Tag Archives: election

Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus ‘Despondent’ Over Castle’s Defeat and O’Donnell’s ‘Scary’ Win

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus raced to her keyboard on Tuesday night to express her upset with the result of the Republican Senate primary in Delaware. In “ Why Christine O’Donnell’s victory is scary ,” posted at 10:15 PM EDT on the paper’s “ PostPartisan” blog for its opinion writers, she seemed more scared by Mike Castle’s defeat than by Christine O’Donnell’s win. While Democrats may be “delighted” by the prospect of facing O’Donnell, Marcus declared: “I’m despondent.” But not, of course, because it means the Democratic candidate will beat O’Donnell. No, the Post’s deputy national editor from 1999 to 2002 ( bio ) is “despondent” because it ends her dream of “a more robust cadre of moderate Republicans” in the Senate and the “ripple effect” means incumbent Republicans “will be that much more watchful of protecting their right flank,” which will cause them to “be that much less likely to take a political risk in the direction of bipartisanship.” Horrors. Indeed, Marcus feared “a bolstered Jim DeMint caucus, following the disturbingly powerful junior senator from South Carolina : Sharron Angle (Nev.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Ken Buck (Colo.) — plus the two other incumbent-slayers of the primary season, Mike Lee in Utah and in Joe Miller in Alaska. Scary. ” An excerpt from her post: Partisan Democrats are delighted about Christine O’Donnell’s Republican primary victory over Rep. Mike Castle in the race for the open Delaware Senate seat. I’m despondent. From the Democratic point of view, the defeat of the moderate, well-known Castle turns what had looked to be a lost cause into a likely win….So the folks who focus on electing Democrats and keeping a Democratic majority can’t be blamed for breaking out the champagne over O’Donnell’s win. Not me, for two reasons. First, I had thought the silver lining of this election year might be to produce a Senate with a more robust cadre of moderate Republicans. That caucus has pretty much dwindled to the two senators from Maine, with very occasional company from colleagues such as Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown and departing Ohio Sen. George Voinovich. It’s awfully hard for a caucus of two to break with the party…. There is strength in numbers, and you could imagine a bolstered group of (at least relative) moderates made up of the likes of Castle, Carly Fiorina (Calif.), Mark Kirk (Ill.) or Dino Rossi (Wash.) Now, it’s as plausible to envision a bolstered Jim DeMint caucus, following the disturbingly powerful junior senator from South Carolina: Sharron Angle (Nev.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Ken Buck (Colo.) — plus the two other incumbent-slayers of the primary season, Mike Lee in Utah and in Joe Miller in Alaska. Scary. But not as scary as reason number two: the ripple effect of victories such as O’Donnell’s on other Republican lawmakers. Republican members of Congress look at races such as those in Utah, Alaska and now Delaware and think: There but for the grace of the Tea Party go I. They will be that much more watchful of protecting their right flank against a primary challenge. They will be that much less likely to take a political risk in the direction of bipartisanship….

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Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus ‘Despondent’ Over Castle’s Defeat and O’Donnell’s ‘Scary’ Win

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Senate Republicans unveil a plan that would add $4 trillion to deficit by making Bush tax cuts permanent

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Even as they hammer Democrats for running up record budget deficits, Senate Republicans are rolling out a plan to permanently extend an array of expiring tax breaks that would deprive the Treasury of more than $4 trillion over the next decade, nearly doubling projected deficits over that period unless dramatic spending cuts are made. The measure, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) this week, would permanently extend the George W. Bush-era income tax cuts that benefit virtually every U.S. taxpayer, rein in the alternative minimum tax and limit the estate tax to estates worth more than $5 million for individuals or $10 million for couples. Aides to McConnell said they have yet to receive a cost estimate for the measure. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently forecast that a similar, slightly more expensive package that includes a full repeal of the estate tax would force the nation to borrow an additional $3.9 trillion over the next decade and increase interest payments on the national debt by $950 billion. That's more than four times the projected deficit impact of President Obama's health-care overhaul and stimulus package combined. “We have a spending problem. We spend too much. We don't have a taxing problem. We don't tax too little,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday. “And if we want to begin to get ourselves out of this economic trough that we're in, the only way to do that is to grow the private sector.” McConnell spoke as senators returned to the Capitol after a six-week hiatus for a final pre-election session that will be defined by a battle over the Bush tax cuts. Unless Congress acts, the cuts will expire at the end of the year, raising taxes across the board. While Republicans want to preserve all the cuts, Obama has called on lawmakers to extend them only for household incomes under $250,000 a year. That strategy, he argues, would knock hundreds of billions of dollars off the cost of extending the cuts, money that could be used to reduce the nation's debt. Senate Democrats, while generally supportive of Obama's position, have yet to determine the precise shape of the package they hope to put to a vote in the next four weeks. The issue dominated a luncheon meeting Tuesday, but Senate Democrats reached no consensus on how to proceed. Some lawmakers want to hold a vote on the Obama plan – which would presumably not achieve the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster – and then adjourn until after the election. Others prefer to try to resolve the issue before the current session ends to provide voters with certainty on the matter. But that would require at least a handful of Republicans to agree to a compromise, probably involving a temporary extension of all the tax cuts. added by: navider

