"Ally Is A Legal Term Of Art". Unlike "Buffoon"

The Greatest Orator in the History of Forever reveals yet again that Bush never had a monopoly on dumb:

GOLDEN, Colo. – Hours after President Obama declared Egypt was neither an ally nor an enemy, the White House on Thursday tweaked that answer to say the strategically important nation was a “longstanding and close partner.”

Downplaying the tension evident in the president’s remarks in an interview late Wednesday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama was speaking in the technical terms of diplomacy and that nothing about U.S. policy toward Egypt has changed.

"‘Ally’ is a legal term of art,” Carney said. “We do not have a mutual defense treaty with Egypt, like we do, for example, with our NATO allies. But as the president has said, Egypt is a long-standing and close partner of the United States, and we have built on that foundation in supporting Egypt’s transition to democracy and working with the new government.”

What? Even sitting here in the peanut gallery I can say with confidence that Israel is an ally with whom we do not have a mutual defense pact. Politico pounced:

The State Department affirmed Egypt's legal status as an ally Thursday — an apparent contradiction to what President Obama said in a Wednesday interview.

Asked repeatedly if the State Department still considered Egypt a major non-NATO ally — a designation they were awarded in 1989 — State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said simply: "Yes."

...

But Egypt was one of the first non-NATO allies designed [sic. designated is better] by the U.S. government along with  Australia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, and South Korea. [link].  While the status does not imply a mutual defense pact, it does confer certain benefits.

Israel, for example, is also a major non-NATO ally without a formal security agreement — and is often called an ally by U.S policymakers and leaders.

Obama has been President for three and a half long years and literally does not know who our allies are. Rachel Maddow was leaning forwrd; let's see if she falls over with the White House clarification:

President Obama described Egypt as neither a friend nor a foe in a televised interview that aired first on The Rachel Maddow Show Wednesday. 

"I don't think we would consider them an ally. But we don't consider them an enemy," Obama told Telemundo's José Díaz-Balart. "They are a new government that's trying to find its way."

Obama continued: "They were democratically elected. I think that we are going to have to respond to this incident, how they respond to maintaining the peace treaty with Israel."

...

Maddow highlighted the significance of Obama's comment."In diplomacy, at the presidential level, words are chosen very, very carefully," she said. "And those words represent news in terms of the U.S. relationship with a country which had, during the time of Hosni Mubarak, been among America's closest allies in the Arab world."

At the presidential level words are chosen very carefully, except by the President. This puts a twist on the media's attempt to debate whether Romney is ready to be CinC. And let's flash back to Matt Yglesias's spin on Obama's 2007 declaration that he would meet with Iran with no pre-conditions:

...at the YouTube debate on July 23, 2007, when Obama was asked whether he would be willing to meet “without precondition … with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea,” the right answer, conventionally speaking, was a qualified “no.” But Obama answered in the affirmative. Initially, even sympathetic observers like The Nation’s David Corn called this statement a “flub” at best. Hillary Clinton, the quintessence of Democratic establishment thinking, had answered that she would use “high-level presidential envoys to test the waters, to feel the way,” before holding direct meetings with heads of state.

Few observers believed that Obama genuinely intended to break new ground with his response—his campaign had never articulated any such policy before, and seemed ill-prepared to defend it on the spot. The Clinton campaign dutifully pressed the attack the next day, calling Obama’s statement “irresponsible and frankly naive.” But then a funny thing happened. Obama’s team did not try to qualify (or, in political parlance, “clarify”) his remark, and no one said he misspoke. Instead, the campaign fought back, with memos to reporters and with a speech by the candidate himself, aimed squarely at the sort of “conventional wisdom” that had, in the words of his then-foreign-policy adviser, Samantha Power, “led us into the worst strategic blunder in the history of U.S. foreign policy.”

