The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger but recognize the opportunity.
John F. Kennedy
Taking Romney to the Woodshed: Part 1
I believe that Romney is the most viable candidate to oppose Obama; it's quite clear that the Democrats think so, because they've been attacking him on a fairly regular basis. He has been the only candidate whom has been consistently competitive against Obama in the swing states, especially with the centrist (moderate and independent) voters. The activists/ideologues control a disproportionate influence during the caucuses and early primaries (note, for instance, Ron Paul's ability to win a few contests), and Romney has given them more than enough reason to question his bona fides with respect to conservatism--Romney has been seen by many as wishy-washy or questionable on topics like abortion and immigration.
This commentary deals with objections I have in the past week's debate; one was a disagreement with veteran diplomat Huntsman whom suggested that he was looking to draw down our forces in Afghanistan sooner than later; Romney was sticking to standard GOP military conservative talking points (i.e., taking into account the input from operational military leaders and the danger in pulling out with an incompletely trained Afghan military). With all due respect to haws like Senators McCain and Graham, I think most American people want us to stop throwing good money after bad and propping up an unappreciative, corrupt President and his dysfunctional government. I think Obama's real motivation for building up our presence in Afghanistan had everything to do with UBL. If I was Romney, I would take on this topic by pointing out differences with Obama's decision making process (analysis paralysis, understaffing the surge operation involving a trade-off between military and political risks, deep cuts to military R&D, focus on peripheral issues like the repeal of DADT, etc.) I would point out that we should not be in the business of nation building, that 10 years of involvement in Afghanistan is long enough, but that the specific timing of an American withdrawal is a pragmatic decision which depends on the circumstances in January 2013.
The second question dealt with the exchange between Romney and Gingrich, with Romney speaking in the context of the typically anti-amnesty groupthink attacking a softer line by Gingrich whom would provide more flexibility in dealing with alien families with one or more US citizens born here (a solution which would provide more of a permanent residency versus a path to citizenship).
I'm a free marketer, and I've made it clear that I am staunchly pro-immigration. Any conservative who claims to be a free market/pro-business growth conservative but takes a hard line on immigrants is engaging in counterproductive, dysfunctional, dishonorable politics; I did not comment on the story at the time, but I strongly supported the recent recall of Russell Pearce, the chief sponsor behind Arizona's controversial immigration law, in favor of a more flexible fellow Republican, Jerry Lewis.
If I was going to take on Gingrich on the issue of immigration, I would have asked why the 1986 reform signed into law by President Reagan didn't resolve core issues and what, if anything, Gingrich did over the following decade as a GOP leader to recognize and remedy the problem.
Bill Clinton Is Living in Obama's 57th State: The State of Denial
Bill Clinton, like his fellow misleading defensive, legal hair-splitting Presidential descendant, Barack Obama, is eager to
IBD has a good editorial reviewing a portion of Bill Clinton's latest boorish tome: "Despite Book's Claims, Clinton's Policies Hurt Economy". First, he tries to pretend that Bush inherited the same hand that Obama was given in 2008. This is so out of touch with reality I really shouldn't have to address it. First of all, Bush never had a honeymoon like Obama did, because many Democrats were convinced that Bush was an illegitimate President whom "stole" the election from Al "the Bore" Gore. Second, there were 50 Senate Democrats; technically the GOP hold control of the Senate because the VP (Dick Cheney) gave the Senate Republicans a tie-breaking vote--until Jeffords, a Republican Senator from Vermont, upset at Bush's agenda and priorities, reclassified himself as an independent and joined the Democratic caucus, throwing control of the Senate to the Democrats until the mid-term elections. The Democrats always had multiple votes over the minimum to filibuster any piece of legislation.
I'll also point out that the same chairman of the Fed, Alan Greenspan, served under both Clinton and Bush, and, among other things, Democrats controlled the state regulatory authority in New York, home to Wall Street. Despite the blatant lies of partisan Democrats, regulations actually vastly increased during the Bush Administration, one of my biggest criticisms of Bush.
The second and more important point deals with the CRA, the Democrats' counterproductive policy meant to address alleged discrimination in housing loans (i.e., redlining), a frequent target of conservative criticism for exacerbating the housing bubble with largely unsecured housing loans by high-risk, lower-income borrowers without traditional collateral. I think I'll simply summarize key salient observations from the IBD editorial:
- "In 2000 that Clinton ordered Fannie and Freddie to "expand" their subprime business to meet drastic new lending quotas. Clinton at the same time authorized them to earn "goals credit" by purchasing subprime securities.
- "In fact, the Fed estimates half the subprime loans were at least "indirectly attributable" to the CRA."
- "A 2005 HUD report attributed the explosion in subprime securities between 2001 and 2004 to Clinton's higher lending goals, along with tougher CRA enforcement: 'Sometimes these [low-income and minority] borrowers are higher risk, with blemished credit histories and high debt or simply little savings for a down payment.'"
Some originals:
- Florida judge Donna Miller took time off one convicted prisoner's sentence for losing weight. Now we know what tips the scales of justice... Of course, prison chow hasn't been the same since Martha Stewart was released...
- A woman shopper at a southern California upscale suburb Walmart on Thanksgiving pepper-sprayed a crowd around a display of discounted video game players. She accused them of Occupying the Electronics Aisles...
Christ Church Choir, "Mary, Did You Know?". Hands down (in my opinion), the best version of one of my favorite modern Christmas songs, originally popularized by Kenny Rogers & Wynonna Judd (see below). I first heard the song as background for a well-made short video with movie clips about Christ's life; I was so impressed I purchased the song download, and it's on heavy rotation on my iPod Shuffle. (The song is available at iTunes and other music retailers.)
A reminder: I embedded the video in question in an earlier post. The referenced video itself is free for personal use and can be downloaded here.
The Original Hit Cover
