BROMIDROPHOBIA = Fear of “BO”

Just two years ago Democrats thought they were on their way to eliminating the Republican Party.  Who could blame them?  They had just succeeded in re-electing the most radical, naïve and incompetent person to ever run for President of the United States.  Getting him elected the first time was an accomplishment.  Getting him re-elected caused Democrats to believe they could elect anyone, anywhere, anytime, regardless of circumstances and with zero regard to qualifications.  What could possibly go wrong?

All of the opinion polls show that Americans are equally upset with Republicans and Democrats in congress.  But the reason for that constempt is very different.  The consistent theme here is that both parties are sick and tired of congress, but for the exact opposite reasons.  Democrats are angry because congress has stood by while Obama  mucked things up to a fair thee well and they fear the gravy train running off the rails.  Republicans are angry because congress has been either unwilling or unable to stop Obama from trashing the constitution and shoving idiot programs down our collective throats.

The reason this election may be a real wave election is that both parties are exhibiting symptom of the same thing; “bromidrophobia” or fear of “BO.”  With Democrats the primary symptom is the rapid onset of amnesia where Obama’ strongest supporters can’t remember voting for him.  With Republicans it is the sudden growth of a spine and promises of the resolve necessary to stop Obama.  They are both lying.

The question is whether Democrats will be able to generate enthusiastic voter turnout from people who are depressed, tired, disillusioned and skeptical that Obama is capable of doing anything right under any circumstances.  Or will Republicans energize voters who believe everything we stand for is on the line and this may be our last chance to save the country.

Perhaps I am wrong, but I suspect that Republicans are prepared to crawl two miles on broken glass just to get within the shadow of an election box. Republicans are disgusted with Republicans in congress, but they fear Democrats in congress. I think that Democrats will stay home, because while they don’t like Republicans or Republican parties they flat out don’t trust Obama.

TDM

Just when you thought the Ebola crisis couldn’t get worse, it got worse.  It turns out that a lab surpvisor from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, who apparently worked on the blood on the Ebola victim, decided this was a great time for a cruise:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ebola-scare-creates-utter-panic-caribbean-cruise-ship/story?id=26276019

Imagine this October surprise.  You are on a cruise ship.  Suddenly there is announcement saying “that someone who worked in the lab who handled the person in Dallas’s blood was on the ship.”  Then you learn that the cruise ship has placed her in isolation, but don’t worry because there’s no risk. And by the way, the ship is headed back to Texas, because no other port will let you dock.

The following article includes an eye witness account of life on board that ship:

Though the cruise line has not released the name of the passenger or her location, the Malones fear that her room may be on their floor because when Jeremy walked outside his room this morning, he saw a group of 30 to 40 workers gathered with buckets of what looked like cleaning chemicals.

“Some of them had masks on,” Jon Malone said.

“They had a pink liquid in clear spray bottles and they had little wagons that had grey containers – like mop buckets – filled with chemicals,” he said. “They’re cleaning elevators. I’ve seen people with pink liquid cleaning the bar area and the handrails.”

How about that seafood buffet?

John Kerry, who hasn’t noticed the Marine imprisoned in Mexico for making the wrong turn lept into action on this one.  Kerry called the Belizean Prime Minister and begged him to allow the ship to dock so the passenger to be evacuated. He was turned down.  Then he tried to arrange for a helicopter evacuation to a medevac plane but that was turned down too. It turns out the Belizean Prime Minister is not about to take advice from John Kerry.

This is insane.  Obama is wondering if he needs to consider a travel ban for people traveling to and from West Africa.  It is far too late for that.  If anything, we are likely to see a travel ban for anyone traveling to or from the United States.

We already know that the CDC let someone who now has Ebola travel on a Frontier Airlines flight, even after she reported having a fever. We also know that Obama starred in a video for people in West Africa saying that you can’t get Ebola from sitting next to someone on a bus.  He missed the part where the CDC said if you have Ebola symptom don’t take public transportation because you might expose others to the disease.  Impressive!

So what could make this worse?  Easy, appoint an Ebola czar and have him report to both Susan Rice and Lisa Monaco.  Susan Rice is the person famous for spouting utter nonsense on all the Sunday talk shows following Benghazi.  Lisa Monaco is the Homeland Security Advisor who inspired people to call for an Ebola czar in the first place.  Then pick someone who was Chief of Staff for both Al Gore and Joe Biden, possibly the only two people in the country less qualified to be President than Barack Obama.  Oh, by the way, he had a key role in approving the $535 million loan to Solyndra. I think the real problem here is that anyone acceptable to Obama is extremely unlikely to be qualified for the position. It is increasingly difficult to be optimistic about this.

