Saturday Morning

Let's continue Anniversary Week for Obama.

Comments

[Jack is Back!]

Gitmo is still open.

Unemployment is above 10%

Republican victories in Virginia, NJ, Mass.

No Olympics in 2016

Too many bows, not enough wow

The economy is in the tank

No health care reform known as Obamacare

Not bad for a first year out of the gate.

[Pops]

OK, so we have a healthcare bill that got 60 votes and 100% of the Democrats in the Senate and Obama says he would sign it.

But the House can't simply pass it even with the Democrats having 258 seats and only needing 218.

Pretty sad job their Pelosi.

[rse]

And Obama wants to give unions and public employees more money and power.

Which is driving California into bankruptcy says today's AJC.

LUN

[rse]

Ooops. Wall Street Journal.

Time for some caffeinated tea.

[daddy]

Good Morning TM,

I'm redoing my Ellie Light thread from late late last night up here, because it contained a JOM Experiment!:

Personally I suspect a great majority of our "Letter's to the Editor" up here in Alaska are from out of state folks who are agenda driven, and intent on swaying public opinion.

Well a sharp eyed reporter at the Cleveland Plain dealer noticed something unusual about one of her 'Obama praising' Letter writer's: ">http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/01/letter_writer_claims_diverse_r.html"> Obama has suspicious number of letter-writing fans named 'Ellie Light'

"Ellie Light sure gets around.
In recent weeks, Light has published virtually identical “Letters to the Editor” in support of President Barack Obama in more than a dozen newspapers. Every letter claimed a different residence for Light that happened to be in the newspaper’s circulation area."

Not that there's any law against what Light does, (unless she's voting in all those locations) but in response to an e-mail from the Plain Dealer Reporter, Ellie Light answered:

“I do not write as a representative of any organization. The letter I wrote was motivated by surprise and wonderment at the absence of any media support for our President, who won a record-breaking election by a landslide less than 18 months ago, and now, seems to be abandoned by all, supposedly for the infantile reason that he couldn’t make all of Bush’s errors disappear in one day.”

Now I know there isn't any bias in the media, since we've all been told there isn't any a million times already, but isn't it unusual that an almost identical letter to the Editor from Ellie to 12 different Newspapers, highly critical of President Bush and full of nothing but praise for President Obama, should be deemed so good that 12 different unbiased 'Letter's To The Editor's' Editors decided it deserved publication on their Letters page? I suppose it's just my jealousy and cynicism talking, and probably chances are that if any of us did the same thing to 12 papers lauding 1 President and damning another, they'd all receive the same treatment.

Or perhaps she's Shakespeare?

Whatever, I suggest an experiment? I need to send a letter to the editor of 12 different unbiased papers and see if I get the same glorious treatment as Ellie. Am open to any 12 papers you guys might recommend.

And here's my weak effort, but I'm open to suggestions from JOMer's willing to help me dress it up some, so if you guys have any suggestions, feel free:

Potential Letter Number 1:

"George Bush is an A#$hole and Obama is great!" and I live in your town.

Potential Letter Number 2:

"George Bush is great and Obama is an A#$hole!" and I live in your town.

Which one should I submit, or do you think it'd make a difference?

g'night.

[peter]

More on Ellie Light at Patterico. LUN.

[DebinNC]

Must read post by Doctor Zero at HotAir.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Mornin' All.

[rse]

Deb-

I read that yesterday. It is excellent.

[Pops]

RE: Ellie Light: Do you have any idea how difficult it is for a newspaper editor to crosscheck an address with a name??

Were talking 30-45 seconds here..they don't have that kind of free time.

[Tina]

On last night's Haiti telethon. The NYTimes had this to say about CNN:

"The most showbiz-y of all was the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, who chimed in live from Haiti, describing the misery there framed by images of desperation, sometimes with a little too much bathos for a newsman."

[Disillusionist]

Two words: Epic Fail.

P.S. You can thank me, I'm from Massachusetts. First time in my life I ever donated money to a political campaign. Gas up the truck!

[Pops]

RE: Ellie Light.
Of further interest. 'Ellie' is Greek/French for 'Light'.

In 2008, while at Harvard Law School, Cass Sunstein co-wrote a paper proposing that the U.S. Government employ teams of covert agents and pseudo-"independent" advocates to "cognitively infiltrate" online groups and websites ..

