The main stream media still loves Obama, but even they realize he is not up to the job.  They have finally been forced to realize that Obama’s economic policies are an unmitigated disaster.  The following article provides the video and the transcript from ABC’s this week.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/08/29/george-will-and-entire-week-panel-smack-down-donna-braziles-call-more-spending

The following dialogue by Christiane Amanpour and Donna Brazile is nothing short of a political earthquake:

BRAZILE: The Bush tax cuts are unaffordable. We cannot simply afford another $700 billion in debt that — and there’s no evidence that the Bush tax cuts will create jobs.

AMANPOUR: But there are some who are saying that perhaps that might happen…

BRAZILE: Well, I don’t…

AMANPOUR: … that the Democrats are under some pressure to maybe — maybe keep them on.

Brazile starts with the standard Democratic spin argument that all of economic problems were caused by the Iraq war and the Bush tax cuts.  But note that even a hardcore Bush hating liberal like Amanpour cannot take it any more and she weakly admits that extending the Bush tax cuts might create jobs.  Wow!  What’s more, it is obvious that a lot of people in the media and the liberal left have reached the same conclusion.   They have finally admitted, if only to themselves, that the Bush tax cuts resulted in the fastest recovery from a recession in our nation’s history and contrary to Democratic spin, these tax cuts did create millions of jobs.  She also admitted that even Democrats in congress are being pressured to keep them on.  It is going to be very hard for Democrats to argue that Bush caused our economic problems when the only solution agreed upon by both parties is that his tax cuts offer the best solution for our current problems.

Also note that the new economic model is Germany, which adopted tax cuts and spending cuts.  There are few things more effective than turning on a light bulb in a dark room.  If nothing else the complete collapse of Obama’s economic program has forced at least some in the liberal left to let in the bright light of economic reality.  Will miracles never cease?

Finally, two pictures.  One of Obama on a bike.The other of Bush on a bike.  Bush was probably the most athletic President we ever had.  Obama is a limp wristed wimp.

TDM

It is one thing for the media to get a story wrong.  Sometimes, in the midst of an event, it is easy for a reporter to make a mistake.  I still remember when those miners were trapped in a coal mine in West Virginia.  A report leaked that all the miners had been found alive.  The reports on the scene were elated.  But, unfortunately, that report was wrong.  It turned out that only one miner lived and he was severely injured.  But it is another thing to get a story wrong, refuse to admit it, and just continue to repeat the lies. 

The worse case of case of media malpractice was with regard to Hurricane Katrina.  The news media reported a national tragedy, with people dying needlessly, surrounded by violence and mayhem with no government help.  The problem is that the media got almost everything wrong.  I wrote a post on this several months ago.  If you want a refresher on what really happened, here is the link:

https://scotshonor.com/?p=201

Unlike the main stream media, my post is based on solid documentation, rather then antidotes by camera hungry malcontents and continuous reruns of the same misleading videos accompanied by self-congratulatory comments by arrogant news anchors.

I just watched Fox News interview people about how terrible it was in the Superdome after Katrina.  It was bad.  People were hungry, it smelled and it was hot and humid.  They were uncomfortable and they were angry.  But there was nothing said about the greatest search and rescue operation in the history of the world that was going on at the same time.  Literally hundreds of helicopters, boats and other vehicles were organized in a desperate effort to save over 100,000 people who were in deadly peril.  Initial estimates were for a death toll in excess of 10,000.  In any other country in the world, that would have been true.  But that did not happen in New Orleans, because of a heroic effort by the National Guard and the Coast Guard.  The main stream media still has refused to tell anyone what really happened.  For example, did any of you see a report indicating that an emergency hospital was function at the Superdome that treated over 5,000 people with a remarkable level of success?  Did any of you see a news report showing so many helicopters flying continuous rescue missions that the biggest fear was mid-air collision?  All of that happened, but no one reported on it.  They were too busy spreading false reports about widespread violence and hundreds of people dying unnecessarily because George Bush hated black people. 

