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November 09, 2008

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clarice

I'm pretty sure it's just that pilot. If I werene't I'd take the train.

Jim Miller

Tom - Here's my post on this subject from last April, John">http://www.seanet.com/~jimxc/Politics/April2008_3.html#jrm5999">John McCain, Aviator. I think you and most readers will find it of interest.

(The aviator part is important because carrier pilots faced such extraordinary risks -- even without combat.)

bgates

I caught a moment of a Top Gun show on the Military Channel the other day. A pilot said something like, "When people find out I'm a fighter pilot, they always ask, 'Are your reflexes really fast?' I tell them, 'If you are reacting to what's already going on, you're dead.' We always have to be thinking ahead."

Cecil Turner

Wolfe's concept may have some truth to it (especially concerning test pilots encountering unforeseen circumstances), but that quote is rather silly. In fact, in the first scenario proffered, pilots spend considerable amounts of time calculating takeoff performance and computing a maximum reject speed (called "V1"), predetermining the speed at which they will go flying regardless of what is lighting up "the board." (Admittedly, we paid less attention to this in fighter/attack aviation than in the heavier stuff, but Wolfe's contention that one would approach that decision on the fly is faulty.)

But the real drama queen in this appears to me to be Kaus. There's nothing "impulsive" about recognizing the opponent is likely to play politics with an unpopular bailout bill . . . and in fact that's exactly what happened (IMHO, it won the Dems the White House). McCain prioritized the bill over the politics; Obama had it both ways. Ditto for recognizing the outstanding opportunity to broad-brush the GOP as "unfeeling" for holding a convention during a natural disaster (and rerunning the ridiculous Katrina meme all over again). Those "impulsive" decisions were in fact very conservative attempts at preemptive damage control.

Boatbuilder

Cecil--we think alike. The meme that McCain lost the election because he tried to do something proactive and unpopular about the credit crisis rather than standing aloof waiting to take credit or avoid blame (which appears to be true) says a whole lot more about the quality of the press, the commentariat, and the voters than it does about JMac's decisionmaking skills. I am no McCain fan, but this really galls me. Why did the GOP and the righty commentators bail so readily on this?

MikeS

My hope is that Obama rises to the occasion. I hope we don't get the reflexive Obama, who gave Annenberg funds to community organizers and channeled public housing funds to Rezko and other supporters and would personally meet with dictators without precondition, as our President.

narciso

Yes it shoes how stupid and shortsided the first three are; they apparently didn't care to understand the obligations of the job. Newsweek's coverage of the last week's
of the campaign; are so deliberately false
that they were cooked up in the Ministry of Truth. Palin ignored the questions? Biden was making the answers out of up out of whole cloth. From his delusions about
"Katie's Restaurants" to misunderstanding the anti-Syrian project after the Hariri
assasination. Those debates weren't the bar exam, the Warren interviews were the real tough deal. I mean as Reagan put it once; "
facts are stupid things". Schmidt didn't see how every Obama lie was an out and out slander against McCain, hell, Piper, could see how clear that was: 2036 anyone?

Captain Hate

I hope we don't get the reflexive Obama, who gave Annenberg funds to community organizers and channeled public housing funds to Rezko and other supporters and would personally meet with dictators without precondition, as our President.

What other kind of D'ohbama is there? The kind that says "uh" and "err" a lot and hems and haws, which is taken for being a fucking intellectual in our debased excuse for a culture, and then does the same goddamn thing?

clarice

There's one guy who thinks O is on Daley's short leash.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/11/obama_and_the_daley_machine.html

I think he's whistling Dixie, but what do I know?

Amused bystander

Well, I bet that the GOP will not stand up to this nonsense at all. I bet it will be like the 1940's or the 50's. They just want their cushy little minority position to get their little action and the rest of us be damned. We are going to see what they really think of the rest of us. It will not be pretty. I do not see anything to indicate otherwise. I expect the GOP to now turn from conservatives al together. They do not have any guts at all.

I am just disgusted this morning. Did you see where O came out and says he is going to let the tax cuts expire? The New York Daily News had a headline today that said something like

"Obama will let tax cuts for the rich expire"

100k is rich? Some middle class tax cut.

This is going to be a disaster, and I do not think the GOP cares. Did you see Rove's comment that he hopes O succeeds.
Just unreal coming from a major figure in the GOP. He should be denouncing the Ahole.

Just Watch. Universal care, 40 million new Hispanic voters, Cap and Trade. Not going through with the Polish missile Deal.

These are done deals. Universal care will be in by the summer. We will never recover from it. it will cost 15, 20 % of our GDP with a decade, and the medical service will truly suck. Only the elites will have decent care.

50 years of gains out the window.

Brazil here we come. Mexico here we come.
A Depression, the evisceration of our freedoms and way of live, a destruction of everything. What vipers.

I bet we never get it back. Ever.

We will not if the GOP does not fight like mad.

