist mindset (setting aside the fact this country was founded by people with a rather anti-colonialist mindset). That's the argument. But it doesn't explain why the white house residence has a bust of Churchill on display. That's why it's a garbage argument.

Oldefarte| 8.30.12 @ 12:36PM

Who knows or cares "why"....the only importance is for semi-rational to do on 11/6/12 WHAT THEY FAILED TO DO ON 11/4/08!!!!!

Eagle Creek| 8.29.12 @ 6:09PM

Hey Red.. Rumor has it that the Mao Zedung Christmas ornament will be hanging on the White House tree again this year... Can you confirm or deny that ?

TinaB| 8.29.12 @ 2:00PM

Quin, Evelyn has been soaking in the kool-aide too long, she's pickled by now. Documentation is not part of lib-speak anyway. I thank you, however. My son and I will take a friend each to see 2016 locally, the other two we will have to find. We believe in documentation.

Evelyn W.| 8.29.12 @ 4:27PM

Well documented? Source, please.

TLP| 8.29.12 @ 4:33PM

STFU ya Stupid Lying B*tch.

He sent the Bust that was in the Oval Office, back.

It was reported EVERYWHERE, that there were TWO OF THEM.

Stop demanding that everybody else do your work for you. (Typical Liberal Lying Skank)

Do your own Homework.

NB| 8.29.12 @ 5:59PM

Seek| 8.29.12 @ 7:20PM

Gotta love TLP -- the very essence of a refined gentleman.

Oldefarte| 8.30.12 @ 12:40PM

Concerning that bust of Churchill, IF it did or still does exist within the WH, many of us would delight in making it truly disappear up the anul cavities of the occupants of same address [figuratively of course, and with a victory on 11/6/12 same will become accompolished]!!!!!

JmsA| 8.29.12 @ 12:15PM

Is that why they were caught lying about it, resulting in an apology to Dr. Krauthammer?

Surly Curmudgen| 8.29.12 @ 6:10PM

Let us address your attempted lie on the debt. Bush in six years with a recession and 9/11 took this nation from 5.2 trillion to 6.7 trillion. Then the Democrats took control of congress and the debt in five years went from 6.7 trillion to 16 trillion plus.
The Liberal/progressive world is a world where to lie, cheat, steal even murder to advance their agenda, is laudable behavior.

Kwan| 8.29.12 @ 6:59AM

It doesn't take an Oracle of Delphi to forecast that 4 more years of the "Progressive" leadership of Barack Obama will result in the continued "regression" of the United States. Obama is not a leader but a Marxist fifth-columnist diligently going about the business of fundamentally transforming the United States into a Communist People's Republic. There is not one logical reason to vote for this Hugo Chavez wannabe on November 6th. Sanity can once again resurface in the United States once Obama and his motley crew of traitors are removed from office.

Von Mises Jr| 8.29.12 @ 7:05AM

Dinesh D'Souza's "2016" is so powerful because he came from the colonial caste system in India and understands "American Exceptionalism" better than most native born Americans. It is about liberty and capitalism.
Dinesh was a prodigy who scored 750 ranges across the board on his SAT exam earning a scholarship at Dartmouth. He muses that if he had not had the fortune to come to America, he would have been a subject without advancement opportunity in a caste system. Instead, he was a Hoover Institute Scholar and now President of Kings College.
So his depiction of Obama's distain for "American Exceptionalism" is not a vicious attack but more bewilderment that Obama can see the glass half empty and wants to spill the remaining contents.
Many knew the Chicago background and how the MSM is corrupted, so while equally important, it is not new to us that have eyes to see.
But "2016" helps one to better understand the confusing policies toward drilling, the military and nuclear power, the "Islamic Summer" and other baffling assaults by this regime.

Indy| 8.29.12 @ 9:20AM

Agree with your comment but the one area where I think D'Souza came up short was the influence of Frank Marshall Davis, I think he could have devoted more time to that but that's where the book, The Communist comes in to fill the gaps (and no, I am not accusing POTUS of being a Commie like Frank Marshall Davis, I instead call him a Statist) but there is no doubt Frank Marshall Davis had a strong influence on Barry.

