Politics 101

The Democrats lost Big in the 2010 Midterm Elections because of Tea Party Conservatives and Citizens United

“Trust us.  We’re the federal government.”  Two sentences that really don’t go together these days.  Something more appropriate would be, “Do as we say.  And think like we think.  If you don’t, trust us, we will make your life unpleasant.  Such as targeting excessive IRS scrutiny on your sorry ass.”  Yes, that sounds more appropriate.  At least, based on the actions of the federal government.

The 2010 midterm elections really shocked and dismayed the liberal Democrats.  In 2010 approximately 21% of the population identified themselves as liberals.  About 35% identified themselves as moderates.  And about 40% identified themselves as conservative (see Conservatives Remain the Largest Ideological Group in U.S. posted on Gallup).  Which is why after passing Obamacare on pure party lines the Democrats loss was so big in the 2010 midterm elections.  And it became clear to liberal Democrats that they cannot win the debate in the arena of ideas.  No.  If they were to maintain their power and transform the country against the will of the people they had to rig the game in their favor.

The Democrats lost big in the 2010 midterms because of Tea Party conservatives.  Those people who admired the Founding Fathers.  The Constitution.  Limited government.  Laissez-faire capitalism.  And the rule of law.  The things that made the United States of America great.  And things the current administration is NOT a big fan of.  For they want to expand the federal government into European socialism.  With a great and mighty federal government.  So those in the ruling class can shape the nation into their image.  Not the Founding Fathers’ image.  And to do this they have to eliminate public enemy number one.  No, not al Qaeda.  But the Tea Party.  And denying their right to free speech using the power of the IRS was one way to achieve that.

The Obama Administration ordered Military Forces in Tripoli to Stand Down because it Wouldn’t Fit the Narrative

Ever since the Supreme Court decision Citizens United (2010) ruled that corporations were people the liberal Democrats had a bug up their backside.  Because they enjoyed collecting huge sums from unions who were, apparently, people, too.  And the liberals’ favorite tool for attacking business interests.  As unions supported them in their anti-business agenda with lots of cash.  To help the liberals regulate and transfer more wealth from private sector to the public sector.  While forcing union-friendly policies on businesses.  To protect their friends in the unions.  To keep a large portion of those unions dues flowing to Democrat coffers.

Liberals blame Citizens United for the rise of the Tea Party which led to their defeat in the 2010 midterms.  After 2010 it was payback time.  When liberal nonprofits filed for their tax-exempt status the IRS granted them within months.  Whereas the IRS delayed the application process for conservative groups.  Especially any with ‘Tea Party’ in their name.  Demanding a list of their political donors.  What books they read.  Who they associated with.  Whether they would attack Planned Parenthood.  Etc.  Inappropriate.  And illegal.  This harassment went on for months.  Preventing these organizations from collecting donations and exercising their First Amendment right of free speech.  And when the IRS collected any information on donors they gave it to liberal websites to publicize and attack.  Discouraging further contributions.  And limiting opposing political ads in the run-up to the 2012 election.  Helping President Obama and Democrats.  While hurting Mitt Romney and Republicans.

The Democrats have a perception that they are strong on domestic issues but weak on national defense.  Which is why President Obama made the decision to kill Osama bin Laden when the opportunity came.  To show he was strong on national defense.  In fact, with the killing of bin Laden President Obama said al Qaeda was in retreat.  Because he fought the War on Terror better and smarter than George W. Bush did.  The 2012 campaign narrative was ‘Osama bin Laden is dead.  And General Motors is alive’.  Which is why the Obama administration told Ambassador Stevens he could not have more security in Benghazi.  Because it wouldn’t fit the narrative.  It’s why the Obama administration ordered military forces in Tripoli to stand down and not assist those under attack in Benghazi.  Who probably could have saved the two Americans killed some 7 hours after the White House Situation Room received word of an attack in Benghazi.  Because it wouldn’t fit the narrative.

Like-Minded People don’t Need Orders when they Share the same Burning Passion to Defeat Conservatism

Benghazi is a political nightmare for the administration.  First of all they ignored the deteriorating conditions in Benghazi (it was so unsafe that the British pulled their people out just before the attack on the American mission).  Then four Americans died.  Because this administration was weak on national defense.  There was the stand-down order.  President Obama disappeared during the attack.  And, of course, there was the YouTube video the Obama administration blamed.  Not a terrorist attack.  Because, again, that wouldn’t fit the narrative.  We should reelect president Obama because al Qaeda was in retreat.  So they weren’t assaulting Americans in Benghazi.  It was just people protesting that YouTube video that got out of hand.  And pulled rocket propelled grenades and mortars from their pockets and started killing Americans with them.

At press conferences reporters ask questions on Benghazi and the IRS harassment of conservatives.  Which the Obama administration doesn’t answer.  Because there is an ongoing investigation.  Or they simply state they don’t know.  But they insist that they will get to the bottom of it.  Figure out what happened.  And make sure it doesn’t happen again.  As well as insisting that there is no political bias in any of these scandals.  Just a rogue employee or two.  Which is hard to believe.  Because whenever there is a scandal there is a common element to them.  They hurt conservatives.  Making it more difficult for them to win elections.  While helping liberal Democrats.  Making it easier for them to win elections.  Without fail.  So it’s hard to believe that there is no political motive behind them.  Especially considering the 2010 midterm elections.  The rise of the Tea Party.  And liberals’ inability to win in the arena of ideas.  Requiring them to cheat wherever they can to win elections.  To maintain their power and transform the country against the will of the people.

The president doesn’t govern.  He only campaigns.  Always fighting those who are against his policies.  And everything bad that ever happens is because of this opposition he is fighting against.  As if he hasn’t been president for the past 4+ years.  But these scandals are bad.  Especially the IRS scandal.  Where people on the Left are even comparing it to the Nixon administration.  So his defenders say it’s not him.  It’s some people in the vast federal government.  That is just too big for the president to know everything that’s going on.  No one could.  This is the defense of the president that wants to make the federal government even bigger.  The government is too big.

The president hates the Citizens United ruling.  And the Tea Party.  Blaming both for the Democrats losing the House in the 2010 midterms.  These are his feelings.  And he hires people who think and feel like he does.  So even if he didn’t direct his administration to do these things he might as well have.  For these are universal feelings among liberal Democrats.  Where no orders are necessary.  Because like-minded people will take initiative.  Either eager to please.  Or because they share the same burning passion to defeat conservatism and enlarge the federal government.  So more smart bureaucrats can manage every aspect of our lives.  Even breaking the law to help their cause.  Because they feel the administration will approve of their actions.  Even protect them if they get caught.  So these scandals are not so much a reflection of an administration out of control.  But of a political party out of control.  Who have grown the federal government so large that no one person can know what it is doing.  So the defenders of President Obama are right.  The government is too large.  And we need to reduce the size of it.  Just as the Tea Party would have said.  Had the IRS not hindered their ability to exercise their First Amendment right during the 2012 election.  Which may be the only reason why the Democrats retained control of the Senate.  Or why President Obama won reelection.  Because they cheated.  Which may be the only way they can win elections when only 21% of the people think like they do.

www.PITHOCRATES.com

Week in Review

President Obama’s Treasury Department’s IRS is caught harassing perceived enemies of the Obama administration.  To help stifle their free speech during the 2012 election.  But they deny it was political.  And apologize (see IRS apologizes for targeting conservative groups by STEPHEN OHLEMACHER posted 5/10/2013 on the AP).