[Pops]

Let's see, who poses as people they aren't using fake addresses?? ACORN?

[Rory Herst]

Gallup:
"Americans' broad views about corporate spending in elections generally accord with the Supreme Court's decision Thursday that abolished some decades-old restrictions on corporate political activity. Fifty-seven percent of Americans consider campaign donations to be a protected form of free speech, and 55% say corporate and union donations should be treated the same way under the law as donations from individuals are."

LUN

[Tina]

RASMUSSEN:
Obama Approval Index: -19
Strongly Approve 24%
Strongly Disapprove 43%
Total Approval 44%

[Captain Hate]

Well a sharp eyed reporter at the Cleveland Plain dealer noticed something unusual about one of her 'Obama praising' Letter writer's: Obama has suspicious number of letter-writing fans named 'Ellie Light'

I'm sure the reporter will be drummed out of the guild and/or first in line for the next set of layoffs for the Pain Squealer, which has shrunk so much in size that parakeet owners and fishermen are getting nervous. The standard reporter for the paper is more like Sherrod Brown's fatassed wife, who would make Ellie Light look, well, enlightened.

[anduril]

From AT--Palin wants to become part of the problem:

John McCain: Palin's Political Bridge to Nowhere

By Steve Flesher

Sarah Palin's decision to campaign for John McCain's reelection bid is dismaying some of her staunchest allies and defenders on the web.

This serves as a much-uninvited buzz-kill to conservatives, who finally had the beam of hope shone on them Tuesday night. Grassroots conservatism made a historic comeback with Scott Brown, who defeated Martha Coakley for Edward Kennedy's Senate seat in the very liberal state of Massachusetts.

Aside from her personal allegiance to John McCain, it is incomprehensible what Palin thinks this will do for the country or her political career, which has made her one of the main inspirations of grassroots enthusiasm.

...

[Neo]

When you try to ram it to the people, be prepared to reenact the “shower scene” from a bad prison movie and remember those immortal words ... "Don't drop the soap"

[Old Lurker]

Hey JiB, don't forget:

Bankrupted and nationalized Detroit.

Screwed with the major banks.

Reset creditor rights and made them unpredictable.

Set the USA on the path to lose it's reserve currency status and its AAA rating.

[Janet]

In another thread far, far away...was a discussion of how interesting it would be to know the numbers of letters received by the paper for each article. Regardless of which ones they chose to print...I would like to know what they received.
"Obama is Wonderful" article -
100 letters received
25 agree with article
73 disagree with article
2 we don't know what the hell they are saying
Paper prints 5 letters that agree with the article.

Anyway, that seems to be how the WaPo works.

[clarice]

She's being nice to a guy who made her a household name. Big deal.

On its front page today the WaPo just notices that voter anger is growing and emperils all the Dems in Congress at whom its focused. The paper also runs a chart of a poll they took which they claim shows Mass voters want Brown to work with Dems.. I hope he makes a lot of good, feel good but do nothing reach across the aisles moves to make the WaPo happy. (Have they ever done a poll like that when a far left Dem was elected?)

[Porchlight]

It continues to be the best political week in my memory. I also am sleeping much, much better since Tuesday.

Agree with clarice re: Palin stumping for McCain. She's an adult and makes her own decisions.

[Porchlight]

p.s. I saw a second brand new "I miss Bill." bumpersticker this week in Austin. I'm assuming these are Hillary fans, but you never know.

[bgates]

I saw a second brand new "I miss Bill." bumpersticker this week in Austin. I'm assuming these are Hillary fans

Could be Hillary herself.

[narciso]

How is this a surprise, the only way would be if she had refused to support her sponsor
into the big leagues, As Ziegler has put it, 'she just loves that old coot'

[bgates]

Not bad for a first year out of the gate.

You forgot the Nobel prize. (So did I, in my list of Obama's lifetime accomplishments, which I guess should read,
"First ever historical black African American ever named editor of Harvard Law Review in unprecedented history, first ever unprecedented historical black African American man of color in history ever to be elected President, got city to remove asbestos from that one housing project, got city to put job training place in that one neighborhood, Nobel Prize".

[Porchlight]

bgates, do you think she really misses Bill? Nah, surely not.

