On the Crapper, Obama Gets Some Help

Via Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Stranded."

Last Boeing C-17 Delivered as Production Ends at Long Beach Plant

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Boeing's last Air Force C-17 leaves Long Beach plant."

And at LAT, "Boeing to deliver final C-17 cargo jet to Air Force."

Photos of last @Boeing C-17 Globemaster delivered to @usairforce http://t.co/AfM2otkMC2 by @wjhenn @markboster pic.twitter.com/pRJyQ2NNIM
— LA Times Photography (@latimesphotos) September 12, 2013

I toured the plant in 2011. Time goes by so fast. It's been a good run over there.

Republicans Rising

They're gonna keep rising too.

Democrats are gonna be flattened in 2014.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Poll Finds Republicans Gain Favor on Key Issues."

The Republican Party is gaining a public-opinion edge on several key issues ahead of the 2014 elections, as Americans question President Barack Obama's leadership on Syria and worry about the country's overall direction, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows.

Republicans are now rated higher than Democrats on handling the economy and foreign policy, and the GOP's lead has strengthened on several other issues, including dealing with the federal deficit and ensuring a strong national defense.

On topics such as health care, Democrats have seen their long-standing advantage whittled to lows not seen in years.

The poll also reflected unease over the economy. Just 27% of Americans think the economy will improve over the next year, the lowest since July 2012, while nearly two-thirds think the country is on the wrong track.

The public tilt on several issues in favor of the GOP, particularly among independents, comes as Mr. Obama's own job-approval rating has hovered around 45% for three months, a tenuous place for a president trying to build support for likely battles with Congress over possible military action in Syria, a proposed overhaul of immigration law and the budget.

"There is no question that a president below 45% job approval starts having a little more difficulty with the bully pulpit," said Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who conducted the survey with Democratic pollsters Fred Yang and Peter Hart.

Mr. Hart described a president swerving from crisis to crisis who faces a "very bumpy road" this fall. His success going into next year, Mr. Hart said, may best be measured "by his ability to simply keep his head above water."

The jolt of support for Republicans falls well short of a renaissance, as the party itself remains widely unpopular by other measures. In the poll, just 28% of Americans said they hold positive views of the GOP, compared with 40% who view the Democrats positively. Less than half of conservatives see the GOP favorably, and just 13% of independents.

The Democrats' standing has slipped as the White House has dealt with myriad challenges, including widespread opposition to military action in Syria and revelations about government snooping into private communications.

Americans now give Republicans a seven-percentage-point edge on foreign policy. The party lagged behind the Democrats by nine points in the Journal's last sounding on the subject, in 2006, as public opinion turned against the Iraq war. The GOP also has made notable gains since February on which party is seen as best in dealing with the federal deficit and the economy.

The poll of 1,000 Americans also points to challenges for Democrats as they try to maintain their Senate majority and work to gain House seats next year. The poll found Americans giving the party increasingly less credit as stewards in areas long seen as Democratic franchises. The party holds a 17-percentage-point advantage in looking after the middle class, the lowest in decades of Journal polling on the issue.

The Democrats' eight-percentage-point advantage on dealing with health care also was a new low, and half the edge the party held on that issue in February.

At the same time, Mr. Obama faces modestly rising discontent even among the his political base. His approval among all Democrats fell to 78% from a high this year of 88% in January, and among African-Americans it dipped to 85%, from a 2013 high of 93% in April.

Putin's New York Times Op-Ed the 'Fruits of an Epically Incompetent Foreign Policy'

Oh boy.

Charles Krauthammer lays it down cold.



Added: Here's Krauthammer's Friday column, "The fruits of epic incompetence" (via Memeorandum).

9/11: America's Unfinished Business

Here's Michelle Malkin's September 11th essay, which leaves me shaking my head in disgust at this terror-coddling White House:

I’m sick of 9/11 anniversary ceremonies by politicians who pay lip service to peace and justice for our country, but refuse to secure them all the way, every day. Remembrance is worthless without resolve. Resolve is useless without action.