The Internal Revenue Service apologized Friday for what it acknowledged was “inappropriate” targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status.

IRS agents singled out dozens of organizations for additional reviews because they included the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their exemption applications, said Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups. In some cases, groups were asked for lists of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said…

About 75 groups were inappropriately targeted. None had their tax-exempt status revoked, Lerner said.

The IRS is an independent agency within the Treasury Department that enforces the nation’s tax laws. Revelations that the agency was targeting political groups because they were affiliated with a movement that is critical of President Barack Obama could become a new headache for the White House…

IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman told Congress in March 2012 that the IRS was not targeting groups based on politics.

How can this be anything but politics?  And a gross misuse of power?

The Obama administration would identify organizations with ‘Tea Party’ and ‘patriot’ in their name as enemies of the Obama administration.  For with every shooting or bombing on American soil the go-to people are the ‘anti-government’ Tea Party and patriot people.  Radical conservatives as they call them.  Of course it hasn’t yet turned out that a mass murderer was a radical conservative.  They have been either radical Islamists.  Or people with mental health problems.

After what we’ve learned about the Benghazi cover-up this past week is it really hard to believe that the Obama administration used the power of the IRS against political opponents?  President Nixon did that.  So why not President Obama?

Both President Obama and President Nixon lied to the American people to improve their reelection chances.  Who would have thought that the guy who wanted to be compared to FDR would actually be more like President Nixon?  Of course, with President Nixon there was a crime.  A break-in.  But no one died.  As they did in Benghazi.  Because the Obama administration just couldn’t grant the requests of Ambassador Stevens for more security after President Obama declared the War on Terror was over.  For the 2012 campaign message was that ‘Osama bin Laden was dead.  And General Motors is alive’.  With bin Laden gone al Qaeda was defeated.  At least that was what the Obama administration was saying.  After bin Laden’s death there were no more radical Islamists trying to kill Americans.  This was why we needed to vote for President Obama.  For he made the world a safer place.  And beefing up security in Benghazi wouldn’t help that message before the election.  So they denied Ambassador Steven’s request.  For what could possible happen?

A full-scale military assault.  That’s what.  Which was even worse to the Obama campaign than beefing up security.  The Obama administration couldn’t have this.  So they concocted the story about the anti-Islamic YouTube video and a spontaneous uprising.  And when the intelligence reports came in identifying an al Qaeda affiliated terrorist group they took their talking points and edited them down.  Pulling anything ‘militant Islamist’ out of them.  This despite the president of Libya confirming the al Qaeda connection.  This kept the Benghazi mess quiet through the election.  And what’s to say they might have set the IRS on their political opponents to help keep the Benghazi mess quiet through the election?

They lied about Benghazi.  So they’re probably lying about the IRS.  The very same people they’re putting in charge of the funding of Obamacare.  Who will be looking ever more closely at our employers.  And our personal lives.  But there’s nothing to worry about.  For the IRS would never use their power for political purposes.  Not with the most transparent presidency since the Nixon administration.  Well, perhaps not quite as transparent as the Nixon administration.  Then again, it’s probably one of the least transparent administrations in U.S. history.  In fact, the Nixon administration was probably more transparent and honest than the current administration.  Nixon may have lied.  But he didn’t leave his embassy staff unprotected.  So enemies of the United States could kill them.  And then lie to cover it up.

www.PITHOCRATES.com

Politics 101

Whenever an Unscrupulous Politician would look over His or Her Shoulder a Journalist would be There

It took 8 years to formally end the American Revolutionary War.  America was finally free from the arbitrary rule of a foreign government in a distant land.  The states could now govern themselves.  Without that distant government trying to tax them.  Regulate them.  Or oppress them.  Which is why there was fierce opposition to the new federal government.  Only 4 years had passed since the end of the war.  Memories were fresh.  They did not want to trade one distant oppressor for another.  It took a Bill of Rights to finally ratify the new Constitution.  And the very first amendment to the U.S. Constitution stated:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

In the First Amendment is the right of a free press.  Allowing our news media to report everything that happens without fear of governmental retribution.  Even if it pisses off those in government.  Especially if it pisses off those in government.  Just to let them know someone is watching them.  To keep them honest.  Transparent.  To let the people know the second they try to exceed the bounds of their constitutional authority.

It’s a noble profession.  Being the guardian of the people.  To speak truth to power.  To dare say that the king isn’t wearing any clothes.  Standing up to the powerful to protect the people.  Just like the Founding Fathers did.  When they stood up to the world’s greatest superpower.  The British Empire.  And so would the free press.  Who would not be intimidated by any government.  No.  They would get into their face.  And be on them like ugly on a pig.  For whenever an unscrupulous politician would look over his or her shoulder a journalist would be there.  Ready to report to the people all of their unscrupulous deeds.

The Mainstream Media wrongly blamed Radical Conservatism for Boston, Newtown, Aurora and Tucson

And how is that brave and noble profession doing today?  Don Henley wrote a song about it in 1982.  Dirty Laundry.  The title says a lot about how Henley felt about television journalism.

I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry

Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I don’t have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry

And little has changed since 1982.  Television news loves it when people lose.  And for these people reading the teleprompters on air nothing is better than when bad things happen to good people.

We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who
Comes on at five
She can tell you ’bout the plane crash with a gleam
In her eye
It’s interesting when people die-
Give us dirty laundry

Unless those dead people are in Benghazi.  Or their deaths can be traced to radical Islam.  When they die for some reason it’s not interesting.   When those bombs went off at the Boston Marathon the news media was all over the place.  If you turned on a television there was someone standing somewhere in Boston telling us a lot of nothing.  Because no one learned anything yet to tell.  But they were offering up possible motives.  It was in Boston.  It was Patriots’ Day.  Close to the anniversary of the fiery end of the siege at Waco.  Close to the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.  And it was tax day.  April 15.  It could mean only one thing.  The bomber had to be a radical conservative.  Just like they blamed the Newtown, Aurora and Tucson shootings on before they knew any of the facts.  But radical conservatives committed none of these crimes.

When they found out the bombers were a couple of radical Islamists, though, things changed.  Especially when we learned one of them had traveled to Dagestan, a hotbed of radical Islam.  Stayed there for 6 months.  The Russians had even warned us about this guy becoming radicalized.  Yet the FBI let him back into the country.  Didn’t pursue him.  And didn’t even tell the Boston police about him.  So they might take a closer look at him or his Islamist anti-American YouTube playlist before a big public event like the Boston Marathon.  Now the news hardly mentions these new developments.  For once they ruled out radical conservatives as the culprits they lost that gleam in their eye.