Rationalize the gaffe - that's a firm foundation for foreign policy! However, by June 2008 when the Greatest Orator itHoFflubbed his lines on Jerusalem, his team's powers of rationalization were exhausted:

(Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama misused a "code word" in Middle East politics when he said Jerusalem should be Israel's "undivided" capital but that does not mean he is naive on foreign policy, a top adviser said on Tuesday.

Addressing a pro-Israel lobby group this month, the Democratic White House hopeful said: "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided."

The comment angered Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as the capital of a future state. "He has closed all doors to peace," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said after the June 4 speech.

Obama later said Palestinians and Israelis had to negotiate the status of the city, in line with long-held U.S. presidential policy.

If Obama weren't so self-evidently brilliant, people might actually judge him by his words and conclude that he has a pattern of bloviation guided by ignorance and arrogance.

Comments

[Carol Herman]

The majority of Americans no longer respond with "this calls for war!" Since everything we do in the Middle East is done at the Saud's command! And, Bush blew his family's reputation ... Plus American lives. And, sadly too many injured. In getting involved with arabs.

Finally, I think the lessons are being learned. And that is "DON'T GET INVOLVED WITH THESE LUNATICS! (About "religion?" Not so much. It's the Saud's brand of violence though that has funded the world takeover of Imams. Who were everywhere with arabs who had settled in many lands. The Saud's pay for all the violence you see!

While Bibi Netanyahu jumped in and did something in America that is extremely puzzling. Until you realize Bibi thought he could affect the outcome in Florida.

What a bunch of stupid political moves we've been watching.

Egypt went down the toilet as soon as you saw the revolt against Mubarak. Up ahead? Let's see how Congress appropriates American taxpayer money to Egypt, because it may shock some senators to learn they can upset their electability.

And, in Libya what did we gain by getting rid of Gaddafi? (Oh, yeah. Because the Saud's asked.)

So far? No winners at the gambling table.

[Bill in AZ sez it's time for Obama/Holder murder trial in Mexico]

"Obama has been President for three and a half long years and literally does not know who our allies are."

You're too hard on the fellow. He can't get his cocaine addled ass out of bed by 10:50AM for an intelligence briefing, so they dump it on his doorstep like when hotels dump some propaganda rag in front of your door. In his fog he probably flips around in there looking for the sports pages, then throws it in the trash in disgust, and goes off looking for a smoke. Why would he care what an ally is? He has people for that, like Biden.

[Clarice]

TM, I have to hand it to you. While Jane and I and I am sure more than a few others are watching this unfold with steam rising from our heads, you just stay cool and weld that scalpel. Smooches!

[Thomas Collins]

Thank Allah we have a man of suave sophistication at the helm who can speak with such nuance. And a Gaia cheer for Jay "Hugo Grotius" Carney, who points out something that none of us knew, namely, that in the international system, there must be a mutual defense pact with a country before it can be classified as an ally.

[hit and run]

"Ally Is A Legal Term Of Art"

It's the syntax. The damn syntax got Obama again.

Syntax is racist.

[Jim Eagle]

Soros: I think I have a faulty string. The one that moves the mouth.

Igor: Buffett said the new ones are in the mail.

[daddy]

"I don't remember anyone having to decipher what Bush meant."

Quiz Time: Spot the dummy!

Bush: "You're either with us or against us."

Obama: “I don’t think that we would consider them an ally, but we don’t consider them an enemy“.

State Department: "Ally Is A Legal Term Of Art"

[RichatUF]

are watching this unfold with steam rising from our heads

screaming at the tv...vulgarity that would make Dennis Miller blush.

Nice summary TM.

[Danube of Thought]

There is actually no controlling legal authority as to what is an ally.

Yeesh.

[Janet - Why does Johnny Depp hate the poor? pourquoi?]

Too funny, daddy! You & Sue hit the nail on the head!

[daddy]

Dennis Miller,

Riffing on the apology statement by the head of NBC for running a segment on Chris Jenner Kardashian's boob job instead of observing a Minute of Silence for the victims of 9/11.