The National Guard and the Coast Guard and FEMA knew people were unhappy, but they didn’t want to divert precious resources to placate people who were loud, angry and uncomfortable, but safe, while other people were in danger of losing their lives. 

 If you read my post, it will quickly become obvious that a lot of things went wrong after Katrina, but no one botched this more than the main stream media.  That was bad enough, but listening to them self-congratulate themselves five years later, while continuing to get almost everything wrong, is nauseating.  In reality the video tapes of the main stream media reporting on Katrina, including the segments by Shepard Smith and Geraldo Rivera should be used as training tapes on how to botch a major story. 

 TDM

President Obama was far too busy riding his bike on vacation for a nice photo op to notice that our last combat troops were leaving Iraq.   Perhaps he is working on his planned speech to take all the credit.

Former President Bush makes surprize visit to the “Run For the Fallen” event to thank the troops.

Thanks!

 Ultimately the biggest difference between Bush and Obama is class.  Bush has it, Obama doesn’t.

TDM

Barack Obama is having his sixth vacation this year.  He is back to his little $20 million rental pad on Martha’s Vineyard.  So far, due to constant rain, he has spent a lot of time playing scrabble: 

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2010/08/obamas_while_aw.html

Glenn Beck is holding a major event on 8-28-2010 at the Lincoln Memorial.  The liberal left has their panties in a wad because he would dare hold this on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous speech.  The forecast is for sunny with low humidity.

 I wonder if God votes?

 By the way, if you read this article it shows the Presidential Press Pool notes regarding Obama’s great adventure.  This is amazing stuff.  Here Michelle and Barack are waving to adoring crowds telling everyone what the great time they have having, apparently obvious to the horrible economic news.  Then when someone asked him about Iraq, he complained that he was just there to get shrimp.

 Folks, it just doesn’t get any worse than this.  On a day when the economy looks to be in free fall, the White House sends out Joe Biden to make a fool of himself.  It is so bad that the traditional democratic strategists are not even pretending any more.   They are literally recommending Democrats run away from Obama in this election.  Of course they feel that Obama’s policies are working brilliantly, but it will just take a little longer before the economy takes off.  It just amazes me that people continue to have blind faith in an economic strategy that has never worked anywhere, anytime.  Lately they are even trying to compare Obama to Reagan, saying that the economy was bad 18 months after Reagan took office.  They are right; the economy was still bad, because Carter had left office with double digit inflation, double digit unemployment and double digit interest rates.  But Reagan has already got this tax cuts passed and the business community was showing signs of optimism.  No one is optimistic now.

 I have many business owners as clients and I don’t know of a single optimist.  Instead, I see more and more very sharp business owners who have decided things are going to be bad for at least two more years and they are cutting their losses.  It is stunning how blunt they are in discussing this economy and this President.  I think the economy on November 2 will look much worse than it does now.  That alone is really bad news for Democrats.

 The Ground Zero Mosque looks worse and worse for Obama.  More and more Democrats are deserting him on the topic and the video tapes of the Iman in charge of this Mosque are stunningly bad.  To top it off the Obama administration is sending this guy all over the world to discuss American tolerance for Islam.  That’s right, the same administration that preaches separation of church and state is paying for a Muslim cleric to represent us.  Then to top it off the White House admitted they knew he said the U.S. was bloodier than al Qaeda, but didn’t think it was a problem.  Please!

Finally, just about everyone is turning on him with regard to Afghanistan.  Even Newsweek recently ran an article today that was devastating for Obama.  And today Marine Corp Commandant, James Conway, literally said that Obama’s timeline was giving sustenance to the enemy.

 http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE67N3TA20100824

  He then talked about how some Marines are not too enthusiastic about sharing quarters with gays.  He was thinking we would have to give them an op-out option.  Wow!  This is a public slap in the face for Obama and it cannot be ignored.  It is clear that the military has had it with Obama and they are no longer willing to be tolerant.