Today the Mainstream Media is nothing more than the Propaganda Arm of a Distant Powerful Government

Not only has television news degenerated into cheap tabloid journalism it also has become partisan.  Instead of speaking truth to power they have become an arm of the powerful.  President Obama blamed our troubles with radical Islam on George W. Bush.  Because he was mean.  So President Obama was going to be nice.  He changed the language to be kinder to Islam.  So as not to offend our Muslim friends.  When Nidal Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar” like other radical Islamists do before they start killing innocent people President Obama called Hasan’s killing of 13 and wounding of 30 workplace violence.  For the president refused to blame anything on radical Islam.  In fact, after he killed Osama bin Laden he said the War on Terror was over.  Al Qaeda was on ropes.  And there were no more radical Islamists trying to kill Americans.  This was the campaign message of the 2012 election.  Osama bin Laden is dead.  And General Motors is alive.  Which the dutiful media reported without hesitation.  Even though radical Islam had just killed 4 in Benghazi.

So in the president’s eyes there is no radical Islam.  This is why the attack in Benghazi was a spontaneous uprising.  By people who walk around with RPGs in their back pockets.  Who were incited by a YouTube video.  Not an al Qaeda attack.  For the president won the War on Terror.  So it couldn’t be al Qaeda.  No.  The Muslim world now loves us.  Because George W. Bush is no longer president.  But since President Obama has been in office radical Islamists have been trying to kill us.  There was the underwear bomber.  The Times Square bomber.  And the Christmas tree lighting bomber.  All plots that failed.  Then there was Benghazi.  And, of course, the Boston Marathon bombings.  Proving that radical Islam is alive.  And that they still hate Americans.  No matter how much nicer President Obama is than President Bush.  And now three whistleblowers are testifying before Congress about Benghazi.  People who were there.  And they contradict what the Obama administration has said.  But other than Fox News no one is reporting this.  Instead, they report more sensational tabloid news.  While attacking and dismissing as partisan anyone that pursues the Benghazi story.

Dirty little secrets
Dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybody’s pie
We love to cut you down to size
We love dirty laundry

We can do “The Innuendo”
We can dance and sing
When it’s said and done we haven’t told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry!

Journalism was once an honored profession.  But journalists today have sold out and gone over to the dark side.  Instead of standing up to power they protect those in power.  Case in point Benghazi.  President Obama, Secretary Clinton and Secretary Rice blamed Benghazi on a spontaneous uprising in response to a YouTube video.  That according to the people there had nothing to do with the terrorist assault on the American mission.  So the Obama administration lied.  Few believed the lie back in September.  No one believes it now.  Yet the media doesn’t investigate why the administration lied.  Instead, they attack those who do and call them partisan.  Protecting the government.  Unwilling to report to the people a single unscrupulous deed government does.  Unless the unscrupulous one is a Republican.

The mainstream media stopped being objective journalists long ago.  And today is nothing more than the propaganda arm of a powerful government in a distant land.  That stifles the free press.  By cutting anyone down to size who dares to criticize the federal government.  Entertaining us instead of informing us.  And here we are, 8 months after Benghazi and they still haven’t told us a thing about that terrorist attack that killed 4 Americans.

www.PITHOCRATES.com

Politics 101

Government Helps the Poor by Keeping them Poor so they Remain Dependent on Government

Politicians lie.  Everyone knows this.  It’s a running joke in comedy movies and television programs.  And a common plotline in dramas.  Because politicians will say and promise anything to get elected.  Which is their primary and only objective.  Winning an election.  And the needs and wants of the people are secondary.  Things they can easily brush aside once ascending to elected office.  Because they don’t really care about the people.  At least, they don’t care for them as much as they care for themselves.

And once they’re in office the promises keep coming.  To help them win the next election.  And to keep the size of government growing.  As well as the amount of taxes they collect.  Which gives them wealth.  And power.  The ultimate goal in running for elected office.  That’s why they sneer at the concept of limited government.  And tax cuts.  Because the less government we have the less wealth and power they enjoy.  For if we really are the self-reliant people of the Founding what need do we have for an expanding government?

Of course the answer to that question is we would have little need for an expanding government.  For we can earn our pay and take care of ourselves.  And our families.  The way Americans did before Woodrow Wilson, FDR, LBJ and Barack Obama.  Men who do not like that independent spirit.  And will use a host of arguments to condemn it.  It’s not fair being their favorite.  Because who can argue against being fair?  So everything they do is about leveling the playing field.  To make sure the rich pay their fair share.  And to help the little guy.  By making him dependent on government.  And perpetually poor.  So they will remain dependent on government.  So they can keep taking care of these poor.

Government rarely chooses Tax-Cutting for Stimulus as Cutting Taxes doesn’t Increase the Size of Government

LBJ declared a War on Poverty.  Justifying a huge increase in federal spending starting the Sixties.  And after spending untold billions to eradicate poverty what did we get?  Not much.  We still have poverty.  And the government spends more with each passing year to alleviate the suffering of the impoverished.  But it never goes away.  Poverty.  And the government nurtures it.  Protects it.  By making it more attractive to stay on a meager government assistance instead of going to work.  And building a career.  Doing something you love.  While leaving your mark on the world.  Instead we get ever increasing federal spending.  And a permanent underclass the government can be savior to.  You see they don’t want to win the War on Poverty.  Because if they win it then we won’t need them anymore.

The greatest killer of poverty is a job.  People gainfully employed can provide themselves food, shelter, etc.  They can have clean drinking water.  And heat in the winter.  It’s only the unemployed who look at food, shelter and heat as sought after luxuries.  For people with jobs are those self-reliant people.  Who provide tax dollars instead of consuming them.  This is no secret.  So it would follow that the best thing to do during a recession is to make it as easy as possible to create jobs.  You do that by lowering taxes.  And cutting regulations.  Not by raising taxes.  Or adding regulatory costs.  And you sure don’t pass a quasi national health care plan like Obamacare.

Also, history has shown that Keynesian stimulus spending does not pull economies out of recession.  If it did Ronald Reagan would not have won in a landslide against Jimmy Carter.  And Europe would not be in a sovereign debt crisis.  Keynesians know this.  But they can’t pass up the opportunity to increase federal spending.  So they promise lower unemployment rates and higher GDP numbers if only Congress does the right thing and “pass this stimulus bill.”  And when it doesn’t work they have two predictable explanations.  They didn’t spend enough.  And that even they didn’t realize how bad their predecessor destroyed the economy.  Calling the recession du jour the worst since the Great Depression.  Covering their lies about ending the recession with statements like “things would have been worse if we didn’t act.”  And though they didn’t reduce unemployment they’ll make incredulous claims like “we saved 800,000 jobs with this bold action.”  Predictable.  For their primary objective isn’t to end any recession.  It is to exploit the crisis to advance their agenda.  Basically, increasing the size of government.  And we know this because there are two ways to put more money into people’s pockets to stimulate the economy.  You can cut taxes so they have more money to spend.  Or you can tax, borrow and print money so the government can spend more.  Very rarely do they ever choose the tax-cutting route.  Because the tax-cutting way works against their agenda of increasing the size of government.

