Republican candidates for President missed a huge opportunity to really sting Obama. Obama ordered the assassination of a U.S. citizen without even the pretense of due process.  One of the moderators at the last debate asked about this.  In their haste to appear strong on national defense, Republicans missed a major opportunity:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TARGETED_KILLING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-01-10-42-54

Newt Gingrich was particularly strong in justifying this action because we are at war.  But, he missed the point.  Obama never uses the term war on terror.  Gingrich should have pointed out that Obama can’t have it both ways.  He can’t pretend it is not a war and then ignore due process.  There is no question that killing Anwar al-Alwaki was justified.  There is little dispute with regard to the threat from this individual.  But the problem is that Obama has now set a precedent to kill any U.S. citizen, anywhere in the world, solely because he thinks it is a good idea.  Doesn’t that frighten you more than a little?

It is not a stretch to imagine Obama ordering the assassination of someone on the “far right” using the same justification.  Just think of all those times Democrats have referred to the Tea Party as a “terrorist” organization.  In the deluded world of the liberal left, they have often directly compared the political rhetoric of people like Sarah Palin with militant jihadists.  The Department of Homeland security has specifically addressed the “threat” from far right organizations.  We really need to wake up on this issue.

If this was an emergency situation, then it would be easier to justify.  But it wasn’t an emergency.  The decision to order the assassination of this man was made long before the actual event.  There was plenty of time to set up some reasonable mechanism for due process.  Granted, the traditional court system is too cumbersome, but here are alternatives.  A special bi-partisan congressional panel would be an option.  So would be a special court, similar to the FISA court.  If we set up the FISA court to allow due process before we wiretap someone, shouldn’t be allow due process before we order their execution?  How, exactly, does Obama explain the logic that requires the trying of non-citizen enemy combatants in federal court but has no problem in just assassinating U.S. citizens because “he” considers them to be a threat?  How, exactly, does Obama explain why waterboarding is so bad, but just assassinating people is ok?

The liberal left had their panties in a wad for 8 years claiming George Bush violated civil liberties.  They were wrong, because Bush was very careful to follow the rule of law.  Now we have a Democratic President who is not even pretending to follow the rule of law.  Isn’t it about time some Republican candidate for President, other than Ron Paul, calls him on it?

TDM

Herman Cain appears to have been running for President with the illusion that he would be given the same treatment given Democratic candidates.  For years the main stream media ignored the private sex life of top Democrats.  Barney Frank’s roommate was literally running a gay prostitution ring out of his apartment.  Kennedy probably set the national standard, at least with regard to the frequency of episodes but LBJ was not exactly a choir boy.  Carter probably didn’t do much, in or out of the bedroom, but Clinton picked up the slack.  The press knew this, of course, but they simply did not care.  When Gennifer Flowers claimed she had a long-term sexual relationship with Bill Clinton, the main stream media just yawned.  The press ignored the inconvenient fact that Gennifer Flowers had taped phone conversations with Bill Clinton.  They accepted silly fairy tales from people like James Carville and George Stephanopoulos claiming that somehow the tapes were doctored. (Later, during Clinton’s Presidential deposition regarding the Kathleen Willey cases, Clinton admitted under oath that he had sex with Gennifer Flowers after all.)  I doubt that the Monica Lewinsky affair would even have been reported if Clinton hadn’t lied about it under oath.  Even then the media decided that perjury didn’t matter either, since it was just about sex.

But, this is only for DEMOCRATS!  Republicans are held to a very different standard.  If a Republican shows any hint of this kind of stuff the main stream media goes nuts.  If it’s a female Republican or a black Republican they go postal.  They don’t just report on stories, they dig through trash cans and library records in a desperate search for any hint of evidence.  If they can’t find something, they just make it up.

Herman Cain failed to learn the lesson of the Clarence Thomas hearings.  Clarence Thomas was accused of sexually harassing Anita Hill.  But technically he wasn’t accused of sexual harassment.  He was accused of making unwelcomed sexual comments.  Even Anita Hill admits she never filed a complaint and continued to socialize with Thomas.  She became a Democratic celebrity and has made a fortune giving speeches ripping Clarence Thomas.  But at worse, Thomas was guilty of only being crude.  If these kinds of accusations were made about a Democrat, no media outlet in the country would bother to report it.