The good news is that the U.S. health care community will just ignore these clowns and do the necessary themselves. They are not about to rely solely on the CDC to deal with this and that is very good news.  They will review the CDC guidelines, but they will also apply something totally missing in Washington, D.C., logic and common sense.  In addition, we are going to see other people step in to the gap with some common sense recommendations to greatly reduce the risk. Following is an example of exactly that:

Good advice.  This is why Ebola is unlikely to be an umitigated disaster.  Yes, the Obama administration has botched this big time and they will botch it even more in the future.  But we are not totally dependent on the Federal Government. In spite of the best efforts of the Obama administration, we will figure out a way to handle this.

That does not mean there won’t be a lot of problems.  There is always the usual core group of idiots.  Like the guy with the clip board standing next to someone in a hazmat suit taking notes to make sure they were doing it right. But ultimately common sense will prevail in spite of the best efforts of the Obama administration to turn crisis into catastrophe.

TDM

It is now clear that Democrats suffer from chronic amnesia.  This strikes without warning whenever the truth would cause political problems.  This was observed in 2006 when Democrats forgot they had supported the decision to attack Iraq.  Hillary forgot that she was the one that said there was no doubt about WMD in Iraq.  John Kerry forgot that he said he had known about the WMD in Iraq for years.

More recently, Hillary developed amnesia about Benghazi.  Based on the collapse of our foreign policy I wouldn’t be surprised if she has difficulty remembering that she was once Secretary of State.   President Obama suffers from chronic amnesia with regard to a wide range of subjects. This is so pronounced that when Obama does remember something it comes as a complete surprise. Eric Holder can’t remember not remembering.

There were prior incidents.  Hillary had difficulty remembering key details about Waterwater and the White House Post Office scandal.  Fortunately for her, the Special Prosecutor decided that although it was clear that Hillary wasn’t telling the truth about the White House Post Office scandal, it didn’t rise to the level of perjury. One must assume that he considered this to be early onset of amnesia.

John Kerry also had previous episodes of amnesia.  For example Kerry said the memory of President Richard Nixon ordering his swift boat into Cambodia during Christmas 1968 was seared in his memory.  The problem was that Kerry was never actually in Cambodia and Nixon wasn’t President in 1968.

This may be a genetic defect, at least with regard to Hillary.  That is because apparently her mother remembered naming Hillary after Edmund Hillary after he climbed Mt. Everest.  It was an amazing accomplishment, since Hillary was born in 1947 and Edmund Hillary didn’t climb Mt. Everest until 1953. This means that either Hillary was lying, her mother was lying to her, or her mother also suffered from amnesia.

Now we have a whole rash of Democrats coming down with amnesia.  They don’t remember supporting Obama Care. They don’t remember supporting other Obama policies either.  Recently the amnesia became so severe that they can’t remember voting for Obama. It won’t be long before they can’t even remember being Democrats.

Wait, that has already happened. The Democrat running for Senate in Kansas starting tanking in the polls, so he quit. Greg Orman forgot he was a Democrat and became an independent. He can’t remember supporting all those other Democrats. He also can’t remember which party caucus he will join.  My prediction is that if Republicans win control of the Senate, Orman will remember he was a Republican.

Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor forgot he supported gay marriage until a gay man told him his wealthy partner was considering donating to his campaign. Pryor suddenly remembered he was secretly in favor of gay marriage. Then a video of this surfaced , which caused problems because the people in Arkansas aren’t that thrilled about gay marriage.  Now Pryor can’t remember remembering.

I am sure there are more examples, but I am so confused by the CDC bulletins regarding Ebola that I can’t remember.

TDM

In 1997 the Atlanta Braves were involved in a playoff with the Florida Marlins.  The pitcher for the Marlins was Livan Hernandez.  The home plate umpire was Eric Gregg.  It became obvious that Livan Hernandez could throw the ball six inches outside and Gregg would still call it a strike.  Hernandez struck out 15 batters.  Attached is a video where you can see this for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR3eK5gCChM

History shows us that this may not have been favoritism by Gregg.  He was also the home plate umpire during other games when other pitchers got near miraculous results. But regardless of the reason, the results were devastating for the Atlanta Braves.