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After Delaware Race Called, Rove Continues To Rip O’Donnell

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

“This is probably one of the few times we’re going to disagree here.”  — Sean Hannity to Karl Rove regarding Christine O’Donnell. I’ll say. Even after Fox News called the Delaware GOP senatorial primary for Christine O’Donnell tonight, Karl Rove continued to rip the winner, questioning everything from O’Donnell’s “rectitude” to her “character.”   Concluded the pessimistic Rove: “this is not a race we’re going to be able to win.” Sean defended O’Donnell staunchly, but was met with a litany of Roveian criticism of Christine, including these comments: “Her checkered background.” “I’ve met her. I wasn’t frankly impressed.” “Serious questions about how does she make her living, why did she mislead voters?” “[O’Donnell doesn’t] evince the characteristics of rectitude and truthfulness and sincerity and character that voters are looking for.” “A lot of nutty things she’s been saying that just simply don’t add up.” “This is not a race we’re going to be able to win.” “Serious character problems.” “Somebody who says conservative things, but doesn’t have the character that the people of Delaware want.”

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Bozell Column: Here Comes The Mud

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

How long ago it seems now that Barack Obama was inaugurated, and the Great Uniter championed “hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.…[T]he time has come to set aside childish things.” It seems the president spoke prematurely. With his approval ratings sinking, and Democratic prospects tanking, Obama began the fall campaign in Milwaukee with a petulant tone about his adversaries: “They talk about me like a dog. That’s not in my prepared remarks, but it’s true.” Precisely which Republican was suggesting the president was a household pet? Who cares? He knew he wouldn’t be challenged. Perhaps he was tired and a little dyslexic, and was thinking about the media: “They talk about me like a god.”  The Great Uniter realizes – finally – that the nation has tired of his attacks on George Bush, so a new White House strategy has emerged.  The next day, Obama was in Ohio, and attacked the potential next Speaker of the House, John Boehner, eight times in his remarks. He even claimed that since Boehner opposed an $800 billion “stimulus,” he was against firemen saving lives. “Mr. Boehner dismissed these jobs we saved – teaching our kids, patrolling our streets, rushing into burning buildings – as ‘government jobs,’ jobs I guess he thought just weren’t worth saving.” This can be dismissed as the usual worn-out liberal hyperbole – vote for “stimulus” or you oppose policemen and firemen and teachers – but when it comes from the alleged Great Uniter? No worries: the media are repeaters, not reporters. What’s really alarming is how eagerly the “news” networks take Obama’s liberal cues and start savaging the Republicans with even greater ferocity. Rep. Boehner appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on September 12, and host Bob Schieffer started whacking him over the head about being a smoker, and being in cahoots with the tobacco industry. “I’m not objective about this. I’m a cancer survivor. I used to be a heavy smoker. Do you still smoke?” Boehner said yes. Schieffer then announced that Boehner had taken $340,000 from the tobacco industry. “How do you square that with the fact that cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths in this country; 435,000 people — their deaths are linked to cancer. That’s one in five. How do you justify that in your own mind?” When Boehner calmly said Americans have a right to smoke, or overeat, Schieffer scoffed: “Well, I mean, they have a right to shoot themselves if they choose to.” This is not the way servile Schieffer greeted Obama in several Obama interviews on “Face the Nation.” He’s never pressed Obama in a puritanical tone as to why our Chain-Smoker- in-Chief hasn’t kicked the habit. Instead, in their last face-to-face a year ago, Schieffer was feeling Obama’s pain about “the sort of meanness that has settled over our political dialogue” and how “President Carter is now saying that he thinks it’s racial. Nancy Pelosi says it could be dangerous. What do you think it’s all about?” Democrats in these last few weeks before Election Day know that the public remains enraged over ObamaCare and thinks the “stimulus” was an enormous boondoggle. So they’re slinging personal mud at an astonishing rate. In Nevada, wildly unpopular Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a new ad with a state trooper charging that Republican Sharron Angle favors Nevada being “a safe haven for domestic abusers.”  They say this because they know there is no accountability. Instead, several anchors were attacking Newt Gingrich for insisting that Obama’s anti-American, that he’s channeling his Kenyan father’s opposition to American imperialism. CNN’s Anderson Cooper could have used a sedative as he began his piece thusly: “Newt Gingrich ignites an uproar, saying President Obama is essentially a Kenyan con man who tricked Americans into voting for him and his secret radical agenda. So, are GOP politicians rushing to condemn his remarks tonight? And is anything out of bounds these days?” Well, yes. Apparently, saying Sharron Angle favors wife-abusers is “in bounds” with Cooper and his liberal colleagues, as is everything else a Democrat says. In 1994, I said the Republicans were in for a vicious fall campaign, not just from their Democratic opponents, but from a very hostile media. Just as it seems that 2010 could turn out to be a bigger Republican tidal wave than 1994, it’s quite possible that the viciousness of the Obama-loving media will be even greater this year than it was against Gingrich & Co. Call it their very own Contract on Conservatives.