 I have a client who just got back from Afghanistan.  He said that his squadron commander wanted to use high skilled Air Force technicians to clean latrines for the local Afghanistan people, because they didn’t want to do it themselves.  He thought this would be a good way to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.  My client said he simply could not tolerate this level of stupidity.  He said “do you really want me to use highly trained technicians to clean outhouses?”  His commander said that if he didn’t think this was a good idea, he could just accept a transfer out of Afghanistan.  My client said where do I sign?  He said they were literally stunned, and quickly backed off.   He just recently retired, which is why he felt free to talk about it.  If he is any indication, the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq are fed up to their eyeballs and their commanders know it.  First it was McChrystal.  Now is it Conway.  The fight is on. 

 TDM

Rod Blagojevich is the gift that keeps on giving.  In his interview with Brian Ross from ABC News, Blagojevich says that Obama had a much closer relationship with Rezko than Blagojevich.  He even said it was Obama who introduced him to Rezko.  He then hinted that the feds wanted him to roll over on Obama: 

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/blago-winston-churchill-mount-dramatic-comeback/story?id=11448425

While Blagojevich is clearly pond scum, his descriptions of the sewer retain merit.  The problem is that his comments about Rezko and Obama have the ugly odor of truth.  This couldn’t come at a worse time for Obama.  The last thing he needs is to have the main stream media really start investigating him with regard to his personal involvement in Chicago corruption.  Up until now the media, including Fox News, has refused to investigate this.  I believe that with this comment, Blagojevich has challenged the media to investigate Obama. 

Several months ago I wrote an article about how the Blagojevich trial was more dangerous for Obama than most people think.  Obama appeared to have dodged that bullet, because the Judge wouldn’t allow him to be subpoenaed and Obama’s name was not mentioned during the trial.  But it appears that Blagojevich really wanted to testify and we may now know why.  I suspect that Blagojevich thinks he is not guilty because he did not act any different than everyone else in Chicago politics.  This is kind of like the guy who knows he was speeding, but doesn’t think he did anything wrong because every one else speeds too.

Regardless of why he said it, he did say it.  It gets worse.  Blagojevich is scheduled to be interviewed by Chris Wallace.  Wow!  Chris Wallace is one of the most dangerous interviewers in the business and he is bound to follow up on this subject.  If Blagojevich does not back off these comments, Obama is in for a whole new set of problems. 

I would hazard a bet that the Obama White House has gone from crisis mode to full-fledged panic.  Obama was already in deep trouble for stepping in it with regard to the Ground Zero Mosque.  While the White House would love to change the topic, switching too Obama’s personal relationship with Rezko, a Chicago politician convicted of corruption and bribery, it not likely what they had in mind.

 It is impossible to predict where this will end up.  But, there is a significant chance that for the very first time people are going to really investigate Obama.  If any of the rumors about him are true, the first two weeks of August will look like the good ole days.

 TDM

The New York Times is puzzled over the misperceptions about Obama.  They know that he is a wonderful Christian and cannot understand how anyone could possibly have a different opinion.  The main stream media is baffled that so many people think Obama is really a Muslim.  So I did some research on the internet to see what evidence I could find, either way.  First, the evidence that Obama is a Muslim: 

1.  His name is Barack Hussein Obama.  A Muslim name.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/politics/04obama.text.html

1. He loves Urdu Poetry, which is Muslim poetry from Pakistan.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/23/obama-digs-urdu-poetry_n_219463.html

1. His father and step-father were both Muslims.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/politics/04obama.text.html

1. In speeches broadcast to the Muslim world he refers to his Muslim upbringing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/politics/04obama.text.html

1. The only church he ever attended on a regular basis was Trinity United, where Reverend Wright preaches black liberation theology. 

