Unmasking Obama — Washington Examiner, 'The Obama You Don't Know'

I hope this gets wide coverage, "The Obama you don't know."

And Doug Ross has a summary, "Unmasking Obama: A Special Report." Also, Theo Spark has the Fox News video, "Fox News Reports Barry Soetoro's Manufactured Past."

Conservative partisans will know most of the story, as will progressive fever swamp nihilists, who've working diligently to obfuscate and suppress the truth. It was a the biggest scam and sham on this country history when the African Marxist interloper was first elected. But we know who Obama is now. If Americans elect this man again they deserve the descent to decline that he's bequeathing the country.

Say your prayers. And keep fighting against this extreme leftist abomination.

End of Summer Rule 5

September 22, the last day of summer, today.

It's hot out in the O.C., but fall is upon is and the leaves will be falling and we'll be bundling up in the evenings before you know it.

First, thanks to Proof Positive for the linkage.

And I'm linking Bob Belvedere, even though I don't see his Saturday Rule 5 posted yet. He's got a lot of great content and worth checking out.

Plus, at The Other McCain, "OMG! @ParisHilton Gets Wrongly Tagged ‘H8R’ for Talking About Gay Sex." I posted on that as well, ICYMI, "Paris Hilton Apologizes for Slamming Homosexual Men as Disgusting Pervs Probably Infected With AIDS."

And speaking of disgusting pervs, The Daley Gator's got your O'Biden coverage, "Joe (Captain Gaffetastic) Biden On Cheerleaders: “The Stuff They Do On Hard Wood, It Blows My Mind”."

Some bona fide Rule 5 at Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart: Andi Muise." And at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See…is a planet killing dog, you might just be a Warmist."

More Rule 5 from our friend Odie, "I Love Blonds ~ OR ~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style." (Very nice Rule 5 indeed!)

Also at Eye of Polyphemus, "Sonja Bennett." And from EBL, "Rule 5 Twitter Retweet."

I'll have more later.

Meanwhile, it turns out Chicago Ray's taking an indefinite retirement from blogging: "Gone Fishin' Indefinitely."

That dude's old school, been blogging for a long time. He'll be back. He's a patriot. You don't quit the fight when so much is on the line, our culture, our civilization, our decency.

Add your links in the comments to be added at the updates.

Have a great last day of summer! (Or first day of fall, but enjoy it nevertheless.)

PHOTO CREDIT: Ms. Brooke on Facebook.

Famke Janssen!

Turns out she's starring in a new movie, "Taken 2."

Ms. Janssen makes the "X-Men" films. She's so fabulous. I'm looking forward to watching her new film.

Man Jumps Into Tiger's Den at Bronx Zoo, Gets Promptly Mauled by 400-Pound Siberian Beast

Well that was smart.

The tiger chewed off his foot.

At the New York Post, "Bx. Zoo tiger mauls 'suicidal' monorail jumper."

And the New York Daily News nails it, "ZOO-ICIDE: Man mauled after leaping 17 feet into Bronx Zoo tiger den in crazed bid to kill himself."

The dude, David Villalobos, is recovering. I suspect the tigers are okay as well. Don't mess with those suckers, that's for sure.

Obama Tops Romney on Medicare

Americans see Social Security and Medicare as earned benefits, not handouts. Folks in many cases have paid decades of taxes to support the system. By the time they reach retirement they expect to cash out. So conservative proposals to shore up the system always face stiff headwinds, not because we don't need reform either. Even if reforms won't effect current retirees, folks still think changing the structure of benefits will gut the nature of the entitlement. We had a debate on this in 2005, when President Bush sought to restructure Social Security and Medicare. So it's no surprise that Romney/Ryan haven't been getting much support here. USA Today has some numbers on that, "Romney fights on Medicare but Obama retains advantage." And Paul Ryan got booed yesterday at the AARP convention:

Bowing to the Mob

From Mark Steyn, at National Review, "Government-funded film critics do grotesque damage to freedom of speech":

I see the Obama campaign has redesigned the American flag, and very attractive it is too. Replacing the 50 stars of a federal republic is the single “O” logo symbolizing the great gaping maw of spendaholic centralization. And where the stripes used to be are a handful of red daubs, eerily mimicking the bloody finger streaks left on the pillars of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as its staff were dragged out by a mob of savages to be tortured and killed. What better symbol could one have of American foreign policy? Who says the slick hollow vapid marketing of the Obama campaign doesn’t occasionally intersect with reality?