Want to honor the 9/11 dead? Take care of unfinished business here at home. Put America first.

The Collapse of the Obama Presidency

From Peter Wehner, at Commentary:

How bad has 2013 been for Barack Obama? Let us count the ways.

In the first year of his second term, the president has failed on virtually every front. He put his prestige on the line to pass federal gun-control legislation–and lost. He made climate change a central part of his inaugural address–and nothing has happened. The president went head-to-head with Republicans on sequestration–and he failed. He’s been forced to delay implementation of the employer mandate, a key feature of the Affordable Care Act. ObamaCare is more unpopular than ever, and it’s turning out to be a “train wreck” (to quote Democratic Senator Max Baucus) in practice. The most recent jobs report was the worst in a year, with the Obama recovery already qualifying as a historically weak one. Immigration reform is going nowhere. And then there’s Syria, which has turned out to be an epic disaster. (To be sure, Mr. Obama’s Middle East failures go well beyond Syria–but Syria is the most conspicuous failure right now).

In watching the Obama presidency dissolve before our eyes, there is a cautionary tale to be told. Every presidency falls short of the expectations that the candidate sets. But no man has ever promised more and delivered less than the current occupant of the Oval Office.

Continue reading.

Devastating.

Worst. President. Ever.

Added: See Neo-Neocon's contrarian take, "Is Obama’s presidency in collapse?"

Texas Whooping Cough Outbreak

This story makes me sad, especially the infant coughing.

At CBS News, "Texas battling whooping cough epidemic."

.@MelissaTweets Seeing that little coughing infant at the clip makes me cry.

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 12, 2013

Smokin' Army Sergeant Theresa Vail is First Tattooed Miss America Contestant

At the New York Post, "Meet the Army’s bowhunting beauty."



Also at People, "Miss America's Sgt. Theresa Vail Is First Contestant to Expose Tattoos."

PHOTO CREDIT: New York Post on Twitter.

Angela Giron, Ousted Gun-Grabbing Democrat, Blames #Colorado Recall on 'Voter Suppression'

At Twitchy, "‘Call it for what it is!’ Visibly frustrated Angela Giron blames her recall on voter suppression [video]."



Plus, "Angela Giron’s pre-recall tweets don’t exactly scream concern for ‘voter suppression’."

And at the Blaze, "‘I’M GOING TO CUT YOU OFF RIGHT THERE’: CNN ANCHOR CALLS OUT OUSTED COLORADO DEMOCRAT FOR BLAMING RECALL ON ‘VOTER SUPPRESSION’."

America 3.0 — On America the Resilient and Our Nation's Once and Future Prosperity

Because I believe in American exceptionalism --- and our people's ability to overcome the most devastating adversity --- I remain very optimistic on the future of America, with one caveat: The sine qua non of America's future revival will depend not just on an end to the Obama regime but also upon the complete annihilation of the radical statism that is represented by the president's party and the leftist cult of grievance, hate and envy. I know that is perhaps Utopian, but if we can't achieve a total obliteration of leftists and leftism, we need to at least marginalize them so far to the periphery that it will take decades before they can at least make the barest bid for legitimate political viability again.

That's a long-term project, no doubt, and it's one that fellow conservatives and patriots are currently fighting for with a passion.

More on that later, in any case. What got me thinking about this, especially about the optimism-in-America part, is David Swindle's wonderful essay at PJ Media, "On 9/11 and Benghazi’s Anniversary, We End Conservative Pessimism and Right-Wing Apocalypticism."

David showcases the new book from James C. Bennett and Michael J. Lotus, America 3.0: Rebooting American Prosperity in the 21st Century - Why America's Greatest Days Are Yet to Come.

I love that title, and David's got a screen-cap with excerpts:



More about America 3.0 --- and the future of America --- at PJ Media.

Foreign Policy by Gaffe!

And Vladimir Putin's in the driver's seat!

Right on.

Andrea Tantaros is on fire at this clip from last night's Hannity:

What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria

Well, Vlad's stirring up a storm with his op-ed at the Old Gray Lady.

See, "A Plea for Caution From Russia." (At Memeorandum.)