The following link shows the Black Value System posted on the Trinity United Church of Christ website:

http://www.trinitychicago.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=114

To understand this, just substitute “white value system” for “black value system” and then decide whether or not this is racist.  Is it any surprise that virulent anti-white sermons would be preached from a church with this statement of faith?  Anyone see Jesus mentioned? 

1.  Obama’s statements about his Christian faith are hollow and do not ring true. 

After Dr. James Dobson met personally with Obama, he wrote the following:

Obama can call himself anything he likes, but there is a clear requirement for one to qualify as a Christian and Obama doesn’t meet that requirement. One cannot deny central tenets of the Christian faith, including the deity and uniqueness of Christ as the sole mediator between God and Man and be a Christian. Such people do have a label applied to them in Scripture. They are called “false prophets.”

1. While George W. Bush said that Islam was a religion of peace, Obama has said that Islam shares our values.   The following is a quote from the speech to the Muslim world cited previously.

I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles – principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.

1. There is reason to suspect that Barack Obama’s Harvard Education was paid for by a Saudi Arabian prince, Al-Waleed bin Talal.  The following is the link to the story, including a video interview of Percy Sutton, who describes how he arranged for Obama’s entrance into Harvard.  Percy Sutton was a well known black attorney famous for defending the Black Panthers and was the legal representative for Malcom X.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0908/Obama_camp_denies_Sutton_story.html

This was denied by the Obama team and ignored by the main stream media as irrelevant. 

The alleged go-between who arranged the funding was Khalid al Mansour:

http://townhall.com/blog/g/c2df500d-0189-47d8-a454-54de9f6584c3

The Saudi Prince was  Al-Waleed bin Talal.  He is considered to be the second richest man in the world.  Following is a link to the Islamic Studies Department he funded for Harvard:

http://islamicstudies.harvard.edu/

You never guess who just may be sponsoring the Ground Zero Mosque:

http://cmcu.georgetown.edu/

Following shows that at least some people believe there is a strong connection between Al-Waleed bin Talal and the Wahabi branch of Islam:

http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=29951

1. He is rumored to have told the leader of Egypt that he was a Muslim.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/06/-obama-tells-egyptian-foreign-minister-i-am-a-muslim-stealth-coup-on-the-white-house.html

1. He has continually taken the side of the Palestinians with regard to Israel.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=1119002

1.  Barack Obama himself gave a detailed interview on what he believed.  I don’t know how one would describe Obama’s religion beliefs, but it is far from what most people would consider being a “Christian.”   

http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2008/11/obamas-interview-with-cathleen.html

1. Following are 10 quotes by Barack Obama bout Islam and 10 quotes about Christianity.  Even if these are all totally taken out of context, they are very revealing:

http://thetruthwins.com/archives/10-quotes-by-barack-obama-about-islam-contrasted-with-10-quotes-by-barack-obama-about-christianity

1. The attached is a youtube video of Obama singing the Muslim prayer.  Obama has often bragged about how this is one of the prettiest sounds on earth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMBYF1LZ3FI

Second, the evidence that Obama is a Christian:

1.  The White House says Obama is a Christian.

1. A youtube video of an Obama twitter proves he is a Christian:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEXETBy0gmM

1. The New York Times, The Washington Post, the LA Times, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and the rest of the main stream media have thoroughly investigated Obama’s background and they have established beyond any reasonable doubt that he is a Christian.

Obviously, the evidence that Obama is really a Christian is overwhelming compared to the miniscule documentation to the contrary.  It is easy to understand why the main stream media is so baffled.

TDM

Time Magazine was shocked to discover that 24% of Americans think Obama is a Muslim and less than half, 47%, believe he is a Christian.  Of course Time immediately tries to explain how all these people are wrong:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2011799,00.html

But the real problem for Obama and for Time Magazine is that they failed to appreciate the simple truth that values of Islam are diametrically opposed to traditional American values.  One can obviously be a Muslim and believe in American values, but Islam and Sharia law, as practiced in much of the Muslim world, is not compatible with our values.  Most Americans understand that instinctively.  Obviously Obama does not.  The following is from his Ramadan Proclamation:

These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings. Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality.