Continue reading.

More at Director Blue.

PHOTO CREDIT: Instapundit.

Paris Hilton Apologizes for Slamming Homosexual Men as Disgusting Pervs Probably Infected With AIDS

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Epidemic of Child Sex Abuse at Spirit Lake Sioux Indian Reservation

At the New York Times, "U.S. Is Taking Over Spirit Lake Sioux's Social Services":

SPIRIT LAKE INDIAN RESERVATION, N.D. — The man who plays Santa Claus here is a registered child sex offender and a convicted rapist. One of the brothers of the tribal chairman raped a child, and a second brother sexually abused a 12-year-old girl. They are among a number of men convicted of sex crimes against children on this remote home of the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe, which has among the highest proportion of sex offenders in the country.

Federal officials are now moving to take over the tribe’s social service programs, according to members of the tribe, government officials and documents. The action comes after years of failure by government and tribal law enforcement officials to conduct proper investigations of dozens of cases of child sexual abuse, including rape.

While members of the tribe say that sexual violence against children on the reservation is common and barely concealed, the reasons for the abuse here are poorly understood, though poverty and alcohol are thought to be factors. The crimes are rarely prosecuted, few arrests are made, and people say that because of safety fears and law enforcement’s lack of interest, they no longer report even the most sadistic violence against children. In May 2011, a 9-year-old girl and her 6-year-old brother were killed on the reservation after being raped and sodomized.

“It bothers me that it is so accepted, that it is considered so normal. It’s lawless,” said Molly McDonald, who was a tribal judge until March, handling juvenile cases.

Continue reading.

President Obama, You Invited the Muslim Brotherhood to the White House?

Sean Hannity was running this clip on his show last night, and it's devastating:

And see Daniel Greenfield, "Obama’s Muslim Brotherhood Foreign Policy."

The Surge in Afghanistan Ends With Whimper

The New York Times has the MSM angle, "Troop ‘Surge’ in Afghanistan Ends With Mixed Results."

But see the utter truth at AoSHQ, "September 17, 2012: The Day We Gave Up In Afghanistan."

Folks like Diana West, and later Pamela Geller, argued long ago that we should get out of Afghanistan. Americans weren't fighting to win but attempting to build a nation not ready for democracy. And that was during the Bush years. Under Obama there was hope that we'd finally make some progress, but it's been a half-hearted policy there from the beginning of this administration.

Here's West's analysis from the other day:

Sniping over withdrawal dates is no substitute for grown-up discussion of the utterly and completely failed COIN strategy of nation-building on the backs of the US military, of strapping leftist, Kum-bay-a theories of "world peace" to the body armor of Americans and Australians and Brits and the rest, and sending them out into the IED-mined field of jihad. Really get to the know the people, said their commanders. Take off those ballistic glasses, and protect them from everything that can hurt them, said the generals. And dump hundreds of millions of dollars down the drain while you're at it.

The defective linchpin of this "strategy" is that there exists an imaginary Islam to which Americans and other Westerners must show fealty in order to win hearts and minds of "good" Islam, thus isolating the "bad" Islam of the fighting enemy. This is a defilement of reality that requires the widespread and permanent corruption of the thought process itself. The main result of this brainwashing has been to bring, as chronicled in this space for years now, the US military under the rules of Islam in our increasingly desperate efforts to win Afghan "hearts and minds."

I'm a bit of a wild-eyed optimist on democracy promotion, frankly. But even the best intentions will be for naught if you're just going through the motions, looking toward the next presidential election. And that's what happened during the Obama years. It's been an enormous case of moral bankruptcy, but then again, that's the story of the entire record of this administration.