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Bozell Column: Here Comes The Mud

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Chris Matthews Panel Sees Name ‘Barack Hussein Obama’ as ‘Net Plus’ in U.S. Relations w/ Muslim World

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

On Sunday’s syndicated Chris Matthews Show, after host Matthews asked if electing a President whose middle name was “Hussein” had “opened a door to better relations with the Arab and Islamic world. Or has it opened a door to more xenophobic American negativity?” the panel mostly agreed that Obama’s election was more of a “net plus” for America’s relations with the Muslim world. The Washington Post’s David Ignatius had a dissenting view that “President Obama raised expectations that there would be a different kind of America. That in itself could be dangerous.” After former CBS News anchor Dan Rather contended that “I think it’s opened the door to both, but, on balance, and in the main, it’s still a net plus in terms of the country’s reputation,” the BBC’s Katty Kay agreed and implicated President Bush in damaging America’s relations with the Middle East. Kay: “I agree that it’s a net plus, particularly when you compare it with what came before and the invasion of Iraq and how much of a problem that was for America’s relations with the Middle East.” NBC’s Andrea Mitchell concurred: “: I agree because after the invasion of Iraq and with this President and his multicultural background, it is a net plus.” Washington Post columnist David Ignatius had a more negative take: There’s no question as I travel the Arab world that President Obama raised expectations that there would be a different kind of America. That in itself could be dangerous. When expectations go up, the possibility of disappointment, of chronic disappointment – “but you told us that this would be different and it isn’t” – I think that’s a real danger for us going forward. I think Obama and his advisors understand that. That’s why they’re pushing so hard on the Israeli-Palestinian issue now. The discussion was framed around the liberal premise that President Bush had not only harmed relations with the Muslim world by being too aggressive in the war on terrorism, but that those negative relations outweighed such positive accomplishments as overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Sunday, September 12 syndicated Chris Matthews Show: CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let’s get back to the question of our country. We, as a country, elected Barack Hussein Obama. We knew his name was Hussein. We knew of his background from his parentage going way back. The Arab world liked that. The Islamic world said, “Hey, this country’s interesting.” Overall, has the election of Barack Obama opened a door to better relations with the Arab and Islamic world. Or has it opened a door to more xenophobic American negativity? DAN RATHER: I think it’s opened the door to both, but, on balance, and in the main, it’s still a net plus in terms of the country’s reputation. MATTHEWS: Okay. Katty, you agree with that? KATTY KAY, BBC: I agree that it’s a net plus, particularly when you compare it with what came before and the invasion of Iraq and how much of a problem that was for America’s relations with the Middle East. ANDREA MITCHELL, NBC NEWS : I agree because after the invasion of Iraq and with this President and his multicultural background, it is a net plus. DAVID IGNATIUS, WASHINGTON POST: There’s no question as I travel the Arab world that President Obama raised expectations that there would be a different kind of America. That in itself could be dangerous. When expectations go up, the possibility of disappointment, of chronic disappointment – “but you told us that this would be different and it isn’t” – I think that’s a real danger for us going forward. I think Obama and his advisors understand that. That’s why they’re pushing so hard on the Israeli-Palestinian issue now. MATTHEWS: I think a grown-up response and childish response are always going to be different. Grown-ups are going to say, “Well, it’s an interesting country. They elect a guy named Barack Hussein Obama.” … (INAUDIBLE) country. IGNATIUS: Don’t look for grown-up responses in America or anywhere else.

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Chris Matthews Panel Sees Name ‘Barack Hussein Obama’ as ‘Net Plus’ in U.S. Relations w/ Muslim World

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ABC Donates 16 Minutes to Obama; George Stephanopoulos Puffs: Does Pastor Make You Feel ‘Helpless?’