The problem is that to Muslims, and apparently President Obama, words like justice, progress, tolerance and dignity of human beings mean very different things in the Muslim world than in America.

Justice

In the Muslim world, justice is Sharia law.  This is the same law that was used to justify stoning a young couple to death for alleged adultery.  Right now in Saudi Arabia they are deciding whether or not to permanently paralyze someone, by severing his spine, as part of his punishment.   There is no comparisonbetweenthe Muslim definition of justice and our definition of justice.

Progress

I don’t pretend to know what Obama meant by Islam advancing progress.  If you look at the winners of a Nobel prize, in any category, you won’t find very many Muslims.    But, I would give Obama a pass on this, because progress is measured in the eyes of the beholder.

Tolerance

I don’t know how anyone can use the word tolerance in connection with a religion that does not believe in tolerance.  Muslims certainly don’t tolerate other religions.  They don’t even tolerate gay people and they don’t tolerate personal behavior that is inconsistent with Sharia law.  Failing to grow a proper Muslim beard in Afghanistan could get you killed.  Infidels (anyone who is not Muslim) are not even allowed to visit holy cities like Mecca.   It appears to me that tolerance, in the Muslim world, means that everyone else must tolerate Islam.  It is the exact opposite of what we mean by tolerance.

Dignity of All Human Beings

It is hard to believe that Islam is  advancing the dignity of all human beings.   That certainly does not apply to women

Diversity and Racial Equality

If President Obama honestly believes that Islam is a faith known for diversity and racial equality, he does not understand what diversity and racial equality means.  Sharia law is not exactly known for celebrating diversity.  How can we possibly describe a religion which calls for the extermination of Jews a religion known for racial equality?   Please!

If Obama really believes that the values of Islam are compatible with our values, he either doesn’t understand Islam, or he doesn’t understand American values.   I believe the American people have had it with this type of politically correct moral relativism.  They are tired of having Christians constantly put down as narrow minded bigots, while ignoring the complete lack of tolerance by Muslims.  We can and should tolerate people who choose to be Muslim.   But our values are not the values of Islam and tolerance does not mean throwing away our core values in a vain attempt to avoid offending those who are often offended by our very existence.

George Bush said Muslim was a religion of peace.  That obviously is far from true.  What he should have said is that most Muslims are peaceful people.  But Barack Obama has gone one step farther.  He has said that our values and the values of Islam are the same.  That is why so many people think he is a Muslim.  It is also why so many question whether or not he is a Christian.  The real problem for Obama is that we do understand him.  We just don’t like what we see.

TDM

After writing my analysis last night, I was stunned this morning to check the Cook Report.  This is extremely consistent with my other sources, but if anything, this is even more stunning for Democrats.   The Cook report is down to only 6 safe Senate Seats, one likely Dem and one lean Dem.  West Virginia moved from Safe Dem to likely Dem.  That is shocking. 

This means if the Republicans win the current toss-ups, which is certainly possible, they pick up 11 seats and take over control with 52 Republicans, 46 Democrats and 2 Independents.   Republicans also gained in polls in almost every House seat.  It is important to realize that these polls were taken before Obama insulted 70% of the country by supporting the ground zero mosque, not supporting the ground zero mosque, maybe supporting the ground zero mosque, maybe not supporting the ground zero mosque,  to:  “what mosque?”  in one day. 

http://www.cookpolitical.com/senate

TDM

I prepared the following analysis to summarize the current projections for the November election.  All these projections are based on the lastest Rasmussen polls.  A couple of things are crystal clear:

1.  Republicans have improved their position in 14 states.  While Democrats have improved their chances of keeping Senate seats in some states, they have made no progress toward taking any Republican seats.  The only exception is in Florida, where Crist switched to run as an independent after losing big time in the Republican Primary.  Right now Rubio is ahead of Crist.