Hope and Change Lies With Us, Not the Government

From Mayor Mia Love (via Instapundit):

Progressives despise strong independent women like Mia Love.

Yes, they hate her with blinding rage, the freaks. They make me sick.

Evidence Shows Americans Becoming Increasingly Polarized

This is an awesome piece from Jonathan Haidt and Marc Hetherington, at the New York Times, "Look How Far We’ve Come Apart."

Check the link for the entire entry. I'm not so big on the "coming together" thesis that concludes the article, because that will inevitably lead to bigger government, but here's the last bit for a quick quote in any case:

The few months after Election Day offer us the largest window we’re likely to have in the next four years to make any of these changes. Averting the fiscal cliff — the automatic spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to take effect in 2013 if a deal isn’t reached before then — will clearly be the top priority during those months. But if our leaders manage to avert catastrophe, and even more pressingly, if they don’t, will they then turn their attention to bridging our political canyon? Or were they just blowing smoke in our eyes when they said that America is about “what can be done by us, together.” If ever there was a need for us all to “come together for the sake of our country,” our “united America,” it is now. Whatever our ideological differences, can we at least agree to push our leaders, after the election, to get their house in order?

Dan Senor Interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer

Also interviewed is Jane Harman, who used to represent the South Bay area in Congress.

Dan Senor is the Jewish neoconservative that Maureen Dowd slurred in her recent piece at the New York Times. Progressive Israel-bashers, the moral reprobates, defended Dowd, which I wrote about here, "Walter James Casper III: Jewish 'Neocons' Should 'Stop Whining' About Being Slurred as 'Puppet Masters' for Bush/Cheney War Cabal."

'Seriously, Mitt F-ked This Election Away Long Ago...'

I linked my recent PJ Media post previously, but go back and read the comments if you've got the time. Those little right-wing fever swamp trolls weren't pleased, but I especially loved the "Tokyo Rose" comparison. That one's a keeper.

But back in the real world, "DSpeicher" left this comment at my post from Wednesday on the Fox News battleground states poll:

But it's going to turn around. Any day now. You'll see. Seriously, Mitt effed this election away long ago. This election should have been a cake walk, but it's been one own goal after another. Romney's campaign has to be the most inept and poorly run campaign in the long, sad history of inept and poorly run campaigns. Romney's got a bunch of amateurs running his campaign and they are handing the election over to Obama. The whole thing is just profoundly sad. An absolute disgrace.

I'll have more, but ICYMI from yesterday, "Mitt Romney's Path to Victory is Narrowing."

Presidential Races Can Look One Way Now but Much Differently on Election Day

Okay, perhaps it's worth posting a different perspective on the race for Friday evening. If you're getting demoralized, be sure to check William Jacobson's Legal Insurrection daily. He's keeping the spirit up, with tonight's post, for example, "Finish hard, and fight through the finish line, which features this clip:

William also links to this piece at National Review, "What John McLaughlin Sees in the Polls Right Now." John McLaughlin's a Republican pollster, and this part should buck up the troops a bit:

What Obama and his allies are doing now: “The Democrats want to convince [these anti-Obama voters] falsely that Romney will lose to discourage them from voting. So they lobby the pollsters to weight their surveys to emulate the 2008 Democrat-heavy models. They are lobbying them now to affect early voting. IVR [Interactive Voice Response] polls are heavily weighted. You can weight to whatever result you want. Some polls have included sizable segments of voters who say they are ‘not enthusiastic’ to vote or non-voters to dilute Republicans. Major pollsters have samples with Republican affiliation in the 20 to 30 percent range, at such low levels not seen since the 1960s in states like Virginia, Florida, North Carolina and which then place Obama ahead. The intended effect is to suppress Republican turnout through media polling bias. We’ll see a lot more of this. Then there’s the debate between calling off a random-digit dial of phone exchanges vs. a known sample of actual registered voters. Most polls favoring Obama are random and not off the actual voter list. That’s too expensive” for some pollsters.

