Peggy Noonan

From Peggy Noonan's column in the WSJ as taken from:
http://www.patriotpost.us/opinion/peggy-noonan/2009/09/05/coruscating-on-thin-ice.htm:

"The president's biggest potential long-term problem in terms of the public part of the presidency became obvious to me only during the past week.

I watched with great interest much of Teddy Kennedy's wake and funeral, and saw in a clearer way than I had in the past a big cultural difference between the elites of the two parties, or rather the Democratic and Republican establishments. Pretty much the entire Democratic establishment was at the Kennedy services, and the level of shown affection among those in the pews and the audience was striking—laughing, hugging, telling stories, admitting weaknesses, weeping. It was Irish, and old-time. If it had been a gathering of the Republican political and journalistic establishment it would have been less emotive, with little shown affection. Polite laughter, cordial handshakes, a lot of staring ahead. A guy with his head down and you think he's mourning but he's BlackBerrying. They don't especially like each other, they compete against each other, and they don't feel the need to fake liking each other. They have the old dignity of the old grown-ups. And I suppose their style reflects some of their philosophy: Politics isn't about emotions but thoughts.

The difference between the party establishments struck me, but is not my point. This is: The president walked into the funeral and moved toward the front pews nodding, shaking hands. He hugged Mrs. Kennedy, nodded some more, shook more hands. He was dignified and contained, he was utterly appropriate, and he was cold.

He is cold, like someone who is contained not because he's disciplined and successfully restrains his emotions, but because there's not that much to restrain. This is the dark side of cool. One wonders if this will play well with the American people. Long-term it is hard to get people to trust your policies if they think you're coolly operating on some intellectual or ideological abstractions.

I don't think as a presidential style it will wear well with the center. And it may not wear well with the president's own party. They may come to see him, in time, as not really one of them. And that's when things will really get interesting."

Wow. One part of my mind recalls Robert Hugh Benson apocalyptic novels. The villain is described that way: cold, emotionless, coolly intellectual.

Another memory is jogged by the phrase, "operating on ... ideological abstractions." That would also aptly describe the perpetrators of the French and Russian revolutions and the anarchist bomb-throwers of any given decade of the last century.

Our quixotic young president occasionally reveals other glimpses of the character beneath. I have not seen anything to engender my confidence in him yet.

A big story about - Nothing

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/2009/08/twelve-carry-guns----including-assault-rifle----outside-obama-event.php

this would be hilarious if it wasn’t kinda scary. TPM, a lefty blog, tries to make law-abiding citizens lawfully exercising their 1^st and 2^nd amendment rights sound scary. But the article is (unusually) factual – which means that the attempt at sensation is deflated by periodic admissions that – nothing really happened.

Twelve Carry Guns -- Including Assault Rifle -- Outside Obama Event

“No one was arrested outside the VFW National Convention in Phoenix” “There are no reports that the 12 were part of an organized group.” “The man spotted carrying the assault rifle and a pistol, who gave his name only as "Chris", was asked why he was armed. "Because I can do it," he said.” (BTW, despite some hysterical reports of racial overtones, Chris is clearly African American) “And that's not all. A man brought a gun to a town hall with Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) last week, without incident.” “Another man in Portsmouth was spotted carrying a gun in a leg holster outside the school. The unconcealed weapon was legal under New Hampshire law and he was not arrested. Later, when asked why he brought the gun, he replied, "That's not even a relevant question.”

No, the question is why did TPM and the MSM try to make a big deal out of it?

Don't listen to me, listen to the Left-wing Netroots

Insurers Winning Healthcare Battle - Hands Down / No Contest

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/thepeoplechoose/2009/08/insurers-winning-healthcare-ba.php?ref=recmuck

August 24, 2009, 12:08AM

According to this article in the LA Times insurers will do exceptionally well under the proposed healthcare reform package. This assessment is widely agreed to be the outcome for insurers. The reform package reduces the amount insurers pay out per premium dollar they take in. There is no good news here at all. As far as I can tell, the national healthcare bill, ie actual overall healthcare expenditures, cannot possibly decrease under this legislation.

