Obama's "I'm Tough On Terror, Too" Speech

[Pre-gaming...]  I have just flipped on the live coverage of The One's speech on national security and my goodness - peevish Obama seems really irritated with us for expecting him to deal with these issues.  As a good (and now abashed) citizen I almost want to send him some sort of apology note.  Almost.

I will need to wait for a transcript but the line that struck me was something like 'I have no interest in spending all of our time relitigating the policies of the past eight years.'  That sort of came with the job, though, didn't it?

MORE:  Obama's defense of the release of the OLC memos is utterly phony.  He argues that the memos don't give terrorists any useful information about how to resist US interrogation since Obama has already banned the techniques described in the memos.  That makes a mockery of the panel he created (as part of the Executive Order establishing the Army Field Manual as the basis for all interrogations, including the CIA) that is studying the possibility of alternative techniques for the CIA; the panel is meant to report back in July.

Come July, the panel will recommend the alowance of certain enhanced techniques other than waterboarding, and the terrorists will be well informed as to what those techniques are.

SPOKEN LIKE A LAW PROFESOR:  Obama declares he will run the Executive as a co-equal branch of government with Congress and the Courts.  Another unilateral surrender!

CLOSING GITMO:  Obama reiterates the pledge to close Gitmo, but I didn't hear any deadline.  The Fierce Urgency of Someday.

DUELING CARICATURES:  Obama characterizes the national debate as having divided us into two poles - the left believes that almost no national security issue takes precedence over transparency and the right has a view that can be summed as "Anything Goes".

Really?  "Anything goes"?  Did he actually read the OLC enhanced interrogation memos, which made it clear that lots of things wouldn't go?

As a rhetorical device, I am not sure how offending both sides is helpful.

And it gets better!   President Answerman explains that 'these problems can easily be solved if we approach them with honesty, care, and common sense.'

So - are both lefties and righties lacking all three of those desirable qualities, or is it split somehow - maybe righties are dishonest but lefties lack common sense?  Puzzling.  Well, my common sense (and my WaPo) tells me that sometimes a rough interrogation can be both effective and fall short of torture - I guess I am either dishonest, careless, or foolish.  Or all three!

DID I HEAR THAT CLOSE?  In Obama's conclusion he says that national security must be a goal which unites all Americans.  I don't think righties will quarrel with the goal, but I would have guessed that our friends on the left would have liked to see civil liberties get equal billing as a national priority.

MY SOUNDBITE:  Lefties will loathe it, righties won't believe it.  My caveat - "lefties" doesn't include a broad swath of the left.  The Small Boys, Joe and Ezra Klein, will swoon, elevate, transport, or whatever they always do after an Obama speech.  But I am betting Sully and Greenwald will fume.

[AFTER-ACTION:  Sully is currently loving it - "At first blush, I find the balance near pitch-perfect - on detention, torture, interrogation and Gitmo".  He wants a few days to ponder the gretness, and I can't wait for the second blush.

Greenwald opines that talk is cheap, which is troubling since talk is what Obama is all about:

Like all political officials, Obama should be judged based on his actions and decisions, not his words and alleged intentions and motives.  Those actions in the civil liberties realm, with some exceptions, have been profoundly at odds with his claimed principles, and this speech hasn't changed that.  Only actions will.

CHENEY'S SPEECH:  The text is here.  Visually, this is the expected mismatch.  What bright light put Cheney in a death-black suit, or was that a deliberate Darth Vader tribute?

Cheney pounds the table for the release of the memos that marked the successes of the enhanced interrogation program, insisting we have only heard half the story.  I see another Obama climbdown coming.

On enhanced interrogation, Cheney delivers the defense of the program and the CIA professionals who implemented it that the CIA would like to hear from Obama, but won't.  A flavor:

Those are the basic facts on enhanced interrogations. And to call this a program of torture is to libel the dedicated professionals who have saved American lives, and to cast terrorists and murderers as innocent victims. What’s more, to completely rule out enhanced interrogation methods in the future is unwise in the extreme. It is recklessness cloaked in righteousness, and would make the American people less safe.

SOMEONE LIKED THIS: 

But in the fight against terrorism, there is no middle ground, and half-measures keep you half exposed.

Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!