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos on Thursday trumpeted his exclusive interview with Barack Obama and rewarded the President with 16 minutes of air time, just as the midterm election season kicks off. Stephanopoulos served up several softballs during the four part interview. Speaking of the pastor in Florida who intends to burn a Koran on 9/11, he sympathized, “I wonder what this must feel like from behind your desk. You’re President of the United States. You have to deal with the fallout. And here’s a pastor who’s got 30 followers in his church. Does it make you feel helpless or angry?” The host informed viewers that the issue is “of deep concern too him as President, as a Christian and as Commander in Chief.” Pointing out criticism of Obama, Stephanopoulos highlighted the President’s children: “You know, and you have had the chance to have dinner at home a lot. You know, when you’re going through these hard times, how much of it bleeds through to them? And how do you protect them from it?” Perhaps because of the extensive running time, 16 minutes and 15 seconds, and because of Stephanopoulos’ past a Democratic campaign operative, the host did offer some tough questions. Stephanopoulos repeatedly challenged the Democrat on letting the Bush tax cuts expire. At one point, he asserted, “It’s not just Republicans, though, Mark Zandi independent economist says that right now the economy, the recovery is just too fragile to take any risk. Don’t have any tax increases at all.” Later, he chided, “More Americans seeing you as liberal. And when you ask questions like, ‘Does he share my values?'” Stephanopoulos told the President that some Americans think he doesn’t “get it.” In 2007, leading up to the presidential elections, GMA devoted 64 minutes to town halls featuring Democrats and zero for Republicans. A partial transcript of the September 9 segment can be found below: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And, as you said, Robin, And the FBI worried also very worried about that possible backlash if this Koran warning goes forward on Saturday. When I spoke with the President about it, it is very clear that this has seized his attention at the highest levels of government. It’s of deep concern too him as President, as a Christian and as Commander in Chief. Let me ask you about Pastor Terry Jones. He gave a press conference today. Says he’s going to go through with burning the Korans. Is there anything you can say to him to convince him not to? OBAMA: If he’s listening, I just hope he understands that what he’s proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans. That this country has been built on the notions of religious freedom and religious tolerance. And as a very practical matter, as commander of chief of the Armed Forces of the United States I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is talking about pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women in uniform who are in Iraq, who are in Afghanistan. We’re already seeing protests against Americans just by the mere threat that he’s making. STEPHANOPOULOS: What more could happen? What are you worried about? OBAMA: Well, look, the- this is a recruitment bonanza for Al Qaeda. You know, you could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This could increase the recruitment of individuals who’d be willing to blow themselves up in American cities, or European cities. You know and so you know, I just hope that, he says he’s- he’s someone who is motivated by his faith. STEPHANOPOULOS: And he says he’s praying on it. OBAMA: Yeah. I hope he listens to those better angels and, and understands that this is a destructive act that he’s engaging in. STEPHANOPOULOS : I wonder what this must feel like from behind your desk. You’re President of the United States. You have to deal with the fallout. And here’s a pastor who’s got 30 followers in his church. Does it make you feel helpless or angry? OBAMA: It, well it is frustrating. Now, on the other hand, we are a government of laws. And so, we have to abide by those laws. And my understanding is that he can be cited for public burning. But that’s the extent of the laws that we have available to us. You know, part of this country’s history is people doing destructive or offensive or harmful things. And yet, we still have to make sure that we’re following the laws. And that’s part of what I love about this country. 7:07 STEPHANOPOULOS: We also spoke to President Obama about the economy. He has come out swinging the last few months before the midterm election. And now he’s putting a face on his opponent. That’s House Minority Leader John Boehner. Of course, he was here yesterday. The President mentioned Boehner’s name eight times in that speech in Ohio. Of course, that’s Boehner’s home turf. And I began by pointing out that he seems determined to make Boehner the most well-known Republican in the country. OBAMA: Well, you know Congressman Boehner is saying that Republicans have a good chance of winning the House. STEPHANOPOULOS: I talked to him this morning. He seemed pretty confident. OBAMA: And he thinks he may be Speaker. And I think it’s very important that the American People understand what the Republicans are offering, which is essentially more of the same. STEPHANOPOULOS: He said he was open to the ideas on tax cuts that you talked about, today. But he had two of his own. And I want to know if you’re open to those. He said, “Freeze spending at the 2008 levels and extend all of the Bush tax cuts for two years.” I know you’re against any permanent extension, but what about two years? OBAMA: But keep in mind that they said back in 2001 and they said back in 2003 that these tax cuts for the rich would stop at 2010. That’s why we’re in the predicament that we’re in now. And when you ask them why not just go ahead and give 97 percent of Americans a tax break, which is what we’re prepared to do tomorrow, they say no. And the reason is they’re holding- all those middle class folks who need tax relief hostage right now in order to provide tax breaks for the top two percent, wealthiest Americans, who don’t need a tax break, aren’t asking for a tax break. STEPHANOPOULOS: Your own budget director up until a month ago, Peter Orszag wrote in the New York Times yesterday that it was a good compromise. OBAMA: No, what, what Peter Orszag said was he’d like to eliminate all these tax cuts, but that politically the best you may be able to do is to get the Republicans to agree to only extend them for two years. STEPHANOPOULOS: But he said it was a good compromise. He said it made sense. OBAMA: But, that’s something we can’t afford. STEPHANOPOULOS: So, no compromise? No short term extension? OBAMA: We’ve got to make some decisions now that are gonna have huge ramifications over the long term. Now, if Mr. Boehner and the Republicans want to help small businesses right now, which is the rationale that they’ve provided for trying to extend tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, if they want to help them right now, we’ve got a small jobs bill. Bipartisan bill- written by Democrats and Republicans that provides tax cuts to small businesses. It eliminates capital gains for small businesses. Provides loan assistance to small businesses. And we could vote on that immediately. The reason it’s been held up is because we haven’t seen compromise from the other side. When you look at what the Republicans are offering, it is exactly the same as what landed us in this mess in the first place. STEPHANOPOULOS: It’s not just Republicans, though, Mark Zandi independent economist says that right now the economy, the recovery is just too fragile to take any risk. Don’t have any tax increases at all. OBAMA: But what, what every economist that I’ve talked to has said is that if you’re gonna spend, say $95 billion, even just for two years for these tax cuts, probably the least efficient way of actually giving the economy a boost is to provide that $95 billion to millionaires and billionaires. I mean, if Warren Buffet gets a tax break, that’s not gonna change his spending patterns. If those families that I were talking to out in, out here in Cleveland or across the country get a tax break, that may mean a new computer for their kid. It may mean that they’re able to make their mortgage payments. It may mean that they can buy a new coat for winter. And that’s where our money should be going. STEPHANOPOULOS: How deep is your commitment to this fight? Are you saying that if Congress passes a short term extension of all the tax cuts, you’re gonna veto it? OBAMA: You can’t have Republicans running on fiscal discipline that we’re gonna reduce our deficit, that the debt’s out of control, and then borrow tens, hundreds of billions of dollars to give tax cuts to people who don’t need them. STEPHANOPOULOS: Does that mean you will veto an extension of tax cuts for the wealthy? OBAMA: What I am saying is that if we are going to add to our deficit by $35 billion, $95 billion, $100 billion, $700 billion, if that’s the Republican agenda, then I’ve got a whole bunch of better ways to spend that money. STEPHANOPOULOS: But you’re not saying you’re gonna veto it? OBAMA: I, there are a whole bunch better ways to spend the money. STEPHANOPOULOS: How come you don’t want to say veto? OBAMA: There are a whole bunch better ways to spend the money. … 8:01 STEPHANOPOULOS: But, first, we’re going to have more of my interview with President Obama. 60 Days to the election right now. Less than 60 days. And Democrats are pulling out all of the stops. And for President Obama, that means to pull out a little campaign trail deja vu and calling on his secret weapon. Now, you’re going to have the First Lady’s help out on the campaign trail, we’re reading. OBAMA: Well, you know, she is far more popular than me. And rightly so. She spent most of this week making sure that the girls start off well in school. They had their first day of school on Tuesday. And I guarantee you, we get more requests for her than just about anybody else. STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, you bring up- you bring up the girls. You know, and you have had the chance to have dinner at home a lot. You know, when you’re going through these hard times, how much of it bleeds through to them? And how do you protect them from it? OBAMA: You know I think they are still young enough where they don’t watch the nightly news. I apologize for that, George. But- STEPHANOPOULOS: They might get some on the Internet, right? OBAMA: But, you know, I , when we’re sitting around the dinner table, we’re talking about them, and their lives … STEPHANOPOULOS: They’re not worried? They don’t, they don’t hear things? OBAMA: No, I think, well, first of all, people are very gracious to them. It’s not like somebody’s going up and saying, you know, I think your dad is a bum. That has not yet happened to them. I think people understand that kids are off limits on these issues. I do think that they know that we’re going through a tough time. They know that we’re involved in two wars. They know that we had a big oil spill in the Gulf. And so, we talk about those issues. And what I try to explain to them is that the issues that we’re dealing with are really tough. Daddy’s making the best decisions that he can to help the most people in this country. Some of ’em are going to work. Some of ’em aren’t going to work exactly the way we want. But, what I try to describe to them and instill in them are the same values that I inherited from my mom and from my grandparents, and that Michelle inherited from hers. And that is what I talked about today. Hard work, responsibility, looking out for other people. STEPHANOPOULOS: And, remember at that last press conference, the President did say that Malia came up to him and said, “We need to plug the hole, daddy?” ROBERTS: Oh, I remember that, right. Yeah. But, it’s nice to know that people are being gracious to the kids, as you would imagine. STEPHANOPOULOS: But, it is good to hear. It is good to hear that.