Plus, from Karl Rove's essay at the Wall Street Journal yesterday, "This Too Shall Pass, but What Follows Is Crucial":

It's over. Gov. Mitt Romney's statements last week about the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, followed by the release this week of a video of Mr. Romney at a May fundraiser, have brought the 2012 election to an early end.

At least that is what you'd take away from some pundits. But this is a classic example of the commentariat investing moments with more meaning than they deserve.

Mr. Romney's comments about Americans who don't pay taxes were, as he admitted during a Monday press conference, "inelegant." But every campaign has its awkward moments that the media magnify. Mr. Obama had his after saying on July 13, "You didn't build that." For a while thereafter, Team Obama could do little right. Then it passed.

This moment, too, will pass for Mr. Romney. More important, the past week's events have not significantly altered the contours of the race. A month ago, Gallup had Mr. Obama at 45% and Mr. Romney at 47%. On Wednesday, Gallup reported 47% for Obama, 46% for Romney. A month ago Rasmussen said it was 45% for Mr. Obama, 43% for Mr. Romney. In its Wednesday poll, Rasmussen reported 46% for Obama, 47% for Romney.

Presidential races can look one way now but much differently on Election Day. In mid-September 1980, President Jimmy Carter led Ronald Reagan 44% to 40% in the Gallup poll. By late October, Reagan had slumped to 39% in Gallup, while Mr. Carter had risen to 47%. Reagan won by nine points.

As for the here-and-now, one key number to watch is Mr. Obama's vote share. In the past month, there have been 83 national polls and daily tracking surveys. Mr. Obama reached 50% in just nine and his average was 47%. That is bad news for an incumbent when attitudes about the No. 1 issue—the economy—are decidedly sour.

This isn't to suggest the Romney campaign doesn't have big challenges. But both camps do.

In the two weeks before the presidential debates begin, Mr. Romney must define more clearly what he would do as president. In spelling out his five-point plan for the middle class, he'll have to deepen awareness of how each element would help families in concrete, practical ways, and offer optimism for renewed prosperity.

Mr. Romney and his team (and supporters) must also steel themselves for more brutal attacks. The Florida fundraising video will not likely be the last surprise. The Romney campaign has largely refused to respond to attacks as a waste of time and resources. But in politics, sometimes the counter punch is stronger than the punch.

There's little tolerance among Republican donors, activists and talking heads for more statements by Mr. Romney that the media can depict as gaffes. But concerns about avoiding missteps must not cause Mr. Romney to favor cautious and bland. To win, he'll need to be bold and forceful as he offers a compelling agenda of conservative reform.

Mr. Obama's challenges may be more daunting. His strategy hasn't worked. Team Obama planned to use its big financial edge to bury Mr. Romney under negative ads over the summer. From April 15 to Labor Day, they spent an estimated $215 million on TV. But this was more than offset by conservative groups (principally American Crossroads, which I helped found). While Mr. Obama drained his coffers his own negatives climbed, and Mr. Romney partially repaired his image with voters.

Mr. Obama needs a different strategy, but his team seems stubbornly focused merely on disqualifying Mitt Romney by whatever argument or means necessary. Yet as Rahm Emanuel has repeated for most of the year, Mr. Obama must, as he put it on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sept. 2, "lay out an agenda and a clear vision of the next four years" or he'll lose.

It's not over. But I lean more toward Peggy Noonan's take than I do Karl Rove's. I expect that the debates could have a significant impact on the "countours" of the race, especially if Romney indeed goes bold as Rove suggests. But at this point dozens of post-convention polls have been finding Obama with leads ranging to a couple of points to as much as seven or eight. As much as I see him as a punk, I don't doubt Nate Silver's got skills. His post today mentioned that fully 21 polls had Obama leading. Not one survey had him behind Romney. To dismiss that kind of volume of polling as hopelessly biased and completely unreliable is not analysis, it's conspiracy theory. But William Jacobson is correct. You keep fighting until the end. The main person who needs to remember that is Mitt Romney. He's a nice guy, but nice guy's finish last. Stop being nice.