Now Herman Cain surfaces and, once again, the main stream media is foaming at the mouth.  The sad truth is that the main stream media is totally biased.  They expect Democrats to be cads, so they don’t care.  They think all Republicans attend the church of “I’m better than you,” so they are on a mission to bring them down.  They justify this by calling Republicans hypocrites.  It is disgusting and shameful, and it is indefensible.  But the solution is not to stop investigating Republicans; it is to start telling the truth about Democrats.  One could write an entire book about the Barack Obama scandals, which have been completely ignored by the main stream media. 

In the meantime, Herman Cain’s campaign is going down in self-inflicted flames, as it should.  Regardless of how unfairly he has been treated by the media, that does not justify this pattern of behavior.  Republican candidates are held to a higher standard than Democrats.  Thank God!  I hope that never changes.  If we lose the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong, what else matters?

 TDM

Someone is clearly messing with Iran’s nuclear program.  A couple of weeks ago another nuclear site “accidentally” exploded.  Now this one reported today:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/report-explosion-rocks-iran-city-of-isfahan-home-to-key-nuclear-facility-1.398312

There have already been rumors that the U.S. and Israel were responsible for the Stuxnet computer worm that did significant damage to Iran’s nuclear program:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/world/middleeast/16stuxnet.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Please note, this was started under George W. Bush’s watch.  When the full truth emerges about all the things that George Bush did to protect this country, I think a lot of people will be shocked.  If these “explosions” are part of that program, he just may have figured out a way to head off a nuclear holocaust.  It should also be pointed out that Obama apparently gave strong support to this program, for which he deserves credit.  This is further proof that even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.

What makes this so beautiful is that Iran will never admit what happened.  There won’t be any wild charges against the U.S. or Israel, because then it would be obvious that Iran got snookered.  Regardless of who did this, it’s a beautiful thing!

TDM

Almost every day we learn about a new and exciting scientific study that finally proves global warming is for real.  Within days, if not hours, we learn that the opposite is true.  Virtually all of the recent studies have shown that the earth is colder, if it is changing at all.  Of course global warm alarmists believe that the global cooling is actually proof of global warming.  If you understand that reasoning, stop reading now because you are beyond hope.

The following link is from the unofficialnetworks.com.  Unfortunately, this is far more likely to be accurate than the nonsense in the main stream media:

http://unofficialnetworks.com/winter-weather-forecast-20112012-extreme-winter-parts-31096/

In case you haven’t noticed, it is getting colder not warmer.  Last year was a bitch and this year looks even worse.  The following link is from Fairbanks Alaska:

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/weird-news/fairbanks-hit-with-record-breaking-cold-below/article_77406c72-1305-11e1-a3b5-001cc4c03286.html

The temperature was -41 F below zero.  This broke a record set back in 1969.  Now I grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and I can remember mornings when it was 40 F below zero, but that was in January or February, not November.  To those of you, who have never experienced this type of weather, let me enlighten you.  The radio stations give walk warnings.  If you walk outside in this weather you have a good chance of getting frostbite in your lungs.  It is a decidedly unpleasant experience.  I can remember days when I walked backward to school because it was impossible to walk anywhere while facing the wind.  At -40 Fahrenheit the ground literally creaks.  If you are fortunate enough to get your car to start, it groans and you can hear the ground creak as you drive over the snow.  Ok, I must admit that I never actually walked to school when it was -40 F.  That is because school was closed.  We would bundle up and use the day off to go sledding.  -40F was never enough to keep us indoors.

But, I digress.  The point is that -40F is darn cold and to have this weather as early as November is not encouraging.  Here in Northern California; this is not a big problem.  In fact, the summer just ended was marvelous.  There were very few days where the temperature got over 100 degrees and it was GREAT!  I wish it was like this every year.  Now we are getting slightly cooler weather, which means it rains and the temperature drops into the high 40’s at night.  In upper Michigan we referred to this weather pattern as summer.