Politicians Promise and Lie to the Young and Naïve to Advance a Political Agenda

And speaking of Obamacare President Obama promised the American people that if you liked your private health insurance plan you could keep it.  And the cost of that health care plan would go down.  Because they had a massive convoluted health care plan that was going to give health care to everyone.  Increase the quality of health care from what it is now.  And it was going to be less expensive.  Which was a lie.  Because you can’t have more of anything for less money.  Life just doesn’t work that way.  As they implement Obamacare its taxes and regulations are forcing business owners to push people from full-time to part-time.  So they aren’t forced into providing mandated health insurance plans.  Some even have no choice but to drop their health care coverage for all of their employees.  Because their health care costs went up.  Not down.  And they’re predicting doctor shortages.  Because the only cost savings they can get is by forcing people to work for less in the health care industry.  So they’re leaving.  Under Obamacare there will be higher costs, longer wait times, rationing, denial of services and lower quality.  Everything they promised wouldn’t happen.  And everything critics said would happen.  So are the proponents of Obamacare just so utterly ignorant?  Or were they lying through their teeth because they just wanted to take over one-sixth of the U.S. economy?  With an agenda to increase the size of government one has to go with lying through their teeth.

President Obama blamed George W. Bush for the world hating America.  When he became president he no longer projected American power.  Instead he wanted to talk to our enemies.  To negotiate with them.  He even dropped words from official usage.  Like the War on Terror.  To make our enemies like us.  Because people like people who aren’t bullies.  And that was what George W. Bush was.  A bully.  So President Obama warmed up to the Islamic world.  So the Islamic world would warm up to us.  Even announcing withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan early in his administration.  Ending the war on you-know-what.  So he could use that money for Obamacare.  Promising the American people the world would be a safer place.  Even passing on an opportunity to help overthrow the government in Iran.  America’s greatest enemy.  Instead, he helped people overthrow a couple of our allies.  Hosni Mubarak in Egypt.  And Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.  Who since the Iraq war had been an ally in the War on Terror.  And the thanks for this new Islam-friendly American policy?  They killed our ambassador in Benghazi along with three other Americans.  Al Qaeda is now in Libya.  And the Muslim Brotherhood is in Egypt.  And it looks like al Qaeda is now in Syria.  Another enemy of the United States the people were trying to overthrow that President Obama chose not to help.  The Middle East may burn now.  Making the world a more dangerous place.  But the president got what he wanted.  All that money we were spending overseas they can now spend at home.  Rewarding friends and campaign contributors.  As well as buying votes.

And now they are calling for tighter gun control measures.  Greater background checks.  And a national gun register.  To protect the kids they say.  So another Newtown massacre doesn’t happen.  Even though they themselves will admit that every measure they proposed thus far would not have stopped the shooter at Newton.  Aurora.  Tucson.  Virginia Tech.  Or any other shooting where some mentally unsound person killed random strangers.  These people didn’t kill because guns made them kill.  They killed because they were sick.  And we didn’t protect society by institutionalizing these people.  The only thing we could have done to stop them once they started shooting we didn’t do.  Having someone armed in these ‘gun-free’ zones.  For these sick people shoot unarmed innocents until someone with a gun arrives on the scene to shoot back.  So arming teachers may save children from another Newtown.  While everything they proposed thus far will do absolutely nothing to prevent a future Newton.  Yet they press for further restrictions on gun ownership.  And if it won’t make children safer one wonders why they want to exploit these shootings to advance their anti-gun-ownership agenda.  As they are interested in acquiring greater wealth and power one would have to assume it’s the power.  Perhaps making them feel more all-powerful if they can actually nullify the Second Amendment.

So politicians promise and lie to advance an agenda.  Which is why the young typically vote for those who promise and lie so much.  The liberal Democrats.  As the young are naïve and easy to lie to.  While older people tend to vote Republican.  For they are older.  They have heard all of the promises and lies before.  And they’re wiser.  Which comes with age.  Which is why the liberal Democrats get them while they’re young. For it’s hard to keep them once they gain knowledge and experience.

www.PITHOCRATES.com

Politics 101

Sound Bites and Photo Opportunities define our Politicians Today

Perception is in the eye of the beholder.  Are you familiar with the story about a real estate broker?  He works in a small town with a main road through it connecting two larger cities.  A lot of traffic travels this road.  This broker has two properties listed for sale.  One on the road into town.  And one on the road out of town.  All of these cars driving through this town see those two signs and think, “Wow, this guy must be the biggest broker in town.  I see his signs everywhere.”

But he is not the biggest broker in town.  But because his two signs are on the busiest road in town the perception is that he is.  Because people can’t enter the town or leave the town without seeing one of what seem to be many of his signs.  If they drove on the other streets of this town they would not see any of his signs.  While they would see a great many of his competitors’ signs.  With a detailed analysis people would conclude that this real estate broker is the smallest and least successful in town.  But with only a cursory glance he is the biggest broker in town.  This is perception.

Politicians understand perception.  So they work hard to shape what people see and hear.  And less on substance.  That’s why sound bites and photo opportunities define our politicians.  Politicians get their picture taken with babies and the down trodden to show how much they care.  Their speeches will be nothing but a series of sound bites suitable for quoting by the talking heads on television and in political ads.  And they will always answer a question with a prepared talking point.  Instead of answering the question.  And when it comes to campaigning they will take everything their opponents say out of context to change everyone’s perception about them.

Our Schools teach our Kids that a Just Society uses Government to Redistribute Wealth to make Society Fairer

Democrats are masters at creating perception.  Which is easy to do when you have the mainstream media in your pocket.  As well as college professors and high school teachers.  The entertainment industry.  The music industry.  Etc.  This small sliver of people has a profound impact on the masses.  For they dominate what people hear and learn.  And with them having a far left ideology their message is far left.  So when this small sliver of people fills our airwaves, cable television, movies and our classrooms their minority viewpoint creates the perception of being the majority viewpoint.  Like that real estate broker.  Because it’s everywhere.  While the majority of people who don’t share their ideology aren’t on television or in the movies.  On the radio or teaching our kids in the classroom.

The perception our kids have of America when graduating from high school is not that good.  Our teachers teach them that America stole the land from the Indians.  And stole Spanish America from the Spanish who stole it from the Indians.  They teach that slavery is America’s original sin.  As if America invented the institution of slavery.  Despite slavery having been around as long as civilization has been around.  They teach that America grew rich because of free slave labor.  Despite the South losing the American Civil War because the institution of slavery so impoverished the South that it was no match for what the North’s paid-labor could produce.  They teach our kids that capitalism is unfair and that profits are evil.  Despite the greatest oppression of people (as well as the lowest standards of living and greatest famines) has always been in anti-capitalistic nations (the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, Cuba, the countries of Eastern Europe during the cold war, etc.).  While at the same time they teach our kids the goodness of government.  And gloss over the oppression and privations of socialist/communist countries everywhere.

So our kids graduate from high school with the perception that if government doesn’t greatly regulate the free market the greed of capitalism will cause great unfairness.  And that a just society uses government to redistribute wealth to make society fairer.  And that anyone who opposes higher taxes and greater regulation to facilitate this fairer society hates kids.  They want to pollute our air and water.  They want unsafe food.  They want women to die from cancer.  They hate the planet.  Poor people.  Gay people.  Etc.  They hear this so often and so consistently that they accept it as the majority opinion.  And when they go on to college or start watching the news this perception is reinforced.  Which is why our young people vote Democrat.  Because the perception is that Democrats are for the working man.  The party that puts people before profits.  While the Republicans put rich people, and their money, before everything else.