The West has lost its mind. We are not up to our heritage.

It is as though we cannot learn anything.

What is wrong with the people in this country?
Do they have any minds left at all?

Is there any democrat out there that cares at all about their own children? Their own jobs? their chances for advancement? Or just the truth? What childish fools we have become.

clarice

Well,AB, I do hope you are wrong.
As for your blood pressure, reading The Daily news is always blound to make it soar.

In 2002 many people said the same thing about the Dems--that they were dead forever. Are they?

I think Obama is a potential disaster. Loke Rove, however, and unlike this President's critics, I want him to succeed because is he doesn't we all suffer. That doesn't mean I want his stupider policies to succeed.

I sure don't.

clarice

(Let me try again--in English)

Well,AB, I do hope you are wrong.
As for your blood pressure, reading The Daily news is always bound to make it soar.

In 2002 many people said the same thing about the Dems--that they were dead forever. Are they?

I think Obama is a potential disaster. Like Rove, however, and unlike this President's critics, I want him to succeed because if he doesn't we all suffer. That doesn't mean I want his stupider policies to succeed.

I sure don't.**************

Captain Hate

Bingo, Clarice; I've told all the fans of the Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers that can keep a civil tongue in their mouth (yes, I realize that's a bit strange considering my meltdown the other day) that if he succeeds, then I win. I don't think that will happen but then again I never thought that somebody with no tangible accomplishments would ever be elected president.

Amused bystander

Clarice, If he SUCCEEDS we all suffer. I do not see how you can say that. His success means the need of this nation as we know it.

The only hope for the country if is if he and the democrat fail, and fail every day.

They have not one idea that is good for the country. They have complete contempt for this nation and everything it stands for.

And they are ducking all responsibility. Look at CRA and this bailout. They have successful ducked this.

Poeple are in denial.

Amused bystander

need=end

clarice

If he fails on foreign policy and defense we will lose all around the world and so will the millions of people who count on us to advance the cause of liberty and freedom.
If he makes poor domestic choices we will ALL be the poorer for it--perhaps desperately poorer and so will people in the third world who need our markets and largesse to survive.

I want him to succeed. That means I want his more outrageous and ill-thought policies to fail..but I want him to lead this country and the world in a way that advances our interests here and abroad.

crazy

McCain blames his wingman for his shoot-down and is negotiating with the MSM/dems for favorable treatment for his remaining time in the Senate - other than that I don't see the fighter pilot analogy. In this engagement, he seemed more interested in surviving than in winning.

OTOH, it remains to be seen what Obama's gonna do now that the barking has stopped and he's caught the car...

Greg Ransom

Somebody doesn't know their history. The GOP curbed the unions during this time, and advanced civil rights against strong Democrat opposition. Ike de-Federalized hydro power, etc. Ike looks like Goldwater and Coolidge, next to GW Bush -- who looks rather worse than LBJ and certainly Kennedy.

"I bet that the GOP will not stand up to this nonsense at all. I bet it will be like the 1940's or the 50's."

Greg Ransom

Somebody doesn't know their history. The GOP curbed the unions during this time, and advanced civil rights against strong Democrat opposition. Ike de-Federalized hydro power, etc. Ike looks like Goldwater and Coolidge, next to GW Bush -- who looks rather worse than LBJ and certainly Kennedy.

"I bet that the GOP will not stand up to this nonsense at all. I bet it will be like the 1940's or the 50's."

megamountainthemepark

Blair, I mean the O God, is operating in a very short decision cycle and is performing better than a pilot. He has thought ahead and is dead. He died right around the foreign aid free money. Joe and the rest are pay offs for the cash. It can't be more obvious, so, while performing like a fighter pilot, he's easily killed.

His dreams and victories are just pay offs for Congressional Dems who pleased him with the foreign aid cash, the terms of the entitlements and loan grant forgiveness.

Amused bystander

Well Clarice, it would seem to me that what you are saying is the you want him to govern from the center right. You are essentially asking for a moderate Republican.

This is not in the cards.

If success means that he succeeds in his agenda then he should not do so.

If success means that from the Left pov he fails, then that is ok by me.

Seems like you are inverting the sense of success and failure here, at least in the broader sense of what is good for the country.

Or if you are saying you are hoping that his policy will not be that bad after all, you are indulging in fantasy.

All the democrats are all about is their agenda, not the country. the last 8 years have proven that beyond a doubt.

They must be fought at every turn. It is suicide to wish them success. It is like handing your family over to murders and thieves.

boris

If success means 8 or more years of Obamunism, then I'd rather have president Palin in 2012.

clarice

AB, fight hard against every bit of corruption and every stupid policy and decision, but do not turn yourself into a viper like so many of the Dems who clearly and without any reservation wanted Bush to fail utterly at everything regardless of the cost to our troops, the nation or the world.
You're smart enough to see the distinction or I'd not have bothered.