If this forecast is accurate, and it sure looks accurate, then it is going to be difficult to convince anyone that global warming is going to kill humanity.  Of course that will not slow down the New York Times.

Now there is more evidence that the main stream media has conspired, for years with  the so-called scientific community to hide the truth about the inconvenient lack of global warming:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2066706/BBC-sought-advice-global-warming-scientists-economy-drama-music–game-shows.html

I always have one simple suggest to liberals who still believe in global warming.  “Don’t sell your coat.”  

 TDM

If you listen to the pundits on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN et al, then you probably think Rick Perry is on the fast track to oblivion.  They have clearly written him off.  In most years they would be right.  His brain freeze during a national debate was painful to watch.  But, this is not a normal year and Perry is not a normal candidate.  He has never lost an election and the road to perdition is paved with people who underestimated him.  He has the added advantage of watching his opponents self-destruct.  Herman Cain is an intriguing guy, but he has made far too many mistakes to survive as a Presidential candidate.  Newt Gingrich has a long history of self-annihilation.  His bizarre decision to start talking about amnesty for illegal aliens bordered on suicidal.  It is almost as if Gingrich thinks he is so brilliant that he no longer cares what people think.  I like Gingrich, but will be surprised if he does not go down in self-inflicted flames.  Since no one in their right mind thinks Santorum, or Bachmann stand a snowball’s chance in Hell of winning against Obama, and since Ron Paul has the surrender monkey on his back that leaves Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.  (I am ignoring Huntsman because he is probably the only candidate more unacceptable to conservatives than Romney.  In addition, like it or not, he has the same Mormon problem that never quite goes away.)

It is hard to make a case for someone running in the single digits in the polls actually winning the nomination, but at this point the poll that counts the most is the money poll.  The votes that matter right now are from those people who are ready willing and able to fund a Presidential campaign.  If the following story is accurate, Rick Perry remains the only candidate, other than Romney, who appears capable of raising enough money:

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/23/3282231/rick-perrys-pouring-it-on-in-iowa.html

I watched the debate and Rick Perry more than held his own.  He didn’t score any knock out punches and he didn’t deliver any brilliant lines, but he looked competent.  He also showed a lot more personal knowledge about foreign affairs than expected.  Newt Gingrich always looks like the smartest guy in the room and this debate was no exception.  But he also looks like the most arrogant and snarkiest guy in the room. Perry wasn’t brilliant, but he was smart enough and he was far more impressive than Herman Cain.

Perry is pouring a lot of time and money into Iowa and he has the type of organization that can really work there.  If he comes in first, second or even third in Iowa it will change everything.

I really can’t possibly predict anything.  The whole process has been beyond bizarre.  But, as it was in the beginning, it always seems to end up with Mitt Romney and anybody but Romney (“ABR”).  If Gingrich self-destructs, as he has done so often in the past, people in the ABR crowd are going to be looking around for a horse to ride.  Unless someone else enters the race, with a lot of money and a competent organization, the only horse they are likely to see looks a lot like Perry.  Donald Trump is making noise about running again, but while he has the cash, he does not have the organization.  I really don’t see how anyone else, with the possible exception of Huckabee, could pull it off this late in the game.  Huckabee, for better or worse, appears to have hooked his wagon up to Romney.  So, if you follow the money, that leaves:  Rick Perry.  If he looks up to the task, this could get very interesting.  If he doesn’t measure up, say hello to President Romney

 Happy Thanksgiving.

TDM

Newt Gingrich is soaring in the polls, primarily because a lot of people just don’t want Mitt Romney.  This is likely to be a short-lived phenomenon.  The problem is that Newt Gingrich has too much baggage.  Not just a little baggage, a train load of baggage.  The press ignored this until now because he was not considered to be a serious candidate.  That has changed and we all need to brace ourselves for an onslaught of negative stories about Gingrich, most of which will unfortunately be true.  Gingrich will burn very bright, for a short period of time, but he will most likely flame out just as quickly. 