Was it the Rand filibuster that made President Obama launch a Charm Offensive?

A big part of forming perceptions is not telling the truth. When President Obama was candidate Obama he didn’t want to nationalize health care.  He opposed same-sex marriage.  He didn’t support gun control.  He talked about transparency.  He attacked President Bush for being fiscally irresponsible.  And for running massive deficits that added to the debt.  He talked about not spending more than the government collected.  But the real President Obama was none of this.  And the real President Obama has never left campaign mode.  For he doesn’t govern.  He continues to campaign.  Against Republicans.  Blaming them for every problem exasperated by his own policies.  And, of course, he continues to blame George W. Bush.  Always attacking Republicans.  Always blaming Republicans.  To reinforce a perception of the Republican Party that will benefit him.  And his party.  So he can win the House back in 2014.  And finally govern as he always wanted to govern.  As a president with no political opposition to restrain his powers.

The president’s Middle East foreign policy has been a disaster.  He refused to support a Democracy movement in Iran.  Our enemy.  While supporting a democracy movement in Egypt.  And in Libya.  Our allies in the War on Terror.  (But not in Syria.  An ally of Iran.)  Now the Middle East is becoming Islamist.  And closer to Iran.  Our enemy.  And the enemy of peace and stability.  This disastrous policy came to a head in Benghazi.  Where four Americans died to advance the perception that President Obama had al Qaeda on the ropes.  When in fact they were resurgent in Benghazi.  Which our ambassador knew.  And tried to tell his boss.  Hillary Clinton.  Begging for more security.  Which never came.  When questioned in Congress about who edited the talking points that Secretary Rice used on the Sunday morning talk shows to advance the lie that it was not al Qaeda but a spontaneous uprising in response to a YouTube video that no one had seen she yelled with righteous indignation, “What difference did it make!?!”  An answer no one accepted in the Watergate investigation.  Which Clinton assisted with as a young attorney.  Back then a government cover-up made a big difference.  Which led to impeachment hearings.  That ended when President Nixon resigned.  But the Obama administration would escape that fate.  For the perception was that this was a Republican partisan witch hunt.  Because they were racists and hated the president.  And with all their support in entertainment, education and the news the people accepted this perception.  And apparently didn’t care about the cover-up of Benghazi.  Unlike they were about the cover-up of Watergate that resulted in no dead Americans.

And this is what made the Rand Paul filibuster so powerful.  For he dared to challenge the perception that the Obama administration was sweet and innocent and transparent unlike the ‘criminal’ administration of George W. Bush.  President Obama has expanded the use of drones.  He has killed more people with them than George W. Bush.  And a lot more innocent bystanders.  Including a few Americans.  Even appearing to want to reserve the right to use a drone strike on Americans on U.S. soil without due process even if they posed no imminent threat.  The Obama administration finally stated that they wouldn’t do that.  But not before those on the Left took notice of Rand Paul’s filibuster.  Including Jon Stewart of the Daily Show.  People who expected something like this from the Bush administration.  But not from the Obama administration.  Giving the Obama administration some rare negative press.  Just enough to get some people to ask, “They want to do what?!?”  And the fact that it took a 13-hour filibuster to get a simple ‘no’ out of the administration makes it look like, perhaps, it’s the Democrats who are not trying to cooperate with the Republicans.  Unlike the perception that it’s the Republicans that are being uncooperative.  Perhaps explaining why the president has launched a charm offensive.  To improve a tarnished perception that they never had to do before.  Thanks to the Rand Paul filibuster.

www.PITHOCRATES.com

Fundamental Truth

The Mainstream Media sacrifice their Journalistic Integrity to help the Obama Administration Advance their Agenda

The president has warned that the $85 billion in spending cuts of the sequester will gut government programs leaving Americans at great peril.  This despite baseline budgeting automatically increases spending every year.  From 1974 (after Nixon decoupled the dollar from gold and the government adopted baseline budgeting) through 2008 (before the spending orgy of the Obama administration) federal spending increased approximately 7.5% each year.  Crunching the numbers for the spending increase from 2012 to 2013 we get $284.7 billion.  Applying the cuts of the sequester reduces this increase in spending to $199.7 billion.  We will spend more in 2013 than we did in 2012.  Even AFTER the sequester cuts.  So all the peril the president is warning us about is not real.  He’s lying for political gain.

Yet the mainstream media is discussing this issue as if there are real cuts in spending.  That we will reduce spending in the numerous government programs the president warns about if we let the sequester happen.  Less food inspection.  Less airport security.  Fewer police officers.  Fewer firefighters.  Fewer teachers.  Fewer flu vaccinations.  And less childcare.  In their reports they discuss these as a matter of fact.  When they are just not true.  And it’s no secret.  Anyone can do what we did and look at federal outlays and see the automatic spending increases each year.  And see that we will still spend more in 2013 after the sequester cuts than we did in 2012.  You’d think a journalist would study the facts.  The historical record.  And then question the president and his administration.  Ask them why they are lying.  But they don’t.  Why?

Because they are partisan.  Committed to the leftist agenda the president is trying to pass.  So they either help spread the lie.  Being complicit in the lie.  Or they spread the lie because they are victims of the lie.  They are so committed to the leftist agenda that they don’t question anything coming from the liberal left.  Because they want to believe.  They sacrifice their journalistic integrity to help the administration advance their agenda.  More a propaganda arm of the administration than a free press.  The kind of journalism they practice in Venezuela.  Cuba.  China.  North Korea.  And the kind of journalism they practiced in East Germany.  The Soviet Union.  And Nazi Germany.  Where there was no free press.  Only state propaganda.  Propaganda in a totalitarian regime is one thing.  They already oppress their people and their news is more for the benefit of outsiders.  Where they lie about record harvests.  And record gains in industrial production.  Things their people have long stopped believing as they suffer through the misery of the reality.  But it’s different in a free country.  For it lends legitimacy for illegitimate actions of government.  And allows them to overstep the restraints of their constitutional authority.

The Mainstream Media helped Downplay the Resurgent al Qaeda in Benghazi to help President Obama win Reelection

In 2010 the greatest cause of accidental deaths for children age 5-15 was motor vehicle accidents.  In 2010 there were 806 deaths.  Representing 49.1% of all deaths.  The number two cause was drowning with 251 deaths.  Or 15.3% of the total.  Next came fire/burn at 135 deaths.  Then death by suffocation at 79 deaths.  Then death by other land transportation at 68 deaths.  Then poisoning at 54 deaths.  Then came firearms at 37 deaths.  Yet many in the mainstream media actively support the Obama administration in their push for gun control.  Especially a ban on assault weapons.  Even if (as they say so often) it saves only one child.  But guns aren’t the leading cause of death for children.  In fact, as horrific as scenes like the Newtown shooting are they are very rare occurrences.  Far more children die in automobile accidents each year.  No doubt because we are driving smaller cars to save the planet (lighter cars means greater gas mileage and less pollution).  But the journalists don’t report this fact.  Because they endorse the leftist agenda of saving the planet.  And more gun control.  Even if saving the planet means the death of more children from driving in smaller and less safe cars.  While more gun control probably won’t save a single child.

