A straw dog is a false image that is made for the sole purpose of being destroyed.  The most recent version of this is the straw dog of the racist Tea Party.  That is patently absurd, but it still appeals to Democrats who want to believe this kind of stuff.

Democrats are approaching pure panic with regard to the midterm elections.  This administration has managed the impossible achievement of appearing ruthlessly corrupt and irredeemable incompetent at the same time.  When you combine this with mind numbing arrogance it is developing into the perfect political storm.

Democrats will resort to attack ads accusing Republicans of almost everything.  Republicans only need to run one ad saying that Obama sucks and that if you elect them they will stop him. That is one issue where voters will believe them.

There are always surprises in any election.  In 2012 Obama probably would have lost if it wasn’t for Hurricane Sandy and the “bromance” with Chris Christie that helped him look Presidential.  Democrats can’t count on another convenient hurricane.  In addition people now know that Obama didn’t do any better with regard to Hurricane Sandy than Bush did with regard to Hurricane Katrina.

If anything most of the potential surprises are all bad for Obama.  I wonder if Democrats have considered what will happen if there is one case of Ebola in the U.S. and it even looks like this may have come across our Southern Border.  If that happens the outrage will be instant and obvious and “throw the bums out” will become a national movement.

In the meantime watch for Democrats in desperate search of a straw dog they can blame.  Just this week liberals tried desperately to blame all our current problems on Richard Nixon.  Richard Nixon!  Like I said, Democrats are starting to show signs of pure panic.

TDM

President Obama appears to plan on using golf to coast through the rest of his Presidency.  That is actually good news.  In the case of Obama, less is definitely more.  He is far less likely to make a mistake that jeopardizes our economy, national security or our own security while golfing.

Removing Obama from office is less effective, because then we would get Joe Biden.  Biden is possibly the only living person, other than Hillary Clinton, almost guaranteed to be a worse president than Obama.

Perhaps we should start a golf ball fund for Obama.  Based on the few reports about his game, it would appear that he is pretty awful and probably loses a lot of balls.  We know from watching his foreign policy that he didn’t start out with any balls and doesn’t appear to be gaining any.  The only one Obama even tries to intimidate is the Republicans in congress and that is the ultimate soft target.  But even the Republicans in congress are starting to show residual signs of a spine, so Obama needs help there too.

So the solution:  give Obama some balls…golf balls.

TDM

It would be very wise to pay close attention to the IRS e-mails case.  A federal judge has ordered the IRS to explain how the IRS lost Lois Lerner’s e-mails.  That is very dangerous for this administration.  The judge can find people in contempt and put them in jail.  The following article by Bruce Walker is an important reminder of how similar this is to the Nixon case:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/07/how_litigating_lost_emails_works.html

Most people never dreamed in May of 1974 that Richard Nixon would ever be removed from office.  He has only two years left in his second term.  But a case was argued in the United States District court on May 31, 1974 and the Supreme Court ruled on the case July 24, 1974.  It hit like a thunderbolt.  Richard Nixon only had fifteen days left in office.  Sometimes lightning strikes actually hit people.

This case is impossible to predict.  No one should expect this Republican congress to grow a spine over the summer recess.  However, there are cases that are making their way through the federal courts and so far the Supreme Court has consistently ruled against the Obama administration.  While things currently  seem to be moving at a snail’s pace, they are definitely moving.  Richard Nixon taught us that sometimes, just when you least expect it,  change can move at the speed of light.

TDM

One of the problems for liberals is that in the age of the cell phone and the internet, they are continuously caught lying.  There are all those inconvenient videos that keep showing up and are increasingly difficult to ignore.  We anxiously await the unveiling of Lois Lerner’s e-mails because they are almost certain to include some really great stuff.  That is why the Obama administration is doing everything possible to prevent their disclosure.  The same is true with regard to Benghazi.  But perhaps the most damaging video for this administration is the following clip on reason.com:

http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/24/watch-obamacare-architect-jonathan-grube

This could not come at a more inconvenient time.  Jonathan Gruber was on MSNBC explaining why the key provision in the law was just a typo:

“It is unambiguous this is a typo. Literally every single person involved in the crafting of this law has said that it’s a typo, that they had no intention of excluding the federal states.”

One will note that even Gruber has to agree that the law says what it says.  Now we learn that Gruber was traveling all over the country explaining why it was so important for states to set up their own exchanges.  Here is what he said:

What’s important to remember politically about this is if you’re a state and you don’t set up an exchange, that means your citizens don’t get their tax credits—but your citizens still pay the taxes that support this bill. So you’re essentially saying [to] your citizens you’re going to pay all the taxes to help all the other states in the country. I hope that that’s a blatant enough political reality that states will get their act together and realize there are billions of dollars at stake here in setting up these exchanges. But, you know, once again the politics can get ugly around this.