The main stream media gave Barack Obama much more than the benefit of the doubt.  They pulled an “Eric Gregg.“ Anyone who dared challenge Barack Obama about anything was charged with racism.  Bill Clinton knew that Obama wasn’t remotely qualified to be President.  But when he told the truth and said this was a “joke” the main stream media screamed racism.  Clinton never dared question Obama’s qualifications again.

Eric Greg may have given Livan Hernandez a really wide strike zone, but he didn’t make Livan Hernandez a better pitcher.  When Hernandez had to throw the ball over the plate like every other pitcher, he got results similar to other pitchers.  The main stream media may have given Obama a free ride, but they didn’t make him qualified to be President.  This would actually be funny, if it were a script for a silly Hollywood movie.  But this is no movie.  This man is now the President of the United States, things are spiraling out of control and no one thinks Obama is up to the job.

It started with all the lies.  Anyone who was paying attention knew these were lies, but the main stream media couldn’t bring themselves to believe that.  Obama lied about everything.  He lied about William Ayers.  He lied about Reverend Wright.  He lied about his father.  He even lied about his own mother’s health insurance.  A five minute investigation would have destroyed his credibility on a number of subjects.  But there was no investigation.  Obama could say anything, no matter how absurd and it was called a strike.

Now the main stream media is shocked to discover that Obama lies about everything.  That is what shocks them so much about this latest Secret Service scandal.  Obama didn’t even need to lie about this.  But this administration is so used to lying that it never considered just telling the truth.

The main stream media no longer believes this President or anyone in his administration.  The question is:  “why did you ever believe him?”

TDM

Have you noticed something lately?  People close to this administration are turning on it. Something is definitely happening here. The most recent example was Leon Panetta who absolutely ripped Obama with regard to his decision to leave no troops in Iraq. We have now reached the point where the stench of incompetence and defeat is overpowering.  The following quote from John Kennedy is appropriate:

 “Victory has a thousand fathers, But defeat is an orphan.”

Not defeat in just one area, defeat in every possible way on every possible issue.  They have run out of lies or at least out of believable lies. For example once again the unemployment rate dropped miraculously below 6% just before the election.  But this time the media just yawned, probably because we have more people not working than at any time in the last 36 years.

Few, liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, believe this President any more.  There is a residual group of Kool-Aid drinking habitually uninformed Democratic voters still on board, but not enough.  The latest Fox News poll shows devastating changes in key demographics:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/interactive/2014/09/11/fox-news-poll-gop-has-advantage-in-upcoming-midterm-election/

Obama is losing ground among women, blacks and Hispanics.  Just a few years ago many conservatives thought that Republicans would never win another national election because of changing demographics.  That was based on the assumption that Democrats would continue to automatically get a majority of women, an overwhelming majority of blacks and a huge majority of Hispanics.  Thanks to this administration, Democrats have lost significant support in each of these groups.

If this poll is accurate we are going to see a 2014 wave election of tsunami proportions.  When you add in Democratic apathy and Republican enthusiasm it gets even worse.  Now we have an Ebola epidemic and few trust this administration to handle this crisis.  If you can’t remember to lock the front door to the White House it is hard to have faith in your ability to protect anyone.

Only one person could make this worse for Democrats and that is President Barack Obama. He said that even though he is not on the ballot, this election is all about him. That sound you heard was Democrats running tough re-election fights throwing up all over the country.

Piers Morgan who is wrong about most things may be right in saying that when Obama threw the intelligence community under the bus he reached a tipping point. He now has as many enemies within his administration as he has on the outside. We may see an avalanche of people in the know dumping on Obama.  They are not just deserting the ship.  They are shooting at it on the way out.

TDM

The real problem with this administration is that they live in a fantasy world viewed through the blurred filter of political correctness.  The fiasco at the Secret Service has exposed this in graphic detail.  The following article in the Washington Post reveals the quality of the leadership in this administration:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pierson-failed-to-provide-fresh-start-for-secret-service-that-administration-wanted/2014/10/01/51a642a2-49a8-11e4-891d-713f052086a0_story.html

Assuming the following quote is accurate, it sure looks like political correctness is the root cause of our problems:

 “We need to be more like Disney World. We need to be more friendly, inviting.”