"I'm sorry. As head of NBC I was given incorrect information. I thought we had on Chloe Kardashian, not Chris Jenner Kardashian."

LOL.

[Clarice]

I'd really love to share drinks with you tonight, DoT. We could both use them as the nitwit in the WH drives us to the edge of our wits.

[RichatUF]

no controlling legal authority as to what is an ally

facepalm...today would be such a great day to head to the bar. Get an early start, maybe something outside...

[Dave (in MA)]

Slow Joe thought they were talking about Ally McBeal.

[Captain Hate]

The question is: Is the JEF so dumb he doesn't realize how badly he screwed this whole thing up?

[Porchlight]

Slow Joe thought they were talking about Ally McBeal.

as played by Callista Gingrich

[Clarice]

Yes, CH, he is. BTW I thought your definition of logarithm was very funny.

[MarkO]

Wait.
Wait.

He's just not that smart. He's a liar and a nasty little man.

[Porchlight]

Righties can't be the only ones with steam coming out of our ears over all of this.

Can we?

[daddy]

Anyone here (JimmyK, Peter, TM etc) who can get into the Late Show with David Letterman tonight and moon the great leader before being led away in handcuffs?

[JM Hanes]

"Ally Is A Legal Term Of Art". Unlike "Buffoon"

Headlines are a term of art too, and you are the master, TM!

Speaking of headlines, I think the title of that Yglesias article may be the one and only instance of prescience in his entire oeuvre. He called it, "The Accidental Foreign Policy."

[Clarice]

Politico:

"A poll commissioned by Citizens United's political arm shows Todd Akin leading Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri. The poll by the CU political victory fund and conducted by Wenzel Strategies, shows Akin ahead by almost 5 points. Mitt Romney leads President Barack Obama by 20 points. It's a private poll for a group with an interest in the outcome of the race, but CU is also an established force on the right. (snip) Most polls so far have showed McCaskill ahead, but by varying degrees, in a red state where she has had political difficulties."

[Jim Eagle]

This is truly painful to watch.

Even the State Department can't overcome rampant stupidity.

We are in the best of hands.

[centralcal]

POLITICO ‏@politico

Romney to begin receiving intelligence briefings: http://politi.co/SIBZwx

[jimmyk]

Anyone here (JimmyK, Peter, TM etc) who can get into the Late Show with David Letterman tonight and moon the great leader before being led away in handcuffs?

Candidly I wouldn't want to degrade my rear end by exposing it to the likes of the JEF and the gap-toothed pervert. But I thought I read somewhere that he's going on next Tuesday. And isn't there some adult connected with his campaign or his administration who could take him aside and tell him that maybe going on Letterman in the midst of a foreign policy debacle isn't such a great idea?

[Clarice]

Let me remind you --a week ago the Dems were bragging about how the dynamic duo Barack and Joe were going to eat RR alive on foreign policy issues.Raise your hands if you're the kind of moron who believed this carp.

[Clarice]

Did you notice letterman's here today for some kind of national art award--that's what you get for kissing Barack and Michelle's butts whenever they need a friendly TV distraction.

[GMax]

How long before they take Slow Joe off the shelf and make him the ticket spokesman and hide Zero over at the Naval Observatory.

Does popping off like this, qualify as speaking too quickly? Why yes, I think it does you incompetent oaf...

[Jim Ryan]

Can anyone explain why DOJ is interested in the filmmaker? He has priors, apparently. Maybe they want to see whether they can nail him on something or other as a way of apologizing to the murderers. Or because their base (e.g., U. Penn professor of Christianity) wants him in prison?

[lyle]

Some thanks from the Arab street:

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/09/13/a-quick-note-of-thanks-from-the-raging-arab-street/

Notice, by the way, that I haven’t mentioned that movie everyone is talking about? Honestly I never heard of it until one of the fellows decided to use it to stir up the rubes in the streets.

They are so stupid, they believe anything.