I advise reading the entire article to get a feel for how badly citizens are going to lose this battle. I am in no way able to read the legislation and make sense of it so I don't know. If this assessment is accurate this piece of legislation may as well have been written by insurers. Jobs are never coming back to this country without reducing healthcare costs as a percentage of GDP. I don't think this legislation addresses that issue at all.

My personal assessment: This is over the top corruption. Period.

Our Socialist Leaders visit the Dean of Socialist Tyranny

CBC members praise Castro

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21008.html

“The fifty-year embargo just hasn’t worked,” CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Ca.) told reporters

(worked to do what? To keep Cuba from being inordinately influential in the Caribbean? Debatable. To cause the Castro regime to fall? True, but hardly the outcome Lee would have wished for. Attract the votes of ex-patriot Cubans in South Florida? Perhaps that is what she meant. Most likely she didn’t mean anything other than she opposes the embargo and needs to sound like there is a rational reason to end it other than her sympathy for Socialist dictators.)

(Judging from opinion printed in the Miami Herald, the visit by ‘the clueless seven’ won’t help the party in South Florida either): “The black U.S. lawmakers' concerns weren't for the 300-plus Cuban prisoners of conscience listed by Amnesty International or the hundreds of dissidents working from their homes under the watch of a totalitarian regime. Or the lack of civil rights in a country with a majority black and mixed-race population ruled by an overwhelmingly white gerontocracy.

“Their angst was for the ''Five Heroes,'' as Cuba's controlled media calls the Cuban government spies captured in Miami, including one sentenced for conspiracy to murder the four Brothers to the Rescue pilots killed by Cuban fighter planes in 1996.

“Certainly the Clueless Seven, led by Rep. Barbara Lee of California, didn't make a fuss about 50 years of the Castro brothers' rule, the human rights violations or the escalating and disproportionate number of black Cubans held behind bars. Indeed, Rep. Bobby Rush, a former Black Panther, could only show his empathy ''for the suffering of political prisoners,'' as he referred to the five spies.” http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/myriam-marquez/story/989534.html

Lee and others heaped praise on Castro

(What did Lee and others find so praiseworthy in Castro?) “According to Amnesty International, no other country of Cuba's size has held so many political prisoners for so long under such inhumane circumstances of atrocity and terror. Such inhumanity is a monstrous legacy from which the Cuban dictator can never escape.” http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/castro.thwart.html “Over the past forty years, Cuba has developed a highly effective machinery of repression. The denial of basic civil and political rights is written into Cuban law. In the name of legality, armed security forces, aided by state-controlled mass organizations, silence dissent with heavy prison terms, threats of prosecution, harassment, or exile. Cuba uses these tools to restrict severely the exercise of fundamental human rights of expression, association, and assembly. The conditions in Cuba's prisons are inhuman, and political prisoners suffer additional degrading treatment and torture. In recent years, Cuba has added new repressive laws and continued prosecuting nonviolent dissidents while shrugging off international appeals for reform and placating visiting dignitaries with occasional releases of political prisoners.” http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-01.htm#P351_12385)

“It was almost like listening to an old friend,” said Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Il.)"

(I suppose Bobby would feel that way…el Comandante Fidel bringing back fond memories of when he fashioned himself as a leader of a people's revolution as head of the Chicago Black Panthers)

"Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Ca.) said Castro was receptive to President Obama’s message of turning the page in American foreign policy.

"He listened. He said the exact same thing" about turning the page "as President Obama said," said Richardson."