Jonathan Gruber signed an amicus brief contracting his own verbal statements.  That is not a minor problem.  The only question a lawyer need ask Mr. Gruber is:  “were you lying then or are you lying now?”

A few months ago skeptics laughed at the prospect of this provision stopping ObamaCare in its tracks.  No one is laughing now.  Even if the law is upheld this is further evidence that Democrats botched this big time.  Never in the history of this country has one political party shoved such comprehensive legislation down the throats of the American people with zero support from the other party.  Never in the history of this country has one political party made such an enormous mistake.  At best, Democrats look incredibly inept and stupid.  My guess is that voters this fall will take the opportunity express their opinion about this.  Unless something changes, Democrats are about to absorb a historic landslide loss..

When you combine this with the rapidly aging Democratic leadership the only thing certain is fundamental change in the Democratic Party itself.  This will not necessarily be good change, because Democrats are likely to replace the current class of clowns with even worse, but change is inevitable.  In case you doubt this, Democrats in their desperate search for someone to be a credible alternative to Hillary Clinton seriously floated the prospect of another run by California Governor Jerry Brown.  Ignoring the horrible job he is doing in California, Brown is already 76 years old.  He will be 78 years old in 2016.  Fossil fuel does a good job of running your car, but doesn’t usually win elections.

TDM

John Kerry launched his political career by rushing to the sound of the guns with the white flag of surrender.  He did this during the Vietnam War, but first he paused just long enough to defame his fellow Vietnam Veterans.  Then he was off to negotiate with the Viet Cong, graciously offering to give them everything they wanted in exchange for nothing.  Kerry, while more than willing to lie about alleged war crimes by the U.S. completely ignored the far more serious war crimes by the Viet Cong.  His inability to even recognize the difference between the good guys and the bad guys continues today.

He is thrusting himself into the Middle East, apparently with the plan of jamming another peace settlement down Israel’s throat.  The process is all too familiar.  As long as the terrorists are attacking Israel neither the U.S. nor the UN pays much attention.  Even when Israel strikes back, they don’t pay much attention.  But, at the first hint that Israel is actually winning the UN leaps into action.  At best the U.S. buys Israel a little time before joining the demand for another meaningless cease fire. Peace in the Middle East according to the UN means stopping Israel from defending itself.

This pattern has continued for decades with few interruptions.  One was in 1972.  Even during the middle of his own political nightmare, Richard Nixon saved Israel.  He ordered the U.S. Military to supply the arms and ammunition Israel needed to survive and demanded that this be done immediately.  The following article tells that story in great detail:

http://www.jewish-american-society-for-historic-preservation.org/images/Richard_Nixon-2.pdf

The next President to save Israel may have been George W. Bush.  It was George W. Bush who insisted on development of the missile defense system.  Democrats ridiculed the missile defense system as unnecessary, too expensive and unlikely to work.  It was George W. Bush who first authorized the Iron Dome system for Israel.  While Obama cut funds for our own missile defense system, he did approve increased funding for Israel.  He deserves credit for that.  But Iron Dome would never have happened without George W. Bush.

The Palestinians launched thousands of rockets at Israel.  As someone who lived through a lot of rocket attacks at Pleiku and Da Nang I am all too familiar with the danger from these kinds of weapons.  I am watching the pictures of the Iron Dome shooting down those missiles and it is nothing short of miraculous.  Amazing performance for a system Democrats  thought was unnecessary, too expensive and impossible.   If it was not for the Iron Dome, Israel would have suffered a devastating loss and as a result the Israeli military would probably be leveling Gaza.   I wonder if anyone on the liberal left even realizes that.

In the meantime, Obama and Kerry are desperately trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, before Israel can sniff victory.  However this time it won’t work because no one trusts this President and this Secretary of State.  Obama has achieved the near impossible of having Egypt, Palestine and Israel all agreeing on one thing.  They don’t trust the U.S and they don’t want any help from the U.S.

TDM

The DC Circuit Court just put a dagger into the heart of ObamaCare.  While some people thought this lawsuit had zero chance of succeeding, it is now one step away from the Supreme Court.  What makes this decision very troubling, for Democrats, is the wording.  The court recognized that this decision will hurt a lot of people currently getting health care subsidies.

“At least until states that wish to can set up exchanges, our ruling will likely have significant consequences both for the millions of individuals receiving tax credits through federal exchanges and for health-insurance markets more broadly.  But, high as those stakes are, the principle of legislative supremacy that guides us is higher still.”