I found the interview with George Obama compelling and was my favorite part of the movie. I like George and glad D'Souza made the trip to interview him. The movie provided facts and proposed a theory backed up with interviews with people who knew Obama Sr. and with life experiences growing up in India, it let the viewer decide, please go see it and take a friend / neighbor with you.

Von Mises Jr| 8.29.12 @ 9:29AM

George was great. The rest of the family clammed up even when offered three goats. Perhaps they were afraid of their socialist government.
Dinesh allegedly got a call from George and gave him $1K for family medical emergency. Barry's brother is not a socialist and therefore he is not "that" brother's keeper.
Four more years and we may be living on three goats a year and lots of pink slime.

Indy| 8.29.12 @ 9:36AM

Cabrito!

Yes, I saw that story on the blaze, Barry is not his brother's keeper. I have a relative who is not my favorite by any means but if he needed help, I would step in and offer to help, it's the right thing to do but Barry only helps with other people's money.

Cobalt| 8.29.12 @ 10:29AM

"Four more years and we may be living on three goats a year and lots of pink slime."

......or "long pork."

Oldefarte| 8.29.12 @ 1:16PM

There won't be "four more years", since this country will not survive that long under this administration!!!!!

Seek| 8.29.12 @ 7:22PM

D'Souza grew up in the state of Goa, founded as a Portuguese missionary colony centuries ago. The caste system there isn't as powerful as in the eastern parts of India, and in any event, I doubt the D'Souzas were outcastes or close to it.

Pecos Pete| 8.29.12 @ 7:50AM

For the trolls, and in particular The Village Idiot, please remember, as you defend King O, that we don't have any more money. The bowl is empty, the cupboard is empty, the bank is bankrupt. Four more years of King O will leave the USA in a long-term depression.

benny havens| 8.29.12 @ 8:03AM

I would venture to say that 80% of the people who voted for Obama in ’08 will vote for him again. The question is why?

They really don’t know him and are not interested in what is laid out in “2016”.

They are only interested in the Obama goody bag. Everywhere he goes he promises goodies for all of the sub-groups that he has created in our society.

He promises everything but an environment that promotes jobs, economic growth, wealth creation and independence.

And it is not because he is incompetent. He knows exactly what he is doing. He is just hoping he can sneak out another win so that he can continue his plan of destroying capitalism in America. He knows by offering goodies to the useful idiots he has a good chance of completing his task.

If you think that I am exaggerating, I will ask this. From all we know about his background, his affiliations and his formal training, would he be granted a security clearance through a government agency? I think not.

Oldefarte| 8.29.12 @ 1:18PM

"security clearance"? Hellfire, the CIA/State Dept shouldn't even allow entrance into this country!!!

PolishKnight| 8.30.12 @ 10:46AM

I have a leftist friend who has a top secret clearance in the DC area. During beers, he told me how Senator Joe McCarthy was an outrage and that Josef Stalin was a nice guy and America would have been better off if the American revolution hadn't happened.

In other words, by now, the left has so infiltrated US government that it includes the security screeners. He told me the primary things they were looking for is if you ever were treated for depression or had a mistress or something like that (even as he was defending Bill Clinton as merely being in trouble over "sex".)

I also remember during the early 90's that Penn State regularly advertised "women and minority" preferential hiring and admissions and bragged about an almost all Chinese physics department. A few years later, Chinese physicists at Los Alamos were caught sending over Top Secret information to China. What A Surprise.

The left views the USA as a fat pig to be slaughtered and shared among their cronies and simultaneously destroyed as a symbol of evil capitalism. What amazes me is that people respect Harry Truman. Wasn't Truman in charge while communists were taking over?

Cobalt| 8.29.12 @ 8:06AM

Don't underestimate Obama & Company's capacity for evil.

They are just getting started with Obamacare.