If so, though, it really is bizarro world in Dem-land.

[Neo]

Riddle me this: Once Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are disbanded, what would Barney Frank replace them with? Who would pay bribes as big as Fannie and Freddie did to the Democrats and Republicans? Who would give Democrats the gold-plated patronage jobs that Fannie and Freddie provided? Who would Democrats go to, to find home loans for friends and voters who can’t possibly afford to pay them back?

[Jane]

We are all Ellie Light today.

Wait. That's not right.

Clarice,

I agree with you about Sarah. Loyalty is a pretty good trait.

[Porchlight]

bgates,

Don't forget the first ever college transfer student elected President while using the nicotine patch, or maybe it was the gum. I still remember your brilliant post-election comment in 2008.

[centralcal]

I also agree about Sarah.

Over at NRO, Steyn has a piece up, good as always, but there was a simple line he used that I think has become the perfect description of Obama.

He had nothing to say, but he said it anyway.

I think that will pretty much sum up the coming SOTU, too.

[bgates]

do you think she really misses Bill?

Maybe she's one of those people who never removes old bumper stickers.

She could still be driving around with "Mondale/Ferraro", "I miss Bill", and "Question Authority" on her car, even though none of those are current positions.

[Captain Hate]

Agree with clarice re: Palin stumping for McCain. She's an adult and makes her own decisions.

I agree as well. Sarah is her own person on who she chooses to support; BFD. I don't have much use for McVain but conservatives are ill-served by concocting idiotic litmus tests like this.

[George Tenet, Presidential Medal of Freedom winner]

Loyalty is a pretty good trait.

I agree completely.

[narciso]

Now personally, though I think loyalty is a two way street, and I think McCain hasn't nearly kept up his end of the bargain, the buck ended with him, not Schmidt and Wallace.

[Porchlight]

True but these were brand new "I miss Bill" stickers on late model vehicles. Maybe if they also had "My other car is a broomstick" stickers?

[clarice]

In D.C. one councilman , disturbed by the number of plastic bags clogging the Anacostia River, persuaded his colleagues to enact a one cent tax on them in the belief that it would reduce the pollution.Today's WaPo carries a long story of the lengths people will go to to avoid it. I refuse to pay it and simply carry reusable bags. I doubt the pollution will abate because most people do not toss them outside but reuse them on countless household tasks, but Anacostia is a poor neighborhood full of dysfunctional people who will simply use their limited resources to pay the tax.
In the article it appears so many people are avoiding the tax there will be no revenue to the city for this massive inconvenience imposed on the rest of us.
Statism..another way to beset the responsible citizen.

[Old Lurker]

Isn't it a 5 cent bag tax in DC, C?

[DebinNC]

I think CO's taxing taxes may take the cake.

[clarice]

OL, you're right--it is FIVE cents..and in my rich neighborhood of non polluters people won't pay it. In Anacostia where they neither pay income tax nor properly dispose of their trash they will. Because it takes planning to carry around alternatives to those bags.

[pagar]

"the absence of any media support for our President, who won a record-breaking election by a landslide less than 18 months ago,"

IMO, there is not a single person in the world who knows what the legitimate vote tally is for the 2008 presidential election.
We know that in Ohio, the Supreme Court ruled that the SOS did not have to do her job concerning voter registration Verification
(because it would be burden for a Democrat to verify voter registration).
We know that there were reports that Mass in their recent election had over 100,000 dead voters on the rolls. Any one want to guess how many of those deaths occurred after the 2008 election?
We know that there have been reports of ACORN Fraud all across the USA. We know that there was a huge battle in Minn over the Senate seat that Franken was declared to be the winner. Anyone want to bet that with all the changes of tallies in the Senate race there were no changes in the Presidential tally?
My personal bet would be that if all the fraud was removed, Obama would not have been declared the winner of the election.

[Old Lurker]

WSJ has a front page pic today of Obama playing golf with his good buddy banker pal - called his "lead blocker on Wall Street". The story inside shows the guy again, a NYC boss at the Swiss UBS, whom Obama met in the office of George Soros according to the WSJ.

Just sayin.

[Danube of Thought]

"...pseudo-'independent' advocates to "cognitively infiltrate" online groups and websites ..."