Read it at the link, but I'll be honest: It's a loathsome piece of anti-American concern trolling that reveals Russian weakness vis-a-vis American power (yes, American power endures even under President Barack Obumbler.) All that crap about international law is the giveaway. The U.N.'s a neat idea in principle but an extremely flawed institution in practice. The less the U.S. defers to that body (and to ill-informed international legal norms) the better.

In any case, I agree with Jedediah Bila regarding Putin's penultimate dig against America and American exceptionalism:

Putin, you may think it's "dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional." Sorry, but that's why there's only one America.

— Jedediah Bila (@JedediahBila) September 12, 2013

And at Twitchy, "Checkmate: Garry Kasparov rips apart ‘pathetic’ NYT for providing Putin a platform for ‘condescending propaganda’."

AoSHQ on the Colorado Recall

See, "Two Different Perspectives on the Colorado Recall Which Ejected the State Senate Leader, and a Toady, Over Their Support for Bloombergian Gun Grabbiness."

And speaking of AoSHQ, R.S. McCain confesses his blog unworthiness, "Ace Keeps Killin’ It Every Day."

'Two Million Bikers' Ride to Washington, D.C., for 9/11 Anniversary

You can't keep good patriots down.

At LAT, "Bikers roar into Washington to mark 9/11 anniversary."

And at 1389, "9/11 motorcycle ride denied permits for non-stop trek in D.C."

'I hate these kids' — Dana Perino and 'The Five' Rip Disgraceful Student 'D-Bags' at CUNY

There's a roundup on this at Memeorandum.

General David Petraeus surrounded and harassed by a scummy mob of anti-American "d-bags" at City University of New York.



Also from Ed Driscoll, "Flashback: The Worst Day of Their Lives."

New Apple iPhone 5C and 5S

Here's the main story at NYT, "Apple Unveils Faster iPhone, and a Cheaper One, Too."

And check Daring Fireball, "Thoughts and Observations on Today’s iPhone 5C and 5S Introduction":

I got this one wrong.

I fixed my thinking by this week, but as of a month ago, I had it wrong when I wrote “The Case for a New Lower-Cost iPhone”.

Here’s the thing. The iPhone 5C has nothing to do with price. It probably does have something to do with manufacturing costs (which are lower for Apple), but not price. Apple’s years-long strategy hasn’t really changed. They offer three phones:

This year’s, with the latest technology.
Last years’s, starting $100 lower.
The two-year-old model, with meager storage, free on contract, $200 lower unsubsidized.

It’s just that instead of putting the year-old iPhone 5 in slot #2, they’ve created the 5C to debut in that slot. The 5C is, effectively, an iPhone 5. Same A6, same camera, same just about everything — except for the most obvious difference, its array of colorful plastic shells. This is not an iPod Touch with a cellular antenna (the iPod Touch, which was not updated today, still has an A5 chip and roughly 4S specs). The prices of the iPhone tiers remain the same as last year. What changes with the 5C is that the middle tier is suddenly more appealing, and has a brand of its own that Apple can promote apart from the flagship 5S.

In marketing, what looks new is new.

Yes, it’s plastic, but there’s nothing cheap about it. It has a far better fit and finish, and feels way better in your hand, than Apple’s previous foray into plastic iPhones, the 3G and 3GS. The 5C feels like a premium product.

This move is about establishing the iPhone as a two-sibling family, like how the MacBooks have both the Airs and the Pros. Think of the 5C as the Air, and the 5S as the Pro. Or iMac and Mac Pro. The iPhone is growing up as a product family.

This is the first year when last year’s specs remain good enough to serve as the mass market new iPhone. Take a look at apple.com today and note which new iPhone appears first: the 5C, not the 5S. Which phone did they show a commercial for during the event? The 5C. Part of this too is that the 5C is going to be available in greater numbers sooner. Apple is taking pre-orders for the 5C but not the 5S because, I have reason to believe, they expect the 5S to be in constrained supply. That’s not surprising — plastic is easier to manufacture than aluminum, and the 5C’s components are all a year old. And it makes sense to promote the phone that you can actually fulfill demand for.