Political correctness sees a world wrapped in fantasy.  Obviously not every senior official in the Obama administration was a costumed character at Disneyland, but they all live in a fantasy world.  They are remarkably incapable of seeing the real world.  For example, Obama cannot bring himself to believe that there is a causal relationship between Islam and Islamic terrorists.  Instead Obama really believes that Islam is a religion of peace and that it a wild coincidence that so many people believe that Islam requires them to carry out jihad.

This is the same reasoning used to justify taking guns away from law abiding citizens to reduce gun violence.  It is the same reasoning that believes we need more schools and fewer prisons.  They do not understand the bitter reality of the world.  If good guys do not restrain bad guys, bad guys NEVER restrain themselves.  That is why in most civilized societies the first thing you build in a prison, the second thing you build is a church and then you can start thinking about building schools.

This is why a man with a knife was allowed to run across the White House lawn, overpower a female guard and then run loose until a male, off-duty, secret service agent tackled him.  The focus was not on protecting the White House and protecting the President.  The focus was on looking good in the process.  We are very fortunate that this gross negligence wasn’t discovered doing the follow-up to an assassination.  We are also fortunate that no one killed Benjamin Netanyahu because the Secret Service was worried about traffic flow.

We are relying on people incapable of even recognizing reality to protect us against imminent threats to national security.  How can we expect them to make good decisions? Josh Ernest recently said that the administration is going to protect the country from EBOLA by teaching our border patrol to look for symptoms.  He missed the part where people are flooding into our borders without exactly checking in with the border patrol.

The question is which is worse; the fact that people might be stupid enough to buy this, or the distinct possibility that the people responsible for national security are that stupid?  After reading this article, the answer seems pretty obvious.

TDM

We now have a confirmed Ebola case in the U.S.  At a minimum, the main stream media is going to go nuts.  We are about to be inundated with information, some of it true, some of it false, some of it ridiculous.  We will have experts tell us there is no risk.  We will have other experts tell us death is coming to American.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/health-care/how-the-experts-find-and-stop-ebola-20140930

The question is “who do we trust?”  This administration has said too many things that have been proven to be untrue.  Even if we think these are “innocent” errors, this is a serious problem. Was the President lying about the intelligence regarding ISIS so that no one can criticize him for not taking action?  Or was he telling the truth and he really didn’t think ISIS was a threat.  I am not sure which is worse.  Do I want to deal with a habitual liar or someone merely clueless?  How could I trust either one?

We rely on a President during a crisis to reassure us that things are under control.  Ronald Reagan did that after the Space Shuttle explosion.   Rudy Giuliani did that in New York after 9-11.  So did George Bush.  The Democratic second guessing of George Bush didn’t happen until Democrats got collective amnesia.

To be blunt, this is the administration that didn’t notice that someone had shot at the White House until a maid found the bullet.  This is the administration that let someone jump the fence at the White House fence and charge through the White House.  The intruder was only stopped when an off duty Secret Service agent happened by.  Few things seem more obvious that the need to secure the White House, but this administration can’t even do that.  How could anyone trust them to handle anything else?

So perhaps the question tonight is:  “Ok, Ebola has come to the United States. Who do you trust?”

TDM

It is increasingly impossible to underestimate the Obama administration.  No matter how bad it gets, they find a way to make it worse.  I remember being puzzled that Obama was bombing the Khorasan Group, but no one seemed to know who they were.  Now we know why.  They didn’t exist, other than in the deluded mind of the Obama administration.  The Obama administration pulled a name out of the hat, because they refuse to admit that al Qaeda continues to exist.  This is beyond pathetic.  This administration is incapable to telling the truth, about anything.  Obama said al Qaeda was destroyed, so al Qaeda had to be destroyed.  Drones and precision airstrikes weren’t working, so the decision was made to solve the problem by calling al Qaeda something else.  Hey, how about the Khorasan Group.  That way this will look like a new threat and Obama will suddenly look like he is on top of something, for a change.  The problem is that in addition to CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CBS and even Fox News, we have people like Breitbart and the National Journal.  The following article by Andrew McCarthy is breathtaking:

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/388990/khorosan-group-does-not-exist-andrew-c-mccarthy

There is a reason that no one had heard of such a group until a nanosecond ago, when the “Khorosan Group” suddenly went from anonymity to the “imminent threat” that became the rationale for an emergency air war there was supposedly no time to ask Congress to authorize.