If you go to Jake Tapper's Political Punch blog any night of the week, you will discover someone named "Tierra" who clearly does nothing with her life except post comments blaming Bush and praising Obama. She is either being paid to do this or she is quite insane (or both).

[Danube of Thought]

I have limited myself to two bumper stickers on my humongous SUV, "Surf Naked" and "God Bless John Wayne."

[centralcal]

Like Jane, I am still celebrating a great week.

Jules Crittenden has two great clips from Mass. newspapers:

Bitter Ironies

I especially am loving this description of John Fn Kerry from Jules:

It’s like a weird and terrible destiny. Not quite a Kennedy, not much as a senator, not quite president, and now, when his party holds White House, House and Senate, and he’s racked up all the seniority, not quite relevant.

[Old Lurker]

Speaking of John Wayne, friends were commenting the other night that we almost never see John Wayne movies on TV anymore. Wonder why that is?

[Janet]

Perhaps if Charlie Rangel paid his property tax in D.C. the people of Anacostia wouldn't have to pay for grocery bags-LUN

"The National Legal and Policy Center also says it has confirmed that Mr. Rangel owned a home in Washington from 1971-2000 and during that time claimed a “homestead” exemption that allowed him to save on his District of Columbia property taxes. However, the homestead exemption only applies to a principal residence, and the Washington home could not have qualified as such since Mr. Rangel’s rent-stabilized apartments in New York have the same requirement."

[centralcal]

DoT: you are spot on about "Tierra." When you disappeared here for awhile, I would go over to Tapper's Punch to read the comments of Fascist Hyena.

I have wondered if Tierra is paid by Obama, or maybe paid by ABC. Whatever he/she seems to be there 24/7.

[Old Lurker]

All the more reason just to stay here, CC, where the worst you have to do is scroll past Anduril and Sylvia.

[Porchlight]

My McCain sticker was partially ripped off on NYE. I'm surprised it lasted that long, honestly.

Anyway I took the rest of it off and plan to replace it with my President Reagan: Bringing America Back sticker.

[PD]

I realized the other day that Obama has been double-digit negative in the Ras polling for more than two months now (since Nov. 15).

Heckuva job, Bammie!

[centralcal]

heh, O.L. Oh yeah, I scroll past anduril completely (unless he limits himself to a mere sentence or two). I only mostly scroll past sylvia; stop and read occasionally, because she can be so damned funny. You know, kinda insane funny.

Trying to catch up with last night's threads I saw where she accused many of the regular commenters of being "trolls." How can you not be amused by some of her statements?

[SWarren]

Pagar,

We know that there were reports that Mass in their recent election had over 100,000 dead voters on the rolls.

The problem can be traced back to the 1993 National Voter Registration Act,
(passed by a Democrat Congress and signed by Democrat Bill Clinton) and requires local officials to wait two federal election cycles before purging their voter rolls.

So every voter who dies is still good for 8 years worth of phantom votes for the Dems.

[clarice]

Interesting,SBW. I suppose this is something a newly empowered Republican caucus in COngress should highlight and demand be changed.

[Danube of Thought]

They've banned Fascist Hyena over at Tapper, CCal--can't post from my computer, but am able to do so from my I-phone when away from home. (It's a pretty tedious method, but I love to taunt those fools with adolescent gloating). I think it started out as a pretty interesting place, but it has definitely regressed. A very few posters just swamp the place.

Haven't seen much of the indispensable MayBee lately...

[PD]

DoT, say what you will about tierra, I yield to no one in my admiration for her awesome copy and paste skilz.

[Elroy Jetson]

Did Obama announce anything substantive at his townhall yesterday or was it all empty rhetoric about fighting for us?

[PD]

Were Sarah *not* to campaign for McCain, it'd become endless fodder for the media to whisper furtively, "has bad blood developed between them?", "has there been a falling out?", etc., together with her being asked these questions at every opportunity.

For Sarah *to* campaign for McCain, not so much.

[PD]

Did Obama announce anything substantive at his townhall yesterday or was it all empty rhetoric about fighting for us?

It was a campaign speech, not an address by presidential material.

He talked, among other things, about how it's not all about him, followed by the usual several minutes about himself.