The White House response by John Earnest was as follows:

“It’s important for people all across the country to understand that this ruling does not have any practical impact on their ability to continue to receive tax credits right now,”

Obama appointed three judges to the DC Circuit court.  He obviously had this day in mind.  We may soon learn if a liberal Democratic judge is even capable of actually upholding the rule of law.

My concern is not so much with regard to this case.  It is far more serious than that.  I wonder if liberal Democrats are even considering what could happen if people lose faith in the rule of law.  If people lose faith in the system, almost anything is possible and most options would be very bad.

TDM

I used to handle the tort litigation nationwide for a major corporation.  I remember one particular claim where the local representatives worked with senior management to investigate a claim before they turned it over to my department.  I was presented with a book, about 5 inches think.  It was very entertaining, with a cast of characters right out of the “Godfather.”  But the problem was that in spite of the volume of speculation there were very few documented facts.  I had to start over and re-investigate the claim from day one.  Even where they basically got the story right, they have fallen far short of the standard of documentation necessary to prove up the file.

I believe this is very similar to the Benghazi file inherited by Trey Gowdy.  He has a lot of e-mails, and colorful testimony before congressional committees.  But he is a long way from having a properly documented investigation.  That is why you haven’t heard from him for a while.  His people are going back to square one.  They are reading the source documents and probably interviewing people.  He will save the public testimony for things that really matter.  When someone is called before this committee they better be prepared, because Trey Gowdy will be prepared.  There will be no repeat of the silly season where Democrats don’t ask any questions at all and Republicans ask “have you stopped beating your wife yet” gottcha questions.  Neither is the least bit effective at getting to the facts.

One of the things I quickly learned was to pay attention to the details.  Sometimes an investigator will ask a question that seems to be irrelevant to the subject at hand, but it is extremely relevant to the credibility of the witness.  I can give an example.  We had a plaintiff that was a well-known highly-decorated Vietnam Veteran.  However, when I read his deposition it was obvious to me that he had never actually served in Vietnam.  He was using terminology that no real Vietnam Veteran would ever use.  So I contacted my attorneys and told them of my suspicions.  They were shocked, because this guy was a local celebrity and was on TV all the time.  Reluctantly, they did investigate and quickly discovered that this guy was a fraud.  He had not only never served in a combat position; he had never even been to Vietnam.

A trained investigator is a very dangerous person.   It is nothing like what you see on TV where some tough good guy intimidates criminals into confessing all.   In real life that rarely works.  The good investigator focuses on the details.  It is quite simple.  People who are lying almost always get some of the seemingly minor details wrong.  Those who are just telling the truth don’t have that problem.  Trey Gowdy is starting the process by double checking the details.  That makes him and his committee very dangerous.  I believe he will expose the truth on Benghazi.  If the truth is as bad as some of us suspect, then we are experiencing the calm before the storm.

TDM

The Republican establishment does not want to impeach President Obama.  For one thing, impeachment should always be the last resource in dealing with a conflict between a President of the United States and congress.  That is why only two Presidents have ever been impeached; Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.  (Nixon was never impeached; he resigned prior to any impeachment vote.)  Both were acquitted primarily because impeachment was considered to be too radical of a solution for the problem.  In addition, Republicans know that Democrats, with wild cheering from the main stream media, will leap to the defense of Obama, resulting in the ultimate political circus.  In the meantime, the impact on the country would be devastating.  It is bad enough dealing with the rest of the world with Obama in charge.  It would be impossible with no one in charge.

There is little doubt that the House would, if pressed, vote to impeach Obama.  There’s even less doubt that the Senate would disregard this and vote to acquit, regardless of the facts.  That is why Boehner is suing Obama rather than calling for impeachment.  Perhaps he is hoping that somehow the Supreme Court will find a way to intervene.  I doubt seriously that there is any chance that this will happen.  The Supreme Court is not about to bail congress out for being incapable of dealing with this mess.

I believe there is only one person in this country capable of making impeachment happen.  That person is President Barack Hussein Obama.  Incredibly, he just may be capable of achieving the impossible.  His open taunting of Republicans in congress comes very close to twisting the tiger’s tail.  At some point, if you twist the tiger’s tail once too often, you get bit even if that is not what tiger had in mind.

I have never seen anything like this.  I cannot find any example in our nation’s history where a President of the United States acted this way.  Obama is acting like a spoiled brat.  This is insane.  How, exactly, can the country tolerate a juvenile delinquent masquerading as President.  Rick Perry met with Obama to discuss the mess on our border and Obama had trouble controlling the giggles.

Democrats should be just as concerned about Obama as Republicans.  This is not even close to funny.  This is way beyond embarrassing.  This is now a clear and present danger.  This is literally like handing your car keys over to an eight year old child because he is throwing a hissy fit.  Instead in this case, we have given him the keys to a nuclear arsenal.