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ABC Donates 16 Minutes to Obama; George Stephanopoulos Puffs: Does Pastor Make You Feel ‘Helpless?’

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ABC’s Dan Harris Links Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin to Anti-Muslim ‘Anger,’ Violence

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Good Morning America’s Dan Harris on Monday slipped in an aside about Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck that seemed to link the two conservatives to both violence against Muslims and a Florida minister’s plan to burn on the Koran on 9/11. Harris asserted, “It is but a preview of the anger we’ll be seeing on the upcoming ninth anniversary of 9/11, now just five days away , which will include an event in Alaska featuring Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, a protest at Ground Zero and a Koran-burning ceremony at a church in Florida.” [MP3 audio here .] After the curious remark, Harris then played a clip of Pastor Terry Jones and added, “Critics say all this rhetoric is fueling anti-Muslim violence.” Beck’s rally , which will take place in Alaska on Saturday, will obviously not involve the burning of the Koran.   On Monday’s World News, a slightly altered version of the segment aired. Harris made the same connection: “And an event in Alaska that will includes Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, two of the most vocal opponents of the so-called Ground Zero mosque. Critics say all the rhetoric is fueling anti-Muslim violence, including a fire at the future site of a mosque in Tennessee, which just this weekend was ruled to be an act of arson.” On Monday’s GMA, Harris featured only voices agreeing with his argument, including CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper. Hooper warned, “We are asking people to take into account security concerns given the almost hysterical atmosphere we’re in right now.” Harris failed to note that in 2007 CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator for supporting Hamas. News anchor Juju Chang introduced the segment by fretting, “And, of course, the upcoming anniversary of 9/11 has many worried the strong words being heard may lead to violence against symbols of Islam across America.” A transcript of the segment, which aired at 7:10am EDT on September 6, follows: DAVID MUIR: With the hurricane still heating up, another story causing a lot of controversy over the proposed Islamic center in Ground Zero. On, Sunday, in fact, a rally in downtown Manhattan held by a pastor from Florida did little to ease tensions. Disappointing JUJU CHANG: And, of course, the upcoming anniversary of 9/11 has many worried the strong words being heard may lead to violence against symbols of Islam across America. Here’s Dan Harris. DAN HARRIS: This morning at a hotel near Ground Zero, a pastor from Florida will be holding the second in a series of services bashing the planned Muslim community center and promoting a competing Christian center that he plans to build. BILL KELLER (pastor): When they decided to build a mosque and preach what I consider a 1,400-year-old lie from Hell, I decided that somebody should be down there preaching the truth of God’s word. HARRIS: It is but a preview of the anger we’ll be seeing on the upcoming ninth anniversary of 9/11, now just five days away, which will include an event in Alaska featuring Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, a protest at Ground Zero and a Koran-burning ceremony at a church in Florida. TERRY JONES (Pastor): We are going to have an International Burn a Koran Day. HARRIS: Critics say all this rhetoric is fueling anti-Muslim violence . And, now, mosques around the country are reaching out to other faiths for help. IBRAHIM HOOPER (CAIR National Communications Director): We are asking people to take into account security concerns given the almost hysterical atmosphere we’re in right now. [Advertisement] CHILDREN: I am American. I’m a Muslim. HARRIS: Muslim groups are now running these ads designed to improve the image of the faith. MALE: I don’t want to take over this country. FEMALE #1: Respect all people. FEMALE #2: I am an American. HARRIS: But there’s another concern that many Muslims have about this 9/11 anniversary, due to a fluke in the calendar it happens to coincide with the festival of Eid, which has many people worried about Muslim celebrating being misconstrued. One positive note in all of this, in past years, the biggest political issue of 9/11 has been the lack of development at the actual Ground Zero site. But this year that has changed, these pictures shot this weekend show two new skyscrapers going up on their way to completion. For Good Morning America, Dan Harris, ABC News.