Herman Cain is falling like a stone and the descent is about to turn into free fall.  His lawyer warned any women considering making sexual harassment accusations against his client.  That was incredibly dumb.  All of the professional women, including those at Fox News, immediately picked up on that.  This is the type of thing the Clintons did to try and cover-up Bill’s long pattern of sexual harassment.  In addition, Cain looked way out of his league during the CBS debate on foreign policy.  Finally, he says some really dumb things as demonstrated by the following link:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/11/14/cain_backs_collective_bargaining_for_federal_employees.html

Even Obama knows better than to support collective bargaining for federal employees!

In the meantime, Rick Perry was absolutely brilliant in responding to his deer in the headlights moment.  He didn’t blame his medication, or Ron Paul, or the moderator, or anything else.  He just admitted he stepped in it and then went on a national television tour making fun of himself.  The important thing is that he did not become defensive.  In the process, Rick Perry showed himself to be that most rare creature in the world, a politician who doesn’t take himself too seriously.  None of the other Republican candidates could have pulled that off. 

In addition, Perry finally seems to have shed himself of the professional handlers who were trying to manage his campaign.  For example, I believe the fake looking confrontation between Perry and Romney about hiring illegals was a disaster.  It made Perry look cheap and opportunistic.  In addition, his wooden performances during the debates could have been the result of over rehearsing and trying to memorize talking points.  In many ways this is similar to what happened to Sarah Palin.  When the professionals took over and tried to handle her after she was picked by John McCain, it was a disaster.  She looked out of her element and unprepared.  However, if you watch her now, it is clear that Sarah does a lot better just being Sarah.

Rick Perry does well being Rick Perry.  His speech in New Hampshire, where the main stream media wiggled their nose and wondered if he was drunk, got a standing ovation.  The reason was that they saw a real person and they liked what they saw.  During the last debate Perry was very good.  He stopped giving scripted answers and just spoke from the heart.  The man has been Governor for a long time and he doesn’t need to memorize talking points.  Perhaps getting embarrassed on national television was what he needed to stop listening to professional handlers.

In any event, my point is that the baggage train about to descend on Newt Gingrich and the complete collapse of Herman Cain is going to dwarf the Perry wrinkle, where he went brain dead on national television.   Ultimately, we are down to Mitt Romney and…someone else.  Unless Perry does it again, I think it just may end up being a Mitt-vs-Rick race after all.  

So far, this race has been quite different than anyone could have predicted.  Odds are we will continue to be surprised.

TDM

Just a few weeks ago I would have given Newt Gingrich zero chance at becoming the Republican nominee for President.  Last summer his campaign basically collapsed under its own weight.  He was out of money, out of time and out of ideas.  He may literally have been the only person left who thought he was a legitimate candidate for President.

Even as late as today I thought this would boil down to a Mitt Romney vs. Rick Perry affair.  But, Newt was still hanging around by his fingernails and he just may have hit an inside straight in the biggest game of all.  Rick Perry self-destructed tonight when he couldn’t quite remember which three government agencies he would eliminate.  He flat out drew a blank and could not remember the Department of Energy.  It was the ultimate deer in the headlights moment and I think he is toast.  Herman Cain is also gone because of the sex scandals.  Rick Santorum, Michelle Bachmann and Jon Huntsman never were in the running.  Ron Paul remains Ron Paul.  He is fun to watch but was never a serious candidate for President.  That leaves two people standing, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.  At this point, against all odds, Newt definitely has a shot at winning the nomination.

 I must admit, I did not predict this.  I really thought Rick Perry would do better than this.  Perhaps he will be able to just laugh this off, but I doubt it.  It is really difficult to survive being laughed off the stage.  In many ways it is unfair, because all of us have drawn a blank at one time or another.  But, when it happens during a Presidential debate it is really bad. 