We all agree good parody is increasing hard to come by and this guy does a pretty good job (but obviously is no Iowahawk). The last line is a bit of a puzzler because it sums up the MFM perfectly.

[Jim Ryan]

Holy mackerel, the garbage from the AP in cc's link!

[bgates]

a country which had, during the time of Hosni Mubarak, been among America's closest allies in the Arab world,
until Barack Obama helped push him out of office so that the Muslim Brotherhood could take over.

[JM Hanes]

Following up on a comment elsewhere, it looks like Obama has not even issued an official statement on Cairo at all.

I checked out the White House website, which published his Statement on Libya along with a transcript of his remarks on Libya in the Rose Garden. There is absolutely nada about Cairo on the Statements & Releases page (which does list Libya) or in the White House Blog (where I found a link the transcript).

Considering all the mopping up now in progress, I hesitate to call the White House site a definitive source on White House positions, but I'll call it close enough to assert that, aside from responding to questions, Obama has yet to address events in Cairo directly in any official fashion. That's remarkable, to say the least.

[daddy]

Just for interest, has there been a recent statement by Obama saying that Israel is our ally, in either the vernacular meaning or "Legal Term of Art" meaning, whatever the hell that is?

[GMax]

Yes I am pretty sure Obama told Bibi " No soup for you."

[Jim Eagle]

Another SEAL joins his brother in Libya killings

Looks like a war on SEALS both in Libya and here.

[Dave (in MA)]

POLITICO ‏@politico

Romney to begin receiving intelligence briefings

He can fill Odumbo in on what's going on later.

[Zero]

It's hard to remember all the stuff from the foreign policy binder from back in 2008 when I'm getting baked alot and golfing alot. I thought Egypt was like not really our ally but sorta kinda? Anyway, I mostly let they guys handle foreign affairs because I don't go to the briefings. One of them signed off on the apology. I didn't even know what the hell was going on.

Hope Holder nails that filmmaker.

[Captain Hate]

BTW I thought your definition of logarithm was very funny.

Thank you. The lack of prior feedback was somewhat humbling and irritating; mostly the latter.

[Dave (in MA)]

Bruce McQuain:

Let's see: On Sep 10, Al-Qaeda calls for attacks on the US on the 11th in Libya. AQ in Egypt says OK. Those that assaulted the embassy in Cairo were chanting "Obama, Obama, there are still a billion Osamas". The flag they raised was Al-Qaeda's in a year their leader died. Yeah, it was all about an anti-Islamic film.

[Jim Eagle]

Watching and listening to Bob Beckel on The Five I am now convinced that a ham sandwich could have beaten Mondale in 1980.

[Jim Eagle]

Sorry its 1984.

[Extraneus]

I'm at a loss contemplating the DoJ man-hunt that led them to the the guy who made the YouTube video, whose name they've disclosed to the media. I'm drawing a complete blank.

[Jim Eagle]

Ex,

You don't think they're going to not find some one other than the JEF as a fall guy for what is going on, do you?

Hope your tax returns are current and correct.

[Clarice]

It is remarkable, jmh. Maybe if he doesn't say anything no one will notice what happened.

[Clarice]

ch, I was away and then there are so many threads to keep up with or I'd have signalled how much I liked it earlier.

[Mark Folkestad]

Oh, it's LOGARITHM? Good grief, I thought you folks were saying "logger rhythm", and maybe Ignatz was starting up a band.

[rse]

jib-tell your wife the Sydney Australia paper is also trying to push the meme of foreign policy being Romney's weakness.

I guess there really is an intl journolist now.

[Clarice]

Volokh--New and significant challenge to Obamacare by Pacific legal Foundation based on the origination clause:

"The Pacific Legal Foundation has filed a motion in its pending suit against Obamacare asking the judge (1) to rule that, when it enacted the Senate health care reform bill that includes a “tax” for not purchasing health insurance, Congress violated the Origination Clause, which says that all revenue bills must originate in the House; and (2) that their clients are under no legal obligation to purchase health insurance under the ruling of the Court.