The Obama administration’s foreign policy record has been a poor one.  The greatest threat to peace and stability in the Mideast and North Africa is Iran.  Yet the Obama administration did not support the Green Revolution protesting the 2009 Iranian election results that most felt were unfair.  There are few bigger enemies of the United States.  The Iranian supported insurgency killed or wounded a lot of U.S. military in Iraq.  Our strongest allies in the region (Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia) all feared growing Iranian influence in the region.  But given an opportunity to support an uprising that could overthrow a great enemy to peace and stability the Obama administration did nothing.  But when the Arab Spring swept through Egypt the president abandoned one of America’s most stalwart allies and the anchor to stability in the region.  Hosni Mubarak.  Now the Iranian influence in Egypt is stronger than ever.  When the Arab Spring spread to Libya the Obama administration supported that movement, too.  Despite Colonel Muammar Gaddafi having denounced terrorism and supported the Americans in the war against al Qaeda.  When the Arab Spring spread to Syria the president did not support that protest.  Despite Syria being Iran’s strongest ally in the region.  A sponsor of terrorism.  And a nation with a chemical arsenal likely manufactured by Iraq (those weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein had used on his people but had disappeared when the Americans arrived on the scene, likely having skedaddled across the border into Syria).  As bad as the ruling regime was in Syria we did nothing to help Syrians overthrow their oppressor.

Now civil war engulfs Syria.  Elements of al Qaeda have joined the opposition.  Making sure Iran wins however things turn out there.  And the Iranian influence is stronger than ever in Libya.  When al Qaeda killed the American diplomat in Benghazi the Obama administration made up a story about a YouTube video causing spontaneous protests that led to the ambassador’s death along with three other Americans.  To downplay a resurgent al Qaeda during the 2012 election campaign.  As they had refused to beef up security in Benghazi as the ambassador requested.  Because it would look bad in the 2012 election.  Yet the mainstream media did not question these very poor decisions the Obama administration made for political reasons.  Instead accepting their position that there was nothing newsworthy in Benghazi.  Which they wholeheartedly reported.  Refusing to even ask questions.  Such as why did they refuse the ambassador’s request for more security?  Who edited the talking points for Ambassador Rice used for the Sunday morning shows?  Or why is al Qaeda now stronger in the Middle East, North Africa and West Africa after 4 years of the Obama administration that they were during 8 years of the Bush administration?  No.  They showed no journalistic curiosity.  Or integrity.  Simply accepting the administration’s statements as fact.  While the Middle East and Africa become more dangerous places.

The Mainstream Media is no longer a Free Press for the People but a Propaganda Arm of the Obama Administration

Obamacare is the most sweeping change to the American economy since LBJ’s Great Society.  Which was the most sweeping change since FDR’s New Deal.  The American Left has always wanted a national health care system.  Just like what they have in the United Kingdom.  The Left likes to point to their National Health Service (NHS) as the right way to do health care.  As does the mainstream media.  Yet if you read the British papers their NHS is not all the American Left says it is.  Britain’s aging population has caused health care spending to explode.  The UK is in the midst of massive budget cuts to bring down health care spending.  While the NHS has long tried to deal with chronic problems of long wait times.  Rationing.  A shortage of doctors and nurses.  Even ambulances.  Their emergency rooms are overflowing with people with non-emergencies as the NHS closed their neighborhood clinics to reduce costs.  And the quality of care has been falling in their hospitals.  The problems in the NHS are no secret.  All you have to do is pick up a British paper and read about them.  For they are ongoing.  Yet the mainstream media never reported these problems during the Obamacare debate.  Or what passed for a debate.  No.  They never asked how Obamacare was going to avoid all the problems they were having in the NHS.  Which they should have.  As the US has an aging population, too.  Worse, they have about five times the population the UK has.  Guaranteeing any problems they have will be five times worse in the US.  Serious questions a good journalist should have asked.  But no.  They didn’t.  Because they support the liberal agenda more than they believe in journalistic integrity.  So they only report what helps the administration.  While avoiding anything that is critical of them.  Or their agenda.

When it comes to economics the mainstream media are all supporters of Keynesian economics.  Despite their record of failure.  When Nixon decoupled the dollar from gold in 1971 it allowed the government to go all in with Keynesian economics.  And they did.  Printing so much money that it led to excessive inflation, high unemployment and economic stagnation.  Ronald Reagan reversed those Keynesian policies.  His administration stopped printing money.  And got the government out of the private sector economy.  Cutting regulations.  As well as tax rates.  And economic activity exploded.  There was so much economic activity that tax revenue nearly doubled.  Even at those lower tax rates.  But the mainstream media doesn’t report this.  Instead, they revise history.  Always supporting Keynesian economic policies as they allow government to expand.  So they can implement their leftist agenda.  Which is anti-business.  Pushing higher regulations.  And higher taxes.  And whenever anyone talks about Reaganomics they say those cuts in tax rates only increased the deficit.  When the historical record clearly shows tax receipts increased.  Which they could easily look up (see Table 2.1—RECEIPTS BY SOURCE: 1934–2017).  But they don’t.  Or chose not to.  Preferring to support the liberal agenda.  Instead of having journalistic integrity.

The mainstream media today is no longer a free press for the people.  They are an extension of the Democrat Party.  At least the liberal wing of the Democrat Party.  More of a propaganda arm of the Obama administration.  That is more interested in changing the country than keeping our politicians honest.  Or reporting the facts.  They are fiercely partisan.  Or they are just not very smart.  Either woefully ignorant of the material they report on.  Or so in the bag for the Obama administration that they will report falsehoods as truth.  The kind of thing that isn’t a big deal in a totalitarian regime.  But a pretty big deal in a free country with a government that continues to try to exceed its constitutional authority.  For a free press is the vanguard of a free country.  Keeping the politicians honest so they can’t exceed their constitutional authority.  And if the journalists aren’t going to do their job by the time we find out what our politicians are doing it will be too late.  As we now have Obamacare as law.  Which passed on partisan lines.  With enough moderates and independents voting for Obamacare as few in America knew of all the problems the British were having with their national health care.  Today it’s Obamacare.  Tomorrow it may be gun control.  Or a war in the Middle East thanks to a resurgent al Qaeda.  And a growing Iranian influence.  Thanks to such a poor job in foreign policy that if the mainstream media had reported it honestly President Obama may not have won reelection.  And four Americans may not have died in Benghazi.

www.PITHOCRATES.com

Week in Review

Before the Arab Spring there was the Green Revolution in Iran in 2009.  Where thousands used social media to gather in protests over what they claimed were voting irregularities that kept President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power.  President Obama did not support the Green Revolution.  Despite Iran being a sponsor of terrorism, an enemy of the United States and the greatest threat to regional stability.  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suppressed the uprisings.  And jailed some of the opposition.  Where some have made claims of torture and rape.  But as closed a society Iran is these claims have been unsubstantiated.  Though we have the word of the ruling regime that crushed the rebellion that there was no torture or rape.