 This is so shocking and unexpected that almost anything could happen.  I wouldn’t even rule out a last minute entry by another candidate like Jeb Bush, or even Sarah Palin.  A lot of people in the Republican establishment will not sleep well tonight after this performance.  They aren’t thrilled with Mitt Romney, and Gingrich has a world class load of baggage.  I am positive there will be another mad rush to recruit Chris Christie, but that seems very unlikely to succeed.  For better or worse it is now the Mitt and Newt show.  May the best man win!

TDM

I cringe whenever I see Gloria Allred.  She is a disgusting ambulance chaser who never misses an opportunity to pontificate in front of a microphone.  She is shameless in her rush to exploit any potential opportunity.  She literally makes my skin crawl.

 However, I ran a nationwide claim department for many years and one lesson I quickly learned is that the truth is not dependent on whether or not you like someone.  I have had people I liked and admired tell me things that turned out to be incorrect.  In some cases they even believed what they said, but the facts proved them wrong.  I have also had total scumbags who I wouldn’t trust with a spare nickel tell the truth.  I learned to look at the facts and evaluate them on their own merit, without regard to my personal opinion about the person, or persons, involved.

 I have not personally investigated any of this, but it is clear that Cain has a huge problem.  His response has been pathetic with more time angrily dismissing this as a witch hunt with less than satisfactory answers to very specific questions.  There is an old saying among lawyers…When you have the facts, pound the facts.  When you don’t have the facts, pound the opponent.  When you don’t have the facts, and you can’t pound the opponent, just pound.  Cain has presented very few facts, but has done a whole lot of pounding.

 Ironically, this could have all gone away if he had just given a vague apology and pledged better behavior in the future.  But instead, he is trying to prove that all these women are liars.  They have morphed from being angry and embarrassed at what happened to furious.  How would you respond if the person whom you believe sexually harassed you was now calling you a liar?  If the sexual harassment was real, I can’t imagine anything that would make them angrier.

 I watched Anderson Cooper tonight, and I was taken aback at how well he handled this story.  He let Herman Cain tell his side of the story, without commentary other than to say it was an explicit denial.  But then the story took a deadly turn when Gloria Borgia, who is personal friends with one of the women, contacted her by phone and was given some additional information.  Gloria obviously has known this woman for several years and is a close friend.  She admitted that right from the start.  Ultimately, it made her reporting much more credible.  To summarize she said that the accuser told her that the charges against Cain were serious and consistent and that she definitely received a cash settlement in exchange for the harassment.  Unless I am very wrong, this woman is going to ooze credibility.  In addition, she apparently kept copies of her written complaint about Cain and has this well documented.  To cap it off, she is also a professional spokesperson.  She is now talking about having a joint press conference with the other accusers.  I fear that this will be devastating for Cain. 

 I wish that I could just dismiss this as a smear campaign based on nonsense.  Unfortunately, what facts we know are far from helpful for Herman Cain.  So far, it is Herman Cain who has demonized people with little facts to support the accusations.  So far, it is Herman Cain who has had to change his story.  And, so far, it is Herman Cain who has given a version of events that is impossible to listen to with a straight face.  When Herman Cain says the only issue is that he pointed out that this woman was the same height as his wife and this resulted in a sexual harassment charge he has less credibility that Obama trying to say William Ayers was just a guy in the neighborhood.  Following is the LA Times article about the proposed news conference:

 http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-cains-accusers-20111108,0,7925369.story

 Sean Hannity spent most of his show last night trying to pass this off as a vast liberal left conspiracy.  It was a major mistake.  It has about the same amount of credibility as when Hillary Clinton tried to dismiss the Monica Lewinsky scandal as a vast right wing conspiracy.  It didn’t work when Hillary tried it, and it won’t work when Hannity tries it.  Because of the poor handling by the Cain staff, this has turned from a he-said-she-said case, with vague accusations from anonymous accusers, to a he-said-she-said-she said- she said-she-said-and-he-witnessed story.  I don’t predict a good result.

 TDM

It is clear that Herman Cain is the subject of a feeding frenzy by the main stream media.  The same media that totally ignored all the Obama scandals went into overdrive to cover this story.  It is a huge double standard, particularly when the same media downplayed the Clinton sex scandals and, more recently, the John Edwards’ scandal. 