THIS WORKS:

Critics of our policies are given to lecturing on the theme of being consistent with American values. But no moral value held dear by the American people obliges public servants ever to sacrifice innocent lives to spare a captured terrorist from unpleasant things. And when an entire population is targeted by a terror network, nothing is more consistent with American values than to stop them.

As a practical matter, too, terrorists may lack much, but they have never lacked for grievances against the United States. Our belief in freedom of speech and religion … our belief in equal rights for women … our support for Israel … our cultural and political influence in the world – these are the true sources of resentment, all mixed in with the lies and conspiracy theories of the radical clerics. These recruitment tools were in vigorous use throughout the 1990s, and they were sufficient to motivate the 19 recruits who boarded those planes on September 11th, 2001.

The United States of America was a good country before 9/11, just as we are today. List all the things that make us a force for good in the world – for liberty, for human rights, for the rational, peaceful resolution of differences – and what you end up with is a list of the reasons why the terrorists hate America. If fine speech-making, appeals to reason, or pleas for compassion had the power to move them, the terrorists would long ago have abandoned the field. And when they see the American government caught up in arguments about interrogations, or whether foreign terrorists have constitutional rights, they don’t stand back in awe of our legal system and wonder whether they had misjudged us all along. Instead the terrorists see just what they were hoping for – our unity gone, our resolve shaken, our leaders distracted. In short, they see weakness and opportunity.

ALSO GOOD:

The enhanced interrogations of high-value detainees and the terrorist surveillance program have without question made our country safer. Every senior official who has been briefed on these classified matters knows of specific attacks that were in the planning stages and were stopped by the programs we put in place.

This might explain why President Obama has reserved unto himself the right to order the use of enhanced interrogation should he deem it appropriate. What value remains to that authority is debatable, given that the enemy now knows exactly what interrogation methods to train against, and which ones not to worry about. Yet having reserved for himself the authority to order enhanced interrogation after an emergency, you would think that President Obama would be less disdainful of what his predecessor authorized after 9/11. It’s almost gone unnoticed that the president has retained the power to order the same methods in the same circumstances. When they talk about interrogations, he and his administration speak as if they have resolved some great moral dilemma in how to extract critical information from terrorists. Instead they have put the decision off, while assigning a presumption of moral superiority to any decision they make in the future.

CHENEY'S CLOSE:

For all that we’ve lost in this conflict, the United States has never lost its moral bearings. And when the moral reckoning turns to the men known as high-value terrorists, I can assure you they were neither innocent nor victims. As for those who asked them questions and got answers: they did the right thing, they made our country safer, and a lot of Americans are alive today because of them.

Like so many others who serve America, they are not the kind to insist on a thank-you. But I will always be grateful to each one of them, and proud to have served with them for a time in the same cause. They, and so many others, have given honorable service to our country through all the difficulties and all the dangers. I will always admire them and wish them well. And I am confident that this nation will never take their work, their dedication, or their achievements, for granted.

Thank you very much.

THE SCORECARD:  OK, lefties will loathe this speech since this is Dick Cheney, but righties will be enraptured.

Well, if Cheney can position this as Republicans defending the CIA against Democratic investigations and prosecutions, he will achieved one of his goals.

AFTERWARD:  CNN ran dueling film clips on enhanced interrogation - Obama claimed that as Commander in Chief he has seen the intelligrnce and knows that the enhanced techniques were not necessary; Cheney defended them.  Obama's obvious problem - he was dead-set against waterboarding before he was Commander in Chief with full access to the intelligence.  What, is he a lucky guesser?

Comments

[Topsecretk9]

Telepromter acknowledges the outstanding leadership of BILL GATES, the new SoD apparently.

LUN

[centralcal]

Dear Barack: I am so sorry you are President. Really, really sorry.

[Thomas Collins]

If he didn't want to relitigate, he could have started his Presidency with a strong statement of thanks for the Bush Administration's good faith efforts to protect the US from terrorism, a direction to the Department of Justice that there are to be no prosecutions for those good faith efforts, and an acknowledgment that, while he may be changing some anti-terror policies including where detainees are going to be held, anyone who was President after 9/11 would have acted substantially in the manner that the Bush Administration did.