ROA

When people say they want Obama to succeed, whose definition of success do they use? I think Obama’s definition includes passing card check legislation; implementing strict greenhouse emission standards regardless of what other countries do; introducing some type of national healthcare program; reducing America’s military influence in the world; implementing an extensive program of civilian national service; and creating a nationwide Democratic political machine as corrupt as Chicago’s that will make it difficult for Republicans for decades.

very short decision cycles

Obanurisms? Strokes are and your heart is a muscle too.

Jack says cut corporate tax reductions, but the billion dollar a year CBC says the CSIS agent was worth the cash, for years.

Fantasy protections for seniors and unions.........

Rick Ballard

AB,

Wishing him well or ill is sort of meaningless at the moment. He's going to renege on the promises he made and I'm not going to spend time worrying about him "succeeding" in advancing socialism, given that he is actually going to push crony capitalism with all his puny strength.

I think that forgetting for half an instant that he's a rent boy is an error. Right now the best idea I've seen was Ranger's suggestion to pursue ethics violations against Frank, Dodd and Emanuel wrt Countrywide and the FMs. That will drag the CRA issue out in the open (to deafening silence by the media, to be sure). It took a lot of pushing Gingrich to get rid of Wright but it finally succeeded.

Figuring out which of Obama's lies in pursuit of election should be the main focus of attention is a bit difficult. I'm leaning toward the 95% tax cut because that will be an issue in '10 but I'll listen to other suggestions.

boris

viper like so many of the Dems who clearly and without any reservation wanted Bush to fail utterly at everything regardless of the cost to our troops

That is a level nobody is advocating. The voters just handed the country over to them. We won't get it back using the same tactics. However it is not wrong to expect those same vipers to suffer consequences of their past betrayals and future misjudgements.

Mongoose

Oh I am leaving out the few years that the GOP had some majorities under Ike. They certanly did not turn back the New Deal anyway. In many ways the teh GOP under Bush was just a replay of those years.

The GOP had a clear majority, perhaps even a mandate, and they failed to act decisively.

During most of 40's and 50's period, the GOP were a pretty meek bunch.

They certainly were not conservatives. This was the still the Country Club GOP (ergo the union containment) It was Reagan that found a home for conservatism in the GOP, not Ike, or the GOP establishment of his time.

And I perfectly well know my history, thank you very much. I do not confuse it with sloganeering, wishful thinking and rationalization, as "some" people do.

clarice

Boris:"The voters just handed the country over to them. We won't get it back using the same tactics. However it is not wrong to expect those same vipers to suffer consequences of their past betrayals and future misjudgements."

Exactly.

Rick:"Wishing him well or ill is sort of meaningless at the moment. He's going to renege on the promises he made and I'm not going to spend time worrying about him "succeeding" in advancing socialism, given that he is actually going to push crony capitalism with all his puny strength."

Most likely to be true.

It is clear that he is not going to pull out of Iraq so fast..that's already costing him in the leftosphere. Did you see MoveOn--i.e.Soros--gave him $80m for his campaign? Add on(I'm not positive of these figures, going on memory) the ca. $60 million for whom donors can't be traced and $20 million in obviously overseas contributions and he's got a lot of yes we canners who didn't put a buck into the till.


He won't be able to prevent the GM bailout if Bush holds firm..


clarice

Ahem
*****He won't be able to EFFECt the GM bailout if Bush holds firm..*****

PaulL

How so, Clarice? Obama can do whatever he wants in re GM come January.

Rokke

I've spent 15 years flying fighters (with multiple combat tours) and currently fly large commercial aircraft. In my opinion, the entire "fighter pilot" analogy is irrelevant to a political campaign.

In the history of Presidential elections we've had 3 men with combat flying experience make it to the finals: George Bush Sr., Bob Dole, and John McCain. Given their record of success running Presidential campaigns, if fighter pilot credentials are germane to running a political campaign I'd suggest we preemptively reject candidates in the future who carry those credentials.

The fact is, the skills required to fly aircraft of any sort do not transfer well to the world of politics. Fighter pilots are trained to respond quickly while under intense pressure to kill their enemy before their enemy can kill them. "Kill" in this sense is literal. Life or death. Not a symbolic, political victory. To use another analogy, imagine asking a professional boxer to run a political campaign. But be sure to remind him that he can't actually touch his opponent. It simply wouldn't work.

And yes, it takes nerves of steel and a steady hand to land an aircraft on the deck of a carrier, but running a political campaign requires a very broad strategic vision. It isn't a single man communicating with a machine to keep both in one piece. It is the whole war. And leading a war requires men with skills like Gen. Patreaus, Karl Rove, or Knute Rockne...none of whom spent any time as fighter pilots.

The image of a steely eyed fighter pilot maneuvering his way to political victory sounds impressive, but that is where its usefulness ends. I speak with years of experience when I say that as a group, fighter pilots make lousy politicians. Highly skilled purveyors of death and destruction...sure. Deft manipulators of political campaign strategy...pass the bourbon.