The first of these issues was never litigated before the Supreme Court and remains open; the second concerns the meaning and effect of the Supreme Court’s ruling that the “requirement” to purchase insurance was unconstitutional under the Commerce and Necessary and Proper clauses (and that only the “penalty,” not the requirement, was upheld as an exercise of the tax power).[snip]If any act violates the Origination Clause, it would seem to be the Affordable Care Act. The Supreme Court has never approved the “strike-and-replace” procedure the Congress employed here. This challenge might be a good opportunity to discover whether the Origination Clause is part of the “Lost Constitution,” or whether it is still a part of the written Constitution that Congress must obey and the Courts will enforce. It seems an easy enough rule to follow and pass judgment upon. So we will see."

[Thomas Collins]

Hey, Axelrod and Jarrett, we all know you two, not Barack and Hillary, are the key players in formulating a response to these attacks on Americans. Hurry up and come up with something.

[The JEF is an evil enemy. Sandy]

The question is: Is the JEF so dumb he doesn't realize how badly he screwed this whole thing up?

Posted by: Captain Hate | September 13, 2012 at 05:03 PM [kill]​[hide comment

I cannot help but disagree in part with this statement. For those of us who believe that not only is the primacy of the USA a necessity, right and the best and only hope for a world increasingly covered by the darkness of Islamofacism--sure, the JEF effed it up.

But, I feverently believe that the JEF wants this (i.e. the rioting against the US, murders of Americans, the diminishment of America's standing in the MENA) to occur.

The JEF's intent is to bring America down. Way down. He want to ensure that his fundamental transformation reduces America to an also-ran.

So to him, this is not a screw-up, it is a success.

[Extraneus]

There were so many threads that I missed CH's log riff. Perhaps a repost here could be arranged by someone in the interests of math?

[Clarice]

Link to Volokh http://www.volokh.com/2012/09/13/new-obamacare-challenge-the-origination-clause/#.UFJXcCBDpCY.facebook

[Rob Crawford]

Can anyone explain why DOJ is interested in the filmmaker?

Amazing, isn't it? He put the JEF's election at risk, so he became public enemy #1.

[JM Hanes]

The indispensable Michael Totten: "Enough Appeasement Already."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just announced that she finds the anti-Muslim movie trailer that sparked violent and even murderous attacks on American embassies across the Middle East to be “disgusting and reprehensible” and that the United States government had nothing to do with it. I’d add that the trailer is idiotic and hilariously amateurish, but film criticism isn’t part of our chief diplomat’s job description.

It is of course true that the United States government has nothing to do with the film, and that’s an important point to make. Most Middle Easterners have spent their entire lives in an environment where the state owns and controls most or all of the media. State-run TV and newspapers are normal for them. Some honestly may not understand that we do things differently here.

Clinton also should have explained the First Amendment. We don’t punish blasphemy in the United States. Our government isn’t allowed to punish citizens for disrespecting a religion, a political party, the president, or anything or anyone else. This is not going to change. It’s certainly not going to change because violent reactionaries on the other side of the planet don’t like it.

And I have to say it’s a little unseemly for our government to officially take a position on a YouTube video, even one that sparked an international crisis. It’s even more unseemly that our government is taking the same position on that film as the people who just killed our ambassador in Benghazi.

[Jim Eagle]

Why is it that when you watch a Romney speech there are more women standing behind him than when you watch a Obama speech?

/Women prisoners of war?

[Captain Hate]

So to him, this is not a screw-up, it is a success.

I agree with that, Sandy; but he looked so inept doing it. Maybe that's all part of the act although I'd have to think that somebody who is so self-obsessed always has to look like the smartest person in the room and he never does.

Here you go, Ext: Logarithm is Andi slang for safe anal for Catholics.

[daddy]

"And isn't there some adult connected with his campaign or his administration who could take him aside and tell him that maybe going on Letterman in the midst of a foreign policy debacle isn't such a great idea?"