 It is tempting to just dismiss the allegations as a liberal witch hunt.  A lot of people are sick and tired of the overwhelming bias by the main stream media.  But, just because you don’t like the way the main stream media is gloating over this story doesn’t mean they have their facts wrong.  In this case, there are more and more details emerging that have the ugly odor of truth.   In addition, Cain has done an extremely poor job of handling this.  He should have given a carefully written statement about saying things that were obviously misinterpreted and apologize to anyone he may have offended.  People like him and would prefer to cut him some slack.  But instead of doing that, Cain foolishly attacked the Perry campaign with absolutely zero evidence to support that allegation.  Then he said the women making these accusations were liars and the charges had no merit.  As a result, these women who would have been glad to just let this slide are now very likely to go public to defend their personal honor.  It is a battle that Cain did not need and one he cannot win.  Politico advised the Cain campaign that they were going to run the story several days in advance.  It is unbelievable that they were so unprepared to handle this.

In addition, it is important to remember that the reason the main stream media covers these types of scandals more for conservatives than for liberals is that it matters more.  Liberals did not care that Bill Clinton was obviously guilty of sexual harassment.  Ultimately, the Democrats in the United States Senate decided that staying in power was more important than the personal integrity of the Presidency.  They basically admitted that he committed perjury, but convinced themselves it didn’t matter because it was just about sex.  They flat out ignored the obvious sexual harassment involved in the Monica Lewinsky incident.  But, Bill Clinton would not have survived as President if he had been a Republican.  Not because of opposition from Democrats, but rather because Republicans themselves would not have tolerated his behavior.

This story could very likely end up hurting Herman Cain’s presidential campaign, if not ending it all together.  The bias in the main stream media has seldom been more obvious and more destructive.  But Republicans need to avoid falling into the conditional morality trap.  The bias and over enthusiastic reporting by the main stream media should not matter.  What should matter is the truth.  We must not allow the main stream media to destroy a candidate with false and inflammatory charges.  We should have held them more accountable for the “Bush lied; people died” misrepresentations.  But we must also avoid tolerating intolerable behavior just because we find the messenger to be disgusting.  There is a distinct possibility that Mr. Cain has a pattern of behavior that is not, and should not, be acceptable. 

In my opinion, the worst possible outcome would be for Republicans to decide that personal morality and ethical behavior doesn’t matter after all.  If Herman Cain is to win the Republican nomination, it must be because he is the best person for the job.  The worst possible reason to choose a candidate for President would be because of a knee jerk backlash in response to the unfair coverage by the main stream media.   If that happens: what distinguishes us from Democrats?

 TDM

This is a story that is being ignored by the main stream media, including Fox News.  The FBI just released a video regarding the major Russian spy ring discovered operating in the U.S.  The following article described this in detail: 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/31/fbi-releases-russian-spy-ring-papers-video/?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl14%7Csec3_lnk1%7C108859

Note:  The White House intervened and stopped the arrest of these spies:

The swap was Washington’s idea, raised when U.S. law enforcement officials told President Barack Obama it was time to start planning the arrests. Agents launched a series of raids across the northeast after a decade of intensive surveillance of the ring, which officials say never managed to steal any secrets.

The case was brought to a swift conclusion before it could complicate the president’s campaign to “reset” U.S. relations with Russia, strained by years of tensions over U.S. foreign policy and the 2008 Russian-Georgian war. All 10 of the captured spies were charged with failing to register as foreign agents.

This is stunning!  The FBI investigates a spy ring for a decade.  They alert President Obama that it is time to start making arrests and Obama responds by giving the spies a get out of jail card before anyone can even question them.  What was the rush!   Shouldn’t someone have asked the obvious question?  Why was President Obama so anxious to get these spies out of town?  Was it really just a naïve attempt to “reset” our relations with Russia?  Or was it that too many of these spies had successfully integrated Democratic political circles.  At least one spy was directly connected to a major Hillary Clinton fundraiser?

They came; they saw, and Obama hustled them out of town.  Someone should really find out why.

TDM