When the Arab Spring kicked off in Tunisia in 2010 President Obama announced a change in policy.  The U.S. would support change in the Arab world instead of stability.  When the Arab Spring spread to Egypt in 2011 President Obama told Hosni Mubarak that he had to step down from power.  Despite being a stalwart U.S. ally.  An enemy to al Qaeda.  And being the anchor of stability in the Middle East and North Africa.  Now the Muslim Brotherhood is in power there.  Who has close ties with Iran.

When the Arab Spring spread to Libya President Obama supported the opposition based in Benghazi.  Despite Colonel Muammar Gaddafi renouncing terrorism.  And being an ally of America in their War on Terror.  Like Mubarak he oppressed radical Islamists including al Qaeda.  Which explains why al Qaeda was part of the opposition trying to overthrow Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.  They hated him.  And his oppression of anti-western  radical Islamists.  President Obama supported the opposition.  Gave them weapons.  And helped enforce a no-fly zone.  In 2012 Islamists attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.  Killing 4 Americans.  Including the Libyan ambassador.  Chris Stevens.  Perhaps killed with weapons we brought into Libya.

When the Arab Spring spread to Syria President Obama did not support the opposition.  Despite Syria being a sponsor of terrorism.  And a close ally of Iran.  As Syria broke down into civil war al Qaeda joined the opposition.  Making any U.S. support now even more complicated.  However Syria turns out it will be a foreign policy failure.  In fact the foreign policy of President Obama has been to abandon U.S. allies that bring stability to the region.  While not getting involved in uprisings in states hostile to the U.S.  Bringing great instability to the Middle East and Northern Africa.  And beyond (see Police: 7 foreigners kidnapped in north Nigeria by SHEHU SAULAWA and JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press, posted 2/17/2013 on Yahoo! News).

Gunmen attacked a camp for a construction company in rural northern Nigeria, killing a guard and kidnapping seven foreign workers from Britain, Greece, Italy Lebanon and the Philippines, authorities said Sunday, in the biggest kidnapping yet in a region under attack by Islamic extremists…

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the abductions, though Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north has been under attack by the radical Islamic sect known as Boko Haram in the last year and a half. The country’s weak central government has been unable to stop the group’s bloody guerrilla campaign of shootings and bombings. The sect is blamed for killing at least 792 people in 2012 alone, according to an AP count.

Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is sacrilege” in the Hausa language of Nigeria’s north, has demanded the release of all its captive members and called for strict Shariah law to be implemented across the entire country. The sect has killed both Christians and Muslims in their attacks, as well as soldiers and security forces…

Foreigners, long abducted by militant groups and criminal gangs for ransom in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern delta, have become increasingly targeted in Nigeria’s north as the violence has grown. However, abductions of foreigners in the north have seen hostages regularly killed…

Foreign embassies in Nigeria have issued travel warnings regarding northern Nigeria for months. Worries about abductions have increased in recent weeks with the French military intervention in Mali, as its troops and Malian soldiers try to root out Islamic fighters who took over that nation’s north in the months following a military coup. Last week, the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, put out a warning following the killings of polio workers in the northern city of Kano and the killing of the North Korean doctors.

President Obama campaigned in 2012 that al Qaeda was on the ropes.  While blaming the death of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans on a spontaneous uprising because of a YouTube video.  Which if it was it means the average Libyan on the street in Benghazi walks around carrying heavy weapons.  Which is highly unlikely.  Then again, the opposition the U.S. supported in Benghazi included al Qaeda.  So maybe they did walk around the streets of Benghazi with heavy weapons.  Just waiting for dates with symbolic meaning (9/11) to attack Americans.

President Obama got what he wanted.  Change instead of stability.  For there is little stability in the Middle East or North Africa.  And now in West Africa.  Where Islamists and al Qaeda affiliates are reaching into Algeria.  Mali.  And Nigeria.  Radical Islamists are spreading their reach throughout the Middle East and Africa and in other parts of the world.  Fueled by the decline of U.S. influence.  And a rise in Iranian influence.  The winner in the Arab Spring?  It would appear that it is the radical Islamists that are benefitting most from the Arab Spring.  While the people in these countries go from a somewhat western culture of liberty (especially for women) towards oppressive theocracies.  Just as the Iranian people did during the Iranian Revolution in 1979.  No doubt the Iranian women who protested the Shah of Iran rue the day they ever joined that protest movement.  For they have none of the liberties they enjoyed under the Shah.

Guess this is what happens when you abandon your friends and help your enemies.  Your friends suffer while your enemies grow stronger.  And the world grows a more dangerous place.

www.PITHOCRATES.com

Week in Review

Hillary Clinton was the Secretary of State when terrorists killed four Americans in Benghazi.  Ambassador Stevens had requested additional security as the safety of Westerners in Benghazi was tenuous.  The British had already left after an attempt on their ambassador’s life.  But Secretary Clinton denied Ambassador Stevens’ request.  For it didn’t look good politically.

All during the 2012 campaign the Democrats repeated over and over how Osama bin Laden was dead.  And General Motors was alive.  Not only that al Qaeda was on the ropes.  Because President Obama defeated them.  Making them an empty shell of what they were when President Bush was president.  This is why we needed to reelect President Obama.  Because only he could defeat al Qaeda.  And did.  After winning the War on Terror it just wouldn’t look good to be beefing up security to defend against a resurgent al Qaeda.  Because that would go against the narrative that President Obama defeated al Qaeda.  So Ambassador Stevens and the Americans in Benghazi were left to fend for themselves so they wouldn’t reflect adversely on the president’s reelection campaign.  And then came 9/11/2012.

Four Americans died so as not to be a political inconvenience to President Obama.  And Secretary Clinton let that happen.  For their safety was her responsibility.  And it was no secret that Benghazi was not a safe place.  Which is why the British left.  When Secretary Clinton finally appeared before Congress to explain how four Americans died under her watch she got indignant and simply yelled “what difference does it make” to their questions.  Refusing to answer them.  Angry and annoyed that these Republicans even dared to ask her these questions.  Why wasn’t security beefed up?  Why didn’t we send help when they were under attack?  Why did she lie about it being a spontaneous reaction to a YouTube video?  Who edited the talking points given to Ambassador Rice?  She did not like these questions.  And she made her resentment clear.  Funny when the shoe is on the other foot (see Documents show Bill Clinton’s close dealings with Richard Nixon on Russia, foreign affairs by Michael R. Blood, The Associated Press, posted 2/13/2013 on The Vancouver Sun).

Richard Nixon, in the final months of his life, quietly advised President Bill Clinton on navigating the post-Cold War world, even offering to serve as a conduit for messages to Russian President Boris Yeltsin and other government officials, newly declassified documents show.

Memos and other records show Nixon’s behind-the-scenes relations with the Clinton White House. The documents are part of an exhibit opening Friday at the Nixon Presidential Library, marking the centennial of his birth.

Clinton has talked often of his gratitude to Nixon for his advice on foreign affairs, particularly Russia. In a video that will be part of the exhibit, Clinton recalls receiving a letter from the 37th president shortly before his death on April 22, 1994, at a time when Clinton was assessing U.S. relations “in a world growing ever more interdependent and yet ungovernable.”

What really makes this remarkable and relevant to Hillary Clinton is this.