He said the banks were objecting to his wanting to impose "a modest fee" on them. He said, "I want to get our money back" from them, a phrase that he's begun to use with tedious frequently lately. Hmm, my understanding is that a number of banks have paid back their TARP loans, with interest, and others are in the process of doing so. Seems to me that interest is already "a modest fee," and that paying back the loans constitutes "getting our money back." Am I wrong, or is he simply lying while proposing, in effect, double taxation?

[centralcal]

Exactly, PD, and actually I think you understate how pervasive the MSM would be about it.

Fascist Hyena was "banned" at Tapper's? Good grief. Shades of LFG over there too?

[Jane]

I have a great bumper sticker - except it's more like a sign and it's in my car window not on my bumper. It says: THE PEOPLE'S SEAT

Aren't you jealous?

[Porchlight]

Aren't you jealous?

Yes, very much so! :)

[centralcal]

DoT: I have been asking about MayBee for over a week now - when she disappears from Twitter, she has truly disappeared. Perhaps she is on vacation?

[PD]

One aspect of Rush's take on the Ohio speech was that in the aftermath of the MA election and the collapse of Dem support for Obama, his handlers knew they'd better put him in an atmosphere where he could be propped up in front of an adulatory crowd that would cheer his every remark. Keep his spirits up lest he get an inkling that he's not all he makes himself out to be.

[centralcal]

I see Biden has announced the DOJ will appeal the Blackwater ruling. Hhmmm.

[Old Lurker]

Speaking of last night, I'm still chuckling about DoT's "I'm rich as hell and wonder why they pay me medicare" and it makes me recall coming home from college (yes, Clarice, probably as a sophmore) to spout what I had learned from Milton Friedman about the Ponzi scheme that was Social Security, and pontificated about why Dad gets paid that while living off Grandmother's Trust Fund. Now THAT was not a pleasant dinner as I recall all these decades later...

[Elroy Jetson]

So, what was the purpose of this townhall?
I guess you weren't allowed to ask about future C-Span negotiations or the union exemptions on the cadillac plan tax or the deal Ben Nelson cut or the reason why the underwear bomber got to lawyer up in a New York minute.
Prediction: No free-wheeling press conferences for Baracky until the summer at the earliest.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

She's being nice to a guy who made her a household name. Big deal.

Plus, I suspect that any attempt to claim Palin is a RINO will meet with a volume and duration of laughter that SNL would sell its collective soul to receive.

[MoodyBlu]

Sorry if a repost.

There have been many "taken to the woodshed" articles about The One this week but LUN by Conrad Black is simply delicious, in a Steyn sort of way.

[Gmax]

You can sum up the first year quite succintly.

Its was :

ALL SHAM NO WOW.

[Janet]

LUN Obama's Train Wreck of a Town Hall in Ohio

The update is amusing too.

[Neo]

The worst idea of the Day ... Paul Krugman For The Fed

Obama would go for it

[clarice]

He's skating closer and closer to impeachment and you wondered why he picked Biden?

[Ignatz]

--bgates, do you think she really misses Bill?--

Maybe she's telgraphing her punches.

[Gmax]

My take by the way on the new Democrat offensive on Banks, is that this is likely to fail. It sounds like a World Cant Waint chant because frankly it is, and is an assault on capitalism. I think they are misreading the populism strain in the country, they dont want socialism, they want the government to act like they are there to do the will of the people and get government off their backs.

But it will be so delicious when it backfires on them. And as a bonus it opens them up to a flanking on the bailouts on the Auto companies ( for their labor buddies ) and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They are stepping into a punch.

[anduril]

Now personally, though I think loyalty is a two way street, and I think McCain hasn't nearly kept up his end of the bargain, the buck ended with him, not Schmidt and Wallace.

Posted by: narciso | January 23, 2010 at 10:33 AM

narciso--if I correctly decipher your convoluted reasoning, you've missed a golden opportunity to justify DoT's faith in you.

Exactly who has McCain ever been loyal to since returning from Vietnam? Not to his wife, not to his party, not to his VP nominee. This is the guy whose damage to democracy--and the GOP--it took TWO SUPREME COURT decisions to fix! Talk about democracy dodging a bullet--how many second chances to defend the Constitution from McCain's assaults can we reasonably expect? And that's just one issue--don't get me started on McCain, "torture," and Gitmo and all the damage he did with that act.