Death Toll Climbs in Pakistan Muhammad Protests

The New York Times reports, "19 Reported Dead as Pakistanis Protest Muhammad Video."

One of the Muslims interviewed at this clip says "The filmmaker should be killed." Freakin' savages.

More at Blazing Cat Fur, "Celebrate Pakistan's Day of Love ... Riot Like a Koran Crazed Mohammedan," and "The Prophet Loves Pakistanis So Much He's Killed 17 So Far."

Pamela Geller Interview with CNN's Erin Burnett

Erin Burnett parses the word "savages," comparing its use to discrimination against African Americans. I'm shaking my head as I write this.

Also at Pamela, "VIDEO: PAMELA GELLER ON CNN'S @ERINBURNETT, ABRUPTLY CUTS SEGMENT AT HAMAS-CAIR DESCRIPTION, FULL AUDIO SECRETLY RECORDED."

I'm not sure what was the problem. This video is almost 13 minutes long and features Pamela's discussion of the Council on American Islamic Relation (the Hamas front group in the U.S). It's a great interview.

Jodie Gasson Topless Pictures at Egotastic!

She's a UK glamor model, and nicely endowed.

At Egotastic!, "Thank God It’s Funbags! Jodie Gasson Topless Lingerie Striptease Will Ease You Toward Your Weekend."

Also at Make Her Famous, "Jodie Gasson."

Obama Leads Romney by 50-43 in National Journal's Heartland Institute Poll

More polling data to compare to my earlier entries, "Obama Leads Romney 52-45 In New Reason-Rupe Poll," and "Mitt Romney's Path to Victory is Narrowing."

Here's Ronald Brownstein at National Journal, "Heartland Monitor Poll: Obama Leads 50 Percent to 43 Percent":

President Obama has opened a solid lead over Mitt Romney by largely reassembling the “coalition of the ascendant” that powered the Democrat to his landmark 2008 victory, the latest Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll has found.

The survey found Obama leading Romney by 50 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, with key groups in the president’s coalition such as minorities, young people, and upscale white women providing him support comparable to their levels in 2008.

The survey, conducted by Ed Reilly and Jeremy Ruch of FTI Communications, a communications and strategic consulting firm, surveyed 1,055 likely voters by landline and cell phone from Sept. 15-19. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Full results from the survey, including a detailed look at Americans’ attitudes about opportunity and upward mobility, will be released in the Sept. 22 National Journal.

The Heartland Monitor’s results are in line with most other national surveys in recent days showing Obama establishing a measurable lead, including this week’s new Pew Research Center and NBC/Wall Street Journal polls. The saving grace for Republicans is that even as these surveys show Obama opening a consistent advantage, the president has not been able to push his support much past the critical 50 percent level, even after several difficult weeks for Romney that began with a poorly reviewed GOP convention. That suggests the president faces continued skepticism from many voters that could allow Romney to draw a second wind if he can stabilize his tempest-tossed campaign.

The poll found Obama benefiting from a small increase in optimism about the country’s direction. Among likely voters, 37 percent said the country was moving in the right direction. Even looking at all adults, the "right track" number now stands at 35 percent, its best showing since the April 2010 Heartland Monitor.

Obama’s approval rating in the new survey also ticked up to 50 percent, with 46 percent disapproving. That’s a slight improvement from May, when the survey of all adults found 47 percent approving and 48 percent disapproving. Among all adults, Obama’s rating improved to 49 percent approving and 45 percent disapproving, also one of his best showings since January 2010.

Those gains are critical, because as always with an incumbent president, attitudes toward Obama’s performance powerfully shape the race. Among likely voters who approve of Obama’s job performance, he leads Romney in the ballot test by 93 percent to 3 percent; those who disapprove prefer Romney by 87 percent to 5 percent.

There's still more at the link, but for the most part that sounds reasonable to me.