CilDion

Pension money.

clarice

PaulL:"How so, Clarice? Obama can do whatever he wants in re GM come January."

GM says it can't last to the end of the year. Obama doesn't take office until Jan 20.

Batman

Regarding the disagreement between Clarice and Amused Bystander, I wrote the following to my friends on election night.

Tonight was a remarkable moment in the history of our country. We have set new precedents tonight that will resonate for at least a generation, possibly longer.

Most elections do not change much. Some, like Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, Truman, and Reagan changed their eras but did not permanently change the nation. From my perspective there have been only three (or maybe four) elections that have made a permanent change in America.

George Washington's election made a permanent impact on the United States. Andrew Jackson's election changed the role of political parties in a fundamental way. Franklin Roosevelt presided on an inexorable and permanent shift of power from the several states to the central government, nearly changing America from a Federal system to a National system.

Of course, I have not forgotten Lincoln, but it can be argued that it was the Civil War itself that gave Lincoln the opportunity to correct an intrinsic contradiction in our founding documents. The Constitution, operating on the principle of "positive law," (things are good or bad, legal or illegal, because humans say so through the legal process) was in contradiction with the Declaration of Independence, that operated on the basis of "natural law" (it is intrinsic to human nature to have certain human rights; they are given by "nature and nature's God" and not by legislatures.)

Lincoln used the natural God given principles of the Declaration to trump the slavery portions of the man-made positive law of the Constitution. In an ironic way this may have been the pinnacle as well as the final episode of the triumph of natural law in America. But that is another story.

This election may well be the next transformational election in our nation's history. Let me outline briefly the ways this may unfold.

Barak Obama breaks the color barrier in America. Although victimhood may linger in the minds of many, it can never again be said that there is a category of second-class citizenry. ANY citizen, regardless of race, creed, or color, can be elected to any office in our land. To those who claim that America is a fundamentally racist society this election stands as a convincing refutation.

President-elect Obama also sets a new precedent regarding the resume necessary to be elected to the highest office in our country. From now on a mere two years in the Senate, with no executive experience, will not be a bar to the Presidency.

President-elect Obama has also guaranteed that there will be no prospect of public financing or campaign limitations when running for any office for which higher than prescribed financial limits can be raised. This is either good or bad, depending on your point of view.

Now to other matters. It remains to be seen whether the era of "American Exceptionalism" has ended forever. Whether America will undergo a partial unilateral disarmament, reduce its influence globally, transform itself into just one nation among the nations, will be discovered during the four or eight years of the Obama administration.

Similarly, we will get to see whether the shift to National government will extend to the economy and to government ownership of key elements of the financial network of America. We will see whether other key parts of our economy -- health care, insurance, energy, and more -- will find their center of gravity in the public sector or the private sector.

On a note of special interest to me, we will see whether international dangers -- Russia and Ukraine, China and Taiwan, Venezuela and Columbia, and most importantly, Israel, Iran, and others in the region -- will change the balance of power around the globe. Will we be as safe in the next four or eight years as we have been at home in the 7 years and 2 months since 9-11? Will Europe become more Islamic? Will Iran and the entire Middle East become an armed nuclear zone?

At home, will taxes rise? Will small business decline as a contributor to the economy? Will unemployment increase? Will Social Security be solvent? Will we find new sources of energy or will we pursue expensive alternatives that do not work? Will our dependence on foreign sources for our energy go up or down? Will the costs of food and energy stabilize or shoot up? Will idealological considerations trump practical ones or will we see an administration that is flexible and non-doctrinaire?

Because of my deep love for America I hope and pray that the losing side in 2008 will be more gracious to the new President than the losing side was in the aftermath of 2000 and 2004. I fervently wish that there is no "Obama Derangement Syndrome" like the "Bush Derangement Syndrome" that afflicted us so toxically.

I never want to root against America. I never want to desire failure, military or economic, simply because it will make the party I do not affiliate with more likely to lose an election. I disdain those who applaud the decline of the stock market, or the rise in the price of gasoline, or the reports of casualties among our armed forces, for partisan gain. I never want to secretly or openly yearn for our President to be "Captain of the Titanic."

So my bottom line is this. Godspeed President-elect Obama. And may God continue to shed His grace and blessings on our nation, the United States of America.


Greg Ransom

Isn't George Will insufferable?

Captain Hate

I speak with years of experience when I say that as a group, fighter pilots make lousy politicians.

John Glenn was a fighter pilot and an absolute dunce as a politician.

Captain Hate

Isn't George Will insufferable?