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ABC’s Dan Harris Links Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin to Anti-Muslim ‘Anger,’ Violence

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Dobbs to Obama: ‘Quit Whining and Start Leading’

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

It is crunch time for President Barack Obama and Democrats. The writing on the wall suggests the president and his party will suffer severe losses and will ultimately lose control of one, if not two chambers of Congress in November. And this was something Obama addressed in a Labor Day speech in Milwaukee on Sept. 6 , but he also complained about how he has been personally treated by his critics, suggesting he has been talked about “like a dog.” That was something former CNN anchor and syndicated radio host Lou Dobbs said it was time for Obama to get past. On the Fox News Channel’s Sept. 7 broadcast of “America Live,” host Megyn Kelly asked Dobbs about Obama’s hypersensitivity and comments about how he is treated by his detractors. According to Dobbs, the president needs to man up and be less concerned about his critics. “Megyn when you talk about the lies that are told – that happens in any political arena at anytime as you well know,” Dobbs said. “But the lies aren’t what are hurting this president. What is hurting this president is the truth. And it is – it’s critically important to this administration, this White House, I believe, for this president to quit whining and start leading all of the people – not just groups, not just certain identities but all of the American people.” Dobbs also noted the president’s last-ditch effort to make another push at saving the economy, which includes a a $50-billion proposal to repair the nation’s infrastructure, and various incentives for companies in the private sector, which Dobbs called  “born of desperation.” “This political death-bed conversion to free enterprise with less than two months to the election, this is a president who said he would be transparent,” Dobbs said. “Well, his politics are so transparent now it’s embarrassing because they are born of desperation. This newly discovered affection for free enterprise by this president – where has he been for the previous 17 months of his administration?” A recent Gallup poll had the president’s favorability at an all-time low of 43 percent – still higher than his predecessor at the end of his presidency, but a sign he is fading and needs to do something to stem this tide.

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Rich Lowry Smacks Down E.J. Dionne on Bush Tax Cuts and Obamanomics