You haven’t heard of the Khorosan Group because there isn’t one. It is a name the administration came up with, calculating that Khorosan — the –Iranian–​Afghan border region — had sufficient connection to jihadist lore that no one would call the president on it.

Bob Beckel hinted at some terrific October surprise regarding national security:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/388368/bob-beckel-warns-october-surprise-dems-andrew-johnson

’ll tell you: I would expect an October surprise,” Beckel said on Thursday. “I think I know what is — I’m not going to say it, but I think I know what it is — and it is going to shake things up, and it has to do with national security.”

Talk about grasping at straws.  Now we learn that this imminent threat was so serious that no one bothered to inform our European allies:

http://www.kansas.com/news/nation-world/article2264747.html

European counterterrorism specialists say their American counterparts never mentioned an imminent plot by al-Qaida operatives in Syria to attack Western targets and didn’t brief them on the group that’s supposedly behind the plan, a previously unknown terrorist unit that American officials have dubbed the Khorasan group.

The European specialists, who meet regularly with U.S. officials on terrorism issues – particularly air travel and potential terrorist operations involving Western passport holders – said they were never specifically warned about such a group or such a plot. Such an omission, the specialists said, seemed unlikely if the plot were truly imminent.

This would make for a hysterical SNL skit, but there is nothing funny about this. The threats from al Qaeda and ISIS are all too real.  Obama may be laughed off the international stage, but that is small comfort.

TDM

It turns out that a NY Fed worked was so disgusted at the lack of oversight of Goldman Sachs that she started recording things.  According to the following she has over 45 hours of tape and the contents are devastating:

http://nypost.com/2014/09/26/tapes-showing-meek-oversight-of-goldman-are-about-to-rock-wall-street/

So how bad is this.  The following two quotes are pretty remarkable:

David Beim, the Columbia University business professor whose 2009 report on how the NY Fed could improve its oversight of banks — a report which led to Segarra’s hiring — called the ability of banks to co-opt and tame NY Fed workers “regulatory capture.”

Michael Lewis, best-selling author of “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt” and “Liar’s Poker,” said after listening to the tapes: “The Ray Rice video for the financial sector has arrived.”

This reminded me of an opinion in the NY Times written in 2012.  It was by Greg Smith, a Goldman Sachs executive director, who wrote an op-ed explaining why his conscience would no longer allow him to work Goldman Sachs:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for…

It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as “muppets,” sometimes over internal e-mail.

People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm — or the trust of its clients — for very much longer.

Goldman Sachs already got bailed out big time in 2008 and 2009.  At a minimum, some people are going to be very embarrassed.  If this causes something like a stock market crash or another financial meltdown Democrats in office may become scarcer than the California Tiger Salamander.

Before Republicans gloat too much remember that people like Goldman Sachs donate big time to whichever party happens to be in power at the moment.  There are certain to be some big name Republicans who are also embarrassed by these disclosures.

TDM

There are reports that Eric Holder will announce his resignation today.  This apparently is to take effect when his replacement has been confirmed.  We are about to see the confirmation challenge of the Century.  Holder has been the shield and defender for this administration from day one.  He has enabled if not managed the cover-ups of Benghazi, Fast & Furious, the IRS and more.  It is the attorney general who decides what documents to release and more importantly, it is the attorney general who decides whether or not to appoint a special prosecutor.

Even if Democrats miraculously maintain control of the Senate, there will be enormous pressure for Obama to replace Holder with a traditional attorney general who will not play partisan politics.  I remember that Watergate exploded only after Nixon’s attorney general John Mitchell resigned.  His replacement, Elliot Richardson refused to fire the special prosecutor upon Nixon’s order.  Richardson had promised congress, during the confirmation hearings that he would not interfere with the special prosecutor.  He kept that promise.

If Republicans win control of the Senate they will never confirm another Attorney General like Holder.  Even if they don’t win control of the Senate they will never confirm another Attorney General like holder.  It is guaranteed that the next Attorney General will be required to make an Elliot Richardson type of promise and that will change everything overnight.

We may never know the real reason for this decision by Holder.  It is even possible that he also was asked to do something even he wouldn’t do.  In any event it is “Hold out and Hold on” on because there is a lot of stormy weather ahead.

TDM