REGIONALISM: SPREADING THE FISCAL IRRESPONSIBILITY

http://www.newgeography.com/co.....onsibility

The Avenger| 8.29.12 @ 8:15AM

America needs to awaken from her "hope and change" opiate before it is too late. As opposed to Chris Matthews, Obama doesn't send a thrill up my leg, he sends a chill down my spine.

Oldefarte| 8.29.12 @ 1:21PM

If he's re-elected he'll instead send a broom handle up our combined youknowhats!!!!

R Martin| 8.29.12 @ 8:40AM

Leftists embrace an ideology that is never going to face the realities presented in Mr. Hillyer’s piece. But for the rest of us, how could anyone who cares about this country, its youngest generation and ones not yet born even consider voting for Obama? One does not need to view the highlighted films to know Obama is defined by a phony aura and a rotten core. He and his running mate present such a vapid choice compared to the alternative of serious accomplished men with records of real achievement.

I may be an optimist, but I think voters will make the right decision in November.

Al Adab| 8.29.12 @ 9:30AM

The cult of The Leader whether found in N. Korea, Maos' China, Cuba or Venezuela or sadly the United States, is the first step on the road to tyranny. If citizens cannot question either the person or the policies, then they are no longer self-governing and become simply subjects of the government.

This regime treats the citizens as monolithic members of voting blocs rather than as the individuals they are. Karl Marx promulgated the theory that people vote their group identity and interest rather than their personal ones. This is the approach to elections The Left has adopted. When people are purposefully divided into blocs for the sake of power, then a betrayal of our national roots is the result.

C Smith | 8.29.12 @ 11:04AM

On February 24, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, before a black audience, formally “anointed” the “Messiah”: "You are the instruments that God is going to use to bring about universal change, and that is why Barack has captured the youth. And he has involved young people in a political process that they didn't care anything about. That's a sign. When the Messiah speaks, the youth will hear, and the Messiah is absolutely speaking."

In 1964, more moderate fellow Nation of Islam member Malcolm X revealed that their leader Elijah Muhammad had impregnated several of his teenage secretaries. An outraged Farrakhan responded: "Only those who wish to be led to hell, or to their doom, will follow Malcolm. The die is set, and Malcolm shall not escape, especially after such evil, foolish talk about his benefactor; such a man is worthy of death…." Malcolm's pregnant wife and four daughters witnessed the fulfillment of Farrakhan’s prophecy ten weeks later in Harlem's Audubon Ballroom.

Oldefarte| 8.29.12 @ 11:27AM

I am going to boar readers here once again with my letter to my hometown newspaper which I wrote in OCTOBER OF 2008:

"I am writing this letter out of frustration with the upcoming presidential election. The American citizens are, according to the polls, STUPID and INSANE! On the one hand, you have a elderly, historic war hero and prisoner of war that sacrificed his life for the well being of America and its citizens [the Republican]; and, on the other hand, you have a MYSTERIOUS/unknown person that is dangerously close to assuming the presidency [the Democrat]. It has been documented that the Democrat received early, childhood instructions in Muslim religious institutions, the likes of which have produced the terrorists/bombers of September 11th, 2001 and their resultant carnage; that he has received an extremely expensive education at Columbia and Harvard Universities by means of tuition LOANS and that he was somehow able to pay back said loans by working as a lowly-paid, Chicago community organizer/social worker; that known wealthy/political individuals have acknowledged their lobbying efforts at getting him accepted into these prestigious universities; that he used his legal skills to further the agenda of voter registration organizations that are known for their fraudulent and illegal activities; that several major[semi private/public] housing financial corporations [now bankrupt] have provided vast sums of financing money to his campaigns......