Schiller repeated, almost mantra-like, that the 5S was Apple’s “most forward-thinking iPhone”. In his wrap-up, Tim Cook echoed that line. This isn’t about downplaying the 5S, but rather, I think, about establishing the 5S as the top tier in what is now a two-tier lineup. The Lexus to the 5C’s Toyota; the Banana Republic to the 5C’s Gap. (The 4S is Old Navy.) Soon enough, all iOS devices will have 64-bit CPUs, motion-tracking sub-systems, fingerprint sensors, and point-and-shoot caliber cameras. But you get those things first in the iPhone 5S.

Some other thoughts and hands-on experiences from today’s event...

Continue reading.

Well, markets are all meh.

At AllThingsD, "Apple Shares Down More Than Five Percent Following New iPhone Event."

Whoa! Public Policy Polling Spiked Its Own Poll Predicting Democrat Downfall in Colorado Recall

PPP is the Tom Jensen outfit that polls for Daily Kos and won plaudits for its accuracy during last year's presidential campaign. But now it turns out that accurate polling is less important that helping your side win. Just one more example of our system's corruption by left-wing partisan polarization these days.

At the Hill, "Firm suppressed Colorado recall poll":

Public Policy Polling (PPP) sparked controversy Wednesday after the left-leaning firm declined to release a survey it conducted last weekend that accurately forecasted the successful recall of a Democratic state senator from Colorado.

The survey PPP conducted, but did not release, showed Colorado District 3 Sen. Angela Giron (D) would be recalled by a 54 percent to 42 percent margin.

“In a district that Barack Obama won by almost 20 points I figured there was no way that could be right and made a rare decision not to release the poll,” Director Tom Jensen wrote in a post on the firm's website. “It turns out we should have had more faith in our numbers because she was indeed recalled by 12 points.”

Nate Silver, whose FiveThirtyEight blog at TheNew York Times accurately predicted every state in the 2012 presidential election, criticized the firm over Twitter.

The tweets are embedded at the link (via Memeorandum).

Jensen's explanation is disingenuous. All polls have a margin of error and they're always published with the normal disclaimers of systematic bias, etc. Clearly, the guy was morbidly terrified that his own survey would demoralize the left and drive down Democrat turnout. So, what to do? Spike your findings with the lame excuse that "there was no way we could be right." Oh sure. There was "no way." And this coming from the pollster who best predicted the 2012 presidential election results.

Here's the full response from PPP, "Reflecting on the Colorado recalls" (via Memeorandum).

Obama's Amateur Hour

MoDo shreds Barack Obumbler as only she knows how, "Who Do You Trust?":

"The administration’s saber-rattling felt more like knees rattling." LOL! http://t.co/KO8Na0XgqW

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 11, 2013

WASHINGTON — Vladimir Putin, who keeps Edward Snowden on a leash and lets members of a riotous girl band rot in jail, has thrown President Obama a lifeline.

The Russian president had coldly brushed back Obama on Snowden and Syria, and only last week called John Kerry a liar.

Now, when it is clear Obama can’t convince Congress, the American public, his own wife, the world, Liz Cheney or even Donald “Shock and Awe” Rumsfeld to bomb Syria — just a teensy-weensy bit — Pooty-Poot (as W. called him) rides, shirtless, to the rescue, offering him a face-saving way out? If it were a movie, we’d know it was a trick. We can’t trust the soulless Putin — his Botox has given the former K.G.B. officer even more of a poker face — or the heartless Bashar al-Assad. By Tuesday, Putin the Peacemaker was already setting conditions.

Just as Obama and Kerry — with assists from Hillary and some senators — were huffing and puffing that it was their military threat that led to the breakthrough, Putin moved to neuter them, saying they’d have to drop their military threat before any deal could proceed. The administration’s saber-rattling felt more like knees rattling. Oh, for the good old days when Obama was leading from behind. Now these guys are leading by slip-of-the-tongue.

Continue reading.

