Even The Brits Get It...Why Doesn't O?

In another great article, this one by Dr. Tim Stanley, in London's Telegraph newspaper he discusses the clear similarities between President's Nixon and Obama.  As is usual, whatever went wrong is likely less bad for the Administration than the coverup that ensues.

As is now being recognized, the Justice Department and Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms allowed the same automatic weapons they despise lawful citizens to possess to find their way into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels.  These weapons have now been used to continue the violence in Mexico that you can only call near civil war proportions as the drug cartels wage unparalleled levels of violence against the police and military in that country.

These same weapons have also been linked to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry who was killed by weapons his government essentially gave to the other side.

With the President asserting Executive Privilege to hide documents associated with Fast and Furious, it would seem that the Oval Office has been involved in keeping important information from the public.  For months now, Obama has claimed to know nothing about Fast and Furious, but the use of Executive Privilege indicates that The White House was involved in decision making of either the operation itself or the stonewalling since then.  Fast and Furious might better be referred to as slow and monotonous as the Obama Administration brings stonewalling to a new art form, but I suspect hindsight being 20/20 will regret this decision later.

A New Babysitter

Let me get this right?

• You can carry a firearm?
• You can carry a firearm on any number of flights that the rest of us can not?
• You can carry credentials that make you an agent, a special agent, of the US federal government?
• You receive a security clearance after an extensive background check and go through more than 27 weeks of specialized training?

...and you need a chaperone?

Mr. Sullivan, is this a joke?  The men and women of the US Secret Service do not need chaperones - as you are apparently directing - for your agents.  They need to remember they are in a profession that is all about honor and maybe your boys and girls need a little lesson in honor and not another babysitter.  Aren't they busy enough babysitting prima donnas to need a babysitter themselves?

I am appalled by the behavior of the gentlemen, and I use the term loosely, in Cartagena and probably in El Salvador and we could go on and on I am sure now that the lid is off.  Using the Bushido Code that followed the samurai, Honor meant you were born and bred to value the duties and privileges of your profession.

A chaperone will not fix that any more than they keep boys and girls from getting together on school band trips.  The right answer is to make sure your employees know their responsibility to not only their mission, but to their profession.

A chaperone is just another embarrassment to an organization that needs to reassert its samurai sensibility.

The Road Traveled Too Often

In a Sacramento Bee article about Moderate Mitt, Adam Beam tells the story of Mittens claiming that his work at Bain Capital is no different than that of President Obama and his work to save the US auto industry. Once again, I guess he does not get it...the vast majority of the country, conservatives in particular, are not looking for Obama 2.0 with a Republican label. We are looking for fundamental change, but again, Romney demonstrates he does not get it and is no different than Obama except whose pockets get lined. Woops!

Mr. State's Rights or Sore Loser

Today is the day when we find out if the federal courts will support "Mister State's Rights" Rick Perry in his attempt to get on Virginia's Republican Presidential Primary ballot. For years, the Commonwealth has had a standard where you were required to submit 10,000 valid signatures with at least 400 signatures coming from each of the eleven Congressional Districts and all of the signatures being received by a valid voter themself, i.e. I can not collect signatures in Virginia any longer because I am a citizen of Texas.

In Governor Perry's case, like that of Newt Gingrich, he was short signatures. Rick Santorum, very short on people AND money, did not even submit a petition. Now, after the process has concluded and he was denied a place on the ballot per the rules he agreed to when he got into Virginia he is complaining about process. Unfortunately, the right time to do this is on the front end before you turn in signatures, but moreover each state has its own standards - something Rick Perry tells us he is in favor of...he believes in the Tenth Amendment...unless he doesn't like it.

Unfortunately this portends a very slippery slope should he somehow get back into the Presidential nominating process. Would a President Perry really support state's rights, or only when it suited his other needs. It is disappointing he decided to play sour grapes with his electoral defeat (essentially) in Virginia and run to the liberal activist courts he cries about in fundraising other days.

The Rock

This is a recent video that was sent to me showing exactly why I can't support Mitt Romney...not for President, not for Vice President, not for dog catcher. Wow! List these out and tell me you still want to pull the lever for this guy.

Reagan Did It

A recent piece by Ari Fleischer suggests Newt Gingrich is the only candidate who has the ability to beat Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination for President. He is right.

As Fleischer points out Gingrich is the only candidate who will have the financial support to run in every state other than Rick Perry. Perry though has demonstrated again and again that he is not ready for the big time of Presidential politics and should consider a way that he can cash in on his repetitive terms as Texas Governor because I am not sure where else he goes from here.

The important issue of course is not only money, but the fact that Mitt is, well, Mitt. Romney has a host of issues as a "conservative" which he can barely fake when he wants to. Which side of the fence are you on Mr. Romney? Abortion, gun control, greenhouse gases?

While some will paint him as exactly the candidate we want in terms of a candidate with business experience, a true "capitalist" nothing can be further from the truth. Here too, GOP operatives more hopeful of a Republican White House win are too ready to sacrifice principal on the altar of winning politics. Romney's history at Bain is clear. Again and again, Bain raided companies, leveraged them while spinning off pieces of laying off American workers. He did this with seed money from foreign sources and then used guaranteed pensions for his personal profit, leaving the American taxpayer with the pension bill while he and his cronies made millions.

This is all before we even discuss the issues of the bailouts that Romney needed after he bankrupted these companies.

Gingrich on the other hand has (mostly) been clear on his stance on various issues. His ideas were the ideas that led Republicans from the wilderness of a permanent minority into the majority for the first time in decades. Unlike Romney who plays the typical Washington game of win-lose, Gingrich works to find win-win solutions. While he is by no means perfect he should stay in the race and offer an opportunity for Republicans to have multiple candidates to consider. Without it, the Republican Party will simply nominate John McCain 2.0 and watch him lose to Obama.

When Your Friends Say You Went Too Far...

Somehow I doubt President Obama will pay attention and somehow I doubt that Obama would consider John Podhoretz a friend given his significant work with the Clintons, but he is right about his assertions that Obama reached way too far in making recess appointments when the Senate was not in recess.

Yes yes, I have read the opposite commentary that somehow this was acceptable because pro forma sessions are not really the Senate in session, but the point of gaveling in and out of pro forma session is exactly that...that the Senate is in session. Unfortunately this executive who has little actual executive experience also did not have the experience in working in our Nation's most deliberative body whose design was to be free of the impulse of sudden and violent passions. While that does not lend itself to making work quick, it does hopefully lend itself to making work thoughtful.

That would have been a lesson the President might have better learned during his time in the US Senate had his own ambition been less aggressive.

Menage a Twois In Iowa

As returns begin to come in am I wrong or is there a genuine sense that a three way race will exist between Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum. This might be an interesting night if the numbers continue in this manner.

The bottom line is Mitt Romney needs a sizable number more than he had four years ago when he lost to Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul needs to show he is a candidate for more than the isolationist reefer crowd, and Rick Santorum is going to have to take whatever momentum he has from this "win" should it occur and show he won't be a one-and-done like Huckabee was or his candidacy will face the same fate.