Clinton in his younger days was no fan of Nixon — as a college student in the 1960s, he opposed escalation of the Vietnam War. And his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, was a young lawyer advising a House committee when she helped draw up impeachment papers against Nixon.

Hillary Clinton helped draw up the impeachment papers against President Nixon which led to his resignation.  For Watergate.  Which amounted to a burglary.  And some wire-tapping.  There was no loss of life.  President Nixon’s crime, the cover-up, didn’t kill four Americans.  Yet Hillary Clinton helped to destroy President Nixon.  Even though he was a good president when it came to foreign policy.  At least, according to Hillary Clinton’s husband.  President Clinton.  But when she’s on the hot seat she responds with righteous indignation.  Even though her actions, or her lack of action, caused the death of four Americans.

So what can we learn from this?  President Nixon was a good president that put his country first.  Even helping the man whose wife destroyed his career.  President Clinton was not as good a president as President Nixon was.  And Hilary Clinton ruined a good president who didn’t do anything as bad as she did.  Allowing four Americans to die on her watch.  Because she put politics first.  Instead of her country.  Just as she did when she helped to destroy President Nixon.

www.PITHOCRATES.com

Week in Review

Hillary Clinton got indignant during her Benghazi testimony.  She shouted, “What different does it make?!?” when asked about one of the greatest foreign policy failures in U.S. history.  Why did the Obama administration mislead the American people just before a presidential election?  “What different does it make?!?”

Well, it makes a whole lot of difference.  Especially if politics were the driving factor for security considerations in Benghazi.  And with “al Qaeda is on the ropes” being a main campaign theme it would appear that politics were the driving factor for security considerations in Benghazi.  For a president claiming victory in the War on Terror could not have a resurgent al Qaeda in Libya.  Especially when al Qaeda was using the very weapons the Obama administration gave to the opposition to topple Muammar Gaddafi from power.  An opposition no one really knew then.  But we did know it had an al Qaeda element.  Who hated Muammar Gaddafi.  For he became a U.S. ally in the War on Terror following the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

So this is ‘what difference it makes’.  Political considerations led to a resurgent al Qaeda in Northern and Western Africa.  Greatly destabilizing the region.  Making the world a less safe place.  And to hide that fact until after the election the Obama administration seized onto that YouTube video that no one saw in Libya.  To cover up their foreign policy mess.  Benghazi is such a mess that everyone is now evacuating the city and leaving it to al Qaeda (see ‘Leave immediately’: Britons told to get out of Benghazi after threat from al-Qa’ida by Daniel Howden and Kim Sengupta posted 1/25/2013 on The Independent).

The Government has urged British nationals to leave Libya’s second city, Benghazi, in response to a “specific threat to Westerners” from terror groups operating in North Africa.

Defence sources confirmed the warning is linked to the activities of al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim). An offshoot of Aqim was responsible for last week’s hostage crisis at the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria in which 37 Westerners were killed, along with 29 Islamists…

Dutch and German citizens have also been advised to join the exodus, while Egypt has restricted movement across its border with Libya due to security concerns.

Intelligence reports from Egypt as well as intercepted communications from Burkina Faso and Algeria led to the warning being issued. Western interests, rather than explicitly British ones, were said to be the terrorists’ intended target. Governments across North and West Africa have been on heightened alert following last week’s hostage crisis in the Sahara…

The city is the business hub of eastern Libya and was the birthplace of the uprising that toppled Colonel Gaddafi. However, since the dictator’s death it has also been used as a base by several jihadist groups including Ansar al-Sharia, which is seen as the new face of al-Qa’ida in the wake of the Arab Spring. It is believed that individuals from Ansar al-Sharia remain in the city while the group has withdrawn…

Violence in Benghazi has targeted foreigners as well as Libyan officials in recent months, with assassinations, bombings and other attacks. As well as the 11 September assault on the US consulate, an Italian diplomat’s car was fired on by militants earlier this month. Rome has suspended consular activities in the city and evacuated staff.

Britain’s ambassador to Libya, Sir Dominic Asquith, narrowly escaped injury last June when his convoy in Benghazi was hit by rocket-propelled grenades, reinforcing concerns that the city’s police and government militia may have been infiltrated.

This week Sir Kim Darroch, David Cameron’s national security adviser, held talks in Tripoli with Libya’s Prime Minister, Ali Zidan, in which security was top of the agenda. French citizens, including doctors working at Benghazi hospitals, have left the city and the French cultural centre has been closed over concerns of retaliatory attacks following France’s military intervention in Mali. A few Britons and a handful of German and Dutch citizens remain in Benghazi, many of them acting as security contractors or aid workers.

The anti-Western attacks started before al Qaeda killed the US ambassador in Benghazi.  So there was no question that al Qaeda was resurgent.  And four Americans paid the ultimate price when politics trumped security needs.

So what difference does it make?  It was the policies and politics that resulted in those four American deaths.  And the resurgence of al Qaeda in the region.  Because President Obama declared ‘mission accomplished’ during the presidential campaign.  Saying it was reason to give him four more years.  So if his ‘successful’ policies were reason enough to reelect the president then surely if those same policies were the cause of everything that went wrong in Benghazi they were reason enough NOT to reelect him.  And they knew it.  Hence the YouTube video.

The president didn’t win reelection by a large margin.  Had the truth about Benghazi been known chances are he would have lost reelection.  And this is why it makes a difference.  For it matters when a president chooses politics over American lives.

www.PITHOCRATES.com

Week in Review

Osama bin Laden is dead and GM is alive.  This was the constant refrain during the 2012 presidential election.  The Obama team spiked the Osama bin Laden football to no end.  And stated victory in the war with al Qaeda.  Saying al Qaeda was on the ropes.  On the path to destruction.  It was President Obama’s George W. Bush (W) ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment.  The war was over.  And President Obama won it.  The enemy, al Qaeda, is no more.  At least that’s what President Obama says.  But then you read things like this (see US doesn’t feel stakes in Mali ‘as intensely’ as France by Jon FROSCH posted 1/19/2013 on France24).

In the days following the start of France’s offensive against al Qaeda-inspired groups in Mali on January 11, top US officials offered strong statements of support.

“We have a responsibility to go after al Qaeda wherever they are,” US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters during a trip to Europe, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged that “instability in Mali has created the opportunity for a staging base and safe haven for terrorists”.

The US has offered logistical support (airlift assistance, reinforced intelligence and supplies to French and African forces) to French operations in the country’s former colony. But it has made no decision yet as to whether it will provide surveillance drones or aerial refuelling for French jets, as requested by France. Furthermore, the authorities have said there are no plans to send in American troops.

Indeed, the US response to unrest in Mali has been measured, even as American citizens are being held hostage by Islamist militants in neighbouring Algeria.

Apparently al Qaeda is not on the ropes after all.  They’re toppling governments.  Taking hostages.  Storming consulate buildings in Benghazi.  And killing U.S. ambassadors.  Of course, the last was explained away by the Obama administration as being a spontaneous reaction to a YouTube video.  Which it wasn’t.  No, al Qaeda is not on the ropes.  One could even say they are growing stronger under President Obama’s watch.  For no American ambassadors were killed on W’s watch.  And no hostages were taken.

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