[Jane]

"Petulant" comes to mind.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

LUN for script of prepared remarks.

My conclusion is that Cheney may be called Dick, but Obama is one.

[centralcal]

uh oh - his teleprompter just went too slow and he was stuttering

[Martin]

It's like when I brought a house from a crazy cat lady. Before I could start the renovations, I had to scrape two feet of crap off the floors.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

"That sort of came with the job, though, didn't it?"

There's a bunch of things that came with the job he doesn't want to do.

[Rick Ballard]

Jane,

So do "stupid", "ignorant", "incompetent" on top of the now generic "liar, cheat and thief". He's a real credit to all progressives - the embodiment of everything for which they kneel.

[Danube of Thought]

For a guy who didn't want to relitigate the decisions of the past seven years, he sure had me fooled.

[jean]

I hope Cheney does to Obama what he did to Edwards in 04

[bad]

"Stutters McSpendypants"

A commenter at Tapper has O pegged pretty well.

[narciso]

"Petulant" is way too kind, Jane, Actually Bill Gates, hell Daryl Gates would be an improvement over doting Bob here. The former would have a better understanding of how to deploy resources, the latter would know how to display force effectively. Although we could argue that we've been through with Abu Ghraib and the 'Gitmo gulag archipelago' mythos is the Rodney King case writ large

[bad]

Rove says it was a speech given from a position of weakness. He characterized the speech as "lashing out."

[bad]

Cheney sounds so calm and measured by comparison.

[centralcal]

Yes, he does, bad!

[Rick Ballard]

Did he mention that the membership in the "Ogabe Leisure Class" has risen by two million since his inauguration? Today's unemployment figures confirm that yesterday was another milestone. Net job losses during the Ogabe Administration are running at 20K per day so the next milestone should be passed on around the 4th of July.

Maybe Ogabe could hold an "Independence from a Paycheck" ceremony on the Mall for lucky number 3 million?

[Jane]

The juxtaposition of Cheney and Obama is nothing short of breathtaking.

I'm only half listening so more than anything I'm struck by tone. The president seemed to be pleading, Cheney sounds completely sure.

[bad]

The market is up 25 points since O shut up and Cheney started speaking.

[bad]

+40

[clarice]

Drudge says Cheney's ratings have gone up since he started speaking out.

In the face of a moribund Republican party of pansies and posers, Cheney and Limbaugh seem to be the stars..

Oh,TM, I adore this:"The Fierce Urgency of Someday"

That well of TM sarcasm seems never to run dry--thank goodness.

[WestWright]

Dats a keeper: 'Stutters McSpendypants'. Richard (da Man)Cheney makes Stutters incoherent.

[bad]

I'm pretty sure I have dibs on TM.

[Extraneus]

Gee, just in time for the dueling speeches, CNN has a poll on Cheney's favorability.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/21/cnn-poll-favorable-opinion-of-dick-cheney-on-the-rise/

Funny, but what does that have to do with the speeches?

"Sheeple, don't listen to Cheney, he's not popular."

It's an American Idol contest.

[narciso]

Of course not, Cheney has been dealing with these issues for thirty three years off and on since he was Ford's chief of staff, when he opposed the Rockefeller, Churchinquiries and the self abasement of Colby and Levi, which proved futile and counterproductive,
he's seen the future and he's not sanguine about the outcome. He had to make really tough, life and death, including considering
the shootdown of a civilian airliner, United 93,

[Ann]

Go Cheney!!! I love an open can of whup ass in the morning.

[bad]

lol Ann

[narciso]

If this was a title fight, the words of Roberto Duran, would apply "No Mas"

[pagar]

IMO, any mention of stars in the GOP has to include Gov Palin.

[Porchlight]

I think Zero made a mistake with this lame "I'm super into national security too!" attempt. It only invites unfavorable comparison to Big Time.

Cheney was into national security way before it was popular.

[glasater]

Heh--I think C-SPAN has just killed VP Cheney's speech due to "system maintenance".

[maryrose]

Classic comment of the day goes to TM:
"The Fierce Urgency of Someday"
But remember folks all of life is in CRISIS!

[Bill in AZ]

Rick
[Maybe Ogabe could hold an "Independence from a Paycheck" ceremony on the Mall for lucky number 3 million?]