(Sure. Castro is in favor of turning the page in the narrative of the spread of International Socialism, which Ms Richardson no doubt is in favor of: at least the free housing part since she was an utter failure as a real estate speculator in California and has or had 3 houses in foreclosure, one declared a public nuisance and is alleged to have received preferential treatment from WaMu at the expense of the private citizen who purchased one of her homes in a foreclosure auction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Richardson has links to her real estate problems)

"There is now serious momentum in long-standing efforts to overturn the nearly five decade ban on travel and trade with Cuba. Previous efforts have been blocked by a vocal and influential Cuban American community"

(I’m ambivalent about loosening restrictions with Cuba. They haven’t had any effect on the Castro thugocracy while they have certainly been a burden on the Cuban people. 50 year old slights to Cuban expats or Dole Pineapple investors carry no weight. Consider that we have made peace with Viet Nam to the benefit of both countries. On the flip side, the totalitarian regime is certain to appropriate anything of value that might flow from the US into Cuba, so there is reasonable doubt that the Cuban people will benefit from changes in the relationship. While the regime would gain inestimable power and prestige thereby. In the final analysis, I have to pause and think hard about agreeing with something these congressional clowns are so enthusiastic about)

"In a statement following the meeting today, Castro said that the delegation had expressed to him that a segment of American society “continues to be racist,” and is at least partly to blame for the travel restrictions."

“That did not happen,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), told reporters".

(Perhaps they admire Castro for his inability to tell the truth? Or perhaps they lack that ability? There clearly is no honor among Socialist camrades)

Here is Castro’s statement: “A fourth member of the Caucus said that despite Obama’s electoral victory, the American society continues to be racist. He added that Obama represented the only opportunity that nation had to move on and leave behind all the wrongdoings accumulated by former governments.” http://www.radionuevitas.co.cu/web_english/news/Reflections_by_Comrade_Fidel_070409_1.asp

(Sounds perfectly in character for this bunch)

"The delegation is headed by California Representative Barbara Lee (co-chair CPC and current President of the Congressional Black Caucus. The delegation is also included by Melvin Watt (CPC), Bobby Rush (CPC), Marcia Fudge, Emanuel Cleaver and Laura Richardson and Micheal Honda. Legislator Sheila Jackson-Lee is expected to arrive on Monday." http://www.radionuevitas.co.cu/web_english/news/cuba_050409_3.asp

(True, they may have traveled as representatives of the Congressional Black Caucus, but more significantly, every one of them are also members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. It seems, from their statements, that their visit had more to do with their political affinity for Castro's Socialist paradise than for his interest in racial harmony.

The prominence of the CPC in the current congress bodes very ill for this country)

“The largest ideological caucus in the new House Democratic majority will be the Congressional Progressive Caucus, with a membership that includes New York's Charles Rangel, Michigan's John Conyers, Massachusetts' Barney Frank and at least half the incoming chairs of House standing committees.

“The caucus currently has 64 members

“Listen to Barbara Lee, whose habit of deviating from the conventional wisdom in order get things right is now well established, when she says of Tuesday's election results, "It is important to recognize that this was not just a vote against George Bush and the Republican Congress, it was a vote for a Democratic agenda that is rooted in progressive values."” http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/139093

(“Progressive Values” like those practiced in Castro’s Cuba for the last 50 years…and condemned by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch)

(Who are big fans of the CPC? The Democratic Socialist of America. In fact, from their readiness to speak at their meetings, it also appears the CPC are big fans of the Democratic Socialists of America)

http://dsausa.org/dsa.html

“DSA recognizes that some insurgent politicians representing labor, environmentalists, gays and lesbians, and communities of color may choose to run under Democratic auspices, as in the 1988 Jesse Jackson campaign, or operate as Democrats like Senator Paul Wellstone, and the 59 Democratic members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, one-half of whom are Black and Latino and all of whom possess strong labor backing and operative social democratic politics.

“DSA honored independent socialist Congressperson Bernie Sanders of Vermont at our last convention banquet, and we have always raised significant funds nationally for his electoral campaigns. At the same time, we were pleased to have Democratic Congressperson and Progressive Caucus member Bob Filner of San Diego introduce Sanders at the convention, and note that Progressive Caucus member Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) will be honored at our annual Debs-Thomas-Harrington dinner this Spring in Chicago.