Oldefarte| 8.29.12 @ 11:29AM

"that he has sat idly by listening to the maniacal raving of lunatic preachers for 20 years; that he has associated himself in Chicago with the likes of a former domestic terrorist and a financially crooked businessman; and that he is one of the ost liberal senator in this country’s history, is financially/politically supported by another, now dying liberal senator and he constantly lies about his desire to give 95% of income earners a tax refund, if electe

Oldefarte| 8.29.12 @ 11:32AM

[Ignore immediately above]. The foolowing is the rest of my letter:

"that he has associated himself in Chicago with the likes of a former domestic terrorist and a financially crooked businessman; and that he is one of the most liberal senator in this country’s history, is financially/politically supported by another, now dying liberal senator and he constantly lies about his desire to give 95% of income earners a tax refund, if elected.

The stupid and insane part of all of this is that the American people/voters are apparently so brainwashed by the totally biased media into believing their [media’s] political spin and masquerade of the above, that they [voters] are now evenly split on whether to vote for the Republican or the Democrat candidate for PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! "

davelnaf| 8.29.12 @ 12:54PM

It’s taken far too long for all of the information that would have disqualified O in the court of public opinion to become conventional wisdom about him. But it has and it’s been interesting to watch Obama shills in and out of media desperately trying to make their lies about O’s disastrous presidency into a case for reelecting him. The Clintonites tried to warn their fellow donks. No matter.

“2016” was mostly about D’Souza’s book on Obama. The clip of O reassuring Medvedev that he would have more flexibility in his second term came toward the end of the film. It was included with a minimum of comment as one of those things so profoundly self-explanatory that it doesn’t need explanation. It’s far worse that O’s “you didn’t build that” stupidity.

It is truly sad that millions will vote for him. He won’t be reelected, but, still, it’s sad.

John II| 8.29.12 @ 2:08PM

". . . D'Souza's armchair psychologizing may be a little too speculative for some tastes . . ."

Okay, a nod to the time-honored writerly use of the disarming concession amid the roll of a broadside. But sometimes the attempt to project fairness comes off as no more than pulling a roundhouse punch.

We all do "armchair psychologizing," Quin, and it's always speculative (who has a window to see through to the soul of another?), and it's necessary for survival as well as sanity. Hell, I'd be out of a job if I couldn't encourage my students to speculate about this or that character in a piece of literature.

We all have to take measure of those around us, and character should be numero-uno on the list of any serious voter's consideration of a politician's credentials. I suspect it is, at least subliminally, even for unserious voters; Obama is now President of the United States principally because he's a fairly skillful liar and his opponent projected weakness of conviction.

And notice how much of what I've just said (and how much of your own excellent piece) can be construed as armchair psychologizing.

And now back to "Harvey" (1950), in which Cecil Kellaway and Charles Drake play a couple of psychiatrists whose profession is appropriately spoofed as mere armchair psychologizing--and not the honest sort, but the sort laden with pretentious jargon.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 8.29.12 @ 6:44PM

Excellent point. If not for pretentious jargon, a lot of folks in many of the professions where putting forth words is valued over true productivity would be standing in long lines waiting for "shovel-ready" jobs.

Surly Curmudgen| 8.29.12 @ 5:57PM

This is (2008) the most important election night in several lifetimes." He was right and we the voters blew it bad when we put Obama in office. Are we going to correct that mistake this time?

David| 8.29.12 @ 6:30PM

To Evelyn and some of you others:

It is you have ruined the party and who have allowed the leftist drift in America for decades because of your willingness to compromise with democrats.

We lose when we have fiscally conservative and socially liberal candidates. We win when the candidates are through and through conservatives.

Anyone who defends abortion automatically loses all credibility.

We appreciate your votes, and please continue to vote repub. But, other than that, please your yaps shut and let true conservatives go about the business of righting America's financial ship and removing the moral rot that you, your ilk in the repub party, and democrats have brought upon us.

Carroll | 8.29.12 @ 11:23PM

wow,,,
Too little also is commonly made, according to this thesis, of the marked "otherness" of Obama's childhood away from the U.S. mainland, both in Hawaii and in Indonesia.

Gretchen| 8.31.12 @ 4:28PM

By "Hope and Change" Obama meant that we should HOPE he would leave us the CHANGE in our pockets!

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