So depressing, Rick... I had to go out and find someone who could root around in all the dead, brown weeds and find some Green Shoots. It didn't take but a 2 second search: WSJ - Jobless Claims Fell in Latest Week

[The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for state unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week...]

Then they round out such a positive article with "Leading Indicators Rise". Woohoo!

[bad]

Cheney must have been even better than I realized. Bob Beckel is spitting and stuttering.

[verner]

Oh Bad, Beckel is busting a gut!!!! Yeah!!!!!!

Obama SUCKS. I LOVE DICK CHENEY!!!!!!!

[bad]

Obama was stupid to schedule his speech first.

[Old Lurker]

"Cheney may be called Dick, but Obama is one."

OK Charlie. You have to let somebody else win the Bumpersticker of the Week Award.

[verner]

Obammma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cheney just handed your punk a@@ to you on a platter.

[Ann]

Cheney Gets Results!! The left is exploding!!!

[bad]

verner, wouldn't you LOVE President Cheney?

Fantasies....

[Porchlight]

Does HTML work today? Allahpundit has the following post at Hot Air:

Video: Obama acknowledges Defense Secretary “William” Gates

He doesn't seem to be too familiar with Jim Jones' name and title either.

LOL
http://www.hotair.com

[verner]

Oh my goodness Bad. We can dream can't we. I would like a president Lynn Cheney too, and Liz is an up and coming super star.

[bad]

Porch, he was reading those acknowledgements. hmmmmm Whom will he blame?

[pagar]

"root around in all the dead, brown weeds and find some Green Shoots. "

This is sure to help get the Green Shoots going.

Alan Grayson to introduce Paid Vacation Act

LUN

[Neo]

So according to HuffPost, yesterday ...
the president also left the door open for the future release of detainee abuse photos

So exactly how are the government attorneys going to claim before the appeals court that these photos shouldn't be release, when the POTUS has expressed the possibility that he will do so in the future.

Where did he get his law degree .. Chuck E. Cheese ??

[bad]

Porch, just below that Obama gaffe post at Hot Air, was this headline:

Report: Obama increasingly “distracted” by Biden’s idiocy

ha ha ha ha ha ha

Birds of a feather.....

[Neo]

Alan Grayson to introduce Paid Vacation Act

I saw that .. cute to the point of being lunacy

I guess the point is to make all "benefits" mandatory so then they can tax them too.

[Aubrey]

Beat Obama at his own game. Priceless.

[Neo]

"need for a “preventive detention” system that would establish a legal basis for the United States to incarcerate terrorism suspects"

Let’s see .. setup a system to preventively hold people under the aegis of the law of the land. Sounds an awful lot like “prior restraint” of the person instead of the idea.

Obama is much a "personal freedom" guy is he.

I think I like the “painful ambiguity” of the status quo instead of the unambiguous “legal basis”.

[Rick Ballard]

Bill,

The Philly Fed report [LUN] has a "look, it's not raining as hard!" flavor as well. Until you get to the answer to '3. When do you expect to see an increase in demand at your company?'

44.7% of the respondents think 6 months or more.

They need to find a new shade of lipstick for this pig.

I wonder if the no confidence vote by the consumer regards Team TurboZero more than the tin cup rattling Wizards of Wall Street? It's probably the critical mass of incompetence which comes when the two are combined.

[Neo]

"The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it."

So which is it ? rebellion or invasion ?

And this from a "Constitutional Law Professor"

[Mike Huggins]

TM on fire!

I can't wait to see how Cheney's speech is spun by the "usual suspects." O-O-O's "brilliance" vs. Cheney's grasping self-serving blame-shuffling, or something like that. Joe Klein must be experiencing transcendent, orgasmic excitement.

Meanwhile, the enemy fine-tunes their plans and preparations, and hones their steel...

[pagar]

Can't deal with the nations' security right now, because he is busy dealing with a national emergency-----"Obama increasingly distracted” by Biden’s idiocy"

[Rick Ballard]

The little Boy should not have spoken on the same day as the Man. The contrast will not redound to Ogabe's benefit.

[clarice]

It isn't raining rain you know, it's raining v-io-lets..

[clarice]

What,Rick? You don't think this is a good lead?