12th Anniversary of September 11 Attacks

There's nowhere I'd rather be today than in New York, but alas, not this year.

I'll be back out there again, though. I can't wait to see the Freedom Tower again, and to see the bustling burst of freedom and memory that you find in Lower Manhattan at this time.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Twelve Years Later, Nation Pauses to Reflect: Ceremonies in New York, Washington Commemorate Sept. 11 Anniversary":

Wednesday marks the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, with events planned across the country to commemorate the tragedy.

The official New York City tribute began at the National September 11 Memorial plaza at the World Trade Center site. Wednesday morning, the names of the 2,983 victims lost in 2001 and the bombing of the site in 1993 were being read, and six pauses were to mark when the planes hit the towers, when they fell and when the Pentagon and Flight 93 were attacked.

Hundreds of families gathered at the memorial, hoisting balloons, pictures and signs into the air as names are read. One family let a group of balloons into the air.

"I miss you every moment," said the mom of Joshua Todd Aron, after she read his name.

With so many years having passed since the attacks, some of the relatives who read names stopped to tell their missing loved ones about milestones: children born, youngsters who have grown up to look like a lost parent.

Christine and Bernard Resta have returned every year since the attacks that killed their son, John, his wife Sylvia Sanpio Resta and the couple's unborn grandchild. "At first when we came, it was all destroyed and leveled, and then little by little it came back to life," Christine Resta, 83 years old, said.

Seeing the spire ascend into the sky—and the reality that people will soon work here again—brings mixed emotions to the couple.

"When I think of the tower, I wonder how people are going to work in it," John Resta, also 83, said. "All I can think about is my son and his wife and the baby." A few seconds later, looking up at the structure, he said "but it's a beautiful building."

His wife said she appreciated the notion that the tower stands for America's resilience—"that we aren't going to take it." But when the couple comes from Florida, where they retired, it's still not easy. "This is sacred ground," she said. "As long as they save the place for that."

Continue reading.

Benghazi One Year Later

At USA Today, "Since Benghazi attack, Libya worse off, families in lurch":

TRIPOLI, Libya — A year to the day since an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi that killed four Americans including the ambassador Christopher Stevens, the security situation in Libya has gone from bad to worse, say locals and analysts.

On Wednesday morning, unknown assailants detonated a car bomb near Benghazi's Foreign Ministry building that decades ago housed the U.S. Consulate, security officials said. No one was killed in the blast.

It is the latest in a string of bombings and assassination attempts plaguing Benghazi, the cradle of the Libyan revolution, which ended with the death in late 2011 of former leader Moammar Gadhafi.

In the United States, the families of those killed a year ago at the consulate say the Obama administration has yet to tell them what really happened, and why it is that none of the killers has been captured or killed.

It's hard, I never expected this from my government," Patricia Smith, mother of Sean Smith, told Fox News. "All they have to do is tell me the truth."

Sean Smith was an information officer at the consulate who was among four people killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack by al-Qaeda-linked terrorists.

President Obama and then-secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton initially blamed the attacks on a spontaneous protest against a U.S.-made anti-Islam video despite a CIA report that discounted that explanation. Smith and other family members say the State Department and the White House have rebuffed their attempts to find out why security was so lax under Clinton, and why Obama did not order military assistance to the embattled officials that night.

The White House has said it has provided all the information it can on the attack, and Obama alluded to Benghazi as a "phony scandal." Meanwhile, those responsible for murdering the Americans that night are presumably still in Libya or the region.

Obama said last month that the U.S. was still committed to capturing those who carried out the assault. Obama said his government has a sealed indictment naming some suspected of involvement.

The leaders of an independent review board that investigated the Benghazi attack will testify at a House hearing next week. Retired admiral Michael Mullen and former ambassador Thomas Pickering will appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Sept. 19.

Meanwhile, in the two years since Libya was freed of Gadhafi due in large part to a Western air campaign aiding rebels, the country has failed to build a stable government, strong military or police force.

Also at Hot Air, "CIA Director promises to produce Benghazi survivors for Congressional testimony" (via Memeorandum).