I'll take it on faith that he still is because I haven't paid attention to that stuffed shirt in years. And today is the first day in years that I didn't watch FNS because I refuse to inflict that twit Chris Wallace on myself ever again.

narciso

Dole was an infantrymen, 10th Mtn division; where does the rest of your argument go. By the way that line 'about purveyors of mass destruction is highly offensive' sounds like something an obamabot might say; (ie; raiding villages, terrorizing people in their houses) See this was the level of argument carried out by the victors in the campaign; where up was down, right was wrong, just was unjust. The Daily News, despite being near ground zero, trucked in 'trutherism' on more than one occasion. Pornographic images were developed in order
to dehumanize the VP candidate, turn her into a hate object; one of those was linked by the former Oakeshottian Andrew Sullivan, and his vile henchmen at Memeorandum. This dirty game, was carried forward by virtually the entire media establishment.
One has never seen the level of contempt directed during and even after thecampaign; with apparently practically no defense by the campaign staffer. Yet one person, did persevere; one of the only bright parts of this contemptible travesty. That is in part why the base will continue to rally to her; while others accomodate themselves to the One.

PeterUK

"Tonight was a remarkable moment in the history of our country. We have set new precedents tonight that will resonate for at least a generation, possibly longer."

Sheesh! You only elected a black president,Africa has been doing that for decades.

bad

The next time Obama declares his wife "off limits" will anyone remind him of the Nancy Reagan trashing in his first post election press conference?

clarice

Batman, you said it far better than I.

Rokke

"Dole was an infantrymen, 10th Mtn division; where does the rest of your argument go."

Wow. Talk about a brain fart. Right you are. As for the rest of my argument...it still stands.

"By the way that line 'about purveyors of mass destruction is highly offensive' sounds like something an obamabot might say;"

How is that highly offensive? Maybe to someone who doesn't believe that death and destruction is part of the mission in a combat zone. We're not talking the Peace Corps here, and I've never met a warrior yet who wouldn't take pride in being a "purveyor of death and destruction" as part of performing their mission. I know I do.

boris

I hope and pray that the losing side in 2008 will be more gracious ...

IMO we are simply not capable of the sabotage and hate directed at GWB. There seems to be a hint in there of "any criticism of our new leader will reault in the accusation of stooping to their level" and I for one reject any such pre-emptive capitulation to scolding from either side.

PD

Barak Obama breaks the color barrier in America. Although victimhood may linger in the minds of many, it can never again be said that there is a category of second-class citizenry. ANY citizen, regardless of race, creed, or color, can be elected to any office in our land. To those who claim that America is a fundamentally racist society this election stands as a convincing refutation.

I don't believe the United States is a fundamentally racist society, but I'm not sure this election is a refutation of the claim. I suspect that there were a lot of white-guilt votes, and even a vote *for* someone is racist if it's a vote because he's black.

simply stupid

Bush should offer a GM bailout in which he basically eviscerates the union. The Dems are in the talking mode in the media today trying to force Bush into the bailout so they can blame him rather then OBama if it fails. Better idea is offer the bailout based on huge union concessions and see how dems react.

Everyone is missing the point, politics have evolved and whereas Repuubs were the country club big business guys, smokestack america ceases to exist. We are a service oriented economy and the DEms own two of them SEIU in Health and the NEA in education.
It used to be called Health , Education and Welfare. No since the Dems and Unions own Health and Education we are becoming a welfare state.

Republicans have to show they represent the little guy who shops at Walmart and is against the unions.

clarice

I don't know about that..I've been out and about the past few days, and somehow it seems to me that the AAs around me seem more pleasant, less aggrieved acting--and that's not just in my neighborhood where they are highly successful and have always been that way. I mean in poorer neighborhoods and in utterly random encounters.

clarice

Pity he didn't specify that the bailour funds for the banks couldn't be used for executive bonuses then.It should have been clearer that it was simply and exclusively to go to capitalizing the lending operations.

simply stupid

Clarice they may be proud now but what happens if he can not deliver. Plus are ever going to get rid of racial prefernce.

kim

Well, Rokke, this is a good one. I suspect the pejoration which has raised narciso's hackles is the relationship to 'weapons of mass destruction' commonly, and conventionally, thought illicit. Or perhaps he missed the ironic tone. For sure, David Axelrod, and Rahm Emanuel purvey the destruction of the masses.

And I agree, political skill is not the same as pilot skill. Urging a squad or company through Italian mountains turned to landscapes of Hell is a political skill.
======================================

kim

clarice, it's easier to stand erect and happy with the chip off the shoulder. There are silver linings in this dark cloud over our land.
======================================

kim

ss, even if he fails, the deed has been done. The race ceiling is fallen in shards; the gender one has widening cracks.
======================================

simply stupid

Clarice, what happens if he can not deliver on his promises. Also would like to see an end to racial prefences which is not going to happen. Look we have had Title VII for over forty years and we still have not made a dent in poverty in the AA community because of welfare and the like which Moynihan had predicted.