In a speech to persuade the nation that he's on top of the issue of protecting the nation from external threats, the President couldn't properly name his Secretary of Defense.....

[Sue]

Go Cheney...go Cheney...

[MarkJ]

Cheney 2012!

His campaign slogan: "I can be your best friend...or your worst nightmare. Choose wisely, pal."

;)

[bio mom]

This is what happens when the country elects a little boy to be its president.

[RichatUF]

Rick-

A bit off topic but,

**Maybe Ogabe could hold an "Independence from a Paycheck" ceremony on the Mall for lucky number 3 million?**

He'll have a celebration for the freedom of 3 million wage slaves.

I missed both speeches but from the write up and comments it looks like that as expected Cheney stomped Obama a new mudhole.

[PeterUK]

" the President couldn't properly name his Secretary of Defense....."

Of course he can,I distinctly heard him refer to wotsisname,the doodad of thingy.
A mind like a raisin Obama.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Obama was stupid to schedule his speech first.

I don't know. Right after Cheney, even Fox was reporting "Cheney's speech followed Obama"; by putting it first, Obama may have been trying to make Cheney's speech seem to the Masses as the response.

[Tom Maguire]

Oh,TM, I adore this:"The Fierce Urgency of Someday"

That well of TM sarcasm seems never to run dry--thank goodness.

Thanks very much, but I believe I am paraphrasing Andrew Sullivan there.

But someone once said, use it a few times and its yours! Actually, I think I said that...

[Jane]

Obama was stupid to schedule his speech first.

He was also 28 minutes late - I'm sure hoping to pre-empt Cheney.

What a child.

[narciso]

So Biden turns out was a distraction, who says the Brit twit and frequent Olbermann guest,Richard Wolfe, pick someone who's judgement has been singularly wrong for 36 years, and he's surprised the advice or lack there of, that is given.

[matt]

what an absolute moron. One of the few things the left and right used to agree upon was the defense of the nation. Now he is once again polarizing the country with his divide and conquer strategy.

The rest of it was pure horseshit. Apologizing for our actions after 9/11? Uh, Barry, there have been no successful attacks on our country since 9/11. Look at what half assed measures did for the U.K. and Spain. They had their own 9/11's.

Now Barry is setting us up for an other one. I will say that if so, there will be no forgiveness and people like Reid and Obama and Pelosi will have no place to hide.

Maybe the South Park guys have to do a "Blame America" episode.

[Frau Jedöns]

Cheney is a national treasure - which reminds me:
In light of the just released news of the hard drive theft (Clinton-era info), did anyone else wonder why Our Leader delivered his *national security* blather at the National Archives?

[MayBee]

What do you all think of this line from Obama:
" . But I also believe that – too often – our government made decisions based upon fear rather than foresight, and all too often trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions."

Trimmed facts and evidence = lying us into war. Why is that not an outrageous charge from a current President?

[hit and run]

[[why Our Leader delivered his *national security* blather at the National Archives]]

And, it's where the CIA memos Cheney wants declassified are sitting.

Mr. Obama, tear down that wall!

[jpp]

The Big Eared Chimp in the White House is pouting, crying that he too is tough on terror (read Islamic strategy). Boo-hoo, the Chimp whines.

Our Marxist Moooslim in the White House will be driven out of office when the national unemployment rates hits 15%, which it will.

Barry-boy has done just about everything to avoid making our nation more receptable to starting and growing businesses.........buh bye Barry.

[MayBee]

ick, jpp.

[T-Man]

Islamic jihadis should not be kept in prison indefinately.

They should be hanged. Period. They are illegal, unlawful fighters; they are not soldiers, who are protected by the Geneva Convention.

Swing Mohammed, swing from a rope......

[jpp]

MayBee - am I too tough on your chimp in the White House? ha, ha......

Turnabout is fair play honey.....!

Paybacks are such a bitch.

[Rick Ballard]

Slander of chimpanzees will not be well received here. No chimpanzee has ever done anything to warrant the use of such a metaphor. Such talk is enough to sicken a unicorn.

[matt]

Frau Jedons;

I think Obama wanted to do so because the Constitution and Declaration were in the same room and he is posturing to show he is so much more committed to the rule of law than those evil rethuglicans.