I don't know JimmyK.

If along with the Prez Letterman could also book Chris Jenner Kardashian and her boob job, I think that'd pretty much guarantee the capture of every eyeball of every Obama voter they're interested in reaching for this election.

[Jim Eagle]

We call it FUBAR.

More dead troops from the Libyan "experience".

How was Las Vegas, you despicable POS?

[daddy]

"Sorry its 1984."

It has been ever since Obama got elected in 2008.

[Jim Eagle]

When you lose Kirsten Powers, well maybe you can get lucky with her latest boyfriend.

[Rob Crawford]

In truly shocking news -- they will be serving wine and beer at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

Curiously, it won't be at the exit of "It's a Small World".

[matt]

just to settle that Hyde Park asshole's hash:

"Major non-NATO ally means a country that is designated in accordance with §517 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321k) as a major non-NATO ally for purposes of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq. ) (22 U.S.C. 2403(q)). The following countries have been designated as major non-NATO allies: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Republic of Korea. Taiwan shall be treated as though it were designated a major non-NATO ally (as defined in section 644(q) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2403(q)).”

[Extraneus]

Heh on the log riff.

You don't think they're going to not find some one other than the JEF as a fall guy for what is going on, do you?

No, I completely understand that, but they had already blamed their misfortunes on the film, which might not even be related. What do they get by naming the guy himself? The thrill of striking fear into American blasphemers of a gutter "religion" founded by a blood-thirsty murdering pedophile?

Surely his family can sue the government if anything happens to him now, no? At the very least, Obama would be blamed.

I still don't get it.

I'm ready when we decide to have a Blaspheme The Prophet Day, btw, although I could use a little lead time to come up with a paper mache dog f*cking a bearded pervert sculpture for my front yard. (I'm quite well armed.)

[maryrose]

House of Representatives passed a motion that requires Obama to cut equally from existing programs the amount he wants to cut from military spending. All Dims voted no but we all know this ties Obi Juan Kinobi's hands as he won't touch PP or EPA or NPR.
TM:
I concur that you are the man with a cool head and a rapier -like ability to call a catch phrase " Ally is a Legal term of Art" for the bull-hockey that it is. I wonder who came up with that gem of a phrase and how much bonus pay Carney gets for repeating it.
I agree with H&R SYNTAX is the new go to expression to explain the continuous stream of garbage spewing from the WH.

[daddy]

As our embassies burn and our consular personnel are killed, it is good to know that other important events are taking place.

McClatchy, in our local paper, reports that the Arizona based Center for Biological Diversity is pushing hard to get the Fed's to declare the Clown Fish, which lives in the waters off Australia, declared Endangered.

And Jerri Willis, on her FOX Business Show, just ran new video of Michelle Obama saying on a morning News Show that "Obesity is a National Security Threat."

Great timing Mo.

To the dogs.

[rse]

Rob-it should be at the entrance to make that silly song easier to take.

My mom took Red and the Diva this summer saving me from going. Hooray!

I did like it when I was 5 and we went to Disneyland and they let me ride in front of the monorail.

[matt]

As I recall Nemo was the smart one. Michelle is more of a Dory, or one of those pissed off sharks.....

[peter]

Anyone here (JimmyK, Peter, TM etc) who can get into the Late Show with David Letterman tonight and moon the great leader before being led away in handcuffs?

Sorry, Daddy, didn't see this until it was too late. Not sure if you'd want to see my tush on Drudge the next day. (although after seeing Barney Frank pictures on this site, your tolerance has probably gone up.)

[hit and run]

It's the second Thursday of the month.

[Jim Eagle]

daddy,

Did you say Mooning?

[Extraneus]

Anyone know how long a pickled pig's tongue would last in the open air?

(Looks pretty tasty, actually. Never tried one myself, but my father used to eat stuff like this. Is that Dijon or Dusseldorf?)