Posted on September 5, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

National Review’s Rich Lowry on Sunday had a classic debate with Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne about whether or not the tax cuts implemented by former President George W. Bush should be allowed to expire. Dionne agrees with President Obama that they should only be extended for folks making less than $250,000 a year; Lowry thinks that raising anyone’s taxes right now could send the country back into recession. With this in mind, NBC’s David Gregory opened the panel segment of “Meet the Press” with a discussion about the current state of the economy and how this issue might impact the upcoming midterm elections. As he tossed the baton to Lowry and Dionne, one got the feeling Gregory was intentionally lighting a fuse he knew would result in some entertaining fireworks (videos follow with transcripts and commentary):  DAVID GREGORY, HOST: E.J., the economy and taxes and where things stand. E.J. DIONNE, WASHINGTON POST: Well, actually, I think the administration is in a position where it should pick a big fight with the Republicans. I, I at least half agree with what Rich just said. They’re clearly down in this election. If the election were held now, they’d probably lose the House, though not the Senate. I think they can claw back enough to hold on to the House. I think they should pick a big fight on the renewal of the Bush tax cuts and say, “We want to renew them for everybody earning under $250,000 a year. Heck, maybe we can actually renew them for everybody earning under a million dollars a year.” Draw a line and say, “We want to give them tax cuts now. They want to fight for millionaires.” So you can have that fight. I think they can win it. But they need to shake up this race to salvage some of those seats. They need to hang on to 218 House seats. MR. GREGORY: Right. I’m going to get to Charlie in a second. But, Rich, back to the–you know, because I’ve, I’ve pressed Republicans on the point of, “Hey, you want to cut the deficit? Well, it’s going to cost $3 trillion to extend all of these tax cuts. How do you pay for it?” And Republicans say to me, “You know, that’s–that argument is off base here, that it’s existing tax policy and that you shouldn’t be making that argument.” And respond to E.J.’s point. Readers are recommended to fasten their seat belts, for Gregory likely without knowing it had nicely placed the ball on the tee for Lowry, and the National Review editor was about to launch the longest nationally televised drive of his life straight down the middle of the fairway:  RICH LOWRY, NATIONAL REVIEW: Well, there, there, there are a couple things. I think E.J.’s political advice is exactly wrong, although I appreciate him half agreeing with me. I’ll take what–I’ll take whatever I can get. MR. GREGORY: Right. That may be all you get. MR. DIONNE: That’s great progress. MR. GREGORY: That may be all you get. MR. LOWRY: But, you know, before August, before they left–Congress left for the August recess, you had three Senate Democrats saying, “We need to extend all these things less temporarily.” And that was before this awful last month the Democrats suffered. I think it only got harder, if not impossible, not to extend all of these. So I expect the Obama administration either to say, “Let’s do it for one year,” or to punt it to the lame duck session. But even if they extend it for one year, that will be an amazing sign. If you have these large Democratic majorities in the Senate and the House extending all the Bush tax cuts, huge sign of the way the worm has turned politically. MR. GREGORY: Yes. MR. DIONNE: One idea is to put on the table, one of the things you could do with the money you save from not giving the tax cut to people earning over $1 million, you could either redistribute the rest of that to people down below a million, or you could begin to create an infrastructure bank to try to build us for the long-term. You need to look like you’re making a–you’re drawing a clear line with the Republicans. MR. LOWRY: But there, there, there you’re sucking money out of the economy in the short-term in order for the long-term in a weak economy. That makes no sense. Raising taxes, there’s no theory in which raises taxes in a slow economy makes sense. MR. GREGORY: All right. MR. LOWRY: Keynesians don’t favor it, supply-siders don’t favor it. Round one clearly went to Lowry. A bit later as promised, Gregory brought Charlie Cook into the discussion. As readers will notice, this also set Lowry up to demolish Dionne: MR. GREGORY: All right, but for everybody here, what is the bottom line? How did the president and Democrats get to this point? Is it a bad economy, case closed, Charlie, or is there a leadership question, a failure of leadership by the president that has got him to this point? CHARLIE COOK, EDITOR THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT: Democrats desperately needed three things to happen this year. Number one, they needed unemployment to turn around. And when you look at the, the groups that were sort of the booster, that pushed them over the top, among African-Americans the unemployment rate is 16.3, you know, way more than it was when the president took office; Hispanics, 12; young people, 26, the job market for recent college graduates the worst in 35 years. He desperately needed unemployment to turn around. Number two, he needed attitudes toward healthcare reform to fundamentally change, with people saying, “OK… MR. GREGORY: And that hasn’t happened. MR. COOK: And that–it just hasn’t happened. And they had to get control of the agenda. And right now what they’re doing is they’re paying a price for having focused so thoroughly on health care for a solid year at a time when the economy was deteriorating. And, for a lot of voters, they just see the president and Democrats as having checked the box on stimulus and then gone to cap and trade and health care leaving the economy to deteriorate. Absolutely outstanding analysis by Cook. With the table nicely set, Gregory invited Lowry and Dionne to continue the debate:  MR. GREGORY: Have it out, you two. The question of the economy rules everything, or a question of leadership, E.J.? MR. DIONNE: First of all, in that Donnelly ad, it’s interesting that John Boehner, the Republican leader, was also in that picture. MR. GREGORY: Yeah. MR. DIONNE: And there are Republicans–the Republicans are unpopular, too. That’s going to be something Democrats want to play. I think the biggest mistake Obama made was in not making a big argument from the beginning, “Here’s where we started, here’s where we’re going. It’s going to be rough getting there. But if you stick with me, this is going to get better.” FDR did that, Ronald Reagan did that. He needed to do that. MR. GREGORY: But trust in government was different when FDR did it. MR. DIONNE: Right. But he needed to restore trust in government, and I think he was in a position to do that. He needed to emphasize the way they’re actually reforming government, which they are, but nobody knows it. MR. GREGORY: The flipside of that question, you can address this big one. MR. LOWRY: Sure. MR. GREGORY: But is also, have, have Republicans done anything to really regain trust about their leadership… MR. LOWRY: No, it’s most… MR. GREGORY: …to an oppositional strategy? MR. LOWRY: …it’s mostly a free gift from Obama fundamentally fumbling this. And I disagree with E.J. again. I’m going to have to agree with you at some point, E.J. just to be a good colleague here on the set. But people know what Obama’s about. They know what the program is. They know he’s growing government because he thinks that’s good for the economy and good for the country’s future. They get it. The problem, I think, is threefold. One is ideological grandiosity. Democrats thought in ’08 they had a mandate from heaven to do everything they ever wanted, when really they were just getting an opportunity because people were recoiling from the Republicans and the poor state of the economy. Indeed. New York Times columnist Tom Friedman made the same point on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday about Obama over-reading his mandate. But I digress:  LOWRY: Then there was the cynical opportunism that Charlie referred to, a crisis is–never let a crisis go to waste. Therefore do health care, try to cap and trade, things that have nothing to do with the economy or may actually be harmful to it. And then three, there’s the fact that the program has not worked on its own terms. The stimulus has not worked. So you add all three of those things up and you have a very grim picture. And another huge problem, independents are much closer to the tea partiers on the big issues and even on the smaller hot-button ones–spending, debt, Arizona immigration law, Ground Zero mosque, all that–much closer to the tea partiers than they are to the Democrats.  Indeed. Game, set, and match Lowry. Bravo, Rich. Bravo. 