This was not about protecting the country, it was about covering his ass with his ultraleft base.

Hell, 2 days after he authorizes the military commissions to start back up, he's undercutting them with all his talk of moving prisoners here and holding the really, really bad ones indefinitely. The man is out of control. Congress has already told him NIMBY very clearly, just yesterday. The man's lies know no bounds.

[peter]

"Stutters McSpendypants" I am going to have a custom bumper sticker made up that just says that so all the libs here on the North Shore of Lawn Guyland can wonder what they elected.

[narciso]

Must be a pal of "Adriana Lima" the Nazi moby over at Ace. There is plenty of policy, associations, et al, without going there

[pagar]

" the President couldn't properly name his Secretary of Defense....."

Maybe Gates wasn't his first choice. I'm sure I heard some where that he wanted William Ayers in the job, back when his term was just beginning.

[Enlightened]

Hee Hee....The Dark Lord used his Jedi mind tricks to incite mass pants-peeing of leftwing Big Tuff Guys With Teleprompters. I think Josh Marshall is already on his 5th Depends.

I barely have a job, I can't retire until I'm 90, I have to give my money to crackheads in Oakland for the common good, I'm also going to pay said crackhead for their free clinic abortions, and their resucitation after overdosing for the 5th time without any health insurance, cuz really - crackheads need love and health insurance too, hubby is going to have to get rid of his 7.24 liter, 427 bigblock,'69 corvette so we can trade it in for a pussy-ass 2.3 liter Ford Escort or some shit, I'll have to start smoking my cigarettes in a frikkin fallout shelter - and my president is more worried about how Tuff he is compared to a man 30 years older than himself that doesn't need a f--king teleprompter.

Are we clear?

I'm feeling the love, and I can clearly see how much better my world is since Early Onset Messiahnism.

[drjohn]

'I have no interest in spending all of our time relitigating the policies of the past eight years.'

That's because you would LOSE.

[Lamontyoubigdummy]

Sweet fancy Moses...I saw a this kid throwing a crybaby tantrum in a Target once. In front of God and everybody his Daddy whooped his a$$ red.

Everybody clapped.

Déjà vu.

[Danube of Thought]

This from the NYTimes (deep inside) is of great interest to me:

“He [Obama] was almost ruminating over the need for statutory change to the laws so that we can deal with individuals who we can’t charge and detain,' one participant said. 'We’ve known this is on the horizon for many years, but we were able to hold it off with George Bush. The idea that we might find ourselves fighting with the Obama administration over these powers is really stunning.'

"The other participant said Mr. Obama did not seem to be thinking about preventive detention for terrorism suspects now held at Guantánamo Bay, but rather for those captured in the future, in settings other than a legitimate battlefield like Afghanistan. 'The issue is,' the participant said, 'What are the options left open to a future president?'”

Jesus...what is this clown thinking?

[Stephanie]

Gulag 42...

[Rick Ballard]

"Jesus...what is this clown thinking?"

Reeducation Camp #5 at Barrow. Do you like fried seal blubber?

Don't worry if you don't like it now - you'll learn to love it.

[Ranger]

What do you all think of this line from Obama:
" . But I also believe that – too often – our government made decisions based upon fear rather than foresight, and all too often trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions."

Trimmed facts and evidence = lying us into war. Why is that not an outrageous charge from a current President?

Posted by: MayBee | May 21, 2009 at 01:28 PM

I think it actually fits Obama's Porkulus plan, the auto bailout, and healthcare reform to a T.

[Barbara]

"Jesus...what is this clown thinking?"

Authority to detain those nasty Tea Party participants and Right To Life activists???

[Original MikeS]

Day by day, facts are trickling past the MSM to the public and Obama’s credibility is dissolving. As history unfolds we find we find more and more instances where, even the main street media must admit that, Obama has been profoundly wrong. Obama used to insist that enhanced interrogations resulted in no useful intelligence. He said that Iraq’s democracy was a failure. He said the Surge wouldn’t work. He claimed that wire tapping suspected terrorists and military tribunals for enemy combatants were criminal or at least shameful policies.