truthynesslover

John mccain was a fighter pilot who would never have been able to fly if it werent for his daddy{nepotism}.Ditto for the navel acadamy{affermative action legacy baby}.Why dont you like smart accomplished people who dont need daddies help{bush}to get anywhere?
nice quote;
"Their function within the conservative movement is no longer to educate and ennoble a populist political tendency, it is to defend that tendency against the supposedly monolithic and uniformly hostile educated classes. They mock the advice of Nobel Prize-winning economists and praise the financial acumen of plumbers and builders. They ridicule ambassadors and diplomats while promoting jingoistic journalists who have never lived abroad and speak no foreign languages. And with the rise of shock radio and television, they have found a large, popular audience that eagerly absorbs their contempt for intellectual elites. They hoped to shape that audience, but the truth is that their audience has now shaped them."
You are now officially the stupid party!

boris

what happens if he can not deliver on his promises ...

Pretty sure the main promise of interest was getting elected. As long as Obama doesn't start "acting white" he'll probabaly be fine.

bad

Truthinesslover

Obama seems to have exploited his father in order to get elected. Check it out...

RichatUF

simply-

Bush should offer a GM bailout in which he basically eviscerates the union. The Dems are in the talking mode in the media today trying to force Bush into the bailout so they can blame him rather then OBama if it fails.

You mean when it fails. The federal government bailed out Chysler before and they are in the mix too. He could put together a package in which Chysler and GM merge (what Cerberus is trying to do), and the "bailout" is used to fund another 150k buyouts (too reduce future claims) of UAW workers, which would be pretty much all of Chysler's workforce and a healthy number of GM's. They can then shut a bunch of the factories and production lines and get the number of vehicals produced to a more reasonable number. It would suck for Michigan and the UAW but it would at least reduce GM's workforce and reduce auto supply in the country.

Ford is going to be the one without a chair and without friends (so much for spending all that money pushing the global warming scam and putting an AGW true believer at the top of the company). I expect them to declare bankruptcy with or without a bailout offer on the table.

clarice

SS:"Clarice, what happens if he can not deliver on his promises"

Of course, he can't deliver on all his promises. You know *whisper* he really is not the messiah.

clarice

The leftist meme is already developing that Bush screwed it up for his successor--In other words, O will not be able to deliver but we can still Blame Bush for that.

PeterUK

"John mccain was a fighter pilot who would never have been able to fly if it werent for his daddy{nepotism}.Ditto for the navel acadamy{affermative action legacy baby}.Why dont you like smart accomplished people who dont need daddies help{bush}to get anywhere?"

What an illiterate plonker.A bit of advice,don't paste anything literate next to your own pathetic maunderings,people make comparisons.

sbw

Just dropped back in and am a thread behind. let me catch up...

impulsive and erratic in the context of politics and the economy may simply reflect the very short decision cycles a pilot deals with routinely.

Ever notice how people doing the talking (i.e. Tom Wolfe) consider themselves to have impeccable judgment. They impose their frames on any target and, surprise, the frames always seem to fit. Their screwdriver fits every screw... at least in their own mind.

The idea that a fighter pilot must be a hotshot is a fancy that should be left to motion pictures. It's an oversimplification that makes no sense.

Good pilots... live pilots... never fly outside the envelope. That means they know where the envelope ends. They know the vibrations that presage a stall. They know when something matters and when it doesn't.

A jet jockey who may party hearty in the officer's club, will be deadly serious watching the ball on final approaching a heaving carrier deck.

People who stick their frame where it doesn't belong do not help our understanding.

PD

They mock the advice of Nobel Prize-winning economists and praise the financial acumen of plumbers and builders.

It's simple. Joe and Tito made more sense than Paul.

They ridicule ambassadors and diplomats while promoting jingoistic journalists who have never lived abroad and speak no foreign languages.

Meanwhile, your side elects a president who *has* lived abroad and yet professes to know no foreign languages. Even touts his ignorance while on the World Tour. Did you have a point?

Porchlight

In other words, O will not be able to deliver but we can still Blame Bush for that.

That was set in place long ago. Expect "the failed policies of the last administration" to be a familiar refrain.

However, I think it'll wear out its effectiveness over time if overused, especially if the Dems stumble.

Pofarmer

Let's look at something. Let's say the Republicans obstruct, obstruct, obstruct Obama for the next two years. I'll assume that the Bush tax cuts will expire. No nationalized healthcare, no $4,000 for college for working for the O, no, whatever. How is the electorate going to take that, especially if the economy isn't particularly strong? Is that going to be a gain or a loss for the GOP? 'Cause I can see where a pissed off electorate and a supportive news media cost the GOP even more seats.

dropindiesel

Congress got mad at Bush MCC and his five year sustainable budgets that they tripled them and switched all the free money and free loans over to five year budgets. They had those budgets approved before the US government budget and the four year elections. The agencies have to switch to five year budgets too.