2.  Control of the Senate is definitely in play.  Even if the election was today the Republicans would have a good chance of winning 51 seats.  If trends continue to deteriorate for Obama and Democrats, the Republican chances of taking back control of the Senate increase exponentially.

If Harry Reid loses in Nevada and Barbara Boxer loses in California, it will be very difficult for Democrats to retain control of the Senate.

CURRENT SENATE   57 DEMOCRATS  41 REPUBLICANS 2 INDEPENDENTS

PROJECTED GOP PICK-UP (NOT INCLUDING TOSS-UP STATES)   5

PROJECTED SENATE   52  DEMOCRATS  46 REPUBLICANS  2 INDEPENDENTS

REPUBLICANS HAVE IMPROVED THEIR POSITION, SINCE JANUARY IN THE FOLLOWING STATES:

Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, California, Indiana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. 

 If the Republicans win the toss up states, which are Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Wisconsin, they will be within 1 vote of taking control.  There are four states consider leaning Democrat where the Republican could easily win.  These are California, Connecticut, Nevada and Washington.

 While it is too early to predict Republicans taking control of the Senate, it is certainly possible.  If trends continue to deteriorate for Obama and for Democrats, Republicans could do even better.  Right now only seven Democratic seats can really be considered safe:  Hawaii, Maryland, New York, New York (S), Oregon, Vermont and West Virginia.   Even two of these seats, New York (S) and West Virginia could go Republican under the right circumstances.

 While it is mathematically possible for Republicans to get a 60 vote majority, Republicans would have to beat either Inouye, Mikulski, Leahy or Schumer.  Absent illness or death, that would seem highly improbable.   I think the very best, roll the table day for the GOP would result in a total flip with the end result 57 Republicans, 41 Democrats and 2 Independents.  Not very likely, but also not impossible, particular if Obama continues his self destruction tour.

 TDM

TDM

Professor Dunning, Cornel University, did a study of incompetent people in 2000.  He was shocked to discover that the number one characteristic of an incompetent person is that they don’t know they are incompetent.  In fact his study showed that incompetent people tended to be extremely confident in their ability, even more confident than people who actually can perform well.  

http://articles.sfgate.com/2000-01-18/news/17635543_1_percentile-dunning-incompetent

Perhaps this, more than any other study, demonstrates the problem with the liberal left.   The reason they are so arrogant when they are so clearly wrong is that they are incapable of even recognizing the truth.   Even when confronted with facts that contradict their opinion, they still think they are right.

The following articles prove the point:

Harold Ford and George Stephanopoulos are competent.  They recognize that the ground zero mosque has nothing to do with freedom of religion.  This is about recognizing the simple reality that putting a mosque in this location is a really bad idea:

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2010/08/17/ex-dem-aide-stephanopoulos-and-ex-dem-congressman-discuss-impact-ny-

Eugene Robinson is not competent.  He thinks it’s Republicans who fail to understand the issue:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/16/AR2010081603306.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Anita Dunn is incompetent.   Note the arrogant, condescending tone, based on utter nonsense.  Even some prominent Muslims are speaking up saying this is a really bad idea.  But Anita Dunn, who considers Mother Theresa and Chairman Mao to be equally great, cannot understand this:

http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/17/dunn-acts-as-obama-attack-dog-on-mosque-says-gop-solidifying-its-reputation-for-intolerance/

Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are competent.  They get it:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/08/17/2010-08-17_surprised_pols_call_obama_a_party_pooper.html

Here’s the bottom line.  This is why hard-core left-wing liberals have always failed and why they always will fail.   They can never succeed, because they are incompetent.  And, according to Dunning’s law, they are incapable of realizing they are incompetent, so there is no hope of change.  Nothing Obama has done in the last month or so contradicts the theory.

TDM