TDM

At one point in 2012, Perry was far ahead of all the other Republican contenders.  Then he went brain dead on national TV.   His failure to remember which Department he wanted to eliminate was painful to watch.  Perry never recovered.   Many people thought he never would recover.  They could easily be wrong, because of the gift Barack Obama handed him this week.

Obama met Perry in Dallas and he treated Perry as an equal.  While Obama followed his typical pattern of trashing Republicans in congress, he admitted that Rick Perry had a point.  Then, incredibly, Obama asked Perry for help in getting Republicans in congress to pass immigration reform.  If you are a Perry fan, he couldn’t have scripted this any better.  Obama did more for Rick Perry today than Chris Christie did for Obama following Hurricane Sandy.

The all too public Perry collapse was so painful that one would be foolish to think he has put that entirely behind him.  But it would also be foolish to ignore this man.  Rick Perry is someone who absolutely can energize the base.  He just may be the best politician in the country at selling conservative values.  The man can bring a crowd to its feet.  In addition, he has been a very successful Governor of Texas and that is a solid resume when one is running for President.  A strong charismatic governor from a big state can be a formidable candidate.

I remember when Ronald Reagan was running for President.  For a long time the pundits in the main stream media always described him as just some actor.  Then one night I heard one of the news anchors throw out the typical class “B” actor slam, but then he paused and said:  But Ronald Reagan was also a very successful governor of California for two terms and we cannot ignore that.  That was when I realized that Ronald Reagan was going to be the next President of the United States.

There is a long way to go and among other things Perry is capable of another act of self-destruction.  He is not yet there, but he is off the mat and back in the fight.

TDM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidd_Finch

On April 1, 1985, Sports Illustrated published an article about a new pitching prospect for the New York Mets named named Hayden Siddhartha “Sidd” Finch.  The story was written by George Plimpton and it was very funny.  I was stunned to learn that a lot of people at work actually believed this nonsense.  The story was hopelessly absurd.  Plimpton had Finch throwing the ball 168 miles per hour and described him as torn between pursuing professional baseball or the French Horn.   Just to make sure everyone knew this was absurd, Plimpton had Finch wearing a heavy hiker’s boot on one foot while going bare foot with the other while pitching.  In addition, the subhead of the title read:

“He’s a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse.  Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style.  Sidd’s deciding about yoga – and his future in baseball.”  If you take the first letter from each word in this sentence you get:  “Happy April Fool’s Day – ah fib”

Sports Illustrated got the New York Mets to play along with the joke.  They took pictures of a junior high school art teacher named Joe Berton, a stand-in for the fictional “Finch” posed next to Mel Stottlemyre, the Met’s pitching coach.   The Mets even gave Finch a locker between George Foster and Darryl Strawberry.

Incredibly, a lot of supposedly smart people bought this hook, line and sinker.  Mets fans were overjoyed at the new prospect, and Sports Illustrated was flooded with requests for more information.  It was even reported that two MLB general managers called Commissioner of Baseball Peter Ueberroth to ask how a batter could safely Finch and his 168 mph fastball.  ABC, CBS, NBC and the local St. Petersburg, Florida newspaper all sent reporters to a press conference starring Mr. Finch.  At the press conference, Joe Berton, alias Sidd Finch, announced his retirement.

Perhaps this helps some of you understand why so many people in the main stream media continue to believe in Barack Obama.  In many ways, the Obama narrative is more absurd than the fictional Sidd Finch.  Did they really believe that a man who stumbled through Occidental and Columbia and then worked as a community organizer in Chicago miraculously got into Harvard because of his academic brilliance?  Were they really convinced that a man who never had any executive experience at any level was somehow qualified to be President of the United States?  Did they honestly expect a man who wasn’t even a Boy Scout to have the skills necessary to be Commander in Chief?  Were they really willing to trust someone who told so many obvious lies about his own personal history and refused to release any documents, including his own birth certificate, to support his ridiculously thin resume?  Is it possible that they were willing to believe that someone who never even took a first-aid course was fully qualified to restructure our health insurance system?  The obvious answer is yes, yes, yes, yes and yes again.

Obviously, if NBC, CBS and ABC were willing to believe in Sidd Finch, it is easier to understand why they believed in Obama.   Sidd Finch was an obvious joke.  Eventually even the main stream media figured that out, primarily because Sports Illustrated finally admitted it was all a hoax.  I wonder if we could get Sports Illustrated to publish an article explaining that the entire Obama narrative was also a hoax.

Unfortunately, this joke is on us, except that this really isn’t funny.

TDM