[GMax]

Judge Napolitano who is a bit of a crank and more than a little Ronulan, "This is one of the best things I have ever heard Romney say."

Here here.

[peter]

Well, TIME says that Romney is going to lose the debates, and Obama did get that Nobel Peace Prize, ..... so there's that.

[Extraneus]

DOD: Gen. Martin Dempsey opted to phone Florida pastor

The military’s top uniformed leader decided on his own to phone an extremist Florida pastor linked to an inflammatory anti-Islamic online video, the Pentagon said Thursday – no one else asked him to do so.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey called Florida pastor Terry Jones on Wednesday to ask him to withdraw his support for the video that some reports have linked with anti-American unrest in the Muslim world, a spokesman said.

[JM Hanes]

Sandy:

"I feverently believe that the JEF wants this (i.e. the rioting against the US, murders of Americans, the diminishment of America's standing in the MENA) to occur.

I just don't believe that, in the first instance, even if he does believe that U.S. could stand to be humbled on the international stage. In the second, I think he's too self-absorbed to care about much beyond cultivating his own transformational stature and securing a place in history as the sum of all great men. In the third, I see no evidence that he, himself, is a strategic thinker with anything remotely resembling a master plan. In the fourth, I find it difficult to imagine what a more risk-averse President could actually look like. In the fifth, there's no way he would regard anything which threatens his own re-election prospects as a success.

There are plenty of questionable people riding his coattails, but I think that the Pelosi/Reid Congress, which authored his only putative domestic triumphs, have been more fundamentally transformational than Obama could ever hope to be.

[pops]

Can anyone explain why Hillary nor the Cairo embassy has comdemn the violent, bloody nature of Radical Islam that causes us to publish anti-Islam speech?

Couldn't you just as well say radical islam incited the making of the Youtube movie that is supposedly making everyone riot?

If radical killer Islam didn't exist, the movie would not have been made.

Its the whole chicken and the egg.....clealry we would not have to use our free speech rights to speak out against radical Islam, if Islam had no radicals.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Ex-

I'm thinking decades, at least. I haven't met the ten foot Pole who'd touch that, yet, but when I do, I'm going to shake his hand.

[Barbara]

JMH,

Excellent points.

[pops]

Were not the Florida pastor and the Youtube movie producers incited by Radical Islam?

They really had no choice but to speak out, being incited everyday by radical Islam

[hyde park]

Way off topic...

Janet and other pro-life residents of swing states:
Recently, the Washington Post ran an egregiously bad "fact check" of Obama's record on infanticide. I don't know whether Virginians actually read that paper, or whether it affects anyone's vote, but just in case I thought I'd point you to this piece by Ramesh Ponnuru, who explains (for the umpteenth time) Obama's record in the Illinois state senate. What Obama did and said there is so extraordinary that it's hard for the average voter to believe. (It's like the end of Hedda Gabler: "People don't *do* such things!") At least that's what I'm hoping, because it's painful to think that Americans elected a man they knew to be pro-choice on infanticide. LUN
Ponnuru also links to more documentation here, in a later post: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/316767/obama-and-infanticide-ctd-ramesh-ponnuru

If you have acquaintances who might be swayed by such information, perhaps you could show it to them? They certainly won't find out the facts by reading the fact-checkers.

It must be nice to live in a place where your vote counts.

[Sara]

Has this been linked? An incredible story.

The Incredible Stories of Mitt Romney's Character the Media Isn't telling You

[fdcol63]

Someone tell Mooshell to keep her fat pimply cellulite ass off the WH Xerox, please!

[pops]

Perhaps next time the Catholic Church and Chic-Fil-A will learn the lesson and pick up automated weapons and RPGs when someone offends their religious sensibilities.

And Bill Maher better watch out that Hilliary is going to comdemn him for his Religulous movie which spent 1.5 hours denigrating peoples religions.