In other cases it appears that Obama was not just wrong but duplicitous. While he was campaigning on abrogating and renegotiating NAFTA, members of his campaign were meeting with Canadian diplomats to say he didn’t really mean that. When he was insisting on immediately removing troops from Iraq, his advisor Susan Rice was telling people that wasn’t so. Even when Obama created the 16 month deadline for troops leaving Iraq, the same Susan Rice was saying that wasn’t really a deadline. Obama claims he is not a liberal and does not favor a bigger government. The only truth in those claims is that Obama is more of a Marxist than a liberal, and doesn’t just favor a bigger government but a massive federal government with more control of health care, education, banking, trade, and industry. While proposing spending plans that cause even European leaders to gasp, Obama claims to be fiscally responsible.

History will not look kindly on the news media who chortle their approval when Obama says the recession we are in was caused by health care costs, a dependence on fossil fuels, and an education system in the control of local leaders rather than the federal government, or that the only way out of the recession is to reverse those conditions. This is not just a lie, but a comically blatant lie.

[Rick Ballard]

Gee, the 10 year Treasury has blown out 180 basis points in 4 hours. That's a tiny bit unusual.

[Bill in AZ]

[Gee, the 10 year Treasury has blown out 180 basis points in 4 hours. That's a tiny bit unusual.]

c'mon, Rick, find a Green Shoot in there, or Reeducation Camp #5 at Barrow for you too.

180 basis point drop in 4 hours was prolly less than expected.

[Jane]

Enlightened,

What an absolutely delightful rant - even if the events aren't.

I fully expect to he preventatively detained - if not for the tea parties - for the radio.

I've been to the only woman's prison in MA several times. At least I know my way around.

[daddy]

Just a question because I do not know:

Obama just said that Gitmo was a recruiting issue for terrorists. Cheney adequately answered that meme. But of the 4 wanna' be terrorist guys just arrested in New York; Didn't they say that they became terrorists because of Afghanistan (which Obama and the Left support) or am I mistaken? If so, it is Obama's continuing policies which are continuing to recruit terrorists. Please educate me if I am incorrect as I have been offline.

[Ignatz]

--The Small Boys, Joe and Ezra Klein, will swoon, elevate, transport, or whatever they always do after an Obama speech.--

What's with the idea he's a great speaker?
He really only has one mindlessly platitudinous speech:

"Let me be perfectly clear, it's time to put the petty partisan bickering and finger pointing of the past behind us regarding ________(insert subject of speech here).
Oh and by the way those evil speculators and the criminal incompetents who ruled us the last eight years had better hope I don't prosecute them or let my pitchfork wielding comrades get to them.
And if there are any problems in this great country of ours, rest assured, they're not my fault."

[Original MikeS]

If so, it is Obama's continuing policies which are continuing to recruit terrorists.

Yup. You godaddy.
It seems that all Obama is doing over there "is bombing villages and killing inocent civilians."

[narciso]

Yes, Flynn, but logic isn't strong with this bunch, one assumes the stepped up
predator flights, the 'Maxim guns' of the 21st century, had a sizable impact.

[PeterUK]

The best way to deal with Guantanamo is for all US personnel to vacate it overnight.Let nature sort it out.

[Sue]

and my president is more worried about how Tuff he is compared to a man 30 years older than himself that doesn't need a f--king teleprompter.

Preach it sister!

[daddy]

"Reeducation Camp #5 at Barrow."

Sorry fella's but the Guvment has done insufficient studies on how cooking hallal meals in Barrow is going to impact the environmentally endangered Polar Bear population. I say instead put them in the VP's Super Top Secret Basement Cellar. Oops, did I just reveal a national secret? Let me see if I can find another location on this secret computer I just stole from the government.

[Sue]

Cheney's poll numbers are going up because he sat silently the last 4 years of Bush's presidency and allowed the media and the left (I repeat myself) to say whatever they wanted about him. Now that he is unleashed from Bush, and people get to see and hear the man again, they remember why they liked him.

Go Cheney!

[Neo]

Adm. Painter: What's his plan?
Jack Ryan: His plan?
Adm. Painter: Russians don't take a dump, son, without a plan.

Obama is getting dumped on because he doesn't have a plan

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

The rule of law is golden for terrorists. For Chrysler bond holders...not so much.