“DSA is not an electoral organization, but rather a democratic socialist political organization which aims to bring socialism into the mainstream of American politics. We endeavor to do so through a two-pronged strategy of education and organizing.”

(and it is always instructive to compare the CPC agenda http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?SectionID=5&ParentID=0&SectionTypeID=2&SectionTree=5 to that of DSA http://www.dsausa.org/resources.html CPUSA http://www.cpusa.org/ and the Socialist Party-USA http://socialistparty-usa.org/platform/ just to get a glimpse of the direction we are being herded)

Camille Paglia: My Favorite Lefty Whacko

For the witlings who like to tar anything they don’t understand with bogey-man Rush Limbaugh, actual thought from Camille Paglia’s Salon blog:

"From a reader: “The liberal talk shows I've listened to are not really all that entertaining. The jokes tend to be mean-spirited personal attacks and are rarely as clever as what I have heard on Rush Limbaugh's program. I think if the left wants to have a successful talk radio platform, they should be asking people like Jon Stewart for ideas and quit trying to silence the opposition.”

Another Reader writes: “Salon reader Cecil W. Powell writes: "The failure of talkers on liberal radio is in large part due to an absolute inability to poke fun at themselves." How true! Liberal hosts like to snap and snip and chortle snidely, but they are weighed down by a complacent superiority complex, a paralyzing sanctimony. They mistake irony for wit. The conservative hosts love to rant and stomp and bring down the house. They're doing breakneck vaudeville while liberal hosts are primly stirring their non-caffeine green tea.”

If you don’t believe me, believe your own kind!

More Camille: “Yes, something very ugly has surfaced in contemporary American liberalism, as evidenced by the irrational and sometimes infantile abuse directed toward anyone who strays from a strict party line. Liberalism, like second-wave feminism, seems to have become a new religion for those who profess contempt for religion. It has been reduced to an elitist set of rhetorical formulas, which posit the working class as passive, mindless victims in desperate need of salvation by the state. Individual rights and free expression, which used to be liberal values, are being gradually subsumed to worship of government power.”

I couldn’t have said it better or agreed with her more..

“For the past 25 years, liberalism has gradually sunk into a soft, soggy, white upper-middle-class style that I often find preposterous and repellent. The nut cases … on the left … sport Ivy League degrees. I'm not kidding -- there are some real fruitcakes out there, and some of them are writing for major magazines. It's a comfortable, urban, messianic liberalism befogged by psychiatric pharmaceuticals. Conservatives these days are more geared to facts than emotions, and as individuals they seem to have a more ethical, perhaps sports-based sense of fair play."

Obama at Notre Dame, in Reagan’s Long Shadow
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTU0MWRlMTc0ODYzMTM4NzA3YzkwNDZmMzJkYWQ4YWI=&w=MA

"On May 17, four months into his presidency, Barack Obama will travel to South Bend, Ind., to deliver the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame. Twenty-eight years to the day, another popular agent of change, four months into his presidency, did the same. (Text here; video here.)

In a presidency full of extraordinary oratory, Reagan’s “Source of All Strength” speech at Notre Dame stands out as one of his very best, even if it is not among his best-known.

By now, the heralded Obama communications team will have read and unpacked Reagan’s Notre Dame address. The speechwriters undoubtedly understand the height of the bar Reagan set and the imperative to fashion a message of similar scope, vision, and connectedness to the American creed."

Personally, I don’t think Obama or his handlers have a grasp or even a whiff of what the American creed actually is. They, in their PoMo way, think themselves the ‘agents of change’ who are empowered to redefine America’s narrative or some such clap trap; which if true, can only be to the detriment of the people of the United States and of the whole world.

Two Trillion Tons - Sung by the Ghost of Tennessee Ernie Ford