[peter]

The President has a grueling schedule for tomorrow: LUN

[Extraneus]

I just don't believe that

[snip]

I see no evidence that he, himself, is a strategic thinker with anything remotely resembling a master plan.

I do. His thinking may be infantile, but surely there is evidence that Obama has had a plan.

[maryrose]

hydepark:
I knew of Obama's support of infanticide and told my colleagues at the lunch table about it. I believe some of them voted for Bammy and others did not believe it was possible for someone to be so virulently anti-life.
Others said they were not a one issue voter. I am not kidding you.

[Janet]

boris brings up a great point on the other thread. The MFM weren't so worried about inciting violence when they printed the Abu Ghraib photos over & over & over. Did the DOJ go after whoever released those?
The guards had already been brought up on charges & were removed from service, so there was no reason to release the photos except to incite violence.

[Rob Crawford]

Can anyone explain why Hillary nor the Cairo embassy has comdemn the violent, bloody nature of Radical Islam that causes us to publish anti-Islam speech?

Because the "Behead Those Who Say Islam Is Violent" signs were not photoshopped.

[Jane - It's gonna be a Tsunami in November]

On Kudlow John Batchelor says Stevens was set up and lured to Benghazi in retaliation for a drone strike.

And then Luster (Don't know his first name) says QE3 guarantees that Obama gets re-elected.

[Rob Crawford]

The MFM weren't so worried about inciting violence when they printed the Abu Ghraib photos over & over & over. Did the DOJ go after whoever released those?

As I remember, the photos were leaked by one of the defense attorneys, trying to create a sufficiently large political mess to get his client off.

[JM Hanes]

"The military’s top uniformed leader decided on his own to phone an extremist Florida pastor "

I honestly don't know whether that makes it better or worse. I'm leaning toward worse because it means that the highest ranking man in our armed forces not only believes that YouTube & Terry Jones are responsible for a wave of violence that will sweep across the Middle East to Afghanistan, but also has no compunction about picking up the phone and attempting to intimidate a civilian. One can only wonder at the environment which has produced all these supposedly unvetted freelancers. They obviously believe Obama would "approve this message," and seem entirely unconstrained by any internal discipline.

[Sara]

House approves $1.047 spending bill to fund the government for six months.

[Rob Crawford]

And then Luster (Don't know his first name) says QE3 guarantees that Obama gets re-elected.

Because everyone loves watching their savings AND incomes inflated away into nothing!

Billion dollar loaves of bread, HERE WE COME!

[narciso]

Well I think I came up with Alinsky's sorcerer' apprentice to describe him, he doesn't really know what he is doing, if he did he would be much more dangerous.

I was thinking if an American Ambassador say Bremer, had been assasinated in Iraq in 2004, 60 Minutes questions would now be first, don't you think Gov. Dean has been too critical

[maryrose]

Obama has a liberal, anti-life, Marxist agenda{spread the wealth around } that he does not veer away from. He supports Islam more than other religions and does not believe in the supremacy of America. America is not considered by Obama to be his native land. He has no loyalty to our Constitution or Our Bill of Rights.He is woefully ignorant of history because he was too busy chooming instead of attending class. He's a fake, a phony and he lies to get out of tough situations. He shoots his mouth off indiscriminately and then looks around for someone else to blame for his foibles. He's an immature uneducated buffoon and believe me the world has his number. He is a weak poseur and our enemies are jerking him around on a daily basis. Contrast his statement to Putin's and you have your answer. Hillary has been diminished by her association with this loser and it galls Bill Clinton to see the mess he has made of everything.

[narciso]

I thought Mullen, was the ultimate in toadying hacks, but I admit I could be wrong.

[Frau Steinalter]

THIS is an art form

[JM Hanes]

This Administration's DoJ releases the name of the film maker, whose life is now surely at risk, but protects the identity of the idiot at the Embassy in Cairo who tendered the nation's apologies.

[Clarice]

http://pjmedia.com/michaelledeen/2012/09/13/the-global-war/