Palin--whom I do not regard as qualified to be President--doesn't owe McCain jack shit. But she owes it to the country and her party to support people who will be part of the solution, rather than helping maintain in office people who have been part of the problem for decades.

Hey, clarice, I hope you're enjoying your new Unix-based system (I'll let others argue over the proper descriptors), with it's KHTML based browser.

[glasater]

So every voter who dies is still good for 8 years worth of phantom votes for the Dems.

I believe it's the same deal in CA and many other states.

In our state if you haven't voted in the last presidential election and voted in any state and local elections in four plus years--you must re-register to vote.

[PD]

Did Hugo Chavez *really* say the U.S. caused the Haiti disaster with its secret "earthquake weapon"? (Apparently we're testing it before unleashing it on Iran.)

[Neo]

Unfortunately, (last I checked) you can be impeached for maladministration

[clarice]

The Conrad Black article was wonderful. I expect SCOTUS to shortly void his Fitz conviction.
Continetti has another good article--not as good as Black's, but still very good.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/real-obama

[centralcal]

MoodyBlu: The Conrad Black piece was terrific!

[clarice]

You meant "can't" I'm sure, Neo, but as his approval ratings continue their historic slide and he continues to ignore his legal obligations (to rein in Holder's law breaking for one), you can be sure the malfeasance dossier is being compiled.

[Ignatz]

Anybody else sick of those ads embedded in links in the text of stories, like the ones in green at Janet's NRO link?

[PD]

Puzzling line from Black's article:

"And as president, he has been quite, and quite surprisingly, incompetent."

What's surprising about his incompetence?

[anduril]

Black and Continetti were both weak--Steyn, OTOH...

[Janet]

Yes Ignatz! American Thinker articles have the same type of thing with Bing pop-ups.
The highlighted links are okay, but they pop-up too easily and block the text.

[clarice]

Janet, they are a pain in the ass, but until someone figures out how to rake in enough $$ to pay even the very modest operating costs, they will be there.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Did Obama announce anything substantive at his townhall yesterday or was it all empty rhetoric about fighting for us?

Is that a rhetorical question?

[MikeS]

What's surprising about his incompetence?

It's the purity and consistency of Obama's incompetence that is surprising PD. He has been proven wrong on every single thing he has tried. All those ideas that sounded naive and sophomoric during the presidential campaign turned out to be just that.

[glenda]

ooooiiieeee..clarice said the "I" word, thank you, thank you,
but, they won't go nicely,(even in 2012) it is going to get very ugly.

Think happy thoughts, OT, the grandson has an "Upward" Basketball game at 3:00 today,
We won our first game with Colin scoring 2pts! Yea!!! Now, if I could get Scott Brown or Ayla to come or even talk about the great program "Upward" that would get a lot of voters ready to kick Obama out in '12--Upward is a countrywide program where people of faith join in age appropriate leagues for boys and girls (no matter their abilities or disabilities) and teach fairness, hard work, achieving the right goals, sportsmanship, character building with a spoon full of faith. Oh, the possibilities....

[centralcal]

Clarice: re Black and SCOTUS, what is the status to date? Have they heard arguments already? I admit to enormous ignorance about how the process works. You mention that their opinion might be coming soon - how soon?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

What's surprising about his incompetence?

The degree.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

BTW, Ras's index is -19 today, which I think is a new record.

Think he'll make it to -20 next week?

[Gmax]

sophomoric is being quite kind. He was a rookie with no executive experience and surrounded himself with mostly professors, think tank and congressional staffer types.

The fact that Zero got zero done as a freshman, does not bode well for a newly minted sophomore President, now does it?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

One of my China friends tells me that there's a new movie out in China about Confucius; people are being told it's their patriotic duty to see it.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

WaPo says reading the rights to the BVD Bomber was myopic and irresponsible.

[clarice]

cc,IIRC, the case has been argued, the court expressed substantial scepticism about the theory of the prosecution's meeting any due process test, and the opinion is expected shortly.

[pagar]

More Nonsense from a President who has accepted campaign contributions from Gaza, campaign contributions sent in by Mickey Mouse, etc, etc.

[PD]

What's surprising about his incompetence?

The degree.

I agree the degree is stunning, but I repeat my question.