Especially important is Obama's 50 percent approval rating at this Heartland poll. Presidents don't win reelection when their job approval falls below 50 percent. Jay Cost highlights Obama's recent negative approval ratings as a bright spot for the GOP, "Morning Jay: Historically, Obama Isn't in Strong Shape."

And my friend Stogie discounted the earlier Wall Street Journal poll (at that link above), and he points to trends in black turnout that might depress Obama's reelection prospects, "Conservative Black Blogger: 'Why Romney Is Going To Romp Over Obama In November'."

I think that's going to be something to watch, more broadly even, keeping in mind enthusiasm levels among both parties' grassroots supporters. There's also the chance for other surprises, like new foreign policy debacles, and of course the debates could help change the dynamics. Cost at the Weekly Standard dismisses Obama's poll numbers as a lingering convention bounce that will evaporate in the weeks ahead. And that may be true. But I've yet to see a poll with Mitt Romney in the lead and that's discouraging after a while. So, I'll be keeping an eye on the battleground states and looking to Team Romney for that game changer that we've all been waiting for.

Keep checking back for your cold hard non-sugarcoated analysis.

Romney still has a chance, but the stars are going to have line up just perfectly for him. We'll see.

Chris Wallace Slams Peggy Noonan's Conservative Bona Fides

Here's the report at Politico, "Chris Wallace doubts Noonan's conservatism." (At Memeorandum.)

Yeah, what else is new? Folks might remember in 2008, in September of that year, about the same time in the election cycle, Noonan was caught on an open mic bashing John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin's as "political bullshit." PuffHo has that, "Peggy Noonan, Mike Murphy Caught On Tape Disparaging Palin Choice: "Political Bullshit," "Gimmicky"." (And the video's here.)

Wallace is right: Noonan's an old-line GOP beltway hack. Unfortunately, in the case of her analysis of Mitt Romney's slide, I don't think she's far off the mark. I posted earlier on that, "'It's Time to Admit the Romney Campaign is an Incompetent One...'"

And now Noonan doubles-down on her earlier comments, at today's WSJ, "Noonan: Romney Needs a New CEO":

"Nothing is written." That was T.E. Lawrence to the Arab tribesmen in Robert Bolt's screenplay, a masterpiece, of "Lawrence of Arabia." You write no one off. Nothing is inevitable. Life is news—"What happened today?" And news is surprise—"You're kidding!"

But you have to look at the landscape and see the shape of the land. You have to see it clearly to move on it well.

So here's one tough, cool-eyed report on what is happening in the presidential race. It's from veteran Republican pollster, now corporate strategist, Steve Lombardo of Edelman public relations in Washington. Mr. Lombardo worked in the 2008 Romney campaign. He's not affiliated with any candidate. This is what he wrote Thursday morning, and what he sees is pretty much what I see.

"The pendulum has swung toward Obama." Mitt Romney has "a damaged political persona." He is running behind in key states like Ohio and Virginia and, to a lesser extent, Florida. The president is reversing the decline that began with his "You didn't build that" comment. For three weeks he's been on a roll. The wind's at his back.

How did we get here? What can turn it around? ...

Keep reading for the breakdown. I disagree with Noonan that Romney's comments on Libya, the night of the consulate attack, were worse than the 47 percent "SECRET TAPE." But that's just a quibble, frankly. It looks like Obama actually started getting a push of momentum at that time, aided by the compliant Democrat-Media-Complex, and not insignificantly. (And the press bias to the Democrats is going to be a big story coming out of 2012, by the way, and Gallup's already reporting that a majority of Americans don't trust the mainstream press, a horrible finding for democratic legitimacy, but more on that later).

The question is what to do now? Noonan argues for changes at the top, and a change of focus. Romney needs someone top-flight running his campaign and directing him to victory. Her model is James A. Baker III of the old Reagan-Bush era. But read it all at the link. It could be a whiff of nostalgia, or it could be some cold hard truth.

And with that, I'm looking forward to the debates. A lot's riding on them.

More at Memorandum.

Previous non-sugarcoating here.