Obama lobbied with the power for this and it has been done before he was put in, so he's already done his work. He's redistributed the wealth from the US to foreign countries. He's got everything done and Congress stole his platform and he is, once again, the victim and you don't understand it's about you. Bush screwed up by stealing his platform and Congress got even.

So, the painings, accidents, etc. should have stopped, but they haven't. He's still a victim and needs more power and to redistribute the wealth. We need to bailout the federal employees with five year budgets and pay them extra as we lay them off. We need to cut those salaries.

We have to declare bankruptcy and have and it's because of Bush and the war; we have to spend more on foreign aid because he is spending money on the war. Bush.

O the time traveler can't deliver because Congress already has and that's who he's hiring.

matt

the "Blame Bush" meme will be used to avoid responsibility for anything that happens in the first 3 years of an Obama administration. Expect it and prepare for it.

The only countermeasure is factual, regular, and well defined refutation and placing the Dems in historical context. Fannie Mae/Freddy Mac was owned by the Dems, and don't let people forget it.

The GWOT goes back to Bush I. From all of the backchatter, I think we're going to see a new era of terrorism coming out of Europe. The European governments are weak and indecisive, and nothing over there has changed except the level of security. But the reality is that it's what you do with that information that is more imortant, and they have done little to solve the underlying issues. A reawakening Russia should have us all concerned, but I imagine they're screw that one up as well.

Just the facts, but often and well stated, and maybe it will eventually break through the clutter as the NY Times, LA Times, WaPo, and others sink like the Titanic....

larry

Posted by: Rokke | November 09, 2008 at 12:24 PM
Posted by: Rokke | November 09, 2008 at 01:20 PM

Erv, is that you? If so, hi from an RTB.

G W was a non-combat fighter pilot (though the record shows he volunteered for duty in SEA through the Palace Alert Program). He seems to have had no trouble making a decision, right or wrong.

boris

the Republicans obstruct, obstruct, obstruct Obama

They really are not in position to do much of that. My greater concern would be crying wolf too much. My preference would be to passively allow policies sure to fail while expounding the principles that would have worked better.

boris

was a non-combat fighter pilot

IIRC at the time GWB was flying F102s for the TANG their mission was interceptor patrols to guard the mainland from USSR bombers. The US was at the time engaged in hostilities with a USSR client state and the cold war was rather hot.

ISTM it would be more accurate to say GWB did not see combat. Intercepting a USSR bomber would certainly have been a combat mission though.

sbw

Boris: My preference would be to passively allow policies sure to fail while expounding the principles that would have worked better.

Yes. But we also need to be articulate expressing those principles prior to policy being enacted.

truthynesslover


bad and u.c.k.,
Obamas father did what for him again?You think white people voted for him because his dad was black?Isnt he dead?You think white people voted for him because his dad was black and african and a muslim?Bush would have gotten into yale without his legacy?LOL!Mccain couldnt have gotten into community college with his lousy grades.Your disconect from reality is hilarious.And its always amusing the bitterness over affermative action in this party is a bit of irony dont you think?You have no ideas.but mental illness sems to be rampant.Now theres a constituancy!Oh sorry youve already got that one wrapped up!

PeterUK

"Obamas father did what for him again?"

He got him born into an American family with enough money to send him to private school in Hawaii.

truthynesslover

Boris ," My preference would be to passively allow policies sure to fail while expounding the principles that would have worked better."
and those would be??Like bush?
The only principle the republicans have adhered to is the peter principle
or havent you noticed.

bad

tl, you might notice Obama wrote about his black African, muslim father rather than the white grandmother who did the bulk of work in raising him. Why? Because grandma wasn't the ticket to a political career. In fact, he repudiated her when it was politically expedient to do so.

As to my mental illness, it is most apparent in my expectation of civil discourse with you.

clarice

We have to develop a good communications network into those districts and states where the blue dog Dems were elected. Put some pressure on them to join us in the resistance.

clarice

My troll feeding pistolas are loaded. Fair warning!!!

bad

Rahmbo will call for loyalty from the blue dogs because his advocacy and fundraising for them made their election possible. Will they be more scared of Rahmbo or not getting re-elected?

sbw

Don't fire at me, Clarice. I just ad the sorry souls to trollblocker and move on.

And this one just got disappeared.

When they find no one sees them, they soon troll elsewhere.

ROA

How can someone with the ability to control sea level fail to resolve minor issues like recessions and wars?

clarice

bad, I vote for not getting re-elected. For smarter guys that's the ticket.

PeterUK

This cartoon says it all Courtesy The Anchoress.
Amazing what 1% of the vote can do for the liberal MSM.

George S

I agree with Rokke. I myself have been flying for 20 years and I am in no position to run a political campaign.

Then again, I don't recall reading in Thomas Jefferson's letters where he called upon his aerial dogfighting skills against the Federalists to win the 1800 election.

Can we stop the analogy nonsense, please.

bad

Is it possible that Obama is willing to disregard re-election in four years, in favor of pushing through a radical left wing agenda with the expectation that once the country goes that far left there is no way back?