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Rich Lowry Smacks Down E.J. Dionne on Bush Tax Cuts and Obamanomics

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WaPo’s Givhan: Americans in Their Sloppy Vacation Wear Should Learn from Chic Mrs. Obama

Posted on September 5, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Washington Post fashion reporter Robin Givhan, best known to many as Michelle Obama’s worshipful accessory to fashion, lectured Sunday to the dumpy masses of America. As most U.S. citizens have “blighted” the landscape in horrid summer clothes, they should really honor the First Lady for knowing how to dress on vacation — even if Mrs. Obama is wearing a French-designer top that most likely cost upwards of $500 as she took taxpayers for a ride with a fancy Spanish vacation. There is no populism in the fashionista world. The headline on E6 in the Sunday Post read “Tourists, take some tips from an always photo-ready first lady: Don’t be slobs”. And so the lecture began: First lady Michelle Obama returned to the White House last week after spending her summer vacation walking the fine fashion line between comfortably casual and utterly camera-ready. Her travel attire served as a wake-up call to all those American tourists who have blighted the national landscape with their ill-fitting shorts, sad-sack T-shirts and aggressively revealing tank tops: You can do better. More than her cocktail dresses, evening gowns and the rest of her official wardrobe, which all draw boisterous analysis, Obama’s vacation clothes are positioned to have the most widespread impact. Please, let it be so . In a society where public attire has grown increasingly pajama-fied, the first lady offered proof that informal doesn’t mean sloppy and pulled-together doesn’t have to be stuffy. As usual, Givhan found Michelle struck a perfect balance, classy without being snobbishly elite: Through her vacation apparel, with its mix of Banana Republic and Narciso Rodriguez , Obama threw down the gauntlet, providing folks with a high-profile lesson on how to be a well-dressed tourist who does not cause the locals to flinch in dismay. Yet she still managed to convey a middle-of-the-road Americanness. She represented the populace in a manner that was approachable but savvy. In the most prominent photograph from her trip to Spain, she was wearing a black and white one-shoulder top by designer Jean Paul Gaultier . Certainly, Gaultier doesn’t come cheap, but the blouse wasn’t ostentatious and, paired with black trousers, it was a fine example of how to be bare without baring all. Notice that Givhan doesn’t labor to give us a specific price for the French top on the pricey Spanish trip, or compare that to the aura of failure left by a 9.6 unemployment rate and a failed Obama “stimulus” spending binge. Instead, in full worship mode, Givhan found that Mrs. Obama is a real-life fantasy for fashionistas who can’t stand the awful casual clothes choices of the lumpenproletariat: Obama also tapped into a fantasy that the fashion industry has been desperately selling for years. Designers have long imagined a world in which women and men are thoughtfully polished and even chic as they go about their daily activities. Stylists constantly counsel clients to keep aesthetics in mind, as well as comfort, when they choose their weekend wear. In fashion-land, no one ever wears skimpy jogging shorts when they bike; they wear charming clam diggers. They don’t wear lumpy basketball shoes, instead they choose laceless, retro sneakers. The images of Obama cycling along the paths of Martha’s Vineyard called these fantasies to mind. She proved that they can be made real. She reassured designers that no, they are not off their rocker. American vacation sloppiness is not inevitable; it’s willful. Givhan at least had to admit that she was at the front of the line attacking Mrs. Obama’s choice last summer to wear one of those awful, sloppy summer outfits as she disembarked a plane to visit the Grand Canyon. Apparently, this is Givhan’s way of letting the reader know that Mrs. Obama is paying attention to her critiques. Does Givhan thinks she’s doing Obama or the Democrats any favors with this kind of lecturing to Middle America? Get with it, and get out of your ghastly J.C. Penney togs! Get thee to Bergdorf Goodman! But Givhan she concluded the whole piece with another lecture, about how gauche Americans traveling abroad send all the wrong fashion signals: [W]hen regular folks travel abroad, they represent both themselves and the collective American identity. Must we continue to be perceived as the most poorly dressed of all tourists? And for those who remain in the States during the final long weekend of the summer, as you visit national parks and local beaches, remember: We are all part of the landscape. We are part of the postcard image, the memory that’s tucked into a scrapbook. We should do our best not to mar this country’s natural beauty.

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WaPo’s Givhan: Americans in Their Sloppy Vacation Wear Should Learn from Chic Mrs. Obama

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