Monthly Archives: October 2012
October 29, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Ohio has been neck and neck for quite a while, but it has been worrisome that Mitt Romney has never quite been able to pull ahead. That changed this morning; Scott Rasmussen now finds Romney ahead 50% to 48% in the Buckeye State. On the other hand, he also finds the race tightening a little nationwide, with Romney leading by only two, 49% to 47%.
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October 29, 2012 — Scott Johnson
Mark Steyn’s excellent column on Benghazigate drew on news of the past few days. At several points Mark relied on Glenn Beck’s interview with Charles Woods, the father of fallen former SEAL Tyrone Woods, who died fighting off the terrorists long into the battle at the consulate. Mr. Woods discussed the ceremony at which President Obama, Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Clinton received the bodies of the four
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October 28, 2012 — John Hinderaker
I wrote yesterday about the media effort to help the Obama administration cover up the Benghazi scandal. That scandal includes at least three elements: 1) the administration’s failure to provide adequate security for our personnel there, even after they had requested heightened security; 2) the administration’s attempt to deceive the American people about the nature of the Benghazi attack, by falsely characterizing it as a spontaneous mob uprising prompted by
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October 28, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Wilson Getchell’s “You’re Gonna Pay” was one of the highlights of the Power Line Prize competition. Now Getchell is back with “Brother Can You Spare a Dime,” which looks back at the Obama administration’s four years of failure. It is very good, I think:
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October 28, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Barack Obama and his fans (fangirls, in particular) are becoming almost impossible to parody. The reality is sillier than any fiction a humorist can come up with. Thus, this Michael Ramirez cartoon, published last month, eerily anticipated the “sex” ad that the Obama campaign launched last week. Only I think the girl in the ad is a little bit creepier: I do think, however, that Ramirez is a little pessimistic.
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October 28, 2012 — Steven Hayward
Lately a simple question has been coming to mind: just how did Mitt Romney get elected governor of heavily Democratic Massachusetts ten years ago? Romney could have run for governor of Utah instead, which would have been not only easier but would have spared us the egregious Jon Huntsman. Saying that he ran as a moderate, pro-choice Republican is not a fully adequate explanation. Nor is a weak Democratic opponent
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October 28, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Last night, I noted that the Des Moines Register endorsed Mitt Romney for president. This is the first time that paper has endorsed the Republican presidential nominee since 1972. It turns out that the Des Moines Register is not alone among Iowa newspapers. In fact, the three other major newspapers in this battleground state also endorse Romney. They are the Cedar Rapids Gazette, the Quad City Times, and the Sioux
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October 28, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Over the last couple of weeks we have toyed with the idea that Minnesota could be competitive in this year’s presidential election. While certain data have been tantalizing, on balance we have concluded that it just isn’t in the cards. Today, however, the Minnesota Poll finds that Romney has closed to within the margin of error. Obama leads 47%-44%, and the margin of error is 3.5. So could Romney actually
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October 28, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Let’s try to understand why urgent pleas for help in Benghazi went unanswered, and who is responsible. The CIA says it didn’t turn down any pleas. And now, a National Security Council spokesman says that “neither the president nor anyone in the White House denied any requests for assistance in Benghazi.” This leaves the Defense Department. And, indeed, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has stepped up with an explanation of
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October 28, 2012 — Scott Johnson
According to Wikipedia, Thomas Petterfy “is a Hungarian-born American entrepreneur[,]…the founder and head of Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR) and played a key role in founding the Boston Options Exchange.” Petterfy is also a public-spirited citizen who has stepped forward on his own to urge voters to vote Republican on November 6. He has paid out of his own pocket to air the video as a television advertisement. He titles the
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October 28, 2012 — Scott Johnson
Chris Corrado is a public-spirited citizen who has put together a video “to get people excited about the election.” He has posted the video with the title“Conservatism is calling.” I disagree with the video’s disparagement of Obama for golfing. Here I stand with, and learn from, Jay Nordlinger, who concedes that ““one of the best things I know about President Obama is that he plays golf.” With this quibble, I
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October 28, 2012 — Scott Johnson
Who is responsible for the failure to answer the urgent pleas for help that were issued during the attack in Benghazi? Paul considered the question yesterday here, reasonably attributing the responsibility to President Obama. We know the CIA denies responsibility. That’s certainly a credible denial, but now the White House (with considerably less credibility) has joined in: The White House on Saturday flatly denied that President Barack Obama withheld requests
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October 27, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
The Des Moines Register has endorsed Mitt Romney for president. This is the first time that paper has endorsed the Republican presidential candidate in the general election since 1972. The fact of the endorsement, coming as it does in an important battleground state, is more important than the reasons for it. Nonetheless I suspect that the portion of the Register’s reasoning set forth below reflects the views of a great
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October 27, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Mitt Romney has opened up a clear lead over Barack Obama in their presidential race. That owes a great deal to the candidates’ debate performances, of course. But something else is going on, too. In recent days, Obama’s approval rating has taken a perceptible hit. Via the Weekly Standard, we see that in the Rasmussen survey, only 47% approve of Obama’s job performance, while 52% disapprove. That is down from
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October 27, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
As John and Scott point out, the CIA has issued a statement making it clear that “no one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need [in Benghazi]; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate.” That statement surely was issued with the approval, and presumably at the direction, of the CIA’s director, General Petraeus. Who, then, made the several decisions denying help to the
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October 27, 2012 — John Hinderaker
A reader, relying on publicly available information, has reconstructed what we know and can infer about what happened in Benghazi. I haven’t tried to verify all of his facts nor do I necessarily vouch for his inferences, although in general they seem reasonable. But his analysis is, I think, a valuable contribution to our understanding, and I reproduce it here in slightly edited form: This last week may have finally
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October 27, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Remember Obamamania? It is easy to forget how many celebrities–and others, too–made fools of themselves over Obama in 2008 and the early days of his administration. At Reason, Anthony Fisher and Nick Gillespie remind us of the hilarious 2009 video in which various celebrities pledged to serve President Obama, and wonder how diligently they have followed up on their promises. It is a wonderful reminder both of the fatuity of
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