Surely not...I hope. He is on record in favor of incrementalism and eight years is better for that than four.

Pofarmer

The GWOT goes back to Bush I

And the Dim majorities in place at that time in the House and Senate, as well as kow towing to the UN.

sbw

[OT] My wife is correcting English essays and the contents of some are disturbing in both style and substance. Some of their parents needed remediation back when they were in school.

When were they in school? Probably in the 1970s and 1980s. Why didn't they get it? Their teachers would have been the first decade of teachers from the Boomer Generation. Those teachers would have been the "Whatever!" flower power kids who escaped into teaching from the Vietnam Was.

The Boomer Generation. So full of itself because of its promise and cynicism. Look into the mirror dudes. Look what you have done. Look what you did not accomplish.

I am embarrassed for my contemporaries. They aren't. They can't see what might have been. They had it in their power to expose post-modernism for the style-without-substance that it was. [/ot]

Rick Ballard

GeorgeS,

Our host has been known to mock so gently that the head does not fall until the body turns. It's a skill for which I have great appreciation and no talent so I really enjoy this type of post.

bad,

Small business has much to fear, while big business has little or nothing to fear (unless they forgot to mail in a rent check). There's always a way back - as long as there is a will to go back. New Zealand just fired a lefty government and most of Europe seems to be less than pleased with the idea of moving farther left.

sbw

Was s/b War

Preview is your fiend.

richard mcenroe

Obama has a history of NOT making decisions, period.

When you look at his 'leadership' of the Annenberg challenge schools project, it's pretty clear Ayers was in charge of dispensing the money and Obie was along for the cameras.

When Russia invaded Georgia, he didn't even call the European affairs committee that was created for him in for a single meeting or briefing.

When the mortgage crisis broke in Washington, he didn't even want to return to town "unless somebody told me I was needed." A sitting US Senator.

Face it, when the phone rings at 3 am, Obie's response is going to be, pull up the covers and hope someone else answers it.

richard mcenroe

"I myself have been flying for 20 years and I am in no position to run a political campaign."

Well,have you considered an arclight on DNC headquarters?

richard mcenroe

Boris -- and it's worth adding that the F102 was a freaking death trap, prone to spontaneous engine fires and uncontrollable flat spins. That's why they replaced it so quickly with the F106...

Elliott

However, I think it'll wear out its effectiveness over time if overused, especially if the Dems stumble.

If Dems fail in the Congress, does the media make a sound?

bad

lol elliot

ljmwilliamson@yahoo.com

ROA

"How can someone with the ability to control sea level fail to resolve minor issues like recessions and wars?"

I officially declare this the quote of the day.

I love it.

Ranger

The problem Obama has using the "Bush screwed this all up" excuse after the first few months is that people voted for "change", which really means they voted for "fix it." Just complaining that things are just so very very broke that they are hard to fix is basically an admission that you can not effect change. By the second year of his administration, Obama will be held completely responsible for everything that happens, and the more he complains and deflects the lower his ratings will go.

bad

I hope you are right Ranger. I haven't been looking forward to years of whiny excuses blaming "the failed economic policies of George Bush."

PeterUK

Obama to reverse Bush directive - UK won't support Afghanistan surge - terrorists prepare to attack in UK. That is just the front page of the Telegraph.Shit meet fan.

Rick Ballard

bad,

The reply is rather straightforward. Goldman Sachs' unfounded promotion of oil prices at $150 finally ruined an economy that was in very good shape prior to the Democrats taking control of Congress in 2006.

Wall Street bankers tied very closely to President-elect Obama share joint responsibility with Democrat Congressional leadership for the state of the economy today.

If they insist on the long version then Barney Frank and Cris Dodd get to share the FM limelight.

PeterUK

"By the second year of his administration, Obama will be held completely responsible for everything that happens, and the more he complains and deflects the lower his ratings will go."

But that would be racism.

Ranger

The press has also pretty much screwed Obama in the realm of public expectations regarding the economy. They have been talking it down for so long people actually think we have been in a recession for a year. When the real pain hits they are going to think things are much worse then they actually, further suppressing economic activity and slowing the recovery. Then, when the recovery finally gets going, if it is weak, people will still think there is a recession even when the economy is growing slowly.

All the Rs have to do is keep pointing out how many jobs have been lost since Obama was elected and keep saying "Obamanomics has created the worse econoy since the great depression."

PeterUK

The biggest problem for Obama is the cult of personality which has endowed him with almost supernatural abilities in all fields.This adulation,similar to that bestowed on Stalin,Mao and Kim Jung Il is going to rebound and savage his rear.Yes the MSM will continue to make obeisances,"All Hail Bringer of All things",but it is going to become obvious tat the man is a chancer who gamed his way to the top.
A tragedy of history,the wrong man at the wrong time.

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Wilson/Plame